Information and consumer perception of the “organic” attribute in fresh fruits and vegetables

Using a double hurdle model on panel data from 3,200 Danish households (monthly observations for 2002–2007), we study the effects of health‐related media information on the demand for organic fruit and vegetables. We find that “negative” information about pesticides contained in conventional fruit and vegetables mainly influences the probability of a consumer entering the organic market, not the quantities consumed by households that are already active on the organic market. “Positive” information that links health and the consumption of organic food influences both steps of the decision process. Our dataset includes information about consumers’ media habits, which allows us to disentangle the direct effects of media information from the indirect effects of this information as it is disseminated through the population. Our results suggest that directly obtained information is the main type of information influencing consumers, while information loadings by dissemination through the population have almost no effect on consumption.     

Reducing Investment Risk in Tractors and Combines with Improved Terminal Asset Value Forecasts

Secondary asset market data for combines and tractors are used to estimate and separate out historical economic depreciation, embodied technological change and time value change. Combines and tractors generally exhibit constant geometric economic depreciation on a year-to-year basis. Depreciation rates vary by manufacturer. Farm investors can use these manufacturer-specific depreciation rates reported here to estimate terminal asset values. The study finds significant seasonal differences in machinery depreciation rates. A major source of error in forecasting terminal asset values comes from changes related to time. There is a predictable time component to the constant quality asset index that has not been investigated in previous studies. Unanticipated shocks to demand should be followed by price reversion to long-run average manufacturing costs as industry capacity adjusts to demand. This reversion component is predicable. Investment risk over longer planning horizons may be lower when both depreciation coefficients and time component estimates are employed.     

我国特色果蔬国际贸易中存在的技术壁垒问题探析

我国是农业大国,农产品的国际贸易对我国经济发展具有较大的影响。随着我国农产品贸易出口量的增加,国外许多国家,尤其是发达国家开始制定许多措施来限制我国农产品的出口,其中技术壁垒对我国农产品出口产生很大的阻碍。为了更好地促进农产品贸易发展,我国逐渐将特色果蔬作为农产品贸易的主要竞争力,特色果蔬不仅具有较高的经济效益,其区域特色、品质特色及丰富的营养结构等优势更是顺应了消费者对农产品质量要求越来越高的新变化。文章通过阐述特色农产品与技术壁垒等的相关概念,进而分析我国特色果蔬国际贸易发展存在的相关问题,从不利与有利因素来研究技术壁垒对我国特色果蔬国际贸易带来的影响,以此为我国特色果蔬贸易的发展提出以下几点政策建议:(1)提高特色果蔬产品质量安全水平;(2)完善特色果蔬质量标准体系建设;(3)实现特色果蔬集约化生产与运输。     

An inverse demand analysis with introduction of quality effects: an application to Spanish consumption of fruit and vegetables

This article analyzes consumer preference for fruit and vegetables when, by using time series with socioeconomic characteristics of households, there can be seemingly unobserved quality effects, which are increased by aggregation. The changes in Spanish demand for fresh and processed fruit and vegetables over the period 1987–2000 are discussed. Following previous tests and analyses, quantities are taken as predetermined and prices as matching the offer conditions. Thus, quality effects (based on the nutritional and/or health value of the product) are estimated from the error terms associated with the functions of the unit values. Quality variables are introduced as taste shifters in the inverse demand system (Laitinen–Theil model). The results show the positive effects of quality differences on the normalized price for the group of products through own‐quality flexibilities, and the negative effects between fresh and processed products through cross‐quality flexibilities.     

The ‘squeezed middle’: Identifying and addressing conflicting demands on intermediate quality farmland in Scotland

The growing demand for a wide range of private and public goods and services from a finite land resource is increasingly challenging for planners at local, regional, national and international scales. The Scottish Government's development of a Land Use Strategy has given salience to resolving conflicts and enhancing synergies in land use. In Scotland, the poorest quality farmland is often designated for nature and landscape conservation and the highest quality farmland often protected for food production. This means that many of the competitive pressures on land are experienced in what we term the ‘squeezed middle’. The paper identifies the multiple (and not exclusively economic) drivers of land use choices and, through an ecosystem services lens, explores three particular areas of land use conflict. These are (i) the continued high level of public support for farming, which has done little to address the problem of low farm incomes; (ii) the pressure to increase woodland planting on farm (and other) land; and (iii) conflicts associated with intensive game management, especially on sporting estates. Using the Scottish situation as an example, the heterogeneity of land use pressures means that there is a danger of the principles of the Land Use Strategy becoming lost in translation from national policy to practical land use decision-making. The appropriate scale for delivery of integrated ecosystem services may therefore be more local than current pilot projects, and may require more active participation of land managers. It may also require policy instruments that are more flexible in adapting to the local context, including payments for ecosystem services.     

