Cash transfers and nutrition: The role of market isolation after weather shocks
Publication date: Available online 26 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Stephan Dietrich, Georg SchmerzeckAbstractCash transfers are a widely used policy instrument in Sub-Saharan Africa to shield vulnerable populations from malnutrition. In this paper, we focus on the role of local food markets after weather shocks as a facilitating factor for program impacts on nutrition. As food prices tend to be negatively correlated with households’ own production in isolated markets, we expect the purchasing power of cash transfers to decrease after harvest failures in such markets. To test this, we analyze the impact of Kenya...
Source: Food Policy - July 27, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Agricultural technology adoption and household welfare: Measurement and evidence
Publication date: Available online 22 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Tesfamicheal Wossen, Arega Alene, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Shiferaw Feleke, Victor ManyongAbstractPrevious studies on the adoption and impacts of improved crop varieties have relied on self-reported adoption status of the surveyed households. However, in the presence of weak variety maintenance and poorly functioning seed certification system, measurement errors in self-reported adoption status can be considerable. This paper investigates how such measurement errors can lead to biased welfare estimates. Using DNA-fingerprinting based varietal identifica...
Source: Food Policy - July 24, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Hen housing system information effects on U.S. egg demand
Publication date: Available online 22 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Dan Ochs, Christopher A. Wolf, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Courtney Bir, John LaiAbstractThe U.S. egg industry has been moving rapidly towards “cage-free” aviary housing as an alternative to conventional cages for hens. A choice experiment was used to evaluate the U.S. public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes including housing system, color, size, and certifying agency. A significant difference in WTP for hen housing systems was found using video information treatments describing hen housing systems. When respondents were shown videos o...
Source: Food Policy - July 24, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Jobs and agricultural policy: Impact of the common agricultural policy on EU agricultural employment
Publication date: Available online 19 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Maria Garrone, Dorien Emmers, Alessandro Olper, Johan SwinnenAbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between EU agricultural subsidies and the outflow of labor from agriculture. We use more representative subsidy indicators and a wider coverage (panel data from 210 EU regions over the period 2004-2014) than has been used before. The data allow to better correct for sample selection bias than previous empirical studies. We find that, on average, CAP subsidies reduce the outflow of labor from agriculture, but the effect is almost entirely d...
Source: Food Policy - July 19, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: July 2019Source: Food Policy, Volume 86Author(s): (Source: Food Policy)
Source: Food Policy - July 16, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Buy or make? Agricultural production diversity, markets and dietary diversity in Afghanistan
Publication date: Available online 10 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Giacomo Zanello, Bhavani Shankar, Nigel PooleAbstractIncreasing on-farm production diversity and improving markets are recognized as ways to improve the dietary diversity of smallholders. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, we study the interplay of production diversity, markets and diets in the context of seasonality in Afghanistan. We confirm an important seasonal dimension to the interplay. Improved crop diversity over the year is positively associated with dietary diversity in the regular season, but not in the lean...
Source: Food Policy - July 11, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Publisher's Note
Publication date: Available online 9 July 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): (Source: Food Policy)
Source: Food Policy - July 10, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Are China’s regional agricultural productivities converging: How and why?
This article tests the hypotheses of convergence to a single level of total factor productivity (TFP), and a steady state of TFP growth rate in China’s agricultural sector. Based on multilateral TFP estimates we found that China’s agricultural sector has rebounded in recent years from a slower TFP growth in the 2005–2007 period. While convergence test results confirm a “catch-up” effect that provinces with lower TFP levels tend to grow faster than others, estimated rates of β convergence are conditional on how we capture the heterogeneity effect across regions. The rates of β convergence range from 0.016 to 0.0...
Source: Food Policy - June 25, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Producer group participation in the trade adjustment assistance program for farmers before and after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
This study examines the factors that incentivize producer groups to file petitions for the TAAF program and whether there exists a cross-program relationship between the TAAF and non-TAAF farm safety net programs in periods before and after the ARRA revisions. We find that, after the ARRA, participation in the program has more than doubled, but it is uncertain whether this increase in participation is a direct consequence of the ARRA revisions. In fact, results indicate that time-invariant characteristics of commodity groups are the most important factors of TAAF participation. We also find some evidence that incentives to...
