Agriculture Commons^™

Measuring The Effect Of Cold Storage, Captive Supply, And Concentration On The Marketing Margin In The U.S. Pork Industry, Yuhang Liu

Open Access Theses

This study investigates the implication of key decision variables at the control of processing firms in a concentrated industry. Succinctly, the decisions examined affect the firm's ability to buffer short run supply and demand fluctuations through storage and access to an alternative source of specialized inputs essential to production. What makes them different in the context of this research is a focus on high-throughput processing plants where capacity utilization can result in cost efficiencies and a high degree of market concentration where adjustments in quantity demanded of the specialized input can affect its price and where adjustments in the quantity …

A County Level Analysis Of 2014 Farm Bill Commodity Payments, Seth Cole Boone

Open Access Theses

United States commodity policy was subject to a large transition in how the federal government supports agricultural producers when the 2014 Farm Bill was passed in February of 2014. The new programs are the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. Methods used by the federal government to distribute farm income support have evolved from constant decoupled payments into programs that respond to agricultural market fluctuations, delivering payments that are inversely related to market performance.

The United States has a long history of government programs directly and indirectly supporting farmers and their income, dating back to …

The Labor Market Consequences Of Endogenous Low-Skill Migration With A Market-Based Immigration Policy, German A. Marquez Alcala

Open Access Theses

The undocumented migration of Mexican nationals to the U.S. is largely influenced by labor demand in low-skill sectors. The legal migration channels available to Mexican nationals with little education are based on family petitions and subject to visa quotas which are dwarfed by the demand for entry to the United States; visa approval can take upwards of 20 years for a Mexican national with little education and few resources. Thus, undocumented immigration is a more responsive unskilled labor distribution mechanism than the existing quota-based immigration policy. However, the restrictive legal migration channels and increased costs of undocumented migration are stifling …

The Effect Of Climate Change On The Economics Of Conservation Tillage: A Study Based On Field Experiments In Indiana, Whitney Hodde

Open Access Theses

This study evaluates the economics of conservation tillage (chisel till and no till) and examines how climate change will likely affect it. We use data from long-term experimental plots in Indiana to estimate how corn and soybean yields respond to weather patterns under alternative tillage practices. Yield functions are coupled with random draws of weather variables to construct distributions describing the probability that conservation tillage will result in higher profits than more intensive tillage, under current and future climatic regimes. Results suggest that, in our study area, projected climate change will make conservation tillage more attractive.

Mergers And Acquisitions In Food And Agribusiness: Returns, Drivers, And Long Run Performance, Josiah M. Ringelberg

Open Access Theses

Food and agribusiness in the U.S is a dynamic and ever changing business. The industry has seen booms and busts, considerable consolidation, and continued globalization in the past few decades. Businesses operating within its sectors have had to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability as the industry’s landscape consolidates at the consumer, supplier, and producer level. One strategy companies have used to grow and position themselves throughout years of industry consolidation has been merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions.

During the eleven years from 1985 and 1995, the food industry was listed in the top 10 M&A most active industries ten times. It …

Irrigation Adoption, Groundwater Demand And Policy In The U.S. Corn Belt, 2040-2070, Molly A. Van Dop

Open Access Theses

Climate change across the U.S. Corn Belt will significantly increase precipitation variability and temperatures by midcentury. Corn and soybean producers will seek to find strategies that may help to mitigate the potentially negative effects on yield. The adoption of irrigation technology has increased over the last several decades to improve yields in areas with insufficient rainfall, and is currently being adopted by producers who are choosing to minimize risk due to weather variability. To see if this trend in irrigation adoption has the potential to expand in the wake of climate change, this study uses weather data from four General …

Economic And Environmental Impacts Of A Hypothetical Global Gmo Ban, Harrison H. Mahaffey

Open Access Theses

The objective of this research is to assess the global economic and greenhouse gas emission impacts of GMO crops. This is done by modeling two counterfactual scenarios and evaluating them apart and in combination. The first scenario models the impact of a global GMO ban. The second scenario models the impact of increased GMO penetration. The focus is on the price and welfare impacts, and land use change greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with GMO technologies. Much of the prior work on the economic impacts of GMO technology has relied on a combination of partial equilibrium analysis and econometric techniques. …

Investigating U.S. Resident Perceptions Of Corporate Social Responsibility In Food And Agriculture, Carissa Jae Morgan

