Co-operative marketing societies

abstract: The global population is expected to reach 10.5 billion by 2050. With the increase in population, food production needs to increase by at least 70% in 2050. This would require a several-fold increase in food production. However, scarcity in land availability, a falling water table, weather variability, and an increase in the cost of agricultural operations have made this difficult. The gap between food supply and demand could be minimized if food losses are reduced during production, post-harvest activities, and food waste during consumption. This dissertation focuses on food loss (FL) by growers and food-waste (FW) by households. Specifically, the dissertation first, investigates the impact of vertical coordination on FL in India. Secondly, the dissertation examines the impact of offline and online shopping on FW by American households. The FL study uses farm-level data from India and a novel estimation method in the literature. Findings show that agribusiness firms rejected a significant quantity of the product due to quality standards. The amount of produce rejected was directly impacted by labor and transportation costs. Modeling and simulating the effects of labor and transport costs show that lowering labor and transport costs for the smallholder growers would reduce FL. The FW study uses scanner data of a popular retailing chain in the United States. Using the behavior of over-purchasing of impulse products and machine learning approach, the predict the over-purchasing of impulse products across online and offline (grocery stores) channels. The study finds that households over-purchase 29% more of impulse products (danish pastries, sweet bread, and cakes) when shopping online compared to offline shopping. The dissertation provides two critical insights related to the decision-making process of growers and grocery shoppers. First, growers' decision on reducing FL is related to the quantity of produce rejected by contracting firms and selling produce in the spot markets. Second, FW is significantly related to a grocery shopper’s choice of a shopping channel and the decision on how much to purchase. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Agribusiness 2020

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on July 18, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Oklahoma State University, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-106).

abstract: I compare the effect of anonymous social network ratings (Yelp.com) and peer group recommendations on restaurant demand. I conduct a two-stage choice experiment in which restaurant visits in the first stage are informed by online social network reviews from Yelp.com, and visits in the second stage by peer network reviews. I find that anonymous reviewers have a stronger effect on restaurant preference than peers. I also compare the power of negative reviews with that of positive reviews. I found that negative reviews are more powerful compared to the positive reviews on restaurant preference. More generally, I find that in an environment of high attribute uncertainty, information gained from anonymous experts through social media is likely to be more influential than information obtained from peers. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Agribusiness 2013

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Mykel R. Taylor / BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The 2014 Farm Bill required Kansas producers to make a series of enrollment decisions that were both complicated and based on incomplete information. With this bill, producers were required to complete a one-time enrollment in one of three programs (ARC-CO, PLC, or ARC-IC) to serve as a safety net for poor crop prices and/or yields over the five-year life of the legislation. Analyzing the effects of incomplete information on producers’ decisions provides an opportunity to identify challenges associated with program selection under the 2014 Farm Bill and suggest changes for future farm support legislation. METHODS: Kansas county-level enrollment data obtained from USDA-FSA are used to model aggregate producer sign-up decisions as a function of estimated 2014 payments, county-level yield variability, prior program enrollment, and extension programming efforts at the county and state level. This OLS model is subsequently replicated using individual producer data from surveys conducted during fifteen extension meetings held across Kansas. The model based on individual data is a regression of stated preferences for the three programs as a function of farm size, farmer demographics, risk preferences, and knowledge of the legislation. RESULTS: Comparisons of model results from the aggregated enrollment data and the individual survey data offer insights into the factors affecting producer decisions. Specifically, aggregate enrollment decisions are difficult to explain given many unobservable enrollment considerations at a county level. However, when the regression is repeated using individual data, other factors affect the enrollment decision such as the number of years a producer has been farming, the size of the farm, their membership in commodity associations, and their risk preferences. CONCLUSIONS: The 2014 Farm Bill required producers to select participation in a single support program for the five-year life of the legislation. This decision had to be made without knowing exactly how crop prices and yields would behave in the future. It is important to understand how producers made their decisions based on incomplete information to inform future legislative efforts for an effective farm safety net. This research expands that understanding by analyzing both aggregate and individual data to determine the factors that influence program choice.

