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mil. Before you share sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government website. Since economic returns from agriculture were generally volatile and below prevailing market interest rates for capital and labor (Cochrane, 199), economists and sociologists have long tried to understand farmers’ motivation to continue farming (Gardner, 2002; Reinhardt and Barlett, 198). The motivations for getting into farming and staying in farming include the desire to maintain a family tradition, be your own boss, work outdoors and spend time farming, and teach them work ethics. their own children (Barlett, 1993; Gasson and Errington, 199). Rural communities with large populations of farm workers often struggle to meet the particular needs of this group in terms of social services and education (Findeis et al.. Farmworker towns in California’s Central Valley have some of the lowest per capita incomes, the worst public services, and the most burdened local fiscal conditions of any rural community in America (Martin, 200.
In addition to low wages, seasonal agricultural workers and migrant workers rarely have access to important protective measures such as workers’ compensation (NCFH, 201). According to data from the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, only 13 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands require employers to provide employers with workers’ compensation insurance or equivalent benefits for migrant and seasonal workers. This coverage is optional in 16 states (Farmworker Justice, 200. This lack of insurance coverage is important because workers who are ill or injured do not receive compensation. Workers who miss out on their jobs are also likely to lose their jobs.. Most food system workers, including farm workers, don’t have paid sick days or don’t know if they’re sick and worked when they were sick (FCWA, 201). Non-American citizens cannot buy insurance under the ACA, and because the food system employs so many undocumented immigrants, they will remain part of the uninsured population (NILC, 201). Immigrants who legally reside in the United States may only receive limited federal health care coverage (NILC, 201). In this section, we highlight some of the differences in social and economic results for participants in each country. of the most important subsectors of the USA after agriculture,. These sectors are highly interdependent, and changes in one sector affect the performance of other sectors as well as the price and availability of food..
Competitive pressure in individual sectors (and across sectors) was a key driver for changes in the technology and organizational structure (e.g.. B.. These in turn increase economic efficiency, improve job opportunities and benefits, and increase food options for consumers.. Given the global nature of many agricultural input companies and the knowledge required in chemistry and biological systems, it is likely that the demand for higher-level workers to fill these jobs will increase.. This sector consists primarily of companies that accept, pack and store raw agricultural products to prepare them for shipment to the next party in the food supply chain, as well as food processors and manufacturers who process ingredients into edible, packaged, storable and safe foods for final preparation and consumption by consumers or catering businesses (see chapter.
Many companies that buy farm goods do so under contracts that guarantee the purchase of a specific quantity of product at a fixed price, provided that the raw materials meet the buyer’s quality specifications.. The advantage of this regulation is that it reduces the farmer’s risk of not finding a market and not knowing what the price will be at harvest time.. It can also offer the opportunity to hedge against price drops in the event of unforeseen market circumstances.. The companies’ contracts also include technical advice and set quality and safety standards that help ensure a consistent product supply that is accepted by the downstream market..
The demand from processors and retailers for uniform size and quality of products plays a major role in the benefits of contract farming.. Structure of the sector Changes in the structure of first-time processors can have an impact on competitive pressure and farmers’ earnings.. One example is the supply chain for livestock, where vertical coordination has led to changes in business relationships.. In the poultry sector, producers are paid according to their productivity compared to other farmers and are much less certain about the price they will receive at the end of a season (Leonard, 201). Concentrating market shares in the hands of a few companies can also lead to a potential loss of competition and a reduction in market transparency..
This sector of the food system allows food and agricultural products to be transported and stored between the other sectors.. It includes warehousing, trucking, and other transportation and procurement services. This sector is crucial for the availability of food in remote areas and in cities that are far from the production site.. It is also crucial for world trade..
Traditional wholesalers still dominate the catering industry, as they supply many small retail companies with special orders.. There are also wholesalers in the agricultural inputs sector. Nine percent of the wholesale companies listed in the census data supply agricultural products, and a further 9 percent trade in raw agricultural products intended for processors (USA, S. Worker health and safety Retail jobs require lifting heavy loads and using potentially hazardous equipment, putting workers at risk of back injuries, cuts, or amputations..
In addition, psychosocial factors such as work-related stress and shift work are important considerations for these employees. This sector includes individual restaurants, mid-price chains, fast food restaurants, hotels and beverage lovers. They respond to the tastes of their respective customers and are often at the forefront of food innovations.. There are also institutional catering facilities in this sector, such as schools, hospitals, prisons, food kitchens (soups) and meals on wheels.
