THIS STUDY ESTIMATES AND ANALYZE THE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF PORK FARMS FROM FIVE EU COUNTRIES. THE GENERALIZED TRUE RANDOM-EFFECTS (GTRE) MODEL WAS USED TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PERSISTENT AND TRANSITORY TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT ELASTICITIES ARE ROBUST TO VARIOUS SPECIFICATIONS. SPANISH FARMS SHOW THE HIGHEST AVERAGE EFFICIENCY SCORE. IN DENMARK, GERMANY, FRANCE, AND POLAND, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH ARE FOUND IN TRANSITIONAL EFFICIENCY. THE DEGREE OF PRODUCTIVE SPECIALIZATION IN THE FIVE COUNTRIES HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT IN THE EFFICIENCY. IN DENMARK, GERMANY, AND FRANCE, PERSISTENT EFFICIENCY HAS A POSITIVE ASSOCIATION WITH THE FRACTION OF PAID LABOR.

THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE EFFECT OF WEATHER ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF YIELD AND ITS SUBSEQUENT IMPACT ON THE ACREAGE ALLOCATION DECISIONS OF CROP FARMERS IN ONTARIO. THE MEAN AND VARIANCE OF YIELD ARE ESTIMATED FOR CORN, SOYBEANS, AND WINTER WHEAT FOR EIGHT COUNTIES IN ONTARIO OVER A 26-YEAR PERIOD. THE PREDICTED PARAMETERS OF THE YIELD DISTRIBUTION ARE THEN USED ALONG WITH EXPECTATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CROP PRICE TO ESTIMATE AREA RESPONSE FUNCTIONS. A PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTION OF THE PAPER IS THE DECOMPOSITION OF THE REVENUE IMPACT ON CROP AREA ALLOCATION INTO SEPARATE AVERAGE AND VARIANCE CONTRIBUTIONS FOR BOTH PRICE AND YIELD. THIS DECOMPOSITION ILLUSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPECTED YIELD IN THE AREA ALLOCATION DECISIONS. CROP YIELD IS ESPECIALLY INFLUENCED BY THE LENGTH OF THE GROWING SEASON AND THIS HAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON ACREAGE ALLOCATIONS. THIS IMPLIES THAT CROP AREA WILL BE ALTERED IN RESPONSE TO EXPECTED CHANGES IN CLIMATE, EVEN WITHOUT SHIFTS IN CROP PRICES.

THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO ANALYZE THE SPATIAL PRICE TRANSMISSION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR DAIRY PRODUCTS AND MILK PRICE PAID TO PRODUCERS IN CHILE AND TO ANALYZE THE STRUCTURE OF CHILEAN MILK MARKET. THE INTERNATIONAL PRICE OF WHOLE MILK POWDER AND THE AMOUNT PAID TO DOMESTIC PRODUCERS WERE CONSIDERED. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRY HAS A DISTURBING CONCENTRATION, FORMING AN OLIGOPSONY WITH THE PROCESSING OF MILK, AND THESE COMPANIES HAVE A HIGH MARKET POWER AND INFLUENCE ON THE PRICE. THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS REALIZED WITH THE ENGLE AND GRANGER APPROACH AND THRESHOLD COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS (TAR, MTAR AND THEIR CONSISTENT COUNTERPARTS), SHOWED IN THEIR RESULTS THAT THE TIME SERIES ARE COINTEGRATED, EXISTING ASYMMETRY IN THE PRICE TRANSMISSION, AND ALSO THE NEGATIVE SHOCKS IN PRICES WERE TRANSFERRED FASTER THAN POSITIVE SHOCKS.

PORK IS THE SECOND TYPE OF MEAT PRODUCED IN THE WORLD, WITH EUROPE BEING THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT REGION AFTER ASIA. WITHIN THE EUROPEAN PORK MEAT MARKET, DENMARK AND POLAND ARE TWO RELEVANT PLAYERS WITH SOME DIFFERENCES IN THEIR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS (PS). THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO STUDY THE VARIABLES THAT EXPLAIN THE BEHAVIOR OF PIG MEAT PRODUCTION AND THE RELATIVE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF THE PS, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE DIFFERENCES IN THE SYSTEMS. STOCHASTIC PRODUCTION FRONTIER MODELS OF THE TRANSLOG TYPE WERE USED FOR SAMPLES OF SWINE PRODUCERS IN THE PERIOD 2010- 2015. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE SAMPLES OF PRODUCERS FROM BOTH COUNTRIES PRESENT HIGH LEVELS OF EFFICIENCY, WITH VALUES OF 0.899 AND 0.859 FOR DENMARK AND POLAND, RESPECTIVELY. THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS THAT EXPLAIN PIG PRODUCTION ARE FOOD AND CAPITAL. IN ADDITION, POLAND PRESENTS SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGICAL GROWTH IN THE PERIOD WITHOUT CHANGES IN EFFICIENCY, WHILE DENMARK DOES NOT PRESENT SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS AND A DECREASE IN RELATIVE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN THE PERIOD.

