Agricultural Economics Commons^™

A Hedonic Analysis Of Factors Impacting The Value Of Planters On The Used Machinery Market, John Allison Jr., Tyler B. Mark, Kenneth H. Burdine, Jordan M. Shockley

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

A hedonic model was employed to examine factors that influence the resale price of row crop planters on the used machinery market. Planter sale data from 2016 to 2018 were utilized to conduct the analysis. Results suggested that the primary factors impacting planter resale prices were make, age, condition, planter configuration, row number, and row spacing. As a function of age (depreciation), planter values were generally determined to decrease at a decreasing rate. Finally, it was determined that there was a significant interaction between the variables make and age, suggesting that different planter makes depreciate differently.

Incentivizing Wellness Through Community Supported Agriculture: Reflections On Shareholder Impacts Of An Employer-Based Csa Voucher Program, Jairus J. Rossi, Timothy A. Woods

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs are emerging as popular consumer options for pro­duce acquisition. While many researchers have dis­cussed the impacts of CSA on economies, commu­nities, and the environment, others are interested in documenting how produce-based CSA shapes health. In this paper, we evaluate whether and to what extent CSA incentive programs, funded by diverse employer groups in central Kentucky 2015–2018, impact shareholder wellness. To evaluate impact, we use two distinct types of data: we com­pare shareholders’ perceived frequency of food lifestyle behaviors from pre- and post-season sur­veys, and we examine anonymized medical claims from a subset of these participants …

Cross-Sectional Association Of Toxoplasma Gondii Exposure With Bmi And Diet In Us Adults, Joel Cuffey, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Shuoli Zhao, Nicholas M. Fountain-Jones

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Toxoplasmosis gondii exposure has been linked to increased impulsivity and risky behaviors, which has implications for eating behavior. Impulsivity and risk tolerance is known to be related with worse diets and a higher chance of obesity. There is little known, however, about the independent link between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) exposure and diet-related outcomes. Using linear and quantile regression, we estimated the relationship between T. gondii exposure and BMI, total energy intake (kcal), and diet quality as measured by the Health Eating Index-2015 (HEI) among 9,853 adults from the 2009–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. …

Lessons To Be Learned In Adoption Of Autonomous Equipment For Field Crops, James Lowenberg-Deboer, Karl Behrendt, Melf-Hinrich Ehlers, Carl R. Dillon, Andreas Gabriel, Iona Yuelu Huang, Ian Kumwenda, Tyler Mark, Andreas Meyer-Aurich, Gabor Milics, Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju, Søren Marcus Pedersen, Jordan M. Shockley, David Rose

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Autonomous equipment for crop production is on the verge of technical and economic feasibility, but government regulation may slow its adoption. Key regulatory issues include requirements for on-site human supervision, liability for autonomous machine error, and intellectual property in robotic learning. As an example of the impact of regulation on the economic benefits of autonomous crop equipment, analysis from the United Kingdom suggests that requiring 100% on-site human supervision almost wipes out the economic benefits of autonomous crop equipment for small and medium farms and increases the economies-of-scale advantage of larger farms.

Grocery Food Taxes And U.S. County Obesity And Diabetes Rates, Lingxiao Wang, Yuqing Zheng, Steven Buck, Diansheng Dong, Harry M. Kaiser

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Grocery food taxes represent a stable tax revenue stream for state and municipal government during times of adverse economic shocks such as that observed under the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Previous research, however, suggests a possible mechanism through which grocery taxes may adversely affect health. Our objectives are to document the spatial and temporal variation in grocery taxes and to empirically examine the statistical relationship between county-level grocery taxes and obesity and diabetes.

