Agribusiness最新文献

This research investigates the long-run determinants of per capita food waste, using a monthly time series dataset collected from the Taipei City Food Scraps Recycling Program, covering a span of 19 years. In addition, this research introduces a new proxy for the food wastage rate, gauged by the ratio of edible-to-inedible food scraps. The results of time-series cointegration analysis show that per capita edible food scraps and socioeconomic factors are bound together over the long run. Specifically, per capita edible food waste displays a positive co-movement with food price, the working-age share, and household size, while exhibiting a negative co-movement with the old-age share. This insight empowers policymakers with the ability to foresee and tackle the food waste problem by acting on the municipality's demographic and economic structural change. Our analysis complements the existing studies that depend on cross-sectional individual-level data by adopting a long-run municipal-level time series perspective. [EconLit Citations: Q11, Q13, Q18, D1].

To fill an important gap in the literature on acquirer prediction, this paper investigates which factors contribute to the likelihood that a firm will choose to acquire a target company from the United States (US) food and agribusiness industry (FABI). It relies on existing literature and a conceptual model in identifying the determinants of the choice to be an acquirer. Rejecting the pooled ordinary least squares and random-effects models, the paper estimates a fixed-effects logistic regression model based on panel data on acquirers and nonacquirers of US FABI (USFABI) target companies. Contrary to the study's various hypotheses, the results suggest that (1) efficiency, profitability, and liquidity do not affect the likelihood of being an acquirer, but that (2) less-solvent, less-leveraged, and less-attractive firms are more likely to become acquirers (possibly to improve their solvency, profitability, and attractiveness). These contradictory results are attributed to the uniqueness of the USFABI sector. The mergers and acquisitions process may therefore be a way for acquirers of USFABI firms to strengthen themselves, not necessarily an expression of their financial strength. This analysis is useful to target companies, acquirers, transaction advisers, investors, regulators, and other merger and acquisition stakeholders. [EconLit Citations: D22, G24, G34, L66, Q14].

The consumption of plant-based meat is increasing, reflecting consumers' concerns about health, animal welfare, the environment, and sustainability. However, plant-based meat consumption remains low owing to the barriers to shifting consumers to this nonmeat diet. We evaluate consumers' intentions to consume plant-based meat from the perspectives of exploratory behavior and the regulatory focus theory. We collect 642 valid responses and use structural equation modeling to explore the relationship between exploratory behavior, regulatory focus values, and plant-based meat purchase intention. exploratory behaviors encompass risk-taking, variety-seeking, and curiosity, while regulatory-focus values comprise promotion- and prevention-focus values. The results show that exploratory behaviors affect plant-based meat purchase intention. Promotion-focus value has a greater impact on purchase intention than prevention-focus value. Promotion-focus value mediates the relationship between exploratory behaviors and purchase intention, whereas prevention-focus value mediates the relationship between risk-taking and purchase intention. Drawing on consumers' consumption values, we reveal distinct managerial implications, such as providing important information and adopting online selling to attract buyers [EconLit Citations: Q01, Q13, Q55, Q56].

Considering the growing demand for healthy and environmentally conscious food products in the United States, lamb and goat meat have proved to be beneficial alternatives to other red meats. This study investigates consumer trends and preferences for lamb and goat meat in Florida and sheds light on regional preferences for these products, providing groundwork for further studies. An online survey was conducted using 924 primary shoppers in Florida. Respondents were asked questions regarding demographic characteristics, behavioral qualities, and attributes associated with meat-buying consumers. A contingent valuation method was used to derive willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates by having participants report the maximum price they would pay for one pound of shoulder cut from lamb or goat. This study focuses on WTP for lamb/goat meat and uses Tobit regression analyses to test relationships between WTP and the consumer attributes described. Various regression specifications were estimated in the analyses to examine the robustness of significant correlations. Results surrounding the consumer WTP were similar for lamb and goat meat, showing that: (1) adventurousness when tasting food is positively correlated with WTP, (2) younger generations (Millennials and Gen Z) tend to have a higher WTP than older generations (Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation), (3) having tasted/liked lamb/goat meat previously both seem to positively influence WTP, (4) importance of access to culturally significant food products is positively correlated with WTP for lamb meat only, and (5) identifying as Hispanic had a negative correlation with WTP for goat meat only.

This study develops new insights into the spillover effects of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) on local firms’ export market entry, using the case of Vietnam—a notable global manufacturing hub located in Southeast Asia. The empirical analysis is based on a disaggregated firm-level panel dataset of 25,032 observations of Vietnamese food processing firms during the period 2011–2016. The food processing industry is an essential part of the country's thriving manufacturing sector, with enormous potential for exports. The random-effects Probit estimation results suggest that the presence of foreign MNEs significantly raises the likelihood that private local firms become exporters and thereby start integrating into global value chains. Further regressions reveal that foreign presence is also linked to higher export intensity among domestic firms, and that the magnitude of the estimated spillover effects is conditional on the specific measures of foreign MNE presence, the ownership structure in local industry, and the size of local firms. The findings highlight the considerable potential for foreign MNEs to influence local firms’ export prospects and validate the policy efforts to attract foreign direct investment inflows to the examined industry.

