Agribusiness

With substantial growth in the number of farmers' markets (FMs) in developed countries, the number of consumers visiting FMs is also increasing. This study comparatively assesses the consumers of FMs in three European countries where FMs traditionally play a distinctive role in food supply chains. Based on representative samples from Hungary ( n = 614), Italy ( n = 600) and the UK ( n = 600), the odds of consumers visiting FMs are identified as high. The logistic regression results provide insights into the possible characteristics of a typical FM consumer, while also revealing the reasons why consumers typically do not visit FMs. Both managerial and policy implications are defined.

Promoting sustainable, innovation‐driven growth is crucial for achieving high‐quality economic development in the new era. As a key indicator of companies' sustainability, ESG practices have gained significant attention. However, the lack of a unified ESG evaluation framework and standardized disclosure regulations has led some companies to exaggerate or misrepresent their ESG performance—an issue known as “ESG decoupling.” This study examines the impact of ESG decoupling on agri‐food companies' innovation, using panel data from 2011 to 2022. The results show that ESG decoupling undermines a company's credibility, hindering innovation. However, independent directors mitigate the negative effects of ESG decoupling on innovation. Further analysis reveals that the impact of ESG decoupling is less severe in companies with low digital transformation levels and state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). In contrast, the negative effects are more significant in large companies and the food industry. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between ESG decoupling and innovation. It offers empirical evidence and expands the theoretical framework linking ESG behavior with innovation. Ultimately, the study highlights the need for improved ESG disclosure systems and enhanced companies' credibility to foster a more innovation‐friendly environment.

Farmers markets provide a direct‐to‐consumer marketing path for farmers and small businesses, facilitating customer discovery and product refinement. This paper explores farmers markets as a business incubator, with a focus on beginning vendors and resilience to a shock, namely, COVID‐19 market restrictions. We investigate how vendor sales vary by the type of products a vendor sells (farm products, processed food, and crafts/art), their attendance, market experience and the presence of COVID‐19 restrictions. We use a unique dataset of 9,371 sales observations from 399 vendors at five small to medium‐sized farmers markets in rural Oregon from 2019 to 2021. We estimate that beginning vendors have, on average, 11% lower sales than established vendors, holding other factors constant. Vendors’ sales, on average, were higher with higher market attendance. Results suggest that farm product vendors have higher sales than processed food and craft and art vendors, larger crowds encourage higher sales, and rainfall lowers sales, all else equal. Individual market day average vendor sales were, on average, 8.9% higher during days with COVID‐19 market restrictions than during days without restrictions, which was likely driven by experienced farm vendors.

This study explores food demand patterns among rural households in Thailand, focusing on how price and income variations influence consumption across income strata. Using data from the 2002 to 2014 Townsend Thai monthly panel survey, the dynamic Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model with cointegration was applied to analyze six food categories: rice, starches, and cereal products, fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, and dairy, oils and sweets, ready‐to‐eat foods, and alcoholic beverages and tobacco. The findings reveal significant income‐based disparities in food consumption. Low‐income households demonstrate lower sensitivity to price changes, particularly for rice, while nonessential goods, such as ready‐to‐eat instant foods and alcoholic beverages, are more income‐elastic. Demographic factors, such as the age and education of household heads, also play critical roles in influencing preferences for essential versus discretionary items. These results underscore the need for targeted fiscal and educational interventions to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages and tobacco and enhance food security among the rural Thai population. This study also calls for further investigation of the long‐term impacts of economic shocks and policy interventions on household food demand, providing a foundation for effective policymaking aimed at equitable and sustainable development.

This study investigates how food consumption tastes have changed in recent decades across the United States. Using NielsenIQ data for over 77 million transactions, there is evidence of divergence in food tastes across regions from 2007 to 2016 and across households of different income, education, and race/ethnicity groups. Hispanics and non‐Hispanic Blacks diverged from non‐Hispanic Whites, while taste differences were unchanged between other races and urban/rural groups. The tastes of rural households across regions are unique in their apparent convergence. Overall, ideological differences measured by “political distance” were more strongly associated with changing food taste differences than geographical and supply‐side differences. There is also evidence of divergence in nonfood tastes, but to a much smaller degree.

