To estimate the annual cost of infections attributable to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus to US swine producers.
Economic analysis.
Data on the health and productivity of ...PRRS-affected and PRRS-unaffected breeding herds and growing-pig populations were collected from a convenience sample of swine farms in the midwestern United States.
Health and productivity variables of PRRS-affected and PRRS-unaffected swine farms were analyzed to estimate the impact of PRRS on specific farms. National estimates of PRRS incidence were then used to determine the annual economic impact of PRRS on US swine producers.
PRRS affected breeding herds and growing-pig populations as measured by a decrease in reproductive health, an increase in deaths, and reductions in the rate and efficiency of growth. Total annual economic impact of these effects on US swine producers was estimated at dollar 66.75 million in breeding herds and dollar 493.57 million in growing-pig populations.
PRRS imposes a substantial financial burden on US swine producers and causes approximately dollar 560.32 million in losses each year. By comparison, prior to eradication, annual losses attributable to classical swine fever (hog cholera) and pseudorabies were estimated at dollar 364.09 million and dollar 36.27 million, respectively (adjusted on the basis of year 2004 dollars). Current PRRS control strategies are not predictably successful; thus, PRRS-associated losses will continue into the future. Research to improve our understanding of ecologic and epidemiologic characteristics of the PRRS virus and technologic advances (vaccines and diagnostic tests) to prevent clinical effects are warranted.
This study investigates worker shares of the returns to scale and returns to technology adoption on U.S. hog farms. The wage analysis controls for a matching process by which workers are linked to ...farms of different sizes and technology uses. Using four surveys of employees on hog farms collected in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, we find persistent large wage premiums are paid to workers on larger farms and on technologically advanced farms that remain large and statistically significant even after controlling for differences in observable worker attributes and in the observed sorting process of workers across farms.
We design and implement a method, CVM-X, to calibrate hypothetical survey values using experimental auction markets. We test the procedure using consumer willingness-to-pay for ...irradiated/nonirradiated meat. Our results show that calibration factors for those who favor the irradiation process (0.67-0.69) are less severe than for those with an initial dislike of the process (0.55-0.59), suggesting that calibration may be commodity specific.
This paper tests the conjecture that the divergence of willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) for identical goods is driven by the degree of substitution between goods. In contrast ...to well-known results for market goods with close substitutes (i.e., candy bars and coffee mugs), our results indicate a convergence of WTP and WTA measures of value. However, for a nonmarket good with imperfect substitutes (i.e., reduced health risk), the divergence of WTP and WTA value measures is persistent, even with repeated market participation and full information on the nature of the good.
Valuing food safety in experimental auction markets Hayes, Dermot J.; Shogren, Jason F.; Shin, Seung Youll ...
American journal of agricultural economics,
February 1995, Letnik:
77, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In this paper, we value food safety in a nonhypothetical setting-experimental auction markets. First, subjects underestimate the relatively low probabilities of food-borne illness. Second, measures ...of value are within a relatively flat range across a wide range of risks, even with repeated market experience and full information on the objective probability and severity of illness, suggesting subjects rely on prior perceptions. Third, marginal willingness to pay decreases as risk increases, suggesting that the perceived quality of new information can affect the weight the individuals place on the information. Finally, pathogen-specific values seem to act as surrogates for general food safety preferences
Bid data from a Vickrey auction for pork chops with embedded environmental attributes were analyzed. It was found that approximately 62% of the participants had a positive WTP for the most ..."environmentally friendly" package of pork. Thirty percent of the participants had no WTP, and 8% had a negative WTP. A polychotomous choice model was used to accommodate data having an anchoring point within the distribution of the data. Standard variables found in the WTP literature coupled with this model were used to predict participants who were premium payers and non-premium payers using an estimated ordered probit equation.
We study business organization and coordination of specialty-market hog production using a comparative analysis of two Iowa firms marketing niche pork. We analyze each firm's management of five key ...organizational challenges: planning and logistics, quality assurance, process verification and management of "credence attributes," business structure, and profit sharing. Although each firm is engaged in essentially the same activity, there are substantial differences across the two firms in the way production and marketing are coordinated. These differences are partly explained by the relative size and age of each firm, but also by the formal organizational separation between marketing and production activities in one of the firms.
We propose a strategy to identify the complementarity or substitutability among technology bundles. Differences between the observed distribution of technology choices can be subjected to statistical ...tests. Combinations of technologies that occur with greater frequency than would occur under independence are complementary technologies. Combinations that occur with less frequency are substitute technologies. We use the strategy to evaluate multiple technology adoptions on US hog farms. As the number of bundled technologies increases, they are increasingly likely to be complementary with one another, even if subsets are substitutes when viewed in isolation.
