State branding programs have become an integral part of many food marketing efforts throughout the United States. State pride may play a role in consumers’ demands for local food products that satisfy desires for connectedness through the food supply chain.However, little research has studied measures of consumers’ state pride, i.e.ethnocentrism. In this study, we develop and calculate consumers’ state pride scores based on survey responses from consumers across an eight-state region. We find that most consumers do not have extremely high or low levels of state pride, but the probability of choosing one’s own state brand is predominately affected by their state pride score.
The type of handling system (i.e., traditional small box versus semi-automatic binhandling) distinguishes the two main types of existing commercial wild blueberrymechanical harvesters commonly used by farmers in Atlantic Canada and thenortheastern United States. However, their impacts on costs and returns to farmers havenot been evaluated. Partial budgeting (PB) methods were used to quantify and compareeconomic performance of the two technologies. Stochastic PB involved probabilisticsensitivity analysis, where multiple parameters were allowed to vary simultaneously, andthe results evaluated. Net change in profit, estimated using a deterministic PB modelbased on two alternative measures of harvest rate (tonnes ha-1and hours ha-1) for 2017data was CAD$0.52 tonne-1, and CAD$674 ha-1, and implies that switching from the small box handling system to the semi-automatic bin handling system is economic allyviable. Economic performance using stochastic PB analysis is consistent with the deterministic model results.
With increasing fresh-fruit import dependence, it is important for the United States to analyze trends and future trade scenarios, and develop strategies to achieve economic efficiency in the international market. Import demand elasticities are effective for analyzing trends and predicting possible development scenarios for international trade. This study uses a Source-Differentiated Almost Ideal Demand System to estimate elasticities of demand for mangoes and guavas, bananas, avocadoes, and papayas imported from NAFTA, DR-CAFTA, and MERCOSUR; and subsequently employs these elasticity estimates to measure the expected impact of import tariffs on the U.S. imports of fresh fruits from Mexico.
This study examines the impact of E.coli recalls on U.S. meat demand. Quarterly E.coli recalls from 1994-2016 are used to develop E.coli indices specific to beef, pork, and poultry collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Food Safety Inspection Service. The findings of the absolute price version of the Rotterdam model with structural shifters suggest that recalls have no significant impact on meat demand as a whole. This implies consumers are less sensitive to E.coli recalls than previously found.
