Abstract: For agribusiness managers and salespeople, understanding customers and their preferences and behaviors is crucial to success. This study uses cluster analysis to identify five distinct buyer segments for expendable input purchases for U.S. crop and livestock commercial producers. A multinomial logit model is used to predict segment membership based on demographic, behavioral, and business management factors. Results provide important information for agricultural input suppliers.
Key Words: cluster analysis, input suppliers, market segmentation, multinomial logit
Contact Author:
Corinne E. Alexander
Department of Agricultural Economics
630 Krannert Building
Purdue University
403 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056
Phone: (765) 494-4249
Fax: (765) 494-9196
Abstract: This paper examines the globalization of the frozen potato industry, including the expansion of production and processing of potato products in the global market place, and future prospects for the industry. Driven largely by the rising popularity of Western style cuisine, frozen french fries and other frozen potato products have become global commodities generating billions of dollars in revenue worldwide. This study finds that with markets for frozen potato products in the United States and other developed countries hardly expanding, the growth of the frozen potato industry will critically depend on industry's ability to sustain growth in developing economies.
Key Words: french fries, frozen potato products, globalization, quick service restaurants
Contact Author:
Shiva S. Makki
The World Bank
MC 2-509
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
Phone: (202) 458-8521
Fax: (202) 522-0087
Abstract: Antibiotics have been used by pig producers for several decades, and are now used routinely. This study documents the current productivity and economic impacts of the use of antibiotics for growth promotion (AGP) by pig grower/finishers at the farm level. We evaluate the impacts of an AGP ban, and use of AGP by all pig grower/finishers for 61-90 days (a more production-efficient level), using data from the National Animal Health Monitoring System Swine 2000 Survey. Findings indicate that pig productivity improves with AGP. Relative to current use, an AGP ban would decrease producer profits by $1,400 per 1,020-head barn, and profits would increase by $1,992 for each grower/finisher barn when AGP is fed for 61 to 90 days. There is increasing concern about the use of antibiotics in animal production, partly because of the selection for antibiotic resistance. Thus, a careful examination of the value of AGP in pork production is warranted.
Key Words: antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance, growth promotion, pigs, production
Contact Author:
Gay Y. Miller
Dept. of Veterinary Pathobiology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Veterinary Medicine
2001 S. Lincoln Avenue
Urbana, IL 61802
Phone: (217) 244-3090
Fax: (217) 244-7421
Abstract: Farm families often hold large quantities of wealth and, like any other family, assess their financial progress by reviewing their net worth (or wealth) position periodically. Wealth has an impact on many decisions such as production, retirement, and succession of the farm. Households, in general, seek stability growth in wealth and, ideally, income as well. In the case of wealth, farm households will be better equipped to handle variability once the contributing sources are identified. This study measures how much of the variability in farm household assets and debt is attributed to the variability in farm and nonfarm sources of assets and farm and nonfarm sources of debt. Using a normalized variance decomposition approach and data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), results show that origin of asset and debt variability differs with farm size and location of the farm household.
Key Words: assets, debt, farm households, variability, variance decomposition
Contact Author:
Ashok K. Mishra
USDA/Economic Research Service
Resource Economics Division, Room S4005
1800 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-5831
Phone: (202) 694-5580
Fax: (202) 694-5776
Abstract: The objective of this study is twofold: first, to determine if, in the long run, health concerns affect the retail demand for beef in the United States via changes in consumer dietary preferences, and second, to establish if media coverage of popular diets (media frenzy) causes the change in retail demand for beef or if it simply reports the facts about the changes in consumer dietary preferences. Data used in the analysis are the quarterly retail demand index for beef and the number of newspaper articles and magazine features on low-fat/low-cholesterol and low-carb diets published in the United States between 1990:I and 2004:IV. Johansen's (1991, 1995) cointegration method and vector error correction (VEC) model-based Granger causality test were used in the long-run and short-run analysis, respectively. The results indicate health concerns are an important demand shifter for beef in the long run. In the short run, the media serve as a trigger that will influence people to become followers of a certain diet.
Key Words: beef demand, cointegration, Granger causality, health concerns, media, vector error correction
Contact Author:
Dragan Miljkovic
North Dakota State University
Dept. of Agribusiness and Applied Economics
221G Morrill Hall
Fargo, ND 58105-5636
Phone: (701) 231-9519
Fax: (701) 231-7400