RICE IS A BASIC COMPONENT IN THE DIET OF MORE THAN HALF OF THE WORLDS POPULATION, WITH 95% OF ITS PRODUCTION DESTINED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. SPAIN IS THE SECOND RICE PRODUCER IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (UE), GEOGRAPHICALLY LOCATED IN FOUR AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES CONTRIBUTING TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY. THIS STUDY AIMS AT ASSESSING THE PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY OF RICE FARMS IN THIS COUNTRY. TO OUR KNOWLEDGE, NO PREVIOUS WORK HAS DEALT WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF RICE FRAMERS IN THE EU IN GENERAL AND IN SPAIN IN PARTICULAR. WE USED THE GENERALIZED TRUE RAMDOM-EFFECTS MODEL TO ESTIMATE THE PERSISTENT AND TRANSIENT EFFICIENCY LEVELS OF FARMS AND IDENTIFYING THE PRODUCTION RISK FACTORS USING A SAMPLE OF 158 RICE FARMS OVER THE PERIOD 2014-2017. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS REVEAL AN OVERALL EFFICIENCY LEVEL OF 0.81 ON AVERAGE, MAINLY EXPLAINED BY THE LONG-TERM EFFICIENCY COMPONENT. MOREOVER, RESULTS SHOW AN IMPORTANT ROOM FOR EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT AT THE SHORT-TERM TO ENHANCE PRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT SKILLS OF FARMERS. FINALLY, LABOR, FERTILIZER, WATER AND INSURANCE SPENDING ARE LIKELY TO BE RISKDECREASING FACTORS.

THE EVALUATION OF CHARACTERISTICS AND COMPOSITION OF BEEF CATTLE CARCASS HAS IMPROVED MARKETING. IT REQUIRES TOOLS TO MEASURE IN VIVO, PARAMETERS THAT DEFINE PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS QUALITY IN A FASTER, REPLICABLE AND EFFICIENT METHOD. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO GENERATE MATHEMATICAL MODELS TO ESTIMATE THE AREA OF TOTAL LOIN EYE (AOLT) AND LIVE PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED ANIMALS INTENDED TO PRODUCE PREMIUM MEATS. BASED ON DATA COLLECTED FROM SLAUGHTER PLANTS IN THE BIOBIO REGION (CENTRE SOUTH CHILE), A SIMPLE LINEAR REGRESSION MODEL WAS APPLIED TO ESTIMATE THE AOLT CENTERED ON THE ELLIPSE AREA. THIS WAS USED TO GENERATE MODELS OF MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSIONS TO ESTIMATE WEIGHT OF CUTS OF HIGHER COMMERCIAL VALUE UNDER THE STEPWISE PROCEDURE, USING AS SELECTION CRITERIA THE LOWEST VALUE OF THE MEAN SQUARE ERROR (CME). IN CONCLUSION, IT IS POSSIBLE USING THE ELLIPSE AREA TO ESTIMATE IN VIVO THE AOLT AND WEIGHT OF CUTS OF HIGHER COMMERCIAL VALUE IN ANIMALS TO PRODUCE PREMIUM MEATS.

THIS PAPER USES AN ASYMMETRIC ARDL MODEL TO EXAMINE THE INFLUENCE OF REAL EXCHANGE RATE VOLATILITY ON TRADE FLOWS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA FROM JANUARY 2003 TO JUNE 2020, WITH THE TOP TWELVE SECTORS OF DISAGGREGATED DATA BEING EMPLOYED. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT NONLINEAR ADJUSTMENT OF THE VOLATILITY HAS A MORE SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME THAN THE ARDL MODEL ON BOTH U.S. EXPORTS TO AND IMPORTS FROM CHINA IN THE LONG-RUN, WHILE INCREASED VOLATILITY WILL BOOST BOTH U.S. IMPORTS FROM AND EXPORTS TO CHINA. BESIDES, IT SHOWS THAT CHINA BENEFITS FROM U.S.- CHINA TRADE ON THE SELECTED SECTORS AFTER JOINING THE WTO MORE THAN THE UNITED STATES.