METHODS: We collect and assemble a novel national dataset of annual county and state-level grocery taxes from 2009 through 2016. We link this data to …

Comparing Water Use Forecasting Model Selection Criteria: The Case Of Commercial, Institutional, And Industrial Sector In Southern California, Dilek Uz, Steven Buck

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The United States is one of the largest per capita water withdrawers in the world, and certain parts of it, especially the western region, have long experienced water scarcity. Historically, the U.S. relied on large water infrastructure investments and planning to solve its water scarcity problems. These large-scale investments as well as water planning activities rely on water forecast studies conducted by water managing agencies. These forecasts, while key to the sustainable management of water, are usually done using historical growth extrapolation, conventional econometric approaches, or legacy software packages and often do not utilize methods common in the field of …

Behavioral Weather Insurance: Applying Cumulative Prospect Theory To Agricultural Insurance Design Under Narrow Framing, Tobias Dalhaus, Barry J. Barnett, Robert Finger

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Experience across many countries shows that, without large premium subsidies, crop insurance uptake rates are generally low. In this article, we propose to use the cumulative prospect theory to design weather insurance products for situations in which farmers frame insurance narrowly as a stand-alone investment. To this end, we introduce what we call "behavioral weather insurance" whereby insurance contract parameters are adjusted to correspond more closely with farmers' preferences. Depending on farmers' preferences, we find that a stochastic multiyear premium increases the prospect value of weather insurance, while a zero deductible design does not. We suggest that insurance contracts should …

Thoroughbred Racehorse Welfare Through The Lens Of ‘Social License To Operate—With An Emphasis On A U.S. Perspective, Camie Heleski, C. Jill Stowe, Julie Fiedler, Michael L. Peterson, Colleen Brady, Carissa Wickens, James N. Macleod

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This review addresses the question of whether Thoroughbred horse racing is sustainable in the context of current social values. A recently acknowledged framework, known as ‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO), provides us with a lens through which to view and assess racehorse welfare. In multiple surveys of the general public, the horse owning public, and university students, the primary topics of concern regarding Thoroughbred racing show considerable concordance: concern about catastrophic injuries—particularly as related to track surfaces, concern over the racing of two-year-olds, whip use by jockeys, drug/medication policies, and aftercare opportunities for retired Thoroughbred racehorses. Legitimacy of an industry, …

An Economic Feasibility Assessment Of Autonomous Field Machinery In Grain Crop Production, Jordan Murphy Shockley, Carl R. Dillon, Scott A. Shearer

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

A multi-faceted whole farm planning model is developed to compare conventional and autonomous machinery for grain crop production under various benefit, farm size, suitable field day risk aversion, and grain price scenarios. Results suggest that autonomous machinery can be an economically viable alternative to conventional manned machinery if the establishment of intelligent controls is cost effective. An increase in net returns of 24% over operating with conventional machinery is found when including both input savings and a yield increase due to reduced compaction. This study also identifies the break-even investment price for intelligent controls for the safe and reliable commercialization …

The Local Food System Vitality Index: A Pilot Analysis To Demonstrate A Process For Measuring System Performance And Development, Jairus J. Rossi, Timothy A. Woods, Alison F. Davis

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Identifying successful development priorities for local food systems (LFSs) is a challenge for pro­ducers, LFS advocates, Extension agents, and policymakers. Consumer perceptions and prefer­ences regarding what constitutes an active, healthy, and vibrant LFS often differ within and between diverse communities. Producers, development entities, and others would benefit from rapid assessment processes that provide detailed information on consumer preferences and potential market opportunities within their LFS.

In this paper, we introduce the analytic possi­bilities of our Local Food System Vitality Index (LFSVI). Using data collected from a pilot survey in Lexington, Kentucky, we rapidly assess the per­formance of 20 different components …

New Market Opportunities And Consumer Heterogeneity In The U.S. Organic Food Market, Gwanseon Kim, Jun Ho Seok, Tyler B. Mark

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates what factors and characteristics of organic consumers affect annual organic food expenditure by using Nielsen’s consumer panel dataset from 2010 to 2014. To be specific, this paper explores new marketing opportunities by investigating organic consumer heterogeneity in different household income levels by utilizing the multilevel model. Findings in this study will contribute to the previous and existing literature in three-folds. First, we find that the organic consumers are more heterogeneous in the high-level of income groups (approximately above $60,000), as well as the low-income households between $35,000 and $45,000. This finding demonstrates that the income levels above …

