Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
CONFERENCE ON ADVANCES IN THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF FOOD SYSTEM DRIVERS AND EFFECTS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
EXTENDED
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1015658
Grant No.
2018-67023-27691
Project No.
PENW-2017-06737
Proposal No.
2017-06737
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
A1641
Project Start Date
Mar 1, 2018
Project End Date
Feb 29, 2020
Grant Year
2018
Project Director
Goetz, S. J.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
408 Old Main
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802-1505
Performing Department
Agricultural Economics, Sociol
Non Technical Summary
National interest in the effects of the U.S. food system has risen to such a level that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies felt compelled recently to publish A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System (IOM/NRC 2015), focusing on health, environmental and economic and social variables. While providing a useful framework, the volume stops short of actually carrying out studies to validate or test the assumptions of the framework. In addition to having concrete effects, food systems are also being affected by powerful secular forces that range from rising income inequality, consolidation and rationalization in retailing, consumer preferences for local and regional foods, to changes in climate and competition for land associated with urbanization. In parallel, an expanding "food movement" has emerged that, without formal or vigorous analysis, has become highly critical of the food system and its consequent health, environmental and economic and social effects. Yet most if not all of these forces and their consequences can be analyzed using the tools and methods of economics. Bringing economic analysis to the vocal criticisms of the current food system can deepen the debate, help bridge divergent views and, it is hoped, enhance the long-term sustainability of the entire food system.A range of complex and interrelated socioeconomic, environmental and health-related issues arise in this context, which can only be addressed effectively from a comprehensive systems perspective. Yet most existing studies proceed to address only certain aspects of these systemic problems, and none comprehensively addresses health, environmental, social and economic dimensions. Although it will not be able to solve all problems related to the food system, the proposed conference seeks to begin to lay the initial groundwork in addressing this challenge by bringing researchers from different disciplines together and providing them with a framework to start to think about these interrelated issues. As outlined below, we consider a wide range of issues related to and affecting the food system, and will provide a forum for scientists who often work in silos to consider how their efforts may leverage and be leveraged by the work of other scientists, in the process producing more system-wide and effective solutions to problems. By bringing researchers with divergent perspectives and methodological approaches to the discussion, we can begin the process of reaching interdisciplinary solutions.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6016220301050%
6076230301050%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 607 - Consumer Economics;

Subject Of Investigation
6230 - Marketing systems and sectors thereof; 6220 - Marketing, processing, and supply firms other than cooperatives;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
1. Convene recognized and emerging experts to present, debate, and advance research on the frontiers of food system drivers and effects, across a wide range of issue. Presentations will include both technical research as well as results translated for lay audiences (policy makers, practitioners). At least one session will be devoted to assessment of current data and future data needs.2. Encourage open discussion among policymakers, practitioners and scientists, including feedback from policy makers and practitioners to scientists, with the goal of identifying research gaps to be addressed in the future. Audience participation will be facilitated and encouraged. This will also include a roundtable dialogue towards the end of the conference.3. Ensure additional dissemination of conference results through a special issue of the Agricultural and Resource Economic Review, published by NAREA and Cambridge University Press, as well as publication of summaries in the NERCRD's newsletter as well as on its website.
Project Methods
Planning and implementation for the proposed research workshop will build upon a sixteen-year history of successful annual research workshops addressing related themes in agro-environmental policy and economics. PD Jaenicke was NAREA president at the time of both the 2014 and 2015 workshops. PD Goetz was on the organizing committee for the 2014 workshop. Current organizing committee member Dimitri was on the organizing committee for the 2012 workshop.The NAREA workshop model follows the following plan for dissemination and publishing of research and policy discussion: Invited and selected papers from the annual workshop are submitted to NAREA's journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review (ARER), for a consideration for publication and a full peer review. For the 2018 workshop paper submissions, Goetz and Jaenicke will serve as special guest editors of ARER. Typically, at least eight or nine submissions make it through the peer-review process and appear in the journal. Perhaps not coincidentally, the two most recent "outstanding articles of the year" in ARER came from these special issues.Every year, the NAREA workshop organizing committee seeks external funding to support the workshop. The dual roles of this outside funding are to encourage diverse, high-quality presentations and paper submissions, and to defray costs, including article processing fees, so that conference attendees and presenters are encouraged to contribute. At least one recent workshop (2012) received NIFA/AFRI conference funds.Following these past approaches, the workshop will be scheduled for June 9-10, 2018, to immediately precede the broader NAREA Annual Meeting (June 10-12) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The workshop will start with a plenary luncheon on June 9 followed by selected paper sessions that continue on June 10. The workshop ends with a concluding keynote on June 10. After the keynote, The NAREA annual meeting begins with a welcome reception. Thus, this linked format encourages increased attendance, participation and diversity of attendees. It is also cost effective for meeting arrangements, publicity, and other needed services. To promote graduate student attendance, funds will be offered to offset travel expenses. Nominal registration fees will also be waived for those presenting papers at the workshop. To encourage active participation by the most highly qualified individuals, honoraria will be offered both to invited speakers and presenters of selected papers (see details in proposed budget).

