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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒06‒24
211 papers chosen by |
| By: | Lawrence, Bategeka; Julius, Kiiza; Ibrahim, Kasirye |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1990s, Uganda has implemented a number of reforms in the agricultural sector. However, in the past 10 years, the performance of the sector has lagged behind other sectors particularly services and industry. There are concerns among researchers and policy analysts that institutional constraints in agriculture play a central role in the lacklustre agricultural performance registered during the 2000s. This study examines the institutional constraints affecting agricultural production in Uganda. We recommend reforming the land tenure system as well as the architecture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries as means of dealing with the major constraints. |
| Keywords: | Land rights, agricultural development strategy, agricultural sector, agricultural credit, small farmers, EPRC, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eprcrs:150228&r=agr |
| By: | Mathenge, Mary K.; Smale, Melinda; Opiyo, Joseph |
| Abstract: | Off-farm work accounts for a substantial and growing share of household income among smallholder farmers in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, but evidence on the effects of these earnings on farm investments remains sparse. We use panel data from a sample of smallholder farmers in Kenya to estimate input demand for fertilizer, testing the effects of earnings from nonfarm activities, agricultural wage labor on other farms, and combined off-farm sources. We compare effects among three types of crops: a major food staple (maize), and emerging cash crop (vegetables), and a traditional export crop (tea). We use the Correlated Random Effects Model while accounting for the potential endogeneity of the off-farm work variables. We find that, holding other factors constant, off-farm earnings contribute positively to fertilizer application rates per hectare on both maize and tea, but not on vegetables. Nonfarm income drives most of this pattern, attesting to the potential for complementarity between working in activities off-farm and farm investments. Though representing only a minor share of off-farm earnings, agricultural wage labor negatively affects fertilizer application rates on maize and vegetables, indicating that there is competition for resources. The results have implications for public investments in rural development as smallholders commercialize in Kenya. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150638&r=agr |
| By: | Haile, Mekbib G.; Kalkuhl, Matthias |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149630&r=agr |
| By: | Ho, Shuay‐Tsyr; Rickard, Bradley J.; Liaukonyte, Jura |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150211&r=agr |
| By: | Sheahan, Megan; Ariga, Joshua; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Kenya is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa experiencing an impressive rise in fertilizer use on food crops grown by smallholder farmers since the liberalization of input markets starting in the early-1990s. The impacts of these reforms and associated private sector investments on national fertilizer use and food production have never been rigorously quantified, though doing so could shed new light on policy makers’ options for raising food crop productivity in the region. This study estimates a double-hurdle model of fertilizer demand that controls for common forms of unobserved heterogeneity then simulates the effect of changes in fertilizer prices and distances from farm to the nearest fertilizer retailer associated with fertilizer market liberalization on the demand for fertilizer and the production of maize, the major staple crop in the country. The study concludes that over the period 1997-2010 the reduction in real fertilizer prices associated with input market liberalization is estimated to have raised maize yields by 15 to 100 kg/ha, depending on the province and year. Low average physical response rates of maize to fertilizer application in high fertilizer consuming areas of Kenya limits the degree to which increased fertilizer use via liberalization policies translates into food production improvements. These increases in maize yield specifically linked to changes in fertilizer prices accounted for between 1 and 11 percent of changes in maize production between survey years. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150697&r=agr |
| By: | Keil, Alwin; Saint-Macary, Camille; Zeller, Manfred |
| Abstract: | Markets for high-value agricultural commodities are growing and can contribute to reducing rural poverty. However, the poor may be unable to participate in such markets, and adverse environmental impacts may counterbalance short-term benefits. Hence, policies are needed that help reducing poverty while protecting the environment. We address this challenge using the case of commercial maize production for animal feed purposes in a marginal upland area of Vietnam. We identify determinants of farmers’ degree of participation in maize production using regression analysis and assess farmers’ awareness of soil erosion and their conservation practices. The poorest are particularly specialized in maize but depend on disadvantageous input supply and marketing arrangements to offset infrastructural and institutional deficiencies. High awareness of soil erosion is contrasted by lacking conservation practices due to high opportunity costs. Policies should foster the integration of livestock in the maize-based farming system and promote soil conservation technologies that produce feed. |
| Keywords: | Commercial agriculture; rural poverty; land degradation; tobit regression; Vietnam; |
| JEL: | O13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/11399&r=agr |
| By: | Berazneva, Julia |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to our understanding of the use and management of crop residues in East African highlands and farmers' decision-making associated with this important on-farm resource. Using the data from a socio-economic and household production survey of a sample of 310 households in 15 villages in western Kenya conducted in 2011-2012, the analysis shows that the decision to allocate maize residues to organic fertilizer and the amount of such allocation among Kenyan farmers is in uenced by the quantity of maize residues produced, as well as conventional inputs into production such as labor and chemical fertilizer. However, such allocation decisions may be independent of other competing uses of residues { livestock feed and cooking fuel. The value of maize residues as an input into crop production is also estimated. |
| Keywords: | crop residues, maize production, biomass, value of natural resources, western Kenya, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150367&r=agr |
| By: | Bovay, John; Sumner, Daniel A. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150443&r=agr |
| By: | Hochman, Gal; Kaplan, Scott; Zilberman, David |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150423&r=agr |
| By: | Haile, Mekbib G.; Kalkuhl, Matthias; Braun, Joachim von |
| Abstract: | Understanding how producers make decisions to allot acreage among crops and how decisions about land use are affected by changes in prices and their volatility is fundamental for predicting the supply of staple crops and, hence, assessing the global food supply situation. The innovations of the present paper are estimates of monthly (i.e. seasonal) versus annual global acreage response models for four staple crops: wheat, soybeans, corn and rice. We focus on the impact of (expected) crop prices, oil and fertilizer prices and market risks as main determinants for farmers’ decisions on how to allocate their land. Primary emphasis is given to the magnitude and speed of the allocation process. Estimation of intra-annual acreage elasticity is crucial for expected supply and for input demand, especially in the light of the recent short-term volatility in food prices. Such aggregate estimates are also valuable to verify whether involved country-specific estimations add up to patterns that are apparent in the aggregate international data. The econometric results indicate that global crop acreage responds to crop prices and price risks, input costs as well as a time trend. Depending on respective crop, short-run elasticities are about 0.05 to 0.25; price volatility tends to reduce acreage response of some crops; comparison of the annual and the monthly acreage response elasticities suggests that acreage adjusts seasonally around the globe to new information and expectations. Given the seasonality of agriculture, time is of the essence for acreage response: The analysis indicates that acreage allocation is more sensitive to prices in northern hemisphere spring than in winter and the response varies across months. |
| Keywords: | food price volatility, acreage response, price expectation, land use, food supply, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, O11, O13, Q11, Q13, Q18, Q24, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149695&r=agr |
| By: | Nose, Manabu; Yamauchi, Futoshi |
| Abstract: | Did the rise in food prices have a long-term impact on agricultural production? Using household-level panel data from seven provinces of Indonesia, we examine whether the 2007-08 food price crisis triggered farm investments. Empirical results show that (i) the food price crisis created a forward-looking incentive to invest, which can increase farm productivity in the long run, (ii) the expectation formation plays an important role in determining the impact, and (iii) the impact differs by the initial wealth; the positive price shock relaxed liquidity constraints among the poor. Implications on inequalities in income and productivity are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Productive investment, Expectation, Anticipated shock, Liquidity constraint, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Risk and Uncertainty, D22, O12, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149673&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Jing; Hertel, Thomas W.; Taheripour, Farzad; Zhu, Tingju; Ringler, Claudia |
| Abstract: | Agriculture’s reliance on irrigation and concerns over water scarcity raise the question of how global food output and trade could be affected if the issue of water shortfall needs to be resolved on the back of agriculture. To understand changes in food production and international agricultural trade as the responses to local water shortage, we construct a computable general equilibrium model in which irrigation water supply reliability is perturbed. The results suggest that regions under water stress cut back food production and turn into net food importers, although domestic water productivity improves. The regions’ welfare falls, primarily due to less endowment available for agriculture and decline in the terms of trade. |
| Keywords: | CGE modeling, water scarcity, irrigated and rainfed agriculture, food security, international agricultural trade, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25, Q17, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150588&r=agr |
| By: | Mary, Sébastien; Mishra, Ashok; Paloma, Sergio Gomez y |
| Abstract: | To help farmers cope with increased income volatility, the EU may be introducing a farm income stabilisation payment in the post-2013 CAP. This payment would generally cover dramatic risk exceptionally leading to more than 30 per cent of income losses. This paper applies a model for a risk-averse farm producer facing output price, yield and policy uncertainty, to examine the impacts of the potential implementation of such payments in French crop specialist farms. The proposed scheme reduces farm income volatility, after 5 and 10 years, respectively by 2.08% and 1.19%. Interestingly, the proposed scheme reduces volatility in farm investments by about 11.45% after 5 years. |
| Keywords: | Income Stabilization Payment, EU, farm producer model, policy uncertainty, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149691&r=agr |
| By: | Klepacka, Anna M.; Sobczynski, Tadeusz; Florkowski, W.J. |
| Abstract: | The study examines the effects of Common Agricultural Program (CAP) assistance on the potential job creation in rural areas of Poland using the FADN annual observations from 2004 to 2009. Positive effects on hired paid labor (the measure of job creation) are associated with crop and LFA subsidies, two types of targeted subsidies, and decoupled payments available to all farms. The programs appear to have the expected result and the positive effects on job creation may help to slow the depopulation of rural areas. However, within agriculture, horticultural farms outperform all other types in terms of hired paid labor, while the primary agricultural area of Wielkoposka-Śląsk also spends more on hire paid labor than other regions. Future analysis with disaggregated data is necessary to better measure the CAP effects on hired paid labor implying job creation. |
| Keywords: | FADN data, dairy farm, specialized farm, job creation, Poland, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150716&r=agr |
| By: | Janssen, Larry; Bhattarai, Kopila; Chang, Kuo-Liang |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150785&r=agr |
| By: | Miranda, Mario J.; Farrin, Kathleen M.; Larson, Donald F.; Chen, Shu-Ling |
| Abstract: | The Global Food Price Crisis of 2007-2011 had mixed effects on the poor in developing nations. By some estimates, the Crisis lifted nearly 24 million poor farmers out of poverty; however, it also cast 68 million net food buyers into poverty. In this paper, we analyze the distributional impacts of the Crisis and the merits of different food security policies proposed to address it, focusing on policies that employ buffer stock reserves, direct cash transfers, emergency export bans, and transportation infrastructure enhancements. Of special interest are how the impacts of these policies differ among the rural and urban poor and between importing and exporting countries. Our analysis is based on a stylized stochastic dynamic heterogeneous agent model of a developing country exposed to aggregate food production and world food price risk that is populated by rural and urban poor who suffer from "malnutrition" whenever their resources are insufficient to meet basic nutritional needs. |
| Keywords: | food security, World Food Price Crisis, commodity storage, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Risk and Uncertainty, Q11, Q18, O24, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149736&r=agr |
| By: | Dalila Cervantes-Godoy; Shingo Kimura; Jesús Antón |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses various aspects of risk and risk management for smallholders in developing countries, and presents a quantitative assessment of farm-level risks and risk management strategies in three emerging economies: Brazil, China and Viet Nam. The analysis covers production, income, and poverty risks. Institutional and political settings in developing countries are frequently less developed and this contributes to a greater incidence of market imperfections in key areas such as credit and insurance, and which in turn lowers farmers’ access to risk management tools and strategies. The result is a widespread reliance on informal mechanisms and community strategies. The effects of risk and responses to risk are also different in developing countries, with smallholders often forced to rely on strategies that perpetuate poverty. When risk is an important consideration in a farm household’s decision on sector transition, insurance or safety-net mechanisms could assist these households to make that transition. The analysis of two regions in Viet Nam shows that those households able to successfully transit to the non-farm sector continued to maintain small plots of land for self-consumption, suggesting that agriculture remains a kind of safety net. |
| Keywords: | developing countries, agricultural policy, smallholders, agricultural risk, risk management strategies |
| JEL: | G21 G22 O13 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 R38 |
| Date: | 2013–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:61-en&r=agr |
| By: | Kaplan, Scott; Zilberman, David; Kim, Eunice; Waterfield, Gina |
| Keywords: | Biotechnology, Labeling, Proposition 37, GMO, Voting, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149851&r=agr |
| By: | Weiwei, Wang; Khanna, Madhu; Dwivedi, Puneet |
| Abstract: | Increasing concerns about energy security and climate change mitigation have led to significant policy support for biofuels, particularly for cellulosic biofuels. This paper examines the short- and long-run effects of Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on the mix of biofuel feedstocks, food, fuel and wood markets and land use change by using an economic model that integrates the agriculture, forest and transportation fuel sectors. Our results show that RFS would lead to the production of about 1600 billion liters of corn ethanol over the 2010-2035 periods, which could constitute a maximum of two-thirds of the cumulative biofuel production; the remaining mandate is met by advanced biofuels. The logging and milling residues are the primary initial providers of biomass feedstocks. After year 2025, energy crops and crop residues will play the leading role in cellulosic feedstocks production. Producing these biofuels will not cause significant land use change between and within agricultural and forest sector as compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) case. While the RFS could significantly affect production, exports and prices of crop and livestock commodities relative to the BAU case, its impacts on the forest sector is found to be relatively small except for pulpwood related products in the long term. Overall, the RFS reduces cumulative social welfare over 2010-2035 periods by $78.8 Billion relative to the BAU case. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150736&r=agr |
| By: | Ramirez, Octavio; Colson, Gregory |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Financial Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149690&r=agr |
| By: | Magnan, Nicholas; Spielman, David J.; Lybbert, Travis J.; Gulati, Kajal |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, O13, O14, Q16, |
| Date: | 2013–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150711&r=agr |
| By: | Lefebvre, Marianne; Espinosa, Maria; Gomez-y-Paloma, Sergio; Piorr, Annette; Zasada, Ingo |
| Abstract: | Since 50 years, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has impacted the evolution of agricultural landscapes by driving changes in land use and farming practices in Europe. Based on a critical literature review, this paper discusses to what extent the CAP is contributing to the management of EU agricultural landscapes. Agricultural landscapes are described as a multi-scale public good. Optimal management of agricultural landscapes requires actions on three scales: (1) the management of landscape elements at farm level, (2) the integration of farms in the agricultural landscape at landscape level, and finally (3) the conservation of the diversity of agricultural landscapes in EU as a global public good. The CAP has until now mainly focused on the first scale. We show how policy instruments could be refined for the CAP to integrate the two other scales. This paper provides a knowledge base to support an effective CAP policy design in the direction of improved landscape management, an important component of the EU project towards a more sustainable agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Landscapes, Agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, Rural development, Governance, International Relations/Trade, Q15, Q18, Q24, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:150237&r=agr |
| By: | Marshall, Elizabeth; Aillery, Marcel; Williams, Ryan; Malcolm, Scott; Heisey, Paul |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150356&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Yuquan W.; Beach, Robert H.; Cai, Yongxia |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150782&r=agr |
| By: | Storm, Hugo; Mittenzwei, Klaus; Heckelei, Thomas |
| Abstract: | We argue that interdependencies between farms are crucial for assessing effects of direct payments on farmers exit decisions. Using spatially explicit farm level data for nearly all Norwegian farms, a binary choice model with spatially lagged explanatory variables is estimated in order to explain farm survival from 1999 to 2009. We show that ignoring spatial interactions between farm leads to a substantial overestimation of the effects of direct payments on farm survival. To our knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to empirically analyze the role of neighbor interactions for farm structural change in general and for an assessment of the effects of direct payments on farm survival in particular. |
| Keywords: | spatial competition, land market, farm structural change, direct payments, policy assessment, Agricultural and Food Policy, C21, C25, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150022&r=agr |
| By: | Tolhurst, Tor; Li, Shuang; Cranfield, John |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150413&r=agr |
| By: | Lawson, Ty; Maredia, Mywish |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150601&r=agr |
| By: | Ferris, John (Jake) |
| Abstract: | Most of the increase in ethanol production in the 2008-2012 period can be attributed to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and earlier federal energy legislation. The expansion in U.S. biofuel production, particularly ethanol, was the predominant cause of the elevated commodity prices. Other influences documented were a weak dollar, speculation and an increasingly inelastic commodity demand function. The supply function displayed more elasticity as crop farmers responded to rising profits. Upward pressures on commodity prices from EISA will ease as grain ethanol production will level off but will continue to support the market. The biodiesel industry, as well as dry mill ethanol plants, will benefit from the expansion in the extraction of corn oil from distillers’ dried grain. A major offset to the amount of corn diverted from livestock to ethanol was the increased availability of distillers’ dried grain (DDG), a mid-protein feed. As a percent of total protein feed, utilization of DDG increased from 8% in crop years 2001-2005 to 18% in 2007-2011. While retail food prices increased by 20% between 2002-2006 and 2008-2012, higher agricultural commodity prices accounted for only a 3.80% increase. Over a percentage point of this increase was due to higher energy prices which raised the cost of production on crops, reducing the agricultural commodity price contribution to 2.77%. The net effect was further adjusted downward to 2.38% to account for savings in federal farm subsidies; then adjusted upward to 2.50-2.57% to factor in the costs of the blenders’ tax credit in EISA in 2007-2011 and projected to 2021. The conclusion is that EISA and earlier energy legislation has had and will continue to have a minor impact on U.S. retail food prices, less than 2.5%. |
| Keywords: | Renewable Fuels, Economics of Renewable Fuel Policies, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midasp:150245&r=agr |
| By: | Torres, Ariana P.; Marshall, Maria I.; Alexander, Corinne E. |
| Abstract: | Organically produced products are one of the fastest growing segments of food sales in the U.S. The extent to which proximity to consumer markets influences certification among producers that farm using organic practices was estimated in this study. Data from a 2012 survey of 16 states with 36.15% response rate was used. A logit model was analyzed. Distance to markets was found to be positively associated with the decision to certify. Our results provide important information about what motivates farmers who are using organic production practices to become certified. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150607&r=agr |
| By: | Phillips, Jon C.; Ortega, Adriana |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150376&r=agr |
| By: | Baylis, Kathy; Jolejole-Foreman, Maria Christina; Mallory, Mindy L. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150595&r=agr |
| By: | Kabata, Tshepelayi |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150599&r=agr |
| By: | Hao, Na; Seong, Byeongchan; Park, Cheolwoo; Colson, Gregory; Karali, Berna; Wetzstein, Michael |
| Keywords: | climate, cattle, corn, drought, ethanol, hog, livestock markets, poultry, soybean, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Political Economy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149957&r=agr |
| By: | Farnsworth, Derek |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150509&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Wendong |
| Abstract: | Non-point source sediment and nutrient runoff from upstream agricultural production is known to impair downstream ecosystem functions and services. Despite adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) by some farmers, there are still many cropland parcels with a high need for additional conservation treatment to reduce soil erosions and runoffs. Despite the well documented environmental benefits of BMPs, significant uncertainty still remains regarding the effectiveness of policies that promote these practices. The realization of environmental benefits through improved BMPs is most constrained by our limited understanding of how farmers respond to policies and the differences in responses across different types of farmers. Previous studies of agricultural management decisions are either not spatial or omiting farmer characteristics. We will improve on these approaches by combining a model of farmer behavior with a spatial model of land management across all parcels in the watershed. In this research we develop a spatially explicit behavioral model of farmers’ BMP choices that accounts for both farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics and spatial variations of land parcels. We apply this model to the Maumee River Watershed and to three BMPs – crop rotations, conservation tillage and Conservation Reserve Program enrollment. With this model, we can simulate BMP outcomes for each parcel across the entire watershed under baseline and alternative policy scenarios. The spatial behavioral model is expected to outperform a historical trend model and allows us to evaluate a broader range of potential policies in terms of their simulated impacts on farmer behavior, BMP decisions, and downstream ecosystem conditions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150729&r=agr |
