Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Rural residents have increasingly sought open space for home sites and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop land for non-farm uses. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price.
Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Rural residents have increasingly sought open space for home sites and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop land for non-farm uses. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price.
Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Potential rural residents have increasingly sought open space for a home site and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop it for non-farm uses. Recreational needs such as hunting are often met through use of land. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price, which is a monetary measure of its perceived value.
The weighted average cost of producing tart cherries in Michigan on a representative farm in 2009 is $0.36/lb. This cost was averaged across the three main production regions in Michigan and weighted by average per acre production for each region as published by the Michigan Agricultural Statistics Service. --Costs vary across the main production regions and by farm size. Costs are about $0.04/lb less for mid-sized farms in Northwest Michigan and $0.08/lb and $0.10/lb in West Central and Southwest Michigan, respectively. --This report was developed through interviews with tart cherry growers and other experts in each of the three main growing regions in 2005 and 2006. Many of the numbers were updated in 2009. --The cost of production calculation is based on estimates of operating costs, harvest costs, and management, interest and tax costs. It also includes an amortized cost of establishing an orchard and employing the land in production (versus some other use). The following tables summarize the cost findings for each of the production regions.
The Michigan State University (MSU) Dairy Team conducted an industry survey with the objectives of identifying and rating industry priorities. After holding discussion groups across the state, two questionnaires were developed and sent to 2,237 dairy farm owners and operators and 480 allied industry professionals in the state; 23.4% of the dairy farmers and 28.1% of the allied industry professionals returned questionnaires with useable data. This report summarizes respondents’ ratings of industry issues, as well as education and knowledge needs. In addition, educational preferences, management practices, Internet use and access, demographic information, and farm characteristics are outlined.
Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Potential rural residents have increasingly sought open space for a home site and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop it for non-farm uses. Recreational needs such as hunting are often met through use of land. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price, which is a monetary measure of its perceived value.
The potential supply of biomass feedstocks in the US and Canada is estimated using a static supply function approach. Estimated total biomass available at a price of $100 per metric ton is 568 million metric tons in the US and 123 million tons in Canada, which together can displace 23-45 billion gallons of gasoline. Sufficient biomass, mainly agricultural and mill residues, will be available at prices of around $50/ton to meet the advanced biofuel mandates of the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The estimates of agricultural residue supply are very sensitive to the assumed fraction of residues that can be sustainably removed from the field, and the potential of municipal solid waste as a feedstock depends on which components can be economically converted into liquid biofuels.
Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Potential rural residents have increasingly sought open space for a home site and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop it for non-farm uses. Recreational needs are often met through use of land. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price, which is a monetary measure of its perceived value.
Greater flexibility in U.S. farm programs with elimination of the restriction on the planting of fruit and vegetable crops (FAVR crops) is likely to be a major issue in congressional 2007 farm policy discussions. Michigan is a state with a wide range of both FAVR and program crops planted under the current policy. To capture the diversity of situations that would apply among of crops covered by the current policy, this research has examined a broad set of Michigan FAVR crops (dry beans, pickling cucumbers, processing tomatoes, fresh market tomatoes, squash, and blueberries). We evaluate both those factors that are likely to prevent the entry of DCP crop producers into the production of FAVR crops (barriers to entry or disincentives) and those factors that are likely to encourage DCP crop producers to enter the production of FAVR crops (inducements to entry or incentives). The balance will determine the likely outcome from elimination of the FAVR. With the exception of dry beans, a change in the FAVR would provide only small (or no) positive incentives for DCP crop producers to enter the production of FAVR crops. Similarly, barriers to entry would, in many cases, be high enough to significantly limit, or even prohibit, movement of DCP crop producers into the markets for FAVR crops. When considering these factors in combination, only dry beans appear to have the potential for entry of a significant number of new producers. In most other cases, the probability of entry by new producers appears to be low. Even with a low or zero response in total supply, equity issues will likely still arise.