Progress 03/01/18 to 02/28/20

Outputs
Target Audience:This conference sought to bring together policy makers, practitioners and scientists working on various aspects of the food system. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As reported in the prior year's progress report, a Penn State graduate student attended and helped to run the workshop. Several postdocs or grad students were also in attendance. Scientists and extension educators benefited from participating at the in-person workshop and learning about state-of-the-art food systems research. Readers of Agricultural and Resource Economics Review also gained new knowledge and insight through access to the published articles. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In addition to the in-person dissemination that took place at the workshop, the presentations were shared via the NERCRD website and the papers were shared via a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal, which was highlighted in NERCRD's annual report and slated for inclusion in a summer issue of the NERCRD newsletter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? As noted in last year's progress report, this workshop was held June 9-10, 2018 in Philadelphia, PA, and was attended by 29 participants. The presentations delivered by 15 workshop participants were published on the NERCRD website. Subsequently, several papers that were the basis of the presentations were published in a special issue of Agricultural and Resource Economics Review (ARER) (volume 48, issue 3). Project Directors Goetz and Jaenicke served as guest editors and reviewed the submitted manuscripts. Papers published in the special issue include: Embedding Economies of Scale Concepts in the Model of Optimal Locations of Fresh Produce Aggregation Hubs (Houtian Ge, Patrick Canning, Stephan Goetz, Agnes Perez, Jie Li) Market Channel Procurement Strategy and School Meal Costs in Farm to School Programs (Jill Fitzsimmons, Jeffrey K. O'Hara) Willingness to Pay, Quality Perception, and Local Foods: The Case of Broccoli (Xiaoli Fan, Miguel I. Gómez, Phillip S. Coles) Using Field Experiments to Encourage Healthy Eating in Schools (Joseph Price) Prospects for New England Agriculture: Farm to Fork (Samantha Werner, Scott R. Lemos, Amanda McLeod, John M. Halstead, Todd Gabe, Ju-Chin Huang, Chyi Lyi Liang, Wei Shi, Lily Harris, James McConnon) An Examination of the Adequacy of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefit Levels: Impacts on Food Insecurity (Craig Gundersen, Elaine Waxman, Amy S. Crumbaugh) Can Dietary Fiber Intake Be Increased through Nutritional Education and through Subsidies on Selected Food Products? (Mark Christopher Senia, Senarath Dharmasena, Oral Capps) In addition, Goetz and Jaenicke coauthored a foreward to the ARER special issue. Workshop presentations and a link to the ARER special issue are available at: https://bit.ly/2AZyBaL.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ge, H., Canning, P., Goetz, S., Perez, A., & Li, J. (2019). Embedding Economies of Scale Concepts in the Model of Optimal Locations of Fresh Produce Aggregation Hubs. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 365-387. doi:10.1017/age.2019.10
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Fitzsimmons, J., & O'Hara, J. (2019). Market Channel Procurement Strategy and School Meal Costs in Farm-to-School Programs. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 388-413. doi:10.1017/age.2019.18
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Fan, X., G�mez, M., & Coles, P. (2019). Willingness to Pay, Quality Perception, and Local Foods: The Case of Broccoli. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 414-432. doi:10.1017/age.2019.21
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Price, J. (2019). Using Field Experiments to Encourage Healthy Eating in Schools. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 505-518. doi:10.1017/age.2019.5
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Werner, S., S. Lemos, A. McLeod, J. Halstead, T. Gabe, J. Huang, C. Liang, W. Shi, L. Harris, J. McConnon (2019). Prospects for New England Agriculture: Farm to Fork. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 473-504. doi:10.1017/age.2019.33
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Gundersen, C., Waxman, E., & Crumbaugh, A. (2019). An Examination of the Adequacy of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefit Levels: Impacts on Food Insecurity. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 433-447. doi:10.1017/age.2019.30
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Senia, M., Dharmasena, S., & Capps, O. (2019). Can Dietary Fiber Intake Be Increased through Nutritional Education and through Subsidies on Selected Food Products? Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 448-472. doi:10.1017/age.2019.29
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Goetz, S., & Jaenicke, E. (2019). Special Issue: Advances in the Economic Analysis of Food System Drivers and Effects. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 361-364. doi:10.1017/age.2019.31