| By: | Baylis, Kathy; Fan, Linlin; Nogueira, Lia |
| Abstract: | China underwent tremendous agricultural market reforms in the 1990s prior to its accession to the WTO, drastically decreasing domestic market distortions. We ask whether these reforms have led to agricultural commercialization and have improved the welfare of rural Chinese households measured by household average share of calories from non-staples. We identify the effect of liberalization by calculating the degree to which local markets reflect world prices. We find that both undernourished and nourished rural households have increased their agricultural and off-farm income in response to market liberalization. Income increases households' nutrition at a diminishing marginal rate, especially the off-farm income. |
| Keywords: | market liberalization, household food security, rural China, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, I32, O12, O24, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150203&r=agr |
| By: | Davis, George C.; You, Wen; Rana, Sauyma |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150303&r=agr |
| By: | Maher, Joe; Song, Xiaopeng |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150562&r=agr |
| By: | Kaya, Oz; Kaya, Ilker; Gunter, Lewell |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150720&r=agr |
| By: | Zeng, Di; Alwang, Jeffrey; Norton, George; Shiferaw, Bekele; Jaleta, Moti; Yirga, Chilot |
| Abstract: | A procedure is developed to examine the ex-post impacts of improved maize varieties on poverty in rural Ethiopia. Yield and cost effects of adoption are estimated econometrically under assumptions of both homogeneous and heterogeneous treatment effects. A backward derivation procedure is employed within an economic surplus framework using estimated treatment effects to identify the counterfactual income distribution without improved maize arieties. Poverty impacts are estimated as the differences in poverty indices computed using observed and counterfactual income distributions. Improved maize varieties have led to noticeable reduction in the poverty headcount ratio, depth, and severity in rural Ethiopia. However, poor producers benefit the least from adoption because their land areas are limited. |
| Keywords: | improved maize varieties, poverty, impact, rural, Ethiopia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149823&r=agr |
| By: | Gedikoglu, Haluk; Parcell, Joe L. |
| Abstract: | Sustainable agriculture requires farmers’ adoption of new technologies and practices that sustain the environmental quality, while providing the agricultural output. Off-farm income has been analyzed in technology adoption studies, due to its increasing share in agricultural household income. The objective of current study is to analyze the impact of earned and unearned off-farm income of both the farm operator and spouse on adoption of new technologies. The results of the current study shows that earned off-farm income positively impact adoption of capital intensive and risk technologies. However, unearned off-farm income negatively impacts adoption of new technologies. |
| Keywords: | Off-Farm Income, Technology Adoption, Sustainable Agriculture, Labor and Human Capital, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149702&r=agr |
| By: | Khakbazan, M.; Hamilton, C.; Yarotski, J. |
| Abstract: | Beneficial management practices (BMPs) are designed to minimize environmental impacts and provide on- and off-farm benefits such as improved farm economics and enhanced water quality for domestic consumption, recreation and healthier aquatic ecosystems. Adoption of BMPs depends on the willingness of producers to implement them and on producer capacity to finance the investment. The Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices (WEBs) project was initiated in 2004 under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to investigate water quality issues and economics related to agricultural production. The project selected nine watersheds across the country where BMPs were implemented to determine the effect on water quality in terms of nutrients, pathogens and sediment and on-farm economics. The South Tobacco Creek (STC) watershed, located in southern Manitoba, was one of the nine watersheds selected. Several BMPs were investigated in STC, including land management changes, the use of small dams and retention ponds to control the runoff from livestock yards from entering the water ways. The objective of the WEBs STC economics component was to assess on-farm economic costs and to identify and assess potential on-farm and off-farm benefits of applying the selected BMPs. The STC economic results have shown that some of the BMPs tested contribute positively to improved farm economics and financial returns but there are some BMPs whose revenues will not fully offset BMP costs. Certain off-farm benefits resulting from BMP implementation have also been identified. Reduced tillage BMP was shown to have significant benefits to producers based on combined experimental and model results. For the small dam/reservoir BMP the net present value based on only flood damage control was shown that the financial payback period can be less than 35 years. Significant additional potential benefits in terms of irrigation, sediment and nutrient entrapment, and recreational activities have also been determined. For land conversion to forage BMP, the cost saving of inclusion of forage to annual crop rotation was not enough to compensate the loss of opportunity through the loss of net income in annual crops. Similarly, the farm benefit of the holding pond which built to capture run-off from an upstream winter cattle containment area was not enough to justify its instalment cost, although nutrients, sediment and pathogens export (off-farm benefits) were reduced significantly. The STC research provided producers, governments, and watershed groups with credible information that can be used to promote adopting and maintaining BMPs. |
| Keywords: | Watershed, BMPs, Water Quality, Nutrient Export, Cost, Benefit, Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150215&r=agr |
| By: | Handschuch, Christina; Wollni, Meike |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150223&r=agr |
| By: | Megeressa, Dereje B. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150517&r=agr |
| By: | Guastella, G.; Moro, D.; Sckokai, P.; Veneziani, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the extent to which agricultural subsidies are capitalised into land rental price. By using Italian data at the farm level the analysis proposed in this paper innovates with respect to existing studies in different ways. Thanks to the long time span available in the FADN database it is possible to compare the two time periods, before and after the 2005 CAP reform, to test whether any change occurred as a result of the introduction of the decoupled payments scheme. In contrast to previous empirical literature, which has either focused on the unobserved farm-level heterogeneity issue or on the selectivity issue, the method proposed in this paper accounts for both simultaneously. Finally, the same method is extended to account for endogeneity of some covariates. Overall, the results in the paper confirm previous evidence, rejecting the hypothesis that agricultural payments are capitalized into land prices in both periods. |
| Keywords: | Sample selection, Panel Data, Capitalization Effect, Italian Farms, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, C33, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150617&r=agr |
| By: | Remble, Amber; Britz, Wolfgang; Keeney, Roman |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150442&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Liverpool-Tasie, L. Saweda O. |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of previous fertilizer subsidy program on local grain prices in Nigeria. The program has been considered ineffective in targeting and stimulating demand for fertilizer, with potentially rampant leakages. If the program has reduced food price, however, it can still be partly justified regardless of targeting efficiency. We exploit the panel structure of Living Standard Measurement Survey – Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS) collected in 2010 post-planting season and 2011 post-harvesting season. Our methods use Euclidian distance between each district and state governors’ origin district in each state to identify fertilizer subsidy distribution. We also use proxy variable that accounts for both direct subsidy provision and indirect leakage effects to measure the effective size of subsidy. Fertilizer subsidy generally had no effect on maize and sorghum price. In northern Nigeria, fertilizer subsidy might have lowered district level price of local rice, but only to a limited extent. Low market orientation of many subsidy recipients, crowding out of commercial fertilizer, and political influence in subsidy allocations may explain such low impact. We also discuss how our methods minimize potential biases due to errors-in-variable and sample selection. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer subsidy, food price, fiscal federalism, political influence, Nigeria, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150327&r=agr |
| By: | Hoffmann, Vivian; Gatobu, Ken |
| Abstract: | Many important food quality and safety attributes are unobservable at the point of sale, particularly in informal markets with weak reputation effects. Through a framed field experiment conducted in western Kenya, we show that farmers place a large premium on maize they have grown themselves, relative to that available for purchase. Providing information on the origin of maize, and on its taste and safety, reduces this gap. We conclude that information which is unavailable during typical market transactions is important to how consumers value maize, and that imperfect information may contribute to the prevalence of agricultural production for subsistence needs in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric information, non-separability, field experiment, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150004&r=agr |
| By: | Kadjo, Didier; Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob; Alexander, Corinne; Tahirou, Abdoulaye |
| Abstract: | This study uses nationally representative data from 360 farm households in Benin to estimate how access to storage technologies and storage losses from insects affects a smallholder African farmer’s decision to hold grain from production, in an environment of high price variability. We find that access to storage chemicals increases the average amount stored by 196 kilograms with results approaching statistical significance. Farmers who use plastic bags store 293 kilograms less grain on average, likely because bags are used for transport to market in addition to storage. Results from our study also suggest that market-driven farmers rely on high price variability as shield against storage losses, whereas subsistence farmers jeopardize their food security in lean season because of aversion to stock losses. Expected post-harvest losses might therefore be more detrimental to storage decision for farmers with low physical and financial assets. These findings highlight the need to develop effective and accessible new or improved storage technology for small farmers in SSA (Sub-Saharan Africa). |
| Keywords: | food security, price variability, storage losses, storage technology, Benin, SSA, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150522&r=agr |
| By: | Musumba, Mark; Zhang, Yuquan; DeRosa, Kyle |
| Abstract: | This study employs mathematical programming to examine the trade-off between improving biophysical attributes and preserving ecosystem services, using Southern Tanzania as a case study. This study used data primarily collected via household surveys. This study tries to provide insights into “best practices” of farming and how to minimize the environmental cost of intensification. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150126&r=agr |
| By: | Klemick, Heather; Wolverton, Ann; Condon, Nicole |
| Abstract: | The literature on the impacts of biofuels on food prices is characterized by contradictory findings and a wide range of estimates. To bring more clarity to this issue, we review studies on U.S. corn ethanol expansion released between 2008 and 2013. Normalizing corn price impacts by the increase in corn ethanol volume, we find that each billion gallon expansion in ethanol production yields a 2-3 percent increase in corn prices on average across studies. We also conduct a meta-analysis to identify the factors that drive the remaining variation in crop price impacts across studies. We find that the modeling framework, projection year, inclusion of ethanol co-products, international biofuel production, and baseline and policy ethanol volumes explain much of the differences in price effects across studies and scenarios. Our study also distinguishes between analyses that estimate long-run equilibrium impacts of biofuels and short-run studies that consider the effects of unexpected policy or weather shocks, which can lead to temporary price spikes. We find higher impacts on corn prices per billion gallons of corn ethanol production in studies using a short-run framework; each additional billion gallons of ethanol causes a 5-10 percent increase in corn prices. Last, we examine a small number of studies that consider the implications of biofuel policies for food security worldwide. The literature suggests that biofuels expansion will raise the number of people at risk of hunger or in poverty in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | ethanol, biofuels, Renewable Fuel Standard, food prices, food security, meta-analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C54, Q16, Q18, Q42, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149940&r=agr |
| By: | Hightower, Lisa S.; Brennan, Mark A. |
| Abstract: | African immigrants in the United States (U.S.) experience immense challenges in the form of poverty, unemployment, and underemployment. Limited English language proficiency often restricts African immigrants to low-paying, unskilled positions. Ethnic entrepreneurship in the form of small-scale farming provides some African immigrants with an alternative to mainstream employment. Key to the success of many African immigrants is participation in beginning farmer programs. These programs operate as social networks, connecting immigrant farmers to training, farming resources, and members of the local community who provide access to additional resources and markets. Drawing from social capital theory, this mixed methods study investigates economic outcomes and social capital development within immigrant farmer programs. Immigrant farmer programs are analyzed as social networks that connect immigrants to technical training, farming resources, and community members who can provide access to markets. Data were collected through a survey of 112 agricultural educators working with immigrant farming programs across the United States. Data were also collected through case studies of programs in Ohio and Virginia. Bivariate correlation tests found the following agricultural training topics were significantly associated with economic outcomes, specifically training on farm equipment use, organic certification, and pest management. Ten marketing training topics were associated with economic outcomes, including business management, identifying markets, and introduction to direct markets. Social network ties were also associated with economic outcomes. These relationships were with the following organizations: farmers markets, community-supported organizations, the Extension Service, local farm supply stores, restaurants, and the Farm Bureau. Multiple regression tests found that 24.8% of the variance in economic outcomes could be accounted for by social network development, market training, and agricultural training. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic entrepreneurship, social capital, social networks, immigrant farmers, African immigrants, local food systems, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149696&r=agr |
| By: | Xiong, Bo; Sumner, Daniel |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150449&r=agr |
| By: | Luitel, Kishor; Tewari, Rachna; Mitchell, Donna; Benson, Aaron; Johnson, Phillip |
| Abstract: | This study evaluated the possibility of implementing a proposed cap and trade policy on water use in the Texas Southern High Plains. The results suggested that the decision of producers to enroll in a cap and trade policy introduced under a restricted 50/50 management plan, will be impacted by water levels in the aquifer and subsequently the viability of pumping irrigation water in the future. It is to be realized that while polices like these will have a definitive impact on the crop-mix and farm income of the region, they could still serve as useful tools to promote long term conservation of groundwater resources in the region. |
| Keywords: | Cap-and-Trade model, Ogallala Aquifer, Texas Southern High Plains, water use restriction, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149993&r=agr |
| By: | Nakasone, Eduardo |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new experimental evidence on the role of price information in agricultural markets. For this purpose, I set up a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) in the central highlands of Peru. A group of farmers in randomly selected villages got access to detailed price information for the most relevant local crops in six regional markets through cell phone SMS. The information was delivered throughout the four-month period immediately after harvest, where they sell most of their production. I find that the beneficiaries got higher sales prices for their products, compared to households in the control group. The effect is robust to different specifications. I also find that this effect was mostly driven by increases in the prices for relatively more perishable crops, for which information could be more valuable. Additionally, information made farmers more likely to sell their production (extensive margin). Albeit not statistically significant, the estimate for sales on the intensive margin are positive and quite large. Finally, I also investigate the possibility of information spillovers by examining marketing outcomes of households who did not receive the information but lived in villages where others did. I do not find any significant effects among households in this group. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150418&r=agr |
| By: | Bhargava, Anil |
| Abstract: | Landless agricultural laborers and marginal farmers constitute much of India’s poor. As population growth increases and more people enter an expanding rural labor force, either they must eke out a living in the rural sector or add to the growing pressure on the country’s urban areas. Meanwhile, agricultural jobs are fewer and the corresponding wages have been persistently below subsistence levels. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) takes aim at this problem by providing guaranteed employment to the rural poor at minimum wages in exchange for village public works. While the direct effects of this program appear clear—more income is being received by the poor, while village infrastructure is increasing—indirect effects within local agricultural economies abound. Theory developed in this paper shows the theoretical results of NREGA’s impact on agricultural wages, while recent empirical evidence demonstrates a 3-5% increase in agricultural wages. This has the potential to affect farm owners. A farm owner that relies on this targeted unskilled labor to fill relatively inexpensive labor roles during peak agricultural production periods may now alter his production decisions by choosing to adopt labor-saving technologies as a result of an increasing labor-to-capital input price ratios. I specify a threshold model of technology adoption to illustrate this short-run result. In the long run, there may be further ripple effects in the rural economy, including increased agricultural productivity and still higher wages for rural laborers. I use difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity designs to test my theoretical results empirically. These empirical methods take advantage of the unique nature of the phased program rollout. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150163&r=agr |
| By: | Jamora, Nelissa; Greb, Friederike; von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149776&r=agr |
| By: | Amanor-Boadu, Vincent; Ross, Kara; Tembo, Gelson |
| Keywords: | Food Security, Value Chain, Agribusiness, Subsistence Agriculture, Agribusiness, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150046&r=agr |
| By: | Müller, Marc; Sanfo, Safietou; Laube, Wolfram |
| Abstract: | Rainy-season farming is a major source of income for the rural population in the Guinea Savannah zone of West Africa. Farming systems in the region are dominated by rain-fed production of cereals, but include also leguminous crops and oilseeds. A recent World Bank study has identified high potentials for competitive agricultural production and agriculture-led growth in the Guinea Savannah zones of Sub-Saharan Africa. This optimistic outlook is conditional on appropriate investment strategies, policy reforms, and institutional changes. Furthermore, the World Bank warns that global climate change could pose a potential constraint for agricultural growth due to likely reductions in rainfall levels and significant increases in rainfall variability. This could lead to serious dry spells and a drop of crop yields. The study regions are the département Atakora in Benin, the région Sud-Ouest in Burkina Faso, and the Upper East Region in Ghana. Climate projections and trend estimates for these regions show very heterogeneous results for level and variability of monthly rainfall patterns. Therefore, we want to investigate which potential future developments pose the greater threat for agricultural production in the study regions. We develop a set of regional agricultural supply models, each representing 10-12 cropping activities and roughly 150.000 ha of agricultural area. We distinguish two stages of crop production: The planting stage from April to June and the yield formation stage between June and November. Preliminary results suggest that drought events during the planting stage have a more severe impact on the output of individual crops than drought events during the second stage. In contrast, the impact on total farm revenues appears to be more prominent during the second stage, when farmers have a limited capability to adjust their production plan. A clear if not surprising result is the larger vulnerability of crops with growth cycles ranging from the very beginning to the very end of the rainy season. The observed diversity of cropping activities serves the purpose to reduce the vulnerability to adverse rainfall events within a certain range. However, some extreme events are associated with very poor harvests of specific cash crops, thus severely affecting the income of the farming sector. A comprehensive picture will be obtained once the climate change scenarios are completed and the model results are tested and validated for various settings. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, West Africa, agricultural production, stochastic production frontier, highest posterior density estimation, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150412&r=agr |
| By: | Llobrera, Joseph T. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150591&r=agr |
| By: | Weber, Jeremy G.; Wall, Conor; Brown, Jason; Hertz, Tom |
| Abstract: | Economists broadly recognize that the U.S. rural economy is no longer a farm economy, yet policy makers often justify support for agriculture by stressing the sector’s importance to the rural economy. We use the historically high crop prices in the late 2000s to estimate the marginal effect of increased agricultural revenues on local economies in the U.S. Heartland. We find that $1 in additional crop revenue generated 67 cents in local income, most of which went to farm proprietors and workers (58 percent) or nonfarmers who own farm assets (36 percent). There is no evidence of an effect on nonfarm income or employment, or on population. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Crop Revenues, Local Economy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Public Economics, O13, J43, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150404&r=agr |
| By: | Ortiz-‐Bobea, Ariel |
| Abstract: | Growing econometric and statistical evidence points to high temperature as the main driver of large negative effects of climate change on US agriculture. This literature also suggests a limited role for precipitation in overall impacts. This paper shows this finding stems from the widespread use of calendar precipitation variables, which poorly represent water availability for rainfed crops. I rely on a state-of-the art dataset with very high spatial (14km) and temporal (1h) resolution to develop a statistical model and unpack the effects of temperature and drought stress and analyze their interactions. Using a 31-year panel of corn yields covering 70% of US production, I account for nonlinear effects of soil moisture with varying effects throughout the growing season, in addition to nonlinear temperature effects. I show that yield is highly sensitive to soil moisture toward the middle of the season around flowering time. Results show that omission of soil moisture leads to overestimation of the detrimental effects of temperature by 30%. Because climate change affects intra-seasonal soil moisture and temperature patterns differently, this omission also leads to very different impacts on US corn yields, with a much greater role for water resources in overall impacts. Under the medium warming scenario (RCP6), models omitting soil moisture overestimate yield impacts by almost 100%. The approach shows a more complete understanding that climate change impacts on agriculture are likely to be driven by both heat and drought stresses, and that their relative role can vary depending on the climate change scenario and farmer ability to adapt. |
