This research examines the factors that influence consumer choice of organic over conventional fresh produce. The emphasis of this study is to determine the relative importance of environmental and health motives and economic factors in explaining this choice. A survey was designed to collect data about consumer preferences and purchasing...
"Farmers' markets are valuable market channels for small farmers and important venues for the economic, nutritional, and social lives of communities. Efforts to make farmers' markets sustainable should focus on two influences on markets: external (related to public policy) and internal (related to market management). Well-crafted public policy is needed...
Agricultural scientists recognize farmer knowledge and experience can provide important contributions to the development of new agricultural technologies. However, insufficient use has been made of this valuable resource because farmer knowledge and experience are difficult to collect, quantify, and evaluate.
"The topic of market failure is rarely addressed in the literature. This report represents a starting point. It describes the dynamics of farmers' market startups, closures, and manager turnover. It focuses on two important resources--administrative revenue and labor--used by farmers' markets. Data for a sample of markets that failed are...
Farm equipment is becoming an increasingly important
financial asset for many farmers. Tractors probably represent the
single largest component of equipment asset value. As such, changes
in tractor values can have a dramatic effect on a farmer's financial
situation. Changes in equipment value can be attributed to
depreciation and the...
This dissertation investigates the relative importance of firm-specific and
geographic characteristics for export behavior in the Chilean primary and processed
food industries. The first essay develops a new method for measuring geographic
characteristics to account for economic activity in adjacent, but separate spatial units.
In the application to the Chilean...
The certified organic blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) market has continued to expand in the last two decades, including in Oregon. The development of an industry-public research coalition has fostered expansion. In 2015, a survey consisting of on-site, in-person interviews with certified and transitional organic growers in Oregon found the majority of...
In horticultural nurseries for container-grown plants, production and sales have been threatened by the presence of a quarantined plant pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum (causal agent of sudden oak death). Infested nursery beds are an important source of P. ramorum, which can initiate disease through movement with surface water to infect roots...