Structure of the sector There are at least 125,951 companies and around 4 million employees in the catering sector. It employs an average of 32 people per company; payroll accounts for more than 27 percent of turnover (USA, S. It is a labor-intensive business, primarily because it is largely a service company and offers few opportunities to replace work with capital.. The cost of eating in most catering establishments does not exceed a third of their total cost..
Number of food and agriculture companies on the Fortune 500 list, ranked by total revenue and profitability. In general, the biggest profits are made in food manufacturing, mainly in large multinational companies and in the foodservice sector. Economic returns for manufacturing companies and their investors are higher than in most other sectors, partly because this sector is relatively concentrated due to mergers and acquisitions and global markets.. In the food service sector, consumers pay for experiences and convenience, as well as for food; several of the chain businesses operate on a global level..
Food retailers traditionally struggle for profitability, largely due to fierce horizontal competition.. Many stores are closing because consumers are looking for the lowest prices for homogenous products or unique shopping experiences and products in upscale stores.. Retailers have been divided up since the 1990s, with large stores on the one hand and unique food offerings such as organic and whole-label brands on the other.. Retailers trying to supply medium-sized grocery stores are disappearing.
Profits from grocery store sales are traditionally reported at 2 percent, meaning that they operate on very low margins (FMI, 201). Perhaps the main indicator of social and economic success in any food system is the ability to provide the population with a wide range of affordable, safe, high-quality and nutritious food.. This review suggests that the US. The food system meets these goals for most people in most cases, but significant diet-related illnesses (see chapter) and food insecurity point to areas where improvements are needed.. Researchers have known for decades that all decisions made regarding food, purchase and consumption depend on several variables..
This includes the communities in which people live, the food available in those communities, the influences they face, such as advertising and marketing, and their views on the environment, agriculture, globalization, and many other factors. The food system is dynamic and the changing eating habits and cultural and environmental dispositions in the USA,. Consumers have been signaling a change in preferences in recent decades.. This change will be necessary to be able to assess it in the coming decades..
Older consumers and higher-income men are less likely to be affected by price than younger, low-income consumers and women (IFIC, 201). Just and Payne (200) argue that, overall, most consumers do not respond very well to changes in prices and income, but that they tend to react more to changes (in particular a reduction) in the prices of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.. Lowenstein (201) reports that the relative price of food fell by almost 15 percent between 1980 and 2000 and that prices for processed foods fell the most.. He notes that several economic reports attribute most of the increase in obesity during this period to the increase in calorie intake due to the change in prices (Lowenstein, 201). However, few consumers understand health issues more than just superficially (Just, 201), and they may opt for many products that are not beneficial to health.. Manufacturers and marketers study and analyze models of consumer behavior, including conscious and slow purchases, in comparison with emotional and heuristic models (Shiv and Fedorikhin, 199). Manufacturers know that consumers respond to a variety of factors, such as. B. may change the price, the price of substitutes and supplements, the number of calories, the size of a serving, the shape and color of containers, product placement, and others, and their marketing approaches. If that’s what they want (Just, 201. Fulfilling the desire for convenience has also led to the rise of fast food restaurants and the omnipresent presence of food for sale in stores and public places.
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result of busy everyday life, consumers are increasingly combining eating with other activities such as working, driving, watching television, and interacting with the Internet, email, or telephone (Kinsey, 201), increasing the desire for foods that are convenient and easy to eat.. These behaviors appear to have contributed to the obesity problem in the United States (Harvard School of Public Health, 201). Consumer concerns about sustainability have contributed to established companies in the food supply chain increasingly calling for corporate social responsibility.. Corporate social responsibility (sustainability) programs to improve social and environmental performance have led to significant (and largely unexpected) changes in the practices of many food processors and retailers. The decisions of retail companies to require their suppliers to certify the use of sustainable production and business practices have become one of the most important drivers of change in the modern USA,.
As this chapter shows, any food system configuration will have positive and negative social and economic effects, and choosing one of these factors will inevitably lead to various trade-offs that need to be compared.. comparison of alternative configurations in the USA,. The food system is complicated by the fact that, for each configuration, the different population groups and industrial sectors can be affected in different ways, both positively and negatively.. For example, the system’s efficiency gains, which have reduced industrial costs and food prices for consumers, came with trade-offs, such as job losses and low wages for food workers..
