Consumer’s Behaviour in The Consumption of Fresh Farm Product During Covid-19 Pandemic at Alor Gajah, Melaka

The Malaysian Government implemented stringent containment measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19, including social isolation and the closure of businesses and schools. Although these steps are necessary to prevent the virus from spreading, many voices have raised concerns about their possible effects on the agri-food system. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on fresh farm consumption among consumers in Alor Gajah, Melaka. This study was guided by the following research objectives: (i) to investigate the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on consumer attitudes and behaviours on food consumption at Alor Gajah. (ii) to find out the implications of the closure of Covid-19 on food security in Alor Gajah, Melaka. Besides, this study uses quantitative methods involving (n=154) residents in the district of Alor Gajah, Melaka. The research data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive analysis was used, and the result shows that the food consumption behaviour changes during the Covid-19 pandemic especially on the fresh farm produce. The findings may provide information for the local government to develop a framework that will help to address the shortage of fresh agriculture products that were affected by the pandemic at Alor Gajah, Melaka. It will also help to prepare for an unexpected future crisis by building on existing emergency plans as well as long-term food-related strategies.

Factors Related to Profitability of Agritourism in the United States: Results from a National Survey of Operators

Agritourism is a growing area of the tourism sector with many positive social and economic benefits for farmers, their communities, and for tourists. While researchers have been studying the phenomenon for several decades, factors that lead to profitable outcomes for agritourism operators are still not well understood, hindering the effectiveness of agritourism development and the systems of support available to farmers. Using a survey of 1834 farms and ranches open to visitors in the United States, the goal of this study is to identify the factors that influence the profitability of agritourism operations. This study shows that several factors have positive associations with increased agritourism profitability, such as the number of years of experience of the operator, farm scale (acreage and total farm revenue), providing on-farm product sales, and offering events and entertainment. Off-farm product sales and being a female operator have a negative association with profitability in agritourism. We discuss the implications of our findings on agritourism operators, suggest their utility for tourism planning and rural community development professionals, and offer suggestions for future research.

Recent Advances in Portable and Handheld NIR Spectrometers and Applications in Milk, Cheese and Dairy Powders

Quality and safety monitoring in the dairy industry is required to ensure products meet a high-standard based on legislation and customer requirements. The need for non-destructive, low-cost and user-friendly process analytical technologies, targeted at operators (as the end-users) for routine product inspections is increasing. In recent years, the development and advances in sensing technologies have led to miniaturisation of near infrared (NIR) spectrometers to a new era. The new generation of miniaturised NIR analysers are designed as compact, small and lightweight devices with a low cost, providing a strong capability for on-site or on-farm product measurements. Applying portable and handheld NIR spectrometers in the dairy sector is increasing; however, little information is currently available on these applications and instrument performance. As a result, this review focuses on recent developments of handheld and portable NIR devices and its latest applications in the field of dairy, including chemical composition, on-site quality detection, and safety assurance (i.e., adulteration) in milk, cheese and dairy powders. Comparison of model performance between handheld and bench-top NIR spectrometers is also given. Lastly, challenges of current handheld/portable devices and future trends on implementing these devices in the dairy sector is discussed.

Kontribusi Pendapatan Usahatani Padi Gogo terhadap Pendapatan Rumahtangga di Desa Lelekaa Kecamatan Wolasi Kabupaten Konawe Selatan

This research is motivated by the fact that Gogo Rice cultivated by the majority of the community in Lelekaa Village, Wolasi District, South Konawe has the main objective as the main source of food needs in the family. In addition to fulfilling food, Gogo rice is also a farm product that can be managed to increase farm household income. The purpose of this study was to determine how much Gogo rice farm income and its contribution to household income in the Lelekaa village. The location of the study was determined with the consideration that the majority of the people in Lelekaa Village were still consistently planting Gogo rice. The number of samples in this study was 29 people. The data analysis used is descriptive quantitative. There are two research results. First, the average income of upland rice farming in Lelekaa Village, Wolasi Subdistrict, Konawe Selatan Regency is Rp 4.769.144/MT in one year. Second, the contribution of Gogo rice farming income to household income in Lelekaa Village, Wolasi District, Konawe Selatan Regency was 17,92%. The contribution provided by other farms is smaller than Gogo rice farming with a percentage value of 9,28%, while the contribution of non-agricultural income to household income holds the greatest value with a percentage of 72,80%.

