Agribusiness Commons^™

Reclaiming Your Competitive Advantage, Mason T. Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The Kentucky Distillers Association announced that over 10 million barrels of bour-
bon are aging across the commonwealth. In 2020, Kentucky distillers purchased 17
million bushels of corn, 75% coming from Kentucky farmers (KDA, 2020). That is,
65% of corn grown in Kentucky remains in the state to be used in Kentucky bour-
bon whiskey distillation. There is no shortage of support from the distilling industry
for American agriculture and the Kentucky economy. In the same, American wine
production is a dynamic sector in the United States economy, accounting for $276.07
billion in economic output or around 1.28% of GDP. …

Three Essays On Health, Food, And Agricultural Economics, Saber Feizy

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation comprises three distinct but interrelated projects that explore the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, and economics. The first project investigates the impact of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food programs on the health outcomes of its participants. Using fixed effects models and a matching algorithm, the study finds that while conventional fixed effects models indicate a significant effect of CSA participation on diet-related medical expenditures, our modified time-heterogenous fixed effects model did not find a meaningful effect. The results of the matching method are consistent with those of our modified model.

The second project examines racial disparities in the prevalence …

Consumer Measures Of Local Food System Performance And Shopping Behavior Across Covid, Azita Varziri

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays: In the first essay, we utilize a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to measure the residents’ perceptions of the local food system performance. Local food system (LFS) components are classified into related measures that may help explain the overall performance scores provided. LFS performance measures are explored across 15 different communities in the U.S. South. The second essay explores the awareness and performance differences toward farmers markets, including the markets themselves and the corresponding local food product quality, product diversity, and markets infrastructure across different age-range groups and community sizes in Southern states. Finally, in …

Demand System Analysis Of Beer In The U.S. Market, Laxmi Devi Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated remarkable changes in consumer purchasing and consumption behavior of food and beverages. This inherently raises the question of what the demand for beer differentiated by brands in the U.S. during the pandemic is? To answer this question, we used the recent Nielsen scanner data and employed the Linear Approximated Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) model to jointly estimate the demand for the five major brands: Budweiser, Coors, Corona, Heineken, and Miller, as well as remaining brands combined. Our results suggest the sales of Corona and Heineken increased during the pandemic. After controlling …

Demand Analysis Of Vietnamese Coffee In The U.S., Leo Kyaw Zin

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Coffee production in Vietnam has increased almost 100-fold within the past three decades, positioning it to become the second-largest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil. The U.S. is a top market for Vietnamese coffee. In this study, we estimate a conditional demand system of expenditure share equations for coffee from Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia, and an aggregate of seven other countries in the U.S. coffee market using the Linear Approximation Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) and based on monthly time-series data from 2000 to 2020 with a total of 252 observations. Compensated and uncompensated own-price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities were …

Spent Hemp As An Animal Feed And Vertical Price Transmission In Us Hemp Value-Added Supply Chain, Solomon E. Odiase

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis comprises of two articles covering spent hemp's prospects as an animal feed and the price interaction across the hemp commodity value-added supply chain. The first article uses a comparative analysis tool to analyze the potential of spent hemp as an animal feed or feed ingredient based on its yield, nutritional composition and market price. This comparative advantage analysis revealed that spent hemp is competitive based on its rich essential nutritional content, comparatively high yield per acre, and low market price. Furthermore, with the increasing drought conditions, production cost and market price of alfalfa hay, spent hemp may fill …

Three Essays On Price Analysis And International Trade, Wei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The first chapter of this dissertation examines price discovery and volatility spillovers in the coffee spot-futures commodity market over the post-ICA period by employing the PT-IS and bivariate EGARCH models. This research covers two actively traded coffee types, Arabica and Robusta, and utilizes daily time-series price data over 1990:01-2020:04 for Arabica and over 2008:01-2020:04 for Robusta. The empirical results indicate that coffee spot markets play a dominant role in the coffee price discovery for both Arabica and Robusta. The results also show volatility spillovers take place from the coffee spot market to the futures markets. This study helps small-scale coffee …

Two Essays On Food Environment, Nutrition, And Food Insecurity, Suliman Abdulaziz Almojel

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

A healthy food environment is fundamental to good health. It contributes to the reduction of obesity and the development of healthy eating habits. In spite of this, many people in the United States (US) have been hypnotized to become obese due to the current food environment. Recently, the US has consistently ranked high in the world in terms of obesity. The rising rate is symptomatic of consuming unhealthy diets. Besides, the double-edged crisis of the US food environment and obesity poses a major threat to food security and public health. Therefore, studying the US food environment is important to sustain …

Consumers’ Willingness-To-Pay For Local Sourcing In Alternative Restaurant Formats, Mahla Zare Mehrjerdi

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays that contribute to the research on local food purchase and consumers’ preferences and willingness-to-pay. Essay I examines whether there are differences in consumers’ willingness-to-pay for local food across alternative restaurant formats and provides a justification for using a system to legitimate local sourcing in restaurants. Essay II studies consumers’ preferences for local sourcing in restaurants in rural and urban communities and elaborates on where there is a significant willingness-to-pay for local food in rural communities. Lastly, essay III examines consumers’ purchase frequency of local food across direct and intermediated markets and provides results on …

