MIDWEST PORK PRODUCERS' CHARACTERISTICS AND PLANNED USE OF SOMATOTROPIN

Livestock Production/Industries,

MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION AT U.S. AGRIBUSINESSES: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CATTLE-BEEF SECTOR

Agribusinesses in the cattle-beef sector use information from both external sources and proprietary sources in the management decision making process. This research reports the results of personal interviews with employees at all levels of the beef market channel, covering the information resources that they value and the priority their firms place on information. Respondents used data on prices and cattle inventories collected by the public sector, data on retail grocery sales made available through private firms, and data and analysis from trade associations. Companies involved in meat packing and retail distribution use information technologies to automate delivery and billing for products and they are investing in improved systems. A barrier to a more efficient supply chain in beef is the incomplete implementation of retail scanner systems for fresh meat.Livestock Production/Industries,

Traceability -- A Literature Review

In light of recent food safety crises and international trade concerns associated with food or animal associated diseases, traceability has once again become important in the minds of public policymakers, business decision makers, consumers and special interest groups. This study reviews studies on traceability, government regulation and consumer behaviour, provide case studies of current traceability systems and a rough breakdown of various costs and benefits of traceability. This report aims to identify gaps that may currently exist in the literature on traceability in the domestic beef supply chain, as well as provide possible directions for future research into said issue. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, there is a lack of a common definition of traceability. Hence identifying similarities and differences across studies becomes difficult if not impossible. To this end, this study adopts CFIA’s definition of traceability. This definition has been adopted by numerous other agencies including the EU’s official definition of traceability however it may or may not be acceptable from the perspective of major Canadian beef and cattle trade partners. Second, the studies reviewed in this report address one or more of five key objectives; the impact of changing consumer behaviour on market participants, suppliers incentive to adopt or participate in traceability, impact of regulatory changes, supplier response to crisis and technical description of traceability systems. Drawing from the insights from the consumer studies, it seems as if consumers do not value traceability per se, traceability is a means for consumers to receive validation of another production or process attribute that they are interested in. Moreover, supply chain improvement, food safety control and accessing foreign market segments are strong incentives for primary producers and processors to participate in programs with traceability features. However the objectives addressed by the studies reviewed in this paper are not necessarily the objectives that are of most immediate relevance to decision makers about appropriate traceability standards to recommend, require, subsidize etc. In many cases the research objectives of previous work have been extremely narrow creating a body of literature that is incomplete in certain key areas. Third, case studies of existing traceability systems in Australia, the UK, Scotland, Brazil and Uruguay indicate that the pattern of development varies widely across sectors and regions. In summary, a traceability system by itself cannot provide value-added for all participants in the industry; it is merely a protocol for documenting and sharing information. Value is added to participants in the marketing chain through traceability in the form of reduced transactions costs in the case of a food safety incident and through the ability to shift liability. To ensure consumer benefit and have premiums returned to primary producers the type of information that consumers value is an important issue for future research. A successful program that peaks consumer interest and can enhance their eating experience can generate economic benefits to all sectors in the beef industry. International market access will increasingly require traceability in the marketing system in order to satisfy trade restrictions in the case of animal diseases and country of origin labelling, to name only a few examples. Designing appropriate traceability protocols industry wide is therefore becoming very important.traceability, institutions, Canada, consumer behaviour, producer behaviour, supply chain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Production Economics, D020, D100, D200, Q100,

Branding in the red meat sector - A conjoint study from Germany

During the last years, low price products (e.g., private label) gain increasing market shares in the German meat market. Compared to other countries the share of branded meat from integrated production chains is very low and most fresh meat is sold unlabelled. This study analyzes the advantages of brands from an information economic perspective and emphasizes branding as an important quality assurance and signaling tool. As brand exte nsions offer the opportunity to introduce brands to new markets at much lower costs we examine the brand transfer from the poultry to the red meat market taking Wiesenhof, the German brand leader for chicken and poultry, as an example. We use conjoint and cluster analysis to calculate willingness to pay and market shares for different consumer segments. The results demonstrate, that branded meat reaches almost two third of market share while the low priced private label always gets the lowest proportions of consumer preferences. Given the choice, customers do not always prefer the cheapest offer but trust in branded meat even more. This market potential is actually not used to advantage. The overall total market share of meat brands lies below 5%.Branding, quality signal, brand extension, meat market, Marketing,