Point-Of-Sale Specific Willingness To Pay For Quality-Differentiated Beef, Kar Ho Lim, Michael Vassalos, Michael R. Reed

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Despite the growing interest of producers and consumers toward grass-fed, local, and organic beef, the supply chain for these products to reach consumers is not always clear-cut. Among the available options are direct-to-consumers and the conventional food supply chain. Although consumers may pay a premium for beef differentiated by quality attributes, the willingness to pay (WTP) difference across point-of-sales is unclear. In this study, we contrast the WTPs for conventional, grass-fed, local, and organic beef by brick-and-mortar supermarkets (B&Ms), farmers’ markets, and via online stores. We conduct a choice experiment with a nationwide online sample of American consumers. The findings …

Is Aging The Important Factor For Sustainable Agricultural Development In Korea? Evidence From The Relationship Between Aging And Farm Technical Efficiency, Jun Ho Seok, Hanpil Moon, Gwanseon Kim, Michael R. Reed

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper examines the effects of aging and income subsidies on farm efficiency in Korea by utilizing the Korean Farm Household Economic Survey from 2008 to 2015. A stochastic frontier model with a non-monotonic assumption on the effect of efficiency factors is implemented to reflect a super aging and less developed production structure in Korean agriculture. This study finds continuously decreasing farm efficiency with age, which contradicts the commonly assumed inverted-U relationship between age and productivity. Especially, we find that labor is the most important factor to explain recent farm efficiency losses in Korea. Furthermore, this paper finds that the …

A Systematic Review Of Consumer Preference For E-Cigarette Attributes: Flavor, Nicotine Strength, And Type, Samane Zare, Mehdi Nemati, Yuqing Zheng

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Objective

Systematic review of research examining consumer preference for the main electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) attributes namely flavor, nicotine strength, and type.

Method

A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles resulted in a pool of 12,933 articles. We included only articles that meet all the selection criteria: (1) peer-reviewed, (2) written in English, and (3) addressed consumer preference for one or more of the e-cigarette attributes including flavor, strength, and type.

Results

66 articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Consumers preferred flavored e-cigarettes, and such preference varied with age groups and smoking status. We also found that several flavors were …

Determinants Of Weanling Thoroughbred Auction Prices, Charlotte R. Hansen, C. Jill Stowe

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Determinants of prices of 1,302 weanling Thoroughbreds sold at the 2010 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale are investigated. A hedonic pricing model is adopted to identify price determinants, and the corresponding marginal values of those determinants are estimated. Prices were responsive to pedigree quality variables, including the sire's stud fee, the stage of the sire's breeding career, and whether the dam or the dam's progeny had earned “black type.” In addition, individual weanling characteristics such as gender, age, state of birth, and sale placement influenced price. Results can be used as a decision tool by both buyers and sellers.

Asymmetric Price Volatility Transmission Between U.S. Biofuel, Corn, And Oil Markets, Sayed Saghaian, Mehdi Nemati, Cory Walters, Bo Chen

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Linkages between agricultural commodity and energy prices have become more complex with increased ethanol production. The concern is whether the new corn–ethanol links lead to volatility-spillover transmission between food and energy prices. We investigate asymmetric volatility spillovers between oil, corn, and ethanol prices using a BEKK-multivariate-GARCH approach. Additionally, we use daily, weekly, and monthly futures prices to examine whether the use of different-frequency data leads to inconsistent results. The results support the existence of asymmetric volatility transmission between corn and ethanol prices. Furthermore, the volatility-spillover effects are different for the different-frequency prices, and positive and negative price changes generate inconsistent …