► We propose to identify the complementarity among multiple technology bundles. ► Complementary technology combinations occur more often than under independence. ► We use the strategy to evaluate multiple technology adoptions on US hog farms. ► Complementarity increases with the number of bundled technologies.
Residents, developers and civic officials are often faced with difficult decisions about appropriate land uses in and around metropolitan boundaries. Urban expansion brings with it the potential for ...negative environmental impacts, but there are alternatives, such as conservation subdivision design (CSD) or low-impact development (LID), which offer the possibility of mitigating some of these effects at the development site. Many urban planning jurisdictions across the Midwest do not currently have any examples of these designs and lack information to identify public support or barriers to use of these methods. This is a case study examining consumer value for conservation and low-impact design features in one housing market by using four different valuation techniques to estimate residents’ willingness to pay for CSD and LID features in residential subdivisions.
A contingent valuation survey of 1804 residents in Ames, IA assessed familiarity with and perceptions of subdivision development and used an ordered value approach to estimate willingness to pay for CSD and LID features. A majority of residents were not familiar with CSD or LID practices. Residents indicated a willingness to pay for most CSD and LID features with the exception of clustered housing. Gender, age, income, familiarity with LID practices, perceptions of attractiveness of features and the perceived effect of CSD and LID features on ease of future home sales were important factors influencing residents’ willingness to pay. A hypothetical referendum measured willingness to pay for tax-funded conservation land purchases and estimated that a property tax of around $50 would be the maximum increase that would pass.
Twenty-seven survey respondents participated in a subsequent series of experimental real estate negotiations that used an experimental auction mechanism to estimate willingness to pay for CSD and LID features. Participants indicated that clustered housing (with interspersed preserved forest or open space areas), rain gardens, and neighborhood streams with a forested buffer were the features they were most willing to pay for. Participants were not willing to pay for neighborhood streams without buffers.
Finally, a spatial hedonic price model using 2093 homes in Ames, IA was used to estimate the effect of public and private open space on housing values. The model indicated that presence of neighborhood association-owned forest and water features as well as proximity to public parks had significant positive effects on housing prices. However, proximity to a public lake had a negative effect on home values.
The four methods used in this study include both stated and revealed preference techniques. Although the relative magnitude of value expressed varied, all methods indicated that residents value CSD and LID subdivision features. Subdivision features that included explicit environmental benefits were also consistently preferred over features that did not. Familiarity with alternative designs was an important factor influencing resident willingness to pay for neighborhood features, and developers and civic officials should consider ways to educate citizens about CSD and LID development techniques to increase interest in these designs.
► The value of conservation subdivisions or low-impact development was examined. ► Residents expressed notable value for environmental subdivision features. ► Citizen education is needed to increase interest in these subdivision designs.
Feed additives can change the microbiological environment of the animal digestive track, nutrient composition of feces, and its gaseous emissions. This 2-yr field study involving commercial ...laying-hen houses in central Iowa was conducted to assess the effects of feeding diets containing EcoCal and corn-dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) on ammonia (NH
3
), hydrogen sulfide (H
2
S), and greenhouse gas (CO
2
, CH
4
, and N
2
O) emissions. Three high-rise layer houses (256,600 W-36 hens per house) received standard industry diet (Control), a diet containing 7% EcoCal (EcoCal) or a diet containing 10% DDGS (DDGS). Gaseous emissions were continuously monitored during the period of December 2007 to December 2009, covering the full production cycle. The 24-month test results revealed that mean NH
3
emission rates were 0.58 ± 0.05, 0.82 ± 0.04, and 0.96 ± 0.05 g/hen/day for the EcoCal, DDGS, and Control diet, respectively. Namely, compared to the Control diet, the EcoCal and DDGS diets reduced NH
3
emission by an average of 39.2% and 14.3%, respectively. The concurrent H
2
S emission rates were 5.39 ± 0.46, 1.91 ± 0.13, and 1.79 ± 0.16 mg/hen/day for the EcoCal, DDGS, and Control diet, respectively. CO
2
emission rates were similar for the three diets, 87.3 ± 1.37, 87.4 ± 1.26, and 89.6 ± 1.6 g/hen/day for EcoCal, DDGS, and Control, respectively (P = 0.45). The DDGS and EcoCal houses tended to emit less CH
4
than the Control house (0.16 and 0.12 vs. 0.20 g/hen/day) during the monitored summer season. The efficacy of NH
3
emission reduction by the EcoCal diet decreased with increasing outside temperature, varying from 72.2% in February 2009 to −7.10% in September 2008. Manure of the EcoCal diet contained 68% higher ammonia nitrogen (NH
3
-N) and 4.7 times higher sulfur content than that of the Control diet. Manure pH values were 8.0, 8.9, and 9.3 for EcoCal, DDGS, and Control diets, respectively. This extensive field study verifies that dietary manipulation provides a viable means to reduce NH
3
emissions from modern laying-hen houses.
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