Common Trend in WIC and Non WIC Breastfeeding Rate: A Cointegration Approach of Panel and Time Series Data

This thesis explores the trend of WIC (Women Infants and Children) and non WIC breastfeeding rates in U.S.A. WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Time and panel data series have been used for 50 states of U.S.A and D.C (District of Columbia) to analyze the common trend between the two breastfeeding rates (time series data for 35 years and panel data series for 28 years). To determine the common trend, I used residual based cointegration for time series and recently developed error correction based cointegration for panel data series. I also constructed error correction models for both data series to evaluate the speed of adjustments between the two breastfeeding rates. The results suggest the prevalence of a common trend and moreover an upward trend for WIC and non WIC breastfeeding rates which indicates that both breastfeeding rates are growing together over time. The speed of adjustments toward equilibrium is faster in the time series data compared to the panel series data

Competitividade das exportações brasileiras e colombianas de café

The objective of this study was to analyze the competitiveness of Brazilian exports in the world coffee market, from 2000 to 2018, in comparison to the third world producer and exporter, Colombia. The data were collected in the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), UN COMTRADE (United Nations Comtrade), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and WTO (World Trade Organization) sites. The methodology used was based on the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage Index (RSCA), Concentration Ratio (CR), and on the Regional Orientation Index (ROI). The results revealed that both Brazil and Colombia presented comparative advantages for coffee. In relation to CR, Brazil presented concentration and Colombia deconcentration of exports. The ROI indicated orientation of coffee exports from Brazil to Germany, Italy and the United States. Yet, the ROI of Colombia presented orientation from coffee exports to the United States, Germany and Japan. Keywords: Coffee. Competitiveness. Exports. International trade.O objetivo deste estudo foi o de analisar a competitividade das exportações brasileiras no mercado mundial do café, entre 2000 a 2018, em comparação ao terceiro produtor e exportador mundial, a Colômbia. Os dados foram coletados no site do USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), do UN COMTRADE (United Nations Comtrade), da FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) e da WTO (World Trade Organization). A metodologia empregada baseou-se no Índice de Vantagem Comparativa Revelada Simétrica (VCRS), na Razão de Concentração (CR), e no Índice de Orientação Regional (IOR). Os resultados revelaram que tanto o Brasil quanto a Colômbia apresentaram vantagens comparativas para o café. Em relação à CR, o Brasil apresentou concentração e a Colômbia, desconcentração das exportações. O IOR indicou orientação das exportações de café do Brasil à Alemanha, à Itália, e aos Estados Unidos. Já o IOR da Colômbia apresentou orientação das exportações de café aos Estados Unidos, à Alemanha e ao Japão. Palavras-Chave: Café. Competitividade. Exportações. Comércio Internacional

Optimisation and investment analysis of two biomass-to-heat supply chain structures

As oil prices have risen dramatically lately, many people explore alternative ways of heating their residences and businesses in order to reduce the respective cost. One of the options usually considered nowadays is biomass, especially in rural areas with significant local biomass availability. This work focuses on comparing two different biomass energy exploitation systems, aiming to provide heat to a specific number of customers at a specific cost. The first system explored is producing pellets from biomass and distributing them to the final customers for use in domestic pellet boilers. The second option is building a centralised co-generation (CHP) unit that will generate electricity and heat. Electricity will be fed to the grid, whereas heat will be distributed to the customers via a district heating network. The biomass source examined is agricultural residues and the model is applied to a case study region in Greece. The analysis is performed from the viewpoint of the potential investor. Several design characteristics of both systems are optimised. In both cases the whole biomass-to-energy supply chain is modelled, both upstream and downstream of the pelleting/CHP units. The results of the case study show that both options have positive financial yield, with the pelleting plant having higher yield. However, the sensitivity analysis reveals that the pelleting plant yield is much more sensitive than that of the CHP plant, therefore constituting a riskier investment. The model presented may be used as a decision support system for potential investors willing to engage in the biomass energy field

Identification of Niche Market for Hanwoo Beef: Understanding Korean Consumer Preference for Beef using Market Segment Analysis

Korean Hanwoo beef producers are interested in improving the image of Hanwoo beef for Korean consumers, as the Korean beef market is becoming increasingly open to international competition. This study examines the consumer profile and positioning for the Hanwoo beef product in South Korea. A survey of 480 consumers is conducted to analyze preferences for 33 attributes of beef purchasing decisions. Factor analysis was used to determine factors that are important in beef purchasing decisions, and cluster analysis was used to identify a niche market for branded Hanwoo beef. Factor analysis results indicated that effective labeling and quality assurance of Hanwoo products, the meat quality, price and branding are important to the positioning and marketing of the Hanwoo beef product. Consumers with medium to high income, married and aged between 30 to 39 years, and those that appreciate Hanwoo quality but do not trust the current labeling system are most likely to purchase branded Hanwoo beef and represent a potential niche market, according to cluster analysis results.Beef branding, Market segment analysis, Korean beef market, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing,

Microchip electrophoretic analysis of Phaseolin patterns and Its comparison with currently used SDS-PAGE techniques

