Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

World Dairy Product Trade: Analysis With A Mixed Complementarity Problem Formulation, Charles F. Nicholson, Phillip M. Bishop

Agribusiness

World trade in dairy products is being transformed by trade policy liberalization and technological change in dairy processing. The mixed complementarity problem formulation to modeling product-specific dairy trade can overcome a number of the limitations of existing optimization models, and can facilitate desirable extensions to previous analyses.

Consumer Perceptions Of Three Food Safety Interventions Related To Meat Processing, Christiane Schroeter, Karen P. Penner, John A. Fox

Agribusiness

A focus group study with 37 residents of Manhattan, Kansas, was conducted to examine consumers' risk perceptions of foodborne illnesses from eating beef. The four focus-group sessions were designed to determine (1) relative preferences for alternative combinations of public food safety measures (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points [HACCP], carcass pasteurization, irradiation) and private protection (home preparation of rare, medium, and well-done hamburgers); (2) how who is at risk (children vs. adults) influences preferences; (3) whether consumers would pay a premium for increased product safety arising from the adoption of three different innovations in processing plants; and (4) how to improve …

Market Prospects Organic Carrots & Other Vegetables, Steven Mccoy

Horticulture published reports

This report provides a brief overview of the market opportunity for West Australian organically grown carrots and other vegetables grown in rotation with carrots. The report outlines market opportunities and important aspects of the local WA, interstate and export markets for consideration by conventional carrot growers with an interest in investing in the production of carrots grown organically, certified in compliance with the Australian "National Standards for Organic and Biodynamic Production".

Murgo Farms Inc.: Haccp, Iso 9000, And Iso 14000, David Sparling, Jonathon Lee, Wayne Howard

Agribusiness

Murgo Farms Inc., addresses the challenge of choosing between the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 9000, and ISO 14000 systems for a business with grain farming, elevator and spraying enterprises. Murgo has recently entered markets that are more quality oriented and wishes to expand its activities in those markets. The President wonders whether HACCP or ISO 9000 might help that expansion. However, the company is also faced with significant environmental risks due to its spraying and manure spreading activities and its proximity to a local municipal water source. There are good reasons for Murgo …

Grading Error Reduces Grower Incentive To Increase Prune Quality, Jennifer S. James, James A. Chalfant, Nathalie Lavoie, Richard J. Sexton

Agribusiness

Grading is important to ensure the production of high-quality foods, but It Is usually done with error, distorting market signals and diminishing Incentives to produce high-quality products. Size is the main quality criterion for dried prunes and the crucial characteristic In determining prune value. We studied the economic effects of errors In commodity grading, focusing In particular on the Implications of one-way (asymmetric) grading errors, namely when small, low quality product Is erroneously classified as high quality, but not vice versa. In an application to the California prune Industry, we estimated the extent to which large prunes are undervalued and …

Economics Of Precision Agriculture, Wayne H. Howard

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Conflicts Over Farming Practices In Canada: The Role Of Interactive Conflict Resolution Approaches, Lorne Owen, Wayne Howard, Mark Waldron

Agribusiness

An increasing number of articles in professional and scientific journals, as well as in the public press, give evidence to a rising number of conflicts that exist in rural communities. These conflicts arise from changes in farming practices, the increasing number of large-scale production units, resource use, and demographics. Fair, effective and efficient approaches to resolve these conflicts are of increasing interest and importance. An interactive conflict resolution (ICR) approach that focuses on communication and positive social interactions may be a preferred approach for resolving conflicts. The role of ICR approaches in addressing conflicts arising from farming and agri-business practices …

Interstate Economic Co-Operation: Issues And Options., Sarah O. Alade

Bullion

The main objective of this paper is to present a brief discussion of issues and policy options involved in interstate economic co-operation in Nigeria, and the rationale for economic co-operation among states as well as issues of economic co-operation.

Breeders' Awards And The Gambler's Corner Solution, James J. Ahern, Jay E. Noel

Agribusiness

California has had a Thoroughbred breeders awards program since 1933. The intent of the program is to encourage the production of Thoroughbred horses and provide an incentive for that production. The program rewards breeders of horses, stallion owners, and owners of registered California bred (CB) horses.