This study is based on the hypothesis that (1) economic progress has altered the input structure of Canadian agriculture and (2) that this alteration has been associated with growth in the economic efficiency of the industry. The method used to test this hypothesis has been to measure changes in; (1) the absolute and relative importance of inputs; (2) the absolute and relative importance of various categories of output and (3) the economic efficiency of Canadian agriculture over the period 1926 to 1952. Inputs have been divided into eight categories, viz., labor, land, non-land capital, cost of operating farm machinery, depreciation, taxes, fertilizers and miscellaneous items. Output was divided into four broad categories of; crops, livestock, forest products and house rent. Efficiency was measured as the ratio of total output to total input within a given year. The results of the study strongly support the hypothesis. They indicate that economic progress has resulted in significant shifts within the input structure of Canadian agriculture as follows: (1) A decline in the absolute and relative importance of labor; (2) A decline in the relative importance of land; (3) A large increase in the relative and absolute importance of capital input. This shift in input structure has resulted in only a small change in the total of all inputs (about 10 percent over the whole period). On the other hand, the total volume of output has increased about 40 percent in the period under study. Consequently the ratio of output to input (economic efficiency) has increased in the same period by about 30 percent. Thus the indications are that economic progress has resulted in significant adjustments in Canadian agriculture. These adjustments cannot, however, be viewed as independent events. They are part of a change resulting from technological development and the economic growth of the Nation. Thus changes in the structure and the economic efficiency in the agricultural sector of the economy are dependent upon events in the other sectors of the economy. The results of the empirical study in this thesis indicate where emphasis might be placed in order that the economic efficiency of agriculture may continue to increase. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen Featherstone / This thesis addresses the need for a community slaughter facility for poultry. By definition, a slaughterhouse is a place where animals are killed and processed for consumption. The location of the slaughterhouse is located in an area with more than 55% of the Mexican national egg production. This creates an issue regarding disposal of old hens. Old hens create a problem for the industry because their production decreases with age and directly affects the cost and expenses of the operation resulting in a loss of profitability for birds that are not producing at an economic level. In the current situation, hens are discarded, but not in the best ways. Sometimes chickens are killed by asphyxia en masse, or are killed individually by workers. Slaughtered chickens are either buried or burned in big ovens. This current method constitutes a waste product and has negative environmental effects. These issues are corrected via the development of an avian slaughterhouse that will use 100% of hens that are no longer profitable, including the crest, neck, breast, wings, and legs. Products that have been identified for development from “waste” include blood and feather flour; meat flour using the head and intestines; and pasta made from the bones and carcass of the bird. This thesis illustrates the economic feasibility for building the slaughterhouse. In the current environment, value added developments such as this could greatly impact and improve the poultry market in Mexico by increasing competitiveness and benefitting the communities in which such facilities are located.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Andrew P. Barkley / Andrew P. Barkley / This research will identify and quantify the determinants of international wheat trade from 1999-2008. This study will focus on the following objectives: (1) Review literature on international wheat trade to develop a suitable conceptual model (2) Quantify the impact of economic variables including price, income, exchange rates, transportation costs, and trade policies; and (3) Extend previous work by further consideration of trade policies and international relationships. Regression results indicate that economic factors continue to play a major role in wheat trade. Domestic price had the largest level of statistical significance of non-trade agreement factors in this analysis. The regression results highlight that national income, distance between nations, exchange rate, inflation and respective populations are also important in determining the flow of wheat. Openness to trade and agriculture production variables were statistically significant, demonstrating the commodity nature of wheat trade. Sharing a common border and language are also positive factors in wheat trade. Colonial heritage does have some small impacts, negative for direct colonies and positive for nations sharing a common colonizer. This analysis extends previous international wheat trade research through the inclusion of multilateral relationships and bilateral trade agreements. This study showed that not being a member of the WTO is a positive factor in the trade of wheat. The review of trade agreements added depth to this study by examining both trade creation and trade diversion for each agreement specifically for their effects on wheat trade. The estimated models show that nations which develop agreements with contrasting qualities from themselves are likely to see higher gains from free trade agreements. However, when nations engage in agreements with nations in a similar location or income structure, trade diversion iv occurs. The analysis also shows that trade agreements can overcome factors that may have a negative impact on the trade of wheat such as distance or colonial relationships. By understanding the determinants of wheat trade, players in the wheat market can create a more transparent and fluid trading system.