THIS STUDY AIMS TO DETERMINE THE VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE THE BEHAVIOR OF MULTIFUND INVESTORS BY ANALYZING WHETHER THIS BEHAVIOR IS RELATED TO RATIONAL VARIABLES OR BEHAVIORAL PRINCIPLES. BASED ON DATA OBTAINED FROM THE SOCIAL PROTECTION SURVEY 2006-2009 WITH THE PURPOSE OF CHARACTERIZING THE INVESTORS AND IDENTIFYING THE VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR LEVEL OF INVESTMENT. FOR THE DATA ANALYSIS DATA, A MULTIPLE LOGISTIC MODEL WAS BUILT IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF VARIABLES. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH SUGGEST THAT VARIABLES SUCH AS SEX, AGE AND EDUCATION HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON THE DECISION MAKING OF INVESTORS.

IN RELATIVELY UNKNOWN PRODUCTS, CONSUMERS USE PRICES AS A QUALITY REFERENCE. UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, THE UTILITY FUNCTION CAN BE NON-NEGATIVE FOR A SPECIFIC PRICE RANGE AND GENERATE AN INVERTED U-SHAPED FUNCTION. THE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL MARKET IN CHILE IS A GOOD EXAMPLE. ALTHOUGH DOMESTIC PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION HAVE INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE OF THIS PRODUCT IS STILL LIMITED. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ANALYZE CHILEAN CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL ATTRIBUTES. CONSUMERS WERE SEGMENTED TAKING INTO ACCOUNT PURCHASING FREQUENCY. A RANDOM PARAMETER LOGIT MODEL WAS ESTIMATED FOR PREFERENCE HETEROGENEITY. RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE UTILITY FUNCTION IS NONLINEAR ALLOWING US TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN TWO REGIMES. IN THE FIRST REGIME, OLIVE OIL BEHAVES AS A CONSPICUOUS GOOD, THAT IS, HIGHER UTILITY IS ASSIGNED TO HIGHER PRICES AND CONSUMERS PREFER FOREIGN PRODUCTS IN SMALLER CONTAINERS. UNDER THE SECOND REGIME, CHILEAN OLIVE OIL IN LARGER CONTAINERS IS PREFERRED.

THIS STUDY EXAMINED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) INVESTMENT AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN CHILE DURING THE 1964?2017 PERIOD. TO ACHIEVE THIS OBJECTIVE, WE USED A COMBINED APPROACH BASED ON ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMETRIC MEASURES. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY GREW AT AN ANNUAL AVERAGE RATE OF 2.11%. ADDITIONALLY, THE EMPIRICAL FINDINGS SHOW A POSITIVE AND SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC R&D INVESTMENT AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY. FURTHERMORE, THE COST?BENEFIT ANALYSIS REVEALS A HIGH RETURN (15%?21%) TO PUBLIC R&D RESOURCES, WHICH MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO ENHANCING THE PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE OF CHILE'S AGRICULTURAL SECTOR. IN THIS REGARD, OUR FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT AGRICULTURAL R&D SPENDING HAS BEENPROFITABLE IN RECENT DECADES AND THAT A HIGHER ALLOCATION OF R&D RESOURCES IS JUSTIFIABLE. [ECONLIT CITATIONS: C22, Q14, Q16].

THIS STUDY AIMS TO EXAMINE THE IMPACT OF LAND TENURE ARRANGEMENTS ON PRODUCTION COSTS IN A SAMPLE OF RICE FARMERS IN ÑUBLE REGION, CHILE. A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER MODEL WAS ESTIMATED USING THE PRIMAL APPROACH ON A PANEL OF 107 FARMERS IN 2014-2015. PRODUCTION COST WAS BROKEN DOWN INTO FRONTIER COSTS AND INEFFICIENCY. ACCORDING TO FINDINGS, ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCY RAISES RICE PRODUCTION COSTS BY 82%. TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCY ACCOUNTS FOR A 61% INCREASE, WHILE ALLOCATIVE INEFFICIENCY ACCOUNTS FOR 21%. ACROSS TENURE TYPES, LAND IS THE INPUT WITH THE HIGHEST MISALLOCATION, ACCOUNTING FOR 93% OF ALLOCATIVE INEFFICIENCY COSTS. SHARECROPPING IS THE ARRANGEMENT ALLOCATING INPUTS MOST EFFICIENTLY, PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN PRODUCTION COSTS RELATIVE TO LEASING AND OWNERSHIP. THIS FINDING SUGGESTS THAT BEFORE DESIGNING A POLICY TO INDUCE A TENURE SYSTEM, IT IS NECESSARY TO EVALUATE SPECIFIC CASES AS THERE IS NO SYSTEM SUPERIOR TO ANOTHER, STRICTLY SPEAKING.