基于绿色供应链的鲜蔬鲜果冷链物流效率分析

为了响应国家对于环保的号召,促进我国果蔬物流行业的可持续发展,绿色供应链策略成为我国冷链物流发展的关键因素。随着人们对于果蔬需求的不断提升,鲜蔬鲜果冷链物流的需求也进一步增加,如何提高我国冷链物流效率成为果蔬物流行业发展的主要问题。文章主要通过对绿色供应链的定义、主要内容和食品冷链物流等理论进行梳理和总结,分析我国鲜蔬鲜果冷链物流发展现状,主要呈现果蔬产销发展迅速、果蔬冷链物流水平较低和果蔬冷链物流问题较多等特点,并进一步从冷链物流流程和绿色环保两方面,基于绿色供应链角度,对我国鲜蔬鲜果冷链物流效率进行研究,发现其运输损耗率较高,虽然在环保投资额和包装回收率等方面都有所提升,但是与发达国家还存在一定差距。文章最后从政府、行业和企业3方面,为鲜蔬鲜果冷链物流的发展提出对策建议。     

A METHOD FOR ESTIMATING THE DEMAND FOR AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY IN THE UK

In this paper an investment demand function is estimated, making use of some particular characteristics of data on the sales of agricultural equipment in the UK. The characteristics are that, first, much of agricultural equipment is deliverable quickly from stock and does not appear to be supply-constrained, thus allowing equality of actual and desired capital stocks as a working hypothesis. Second, frequent replacement of machinery leads to depreciation rates which are high and variable. A method is presented to calculate a variable depreciation rate for each period and the resulting estimates are superior to the same model with a conventional, fixed depreciation rate.     

The impact of customer ratings on consumer choice of fresh produce: A stated preference experiment approach

The importance of customer ratings or reviews in online shopping has been recognized in the previous literature; however, few have studied how online customer rating scores affect consumers’ fresh produce purchases and its importance relative to other fresh produce attributes. The quality of fresh produce demonstrates high uncertainty and variation; therefore, the impact of user-generated content such as customer rating scores on the choice of fresh produce may be more complex than on other product categories. Moreover, previous studies on customer ratings have not examined the price premium that retailers can obtain based on better ratings of fresh produce. Using a stated preference approach (i.e., choice experiment), this study measures the willingness to pay for a higher customer rating score and explores its relative importance to other popular fresh produce attributes (i.e., organic, place of origin, and shelf life). The results show that customer rating is the second most important attribute after the place of origin and is more important than production methods (e.g., organic and naturally grown) for fresh strawberry purchases. Also, rating scores demonstrate a diminishing marginal impact on consumer willingness to pay. Younger consumers and households with children are willing to pay more for fresh produce with high ratings than those with low ratings.     

U.S. Citrus Import Demand: Seasonality and Substitution

Citrus fruits make up 1/5 of all fresh fruit consumed in the United States. Given the increasing importance of imported citrus in the diet of American consumers, it is perhaps surprising that no import demand analysis of U.S. citrus has been conducted. Using quarterly U.S. import data for 6 citrus commodities, we employed a demand systems model and evaluated aspects of seasonality. The results suggest wide variations in price responses to different types of imported citrus. The average amplitude and phase shift suggest that all citrus fruits exhibit some seasonality in their imports, likely a result of peak harvesting schedules of exporters.     

