Consumers are increasingly considering information on how foods are produced in making their buying decisions. For example, in the United States sales of products labeled as organic were estimated at over $3 billion in 1996. Federal and state governments are facing tough choices in deciding how...

The policy environment surrounding issues of the safety and nutritional quality of the U.S. food supply is in considerable,although not unusual,turmoil. Calls for reform touch on every aspect of the regulatory effort,including standards,methods of achieving standards,and the choice of agencies...

Traditionally, the key policy issues for the agricultural and food sector have focused on prices and quantities. For example, one of the major stated purposes of the 1990 farm bill is "to ensure consumers an abundance of food and fiber at reasonable prices." Now, however, assuring the quality of...

Shredded wheat was invented in the late 19th century and has been marketed under the Nabisco brand name since 1925. In 1985 the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company acquired the Nabisco Company and in 1988 the RJR Nabisco Company underwent a leveraged buyout (LBO) led by Kolberg, Kravis, and Roberts...

Antitrust policy and the economic analysis of related issues in the food channel have attracted the attention of agricultural economists since the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. In this paper we endeavor to provide some information on the actual operation of antitrust policies in...

Thank you for inviting me to speak to your conference. Given that the standard definition of an expert is someone who is more than a hundred miles from home I qualify as an expert on the western Canadian dairy industry. The conference organizing committee gave me as a working title, “Who...

First, I would like to review the changing structure of the food distribution industry and try to highlight how changes in the structure of the system affect access to food by low income urban consumers. Then, I will move on to discuss performance issues and highlight impacts on low income urban...

This article introduces the Forum by explaining the sequence of events related to the jawboning campaign and subsequent reductions in cereal prices. It also introduces the main issues on the vigor of competition and pricing that are analyzed in subsequent papers. Jawboning as a public policy...

The Capper-Volstead Act, passed in 1922, is the magna carta of agricultural cooperatives. The act has two sections. The first section generally defines what a Capper-Volstead cooperative is and the second section prohibits under price enhancement. Congress clearly intended that farmers be able...

This briefing paper presents some facts that pertain to the overall performance of the milk-marketing channel in New England. It updates information provided in earlier papers that focused upon dairy pricing during and immediately prior to the Compact era. (Cotterill, 2001a, b, Cotterill and...