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Abstract: We apply a bivariate censored demand system to estimate hunting and fishing trip-related spending shares in the United States using data from off-site surveys. The approach considers fishing and hunting destination decisions and includes respondents who were inactive, i.e., did not hunt or fished in a particular season. The statistical significance of correlation coefficient parameter supports the use of a joint (e.g., bivariate) rather than separate (e.g., univariate) decision modeling process for fishing or hunting share equations. Most individual characteristics are statistically significant as explanatory variables. Respondents holding recreation licenses tended to spend significantly more on recreation than those without licenses. All own-price and cross-price elasticities are statistically significant and suggest that hunting and fishing are complements. The results also suggest that the popularity of hunting may decline as the population ages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper identifies factors that influence the demand for a bass fishing trip taken in the southeastern United States using a hurdle negative binomial count data model. The probability of fishing for a bass is estimated in the first stage and the fishing trip frequency is estimated in the second stage for individuals reporting bass fishing trips in the Southeast. The applied approach allows the decomposition of the effects of factors responsible for the decision to take a trip and the trip number. Calculated partial and total elasticities indicate a highly inelastic demand for the number of fishing trips as trip costs increase. However, the demand can be expected to increase if anglers experience a success measured by the number of caught fish or their size. Benefit estimates based on alternative estimation methods differ substantially, suggesting the need for testing each modeling approach applied in empirical studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines the changing structure of the apple industry in Canada and the United States over the last two decades. We attempt to describe whether changing policy environments (e.g., Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement) and strengthened intellectual property (IP) rights have affected innovativeness and the competitive position of the North American apple industry. Our analysis shows that Canadian apple production has been on a decline, with apple imports expanding to satisfy production shortfalls and changing consumer preferences for cultivar diversity and year-round supply. By contrast, U.S. apple production expanded in the 1990s because of strengthened exports stemming from export promotion programs and slight increases in foreign demand in selected Asian markets. Our results show that U.S. inventors are protecting their IP by the use of patents to a larger extent than their Canadian counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the United States and Canadian highbush and lowbush blueberry industries have changed over the last two decades. Production increases have been driven by a combination of changing consumer preferences for healthy foods and the development of new cultivars that have opened new production regions, expanded fresh market opportunities, and created new food products. Canada has found it advantageous and economical to invest its research effort in the development of the lowbush blueberry, exploiting its health protective properties. The United States has concentrated its research effort on highbush cultivars to lengthen the harvest window and promote diversification opportunities in the Southern United States. Highbush production expansion in the Pacific Northwest has relied very little on new cultivar development and improvements in yield but more on increases in cultivated area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A fixed-effects model to control for time variation in marginal costs is employed to pinpoint evidence of price discriminatory behavior of Canadian and U.S. exporters of agri food products. We test for evidence of pricing to market behavior and whether price discrimination or commodity/country characteristics may provide a plausible explanation. A distinguishing feature of our approach is to examine the time-series properties of the data by the conventional augmented Dickey-Fuller and recently developed panel unit root test. The panel data set employed in this paper consists of annual exchange rates and export prices for three agri food products (wheat, pulse and apples) exported by Canada and the U.S. in foreign markets during 1980-98. Our fixed-effects model suggests that U.S. exporters are sensitive to exchange rate changes, while Canadian exporters in most cases raised price markups in response to a depreciated currency in overseas markets. The results highlight the differences in pricing policy that both countries employ to merchandise agri-food products in export markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines the production response of farmers in Illinois to premiums for low-temperature dried corn. Information on several low-temperature drying methods; Factors that influence decisions to purchase grain dryers.