Lydia Zepeda

Tenure Security, Investment and Productivity in Gambian Agriculture: A Generalized Probit Analysis

The determinants of investment, input use, and productivity are investigated under customary tenure in peri-urban areas of the Gambia. A structural model is specified to investigate the role of tenure security on farm investments and input use and thereby on yield. Testing of the structural form hypotheses requires simultaneous equation estimation. Containing both continuous and discrete endogenous variables, the model is estimated as a feasible generalized least squares Amemiyas generalized probit. Some of the positive relationships hypothesized between tenure security, investment, and yields are corroborated. In particular, tenure security is found to enhance long-term investments, which in turn enhance yields. Copyright 1997, Oxford University Press.

Characteristics of Organic Food Shoppers

Data from a national survey of food shoppers are analyzed by probit and ordered probit models that incorporate elements of Lancasters product attribute model and Weinsteins precaution adoption process. The models are used to investigate the characteristics of organic and non-organic food shoppers. Where one shops, food beliefs and food knowledge have the largest significant impact on the probability that shoppers buy organic food. Among the demographic characteristics, only the lack of religious affiliation, higher education, and youth are significant explanatory variables.

Asymmetry and Nonstationarity in the Farm Size Distribution of Wisconsin Milk Producers: An Aggregate Analysis

A Markov model is developed to test the nonstationarity and asymmetry of factors affecting the evolution of Wisconsin dairy farms using aggregate data. The model is used to examine how prices, interest rates, debt, drought, and the dairy termination program affected farm growth and the entry and exit of Wisconsin dairy farms by size categories during 1972–92.

Consumer Risk Perceptions Toward Agricultural Biotechnology, Self‐Protection, and Food Demand: The Case of Milk in the United States

This study is an econometric systems approach to modeling the factors and linkages affecting risk perceptions toward agricultural biotechnology, self-protection actions, and food demand. This model is applied to milk in the United States, but it can be adapted to other products as well as other categories of risk perceptions. The contribution of this formulation is the ability to examine how explanatory factors influence risk perceptions and whether they translate into behavior and ultimately what impact this has on aggregate markets. Haddens outrage factors on heightening risk perceptions are among the factors examined. In particular, the article examines the role of labeling as a means of permitting informed consent to mitigate outrage factors. The effects of attitudinal, economic, and demographic factors on risk perceptions are also explored, as well as the linkage between risk perceptions, consumer behavior, and food demand. Because risk perceptions and self-protection actions are categorical variables and demand is a continuous variable, the model is estimated as a two-stage mixed system with a covariance correction procedure suggested by Amemiya. The findings indicate that it is the availability of labeling, not the price difference, between that labeled milk and milk produced with recombinant bovine Somatotropin (rbST) that significantly affects consumers selection of rbST-free milk. The results indicate that greater availability of labeled milk would not only significantly increase the proportion of consumers who purchased labeled milk, its availability would also reduce the perception of risk associated with rbST, whether consumers purchase it or not. In other words, availability of rbST-free milk translates into lower risk perceptions toward milk produced with rbST.

The adaptive consumer: shifting attitudes, behavior change and CSA membership renewal

A qualitative study was conducted with a subset of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership base in Wisconsin, USA to examine attitude and behavior change associated with membership. Changes that were examined included: modified eating or cooking habits, increased consideration of food seasonality and associated consumer preferences for seasonal products, and an enhanced appreciation for farming. Although this study investigated ‘spillover’ attitude or behavior changes (e.g. reduced driving or increased use of environmentally friendly cleaning products), none were observed. This study indicates that attitude and behavior changes are generated by the structural elements of CSA including exposure to the farm, interactions with the farmer, and the constraints imposed by a pre-selected bundle of vegetables. There was no indication that changes occur due to the development and enforcement of social norms within the CSA membership base. Community, in the context of this CSA, is expressed primarily as a conceptual community of interest. Our results suggest that demonstrated attitude and behavior change increases the likelihood that a consumer will renew their CSA membership.

