Marginal Abatement Cost Curves for Latin American Dairy Production: A Costa Rica case study

This study utilises data collected from Costa Rican dairy farmers to conduct a cradle to farm gate Life Cycle Assessment and the first Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) for dairy production in Latin America. Ninety dairy farms across five farm typologies were assessed, reflecting Costa Rica's diverse agroclimatic zones and varying degrees of dairy/beef specialisation. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of specific mitigation measures depend on farm typology, but several promising technologies are identified that increase efficiency whilst substantially reducing emissions across most farms – in particular, measures that improve animal health and increase pasture quality. Pasture measures are synergistic with silvopastoral practises and are highly effective at emission mitigation, although relatively expensive. The replacement of lower quality by-product feeds with high quality concentrate feed is a cost-effective mitigation measure at farm level, but emission reductions could be negated by indirect land use change outside the scope of the MACC analyses. Achieving carbon neutrality at farm level is not likely to be possible for most farms, with the exception of extensive farm typologies. Not all measures are suitable in every context, and additional policy support will be needed to offset financial and technical challenges related to adoption. Results of this first tropical dairy MACC study are constrained by lack of high-resolution data, but they highlight the need for farm-typology-specific mitigation recommendations. Overall, there is a high potential for pasture improvement and silvopastoral measures to mitigate the globally significant contribution of Latin American livestock production to climate change.</p

U.S. Demand Analysis for Fresh Bell Pepper: A Seasonal and Dynamic IAIDS Approach

The bell pepper is nearly a US$2.5 billion industry, from which the U.S. producers have less than a 40% market share, and have been losing market share continuously since 1998. This dissertation provides valuable information that could be used by stakeholders and policy-makers to help the industry or in the eventuality of a trade dispute. Several LA/IAIDS[1] and NL/IAIDS models are fitted to monthly data to calculate the substitution possibilities between the local and the imported bell pepper. Results show that the U.S. and Mexican bell peppers have higher substitution possibilities than the U.S. and ROW[2] bell peppers. However, consumers in the United States substitute more easily the locally produced bell pepper with the imported one. The substitution possibilities between the U.S. and Mexico bell pepper increase during winter-spring when U.S. production of bell pepper is out of season, U.S. consumption is the highest, and most of U.S. production is green bell pepper. The magnitude of substitution between the U.S. and ROW bell peppers are greater during summer-fall. However, the ROW bell pepper has low substitution across all seasons. The U.S. green bell pepper has greater substitutability than the U.S. colored bell pepper. The substitution of local colored bell pepper by other sources is nearly zero. According to the scale flexibilities, the latter is perceived as a luxury. Furthermore, a novel approach is developed to evaluate the effect of consumption habits on the own- and cross-price flexibilities. Thus, the traditional NL-IAIDS model is augmented with own- and cross-consumption habits. Results showed that when specific consumption habits are factored in, the demand for bell pepper becomes more inflexible, and the substitution possibilities become larger than results from the static version and the dynamic model developed by Holt and Goodwin (1997). [1] LA=Linearly-approximate, NL=Non-linear, IAIDS=Inverse Almost Ideal Demand System [2] ROW=Bell pepper imported from the Rest of the Worl

Demand characterization for green and colored bell pepper: Does color affect the substitution possibilities between local and imported bell pepper?

A Linear Approximation of the Inverse AIDS model is used to characterize the demand for green and colored bell pepper sourced locally, and imported from Mexico and other countries. This study seeks to answer the questions: Are green and colored bell pepper substitute or complementary goods? If they are substitutes, how big is the degree of substitution? Does that degree of substitution changes as the source changes (i.e. Mexico vs the U.S.). Results indicate that green and colored fresh bell pepper are substitutes. And that the degree of substitution between sources depends on whether the bell pepper is green or colored. The U.S.’s green bell pepper has greater substitutability than the U.S.’s colored bell pepper. Also, the demand for green bell pepper is more inflexible/elastic than the colored bell pepper. An interesting finding is that, according to the scale flexibility, the U.S.’s colored bell pepper is perceived by costumers as a luxury, while Mexico’s colored bell pepper is perceived as a necessity. And the opposite for green bell pepper

Agricultural Production of Central America and the Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities

This article examines the importance and current state of the agricultural sector in Central America and the Caribbean (CAC). We discuss the region’s potential for growth and what is needed to achieve such potential. Finally, we analyze critical trends in CAC’s agricultural foreign trade and their implications

A Generalized Dynamic Inverse AIDS Model for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: An Application to the U.S. Bell Pepper Industry

A novel approach is developed to evaluate the effect of changes in consumption habits on the price flexibilities of fresh fruits and vegetables. Thus, the traditional Inverse AIDS model is augmented with own- and cross-consumption habits. Results of the dynamic AIDS models suggest that habit formation plays a vital role in the magnitude of the own- and cross-price flexibilities. The D-IAIDS model with unrestricted own- and cross-habit formation outperformed the static version and the dynamic model developed by Holt and Goodwin (1997). Similarly, it generated, generally, smaller (bigger) own (cross) price flexibilities than the static and H&G version. For the bell pepper industry, results indicate that the U.S. consumers substitute more easily the locally produced bell pepper with imported bell pepper than the other way around. The local bell pepper is nearly two times more substitutable by imports from the ROW than by imports from Mexico. Changes in the consumption habits of bell pepper, at the aggregated level, make the demand for bell pepper (own-price flexibilities) more inflexible/elastic. Likewise, an increase of bell pepper consumption habits, at the aggregate level, increase the substitution possibilities among sources. As hypothesized, changes on the own- and cross consumption habits affect the price flexibilities in different magnitude and direction, which means that some of the aggregated habit effects are zero because the specific habit effects canceled each other. The cross-price flexibilities are affected more by changes in the habits of buying the Mexican bell pepper than changes in the habits of buying bell pepper from other sources. For the own-price flexibilities, the greatest habit effects come from changes in own consumption habits