This thesis is composed of two essays that investigate whole farm planning and crop marketing in western Kentucky. In the first essay, contracting decisions between food corn producers and a mill are analyzed to observe factors affecting the bushel amount farmers contract. Unbalanced panel data containing seven years’ worth of pricing and contract information are used with a fixed-effects model to generate parameter estimates and quantify their effect on bushels contracted. It was found that contract attributes, market condition, and relationship-specific assets had a significant effect on producers’ food corn contracting decisions. The second essay utilizes mixed-integer programming to optimize resource allocation and marketing strategy for a hypothetical farm. Post-optimal analysis is performed to determine non-binding capacities for drying and storage equipment. The model is re-run with these non-binding capacities to observe changes in net returns as well as planting, harvesting, and marketing strategies. New equipment and associated costs are identified, and the change in net returns from the base case is used as net cash flow in a net present value investment analysis. Results of the investment analysis indicate increasing drying and storage capacity is a wise investment given the scenario modeled.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissFCVL.pdf: 804823 bytes, checksum: 48e645ad54e3430addcbcd601ba1ef0c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001-12-20 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The present thesis investigated the role of coordination and management supply chain in face of identifies no-GM crops and the need to preserve the identity of grains. This change traverses the entire productive chain, from the seeds industry to the final consumer, ever more demanding in terms of issues related to food safety. A new arrangement in the system (Strictly Co-ordination) will be linked to the capacity of the various agents of the agroindustrial systems to coordinate and manage these relationships, mainly by means of the development of mechanisms of incentives and control, including efficient forms of identity preservation (IP), traceability and certification of the product throughout the chain. The latter will play a fundamental role in diminishing the information asymmetry between producers and consumers and valuated agri-food products. The theoretic framework utilized was Transaction Cost Economics, which allowed the foundation and systematization of the analysis, validated by case studies that involved situations of Identity Preservation in Brazil. Thus, four firms that work with non-GM soybeans and utilized segregation systems, incentives and monitoring of crops production were analyzed. It was verified that, indeed, the trend toward product segregation involves the need for adaptations and alteration in the predominating governance form. Identity preservation also involves increased costs, which permeate all phases of the productive chain. These costs are identifiable and have a strong relationship to the characteristics of the transactions and to the attributes of the product one wishes to segregate. The thesis also identified that incentive and monitoring strategies are fundamental for the success of the identity preserved (IP) system. The other relevant aspect was about reputation of the certificated entity. / O presente trabalho investigou o papel da coordenação e gerenciamento da cadeia de suprimentos em face à necessidade de identificação de não-GM e adoção de mecanismos de preservação de identidade para a exploração de oportunidades de mercado no sistema agroindustrial da soja. Devida à necessidade de garantir a credibilidade da informação, faz-se necessário gerenciar e controlar as relações entre diferentes agentes da cadeia produtiva, desde a indústria de sementes até o consumidor final. Para exercer tal controle, a adoção de um novo arranjo do sistema produtivo (SAGs estritamente coordenados), está vinculada à capacidade de coordenação da cadeia produtiva no desenvolvimento de mecanismos de incentivo e controle entre os elos da cadeia, incluindo a adoção de sistemas de preservação de identidade (PI), rastreabilidade e certificação ao longo da cadeia produtiva. O arcabouço teórico utilizado Economia de Custos de Transação (ECT) permitiu a fundamentação e sistematização da análise empírica, validada pela abordagem qualitativa de estudos de casos. Foram analisadas quatro empresas que exploram oportunidades comerciais advindas da soja não-GM e utilizam sistemas de identidade preservada, segregação de grãos, incentivos e monitoramento para a coordenação dos sistemas produtivos. Verificou-se que a exploração deste segmento de mercado implica adaptações de processo que alteram a forma de governança predominante no SAG genérico da soja, cuja adoção de sistemas de preservação de identidade (PI) corroboraram o pressuposto inicial da necessidade de um novo arranjo produtivo (SAGs estritamente coordenados). Além disso, foi constatado que a preservação de identidade também implica aumento nos custos, que permeiam todas as fases da cadeia produtiva. Esses custos são identificáveis e têm forte relação com as características das transações. Outro aspecto que se mostrou relevante diz respeito à reputação da entidade certificadora contratada para auditoria do processo produtivo.