Analyzing the Demand for New Value-Added Product: Case of Pure Blueberry Sweetener

Analyzing the demand for a new product that is not on the market presents challenges as agricultural producers search for potential value-added products and develop marketing strategies for these products. This study examines the market potential for a new pure blueberry sweetener in Kentucky. The results from a contingent choice survey indicate that the average respondent was not willing to pay a significantly positive amount for the product. However, a small group of respondents, who can be identified by their overall blueberry purchasing intentions and age, was willing to pay a price higher than the product's cost of production. Small and medium-size producers who are often limited by the financial and technical constraints associated with actual market trials of new products are likely to find that the type of marketing research described here is a particularly cost-effective method of getting information to assess market potential.     

IMPERFECT COMPETITION AND THE COBWEB THEOREM: A VEGETABLE CASE

Producer price changes are dependent on final demand, marketed volume and marketing cost, but the less than perfect competition which may determine this last is ignored in formulating the cobweb theorem. Attention to monopsonistic buying of farm products has importance in the choice between stabilisation measures directed at producers and marketing firms, and also as regards the need for integration of the theory of imperfect competition and the analysis of agricultural price cycles. Cyclical instability is a serious problem in the New Zealand vegetable industry. The size and inflexibility of retail margins significantly accentuate producer price fluctuations. Auctions are the main mechanism for price formation, and high retail margins appear to be permitted by the non-competitive elements in this marketing system. The most promising avenues for improvement would be in reform of auction procedures and exploration of alternative marketing channels for vegetables.     

The Effectiveness of Antidumping Measures: Some Evidence for Farmed Atlantic Salmon

Counterfactual simulations of a partial equilibrium model of the world salmon market suggest safeguard tariffs imposed by the European Commission on salmon imports from Norway, Chile, and the Faroe Islands would do more to punish producers in the named exporting countries than to reward United Kingdom producers. The reason is that export supply is less elastic than import demand on a bilateral basis, which means that most of the tariff's incidence is borne by the targeted producers rather than EU consumers. The incidence problem is exacerbated by the feed quota (now biomass limit) that Norway uses to limit its production. A marketing fee that expands market demand is shown to be less distortionary than its tariff equivalent, and thus may be preferred from a second‐best perspective.     

The returns to promotion of healthy choices in Tasmania: are you in the dark about the power of mushrooms?

The Australian Mushroom Growers Association (AMGA) has recently developed a revised marketing strategy to promote mushrooms using messages based on scientific findings about the nutrition and health consequences of regularly incorporating mushrooms into meals. This article evaluates impacts based on a test‐market experiment in Tasmania. We use a difference‐in‐differences econometric methodology to quantify the programme‐induced shifts in demand, and we use the resulting estimates in a supply and demand modelling framework to quantify the effects of promotion‐induced demand shifts on prices, quantities, and measures of economic well‐being. We estimate a conservative benefit–cost ratio for Tasmanian producers of 7.6:1 if they were to bear the entire cost and 11.4:1 if the programme were financed by a levy on production (or spawn). The aggregate benefit–cost ratio, including benefits to consumers is also 11.4:1.     

New marketing channels for food quality products in Norway

Marketing is an important and challenging competitive instrument for small-scale quality food producers. Traditional commercial channels may be unprofitable and small-scale food producers often lack access to a highly concentrated retail sector. In this situation a number of strategic alliances between farmers and between farmers and other public and private actors have emerged. The aim of this paper is to discuss and compare initiatives to develop alternative marketing channels for small-scale specialty food producers. The three examples of emerging channels we investigate are (i) the 'new' farmers markets, (ii) retail initiatives where local producers deliver their produce directly to shops, and (iii) companies founded by large cooperatives to market specialty products. Recent research has justified that such initiatives can be conceptualized as hybrid governance structures, i.e. complex structures that entail properties of both market and hierarchy. We pay particular attention to the problem of quality enforcement in emerging marketing channels.     

