Mergers and Acquisitions and Productivity in the U.S. Meat Products Industries: Evidence from the Micro Data

This article investigates the motives for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the U.S. meat products industry from 1977 to 1992. Results show that acquired meat and poultry plants were very productive before mergers, and that all but the very largest meat slaughter and processing plants and all but the bottom 20% of the poultry slaughter and processing plants significantly improved their productivity growth in their postmerger periods. These results lead to the conclusion that synergies and related efficiencies are important motives for M&As.     

Production Contracts and Productivity in the U.S. Hog Sector

This article measures the impact of contracting on partial and total factor productivity and the production technology of U.S. hog operations. A sample selection model accounts for the fact that unobservable variables may be correlated with both the operators' decision to contract and farm productivity. Results indicate that the use of production contracts is associated with a substantial increase in factor productivity, and represents a technological improvement over independent production. Results also identify determinants of farmers' decisions to contract and other factors influencing farm productivity.     

Efficiency and Technical Change in the Philippine Rice Sector: A Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Analysis

Regional differences in total factor productivity, efficiency, and technological change in the Philippine rice sector are examined for the post-Green Revolution era. Malmquist productivity indices were constructed for 1971–90 and were decomposed into efficiency and technological change. The average annual Malmquist productivity growth was only slightly positive. Productivity growth was negative during the early 1970s, and was followed by a period of positive growth. Growth was negative again in the late 1980s. The period of positive growth coincided with the introduction of new rice varieties while the declines are likely to have been caused by intensification of rice production in lowland farming systems. Certain regions such as Central Luzon, Western Visayas, and Southern and Northern Mindanao had higher rates of technological change than others. This may be due to higher investments in infrastructure and education, increased adoption of tractors, and a better agroclimatic environment.     

Input Substitution,Productivity Performance and Farm Size

This paper develops a theoretical model to examine the relationship between the input elasticity of (technical) substitution and both farm total factor productivity and size. In the presence of ongoing technical change and its factor bias, the ‘income effect’ arising from farms' cost minimising behaviour enables them to increase productivity by saving inputs or, through the dual equivalent, enlarging farm size. As such, farms with higher elasticities of substitution tend to grow larger and become more productive, which provides a new mechanism through which farm heterogeneity in productivity growth can be examined. Empirical evidence from Australian broadacre agriculture supports this theory and points to important policy implications.     

Technological Change and Economies of Scale in U.S. Poultry Processing

This article uses a unique data set provided by the Census Bureau and a translog cost function to empirically examine technological change in the U.S. poultry industry. Results reveal substantial scale economies that show no evidence of diminishing with plant size and that are much greater than those realized in cattle and hog slaughter. Findings suggest that consolidation is likely to continue, particularly if demand growth diminishes, and that controlling for plant product mix is critical to accurate cost estimates.     

新疆耕地和粮食生产力变化的区域差异分析

由于自然和人为因素的影响,耕地的数量、质量在时空上存在较大差异,科技进步等人文因素对各个区域的粮食单产造成不同程度的影响,这些都直接影响到新疆的16个区域的粮食生产水平的分异.从新疆各个区域1996-2004年的耕地面积、粮食产量及粮食播种面积等农业统计资料出发,分析新疆耕地面积和粮食生产力变化的区域差异,并简要分析其变化的原因,从而为新疆农业发展,尤其是粮食生产的发展提供了科学的参考依据.     

1996-2004年中国耕地的粮食生产能力变化研究

研究目的:核算1996-2004年中国耕地资源的粮食总生产能力及其变化,为国家实施耕地保护战略和确保粮食安全提供决策依据。研究方法:以粮食作物审定品种的区域试验产量为基础,在确定充分发挥气候资源潜力的种植制度基础上,计算了各类耕地的粮食单产,乘以全国各县1996年和2004年各类耕地的面积,得到1996年和2004年各县耕地的粮食总生产能力,汇总出各农业生态区以及全国耕地的粮食总生产能力。研究结果:2004年全国耕地的粮食总生产能力为9.20亿t,比1996年的10.81亿t减少1.61亿t。研究结论:虽然与现实产量相比,中国的粮食生产依然有较大的增产潜力,目前粮食安全的耕地资源保障程度较高,但耕地面积大量减少所造成的生产能力损失不容忽视。中国未来粮食安全除了严格耕地保护外,更主要的是靠农业科技进步提高单产能力。     

