A case study framework was used to study the competitiveness of Honduran coffee with major importing partners, along with an import demand analysis. Several important points summarize the findings. First, trends in green coffee supply and consumption continue to depress world coffee prices, making the production of coffee less attractive. Since small coffee producing countries, like Honduras, cannot affect the international price, they must improve efficiency, productivity, employ cost reduction techniques, and rely on the promotion of specific product attributes to remain competitive. Second, increased market share of Honduran coffee in major importing markets, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. was found. A significant improvement of the Honduran market share of coffee in Germany and Japan was found. Third, because of a significant response of import demand of Honduran coffee with respect to a positive shock in income of Japan and the U.S., Honduras has the potential to capture an increased percentage of its partner's imports. Additionally, price strategies to gain market share in Germany can be implemented. Fourth, product quality is currently a key element in improving the competitiveness of Honduran coffee. Production, distribution, and marketing tactics are not well developed and resources are not used in an advantageous way. Therefore, the probability that Honduran coffee can be viewed as a superior product from other producing countries of the region is very low. Export demand for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama were estimated to determine the effects of changes in income and relative export price when trade occurs among Central American countries (CAC). Results indicate that trade among CAC can be a powerful engine of growth, as indicated by significant positive responses of value of exports to a positive shock in income levels. However, relative export price plays an important role in promoting export revenues for El Salvador and Honduras only. The export response to a shock in income for El Salvador and Honduras lasted fewer periods and was lower compared to those from Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama.

Hedonic models estimate the marginal effect of land characteristics and factors that contribute to a purchase decision on rural land values in submarkets of north Louisiana. While size of tract and mix of land use have expected impacts on rural land values, forces that motivate the buyer also affect price. The natural resource endowment of each of the three submarkets in this study differs significantly from one another. Topography has clearly identifiable impacts on crop selection and income in each submarket. Additionally, the relative location of the submarkets to major metropolitan areas is influential on rural land values in one submarket, and in the others the socioeconomic conditions within the submarket are more influential on rural land values. As a result, the factors that contribute most to the value of rural land in each submarket differ. This study successfully demonstrates that these differences are statistically significant in explaining the value of rural land.

The United States Department of Agricultures Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) administers two primary promotion programs for rice exports: the Foreign Market Development Program (FMDP) and the Market Access Program (MAP). Based on the literature, a single equation framework is specified to estimate the rice import demand model. Three major U.S. rice importing countries are selected: Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Single equation analysis methods are applied. The effectiveness of the two programs for rice exports to the Latin American markets is evaluated. Promotion programs and the competitors exchange rate as primary explanatory variables for the U.S. rice import demand in the targeted markets are evaluated. The results show that promotion programs are effective in Mexico and Honduras, with an average return of $10 and $40 per dollar during 1989-2003. However, promotion programs were not significant for Costa Rica. Estimated own price elasticities are considerably less elastic in the Mexico and Honduras market than in the Costa Rica market. The exchange rate fluctuation of two primary rice competitors, Uruguay and Argentina, show a significant effect to the market demand for U.S. rice.

This thesis examines the validity of the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis in Honduras and compares the Honduran experience to that of other Central American countries, specifically Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. It further evaluates the ELG hypothesis for the agricultural sector of Honduras. The conceptual model incorporates exports into a Cobb-Douglas production function and formulates dynamic econometric models of real gross domestic product (GDP), real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), labor and real exports for the 1970-2000 period. To test for the validity of the ELG hypothesis, Granger-causality was tested on the export coefficients of the growth equation of the vector autoregressive (VAR) or error correction (ECM) model for each country in the short run, long run and in both (in totality). The results indicate that, in El Salvador, evidence supporting the ELG hypothesis was found in the short-run and in totality, it was also found that the ELG hypothesis holds in the long-run for Guatemala and for the non agricultural sector of Honduras. In Nicaragua, exports were found to Granger cause economic growth in the long-run and in totality. No evidence was found to support the ELG hypothesis for Costa Rica, Honduras and the Ag-GDP sector of Honduras. The results imply that efforts being put forth by the government of Honduras to promote total agricultural exports are not sufficiently strong to lead to economic growth over the study period. The strong emphasis in the promotion of maquila exports in recent years, however, seems to have contributed to economic growth from export expansion. Honduras has experienced an expansion of non-traditional agricultural exports over the past two decades. Yet, agricultural exports continue to be dominated by traditional commodities (bananas and coffee). The 1990's brought along low world prices for these traditional products, thus contributing to a slow down in growth of the dollar value of agricultural exports. The efforts by the Honduran government to diversify agricultural exports are a recent experiment, but it seems that contributions of such exports to economic growth are not significantly detected from the 1970-2000 data.