SOCIAL COSTS OF REGULATION OF PRIMARY INDUSTRY: AN APPLICATION TO ANIMAL WELFARE REGULATION OF THE VICTORIAN PIG INDUSTRY*

The effects of state government regulation of primary industry are modelled. An analytical framework is presented for estimating the costs of regulation in terms of changes in economic surplus. The model permits trade between regions of the total market. An illustrative application of the framework is applied to proposed animal welfare regulation of the Victorian pig industry. Some regulations that may provide large gains with regard to the welfare of farm animals involve only small social costs compared to the gross value of production of the industry. Conversely, other regulations that potentially confer only small gains in animal welfare impose large social costs. The distribution of these costs is important. In general, consumers lose, as do some producers. Other producers gain. In some cases, producers in aggregate gain from regulation. Major beneficiaries, such as advocates of animal welfare regulations, are likely to bear little of the cost of regulation.     

实际价格、粮食可获性与农业生产决策——基于农户模型的分析框架和实证检验

按照市场一价定律的逻辑,所有生产者和消费者在市场上面临同一个价格并据此作出生产或消费决策。然而,农产品生产者和消费者的双重身份却导致农户在同一个农产品市场上得到或付出不同的价格,其差异主要取决于运销成本。因此,影响农户生产或消费决策的是其实际获得或付出的价格而非统一的市场价格。此外,出于对粮食安全的追求,农户所在地区的...     

MARKETING AGENCIES AND THE ECONOMICS OF MARKET SEGMENTATION*

Increasing importance is being attached to market segmentation strategies as a means of increasing producer returns. In this paper, a generalised model of price discrimination without supply control is developed to analyse the implications of optimal segmentation strategies for non-homogeneous products. It is shown that the magnitude of producer returns is dependent on demand and supply conditions, with increases in returns falling as price elasticities of demand and supply increase. The model is applied to the New Zealand sheep meats industry to reveal that returns to producers from market segmentation strategies could be quite low in the long run.     

LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION POLICIES AND MEAT PROCESSING MARGINS: THE CASE OF NEW ZEALAND, 1967-1988*

The New Zealand export meat industry has been through a considerable number of changes in the 1980s. The deregulation of export slaughter facilities, Supplementary Minimum Prices, Producer Board intervention, declining livestock numbers and domestic cost pressures have all affected the performance of the domestically based processing sector. Major changes in market access and demand have influenced off-shore marketing operations, particularly for sheepmeats. Additionally, there has been a change in the type of meat exported with a greater proportion of further processed product shipped in recent years. As an example of the impact of these developments on livestock producers, the producer share of the United Kingdom wholesale market return for a representative prime lamb carcase has fallen from 40 per cent in 1978 to 25 per cent in 1988. In this article the pattern of intervention in the New Zealand pastoral meat industries from the mid-1960s is detailed, emphasising the different environments of the beef and sheepmeat enterprises. Then the principal factors influencing domestic processing margins for these products are empirically examined. Alternative model specifications and alternative estimation techniques are compared and contrasted. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of the historical patterns of assistance and structural change, and in terms of current rationalisation pressures on the meat processing sector.     

ESTIMATING SOURCES OF FLUCTUATIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL MARKET: AN APPLICATION OF VAR METHODS

Vector autoregression (VAR) methods are used to analyse the contribution of supply, demand and policy shocks to unpredictable fluctuations in the market for Australian wool. VAR procedures are compared with conventional structural econometric models as methods for decomposing sources of instability. While each has advantages and disadvantages, VAR procedures might be viewed as preferable when the underlying market structure is complex and uncertain, as it is in the case of wool. Based on the results obtained, demand shocks are the dominant source of uncertainty in the wool market in the absence of Australian Wool Corporation intervention, but intervention has blunted their effects, reducing market uncertainty and increasing the average level of prices and revenues.     