This paper investigates the role of online grocery shopping in shaping the relationship between the food environment and household food choices, with a focus on disadvantaged groups. We employ fixed‐effect models with instrumental variables using consumer data from 2015 to 2019. We find that online grocery services may exacerbate nutrition inequality associated with food environment disparities. While a higher density of food stores enhances the healthfulness of food purchases among online grocery shoppers, it has no impact on those who do not use online grocery shopping. However, a higher density of convenience stores negatively impacts food healthfulness for nononline grocery shoppers, while having no significant effect on adopters. Moreover, the adoption of online grocery shopping affects food purchases differently depending on the local food environment: it tends to reduce the healthfulness of food purchase in less favorable food environments but improves it in more favorable ones.

Regulatory conflicts arising from heterogeneous sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures remain prevalent, while SPS harmonization under regional trade agreements (RTAs) serves as a pivotal mechanism to reconcile such conflicts. The interaction between regulatory heterogeneity and SPS harmonization profoundly shapes the dynamics of agricultural trade. From the dual perspectives of regional cooperation and regulatory conflicts, this study analyzes the intricate relationship between regulatory heterogeneity, SPS harmonization under RTAs, and agricultural trade. Using China's agricultural export data (2012–2018), this study empirically examines how the interplay between regulatory heterogeneity and regional SPS harmonization influences China's fruit and vegetable exports. The Ad Valorem Equivalent (AVE) is employed to quantify the economic magnitude of this interaction effect. The results show that the interaction between regulatory heterogeneity and SPS harmonization under RTAs promotes China's fruit and vegetable exports, with an AVE of ‐3.35%. Mechanism analysis indicates that this interplay affects exports by reducing trade costs and lowering mandatory entry thresholds. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the trade benefits stemming from the interaction are concentrated in exports to low‐standard countries (−5.57%) and vegetable exports (−4.01%).

Innovation is a presumed channel through which finance affects productivity, yet there is limited research testing the relationship between finance and innovation in the food manufacturing sector. The purpose of the paper is to explore the determinants (e.g., financing, R&D, firm size, expenditure on innovation) of the adoption of innovation. We use data from the 2018 Innovation in the Food Processing Industry Survey in Canada to examine the relationships between innovation activities and access to finance for these activities. The results show that access to financing is one of the key drivers of innovation activities of Canadian food processors. Access to finance is also correlated with innovation performance across firms in each type of innovation, which is consistent with the findings of previous studies. The results have implications for policies targeted at enhancing R&D and innovation in the food processing sector.

Agricultural mechanization services (AMS) are important for promoting sustainable agricultural development. However, little is known about the effect of outsourcing fertilizer mechanization services (FMS) for fertilizer application to different types of service providers. This study simultaneously investigates the determinants and effect of outsourcing FMS to different types of service providers for fertilizer application in rural China. The multinomial endogenous treatment effects model that accounts for potential selection bias and endogeneity is employed to analyze cross‐sectional survey data of wheat producers. The results reveal that the likelihood of outsourcing FMS is influenced by household (gender, education, off‐farm employment, and risk attitude) and farm (farm size, land topography, soil fertility) characteristics, membership to cooperative, and the availability of AMS at village level. The treatment effect estimates suggest that outsourcing FMS can decrease fertilizer application by at least 6.6%. Outsourcing both FMS and fertilizer supply has a greater reducing effect on fertilizer application compared to only outsourcing FMS. Besides, outsourcing both FMS and fertilizer supply to organization providers has a higher effect on reducing fertilizer application and enhancing yield compared to outsourcing to individual service providers. The results have policy implications for promoting agri‐environmental sustainability in the agricultural sector.

The cocoa‐chocolate value chain faces significant environmental and social challenges, driving firms to adopt sustainability strategies ranging from individual practices to third‐party certifications. This study investigates the factors associated with these strategies by analyzing 304 cocoa‐chocolate companies using firm‐level data from the Orbis database and website content analysis. The analysis employs negative binomial and hurdle regression models. Results, interpreted through Stakeholder Theory, Global Value Chain Theory, and Resource Dependence Theory, highlight that firm size, value chain position, consumer engagement, and risk identification are key factors influencing sustainability practices. Larger, consumer‐facing firms tend to adopt in‐house practices, while smaller firms and publicly listed companies prefer certifications for market differentiation. Traders and grinders, as midstream actors, play a crucial role in driving sustainability efforts, particularly through sourcing practices. Firms with high consumer engagement and risk awareness are more likely to adopt a broader range of sustainability initiatives. These findings offer practical insights for managers and policymakers, helping firms align their strategies with industry standards or tailor them to specific needs. The study also underscores the need for policy interventions to promote sustainability adoption, particularly among SMEs, contributing to the broader literature on corporate sustainability and value chains.