| Keywords: | climate change, agriculture, impacts, adaptation, drought, temperature stress, nonlinear effects, omitted variable bias, spatial error panel model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q54, Q15, Q51, R15, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150435&r=agr |
| By: | Asci, Serhat; Koc, A. Ali; Erdem, M. Sukru |
| Abstract: | The competition between the U.S. and the E.U. agricultural subsidies during 1980s decreased the world prices in agricultural and food markets but caused an extensive distortion in the international trade of agricultural and food products. Under these circumstances, World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in 1995 as an institute responsible for executing and auditing 1994 Uruguay Agricultural Agreement (UAA) to regulate agricultural subsidies and international trade measures. Import quotas in international trade were repealed or converted into tariff rates, and with time tariff rates were reduced gradually first by UAA initiatives and later by those of the WTO. However, WTO policies allow countries to have rights to take precautions and to impose measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health. In addition, countries continue to have rights to secure quality assurance in production, to protect environment, to regulate information transparency and accessibility, as well as to protect consumers against misleading labeling. These rights do not count as tariffs or quotas and are confirmed by international regulations, also referred to as technical regulations (Maskus et al. 2001). There is evidence that these technical regulations are now being used as political means in bilateral, regional and global trade in place of diminished tariffs and quotas. These regulations are called non-tariff barriers or technical barriers to trade. Developing countries are mostly affected by these regulations since they bear additional expenses to fulfill a mandatory standard imposed by the developed countries (Beghin and Bureau 2001). |
| Keywords: | International Trade, Gravity Model, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Food Safety, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150021&r=agr |
| By: | Silva, Erin; Dong, Fengxia; Mitchell, Paul; Hendrickson, John |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150337&r=agr |
| By: | Sanchez, Leonardo; Vedenov, Dmitry |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150566&r=agr |
| By: | Ferro, Gabrielle; Grogan, Kelly |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150304&r=agr |
| By: | Ortega, David L.dlortega@msu.edu; Wang, H. Holly; Widmar, Nicole J. Olynk; Wu, Laping |
| Abstract: | The increasing share of imported food in developed countries, such as the US and European Union countries, poses new challenges for food safety and quality regulators. China as the world’s biggest food producer has the fastest growing share of fish and shellfish exports to these countries. While there have been an increasing number of studies conducted on consumer demand for various food product attributes, little research has been focused on producer behavior, and studies on Chinese food producers are especially absent in the literature. The objective of this study is to assess Chinese aquaculture producers’ willingness-to-change (WTC) and adopt certain production practices related to food safety. Producer preferences for enhanced food safety measures, and sustainable/eco-friendly production practices are assessed using a choice experiment. Primary data was collected in the leading aquaculture producing provinces of southern China. The average net income per farmer of our sample was 81,286 RMB/year of which approximately 72% originated from their aquaculture operation. Derived WTC estimates from a random parameters logit model suggest that the representative Chinese producer would require a 2.49 % premium per jin of fish to adopt enhanced food safety practices such as those required for China GAP, and No Public Harm voluntary certifications and they would accept a 3.22% discount before being indifferent between having an antibiotic-free facility and using antibiotics. WTC estimates of sustainable eco-friendly practices and verification by various entities were also assessed. A latent class model (LCM) is used to segregate producers into group with similar underlying characteristics to develop policies to improve producer practices and ultimately product safety and quality. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150520&r=agr |
| By: | Asgari, Mahdi; Nogueira, Lia |
| Abstract: | Countries successful in achieving growth and equity throughout their development process could provide continuing gross flow of resources to agriculture in the form of technical, educational, and financial elements combined with proper institutions and policies to increase agricultural productivity. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of institutional differences in governance, health and markets on the overall agricultural performance of Sub-Saharan Africa countries. Government spending, corruption control, and lower mortality rates at birth imply better governance and health situations in the countries and had significant positive impact on the value added by agriculture to the GDP of those countries. |
| Keywords: | agricultural performance, institutions, Sub-Saharan Africa, growth, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150611&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, Xuqi; Gao, Zhifeng; House, Lisa |
| Abstract: | The rapid income per capita of Chinese consumers and increasing demand for nearly all agricultural products have attracted western food industries to focus on this booming and huge market. This research investigated the perspectives of western food products in China's market, with focus on one representative western food-orange juice, by studying the Chinese consumer knowledge, perceptions, and willingness to pay (WTP) for different types of orange juice products. Though the Chinese consumers' willingness to pay for 100 % juice exceeded the 10% juice as expected, it would not have been persuasive to conclude meaningful to develop the 100 % juice market in China unless the WTP is around the actual market price. |
| Keywords: | Western food products, orange juice, demand, attitude, willingness to pay, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150771&r=agr |
| By: | Önel, Gülcan; Moss, Charles B. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150320&r=agr |
| By: | Mooney, Daniel F.; Barham, Bradford L.; Lian, Chang |
| Abstract: | Recent policy and research initiatives aim to make sustainable biofuel crops an important component of the nation’s agricultural and energy sectors, yet few studies have explored potential supply response at the farm level using survey information. This article utilizes contingent valuation (CV) data gathered from farmers in southwestern Wisconsin to assess the region’s near-term supply response to corn stover and switchgrass crop technologies. The ex ante supply model identifies characteristics that distinguish likely early innovators and provides response estimates. The econometric results reveal a relatively inelastic short-run supply, but some heterogeneity in reservation price across farm types and attitudes suggests that spatial biofuels agglomerations or ‘hot spots’ could be pursued. |
| Keywords: | cellulosic ethanol, contingent valuation, corn stover, switchgrass, technology adoption, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150510&r=agr |
| By: | Schwab, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | Debate over the implementation of food assistance programs and the role of in-kind food aid has intensified in recent years. Within that context, we study a randomized control trial of 136 rural communities in Yemen. Poor households in half of the communities received assistance in the form of in-kind food (wheat flour and oil), and households in the other half received an equal valued cash transfer. On average, households that received cash exhibited greater dietary diversity, with differences driven largely by increases in consumption of protein-rich foods like meat and fish. However, food households consumed, on average, approximately 100 more calories per person per day than cash recipients, due largely to higher wheat flour and oil consumption. Modality type did not significantly affect non-food consumption, including usage of qat, a mild narcotic leaf consumed widely in Yemen. Cash cost nearly a third less to transfer then food. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150448&r=agr |
| By: | Fitz, Dylan |
| Abstract: | Land reforms provide large transfers of assets that enable households to increase investments in agriculture, but they can also lead to increases in human capital. Similarly, conditional cash transfers incentivize human capital investments, but they can also increase productive investments in agriculture. Thus, both programs have direct and indirect eects and may even complement each other, as land reforms provide productive assets that increase the returns to investments while cash transfers provide liquidity that make investments possible. In contrast, the goals of each program may conict as they compete for scarce household resources. This paper jointly analyzes a recent land reform program and conditional cash transfer in Brazil in order to test for independent and joint treatment eects. Although neither program increases total monthly per capita income levels, the land reform increases agricultural asset holdings while the conditional cash transfer reduces some agricultural investments. Joint participation leads to a more balanced investment strategy, although it forces households to concentrate labor in own farm production rather than nonfarm employment. Collectively, this suggests that participation in both programs enables households to follow pluriactive pathways with broad investment strategies that may provide future nancial gains and greater freedom. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150254&r=agr |
| By: | Zhou, Guzhen; Hu, Wuyang; Schieffer, Jack; Robbins, Lynn |
| Abstract: | Nanotechnology has tremendous potential in food and agriculture. Few economic studies focused on specific products made using nanotechnology, let alone food or food related products. Using a national choice experiment survey, this analysis examines consumers’ valuations for nano-attributes. As implied, consumers were willing to pay less for canola oil if it was produced from nanoscale-modified seed; less if the final products were packed with nanotechnology-enhanced packaging technique; and no significant difference was found for oil that was designed with health enhancing nano-engineered oil drops, which would require interaction with the human digestive system. Additionally, the results revealed unobserved heterogeneities among respondents in their willingness-to-pay for canola oil attributes. Findings from this study will help bridge the gap between scientific innovation and public policy and social-economic concerns. Implications for government policy that can be efficiently used to monitor and regulate these technologies were also investigated. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, Mixed Logit model, Nanotechnology application, Willingness to Pay, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q13, Q16, |
| Date: | 2013–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149662&r=agr |
| By: | Debnath, Deepayan; Elobeid, Amani E.; Carriquiry, Miguel A. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to determine the impact on both the world cotton and cottonseed market from the policy reform of adopting genetically modified Bt cotton, which would increase yields in the C4 (Ghana, Chad, Burkina Fuso, Mali and Benin) African countries. The results show that with the adoption of Bt cotton in the C4 African countries, in the year 2022 the world price of cotton would decrease by 0.54%. The rest of the countries would respond to the lower prices by decreasing production and increasing use, so exports decrease, and imports increase. Therefore, one of the implications of the policy reform of adopting Bt cotton production by the C4 African countries, is an increase in their domestic cotton production by around 4.72%, which may increase farm income and strengthen foreign exchange in the cotton sector for those countries, and might contribute in the reduction of poverty. Also, additional availability of bioenergy feedstock derived from cottonseed oil can be either used for biodiesel to extend local energy supply or to be exported to areas in which the demand for biofuels is large, such as the US and EU. |
| Keywords: | Bt Cotton, FAPRI/CARD Model, West African Cotton Producing Countries, Policy Implication, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, International Relations/Trade, C30, F17, O11, |
| Date: | 2013–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149828&r=agr |
| By: | Trautman, Dawn E.; Jeffrey, Scott R.; Unterschultz, James R. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of Canadian agricultural business risk management (BRM) programs on farm financial performance. Monte Carlo simulation is used to model stochastic prices and production for a representative Alberta cropping operation. Net present value (NPV) analysis is used to evaluate BRM program participation. Participation is modeled for AgriInvest, AgriStability, and AgriInsurance. Adoption of select BMPs is also modeled to examine the impact of BRM programs on incentives to adopt environmental stewardship practices. Results indicate that BRM program participation significantly improves farm financial performance with a corresponding reduction in risk. Much of the benefit from participation comes from subsidization associated with the programs. While recent changes to BRM programs result in reduced support, the impact on representative farm performance is small. BRM program participation reinforces incentives to adopt BMPs that already have positive net benefits (e.g., crop rotation BMPs) and increases the magnitude of disincentives (i.e., net costs) associated with adoption of land use BMPs such as wetland restoration or buffer strips. The results from this analysis raise questions related to both risk management and environmental policy in terms of policy effectiveness, efficiency and compatibility. |
| Keywords: | risk management, Monte Carlo simulation, environmental stewardship, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, C15, Q12, Q15, Q18, Q28, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149881&r=agr |
| By: | Gardebroek, Cornelis; Hernandez, Manuel A.; Robles, Miguel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines volatility transmission between corn, wheat and soybeans markets in the US. We follow a multivariate GARCH approach to evaluate the level of interdependence and the dynamics of volatility across these major crops on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The period of analysis is 1998 through 2012. Preliminary results indicate lack of cross-market dependence between corn, wheat and soybeans price returns at the mean level. We find, however, important volatility spillovers across commodities, particularly on a weekly basis. Corn, and in lower extent wheat, seem to play a major role in terms of spillover effects. Additionally, we do not observe that agricultural markets have become more interdependent in recent years, despite the apparent higher financial market integration of agricultural commodities. |
| Keywords: | Volatility transmission, agricultural commodities, MGARCH, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Q11, C32, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150119&r=agr |
| By: | Mitchell, Donna; Johnson, Phillip |
| Abstract: | As droughts become more severe and frequent with changing climate, farmers of the Southern High Plains (SHP) of Texas may be forced to adopt new agricultural practices which will enable them to adapt to severe climate conditions. During 2011, scorching temperatures coupled with record low precipitation resulted in catastrophic drought conditions in the SHP. An analysis of the impact of the 2011 drought on producers in the TAWC demonstration sites has shown that producers made in-season crop management decisions to mitigate the effects of drought, which also impacted their 2012 crop mixes. |
| Keywords: | TAWC, drought, crop management, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149625&r=agr |
| By: | Dadzie, Nicholas; Kraybill, David S. |
| Abstract: | The effect of food-for-work (FFW) programs on crop choices for farm households in rural Ethiopia is analyzed. FFW compensation reduces the household’s consumption risk in the face of adverse production shocks. I explore how this reduction in consumption risk conditions households to opt for high-yielding and high-return crops. Using panel data, we find that access to FFW two periods ago positively affects maize crop choices in the current period. This result is robust to other shocks and crops in the household’s portfolio. We conclude that access to FFW programs has long-term effects on crop choice behavior hence FFW can be designed to improve adoption of high yielding crops and varieties. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150159&r=agr |
| By: | Mooney, Daniel F.; Barham, Bradford L. |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the agricultural landowner’s decision to adopt a clean production technology, and the role that preferences for environmental quality play in this process. In particular, we hypothesize that the environmental benefits generated by the clean technology may serve as a driving factor among early innovators. We test this notion using ex ante mail survey data on bioenergy crop adoption in southwestern Wisconsin. The two-stage estimation procedure controls for short-run constraints that limit landowners’ ability to convert land uses and provides evidence that observed heterogeneity in landowners’ willingness-to-accept (WTA) (i.e., minimum reservation price) to grow these crops is partially explained by land stewardship beliefs. |
| Keywords: | bioenergy, contingent valuation, corn stover, linear characteristics, switchgrass, technology adoption and diffusion, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150557&r=agr |
| By: | Hoddinott, John; Sandstrom, Susanna; Upton, Joanna |
| Abstract: | We assess the relative impacts of receiving cash versus food transfers using a randomized design. Drawing on data collected in eastern Niger, we find that households randomized to receive a food basket experienced larger, positive impact on measures of food consumption and diet quality than those receiving the cash transfer. Other outcomes showed greater variation by season. Receiving food reduced the use of a number of coping strategies but this effect was more pronounced during the height of the lean season. Households receiving cash spent more money repairing their dwellings prior to the start of the rainy season and spent more on agricultural inputs during the growing season. Less than five percent of food was sold or exchanged for other goods. Food and cash were delivered with the same degree of frequency and timeliness but the food transfers cost 15 percent more to implement. |
| Keywords: | cash and food transfers, food security, Niger, randomized intervention, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, D04, I38, O12, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149919&r=agr |
| By: | Valcu, Adriana; Rabotyagov, Sergey S.; Kling, C.L. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150450&r=agr |
| By: | Hussein, Zekarias; Rodriguez, Nestor; Eales, James |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150755&r=agr |
| By: | Jano, Pilar; Hueth, Brent |
| Abstract: | We investigate the economic importance of implicit quality incentives in an agricultural market that lacks the institutional capacity for measuring quality verifiably. We measure the magnitude of implicit price premiums for quality, and we distinguish empirically between hedonic-pricing and implicit-contracting motivations for observed incentives. We find price premiums comparable in magnitude to premiums observed in other agricultural markets where quality is measured verifiably. Premiums are highest for relatively low-value but highly-informative quality characteristics, and buyers who are informationally close to farmers implicitly reward actions that affect unobservable quality characteristics. We conclude that implicit contracting is used to provide quality incentives comparable in magnitude to what is provided through more explicit means in formally organized markets. |
| Keywords: | quality, incentives, implicit contracts, cocoa, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150001&r=agr |
| By: | Bellemare, Marc F.; Carnes, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | It seems paradoxical that developed countries continue subsidizing agriculture even though their agricultural sectors have been declining in relative importance since the middle of the 20th century. What drives support for agricultural protection in developed countries? We answer this question by testing three competing hypotheses about what drives support for agricultural protection in the US: (i) legislator preferences, (ii) electoral incentives, or (iii) lobbying. Using data on the roll call votes of the members of the 106th through the 110th Congresses (1999-2009) and the scores given to each legislator by the Farm Bureau, our findings suggest electoral incentives explain a great deal of the variation in support for agricultural protection, but that legislator preferences and lobbying play a role, too. Moreover, legislator preferences and electoral incentives appear to be substitutes for one another. Why does Congress support agricultural protection? Because many members have electoral incentives to—and because many of those who do not still have other personal or strategic interests at stake. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Policy, Agricultural Protection, Farm Bill, Congress, Voting, Lobbying |
| JEL: | D72 Q18 |
| Date: | 2013–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47629&r=agr |
| By: | Kelly, Jessica; Weersink, Alfons; Cranfield, John |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150388&r=agr |
| By: | Hejazi, Mina; Grant, Jason |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical studies have estimated the trade flow effect of membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). One important, although largely untested, conclusion from this literature is that the GATT/WTO works well if we ignore trade in agriculture - one of the institution’s seemingly apparent failures. This article investigates this conclusion using a large panel of agricultural and non-agricultural trade flows. The results are impressive: the multilateral institution has delivered significant positive effects on members’ agricultural trade despite its sensitive nature and the reluctance of members to undertake serious reform. These findings are robust to various slices of the data and recent advances in the specification and estimation of the gravity equation to account for sample selection issues and the extensive margin of trade. |
| Keywords: | agricultural trade, GATT, WTO, gravity equation, panel data, intensive and extensive margin, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, F13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150226&r=agr |
| By: | Movafaghi, Olivia S.; Stephenson, Kurt; Taylor, Daniel |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to evaluate agricultural producer response to opportunities to generate nutrient credits under Virginia’s water quality trading program. In 2005 the Virginia legislature passed legislation authorizing trade of nutrient reduction credits from nonpoint to new/expanding point source dischargers. A mathematical programming model of a typical commercial cash grain farm operation in the coastal plains of Virginia is constructed to model farmer credit supply response under the trading program. A corn, barley, and soybean crop rotation with the implementation of a no-tillage Best Management Practice (BMP), was the BMP used to maximize profits and generate nutrient credits for the model farm. Contrary to common assumptions that agricultural nonpoint source credits will be a low cost compliance option, the results show that the supply of credits is limited at modest credit prices and high nutrient credit prices will be necessary to induce additional farm level reductions. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150414&r=agr |
| By: | Bozoglu, Mehmet; Bilgic, Abdulbaki; Yen, Steven T.; Huang, Chung L. |
| Abstract: | Turkey has experienced important sociodemographic and economic changes shaping food markets with the resultant significant changes on the consumers’ away from home and at home food consumptions. We analyze the effects of socio-demographic and economic factors of expenditures on food away from home (FAFH) and food at home food (FAH) for both urban and rural households. The study is based on the 2009 Turkish Household Expenditure Survey data and we model the food expenditure patterns using the multivariate sample selection approach. The empirical results suggest that urban households tend to spend more on FAFH than FAH as income increases, while the reverse is true for rural households. Other socio- demographic factors of households show varying impacts on FAFH and FAH between the two household groups. |
