2006

April, 2006

By: Ganiere, Pierre; Chern, Wen S.; Hahn, David E.
A national telephone survey was conducted in the United States in April 2002 to study the consumer acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods. Attitudes toward GM foods were examined through the use of a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), analyzing the interrelationships among many categorical variables. This method was combined with a cluster analysis to construct a typology of consumers' attitudes. Four distinct classes of attitudes were finally extracted, denoted as: Proponents, Non-Opponents, Moderate Opponents, and Extreme Opponents. It was estimated that only 35% of the surveyed population was opposed to GM foods.

April, 2006

By: Norwood, F. Bailey; Winn, Chris; Chung, Chanjin; Ward, Clement E.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether the mandatory fees imposed by the beef checkoff violates the First Amendment. As a precaution, many states began forming voluntary beef checkoffs, where funds would be raised through voluntary contributions. This study conducted a survey of Oklahoma cattle producers to determine what type ofvoluntary checkoff design would receive the greatest support. The most popular checkoff placed a large emphasis on advertising and a slightly lower checkoff fee. The survey also tested the ability of a provision point mechanism to limit free-riding. The mechanism was not as effective as in other studies which used laboratory experiments.

April, 2006

By: Genius, Margarita; Pantzios, Christos J.; Tzouvelekas, Vangelis
This study offers an empirical framework for analyzing farmers' joint decisions to adopt organic farming practices and to seek technical (i.e., farming) information from various sources. To that end, a trivariate ordered probit model is specified and implemented in the case of organic land conversion in Crete, Greece. Findings suggest that the decisions of information acquisition and organic land conversion are indeed correlated, and different farming information sources play a complementary role. Structural policies improving the farmer's allocative ability are found to play an important role in encouraging organic farming adoption.