Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association最新文献

Crop and input prices affect agricultural production and water pollution. Fertilizer prices fluctuated over the past two decades, recently increasing substantially. Corn prices also increased after authorization of the Renewable Fuel Standard. This paper estimates the effect of fertilizer and corn prices on total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved phosphorus (DP) concentrations across 226 Great Lakes region watersheds. Findings indicate that a 10% rise in fertilizer prices reduces TP by 3% and DP by 6.9%. Counterfactual analysis shows that without recent fertilizer price hikes, nutrient concentrations would be higher, underscoring the impact of crop and input prices on phosphorus pollution.

We use data from the Living Standards Measurement Study—Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and the World Bank Enterprise Survey from seven African countries, to identify agricultural midstream firms and assess their access to credit, comparing them to nonagricultural midstream firms. We find that the agricultural midstream firms are larger and more productive, and are less likely to report barriers to accessing credit, although overall access levels remain low. These findings help build our understanding about the financial needs of micro-, small-, and medium-size enterprises in the agricultural midstream and suggest that more targeted data collection could further this research agenda.

With the spread of global agricultural value chains, international geopolitical risks often unintentionally trigger food insecurity in bystander countries. This study explores the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on wheat supplies in South Africa and their trade diversification. Using port-level trade data, we show that South Africa, the main distribution route for South African wheat supplies, rapidly diversified its imports to mitigate geopolitical risk in the aftermath of the war. This sudden import diversification prevented the war-induced decline on average wheat imports, yet it led to an increase in the volatility of annual imports. More importantly, the import diversification contributed to more secure wheat supplies for southern African landlocked countries that were heavily reliant on border imports from South Africa. Our study highlights that sourcing diversification in a country with well-developed port infrastructure could be instrumental in stave off food insecurity in neighboring countries in times of geopolitical crises.

This paper examines three dimensions influencing the gender wage gap: rural employment, type of occupation, and workers' career stage. The findings suggest that (1) rural workplaces are associated with lower wages; (2) women face a higher wage penalty than men in rural, low-paying jobs; (3) wage determinants differ between low- and high-paying jobs, leading to variable impacts on the gender wage gap; (4) gender wage gaps are significantly narrower for early-career workers than for older workers; and (5) even minor annual wage disparities contribute to significant wealth gaps by the end of the working life.

The economic implications of the relationship between physical exercise and protein consumption are not well understood. Using consumer-level expenditure data obtained from an open-ended choice experiment and an Almost Ideal Demand System specification, demand for various retail protein goods is estimated separately for exercise-focused individuals and all other individuals. Exercise-focused individuals exhibit lower own-price sensitivity for all goods (0.28–0.83 lower in magnitude) and lower expenditure elasticities for most goods (0.03–0.19 lower). Substitution patterns are similar between the behavioral groups. These results indicate substantially different demand schedules for those who exercise and a need for future studies to consider behavioral determinants of food demand.

We examine the impact of Hurricane Ian on food retail sales and consumer spending behavior in Florida. We show how shopping patterns evolved before and during the hurricane across 10 food and beverage categories, with significant stockpiling for commercially prepared foods, beverages, and meats/eggs/nuts categories. Using debit card data, we show that card spending peaked at general retail stores 5 days before the hurricane and then shifted to convenience and grocery stores. Our findings highlight the need for better stockpiling guidelines and supply chain solutions during extreme weather events, which are expected to increase due to climate change.

Using the QUAIDS model, we analyze interrelationships among dairy milk and plant-based milk alternatives (PBMA) for US households from 2018 to 2020 using NielsenIQ. We adopt the Shonkwiler–Yen methodology to account for censored observations. PBMA demand is inelastic, while milk products show elastic demand. PBMA substitutes for traditional white milk and organic milk. Traditional flavored milk and PBMA as well as lactose-free and organic milk are complements. PBMA and lactose-free milk are independent goods. Demographic factors like income, household size, and education significantly affect budget share, alongside women, infants, and children participation and the pandemic.

Diminishing labor availability is a pressing issue for US farmers. We surveyed H-2A farmworkers and conducted a discrete choice experiment to estimate their willingness to accept different job benefits. Respondents identified the opportunity to return home as the most valuable perk. The second highest valued job attribute was training in both English and machinery operation, followed by the employer offering housing amenities. The least valued benefit was the opportunity to earn overtime pay. This study provides new insights about the type of program modifications that might be valued more by workers in the context of proposals to modify labor rules.

We estimate directional anisotropic models of linear correlation for crop yields. We find that directional distances (i.e., the degree to which yield correlation decays depending on direction) tend to differ from one another, with east to west distances being “longer” than north to south distances (i.e., correlation tends to decline slower in the east to west direction), at least for the major crops of corn and soybeans. Results for wheat are somewhat ambiguous. However, in all cases, average yield aggregates made up of east to west linked counties tend to be more accurate than is the case for north to south linkages. Implications for rating and contract design in the US area yield federal crop insurance program are offered.

We use rich spatial data on observed crop choices and ethanol production to estimate the local impacts of ethanol plants and the overall impact of the 2007 US Renewable Fuel Standard (the RFS2) on crop patterns. We find that the RFS2 increased total corn area by 9.7%, corn monoculture by 16.8%, and soybean area by 6.7%, with notable spatial heterogeneity in both the overall impact and the local effects of ethanol plants. The results indicate an RFS2-induced shift in the geography of corn and soybean cultivation within the Corn Belt—intensification in the core, and significant expansion near the periphery.