Agribusiness Commons^™

Could Information About Honey Fraud Increase Consumers’ Valuation Of Domestic Honey In The Face Of Rising Honey Imports In The U.S. And Eu?, Christopher Gustafson, Antoine Champetier

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

The consumption of honey, which has been sought out by humans for use as food and medicine for thousands of years, has been increasing in recent decades with rising incomes and attention paid to food choices and health. In two decades, honey consumption in the U.S. has risen from 1.2 pound per capita per year to 1.9 in 2021. In the European Union, per capita consumption rose from 1.5 to 2.1 pounds per capita over the same period. While this might appear to be a boon for U.S. and EU beekeepers, honey is a heavily traded product, and imports from …

Can Sanctions End Wars?, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to extensive economic, financial, trade, and other types of sanctions directed at individual Russians and the Russian economy. Most European and North American countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Korea have enacted sanctions and many of them are also supporting Ukraine with military and economic assistance. Many other countries including China, India, and Brazil do not support the sanctions although 141 countries belonging to the United Nations (out of a total membership of 193) voted to condemn the war. Although the use of economic sanctions to influence the behavior of foreign …

Economic Impacts Of Investment Facilitation, Edward J. Balistreri, Zoryana Olekseyuk

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

After the successful adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in 2014, investment facilitation is gaining importance as the next policy priority for a plurilateral agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In fact, more than 110 WTO Members aim to conclude the negotiations on the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement by mid-2023 after only three years of formal negotiations. Investment facilitation refers to actions taken by governments designed to attract foreign investment and maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of its administration through all stages of the investment cycle. The IFD agreement focuses on allowing investment to flow efficiently …

How’S It Going With The Cptpp?, Christine Mcdaniel

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

There is no doubt that the United States is losing out on market access. But one of the original goals of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was for a rules-based trading regime in the Pacific, namely rules not written by China. Thanks to Australia and Japan that seems to be happening even with the U.S. no longer at the helm.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership or the awkwardly nicknamed CPTPP is a Pacific trading bloc that consists of 11 countries, spanning the Pacific Rim, and includes Malaysia and Chile. The member countries represent 13% of world GDP. Once the UK …

Emotional Responses To Covid-19 Stressors Increase Information Avoidance About An Important Unrelated Health Threat, Christopher Gustafson, Kate Brooks, Syed Imran Ali Meerza, Amalia Yiannaka

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people’s lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stressors, such as illness and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors—focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic—and decisions to access information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), another critically …

Toward An Effective Approach For On‑Farm Experimentation: Lessons Learned From A Case Study Of Fertilizer Application Optimization In Japan, Takashi S.T. Tanaka, Taro Mieno, Ryoya Tanabe, Tsutomu Matsui, David S. Bullock

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

On-farm experimentation (OFE) is increasing worldwide. Appropriate OFE procedures may differ depending on the characteristics and circumstances surrounding farms, such as climate, field conditions, farm size, degree of agricultural digitalization, and a farmer’s socioeconomic background. This study aims to guide the future development of OFE in Japanese grain farming by examining the experimental setup, data analysis, and farmers’ activities within their socioeconomic and institutional communication and learning networks. The results of this typical OFE case study, which estimates a field’s economicallyoptimal fertilizer variable-rate application map for winter wheat production, are reported. The outcomes of the case study, which are intended …

North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center Helps Producers Manage Risks, Christine Lockert, Sheila Aikanathan Johnson, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

The Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) program, funded by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, provides training to help producers learn new strategies to manage complex and growing agricultural risks. ERME strives to achieve this goal by encouraging and funding innovative programs across the country and helping programs focus on tangible results. Four regional grant-making ERME Centers are located across the country at the University of Delaware (Northeast), the University of Arkansas (South), Washington State University (West) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (North Central) along with a Digital Center at the University of Minnesota to help administer online application, …

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …

Irrigation-As-A-Service For Smallholder Farmers, Ishani Lal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Irrigation is a crucial management practice that can help increase food security among smallholders globally while mitigating climate change impacts. High-efficiency irrigation technologies such as drip kits and sprinkler systems are relatively expensive and smallholder farmers cannot afford them to buffer crop yields against low precipitation. In many developing countries, farmers participate in robust informal markets for renting and sharing of irrigation equipment. Such services may be operated by farmers or via a third party such as irrigation start-ups, water user associations, non-governmental organizations, or even government agencies. These services are referred to collectively as Irrigation-as-a-Service (IaaS).

