THE IMPACT OF FARM AND PROCESSING RESEARCH ON THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL INDUSTRY*

An equilibrium displacement model of the world wool top industry is used to estimate the returns to the Australian wool industry from productivity improvements in farm production, in top making and in textile manufacturing. The returns to the industry from these different types of research and development are sensitive to the extent of substitution possibilities between Australian wool and other inputs used by the wool processing and textile industries but it appears that research resources have to be much more efficient in off-farm activities for the Australian wool industry to receive benefits similar to those from farm research activities.     

农业生产效率与其影响因素相关关系实证分析——基于湖北省数据

相对于第二产业与第三产业来说,我国农业发展方面存在的生产效率问题依旧亟待解决,研究农业生产效率及其影响因素对于我国农业经济发展具有深远意义。通过查阅农业生产相关文献,在对农业生产效率内涵及其理论基础进行阐述的基础上,文章构建DEA与Tobit等2种适用于不同情况的评价模型来确定我国农业生产率的影响因素及影响程度;并以湖北省为研究对象,利用湖北省统计数据得出渔业和畜牧业所占比重对农业生产效率影响最大;第一产业相对劳动生产力和农业支出比重越大,农业生产率越高,第二产业相对劳动生产力越大,农业生产率越低;单位机械动力产值、单位灌溉面积以及单位化肥用量越大,农业生产率越高。研究结论对促进经济与农业同步可持续协调增长、推广优势农业以及实现资源最大化利用、提高区域农业生产率均有一定的现实意义。     

Encountering Order and Disjuncture: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives on the Organization of Development

This paper presents new estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Chinese industry over the past half century that seek to improve on earlier estimates in several respects: better data series are developed for capital and labour; the production function is estimated with fewer restrictive assumptions and corrected for serial correlation; and the TFP estimates are adjusted for cyclical fluctuations. The paper also offers a broader than usual interpretation of TFP growth. Its main findings are: (i) that over the whole period 1952–2005 the main source of industrial output growth was capital accumulation; (ii) that during the period since 1980 TFP growth also contributed significantly to industrial output growth; and (iii) that TFP growth in Chinese industry accelerated from the late 1980s, probably as a result of changes in the pattern of ownership and increased integration into the world economy.     

Resource reallocation and its contribution to productivity growth in Australian broadacre agriculture

This article uses farm survey data to measure the contribution of cross‐farm resource reallocation to industry‐level productivity growth in Australian broadacre agriculture. We show that resource reallocation between farms mainly occurred between incumbent farms and between farms with different productivity growth. Resource reallocation is estimated to account for around half of the industry‐level productivity growth that occurred between 1978 and 2010, and its contribution appears to have increased over time. Moreover, we also show that resource reallocation effects vary across different inputs, partly due to their different mobility. This analysis improves our understanding of how reforms targeting structural adjustment – and the resource reallocation this generates – can influence aggregate productivity growth.     

COORDINATING PRODUCTION AND DISPOSAL OF COMMODITY STOCKPILES WITH APPLICATION TO AUSTRALIA'S WOOL INDUSTRY

Following the dismantling of a price-support program, a central bureaucracy is left with a commodity stockpile to dispose. It happened with wheat and feed grains in the U.S. in 1986 and wool in Australia in 1991. It soon may happen in Europe with grains, manufactured dairy products and other commodities which have supported prices. Obvious policies include privatising the stockpile, disposing of the stockpile by a central bureaucracy and quarantining the stockpile from the market. Each policy imposes constraints on disposal based, perhaps, on judgments of political acceptability to producers and government. In this article, optimal rules for production and disposal are derived and solved and a new policy is proposed. Then the model is applied to the disposal of Australia's wool stockpile. Results show that centralised disposal will almost always be preferred to privatisation of the stockpile. Centralised disposal is also preferred to quarantining the stockpile if interest rates are high, but quarantining is preferred if interest rates are low. Centralised disposal and quarantining are not optimal, however. Optimal production and disposal combines the efficiency of privatisation with the market power of centralised disposal. To achieve this, the property rights to the stockpile can be redefined using payment-in-kind certificates and individual transferable entitlements. The payment-in-kind certificates assign ownership of the stockpile to individual producers who then make both production and disposal decisions. The individual transferable entitlements allow the industry to produce efficiently and extend market power from the central bureaucracy to producers. For the Australian wool stockpile, optimal production and disposal would benefit the industry by an estimated $2.7 billion.     

