U.S. Demand for Imported Wines

The U.S. is viewed as a lucrative market outlet for surplus wines produced in the leading wine exporting countries in the world. Structural U.S. import demand functions were estimated for French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German wines as well as for those that are U.S. produced. The equations were estimated with two-stage least-squares because of simultaneity between quantity demanded and price. Direct price, cross, and income elasticities were calculated to determine the degree of competiveness among the various wines of differing origin. Two separate groups of wine were identified. First, U.S. produced, French, and German wines were in one group. Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian wines comprised the second group. The latter group also encountered competition from the first group of wines.     

Market Structures for U.S. Water Quality Trading

The use of transferable discharge permits as a water pollution control policy is rapidly increasing in the United States. Drawing on evidence from existing water quality trading programs, this paper provides a taxonomy of the forms that such markets take. Four main structures are identified: exchanges, bilateral negotiations, clearinghouses, and sole-source offsets. Each of these structures has its own strengths and weaknesses; none is optimal for all scenarios. Since market structure is largely determined by a program's rules, policy makers should be aware of the differences between these structures and the conditions under which each comes to be.     

A new market for an old food: the U.S. demand for olive oil

While U.S. consumption of olive oil has tripled over the past two decades, nearly all olive oil continues to be imported. Estimation of a demand system using monthly import data reveals that the income elasticity for virgin oils sourced from EU is above one, but demand for nonvirgin oils is income‐inelastic. The demand for olive oil as a single product is price‐inelastic. Differentiated by product characteristic and origin, olive oils are highly substitutable with each other but not with other vegetable oils. News about the health and culinary benefits of olive oil and the spread of Mediterranean diet contribute significantly to the rising demand.     

Quantitative Assessment of U.S. Wheat Performance for Quality Characteristics

Quality of U. S. grain exports has been a contentious issue over the past decade. Nowhere is the issue more hotly debated than for wheat. At the core of the debate has been the ability of Canada to command a premium for its wheat in foreign markets. Buyers' perceptions of quality have been suggested as an explanation, but empirical evidence on the quality attributes responsible for this country-of-origin premium has been limited to hedonic pricing studies. This paper quantifies purchasers' perceptions of the relative importance of quality characteristics for the world's major importing countries. This is done by calculating three indices. The attainment index measures how well buyers' perceptions of the importance of the characteristic matches buyers' perceptions of how well it is being supplied. The supply index measures buyers' perceptions on how well a characteristic is being supplied. The demand index measures how important the buyers perceive a particular characteristic to be. Then buyers' perceptions of the performance of U.S. and Canadian wheats are evaluated, given the perceived importance of each characteristic, and related to previous empirical results. Finally, these results are compared for alternative groupings of importing countries.     

Forecast performance of WASDE price projections for U.S. corn

We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the season‐average price projections for U.S. corn as published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), an important issue given reduced resources and increased program scrutiny within the Federal Government. This study is the first in the literature to evaluate the WASDE corn projections relative to futures adjusted forecasts throughout the forecasting cycle using a lengthy evaluation period (1980/81–2012/13). We find that WASDE projections provide lower RMSEs relative to futures adjusted forecasts for 9 of the 16 forecast periods, 4 of which are statistically different. Encompassing tests show that WASDE projections often provide incremental information not present in the futures adjusted forecasts. Composite forecasts based on futures adjusted forecasts and WASDE projections reduced the RMSEs over all forecast periods by an average 12–16%. Favorable average trading profits may be generated for some forecast months using WASDE projections. Overall, our results suggest that WASDE projections of the U.S. corn season‐average price provide useful information to the market and could enhance the efficiency of the agricultural sector.     

China as a Potential Market for U.S. Pork Exports

This study provides details of emerging opportunities for U.S. pork exporters following the U.S.–China WTO Accession Agreement. The Agreement will enable the United States to gain unprecedented access to the Chinese pork market. The United States enjoys comparative advantages in producing hogs at lower cost, higher quality, and greater efficiency. Moreover, Chinese preference for pork is highly complementary to that of U.S. consumers. Therefore, U.S. pork exporters are expected to target primarily the Chinese variety meats market. Although China is expected to remain a surplus pork production nation, demographic shifts could provide additional opportunities for U.S. pork exporters to increase sales of more premium cuts for urban consumers in China.     