The objective of …

Corn Grain Marketing Strategy Unbiasing For 2023, Matthew Stockton, Shannon Sand

Cornhusker Economics

Discusses cognitive biasing errors that may be employed--in the context of corn market strategizing--such as the Dunning-Krueger effect, availability or distancing bias, gambler's fallacy, and anchoring bias.

Deficit Irrigation Management For Irrigated Corn In Nebraska: Economically Viable?, Lia Nogueira, Cory Walters, Emily O'Donnell, E. Wesley F. Peterson, Suat Irmak

Cornhusker Economics

In this study we determine the economic value of deficit irrigation management using both technological and methodological advancements. The use of soil moisture probes represents the technological improvement. We provide improvements in the methodology as follows. Regarding data, we employ a field-size study, instead of plots, where the irrigation decision is determined by the moisture level in the soil measured through a soil moisture probe. Regarding the understanding of the yield response to water, although we examine the commonly used quadratic function, we improve upon this specification by also examining an alternative response function, the linear response stochastic plateau. Our …

2023 Nebraska Women In Agriculture Conference, Jessica Groskopf, Katie Hothem

Cornhusker Economics

Includes a recap of the 38th Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference held in February 2023 in Kearney, Nebraska.

Public Support: A Missing Variable In The Trade Policy Equation, Jill O’Donnell

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

As Canada considers launching free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Ecuador, the government wants to know what Canadians think. Ottawa makes it easy for citizens to weigh in, inviting Canadians to “join the discussion” and submit their “views, reflections and priorities” on the potential FTA through a Global Affairs Canada web page that is clear, inviting, and user-friendly. Under a section titled, “Who should participate?” the first answer given is “individuals.”

Although the Biden administration has been clear that it will not seek new FTA negotiations, taking a page from Canada’s public consultation playbook may be instructive, at least when …

Nebraska Farmland Values And Cash Rental Rates In 2023, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The market value of agricultural land in Nebraska increased by 14% over the prior year to an average of US $3,835 per acre, according to the 2023 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey. This marks the second-largest increase in the market value of agricultural land in Nebraska since 2014 and the highest non-inflation-adjusted state-wide land value in the 45-year history of the survey.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agricultural Economics annually surveys land industry professionals across Nebraska, including appraisers, farm and ranch managers, agricultural bankers, and related industry professionals. Results from the survey are divided by land class and …

The Center For Agricultural Profitability Contributes To Collaborative Adaptive Management Project At The Barta Brothers Ranch, Jay Parsons, Mitchell B. Stephenson, Kyle Martens

Cornhusker Economics

In 2020, the University of Nebraska's Barta Brothers Ranch (BBR) launched a collaborative adaptive management (CAM) project to address risks and uncertainties related to grassland management in the Sandhills. The project brings together UNL faculty engaged in research, extension and teaching across multiple disciples, departments and geographic locations. All three Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) District Research, Extension, and Education Centers are involved the project (Eastern Nebraska, Panhandle, and West Central) along with three East Campus based centers: the Center for Grassland Studies, the Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, and the Center for Agricultural Profitability housed …

Workforce Trends To Watch In 2023, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

The rise of quiet quitters, digital nomads, and shaky employee trust are some of the major workforce trends that need watching in 2023, according to a recent article published by the Harvard Business School. Coupled with an uncertain economy and a tight labor market, business owners can view these potential trends as either challenges that pull their business down or opportunities that offer a competitive advantage. To leverage these toward business growth and increased productivity, it takes an understanding of how these trends emerged and how they could be an asset in an ever-changing business environment.

