Agribusiness Commons^™

Relating Diet, Demographics And Lifestyle To Increasing U.S. Obesity Rates, Christiane Schroeter

Agribusiness

Changes in the American lifestyle are putting more individuals at risk due to the declining quality of their diets. In the last 20 years, the readily available high-fat foods (e.g., "fast foods") combined with the decreased caloric requirements due to lower physical activity levels is assumed to be the major factor in the sharp rise in the prevalence of obesity. The typical away-from-home meal is less healthy than food at home, since it tends to contain more total fat and saturated fat, less calcium, fiber, and iron, and fewer servings of fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, due to the super-sizing trend …

Sustained Growth In Nebraska, Saeed Ahmad, John Austin, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Bruce Johnson, Mike Lundeen, Donis Petersan, Franz Schwarz, Eric Thompson, Keith K. Turner

Economics Faculty Publications

National Macroeconomic conditions are favorable for future expansion of income, employment, and revenue in Nebraska. In particular, the U.S. economy is now in the heart of an expansion expected to persist over the three year forecast period. The principal engine of growth will be a sustained expansion in private sector investment and consumption demand. However, the rate of growth in the national economy likely will be moderate rather than rapid. At least three factors will act to moderate growth. The first is higher energy prices. Rapid growth in global demand is expected to keep prices for oil and natural gas …

Assessment Of Biofuels In California And Potential For Future Utilization, Douglas Williams, James J. Ahern, Keith Ochwat

Agribusiness

This study analyzed the potential energy resources contained in the biomass residues from the leading crops and livestock in California. As compared with an earlier similar study by Knutson and Miller (1982), where a total of 24 million tons of biomass was reported having an energy value of 336,000 billion Btu’s, this current study showed a total of over 18 million tons (excluding 7.2 million tons of lumber mill and forest slash residues), which translates to almost 13 million tons of dry matter. The energy value of this biomass is 189,000 billion Btu’s, about 56 % of the 1982 value. …

The Impact Of Health Information And Demographic Changes On Aggregate Meat Demand, Christiane Schroeter, Ken Foster

Agribusiness

Over the past few decades, U.S. meat consumption patterns have changed. Figure 1 shows the U.S. per-capita meat consumption from 1970-1999. Consumers have increased their total meat consumption by 9.3% from 1970 to 1999, however, the composition of the meat consumption changed as well. While beef consumption has consistently decreased since 1985 - that of poultry and fish have increased. Per capita pork consumption has not changed on average from the 1970’s to the 1990’s.

The Impact Of Health Information And Women In The Work Force On Aggregate Meat Demand, Christiane Schroeter, Ken Foster

Agribusiness

Over the past few decades, U.S. meat consumption patterns have changed. Changes in food consumption patterns can be the result of changing demographic characteristics, changing lifestyles, increasing health awareness, and nutritional concerns. Prior research suggests that these factors have significant influence on the demand for meat (Capps and Schmitz; Kinnucan, Hsia, and Jackson). The recent interest in low carbohydrate diets and the association with increased red meat consumption is an anecdotal example of this phenomenon.

The Impact Of Market Structure On Agricultural Technology Transfer, Charles F. Nicholson

Agribusiness

An agribusiness focus has emerged in public discussions as way to enhance agricultural production in Indonesia and to improve sustainable income for farmers. The focus has led to increased attention on marketing. Marketing agricultural products via processing technologies can indeed address national objectives of rural poverty alleviation. REI-Indonesia observed that limited marketing alternatives are frequently mentioned by farmers as a significant constraint. In Indonesia, a significant amount of institutional support currently exists for the ideas presented in this paper. In particular, one should consider the multifaceted mission of agricultural development in Indonesia, which includes: (a) policies that encourage competition and, …

Cost Of Organic Pork Production: A Seasonal Analysis And Needed Price Premium For Continuous Production, James Kliebenstein, Sean P. Hurley, Ben Larson, Mark Honeyman

Agribusiness

Niche markets of agricultural products are experiencing rapid growth. One such niche market is organic pork. Organic pork production is a relatively new and expanding segment of the pork industry. Similar to some other niche markets, it has also experienced rapid growth (Organic Trade Association). It is well known that the cost of organic pork production is greater than for traditional pork production due to increased feed costs and decreased swine performance. The industry has dealt with this by paying premiums to induce producers to produce the organic product. However, it is not clear on what level or how the …

Household-Level Impacts Of Dairy Cow Ownership In Coastal Kenya, Charles F. Nicholson, Philip K. Thornton, Rahab W. Muinga

Agribusiness

This study uses heteroskedastic Tobit and Censored Least Absolute Deviations models to examine the impacts of dairy cow ownership on selected outcomes for a sample of 184 households in coastal Kenya. The outcomes examined include gross household cash income, gross non-agricultural income, consumption of dairy products, time allocated to cattlerelated tasks, number of labourers hired and total wage payments to hired labourers. The number of dairy cows owned has a large and statistically significant impact on household cash income; each cow owned increased income by at least 53% of the mean total income of households without dairy cows. Dairy cow …

A Cross Comparison Between California And Its Domestic And International Competitors With Respect To Key Labor Issues, Sean P. Hurley

