Typically, marketers define market segments by their demographic characteristics, assuming that these segments represent consumers with relatively homogeneous buying patterns. A more managerially useful definition, however, groups consumers of similar behavior directly and then seeks to find demographic commonalities among them. This study uses a latent class analysis technique to segment consumers based on their responsiveness to a set of marketing variables, finding that a multiple-segment model provides a better fit to the data, and that these segments differ significantly in their responsiveness. By targeting marketing activities to their most responsive segments, the efficiency of commodity promotion can be dramatically improved.

Whole farm simulation analysis and econometric techniques are employed in an analysis of crop rotations and tenure arrangement strategies. The FLIPSIM model is used to analyze a representative Texas Upper Gulf Coast rice and soybean farm. Probit analysis is then used to determine the impact of net cash farm income, land tenure, and crop rotation on probability of survival. Results suggest that, although the simulation model is useful in providing information on the effect at the farm level of following the different strategies, probit results provide greater understanding into the returns and risk inherent to each strategy.

The current energy crisis, water supply and distribution problems, land use conflicts, and environmental issues are bringing with them a series of federal and state policy actions (legislation, new institutions, and court decisions) in response to the complex problem of resource allocation. In their simplest form, the policy questions deal with the public sector influence on the allocation of available scarce resources among alternative uses, and the allocation of scarce public investment funds among alternative programs to augment available supplies of these resources.

Microenterprise programs (MEPs) have become an important research concern and rural development strategy in international development circles. The basic premise of this approach is that microenterprises , that is firms with fewer than 10 employees, can be provided with a series of small loans that allow them to start or expand productive activities and thereby increase incomes and escape poverty. Governments and donor agencies have expanded funding for microfinance programs in low-income countries and more articles appear in the Western media about the success of this new approach in assisting the poor.

The general economic meanings and mathematical structure of the dual of a primal mathematical programming model have been discussed for many years. However, within the mathematical programming realm, many interesting formulization variations have developed partly in response to variations in particulars of problems.

A number of authors have discussed the economic meaning and mathematical structure of the primal of a linear cost minimizing transportation model. Some authors discussed the economic meaning and mathematical structure of the dual as well as the primal of the transportation model. Several authors discussed cost minimizing transshipment models. Recently, greater interest has been shown in specific economic meanings of the dual of the cost minimizing transshipment model.

The agricultural sector has operated in a period of high real interest rates for over half a decade. Some are concerned that this has limited capital availability and stagnated the historic capital for labor substitution occurring in the sector. This study proposes new procedures for estimating the aggregate production function of United States agriculture. Improvements include incorporation of total returns and revised measures of both durable and nondurable capital inputs. Results indicate increasing capital productivity has occurred, but encouraging further capital substitution may not benefit agricultural producers.

Thin markets create challenges for reporting market information by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and for users of the information. This study examines distributions of transactions comprising daily price reports in the U.S. hog market. We determine publicly reported daily prices are sensitive to which packing plants buy hogs. Transaction prices comprising USDA Agricultural Marketing Service price reports are not normally distributed; care must be taken in reporting and interpreting transaction prices. Economically important variations in prices occur because of packer-specific indicators. Daily reported prices are used as base prices in marketing agreements, making variation of even greater importance.

This study formally links the literature on R&D-driven productivity growth to studies which examine GHG emission benefits from increased farm productivity growth. Using a global agricultural model and estimates from the literature, this study examines the impact of greater US public agricultural R&D spending over 2025−2035. The results show that roughly doubling public R&D investments in US agriculture could provide greater economic gains relative to its costs over the period 2017−2050. The GHG mitigation co-benefits from these investments also can be enhanced by combining R&D policies with strategies aimed at directly reducing farm inputs.

To further improve the understanding of promoting locally grown lavender, we examine consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for three lavender-based products: lavender bundles, culinary lavender, and lavender oil. We evaluate an online sample located in the southeast using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey. Lavender bundles have the highest WTP, followed by oil and culinary lavender. Certain marketing factors result in higher WTP, including product familiarity, familiarity with the Georgia Grown program, and shopping frequency at farmers’ markets. This study provides a better understanding of the opportunity for small-scale farmers to market specialty crops such as lavender.