欧洲花楸繁育栽培技术

经多年的欧洲花楸引种、繁育和栽培,总结出一套完整的繁育栽培技术措施;繁育最佳途径是秋季播种繁殖,其次是扦插繁殖。春季播种繁殖,播种前要对种子进行75d的低温(0-5℃)混沙催芽处理,处理后的发芽率达到72%,在其幼苗移栽初期采取遮荫处理是保证移栽成活的关键,但进入速生期后要及时撤除遮荫网;大苗移植要挖冻坨或带土坨,以确保成活率。     

美国以自然资源保护为宗旨的土地休耕经验

美国土地休耕制度包括一系列水土保持计划和以土壤侵蚀度为主要指标的水土保持评价标准,它通过一系列耕地保护计划来推行。回顾美国农业耕作土地采取休耕政策及其实施情况,讨论了值得我国学习和借鉴的土地休耕计划的政策的成本费用等问题。     

Adjustment costs and dynamic factor demands for U.S. cigarette manufacturing

Following the approach of Berndt, Fuss, and Waverman, a dynamic model for U.S. cigarette manufacturing is developed and factor demands estimated. Tobacco and capital stocks are treated as quasi-tixed inputs. The results indicate that there are significant adjustment costs associated with adjusting tobacco stocks, but not with adjusting the capital stock. Short-run, intermediate-run, and long-run output constant elasticities are estimated for inputs in cigarette production. Demand for U.S. tobacco by U.S. cigarette manufacturers is found be more inelastic than shown by previous studies using static models. Cigarettes produced for export appear to differ in their marginal cost of production from cigarettes produced for the sale in the U.S. market.     

Derivation of an aggregate supply curve for U.K. beet production

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between real agricultural land prices and real rents for farmland using annual data. Taking account of inflation as a third variable there is evidence to suggest that rents and land prices are cointegrated; that is, changes in rents are mirrored in the long run by changes in land prices. It is also found that the implied real rate of return in the land market is around 3%.     

A New U.S. Farm Household Typology: Implications for Agricultural Policy

Changes in U.S. agriculture have yielded a diversity of farm types. These changes have extended beyond the farm business and into the farm household. The objective of this research is to motivate, develop, and discuss the policy implications of a new typology of U.S. farm households, which is based on household economic theory. Using the 2003 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and statistical analysis, the U.S. Farm Household Typology identifies six mutually exclusive groups of U.S. farm households. This typology is then compared to the current Economic Research Service Farm Typology and used to investigate the distribution of government payments.     

A Dynamic Adjustment Model for U.S. Agriculture: 1948-79

A multioutput model is developed within the adjustment cost framework to analyze the structure of dynamic adjustments in U.S. agriculture during the post-war period. An important feature of this model is that the econometric model is consistent with dynamic economic theory. Fluctuations in capital stocks, variable inputs, and outputs are explained by changing opportunity costs. Empirical results indicated that durable equipment, farm-produced durables, and family labor exhibited significant rigidity in adjustment as a response to exogenous shocks. Surprisingly, the hypothesis that real estate was a variable input could not be rejected. The univariate flexible accelerator hypothesis, which is widely maintained in most agricultural adjustment studies, is inconsistent with the data.     

依靠法制和科学规范渔具许可制度——以底扒网、帆张网为例

本文针对江、浙两省渔业管理条例有关禁用渔具条款,以底扒网和帆张网为例,从法律和技术两个层面进行剖析,阐明作者观点:①法律体系层面,两渔具不应在《渔业法》规定"禁用渔具"类别内,两省渔业管理条例分别定性其为禁用渔具,不符合"下位法不得与上位法相低触"之立法原则;技术的自然属性层面,两渔具体现了客观的自然属性与人的主观能动性的综合,不失具独特的先进性。②相关禁用渔具法律条款之法律绩效无法实现的症结在管理层面,因此工作着力点应放在强化管理上。③建议对两省渔业管理条例中的有关禁用渔具条款启动"法律修改"程序,并同步实施与解禁渔具相配套的制度与体系构建,即根据幼鱼资源发生和时空分布等客观规律,积极引导捕捞生产,努力寻求利用资源与保护幼鱼之间的平衡。④基于配套法规之科技支撑体系难以短期解决现状,与解禁渔具配套法律体系只能分步构建和逐步完善,可先依据《渔业法》第三十条赋予权限,依法针对资源敏感区、幼鱼高发期实施探索性的临时禁渔规定,并可同时出台最小网目尺寸、幼鱼比例抽检等辅助性渔政管理规定等。     