Open Access Theses

Corporations are prioritizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities by investing in and actively promoting their social practices. In the U.S. of the modern food supply chain creates a unique challenge for corporations to address concerns about social issues of consumers and non-consumers alike. This study is motivated by the need to better understand individuals’ perceptions of CSR as it pertains to the food supply chain. In April 2015 an online survey collected information from 1,201 U.S. residents with the objective of investigating individuals’ perceptions of relative importance of eight prominent CSR areas relevant to food and agriculture. Demographic, household consumption, …

Are Cover Crops Worth It? It Depends, Joshua S. Leirer

Open Access Theses

Society is becoming increasingly more aware of the environmental consequences of agricultural production. Farmers today are under increasing pressure to adopt more sustainable farm management practices. One method to improve the sustainability of crop production is the use of cover crops. Cover crops are planted "off-season" to provide agronomic and environmental benefits. The objective of this research is to quantify the impacts of cover crops and determine where and under which management practices cover crops provide the greatest benefit. Management practices include different crop rotations, tillage practices and residue removal rates. This paper will focus on soil erosion, nitrate leaching …

Does A Family-First Philosophy Affect Family Business Profitability? An Analysis Of Family Businesses In The Midwest, Maria Victoria Iglesias

Open Access Theses

Previous family business literature has analyzed how various management strategies or family tension has impacted profit. However, profit can vary due to the different family values and goals placed on the firm. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the business philosophy of a family business influenced profit. The present study sought to examine how the family business' philosophy, as in if they have a family-first or business-first orientation, influences profit. This study also investigates how the distribution of the business to the next generation, as well as how hiring family members who may not have the qualifications …

Subsidizing Carbon Sequestration Via Forestry In Maryland: A Cost-Benefit Assessment, Rachel C. Hettich

Open Access Theses

Carbon sequestration by forestry is one way to mitigate climate change, and policy incentives are in place to encourage private investment in forestry. State and federal forestry cost-share programs subsidize the establishment of trees and the improvement of existing forested land. The objective of this research was to determine the effectiveness of such programs in Maryland and to compare the monetized benefits from permanently sequestered carbon with the current subsidies. To meet this objective, private and social cost-benefit analyses were conducted for three forestry investment scenarios in Maryland that coincide with the main cost-share programs available there. Sensitivity analysis considered …

Market Participation And Profitability Of Cotton Production In Malawi, Daniel M. Ghambi

Open Access Theses

Cotton is traditionally a cash crop for smallholder farmers in Malawi, supporting more than 100,000 families. According to the government of Malawi, the cotton sector is a key element in poverty reduction and growth strategy. ^ In the market liberalized economy, the functioning of the market plays a major role in the allocation of resources for increased productivity. This paper investigates the impacts of cotton subsidy and marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Malawi. ^ The main objective of this study is to explore whether changes in market participation coupled with government policies …

Fuel Choice, Acute Respiratory Infection And Child Growth In Uganda, Onyekachi U. Aghasili

Open Access Theses

This thesis seeks to explain the relationship between a household's choice of fuel and the health and nutrition outcomes of children below the age of 5 in Uganda. The first objective is to examine the association between the choice of fuel and the incidence of acute respiratory infection (ARI). The second objective is to measure the relationship between choice of fuel, ARI and nutrition outcomes of children. ^ I use data from the 2006 and 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Surveys (UDHS). The total number of observations is 4,463. Data indicate that 94% of rural households in the DHS sample …

Stages Of Succession Planning And Factors Of Transferring Management And Ownership For The Family Agribusiness, Ryan D. Musselman

Open Access Theses

Although many family business owners want to maintain family control of the business for future generations, few businesses survive across generations. Neglecting to plan an entry and exit strategy for family members are just two factors that explains why more businesses don't succeed in transferring the business to the next generation in the family. Ordered Probit models and Probit models were used to discover factors that influence the process of family business transfer of management and ownership. Data came from a survey of 736 businesses in four Midwest states. ^ Four factors were found to be correlated with the transition …

Tracking Sales Activities In Agribusiness, Jiayu Li

Open Access Theses

Decisions in the sales area, including customer and product selection and margin discipline, shape profits for companies in agribusiness. Management of the sales function takes place at the organizational, managerial, and practitioner level, each of which requires data about the process. Individual salespeople benefit from better knowledge of customers (Dixon & Adamson, 2011), and sales managers benefit from understanding the activities of salespeople. Organizationally, data on sales activities may be used to determine progress toward organizational goals or to compensate salespeople. ^ This research utilized surveys to investigate how agribusiness companies differ in the ways they keep track of sales …