Assessing Tourists’ Preferences For Recreational Trips In National And Natural Parks As A Premise For Long-Term Sustainable Management Plans, Diana E. Dumitras, Iulia C. Muresan, Ionel M. Jitea, Valentin C. Mihai, Simona E. Balazs, Tiberiu Iancu

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Sustainable tourism management plans rely on relevant and consistent information about factors that can influence the decision to visit a protected area. This paper uses the choice experiment method to investigate tourists’ preferences with regard to recreational trip characteristics in national and natural parks in Romania. An on-site survey questionnaire was administered to visitors. The multinomial logit model was employed to investigate the preference orderings of the identified groups of recreational users. Overall, results indicate that tourists gain benefits after visiting the parks. Main preference differences were found for information sources and location of campsites. Visitors who stated that the …

Impacts Of A Community Supported Agriculture (Csa) Voucher Program On Food Lifestyle Behaviors: Evidence From An Employer-Sponsored Pilot Program, Jairus J. Rossi, Timothy A. Woods, James E. Allen Iv

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs have recently received attention for their potential to influence food lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes. We build on and expand inquiries into the relationship between CSA participation and behavior change by presenting the results from a controlled pilot study of first-time CSA shareholders. We offered 95 first-time shareholders a $200 voucher to participate in a CSA. Prior to and immediately following CSA participation, these shareholders completed a survey on food lifestyle behaviors. Using econometric analyses, we measured shareholder behavior changes against an 82 person control group. All participants were drawn from a pool of individuals …

International Diffusion Of Food Safety Standards: The Role Of Domestic Certifiers And International Trade, Rezgar Mohammed, Yuqing Zheng

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

We examined the cross-national adoption of six major private food safety standards, focusing on the role of certifiers and international trade. Results show that the number of certification bodies existing in the domestic country, food exports, and the proportion of food exports to North America had positive effects on a country's adoption of food safety standards. Distance leads to product differentiation for the standards and therefore disadvantages developing countries in Africa and Asia for adopting the standards, which are all based in the United States or Europe. Providing these countries with better access to certifiers can alleviate this geographic disadvantage.

Impacts Of Corn Price And Imported Beef Price On Domestic Beef Price In South Korea, Gwanseon Kim, Tyler Mark

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

South Korea is one of the largest beef importing countries in the world. Australia, USA, and New Zealand provide the majority of beef they import. The objective of this study is to evaluate the price relationship of Korean cattle and corn, prices of the imported beef and corn, and prices of Korean cattle and imported beef. We examine threshold points using threshold vector autoregressive (TVAR) model by assuming the presence of nonlinearity. We find that there are two thresholds in Australian beef price with first difference data. This study finds that the current Korean beef price is positively affected by …

Influence Of Source Credibility On Consumer Acceptance Of Genetically Modified Foods In China, Mingyang Zhang, Chao Chen, Wuyang Hu, Lijun Chen, Jintao Zhan

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper examines the reasoning mechanism behind the consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods (GMFs) in China, and investigates influence of source credibility on consumer acceptance of GMFs. Based on the original Persuasion Model—which was developed by Carl Hovland, an American psychologist and pioneer in the study of communication and its effect on attitudes and beliefs—we conducted a survey using multistage sampling from 1167 urban residents, which were proportionally selected from six cities in three economic regions (south, central, and north) in the Jiangsu province through face to face interviews. Mixed-process regression that could correct endogeneity and ordered probit model …

Market Integration And Price Transmission In The World Rice Export Markets, Bo Chen, Sayed H. Saghaian

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates market integration and asymmetric price transmission in the world rice export markets. Using monthly rice prices from Thailand, Vietnam, and United States, we employ the Johansen test and estimate the threshold vector error correction model (TVECM). Our main findings are that export prices in the three countries are cointegrated, with Thailand and the United States the price leaders, and that the Vietnamese price adjusts faster to long-run equilibrium when it is above its equilibrium level with Thai and U.S. prices. These results suggest market integration and competition rather than collusion are prevalent in world rice markets. Policy …