ON THE HIDDEN REVENUE EFFECTS OF WOOL PRICE STABILISATION IN AUSTRALIA: INITIAL RESULTS

A preliminary analysis of demand in eight major OECD wool-consuming countries is used to provide up-to-date estimates of price elasticities of demand for wool. Those elasticities are employed to calculate ex ante market prices, assuming no wool price stabilisation in Australia. The computed ex ante prices are used in a dynamic simulation to estimate demand and, hence, revenue from wool sales to the eight countries in the absence of reserve price operations in Australia. Based on the preferred semi-log demand curve, the variability of wool prices is estimated to have been reduced by 44 per cent, due to Australian intervention in the market up to 1977/78. However, price stabilisation is estimated to have lowered the revenue from Australian wool sales to the eight countries by S139m, or by 2 per cent, in the period up to 1977/78.     

生产性服务业对农业全要素生产率的影响研究基于中介效应的影响路径分析

目的 在农业高质量发展的背景下,探讨农业生产性服务业发展对农业全要素生产率的切实影响及其作用机制。方法 文章基于DEA-Malmquist指数测算了2001—2019年全国农业全要素生产率增长变动情况,探究农业生产性服务业发展对农业全要素生产率的影响贡献,并通过中介效应模型对其影响路径进行实证检验。结果 农业生产性服务业发展水平与农业全要素生产率间呈现“倒U型”关系,生产性服务业发展对生产效率的促进作用部分通过农业生产专业化分工程度的提高以及经营规模的扩大得以实现;不同阶段、不同发展水平的生产性服务业对农业全要素生产率的促进作用和影响路径存在差异,生产性服务业发展初期主要通过促进农业生产分工和专业化水平提升来推动生产效率增长,后续则表现为规模效应和专业化效应的共同影响。结论 农业生产性服务业发展有助于提升农业全要素生产率,未来应持续推进农业生产性服务体系建设,引导农业生产性服务业适度发展,助力农业现代化转型。     

Cross-country Differences in Technology: The Case of the Food Processing Industry

In this study, cross-country differences in the food processing industry's technology are investigated. A value-added function is estimated using panel data comprising of 13 developed countries and the 1975–95 period. Evidence of nonconstant returns to scale and differences in technology across countries is statistically significant. The United States is the leader in terms of the level of total factor productivity followed by Japan, Germany, France and Canada in that order. The growth rates and levels of productivity are inversely related, and the speed of productivity convergence is 2.6% per year. In addition to impacting future growth and international trade analyses, the study has implications for competitiveness of the food processing industry.     

Reflections on technological progress in the agri-food industry: Past,present, and future

Technological advances—for example, from hand milking to robotic milking—are at the heart of economic transformation and have significantly shaped the agri-food industry and economic growth throughout history. A look at the lead article of the first issue (and the first volume, 1952) of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics (CJAE) 70 years ago reveals an ongoing inquiry within the discipline about how technological progress has shaped how we manage our farms with the implications on aggregate industry productivity and food prices. The topics discussed along these lines in the first issue of the CJAE are still relevant today—for example, challenges with measuring productivity and innovation, diffusion of innovation, technological unemployment, demand for skilled workers, financing innovations, climate change and food security. Science, technology, and innovation for the 21st century hold the potential to foster resilient and sustainable intensification of farm production and productivity growth for the agri-food industry. In this address, I reflect on the past, present, and future impacts of technological innovations and productivity growth on the agri-food industry and discuss the implications for future research, welfare, and policy.     