Commercial Irrigation And Nutrition Practices For Strawberries In Western Australia, D. Phillips, D. Gatter, T. Calder, D. Pitman

Horticulture research reports

Irrigation practices employed by five commercial strawberry growers on sandy soils of the Swan Coastal Plain near Perth Western Australia were monitored for two consecutive seasons, 1995 and 1996 during the Spring production period.

Nutritional practices for the same grower group plus one Albany grower were monitored by plant, soil and sap analysis at 14 day intervals throughout the 1996 season.

Irrigation records showed that market quality strawberries could be produced at this time of year (August to December in Perth) on soils with very poor water retention properties with an average crop factor(E Pan) for the season of 0.7 …

The State Of Urban And Community Forestry In California, Richard P. Thompson, James J. Ahern

Agribusiness

Tree and vegetation management in the urban and urban-interface communities create issues of growing importance in an increasingly urbanized state such as California. Communities recognize urban forest resource sustainability, maintenance and enhancement of forested aesthetics as an important value. They support these areas with tax dollars, local government agency involvement (usually Parks and Recreation or Public Works departments), and with efforts in many cases by both individuals and volunteer organizations in management and planning.

The Financial Impact Of Animal Related Phosphorus Management On Vermont Dairy Farms, Alyssa Dodd, Catherine Halbrendt, Charles F. Nicholson

Agribusiness

Excessive phosphorus loading has been identified as the primary cause of decreasing water quality in Lake Champlain. Dairy farms are the major source of phosphorus pollution to the lake and are targeted to reduce phosphorus run-off. The goal of this research is to determine the farm-level financial impact of phosphorus management on different sizes of Vermont dairy farms. Farm financial performance following implementation of manure management is simulated by farm size (60 cows, 150 cows, and 350 cows) over a ten-year time horizon using the Farm Level Income and Policy Simulation Modeling System (FLIPSim). Results indicate that implementation of Milking …

Estimating The Off-Farm Labor Supply In Canada, Wayne Howard, Michael Swidinsky

Agribusiness

Off-farm labor supply in Canada is modeled using separate off-farm labor participation and off-farm labor supply equations, which allows variables to affect participation and labor supply differently. The data used in this study are from Statistics Canada’s Agriculture-Population Linkage Database, which links the Population Census for 1986 to a 20% sample from the Census of Agriculture. Results indicate that age, education and wages have large, significant and opposite effects on participation and supply, and that government efforts to stabilize and supplement farm incomes through rural employment programs may have less effect on labor allocation decisions than do the underlying demographic …

Agroindustrialization Through Institutional Innovation: Transactions Costs, Cooperatives And Milk-Market Development In The Ethopian Highlands, Garth Holloway, Charles Nicholson, Chris Delgado, Steven Staal, Simeon K. Ehui

Agribusiness

Some small-holders are able to generate reliable and substantial income flows through small-scale dairy production for the local market; for others, a set of unique transactions costs hinders participation. Cooperative selling institutions are potential catalysts for mitigating these costs, stimulating entry into the market, and precipitating growth in rural communities. Trends in cooperative organization in East-African dairy are evaluated. Empirical work focuses on alternative techniques for effecting participation among a representative sample of periurban milk producers in the Ethiopian highlands. The techniques considered are a modern production practice (cross-bred cow use), a traditional production practice (indigenous-cow use), three intellectual-capital-forming variables …

The Potential For Marketing Pork Products With Embedded Environmental Attributes: Results From An Experimental Study, Sean P. Hurley, James B. Kliebenstein

Agribusiness

Environmental issues such as air and water quality related to livestock production currently receive much attention. Potential methods for environmental improvement range from regulation to market solutions. This study looks at consumer willingness to pay for pork products with embedded environmental attributes. Experimental auctions showed that over one-half of the participants (62%) paid a premium, that did not vary significantly between differing regions of the United States. (JEL Codes Q13, Q25)

The Impacts Of Dairy Cattle Ownership On The Nutritional Status Of Preschool Children In Coastal Kenya, Charles F. Nicholson, Phillip K. Thornton