Progress 03/01/18 to 02/28/19

Outputs
Target Audience:This conference sought to bring together policy makers, practitioners as well as scientists working on various aspects of the food system. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Penn State graduate student Sarah Denny both attended and helped to run the workshop. Several postdocs or grad students were also in attendance. Scientists and extension educators benefited from participating and learning about state-of-the-art food systems research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As noted, participants benefit from listening to paper presentations. In addition to the website, we are working on a peer-reviewed collection of conference papers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will complete the peer review of papers and publish those that are selected.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The workshop was held on June 9-10 in Philadelphia, PA in conjunction with the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association annual meeting, and was implemented as outlined in the agenda below. A total of 29 attendees participated in the workshop (including Goetz and Jaenicke). Three of these represented the federal government (USDA) and two were practitioners from the Philadelphia food community (i.e., The Philadelphia Food Trust and the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council). Products to date include the conference website with presentations. In addition, two of the Project Directors (Goetz and Jaenicke) are serving as guest editors and reviewing submitted manuscripts, that support the conference presentations, for publication consideration in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Agenda: Saturday, June 9, 2018 • Morning Session • Offsite SNAP-Themed tour of reading terminal market, one of the nation's oldest public markets. The tour was followed by a Q&A with Market Manager Anuj Grupta. Saturday June 9, 2018 • Afternoon Session Welcoming remarks by Stephan Goetz, Penn State University and Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development KEYNOTE ADDRESS: "Retail Food Prices: Do Markets Work?" by Timothy J. Richards, Arizona State University. Abstract: In competitive retail markets, rational responses by competitive agents are often mistaken for market failure. I will present six such examples from food-retailing world, and outline research that I and co-authors have undertaken to find out whether the market is operating efficiently. Panel: Current Food System Policies in Philadelphia--Deb Bentzel, Associate Director, Community Food Systems, The Food Trust; Jennifer Aquilante, Healthy Food Access Coordinator for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Get Healthy Philly initiative. Special presentation: An overview of the EFSNE project, by Kate Clancy, Ph.D., Food Systems Consultant. Abstract: The Enhancing Food Security in the Northeast through Regional Food Systems (EFSNE) project was initiated in 2011 to undertake a baseline exploration of the potential for regional food systems to improve food security in the Northeast. The presentation will describe the content and the process of this complex effort. PAPER SESSION 1: Measuring and Modeling Regional Food Production Capacity 1) Prospects for New England Agriculture: Farm to Fork, presented by John Halstead, University of New Hampshire. Abstract: This paper analyzes produce types most valued by consumers, potential for expanding local production, and what motivates consumers in purchasing local produce in New England. 2) Township of Langley Food System Design, presented by Wallapak Polasub, Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Abstract: Three example scenarios represent different agricultural land use and production regimes which aim to satisfy Township of Langley's population feed need. PAPER SESSION 2: Distribution Issues 1) Estimating Market Power in the Rice Supply Chain of Bangladesh, presented by Mohammad Rahman, International Rice Research Institute. Abstract: This paper estimates the market power, being exercised by the leading intermediaries in the rice supply chain of Bangladesh. 