Agribusiness最新文献

We derive price premiums for patented or trademarked apple varieties, also known as “club apples,” compared to open-variety apples. We use an expansive retail scanner dataset, along with unique data on apple taste characteristics, to estimate monthly club apple premiums for 2008–2018. We find that club apple premiums are around 29% and have consistently decreased from 35% in 2008 to 22% in 2018. Positive club apple premiums relate to consumers' preferences for juicier, more acidic, and sweeter apples. We do not find evidence that consumers place value on the exclusivity of purchasing more expensive and limited varieties. Hence club premiums exist in the market by meeting the demand of consumer segments for apples with distinct taste attributes rather than replacing the demand of traditional consumers who prefer open varieties. We use a vector error correction framework to find short-run and long-run determinants of club apple premiums. In the short run, the sales of club varieties may positively associate with the sales of open varieties, given the premium and cost factors. However, in the long run, there is a negative cointegrated relationship between club apple sales, open apple sales, and club apple premiums; and an increase in club apple sales is adversely related to the open apple sales and club premiums. The high initial premiums of protected club varieties have provided incentives for the development of uniquely differentiated apple varieties, while in the long term as production expands, premiums decrease making club varieties less expensive for consumers [EconLit Citations: L66, Q11].

Rural poverty reduction is a challenge worldwide. Urban–rural integration is not only the result of urban and rural development but also the cause of poverty alleviation. Few studies, however, have used empirical methods to examine the social impact of urban–rural integration. Against the Chinese background, this study adopts an empirical method to analyze the impact of urban–rural integration on rural poverty reduction at the micro level. The study finds that urban–rural integration can reduce rural households' absolute poverty and relative income poverty. The main channel is the access of rural households to medical services. However, there is regional heterogeneity and household heterogeneity. Urban–rural integration cannot reduce rural household poverty for the western regions with backward economies. Household heads' age, health and job will impact the effect of urban–rural integration on reducing rural household poverty. Urban–rural integration and poverty alleviation development work should pay more attention to access to resources and services and adopt differentiated policies for different regions. [EconLit Citations: R1]

This article investigates the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitment of small agri-food businesses disclosed by 279 Italians using Thomson Reuters Eikon ESG indicators and its relationship with their financial dimensions, that is, the corporate profitability indexes (ROE and EBITDA) and cost of debt, used as a proxy of the ability to access credit. Findings showed the absence of social reporting and the disclosure of business governance, including sustainability strategy, and the poor reporting of the environmental and social pillars, except for product innovation, product quality, and responsible marketing themes. The capability of ESG disclosure to predict corporate profitability and access to credit is limited. Moreover, investments in product responsibility are negatively related to the cost of debt, while commitment toward the internal and external companies' community appears to predict their ability to access credit positively. In light of the new institutional pressures requiring small agri-food businesses to change and combine intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for CSR, the study extends the literature on the sustainability of small agri-food businesses, which is mostly limited, and provides significant practical and political contributions to foster the paradigm shift toward sustainability [EconLit Citations: M21, Q01, Q13].

Unlike genetic modification, genome editing (GE) technologies can be used to yield transgene-free outcomes, which is an important aspect in promoting consumer acceptance of GE foods. In addition, with the advent of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system, which is known to be exceptional among genome editing tools, GE has numerous potential applications in plant breeding technology to create diverse desirable traits, especially consumer-targeted traits such as improved product quality and nutrition. It is expected that the GE foods market will overtake that of genetically modified (GM) foods. Although few GE products have been introduced to the market, some studies have already evaluated consumer acceptance and valuation of GE foods in comparison with GM and conventional foods. However, these studies mainly focused on traits relevant to cultivation efficiency and ignored consumer preferences for desirable traits. Further, it has been shown that consumers evaluate GE foods somewhat higher than GM foods; yet, as observed for GM foods, consumers expect a discounted price for GE foods. GE application for consumer-targeted traits could, however, have a potentially positive effect on consumer acceptance. This study was conducted to evaluate consumer acceptance and valuation of quality-improved consumer-targeted GE products. We defined the determinants and estimated the willingness to pay a price premium for GE rice compared to GM and conventional rice by using the double-bounded contingent valuation method under different information treatments. The survey was conducted in Vietnam, where consumers have not been exposed to information regarding GE via social media that could lead to a biased perspective. This context is ideal for investigating the effect of information provision during the introductory stage of GE products to the market. Our main findings suggest that consumers will widely accept quality-improved GE foods targeted at consumer preferences, as well as the positive influence of in-depth information provision on potential consumer acceptance. [EconLit Citations: Q10: Agriculture: General].

Straw returning is important for rural ecological management and sustainable agricultural development. Using farm survey data for Anhui Province, China, in 2020, we applied the double-hurdle model to investigate the impact of agricultural machinery services and land fragmentation on farmers' straw-returning behavior, and to explore the relationship between agricultural machinery self-service and outsourced service. Self-service had a significant positive effect on farmers' straw-returning behavior, while outsourced service had a significant positive effect only on degree of adoption. Land fragmentation had a significant negative effect on farmers' straw-returning behavior, and significantly inhibited the effect of self-service on adoption decision. Complementarity existed between self-service and outsourced service in farmers' straw-returning adoption decision, and the effect was more pronounced among smaller-scale farmers. There was significant substitutability between self-service and outsourced service in degree of adoption among larger-scale farmers. Transfer and integration of rural land, increasing agricultural machinery purchase subsidy, upgrading farmers' self-service capability, and promoting development of socialized agricultural machinery services should be implemented to promote crop straw returning. EconLit Citations: Q01, Q16.