The goal of this work was to compare reproducibility of phaseolin patterns of common bean obtained by two electrophoretic protein separation techniques including the conventional SDS-PAGE and an automated chip electrophoresis system. Five standard cultivars of common bean provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (Beltsville, Maryland) that represented five phaseolin types, T (Tendergreen), C (Contender) and S (Sanilac), B (Boyaca) and P (Pampa), were used in this study. Comparison of the phaseolin patterns revealed that the chip-on-a-lab electrophoresis provided a good reproducibility. The phaseolin polymorphism included four to seven polypeptides typical for the pattern composition of the T, C and S types. The polymorphism of the B and P patterns was also established. Phaseolin polypeptides separated by the microchip electrophoresis exhibited differences with respect to the molecular weights and electrophoretic mobility as compared to the SDS-PAGE technique. This phenomenon could be attributed to the absence of a solid separation phase in the microchip electrophoresis. Moreover, this technique has potential to substantially accelerate screening of large bean germplasm collections since it allows for the accurate analysis of the higher number of individual plants within accessions than the conventional, tedious and time consuming SDS-PAGE method.At the USDA-United States Department of Agriculture for ceding species Phaseolus vulgaris L. standards used in this studyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Impacts of Water Management Policies on Agricultural Production in Australia - An Economic Analysis

In the Australian Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) the combination of severe and prolonged droughts and historic water management decisions to divert water for cultivation stressed water resources in such an intensive manner that wetlands went dry and rivers are now far from a natural flow. More appropriate water management policies must be implemented to restore ecological function. However, with 39 % of Australia’s total value of agricultural production, transitions in use need to be managed to minimise economic and social impacts on basin communities while they adjust. Recent studies estimate that industries with high water usage but lower or more volatile value products will be impacted more than higher value products. Therefore, this study’s focus is to analyse different water management policies and their impacts on agricultural production, particularly changes in production of water low value and water high value crops and agricultural water consumption. By applying the Water Integrated Market (WatIM)-Model, benefits and costs of water management policies can be evaluated by identifying changes in quantities, prices and economic welfare, such as consumer and producer surplus. The WatIM-Model is a multi-market model combining water low and water high value crop markets and the water market with its supply and demand. Since the MDB is a complex system with different types of agriculture and water sharing rules in each catchment, economic variables are aggregated in the WatIMModel to examine overall trends and changes in the MDB. By the assumption that policy decisions on one market cause reactions on prices, supply and demand on other markets, market interdependencies can be derived. With these results, the merit of shifting production from water low value crops to water high value crops is examined and advantages and disadvantages of water management policies can be determined. This enables refinement of water management policies to optimise social, economic and environmental outcomes.Water market, water management policy, agriculture, sustainable water allocation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Towards an agri-environment index for biodiversity conservation payment schemes

The aim of the paper is to give suggestions about how an agri-environment index can be designed by taking into account specific ecological and economical factors that reflect benefits and costs of biodiversity conservation. Main findings are that the general structure of an agri-environment index is recommended to be a benefits-to-cost ratio, whereby the conservation benefits are accounted for by the following factors which evaluate i) certain criteria that value the ecological quality of a site and point out its significance for biodiversity conservation (Conservation Significance Factor), ii) a criterion that reflects the connectivity of the site which is an important factor for species migration (Connectivity Factor) and iii) criteria that estimate the potential biodiversity outcomes induced by specific management actions (Conservation Management Factor). The Cost Factor reflects the amount of money that the landholder demands as compensation payment for his conservation services. The paper points out that an agri-environment index is a promising approach to encourage and compensate farmers for biodiversity-friendly management actions. Thereby, an improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of European conservation payment schemes is a decisive contribution to biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes.agri-environmental policy, biodiversity benefits index, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, environmental benefits index, rural development

Price transmission of Vietnam's Robusta coffee : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of AgriCommerce at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Coffee is important to Vietnam’s economy in terms of export earnings and employment. As Vietnam carried out market reforms over the last three decades, its coffee sector has become increasingly market-driven and exposed to the fluctuations of the global market. The transmission of changes in global Robusta coffee prices to domestic farmgate prices is put under focus in this research as the knowledge of this will have important policy and welfare implications. This research uses both linear and threshold vector error correction models to analyse price transmission as the cointegration-based approach recognises the nonstationarity of price series. The data used are daily export and farmgate prices of Robusta coffee, measured in USD per tonne, from June 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2015. Export prices were collected in Ho Chi Minh city, the export hub for Vietnam, and farmgate prices in the largest coffee-producing province, Dak Lak. The primary result of this research is that of a symmetric price transmission between export and farm levels for Vietnam’s Robusta coffee. The two apparent asymmetries detected are considered minimal as the speed of daily adjustment is too high. In the linear model, export prices react faster to negative deviations from the long run equilibrium than to positive deviations. In the threshold model, farmgate prices respond faster to decreases than increases in export prices when the long run deviation exceeds a certain threshold. The research also confirms the importance of transaction costs and other price frictions that were mostly ignored in prior analyses for coffee. Most importantly, the finding of symmetric price transmission contradicts previous studies which found asymmetric price transmission for Robusta coffee in Vietnam and other producers in Africa. This dissimilarity may be attributable to characteristic differences of Vietnam’s coffee sector, the use of high frequency data, and to the different time periods under investigation. JEL Codes: C32, Q11, Q13, Q17 Keywords: asymmetric price transmission, Robusta coffee, Vietna