Vicki A. McCracken

Household Consumption of Food-Away-From-Home: Total Expenditure and by Type of Food Facility

Consistent with prior expectations based on household production theory, household income, time value, size and composition, and the environment in which production and consumption occurred were all important determinants of total household expenditures on food-away-from-home. However, the importance of these factors varied by type of food facility: conventional restaurants, fast-food facilities, and other commercial establishments. Decomposition of the tobit elasticities indicated the differential importance of market participation effects of household size, income, and time value by level of the variable and by type of food facility.

Insights into willingness to pay for organic cotton apparel

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic versus conventionally produced cotton apparel, and to explore the role of purchase behaviors, apparel attributes and consumer beliefs about organics in purchase decisions.Design/methodology/approach – A 2nd priced auction was used to estimate WTP, along with a follow‐up survey to collect information on participants’ demographics, attitudes and behavior.Findings – On average, participants were willing to pay a 25 percent premium for an organic cotton t‐shirt over the visibly similar t‐shirt made from conventionally produced cotton. Participants who pay for their own clothing or make purchase decisions alone were not willing to pay a premium. Previous history of purchasing organic foods, perceived product quality, fit and the participants race were also significant predictors of WTP.Research limitations/implications – A more representative sample and the inclusion of other product categories are necessary to...

Time Value and Its Impact on Household Food Expenditures Away From Home

Food away from home (FAFH) expenditure equations derived from household production theory stress the importance of of time constraint implicit in house hold decision making. Numerous methods have been suggested in the literature to quantify the value of time. The measure of time value developed in this study was based on the opportunity cost approach and indicates the importance of correcting for labor force participation selection bias when estimating potential wages for non-labor-force participants. In general, value of time, income, house hold size and composition, and other environmental variables significantly influ enced FAFH expenditures. The results also indicate the importance of distinguish ing between FAFH expenditures at different types of eating places.

What Affects Demand for “The Greatest Snow On Earth?”

Utah has world-class ski resorts, seven located within an hours drive from the Salt Lake City International Airport. Such close proximity of resorts suggests a highly competitive market. This article empirically estimates how price, income, price at other ski resorts, weather, cost of transportation, and days of the week affect the number of visits for different groups of skiers at one resort. Skiers are responsive to changes in transportation costs and days of the week. The estimates are used to calculate the price elasticity of demand as well as the cross price elasticity of competing ski resorts. Results show that half-day skiers and college students are more price sensitive and hence more likely to select other ski resorts when own resort ticket prices increase.

Integrating Historic Agronomic and Policy Lessons with New Technologies to Drive Farmer Decisions for Farm and Climate: The Case of Inland Pacific Northwestern U.S.

Climate-friendly best management practices for mitigating and adapting to climate change (cfBMPs) include changes in crop rotation, soil management and resource use. Determined largely by precipitation gradients, specific agroecological systems in the inland Pacific Northwestern U.S. (iPNW) feature different practices across the region. Historically, these farming systems have been economically productive, but at the cost of high soil erosion rates and organic matter depletion, making them win-lose situations. Agronomic, sociological, political and economic drivers all influence cropping system innovations. Integrated, holistic conservation systems also need to be identified to address climate change by integrating cfBMPs that provide win-win benefits for farmer and environment. We conclude that systems featuring short-term improvements in farm economics, market diversification, resource efficiency and soil health will be most readily adopted by farmers, thereby simultaneously addressing longer term challenges including climate change. Specific ‘win-win scenarios’ are designed for different iPNW production zones delineated by water availability. The cfBMPs include reduced tillage and residue management, organic carbon (C) recycling, precision nitrogen (N) management and crop rotation diversification and intensification. Current plant breeding technologies have provided new cultivars of canola and pea that can diversify system agronomics and markets. These agronomic improvements require associated shifts in prescriptive, precision N and weed management. The integrated cfBMP systems we describe have the potential for reducing system-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by increasing soil C storage, N use efficiency (NUE) and by production of biofuels. Novel systems, even if they are economically competitive, can come with increased financial risk to producers, necessitating government support (e.g., subsidized crop insurance) to promote adoption. Other conservation- and climate change-targeted farm policies can also improve adoption. Ultimately, farmers must meet their economic and legacy goals to assure longer-term adoption of mature cfBMP for iPNW production systems.

What Attributes Are Consumers Looking for in Sweet Cherries? Evidence from Choice Experiments

We investigate heterogeneous consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various sweet cherry attributes using choice experiments. A mixed logit model and a latent-class logit model are used to estimate consumer WTP for the attributes and identify groups of consumers based on those preferences. We find that consumers of sweet cherries will pay the greatest premium for sweetness and the smallest premium for fruit size. Three groups of consumers are identified—flavor sensitive, price sensitive, and storage sensitive. The results are useful for suppliers of sweet cherries when adopting targeted marketing strategies.

Pricing of raw agricultural products by quality attributes: Case study of Concord grapes

Numerous fruits and vegetables are priced according to the level of one or more quality characteristics. From a growers perspective there is a trade-off between quantity (yield) and the quality characteristics for which priced premiums are explicitly paid. This article develops a procedure to analyze such trade-offs and applies it to the situation of Concord grapes. The quality attributes included were soluble solids (sugar), pH, acid, and color. Relationships among these attributes and yield were estimated using regression procedures. The estimated coefficients were used in a separable programming model in order to impute values for the attributes.

U.S. Peach Producer Preference and Willingness to Pay for Fruit Attributes

This study investigates U.S. peach producers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for potential improvement of peach fruit attributes. Data were collected from 124 U.S. peach producers. The choice experiment and socioeconomic data were analyzed using mixed logit (ML) models to estimate the producer WTP and preferences for peach attributes. The results indicate that the WTP for attribute values vary across peach producers from different production regions (California and eastern United States), with different selling targets (fresh and processed) and different orchard sizes (smaller or larger than 15 acres). These results provide useful information for peach breeders in prioritizing traits in their breeding programs. Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] is an important crop for both fresh and processed markets in worldwide. It is increasingly challenging for peach producers to select the ideal scion cultivar that satisfies market requirements and maximizes their profits, especially considering the high capital investment for establishment and time lag to generating a positive cash flow (Day et al., 2009; Yue et al., 2014). Total farm gate value of U.S. peach production was

Should I ski today? The economics of ski resort season passes

606 million in 2015 and used production was 825,415 tons, including 467,680 tons for processing (USDA NASS, 2016). Although commercial production is distributed across 23 states, California is the largest producer, accounting for 73% of total U.S. production in 2015. Forty-eight percent of fresh peaches and 96% of processed peaches were produced in California, with South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey the second, third, and fourth top production states, respectively. Total peach production in 2015 dropped by 13% from 978,260 tons in 2012 (USDA NASS, 2013). Meanwhile, the average price of fresh peach in 2015 increased by 12% to

Estimation of market equilibrium values for apple attributes

734/ton compared with