Transaction costs and inter-organizational relations between farmers and farm product buyers in Ghana

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of what motivates farmers to participate in inter-organizational relationships with farm product buyers. Interest in inter-organizational relationships in the Ghanaian agri-food sector has been stimulated in recent years by policies seeking to reduce farmers’ market risks while improving buyers’ access to commodity inputs. The decision of how to sell farm produce is an economic imperative for the farmer; therefore, the coexistence of spot markets and inter-organizational relationships suggests that the farmers who use them must be having some gains from them.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed binary logit regression using both qualitative and quantitative data and the transactions cost theory to understand the Ghanaian farmers’ motivation for participating in inter-organizational relationships.FindingsThis study found that a farmer having better information regarding product buyers’ needs was an important motivator for participation. The farmers’ certainty about the price they would get and the quantity they would sell were also major factors that motivated farmers’ participation. Again, the motivation to engage in inter-organizational relationships with processors was also influenced by the nature of the crop. Fruit farmers, for example, were 3.7 times more likely to participate in these relationships than non-fruit farmers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study considered analysis at the farmer level. However, some farmers produced multiple crops. This means that the farmers who participate in inter-organizational relations with buyers for one crop enterprise may be nonparticipant with the other crop(s). Future studies could target analysis at the crop level while accounting for the associated transactions costs.Originality/valueThis study explores how a combination of transaction costs theory and the different crops that farmers produce explains farmers’ decision to participate in inter-organizational relationships.

Farm Product Prices, Redistribution, and the Early U.S. Great Depression

We argue that falling farm product prices, incomes, and spending may explain 10–30 percent of the 1930 U.S. output decline. Crop prices collapsed, reducing farmers’ incomes. And across U.S. states and Ohio counties, auto sales fell most in crop-growing areas. The large spending response may be explained by farmers’ indebtedness. Reasonable assumptions about the marginal propensity to spend of farmers relative to nonfarmers and the pass-through of farm prices to retail prices imply that the collapse of farm product prices in 1930 was a powerful propagation mechanism worsening the Depression.

Agriculture farms product differentiation assessment in the Czech Republic

Farms generally produce products with low differentiation. To reach an increase in the profit and sales, product differentiation is one of the potential strategies that could be successfully applied. This paper identifies "Intermediate Consumption/Total Output" as a simple and user-friendly indicator for farm product differentiation performance and comparison assessment in the Czech Republic, based on a two-step cluster analysis performed on 1 225 farms with different operating conditions and reproduction process characteristics in the Czech Republic. The data are sourced from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN CZ). Four farm clusters based on product differentiation levels are identified and described from the point of view of the production process and conditions. The resulting cluster profiles, in general, indicate the production conditions and process affecting the resulting product differentiation. Nevertheless, farms deliver extraordinary product differentiation values in fields with less favourable conditions and production processes. Those have the potential to be an inspiration for farms with lower product differentiation values. The result of this paper provides hope, less favourable conditions are not a limit for formidable performance. This paper result can be practically applied by anyone aiming to easily identify, evaluate, and compare farm product differentiation levels.

Pricing Strategies of Food Retailers

Studies examining pricing outcomes in the food retail industry are complicated both by the multiproduct nature of transactions and by the presence of highly concentrated food processing and retailing industries that mediate between relatively competitive farm product markets and the consumer market. In this review, we examine theoretical and empirical evidence for retail pricing and the vertical relationships that have emerged among retailers, food manufacturers, and farmers. We first focus our analysis on consumer behavior in multiproduct retail markets, including consumer search, habit formation, and reference pricing, and then discuss retail market outcomes for price discrimination, price fairness, and price obfuscation. We then turn to relationships between retailers and food manufacturers through bargaining outcomes, market foreclosure, and slotting allowances, and discuss the resulting implications for retail-price pass-through.