This article examines India–United States agricultural trade under the America‐First agenda, highlighting trade patterns, tariff structures, and potential impacts of United States trade policies. Total agricultural trade remains modest at $7 billion annually, with India imposing higher tariffs (average 39$1.32 billion and contracts GDP by $154 million, and broader United States tariffs affecting Canada, Mexico, and China, causing mixed impacts but leading to$1.56 billion GDP growth for India. Additional risks include tariff escalation, nontariff barriers, climate change, and shifting geopolitics. Potential areas of mutual benefits are identified.

This paper explores the convergence in on‐farm diversification strategies of agricultural holdings, between remote areas and more central ones. Using Italian farm‐level data, we explore the determinants of diversification strategies across farms. Remoteness is defined using two variables: geographical remoteness (location in mountain areas) and remoteness from the urban poles providing public services (inner areas). Results show that farmers in remote areas are more likely to diversify crop production, but the overall magnitude of this difference is small. With regard to the inseparable non‐agricultural secondary activities, the core‐periphery differences are significant only in mountain areas. Inseparable non‐agricultural secondary activities are uncorrelated to commodity prices and produce larger value‐added and should be encouraged across marginal areas.

Consumer interest in labeled food products has been expanding. Literature suggests that consumer willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) may vary for products with familiar versus unfamiliar labels and between healthy and unhealthy foods. Therefore, this study utilized the contingent valuation method to examine consumer preferences for chips and salads with familiar labels (e.g., organic, non‐genetically modified) and unfamiliar labels (e.g., transitional organic). Findings indicate that consumer WTP for transitional organic labeled foods falls between organic and conventional alternatives. Furthermore, the impact of food labels on consumer preferences and WTP differs significantly when consumers are evaluating unhealthy versus healthy foods. The implications of this study provide valuable insights for farmers, marketers, and policymakers. Additionally, this study establishes a foundation for future studies by shedding light on the role of transitional organic labels in shaping consumer choices and preferences in the dynamic landscape of the food market.

The study aims to explore the network topology of the international commodity market by examining the interconnections among 21 commodity futures across various categories, including energy, precious and industrial metals, and agriculture. We analyze the market structure of these commodity futures under both low and high uncertainty conditions to assess whether uncertainty impacts the commodity market structure. To do this, we employ the Minimal Spanning Tree (MST) and Hierarchical Tree (HT) methods. Our empirical findings, based on data from January 2014 to March 2023, reveal that energy commodities are not positioned at the center of the market; rather, agricultural commodities take this central role. In terms of uncertainty, the commodity market topology during periods of high uncertainty is more integrated than during times of low uncertainty, indicating that higher uncertainty leads to a more synchronized movement of commodities. These insights provide valuable guidance for traders, investors, and policymakers.

The Chinese Rural Industrial Integration (RII) program, which integrates land consolidation with industrial development, aims to enhance rural household incomes. Employing a quasi‐experimental design and a propensity score matching–difference‐in‐differences (PSM–DID) model, this study examines the effects of two RII modes on the livelihood outcomes of participating households in China. Mode I is primarily driven by enterprises or cooperatives, while Mode II is led by agricultural enterprises with cooperatives acting as intermediaries. The findings reveal that (1) RII significantly and positively impacts participants’ total income per capita but unexpectedly reduces life satisfaction. While agricultural income declines sharply, this effect is offset by increases in property and transfer incomes, and operating income shows a notable rise. (2) Mode I and II significantly reduce agricultural and transfer incomes but substantially boost operating and property incomes. (3) The effects of RII on household income and life satisfaction exhibit heterogeneity, influenced by factors such as land scale, life stage, and intergenerational dynamics. These results underscore the need to tailor RII implementation strategies to align with household capital endowments.

