Investment and Income Responses to Marketing Channel Choice

Marketing,

Governance Issues in the Principal-Agent Framework: Producing Cellulosic Ethanol in Michigan

This article analyzes the incentives and compensation problems faced by cellulosic ethanol producer and logging firms and the consequent impact on the organization of the wood based cellulosic ethanol industry in the US. The success of this relationship is central to setting up the biofuel industry in Michigan and in the US at large. The theoretical results indicate that specification contract under the principal-agent framework is of limited utility due to’ metering’ problem when the principal contracts with multiple agents for the supply of feedstock.. Alternative arrangements including JVs have the potential to provide close to first best solutions.Principal-Agent, Cellulosic Ethanol, Michigan, Multiple agents, Asymmetric Information, Agribusiness, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D82, D86, L23, L24, Q42,

Special issue: Agri-food systems transformation: sustainability, resilience, and the role of technology

The agri-food systems around the world are faced with the challenges from unprecedented short-term shocks and long-term supply and demand shifts. The need for transformation towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems has thus risen to the centre of attention of agribusiness industry and policy decision makers. Technological innovations in the areas of supply chain management, environmental protection, and nutrition improvement have a potential of playing an important catalytic role in such systematic transformations. This special issue includes 11 research articles examining a range of strategic and technological solutions aimed at facilitating the resilience and sustainability of agri-food systems to shocks such as COVID-19, pest infestations, trade restrictions, shifting diets and consumer preferences, armed conflicts, and extreme weather events. The research findings and insights provide implications for a wide range of food and agribusiness stakeholders including managers and policy makers

The determinants of household-level well-being in Northern Ghana

Citation: Zereyesus, Y. A., Shanoyan, A., Ross, K. L., & Amanor-Boadu, V. (2016). The determinants of household-level well-being in Northern Ghana. Development Studies Research, 3(1), 1-10. doi:10.1080/21665095.2016.1229128Empirical analysis of the physical well-being at the household level was conducted for a sample of households in Northern Ghana using a Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes model. Physical well-being was indicated by the number of stunted children, number of wasted children, and number of underweight women. Results suggest that well-being at the household level is indeed represented by the latent variable and can be conceptualized in much the same way as the well-being of the individuals who constitute the household. Results show that the literacy of father and the number of dependents are associated with the largest shift in the underlying household’s physical well-being. Locale and the household assets were also significantly associated with the collective underlying latent variable. The variability in household physical well-being is explained more by the number of stunted children in the household than any of the other indicators of household well-being. © 2016 The Author(s)

Annual bioenergy crops for biofuels production: Farmers' contractual preferences for producing sweet sorghum

Dedicated annual sorghum crops, such as sweet sorghum or energy sorghum, may provide an option for farmers to supply cellulosic feedstocks for biofuel production and help the industry meet government mandates. Kansas farmers are poised to be major producers of sweet sorghum for biofuels due to favorable agro-ecological conditions. The purpose of this paper is to assess Kansas farmers' willingness to grow sweet sorghum under contract as a feedstock for biofuel production. The paper examines farmers' willingness-to-pay for contract attributes and the impact of socio-economic factors on their willingness-to-pay for these attributes. A stated choice survey was administered to Kansas farmers to assess their willingness to grow sweet sorghum for biofuels under various contracting scenarios. Results show that farmers may be willing to grow biomass for bioenergy under contract, but may have varying preferences for the importance of contract attributes such as net returns, contract length, insurance availability, government incentives, and potential for biorefinery harvest options based on socio-economic characteristics of growers

Examining the relationship between vertical coordination strategies and technical efficiency: Evidence from the Brazilian ethanol industry

The sugarcane industry in Brazil, one of the world's leading producers of ethanol and sugar, is undergoing significant changes driven by geographic expansion and technological innovations. These changes are forcing sugarcane producers and processors, to re-evaluate their vertical coordination and growth strategies. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between the vertical coordination strategies at the production-processing interface of the Brazilian ethanol supply chain and the technical efficiency of the mills. It utilizes data envelopment analysis and a Tobit censored model in combination with unique data on 204 mills that account for around half of Brazil's sugar and ethanol production. Results indicate that vertical integration and the location of the mill have a statistically significant impact on efficiency. The findings show that the technical efficiency is not the main driver of vertical integration implying that such decisions are primarily motivated by strategic considerations. The mills are likely to forgo gains in technical efficiency in exchange for improving their strategic position through vertical integration. These findings shed light on the underlying motivation for the observed level of vertical integration that accompanies the expansion of the Brazilian sugarcane industry. [EconLit citations: L22, Q12, Q16]

Big Data and Smallholder Farmers: Big Data Applications in the Agri-Food Supply Chain in Developing Countries

The potential of big data (BD) applications in agriculture is attracting a growing interest from food and agribusiness industry players, researchers, and policy makers. Possible gains in agricultural productivity and supply chain efficiency from BD-based solutions can help address the challenge of doubling the food supply by 2050. Most of the research in this area evolves around commercial agricultural production in developed countries with relatively limited attention to BD-based solutions focused on smallholder farms in developing countries. This paper provides an overview of the existing and emerging technologies that can potentially enhance the big data application in the agribusiness value chain in developing countries, and presents a discussion of four successful cases of big data applications targeting smallholder producers. This paper also highlights drivers and barriers for smallholder-oriented applications in the agri-food supply chain in developing countries and discusses related implications for policy makers, private industry, and NGOs

An Empirical Analysis of Pre-Determined Food Demand in Russia

The Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) model of Lewbel and Pendakur (2009) offers distinct advantages over its predecessor models, however it does not account for a widely observed phenomenon of pre-committed demand. This may lead to biased elasticity estimates when such pre-commitments are present. This study offers a methodological solution by deriving the generalized EASI (GEASI) model, which incorporates pre-committed quantities into the consumer demand structure. The empirical advantage of the GEASI model is illustrated through its application to the analysis of food demand structure in Russia based on novel provincial-level panel data on household food expenditures over 2007-2014. The results provide strong empirical evidence for the presence of pre-committed demand for key food commodities such as cereals, eggs, and fats/oils. Further comparative analysis highlights the significance of pre-commitment bias in the context of food demand in Russia and illustrates the effectiveness of the GEASI approach in addressing it. The findings extend the empirical literature on food demand in Russia by presenting estimated elasticities that account for potential pre-commitments as well as for unobserved provincial heterogeneity