Market and Cost Structure in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry: A Plant-Level Analysis

A resurgence of consolidation in the U.S. meat packing industry in the past few decades has stimulated academic and policy debate. Issues raised include the role of cost economies in driving these patterns, and the effects on the agricultural sector (cattle producers) from market power. Here, plant level cost and revenue data for U.S. beef packing plants are used to estimate a cost-based model incorporating cattle- and output-market pricing behavior. The robust results indicate little market power exploitation in either the cattle input or beef output markets, and that any apparent evidence is counteracted by cost efficiencies such as utilization and scope economies.     

人口,土地和农业生产力水平:二十世纪初无锡农村地区人口压力的测量

论文把"生存压力"和"劳动力剩余"作为测量"人口压力"的两个具体指标,在对20世纪初无锡农村地区人口,土地和农业生产力水平详细考察分析的基础上,对20世纪初无锡农村地区的人口压力进行了测量。论文从"人均土地粮食收获水平"和"剩余劳动力规模"两方面讨论了当时无锡农村经济所面临的资源困境,以及其有可能的发展出路。论文认为在当时那种沉重的人口压力下,提高农业生产力水平和发展工业和城市经济是实现农业经济增长和农村经济转型的关键。然而,就是在当时全国工业和城市经济最为发达的江南,其当时的工业和城市经济发展程度也远不足以吸收足够多的农村剩余劳动力,在资金和技术上对农业生产予以显著的支持,为农村经济发展带来本质性的变化。     

Post-War Productivity Patterns in U.S. Agriculture: Influences of Aggregation Procedures in a State-Level Analysis

Annual data for forty-eight states are used to account for changes in the composition of input and output aggregates over space and time, and thereby to obtain new evidence on changes in inputs, outputs, and productivity in U.S. agriculture. The measures change significantly when we use state-specific rather than national prices and when we allow for changes in the composition of the aggregates, especially of labor and capital inputs. We compare our estimates and those reported by Ball et al. ( American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(1999):164–79). The national estimates are similar but substantial differences are found in state-level productivity growth.     

Scale Economies and Inefficiency of U.S. Dairy Farms

This study employs data drawn from the 2000 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-sponsored farmers' survey. The article estimates returns to scale relationships across dairy farms of different sizes and across different regions, incorporating variables hypothesized to influence farm performance. Results point to significant scale economies in U.S. dairy farms and underscore the importance of taking account of inefficiency when estimating scale economies. Contrary to previous research, the preferred cost function specification does not show a region of decreasing returns to scale. This finding helps explain why the average size of dairy farms has been increasing.     

Subtherapeutic Antibiotics and Productivity in U.S. Hog Production

Antimicrobial drugs are fed to hogs at subtherapeutic levels to prevent disease and promote growth. However, there is concern that the presence of antimicrobial drugs in hog feed is a factor promoting the development of antimicrobial drug-resistant bacteria. This study uses a treatment-effects sample-selection model to examine the impact that feeding antibiotics has on the productivity of U.S. hog operations. No relationship was found between productivity and antibiotics fed during finishing, but productivity was significantly improved when antibiotics were fed to nursery pigs. Restrictions on feeding antimicrobial drugs during the nursery phase would likely impose significant economic costs on U.S. hog producers.     