Covers: quiet quitters, digital …

Economics Of Deficit Irrigation Utilizing Soil Moisture Probes In The Western Corn Belt, Emily O’Donnell, Lia Nogueira, Cory Walters, E Wesley F. Peterson, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Effective irrigation management is critical for future food supplies and the prosperity of producers engaged in irrigation production. Through a deficit irrigation field experiment, we determine the financial impact on producers caused by changing irrigation costs, corn prices, extreme weather events, and restricting irrigation levels. Results suggest that the optimal economic strategy within our constrained optimization model is to fully irrigate, with the economic impact highly dependent on commodity prices, restriction level, and irrigation costs. The greatest economic losses caused by irrigation restrictions come from decreases in yield. Some simulations resulted in negative profits, indicating that a switch to alternative …

Rising Interest Rates: What They Mean For You And The Economy, Timothy Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

Discusses rising interest rates what they mean for agricultural workers and the economy.

2023 Nebraska Crop Production Budgets Higher Costs And Risks, Glennis Mcmclure

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska crop budgets are available for the 2023 production season. The 84 budgets indicate cost of production increases. Estimated average economic or total costs per bushel for 2023 corn production are expected to be at least 23% to 25% greater than last year. Soybeans are estimated to be 13% to 19% more in economic costs per bushel, with wheat production costs having jumped over 20% compared to last year and running as high as 63% higher over the last two years combined. Cost scenarios for individual producers can vary based on their timing of input purchases and price variabilities.

The Impact Of Organized Activism On Technology Sharing, Ahmed Chennak, Amalia Yiannaka

Cornhusker Economics

What factors influence a firm's decision to share its technology with competitors? While patent licensing has received considerable attention in the literature, studies have typically focused on the optimal licensing contract for product and process innovations in various market settings. A key finding of this literature is that the optimal licensing strategy depends on the type of the patentee; that is, whether the patentee is a producer in the market (insider patentee) or not (outsider patentee). Little attention has been given, however, to the role the general public can play on firms' incentives to share their innovations through licensing contracts …

Heifers On Feed Indicate Long-Term Liquidation Still Occurring, Elliott James Dennis

Cornhusker Economics

This article was first published in the Livestock Marketing Information Centers' (LMIC) In the Cattle Markets newsletter on January 9, 2023.

Combining the historical quarterly percentage of heifers on feed and cattle inventory report can provide an indicator of how many heifers will be held back for replacement in the 2023 report.

Hedging Your Average Crop Price Using Seasonals, Cory Walters, Richard K. Preston

Cornhusker Economics

In this article, we connect what the industry says and what producers say to improve the disconnect and the decision-making environment associated with hedging. We accomplish this by inspecting the distribution of producer prices with and without hedging in the fall as the distribution contains both yearly outcomes (producer concern) as well as the average outcome (another point of view). Computer models are used to lift the mystery surrounding the role of hedging. Computer models help understand complex processes, allowing for a better decision environment, leading to improved financial standing and stability. Our model reproduces the risk profile that individual …

Role Of Social Network On Technology Adoption: Application To Nebraska Producers In The Face Of Undesirable Vegetation Transitions, Sabrina Gulab, Holly K. Nesbitt, Simanti Banerjee, Theresa Floyd, Karina A. Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

Conclusion

Producers need to have access to information regarding new conservation practices and technologies to ensure land management in the face of ecological threats in general and vegetation transitions (VTs) in the context of our study. This study investigates the role of an individual producer's social network on the willingness to seek information about technologies and management practices and the likelihood of new technology adoption with special attention to risk attitudes and producer spillover effects. Our results provide evidence that network composition and information obtained through a producer's social network don't influence an individual's willingness to seek information about new …

Evaluating The Relative Impact Of Multiple Healthy Food Choice Interventions On Choice Process Variables And Choices, Christopher Gustafson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Fiscal tools—taxes and/or subsidies—are increasingly used to address diet-related health problems. However, some studies have found that these tools are markedly more effective if attention is drawn to the tax or subsidy, suggesting that the price change alone may go unnoticed in the complex food environments that consumers face. Interventions that prompt individuals to consider health during choice show promise for promoting healthy food choices in both simple laboratory settings and complex, real-world markets. In this pre-registered study, I examine the impact of dietary fiber health prompts and/or dietary fiber subsidies on the per-serving fiber content of foods chosen, the …

