Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

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.

Cost-Benefit Analysis And Estimation Of User Fees For The Atakumosa Local Government Village Drinking Water Supply Project, Southwest Nigeria, Olajide Mohamed Damilola

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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 …

Constraints As Opportunities, Umesh Rajamani

IIMB Management Review

Though India is avowedly a food giant, its food processing industry is still at a nascent stage. Lila Poonawalla, CMD of Tetra Pak India, a company that is in the forefront of packaging and promoting liquid food in the country, speaks about the challenges of marketing packaged liquid food - the immense possibilities, the constraints - ranging from a vacillating government policy to the conservatism of the Indian consumer - the need for constant innovation and Tetra Pak's firm belief in growing their business in tandem with their customers'.

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 …

“We Have Raffeled For The Elephant & Won!”: The Wool Industry At South Union, Kentucky, Donna C. Parker, Jonathan J. Jeffrey

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

Wool, next to cotton, is perhaps the most important of all textile fibers. Like most of their contemporaries, the Shakers of South Union, Kentucky, recognized the ease with which wool fibers were spun into yarn and the advantages of sturdy wool clothing. South Union’s textile industry grew from a simple carding mill to a full-fledged woolen factory with a 240-spindle spinning jack and 4 power looms. From its genesis in 1815 to its abrupt demised in 1868, the sect’s woolen industry provides a paradigm for the study of the United States’ textile industrialization.

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 …

A Thread Of Evidence: Shaker Textiles At South Union, Kentucky, Jonathan Jeffrey, Donna C. Parker

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

Textile production was one of the many routine tasks performed in the early American home. Those who joined communal groups, like the Shaker converts at South Union, Kentucky, brought to the colony knowledge of these activities. Shakers manufactured fabric – linen, silk, and woolens – in about the same manner as most of their contemporaries, only on a larger scale. Though few of their contemporaries left documentation regarding the tedious tasks involved in textile production, the South Union Shaker community, located in Logan County, kept intimate accounts of daily activities through journals, diaries, day books, and correspondence which included records …

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.

A Comparative Review Of The Major Options For The Marketing Of Nigeria's Agricultural Commodities, M. O. Ojo, E. E. Inang, E. U. Ukeje

CBN Occasional Papers

The main aim of the paper is to critically review past commodity marketing systems in Nigeria, highlight some of the weaknesses which constrained their efficiency, as well as assess the performance of the present system and determine the advisability of retaining or modifying the present marketing arrangement. The performance of the Commodity Boards before their abolition in 1986 was adjudged unsatisfactory. However, since the abolition of the Boards, it has been observed that the new produce marketing arrangement has introduced some dynamism into commodity pricing as produce prices for the first time have been determined by the combined forces of …

Ontario Beef Producers'attitudes About Artificial Insemination, Wayne H. Howard, John Cranfield

Agribusiness

Characteristics and attitudes of Ontario beef producers who use artificial insemination and those who use natural breeding are compared. Natural breeders are characterized as larger as well as more commercial and profit oriented. Time, convenience and problems with heat detection are the main problems natural breeders associate with artificial insemination.

A Review And Analysis Of Agricultural Prices In Nigeria, 1977 - 1993, O. O. Akanji, E. U. Ukeje

Economic and Financial Review

This paper reviews and analyses the various prices that have been in existence in the agricultural sector since the re-organization of the produce marketing system in 1977 to the present free market system. It was observed that a close relationship existed between the market prices and the determined prices. However, some upward revisions in the official prices were found to be neither rational nor based on any concrete study. Moreso, most commodities were implicitly taxed during the period 1977-1985. The increases in the prices recorded between 1986 1993 due to market liberalization had an added problem of marketing. The domestic …

Valuation Of Transferable Delivery Rights For Marketing Cooperatives, Charles V. Moore, Jay E. Noel

Agribusiness

Delivery rights to a cooperative's marketing pool can take on a value independent of the members' equity share under certain conditions. Based on anecdotal information, transferable delivery rights become valuable when the pool is fixed in size (closed), members are protected from exploitation of quasi economic rents, and have an assured "home" for their production. The greater the potential buyers' aversion to risk, the higher the value of the delivery right. The right has additional value if the cooperative generates a premium per unit return due to product differentiation and market power. Cooperatives competing with investor-owned firms in less than …

Obligations And Penalties Under Lemon Laws: Automobiles Versus Tractors, Terence J. Centner, Michael E. Wetzstein

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Distinctive new provisions of tractor lemon laws which create obligations and provide penalties for defective self-propelled agricultural equipment are contrasted with provisions of automobile lemon laws. Lemon-law obligations involve both producers' guarantees to provide consumers with a serviceable vehicle and producers' promises to remedy defects. Due to fewer manufacturer obligations under the tractor lemon laws as opposed to automobile lemon laws, tractors may be expected to have more defects than automobiles. Yet the tractor lemon laws contain fewer penalties in the form of restitution remedies. The inconsistences of these obligations and penalties suggest tractor laws may be inefficient.

Creating Vertical Strategic Alliances: Theory And Cases From Canada's Agri-Food Sector, Erna Van Duren, Wayne H. Howard, Helen Mckay

Agribusiness

Participants in Canada's agri0food sector have been averse to vertical collaboration for too long. The sector's history of producer marketing boards that were concerned with obtaining bargaining power to redress the market power of buyers has created attitudes the market power of buyers has created attitudes towards buyers and sellers that increase the risk that agri-food organizations will underestimate the advantages of vertical strategic alliances and overestimate the difficulty of building such relationships. However, in spite of the prevailing attitude among participants in Canada's agri-food sector, many organizations have nurtured vertical alliances. This paper develops a framework for understanding how …

An Evaluation Of The Ontario Farm Business Management Association Program, Wayne H. Howard, Glen C. Filson

Agribusiness

The Ontario Farm Business Management Association (FBMA) program was initiated to improve the business management skills of Ontario red meat producers. The program has three aims: • to increase management skills on the farm •to increase management skills in the private sector • to help farmers make use of private sector advice. Two methods were used to evaluate the program. First, FBMA members and other red meat producers were surveyed about their farm and personal characteristics as well as use farm records and information sources. Second, focus groups were held with the FBMA field persons. Results indicate that membership in …

Changes In Water Allocation Mechanisms For California Agriculture, David Zilberman, Neal Macdougall, Farhed Shah

Agribusiness

Existing institutions allocating water in California reflect prior appropriation water rights established when water was abundant. These allocation rules queue users and do not encourage water conservation. increased water scarcity and growing valuation of water's environmental benefits are inducing a transition to water allocation mechanisms that increase water efficiency in agriculture. Transferable rights systems will lead to market-like water allocation, induce farmers to adopt water conservation technology, and may not face strong objection from senior water rights holders. One must weigh the efficiency gains associated with transition from water rights to water markets against the transaction costs associated with installing …