Investment and Productivity in Canadian and U.S. Food Manufacturing

A restricted cost function model of Canadian and US. food manufacturing shows that productivity growth rates in Canada have remained well below those in the United States for the past decade and a half_: At mean factor prices, output, and capital quantities, processing costs would be 22% lower in the U.S. than in Canada. Technical change in both countries has been labor-saving and material-using, although slightly more so in the US. than in Canada. The labor-saving bias of technical improvements puts Canada at a disadvantage to its southern neighbor, since food manufacturing wages in Canada tend to be lower and material prices higher than in the United States. Enhancing its competitiveness will require that Canada reduce raw food and packaging costs or invest more in research and development .
L'estimation d'une function constraint de coût démontre que le taux de productivité du secteur de la transformation des aliments et boissons au Canada est demeuré inférieur à celui des Etats-Unis depuis une quinzaine d'années. En effet, à la moyenne du prix des intrants, du stock de capital et de la quantité produite, le coût de production américain est de 22 % inférieur à celui du Canada. Dans les deux pays, le changement technologique a permis de substituer le matériel à la main-d'oeuvre, et ceci de façon plus prononcée aux Etats-Unis. En bout de ligne, ceci désavantage le secteur canadien des aliments et boissons puisque les salaires sont généralement inférieurs au Canada alors que le matériet est plus coûteux. Le Canada pourrait améliorer sa compétitivité face aux Etats-Unis en réduisant le prix des denrées et des entrées intermédiaires ou en augmentant l'investissement dans la recherche et le développement .     

Environmental Regulation and the Spatial Structure of the U.S. Dairy Sector

Substantial public scrutiny about adverse environmental impacts of the dairy sector has resulted in increased environmental regulations. A behavioral model of location and production is developed to examine the impacts of environmental regulations, traditional location factors, and agglomeration economies on the spatial structure and geographical location of dairy production. The results show that counties in the states with more stringent environmental regulations tend to lose dairy inventories to those with less stringent policies. There are substantially meaningful spatial patterns of dairy production. Current dairy production levels are positively correlated while changes in production levels are negatively correlated across counties.     

清代四川粮食亩产与农业劳动生产率研究

四川是全国著名的稻作区之一，清代四川粮食平均亩产约为222．58千克／市亩，平均每个成年农业劳动力一年约可生产原粮1423千克，可养活连其自身在内的4口人。18世纪中期，四川一个普通农民全年所得，大约表现为银13．04两，或钱10400余文。清代四川农民以“过密化”为代价，使粮食总产大幅度增长，而清末粮食亩产急剧下滑，折射出重大的社会危机。当时四川余粮、粮食消费、农村基本生活情况，与粮食亩产、劳动生产率紧密相关，并为后两者的合理估测提供佐证。     

Productivity Growth and Environmental Regulation in Mexican and U.S. Food Manufacturing

Many argued during the NAFTA debate that trade liberalization would favor Mexican over U.S. food processors, especially because of lax environmental laws south of the border. We find through an examination of profit functions that productivity growth in Mexico has outstripped that in the United States, suggesting free trade indeed will benefit Mexican suppliers. U.S. pollution regulations have had no impact on the profitability or productivity of U.S. food manufacturing. In contrast, Mexico's swiftly rising environmental standards have enhanced food processors' productivity growth, corroborating the Porter hypothesis. Pollution law, therefore, has favored Mexican over U.S. food processing, but for reasons few had anticipated.     

Decomposition of output growth in the Tunisian olive-growing sector: A frontier production function approach

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relative contribution of technical efficiency, technological change, and increased input use to the output growth of the Tunisian olive oil growing farms, using a stochastic frontier production function approach applied to panel data for the period 1995-1997. The proposed methodology is based on the use of a flexible translog functional form. Results indicate that technical efficiency of production in the sample of olive producing farms investigated ranges from a minimum of 24.8% to a maximum of 84.6% with an average technical efficiency estimate of 48.5%. This suggests that olive producers may increase their production by as much as 51.5% through more efficient use of production inputs. Further, the production is characterized by decreasing returns to scale, which on average was 0.8. Finally, investigation of the sources of production growth reveals that the contribution of conventional inputs (labor, in particular) and technical change are found to be the main source of that growth, since total factor productivity increased during the study period, but at a slowing rate.     

Contracting in the U.S. Pork and Beef Industries: Extent, Motives, and Issues

Contracting has increased significantly in the US livestock-meat sector. Over half of finished hogs and about a third of fed cattle are marketed under some form of contract. Contracting motives vary by type of contract, whether buyer or seller, and by commodity. Several motives for buyers and sellers of finished hogs and fed cattle are identified and discussed. Issues related to contracting per se and the trend toward increased contracting have been raised by contracting opponents, politicians, and economists. Several of these issues are discussed under six headings. Lastly, agricultural economists are encouraged to become actively involved in addressing these issues, especially providing pragmatic education and assistance to those involved in contracting.