This complexity therefore has an impact on the methodological approaches to assessing the effects, as it is difficult to separate several influences from each other and to determine the effects of combined exposures.. In this section, we present some representative examples of the distribution of costs and benefits within the social and economic dimensions and of interactions between these and health and environmental aspects.. Another indicator of global food security is the safety and quality of food.. Compared to poorer countries, improvements in food supply diversity and security in developed countries have led to a significant improvement in nutritional appropriateness.
In developing countries, however, micronutrient availability, protein quality and dietary diversification are more problematic (Economist Intelligence Unit, 201). A recent article warned that the increasing similarity of diets around the world poses a threat to health and food security, as many countries, particularly the less developed ones, are abandoning traditional crops in favor of narrower biodiversity (Khoury et al.. The impact of structural changes in the size and organization of companies in the food supply chain is not equally pronounced everywhere.. In general, rural areas are disadvantaged and find it relatively difficult for them to adapt to economic changes associated with industrial integration, consolidation and globalization. This is because their economies are less diversified, do not have the benefits of metropolitan areas, and offer fewer options to individual workers or company owners who are being displaced by competitive forces..
Rural areas are more expensive to service, and it’s rare that several major retail grocery chains can survive in one area, resulting in less competition, less diverse offerings, and higher prices for many food products. Various regions have also fared better or worse in the last phases of change.. In areas with good soils, favourable climatic conditions and a well-developed infrastructure for agriculture, the consolidation of agriculture and the concentration of high-quality production systems have been accelerated more rapidly. Those with greater proximity to urban markets were better able to capitalize on the growth of local and regional food marketing opportunities..
Trends that benefit specific commodities will benefit regions that specialize in producing these commodities or have competitive advantages.. For example, the rapid increase in the corn ethanol market in the 2000s could result in significant increases in maize acreage, but could also drive up production costs and reduce profitability in areas where corn was used as a main source of feed.. There are many trade-offs between environmental results and the level of profitability or efficiency across the food supply chain.. In providing a plentiful supply of inexpensive food, the USA.
The food system also has a significant impact on the environment.. Conversely, efforts to solve environmental issues associated with agricultural production are likely to increase costs for consumers and reduce production efficiency.. However, not all improvements in environmental performance come at the expense of efficiency.. For example, a more efficient use of nutrient inputs (e.g.. B..
The use of “precision agriculture” techniques can save producers some variable input costs and potentially reduce environmental impact, although acceptance was slower than expected (Schimmelpfennig and Ebel, 201). Because agriculture is the dominant land use in most regions of the United States, the quality of life of rural residents can be affected by changes in production practices and acreage.. Features of powerful, highly efficient production systems (e.g.. B.. One environmental issue that affects producers and consumers alike is the reduced quantity and quality of water.. Water changes associated with agricultural production and food production have a direct impact on the cost and quality of water available to small and urban residents (see also chapter 3 on the interactions between social, economic and health effects and chapter 7, appendix 4 for a detailed description of the trade-offs between plant productivity and environmental and health effects of various nitrogen management approaches)..
Health, income and SES are linked in a variety of ways. On average, people with higher incomes live longer and are healthier than people with lower incomes (Deaton and Paxson, 200. This is partly because they spend more on security (e.g.. Healthier people may also earn more because they lose fewer working days due to disability and illness and have lower medical expenses, but this effect cannot explain the strength of the relationship between income and health (Smith, 199), nor can it explain the better health of children born to higher-income parents (Case et al..
SES is linked to health even after income is taken into account (Marmot, 200). One reason may be the adverse health effects of stress due to lack of control over daily activities (e.g.. B.. Some of the links between health and income and social status may also be related to education, as research shows that better-educated people have better-paid and safer jobs, have a lower risk of chronic diseases, have positive health habits, and live longer lives than people with less education (RWJF, 201). In order to assess the social and economic impact of alternative food system configurations and to suggest interventions (see intervention examples in Box 5-), key indicators must be identified. or indicators of social and economic impact. The general categories outlined in Box 5-2 are well-documented examples of these indicators..