THE PIG MEAT PRODUCTION PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE SPANISH AGROFOOD SYSTEM. THE ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFICIENCY PERFORMANCE WITH WHICH FARMERS ARE OPERATING IS NECESSARY TO DEFINE ADEQUATE POLICY AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES. IN THIS CONTEXT, THIS STUDY AIMED TO DETERMINE THE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY (TE) PERFORMANCE OF PIG FARMS AND TO EXAMINE THE KEY FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT THE PRODUCTION SYSTEM IN SPAIN. TO DO SO, THE ANALYSIS RELIES ON THE QUANTILE STOCHASTIC FRONTIER MODEL USING A SAMPLE OF SPANISH PIG FARMS. RESULTS SHOW A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRODUCTION FRONTIER PARAMETERS ACROSS THE SELECTED QUANTILES, WHICH SUPPORT THE RELEVANCE OF USING THE QUANTILE REGRESSION APPROACH. THE OPTIMAL QUANTILE FOR THE STOCHASTIC FRONTIER INDICATES AN AVERAGE TE LEVEL OF 75%. IN ADDITION, EMPIRICAL FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT PIG FARMERS IN SPAIN GIVE MORE IMPORTANCE TO THE ADOPTION OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE THEIR ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE AS WELL AS THEIR COMPETITIVENESS AT THE EUROPEAN PIG MARKET.

ONE OF THE PARAMETERS THAT AFFECT THE QUALITY OF BOVINE MEAT IS THE PERCENTAGE OF FATTY INFILTRATION OR MARBLING. THIS COMPONENT PROVIDES THE MAIN MEAT QUALITY FEATURES THAT CONSUMERS DEMAND: TENDERNESS, FLAVOR AND JUICINESS. THIS RESEARCH HAD AS OBJECTIVE TO DEVELOP MODELS TO MEASURE THE DEGREE OF MARBLING IN LIVE CATTLE. THE DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM 80 STEERS """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""WAGYU TYPE"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""", 50 OF THEM WERE USED TO GENERATE THE MODELS, 20 TO EVALUATE AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE MODELS AND THE REMAINING 10 FOR VALIDATION OF THE FINALLY SELECTED MODEL. FIVE MODELS OF MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSIONS, UNDER THE STEPWISE PROCEDURE AND MINIMIZING THE MEAN SQUARE ERROR, WERE GENERATED. WHEN MODELS WERE COMPARED, THEY DID NOT SHOW STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN THEIR PREDICTIVE ABILITY, SO IT WAS POSSIBLE TO CHOOSE ONE OF THEM, USING THE CRITERION OF SIMPLICITY. THE SCORE PREDICTED BY THE MODEL WAS COMPARED WITH THE QUALIFICATION OF CERTIFIERS, WITH NO STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES. FINALLY, IN ORDER TO VALIDATE THE SELECTED MODEL, THE METHOD PRESENTED BY FREESE WAS USED. THUS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONCLUDE THAT USING MATHEMATICAL MODELING, ULTRASOUND, AND IMAGE PROCESSING MODELS CAN BE FORMULATED THAT ALLOW TO PREDICT IN VIVO THE PERCENTAGE OF FAT INFILTRATION ACCORDING TO THE JAPANESE SCALE OF BEEF MARBLING STANDARS (BMS).

CHILE HAS REDUCED ITS POVERTY LEVELS AT AN INCREASINGLY FAST RATE, ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS, AND THE CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE HAVE GIVEN WAY TO A NEW RURALITY. THIS STUDY ALLOWS US TO QUANTIFY THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STRUCTURAL CHANGES THAT HAVE HAPPENED ON RURAL AND URBAN AREAS DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN YEARS 2000 AND 2011. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH SHOW A DEEP CHANGE IN THE INTERACTION OF RURAL HOMES WITH THEIR ENVIRONMENT.