中国苹果绿色全要素生产率测算与产区差异

目的 厘清苹果产业绿色全要素生产率增长的动态变化及产区差异,是促进苹果产业高质量发展的关键。方法 文章基于2004—2018年我国8个苹果主产区面板数据,利用超效率SBM模型和全局ML指数,从静态、动态不同角度,对我国苹果环境技术效率和绿色全要素生产率进行测算,并分析不同产区之间的差异。结果 （1）我国及各主产区苹果环境技术效率均未达到最优状态,区域差异明显,黄土高原主产区高于环渤海湾主产区,与不考虑非期望产出相比,环境技术效率明显偏低;（2）规模效率是当前我国苹果生产技术效率主要来源,黄土高原主产区纯技术效率略高于规模效率,环渤海湾主产区纯技术效率偏低;（3）苹果绿色全要素生产率整体提高,区域间增速差异较大,黄土高原主产区增速高于环渤海湾主产区;（4）技术效率是我国苹果绿色全要素生产率主要增长源泉,技术进步贡献度相对较低。结论 我国苹果绿色全要素生产率存在较大提升空间,各产区要通过因地制宜制定苹果产业发展战略、充分借助农业科研院所创新优势、加强果农高素质培训等方式提高苹果绿色全要素生产率。     

The costs of global tariff barriers on wool products: 1997–2005

The Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations commits World Trade Organization (WTO) members to improving market access for both agricultural and nonagricultural goods. Tariff barriers on wool products represent a small but important subset of these negotiations. To inform the debate on the round, we analyze the distortionary effects of recent (1997–2005) tariff barriers on wool products using a model that applies a comprehensive analytical approach with regard to the production, trade, and consumption of wool products. We also account for any indirect effects of wool tariff barriers on the nonwool economy by incorporating the production, trade, and consumption of nonwool products, that is, the framework is a comparative‐static global general equilibrium model with a detailed representation of the world wool market. Changes in wool tariffs over 1997–2005 lead to positive welfare effects for most regions; Italy, China, and the UK are estimated to have gained the most from the changes. The results indicate that the nature of recent wool tariffs severely distort the size of wool industries in different regions. The changes in the output of wool commodities are extreme reflecting the discriminatory nature of the tariffs.     

GAINS FROM DEREGULATION? AN EMPIRICAL TEST FOR EFFICIENCY GAINS IN THE NORWEGIAN FISH FARMING INDUSTRY

A cost function is used to quantify potential sources of gains from deregulation of the Norwegian salmon farming industry, an industry that has been heavily regulated in order to achieve a regional dispersion of production and profits along the entire coastline. It now seems to be widely recognised that the regulations have led to cost inefficiencies. A region-augmented cost function with data from 282 fish farms for 1988 is used to estimate regional productivity differences, i.e. differences in the total cost of producing salmon in one region compared to another. It is found that the potential gains from deregulation may be substantial.     

Economic Liberalization and Productivity Growth: Further Evidence From Bangladesh

The impact of economic liberalization reforms on the productive performances of manufacturing firms remains a contentious issue in the literature. This paper attempts to contribute to the debate by empirically estimating productivity growth of Bangladesh food manufacturing using firm level data before and after reform. Empirical results show that the share of output growth was accounted for by input growth in most sectors of this industry. In some sectors, the estimated rate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth is negligible or even negative. Decomposition of the TFP growth shows that technological progress plays a significant role in TFP growth across firms within the sub-sectors of this industry. Empirical results also show that the relative contribution of capacity realization to TFP growth is not substantial in inhibiting the industry's high and sustained growth. These dismal performances indicate that the industries responded a little to the implementation of economic reforms.     

Farm-level efficiency and productivity measurement using panel data: wool production in south-west Victoria

In this article we explore some issues surrounding the use of farm-level efficiency and productivity estimates for benchmarking studies. Using an eight-year balanced panel of Victorian wool producers we analyse annual variation between estimates of farm-level technical efficiency derived using Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist estimates of Total Factor Productivity. We find that farms change their relative rank in terms of efficiency across years. Also, unlike aggregate studies of Total Factor Productivity, we find at best erratic and modest growth, a worrying result for this industry. However, caution is needed when interpreting these results, and for that matter, benchmarking analysis as currently practised when using frontier estimation techniques like Data Envelopment Analysis.     

