Ben C. French

A Supply Response Model for Perennial Crops

The production of perennial crops involves planting, removal, yield, and time dimensions not similarly encountered in annual crops. A model is developed to provide a structural base for estimating response relationships that encompass these dimensions. The model rests on assumptions of rational producer behavior which takes account of possible actions of other producers and of the aggregate effect of these actions on total production and profits. Because important data series often are not available, modifications of the basic model are suggested to facilitate estimation within a more restricted empirical framework. The model is illustrated by an application to asparagus, a perennial vegetable crop.

Planting and Removal Relationships for Perennial Crops: An Application to Cling Peaches

Supply response for a perennial crop is influenced by the age composition of existing plant stocks which, in turn, is determined by historical patterns of plantings and removals. This paper develops estimates of functions that relate the planting and removal of cling peach trees to measures of past profitability, potential future production from existing acreage, and structural changes associated with market intervention programs. The analysis also provides indications of useful forms for these functions, patterns of yield variation by age of tree, and the nonlinear relation of removal response to age of tree.

An Empirical Analysis of Economic Performance under the Marketing Order for Raisins

This study utilizes a dynamic econometric model of the California raisin industry to compare predictions of prices, production, profits, and related measures under the volume control program with predictions under several no-control scenarios. The outcomes are evaluated in relation to performance criteria proposed by a USDA study team. The twenty-two-year comparisons suggest that the public interest may have been well served by the raisin volume control program, or at worst there was no significant welfare loss.

An Econometric Model of the U.S. Beekeeping Industry

This paper presents a dynamic econometric model of the U.S. beekeeping industry for policy analysis and economic projections. Data from 1952 to 1984 were used to estimate the model by three-stage least squares. The model indicates that, when the federal price support for honey exceeded the market price, the federal program had a significant impact on several sectors of the industry. A comparison of beekeeper revenue, consumer expenditures, and federal government expenditures suggests the honey support program was an ineffective means of supporting honey prices from 1982 through 1984.

Mechanical Harvesting and the California Tomato Industry: A Simulation Analysis

Simulation analysis based on an econometric model was used to compare processing-tomato industry performance with and without the development of mechanical harvesting and under differing wage scales. Expanded production under mechanical harvesting increased requirements for preharvest, seasonal and off-season cannery, and assembly labor relative to continued hand harvest. This offset much, but not all, of the reduction in seasonal harvest labor. Employment shifted more toward jobs of higher skill and pay. Product prices were lower. Economic surplus measures suggest consumers have been the primary long-run benefactors of mechanical harvest adoption.

The Food Marketing Commission and Marketing Efficiency

T HE technical studies of the National Commission on Food Marketing have provided us with a rather unique base from which to examine our past research accomplishments and to consider needs for further marketing research. The Commission has compiled information about the marketing system that heretofore has been largely scattered and without unifying orientation, and it has brought to light some new information. For perhaps the first time, we are in a position to see, in one place, much of what we know and do not know about the food marketing system. My discussion will be limited, insofar as is possible, to efficiency aspects of marketing. After a brief summary and appraisal of the findings of the Commission that seem to bear most directly on efficiency, I will comment on some things omitted in the technical studies and attempt to draw from the foregoing some suggestions regarding future research concerned with marketing efficiency. Before turning to this task, however, we should consider some definitions and concepts relating to efficiency.