Is Lamb Promotion Working?

This objective of this study is to determine whether the advertising and promotion dollars collected and spent by the American Lamb Board on lamb promotion since the inception of the Lamb Checkoff Program have effectively increased lamb consumption in the United States. The main conclusion is that program has resulted in roughly 7.6 additional pounds of total lamb consumption per dollar spent on advertising and promotion and $41.59 in additional lamb sales per dollar spent on advertising and promotion.Lamb, Lamb Promotion, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

The Economic Effectiveness of the Cotton Checkoff Program

This report is an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of the marketing/promotion, nonagricultural research, and agricultural research activities associated with the cotton checkoff program over the period of 1986/87 through 2004/05. The analysis is based on a multi-equation, econometric, non-spatial, price equilibrium simulation model of U.S. and foreign fiber markets using annual data. The key average annual impacts of the cotton checkoff program on U.S. and foreign cotton and man-made fiber markets and their associated textile markets are reported. The results show that the returns to cotton producers as well as to cotton importers from the cotton checkoff program are positive. The average discounted benefit-cost ratios (BCR) for the cotton checkoff program were found to be 5.7 for domestic cotton producers and 14.4 for importers. The higher BCR for importers reflects revenue gains not only from additional sales of cotton fiber textiles but also from additional “spillover” sales of man-made fiber textiles prompted by the cotton checkoff program. The results also show that U.S. taxpayers are better off because the cotton checkoff program has tended to reduce government outlays directed to cotton farmers. The analysis also finds that neither U.S. producers nor importers pay the full cost of the checkoff assessments. Finally, cotton checkoff expenditures on agricultural research were found to have positively and significantly affected U.S. cotton yields with no discernible effects on cotton harvested acreage.Cotton, Cotton Checkoff, Checkoff Program, Cotton Program, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

Measuring the Effectiveness of Lamb Advertising and Promotion: An Updated Analysis

This report updates a previous tentative analysis of the effectiveness of the Lamb Checkoff Program in shifting out the demand for American lamb. The main conclusion is that program has resulted in roughly 8.4 additional pounds of total lamb consumption per dollar spent on advertising and promotion and $44.60 in additional lamb sales per dollar spent on advertising and promotion.Lamb, Advertising, Lamb Promotion, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Measuring the Effectiveness of Checkoff Programs

Marketing, Q13, M31, M37,

IMPORT DEMANDS FOR U.S. FRESH GRAPEFRUIT: EFFECT OF U.S. PROMOTION PROGRAMS AND TRADE POLICIES OF IMPORTING NATIONS

This study estimates import demands for U.S. fresh grapefruit in Japan, France, Canada, and the Netherlands. Historically, these nations have imported about 90 percent of U.S. grapefruit exports. Four import demand functions were specified and estimated by joint generalized least squares based on the sample period 1969I to 1988IV. Results show that U.S. FOB price, per capita income of importing countries, exchange rates, price of substitutes, U.S. grapefruit promotion programs, and removal of trade restrictions have had an important effect on U.S. fresh grapefruit exports. Analyses suggest that U.S. producers can effectively promote fresh grapefruit in foreign markets, and that trade concessions have an important influence on grapefruit exports.International Relations/Trade,

Recommendations for Technology Development and Validation Activities in Support of the Origins Program

The Office of Space Science (OSS) has initiated mission concept studies and associated technology roadmapping activities for future large space optical systems. The scientific motivation for these systems is the study of the origins of galaxies, stars, planetary systems and, ultimately, life. Collectively, these studies are part of the 'Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems Program' or 'Origins Program'. A series of at least three science missions and associated technology validation flights is currently envisioned in the time frame between the year 1999 and approximately 2020. These would be the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), a 10-meter baseline Michelson stellar interferometer; the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), a space-based infrared optimized telescope with aperture diameter larger than four meters; and the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), an 80-meter baseline-nulling Michelson interferometer described in the Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems (ExNPS) Study. While all of these missions include significant technological challenges, preliminary studies indicate that the technological requirements are achievable. However, immediate and aggressive technology development is needed. The Office of Space Access and Technology (OSAT) is the primary sponsor of NASA-unique technology for missions such as the Origins series. For some time, the OSAT Space Technology Program has been developing technologies for large space optical systems, including both interferometers and large-aperture telescopes. In addition, technology investments have been made by other NASA programs, including OSS; other government agencies, particularly the Department of Defense; and by the aerospace industrial community. This basis of prior technology investment provides much of the rationale for confidence in the feasibility of the advanced Origins missions. In response to the enhanced interest of both the user community and senior NASA management in large space optics, OSAT is moving to improve the focus of its sensor, spacecraft, and interferometer/telescope technology programs on the specific additional needs of the OSS Origins Program. To better define Origins mission technology and facilitate its development, OSAT and OSS called for a series of workshops with broad participation from industry, academia and the national laboratory community to address these issues. Responsibility for workshop implementation was assigned jointly to the two NASA field centers with primary Origins mission responsibility, the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Origins Technology Workshop, held at Dana Point, California between June 4 and 6, 1996 was the first in the series of comprehensive workshops aimed at addressing the broad technological needs of the Origins Program. It was attended by 64 individuals selected to provide technical expertise relevant to the technology challenges of the Origins missions. This report summarizes the results of that meeting. A higher level executive summary was considered inappropriate because of the potential loss of important context for the recommendations. Subsequent to the Origins Technology Workshop and prior to publication of this report, NASA Headquarters reorganized the activities of the Of fice of Space Access and Technology. It appears likely that responsibility for the technology programs recommended in this document will move to the Office of Space Science

Infrared reflection nebulae in Orion molecular cloud 2

New obervations of Orion Molecular Cloud-2 have been made from 1-100 microns using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. An extensive program of polarimetry, photometry and spectrophotometry has shown that the extended emission regions associated with two of the previously known near infrared sources, IRS1 and IRS4, are infrared reflection nebulae, and that the compact sources IRS1 and IRS4 are the main luminosity sources in the cloud. The constraints from the far infrared observations and an analysis of the scattered light from the IRS1 nebula show that OMC-2/IRS1 can be characterized by L less than or equal to 500 Solar luminosities and T approx. 1000 K. The near infrared (1-5) micron albedo of the grains in the IRS1 nebula is greater than 0.08

ANALYSIS OF MARKETING MARGINS IN THE U.S. LAMB INDUSTRY

Factors affecting marketing margins were identified and assessed using a relative price spread technique. Margins were disaggregated into slaughter-to-wholesale and wholesale-to-retail for a more complete understanding. Marketing costs, concentration, demand, and price were used to explain variations within these margins. Results showed that packer concentration had a significant effect on margins. Forces of supply and demand (as represented by production and market price) and changes in marketing costs also explained the variation in margins. A higher degree of price transmission from slaughter-to-wholesale level was observed in comparison to the wholesale-to-retail level.Marketing,