This study delves into the potential influence of China's grain trade on carbon emissions from grain production in 169 countries during the period 2001–2020. The investigation utilizes data on grain trade between China and these nations, along with corresponding data on carbon emissions from grain production. The results reveal that China's grain trade contributes, to a certain extent, to the reduction of carbon emissions from grain production in partner countries. This conclusion withstands various robustness tests conducted. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the impact of grain trade in driving the reduction of carbon emissions from grain production is more notable in developing countries. Moreover, soybean trade emerges as particularly advantageous in promoting carbon emission reduction from grain production in these trading partner countries. Mechanism tests conducted to explore further aspects indicate that the establishment of free trade areas (FTAs) plays a crucial moderating role in China's grain trade, fostering carbon emission reduction. This is deemed beneficial for advancing efforts in reducing carbon emissions from grain production. The increased use of fertilizers has intensified carbon emissions in the grain production and distribution process. The findings not only offer fresh insights into understanding China's role in global grain trade and its impact on carbon emissions from global grain production but also provide strategic considerations for global grain security governance, international collaboration addressing climate change, and avenues for accessing green dividends.

This study investigates the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of bovine meat expenditure in Turkiye, utilizing data from the 2019 Household Budget Survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). By employing linear regression model estimated using ordinary least squares (OLS) alongside conditional quantile regression (CQR) and unconditional quantile regression (UQR), we provide a comprehensive analysis of how various factors influence meat expenditure across different quantiles of the income distribution. Our findings indicate that income, age, education, homeownership, and marital status are significant determinants of bovine meat expenditure. Notably, the CQR model reveals that the impact of income on meat expenditure is more pronounced at higher quantiles of the conditional expenditure distribution, indicating that households with higher conditional meat expenditures exhibit greater responsiveness to income changes. In contrast, the UQR model shows a diminishing effect of income at higher quantiles, highlighting different expenditure patterns when considering the entire distribution. Additionally, lifestyle factors such as eating out and participation in sports activities significantly affect meat consumption, with wealthier households displaying more diverse dietary preferences. These insights highlight the importance of targeted policies to improve nutrition and public health, particularly by enhancing the affordability and accessibility of animal‐based proteins for lower‐income households. Rather than relying solely on broad supply‐side measures, such as livestock imports, demand‐side interventions—including targeted food assistance programs and nutrition education campaigns promoting home‐prepared balanced meals—may offer more effective solutions, especially for lower‐ and middle‐expenditure groups.

Contract farming is a viable strategy agribusinesses rely on to strengthen coordination across actors in the value chain. However, low contract compliance remains a significant setback to agribusinesses' contract performance in low‐ and middle‐income country context. This study aims to identify what drives smallholder farmers' contract compliance behavior in northern Nigeria. Qualitative information was collected through focus group discussions to enrich the design of the survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 300 randomly selected farmers contracted by the Dangote Tomato Processing Plant in four regions of northern Nigeria. Novel transaction‐level data of tomato sales covering one season were collected in addition to socioeconomic information of the sampled farmers. Probit model results show that open fresh market tomato prices and payment delays negatively affect farmers' compliance behavior while education level, bonuses, land ownership, and resource‐provision correlated positively with compliance. The study suggests that contract compliance could improve if contracting firms devise a reliable and timely payment plan (e.g., digital payment), continuing input and service provisions (e.g., improved seeds, extension services), and incentives (e.g., loyalty rewards, bonuses) in the contract.

The development of e‐commerce in rural areas is essential for poverty reduction. This study utilizes dataset of Chinese administrative villages to investigate the impact of e‐commerce on poverty reduction and the potential mechanisms. By employing various treatment effect models, we find that e‐commerce has a significant poverty reduction effect. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the poverty reduction effect of e‐commerce is especially significant in villages situated in the less developed western region, in plateau, in locations lacking a public transportation system, and in villages where the village secretary has a limited educational background. The poverty reduction effect of e‐commerce is significant in villages with lower propensity to have e‐commerce service stations. Additionally, the treatment effect of e‐commerce is not constant and homogeneous for those villages that are at the margin of no difference between adopting and not adopting e‐commerce. Furthermore, e‐commerce reduces rural poverty by enhancing collective action, improving the commercialization level, and facilitating participation in pension insurance. These insights reveal drivers of rural poverty reduction and suggest policies to boost rural e‐commerce and economic development.