As a result of several judicial rulings, processing of horses for human consumption came to a halt in 2007. This article determines the change in horse prices resulting from elimination of horse-processing facilities. As expected, lower-valued horses were more affected by the ban than higher-valued horses. The analysis suggests the slaughter ban reduced horse prices, on average, by about 13% and resulted in a loss in producer surplus to sellers of approximately 14% at the sale we analyzed. We also show horse prices are affected by a myriad of factors including breed, gender, age, coat color, and sale catalog description.

Strengthening climate resilience requires farmers to select climate adaptation strategies like weather index insurance. Acknowledging that decision-making is not isolated, this study explores simultaneous peer imitation in climate adaptation choices consisting of index insurance, savings, and their interaction. We present results from a lab-in-the-field experiment that introduces innovative index insurance. Findings indicate significant and strong imitation attitudes. While the bigger peer surrounding seems relevant in the static perspective, the closer surrounding gains importance in the dynamic perspective. Additionally, credit, trust, and practical understanding stimulate adoption. Community-based extension interventions and credit-bundled products may increase index insurance diffusion and improve climate resilience.

In the last decade, vegetarianism has become more prevalent in the United States, although by no means dominant (Adrian and Daniel). Even households which have not become vegetarian have considered decreasing their consumption of meat. This trend has been due to several factors. First, meat is relatively more expensive than other sources of protein. Second, inflation has diminished consumer purchasing power. Third, recent health reports have focused on carcinogenic agents in meat and the dangers of too much cholesterol. Fourth, concern with ecology and world food supplies has increased. Meat is thought to be less efficient in feeding the masses than grains and other nonmeat protein sources.

The effectiveness of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in achieving its goals at the national, regional, and state level is unknown. Using US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from all states and territories for the years 2000-2006, the impact of program and participant characteristics and returns to scale on the three outcome indicators used by the USDA are estimated. Program and participant characteristics do not seem to be as important as the amount of money spent on the program. Generally speaking, there are constant and increasing returns to scale for two of the three federal outcome indices for most states but not all.

Socioeconomic factors influencing consumer demand for nursery products and landscape projects were investigated using consumer survey data collected from North Carolina in 2008. Tobit models were estimated for censored dependent variables, budget expenditure shares on nursery products, and landscape spending. The most significant factors influencing the share of income spent on nursery products were age and household income. The elderly and baby boomers tend to spend less on bedding plants, perennials, and outdoor hardscapes than Generations X and Y. The income elasticities suggest that the amount spent on outdoor living projects is sensitive to changes in household income, whereas spending in vegetable plants and chemicals is less responsive to income.

Several recent papers have used annual changes and monthly data to estimate demand systems. Such use of overlapping data introduces a moving average error term. This paper shows how to obtain consistent and asymptotically efficient estimates of a demand system using seasonally differenced data. Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical application to the estimation of the U.S. meat demand are used to compare the proposed estimator with alternative estimators. Once the correct estimator is used, there is no advantage to using overlapping data in estimating a demand system.

A significant component of risk in agricultural production systems is yield variability. The ability to predict yield and thus reduce risk would have many potential benefits to both individual decision makers and society. For example, in farm planning, quality crop yield forecasts could be crucial in making decisions on optimal crop combinations. At the aggregate level, an example where a yield forecast would have obvious benefits would be cases in which government manages a grain buffer stock.

The commercial farm problem is often defined as a disequilibrium condition in which agriculture's productive capacity exceeds utilization at socially acceptable prices. However, commodity supplies are determined by the level and composition of resources committed to their production. While the commercial farm problem surfaces as a production-utilization disequilibrium, basically it is a resource imbalance problem.

Resource imbalances in agriculture result in an inefficient organization of the industry. To be efficient, resource use in the farm industry must satisfy three conditions:

1. the allocation of resources among agricultural and non-agricultural products must result in output and price levels that reward identical resources equally,

2. the use of resources in agriculture must result in a product mix geared to the relative demands for different products, and

3. each farm product must be produced at minimum factor cost.

The research reported in this paper focuses on the last efficiency condition. More specifically, we estimate the level and combination of resources for historical production levels of feed grains, wheat, soybeans, cotton and tobacco that minimize factor cost.