Master of Agribusiness / Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / The United States was the world’s third largest producer of raspberries (by pounds) in 2013, behind Russia and Poland. Raspberries are the third most popular berry in the United States behind strawberries and blueberries. Most U.S. production of red raspberries occurs in the states of Washington and Oregon during July and August depending on variety. Harvest and production for industrial pack typically runs for five weeks. Sieved red raspberries or single strength red raspberry puree is one of many industrial packs produced in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Sieved red raspberries are produced by forcing fresh, cleaned and sorted red raspberries and red raspberry crumbles and pieces through a mesh screen, collected in drums or pails and stored for use in further processed products such as pies, confectioneries and other consumer food products. For this thesis, sieved berries are packed in 55-gallon steel drums lined with food grade plastic bags. They are shipped from the processing plant to a third party warehouse to be frozen and stored. The final processing plant draws on these stored frozen products for use in the production of the Company’s consumer food products. The purpose of this thesis is to review the Company’s current procurement practices of sieved red raspberries and determine how these practices may be improved to reduce its total delivered cost. We use an optimization modelling approach to assess the procurement process used by the Company. The results indicate that it is possible to reduce procurement costs and improve efficiencies by making changes to the current procurement strategy. By implementing the procurement strategy developed in this study, we show that the Company can save as much as $1.69 million per year, which is equivalent to about 20.3% of the current spend. This would suggest that adopting the optimization strategy could allow the Company to increase its total sieved raspberry utilization by as much as 0.9 million pounds per annum, all other things remaining unchanged.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / The purpose of this thesis was to estimate the value accruing to Zambian bean supply chain participants with the view to showing that value at the different stages is a function of the value addition and risk incurred at those stages. The data used in the study came from two different surveys done under the Pulse Value Chain Initiative – Zambia focusing on producers and bean traders. The surveys used structured questionnaires for both producers and traders. The producers were sampled from three principal bean producing provinces in Zambia: Lundazi, Mbala and Kalomo. The traders were sampled from the largest consumer region in the country – Lusaka – and focused on traders operating in the three principal markets in the city: Soweto; Chilenje; and Mtendere. The analyses were conducted using STATA®, employing both statistical and econometric methods. Value was defined as a function of transaction costs and value addition as well as the risks borne. In the Zambian mixed bean trade environment, where traders travel to remote locations where producers live and produce, they are seen to incur higher levels of risk and undertake higher levels of value addition – assembling the grain, bagging them and moving them from the rural areas where production occurs to the cities where customers reside. As such, it is expected that value creation and distribution would increase away from the farm. The results confirmed this expectation. The total average value created at the farm level was ZMK3,391.06/kg. However, the average value accruing to traders who only undertook wholesaling was ZMK7,405.75/kg while that accruing to traders going further down the chain to retail was ZMK9,663.56/kg. Traders who engaged in institutional trade produced an average value of ZMK8,750.75/kg. The share of total value produced accruing to producers in the producer-wholesaler-retailer chain was about 16.6 percent because of the higher value addition and risk that occur further downstream in the chain. The share of total value produced accruing to producers in the producer-wholesaler-institutional buyer chain was about 17.3 percent. The study showed that female producers’ share was not different, statistically speaking, from male producers’ value. It also showed that the average value created in thin (smaller) markets was higher than the value created in larger markets, probably because of the level of competition that occurs in the latter markets. Interestingly, the results showed that the larger the land holdings of producers, the lower the value created. This is in line with the foregoing results of size, competition and value. The study suggests that producers’ share of total value created may be enhanced by helping producers undertake specific activities that increased the value they added and reduce the risks that traders bear in their search for grain. One of such activities could be the formation of horizontal strategic alliances among producers that allowed producers to aggregate grain at particular locations in significant lots and bag them. This service would allow them to extract higher value from the exchange with traders. Any attempt to address the perceived “unfair” distribution of value along the supply chain by administrative fiat could result in higher costs to the whole supply chain and crate adverse unintended consequences for producers and the treasury.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Despite the dependence of more than three-quarters of a million households depending on cocoa for their living in Ghana, the production segment of the cocoa industry is fraught with significant challenges manifesting as low farm productivity. Various intervention programs to help farmers improve productivity at the farm level have been used over the past few decades. One of such programs is the Cocoa Abrabopa Program (CAA), which uses an integrated approach where farmers are supplied inputs made up of fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides as well as provided training and extension support services. The inputs are provided on credit and the producers repay the cost of these inputs upon selling their crop. This study sought to assess the results of the CAA in enhancing the net profits of its members over time. It used survey data collected over five years from members of the CAA program. The study used an econometric model to evaluate the demographic and production characteristics of CAA members on their net profits. The results show that male members in the CAA program