| Keywords: | Expenditures, food at home and away from home, multivariate sample selection, urban and rural households, Turkey., Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, D12, Q13, C31, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149737&r=agr |
| By: | Elskamp, Rebecca; Hailu, Getu |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of farm level cost and scale efficiencies on dairy quota exchanges in Ontario. A constrained profit maximization framework is used to illustrate the role of cost efficiency in quota exchanges (i.e., sales and purchases). Using a multinomial logit model, where net quota buyers and net quota sellers are identified our empirical results indicate that variations in cost efficiency do not have a significant effect on purchases milk production quota, whereas scale efficiency does. Younger farmers, farms with underutilized barns space and farms with a recent history of quota purchase tend to buy milk production quota. |
| Keywords: | dairy, cost efficiency, scale efficiency, quota transfers, supply management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149678&r=agr |
| By: | Guastella, G.; Moro, D.; Sckokai, P.; Veneziani, M. |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a comparative analysis, among selected European Union Member States, of the investment demand, for farm buildings and machinery and equipment, of a sample of specialised arable crop farms as determined – inter alia – by different types and levels of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support. The empirical analysis investigates the role of long and short run determinants of investment levels as well as accounts for the presence of irregularities in the cost adjustment function due to the existence of threshold-type behaviours. Throughout the estimated models a consistent and significant long-run dynamic adjustment towards lower levels of the farms’ capital stocks is detected. The effect of CAP support on both types of investments is positive, although seldom significant. The elasticities of average net investment with respect to CAP payments are employed to simulate the effects of the recently proposed, reductions in the Pillar I CAP Direct Payments (DPs). Since these reform options imply, almost exclusively, a reduction in the level of support granted through DPs, simulated effects largely respect the expectation of a worsening of the farm investment prospects for both asset types (i.e., a larger negative investment or a smaller positive one). Notable exceptions concern investment in machinery and equipment in France and Italy which improve, irrespectively of the magnitude of the implemented cuts in DPs. |
| Keywords: | farm investment, threshold models, simulations, FADN data, common agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, C23, C53, D92, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150619&r=agr |
| By: | Adjognon, Serge; Anwar, Naseem; Diagne, Aliou; Nagarajan, Latha |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150313&r=agr |
| By: | ollinger, Michael; wilkus, jim |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of food safety standards imposed on suppliers of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program by the Agricultural Marketing Service. Probit regression results show that plants approved by AMS that bid on contracts to supply the NSLP had a higher level of food safety performance than both plants approved by AMS but not bidding on NSLP contracts and other plants regulated by the Food Safety Inspection Service. Plants approved to bid on NSLP contracts but not bidding on contracts had a lower level of food safety performance than both other types of plants. Results after 2009 suggest that differences in food safety performance may have narrowed. The paper also provides some evidence of strategic behavior by plant managers in which they use information about their plant’s food safety performance to decide whether to bid on a contract to supply the NSLP. |
| Keywords: | food safety, national school lunch program, regulation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149967&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Sun Ling; Carroll, Daniel; Nehring, Richard; McGath, Christopher |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to estimate the shadow price of the legal status of farm workers. A hedonic function in terms of farm work experience, gender, education level, language skill, and legal status is estimated with control variables for employer type, farm work type, as well as other geographical and time variables. The data is drawn from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). The preliminary results show that while legal status did contribute significantly to the wage differences it is not the major factor. After taking account of the composition shift in demographic characteristics, the quality adjusted labor prices still doubled in the past two decades. |
| Keywords: | Farm worker, U.S. agriculture, undocumented labor, legal status, hedonic analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, J31, J43, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149866&r=agr |
| By: | Joo, Hyunjeong; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150420&r=agr |
| By: | Seale, James L. Jr.; Zhang, Lisha; Traboulsi, Mohamad R. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150769&r=agr |
| By: | Tack, Jesse |
| Abstract: | Likely climate change impacts in the U.S. include damages to agricultural production resulting from increased exposure to extreme heat. However, considerable uncertainty remains regarding impacts on the performance of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Here we utilized a large panel of corn yield data to predict the effect of a 1oC uniform increase in temperature on premium rates and subsidies for the Group Risk Plan. We found a statistically significant increase in rates, which is primarily driven by increased exposure to extreme heat. These increases induce large increases in subsidy payments, the incidence of which is spread disproportionately across regions. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Crop Insurance, Moments, Entropy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149817&r=agr |
| By: | Cai, Yongxia; Birur, Dileep K.; Beach, Robert H.; Davis, Lauren M. |
| Abstract: | Global production of biofuels has been expanding with the enduring concerns on climate change and energy security. The U.S. Congress has established a renewable fuel standard 2 (RFS2) rule that mandates annual combined production of 36 billion gallons (bg) biofuels by 2022 (USEPA, 2010). Large scale production of biofuels results in far-reaching intended and unintended consequences on the economy and environment. In this study, a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) - Applied Dynamic Analysis of Global Economy -- ADAGE-Biofuel is developed to examine the global implications of the U.S. RFS2 policy. This model is built upon a dynamic version of ADAGE model (Ross, 2009) by introducing eight crop categories, one livestock and one forestry sectors, seven first generation biofuels, three second generation biofuels and five land categories and explicitly model land-use changes. We find out that despite of continued increase in land productivity and energy efficiency, increase in population and economic growth leads to a global-wide increase in agriculture production, rise in price of food, agriculture, biofuel and energy and land conversion from the other four land types to cropland from 2010 to 2025 when RFS2 is not implemented and biofuel consumption remain at the base year (2010) level in all the regions until 2025 (BAU scenario). The implementation of RFS2 policy would require 36.3 million ha (mha) of land for switchgrass production by 2025, where 34.8 mha from existing cropland, 0.9 mha from pasture, and 0.6 mha from managed forest land. Compared with the BAU scenario, price is projected to increase by around 5~7% for eight crops, 1.6% for livestock and 1.6% for forestry as a result of reducing production. Globally, due to reduction in agriculture exports from U.S. as a result of the RFS2 policy, all other regions would allocate slightly more land for crop and food production, leading to gentle loss of natural grassland and natural forestland, especially in Africa, which would lose 0.5 million ha of natural grassland for crop and livestock production. The RFS2 policy would bring environmental benefits too. The accumulated carbon saving from 2010 to 2025 would be arround 392 mmt c globally with 207 mmt c from fossile fuel and 185 mmt from land. Among it, U.S. alone would contribute 300 mmt c with 208 mmt c from fossile fuel and 92 mmt c from land. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, Computable General Equilibrium, Recursive Dynamic, ADAGE, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150766&r=agr |
| By: | Ali, Md Kamar; Klein, Kurt K. |
| Abstract: | In this study, economic implications of allocating surface water with the existing policy (seniority rule) and three other alternative (People First, proportional reduction, and trading) policies are investigated to address potential water scarcities in the Bow River Sub Basin (BRSB) of Southern Alberta using a mathematical programming model. The model used an improved calibration technique and 2008 data for three irrigation and three non-irrigation sector users in the BRSB. Results indicate that while the seniority rule favours senior license holding irrigation users and the People First policy favors municipal sector users, irrigation users are better off with the proportional allocation policy even though it affects all users across-the-board. Moreover, if the users can participate in a costless trade, then non-irrigation users tend to buy water as they place high value of water at the margin. Some irrigation users find selling water more profitable than utilizing their allocations for crop production. |
| Keywords: | positive mathematical programming, allocative efficiency, seniority rule, proportional allocation, trading, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, C61, Q15, Q25, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149734&r=agr |
| By: | Huang, Lu |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150218&r=agr |
| By: | Wilson, Adam P.; Wilson, Norbert L. |
| Abstract: | The study examines the effects of Common Agricultural Program (CAP) assistance on the potential job creation in rural areas of Poland using the FADN annual observations from 2004 to 2009. Positive effects on hired paid labor (the measure of job creation) are associated with crop and LFA subsidies, two types of targeted subsidies, and decoupled payments available to all farms. The programs appear to have the expected result and the positive effects on job creation may help to slow the depopulation of rural areas. However, within agriculture, horticultural farms outperform all other types in terms of hired paid labor, while the primary agricultural area of Wielkoposka-Śląsk also spends more on hire paid labor than other regions. Future analysis with disaggregated data is necessary to better measure the CAP effects on hired paid labor implying job creation. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150721&r=agr |
| By: | Howard, Gregory; Roe, Brian E |
| Abstract: | Governments in Ohio have attempted to limit nutrient runoff in the Maumee watershed from agriculture through the establishment of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs, in which farmers are paid to implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as grass filter strips. This paper seeks to understand which farmers are likely to opt into these PES programs and how farmer preferences for these programs are influenced by program attributes and farmer perceptions towards BMPs. We examine these questions using responses from a survey of Ohio farmers, where farmers choose between two PES programs and a status quo (no program) option. We allow for farmer heterogeneity using latent class analysis and find two classes of farmers. One class, denoted the “Environmental Steward” class, has a strong preference for opting into filter strip programs. Furthermore, increasing perceptions of filter strip effectiveness has no significant impact on program choice for this class. The second class, denoted the “Other” class, has a strong status quo preference. Increasing perceptions of filter strip effectiveness has a significant positive effect on members of this class. Both classes prefer programs with larger payments, smaller filter strips, and less paperwork, while program length is not significant. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149821&r=agr |
| By: | Kobayashi, Mimako; Petrick, Martin; Vantomme, Katharina; Jarvis, Lovell |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Farm Management, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150723&r=agr |
| By: | Torres, Miriam Juárez |
| Abstract: | In the last years food security has been an increasing concern for national governments, in particular in developing countries. Although food security is conceptualized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in four dimensions: availability, access, utilization and stability, this research focuses only in access and utilization dimensions because the analysis of these aspects reflects more accurately the demand and nutrition sides of food security. During the 2000’s decade, recurrent food price shocks have altered the consumption and nutritional patterns of Mexican households, having significant consequences in food security. However, little is known about their impacts on consumption quantities and on their effects in the quality of the individuals’ diet. This research represents an effort to measure the effects of food price changes in a wider dimension that allows reasonably accurate analysis of who and how are the most likely adversely affected by harmful food price shocks, such as food price inflation, droughts, frost, flooding, etc. The methodological approach of this research uses six household-level survey-based variables within a pseudo-panel framework to carry out the estimations of demand analysis model. These estimators constitute a reasonably accurate description of household consumption patterns. Furthermore, nutrient elasticities estimates measure the effects of food prices shocks on the nutrient quantity purchase of the individuals. For the sake of the analysis, estimations are based in two groups of households and people, those in food poverty situation and those who are not in this condition. The estimations show interesting results; as expected, there exists important differences in terms of consumption patterns. Nonfood poverty households present a more diversified expenditure than households in food poverty condition, who mainly obtain their nutritional requirements from cereals and vegetables, pulses, tubers and fruits. As a consequence, the most vulnerable population is highly effected by price shocks on cereals. Additional evaluations on past rising food prices episodes were performed to measure the impact in terms of quantity percentage purchased by people in food poverty condition and people who is not in these circumstances. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150636&r=agr |
| By: | Kandilov, Amy; Kandilov, Ivan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we show that relaxing credit constraints and increasing access to finance by lifting state-level restrictions on interstate bank expansions from the 1970s through the early 1990s benefited the U.S. agricultural industry by increasing farm sales and profits. In our empirical analysis, we use historical county-level data from 1970 until 1994 for the entire U.S. and a difference-in-differences econometric framework that exploits only within state variation in bank deregulation to distinguish the effect of an increase in bank competition and reduction in credit constraints from potential confounding factors. Further, by including region-by-year fixed effects in our econometric equation, we estimate the impact of banking deregulations by comparing changes (in farm sales and expenditures) in states that lift restrictions on interstate banking to changes in states that do not lift such restrictions in the same (Census) region of the country. Finally, we also show that the empirical results are robust to comparing only counties along state borders, which have very similar climate, soil fertility, and access to transportation. Our estimates indicate that county-level farm sales increase by about 3.9 percent after the state deregulates its banking sector and allows interstate bank expansion. The results also show that county-level agricultural production expenditures in the state rise by 1.9 percent, which is less than the increase in sales, thus leading to higher farm profits. The positive impact on farm sales and expenditures is larger in metropolitan counties than in rural counties. Overall, our work demonstrates that government policies aimed at improving farmers’ access to credit can lead to higher farm sales, both in urban and rural locations. |
| Keywords: | Sales, Farm Expenditure, Banking Deregulation, Credit Constraints, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Financial Economics, Livestock Production/Industries, Public Economics, G18, G21, Q13, Q14, |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149820&r=agr |
| By: | Contreras, Sandra; Dalton, Timothy |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150209&r=agr |
| By: | Lubungu, Mary |
| Abstract: | Does participation in livestock markets improve the welfare levels of smallholder farmers in Zambia? Are there any biases in the distribution of benefits between poor and better off households? To address these questions, we employ propensity score matching and decomposition techniques on nationally representative household survey data collected from smallholder farmers in Zambia. Our findings suggest that, other factors constant, participation in cattle markets raises household income by over 50% on average among cattle selling households. However, decomposition results suggest that poor households derive relatively smaller benefits from participation than their non-poor counterparts due to discrimination which accounts for 80.3% of the inter-group income differential. |
| Keywords: | livestock market participation, smallholder farmers, income, propensity score matching, decomposition, Zambia, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150606&r=agr |
| By: | Senia, Mark C.; Jensen, Helen H.; Zhylyevskyy, Oleksandr |
| Keywords: | American Time Use Survey (ATUS), food at home, food away from home, primary eating, secondary eating, Tobit model, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, D12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149983&r=agr |
| By: | Wollni, Meike; Andersson, Camilla |
| Abstract: | In low potential agricultural areas like the Honduran hillsides characterized by soil degradation and erosion, organic agriculture can provide a means to break the downward spiral of resource degradation and poverty. We use original survey data to analyze the factors influencing the decision to convert to organic agriculture. Previous studies have emphasized the role of spatial patterns in the diffusion and adoption of agricultural technologies in general and organic agriculture in particular. These spatial patterns can result from a variety of underlying factors. In this article we test various potential explanations, including the availability of information in the farmer's neighborhood, social conformity concerns and perceived positive external effects of the adoption decision, in a spatially explicit adoption model. We find that farmers who believe to act in accordance with their neighbors' expectations and with greater availability of information in their neighborhood network are more likely to adopt organic agriculture. Furthermore, perceived positive productivity spillovers to neighboring plots decrease the probability of adoption. We discuss the implications of our findings for the dissemination of sustainable agricultural technologies in low-potential agricultural areas in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | neighborhood effects, social conformity, spatial autoregressive probit model, organic agriculture, technology adoption, Central America, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, O13, O33, Q12, Q16, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149911&r=agr |
| By: | Leister, Amanda M.; Lee, John G.; Paarlberg, Philip P. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the long term adjustments to drought by crop and livestock sectors using a dynamic partial equilibrium quarterly modeling framework of the U.S. agricultural economy. By employing a model that links crop production with highly disaggregated livestock production sectors in tandem with observed and projected quarterly data on U.S. drought conditions and producer responses to drought, this work assesses the long term economic implications for producers and consumers. Results show short term drought effects including increases in crop and forage prices in tandem with decreased live cattle prices resulting from increases in slaughter due to drought induced beef cattle herd liquidation. Long run drought impacts result in model predicted crop price increases that cause livestock inventory reductions due to reduced expected future returns. As herd sizes decrease, there are fewer animals moving through the U.S. meat supply chain, which leads to decreases in animal slaughter and increased livestock prices in the long run. Longer term market adjustments cause a significant decrease in consumer surplus, while prolonged drought in 2013 amplifies the model predicted price changes and extends the time needed for key variables to return to baseline levels. |
| Keywords: | Drought, Livestock, Crops, Dynamic Partial Equilibrium Model, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149946&r=agr |
| By: | Magaña-Lemus, David; Ishdorj, Ariun; Rosson, C. Parr III |
| Abstract: | The impacts of rising food prices on poverty and welfare of Mexican households are examined by using a linearized version of the Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand system. The distribution of monetary measures of welfare effects from food price changes is estimated as well as equivalence scales that allow inter-household comparison of welfare changes. After accounting for substitution effects, poverty related impacts were estimated. Findings indicate that the increase in prices of five food groups from 2006 to 2010 has led to an increment of 1.8 percentage points in the proportion of households with income below the food poverty line. |
| Keywords: | Food Prices, Welfare Analysis, EASI Demand System, Mexico, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, D04, D10, D12, D60, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150521&r=agr |
| By: | Nikolov, Dimitre; Radev, Teodor; Borisov, Petar |
| Abstract: | This research focuses on building a specific framework and to measure the contribution of landscape to the development of rural economy. The main issues are to be determined how CAP connected what the landscape and how it contributes to the competitiveness of rural economy. Analysis is made in key sectors of rural economy of Pazarjik district in Bulgaria. The empirical result indicates that there is demand of the following landscape services: food, raw materials, fresh water, climate and air quality, spiritual experience and sense of place. Based on cascade approach it was defined the influence of CAP on rural competitiveness. Following the analysis in the paper are presented recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the common agricultural policy. |
| Keywords: | landscape, rural economy, competitiveness, CAP, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:150238&r=agr |
| By: | Michler, Jeffrey D.; Balagtas, Joseph V. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150267&r=agr |
| By: | Mojduszka, Eliza M. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150358&r=agr |
| By: | Iho, Antti; Parker, Doug; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | Current day large animal facilities generate more manure than they need on their own feed production areas. Excessive nutrient applications deteriorate groundwater (nitrogen) and surface water quality (nitrogen and/or phosphorus). Due to differences in environmental and economic characteristics, adjacent regions may have differing objectives for nitrogen and phosphorus abatement. We postulate an analytical model of upstream agricultural and downstream recreational regions, and analyze optimal policies that consider both regions. We show that depending on the environmental and economic characteristics, tightening upstream regulation with respect to loading of one nutrient only might increase the downstream loading of the other. As the prevailing regulatory tool for livestock production is the Nutrient Management Plan based on nitrogen standard; and because livestock production is the main source of man-made nutrient loads to environment, the model is of high importance. Our model contributes to literature by i) differentiating (the impacts of) manure regulation between the livestock farm and the adjacent crop production farm ii) showing how this differentiation is carried over to relative and absolute amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus loading due to changes in nutrient application and uptake; and due to changes in application areas iii) allowing for regional differences in abatement objectives. |
| Keywords: | Manure, Transboundary Pollution, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Regulation, Externality, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Public Economics, Q18, Q53, R50, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149922&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Wendong; Nickerson, Cynthia, J. |
| Abstract: | Selected Poster prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s 2013 AAEA & CAES Joint Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, August 4-6, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Wendong Zhang and Cynthia J. Nickerson. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. The views are the authors’ and not attributable to USDA. |
