CREDIT MARKET CONSTRAINTS AND PROFITABILITY IN TUNISIAN AGRICULTURE

This work investigates the link between constraints in agricultural credit markets and farm profitability in a developing country setting. Using data from rural Tunisia in a switching econometric model, this work directly estimates both the determinants of credit constraints and their effects on farm profits. Policy implications are down from the significant differences in estimated profit functions of constrained and unconstrained farmers.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Financial Economics,

Challenging the Goldschmidt Theory of Rural Purchasing Patterns

This work uses unique data from three dairy dependent communities in rural Wisconsin to test established theory and empirical studies that link farm structure to local purchasing patterns and community economic development. A theoretical model of purchasing choices is developed to derive the determinants of local purchasing by dairy farms. This model is tested empirically using a double bounded Tobit model. The empirical estimations find little support for any linkage between farm size and local purchasing patterns across eleven major dairy farm inputs. The results do suggest that different community business characteristics (the supply side) and community attachment provide some explanations for diverse purchasing patterns.

Off-Farm Work and On-Farm Investment

This work has developed a theoretically consistent model of a farm household's choice between working on-farm and working off-farm and the effects of that choice on farm investment choices. The theory demonstrates the potential for wages driven by local economic conditions to be more important to dairy farm investment decisions than characteristics of dairy farms and farmers. The switching regression model developed from the theory is then tested with data from a representative sample of Wisconsin dairy farms. The econometric results demonstrate the importance of wages to farm investment decisions.Farm Management,

Working Paper 145 - Assessing the Returns to Education in the Gambia

Using three nationally representative surveys from the country, we estimate the private rates of returns to education in The Gambia. To obtain consistent estimates, we exploit exogenous variation in school availability in the country at the district level at the time current wage earners where born. Our results show that the private rates of returns to education are quite high, although heterogeneous across regions of the country. The high rates of returns are robust to alternate formulations.

The Adoption and Profitability of rbST on Connecticut Dairy Farms

This work estimates Probit and Tobit models of the adoption of rbST on Connecticut dairy farms and then endogenizes that adoption in estimates of milk production and farm profit rates. The work improves on the current literature by allowing the rbST decision to be both continuous and contingent on other technology adoption decisions. The results show that larger farms, with more productivity technologies, and with younger, more educated farmers are more likely to adopt rbST. While rbST is shown to significantly increase milk production there is no evidence it increases profits on a per cow basis.Livestock Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

IS SOY MILK? THE ECONOMICS OF THE SOY MILK MARKET

This study uses revealed preferences of consumers to study the consumer benefits from soy milk. The study specifies and estimates structural demand and reduced form models of competition for different milk types using US supermarket scanner data. The introduction of soy milk is used to estimate consumer benefits and valuations. We decompose benefits into two components, competitive and variety effects. Results show relatively small consumer benefits from soy milk.Demand Systems, Q-AIDS, Milk markets, Biotechnology, Soy milk, Food Labeling, Demand and Price Analysis, Q130, C300, D120, D400,

MARKET STRUCTURE AND CONSUMER VALUATION IN THE RBST-FREE AND ORGANIC MILK MARKETS

This study uses revealed preferences of consumers to study the consumer valuations of rBST-free and organic milk. The study specifies and estimates a quadratic AIDS model for different milk types using US supermarket scanner data. The introduction of rBST-free and organic milk is used to estimate both competitive and variety effects as measures of consumer valuations. Results show significant consumer valuations for organic milk and to a lesser extent rBST-free milk.Consumer/Household Economics, Industrial Organization,

The Productivity Effects of Extension Appointments in Land Grant Colleges

A key piece in understanding the link between the extension and research missions of Land Grant universities is to understand the role of faculty with (and without) extension appointments within agricultural colleges. This article provides a comparative empirical portrayal of the primary activities of agricultural college faculty, and demonstrates the basic vitality of extension professors within the Land Grant system. Professors with smaller extension appointments are heavily engaged in the major research efforts of their universities at even greater levels of production than professors without extension responsibilities. Professors with heavy levels of extension appointments experience increasing tradeoffs between core extension activities and research outputs and graduate training. Professors with no extension appointments engage substantively in extension activities and frequently have links to core extension clientele.

Managerial Incentives, Moral Hazard, and Structural Change in Agricultural Cooperatives

The federated business structure exists in many sectors of the economy, but we know little about its comparative advantage. This paper explores theoretically and empirically the current dynamics of the federated cooperative system. Two hypotheses are tested: growth at the local co-op level has made the structure redundant and managerial incentives create disloyalty. We use a unique data set from a survey of local farm supply and grain marketing cooperatives in the Midwest.Agribusiness,

Economic Prospects For Fonio Development in West Africa

Crop Production/Industries,