Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / Farmer-to-consumer direct marketing institutions have expanded significantly in the last decades. In particular, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has developed exponentially in the US and in Europe. CSAs consist of a contract in which the consumer buys a share of the farm production at the beginning of the season and receive in exchange a bundle of products regularly. CSAs still account for a marginal share of food sales today and many questions remain unanswered, such as the level of knowledge of the general public about CSA, the potential size of the market, its consumer characteristics, and the main motivations and barriers that lead consumers to either join or not join CSAs. This study focused on addressing these questions for the Kansas City area and the central region in France. Another objective was to give recommendations to farmers on how to develop CSAs. Two versions of the surveys were designed and conducted in the US and in France to address the objectives. Particularly, two types of questions were used in order to elicit willingness to pay (WTP): an open-ended question and a choice experiment. A Tobit model and discrete choice models were run to analyze results from the open-ended question and the choice experiment, respectively. Results show that around 80 percent of the population knew little about CSAs. The understanding of the demand for CSAs shows that a potential market, accounting for around 25 percent of the population, exists, but consumers are very exigent and farmers need to provide well-considered contracts to attract consumers. Recommendations to farmers are presented following the 4P method. For the Product, the variety offered seems to be the most important point. For Price, it has been estimated from the demand at $300 in the US and €400 in France for a basic share. Promotion would need to focus on education. Having various delivery locations would be the best option concerning Place; home delivery was found to be unnecessary. Tendencies found in the US and in France were similar except for educational activities: the French are looking more for these opportunities than Americans who care more about convenience.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael Langemeier / The objectives of this thesis are to examine the labor requirements of Kansas crop and livestock enterprises and farms and the connection between labor efficiency and productivity, and other important farm characteristics including farm size and type. The derived labor requirements are compared to current KFMA labor requirements. Enterprise summary reports and a five year whole-farm panel data set from 1,016 Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) farms are used in the analysis. Whole-farm labor requirements are computed with and without an adjustment for managerial and overhead cost. Individual regressions will be estimated to determine the effects that farm size, type, region and profit margin have on labor requirements. The estimation results suggest that many of the current labor requirements still in use are accurate. However, there are enterprises with labor requirements that need updating. When the newly estimated requirements are compared to the previous KFMA requirements, 14 enterprises have lower labor requirements. Irrigated alfalfa showed the greatest decrease in labor required when compared to the previous standard, decreasing from 3.85 hrs/acre to 1.70 hrs/acre. Regression estimation results indicated that whole farm labor standards that were corrected for un-allocated overhead and managerial costs appear to be a more accurate representation of farm labor requirements.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Timothy J. Dalton / Millet and sorghum are major crops in Niger, West Africa. Improving the productivity of millet and sorghum is important to fight against poverty and malnutrition in this country. This study contributes to this objective by conducting efficiency level of millet, sorghum farmers, and the factors that influence efficiency. To reach this goal I applied a stochastic parametric frontier analysis using a cross-sectional data set collected by The Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) in 2011. I obtained 216 observations of plots that plant millet and 364 observations of plots that plant sorghum from 2011 to 2012 over the country. I employed Cobb–Douglas and Translog functional forms along with the half normal error distribution to estimate the production frontier. I also conducted a statistical test to choose the most appropriate functional form that fits the data for different crops. It was found that the mean technical efficiency of millet farmers is 38.44 percentage and sorghum farmers is 58.22 percentage. Lastly, I analyzed the correlates of technical inefficiency, I employed two-step approach. I found that the inefficiency of farmers is related to managerial factors such as education level or farming method.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael Langemeier / This thesis had two objectives. One objective was to compare one northeast Kansas farm's financial performance from 2002 through 2011 to various groups of farms participating in the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) during the same period. The second objective was to compare the crop acreage growth trends of the same northeast Kansas farm from 2002 through 2011 to the same groups of farms participating in the KFMA. In this thesis the northeast Kansas farm was referred to as ABC Farm. The purpose of this thesis was to provide ABC Farm's owners and management with information that could be used to formulate long-term goals for ABC Farm and to help identify strategies for achieving those goals. ABC Farm's 10-year financial performance was compared to six different KFMA member groups using 12 different financial measures or ratios. The KFMA groups included all NE region farms, NE region farms in the highest value of farm production (VFP) category, STATE irrigated crop farms, NE region farms in the highest net farm income quartile, NE region farms in the highest crop acreage category, and NE region farms in the lowest adjusted total expense