A latent segmentation modeling is used in this study to identify theheterogeneity of willingness-to-pay estimates for quality attributes andcountry-of-origin in the Korean beef market. Three distinctive groups ofgrocery shoppers are identified based on their level of concern (very,moderately, and not too concerned) about the use of antibiotics andgenetically modified organism feed ingredients in beef production. Resultsindicate that the very concerned group values such attributes asantibiotics-free, genetically modified organism-free, and domesticproduction the most among the three groups. Results also suggest that themost important factor in determining grocery shoppers' willingness-to-pay iscountry-of-origin for all three groups.

We investigate thinness of hog and pork markets in terms of quantity andrepresentativeness of negotiated transactions. Transactional volume impartsmarginally greater confidence in pricing precision for Iowa-SouthernMinnesota negotiated hogs than for the national carcass cut-out, suggestingthat contracts tying prices to the former rather than the latter may be morerepresentative of industry conditions. Extending mandatory price reportingto pork may remedy this discrepancy. Despite declining volume, terminal hogmarkets may price accurately off of Iowa-Southern Minnesota prices. Hogquality differentials across procurement methods are documented, and qualityof negotiated hogs is shown to decline with declining volume.

The exercise of market power by broiler processing firms (integrators) isplausible because local markets for growers are concentrated and becausegrowers face hold-up risks arising from substantial investments in specificassets set against limited integrator purchase commitments. This articleexplores the links between local integrator concentration and growercompensation under production contracts using data from the 2006 broilerversion of the USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Results ofthis study, which account for characteristics of the operation and specificfeatures of the production contract, suggest that greater integratorconcentration results in a small but economically meaningful reduction ingrower compensation.

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with improved health outcomes,yet there is limited understanding of the impact of cost and accessibilityon fruit and vegetable intake in rural settings. This study examines therelationship between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and their costand accessibility among blacks and non-Hispanic whites in a rural area.Individual characteristics from a 2006 mail survey (n = 1,510) were combinedwith store locations and price information from a 2006 ground-truthed censusof retail outlets. The mail survey covered seven counties in central Texaswith 38 supermarkets/grocery stores. Blacks tended to live closer to asupermarket or grocery store, but they were only slightly more likely thanwhites to consume two or more servings of fruit daily and much less likelyto consume three or more servings of vegetables. Multivariate probitregression analysis revealed that neither access nor cost was related tofruit or vegetable consumption among white respondents. Among blacks, costwas also not associated with consumption. In contrast to whites, however,each additional mile was associated with a three percentage point decline inthe probability of consuming two or more servings of fruit daily and a 1.8percentage point decline in the probability of consuming three or morevegetable servings.

Elevated prices for major U.S. commodities have renewed interest in theprice sensitivity of foreign demand facing the United States. Although theelasticity of foreign demand plays an important role in discussions of U.S.farm policy, it is also a parameter that is much debated with the majorityof studies in this area published over 20 years ago. We provide newestimates of the elasticity of export demand for U.S. corn, soybeans, andwheat using updated data and empirical techniques. Our estimates are usefulfor practical policy analysis as well as for researchers seeking toparameterize large-scale simulation models.

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.

Using manure as a substitute for commercial fertilizer could potentiallyreduce fertilizer costs and also reduce non-point source pollution.Livestock farmers in Missouri and Iowa were surveyed regarding their manuremanagement practices. Eighty-one percent of turkey farmers versus 5% of beeffarmers transferred manure to other farmers. Fifty-one percent of farmerswho transferred manure indicated it had been tested. Factors decreasingadoption included higher off-farm incomes, solid versus liquid manure, andmore animal units per acre. Factors increasing adoption included distancetransferred, a contract for the manure, payment, and thinking that manuretesting was profitable.

A choice experiment with real products was used to investigate consumerwillingness to pay (WTP) for several low-input attributes of turfgrasses.The choice scenarios consisted of turfgrass plots, which varied in aestheticquality characteristics and were labeled with differing levels ofmaintenance requirements (irrigation, fertilizer, etc.), shade adaptation,origin, and price. A mixed logit model was used to analyze the choice dataand estimate consumer WTP. Our results suggest that low-input maintenanceattributes significantly influence consumer choice behavior and identify astrong consumer preference for reduced irrigation and mowing requirements.The introduction of low-input turfgrasses could be a viable strategy forreducing the maintenance inputs and costs for residential lawn care.

The economic feasibility of soybeans, grain sorghum, and corn in annualrotation with winter wheat using reduced tillage and no-tillage systems inthe Central Great Plains was evaluated, with continuous wheat and grainsorghum also analyzed. Net returns were calculated using simulated yield andprice distributions based on historical yields, two historical annual priceseries, and 2011 costs. Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function wasused to determine the preferred strategies under various risk preferences.The no-till wheat-soybean and reduced-till wheat-soybean systems are thefirst and second most preferred, regardless of the level of riskaversion.

Tall fescue toxicosis adversely affects calving rate and weight gainsreducing returns to cow-calf producers in the south–central United States.This grazing study estimated animal and economic performance implications ofendophyte-infected fescue and calving season. Establishing novelendophyte-infected tall fescue on 25% of pasture acres resulted in improvedcalving rates (87% vs. 70%), weaning weights (532 lbs vs. 513 lbs), andpartial returns per acre ($257 vs. $217). Additionally, fall-calving cowshad higher calving rates (91% vs. 67%), weaning weights (550 lbs vs. 496lbs), and partial returns per acre ($269 vs. $199) than spring calvingcows.

A Cox nonnested test is conducted using a fast double bootstrap (FDB) methodto select among three competing functional forms (linear response plateau,quadratic, and Mitscherlich-Baule) to model forage yield response tonitrogen applied with swine effluent. The quadratic is rejected in favor ofone of the other functional forms in all cases. The FDB pvalues differed slightly from the single bootstrap pvalues. Buffalograss was slightly more profitable than bermudagrass and hasthe ability to use almost as much nitrogen as bermudagrass.

We use survey data to study the degree to which new farming operations inAlabama were financially constrained after the 2008 financial crisis. Next,we control for farmers' self-selection out of the credit market and identifywhich farmers were able to secure loans during the period of 2009–2010. Theresults show that new farmers that started any part of their operation after2005 were financially constrained but no evidence that their financingconstraints were affected by the crisis. As expected, we find that lendingwas collateral-driven, although lenders also considered farmers'profitability and cash flows.