Source: Food Policy - June 24, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Effects of intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification and product diversification on export performance: Evidence from the Chilean fresh fruit export sector
This study examines individually the effects of intra- and inter-regional geographic diversification on the export performance of firms from the Chilean fresh fruit sector. It also explores the direct effect of related product diversification on export performance and its role as a moderator in the relationship between geographic diversification and export performance. By employing panel trade data of 279 purely exporting firms over a six-years period (2010–2015), we found that both intra- and inter-regional diversification have an inverted U-shaped relationship with export performance, where moderate levels of diversifi...
Source: Food Policy - June 21, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Mandating front-of-package food labels in the U.S. – What are the First Amendment obstacles?
Publication date: Available online 19 June 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Parke Wilde, Dariush Mozaffarian, Renata MichaAbstractFront-of-package (FOP) food labels are symbols, schemes, or systems designed to communicate concise and useful nutrition-related information to consumers to facilitate healthier food choices. FOP label policies have been implemented internationally that could serve as policy models for the U.S. However, the First Amendment poses a potential obstacle to U.S. government-mandated FOP requirements. We systematically reviewed existing international and major U.S.-based nutritio...
Source: Food Policy - June 19, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Passing the food and agricultural R&D buck? The United States and China
Publication date: Available online 18 June 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Yuan Chai, Philip G. Pardey, Connie Chan-Kang, Jikun Huang, Kyuseon Lee, Wanlu DongAbstractThe global geographical balance of food and agricultural R&D spending is shifting, characterized by a declining U.S. share and a rising middle-income-country share, propelled heavily by the rapid rise of spending in China. Based on our newly compiled data, we estimate that China now outspends the United States on both public and private food and agricultural research on a purchasing power parity basis. The public-private orientation of the research has also ...
Source: Food Policy - June 18, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Direct intervention or indirect support? The effects of cooperative control measures on farmers’ implementation of quality and safety standards
Publication date: Available online 5 June 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Jiehong Zhou, Zhiying Yang, Kai Li, Xiaohua YuAbstractIn recent years, labor-intensive agricultural products from developing countries have exhibited inferior performance in international trade due to quality and safety incidents, among which pesticide residue is a major issue. Aiming to improve food quality and safety in the context of cooperatives, we introduced three categories of control measures: outcome control, process control and social control. Based on the Pre-Harvest Interval Standard (PHIS), we selected three indices, farmers’ impleme...
Source: Food Policy - June 6, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
What is driving increases in dietary quality in the United States?
Publication date: Available online 3 June 2019Source: Food PolicyAuthor(s): Travis A. Smith, Pourya Valizadeh, Biing-Hwan Lin, Ellen CoatsAbstractOver 1994–2010, adult dietary quality in the United States increased by 10 percent. We find a shift in consumption between at-home and away-from-home food played a relatively minor role as compared to changes in demographics and educational attainment. The two largest contributors we identify include an increased usage of nutritional information and a shift away from relying heavily on price, taste, storability and ease of preparation when shopping for food. Our findings sugges...
Source: Food Policy - June 4, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Understanding fertilizer adoption and effectiveness on maize in Zambia
This article quantifies the impacts of soil characteristics on maize response to fertilizer in Zambia using a nationally representative sample of 1453 fields, combining economic, farm management and soil analysis data. Depending on soil regimes, average maize yield response estimates range from insignificant (0) to 7 maize kg per fertilizer kg. For the majority of farmers, the estimated average value cost ratio is between 1 and 2, meaning fertilizer use would be fiscally rational, barring uncertainty and transfer costs. Since transfer costs exist and outcomes are uncertain, however, many farmers may sensibly pause before d...
Source: Food Policy - May 29, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
