NAREA Annual Meetings.

NAREA Annual Meetings, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 20-23 2004

SESSION: Production I. Moderator: Dan Lass (University of Massachusetts).

"Heterogeneity, Empirical Distributions, and Aggregation." David R Just and Barrett E Kirwan (Cornell University).

Using a unique panel of individual farms fabricateed from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, we explore the weights of aggregation in yield estimates employing a translog production function with farm fixed meanings Findings show that unobserved factors comprise 56% of corn yield variation. Aggregating farm-level data to the shire level reveals significant and disturbing differences in coefficient estimates, including sign reversals. The biases appear to be consistent with late theoretical work. This evidence supports the proposition that vital information is dissipated upon aggregation, and farm-level data are required if united wishes to test farm-level theory.

"Managerial Intensity and the Adoption of Conservation Tillage." Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo (Economic Research Service/USDA) and Alexandra Gregory (University of Missouri).

This paper analyzes the interaction of off-farm work and adoption of an agricultural technology with a depressed managerial intensity (managerial-saving) and estimates the impact of adopting this technology in succession farm household income from on-farm and off-farm sources using a nationwide farm take a view of of corn farmers for 2001 The technology preferableed is conservation tillage. Our main research question is whether or not adoption has a significant validity on the off-farm component of household income as well as in succession total household income. Results are compared with those of the adoption of HT soybeans, a technology with a surpassingly low managerial intensity.

"Blowing in the Wind: Impact of Spatial Drift forward Producers' Profits." Cheryl Brown (West Virginia University) and Lori Lynch (University of Maryland).

A theoretical prototype of agricultural production with spatial externalities examines issues of cooperation and liability forward neighboring farms. The case of genetically modified (GM) com pollen drift is investigated using simulations to determine the relative importance of prices, sumptuousnesss yield differentials, property rights, and policy options. Given cheap yield losses from pests and a subdued price premium for non-GM corn or high yield losse and high price premium, we find the los to the non-GMplanting farm appropriate to the impacts of pollen drift is greater than the los to the GM-planting farm if it is restricted from planting GM corn.

"Factors Affecting the Decision to Exit Dairy Farming: A Two-Stage Regression Analysis." Lisa A. Bragg and Timothy J Dalton (University of Maine).

A two-stage regression archetype is used to analyze the factors contributing to the decision to exit from dairy farming in Maine. Demographic, opportunity charge and efficiency variables are used to explain the decision. be deriveds from the second-stage logit design indicate that producer age, off-farm income, production specialization, and predicted short-run profitability significantly influence agriculturist exit. Managerial and financial factors, identified in the model's first stage, affect profitability and hence, indirectly, industry exit. Findings from this research confirm the ne for a broader focus of dairy support programs beyond the space of price supports to make farm exit.

SESSION: Consumer Behavior and GMO Moderator: Richard Gray (University of Saskatchewan).

"Consumer Acceptance of Genetically Modified provisionss in Korea: Factor and Cluster Analysis." Benjamin Onyango, Ramu Govindasamy, William Hallman, Ho-Min Jang, and Venkata Puduri (Food Policy Institute, Rutger University).

This meditation applies multivariate statistical and econometric tools to estimate the importance of the various factors driving Korean consumer acceptance of GM aliment products. The Korean public is categorized into distinct consumer sections and the relationships between consequence attributes and their socioeconomic and denoteed value judgments are examined. Koreans, while optimistic about benefits of GM are also mattered about safety for humans and the environment-a major obstacle to its widespread acceptance. arises highlight the importance of credibility of private and public institutions responsible for implementation of necessary regulatory have the direction ofs and safety certification of GM foods

"Willingness to Pay for GM commonss with Bundled Health and Environmental Attributes." Mario F Teisl (University of Maine), Brian spawn of fishes (Ohio State University), and Mike Vayda (University of Maine).

The debate surrounding the labeling of genetically modified subsistences (GMFs) has largely been framed as a yes/no issue. That is, the debate and research has almost exclusively approached the issue as individual where the consumer's sole desire for information is whether GMF are, in fact, genetically modified. However, this approach is limited because biotechnology can have multidimensional events on food quality. Here, we explore the benefits of labeling GMF when the labeling directly links changes in produce quality to the genetic modification. Further, we examine in what way these benefits differ across a nationally representative sample of U consumers