When the Work is Never Done: Time Allocation in US Family Farm Households

In this paper we use a Nash-cooperative bargaining framework to examine how members of US family farm households allocate their time between work and leisure. Time allocation categories for parents include farm, off-farm, and household work, as well as leisure time; for children, the categories are farm work and leisure time. The analysis includes 227 Wisconsin dairy farm households. Most notably, the results confirm that US women and children make significant labor contributions and that both women and men are decision-makers regarding their own and their childrens time allocation. The results also show that intra-household time allocation on US farms is gender specific, and that the fathers economic status has the largest impact on the time allocation of household members. The findings also confirm that childrens labor makes an important economic contribution to the operation of their family farm.

Overcoming challenges to effectiveness of mobile markets in US food deserts

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether mobile food markets may be effective in facilitating healthy food choices in food deserts. We investigate who does and does not use mobile food markets and why, and whether mobile markets have the potential to alter attitudes and food choices, and if so, how? We use a focus group study at four sites in the US to ask groups of mobile market shoppers and non-shoppers about their shopping, cooking, and eating attitudes and behaviors. We find that mobile market shoppers eat significantly more servings of fruits and vegetables, however, both shoppers and non-shoppers perceive fruits and vegetables as luxury items, and both groups lack knowledge about what is a serving and what is the recommended number of servings per day. Both groups identified the following needs for mobile markets to be more successful: increased awareness and advertising; affordability; improved convenience by offering more stops and hours, as well as greater variety of items for one-stop shopping; emphasis on value and service; and building trust within communities.

Farm level trade-offs of intensifying tropical milk production

Abstract This research examines trade-offs between costs and production practices of intensification of milk production in highland Costa Rica. We identify bottlenecks to intensification and how they affect choices between more and less sustainable practices. To this end, we constructed a linear programming model of a highland dairy farm to simulate farmer decision making. Six models for three farm sizes are constructed from data collected via a 1990 survey and published material on nutritional requirements and forage yields. Significant economic and environmental trade-offs are found in response to low labor productivity or availability, and low protein content of forages. Costs are the focus on the economic side while on the environmental side, intensification, incentives to deforest, use of cut feed versus more erosive pasture, and manure versus chemical fertilization are examined. Land intensification is not economic unless researchers can provide labor-saving devices appropriate for small farms or improve protein content of forages. Another finding is that dry season milk production costs farmers in the region 1.1 to 3.4 colones more per kg than rainy season production (3.3% to 13.6%, depending upon the price received for milk). Expanding storage facilities would cost the processing plant less than paying farmers a two colones premium for year-round production. Since the value of land for producing milk exceeds clearing costs in nearly all models, compliance with land use controls to improve environmental sustainability is unlikely. Finally, targeting input and credit subsidies to inputs which improve labor productivity and encourage environmentally sustainable practices would mitigate economic and environmental trade-offs in milk production.

The Status of Women Agricultural Economists in Academia

The results of three surveys on the status of women agricultural economists in academia are reported. Data from a 1990 survey were used to test hypotheses about the distribution of women graduate students and faculty. Data from a 1991 departmental survey of graduate students were used to examine the composition of international versus domestic students by gender and program. A 1991 survey of women graduate students was used to examine their needs, preferences, and interests. Results from the three surveys show similar trends for women in both economics and academia in general. A pyramid structure exists for the percentage of women at both the student and faculty levels. However, despite attending high-ranking schools and having research interests that closely match those of academia, 74.5 percent of female students said that they would prefer a non-academic position for their first job. This may pose problems for academic recruitment, as well as have an impact on the future quality of academic research. Based on our findings, we propose strategies to attract women in order to provide departments with a larger pool of female job candidates. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

The harassment tax

A senior faculty member asked me into his office. I assumed it was to talk about agricultural data. It was the fall of 1991 and I was untenured, 32 years old, and 7 months pregnant. He was in his 60s and one of many men who were going to vote on my tenure. He showed me the recent issue of Vanity