Agricultural Economics Commons^™

Prospects For Enhancing The Market For Goat Meat Products: Analysis Of The 2019 Goat Meat Survey, Ashton M. Light

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The objective of this study was to identify goat meat product attributes and sociodemographic drivers of consumers’ willingness to buy to goat meat products. To do so the study used a nationwide consumer survey on goat meat preferences. A binary logit model was used to examine the factors affecting willingness to buy. Results show that gender, age, region, primary shopper, and product attribute preference for quality, price, leanness, cholesterol, and freshness significantly affect consumer willingness to buy goat sausage, jerky, burger, and patties.

Assessment Of Grain Safety In Developing Nations, Jose R. Mendoza

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grains are the most widely consumed foods worldwide, with maize (Zea mays) being frequently consumed in developing countries where it feeds approximately 900 million people under the poverty line of 2 USD per day. While grain handling practices are acceptable in most developed nations, many developing nations still face challenges such as inadequate field management, drying, and storage. Faulty grain handling along with unavoidably humid climates result in recurrent fungal growth and spoilage, which compromises both the end-quality and safety of the harvest. This becomes particularly problematic where there is little awareness about health risks associated with poor …

Effect Of Feed Additives And Toxic Elements On Swine Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Immune Function And Reproductive Performance, Richard A. Mudarra Hernández

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To evaluate the effects of peptide in combination of zinc oxide (Zno) or acidifiers (Exp 1), and gossypol (G) from cottonseed meal (CSM) ( Exp 2&3) on growth performance, complete blood cell counts (Exp 1, 2&3), nutrient digestibility (Exp 1), plasma gossypol (Exp 2&3) and semen quality (Exp 3), weaned pigs (Exp 1), growing gilts (Exp 2) and growing boars (Exp 3) were randomly allotted to dietary treatments. Treatments for Exp 1 during phase 1&2 were: (1) Positive Control (PC), formulated to meet NRC (2012) nutrient requirements; (2) Negative control (NC), fish meal was reduced to achieve -0.13% SID lysine; …

Investigating The Potential Of Microbial Metabolites And Mtor Signaling On Chicken Necrotic Enteritis, Mohit Bansal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by C. perfringens and coccidiosis, is responsible for substantial economic loss annually. In the first chapter, we investigated the effect of secondary bile acid on necrotic enteritis. Day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 5 groups of diets supplemented with 0 (basal diet), 0.8, 1.0, and 1.5 g/kg (on top of basal diet) deoxycholic acid (DCA). The birds were challenged with Eimeria maxima (20,000 oocysts/bird) at d 18 and C. perfringens (109CFU/bird/day) at d 23 and d 24 to induce NE. Birds were sacrificed at d 26, and ileal tissue and digesta samples were collected. DCA …

Market Trends In Food Consumption Expenditures Away From Home Prior To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rebecca Weir

Undergraduate Economic Review

U.S. food consumption expenditures away from home increased from 19 percent of total food expenditures in 1955 to 48 percent in 2015. Simultaneously, female participation in the labor force grew by 52.7 million women from 35 to 57 percent, signifying increased opportunity cost for women to prepare meals at home. This research uses an ordinary least squares regression to examine socioeconomic factors influencing the rise in U.S. food consumption expenditures away from home in 2018. Results inform food production and service industries’ marketing strategies, and set the stage for whether a new pattern emerges in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Nebraska Ballot Issues – Election Results, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

This publication provides educational information regarding the two constitutional amendments recommended by the Unicameral to Nebraska voters and the four citizen ballot initiatives on the November 2020 general election ballot.

Sustainable Management Of Groundwater In Louisiana, Dependra Bhatta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The common property nature of the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) results in the formation of a cone of depression in the southern portion of the aquifer encompassing Concordia parish, Louisiana. Excessive groundwater withdrawal and the resulting cone of depression formation have caused some wells to go dry and others to be affected by saltwater intrusion. The depleting groundwater stock can be managed optimally using different groundwater management policies. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to both policymakers and researchers to understand the effects of policies to keep the aquifer sustainable.