Michigan accounts for approximately 70 percent of the total number of tart cherry processing firms in the U.S. Changes in preferences of consumers and increasing participation of global competitors are driving down demand for traditional tart cherry products and imposing new pressures on the U.S. industry, particularly in Michigan. The objective of this report is to document main characteristics of the tart cherry processing industry in Michigan; namely, business characteristics, category of products, supply sources, and market outlets. Also, the study aims to assess business strategies and future expectations for the industry in Michigan. Interviews with managers of tart cherry processing companies were conducted to document the objectives of this research. For the purpose of this project only processing companies that at the time of the interviews reported processing raw tart cherries were contacted. Nineteen firms were selected from the Cherry Marketing Institute 2003 Statistical Handbook (CMI, 2003) and contacted for personal interviews in 2004. The scope of the study allows the results to present an important description of the tart cherry processing industry in Michigan. Moreover, results are useful indicators of where the industry's current position and challenges that participants perceive will be the most important in the future.
The wholesale sector is an intermediate stage in the supply chain of fresh produce. In general, business operations in this sector do not transform a specific product, but rather provide services related to the sale of the product. The term 'wholesaler' refers to all merchants that are part of this intermediate stage in the supply chain; namely, wholesale merchants, distributors, jobbers, shippers, import/export merchants, agents, brokers, commission merchants, and other types of intermediaries (US Census 2004). This definition of wholesalers, however, does not accurately depict all the activities and relationships participants in this supply chain sector develop. Hence, in order to be consistent with a correct terminology and to understand the results presented in this report, the use of 'intermediaries' throughout this paper refers to all participants including grower-shipper/distributors, brokers, custom service providers and wholesalers.
Land is a natural resource that is valued for many reasons. Farmers utilize land to earn their livelihood and as a store of wealth for future retirement. Potential rural residents have increasingly sought open space for a home site and pursuit of a lifestyle. Developers seek financial opportunities to invest in and develop it for non-farm uses. Recreational needs such as hunting are often met through use of land. For some, land is viewed as an investment and a hedge against inflation. This myriad of demands for land combined with its fixed supply continually alters its market price, which is a monetary measure of its perceived value.
The importance of the effects of non-tariff barriers on international agricultural trade has become widely recognized and discussed as WTO negotiation has promoted the reduction of tariff rates around the world. Administrative barriers include the high cost of obtaining accurate information on commodity classification codes and tariff schedules of partner countries. Such information includes commodity classification rules and tariff rates. Cherries are produced worldwide, but in much smaller quantities than apples or oranges, or other more popular fruits. Much trade in tart cherries is still between small producers and buyers who often lack the resources to perform an exhaustive search of customs information, or who rely primarily on brokers. This report outlines the process for collecting customs identification numbers and trade data for tart cherries in the US and EU. In doing so, it highlights many of the difficulties inherent in collecting accurate and timely information for use in trade.
An important characteristic of agricultural commodity markets is the extent to which those markets respond to price changes in related markets. Given a competitive market structure, the Law of One Price (LOP) postulates that spatial price relationships are determined by transfer cost1 among regions and that spatial arbitrage restores market equilibrium (Tomek and Robinson, 2003). Spatial price relationships are of particular relevance to farmers in designing market strategies. Measurements of spatial price relationships provide insights about the dynamics of price movements, thus increasing understanding of likely behavior of supply or demand areas in the market (Jordan and Van Sickle, 1998). For example, knowledge of which regions lead prices, the degree to which market shocks are transmitted via prices among regions, and the regional market reaction time can all be useful in designing market strategy. This study analyzes spatial wholesale price relationships for fresh U.S. peaches using vector autoregressive analysis (VAR) on weekly prices from the primary wholesale markets of four U.S. regions. Primary objectives of the study are: (1) to determine the degree of market segmentation as well as the direction and magnitude of market integration among regions, and (2) to evaluate the sensitivity of U.S. fresh peach wholesale markets to individual shocks in the five regions. The study is organized as follows. We first present an overview of the U.S. fresh peach sector. Next, the relevant methodology and data is described. Results and conclusions follow.