| Keywords: | Housing market bust, farmland values, hedonic regressions, urban premium, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Land Economics/Use, Q13, Q15, R31, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149870&r=agr |
| By: | Lewis, Karen E.; Grebitus, Carola |
| Abstract: | Given the ongoing debate regarding country of origin labeling (COOL) for certain agricultural products, it is very important to understand why certain consumers prefer COOL. Utilizing a consumer survey, 566 participants’ preferences for COOL for sugar and for sugar in soft drinks was analyzed. Using a bivariate ordered probit model, it was discovered that high levels of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer patriotism positively impacted consumers’ preference that sugar and sugar in soft drinks should be labeled with country of origin information. |
| Keywords: | sugar, soft drinks, COOL, ingredient labeling, ethnocentrism, patriotism, bivariate ordered probit model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, M31, Q13, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150162&r=agr |
| By: | Britwum, Kofi; Bernard, John C. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150292&r=agr |
| By: | Jiang, Meng; Ge, Jiaoju; Gao, Zhifeng |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150584&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Xianglin; Romero-Aguilar, Randall S.; Chen, Shu-Ling; Miranda, Mario J. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine how China, the world’s largest rice producer and consumer, would affect the international rice market if it liberalized its trade in rice and became more fully integrated into the global rice market. The impacts of trade liberalization are estimated using a spatial-temporal rational expectations model of the world rice market characterized by four interdependent markets with stochastic production patterns, constant-elasticity demands, expected-profit maximizing private speculative storers, and government stockpiling authorities. The results show that full entry by China into the world rice market will substantially reduce and stabilize the world rice price, reducing the risk faced by major importers, particularly price spikes caused by restrictive trade policies implemented by major exporters. |
| Keywords: | world rice market, China’s integration, export bans, government stockpiling, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149965&r=agr |
| By: | Kamau, Mercy; Smale, Melinda; Mutua, Mercy |
| Abstract: | Use of soil amendments, including organic materials and mineral fertilizers, is highly recommended for the replenishment of soil nutrients, improved soil structure and more efficient fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa, where the fertility status of most soils cannot adequately support crop production without a combination of practices. Along with other constraints, underdeveloped markets are often cited as a reason for limited uptake of these practices. Recognizing the potential interrelationship among practices, we estimate seemingly-unrelated, multivariate probit models to identify the determinants of farmers’ choices, based on plot-level household data collected in 2008/9 from 1001 households in eight districts of Western and Central Kenya. We then estimate demand for most common soil nutrients (N and P) with Tobit models. Results suggest that while farmers are price-responsive, imperfect markets affect access to mineral fertilizers, also confirming that farm household decisions on use of soil fertility management practices are correlated. |
| Keywords: | soil management, fertility, multivariate probit, demand, plot-level, Kenya, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150722&r=agr |
| By: | Yiridoe, Emmanuel K.; Amon-Armah, Frederick; Hebb, Dale; Jamieson, Rob |
| Abstract: | The eco-efficiency index (EEI) framework has been used to determine economically and environmentally optimal nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rates for some pollutants (such as greenhouse gas emissions) for selected agricultural production systems. However, previous EEI applications have not examined N application rates linked to nitrate-N loss from crop production. The research gap is surprising given the importance of nutrient N in crop production and concerns with nitrate-N in groundwater systems. Eco-efficiency of crop production systems are increased for farm management practices which generate higher economic returns and lower negative environmental impacts and, therefore are considered more eco-efficient. Data for the analysis were generated using the SWAT biophysical simulation modeling. The cropping systems evaluated in this study included: i) corn-based cropping systems involving corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa-alfalfa (CCAAA), and CCCAA rotations; ii) potato-based cropping systems involving potato-corn-barley-potato-corn (PCBPC) and PBWPC; and iii) vegetable-horticulture cropping system involving potato-winter wheat-potato-carrot-corn (PWRC) all managed under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) systems. Estimated eco-efficient N fertilizer rates were substantially lower than current NMP-recommended rates (NMP N rates) and the maximum economic rate nitrogen fertilization (MERN). However, the actual amounts depended on the crop and rotation system. CCAAA-CT was the most eco-efficient rotation choice among the corn-based cropping systems considered. Similarly, PCBPC-CT was the most eco-efficient choice among the potato-based production systems. In addition, when the NMP-recommended N rate was replaced by the EE N rate for the vegetable horticulture cropping system, the eco-efficient cropping system shifted from a rotation involving CT to a NT system. Eco-efficient N fertilization rates that explicitly simultaneously considers economic and environmental dimensions of cropping system performance will require substantial trade-offs between farm returns and reduction in nitrate pollution. |
| Keywords: | Eco-efficiency, agricultural sustainability, nitrogen fertilizer, nitrate-N pollution, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q57, Q12, Q14, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150357&r=agr |
| By: | Urban, Kirsten; Brockmeier, Martina; Jensen, Hans G. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150291&r=agr |
| By: | Vaiknoras, Kate; Boys, Kathryn A.; Donovan, Patricia |
| Abstract: | There is significant competition for local and state resources to support development of infrastructure for the local foods movement. These resources, however, are frequently allocated to locations which have political persuasion rather than which are necessarily good locations for food system development. As such, limited local food system (LFS) resources are not efficiently allocated. With the intent to offer an improved strategy for allocating local food system resources, this study proposes a novel approach to identifying areas which would be appropriate for local food system development. Successful local food systems bring buyers and supply of these products together in place. Through the use of GIS mapping, locations which have the soil, water, environmental characteristics, and labor inputs needed to be agriculturally productive can be identified. Overlaying this with areas which have sufficient nearby demand potential offers important insight into where LFS systems might flourish. This study examines old industrial zones (OIZ) in South Carolina as an instructive case example. There is interest in repurposing abandoned textile mill areas; local food system hubs have been suggested as a possible use. An inventory of 97 potential sites were identified and examined as to their suitability for local foods production. Of these, only 11 sites (11.3%) were found to be well suited to both the production of agricultural produce and were sufficiently close to sources of potential demand to be worth LFS development efforts. Results from this approach are likely to be useful to areas who are suitable candidates for a LFS but who have not have not been successful in generating sufficient support for its development. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150287&r=agr |
| By: | Bekkerman, Anton; Schweizer, Heidi; Smith, Vincent H. |
| Abstract: | The 2011 Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act deregulated Canadian grain markets and removed the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) as the sole buyer and seller of Canadian grain. We develop a rational expectations contract decision model that serves as the basis for an empirically informed simulation analysis of malt barley contracting opportunities between Canadian farmers and U.S. maltsters in the deregulated environment. Comparative statics and simulation results indicate that some new opportunities for contracting are possible, but the likelihood of favorable conditions for U.S. maltsters to contract with Canadian rather than U.S. farmers is low—between 6% and 33% over a range of possible selection rates. The effects on contracting of the termination of the Canadian grain transportation revenue cap policy and of the relaxation of criteria for the release of new spring wheat varieties are also investigated. While changes to grain transportation policies are not likely to significantly affect favorable conditions for contracting, reducing constraints on Canadian farmers' access higher yielding wheat varieties could increase the returns from growing spring wheat but decrease the likelihood of contracting for malt barley with U.S. maltsters by an average of 5.5 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | Canadian Wheat Board, contracting decisions, malt barley, rail rates, varietal control, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, Q18, Q13, Q17, L14, D47, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149818&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Hung-Hao |
| Abstract: | Due to the increased share of food consumption away from (FAFH) on overall household food expenditure, a considerable body of literature has examined the impacts of FAFH on diet quality and physical health. A conventional wisdom is that FAFH is associated with poor diet quality, and it also increases the likelihood of being overweight. However, not much attention has been paid to the association between FAFH and mental health of the individual. Since mental health is as important as physical health, a better understanding of the effect of FAFH on mental health is crucial for policy making. This study contributes to this knowledge gap by assessing the causal effect of FAFH on elderly depression using a national representative dataset of elderly in Taiwan. Results indicate that elderly who consumed food away from home is more likely to be depressed by 34% compared to their counterparts of FAFH non-participants, after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and other factors. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption Away From Home (FAFH), Depression, Elderly, Taiwan., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149927&r=agr |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Berhane, Guush; Tadesse, Fanaye; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes new empirical evidence and nuanced analysis on the gender difference in access to extension services and how this translates to observed differences in technology adoption and agricultural productivity. We employ a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method using a regionally-representative dataset of more than 7,500 households and 32,000 plots in four major regions in Ethiopia that was collected during the 2010 main season. Results suggest that female heads of households and plot managers are less likely to get extension services and less likely to access quality services than their male counterparts after controlling for plot, household, and village level characteristics. Receiving advice from development agents (DAs) is strongly and positively related to adoption of improved seed and fertilizer for both females and males, as hypothesized. However, beyond their influence through fertilizer and improved seed use, visits by or advice from DAs are not significant in all productivity models estimated for females and males, which is in contrast to past studies. In some crop-specific productivity models estimated, it is the perceived quality of DA visits and access to radio that appear to be strongly and positively significant in explaining productivity levels for both female and male farmers. Our results highlight the need for productivity models that are stratified by gender and crop. |
| Keywords: | technology adoption, agricultural inputs, instrumental variable regression model, agricultural information, Ethiopia, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150487&r=agr |
| By: | Rahkovsky, Ilya; Snyder, Samantha |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150644&r=agr |
| By: | Amon-Armah, Frederick; Yiridoe, Emmanuel; Hebb, Dale; Jamieson, Rob |
| Abstract: | There is a need for cost-effective methods to reduce nitrogen pollution from agriculture. Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves for nitrate-nitrogen pollution in an agricultural watershed are evaluated using estimated crop yield and nitrate pollution production functions for alternative cropping systems. The cropping systems considered in this study included i) two grain corn-based cropping systems; ii) two potato-based cropping systems; and iii) a vegetable-horticulture system, managed under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT). The cost-effective potato-based cropping system which met the Health Canada maximum contaminant limit (MCL) for nitrate-N, with the highest gross margin ($6973 ha-1) and lowest abatement cost ($395 ha-1) was a potato-barley-winter wheat-potato-corn rotation under no-till (PBWPC-NT). Similarly, among the vegetable-horticulture cropping systems, potato-winter wheat-carrot-corn rotation under CT (PWRC-CT) generated the highest gross margin and lowest on-farm abatement cost ($680 ha-1). As the Health Canada allowable limit on nitrate-N pollution was relaxed (i.e., less stringent), the cost-effective corn-based cropping system shifted from a rotation involving corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa-alfalfa under CT to corn-corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa under NT. |
| Keywords: | Nitrogen abatement cost, mathematical programming, agricultural watershed, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149915&r=agr |
| By: | Elodie Letort Author-X-Name- First: Elodie Author-X-Name- Last: Letort; Chalachew Temesgen |
| Abstract: | [Paper in French] The Bretagne region is an agricultural area located in the north-west of France. In addition to urban pressure, the competition for farmland is enhanced by strong environmental regulations and incentives. The objective of this paper is to study the determinants of farmland prices and especially the effects of environmental regulations to explain the spatial disparities observed in Bretagne. This paper mainly focuses on environmental policies which are intended to reduce the agricultural pollution of water with nitrates. Several environmental regulations have been implemented in the Bretagne region, which resulted in a complex zoning system with specific measures. To account for this local characteristic, we use the hedonic pricing model and take into account the potential spatial dependencies between farmland prices. For empirical application, we use a dataset of individual transactions in Bretagne from 2007 to 2010. The estimation results show an increase or a decrease in farmland prices in environmentally sensitive areas depending on the types of regulations applied in these areas. The results also emphasize the importance of spatial interaction in the farmland market. |
| Keywords: | environmental policies, hedonic price function, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | Q51 Q11 C21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201306&r=agr |
| By: | Horowitz, John; Ueda, Kohei |
| Abstract: | We model a simulated green-payment policy to reduce nitrogen application on corn. In contrast to other papers, we recognize that the farm’s business-as-usual application rate cannot be known by the policymaker. We develop a structural model and data-driven approach to address this issue. We find that only one-third of the credits that would receive payments would be additional nitrogen reductions. The substantial volume of non-additional “reductions” leads the effective payment rate to be 3.5 times the price paid by the simulated policy. We discuss a further eligibility criterion that can improve policy performance. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150561&r=agr |
| By: | Michael Grossman; Erdal Tekin; Roy Wada |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the effect of food prices on clinical measures of obesity, including body mass index (BMI) and percentage body fat (PBF) measures derived from bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), among youths ages 12 through 18. The empirical analyses employ data from various waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) merged with several food prices measured by county and year. This is the first study to consider clinically measured levels of body composition rather than BMI to investigate the effects of food prices on obesity among youths. We also examine whether the effects of food prices on body composition differ by gender and race/ethnicity. Our findings suggest that increases in the real price of one calorie in food for home consumption and the real price of fast-food restaurant food lead to improvements in obesity outcomes among youths. We also find that an increase in the real price of fruits and vegetables has negative consequences for these outcomes. Finally, our results indicate that measures of PBF derived from BIA and DXA are no less sensitive and in some cases more sensitive to the prices just mentioned than BMI. |
| JEL: | I1 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19143&r=agr |
| By: | Uzeaa, Florentina Nicoleta; Poon, Kenneth; Sparling, David; Weersink, Alfons |
| Abstract: | The risk balancing literature suggests that business risk management (BRM) programs may, through risk balancing (offsetting adjustments between business risk and financial risk), lead farmers to take on more financial risk than they would take otherwise, which, in turn, increases the risk of equity loss. Business risk management continues to be the central objective of Canadian agricultural policy, and this was re-enforced with the recent introduction of the Growing Forward II policy framework. However, it is not known whether Canadian BRM programs designed to offset business risk lead to increased financial risk and possibly higher levels of overall risk for individual farm operations. This paper aims to empirically examine the impact of Canadian BRM programs on the financial riskiness of farms using a longitudinal farm data set from Ontario. Results show that: 1) the lag of payment of Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization/AgriStability diminishes the effectiveness of BRM programs in reducing business risk; 2) a relatively small share of farms exhibit risk balancing behaviour, and 3) BRM payments have no impact on the likelihood of risk balancing. Taken together, these findings suggest that the impact of BRM programs on the financial riskiness of farms is limited. |
| Keywords: | Risk Balancing, Business Risk, Financial Risk, Farm-Level Data, Correlation Analysis, Binary Dependent Panel Models, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Financial Economics, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150708&r=agr |
| By: | Zhanga, Hongliang; Antle, John |
| Abstract: | One of the most important groundwater problems in Oregon, Washington and Idaho is the long-term decline of the groundwater surface level, which has been intensified by wells through discharging water from aquifers. Groundwater contamination from agriculture aggravates the depletion problem in irrigated regions since quality has a decisive role in ways of water use. We developed a spatial agricultural groundwater extraction model by coupling a hydrological model and a contamination migration model. We find that the optimal groundwater extraction is reduced if spatial interactions are incorporated, and that spatial heterogeneities such as crop varieties and soil types affect individual extraction. The socially optimal paths of shadow prices of groundwater quantity and quality depend on time preference, stock effect and dilution effect. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater, Dynamic, Spatial, Groundwater quantity, Groundwater Quality, Agricultural Water Use, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150752&r=agr |
| By: | Murray, Anthony G; Mills, Bradford F |
| Abstract: | Groundnuts are an important crop for Ugandan smallholders since they are high in protein, resupply nutrients to the soil, and are a storable source of wealth once dried. Adoption of improved, virus-resistant seed should have a positive impact on household food security, as yields are expected to increase leading to more food for either sale or consumption. This paper considers the effect of improved groundnut seed on smallholder food security in Eastern Uganda, with emphasis on the high adopting Teso sub-region using a household data set collected in 2011. Model results indicate that adopters significantly increase household food security as measured by the World Food Programme food consumption score index in the Teso sub-region, where the scores of adopters increase by nearly 18 points (6.5 percent)—the equivalent to consuming pulses six days. But food security does not increase in other regions of Eastern Uganda where aggregate rates of adoption are lower. Differences in impact on food security between regions of high and low adoption suggest careful consideration of current conditions in policy responses to improve household well-being. |
| Keywords: | Food Security, Technological Adoption, Uganda, International Development, O13, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149790&r=agr |
| By: | Boysen, Ole |
| Abstract: | This paper represents an initial attempt at assessing the importance of estimated demand systems for the simulation of large price shocks with respect to poverty analysis. Using a Ugandan household survey data set and an estimated flexible demand system, three different approaches to simulating the compensated expenditure budget due to large food price shocks are compared: a non-behavioral microaccounting, and three behavioral demand systems (LES, CDE, and QUAIDS). The aim of this study is twofold. First, to provide an indication whether it is worthwhile to invest in the estimation of a demand system for similar consumption side poverty impact analyses. Second, to provide a sense of the magnitude in the loss of fidelity from using a less flexible instead of a more flexible demand system within computable general equilibrium analyses of poverty impacts. The results show that using no demand system overestimates poverty impacts to quite some extent. The differences between using either of the three demand systems are rather small but may be more substantial in the extremes. |
| Keywords: | Demand system, simulation, Uganda, food price inflation, poverty, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150700&r=agr |
| By: | Berning, Joshua; Bonanno, Alessandra; Etemaadnia, Hamideh |
| Abstract: | The continued growth and success of farmers markets (FMs) across the US leads one to question whether this outlet can help reduce limited food access via farmers directly meeting consumer needs. To date, however, few analyses have assessed the economic forces determining their existence. Applying a simple Industrial Organization framework, we provide a zip-code level empirical evaluation of socio-economic, structural, and competitive features that impact the likelihood of an FM in a given area. Results suggest that market size, education level, presence of children in a household and SNAP participation are demand characteristics that lend to the establishment of FMs; more than income per se. We also find that increased farming activities and reduced farm size increase the likelihood of observing a FM. While FMs are more likely to collocate in areas where there is a larger presence of grocery stores, the existence of more established traditional distribution channels (i.e. fruits and vegetables wholesaling) decreases the probability of observing FMs. As not every community can support an FM, the results of this research will help regional planners and policy makers better understand what factors may be most restrictive for FMs and what investments may help foster their development. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150593&r=agr |
| By: | Zheng, Yuqing; Muth, Mary; Brophy, Jenna |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically examine the relationship between food safety TPC on a country’s food exports to the United States using data for 2010. We developed a modified gravity model to account for the role TPC plays in facilitating international food trade. we found that a 10% increase in the number of sites/facilities certified to ISO 22000, GLOBALGAP, and BRC is associated with an increase of a country’s food exports to the United States in the ranges of 0 to 6.7%, 1.6 to 2.2%, and 2 to 3.3%, respectively. For the case of China, we found that each additional ISO, GLOBALGAP, and BRC certification in China can increase China’s exports to the United States up to $472,562, $2,907,451, and $1,927,383, respectively. |
| Keywords: | China, food exports, food safety, third-party certifications, international trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149926&r=agr |
| By: | McBride, William; Greene, Catherine; Foreman, Linda |