Evaluating The Economic Costs And Land Value Implications Of Implementing Cover Crops In Kentucky, Robert C. Ellis

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis is comprised of two essays regarding the costs and impact of land values due to cover crops. This first essay uses a linear-programming resource allocation model combined with sequencing and machinery selection to optimize the practices and machinery utilization of a hypothetical western Kentucky grain farm. This was accomplished through maximizing returns over selected costs at various acreage adoption levels. Additionally, a decision tool was developed to assess the costs related to cover crop adoption. The results show a $30 per acre cost to adopt 1000 acres of cover crops when no benefits were considered. The second essay …

Two Essays On Input Substitution And Optimal Decision Making In Crop And Livestock Production Systems, John T. Allison Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The thesis presented consists of two essays that analyze input substitution and decision making in crop and livestock production systems. The first essay consists of a whole-farm analysis that sought to optimize feed mixes and enterprise combinations for an organic dairy operation in the Southeastern United States. This was accomplished through mathematical programming where whole-farm net returns were maximized, and total feed costs were minimized simultaneously for four milk production level cases. Additionally, the sensitivity of the system and break-even milk price were explored. Results suggest substitutability in ration components where an increase in supplemental feeds is justified by additional …

Innovation Behavior Of Agri-Food Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises: Emerging Countries, Gaukhar B. Kussainova

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This paper examines the innovative behavior of agri-food firms located in Central and Eastern Europe. In the literature, empirical analyses on innovation activities of firms focus on various case studies from around the world. However, very few studies explored the innovation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from Central and Eastern Europe’s agri-food sector. The analysis uses the logit estimation method and firm-level data, which are obtained from ERBD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS). Results suggest that firms that spent some proportion of their financial budget on research and development (R&D), had workforce training programs and …

The Consumption And Sales Pattern Of Ugly Apples In South Korea, Hyun Jong Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Approximately half of all wasted food is fruits and vegetables. One major cause of food waste is abnormal aesthetics; even if it is just as delicious as its normal counterpart. Food with a non-standard appearance (hereafter called ugly food) can be expelled by the markets. To reduce such waste, ugly food campaigns, which were developed in Europe and spread throughout the world, advocate for the consumption of ugly food. To study the problem of ugly food waste, this thesis examines ugly apples, since apples are the most common, representative, and readily accessible fruit. The objective of this thesis is to …

Three Essays On The Application Of Machine Learning Methods In Economics, Abdelaziz Lawani

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Over the last decades, economics as a field has experienced a profound transformation from theoretical work toward an emphasis on empirical research (Hamermesh, 2013). One common constraint of empirical studies is the access to data, the quality of the data and the time span it covers. In general, applied studies rely on surveys, administrative or private sector data. These data are limited and rarely have universal or near universal population coverage. The growth of the internet has made available a vast amount of digital information. These big digital data are generated through social networks, sensors, and online platforms. These data …

Investment For Trade? Impact Of Investment From Gulf Cooperation Council Countries On Trade, Sattam Faleh Almodarra

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The world has made great progress over the centuries through the massive increase in the interconnectedness of nations around the globe. Today, the world is connected through various ways, including the movement of goods, people, and money. The amount of goods traded across countries borders has drastically increased as the result of technological progress and the removal of barriers to trade. Not only has the world become more interconnected with the physical flows of goods and services, but also countries of the world have become more integrated financially. This study proposes to analyze how increase in financial flows, as measured …

The Impact Of Food Recall On Third-Party Certification Adoption, Hongyi Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Food safety problems have gained national attention, and food recall is one of the most important indications of this concern. Third-party certifications have become a popular way to improve the safety and quality of products for consumers. Publications related to third-party certification usually focus on the motives and benefits of a particular certification. However, to date, no existing research investigates the effects of food recalls on certification adoption.

This study uses Probit models with a binary endogenous explanatory variable to examine the relationship between food recalls and third-party certification, based on recalls occurring between January 1, 2015 and February 18, …

Legitimacy Of Local Food In The U.S. Market: Comparative Consumer Perspectives, Ali Asgari

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Measures of legitimacy have been described in terms of four legitimacy types, regulatory, normative, cognitive, and industry. This study provides one of the first and only empirical examinations of legitimacy, particularly with an application to local foods and sheds light on how consumers view various types of legitimacy related to local food. To apply the concept of legitimacy to local foods marketing, we take an empirical survey asking about consumer perspectives of local food, along with different shopping behavior questions.

Using cumulative logit models, results of the legitimacy models suggest that core consumers are more likely to place a high …

Determining The Value Of Birthrank And Parent Age In Thoroughbred Racehorses, Xiurui Cui

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Thoroughbred racing is referred to as “the sport of Kings”, because historically it was a leisure activity of the upper-class. Thoroughbred breeding on the other hand has transformed from a hobby of the upper-class to a worldwide agricultural industry. With the deep involvement of the royal and rich in the Thoroughbred industry, the auction prices of horses are raised significantly at the top end of the market.