had higher net profits that their female counterparts, about GHS 237.32 more. For every year increase in the member’s age, the net income increased by GHS 6.46, which was statistically significant at the 10 percent level. The crux of the study – the effectiveness of the CAA program in enhancing performance – was supported by the results. Participants who were two years in the program posted GHS 591.13 more net profit than those who were in their first year. Those who were three year and four or more years posted respectively GHS 1,211.04 and GHS 18,752.29 than those in the first year. All these were statistically significant at the 1 percent level. Thus, the CAA program is producing what it is expected to produce – enhancing the net profits of its members and doing so in higher levels with the duration of membership. The study also found that having a bank account produced a higher effect on net profits than being male, posting GHS 296.13 more net profit than not having a bank account. The econometric model specified and estimated was significant and the variability in all the independent variables in the model explained about 46 percent of the variability in net profits. The study recommends that the CAA program incorporates helping all its members open bank accounts as part of its offerings. It also recommends working with policymakers and community leaders across its operational areas to encourage investments in the education of females and elimination of the tenural rights discrimination that frequently confronts females in agriculture. It also recommends that an increased effort be made to expand membership of the CAA program to all cocoa producers in Western South because of the significant benefit of the yield effect of the region on net profit of CAA members in the region.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Keith Harris / Inefficiencies in a warehouse that operates multiple zones can create bottlenecks in the order fulfillment process. This study’s focuses on the exploration of potential bottlenecks in an agricultural aftermarket company’s order fulfillment process and its multi-zone warehouse. Order fulfillment includes stages of order processing, SKU picking and staging from the conveyor zone and the “H” zone, and the final packaging and shipping of the order within the Truck Freight Department. A review of the company’s EOP program, and the effects of the program, provides additional insight into our understanding of bottlenecks within a dynamic the system. In doing so, the research will extend the existing knowledge on warehouse management with multiple zones. The conclusion of this paper offers solutions that will alleviate the bottlenecks and improve the overall efficiency of the order fulfillment process within a multi-zone warehouse.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / John A. Fox / The cost of wheat is the largest input cost for a flour mill, and as a result, profitability in wheat flour milling is determined in large part by milling efficiency – i.e., the amount of flour extracted per unit of wheat milled. In this project the objective was to quantify the influence of several measurable variables on flour mill efficiency. Data was collected from two commercial milling units of similar size. Linear regression was then used to estimate the relationship between flour yield and variables measuring grain characteristics and environmental factors. The analysis suggests that increasing ambient temperature and the occurrence of downtime both have a significant negative effect on flour yield. A significant difference in flour yield efficiency was also found between the two mills.

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Dennis L. Weisman / The Internet is a network that consists of content providers and users connected to each other through the communication lines managed by network providers. Network neutrality rules are designed to protect independent content providers from unjust discrimination by network providers. This report explores the economic rationale for net neutrality rules, how the regulation should be enforced, and its potential effects on competition. The report finds that net neutrality encourages competition among content providers by subsidizing content provider access but concentrates the market for network providers by forcing network providers to compete primarily through price competition. It considers this to be a beneficial arrangement for economic growth, but observes that there is a potential for all sides of the market to be subsidized by advertiser fees. It also shows that despite the Federal Communications Commission's heavy involvement with network neutrality rules, these rules are actually based in a long history of antitrust regulation. It concludes, however, that the current regulatory environment is sufficient for enforcing net neutrality rules.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Arlo Biere / The purpose of the research reported in the thesis, here, is to quantify new value added possible in flour milling with the use of the SDmatic monitor, produced and sold by Chopin Technologies SAS. As an employee of Chopin, part of my responsibility is to market the SDmatic. The SDmatic was designed and is marketed to improve flour quality by providing automatic monitoring of starch damage in flour—damaged starch affects dough characteristics, which affects baking quality and the ideal damaged starch differs by type of bakery product. While the SDmatic is so marketed, Chopin, now, realizes that SDmatic might also benefit a flour miller by increasing operational efficiency of the mill, specifically by reducing the electrical energy used in milling. If that can be done, it would improve mill profitability, reduce energy demand and, thus, reduce the pressure on the climate and environment from energy production. To address that possibility, the thesis research studied the relationship between energy usage and damaged starch in the flour and, then, estimated the cost savings possible by using the SDmatic to mill flour to specifications most efficiently. Finally, those results were used to estimate the return on investment in the SDmatic from improved mill efficiency, alone. The research shows improvement in energy efficiency is definitely possible with better management and targeting of the level of starch damage in flour production. Such improved management is possible, today, because SDmatic dramatically reduces the difficulty and time required to measure damaged starch. Such monitoring has not been done in the past because of the cost and time involved with prior methods. SDmatic makes that possible and cost effective, now.