My dissertation is written in a three-essay format. …

Seasonal Forecast Based Preharvest Hedging, Eric D. Hunt, Cory Walters, Toni Klemm, Iyore Eronmwon

Cornhusker Economics

Given the immense effect of weather on agriculture, skillful weather forecasts are of importance to agricultural producers for effective decision making. Weather forecasts affect operational decisions such as whether or not to irrigate (where applicable), when to apply fertilizer, when to spray herbicide and pesticide, and certainly the timing of planting and harvesting. At the seasonal time scale, say in the spring, just before planting, weather forecasts may be used for strategic decision making on outcomes, say from preharvest hedging (hereafter referred to hedging), that will not be realized until the fall or harvest. Historically, the lack of skill in …

Economic Contribution Of Agriculture And Food To Arkansas' Gross Domestic Product 1997-2019, Leah English, Jennie Popp, Wayne Miller

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Agricultural production, processing, and retail industries are major contributors to Arkansas’ GDP. Agriculture contributes to the state economy through direct agricultural production, value-added processing, and agricultural retail activities. The Agriculture and Food Sector, which is comprised of agricultural production, processing, and retail industries, promotes economic strength through various interactions with other industries. The use of non-agricultural goods and services as inputs into the agricultural sector promotes diversified growth in Arkansas’ economy and thus plays a vital role in maintaining economic stability throughout the state. This report 1) compares the relative size of the Agriculture and Food Sector in Arkansas with …

The Benefits Of The Arkansas Rice Check-Off Program, B. Peterson-Wilhelm, L. L. Nalley, A. Durand-Morat, A. Shew, R. Parajuli, G. Thoma

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

As margins are reducing for agricultural producers there is a concerted effort to analyze all costs. One such cost for rice producers in Arkansas is their contribution to the Rice Check-off Program. This study analyzes the cost-benefit ratio of funds contributed by Arkansas rice producers and the holistic (both economic and environmental) benefits they receive. This study analyzes just five of the many programs the Rice Check-off Program invests in through the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (UASDA) and suggests that every dollar invested generated an average return of $28.49 between 2002–2018 ($70.45 when ecosystem benefits are included). …

Use Of Florpyrauxifen-Benzyl In Non-Flooded Rice Production Systems, Hannah Wright, Jason K. Norsworthy, Trenton L. Roberts, Robert C. Scott, Jarrod T. Hardke, Edward E. Gbur

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The lack of a flood on rice (Oryza sativa) levees and in furrow-irrigated rice creates a favorable environment for terrestrial weeds like Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats) to emerge and quickly overtake the crop for a longer portion of the year than in flooded rice culture. Florpyrauxifen-benzyl is a new auxin herbicide labeled for use in rice that has activity on both grasses and broadleaf weeds, as well as certain sedges. Field experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of florpyrauxifen-benzyl in a non-flooded environment. Experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 at the Lon Mann …

Fostering Community Supported Agriculture In Utah, Kelsey Hall, Roslynn Brain

All Current Publications

This curriculum contains seven modules that describe the fundamentals of CSA, CSA marketing and outreach, CSA management, CSA pricing, CSA crop planning, legal concerns for CSA operations, and additional resources.

#Eggs: Social And Online Media-Derived Perceptions Of Egg-Laying Hen Housing, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Courtney Bir, Christopher Wolf, John Lai, Yangxuan Liu

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Enormous quantities of data are generated through social and online media in the era of Web 2.0. Understanding consumer perceptions or demand efficiently and cost effectively remains a focus for economists, retailer/consumer sciences, and production industries. Most of the efforts to understand demand for food products rely on reports of past market performance along with survey data. Given the movement of content-generation online to lay users via social media, the potential to capture market-influencing shifts in sentiment exists in online data. This analysis presents a novel approach to studying consumer perceptions of production system attributes using eggs and laying hen …

Pork In The Future: The New Futures And Options Contracts On Pork Cutout, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

The CME Group has announced its plan to launch futures and options contracts on pork cut-out. The new contracts are scheduled to start trading on November 9, 2020. The exchange has al-ready been offering futures and options contracts on lean hogs and now adds another contract that the industry can use for risk management. While the existing futures contract on lean hogs is based on prices paid for hogs in the U.S., the new con-tract on pork cutout is based on prices paid for wholesale cuts of pork.