Transcriptome analysis of porcine M. semimembranosus divergent in intramuscular fat as a consequence of dietary protein restriction

peer-reviewedBackground: Intramuscular fat (IMF) content is positively correlated with aspects of pork palatability, including flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability. The ratio of energy to protein in the finishing diet of growing pigs can impact on IMF content with consequences for pork quality. The objective of this study was to compare gene expression profiles of Musculus semimembranosus (SM) of animals divergent for IMF as a consequence of protein dietary restriction in an isocaloric diet. The animal model was derived through the imposition of low or high protein diets during the finisher stage in Duroc gilts. RNA was extracted from post mortem SM tissue, processed and hybridised to Affymetrix porcine GeneChip® arrays. Results: IMF content of SM muscle was increased on the low protein diet (3.60 ± 0.38% versus 1.92 ± 0.35%). Backfat depth was also greater in animals on the low protein diet, and average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were lower, but muscle depth, protein content and moisture content were not affected. A total of 542 annotated genes were differentially expressed (DE) between animals on low and high protein diets, with 351 down-regulated and 191 up-regulated on the low protein diet. Transcript differences were validated for a subset of DE genes by qPCR. Alterations in functions related to cell cycle, muscle growth, extracellular matrix organisation, collagen development, lipogenesis and lipolysis, were observed. Expression of adipokines including LEP, TNFα and HIF1α were increased and the hypoxic stress response was induced. Many of the identified transcriptomic responses have also been observed in genetic and fetal programming models of differential IMF accumulation, indicating they may be robust biological indicators of IMF content. Conclusion: An extensive perturbation of overall energy metabolism in muscle occurs in response to protein restriction. A low protein diet can modulate IMF content of the SM by altering gene pathways involved in lipid biosynthesis and degradation; however this nutritional challenge negatively impacts protein synthesis pathways, with potential consequences for growth.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland - Food Institutional Research Measur

ABSTRACTS: CONTRIBUTED PAPERS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Assessment of Ventilation Management Training Workshops

To achieve optimum swine performance, producer understanding of environmental control systems in mechanically or naturally ventilated facilities is extremely important. A ventilation workshop: “Managing Your Unseen Employee: The Ventilation System” was established. The primary objective of the training was to give swine producers and managers enough quality information so they could go back to their operations and properly assess their own ventilation systems and make appropriate adjustments as needed. The training workshops were established to be a multi-state and multi-disciplinary effort between South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota universities. Ag engineers and animal scientists from each state participated in developing the workshop materials and delivery of the program. Four basic needs emerged that would enhance program delivery. These needs included basic environmental factors and their effects on pigs, ventilation system design principles, trouble-shooting ventilation problems, and hands-on demonstrations of instrumentation and ventilation equipment. A 1.8 m by 2.4 m by 2.4 m mobile ventilation room was used for the hands-on training. The mobile ventilation room was equipped with two variable-speed, 30-centimeter fans and one 30-cm, single-speed fan; a four-stage controller; and three types of air inlets. From 2002 to 2007, over 1000 people producing over 20 million pigs participated in more than 60 workshops. The backgrounds of participants included managers, feed consultants, extension educators, and veterinarians. Key points gained by producers included proper ventilation settings, trouble-shooting techniques, temperature control, and the effects of static pressure on airflow