产业链延伸视阈下我国乡村旅游市场营销模式建构研究——以四川省为例

[目的]以产业链延伸为视阈,开展乡村旅游营销模式研究是一种新的探索和尝试,将为乡村旅游未来发展提供一种新的方法和思路。[方法]文章通过调查分析法,针对四川地区影响乡村旅游景点吸引力的出游动机、出游时间、客户群体、交通条件、消费水平和结构、旅游项目、农林资源、综合服务、外部环境、基础设施、当地经济状况、乡村旅游综合性价比、乡村旅游目的地区位条件等指标进行统计分析,以考量产业链延伸视阈下的乡村旅游营销模式是否适应市场的需求,由此解决我国乡村旅游市场营销实际中出现的经营模式与当地实际(如地理区位、农业资源等)的不匹配问题。[结果]通过实地调查和数据分析,影响因素乡村旅游景区吸引力的因素主要以农林自然资源、综合服务能力、交通条件等方面为主。[结论]四川省产业链延伸视阈下的营销模式重点应从产业角度,构建三产协调发展的产业生态系统。     

A model of entry–exit decisions and capacity choice under demand uncertainty

Many investment decisions of agribusiness firms, such as when to invest in an emerging market or whether to expand the capacity of the firm, involve irreversible investment and uncertainty about demand, cost or competition. This paper uses an option‐value model to examine the factors affecting an agribusiness firm's decision whether and how much to invest in an emerging market under demand uncertainty. Demand uncertainty and irreversibility of investment make investment less desirable than the net present value (NPV) rule indicates. The inactive firm is more reluctant to enter the market when it takes into account demand uncertainty because it preserves the opportunity of making a better investment later. The active firm is more reluctant to abandon the investment because there is an option value of keeping the operation alive. There is a greater distance between the entry and exit thresholds under the option‐value approach than under the NPV rule due to demand uncertainty. The results have implications for agribusiness decision‐making.     

我国农产品网络营销现状及优化策略

信息时代的到来,将网络营销带到中国市场。特别是近年来网络越来越成为生活中不可或缺的一部分,网络营销也成为继传统营销模式后新发展的一种营销模式,近3年来农产品网络营销更是异军突起。目前,农产品网络营销市场环境逐步形成,农产品网上交易平台建设初具规模,网络营销得到初步应用,但整体水平较低。农产品网络营销的发展根基尚浅,随着网络营销的运用,诸多问题也随之而来,如企业对网络营销的意识不到位、网络诚信及安全问题存在隐患、农业从业人员网络营销意识浅薄等。为解决这些阻碍因素,文章提出完善网络平台建设、建立农产品品牌、强化物流体系、健全网络法律法规等利于农产品网络营销发展的优化策略。     

农业信息社会化服务结构性失衡的影响因素分析

随着中国国内市场经济的发展,农业愈来愈迫切需要市场信息的扶持.文章以新疆10个县28个乡为调查研究区域,使用二元logistic模型从户主特征、家庭特征、地区经济发展水平和其他特征研究影响农业信息服务内容供求结构性失衡的因素.研究表明:不同经济发展水平的地区信息内容失衡程度差异显著,经济发展水平越高,对降低农户所需要的农产品价格、供求方面的信息失衡有显著影响;汉族、年龄大、受教育程度高和家庭社会关系越多,对降低信息服务内容失衡有显著影响;手机、联网电脑等新兴媒介对降低农户信息服务失衡无显著影响,而传统媒介电视仍在农户搜集信息方面起到重要作用,但作用有限,合作社和农民信息协会在失衡影响因素中表现并不显著,这表明现有信息服务体系仍不健全,政府应根据农户特殊需求建立有效的信息服务平台,并提供更加完善的服务.通过分析发现:政府需要在欠发达和不发达地区加大信息供给强度,引导信息服务市场化;完善农户信息需求表达机制,针对农户的需要提供真实有效的信息;丰富服务方式,完善手机、电视、网络等平台为农户提供信息;完善农村信息供给渠道,增强合作社、农民信息协会提供信息服务的功能等建议.     

Market Advisory Service Recommendations and Wheat Producers' Selling Decisions

This study uses actual producer transaction data to determine how Oklahoma wheat producers' selling decisions compare to recommendations from market advisory services and market incentives as reflected in futures spreads. Results show that producers responded to expected returns to storage as measured by futures spreads. Also, Oklahoma producers make marketing decisions that are either unrelated or the opposite of recommendations from market advisory services .
La présente étude a utilisé des données de transactions réelles pour comparer les décisions de vente des producteurs de blé de l'Oklahoma avec les recommandations faites par des services consultatifs et les stimulants du marché tels que reflétés dans les écarts. Les résultats ont montré que les producteurs ont réagi aux rendements attendus de l'entreposage tels que mesurés par les écarts. De plus, les décisions commerciales des producteurs de l'Oklahoma sont soit indépendantes des recommandations des services conseils, soit totalement contraires à ces recommandations .     