Louisiana strawberry production has decreased over a period of years while national production has increased, leading to concern that Louisiana's strawberry industry might disappear. California, the leading producer state, has exploited its production advantages and marketing efficiency to increase production. The objectives of the study were (1) to identify strawberry attributes preferred by consumers in the selected market area, (2) to analyze key demographic factors that influence the decision about sources of and preferences for strawberries, and (3) to identify key steps that the Louisiana strawberry industry might take to improve marketability of product and profitability of its production. Conjoint analysis (CA) was used to examine consumer preferences for selected product attributes of fresh strawberries in Louisiana. Conjoint designer was used to develop nine hypothetical strawberry products, and two holdout products were created from the attributes (container, pesticide strategy, price, and origin/brand) and their levels. The two container levels were a clear plastic clamshell design and the traditional plastic basket. Pesticide strategy's levels consisted of conventional control strategy and reduced pesticide strategy. Price's levels considered were $2.99, $2.49, and $1.99. Origin/brand's levels were California private company brand or label, Florida private company brand or label, and 'Louisiana produced' strawberries. Data were collected through mail surveys sent to 2,000 randomly selected consumers in Louisiana, the southern half of Mississippi including Jackson, and the metropolitan area of Mobile, Alabama. An Ordinary Least Squares model was used to analyze consumer preferences. The estimated part worth utility values were calculated and used in a cluster analysis to segment consumers based on their preferences. In addition, demographic categories were used to identify preferences among various socioeconomic groups. The results of the aggregate conjoint analysis indicated consumers put highest relative importance on origin/brand and, to a lesser degree, on price. Pesticide strategy and kind of retail container were rated much lower. CA results also were compared by demographics categories. The cluster analysis identified two clusters that exhibited high importance for origin/brand, one for price, and another for container and pesticide strategy. A standard marketing management model consisting of positioning, pricing, distribution, and promotional strategies was used as an outline for marketing implications. The results suggest that the Louisiana strawberry industry should market more through retail grocery chains and promote local origin/brand. The industry can differentiate itself from competitors by building on the quality, taste, and convenience of the Louisiana strawberry product in local grocery stores. In addition, there is an important segment of price-conscious consumers that might be tapped later in the growing season when prices have already dropped because of market saturation.

Increased government deficit has led the congress to reduce federal spending. Proposed budget cuts are intended to decrease government spending in several areas, including agriculture. Reductions in farm program spending could cause significant adverse effects on the financial situation of many farms, particularly to rice and cotton enterprises, due to their high reliance on farm program payments as a source of income. Representative rice and cotton operations of one, two, three, and four entities as single crop enterprises were considered and developed for use in this study. Farm enterprise sizes were determined by estimating the acreage level at which a one, two, three, and four entity operations would reach the most restrictive payment limit. Rice and cotton farms were considered to plant and harvest 85 percent of base acreage (100 percent of paid base acreage). For each enterprise evaluated, gross income, variable production costs, fixed equipment costs, and general farm overhead expenses are included in the analysis. Projections of income and expenses are made for a five-year period (2005-2009). For each year of simulation, random market prices and crop yields are generated to allow for inclusion of price and yield risk. Random domestic market prices, world market prices and crop yields per acre, for both rice and cotton, were generated. The analysis includes a comparison of a baseline simulation of projected income and expenses with six alternative program payment reduction scenarios. Continuation of current policy without reductions in farm program spending has shown to generate insufficient net farm income to both rice and cotton enterprises. One entity operations under the baseline scenario have resulted as being non-viable operations. Increasing reductions in program payments had a detrimental effect on the financial situation of both rice and cotton operations. The combination of 5 percent reduction in program payments along with a 10 percent decline in market prices resulted as the worse case scenario for all rice and cotton enterprises placing them in a higher risk of negative returns over variable and total costs. No program reductions below the baseline scenario are recommended for the viability of an already suffering agricultural sector.

Survey data collected from randomly selected participants within the four geographical regions of the U.S. were used to evaluate consumer attitudes towards functional foods and determine their willingness to pay for these foods. Contingent valuation using the payment card method was used to elicit premiums that consumers are willing to pay for a spread that maintains a healthy heart (spread A), a spread that is proven to significantly reduce cholesterol (spread B) and a loaf of bread that may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers (bread A). Ordered probit regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of different explanatory variables on the willingness to pay a premium for the three different functional food products. Overall, the following four factors significantly affected the respondents willingness to pay a premium for all the three products evaluated: beliefs about the link between nutrition and health, concern about different chronic diseases, current purchasing and consumption patterns, and attitude towards functional foods. These factors also seem to affect the decision of whether to pay a premium for functional foods more than the decision of how much to pay. The significance of demographic variables depended on the product being valued. Regarding the premiums, on average respondents are willing to pay the current grocery store premium for spread A. On average, respondents are not willing to pay even half of the current grocery store 500% premium for spread B, although the stated WTP results indicated that 9%, are willing to pay at least 400% premium. For bread A, respondents are on average willing to pay a 33% premium instead of the current grocery store 40% premium. Stated WTP indicated that about 42% of the respondents are willing to pay at least a 50% premium for the functional bread.