Agribusiness

In many parts of the developing world, the availability of sufficient food—food supplying sufficient daily energy and protein—remains a key challenge for many families, despite substantial increases in total food production in the past two decades. At present there is sufficient food produced to feed everyone in the world, but the available food is neither evenly distributed nor fully consumed. As a result, some 800 million people—200 million children— are food insecure, that is, they lack consistent access to the food required for a healthy and productive life (Pinstrup-Andersen, 1994). The roots of food insecurity and malnutrition are complex, but …

Impacts Of The Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact On New England Milk Supply, Charles F. Nicholson, Budy Resosudarmo, Rick Wackernagel

Agribusiness

During the first year of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, milk production in the six New England states increased by about 57 million pounds, or about 1.3% of production compared to the 12 months prior to the Compact. Increases in milk production were largest in Connecticut (31 million pounds) and Vermont (21 million pounds), whereas Maine and New Hampshire experienced increases of less than 10 million pounds. Production in Massachusetts and Rhode Island declined by 9 million and 0.4 million pounds, respectively. Because the rate of increase for New England was larger than the US average, the Compact Commission incurred …

Asymmetric Grading Error And Adverse Selection: Lemons In The California Prune Industry, Jennifer S. James, James A. Chalfant, Nathalie Lavoie, Richard J. Sexton

Agribusiness

Grading systems are often introduced to address the classic adverse selection problem associated with asymmetric information about product quality. However, grades are rarely measured perfectly, and adverse selection outcomes may persist due to grading error. We study the effects of errors in grading, focusing on asymmetric grading errors-namely when low-quality product can erroneously be classified as high quality, but not vice versa. In a conceptual model, we show the effects of asymmetric grading errors on returns to producers. Application to the California prune industry shows that grading errors reduce incentives to produce more valuable, larger prunes.

A Better Future For Rural Wa Leadership And Economic Development In Rural Western Australia, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

All other publications

A Better Future for Rural WA was a conference focusing on leadership and economic development in rural WA. The conference included

o Development of leaders in rural industries and communities.

o Building more vibrant rural communities through community and economic development initiatives.

o Generating innovative approaches to value adding and marketing our agricultural produce.

o Exploring how rural WA can further build on the economic strengths of agriculture

The conference was designed to help people deal with the issues facing rural communities by showcasing new and innovative projects and practices in rural development from within Australia and overseas and showing …

Off-Farm Work By Census-Farm Operators: An Overview Of Structure And Mobility Patterns, Michael Swidinsky, Wayne H. Howard, Alfons Weersink

Agribusiness

The purpose of this paper is to provide descriptive statistics on off-farm labour supply and farm/off-farm labour reallocation for Canadian farmers using cross-sectional data and cross-sectional panel data, respectively, obtained from the Canadian Census of Agriculture. This report is part of a larger study on the off-farm labour supply and labour mobility of farm operators (Swidinsky, 1997). The data indicates that a growing proportion of operators worked off-farm between 1971 and 1991. As well, operators who work off-farm have allocated greater amounts of time to the off-farm labour market. The share of census-farm operators reporting 97-228 days of off-farm work …

Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range, Terence J. Centner, Ronald C. Griffin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Fence-in laws in most states require ranchers to pay for fences to keep their livestock from trespassing onto others' property. Some states, or jurisdictions within states, have a fence-out rule that requires ranchers' neighbors to pay for fences to keep livestock out. Both rules are Pareto optimal. Using a potential Pareto criterion, we show that a preference for fence-out in some areas may end as conditions change, such as increased nonranching land uses. Changed conditions may have legal consequences. Specific fence-out and fence cost-sharing provisions may be potentially Pareto inefficient and may be challenged for being unconstitutional under the due …

Vegetable Budgeting Handbook For The Manjimup District, Peter Gartrell

Horticulture published reports

Budgeting for existing or proposed business activities are critical in the decision making and implementation chain. Success of any business results from good planning. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Business management involves a revolving cycle of identifying resources and opportunities, setting goals, planning, budgeting, implementing, recording, controlling, revision and reevaluation. This document deals with only one facet of the budgeting phase of the cycle.

