The Role of Community and Farm Characteristics in Farm Input Purchasing Patterns

This work uses unique data from three dairy-dependent communities in rural Wisconsin to test established theory and empirical studies that link farm structure to local purchasing patterns. A theoretical model of purchasing choices is developed to derive the demand determinants of local purchasing. This model is tested empirically across eleven major dairy farm inputs using a double-bounded Tobit model that also includes community characteristics. The empirical estimations find little support for a general linkage between farm-level characteristics and local purchasing patterns. The results do suggest that different community characteristics provide some explanations for diverse purchasing patterns.     

The Farm Diversification Discount

This article estimates the effect of diversification on farm values, where farms are valued relative to the median specialized farm having the same enterprise. Using data from the Agricultural Resource Management Study, the estimated diversification discount in agriculture is similar to the discount found for corporate firms. The results show that diversified crop/livestock farms had a diversification discount of 5.8% in comparison with specialized crop or livestock farms from 1999 to 2001. Commodity diversified farms had a diversification discount of 9.4% in comparison with commodity specialized farms.     

Value of Household and Farm Work: Evidence from Alberta Farm Family Data

Estimates of the economic value of unpaid household and farm work of Alberta farm women and men are calculated using two common market alternative cost methods. Time use data for 1984 collected by Doherty and Keating (1985) from 414 Alberta grain farm families as well as Statistics Canada wage data are used. The average annual value of unpaid farm work ranges from $20,647.35 to $29,088.24 for men and from $5,017.54 to $6,604.19 for women. Conversely, unpaid household work performed by women has an average annual value of $17,460.98 to $34,617.66, while the value of men's unpaid household work ranges from $1,943.02 to $3,962.54 annually. When the values of farm and household production and the income generated by off-farm work are accounted for, there is little difference between mend's and womend's total contributions to the economic well-being of the farm family. These estimates illustrate the importance of family membersd' unpaid work to the economic well-being of the family. They also suggest that there is little basis for the historic inequity of legal and other social systems that neglect the economic value of womend's contributions to family welfare. On estime la valeur du travail domestique et agricole non rémunéré des agricultrices et des agriculteurs de l'Alberta au moyen de deux autres méthodes de calcul des coûts, dd'usage courant sur le marché. On se sert pour cela des données de 1984 sur le temps recueillies par Keating and Doherty (1985) auprès de 414 producteurs de céréales de l'Alberta et des données sur les salaires de Statistique Canada. La valeur annuelle moyenne du travail agricole non rémunéré varie de 20 647,35 $ à 29 088,24 $ pour les hommes et de 5 017,54 $ à 6 604,19 $ pour les femmes. Parallèlement, le travail domestique non rémunéré effectuÉ par les femmes vaut de 17 460,98 $ à 34 617,66 $ en moyenne par année, tandis que pour les hommes il varie entre 1 943,02 $ et 3 962,54 $. Lorsqud'on additionne la valeur de la production agricole et domestique et le revenu générÉ par le travail non agricole, on constate qud'il y a peu dd'écart entre la contribution totale de l'homme et celle de la femme au bien-être économique de la famille rurale. Ces estimations prouvent 1d'importance du travail non rémunéré des membres de la famille pour la situation économique de cette derniÈre. Elles suggèrent également qud'il nd'existe pas de véritable fondement à l'injustice historique introduite par les systèmes juridiques et sociaux qui négligent la valeur de la contribution des femmes au bien-être économique de la famille.     

Farm Input, Farm Output and Retail Food Prices: A Cointegration Analysis

This paper investigates the adjustment mechanism between farm input prices, farm output prices and food retail prices in Canada. Johansen's maximum likelihood approach is used in addition to the Engle-Granger approach to test for cointegration. Contrary to the common assumption that farm output prices are more flexible than farm input prices, it is found that farm output prices, though cointegrated, are weakly exogenous in the sense that they do not respond in a systematic manner to disequilibrium in farm input prices and retail food prices. Evidence is found to support “cost push” and “demand pull” theories but, since food retail prices carry a heavier weight in the cointegration relations, it can be concluded that shocks manifesting themselves (first) at the retail level do not persist as long. Cet ouvrage se concentre sur le mécanisme d'ajustement entre les prix des intrants à la ferme, les prix payés aux producteurs agricoles et les prix de l'alimentation au détail au Canada. Les techniques développées par Johansen et par Engle et Granger sont utilisées pour vérifier des hypothèses reliées à la cointegration. Contrairement à la présomption que les prix payés aux agriculteurs sont plus flexibles que les prix de leurs intrants, on a découvert que les prix payés aux agriculteurs, bien que cointégrés, sont exogènes au moindre degré dans le sens qu'ils ne s'ajustent pas en fonction du déséquilibre dans les prix des intrants et les prix de l'alimentation au detail. La théorie voulant que les prix montent à cause des hausses dans les prix des intrants est vérifiée de même que la théorie alternative voulant que les ajustements des prix se fassent du détail aux intrants. Fluctuations occasionées par des changements dans les prix de l'alimentation au détail sont dissipées plus rapidement que les ajustements causés par des variations dans les prix des intrants.     

