The agri-food chain today is significantly different from that of twenty years ago. Changing consumer demands, knowledge intensive technology, North American integration and globalization have all contributed to the evolution of the different segments of the chain, which include input suppliers,...

Growing consumer interest in functional foods and nutraceuticals has been seen as a significant business opportunity for the agri-food sector. Many of the new firms in this sector are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs often face difficulties in obtaining financing for their...

This article explores the barriers that prevent the adoption of HACCP system by food processing firms in Ontario, Canada. The study identifies four key groups of barriers that prevent firms from adopting HACCP system in their food safety control programs, namely questionable appropriateness,...

Bioproducts are often presented as one of the potential saviours of Canadian agriculture, offering non-food applications for agricultural products. However, relatively little is known about the sector or the characteristics of the firms. This paper presents an analysis of the Canadian...

Although differences in environmental stringency have been given as a reason for the growth of the livestock sectors, particularly hogs, in non-traditional production regions, there is little empirical evidence to support the existence of pollution havens. This paper uses the number of large...

This study examines the effect of changes in production, management, and transaction costs on the change from vertically integrated units to small farmers selling to independent processors in the Sri Lankan tea sector. The results indicate the shift from "make" to "buy" has been affected by the...

The US hog and dairy sectors are increasingly shifting production toward western states away from more traditional production regions in the east. In contrast, production levels in the fed-cattle sector have increased over the last three decades only in the three main producing states. One...

Fundamental to the assertion that environmental regulatory standards are strategically set by decentralized authorities and consequently firms respond to spatial differences in regulatory standards is the underline causal relationship. Establishing the cause-effect association between regulatory...