According to the U.S. Small Business Association, the failure rates for small businesses in 2014 were as high as 50% to 80% within the first 5 years of establishment. The purpose for this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that small business owners have used to sustain their businesses beyond 5 years. Guided by entrepreneurship theory as the conceptual framework, and a purposive sampling method, this qualitative case study used semistructured interviews with 3 successful, small, ethnic grocery business owners in Anchorage, AK to better understand small business strategies for survival. Member checking and triangulation with field notes, interview data, business websites, customer comments, and government documents helped ensure theoretical saturation and trustworthiness of interpretations. Using pre-coded themes for the data analysis, the 8 themes from this study were entrepreneur characteristics, education and management skills, financial planning, marketing strategies and competitive advantages, social networks and human relationships, technology and innovation, government supports and social responsibility, and motivational influence. Two key results indicated the strategies needed for small business owners were entrepreneur management skills and government support for small businesses. These findings may influence positive social change by improving small business owner competence and sustainability, rising higher business incomes, providing a better quality of life to employees and their communities welfare benefiting the entire U.S. economy.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / The literature shows that increases in incomes lead to changes in the allocation of income or expenditure shares to different food products. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the effect of income on expenditure share allocations among different food groups. The study was particularly interested in beans and how changes in incomes affect the share of bean expenditures. We used data from the 2010 Zambia Living Conditions Monitoring Survey (LCMS). The LCMS covers the whole country and provides segmentation of the respondents, across the region and rural versus urban. It also provides detailed information on the income and expenditure distributions of respondent households. This allowed for the achievement of the overall objective of this thesis: understanding how beans and other food products responded to income changes as well as other demographic and socio-economic variables. The food share is the proportion of total household income that was allocated to food. The results show that food averages about 40% of income but varied significantly across the four income groups. It was 92% for those earning less than ZMW300 per month and 37% for those earning between ZMW300 and ZMW750 per month. It was down to 22.6% for those earning between ZMW750 and ZMW2.1 million per month had a food share of total income of only 10.8%, similar to the average U.S. consumer. These averages were found to be statistically different across the income groups. We found that Zambians allocated about 40% of their food expenditure to cereals compared to 5% to pulses and 3.5% to beans. They allocated a higher proportion of their food expenditure to fruits and vegetables than to beans and/or to pulses. This shows that legumes are very low on the food hierarchy in Zambia. However, across income categories, it was found that consumers in the second income group (ZMW300 and ZMW750 per month) allocated the most of their food expenditure to beans, about 3.9%, while those in the highest income group (ZMW750 and ZMW2.1 million per month ) allocated the least, about 3%. The biggest influencing demographic factor for pulses and beans’ shares of food expenditure was locale, with urban consumers having about 1.1 and 0.8 percentage points higher share of food expenditures allocated to beans than rural consumers. The respective t-values were 15.58 and 16.96. All the demographic and socio-economic variables were statistically significant at or below the 5% level. There was no difference between the allocation of people in the highest income group and those in the lowest income group. The results suggest that if the long-term objective is to reap the nutritional benefits of beans, there may be value in focusing on two principal policy variables: education and income enhancement. However, because education is correlated with income, the benefits of undertaking this policy initiative would more than benefit the bean consumption. It should unleash across the economy a more productive workforce that understands the health benefits of its food choices.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Order picking errors have an adverse effect on performance because they contribute to lost time, resources and customer loyalty. Therefore, it is imperative that organizations reduce errors as much as possible. However, organizations cannot effectively reduce errors until they understand the factors that determine and influence them and can isolate the sources of those errors. Product distribution at Frito Lay is very critical in the supply chain activities of the company and understanding and managing the level of errors that occur at the distribution phase of operations is critical for the firm’s long term sustained competitiveness. This study examines Frito Lay’s order filling processes and how order volumes affect the level of errors. The company uses two types of order picking technologies: prepick and bulk order, conventionally also known as pick-to-light and voice-pick technology respectively. The main objectives of the study are: (a) to examine the impact of size of volume processed at the distribution center on errors recorded for each order pick technology and (b) the impact of regional and seasonal differences across Frito Lay’s distribution network. The data pertaining to pre-pick volume, pre-pick error, bulk volume and bulk error were collected for ten consecutive quarters time period ranging from first quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2011 and across 16 divisional distribution centers in four regions of the U.S. The data were organized into a panel for analyses using Stata® 12.1. With no a priori foundation for choosing any particular structural equation form, a number of structural equations were estimated and compared to consistency with economic theory and internal consistency. Two different sets of models were estimated: one for each technology. The regression results from the analysis from the pre-pick order picking technology models showed the quadratic model was the “best” model, whereas the linear model turned out to be the “best” structural form for bulk order picking system. This research provides valuable information to management in attempt to address errors in the order fulfillment system. Because errors may be human, and these human errors may emanate from lack of knowledge or poor skills, they can be addressed with training and education. The human errors may also be a result of processes in the plant. These could be addressed by the reconfiguration of processes and educating people about those processes. Finally, the errors may be motivational, leading to poor focus in executing responsibilities. To address these types of errors, management may choose to implement both positive and negative incentives. Positive incentives will provide rewards to employees who meet error reduction targets that are established at the beginning of certain periods. Negative incentives may include penalties for exceeding pre-specified error thresholds. The Frito Lay system would benefit more from this research if the data had included human resource demographic data as well as economic information. It would have allowed the research to estimate the effect of errors on the economic performance of the different distribution centers and help determine the economically optimal level of errors at the different centers.