Using data from the 1994-1996 CSFII/DHKS, we identify and assess factors affecting the decision to consume pork and conditional on consuming pork, the decision of the amount of pork intake. Branded and generic advertising of pork play a prominent role in both decisions. Beef advertising, however, does not significantly affect either the probability of consuming pork or the amount of pork intake. Key health, attitudinal and lifestyle factors are smoking status, dietary status, body mass index, the importance of nutrition in buying food, and trimming visible fat from meat. These factors however impact the probability of consuming pork rather than the amount of pork consumed. Region, urbanization, race, age, income, and seasonality also affect pork demand.

This study examines imposing and testing restrictions on preference variables in the Rotterdam model through the impacts of these variables on marginal utilities. An empirical analysis of the impact of a female labor force participation variable in a Rotterdam demand system for fresh fruit illustrates the methodology. This variable was modeled through its impact on marginal utilities via “adjusted” prices, following theoretical work by Basmann and Barten, among others. Results show that the female labor participation has negatively impacted the demands for citrus, while positively impacting the demands for other fresh fruit.

This study estimates the value of policies that would mandate labeling of beef from cattle produced with growth hormones or fed genetically modified corn. At no cost, 85 percent of respondents desired mandatory labeling of beef produced with growth hormones and 64 percent of respondents preferred mandatory labeling of beef fed genetically modified corn. Estimates suggest that consumers would be willing to pay 17.0 percent and 10.6 percent higher prices for beef on average to obtain information provided via mandatory labeling about whether the beef is from cattle produced with growth hormones or fed genetically modified corn, respectively.

The objective of this research is to determine the marginal value of attributes to consumers with respect to natural beef or beef produced with organic grains. A hedonic model is used to value attributes of 11 different primal cuts. Results suggest that producers under this particular natural/implant-free marketing alliance should market high-yielding animals rather than high-quality grading animals. Consumers of this beef value taste, as measured by dry aging, and leanness, as measured by USDA Select grade. The economic magnitudes of the variables under a producer's control were small relative to those that could be controlled by a processor.

This study examines the effect of a meal planner's nutritional awareness, exercise habits, and household socioeconomic characteristics on market participation and frequency of purchase of snack peanuts. Data are from a household survey of 2880 U.S. households collected by Gallup in 1997. Statistical tests showed that a double-hurdle or Cragg model best represented consumers' participation and purchase level decisions in the snack peanut market. The results indicated that meal planner's nutritional considerations while making food purchase decisions had little effect on the participation level decisions, but did affect purchase frequency of snack peanuts. Those household meal planners who were overly concerned about undesirable nutritional factors tended to decrease their purchase of snack peanuts. Promotion of snack peanuts on the basis of nutritional benefits through health professional and media is a useful tool to increase purchase frequency.

This paper reports on a study examining the ranking of selected attributes of fresh pork by Asian-origin consumers in San Francisco, California. Freshness is ranked as the most important attribute, followed by the attributes of the color of meat, lowness in fat, and the whiteness of fat. The attributes of price, freedom from chemicals, and being USDA labelled were also ranked to be of importance. Empirical results from an ordered probit model, postulated to explain respondents' importance rankings of attributes, suggested that particular demographic and socio-economic characteristics of Asian-origin consumers influenced the importance rankings of selected pork attributes. The findings suggest that Asian-origin consumers should not be treated as a single homogenous niche group in marketing, since there are identifiable sub-groups of these consumers with specific attitudes and preferences.

Agricultural sales cooperative unions (ASCUs) in Turkey are heavily influenced by both domestic and international government policies. Both export taxes and import tariffs are used as policy tools to regulate cotton markets. Domestic price support programs, water subsidies, fertilizer subsidies, and credit subsidies have also been used as domestic policy tools. These types of subsidies are not uncommon among developing countries. This paper provides empirical estimates of the degree of economic inefficiency associated with government intervention in Turkish cotton markets. A two-region partial equilibrium model of cotton exports and imports is developed under the “small country assumption” to obtain empirical estimates of the deadweight welfare loss associated with these government subsidies. Although government intervention results in significant income distribution among the various cotton sectors within Turkey, the overall economic inefficiency of the redistribution is very low.

