The implementation of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has expanded trade opportunities for U.S. agricultural producers. U.S. beef is a critical product affected by the legislation, and the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) invested in a new product promotion program to increase exports of U.S. beef to Guatemala. The consumer responsiveness and effectiveness of the U.S. branded beef promotion program are analyzed in this study. Demand responses to promotion activities that launched three new U.S. beef value cuts in Guatemala’s Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional (HRI) sector were estimated by applying the Parks Model of Generalized Least Squares regression to pooled, time-series and cross sectional data. Results show a negative relationship between own price and sales quantity, while the effect of advertising on quantity sold is positive. Demand for the U.S. beef value cuts increased as a result of the promotion, although the costs of the promotion program exceeded the additional revenue generated as a result of promotion activities.

The implementation of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has expanded trade opportunities for U.S. agricultural producers. U.S. beef is a critical product affected by the legislation, and the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) invested in a new product promotion program to increase exports of U.S. beef to Guatemala. The consumer responsiveness and effectiveness of the U.S. branded beef promotion program are analyzed in this study. Demand responses to promotion activities that launched three new U.S. beef value cuts in Guatemala’s Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional (HRI) sector were estimated by applying the Parks Model of Generalized Least Squares regression to pooled, time-series and cross sectional data. Results show a negative relationship between own price and sales quantity, while the effect of advertising on quantity sold is positive. Demand for the U.S. beef value cuts increased as a result of the promotion, although the costs of the promotion program exceeded the additional revenue generated as a result of promotion activities.

In September 1993, the United States Congress formally ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in conjunction with the legislatures of Canada and Mexico. NAFTA phases out tariff barriers between the United States, Canada, and Mexico over a period of several years. The primary purpose of this study is to provide an empirical tool for evaluating the effects of NAFTA on beef trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Trends were identified in U.S. beef exports and imports to Canada and Mexico over a period of several years. From the data on import/export quantities and prices, relevant elasticities were estimated for the the three trading partners using a partial adjustment modeling technique. Given the elasticities, relevant statistical tests were performed to determine the significance of price and quantity changes. This was done to determine whether changes in trading practices were consistent. Finally, policy recommendations were developed based on the assessment of NAFTA on U.S. beef trade. An overall direction of trade among the three countries was determined. Policies and implications based on economic theory were developed.

The objectives of this study were to: l) determine the contribution of federal land grazing to beef production in Utah and the 11 western states, and 2) trace the impact of hypothetical incremental reductions in federal land grazing in the 11 western states on total beef supply and retail beef prices in the United States. The federal land animal units in the 11 western states were obtained from Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service records. The animal units were converted into the number of breeding cows and feeder calves totally dependent on federal land grazing, with the help of animal units per breeding cow. The animal units per breeding cow were calculated from a representative stock count chart of a typical 50 cow Utah ranch. The same chart provided percentage proportions of the number of calves and feeder calves. These feeder calves are the animals that originate and are totally dependent on federal lands. The minimum contribution of federal land grazing in the 11 western states to total beef supply in the United States ranges between dressed beef from feeder calves and cull cows on one end, and slaughter animals and cull cows on the other. The actual minimum contribution is somewhere to the middle of these extremes. The hypothetical incremental reductions in federal land grazing were calculated in terms of percentage reduction in the number of cows, calves and feeder calves, and the resultant decreases in beef tonnage on the lower and upper limits of minimum contribution of these lands to total beef supply in the United States. These reductions in beef supply were compared to total United States' beef supply and reductions in total beef supply were estimated in percentage. To estimate the economic and other impacts on individual ranchers, local communities and regional economy, the feed grain in corn equivalents and forage production were compared to livestock and poultry requirements in the 11 western states. It appears that Utah is deficient both in feed grain and roughage production as compared to requirements. The 11 western states as a group were surplus in 1974 in both feed grain and roughage production as compared to livestock and poultry requirements. The contribution of federal lands in roughage production was also estimated. The importance of federal rangelands' contribution, in my study is only 25 percent of total roughage production in the 11 western states and is discussed in the light of other benefits that would be lost if grazing were eliminated from federal lands. Lastly, the impact of reduction in federal grazing in the 11 western states on retail beef prices was estimated by using the concept of price elasticity of demand. It was concluded that an increasingly higher percentage increase in retail prices would occur for given percentage decreases in beef supply (by way of hypothetical incremental reduction in federal land grazing) for increasingly inelastic coefficients of elasticity.

This dissertation includes three essays on U.S. beef market. Each essay has looked at this market from a different point of view. The first essay investigates the price adjustment along the different levels of this market. The second essay discusses the impact of food safety incidents on export levels in this market. The third essay considers the environmental loading of U.S. beef market. A summary of each article is as follows. The first essay (chapter 2) analyzes price adjustment of the U.S. beef sector with a focus on the Great Recession. To this purpose, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and historical decomposition graphs are applied to monthly data. The results indicate that retail prices have lower speeds of adjustment than wholesale prices. Also, the magnitude of price adjustment in the presence of the Great Recession, as an exogenous shock, is different for each level of the U.S. beef market. It is concluded that, with respect to both the speed and magnitude of the price adjustment, the U.S. beef sector has an asymmetric price adjustment, pointing to the inefficiency of the U.S. beef supply chain. These results have welfare implications for U.S. beef consumers and producers. The primary objective of the second essay (chapter 3) is to quantify the impact of consumer awareness about beef safety on U.S. beef exports. To do that, an index is used to reflect consumer’s awareness about beef safety based on the publicized reports in the media. Quarterly panel data is applied to the top importing countries, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Canada for the period 2000-2016. Applying the gravity model, results show that a 0.8% reduction in U.S. beef exports arose from the foodborne-disease news. In addition, using impulse response functions derived from panel vector autoregressive (Panel VAR) estimation, results show that the negative impact of a shock in food safety news intensified after three quarters, and then diminished slowly over time. In order to regain consumers’ confidence and to compensate for the economic loss arising from a foodborne outbreak, bilateral cooperation among trade partners seems necessary. Investing in any scheme that minimizes the impact of food safety events, such as disease eradication programs, traceability systems, quality labeling, and third-party certification that conveys the safety message to consumers is suggested. The third essay (chapter 4) has two purposes. First, it quantifies the environmental loading of U.S. beef sector by calculating emission levels over the period 1970-2014. Beef cattle is one of the most emission-intensive sectors, which is responsible for 35% to 54% of total GHGs from livestock. Following International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guideline, this study identifies three sources of emissions, including enteric fermentation, manure management, and manure left on pastures. Second, it provides an understanding of consumption-environmental connection related to the beef industry using time series techniques. Finally, it is suggested that providing information to the public regarding livestock and climate change relationship would be beneficial. This knowledge might help to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change in the future.