Research in the biological sciences suggests there exits correlations between dam age, foal birthrank, and the racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. This study first investigates how the market values these biological factors and …

Home Cooking And Willingness To Pay: Local Blueberry Pancake, Muffin, And Banana Bread Mixes In A Take-And-Bake Experiment, Yves T. Ilunga

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study explores measurable factors that influence consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for locally produced blueberry mixes: pancake mix, muffin mix and banana bread mix. The innovative aspect of this study is that the experiment took place at participants’ home. The post-preparation survey used a payment card approach to elicit WTP for each product tried as well as for the hypothetical third product not tried. A total of 101 out of 102 participants (99.01%) completed the process and returned the survey. Participants were instructed to prepare the products at home, sample the prepared product, and then evaluate the product and …

Economic Considerations Of Aggressively Treating The Influenza Virus In Equines, Charlotte R. Hansen

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The equine influenza virus is a significant cause of respiratory disease in horses. Even though horses generally recover from this virus, sometimes horses with equine influenza develop secondary bacterial infections which can cause severe pneumonia, thereby increasing recovery times. Owners and managers are faced with the decision of whether to delay preventative treatment in hopes of the horse avoids contracting a secondary bacterial infection (“wait and see”) or aggressively treat the horse with an antibiotic in hopes of avoiding a serious infection (“treat now”). From a decision making standpoint, the economic considerations include explicit treatment costs as well as nonmonetary …

Price Analysis Under Production Differentiation In Green Coffee Markets, Xi-Le Li

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

To better understand the world green coffee market especially from the perspective of the coffee producing countries, I study three topics to overview and identify a puzzle: why growing differentiation of the coffee industry in final product markets has not been reflected in a similar pattern of differentiation to coffee farmers.

My first essay is a descriptive overview of the world coffee market, based on the framework and definition of competitiveness to understand both the demand and supply side of the coffee market. This paper then focuses on product differentiation as the source of competitiveness in the industry. Coffee as …

Wine Company Analysis In “The New World” And “The Old World”, Jiaji Liang

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

There is a growing global market for wine. In our research, we mainly examine wine companies from four countries: France, Italy, the U.S. and China. Data used in this analysis comes from the 2010 to 2013 Plimsoll Top 500 report, focusing on wine companies’ financial performance. The primary goal is to identify which factors may have significant influence on the firms’ profitability. Two-way fixed effects panel data analysis indicates that the firm’s shareholders’ funds in total asset have significant and positive effect on companies’ yearly profit. The results suggest that four years could be a reasonable period for most wine …

A Conjoint Analysis Study Of Preferences And Purchasing Behavior Of Potential Adopters Of The Bureau Of Land Management Wild Horses, Omotoyosi O. Adekunle

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study uses conjoint analysis to examine the preferences of buyers for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horses based on physical attributes of wild horses and individual characteristics of the buyers. Generalized ordered logit models and multinomial logit models are used to study the impact of the buyers’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, knowledge about wild horse care, and number of wild horses previously adopted on physical attributes of the horses such as color, age, height, training status, temperament, conformation, and unique markings. Using a choice experiment, taken together, these attributes determine buyer’s preferences for a wild horse. …

The Effects Of Country Of Origin Image And Patriotism On Consumer Preference For Domestic Versus Imported Beef, Thong Meas

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Country of origin (COO) effect is a well-researched topic in the international marketing literature. It is well recognized that consumers are biased against imports, due to consumer ethnocentrism or patriotism tendency. However, the research on COO effects also suggests that consumers form certain image of origin countries (COO image) and favorable image, be it associated with the countries, their people, or general product quality, improves the evaluation and acceptance of foreign imports.

The publications related to COO effects which focus on consumer durables are abundant. However, the contrasting COO effects on food products are much less investigated. This study surveys …

Food Imports Under Foreign Exchange Constraints In The Cfa’S Franc Zone Of Sub-Saharan Africa (Ssa), Seydina Ousmane Sene

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

To respond to the high imported food prices in their domestic markets, net food importing countries in the Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) zone^[1] are adjusting their import tariffs and homologate domestic prices of imported commodities such as rice, wheat, maize, and sugar. This research uses a multivariate specification of error correction model (VECM) of estimation to investigate the link between food imports, world price index of rice, wheat, maize and sugar, real effective exchange rates, domestic food production, GDP, and trade openness in the short and long run. The data are on each homogenous commodity from 1969 to 2012. …

Essays On Fresh Vegetable Production And Marketing Practices, Michael Vassalos

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Commercial fresh vegetable production is one of the most rewarding and risky farming activities. The price and yield variations throughout the production year, the special characteristics of fresh vegetable produce (i.e. perishability), and the changing consumer demands are some of the factors contributing to the increased uncertainty faced by vegetable producers. This dissertation combined mathematical programming and econometric techniques to: 1) investigate the optimal production and marketing practices under different price distribution information scenarios, risk aversion levels and marketing outlets and 2) examine growers’ preferences as well the effect of risk aversion levels and growers’ risk perception on the choice …