Since 2000, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), has spent approximately $40 million per year to contain and control the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter (GWSS), which spreads Pierce’s Disease (PD). Compliance with the program has cost the nursery industry approximately $7...

Pierce’s Disease (PD) of grapevines costs more than $100 million per year, even with public control programs in place that cost $50 million per year (Tumber et al., 2012). If the PD Control Program ended, and the GWSS was distributed freely throughout California, the annual cost to the...

Reprinted in Journal of Wine Economics, Volume 6, Number 2, 2011, Pages 135–159

Viruses and related pathogens have no cure and impose large costs on plant production. These diseases are typically spread through infected planting stock and plant propagation material. However, virus spread can be minimized if clean stock is used. We examine the costs and benefits of a virus...

How and how well growers manage the risks inherent in agriculture have direct welfare implications for producers and consumers at both local and societal levels. While better weather, pest and disease forecast information are rapidly disseminating among producers and are often touted as...

This paper uses a novel experimental approach to measure consumer willingness to pay for wine attributes in a hedonic framework. The research design allows us to deal with identification issues resulting from the interaction of demand and supply and to examine the effect of supply-side...

Replaced with revised version of paper 09/23/11.

Most previous studies of home consumption pricing and producer price equalisation schemes have concentrated on static economic surplus effects under an assumption of a perfectly elastic export demand. This paper compares the effects of different types of producer price equalisation schemes with...

Food safety shocks can threaten the health of consumers, create havoc within an industry and result in severe losses to producers. Governments often attempt to aid food safety by mandating standards and inspection of food products to supplement the efforts by private firms and industries. This...