Alvin R. Schupp

The Role of Speculation and Information in the Early Evolution of the United States Ostrich Industry: An Industry Case Study

The U.S. ostrich industry was introduced in the 1980s and experienced rapid expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Breeding stock prices rose rapidly and subsequently plummeted during 1993–1995. High prices are to be expected in the introductory stage of an industry. However, the magnitude of prices in the ostrich industry is likely due to overestimates of ostrich productivity and future demand for ostrich products, as well as speculation in the ostrich market. This paper discusses the evolution of the industry from the mid-1980s to the present. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

Consumers Evaluate Frozen and Grilled Ground Beef and Turkey Product

Abstract Consumers are familiar with evaluating the acceptability of fresh and cooked ground beef in grocery stores and restaurants. Consumer acceptability of either fresh or frozen ground beef or ground beef blended with ground turkey has, however, received little attention. The acceptability of the blended beef turkey product is assumed to be relatively high given its origin from the traditional ground meats. Several different combinations of ground beef and ground turkey were evaluated for sensory color/texture differences in frozen and grilled forms by a 115-member consumer taste panel. Their evaluations of both frozen and grilled samples were influenced by previous experience with the combined product in the home and willingness to purchase the new product prior to evaluation of actual samples.

CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF FORAGE FINISHED BEEF

Consumer acceptance of Choice, grain-finished beef has been attested in millions of American homes. Abundant feed grain and feeder calf supplies has made it possible for almost all Americans to purchase and consume feedlot beef. Consumer acceptance of any product, however, can be changed when input substitutions in production are made. For various reasons, livestock producers may feel justified in changing inputs before analyzing an effect on the product or its demand. An example of input substitution occurred in mid-1974, when some beef producers began to market beef for slaughter directly from forage (or limited-grain) diets rather than after normal full-grain feeding. Consumer acceptance of forage-finished and limited-grain finished beef was uncertain at that time, particularly among customers of large supermarkets accustomed to Choice grade beef.

A NEW LOOK AT BEEF CATTLE PRICE REPORTING CLASSIFICATIONS

Beef production has become a series of highly specialized enterprises, consistent with technological and temporal developments throughout agriculture. Technological developments in forage and grain production, feed processing, feedlots, and transportation systems have helped physically transform the beef production industry and altered the flow patterns of beef cattle and carcass beef throughout the United States. A weanling calf produced in Virginia may be hauled to southern Georgia or Louisiana to be wintered on pasture, shipped to a Colorado feedlot for finishing, slaughtered in Colorado and the carcass shipped to Pennsylvania to a retail chain which services stores in Virginia.

A Decision Model for Continuous Sequence Production Processes of Variable Length: An Application to Hog Marketing

PROFIT maximization over time is the goal of economic production regardless of whether the production process is of fixed or variable length. The classical criteria for profit maximization are consistent with maximization over time when the production process is of fixed length. Variable length production processes, as encountered in livestock feeding, require somewhat different criteria from those given by the classical theory of the firm. The length of a process can affect both production costs and revenues (e.g., length of feeding of livestock). When there is a time lag between the end of one variable length process and the beginning of another, profit maximization is achieved by extending the process so long as the extension results in additions to revenue greater than or equal to additions to cost.