Agribusiness最新文献

Geographical indication (GI) represents the specific good quality and reputation of the regional characteristics of agricultural products, which is a positive approach for stabilizing the export of agricultural products under China's new “Dual Circulation” pattern. This study used the propensity score matching–double difference (PSM–DID) method empirically testing the effect and mechanism of the mutual recognition of GIs between China and the EU on China's agricultural product export from 2000 to 2016 based on theoretical analysis of the effect mechanism of GI on agricultural product exports. The results show that: (1) The mutual recognition of GIs significantly increased the binary margin of China's agricultural exports, and the effect on the intensive margin was stronger than that on the extensive margin, and the effects on the three subvariables of the extensive margin are in the following order: old products exported to new markets > new products exported to old markets > new products exported to new markets; (2) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the mutual recognition of GIs contributes more to state-owned enterprises, enterprises in the eastern region and to export destinations in EU countries; (3) The mechanism analysis shows that domestic demand–driven, quality upgrading and signal transmission are important mechanisms in the export effect of mutual recognition of GIs. This research shows that vigorously promoting the mutual recognition of GIs between China and the EU are important factors in promoting the growth of China's agricultural exports and achieving high-quality agricultural development. [EconLit Citations: F14, Q17, Q18].

Packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables is standard in many grocery stores. This mixed methods study aims to identify the role packaging plays in consumer choice and what packaging material consumers prefer. We analyzed data from quantitative stated preference experiments with a quota sample of 485 consumers living in Germany. In addition to the experiments, we conducted a qualitative study and analyzed data from 13 consumers who participated in think aloud protocols and responded to open-ended questions. We analyzed the data from the quantitative and qualitative studies separately and then systematically compared their key findings. Choice-based conjoint analyses showed that packaging was less important than price and origin in consumers' decisions, but that consumers clearly preferred unpackaged to packaged produce. This is true for both apples, a relatively robust produce, and tomatoes, which are more susceptible to damage. The qualitative research indicated that consumers appreciate the ability to see and choose an unpackaged product, but also see some benefits of packaging, such as the protection of the produce. Overall, we found that by combining qualitative and quantitative insights, we were able to identify overlapping but also distinct facets of consumer preference for fresh produce packaging. Regarding the use of bio-based plastics for fresh produce, our results indicate that German consumers were not currently inclined to choose this type of packaging, and evidence suggests that they have little knowledge and/or awareness about it. Our findings have implications for researchers, marketing practitioners, packaging manufacturers, and policy makers. [EconLit Citations: D12, Q50].

Although the governance of farm producer-owned and -controlled organizations is shaped by the complex interaction of mixed member, director, and manager objectives, its conceptualization in the literature is limited to the assignment of control to members, board directors, and managers. Such a categorization is imperfect as there exist other governance characteristics such as member vote distribution, board director identity, manager identity, and CEO identity. Using 371 survey responses from US farmer cooperatives, we inform the adoption of nontraditional governance characteristics in terms of proportional vote distribution, nonmember board directors (i.e., outside directors), and nonmember managers and CEOs. Furthermore, we relate the adoption of nontraditional characteristics to the competitive scope, organizational function, organizational size, and capital structure of the survey respondents by means of various empirical techniques. Generally, nontraditional adaptation of the governance structure, which implies an advanced delegation of control to decision specialists who are non-members, is positively associated with the competitive scope and organizational size. Also, such nontraditional adaptation is more common to marketing cooperatives as compared to supply cooperatives. Our study motivates a multi-dimensional conceptualization of governance, which is necessary to better understand the internal coordination of member and manager objectives. [EconLit Citations: Q13].

As is the case with many commodity processors, manufacturers of ethanol face considerable margin risk from a wide range of input and output prices and the interrelation of these risks with the technical operational efficiency of the plant. Buyers of ethanol desire greater budget certainty for future ethanol purchases. An approach to pricing that has found considerable use in the livestock, dairy, and milling industries is the use of component-based formula pricing. This study constructs a Monte Carlo simulation model of a typical South Dakota ethanol plant that uses a formula contract to fix components of the ethanol price. The simulation results indicate that the contract has considerable margin risk management benefits for the ethanol producer. The buyer also achieves marginal risk management benefits but with greater budget certainty as the components are fixed. Additional observations of interest to the industry are drawn from the sensitivity results of the simulations. [EconLit Citations: Q13, G17].

Futures markets are critical to price discovery and often dominate spot markets. We analyze the linkages between daily corn futures and spot prices in the United States using dynamic time warping. This nonparametric pattern recognition technique has several advantages over traditional time series methods. First, it can detect multiple changes in the lead-lag associations between the two prices within short intervals; the duration with which one series leads or lags another is not assumed to be fixed. Second, the method can be applied to time series without regard to their stationarity properties. This greatly expands the scope of this method to accommodate a wide range of time series. Third, it lends itself well to studying small samples, which econometricians encounter routinely. Fourth, the results are presented intelligibly using intuitive visualizations. Our results show that futures markets are critical to price discovery; nevertheless, spot markets dominate futures markets intermittently. We discuss the results in detail, setting them in the proper context. [EconLit Citations: C14, C32, Q02, Q11].

Integrating trading and logistics is an important challenge in commodity trading. Trading and logistics are strategic decisions and are integral to most commodities including grain shipping by rail, in addition to other modes (barges, ocean shipping). There are substantial risks, such as the ordering and placement of rail cars. The other risk is having sufficient grain stocks to load rail cars. Alternatives for managing these risks include holding grain inventories and the strategic use of shipping options. The purpose of this study is to develop a model for determining an optimal grain inventory strategy for shippers. The real option methodology is used to value uncertainty in rail car velocity and determine optimal purchases and inventories. The results show the importance of integrating trading and logistics decisions and illustrate that inventories can be interpreted and valued as real options that are affected by uncertainties. Taken together, the real options indicate how much extra inventory shippers should maintain to mitigate risks and maximize profits.

Longitudinal data on Iowa landowner–operator contracts are used to examine how the mean, variance, and skewness of expected farmland returns affected contract terms from 2008 to 2019. To control for unobserved operator risk preferences and ability as a fixed effect, the sample includes operators with multiple contracts. Our empirical work shows that farmland with lower variance is more likely to be rented for cash, whereas land with highly variable returns is more likely to be custom contracted. [EconLit Citations: L14, Q15]