Expert Systems and Farm Management

We have found that expert system technology is suitable to solving problems in farm management, for example, the fertilizer problem, because of several important features. First, the incremental development process is exploratory by nature, and hence it aids in the formalization of ill-structured and poorly understood problems. Second, explicit representation schemes make it easy to understand and modify knowledge; thus, it is much easier to make changes to a developing system. Third, through the use of extensive domain knowledge, an expert system considers only relevant information and is able to reduce difficult problems down to a manageable size. Finally, the ability of an expert system to provide explanations and justification for its recommendations decreases user scepticism and makes it possible to ensure that a system's results are accurate. The construction of the FSA prototype has demonstrated the feasibility of applying expert system technology and techniques to a single farm management task. It is our estimation that this approach to increasing access to decision support resources in agriculture will continue on as a trend in the future.     

The Dynamics of Farm Incomes: Panel data analysis using the Farm Accounts Survey

This paper uses longitudinal information from the Scottish Farm Accounts Survey to explore the dynamics of Scottish farm incomes between 1988/89 and 1999/2000. Both the Net Farm Income and Cash Income of farms are considered. The results show high levels of income variability and income mobility within Scottish agriculture. Although exit rates from the lowest income groups remain relatively high even when spells of low income have lasted a number of years, there is evidence of farms with persistent low farm income and farms experiencing repeated spells of low‐income. Smaller farm size and having a farmer aged over 65 increase both the probability that a farm will fall into the lowest income group and the length of time spent in that income group. Further the results suggest that the impact of the post‐1997 agricultural recession on income mobility depended on the income status of the farm when the recession began.     

Saying Sayonara to the Farm: Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Farm Exits in Japan

Off‐farm employment opportunities are thought to have an effect on farm exit rates, though evidence on the sign of this effect has been mixed. Examining this issue in the context of Japanese agriculture, we find that farm exits are related to off‐farm income as a share of household income, and more specifically to the nature of off‐farm work. Two econometric models are developed: a hierarchical Bayesian linear model and a hierarchical Bayesian Poisson model. Both models perform well in predicting exit rates across the towns and prefectures of Japan.     

Farm Poverty and Safety Nets

Farm families with incomes below the poverty line are far less likely than wealthier farmers to receive farm support payments. Using data from the 1989–2004 Current Population Survey, we find that poor farm families are also not participating in other assistance programs. Controlling for other factors, eligible farm families have substantially lower participation rates in the Food Stamp Program and in Medicaid than eligible nonfarm families. Removing farm safety net program payments would increase the number of farmers eligible for these programs but, in the absence of behavioral changes, would only lead to small increases in the number of recipients.     

Farm Economics of Bird Flu

Outbreaks of infectious animal diseases represent a major threat to agriculture and can impose significant social and economic costs. The potential for devastating epidemics, such as the recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Asia, Europe, and Africa, has prompted major global investments in animal disease prevention and control, both public and private. However, there has been little research into the effects of alternative public policies on farm‐level actions to prevent and control HPAI and the implications for disease impacts. Animal disease management involves both ex ante investments to reduce the probability of infection and ex post actions to contain the spread of disease once introduced. The public sector can play an important part in disease mitigation through provision of public disease prevention and control. Another vital role for government in mitigating the potential impacts of HPAI is in the development of well‐designed policies to induce socially optimal ex ante private investment while providing incentives for truthful disclosure of disease status. This study employs an economic epidemiology framework to examine the effects of farmer behavior on disease introduction and transmission and to analyze the effects of public policy decisions under alternative scenarios. Les éclosions de maladies animales infectieuses représentent une menace importante pour l’agriculture et peuvent entraîner des coûts socio‐économiques considérables. L’éventualité d’épidémies dévastatrices, telles que les récentes flambées d’influenza aviaire hautement pathogène (IAHP) en Asie, en Europe et en Afrique, a suscité d’importants investissements publics et privés à l’échelle mondiale pour prévenir et lutter contre ces maladies. Cependant, peu de recherches se sont penchées sur les effets des politiques publiques de rechange sur les mesures prises à la ferme pour prévenir et lutter contre l’IAHP et les répercussions des maladies. La gestion des maladies animales nécessite des investissements ex ante pour diminuer la probabilité d’infection et des mesures ex poste pour contenir la propagation d’une maladie une fois introduite. Le secteur public peut jouer un rôle important dans l’atténuation d’une maladie en instaurant des programmes publics de prévention et de lutte. Pour atténuer les conséquences potentielles de l’IAHP, le gouvernement peut élaborer des politiques efficaces pour inciter des investissements privés ex ante socialement optimaux tout en offrant des stimulants pour encourager la divulgation véridique de la situation zoosanitaire. Dans la présente étude, nous avons utilisé un cadre épidémiologique et économique pour examiner les conséquences du comportement de l’exploitant agricole sur l’introduction et la transmission des maladies et pour analyser les conséquences des décisions de politique publique selon divers scénarios.     

关于农户信息化问题的思考

农业信息如何进村入户、如何提高农业信息资源的利用率是我国农业信息化过程中面临的现实问题。本文提出了农户信息化的概念,并在分析发展农户信息化面临问题的基础上,从政府的信息服务和农户信息素质两个角度提出了实现农户信息化的途径,对解决农业信息入户和信息资源利用率低的问题做了有益的探讨。     

U.S. Farm Policy and the Volatility of Commodity Prices and Farm Revenues

A dynamic three-commodity rational-expectations storage model is used to compare the impact of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 with a free-market policy, and with pre-FAIR policies. Results suggest that FAIR did not lead to significant increases in long-run price volatility or revenue volatility. The main impact of pre-FAIR, relative to the free-market regime, was to substitute government storage for private storage in a way that did little to support prices or to stabilize farm incomes. Results also indicate that U.S. grain market volatility in 1995–2000 was due to fundamental market forces and not to FAIR.