Examples of interventions with social or economic effects. Farm Bill (Agricultural Act of 201) employment and training program, which redistributes farm bill spending to prioritize rural community development over farm subsidies. Federal State (more). Gross production (gross domestic product) Factor productivity A wide variety of food and agricultural data, including prices, costs, inputs, production levels, income, food availability, and environmental impact, is compiled by the USDA and made available to the public by the National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Economic Research Service.
Consumers’ spending on food is shown in annual surveys by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A database of food prices is available from the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.. Information about food producers is available in USDA surveys and agricultural census data.. The Agricultural Resource Management Survey tracks farming practices, including the use of chemical and mechanical inputs, which impact farm productivity and environmental outcomes..
Other federal agencies, including BLS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, collect workplace safety and health data for workers across the food sector, although the data is often at the industry level and not always by profession.. Appendix B provides information on where to find some of these important databases, as well as metrics to measure these effects. In addition to traditional studies of consumer demand and consumption, some researchers have conducted studies using the theory of household economics, which includes the “value of time” in the analysis (Andorka, 1987; Becker, 1965; Deaton and Paxson, 1998; Juster and Smith, 1997; Kinsey, 1983; Whitaker, 200).. This line of analysis, developed by Gary Becker, was also used to study food consumption, as the time needed to obtain food is important for household food selection.
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data used to analyze these models is almost always survey data on the decisions and behavior of individuals or households.. One of the problems with analyzing food demand and food selection is the lack of data needed to answer many current questions.. To determine the correlates of obesity, for example, detailed data on individual food consumption, food prices and household characteristics, as well as on health habits and illnesses, is desirable.. Rarely does all of this data about people appear in one data set..
A lack of secondary data is partly responsible for the growth of experimental economics, in which researchers collect primary data using techniques such as auction games. 5 There is also a lack of data to record the effects of alternative food systems.. As research in this area is limited, there is also a lack of indicators on the social and economic effects in terms of consumption patterns, workers and production. These data gaps may affect the measurement of social and economic impact when suggestions for alternative food systems are discussed.. Many valuable and widely used national datasets are removed or altered due to funding restrictions, or are at risk of being deleted..
Although a full description of these databases and the extent of the cuts is beyond the scope of this section, several databases that include key indicators for evaluating agri-food systems are being shortened as part of cost-saving measures, the sampling methodology is changed, or the time between data collections is extended.. There are several reasons to maintain these databases, including the huge benefits of monitoring. Monitoring data allows you to monitor trends over time, identify changes in risks and outcomes as a basis for setting priorities, developing targeted strategies and programs, and evaluating interventions. Efforts to increase funding to maintain these important national data systems should highlight the value and need of data for evidence-based decision-making..
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, 111. Congo. The consumer price index is the measure of the average change over time in the prices that urban consumers pay for a market basket of consumer goods and services.. Food affordability is measured, for example, by food consumption as a percentage of total household spending, the proportion of the population living below the poverty line, per capita GDP, import duties on agricultural products, the existence of food safety programmes, and farmers’ access to finance.. Auction games are situations in which players independently bid on a product that is sold to the highest bidder..
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Food itself is a private good, but food security is a public good, which is why the government has stepped in to solve part of the problem. The population lives in a food desert44, putting them at high risk of diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Developing and improving models to understand the dynamics of agri-food markets and the behavior of key players in the food supply chain is important to support efforts to assess the social and economic impact of changes in the food system.. Policy makers must take immediate action to combat food insecurity and address the root causes and barriers that prevent millions of individuals and families from being successful..
Although a smaller proportion of consumer spending on food goes to agriculture, the economic well-being of agricultural households has not always suffered as a result.. In addition, the assumptions used to calculate food stamp benefits take into account changes in other spending, such as. B. of spending on housing, not. These have increased significantly in recent decades, meaning that less money is available to buy adequate nutrition.. Due to the lack of sick leave, catering workers have an economic incentive to return to work as quickly as possible. As a result of these individual consequences, low food security also increases the social costs of educational services (e)..
The share of household spending on food was in third place behind housing (33.8 percent) and transport (16.4 percent).. This amount accounts for just 0.06 percent of the total edible foods listed in Figure 2-2, but provides more than 3 billion meals per year.. As shown in Figure 2-6 in chapter 2, food manufacturing accounts for around 16 percent of the total value added in the food supply chain, the second highest amount after the foodservice sector. A more detailed discussion of the methods needed to comprehensively study the effects of the food system is included in chapter 7..
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