Food safety problems such as the BSE and dioxin crises focused attention on traceability systems and the certification of such systems. This study analyzes the status and perspectives of traceability systems and certification schemes, and reviews their potential costs and benefits. Results...

This study investigates the underlying reasons for a producer's choice of marketing channels for stocker cattle in the United States. In addition to traditional public auctions, private sales, video auctions, and Internet auctions have been recently used in the marketing of stocker cattle....

The U.S. pork sector is evolving from an industry of small, independent firms vertically linked by spot markets to one of substantially larger firms vertically connected through contractual agreements and integration. Potential benefits to this tighter vertical arrangement include lower consumer...

Swine production networks are becoming a significant part of the Minnesota swine industry, with at least 30 production networks in operation as of late 1995. There are probably at least 450 producers involved, representing at least nine percent of the state s sow inventory. Not counted in these...

As the U.S. hog production sector becomes ever more specialized, the importance of capital inputs has heightened. Given that it is costly to adjust the capital stock and that the associated adjustment cost function may exhibit cost asymmetries between investment and disinvestment,...

The objective of this report is to summarize knowledge about contracts used in the turkey industry which may be helpful in initiating contracts in other agricultural enterprises. Characteristics common to all Minnesota contracts are described. Contracts are divided into three main categories and...

Travelling stock reserves (TSRs) were established in Australia as a way of allowing the passage of livestock through settled lands to facilitate stocking of new lands. Subsequently, they remained important as a way of moving livestock from property to property or from property to market. Today,...

The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (MPR) of 1999 was implemented in April 2001. Empirical evidence indicates a significant change in intra-week price dispersion associated with publicly reported fed cattle grid premiums and discounts occurring after MPR implementation. The research objective...

To create and sustain a competitive advantage in markets that increasingly value animal welfare attributes, meat companies need to meet public and private production standards while communicating to final consumers through their brands. Data are collected from a representative sample of 460 U.S....

Cow-calf producers face an annual decision on when to sell their calves. They can sell them at any point between weaning and slaughter, with the objective of finding the profit maximizing selling point. This paper investigates the use of price signals to determine profit maximizing selling...