Land use changes and timberland use by ownership and forest type in Alabama and Georgia between 1972 and 2000 are analyzed using a modified multinomial logit approach. Low average land quality, federal cost-share incentives, and favorable returns to forestry relative to agriculture were the main factors associated with timberland increase. Higher forestry returns helped increase industrial timberland but not nonindustrial private forests. An increase in hardwood forests at the expense of softwood and mixed forests was driven by increasing hardwood returns. Increasing softwood returns and tree planting assistance programs alleviated declines in softwood forests. Because factors influencing timberland use changes differ by ownership and forest type, treating all timberland as one major category may lead to incorrect predictions.

Produced as a joint product, economic theory suggests that manure value could influence livestock management decisions such as herd size and optimal market weights. This study examines the concept of manure value and its connection with optimal replacement age or market weight. A model of a swine finishing operation representative of North Carolina conditions is developed. Over the range of conditions considered, manure value is negative and does not affect market weights. The marginal per head change in manure value is small relative to the marginal per head change in net returns from pork production. Further, economies of scale with respect to irrigation cause manure value to increase with herd size.

As farm income from tobacco production has declined in recent years, there has been increasing interest in identifying alternative sources of income for tobacco farmers in the southern United States The recent termination of the tobacco quota program has accelerated the exit of tobacco farmers and has heightened concern regarding the availability of substitutes for tobacco production. In this study, we examine factors influencing tobacco farmers' attempts to identify profitable alternatives to tobacco, their off-farm employment behavior, and changes in acres of tobacco cultivated using survey data collected from a panel of North Carolina tobacco farmers combined with market data.

The Law of One Price (LOP) is important to models of international trade and exchange rate determination. This study investigates a variant of the LOP applied to developed and developing countries. The competing hypotheses are (1) that one price prevails in both developed and developing countries and (2) that one price prevails in developed countries and another single price in developing countries. Using data from an internationally competitive commodity (soybean meal), we found evidence favors the first hypothesis, although two large developing countries under study are active participants in regional trade integration, which may bias them against the first hypothesis.

This study investigates consumer preferences for a marketing system that improves integration of farmers into a local food system. Attribute-based methods are used to estimate consumer willingness to pay for a locally grown product that is bundled with a local food bank (LFB) donation. Estimates reveal that, on average, households are willing to pay 11% more for locally grown relative to nonlocal agricultural products. When the locally grown product attribute is combined with a donation to support a LFB, the premium nearly doubles. Results suggest that the proposed system could provide resources to strengthen local food distribution networks.

Field experiment data were used to study the effect of numeric calorie labels in two full-service restaurants. Ultimately, both field experiments, despite using different experimental designs, reached the same conclusion: the numeric calorie label had no significant effect on total caloric intake. However, results revealed the addition of a traffic light symbol to the numeric label led to a 67.8-kcal reduction in average calories ordered. Furthermore, results showed restaurant revenue is unlikely to be affected by the addition of calorie labels on menus. The results have implications for restaurant labeling laws that are being considered around the world.

This study estimates the effects of an urban growth boundary (UGB) on land development decisions in Knox County, TN, using a heteroscedastic probit model. With combined effects of increased land development within the city boundary and decreased development within the UGB and the neighboring town of Farragut after the implementation of UGB, the UGB of Knox County has been successful in urban revitalization within the city boundary and discouraging urban sprawl. These UGB impacts may be related to the city government having the right to annex land parcels within the UGB without consent of land owners.

This paper examines the relationship between industrialized production in the pork and broiler industries and the natural environment. Historical perspectives are presented regarding the movement toward increasingly concentrated and coordinated pork and broiler production units in the South. The relationships between animal by-product management and environmental quality, both at the farm level and within a geographic region, are addressed. Using the North Carolina pork industry as a background, current regulations and potential policy implications to protect environmental quality are discussed.

In this paper, a conceptual model for estimating option price for groundwater quality protection is developed, and the effects of subjective demand and supply uncertainty and other variables on option price are examined. A contingent valuation study to measure option price for groundwater quality protection was conducted in southwestern Georgia. Valuation results suggest that the monetary benefits to citizens of protecting groundwater supplies from agricultural chemical contamination are quite large.

We determined the profitability and risk for spring- and fall-calving beef cows in Tennessee. Simulation models were developed using 19 years of data and considered the seasonality of cattle prices and feed prices for least-cost feed rations to find a distribution of net returns for spring- and fall-calving seasons for two weaning months. Fall calving was more profitable than the spring calving for all feed rations and weaning months. Fall calving was also risk preferred over spring calving for all levels of risk aversion. Higher calf prices at weaning were the primary factor influencing the risk efficiency of fall calving.