Dual manufacturers produce both their own brands and private label brands (PLs). Disclosing these manufacturers on PL packaging might exert quality and brand image effects, which could influence the perception differentials between national brands (NBs) and PLs. An experiment identifies moderating effects for these differentials, according to the NB image positioning (high and low) and the type of PL (standard and premium). For example, compared to the case when a low-image NB manufacturer is disclosed as the supplier of a standard PL, which is our reference, we propose a decrease in the quality and brand image differentials when: (1) the high-image NB supplies a standard PL, or (2) a low-image NB manufacturer is disclosed as the supplier of a premium PL. Whereas we will not expect any change when a high-image NB manufacturer is disclosed as the supplier of a premium PL. Our results partially support our expectations. [EconLit Citations: M21, M31, Q13].

Previous research found that both soybean oil and heating oil futures should be used to hedge biodiesel price risk. This was sensible because blending mandates caused biodiesel prices to be driven by that of its primary input—soybean oil. Much has changed in recent years, with plummeting demand during the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic, biodiesel plants struggling to break-even in 2020, and then incurring losses in 2021 as soybean oil prices skyrocketed with the rise of renewable diesel—a relatively new biomass-based diesel fuel in high demand largely due to green policies in California. This study revisits the appropriate strategies for hedging biodiesel production risk and finds that soybean oil has become a less important hedging vehicle. [EconLit Citations: Q420, Q410, Q480, Q160, Q110, Q130].

Improving dietary diversity and nutrition intake among rural households is essential to promote sustainable rural development. In this study, we examine whether nutrition knowledge training increases rural households' dietary diversity, nutrition intake, and total calorie intake. We consider three macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) and three micronutrients (vitamin C, iron, and zinc) to capture nutrition intake. The doubly robust inverse probability weighted regression adjustment estimator is employed to estimate survey data of 765 rural households collected by the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China. The results show that nutrition knowledge training enhances household dietary diversity, improves the intake of macronutrients in terms of proteins and fats and micronutrients in terms of zinc, and increases total calorie intake. In addition, the intake of nutrients and calories of males responds to nutrition knowledge training while that of females does not. The dietary diversity of females increases with nutrition knowledge training, whereas that of males is unaffected. {EconLit Citations: I12, I18, Q12, E24}.

Vegetables play a vital role in human health. However, the average vegetable consumption among Chinese rural residents does not meet the minimum intake (300 g/adult person/day) recommended by the Chinese Dietary Guidelines. Homestead gardening—defined as growing vegetables or other food for home consumption, usually in the backyard of the household or on collectively allocated garden land—can play a significant role in promoting vegetable consumption in rural areas of developing countries. But empirical evidence on the effects of homestead gardening in China is scarce. This paper sheds new insights on the impacts of homestead gardening on rural households' vegetable consumption. We employ the three-stage procedure instrumental variables methods to disentangle the endogeneity of the homestead garden variable and propensity score matching for robustness check. The results show that homestead gardening increases vegetable consumption by 12.7% on average. Further heterogeneous analysis shows that homestead gardening has a larger effect on those groups with vegetable intake levels in the middle of the distribution. The impact of homestead gardening was strongest for the consumption of dark-colored vegetables. Our results can provide new perspectives for future rural planning, dietary and nutritional health transformation, and precision policy formulation. [EconLit Citations: Q1, D1, Q13].

Extensive studies have discussed the economic and welfare effects of social pensions worldwide, while scant attention has been paid to their nutritional effects, especially in emerging economies. Using multitopic longitudinal survey data of households and individuals in Kyrgyzstan covering four waves of 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2019, this study aims to examine the impact of an old-age pension on the nutritional outcomes of the elderly and shed light on their underlying mechanisms. Our empirical identification rests on a propensity score matching with difference-in-differences estimation design to address the endogeneity problem of receiving an old-age pension. Overall, the results indicate that receiving an old-age pension has a significant and negative impact on body mass index and the probability of being overweight for males, while no significant impact of the old-age pension has been observed for females. Receiving an old-age pension has no significant effect on expenditure of food consumption, calorie intake, and macronutrient intake, while it significantly reduces the ratio of protein intake to total calorie intake. We also observe significant heterogeneity in the nutritional effect of an old-age pension across various education levels and income levels; the negative nutritional effect is more salient for elderly individuals who are relatively poor or who have lower education. Our findings provide profound implications for policies targeting improving the nutritional status of rural residents in emerging economies through the implementation of the old-age pension [EconLit Citations: H55, I15, I38].