2) Market Channel and School Meal Costs in Farm to School Programs, presented by Jeffrey O'Hara, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Abstract: We test whether schools that made local food purchases directly from a producer experienced lower school meal costs vis-à-vis non-direct schools. 3) Food Systems and Rural Wealth Creation, presented by Becca Jablonski, Colorado State University. Abstract: This research proposes a comprehensive database of stocks of capital assets and test their relationship with food system activities and interventions. Sunday, June 10, 2018 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: "An Examination of the Adequacy of SNAP Benefit Levels" by Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois. Abstract: The effectiveness of SNAP depends on benefits being high enough to cover minimum food costs. We consider the sufficiency of SNAP benefits in light of variation in county-level food prices. PAPER SESSION 3: Food Systems Modeling 1) The Food System Transformation: Three dynamic drivers underpinning the process of economic development in food systems, presented by Stephen Vogel, USDA/Economic Research Service. Abstract: Three dynamic drivers transforming food systems: stakeholders exercising 'voice', information communication technologies, and the social innovation nexus of social entrepreneurship, social finance and shared-value creation. 2) Models and Methods for Food Hub Location in the United States, presented by Houtian Ge, Cornell University. Abstract: A comparison of simulation vs econometric solutions of establishment locations in the fresh produce supply chain in the United States. 3) Direct or Local?: Modeling Equilibria in Local Foods Markets, presented by Jill Fitzsimmons, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Abstract: We develop an economic model using principles from industrial organization and behavioral theory to identify market equilibria, policy impacts, and subsequent welfare effects in local foods markets. 4) Bigger Farms and Bigger Food Processors: Does Changing Structure in Agricultural Production Affect the Food Processing Sector? Presented by Xi He, University of Connecticut. Abstract: This paper explores whether the structural changes in the agricultural production sector affect the downstream food processing sector and explores the mechanisms of this effect. PAPER SESSION 4: Food Consumption (Health & Adequacy) 1) More Farms on The Water? U.S Consumers' Perceptions of Aquaculture Practices and Products, presented by Kofi Britwum, University of Maine. Abstract: The study examines consumers' perceptions of aquaculture and aquacultured products, and evaluates the persuasive impacts of gain and loss message framing on aquaculture perceptions. 2) The Effects of Exogenous Changes in Food Environment on Households' Healthfulness of Food Purchases, presented by Zefeng Dong, Penn State University. Abstract: This paper investigates if an exogenous change in food environment will affect households' diet quality, using migration as a case. 3) Perception of Fluid Milk Production Practices on Animal Welfare and Environmental Attribute Willingness to Pay, presented by Xuan Chen, Penn State University. Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of animal welfare and environmental practices in production practice on consumers' willingness to pay for milk. 4) Guidelines or Subsidies: Promoting Dietary Fiber Intake through Policy in the United States, presented by Mark Senia, Texas A&M University. Abstract: Effect of a subsidy on fiber rich foods is investigated as a feasible solution to encourage Americans to meet dairy fiber intake guideline.

Publications

  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: "Advances in the Economic Analysis of Food System Drivers and Effects: Presentations from the 2018 NAREA pre-conference workshop, held June 9-10 in Philadelphia, PA." https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/presentations/advances-in-the-economic-analysis-of-food-system-drivers-and-effects