Are Consumers Willing To Pay More For Sustainable Products? A Study Of Eco-Labeled Tuna Steak, Guzhen Zhou, Wuyang Hu, Wenchao Huang

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

A high demand for seafood leads to overfishing, harms the long-term health of seafood stocks, and threatens environmental sustainability in oceans. Sustainability certification is one of the major sustainability movements and is known as eco-labeling. For instance, in the tuna industry, leading tuna brands have committed to protecting sea turtles by allowing the tracing of the source of their tuna “from catch to can.” This paper relies on an Internet survey on consumers from Kentucky conducted in July 2010. The survey investigates household-level tuna steak (sashimi grade) consumption and examines consumer preferences for eco-labeling (“Certified Turtle Safe” (CTS) in this …

Values For Recreational Beach Quality In Oahu, Hawaii, Jerrod M. Penn, Wuyang Hu, Linda Cox, Lara Kozloff

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Pristine coastal environments are the key to Hawaii’s worldwide fame and attraction to tourists, yet their economic value remains understudied. This article examines preferences for characteristics associated with beach recreation in Oahu, Hawaii, among residents and tourists. Consideration is given to sand quality, water quality, congestion levels, and swimming safety conditions in the context of a choice experiment. The choice experiment conveys attribute levels almost entirely through pictures, and results suggest that this novel portrayal is well understood by respondents. Excessive congestion and water quality are regarded as the most important beach attributes, specifically the avoidance of poor water quality …

Neural Correlates Of Decision-Making Under Ambiguity And Conflict, Helen Pushkarskaya, Michael Smithson, Jane E. Joseph, Christine R. Corbly, Ifat Levy

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

HIGHLIGHTS

• We use a simple gambles design in an fMRI study to compare two conditions: ambiguity and conflict.

• Participants were more conflict averse than ambiguity averse.

• Ambiguity aversion did not correlate with conflict aversion.

• Activation in the medial prefrontal cortex correlated with ambiguity level and ambiguity aversion.

• Activation in the ventral striatum correlated with conflict level and conflict aversion.

Studies of decision making under uncertainty generally focus on imprecise information about outcome probabilities (“ambiguity”). It is not clear, however, whether conflicting information about outcome probabilities affects decision making in the same manner as ambiguity does. …

Dzuds, Droughts, And Livestock Mortality In Mongolia, Mukund Palat Rao, Nicole K. Davi, Rosanne D. D'Arrigo, Jerry Skees, Baatarbileg Nachin, Caroline Leland, Bradfield Lyon, Shih-Yu Wang, Oyunsanaa Byambasuren

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Recent incidences of mass livestock mortality, known as dzud, have called into question the sustainability of pastoral nomadic herding, the cornerstone of Mongolian culture. A total of 20 million head of livestock perished in the mortality events of 2000–2002, and 2009–2010. To mitigate the effects of such events on the lives of herders, international agencies such as the World Bank are taking increasing interest in developing tailored market-based solutions like index-insurance. Their ultimate success depends on understanding the historical context and underlying causes of mortality. In this paper we examine mortality in 21 Mongolian aimags (provinces) between 1955 and 2013 …

Researching Market And Supply-Chain Opportunities For Local Foods Systems: Setting Priorities And Identifying Linkages, Dawn Thilmany, David Conner, Kynda R. Curtis, Chyi-Lyi Kathleen Liang, Kranti Mulik, Jeffrey O'Hara, Martha Sullins, Timothy A. Woods

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

There is an increasing array of land-grant, nonprofit, and other academic programs intended to support the development of food system enterprises and programs. However, research to track consumers' evolving preferences and behaviors within these systems and to measure the intended policy outcomes of any public investments in these systems is lagging. This research commentary represents a compilation of opinions and insights from those who are interested in exploring research priorities for economic, marketing, and supply-chain aspects of local food systems. The priorities that emerge are framed in the following way: (1) opportunities for increased and more targeted research to help …