| Abstract: | Results from long-term experimental trials suggest that similar yields and lower costs are possible from organic compared with conventional field crop production, but there is little information about the relative costs and returns on commercial farms. This study examines the structure and profitability of field corn production using a nationwide survey of corn producers for 2010 that includes a targeted sample of organic growers. Propensity score matching was used to develop a sample of similar conventional and organic farms based on farm and operator characteristics. Treatment-effect models were estimated using the matched sample to isolate the effect of choosing the organic approach on various levels of corn production costs. The procedure accounts for the impact of both observable and unobservable variables on corn production costs. |
| Keywords: | organic, production costs, corn, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149671&r=agr |
| By: | McGettigan, Teri; Seavert, Clark F. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150592&r=agr |
| By: | Savage, Jeffrey; Ifft, Jennifer |
| Abstract: | Conflicts over agricultural water use have been an issue in the western United States and worldwide since the widespread development of irrigation. Water management institutions serve to ration scare water resources, but can impose costs on water uses. These costs can be difficult to measure as water rights are often not tradable. The option value of irrigation, or the costs imposed when producers lose the unused right to irrigate, is especially difficult to measure. This study measures the value of pumping rights under different management institutions in Nebraska. We take advantage of temporal and spatial variation in water management across the state, as well as unique plot level data that incorporate information on cropland values, irrigation status, and physical characteristics. Preliminary results indicate that irrigation rights substantially increase cropland values, and hence likely contribute significantly to farm income. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150581&r=agr |
| By: | Kilic, Talip; Zezza, Alberto; Carletto, Calogero; Savastano, Sara |
| Abstract: | Land area is a fundamental component of agricultural statistics, and of analyses undertaken by agricultural economists. While household surveys in developing countries have traditionally relied on farmers'own, potentially error-prone, land area assessments, the availability of affordable and reliable Global Positioning System (GPS) units has made GPS-based area measurement a practical alternative. Nonetheless, in an attempt to reduce costs, keep interview durations within reasonable limits, and avoid the difficulty of asking respondents to accompany interviewers to distant plots, survey implementing agencies typically require interviewers to record GPS-based area measurements only for plots within a given radius of dwelling locations. It is, therefore, common for as much as a third of the sample plots not to be measured, and research has not shed light on the possible selection bias in analyses relying on partial data due to gaps in GPS-based area measures. This paper explores the patterns of missingness in GPS-based plot areas, and investigates their implications for land productivity estimates and the inverse scale-land productivity relationship. Using Multiple Imputation (MI) to predict missing GPS-based plot areas in nationally-representative survey data from Uganda and Tanzania, the paper highlights the potential of MI in reliably simulating the missing data, and confirms the existence of an inverse scale-land productivity relationship, which is strengthened by using the complete, multiply-imputed dataset. The study demonstrates the usefulness of judiciously reconstructed GPS-based areas in alleviating concerns over potential measurement error in farmer-reported areas, and with regards to systematic bias in plot selection for GPS-based area measurement. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Statistical&Mathematical Sciences,Economic Theory&Research,Science Education,Scientific Research&Science Parks |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6490&r=agr |
| By: | Ubilava, David; Villoria, Nelson |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150516&r=agr |
| By: | Todd, Jessica E. |
| Abstract: | Previous research, using data from 1989-91, found that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients experienced a decline in caloric intake at the end of the benefit month. This study uses data from the 2007-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to revisit the question of cyclic dietary intake and quality. Identification of the effect of time since benefits were received is achieved by exploiting the across and within-state variation in distribution of SNAP benefit each month, as well as exogenous variation in NHANES interview dates. Adults and children are considered separately to test for heterogeneity in the relationship between time since benefits were received and food intake. Other subgroups are also examined. |
| Keywords: | SNAP, diet quality, nutrition cycle, NHANES, food stamps, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150295&r=agr |
| By: | Cheng, Lan |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper studies the interaction between index insurance market and the rural credit market by investigating how the availability of index insurance affects borrowers' moral hazard behavior. Among different types of moral hazard problem in the credit market, we focuses on credit diversion, which occurs when borrowers violate loan contracts and use some or all of production loans for consumption purpose. We build a theoretical model to show that credit non-diverters are likely to benefit from and purchase index insurance, while credit diverters are not. For credit non-diverters, index insurance provides consumption smoothing and increases future income by preventing loan default. For credit diverters who are already implicitly insured by diverting credit from risky investments to consumption, index insurance increases their consumption risks and can even lower expected consumption level. The fundamental reason for the difference of the impact between credit diverters and non-diverters is that index insurance pays indemnities based on external indices rather than farmers' realized outcome. Therefore, the availability of index insurance encourages farmers to choose full investment of loans instead of credit diversion. To test these theoretical predictions empirically, we conducted a framed field experiment with 450 rural households in the north region of China. Coinciding with theoretical predictions, experimental results show that index insurance reduces the number of credit diverters by 75.8%. The treatment effect on credit diversion is heterogeneous across farmers depending on their risk preferences and ethical costs associated with violating loan contracts. The theoretical and empirical results have important policy implications for stimulating credit supply to agriculture and reducing credit rationing. They suggest that lenders can use index insurance as a signaling instrument to overcome information asymmetry in the credit market. Index insurance can be substituted for collateral requirements and lessen both quantity and risk rationing caused by collateral requirement. |
| Keywords: | Moral Hazard, Index Insurance, Credit Market, Credit Rationing, Agricultural Finance, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149670&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Ziran |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150283&r=agr |
| By: | Arnade, Carlos; Cooper, Joseph |
| Abstract: | Price in agricultural supply equations is usually the expected price. In general, models of agricultural supply response assume that their representation of producer expectations is correct. If this assumption is wrong, the supply response parameter will have embodied within it an estimate of the expected price distortion, biasing the estimated parameter. Furthermore, no effort has been made in existing models to allow for heterogeneous price expectations. In almost every supply model, one price estimate is used to represent the price expectations of hundreds or thousands of producers, which could masks a wide range behavior among heterogenous producers. Rather than assuming the model’s representation of producer expectations is correct, the goal of this paper is to use revealed producer behavior to assist in the estimation of producer’s expected prices. To explicitly address producers’ formation of the expected price, this study jointly estimates the supply equation and the price expectation equation. The empirical application is a pooled time-series cross-section data analysis of U.S. wheat and corn supply data at the county level. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150490&r=agr |
| By: | Amankwah, Akuffo; Egyir, S. Irene |
| Abstract: | Irrigation is seen as the means of ensuring food security in a water-scarce urban economy such as the Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana. The use of modern, advanced and resource efficient irrigation technologies is vital to increase farm output and take people out of poverty. The informal irrigation system is what is common among the urban vegetable producers in Accra. The study modeled the choice of informal irrigation technologies of urban vegetable farmers in Accra using the multinomial logit modeling Approach. A sample of 107 respondents provided information for the analyses. Farmers who have access to credit, frequently contact extension agents, operate larger farm size, have high labour cost of farm operations and use river as key source of irrigation water were likely to use the motorized pump with hose irrigation technology. It was suggested that extension agents should intensify education of the farmers on the benefits of modern irrigation technologies such as the motorized pump with hose. Also credit should be made available to the farmers by the government and other development partners so as to be able to invest in such water-saving and resource efficient irrigation technologies. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation technologies, urban vegetable farming, motorized pump with hose, flooding, watering can, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149772&r=agr |
| By: | Magaña-Lemus, David; Ishdorj, Ariun; Rosson, C. Parr III |
| Abstract: | Food security is defined as the situation when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life (FAO 1996). According to official figures, 24.8% of Mexican population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2010. This represents an increase of 3.1 percentage points with respect to 21.7% in 2008. In other words, this represents an increase of 4.1 million individuals, from 23.9 to 28 million, living under these conditions in two years, from 2008 to 2010 (CONEVAL 2011). CONEVAL validated the Mexican Food Security Scale (EMSA, for its acronym in Spanish) as a reliable instrument to measure food security using Rasch model at the national and state level in Mexico (Carrasco, Peinador, and Aparicio 2010). Despite the validity that the food security scale is proved to have, to the best of our knowledge, there is no available study that has intended to find association between demographic factors and food insecurity at a national level in Mexico. This study will bridge the gap in the literature regarding the identification of factors that determine food insecurity in Mexico. The data used in this study come from The Socioeconomic Conditions Module (MCS 2010, for its acronym in Spanish) of the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH, for its name in Spanish) in the third quarter of 2010. In this study we use an ordered probit model, along with nationally representative data and a newly developed food security scale for Mexico. The analysis was conducted for the general (total) population first and then for a subpopulation group of rural lower-income households. We found that households with younger, less-educated household heads were more likely to suffer food insecurity. Other groups that were found to be vulnerable in terms of food insecurity include: households headed by a single, widow or divorced mother, households with disabled family members, households with strong indigenous background, rural households, low income families, non-agricultural households and households with kids. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150518&r=agr |
| By: | Michelson, Hope; Boucher, Steve; Bai, Junfei; Jia, Xiangping; Huang, Jikun; Chen, Xinzhe |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150441&r=agr |
| By: | McLaughlin, Patrick W.; Saitone, Tina L.; Sexton, Richard J. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150783&r=agr |
| By: | Su, Ye; Brown, Scott; Cook, Michael |
| Abstract: | The organic milk pay price is more stable year round and increases every year. However, the conventional milk price varies within the year and from year to year. As an emerging segment of the milk industry, consumer demand for organic milk is increasing rapidly. The growth in demand relative to supply provides organic milk producers and processors large premiums over the conventional milk price. Many conventional dairy farms have converted to organic operations for the more stable price. The objective of this study is to understand the stability of organic milk price relative to conventional milk price, differences in pricing mechanisms between organic milk and conventional milk, and shed light on the policy implications for organic milk and conventional milk markets. Farm price and retail price of organic milk and conventional milk are compared and analyzed. The comparative stability and volatility of the farm and retail price of organic milk and conventional milk are investigated. Seasonality and volatility of milk price are examined. The supply and demand patterns and profit margins are compared between conventional and organic milk. Additionally, we explore the market structures of the organic milk industry. Our analysis develops hypothesis for future work on the organic milk pay price phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150735&r=agr |
| By: | Klasen, Stephan; Reimers, Malte |
| Abstract: | Pro-poor growth has been identified as one of the most promising pathways to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or any subsequent set of goals aiming to reduce poverty worldwide. Related research has developed a multitude of instruments to measure pro-poor growth using absolute and relative approaches and income and non-income data. This article contributes to the literature by expanding the toolbox with several new measures based on the concept of the growth incidence curve by Ravallion and Chen (2003) and the opportunity curve by Ali and Son (2007) that take into account the extraordinary importance of agriculture for poverty reduction in developing countries. The toolbox is then applied to two comparable household surveys from Rwanda (EICV data for the years 1999-2001 and 2005-2006), a country that has experienced impressive economic growth since the genocide in the mid-1990s and that has undertaken considerable efforts to increase the population’s access to social services over the last decade. Results indicate that Rwanda achieved in this time period enormous progress in the income, but also in the education and health dimension of poverty, which was in many cases even pro-poor in the relative sense. The new tools further reveal that agricultural productivity of the labor/land productivity-poor increased relatively (but not absolutely) faster than for the labor/land productivity-rich. Lastly, we find indications that the labor productivity-poor dispose of less education than the labor productivity-rich which may imply further potential to increase the poor’s productivity levels if their education levels increased. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Productivity, Inequality, Multidimensional Poverty, Pro-Poor Growth, Rwanda, Sub-Saharan Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Productivity Analysis, E6, I3, O1, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149745&r=agr |
| By: | Newman, Constance; Guthrie, Joanne; Mancino, Lisa; Snelling, Anastasia |
| Abstract: | As of fall 2012, school food services have needed to provide vegetables in greater quantities and diversity to fulfill new USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). This paper summarizes the results of a set of experiments conducted in four DC public schools that provided taste tests of new vegetables to NSLP participants. Using a basic difference-in-difference design, the results found that a simple taste test led to higher consumption among students of collard greens, and a more elaborate taste test that allowed students to vote on their favorite style of preparation led to higher consumption of sweet potatoes, a starchy vegetable that was surprisingly unpopular at the beginning of the year. The small numbers of schools included in the study limits the tests somewhat, but the positive and significant results suggest that exposing children to new vegetables, and especially giving them some ownership in how the vegetables are prepared, can lead to more children eating new vegetables. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150504&r=agr |
| By: | Willis, David B.; Carpio, Carlso E.; Boys, Kathryn; Young, Emily D. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the possibility of using local food banks as a distributor in the local food supply chain. The specific research objective is to estimate the price premium consumers are willing to pay at retail outlets for locally grown products, if consumers have knowledge that a portion of the purchase price will be used as a donation to support local food banks. Preliminary estimates reveal that households are willing to pay (WTP) 22.90% more for locally grown produce relative to non-locally grown, and 14.64% more for locally produced animal products. In absolute terms, consumers are WTP a $0.15 per pound premium for locally grown produce and $0.43 per pound premium for local animal products. When it was noted that a food bank donation is incorporated into product price, consumers are willing to pay a price dedicated donation premium of 4.80% ($0.03 per pound) for locally grown produce and 5.80% ($0.15 per pound) for local animal products. Results were found to vary by respondent income and gender. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150288&r=agr |
| By: | Zhang, Ruijuan; Wu, Laping; Carter, Colin; Sun, Dingqiang |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically addresses how inflation rates affect China’s private grain stocks.Storable grain is characterized as a capital asset. Farm households would choose either to store grain or to sell grain to get bank deposits. We first build a farm household model in which real interest rates can alter farmer’s grain storage behavior. Using household survey data collected in Hebei province, China from 2004-2009, we empirically test the theory. Our estimates show that inflation rates significantly and negatively affect private grain storage. This finding provides an alternative explanation for the decline in private grain stocks since 2004 in China. |
| Keywords: | Grain storage, inflation rate, Chinese Agriculture, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150614&r=agr |
| By: | Baral, Ranju; Davis, George C.; Serrano, Elena; McFerren, Mary; You, Wen |
| Abstract: | A framework for estimating cost effectiveness of the youth Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), one of the largest nutrition education programs in the US, is developed. Using costs and effects data from 15 program counties in Virginia for the school year 2011/2012, the cost effectiveness ratio (CER) of the Healthy Weights for Healthy Kids (HWHK) program was estimated. Improvements in nutrition related behavior, and improvements in nutrition related self-efficacy, from pretest to posttest, were considered as two indicators of program effects. Direct costs associated with the provision of the HWHK program were considered program costs. The total cost of the program was estimated to be $134,333 for one year. Among 1,864 participants, 1,786 improved in behavior indicators and 1,782 improved in self-efficacy indicators. The estimated CER is about $75 per improvement for each outcome indicator. Cross county comparisons reveal a wide variation in CER estimates across counties. The results from this study provide the first piece of information on the CER for youth EFNEP which quantify the effects of investment on youth EFNEP program in Virginia in achieving the stated program objectives. |
| Keywords: | Youth Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, cost effectiveness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, I18, I21, I38, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150221&r=agr |
| By: | Loy, Jens-Peter; Holm, Thore; Steinhagen, Carsten; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Seasonal variations of the price premium between bread and feed wheat indicate opportunities to profitably adjusting the grain marketing strategy of farmers that harvest (and store) both qualities. In this paper, we estimate the seasonal pattern of wheat price premiums on the German market by a vector error correction (VECM) approach, which accounts for multivariate autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity of the error terms. Results indicate a significant downward trend for the premium during the marketing season. The trend’s magnitude depends on the average quality of harvested wheat. If farmers have facilities so separately store bread and feed wheat, they should tend to postpone (move forward) their sales of feed (bread) wheat towards the end (beginning) of the season, particularly in years of low average wheat qualities. The volatility of the price premium significantly decreases over the season indicating higher risks at the beginning. |
| Keywords: | Quality Price Premium, Season, Wheat, Germany, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty, Q13, C32, L11, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149744&r=agr |
| By: | Farrin, Katie; Miranda, Mario J. |
| Abstract: | Lack of protection from downside risk has been posited as one explanation for sluggish technology uptake among subsistence agricultural households in the developing world. Access to credit and insurance is thought to be a stimulant to technology adoption where new methods are riskier but higher yielding on average, or, in the alternative, require sunk costs of investment that can be significant for households that already consume very little when harvests are poor. Despite recent efforts to pilot index-based insurance to smallholder farmers where no formal insurance was previously available, demand for individual-level contracts has been unexceptional at best, even when premiums are highly subsidized. On the flip side, the effect of index insurance on credit supply is ambiguous: if clients are insured against potential losses, theory suggests that credit supply should increase, as banks face lower probabilities of systemic default; however, due in part to the nature of basis risk that is inherent in index-based contracts, there are cases in which mandatory index insurance that indemnifies the policyholder directly can lead to decreased internal rates of return for lending institutions. In this paper, we employ a dynamic, stochastic, heterogeneous agent model where farm households have access to contingent credit or credit-linked insurance, and may also make dichotomous choices regarding technology and loan repayment in each period. The approach we take is novel in that insurance is modeled as a meso-level product, where the bank is first indemnified before any payouts are distributed to its borrowing clients. Thus, the model we put forward takes into account both supply- and demand-side concerns, and shows the possibilities of a trickle-down effect when index insurance contracts are sold not to individual households, but instead to risk aggregators for whom basis risk is lower. Results show that insurance can have a positive effect on technology uptake, while letting the lender lay first claim on indemnities lowers default rates. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149666&r=agr |
| By: | Alphonce, Roselyne; Alfnes, Frode; Sharma, Amit |
| Abstract: | Consumers sometimes prefer stricter food regulations as voters than as consumers. A prime example is that battery-cage eggs were the most sold types of eggs in California in 2008 when 63% of voters supported the animal welfare proposition forbidding battery-cage eggs starting from from 2015. In this paper, we investigate whether a similar consumer-citizen duality might exist in willingness to pay for food safety standards in restaurants. Using a split sample willingness to pay survey we find that consumers have a higher willingness to pay for improved restaurant food safety standards when voting than when acting as consumers. The results are discussed in the light of the literature on trust, social choice and public choice theory. |
| Keywords: | Consumer-Citizen Duality, WTP, Food-Safety in Restaurants, United States, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150296&r=agr |
| By: | Kim, Hyeyoung; House, Lisa |
| Abstract: | This study focused on investigating how respondents’ perceptions of biotechnology used in food production differs depending on the level of product transformation (i.e. fresh versus processed food). Using cluster analysis, respondents were clustered into two groups, genetically engineered (GE) tolerant and GE sensitive, based on changes in their perceptions about fresh apples and apple juice produced with and without biotechnology. Comparisons of respondents from six countries were performed to measure relative attitudes about biotech food. In addition, three types of positive information about biotechnology were tested in order to determine what types of information influences respondents’ GE tolerance. Results indicate that respondents were less likely to change their initial health perception for apple juice than for fresh apples when produced from trees that were genetically modified. The residency effect was strong and heterogeneous: respondents of Japan were much more sensitive than respondents of Spain and the United States. |
