Bryan E. Melton

Beef and Pork Packing Costs and Input Demands: Effects of Unionization and Technology

The effects of unionization, technology, and structural considerations on value-added beef and pork packing costs and the demand for labor, capital, packaging, and other inputs are analyzed by econometric methods for the period 1963–88. Although unions do not appear to have had significant wage effects over this period (relative to broader U.S. wage rates), significant nonwage cost effects are observed. These nonwage effects help explain the technological, structural, and geographic changes that have occurred in meat packing in recent years which, in turn, help explain the erosion of union strength in meat packing observed over the study period.

Imputing Input Characteristic Values from Optimal Commercial Breed or Variety Choice Decisions

Previous Input Characteristics Models (ICMs) are modified and extended to allow the economic values of individual genetic characteristics to be imputed, even when those characteristics are acquired in largely inseparable bundles such as in the animal breed or plant variety decision of commercial producers. Through analysis of the commercial breed selection decision for a representative beef producer, the extended ICM is shown to generally be more flexible, with less restrictive data requirements for estimation, than prior ICMs. Additional modifications of the extended ICM method of analysis are suggested to further enhance and broaden its applicability.

A time-dependent bioeconomic model of commercial beef breed choices

Abstract The breed choice decision requires simultaneous consideration of both economic and physical relationships in light of the multi-year, multi-product nature of commerical cow-calf production. To accomplish this a time-dependent bioeconomic model of cow-calf production was developed in which both physical output-input relationships and production decisions are expressed in terms of cow age and stage of production. The breed choice and optimal herd distribution (culling age and proportion by age) decisions are then cast within the economic framework of maximizing net returns per unit of nutrient resource derived from a fixed land area. The resulting bioeconomic model is easily solved, as illustrated by an empirical example evaluating 16 alternative breed choices for a representative West Texas ranch. Results indicate a marked economic preference for smaller, higher productivity animals, such as Sahiwal. Conversely, large, slow maturing breeds with marginal reproductive capacity, such as Charolais, are least profitable for the fixed resource area defined.