Special Issue: Agri-Food Systems Transformation: Sustainability, Resilience, And The Role Of Technology, Rui Mao, Aleksan Shanoyan, Kate Brooks

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The agri-food systems around the world are faced with the challenges from unprecedented short-term shocks and long-term supply and demand shifts. The need for transformation towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems has thus risen to the centre of attention of agribusiness industry and policy decision makers. Technological innovations in the areas of supply chain management, environmental protection, and nutrition improvement have a potential of playing an important catalytic role in such systematic transformations. This special issue includes 11 research articles examining a range of strategic and technological solutions aimed at facilitating the resilience and sustainability of agri-food systems to …

The Role Of Behavioural Factors And Opportunity Costs In Farmers’ Participation In Voluntary Agri-Environmental Schemes: A Systematic Review, Sergei Schaub, Jaboury Ghazoul, Robert Huber, Wei Zhang, Adelaide Sander, Charles Rees, Simanti Banerjee, Robert Finger

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Agri-environmental schemes (AESs) are increasingly implemented to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly practices by farmers. We use a systematic review to explore the role of behavioural factors and opportunity costs in farmers' decisions to participate in AESs in Australia, Europe and North America. Behavioural factors influence how farmers value and perceive options, while opportunity costs relate to farmers' forgone utility when choosing to participate in schemes. We synthesise insights from 79 articles and over 700 factors explaining the participation in AESs. We find that a set of behavioural factors seem consistently connected to participation, including agricultural training, advice and …

Food Fraud: A Persistent Problem That Demands A Comprehensive Approach, Amalia Yiannaka

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Food fraud commonly refers to the deliberate and economi­cally motivated adulteration and mislabeling of food, but more broadly defined it also includes food theft, simulation that makes a fraudulent food product look like the legiti­mate product it copies, diversion, and overrun (Moyer et al. 2017). It is a longstanding and persistent challenge that impacts the global food sector; according to some estimates, food fraud results in annual costs of $40 billion (Food Standards Agency 2020). The complexity of globalized agri-food supply chains which are long, fast-moving, and involve a large number of intermediaries, coupled with lax regulatory monitoring and oversight …

Handwringing Over How To Slice The Pie When Ustr Should Be Focused On Growing It, Christine Mcdaniel

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) recently released its report on the distributional effects of trade and trade policy on U.S. workers and “underrepresented and underserved communities.” The report catalogs a host of information gathered from a literature review and several roundtables on the adverse effects of U.S. manufacturing imports. But the report’s laser focus on manufacturing imports leaves a huge gap for readers interested in the distributional effects of trade.

Manufacturing imports are an important part of trade, but they aren’t all of trade. Trade is imports and exports, goods and services, inputs and final goods. Trade is manufacturing, …

Importance Of Good Communications For Generational Ag Business Transfers, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

Adapted from Right Risk, volume 10, Issue 10, October 2022.

Effective communication within a farm or ranch family, especially when multiple generations are operating and managing the business, is the underpinning of all other decisions made in a family business. It is critical that farm and ranch families identify areas of contention and develop communication skills that will allow them to negotiate satisfying outcomes. This may involve basic skills training, including communication, problem solving, and decision making.

“Friendshoring,” Ag Markets, North American Integration Among Issues Examined At Yeutter Institute Symposium, Geitner Simmons

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

A Nov. 2, 2022, symposium sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Yeutter Institute brought together experts addressing a wide array of trade matters, including global ag market dynamics, North American economic integration and Asia-Pacific economic diplomacy. Among the key questions discussed:

— What complications arise for efforts to shift trade policy toward “friendshoring”?

— How well has North American economic integration fared in the wake of NAFTA and its successor, the USMCA?

— What factors, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are currently affecting agricultural markets and global food insecurity?

— What guideposts can best direct U.S. economic diplomacy …