| Keywords: | Biotechnology, product transformation, apple, a cross-cultural study, cluster analysis, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149733&r=agr |
| By: | Curtis, Kynda R.; Gumirakiza, J. Dominique; Ward, Ruby A. |
| Abstract: | Small farms and ranches represent 90% of all farms in the Intermountain West and hence, their long-term success and viability is important to the economic survival of their communities and the supply of local foods to direct and retail markets. The success of small farms is seemingly enhanced by the growing consumer demand for fresh, local foods, expansion of direct market outlets, access to and use of smaller fragmented lands, production of high-value crops, as well as multiple-enterprise or diversified activities such as agritourism and farms stands/stores. However, recent USDA reports show a lack of profitability or sustainability among small farms in the U.S. This study examines common success factors among small-scale diversified farms in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada using producer survey data collected in 2012. Study results will discuss relevant measures of success, as well as the operation’s owner, financial, land, market, and other attributes found to be most common in determining long-term success. |
| Keywords: | Small farms, profitability, success factors, Agribusiness, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149738&r=agr |
| By: | Oh, Miyoung; Jensen, Helen H. |
| Abstract: | Incorporating dynamics such as habit formation in analysis of demand can make estimation more reliable and help to explain the “stickiness” in consumer demand behavior when consumers receive new information about products, such as a food safety event or recall. Scanner data allow many repeated observations of the same household so are ideal for analyzing the impact of habit on demand. In addition to that, scanner data allow us to easily observe the presence of zero purchases. The presence of zero purchases is an important econometric issue in empirical modeling on food demand in the sense that ignoring the censoring issue could lead to biased estimation results. This paper investigates the impact of state dependence on food demand using Nielsen 2009 and 2010 HomeScan data. In this paper, we take into account the censored nature of food expenditure data and employ a Bayesian procedure to estimate the dynamic demand models on dairy products. By controlling the individual heterogeneity in the model the source of endogeneity for the lagged dependent variable is removed. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150698&r=agr |
| By: | Rickard, Bradley J.; Richards, Timothy J.; Yan, Jubo |
| Abstract: | There has been a sharp increase in the number of patented fruit varieties developed by breeding programs at public universities in the United States. We developed an experiment to examine the revenue stream to universities from the licensing of these varietal innovations. In the experiment we asked subjects to bid for access for a patented input that would be used to manufacture a differentiated product; treatments were employed to solicit bids that were financed by fees, royalties, and a combination of the two mechanisms under exclusive and non-exclusive contracts. All treatments also considered the impact of demand uncertainty for the product that used the patented input. Our empirical results suggest that innovator revenues are greatest when royalties are used alone. In the absence of demand uncertainty, innovator revenues are greatest with an exclusive contract, but with demand uncertainty innovator revenues are greatest with non-exclusive contracts. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150204&r=agr |
| By: | McFall, William; Magnan, Nicholas; Spielman, David |
| Abstract: | We examine the use of hybrid rice as a pro-‐poor technology for subsistence rice farmers in South Asia. Hybrids, for which seed cannot be saved, is often thought to be ill-‐suited for poor farmers. However, poor subsistence farmers may find it advantageous to produce “sticky” hybrid rice instead of generally preferred slender open pollinated varieties, even though there is little market demand for it. We use two separately estimated double hurdle models to model the decision making process of subsistence rice-‐producing households as they allocate their land and consumption bundle between hybrid and open pollinated rice varieties. We find that relatively rich households are more likely to adopt hybrid rice. However, contingent on adoption, poor households allocate a higher percentage of their land to hybrids. Moreover, we find that own-‐ produced hybrid rice consumption constitutes a higher percentage of total rice consumption for poor households than for rich households. |
| Keywords: | hybrid rice, technological adoption, market access, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, 013, O14, O33, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150150&r=agr |
| By: | Henderson, J. Vernon; Roberts, Mark; Storeygard, Adam |
| Abstract: | In the past dozen years, a literature has developed arguing that urbanization has unfolded differently in post-independence Sub-Saharan Africa than in the rest of the developing world, with implications for African economic growth overall. While African countries are more urbanized than other countries at comparable levels of income, it is well-recognized that total and sector gross domestic product data are of very low quality, especially in Africa. When instead viewed from the perspective of effective technology, as suggested in endogenous growth frameworks (and as proxied by educational attainment), the African urbanization experience overall matches global patterns. There are differences, however, at the sector level. Agricultural trade effects that improve farm prices deter African urbanization, while they promote urbanization elsewhere. Potential reasons include differences in land ownership institutions and the likelihood of agricultural surpluses being invested in urban production. Positive shocks to modern manufacturing spur urbanization in the rest of the developing world, but effects are dependent on the level of development. Thus many countries in Africa, with their lower level of development, do not respond to these shocks. Finally, historical indicators of the potential for good institutions promote urbanization both inside and outside Africa. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,E-Business |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6481&r=agr |
| By: | Wagner, Christina; Huettel, Silke; Odening, Martin; Narayana, Rashmi |
| Abstract: | The existing literature on dynamic efficiency is deterministic and ignores uncertainty when deriving dynamic efficiency measures, even though it is known that uncertainty affects the optimal adjustment path and the optimal use of quasi-fixed factors. Here, we contribute to closing this gap by developing a model that takes the dynamic efficiency measurement and the optimal investment under uncertainty jointly into consideration. We apply this model to German farm-level panel data to investigate whether West German dairy farms use their variable and quasi-fixed factors in a technically and allocative efficient way in the long run, and to explore the role of uncertainty within the optimal factor allocation process. We find empirical evidence for the importance of considering uncertainty when deriving (dynamic) efficiency measures: neglecting uncertainty within the estimation procedure will overestimate the average inefficiency score. This is not only interesting from an academic point of view; it has further implications for the analysis of the relative performance of specific farm types like cash crop or other livestock farms. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, shadow cost approach, uncertainty, dairy sector, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, D61, D81, Q12, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149632&r=agr |
| By: | Carpio, Carlos E.; Isengildina-Massa, Olga |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of advertising on social welfare in a perfectly competitive market where the level of advertising is chosen by a social planner. The theoretical model revealed that social planner sponsored advertising that increases the equilibrium price of the advertised good can increase society’s welfare if the effect of advertising in consumers’ utility is higher than the consumer welfare reducing price effect (producer welfare is increased by the same amount as the reduction in consumer welfare). The empirical illustration focuses on the U.S. state of South Carolina “buy local” food products campaign. The findings suggest that this government sponsored advertising campaign increases total welfare. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, D11, D12, |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149835&r=agr |
| By: | Bovay, John; Sumner, David A. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150447&r=agr |
| By: | Mugera, Amin W.; Langemeier, Michael R. |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the sources of profitability and productivity change at the farm level with an application to a group of 252 farms in Kansas over an 18 years period, from 1993 to 2010. The Lowe index method is used to compute changes in total factor productivity (TFP) and terms of trade (TT). Nonparametric data envelopment analysis is used to decompose TFP into technical change and different measures of output oriented efficiency change. Profitability change is mainly driven by TFP change. The main source of TFP change is technical progress. The upward shifting efficiency frontier results in declining technical efficiency. Both profitability and productivity vary by farm size and specialization. Results point for the need to support research and development without ignoring efforts to encourage uptake of existing technologies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150639&r=agr |
| By: | Motallebi, Marzieh; Pendell, Dustin L. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a dynamic form of the almost ideal demand system (AIDS). The static AIDS model was employed to determine long-run equilibrium model and represents the short-run dynamics by an error correction mechanism. This estimation procedure is applied to estimate three kinds of popular meats (red meat, chicken and fish) demand function in Iran. The estimated elasticities of red meat and chicken are found to be price elastic in the long run. While fish is price inelastic in the long run. Iranian government will remove all indirect and direct goods subsidies. It is suggested that government should be careful about chicken and red meat pricing policy to decreasing malnutrition after subsidy removal. |
| Keywords: | AIDS, elasticity, dynamic modeling, Iran, meat, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150188&r=agr |
| By: | West, Tyler T.; Reimer, Jeffrey J. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150410&r=agr |
| By: | Miao, Ruiqing; Khanna, Madhu |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150677&r=agr |
| By: | Meyer-Aurich, Andreas; Gandorfer, Markus; Rajsic, Predrag |
| Abstract: | The question of optimal fertilizer use has a long history and is still relevant from several perspectives. While it is obvious that the optimal input use contributes to economic benefits for the farmer, a probably more important aspect is that understanding the economically optimal use of nitrogen fertilizer may help to address environmental policies more efficiently. Several studies found evidence that N fertilizer applications to agricultural crops often exceed the rate recommended by officials or advisors. One explanation for seemingly uneconomic fertilization practices may be that farmers’ perceptions of the production function deviate from the advisors’ view of production function. Furthermore, the attitude to risk may have an impact on the choice of fertilizer levels. The role of uncertainty for optimal fertilizer input has been extensively discussed for decades. Many studies have found that nitrogen fertilizer is a variance increasing input (Rosegrant & Roumasset, 1985; SriRamaratnam et al., 1987; Roosen & Hennessy, 2003). Most of the studies analyzing the effect of risk aversion on optimal fertilizer rates are based on the effects of fertilizer levels on the variance of crop yields. However, besides variance, skewness and kurtosis may be of great importance for decision makers. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150220&r=agr |
| By: | Kostandini, Genti; Mykerezi, Elton; West, Kristine |
| Abstract: | This study examines the returns to agricultural majors compared to other majors oered in four-year institutions. We nd that, after accounting for the necessarily rural location of those with college degrees in agriculture, monetary returns to education are much closer to the median than naive rankings imply. As individuals acquire college degrees in pursuit of monetary and non-monetary goals, earnings are generally an imperfect measure of success for any degree, but they appear more so for those pursuing degrees in agriculture. Agriculture degree recipients report giving less importance to income when making a career choice than virtually any other major, with the exception of teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150302&r=agr |
| By: | Bulut, Harun; Collins, Keith J. |
| Abstract: | We consider a political economy where government cares about risk-averse farmers’ loss of income and yet incurs political cost if it provides monetary support to farmers. Government evaluates three options: 1) ex-post disaster aid; 2) ex-ante insurance option with perfect information; 3) ex-ante insurance with imperfect information (farmers are over-confident about their risk). It is assumed that marginal political cost is high enough so that the possibility of monetary support to farmers in the absence of economic loss is ruled out. In comparing 1) and 2), we find that government prefers farmers manage their risks through fairly priced insurance In comparing 1) and 3), if the information problems prevent risk-averse farmers to take up full insurance under actuarially fair rates, government prefers to subsidize farmers’ insurance ex-ante rather than providing disaster aid ex-post (subject to political cost) for a wide range of parameter values. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural risk, crop insurance, disaster assistance, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Political Economy, Risk and Uncertainty, D81, G22, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150577&r=agr |
| By: | Lin, Chung-Tung Jordan; Lee, Jonq-Ying |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150580&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Sun Ling; Schimmelpfennig, David; Ball, Eldon |
| Abstract: | This study employs new data and a hedonic function to estimate the quality-adjusted price and quantity for farm tractors over the 1950-2011 period. The estimated hedonic prices for tractors are lower than the BLS’ tractor price index in most time periods. The lower prices result in a higher estimate of the tractor stock and service flow, which reflects an increase in embodied technical change of farm tractors. After replacing the BLS deflator of tractor investment with these hedonic estimates, average annual TFP growth dropped by 0.13 percentage points over the 1991-2011 period compared with the current USDA’s productivity estimate. These changes can be attributed to the contribution from embodied technical change in farm tractors over this period. The findings show the potential importance of input quality adjustment and can help to explain the sources of productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic price, farm tractor, total factor productivity (TFP), Productivity Analysis, O3, O4, Q1, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150198&r=agr |
| By: | Aulakh, Jaspreet; Regmi, Anita; Fulton, Joan R.; Alexander, Corinne |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150363&r=agr |
| By: | Yu, Gaogao; Nayga, Rodolfo M.; Thomsen, Michael R.; Whiteside‐Mansell, Leanne; Swindle, Taren M. |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of proximity to large grocery stores and convenience stores on consumption of different food groups among a sample of children enrolled in Head Start preschools. Food store proximity is measured in two ways: (1) as the distance from the census block of residence to the nearest store of a given type and (2) as the density of stores within a one-mile radius of the census block. We estimate the probability that a child is at risk for over or under consumption of a given food item. Food-store proximity is instrumented using the proportion of commercially zoned land surrounding the residence. Findings suggest that children in households with greater access to large grocery stores are at less risk for under consumption of healthy foods but are also at greater risk for over consumption of sugary beverages. |
| Keywords: | diet quality, food environment, childhood obesity, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149710&r=agr |
| By: | Gottshall, Bryan; Paudel, Krishna |
| Abstract: | We demonstrate the impact of choosing suites of best management practices (BMPs) to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment load in Chenier Creek water segment located within the Baouf watershed, Louisiana. Simulation outputs generated from MAPSHED are used to generate regression coefficients and marginal effects which are then used in the optimization model. Results indicated that agricultural land retirement can meet up to 35% goal in phosphorus reduction with $840132. With restriction on ag land conversion to 10% available row crop area, it was found three different BMPs can reduce up to 20% phosphorus compared to no BMP adoption scenario. This goal in reduction of phosphorus can also bring down the nitrogen and sediment pollution by 5 and 33 percents, respectively. Careful modeling of different BMPs and development of optimization model can help to meet the water quality goal in Louisiana. |
| Keywords: | Best management practices, cost, optimization, water quality, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150463&r=agr |
| By: | Cagdas, Ali D.; Jeffrey, Scott R.; Smith, Elwin G.; Boxall, Peter C. |
| Abstract: | This study examines the BMP adoption and technical efficiency for canola producers in the Canadian Prairie Provinces. A Just-Pope stochastic frontier production function is estimated using data from a survey of canola producers conducted in early 2012. Yield is modeled as a function of nutrients and precipitation. A linear inefficiency function includes farm specific variables and a set of binary variables representing BMP adoption. These include use of environmental farm plans and soil testing, precision farming techniques or nutrient management practices. Model results indicate that BMP variables for soil tests, nutrient management planning and precision farming are positively related to technical efficiency while other BMP indicators are not significant. Producer characteristics such as experience and off-farm income tend to have the expected relationship with technical efficiency. Model results appear to be significantly influenced by moisture problems that occurred through the Prairie region during the 2011 cropping year. The results in this paper suggest that for Western Canadian canola producers, there is potential complementarity for some BMPs in terms of improving technical efficiency while simultaneously advancing environmental stewardship. This study extends the limited literature that combines stochastic production frontier analysis with flexible risk specifications to incorporate environmental stewardship practices in the inefficiency model. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150200&r=agr |
| By: | Brown, Joanna; Colson, Gregory; Magnan, Nicholas |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150385&r=agr |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies such as anemia have well-documented consequences on children’s health and schooling, cognitive functioning, and long term economic returns. This paper addresses the potential role of mother’s knowledge on reducing malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies drawing on the social networks literature to better understand the role of knowledge provider characteristics and social network structure have on knowledge diffusion. A cluster randomized control trial was implemented to test an agricultural production and nutrition education program, targeted to mothers of children aged 3-12 months at baseline living across four districts in Gourma province, Burkina Faso. Villages were randomly assigned to either the control group or to one of two treatment groups based on knowledge provider characteristics. Both treatment groups participated in a two-year program that included homestead food production, aimed to increase production of high quality foods, and a nutrition information component, aimed to improve knowledge and adoption of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. The two treatment groups differed in the actors who delivered the nutrition information messages, either older women leaders (OWL villages) or village health committee members (HC villages). This paper investigates the role that the nutrition information delivery strategy and social networks play in diffusing nutrition information among young mothers. The diffusion strategy may affect the young mother’s confidence in and retention of new nutritional information, while social network structure may reinforce nutritional messages through peer effects. We find IYCF knowledge diffusion is higher in HC villages relative to OWL villages, while social network measures, degree and betweeness, have statistically significant, but smaller effects on certain categories of IYCF knowledge. The increased knowledge effects explain one of the causal pathways through which the intervention has an impact on childhood anemia (26% of a standard deviation) in the HC treatment, but not the OWL treatment. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150524&r=agr |
| By: | Bonanno, Alessandro; Chenarides, Lauren; Volpe III, Richard |
| Abstract: | The debate around the healthfulness of food choices for low-income households is still a relevant point of contention for policymakers as they aim to provide tools to incentivize consumption of healthier foods in different ways. Using fluid milk as a case study, and one year of household- level weekly milk purchases data in the Northeastern U.S., we assess the demand for milk of households with income levels above and below poverty, across fat content and packaging size. We find estimated own-price elasticities differing little across samples of households: even in cases where differences emerge, the estimated values, along with price differences experienced by purchasing households do not seem to justify the different purchasing patterns of the two household groups. Household characteristics however show differences in impacting the demand of milk across households with different income levels. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149832&r=agr |
| By: | Katare, Bhagyashree; Yue, Chengyan; Hurley, Terrance |
| Abstract: | Using eye-tracking technology and experimental auctions, this paper evaluates the impact of information from various sources on consumers’ real willingness to pay (WTP) for nano-packaged food products with varying shelf-lives. Information about the risks and benefits of nanotechnology in food processing from various sources was presented to consumers and consumers’ eyes were tracked and the time they spent on viewing the information was recorded. Double hurdle models estimation results show that the specific information about nanotechnology from various sources has a negative effect on the probability of consumer submitting positive bids for the nano-packaged products. Conditional on participants’ willingness to submit positive bids, general and specific information about nanotechnology had a positive effect on participants’ WTP for nano-packaged salads and apple sauce which are products with a relatively shorter shelf-life. The eye-tracking data in the analysis showed the proportion of the normalized time viewing the information from private industry significantly increased the WTP conditional on participants submitting a positive bid for apple sauce as compared with the proportion of normalized time viewing the information from environmental protection groups. |
| Keywords: | nanotechnology, willingness to pay, shelf-life, experimental auction, eye-tracking, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Q13, Q16, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149676&r=agr |
| By: | Khanal, Aditya R.; Mishra, Ashok; Lambert, Dayton; Paudel, Krishna |
| Abstract: | Farmer’s post adoption responses about technology are important in continuation and diffusion of a technology in precision agriculture. We studied farmer’s frequency of application decisions of GPS guidance system, after adoption. Using a Cotton grower’s precision farming survey in the U.S. and Bayesian approaches, our study suggests that ‘meeting expectation’ plays an important positive role. Farmer’s income level, farm size, and farming occupation are other important factors in modeling GPS guidance system adoption and application. |
| Keywords: | Precision agriculture, GPS guidance system, cotton farms, Bayesian, expectation, adoption, application, technology, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150421&r=agr |
| By: | Matin, Anahita Hosseini; Goddard, Ellen |