Agribusiness

California had a market value of agricultural products sold of $25.7 billion in the year 2002 ranking it as the top agricultural producing state in the country. Approximately 74% of this market value was attributed to crop sales. California producers spent nearly $20.5 billion on total farm expenses. The largest single expense for agricultural producers in the state was labor at $4.3 billion. Another $1.6 billion was spent on contract labor. Hired and contract labor expenses accounted for nearly 29% of total farm expense. Approximately 34,000 California farms hired over 535,000 laborers. Of these farms, 25% reported hiring migrant labor …

Free-Stall Dimensions: Effects On Preference And Stall Usage, Cassandra B. Tucker, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

In 2 experiments, free-stall dimensions were examined to determine how they affected stall preference, usage, cleanliness, and milk production in Holstein dairy cattle. In experiment 1, stall width (112 or 132 cm) and stall length (229 and 274 cm from curb to wall) were compared in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of stall treatments using 15 individually housed, non-lactating animals. Cows showed no clear preference for stall size as measured by lying time. When animals had no choice between stalls, average lying time was higher in the wide stalls than in the narrow stalls (10.8 vs. 9.6 ± 0.3 …

Obesity, Educational Attainment, And State Economic Welfare, Martin W. Sivula Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

For the first time in history, estimates of the overweight people in the world rival estimates of those malnourished. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) ranked obesity among the top 10 risks to human health worldwide. In the early 1960s, nearly half of the Americans were overweight and 13% were obese. Today some 64% of U.S. adults are overweight and 30.5% are obese. Even more alarming, twice as many U.S. children are overweight than were twenty years ago, a 66% increase. Non-communicable diseases impose a heavy economic burden on already strained health systems. Health is a key determinant of development …

Consumer Knowledge And Acceptance Of Agricultural Biotechnology Vary, Jennifer S. James

Agribusiness

Results from consumer surveys reveal some basic conclusions about consumer attitudes toward agricultural biotechnology. First, consumers do not agree about whether biotech foods are good or bad. Second, a small group of people strongly opposes them. Third, the majority of consumers are uninformed about the technology and how food is produced. Relatively small but vocal anti-biotechnology activist groups are successful at influencing public opinion because of consumers’ lack of knowledge, creating a role for universities and government agencies to provide clear, objective and accessible information.

Levy-Funded Research Choices By Producers And Society, Jennifer S. James, Julian M. Alston, John W. Freebairn

Agribusiness

Commodity levies are used increasingly to fund producer collective goods such as research and promotion. In the present paper we examine theoretical relationships between producer and national benefits from levy-funded research, and consider the implications for the appropriate rates of matching government grants, applied with a view to achieving a closer match between producer and national interests. In many cases the producer and national optima coincide. First, regardless of the form of the supply shift, when product demand is perfectly elastic, or all the product is exported, domestic benefits and costs of levy-funded research all go to producers and they …

Us Dairy Product Trade: Modeling Approaches And The Impact Of New Product Formulations, Charles F. Nicholson, Phillip M. Bishop

Agribusiness

Several domestic and international developments increased interest among the US dairy industry in world markets during the 1990s. One development was the passage of the NAFTA and Uruguay Round (URA) trade agreements in the mid-decade, and their successors, the current “Doha Round” of international trade negotiations now underway. Another development during the 1990s was additional (positive) experience gained by the US dairy industry in export markets. Much of this experience came about because increases in world market prices for butter and powder in 1995-96 made US exports more competitive. The Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) is also credited with improving …

Crop Updates 2004 - Cereals, Wal Anderson, Vivian Vanstone, Robert Loughman, Vanessa Stewart, Darshan Sharma, Christine Zaicou-Kunesch, Brenda Shackley, Mohammad Amjad, Steve Penny Jr, Glen Riethmuller, Jeromy Lemon, Mario D'Antuono, Veronika Reck, Ben Curtis, Judith Devenish, Melaine Kupsch, Anne Smith, Blakely Paynter, Roslyn Jetter, Leanne Schulz, Jocelyn Ball, Tom Sweeny, Stephen Loss, Ashleigh Brooks, Justin Fuery, Geoff Anderson, Zed Rengel, Paul Damon, Eddy Pol, Narelle Hill, Ray Tugwell, Ron Mctaggart, Nathan Moyes, John Majewski, Manisha Shanker, James Piotrowski, Ciara Beard, Kithsiri Jayasena, Kazue Tanaka, Grey Poulish, Debbie Thackray, Rohan Prince, Roger Jones, Peter Nelson, Nigel Metz, Leisa Armstrong, Yee Leong (Alex) Yung, Moin Salam, David Tennant

Crop Updates

This session covers twenty eight papers from different authors:

PLENARY

1. Declining profitability in continuous cropping systems. Is more wheat the answer on Duplex soil? Dr Wal Anderson, Department of Agriculture

2. Disease implications of extending the wheat phase in low-medium rainfall areas, Dr Vivian Vanstone and Dr Robert Loughman, Department of Agriculture

3. Prolonged wheat phase on duplex soils – where do weeds set the boundary? Vanessa Stewart, Department of Agriculture

WHEAT AGRONOMY

4. Management of small grain screenings in wheat, Dr Wal Anderson and Dr Darshan Sharma, Department of Agriculture

5. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties, Christine …

Livestock, Land Use Change, And Environmental Outcomes In The Developing World, R. W. Blake, C. F. Nicholson

Agribusiness

No Abstract