MARKETING BOARDS AND QUOTA POLICIES FOR CANADIAN FARM PRODUCTS: AN APPRAISAL OF PERFORMANCE*

Since the great economic Depression, Canadian farm operators have always emphasized the need to strengthen their bargaining position in the market place. Basically, farm operators believe that the individual farmer is in no position to bargain effectively in a product market with a few large firms.
Legislators have responded to the wishes of farm operators by enacting legislation which provides for the formation of compulsory marketing boards controlled by producers. An ever-increasing number of these boards are now in operation. The granting of exclusive powers to sell particular farm products, however, is one which involves the public interest and the public is, therefore, vitally interested.
This paper focuses attention on the exercise of the powers vested in these marketing boards through their use of quotas, and their limitations to entry of new producers into particular sectors of the agricultural industry. The paper indicates that there are some positive features to the quota policies pursued by marketing boards. Some economic security has been afforded farm operators with short-term stability engendered in particular sectors of agriculture. There are certain negative consequences of these quota policies, which affect the location of production and also impair the competitive strength of particular sectors of agriculture to which they are applied. They have also interfered with the most rational utilization of resources in associated industries. These aspects of the quota policies are, therefore, inconsistent with the public interest. The study outlines principles that should form the basis of a revitalized marketing policy that may be more consistent with the public interest.     

Quota Transfer Assessments and Efficiency

In order to fund production/marketing quota redistributions or reduce the amount of quota outstanding, regulators often tax quota asset market trades. This assessment is shown to impede the transfer of quota to more efficient producers if rental markets are prohibited. Inefficient producers will produce too much, and the magnitude of cost inefficiencies will increase with the size of the assessment tax. Possible remedies to the problem are also discussed.     

Payoffs from research and development along the Australian food value chain: a general equilibrium analysis

The payoffs and distribution of payoffs from research and development (R&D) along the food value chain depend on many interacting economic factors. To quantify these, we have developed a general equilibrium model of the Australian economy with detailed farming, processing and marketing information. We use the model to assess potential payoffs and distributions from various R&D scenarios that lead to demand expansion and productivity improvement. We find that productivity improvement caused by R&D is unambiguously beneficial to the whole economy while the benefits of export or domestic market demand expansion mainly accrue to the primary producers and processing industry, when the economy is at full employment. Also, productivity improvement from R&D on‐farm may benefit processors while improvements postfarm may benefit farmers.     

Formation and adaptation of reference prices in grain marketing: an experimental study

This study aimed to explore how producers’ reference prices are formed and adapt over time, and how they affect marketing decisions. Results indicate that producers focus on three major variables to form their reference prices: the current market price, the highest price to date, and their expectation about price behavior. Further, they update their reference prices during the marketing season mainly in response to changes in current market prices, their own expectations about price behavior, and the general price trend. Finally, our findings suggest that producers’ marketing decisions are based on the spread between current market price and reference price, the general market trend and price expectation.     

A MODIFIED LEONTIEF MODEL FOR ANALYSING THE IMPACT OF MILK QUOTAS ON THE WIDER ECONOMY

The paper estimates the impact of milk quotas on the UK economy using a modified SAM-based Leontief model. Since milk quotas involve the control of gross output as opposed to final demand, it is argued that the traditional form of a Leontief model needs to be adapted so as to make the output of dairy producers exogenous to the system. Modifications to both the demand-driven and supply-driven Leontief model are suggested thus allowing the estimation of both the backward and forward linkage effects of quotas. The results suggest that, in total, the backward linkage effects of milk quotas are more significant than the forward linkage effects, with the magnitude of the latter constrained by the pattern of milk marketing. Taking both types of linkages into account, it is estimated that the potential 3 per cent further reduction in quota levels being discussed in the context of CAP reform threatens a total of 11,000 jobs in the economy.