Esendugue Greg Fonsah

Growing Organic Rabbiteye Blueberries in Georgia, USA: Results of Two Multi-Year Field Studies

South Georgia is a major blueberry production region located in the warm and humid northern subtropics. The region enjoys a favorable market window, but pressure from weeds, insects, and diseases raised questions as to whether organic production would be feasible in this climatic zone. Two multi-year field studies were conducted to determine the best practices for organic culture of blueberries and to compare yields with conventional production. Various methods of weed control were tested. While organic burn-down herbicides performed poorly on the grasses that are the dominating weeds in blueberry in southern Georgia, mulches and a rolling cultivator were successful in maintaining a weed-free strip on the side of the organic beds. Hand-weeding was needed at the interface between the mulches and the cultivated strip. Pine straw and pine bark mulch resulted in the lowest hand-weeding times, whereas pine bark and wheat straw were the highest-yielding treatments. Some other locally available plant-derived or synthetic mulches also performed well for organic blueberry establishment, hence, the decision as to which mulch to use can be based partly on availability of local resources. A separate 6-year study compared yields in conventional and organic production systems. Weed problems in year 1 caused the growth of the organically managed plants to fall behind those grown conventionally, but over time very good yields (ca. 5,900 kg /ha) were produced by the organic method using pine bark mulch, and net returns over the 6-year period were higher than conventional. Organic production of rabbiteye blueberries in Georgia appears commercially feasible.

US import demand for apple: source differentiated almost ideal demand system approach

We adopted a restricted version of Source Differentiated Almost Ideal Demand System (RSDAIDS) to analyse the US import demand for fresh apples, apple juice and other processed apples after differentiating each type of apple by import origins. Seasonality and time trend variables were included in the RSDAIDS model and the general demand restrictions of adding-up, homogeneity and slutsky symmetry were imposed. The system of equations is then estimated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) and the results of the estimation are presented in the form of parameter estimates, as well as price and expenditure elasticities.

Effectiveness of tomato-spotted wilt virus management tactics.

ABSTRACT Tomato-spotted wilt (TSW) is caused by the tomato-spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and is a major disease affecting the production of tomato and pepper in the Southeastern United States. Before initiating a multistate, regional project addressing this issue, a survey was conducted in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to assess the need for improved management of TSWV in these crops. We investigated farmers stated effectiveness of four common TSWV management tactics (reflective mulch, resistant cultivar, imidacloprid, and Actiguard) in pepper and tomato production using logistic regression. We found that the odds that farmers were satisfied with the use of reflective mulch alone in controlling TSWV is 9-1, about one and a half times the amount obtained from using Actiguard alone. Moreover, the odds that farmers were satisfied with a practice that combines reflective mulch and Actiguard was far greater than that obtained from using each of the technique separately. We found some similarities between farmers stated effectiveness and revealed effectiveness from experiments.

Discussion: Future Domestic and International Competitiveness of the Southern Fruit and Vegetable Industry

Remarkable changes have occurred over the years in the domestic and international economic environment of the fruit and vegetable industry. These changes are partly driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement, nutrition policies, and development and enforcement of new food safety standards. The articles in this invited session examined the effect of these drivers and their implication on the future competitiveness of the southern fruit and vegetable industry.

Estimating the U.S. Import Demand for Melons: A Dynamic Analysis Approach

The United States is one of the worlds leading consumers as well as one of the worlds leading producers of melons. However, U.S. melons are produced only from May through December. In order to supplement the domestic demand and make melons available year-round, the United States imports melons from Latin American countries. This article analyzes the U.S. demand for imported fresh and frozen melons using monthly data on import volumes and values. A static and a dynamic linear Almost Ideal Demand System are estimated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR). The estimated parameters are used to estimate the short- and long-run price and expenditure elasticities.

Estimation of Crop Yields and Insurance Premiums Using a Shrinkage Estimator

We explore the estimation of crop yields and insurance premiums using a hierarchical Bayes small area estimator. The estimator is evaluated for Area Yield Production (AYP) policy using quasi-simulated corn yields in the United States. Its performance in producing reliable mean county yield and premium estimates is compared to that of a naive estimator. We also investigate the impact of these efficiency improvements on the residual losses between a farm-level policy and AYP. The proposed estimator is found to be substantially more efficient and less biased than the naive estimator.

The Impact of Migration, Remittances and Public Transfers on Technology Adoption: The Case of Cereal Producers in Rural Kenya

Risk and liquidity constraints are major obstacles to the adoption of modern technologies in many rural African countries. Migration and remittances can help rural households overcome these constraints and increase the adoption of modern technologies. We analyse the impact of migration, remittances and government transfers on the adoption of improved seeds in rural Kenya. Using data from the World Bank, two stage least‐squares estimates show that both migration and remittances positively affect the adoption of improved seeds. However, three stage least‐squares estimates reveal that the adoption of new technologies is more related to migration than remittances.

Incorporating Structure and Stochasticity in Muscadine Grape Enterprise Budget and Investment Analysis

We developed and investigated a stochastic farm enterprise budget framework that properly accounts for uncertainty in estimates used for investment decisions and structural dependency between yields and prices, which is generally absent in traditional (nonstochastic) budgets. In the first stage, we developed a traditional enterprise budget based on theoretical and accounting methods recommended by the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) Task Force on Commodity Costs and Returns. In the second stage, we developed a probabilistic framework based on estimates derived from the traditional approach, and extended the approach to a stochastic framework through Monte Carlo simulations under specific price elasticity of demand. We applied the framework to estimate the costs, revenues, and conducted investment analysis of producing muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) in Georgia using a single-trellis system. Finally, we compared results derived from both approaches and revealed muscadine grape production and marketing to be an economically sound investment under multiple scenarios. Overall, the confidence placed on traditional budget estimates and investment outcomes was found to be overestimated at least 3-fold. This suggests that the true uncertainty in the returns and profitability of the business is grossly underestimated, erroneously painting a more promising outlook of investing in muscadine grape production.