International Comparison Of Cost Efficiency Of Corn And Soybean Production, Elizabeth Anne Lunik

Open Access Theses

Comparing detailed production costs and input use across countries allows producers to see if they are competitive with similar operations in other countries. This thesis looks at the cost efficiency of a sample of corn and soybean farms representing 16 countries to understand efficiency and cost trends at the farm-level, compare these farms, and identify factors that might explain farm-level performance. This analysis delves into detailed production data to calculate an important international benchmark, which is currently not available. ^ The data consist of a six-year (2008-2013) unbalanced panel of 35 corn-producing farms and 16 soybean-producing farms, which come from …

Job Mobility Among Young College Graduates, Kevin Camp

Open Access Theses

This study focuses on the question of whether job mobility relates to improved labor market outcomes among young college-educated individuals in the United States. I analyze unemployment duration, overeducation, and wage earnings among college graduates. The analysis centers around three specific questions: (1) Are there differences in labor market outcomes for those who migrate ("movers") and those who stay ("stayers")? (2) Did the recent economic crisis exacerbate the mover-stayer differences? (3) Do mover-stayer differences vary for individuals based on their demographic characteristics or where they live? I examine data on migrant status, location before and after a move, reasons for …

Profit-Maximizing Responses To Climate Change In Commodity Agriculture: Does Adaptation Matter?, Sajeev Erangu Purath Mohankumar

Open Access Theses

Accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has led to rising temperatures, and is expected to lead to a change in climate. Crop yields are vulnerable to these changes. Adaptation is expected to be key to combating climate change impacts, but the effectiveness of adaptation strategies is not well understood. Hence, there is a need to assess the impacts of climate change on agriculture and devise profitable adaptation strategies to combat its effects. This study uses historical and three projected climate data sets to simulate yields using the crop model Daycent, empirical relationships between weather and agronomic variables that influence …

Producer Perceptions Of Their Use Of Time And Various Areas Of Risk In Their Business, Kendra Marie Hedge

Open Access Theses

Agribusinesses rely on producers choosing their products and services for the success of their business. Agribusinesses can use information regarding how producers rate the importance of certain areas of risk and what takes most of the producers' time to offer specific services to different segments of producers to better meet their needs. An ordered logit model and a multinomial logit model are used to determine factors significant to producers' use of time and importance of various areas of risk. The producers are then segmented into groups based on their risk perceptions. From this research, agribusinesses can recognize that different types …

Quality And Safety Attributes Of Sun-Dried Raisins From Afghanistan, Stacy A. Mccoy

Open Access Theses

Raisins are an important export commodity for Afghanistan, however, Afghan packers are challenged to export to markets seeking high quality products due to limited knowledge regarding their quality and safety. To evaluate this, Afghan raisin samples from pre-, semi-, and post-processed raisins were obtained from a raisin packer in Kabul, Afghanistan. The raisins were analyzed and compared to U.S. standards for processed raisins. The samples tested did not meet U.S. import standards for embedded sand, but the process used to clean the raisins is suitable to maintain food safety standards.

Previous Afghan raisin shipments have been rejected from the U.S. …

Competition Between Private Labels And National Brands: Empirical Evidence From Homescan Data On Fluid Milk Markets, Jeffrey S. Young

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the nature of the pricing relationship between private labels (or "store brands") and national brands. To accomplish this, we control for the exogenous variation in the farm price of a commodity that serves as the main agricultural input common to both private labels and national brands (any shocks to this farm price will pass through to both retail prices - private label and retail). The product of choice is fluid milk, as the farm price of milk comprises a large share of producer and retailer cost.

Two examples of underlying theories …

Market Power Estimation In The Chilean Cattle Market, Rodirgo A. Vasquez Panizza

Open Access Theses

The cattle market in Chile is constituted by cattle slaughtering firms and farmers; the industry demands cattle but also demands beef imports. Based in antecedents of market concentration in this sector, I make a system of equations model based on the NEIO approach to determine market power for the period April 1993 - December 2008. The results show that there is no market power in the aggregated market as well as in the disaggregated market by sex and age type, which is explained because the special features of this market in Chile.

