This paper examines the effect of the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The results suggest that U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico have been responsive to tariff rate reductions applied to Mexican products. A one percentage point decrease in tariff rates is associated with an increase in U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico by 5.31% in the first 6 years of NAFTA and by 2.62% in the last 6 years of NAFTA. U.S. imports from Mexico have also been attributable to the pre-NAFTA tariff rates. Overall, the results indicate that the U.S-Mexico trade agreement under NAFTA has been trade creating rather than trade diverting.

After controlling a variety of feeder cattle characteristics and market and sale conditions in Iowa feeder auctions, the price premiums for preconditioning claims (vaccinations and minimum 30 days of weaning) with and without third-party certification (TPC) are estimated as $6.12/cwt and $3.35/cwt, respectively. These premiums differ statistically (p < 0.0001), and their difference exceeds the average participation cost of TPC ($l/cwt). This indicates that TPC is valued in the market to credibly signal preconditioning investment under asymmetric information.

Since the Internet's inception its impact has been felt across the UnitedStates, but the distribution and adoption of the Internet has notnecessarily been uniform geographically. As more consumers and businessesrely on the Internet to access information, the data transmissionrequirements have also increased. Consequently, access to broadband hasbecome increasingly more important since dial-up cannot realistically handlethe increased requirements. The use of broadband in agriculture can providebetter access to price, weather, and management information while alsoopening new markets. However, many rural communities lag behind urban areasin broadband access and adoption rates. This study evaluates, through theuse of a producer survey, the level of broadband Internet use, motivationsfor its use, degree of access to broadband, and willingness-to-pay (WTP) tofund broadband infrastructure investments. Results from the producer surveysuggested farmers utilize the Internet primarily for accessing weatherreports, e-mail, market reports, and agricultural news. Notably, thesurvey's WTP questions allowed for the use of an interval regression tocalculate producer WTP for varying demographics. The results suggested thatproducers who were younger, farmed larger farms, and those who currently usethe Internet but do not have broadband access were WTP more in propertytaxes to support broadband infrastructure investments than those of adiffering demographic. Because WTP levels varied drastically depending onthe underlying demographics, it becomes difficult to pinpoint a WTP levelfor a one-time payment in property taxes that would be acceptable from apolicy standpoint.

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.

In the wake of a severe economic crisis in the 1980s Costa Rica abandoned animport substitution model of development adopted in the 1960s andimplemented policies supporting foreign investment and the diversificationof its exports. This study presents an application of the model proposed byHerzer and Nowak-Lehnmann to test the hypothesis that export diversificationhas contributed to economic growth in Costa Rica via externalities oflearning-by-doing and learning-by-exporting over the period of 1965–2006.After using the autoregressive distributed lags and dynamic ordinary leastsquares models no long-run relationship was found between exportdiversification and growth.

Public health experts are concerned about the diminishing efficacy of antibiotics. Some have called for a ban on growth-promoting antibiotics in animal agriculture. This study identifies the contribution of growth-promoting antibiotics in the grower/finisher phase of U.S. pork production. With National Animal Health Monitoring System swine data, relationships are estimated between growth-promoting antibiotic use and productivity. Results indicate improvements in average daily gain (0.5%), feed conversion ratio (1.1%), and mortality rate (reduced 0.22 percentage points); these productivity improvements translate into a profitability gain of $0.59 per pig marketed, or an improvement of 9% in net profits associated with growth promotion antibiotics.

Using a model of farm household resource allocation and data from the USDA-ERS Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this study compares the effects of various categories of farm program payments on time allocation by farm operators and spouses. Results suggest that agricultural market transition payments (AMTA) increase leisure hours of both farm operators and spouses. Loan deficiency payments (LDP) and payments that combine market loan assistance (MLA) and disaster payments are shown to reduce leisure. The study also finds that AMTA payments exhibit a much higher degree of income transfer efficiency than the LDP and MLA payments.

With sustained appreciation of the U.S. dollar over the past 4 years, the exchange rate has again taken on importance for agriculture. This overview paper revisits the analysis of exchange rate impacts, reviewing the relevant conceptual arguments, summarizing the evidence economists and agricultural economists have marshaled from the 1970s and the 1980s and from several more recent papers, presenting some illustrative recent empirical analysis of exchange rate effects, and briefly examining the detrimental consequences that sustained appreciation of the dollar is having on U.S. farm policy.

LL601 is a genetically modified rice variety and unapproved for commercial use. Its presence was found in commercial shipments of U.S. rice in 2006. This article explores its impact on prices and volume marketed for both the United States and Thailand, the major export competitor. The results show a significantly adverse but short duration effect on the U.S. rice market and little to no effect on the Thai rice market.