The most significant reasons for budgeting are the establishment of the expected outcome and the assessment of risk. By making adjustments to cost and income parameters one can see how sensitive the business or …

Management Of California Oak Woodlands: Uncertainties And Modeling, Jay E. Noel, Richard P. Thompson

Agribusiness

A mathematical policy model of oak woodlands is presented. The model illustrates the policy uncertainties that exist in the management of oak woodlands. These uncertainties include: (1) selection of a policy criterion function, (2) woodland dynamics, (3) initial and final state of the woodland stock. The paper provides a review of each of the uncertainty issues. The final section of the paper describes a modeling approach that can be developed to assist policy makers in evaluating alternative oak woodland policy actions.

Thinking Styles And Financial Characteristics Of Selected Canadian Farm Managers, Wayne W. Howard, George L. Brinkman, Remy Lambert

Agribusiness

The thinking styles of selected Canadian farm managers are identified using the life styles inventory (LSI). The farmers'LSI scores are compared with those of a base sample of nonfarmers, and correlations between the farmers'LSI scores and financial indicators are examined. Results indicate that farmers do thinking differently than nonfarmers and that there are significant correlations between thinking styles and financial measures.

Smallholder Dairying Under Transactions Costs In East Africa, Steven Staal, Christopher L. Delgado, Charles F. Nicholson

Agribusiness

It is argued that dairying is vital to future viability of many small farms in East Africa and that high transactions costs for dairy production and marketing limit participation by asset-and information-poor smallholders. Case studies from Kenya and Ethiopia illustrate the role of dairy cooperatives in reducing transactions costs. Analysis of the determinants of producer prices received by a sample of dairy producers near Addis Ababa suggests that different levels of access to infrastructure, assets, and information explain why different households contemporaneously accept widely different producer prices for fluid milk.

The Economic Benefits Of New Information Technology, Wayne H. Howard, Glenn Fox, Calum Turvey

Agribusiness

The purpose of this study is to analyze the demand and supply of information within the agriculture sector. This study has three components to meet this goal: i) a review of the literature, ii) a survey of Canadian farmers, and iii) interviews with agribusiness firms and government agencies.

Massively Parallel Computation Of Large-Scale Spatial Price Equilibrium Models With Discriminatory Ad Valorem Tariffs, Anna Nagurney, Charles F. Nicholson, Phillip M. Bishop

Agribusiness

In this paper, we develop a perfectly competitive spatial equilibrium model in price and quantity variables in the presence of discriminatory ad valorem tariffs, a widely used trade policy instrument. We derive the equilibrium conditions and formulate them as a variational inequality problem. An algorithm is then proposed for the computation of the equilibrium pattern and convergence results established. The algorithm resolves the problem into very simple subproblems, each of which can be solved simultaneously and in closed form. Finally, the algorithm is implemented on the massively parallel Thinking Machines CM-2 and CM-5 architectures, known as the Connection Machines, and …

Strategic Planning And Performance: Helping Directors And Managers Communicate, Jay E. Noel, David J. Schaffner

Agribusiness

The results from a survey of California agricultural marketing cooperatives illustrate the importance of boards of directors and management evaluating their strategic planning and performance. This evaluation process improves communication between the two groups, and determines where they agree or disagree on the importance of specific planning factors, competitive forces, strengths, weaknesses, distinctive competency, and performance of their cooperative.

The Australian Family Farm: Is It Soon To Be An Illusive Myth?, Fiona M.H. Mckenzie

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines the challenges faced by Western Australian rural enterprises since 1961 and the effects of economic and demographic change on the agricultural industry over the last thirty years.

Increasing capitalisation and technological advances have led to major shifts in the way the business of farming is conducted. There is evidence to suggest that these changes have contributed to an oversupply of agricultural products, the development of large-scale agri-business firms and a general depopulation of the agricultural sector.

The family farm has always been considered the backbone of Australian agriculture but there is evidence to suggest that in this …

Agribusiness, The Environment And Sustainable Economic Growth In Nigeria., G. E. Ukpong Dr,, G. O. Evbuomwan, E. U. Ukeke, F. O. Afemo

Bullion

The paper reviewed the performance of agribusiness in Nigeria in recent years and some major environmental problems which affected it, with a view to making some suggestions capable of fostering sustainable environment and growth of agribusiness in the interest of all economic agents.