This study examines trade creation and trade diversion effects in the EUSAFTA using the standard gravity model of bilateral trade flows. The estimation of the gravity equation was carried out using the OLS analysis. In order to ascertain the overall trade creation and trade diversion effects explanatory variables such as GDP, distance and dummy variables were incorporated into the estimation equation to explain bilateral trade flows and exports respectively. The main focus was on the estimation of trade creation and trade diversion effects, resulting from participation in selected regional and preferential trade agreements like EU, COMESA, SACU and EUSAFTA. Additionally, the overall effects of regional and preferential trade agreements are positive and significant indicating that trade agreements, induce and generate huge trade volume among member countries. The trade creation effects of (SACU) were negative. This study demonstrates that participation in Regional and Preferential Trade Agreements stimulates trade between member countries. They also stimulate trade with non-member countries, perhaps as a result of an income effect.

In recent years, the US livestock industries have undergone structural changes that have led to larger livestock operations with their associated environmental problems. Louisiana is within one of the major cow-calf production areas in the US (the Southeast). Louisiana accounts for about 1.72% of the total US cattle operations. In an attempt to control degradation of the environment, conservation programs have been put in place, one of which is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The EQIP was established in the 1996 Farm Bill, involving the payment of government subsidies to landowners willing to implement specific cost-intensive conservation practices. The aim of this study is to determine, using a sequential response model, the awareness of EQIP and subsequent adoption of best management practices (BMPs) by cattle farmers in Louisiana. Results indicate that of the 504 cattle farmers who completed the survey questionnaire, the probability of a farmer having no knowledge of EQIP (EQIP0) is 0.481; the probability of a farmer having knowledge of EQIP but not applying to the program (EQIP1) is 0.298; the probability of a farmer having knowledge of EQIP, applying to the program, but not receiving payment (EQIP2) is 0.152; the probability of a farmer having knowledge of EQIP, applying to the program, receiving payment, and not canceling the program later (EQIP3) is 0.003; and the probability of a farmer having knowledge of EQIP, applying to the program, receiving payment, and canceling the program later (EQIP4) is 0.066. Variables used in the analysis that influenced the awareness of EQIP and the subsequent adoption of BMPs were the number of times a farmer met with NRCS and/or extension agents in the year 2002, whether the farmers land had been declared highly erodible by NRCS, whether a stream flowed through or close to the farm, whether the farmer was diversified, the size of the cattle operation, and the percentage of household income coming from beef production.

Louisiana faces a tremendous crisis of coastal wetland loss, where an estimated 1,900 square miles of coastal land has been lost in the past century. The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) has been the largest single source of restoration funding, providing approximately $560 million for more than 155 restoration projects since 1991. Recently reauthorized by Congress to the year 2019, current spending under CWPPRA constitutes less than 10% of the funding required to sustain coastal Louisiana as it exists today. A descriptive analysis of selected projects (n=109) was conducted to analyze the economic efficiency associated with various project attributes by location, technology, and sponsor. Barrier Island and Shoreline Protection projects were shown to be highly expensive, costing an average of $9,461 and $10,416 per AAHU, respectively. Although slight economies of scale appeared to be present in the aggregated data, those efficiencies do not hold up over time. In the past 14 years of CWPPRA, average costs per unit have been steadily increasing, ranging from a low of $700 in 1993 to more than $15,000 in 2004. To account for the effects of other possible factors contributing to this increase, a two stage statistical assessment was conducted using data collected from candidate projects (n=299) between 1991 through 2004. The first stage uses multiple linear regression analysis to examine various factors influencing cost-effectiveness. The significant, directional relationships of particular region and sponsor variables is consistent with the expensive "protection" projects predominately sponsored by EPA, and located in Regions 2 and 3. The second stage is a binary logit analysis used to examine how stage 1 attributes affected project selection in CWPPRA. As expected, cost per AAHU was found to be negatively related to project selection for PPL1-14. However, costs between 1999 and 2004 were positively related to project selection. Furthermore, the most expensive project types - barrier island and shoreline protection projects - were positively related to selection. The findings and recommendations of this project could prove useful in ensuring that benefits of Louisiana's coastal restoration and preservation efforts are maximized given the limited amount of funding available.