Diss.--Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Hohenheim, Stuttgart. / Bibliography: p. 135-139.

"Thesis." / Caption title.

Thesis (M.A.)--Taiwan sheng li zhong xing da xue si li Zhongge di zheng yan jiu suo. / Cover title. Mimeo, copy. Includes bibliographical references.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / Alexander E. Saak / Notable changes are occurring in the U.S. organic food sector. First, the U.S. organic food system is increasingly relying on imports, because the expansion in the organic production has failed to satisfactorily meet the rapidly growing demand for organic foods. Second, the “locally grown” concept has become appealing to consumers, with some evidence of consumers switching from certified organic foods to local, conventional foods. Third, organic food has penetrated the mass-market channel, and organic foods are no longer being sold exclusively in natural product stores. And fourth, the social and environmental awareness among consumers is increasing. Thus, consumers are also willing to pay a price premium to support small farmers. To understand how these changes are affecting the demand for organic foods, this study used survey data to assess U.S. consumers‟ preferences for fresh organic apples that are sourced from various places and from supply chain operations that vary in scale. The survey was administered via the Internet to a random sample of 285 households across the U.S through a research company. Choice experiment was selected as the valuation method. Results indicate that among the levels of the location attributes, the “locally grown” label was associated with the highest average WTP. The “regionally grown” was the second most preferred, “U.S. grown” the third, and “imported” the least. The “locally grown” label was valued higher than the “certified organic label”. Also, consumers were willing to pay a higher value for apples produced on a small farm compared to those from a large farm. However, they did not distinguish the type of retail outlets where apples were offered. The analysis incorporating the effects of consumer characteristics suggest that the perceived importance of public benefits impacted the values of origin attributes more than the private ones; the type of retail outlet attributes became significant among certain gender and age segments; and the value of small farm attribute increased with consumers‟ income. Finally, results from a theoretical model suggest that the variability in the WTP obtained among the origin attributes could be explained by the reputation of product quality depending on their origin.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [194]-197).

Research object – the support measures for small farms. Research aim – to identify the support measures for small farms and to suggest their possible ways of improvement. Objectives: 1) To propose the criterions of size of farm and the conception of small farm at policy; 2) To explore the estimations of national economic and social support at economic literature; 3) To explore the national measures for small farms and to deduce the possibility of small farms to use them; 4) To explore the measures of Europe Union for small farms and to deduce the possibility of small farms to use them; 5) To identify the support measures for small farms; 6) To give suggestions for improvement of support measures for small farms. Research methods. To propose the mostly used criterions of size of farms, the conception of small farm at policy and the national economic and social support measures at economic literature were used the analysis and synthesis methods of scientific and juristically literature. To explore the measures of national and of Europe Union supports were used analysis and synthesis methods of juristically literature, programs. To identify the support measures for small farms and to give suggestions were used statistical, comparative analysis and graphic figure methods.