Presenting Smaller ‘Component Designs’ In Place Of Large Discrete Choice Experiment, Courtney Bir, Michael S. Delgado, Nicole Olynk Widmar

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Employing a sample of US residents, a new WTP (willingness-to-pay) data collection method using component discrete choice experiments is proposed and compared to the traditional method. The WTP experiments elicit consumer's WTP for potentially animal welfare improving production practices and product attributes in yogurt. The new data collection method was designed to decrease complexity by having respondents participate in fewer choice scenarios. Incidences of attribute non-attendance (ANA), a potential simplifying heuristic, occurred less frequently for all but one attribute in the new WTP data collection method. Exhibiting ANA for any attribute was negatively correlated with the time for completion.

Size And Scope Of Grand County Agriculture 2019, Ryan Feuz, Ryan Larsen, Michael Johnson

All Current Publications

Grand County is located in the center of the state along the eastern border with Colorado. As of 2017, the population was estimated at 9,674. Other surrounding Utah counties include Uintah, Carbon, Emery, Wayne, and San Juan. This fact sheet reviews information about land ownership, growing season, crop and livestock production, irrigation, farm income, and the average age of operator of Grand County agriculture in Utah.

Size And Scope Of Washington County Agriculture 2019, Ryan Feuz, Ryan Larsen, Ben Scow

All Current Publications

Washington County, named for the first president of the United States, George Washington, is located in the southwest corner of Utah. It is bordered by Nevada on the west and Arizona on the south. Other surrounding Utah counties include Iron and Kane. In 2017, the population was estimated at 165,662. Much of the terrain is rough and arid with little area conducive to agriculture. This fact sheet reviews the land ownership, growing season, crop, fruit and livestock production, irrigation, and farm income and age of operator information for Washington County, Utah agriculture.

Size And Scope Of Tooele County Agriculture 2019, Ryan Feuz, Ryan Larsen, Linden Greenhalgh

All Current Publications

Tooele County is in northwestern Utah. It borders Nevada. Other surrounding Utah counties include Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Juab. As of 2017, the population of Tooele County was estimated at 67,456. The Great Salt Lake Desert covers much of the western portion of the county while the eastern portion contains many small towns outside of Salt Lake City. Tooele County is the second-largest county in Utah. This fact sheet reviews the land ownership, growing season, crop and livestock production, and farm income and age of farm operators in Tooele County.

The Economic Impacts Of Social Activism In Food Markets, Anubrata Deka, Emie Yiannaka, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

Private politics, usually led by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social activists, focuses on changing the behavior of private economic agents through social pressure rather than through government action (although government action is also possible) (Baron, 2003). The food sector has been experiencing increased social pressure from social activist organizations to achieve diverse goals, ranging from improving food safety and food fortification to increasing transparency in food markets. A primary reason for the increase in organized activism in the food sector is the proliferation of the provision of credence attributes which are attributes unobservable through search or experience (consumption and use). …

Corruption And Cooperative Organizations, Konstantinos Giannakas, Murray E. Fulton

Cornhusker Economics

Although the literature is limited, there is evi-dence that corruption in cooperatives and inves-tor-owned firms (IOF) is widespread in develop-ing and transition economies where corruption generally is common. Cooperative corruption is also found closer to home. Two recent examples from the United States include the Ashby Farm-ers’ Cooperative Elevator in Minnesota where the general manager stole from the cooperative and the Tri-County Electric Cooperative in South Carolina where board members enriched them-selves with perks and benefits. In Canada, the PACE Credit Union was placed under the regula-tor’s control in 2018 after two senior executives were discovered to have received secret …