A Computerized Scheduling Model for Analyzing Cook Freeze Food Production Plans

Costs of food service system resources are steadily increasing, with labor being cited as the most costly resource. A management tool is needed in the food service industry toschedule production personnel and equipment to minimize forced delay time and decrease total labor costs. Material requirements planning was adapted to generate production data for two nine-day menu cycles in a hypothetical cook freeze production system. Data for the total production plan; master food product schedule, a record of specific entree requirements by time period; and bill of materials, consisting of a standardized formula, list of production activities, and an arrow-on-node flow diagram of the preparation process for each entree, were obtained from a hypothetical food production system serving 1,000 meals for noon and supper as defined by Beach (1974). Three categories of labor: cook, assistant cook, and food service worker, and eight major kinds of equipment were utilized to produce the 42 different entrees. Ten hours were available for scheduling necessary production activities. One seven-day and three five-day production plans, an original and two alternatives, were developed from the master production schedule, a summary of master food product schedules. The five-day production plan--Alternative 1 was used as a basis for a production system employing one labor category. The COST-ARREST program was used to generate daily production sheets for one week for each of the four production plans. Labor time requirements, forced delay time, and labor cost were analyzed for each of the production plans. Results showed that the five-day production plan--Alternative 2 minimized the day-to-day fluctuation in labor time requirements. Overtime was minimized when one labor category was utilized with four production cooks. Total forced delay time was less in the five-day production plans than in the seven-day production plan. The lowest percentage of forced delay time and lowest labor cost occurred when one labor category was employed with three production cooks. Comparison of total production duration time needed to complete work activities revealed that more time was required to prepare entree items in the seven-day production plan than in the five-day plans. Total daily labor demand varied by as much as 24 hours in the five-day production plan--Original. Flexibility in the scheduling of entree items within the week allowed a balancing of labor demand. Labor utilization was limited by job descriptions as supported by analysis of overtime, forced delay and labor cost. Implementation of a flexitime plan could decrease the amount of overtime if employees could adjust work schedules to handle fluctuating work loads. The sequencing of activities influenced production duration. Daily labor requirements increased in all production plans by approximately 40% to reflect forced delay time. Material requirements planning, coupled with the COST-ARREST technique, could provide food service managers with relevant, accurate, and timely data for a feasible and effective method of allocating and scheduling resources

European Information System for Organic Markets (EISFOM QLK5-2002-02400): WP 2: “Data collection and processing systems (DCPS) for the conventional markets” and WP 3: “Data collection and processing systems for organic markets” = Deliverable D2

European markets for organic products are developing fast. In Europe, as other parts of the world, more and more farm land is being converted to organic production. In order to adjust production and consumption levels, detailed market information is needed, especially where decisions with a long-term impact need to be taken, for example on converting specific land or livestock enterprises requiring high levels of investment in glasshouses, housing, processing facilities etc. Since public subsidies (regional / national / European) are heavily involved in these investments, valid, accurate and up-to-date information is essential not only for farmers and growers, but also for policy-makers, consultants, processing industry etc. EU-research projects such as OFCAP (FAIR3-CT96-1794) and OMIaRD (QLK5-2000-01124) have shown that regional or national data gathering takes place in many countries, but often only very basic data are reported, such as certified organic holdings, land areas and livestock numbers. Important market data, e.g. the amount of production, consumption, international trade or producer and consumer prices, do not exist in most European countries. In some European countries there are only rough estimates of the levels of production and consumption. There is no standardization and data are seldom comparable. Furthermore, detailed information on specific commodities is missing. Hence, investment decisions are taken under conditions of great uncertainty. Likewise, if politicians want to support organic agriculture, they do not know whether it would be better to support production or consumption or to address problems in the marketing channel. The EU concerted action EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) (European Information System for Organic Markets) is attempting to take the first steps in solving these problems. The aim of this concerted action is to build up a framework for reporting valid and reliable data for relevant production and market sectors of the European organic sector in order to meet the needs of policy-makers, farmers, processors, wholesalers and other actors involved in organic markets. In order to reach this aim, this action was split into several workpackages. This report describes the approach and results of workpackages 2 and 3. In this first chapter the objective and general approach of these work packages are described. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of international statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain at the public and the private level. Chapter 4 describes national statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain. In Chapter 5, an analysis and appraisal is made of the results with regard to organic data collection and processing systems (DCPSs) and their integration into existing common DCPSs. Chapter 6 draws several general conclusions. Two substantial annexes complete the report, one with the country reports on the situation of data collection and processing in all investigated countries and the other with the first and the second stage questionnaires covering the different data collection levels