This article examines the impacts of monetary policy on agricultural prices in four Asian economies using time series analysis and graph theory. The estimations clearly show that agricultural prices overshoot their long-run equilibrium values for Korea, Philippines, and Thailand, and the overshooting for agricultural prices is larger than for manufactured prices. Impulse-response functions and variance-decomposition analysis based on directed graphs and causal structures highlight the complex interplay among the variables in the model and how those relationships differ by country. Money supply changes clearly affect real variables and relative prices for all countries either through overshooting or non-neutrality of money.

Meta-response functions for corn yields and nitrogen losses were estimated from EPIC-generated data for three soil types and three weather scenarios. These metamodels were used to evaluate variable rate (VRT) versus uniform rate (URT) nitrogen application technologies for alternative weather scenarios and policy options. Except under very dry conditions, returns per acre for VRT were higher than for URT and the economic advantage of VRT increased as realized rainfall decreased from expected average rainfall. Nitrogen losses to the environment from VRT were lower for all situations examined, except on fields with little spatial variability.

Nitrogen applied before planting is more vulnerable to loss to the environment than nitrogen applied during the growing season, but the growing season application can increase the risk of lower yields caused by adverse weather that prohibits farmers to complete N application. An expected utility framework is used to illustrate the potential economic benefit of insurance for a farmer to reduce this risk cost. An expected-value variance analysis is used to illustrate the potential benefit of insurance to Iowa corn growers who apply N fertilizer only during the growing season.

This paper estimates the on-farm impacts of adopting herbicide-tolerant soybean on herbicide use, yields, and farm profits, using an econometric model that corrects for self-selection and simultaneity and is consistent with profit maximization. The model is estimated using nationwide farm-level survey data for 1997. Given that the use of herbicide-tolerant soybeans involves the substitution of a particular herbicide—primarily glyphosate—for other herbicides, we explicitly consider this substitution process in the model.

Detailed information on firm level food safety costs is reported. Survey data for small and very small meat processors are modeled. Economies of scale in implementing Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems are investigated. Results indicate that even after controlling for scale, very small plants incur higher compliance costs. Diseconomies of scope are assessed using the probability and number of products discontinued due to HACCP. Such “partial exit” is positively related to the current range of items produced and the need for facility modification. However, no evidence is found for higher levels of partial exit in very small plants.

The rapid adoption of genetically engineered (GE) crops by U.S. farmers suggests that these technologies have been perceived to improve farm financial performance. This study develops and applies an econometric model to data from corn and soybean producers in order to evaluate the financial impacts of the adoption of GE crops. Results indicate that the adoption of GE crops has had a limited impact on financial performance that varies by crop, type of technology, type of farm, and region of the nation. Factors other than the financial impacts appear to be important reasons for the rapid adoption of GE crops.

In production agriculture, good management is demonstrated by profits that are persistently greater than those of similar neighboring farms. This research examined the effects of management practices on risk-adjusted profit per acre for Kansas farms over 1990-1999. The management practices were price, cost, yield, planting intensity, and technology adoption (less-tillage). Cost management, planting intensity, and technology adoption had the greatest effect on profit per acre, and cash price management was found to have the smallest impact. If producers wish to have continuously high profits, their efforts are best spent in management practices over which they have the most control.

Financing local public goods is a major issue in many communities, especially those that have experienced rapid growth. This paper analyzes problems associated with locally collected real property taxes where the real property tax base is only revaluated at long time intervals. Using counties in North Carolina as the subject of the analysis, we find that effective real property tax rates fall between revaluations. We calculate that a system of taxing market values of real property at a constant legislated tax rate would have yielded additional annual revenues of $320 million for North Carolina counties over 1980 to 1995.

A method of paired comparison is adapted for use in estimating economic measures of value. The method elicits multiple binary choices for paired items in a choice set. Probability distributions and economic values are estimated nonparametrically and parametri-cally. The method is applied in an experimental context with a choice set composed of four private goods and several sums of money. The sample's median value estimates for the goods are generally not different than the market prices for these goods. People who are in the market for a good value it higher than those not in the market for the good.