The impacts of economic and demographic variables on the demand for food grain commodities in urban Jiangsu province of China are estimated, using both the QUAIDS and the AIDS models. Results show that the demands for wheat flour and coarse grains are price-elastic while the demands for rice and grain products are price-inelastic. Certain demographic variables show as having a significant impact on food grain demand. Finally, a decomposition of causes of changes in rice consumption over the period of 1995-2007 is performed.

The recent emphasis in farm management research has centered on issues of financial management and firm growth. Consequently, a number of studies have identified and evaluated alternative production, financial and marketing strategies that result in growth or expansion of the farm firm. These studies have explicitly or implicitly assumed that the firm is a viable economic unit and the ownership structure will not change during the growth process. Thus, the life cycle of the firm has been severed from the typical life cycle of the enterpreneur, and the financial, economic and human problems of entry and exit of farm entrepreneurs into and out of the agricultural production sector have not been confronted. The following discussion will briefly review the characteristics of the life cycle of the family firm and indicate why entry-exit problems are particularly acute in the agricultural production sector. Then, specific micro and macro issues that merit empirical investigation, including the firm and industry implications of coordination (or the lack thereof) of the entry and exit processes, will be identified and discussed.

This study investigates the long-term adjustments to drought by crop and livestock sectors using a dynamic partial equilibrium quarterly model of the U.S. agricultural economy. Results show that short-term drought effects including increases in crop and forage prices are in tandem with decreased live cattle prices resulting from drought-induced beef cattle herd liquidation. Crop price increases in the long run cause livestock inventory reductions, leading to fewer animals moving through the U.S. meat supply chain and increased livestock prices. Longer-term market adjustments cause a significant decrease in consumer surplus, and prolonged drought amplifies and extends the model-predicted results.

A microcomputer program to perform Generalized Stochastic Dominance (GSD), Quasi-Second Degree Dominance (SSD), and Quasi-First Degree Stochastic Dominance (FSD) is described. The program is designed to run on IBM-compatible personal computers with a Hercules or CGA graphics adapter. It is menu-driven and has options for GSD, quasi-FSD, quasi-SSD, graphics, and calculations of premiums associated with use of dominant distributions.

If adoption of herbicide-resistant seed and adoption of conservation-tillage practices are determined simultaneously, adoption of herbicide-resistant seed could indirectly reduce soil erosion and adoption of conservation-tillage practices could indirectly reduce residual herbicide use and increase farm profits. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between these two technologies for Tennessee cotton production. Evidence from Bayes' theorem and a two-equation logit model suggested a simultaneous relationship. Mean elasticities for acres in herbicide-resistant seed with respect to the probability of adopting conservation-tillage practices and acres in conservation-tillage practices with respect to the probability of adopting herbicide-resistant seed were 1.74 and 0.24, respectively.

This paper develops a simultaneous-equations panel data econometric model to obtain point estimates of market power and pricing conduct in a representative product-differentiated, oligopolistic food market. The importance of this class of markets is recognized given its prevalence in the food and fiber system, especially for final consumer food products. The $1.3 billion domestic spaghetti sauce industry is featured. Although the results indicate firms exert limited market power, a portion of this power is derived from tacit price collusion. A higher degree of price collusion was found among brands within a market segment than between segments.

A “pricing to market” international trade model is applied to U.S. and Thai rice exports to high and middle income countries that are continuous rice importers. These markets are characterized by strong quality preferences and highly inelastic demand, and thus exporters may exercise market power. Evidence of noncompetitive pricing either through price discrimination across destinations or through imperfect exchange rate pass-through is found in this small but growing segment of the international rice trade.

While a substantial amount of research has been devoted to showing what social capital does, research explaining social capital itself lags behind. The literature has a long tradition of examining the effect of social capital on local economic growth and development. In this paper we examine whether local economic development can explain the variation in social capital across various geographical clusters in the state of Georgia. We begin by devising a measurement tool, a Human Development Index (HDI), to measure community development. Our social capital measure includes associational memberships, voluntary activities, and philanthropy obtained from the Georgia Social Capital Survey. The findings show that even after accounting for various demographic and economic characteristics, the HDI explains the variation in a number of social capital levels (especially those measured by associational involvement) across various geographical clusters in the state of Georgia.

This study examines the various factors affecting household expenditures on fresh and processed fruit and vegetables in the U.S. using the 1992 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Empirical results suggest that higher income, better educated, larger, and older households spend more on fresh and processed fruit and vegetables than do other households. Seasonal and regional variations are also evident.

To capitalize on potential opportunities presented by growing consumerdemand for locally grown foods, farmers need insight into significantmotivations and behavioral characteristics of consumers in their region.This article aims to evaluate the characteristics of southeastern urbanconsumers who purchased food directly from producers. Novel study findingsinclude the impact of disease incidences that occurred in respondent andrelated family members, a more accurate understanding of U.S. agriculture,relatively higher levels of concern about U.S. food safety, and greaterphysical activity levels, which are significant motivators of increasedlikelihood to purchase direct from producers.