Government involvement in the production and marketing of milk and dairy products is more pronounced than in any other agricultural product. The U.S. government administers two major programs that affect significantly the production and marketing of milk throughout the United States. These are the Federal Milk Marketing Order Program and the Dairy Price Support Program. In Arizona, in addition to these two major programs, the United Dairymen of Arizona Cooperative operates a base system that determines how cooperative milk revenues are allocated among producer members. This dissertation discusses some theoretical models that provide some insights into the following questions: (1) How would the dairy industry perform without the historically administered prices? (2) What are the benefits and costs associated with the order program and the base system? Then, this inquiry focuses on the Arizona and New Mexico dairy sectors. The two production sectors are quite similar, as are the marketing institutions, except for the existence of the base system in Arizona. Milk supply response in Arizona and New Mexico is investigated. Two ways in which supply adjustments can be achieved are identified and empirically investigated. (1) Creation of new dairy facilities or relocation of dairy facilities from other markets. If the decision to invest in Arizona or New Mexico is assumed as given, it is found that the existence of base system is a significant factor in explaining the location choice of new producers. (2) Expansion in output of existing dairy farms. It is found that dairy farmers in Arizona and New Mexico respond to changes in the farm level price of milk. The last effort of the empirical investigation is on the consumers' welfare losses due to the regulations of the Arizona and New Mexico dairy markets. It is found that the milk marketing orders and the policies of the UDA Cooperative in Arizona and AMPI in New Mexico, on the average, enforce a tax on Arizona's consumers of fluid milk in the amount of 10 million dollars per year, or 13.5 percent of producers' total revenue, and a tax on New Mexico's consumers of fluid milk in the amount of 5.6 million dollars per year, or 12.6 percent of producers' total revenue. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

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The US government has been actively involved in the production and trade of agricultural products in the world market. Corn as an agricultural product has not been spared. The minimum price for corn has been set above the domestic and world market prices. Such pricing policies have naturally generated surpluses that have been traded in the world market at subsidized prices. At times, the US has used acreage control policy to help reduce the level of excess supply. Price and income subsidies also have been used to complement acreage control policy when surpluses are immense. The empirical results have shown that these interventions have impacted on the world price of corn and subsequently on the foreign exchange earnings of the competing exporting countries. However, the issue of how significant these instabilities have been still remains and is more of a normative issue. The measure of the opportunity costs of these policies has provided an idea of the size of compensation to the competing countries of Argentina and Thailand. The last part of the dissertation investigates on the possible effects of the US policies on the behavior of Argentina and Thailand. The results obtained cannot confirm nor reject the premisses of US policies' harmful impacts. Such inconclusive outcome may be tied back to the inconsistency of the trading policy setting in Argentina and Thailand. Based on economic theory, suggestions have been made regarding the establishment of international stabilization and compensatory schemes to help move the world corn economy toward a Pareto optimal production level.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Agriculturala Economics))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 289-310).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Helsinki, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-121).

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Agricultural Economics. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-111).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-111)

Social protection measures are poverty reduction interventions implemented to assist in reducing poverty shocks of communities. This study considered the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) that has been implemented in Malawi with the aim of reducing poverty amongst subsistence farmers by providing them with subsidized farm inputs. The study was conducted in the rural area of Lilongwe District, under Traditional Authority Kabudula. The study mainly focussed on the outcomes of implementing the FISP and it entails whether or not the poverty reduction intervention is really achieving its goals. Thus, the study greatly evaluates the effectiveness of subsidizing farm inputs in reducing poverty amongst households in rural communities characterised by subsistence farming. This study was mainly qualitative in nature and data was collected through interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Some quantitative data for specific trends of national indicators was collected through document. Mainly, content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data and descriptive statistical analysis with the aid of Microsoft Excel was engaged to analyse the quantitative data. The study found that that FISP assist in household food security only in the short term. Among the reasons cited, the package size received by households has become smaller with sharing tendencies that have been devised to help households that do not receive the inputs or qualify to receive them. This practice is compromising the agricultural productivity in terms of quantities as it lasts only in the short-term before the next harvest. When households’ food reserves are depleted, households become food insecure and poverty sets in again. The study thus reveals that FISP implementation is not operating as a sustainable programme as its intended goal is not being achieved in the long-term. The study also found that coupled with the fact that there is no clear policy guidelines on graduation and that there is continued benefitting of the same beneficiaries, FISP is nowhere close to its phasing-out stage in social protection perspective.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law