ratio quartile. The 12 financial measures or ratios included VFP, net farm income, adjusted total expense ratio, operating profit margin ratio, asset turnover ratio, percent return on assets, VFP per worker, total crop acres farmed, crop machinery investment per crop acre, crop machinery cost per crop acre, current ratio, and debt to asset ratio. ABC Farm's 10-year average financial performance was better than the 10-year average of any KFMA group for most financial measures. ABC Farm's VFP, net farm income, operating profit margin ratio, VFP per worker, total crop acres, and current ratio were all higher than any KFMA group. ABC Farm's adjusted total expense ratio, crop machinery cost per crop acre, and debt to asset ratio were also lower than those of the various KFMA groups compared to. ABC Farm did not compare favorably to other KFMA groups for some of the financial measures. ABC Farm's average crop machinery investment per crop acre was higher than every group. ABC Farm's average asset turnover ratio was lower than every group. ABC Farm's average return on assets was lower than all but one group, all NE region farms.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Andrew P. Barkley / The objective of this thesis is to determine the factors that impact the location of organic food production and organic food consumption. The models used test to see if organic foods are consumed where they are produced, the characteristics of consumers which influence their organic consumption, and if organic production is located in the same areas as conventional production. The results of this study showed that organic production is not dependent on conventional production. Education was found to be positively correlated to organic production and consumption while income actually had an opposite effect. Organic production and consumption were also linked to the political liberalness of a state. It was found that urban populations had a negative impact on organic production and Whole Foods stores had a positive effect.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / John A. Fox / We designed a mail survey to investigate consumer choices between whole-grain and regular grain products. Consumption of whole-grain foods has been linked to numerous health benefits including reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The prevalence of obesity has increased in recent decades and has been shown to be negatively correlated with education levels and income. Data from the survey are used to investigate correlations between the likelihood of choosing whole-grain alternatives and various demographic and behavioral characteristics including an individual's Body Mass Index (BMI). We also investigate the impact on consumer choices of providing information about the health benefits of whole-grain foods. Results indicate that education level and the use of food labels are both positively correlated with the likelihood of choosing whole-grain foods. Provision of information about health benefits also had a positive impact on the likelihood of choosing a whole-grain over a conventional grain product, but given a low sample size in this study the effect was not statistically significant. Choices were found to be largely insensitive to changes in relative prices, and no correlation was found between BMI and the likelihood of choosing a whole-grain product.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted C. Schroeder / Risk is an inevitable part of agricultural production and all producers face various forms of risk. Output price has been shown to be the major contributor to the risk in cattle feeding, yet few choose to manage this risk. This study used subjective price expectations and price distributions of survey participants to determine how producer's expectations compare with that of the market. In addition, demographic information gathered from survey participants allowed for further examination as to how these factors effect price outlook and variability. Data used for this study were gathered through survey responses from Kansas State University Extension meeting and workshop participants and other meetings targeted to livestock producers. First, data were aggregated and analyzed at a group level. Only two of the twelve price forecast were significantly lower than the futures settlement price. On the other hand, all but one of the aggregated group volatility expectations was different. Typically nearby contract price risk expectation was underestimated and distant contract price risk expectation was overestimated. Individual respondent's discreet stated price and price distribution information was fitted to a continuous distribution and an implied mean and standard deviation were determined. These were compared to market price and price risk data. Respondent's expectation of price was significantly lower than the market for distant months for five of the six groups. Individual volatilities resulting from each fitted distribution were significantly lower from the volatility measure resulting from Black's model. Demographic data were estimated to show the impact of this information on overall error of price forecast and price risk expectations. Those living outside the Northeast and Northern Plains tended to have larger error in their expectation of price volatility. Larger backgrounding operations reported lower price variance error and selling more fed cattle each year increased price risk expectation error. Lastly, prior use of risk management tools for the most part did not have an impact on error in either price expectation or price volatility expectation.