The U.S. produce industry has been facing significant challenges due to rising minimum wages. This study proposes a modeling framework to analyze the impacts of rising minimum wages and assess their effects on the U.S. produce sector, focusing on the strawberry industry, which confronts both escalating labor costs and competition from low-cost imports. A structural model with a nested Synthetic Inverse Demand System (SIDS) is employed to analyze how wage increases affect the industry in both short and long terms. Our findings reveal that rising minimum wages will lead to a substantial increase in both the shipments (by 46%) and prices (by 23%) of strawberries from Mexico, the sole competitor of the US industry. As a result, the Mexican strawberry industry will see a significant revenue boost of $420 million (+ 79$304 million (−17.9%). These results highlight the rough road ahead for the labor-intensive produce industry as wages rise in the United States.

The proposed 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada could have significant repercussions on US imports of distilled spirits. This study estimates US import demand across various spirit categories (e.g., tequila, whiskey) and assesses the potential impact of the proposed tariff. Findings project that imports could decline by more than $1.0 billion, potentially falling by as much as$1.4 billion, primarily due to a substantial decrease in tequila imports. Interestingly, even imports not subject to the tariffs are expected to decline due to the complementarities in importing. Despite the inelastic nature of demand, the results suggest that trade losses would exceed any revenue gains from the tariffs.

This paper analyzes the cost competitiveness of rice production in Myanmar by examining production costs, cost efficiency, and the potential effect of improving cost efficiency on the country's global competitiveness. To achieve this, we conduct a comparative analysis of production costs among major rice-producing countries and estimate the cost efficiency of rice farming in Myanmar using a stochastic frontier cost function model. Subsequently, we examine how cost efficiency affects domestic resource costs (DRC), a key indicator of global competitiveness in rice production, by addressing the endogeneity issue that prior research has not dealt with. We also consider seasonal variations across both the dry and wet seasons in Myanmar, an aspect often overlooked in previous research. Our findings reveal that Myanmar ranks as the second least expensive rice-producing country among selected Asian countries. The mean cost efficiencies are 89% and 86% for the dry and wet seasons, respectively, indicating high cost efficiency during these seasons. Both dry and wet seasons of rice production demonstrate a comparative advantage, with DRC values of 0.31 and 0.54, respectively. The results also show that cost efficiency positively contributes to global competitiveness in both seasons, implying that the global competitiveness of Myanmar's rice sector can increase by improving cost efficiency. Therefore, policy interventions aimed at developing demand-driven high-yield potential with stress-tolerant rice varieties, promoting the utilization of quality seed, and providing more extensive training on input management practices and educational programs are recommended to enhance cost efficiency, which can further strengthen the country's competitiveness in the global rice market.

The influence of output price risk on pesticide behavior is a critical area of research. This study explores the effect of output price risk on pesticide consumption by combining a nationally representative sample of lychee farmers with high‐frequency prices along the supply chain in China. Our findings robustly demonstrate that agricultural households significantly increase their pesticide expenditure when output price risk rises. Furthermore, we identify that the operating mechanism is driven by increased nonfarm work participation among peer households. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effects of output price risk are especially pronounced in the consumption of herbicides and conditioners and among small‐scale households. In the analysis of typical plots, we further find that agricultural households tend to increase spraying intensity instead of spraying frequency. The insights derived from this study can assist policymakers in formulating agricultural policies to enhance farmers' pesticide management practices amid the instability of output prices.

In this study, we examine the impact of container freight rates on global beef import demand by source. We address key questions about the effects of rising freight rates on major beef exporters such as Australia, the United States, and Brazil. Our estimates reveal varying global price and import demand effects, with significant declines in trade volume when freight rates double. The global import demand for beef from major exporters decreases by 7% (Ireland) to 27.6% (Uruguay), underscoring the critical role of transportation costs in shaping international beef trade. Countries like Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Uruguay experience more than a 20% decrease in global import demand with a doubling of freight rates. Interestingly, despite the proximity of the United States to major markets like China, Japan, and South Korea, beef imports from Brazil and Australia are more impacted by freight rates than U.S. beef.