Vertical Integration in Ecuador: The Case of Fresh-Cut Pineapples

Telesignos, a fruit producer and exporter in Guayaquil, Ecuador, was considering vertical integration into pre-cut pineapple production. Fruit processing skills, favorable image/reputation, as well as access to a new market could be obtained by linking with a company like Del Monte to produce fresh-cut fruit products under the Del Monte brand. The decision is whether it would make sense for Telesignos to invest in a fresh fruit processing facility in Ecuador to export fresh-cut pineapple to the United States.     

Willingness to pay for credence attributes associated with agri-food products—Evidence from Canada

Credence attributes such as environmental impact, origin, fairness/unfairness, and food safety/health are not available with certainty prior to or at the time of the consumer purchase decision. This creates a problem of imperfect or asymmetric information, leading to suboptimal supply and demand for products with these desirable attributes. Using a representative sample of 2001 Canadian consumers, we adopt, within an attribute-based decision-making framework, the asymptotically efficient double-bounded stated preference approach, to estimate Canadian consumers' willingness to pay for origin, fairness, environmental impact, and food safety attributes associated with pork chops and fresh apples. We find that, on average, consumers are willing to pay significantly more for pork chops and fresh apples that are farmers-advantaged, sourced from their own province, grown or raised under a production system designed to be environmentally sustainable, and chemical-free. However, these findings differ significantly by the province of origin, gender, age, and income of the respondents, as well as by product type and attributes being valued.     

Consumer’s Perception of Fruit Innovation

The objective of the present report is to explore consumers’ perception of fruit and fruit product innovations, in particular nutritionally enriched/fortified fruit and laser-tattoo labeled fruit. These innovations may modify consumers’ visual representation of fruit, influencing their perceptions of fruit integrity. The research included 537 face-to-face interviews with shoppers at the point of sale and was analyzed with the use of factor analysis and multivariate logistic regression. Results show that the consumers pursue “nature integrity–oriented” innovation, for both health and environment-oriented innovation. The consumer is cautious toward innovation and accepts it if the final product keeps its original familiarity. Consumers are more inclined toward innovation if they have a higher education level, are young or middle age, or have a higher income. To conclude, innovation is positively perceived if it respects consumers’ perception of fruit as being intrinsically natural. Innovation in fruit and fruit products should be tested against consumers’ acceptance.     

水果和蔬菜中农药残留检测技术研究进展

随着生活质量的不断提高,人们对食品安全的关注度也越来越高,要使果蔬等农副产品的安全性得到保证,需要对其农药残留状况进行全面监管.本文从农药残留检测发展现状入手,对涉及的检测技术及果蔬安全管控相关建议进行全面研究,明确果蔬农药残留检测技术的重要性,进而为打造绿色无公害农副产品提供助力.     

Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices

Although the potential causes and consequences of recent rising international food prices have attracted widespread attention, many existing appraisals are superficial and/or piecemeal. This article attempts to provide a more comprehensive review of these issues based on the best and most recent research, as well as on fresh theoretical and empirical analysis. We first analyze the causes of the current crisis by considering how well standard explanations hold up against relevant economic theory and important stylized facts. Some explanations turn out to hold up much better than others, especially rising oil prices, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, biofuels demand, and some commodity‐specific explanations. We then provide an appraisal of the likely macro‐ and microeconomic impacts of the crisis on developing countries. We observe a large gap between macro and micro factors, which, when identifying the most vulnerable countries, often point in different directions. We conclude with a brief discussion of what ought to be learned from this crisis.     

The Demand for Salmon in the European Union: The Importance of Product Form and Origin

This paper addresses the importance of different product forms and their origin when considering the market structure in the European salmon market. The competition between farmed salmon and wild caught Pacific salmon has received some attention previously. However, this was before frozen Atlantic salmon emerged as an important product form in the market. This could be important as frozen Atlantic salmon is more likely to be a close substitute for Pacific salmon, which is mostly marketed frozen, than is fresh Atlantic salmon. In this paper, an almost ideal demand system is used to estimate the demand for fresh Atlantic salmon, frozen Atlantic salmon and frozen Pacific salmon in the European Union.     