I develop a two-country theoretical trade model to show that Canadian subsidies increase lumber supplies and exports to the United States, and the U.S. retaliatory tariff raises U.S. prices and safeguards producers, but hurts consumers. These results underscore the shortsightedness of policy decisions in a bilateral trade dispute, as empirical results from the multiregional spatial equilibrium trade model highlight that both countries pursue myopic policies without taking into account the reactions of other exporters and importers. For instance, after the imposition of U.S. tariffs, other exporters grab the market share lost by Canada in the United States, while Canada augments its exports to other importers.

The nature of credit risk assessment and basis of loan approval decisions of the Farm Service Agency are analyzed in the aftermath of the black farmers' 1997 class action suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This study did not uncover convincing evidence of racial discrimination against nonwhite borrowers under a binomial logistic framework based on the probability of a loan application's approval. Moreover, the collective use of more stringent and objective credit-scoring measures usually employed by commercial lenders is less evident in the Farm Service Agency's evaluation of loan applications.

Recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Asia, Europe, and Africa have caused severe impacts on the poultry sector through bird mortality and culling, as well as resulting trade restrictions and negative demand shocks. Although poultry producers play a major role in preventing and controlling avian influenza, little research has examined the influence of their farm-level decision making on the spread of the disease. In this study, we describe farm behavior under livestock disease risk and discuss data and analyses necessary to generate sound empirical evidence to inform public avian influenza prevention and control measures.

Simulation results showed that simultaneous outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Asia, the United States, Brazil, and selected European countries will have significant impacts on world poultry trade. Assuming demand for chicken meat is constant, the global export price is simulated to increase by 9.63%. HPAI outbreaks in the United States, Economic Union, and Brazil will have a greater impact on export price than in any other possible three-region case. Outbreaks in the United States and Brazil would still lead to major impacts on world poultry trade, confirming large country effects.

A multinomial logit model was estimated and used to analyze the impact of various producer characteristics on the adoption of flow-through and recirculating technology in soft-shelled crab production. Because of the industry's geographic isolation and high turnover rate, data was collected by personal interviews in 1991. The results suggest that increased adoption might be fostered by targeting education programs towards full time, family operated businesses in non-traditional production regions. However, development of effective education programs may be hindered by the lack of a significant relationship between producer adoption decisions and the information provided by university or extension personnel.

The objective of this study was to identify factors which contributed to the financial performance of 81 selected dairy farms in Tennessee. The study analyzes several measures of financial performance including cash farm income, net farm income, and returns to operator labor and management. Regressions with ten explanatory variables were used to determine factors that explained the variation in the measures of financial performance. Production per cow, number of cows, price received for milk, forage costs, and level of debt use appeared to influence financial performance.

Increasing volatility in milk and feed prices has led to higher levels of market and financial risk for dairy farmers. We examine dairy farmer use of forward pricing methods for milk sales and feed purchases. Operators with larger herds, higher levels of education, and those farm businesses that were not organized as sole proprietorships were more likely to have used forward pricing. We also examine reasons dairy farm operators had not used these tools to date and find that the most common reason was lack of knowledge. These findings may be used to target educational seminars and outreach to dairy farm managers.

Questions have been raised regarding the economic costs of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the United States. This analysis examines how welfare changes are measured and argues that they must be decomposed by groups. Producers with animals quarantined and slaughtered because of FMD measure their welfare change using lost sales. Producers not quarantined measure their welfare change using producer surplus. The change in national sales revenue is accurate when the supply elasticity is low. Welfare changes for consumers also must be decomposed because the change in aggregate consumer surplus hides important shifts in welfare among groups of consumers.

A two-stage model is used to examine a landowner's decision to use riparian buffers. First, the farmer chooses whether to continue farming or to sell the land for development. If the farmer continues farming, then he or she must decide whether or not to plant a buffer. If the farmer plants a buffer, he or she must choose its type: trees or grass. Simulations of a representative farmer determine the parameters and parameter values that affect each decision. The farmer chooses to plant a buffer unless the net crop price is high or the land rental rate is low. The choice of buffer type is affected by crop price, farm size, relative incentive payments, relative cost share rates, and amount of deer damage.

This paper reports results from a U.S. national telephone survey ongenetically modified foods (vegetable oil, cornflakes, and salmon). Thesurvey featured a contingent valuation in which respondents chose betweenthe GM and non-GM alternatives with an option of indifference. The binomialand multinomial logit models yielded estimated willingness to pay (WTP) toavoid the GM alternatives. Respondents were willing to pay 20.9%, 14.8%,28.4%, and 29.7% of the base prices to avoid GM vegetable oil, GMcornflakes, GM-fed salmon, and GM salmon, respectively. The inclusion ofindifference option could increase the sample size and moderate the meanWTP.

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.