Deregulation reforms,resource reallocation and aggregate productivity growth in the Australian dairy industry

Deregulation reforms in the Australian dairy industry had long‐lasting repercussions for Australian agriculture and the wider Australian economy. Using farm‐level data from 1979 to 2013, we investigate the effect of these reforms on productivity in the Australian dairy industry which arose from correcting resource misallocation between farms and across segregated state milk markets. Our results demonstrate that after the dairy reforms in 2000, relative market share shifted from less productive farms to more productive ones, and between farms using different production systems – generating additional productivity gains for the farm sector, but imposing some costs on downstream manufacturers by strengthening the seasonality of milk supply. Lessons from the Australian experience provide timely guidance for those countries exploring deregulation now or in the future to improve the industry‐level agricultural productivity growth through facilitating resource reallocation from less efficient to more efficient farms.     

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND THE UK FOOD SYSTEM 1954-84

This paper uses input-output data bases to derive estimates of industry productivity growth rates in the UK for three discrete sub-periods. The results are then used to derive estimates of the within-industry productivity growth contributions to the changing efficiency over time of the economic system in meeting consumers' food requirements. The resultant estimates indicate the value of extending studies of agricultural productivity growth to encompass efficiency gains in industries that are upstream and downstream of the agricultural industry.     

Profitability Development and Resource Reallocation: The Case of Sugar Beet Farming in Germany

Following the 2006 reform of the European Union sugar market, and in anticipation of the quota abolition, a reallocation of sugar production has occurred. Using a Lowe quantity index, we evaluate the productivity and profitability of sugar beet farming in Germany from 2004 to 2013. The results show that an increase in total factor productivity partly compensated for losses in terms of trade. Moreover, the contribution of production reallocation to sector productivity growth varied across regions with distinct ownership structures of sugar processing companies. These findings have implications for policy and industry, as it transitions to a liberalised market.     

The Alberta hog industry problem of the 1960s: its definition and resolution

The hog industry in Western Canada in 1960s was in a state of turmoil associated with a vague, poorly understood production and marketing problem. Hog production was largely a supplementary farm activity producing an overfat product increasingly shunned by consumers. The structure, and also probably the existence, of the industry was in question. During the following 20 years, the industry changed fundamentally as various groups achieved a better definition and understanding of the problem. A reshaping of the industry was carried out by farmers, the Provincial Government, and a variety of agricultural professionals concerned with industry structure, emerging pork markets, physical characteristics of the product, and creation of a policy environment that provided incentives for output and productivity growth. The outcome has been the development of a viable pork industry in the Province (in spite of some past and continuing hindrances to industry growth) that has substantially solved the problem.     

Pesticide productivity,host-plant resistance and productivity in China

Pesticides are used as the primary method of pest controf in Asian rice production. Conditions in China have led to demand for high and increasing rice yields, resulting in intensive cultivation and adoption of fertilizer responsive varieties. The consequence has been widespread pest infestations. Many studies have estimated pesticide productivity, but few have estimated the productivity of alternative methods ot pest control, namely host-plant resistance. None have estimated the substitutability between these methods of pest-control. The productivity of pesticides and host-plant resistance, and the substitutability between them is measured using two-stage Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions. Under intensive rice production systems in eastern China, pesticide productivity is low compared to the productivity of host-plant resistance. In fact, returns to pesticide use are negative at the margin. Host-plant resistance is an effective substitute for pesticides and substantial reductions in pesticide use could be achieved, with no loss in rice production, through improvements in host-plant resistance. These results suggest that pesticides are being overused in eastern China and host-plant resistance is being underutilized. Government policies to promote increased pesticides in rice might be ill advised given the low productivity and negative returns, particularly in light of well known negative externalities associated with pesticide use.     

OPTIMAL WOOL FLOWS FOR MINIMIZATION OF TRANSPORT COSTS*

Movements of wool from grower to wool store in Queensland, N.S.W., Victoria, and South Australia are affected by differing State legislation and Section 92 of the Australian Constitution. Taking various arrangements within each State into account, average wool transport costs from wool production areas to selling centres are found. A linear programming technique is then applied to produce an optimal pattern of wool flows minimizing transport costs for all growers.