Uncertainty, Irreversibility, And Investment In Secondgeneration Biofuels, Tanner Joseph Mccarty

Open Access Theses

The present study formalizes and quantifies the importance of uncertainty for investment in a corn-stover based cellulosic biofuel plant. Using a real options model we recover prices of gasoline that would trigger entry into the market and calculate the portion of that entry trigger price required to cover cost and the portion that corresponds to risk premium. We then discuss the effect of managerial flexibility on the entry risk premium and the prices of gasoline that would trigger mothballing, reactivation, and exit. Results show that the risk premium required by plants to enter the second-generation biofuel market is likely to …

An Analysis Of Marketing Margins In The Us Beef Industry, John A. Tobin

Open Access Theses

The US beef industry has undergone significant structural changes in the last 30 years at the wholesale and retail levels. Meanwhile producer prices have failed to keep pace with increases in the price of beef received by wholesalers and retailers, resulting in concerns being raised about market power being exercised in the beef industry by stakeholders. ^ This study uses marketing margins to determine what factors affect margins, test for differences among different procurement methods of purchasing cattle, and test for differences among different cuts of beef. This paper extends previous research providing more detail regarding the factors that may …

Evolution Of Food Quality Demand In The Food Service Industry In China: The Case Of Duck, Rachel Alison Carnegie

Open Access Theses

Booming economic growth and rising consumer incomes have impacted food preferences and purchasing behavior in China. At the same time, several internationally publicized food safety incidents, particularly in the animal husbandry sector, have heightened awareness of and concern for food safety and quality in meat and dairy. Rising quality demand and safety concerns have been studied at length in the food retail sector, but also appear to be important in the food service industry. This research uses data from a survey of duck restaurant managers and consumers in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou to determine preferences and willingness to pay …

Price Impacts Of Increased Peruvian Table Grape Supply, Jacob W. Iest

Open Access Theses

In the last decade, Peru has begun to structure its economy and complete infrastructure projects to promote agricultural export growth. Bolstered by the signing of the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) with the U.S., table grape production has increased significantly since 2006. Peru has a climatic advantage for a quality harvest from November to March, which overlaps the end of the U.S. growing season. With this supply increase expected to continue, U.S. producers and marketers question the effect Peru will have on "late-season" table grape prices in North America.

This thesis is a study of the effects of an increase …

Two Essays On Large Agricultural Producer Buying Behaviors, Jacqueline K. Holland

Open Access Theses

The trend of consolidation of large farms into high volume operations has continued over the past 30 years. Large farm management is a juggling act of a variety of biological processes, financial management, technology adaptation, and human resource development activities. This research looks to provide insights into the underlying management psychology of those large farmers to serve not only as a benchmark for other producers, but to provide customer information to agribusinesses so these firms can strengthen their relationships with their large farmer customers. The first part of this analysis will use Best-Worst modeling to examine five predetermined success factors …

Field To Flight: A Techno-Economic Analysis Of Stover To Aviation Biofuels Supply Chain, Amanda C. Bittner

Open Access Theses

Greenhouse gas emissions have been a growing concern. The transportation sector contributes to one-third of GHG emissions in the United States from fossil fuel burning. The Renewable Fuel Standard set a requirement for 16 billion gallons (ethanol equivalent) of cellulosic biofuels to be used in the market. Aviation biofuels can help to meet both of these problems as well as improve U.S. energy security.

Investment in the biofuel industry carries a lot of risk. The biofuel industry is run by the private sector, but can be incentivized by government. Cellulosic biofuels carry even more risk than first generation biofuels, because …

Comparative Analysis Of The True Profitability Between Genetic Multiplication And Terminal Pig Production, Nicholas H. Dekryger

Open Access Theses

In the agriculture industry today, farmers and agribusinesses must continually deal numerous uncertainties and consequential financials burdens. Market prices, both in grains and livestock, have varied quiet substantially over the past five years creating difficulties in risk management and sales. As a means to combat the uncertainty facing the agriculture industry, solid business strategies must be implemented in order to absorb any external impact. Using part of the strategy outlined in The Breakthrough Imperative, an analysis was done on the strategy used by Belstra Group Farms with the goal to determine the true profitability of gilt multiplication.

A model was …

Understanding Childhood Malnutrition In Nepal: A Hierarchical Regression Approach, Timothy M. Smith

Open Access Theses

This thesis investigates the determinants of childhood malnutrition in Nepal, with a particular emphasis on the importance of district characteristics relative to household and child characteristics. Using a new dataset constructed from child and household data from the 2006 and 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and community characteristics aggregated from the 2004 and 2010 Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS), we estimate a variety of hierarchical regression models, which allow us to partition variance in height-for-age Z-scores between the levels of different hierarchical specifications, and then to partition that variance further, between group-level parameters.

Our findings suggest that the …