Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:39:34.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Estimating the Impact of Rising Transportation Fuel Costs on the Competitive Position of New England Agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Robert L. Christensen*
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts
Get access

Abstract

Transportation costs between production regions affect interregional competitive relations. Rising fuel costs have substantially changed the transfer cost function for motor truck transport. A method for estimating the direct impact on consumer and producer prices of fuel cost increases is presented. Example computations are made for long distance transport of vegetables, eggs, meat, and milk to illustrate the methodology. The implication of markup procedures by marketing firms on consumer prices is shown. Differential impacts on producers depend on the type of food product and scale of operation in New England. Impacts on consumer food budgets are suggested.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions of H. M. Bahn, D. R. Marion, B. J. Morzuch, T. H. Stevens and two anonymous reviewers. Agricultural Experiment Station Paper No. 2338.

References

Anderson, Dale G. and Budt, Wayne W. A Rate / Cost Analysis of Nebraska Meat Trucking Activities with Livestock Trucking Cost Comparisons. University of Nebraska Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull. 269, March 1975.Google Scholar
Bahn, Henry M. and Christensen, Robert L.Regional Self-Sufficiency in Food Production—The New England States.” Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council. 8(1979).Google Scholar
Boles, Patrick P. Cost of Operating Refrigerated Trucks for Hauling Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. ERS, USDA, Washington, D.C., July 1977.Google Scholar
Fuller, Earl I. and Gleason, James. Fresh Market Vegetable Processes. University of Massachusetts Coop. Ext. Ser. Pub. 420, June 1964.Google Scholar
Lough, Harold W. Truck Transportation Costs of Bulk Milk. AGERS-33. CED, ERS, USDA, Washington, D.C., August 1977.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1979 Handbook of Agricultural Charts. Agriculture Handbook No. 561, October 1979.Google Scholar