An Analysis of Alternative Income Stabilization Programs for B.C. Beef Producers

This paper uses simulation to estimate the costs and effects of provincial government programs designed to stabilize the incomes of B.C. beef producers, assuming that these programs had operated over the period 1959–78. A mathematical model of the British Columbia beef industry was constructed and successive runs were made, each assuming operation of one of the three programs: the 1977 and 1980 Farm Income Assurance Programs (FIAPs) and a guaranteed price scheme. All three programs were found to have a similar impact on increasing producer incomes, but FIAP(1980) was inferior in terms of its effect on reducing income variability. The income gains to producers differed depending on whether calves, calf-yearlings or yearlings were involved .
Dans cette communication, on utilise la simulation pour èvaluer les coúts el les effets des programmes provinciaux visanl à stabiliser les revenus des producteurs de boeufs de C.B. On suppose que ces programmes ont été en vigueur durant la pèriode 1959–78. On a báTti un modé le mathématique de I'industrie du boeufen C.B. et ètudièplusieurspossibilités, chacune d'elles ayant comme hypolhèse que l'un des trois programmes suivants ètait en vigueur: les programmes d'assurance de revenu agricole de 1977 et 1980 (FIAP) et unplan deprix garanti. On a trouv'e que ces trois programmes avaient comme effet commun d'augmenter les revenu du producteur, mats FIAP (1980) n'avaitpas autant fail diminuer la variabilitè des revenu que les deux autres programmes. Les gains en revenus pour les producteurs differaienl, suivant quil s'agissait de veaux, de veaux d'un an ou d'autres animaux d'un an .     

Searching for farmland preservation markets: Evidence from the Southeastern U.S.

Farmland preservation is a topic of much discussion in many areas of the United States, but of little action. Only 1.6 million acres of U.S. farmland are permanently protected nationwide, a number not too different from some estimates of annual losses of farmland to development. While a number of studies have estimated the non-market benefits of preserved farmland (cf. Wichelns, D., Kline, J.D., 1993. The impact of parcel characteristics on the cost of development rights. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 22 (October) 150–158), this study is the first to focus on the potential for a market for farmland preservation. Using primary data collected from farmers and citizens specifically to address this issue, we estimate the supply of and demand for farmland for preservation. Separate models are estimated for both privately and publicly run preservation programs. Demand is estimated under private-voluntary, public-voluntary, and public-mandatory scenarios. The results show that both public and private programs can be successful. The market capable of preserving the most acres is a tax-funded, state-run program which could permanently preserve over 200,000 acres in 5 years.     

Estimating the U.S. Import Demand for Melons: A Dynamic Analysis Approach

The United States is one of the world's leading consumers as well as one of the world's leading producers of melons. However, U.S. melons are produced only from May through December. In order to supplement the domestic demand and make melons available year-round, the United States imports melons from Latin American countries. This article analyzes the U.S. demand for imported fresh and frozen melons using monthly data on import volumes and values. A static and a dynamic linear Almost Ideal Demand System are estimated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR). The estimated parameters are used to estimate the short- and long-run price and expenditure elasticities.     

The Labor Market for New Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics Ph.D.s

We describe the characteristics and labor market experiences of new agricultural and natural resource economics Ph.D.s. Women earned roughly 27% of the Ph.D.s earned during 1996–97 and 2001–02; 36% of the Ph.D.s awarded were earned by U.S. citizens. About half of the employed graduates found jobs in academe, with the remainder divided roughly equally among government, international or research organizations, business, industry, and consulting. The median salary of new Ph.D.s holding full-time jobs in the United States was $62,500 in 2002, up from $47,500 five years earlier.