Indoor agriculture (IA) presents a pathway to producing leafy greens more sustainably by strictly controlling the growing environment, increasing the efficiency of water and land resources use, reducing pesticide application, and enhancing quality characteristics. However, the commercial success of adopting this production method depends on the technology's widespread consumer acceptance paired with a price premium for the improved quality it provides. This paper characterizes American consumer preferences for leafy greens, reports a positive WTP for leafy green attributes, and estimates how consumer attitudes toward IA affect their leafy green choices. The findings are drawn from an online survey of over 2000 US leafy green consumers conducted in 2021. The respondents faced a hypothetical discrete choice experiment (DCE) designed to simulate purchasing leafy green produce. The alternatives presented in the DCE varied over production systems (IA, field farming, or greenhouses) and quality levels (taste, freshness, nutrient level, and food safety). Estimates identify significant preference heterogeneity for leafy green attributes and facilitate classifying consumers into three preference-based groups: “Quality Seekers,” “Price Conscious,” and “Focused Practicals.” Preference variation is significantly greater for production methods than quality characteristics, indicating nascent production method preferences. Results suggest most US consumers view IA positively; however, WTP estimates vary significantly between consumer segments [EconLit Citations: D12, D13].

Performant agricultural advisory services (AAS) in Africa are crucial for improving the agricultural productivity and food security of the farm households. Yet, evidence-based study on the impacts of AAS on farm performance are scarce, especially in West African countries. This study evaluates the impact of access to AAS on input use and farm performance in Senegal, employing the instrumental variable and control function approaches accounting for selection bias. The approaches are also employed to several sub-samples to see if the impacts are heterogeneous across crop types and fertilizer use, and matching techniques are applied to test the robustness of the results. Results show that the highest positive impact of AAS is on yield, while the impacts on gross margin and improved seeds uptake are very modest. Access to AAS has no effect on fertilizer uptake. It also finds that AAS impacts positively cereal production and farmers using no fertilizer but has no effect on the legume and horticultural crop production and on farmers using fertilizer. Given the Senegalese government and donors have put a lot of effort into developing an efficient AAS system, a consideration of the identified weaknesses is required to improve its efficiency.  [EconLit Citations: Q12, Q16]

The deep integration of the agricultural digital economy and foreign trade is an important driving force for promoting high–quality economic development. Based on a theoretical analysis of the impact mechanisms of the agricultural digital economy on agricultural exports, this study empirically examines the impact and mechanism of the agricultural digital economy on agricultural exports using Chinese agricultural export data from 2011 to 2016. The relevant findings are threefold. (1) The agricultural digital economy significantly enhances the growth of China's agricultural exports, and the result remains robust after a series of robustness tests. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the agricultural digital economy has a greater role in promoting exports from quality frontier firms, primary agricultural products and exports to developed countries. (3) The mechanism analysis demonstrates that the agricultural digital economy promotes exports of agricultural products on the supply side most strongly through quality–enhancing and the information cost effects, improving product quality and reducing information expenditure to achieve export growth. On the demand side, domestic demand traction and external–demand creation effects exert a local market effect and stimulate import market demand to promote export growth. [EconLit Citations: F746.12].

This study aims to clarify the effects of health claims on consumer purchasing behavior and market power, using the Japanese yogurt market as a case study. For the analysis, the Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes model was applied for estimations using product-level purchasing data. The main analysis results are as follows. First, consumers prefer brands with lower prices, higher protein, lower fat, lower carbohydrates, and foods for specified health uses (FOSHU). Second, from the value of own-price elasticity of market shares, the higher the price of a brand, the more sensitively consumers respond to price. From the value of the cross-price elasticity of market shares, strong competition exists among FOSHU brands, and the price of R-1 drink types tends to significantly impact the market shares of brands other than FOSHU brands. Third, the market power of each brand tends to be higher for lower-priced brands and lower for higher-priced brands. In terms of market power by manufacturer, Meiji has the highest both the weighted average and median values. However, both the weighted average and median values of Danone Japan are relatively lower than those of other manufacturers. Fourth, in terms of each brand's market power, brands with low prices and FOSHU labeling have high market power. These findings suggest that the acquisition of FOSHU brands in the Japanese yogurt market does not lead to a decline in market power (increase in price) and has positive effects for manufacturers, such as an increased market share.

Increased tourism demand provides an opportunity to boost rural development. This paper examines the impact of rural tourism policy reform on hospitality and restaurant enterprises in rural areas in Japan. In early 2016, the Japanese government introduced a policy to encourage the participation of nonfarm enterprises in the rural hospitality industry. Using a nationally representative dataset of rural hospitality enterprises in Japan, we employ the difference-in-differences method to assess the causal effects of the policy on the sales value, number of business days, and labor productivity of hospitality enterprises and restaurants in rural areas. We find that this reform resulted in a 15.6% increase and a 5.1% decrease in the sales value of nonfarm-owned and farm-owned homestay enterprises, respectively. Moreover, changes in the number of business days and labor productivity can be associated with the policy effect. We also find a significant policy effect on nonfarm-owned restaurants. [EconLit Citations: Q12, Q13].