Volume 46, Issue 2, May 2021

May, 2021

Informing Generic Advertising Programs by Investigating Income and Relative Return Heterogeneities in Voluntary Contributions Mechanisms

By: Kassas, Bachir ; Palma, Marco A. ; Hall, Charles R.
The consistent appeals against mandatory checkoff programs stimulated a wave of research investigating voluntary contributions mechanisms (VCMs) as a potential alternative in the provision of generic advertising. Using a public goods experiment with heterogeneous income and marginal per capita returns (MPCR), we examine the interaction between high- and low-income individuals in VCMs, an understanding of which can help enhance the performance of voluntary generic advertising programs. While free-riders were present among both income types, the majority of low-income individuals were keen on stimulating higher contributions through cooperation. Conversely, high-income individuals tended to decrease their contributions in the presence of the low-income type.
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May, 2021

Impacts of COVID-19-Induced Labor and Income Shocks on the Broiler Supply Chain

By: Luckstead, Jeff ; Devadoss, Stephen
We use a broiler supply-chain model to examine the impacts of COVID-19-induced labor shortages and income reduction throughout the sector. Results show that the labor shock has negative effects on production throughout the supply chain, causing meat shortages and the average retail price to rise by 11:11%. The income shock lowers both quantities and prices in the supply chain. The combined production effects of both shocks are generally more pronounced, as they reinforce each other. However, retail prices move in opposite directions, with labor shock increasing prices and income shock reducing prices, leading to a 5:44% net increase in the average retail price.
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May, 2021

A Market Basket Analysis of Beef Calf Management Practice Adoption

By: Mulenga, Brian P. ; Raper, Kellie Curry ; Peel, Derrell S.
Existing studies on calf management practice adoption tend to treat practices individually and, by implication, ignore the possibility that some practices are more likely than others to be jointly adopted. This study applies market basket analysis to examine bundling of calf management practices based on the likelihood of joint adoption using producer survey data. Results indicate that the base practices of horn management, deworming, and castration are the three most widely adopted practices and are more likely to be jointly adopted in varying combinations with other practices. We discuss implications for extension programming and future studies concerned with understanding practice adoption decisions.
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May, 2021

Replacing Late Calving Beef Cows to Shorten Calving Season

By: Boyer, Christopher ; Burdine, Kenny ; Rhinehart, Justin ; Martinez, Charley
We simulated beef cattle producersÕ returns to shortening a 120-day calving season to 45 and 60 days by replacing late-calving cows for two herd sizes. We developed dynamic simulation models to consider production and price risk. We explored outcomes from annually replacing 10% or 20% of the late-calving cows to reach the desired calving-season length. The optimal scenario depends on herd size and whether the producer wants to maximize profits or certainty equivalent. The smaller herd benefited more from shortening calving season relative to the large herd.
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May, 2021

Improving Feedlot Profitability Using Operational Data in Mortality Prediction Modeling

By: Feuz, Ryan ; Feuz, Kyle ; Johnson, Myriah
Feedlot managers make difficult culling decisions using their best subjective judgment together with advice from animal health professionals. Using routinely collected operational feedlot data and five well-known classification methods, we construct mortality predictive models to aid managers in making objective culling decisions. Simulation results suggest that net return per head for calves having been treated at least once for any health incident would increase on average by $14.01 if the best-performing model were used as a culling decision aid. The probability of a positive return is 60.9%. Using cost-sensitive learning, the average value may increase to $45.27/head.
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May, 2021

Precision Agriculture Technologies and Farm Profitability

By: Dhoubhadel, Sunil P.
This paper uses the staggered difference-in-difference model to assess the ex post impact of precision agriculture (PA) technology adoption on whole-farm profitability. The results indicate that PA technologies do not contribute as much to farm profitability when analyzed over a period of time. PA technologies may increase some operational efficiency, but farmers should not adopt PA assuming that it will improve farm profitability. The positive contribution of a majority of PA technologies to farm profitability has not yet been established.
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May, 2021

Using Grid Soil Sampling to Determine Profit Maximizing Phosphorus Application Rates in Wheat

By: Mills, Brian E. ; Brorsen, B. Wade ; Arnall, D. Brian
Past research on the profitability of precision phosphorus (P) application has used a small number of fields and a short time frame. Data on grid-sampled fields provided by producers are used to define the distribution of phosphorus within fields. Expected yields and net present value (NPV) are simulated to compare variable and uniform rate P. The highest NPV used a variable rate that changed each year based on yield and predicted carryover. A variable rate using the same rates for 4 years was inferior to simply applying a little extra P at a uniform rate.
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May, 2021

Cover Crops Usage in South Dakota: Farmer Perceived Profitability and Future Adoption Decisions

By: Wang, Tong ; Xu, Zheng ; Kolady, Deepthi ; Ulrich-Schad, Jessica D. ; Clay, David
Using bivariate ordered logit models, we investigate factors that determine farmersÕ perceptions of cover-crop profitability and likelihood of future usage in the climate transition zone of the Northern Great Plains. Our results indicate that approximately 40% of long-term (10+ years) users perceived a profit increase of more than 5%. Additionally, future adoption decisions are positively affected by environment-oriented attitudes and negatively affected by prioritizing short-term profitability. More efforts can be directed toward educational programs that enhance understanding of the short- versus long-term economic benefits of cover crops.
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May, 2021

Dog and Cat Owner Demand for Veterinary Service Payment Plans

By: Bir, Courtney ; Wolf, Christopher A. ; Widmar, Nicole Olynk
This paper examines U.S. pet owner demand for veterinary service payment plans. Results revealed a strong preference for discounts and promotions for veterinary pet care. Examining specific attributes for a wellness plan revealed that respondents were clearly willing to pay more for preferred pricing compared to discounts for multiple pets. Respondents were indifferent between payment plans that distributed costs across 12 months compared to 6 months. In absolute terms, dog owners were willing to pay more than cat owners. However, when normalized by mean prices for dog versus cat veterinary service pricing, there were no statistically significant differences.
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May, 2021

Structural and Institutional Heterogeneity among Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia: Does it Matter for FarmersÕ Welfare?

By: Gezahegn, Tafesse ; Van Passel, Steven ; Berhanu, Tekeste ; D’Haese, Marijke ; Maertens, Miet
This paper analyzes how structural and institutional heterogeneity among irrigation cooperatives shapes the impact of membership on farmersÕ welfare in northern Ethiopia, using a novel heteroskedasticity-based identification strategy. More specifically, we estimate how cooperative characteristics influence membersÕ income and poverty level. We find that stricter water use regulations have income-enhancing and poverty-reducing effects for farmers. We also find that farmers benefit more from membership in larger, younger, and bottom-up cooperatives initiated through grassroots collective action. Our findings have implications for irrigation development in Ethiopia and call for a better deliberation of organizational heterogeneity in cooperative impact studies.
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