Common stories of reintroduction: A discourse analysis of documents supporting animal reintroductions to Scotland

Political decisions on environmental issues are increasingly required to be ‘knowledge based’, which has led to a wealth of (scientific) expert documents that aim to inform decision-making. However, the roles of rhetoric and argumentation in those documents have received relatively little scientific attention. We studied 111 expert documents in support of reintroductions to Scotland and identified the elements that constituted the discourses of white-tailed eagle, beaver and lynx. Similar building blocks (so-called storylines) were found in all three debates. The pro-reintroduction discourse as a whole bore resemblance with other contemporary environmental management discourses: In what could be termed ‘win-win logic’, positive storylines were combined to point at the necessity of a management intervention, in our case a reintroduction. Yet, additional mechanisms were also at work which suggests that downplaying negatives can be as important as dwelling on positives. Crucially, we found that the Scottish pro-reintroduction discourse might have become increasingly ‘reflexive’ in terms of its rhetoric and argumentation. The latter development may have major implications for political decision-making. A more critical use of rhetoric and argumentation in expert documentation is needed to achieve environmental political decision-making that is open to any possible outcome of deliberation (including non-reintroduction).     

The Effect of Extrinsic Product Attributes of Pineapple Juice on Consumer Intention to Purchase

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which consumer information concerning several attributes of the pineapple juice packaging, including the manufacturing process, influenced the consumer intention to purchase. It is suggested that high-pressure technology retains nutrients as vitamins and keeps sensory attributes closer to those of fresh foods. These advantages meet the increasing consumer demand for healthy products and a more differentiated food assortment. However, the benefits provided by these products are not always communicated to consumers. Although information about the technology (high-pressure) had been positively considered by consumers when fruit juice consumption was taken into account, fewer studies have focused on this aspect. The effect of 5 attributes of the package (information on manufacturing process, product definition, production information, price, and brand name) on the pineapple juice consumer intention to purchase was investigated by 96 fruit juice consumers. Information about technology (high-pressure) positively contributed to the consumer pineapple juice intention to purchase and showed to be essential when it is applied on pineapple juice production, being a useful approach when adequately communicated to consumers.     

Exchange Rates and Turkish Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Trade with the EU Countries: Bilateral Trade Data Analysis

This study examines the role of exchange rate on Turkey's fresh fruits and vegetables bilateral trade balance with 14 trading partners in the European Union. Because dynamic effects of exchange rate changes on trade balances have been hypothesized as the J-curve effect, special attention is paid to investigate whether or not the J-curve hypothesis is observable. To this end, we apply the bounds testing cointegration approach to the trade balance model for the period of 1995:q1–2007:q2. Results support evidence of the J-curve effect in 2 cases in the short run. In the long run, the exchange rate has a positive impact on the trade balance in 7 out of 14 cases.     

Fruit and Vegetable Consumers’ Behavior: Implications for Organized Retailers in Emerging Markets

The authors attempt to understand selected behaviors of fruit and vegetable consumers of mid-sized cities of a developing economy, which are important for any retailer to appreciate. The study was carried out in two mid-sized cities of the Orissa state of India with 100 respondents by using the specially developed questionnaire. Statistical tools were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that vegetables are consumed in greater quantity and purchased more frequently than fruits. Consumers attached more importance to credence attributes than to search and experience attributes while making their purchase decisions. Family income and consumers’ education were found to have significant influence on the consumers’ willingness to pay for graded and packaged products. Organized retailers can take cues from the findings of the study to decide about location, nature and quality of assortment, and their marketing strategies.     

Demand for collective food‐safety standards

In 2007, leading members of the U.S. fresh‐tomato industry responded to pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the industry's long history of poor food‐safety outcomes and adopted a set of standards for production practices related to food safety at all levels of the fresh‐tomato supply chain. Adherence to these standards was required under a federal marketing order that applied to essentially all tomatoes grown in Florida. The California Tomato Farmers cooperative, whose members produced the vast majority of fresh tomatoes grown in California, also required that its members adopt these standards. The collective food‐safety standards for fresh tomatoes closely resemble the requirements of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, so the collective adoption of these standards provides an excellent case study to illustrate the possible effects of FSMA implementation on demand. I assess the hypothesis that demand for tomatoes from Florida and California increased following the adoption of standards for food‐safety practices by growers in those states, relative to demand for tomatoes from other regions. My analysis demonstrates essentially no evidence that demand for fresh tomatoes responded positively to the implementation of collective food‐safety practices.