| Abstract: | Since novel food technologies (such as nanotechnology, cloning, genomics, etc.) are still in their infancy, communication will be very important in the development of these new technologies to address consumer perceptions and hence market acceptance of these innovations in the agri-food industry. Understanding consumer preferences is key to ensuring that the use of new technologies optimizes use of resources and societal welfare. Two national online surveys (in 2010 for nanotechnology and in 2012 for genomic information) were conducted across Canada to elicit Canadian consumers’ WTP for juice produced by nanotechnology or pork chops that are produced from pigs bred using genomic information. Canadian consumers’ WTP (i.e. whether or not they are willing to buy the products at a price over the price of goods produced without the use of the technologies), and the effects of demographic characteristics, Canadian consumers’ attitudes on their purchase intentions about products created using these novel technologies, were examined. The preliminary analysis shows that the majority of Canadians have little knowledge about use of genomic information or nanotechnology, and hence are not willing to pay a premium for these novel technologies applied to their food. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150461&r=agr |
| By: | Munasib, Abdul; Roy, Devesh |
| Abstract: | This research assesses the effects of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards in international trade by introducing a new concept, bridge to cross (BTC), with product standards. The BTC in this paper is the regulatory gap between the exporting and importing countries with regard to any particular SPS measure. Assuming that each country’s standard is binding in its own domestic markets, the standard of the importing country emerges as an effective trade barrier only when it exceeds the standard in the domestic market of the exporting country. Given the need to account for unobserved heterogeneity (multilateral resistance) in empirical trade models; in reduced form gravity models, the effect of regulation cannot be identified as it varies at the level of importing country over time. This happens because correct accounting for multilateral resistance mandates exporter x time and importer x time fixed effects. However, the effect of BTC can still be identified because it varies over time by the pair of countries involved in trade. As an application we apply the method to an SPS regulation relating to aflatoxin contamination in maize. In our empirical analysis we find that the effect of BTC is higher for poorer countries. The results have a significantly different policy implication for market access of poor countries. Not only weaker standards in the importing country but tighter standards in domestic markets of exporters could have a significant positive effect on exports. |
| Keywords: | Sanitary and phytosanitary standards, gravity model, multilateral resistance, bridge to cross, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149680&r=agr |
| By: | Cakir, Metin; Balagtas, Joseph V.; Okrent, Abigail M. |
| Abstract: | Package downsizing is common among the leading producers of packaged food products in the United States. In this study, we examine the effects of package downsizing on household food-at-home consumption and expenditure. We perform an exploratory data analysis of shelf stable tuna and peanut butter markets using Nielsen homescan data. The data comprise grocery store transactions made by a large panel of households over a period of 7 years, 2004-2010. We find that manufacturers use downsizing to implicitly increase prices. Consequently, the average annual household expenditures of both products are considerably higher than their levels before downsizing. The annual average volume consumption of peanut butter remains stable, whereas the volume consumption of shelf stable tuna is approximately 10 percent below its level before downsizing, in spite of an approximately 5 percent increase in the annual package consumption. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150680&r=agr |
| By: | Shimokawa, Satoru |
| Abstract: | We develop a new framework to analyze the effect of calorie posting on overconsumption of calories in a fixed-price context (e.g., fixed-price buffets). The framework demonstrates that a desire to get `a good deal’ (transaction utility) and loss aversion can induce asymmetry between two conflicting learning effects of calorie posing: a calorie-decreasing effect of learning that one was underestimating calorie contents (LUE effect) and a calorie-increasing effect of learning that one was overestimating calorie contents (LOE effect). Our laboratory snack choice experiments confirm that the LUE effect dominates the LOE effect under the context of overconsumption, which is consistent with transaction utility theory rather than loss aversion. The findings demonstrate the potential of calorie posting to mitigate overeating. |
| Keywords: | Calorie posting, Calorie consumption, Learning, Transaction utility, Loss aversion, Laboratory Experiment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, D81, D91, I12, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149687&r=agr |
| By: | Henning, Christian H.C.A.; Zarnekow, Nana; Petri, Svetlana; Albrecht, Ernst; Hedtrich, Johannes |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the ability of the political process to design public policies implying an eective and ecient provision of global and local environmental public goods. While it is commonly accepted that the market is unable to guarantee an ecient provision of public goods, such as environmental protection or food security, the question is if or under which condition political processes are ecient mechanisms of public good provision. Beyond policy failure due special interest politics policy failure also results from the fact that economic processes are often rather complex and hence laymen use simple mental models (political beliefs) to understand policy impacts. If political beliefs are biased political decisionmaking based on public opinion leads to rather inecient policies establishing the paradox of populist democracy policy failure. We use own choice experiment data on sustainable land use policy in Germany to estimate econometrically the WTP for relevant global and local environmental public goods as well as voters' political willingness-to-vote for specic land use policies. Based on these estimations we derive underlying political belief. Further, we assess to what extend a populist democracy policy failure results, i.e. to what extend policy choices driven by political beliefs imply inecient land use policies when compared to the counterfactual evidence-based policy choices driven by model-based technological relations. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150494&r=agr |
| By: | Bouma, Andrea; Durham, Catherine A.; Goddik, Lisbeth |
| Abstract: | A less examined facet of the local foods movement is the impact of the location of the producer on the feasibility of operating as a local supplier. Obvious variables are labor hours in travel to regional markets and fuel expenditures. The costs these engender is strongly related to the density of customers that are willing or able to deal with smaller scale delivery. Whether supplying produce or a value-added food, the viability of an enterprise which hopes to diversify its markets or products through a local channel is dependent on that density. Furthermore the price received varies greatly depending on whether the customer is a farmers market consumer, a local grocer or restaurant, or-as those markets are exhausted-a distributor. With value-added products (28% of farms engaged in entrepreneurial activities are producing value –added products (Martinez 2010)) the availability of alternative channels and pricing received in them is particularly important due to the capital investment required for equipment. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150502&r=agr |
| By: | Alston, Julian; Fuller, Kate; Kaplan, Jonathan; Tumber, Kabir |
| Abstract: | Pierce’s Disease (PD) of grapevines costs more than $100 million per year, even with public control programs in place that cost $50 million per year (Tumber et al., 2012). If the PD Control Program ended, and the GWSS was distributed freely throughout California, the annual cost to the winegrape industry would increase by more than $185 million (Alston et al., 2012). Using a simulation model of the market for California winegrapes, we estimate the benefits from research, development and adoption of PD-resistant vines as ranging from $4 million to $125 million annually over a 50 year horizon, depending on the length of the R&D lag and the rate of adoption. In addition to these quantitative results the paper offers insight into the broader question of economic evaluation of damage-mitigation technology for perennial crops. |
| Keywords: | Pierce’s Disease research, exotic pest, simulation model, perennial crop model, California wine and winegrapes, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q11, Q16, Q18, C61, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149994&r=agr |
| By: | Howard, Peter H.; Sterner, Thomas |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150424&r=agr |
| By: | Abdoulaye, Ibrahim Djido; Sanders, John H. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess the performance of farmers adopting an improved sorghum technology package in the Maradi region of Niger. A propensity score matching method is used to address self-selection bias into the program. First, we estimate a propensity model to participate in the extension program, examine factors affecting the participation, and assess the average adoption effect on participants by testing for productivity difference between adopters and non-adopters. Secondly, we estimate a stochastic production technology frontier to compare technical efficiency of farmers in the extension program. We test for returns to scale, examine factors affecting technical efficiency of participants, and compare technical efficiency scores of participants based on their compliance to program recommendations. Participants in the extension program are older, have less farming experience, and operate on larger farm sizes. After controlling for bias, there is very little change in the yield differences, which in both cases are substantial. There is some evidence for greater productivity of the smaller size producers.Technical efficiency of participants is increasing overtime, younger participants are technically more efficient and farming experience increases significantly participants’ technical efficiency. Good followers of the fertilization technique recommendation are much more technically efficient. |
| Keywords: | propensity score matching, stochastic frontier analysis, productivity, efficiency, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150434&r=agr |
| By: | Pak, Tae-young; Ferreira, Susana; Colson, Gregory |
| Abstract: | Sugar-sweetened beverages have emerged as one of the primary targets in the battle against obesity. Understanding the differential impacts of soda taxes for different obesity categories (e.g., moderate vs. morbidly obese) is critical to assess their full potential to not only reduce obesity rates, but to target those individuals who have the most to gain from a reduction in caloric intake, i.e., the morbidly obese. In this thesis we test two interrelated hypotheses associated with the health and social impacts of soda taxes as a policy instrument to combat obesity in the US. First, using data from a large representative sample of US adults, we assess whether the responsiveness of individuals to soda taxes is related to their body mass index (BMI). Second, we build upon these results to assess the impact of soda taxes on the BMI inequality (i.e., the BMI gap between normal weight and obese people) using weight inequality measures. Results from the analysis indicate that higher soft drink taxes slightly reduce the BMI of the morbidly obese, but not obesity inequality. |
| Keywords: | Body Mass Index, Soft Drink Taxation, Obesity, Morbid Obesity, Inequality Index, BRFSS, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, I14, I18, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149626&r=agr |
| By: | Sesmero, Juan; Schoengold, Karina |
| Abstract: | Government subsidies on electricity used for pumping groundwater by agricultural irrigators has long been suspected to be an important reason for overexploitation of aquifers in Mexico. We hypothesize that institutional arrangements that exacerbate non-excludability of groundwater also matter. We develop and estimate a model that accommodates strategic interactions among agricultural irrigators operating under distortive institutional arrangements. Results suggest that institutional arrangements are more important than electricity subsidies in explaining over extraction. Results also reveal that cost sharing of electricity by farmers may cause behavioral conjectures to change from negative (closer to Bertrand conjectures) to positive (closer to collusive conjectures). A new source of externalities is identified in Mexico’s institutional context (cost-share externalities) and found to be negatively linked to strategic externalities. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150286&r=agr |
| By: | Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R. |
| Abstract: | The question of increasing biofuels production and the development of different biofuels production technologies has become controversial. On the one hand, production of corn-based biofuels creates a ‘food/feed vs. fuel’ tradeoff condition, along with subsequent uncertainties for both consumers and producers (farmers). On the other, advanced biofuels (from, e.g., switchgrass, miscanthus, algae), although acknowledged as environmentally friendly, are not available yet on a large commercial scale. In addition, the resource availability for the production of biofuels feedstocks and the question of a sustainable biofuels production are major issues impacting decision making. By using a multi-objective optimization model and fuzzy logic, the paper presents an approach of modeling sustainable biofuels production from conventional and advanced biofuels feedstocks, under the condition of limited resources and uncertainty resulting from incomplete information or missing knowledge about resource availability for biofuels production. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, multi-criteria decision-making, linear programming (LP), fuzzy set theory, uncertainty, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150219&r=agr |
| By: | Chavas, Jean-Paul |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an economic and econometric analysis of demand dynamics, with an application to US aggregate data over the period 1948-2010. The model builds on duality and the benefit function, which provide strong linkages with the theory. The research involves the specification and estimation of dynamic price-dependent demands as representations of marginal benefits. The analysis uncovers strong statistical evidence of demand dynamics, especially for food. We find that the marginal benefit of food declines with food consumption and that this effect becomes much stronger in the long run. We also find that, while food and service are always complements, the strength of this complementarity relationship increases sharply in the longer run. |
| Keywords: | demand, duality, benefit, dynamics, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, D11, D12, C51, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149683&r=agr |
| By: | Gibson, John; Kim, Bonggeun |
| Abstract: | If relative prices of goods within a commodity group are constant, Hicksian separability lets the price of a single good represent the group price level. This is relied on by designers of price questionnaires used in household surveys and by methods of estimating demand systems from household survey data. A survey from Vietnam with multiple specifications from within the same food groups clearly shows that within-group relative prices are not constant over space. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150387&r=agr |
| By: | Loureiro, Maria L.; Rahmani, Djamal |
| Abstract: | We conducted a survey and a randomized natural experiment with the same subjects to investigate the effect of information about calorie intake on fast food choices. This combined approach allows us to maximize both internal and external research validity and test consistency of findings. We find that providing information about calories in a survey context for fast food menus has a moderate effect on calorie consumption, decreasing on average by 2.96 percent the amount of calories of the selected food choices. However, the same nutritional information had no significant impact on actual purchases in the restaurant context. Among the possible menus, the salad menu (the healthiest menu) was the most preferred option by those respondents who received nutritional information in the survey context; whereas in the restaurant, the most popular choice for the same group of people was the “Double bacon burger option” (the least healthy option). Finally, we find that the average calorie content of participants’ actual purchases increases significantly (0.17%) with the number of days elapsed between the day when the survey took place (and information was provided) and the actual purchase day at the restaurant. These results show large discrepancies between stated preferences and actual market behavior. These findings may be justified by the existence of projection bias and subjects acting under rational ignorance. |
| Keywords: | actual market behavior, labeling, stated preferences, self-control, projection bias, rational ignorance, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, 3C, 9I, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150622&r=agr |
| By: | Dodson, Charles B. |
| Abstract: | A default model of racial discrimination is estimated for direct farm loans made by FSA in fiscal 2005. Model results indicated that when controlling for creditworthiness, Blacks who received FSA direct loans had higher default rates suggesting they were generally less creditworthy. This would not be consistent with the Becker ‘taste based’ discrimination model and provides no evidence of discrimination either by FSA or among commercial lenders. Higher default rates for other racial minorities and women provide no evidence of discrimination among other SDA groups. |
| Keywords: | Racial discrimination, FSA direct lending, taste-based discrimination, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150492&r=agr |
| By: | Mantino, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper will address the changes the CAP post‐2013 may bring to its second pillar in three EU countries with very different institutional settings (France, Italy and Spain). After the presentation of the legislative package put forward by the European Commission, a debate emerged in these countries on how to define rural development strategies for the period 2014‐2020. The presentation will discuss positive innovations and main challenges of the new rural development policies with respect to what happened in the 2007‐2013 period. In particular, the paper intends to focus on the following issues: 1)which relevant changes have been introduced in the framework of rules in the field of rural development; 2)how these changes can influence the preparation of the next programming period 2014-2020, looking more in depth at three countries (Italy, Spain and France);3) what lessons can be drawn from this reform and the initial implementation in three countries in terms of institutional changes and their likely success and failure. |
| Keywords: | common agricultural policies, rural development, institutional changes, International Relations/Trade, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:150236&r=agr |
| By: | Cai, Xiaowei; Noel, Jay E. |
| Abstract: | The determinants of regional farmland values are evolving over time and the farmland value growth varies by regions. As a result, the new regional farmland valuation models need to be dynamically updated with the changes in public policy, input and output markets and regional environmental amenities. This study used a Hedonic pricing model to examine the key determinants that influence the farmland values in 26 counties of California across the seven regions based on the different crop varieties and county-level economic characteristics. Specifically, we analyzed the relationship between variables that are deemed to influence demand, supply and the agricultural land values. The estimation results show that the farmland value in California is mostly determined by the production, productivities and dollar returns to the tree nuts, citrus and wine grapes. Specifically, higher productivity and net returns contribute to the increase in the farmland values. Urban influence factors have been playing a critical role in affecting the overall farmland value. For example, each additional acre of land converted to urban use raises the farmland value by $0.89 per acre. In addition, high real estate earnings might lead to rising farmland values. However, high farm earnings per capita could lower the farmland value, which suggests a tendency of witching from pursuing economies of scale to pursuing high value-added crop production that needs less farmland. Finally, high per-capita GDP and high population density can increase the farmland values. |
| Keywords: | Farmland value, Agricultural production, Returns, Urban influences, Agribusiness, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149991&r=agr |
| By: | Cook, Aaron M.; Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob E.; Sesmero, Juan P. |
| Abstract: | We use three waves of national representative household level panel data from Malawi to employ a structural model to estimate how households make land and labor allocation decisions in response to climate change. We first model the allocation of land to improved maize varieties as a function of precipitation history, input and output prices, household characteristics and extension advice and then estimate the welfare benefits associated with this decision in a household net income equation. This second stage also reveals the extent to which the household shift labor off-farm as total growing season precipitation fluctuates. We find that a 1% increase in intra-seasonal precipitation variability reduces household income by 1.5%. This effect falls to 1.3% after we account for the expected adjustment in improved maize adoption. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150507&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Jing; Shively, Gerald; Binkley, James |
| Abstract: | In the canonical consumer demand problem, an agent makes a decision about quantities to consume, under the assumption that all possible varieties are available and can be accessed at zero cost. Quantities of each budget item are adjusted to achieve maximum utility subject to the budget constraint. As a result, utility and expenditure reflect aggregations of quantity and, implicitly, variety. In reality, the cost of accessing variety may not be zero. In this paper we study the consumer’s choice problem using an endogenous variety approach, allowing variety access cost to influence consumption. We develop a conceptual framework for the problem and test its predictions empirically by comparing patterns of dietary diversity over time among a large sample of urban and rural Chinese consumers. We find that access costs, reflecting differences in infrastructure and household storage technologies, influence dietary diversity. |
| Keywords: | dietary diversity, rural-urban difference, variety access cost, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D13, I10, Q18, R22, |
| Date: | 2013–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149624&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, Shuai; Chen, Xiaoguang; Xu, Jintao |
| Abstract: | Using a unique county-level panel on crop yields and daily weather dataset over the past decade, we estimate the impact of climate change on corn and soybean yields in China. Our results suggest the existence of nonlinear and asymmetric relationships between corn and soybean yields and climate variables. We find that extreme high temperatures are always harmful for crop growth. Moreover, the rapid expansion of corn and soybean acreages at both intensive- and extensive margins had detrimental effects on corn and soybean yields. Using estimated coefficients, we estimate changing climate conditions over the study period has led to an economic loss of $220 million in 2009 alone in China’s corn and soybean sectors. Corn yields in China are predicted to decrease by 2-5% under the slowest warming scenario and by 5-15% under the fastest warming scenario by the end of the century. The reductions in soybean yields are found to be more pronounced, about 5-10% and 8-22%, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Corn and soybean yields, China, Crop Production/Industries, Q54, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149739&r=agr |
| By: | Kanter, Christopher A.; Hueth, Brent; Gould, Brian W. |
| Abstract: | Due to differences in ownership structure between cooperative and non-cooperative firms (NCFs), it has been hypothesized that co-ops may be less efficient than their non-cooperative counterparts. Illiquidity of owners’ investment and democratic governance may lead to underinvestment and managerial shirking in cooperative firms, both technical inefficiency sources, and the lack of a clear profit motive generates “inefficient” (relative to a profit-maximizing firm) economic decisions. This is especially true in the dairy product manufacturing sector, where production is capital intensive and factors leading to non-optimal investment decisions may have a large impact on efficiency. In this research we will use a unique dataset that includes plant level panel data for dairy product manufacturers from the Census of Manufactures encompassing the years 1977-2007 to determine whether there is a difference in plant level efficiency between cooperative firms and NCFs, as well as the source of any measured inefficiency. We will employ Data Envelopment and Stochastic Frontier (SFA) analyses to ensure robustness of results across alternative methodologies for productivity measurement. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150497&r=agr |
| By: | Hueth, Brent; Taylor, Christopher W. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150506&r=agr |
| By: | Hueth, Brent |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2013–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150182&r=agr |