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jeffery R. Williams / Economically optimized ration formulations were used to test whether California dairy producers who implemented price risk management strategies on both the input and output sides achieved significantly higher net returns as measured by milk income minus feed costs compared to producers who bought feed and sold milk on the spot market. Two ration formulation models were developed, a least cost and a profit-maximization. The least cost method formulates a ration that meets the nutritional requirements of a lactating cow at the lowest possible cost for a given level of milk production. The profit maximization model incorporates into its algorithm a production function between net energy intake and milk production that increases at a decreasing rate. For today's high producing cows, after being supplied with enough energy to meet maintenance requirements, all additional energy is partitioned for milk production. Up to a certain point, depending on the price of milk and the price of feed, the cost of providing additional feed units is more than offset by the revenues derived by the extra milk produced from the larger quantities of feed consumed. The profit-maximization model used formulates a ration using both feed and milk prices where the cost of the last unit of feed provided is equal to the revenues of the last unit of milk produced. To compare returns, a ration program was designed that could either use spot or forward values for feed costs and milk price to economically optimize the ration on a weekly basis in the cow’s milk production cycle. To better gauge the impact of price volatility on both the input and output sides and to account for the extended nature of the forward contracts, the 305-day lactation cycle of a high producing cow over six successive cycles was used. The federal order Class III milk price was used for milk values and it was assumed that unless the producer engaged in some sort of forward contract, the milk price received was the monthly Class III value. To account for forward sales, the Class III futures contract traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was used. For the feed prices, the ration model had a library of 16 different ingredients, 11 of which had forward and spot values. Similar to the output side, it was assumed that unless the producer engaged in some sort of forward contract the feed price used was the spot value averaged for each month. Most California dairy operators use some version of the least-cost method when formulating their rations. A large number also forward contract a significant portion of their feed as the concept of forward contracting feed is much more common in the western U.S. as compared to other regions in the country. Conversely, there has been little interest in locking in future milk prices as the tools for forward contracting are relatively new and many producers are not familiar with the mechanics. This helps explain the limited use of the profit-maximization model since milk prices are an integral part of this process. Results of this study show that producers who formulate using the profit-maximization model attain higher milk production and derive higher milk revenues, albeit with higher feed costs. Nonetheless, across every situation, that is whether one forward contracts feed, milk, or some combination thereof the profit-maximization model returned anywhere from $0.14 to $0.19 of milk revenues in excess of feed costs per hundredweight of milk as opposed to the least-cost method. For a producer milking 1,000 cows this represents another $50,000 to $70,000 of income per year. The results also show that whether least-cost or the profit-maximization method is employed, feed costs were lower when producers forward contract at least a portion of their needs. Milk prices, on the other hand, were lower relying on the spot market as opposed to either of the two forward milk contracting models that were developed. Finally, the variability of returns as measured by the coefficient of variability show less volatility in revenues when producers forward contract milk and less variability with input costs when producers forward contract feed.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / The number of farmer suicides has been high in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Punjab since 2000. Farmers‟ suicide in India is reported to be due to the burden of debt. While it makes some sense to attribute farmer suicides in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh to indebtedness in view of the widespread poverty, it is more difficult to consider in the context of the Punjab which is known for its prosperity. Others have found that the prime cause for farmer suicides is indebtedness. The purpose of this research focuses on identifying and quantifying the reasons for farmers‟ indebtedness compared to non-indebted farmers in the same region. This was achieved by documenting the socio-economic profile of the farmers; studying the extent of indebtedness and pattern of capital use by farmers, and evaluating the farm business performance. Results obtained for the socio-economic profile of the farmer indicated that age, education, family size and landholding had a significant effect on the probability of a farmer being indebted. Family size had the largest effect on the probability of indebtness. A study on the extent of indebtedness and pattern of capital use showed that farmers depend on non-institutional loans for meeting their financial needs and some loans are used for non-agricultural purposes. Farm business performance of the sample respondents showed that they had a negative balance on farm business performance. Some of the methods to improve the situation would to improve and expand free and compulsory primary education, thereby reducing the debt incurred on education; diversifying towards high value/more remunerative crops, reviewing the system of subsidization of agricultural inputs, and expanding institutional sectors for providing loans at reasonable interest rates.

<p> The identification of factors contributing to the farmers' non-retention of subsidy dollars is key in identifying the impact of the subsidy within and across the sector. Relaxing the assumption of perfect competition, amongst input suppliers, allows for an analysis of two upstream of complementary goods. Because it is the case that the farmers are price takers for some inputs (seed) and may negotiate over the price of others (land), I assume the upstream input providers are more akin to Bertrand competition. General findings, from the theoretical and experimental results, indicate upstream market power as having a significant impact on the economic subsidy incidence; and the complementary between the famer's inputs is the main driving force of the results.</p>