Miguel I. Gómez

Factors Influencing Illinois Farmland Values

A hedonic model of Illinois farmland values is estimated using county-level cross-section time-series data. Explanatory variables include land productivity, parcel size, improvements, distances to Chicago and other large cities, an urban-rural index, livestock production through swine operation scale and farm density measures, population density, income, and inflation. The inclusion of spatial and serial correlation components substantially improves the model fit. Farmland values decline with parcel size, ruralness, distance to Chicago and large cities, and swine farm density, and increase with soil productivity, population density, and personal income.

Research Principles for Developing Country Food Value Chains

From farm to table, multidisciplinary research is needed to improve the economic benefit of food production in the developing world. Food value chains (FVCs) comprise all activities required to bring farm products to consumers, including agricultural production, processing, storage, marketing, distribution, and consumption. FVCs are changing rapidly in developing countries (DCs), because of population and income growth; urbanization; and the expansion, globally and domestically, of modern food retailing, distribution, and wholesaling firms (1, 2). One such change is that consumers and regulators increasingly demand product-specific characteristics beyond price—including nutrient content; food safety certification; and indicators of impacts on natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and farmworkers. To accommodate these multidimensional demands, regulators and firms are developing new multiattribute product labeling and production standards. We outline below ways in which scientists must integrate existing disciplinary evidence into rigorous models and must develop measures and methods to evaluate the multidimensional performance of FVCs.

Economic Impact of Grapevine Leafroll Disease on Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet franc in Finger Lakes Vineyards of New York

Leafroll disease is one of the most important virus diseases of grapevines worldwide. It reduces yields, delays fruit ripening, reduces soluble solids, and increases titratable acidity in fruit juice. This study uses a net present value (NPV) approach over a 25-year lifespan of a vineyard to examine the economic impact of grapevine leafroll disease (GLRD) on Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet franc in Finger Lakes vineyards of New York. It identifies optimal disease control options under several scenarios of disease prevalence, yield reduction, and fruit quality effects. The estimated economic impact of GLRD ranges from approximately

Costs of Improving Food Safety in the Meat Sector

25,000 (for a 30% yield reduction and no grape quality penalty) to

Economic analysis of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis vaccines in dairy herds

40,000 (for a 50% yield reduction and a 10% penalty for poor fruit quality) per hectare in the absence of any control measure. The per hectare impact of GLRD can be substantially reduced to

Empirical analysis of budget and allocation of trade promotions in the U.S. supermarket industry

3,000–

Ensuring Food Safety and Quality in Farm-Level Production: Emerging Lessons from the Pork Industry

23,000 through roguing if levels of disease prevalence are moderate (1–25%). With disease prevalence levels greater than 25%, replacing the entire vineyard is the optimal response, yielding economic losses of ~

The incidence of producer welfare losses from food safety regulation in the meat industry

25,000/ha. Furthermore, the use of vines derived from certified, virus-tested stocks in replant sites is predicted to keep the costs associated with GLRD infection to ~

Reducing the Economic Impact of Grapevine Leafroll Disease in California: Identifying Optimal Disease Management Strategies

1,800/ha. No intervention appears to be economically optimal when (1) infection levels are high (>25%), yield reduction is moderate (<30%), and no price penalty is enforced or (2) when GLRD is transmitted through vectors after year 19. These findings are valuable to construct integrated decision matrices for vineyard managers to devise profit-maximizing disease control strategies and to create incentives for extended uses of clean, virus-tested planting material.

A Plant-Level, Spatial, Bioeconomic Model of Plant Disease Diffusion and Control: Grapevine Leafroll Disease

Recently enacted food safety regulations require processors to meet product standards for microbial contamination in meat products. An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of several technological interventions for microbial control in beef and pork processing shows that marginal improvements in food safety can be obtained, but at increasing costs. The additional food safety intervention costs represent about 1% of total processing costs for beef and pork. Some interventions and combinations are more cost-effective than others.