Efficient information exchanges between sellers and buyers are essential if prices are to act as a signal for resource allocation in an economy. In the case of seed and planting materials, information on quality traits are often difficult for consumers (farmers) to obtain prior to purchase,...

This paper investigates the presence of career incentives in arm's-length contracts between wine-grape farmers and wineries in Chile. We observe explicit incentives in pay-for-performance provisions that depend on measurable characteristics of grape quality, and we test for the presence of...

High poverty rate persists in rural Kenya, where farming households continue to depend on agriculture for food and income, despite economic growth. Maize is the most widely grown crop, with the maize-growing smallholder population quite heterogeneous and diversified.However, less than half the...

Contract farming has frequently been shown to increase the income of participating households. Whether contract farming increases other aspects of household welfare, however, remains unclear. Using a 1,200-household data set from Madagascar and the results of a contingent valuation experiment...

The purpose of the research presented in this poster is to investigate factors impacting farmers’ decisions to engage in multifunctional activities, which are hypothesized to enhance the sustainability and prosperity of farms and their communities. To achieve this research goal, we break it up...

The purpose of this paper is to understand how farm-level factors are associated with a farmer’s perceived success of Multifunctional Activities (MFAs) and desire to continue participating in MFAs. Using the responses from a survey of farmers in New England, we use logistic and ordered...

The fresh-cut sector is constantly evolving and innovating in order to enhance quality and safety of products, which attributes are generally valued by consumers. Quality and safety are multifaceted attributes because they arise from a wide set of methods/technologies, therefore the knowledge...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of clusters of certified organic operations on county-level general economic indicators in order to assess the potential of organic clustering as an economic development tool. We first identify clusters of organic operations using the Local...

Farm management skills can affect farm managers' performance. In this article, farm management performance is analyzed based on yearly Illinois Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) panel data across 6,760 farms from 1996 through 2011. Two out-of-sample measures of skill are used to analyze the...

The “Locally grown” or “buy local” concept has brought tremendous impacts in many different market venues. This study focuses on finding whether there is any difference on the local definition between traditional shoppers (Kentucky food consumers) and food co-op shoppers. Particularly,...