AgMRC-Developed Materials

• California Wine Industry Evolving to Compete in 21st Century. 2008 University of California research on changes in marketing, consumer taste and industry structure. Presented from national and global perspective.
• Economic Issues with Vertical Coordination, Kansas State University - This research focuses on contract production and marketing and integration through cooperatives and public companies.

Other Information

• Changing Structure of Produce Buyers, Food Retailing and Wholesaling, Perishables Handling Quarterly, University of California-Davis, 2000 - This online newsletter highlights issues facing the produce industry as they relate to vertical coordination.
• Concentration of Agricultural Markets, University of Missouri, April 2007 - This study, commissioned by the National Farmers Union, provides data for livestock production and processing, grain milling, and food retailing and processing.
• Economics of Animal Agriculture Production, Processing and Marketing, Choices magazine, 2006 - This article summarizes the changes in market structure, fundamental forces of consumer demands, cost drivers and regulations for the North American livestock industry.
• Effect of Food Industry Mergers and Acquisitions on Employment and Wages, Economic Research Service, USDA, 2005 -  Results of empirical analysis on eight food industries suggests mergers and acquisitions reduced the likelihood of plant closures while high relative labor costs encouraged plant shutdowns.
• Food Circles Networking Project, University of Missouri - This project lists papers and presentations on the consolidation of the food system.
• Food Market Structures, Economic Research Service Briefing Room, USDA - This portal provides an overview of marketing structures and lists other related USDA information.
• Food Wholesaling, Economic Research Service, USDA. 
• The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Value Chain Faces New Forces for Change, University of California, Davis, 2000 - This paper addresses changes taking place in the produce food system.  
• The Industrialization of Agriculture: Vertical Coordination in the U.S. Food System, University of Nebraska-Lincoln - This site provides ordering information for a book published in 1998 that compiled papers written by economists and management scientists. It has a link to selected highlights.  
• Meat Packer Vertical Integration and Contract Linkages in the Beef and Pork Industries: An Economic Perspective, Iowa State University (funded by the American Meat Institute), 2000 - This 103-page report summarizes linkages between meat packers and livestock producers for the U.S. pork and beef industries.
• Vertical Coordination in the Pork and Broiler Industries: Implications for Pork and Chicken Products, Economic Research Service, USDA, 1999 -  This 48-page report compares vertical coordination changes in the U.S. pork to the U.S. broiler industry.
• Vertical Coordination of Marketing Systems: Lessons from the Poultry, Egg and Pork Industries, Economic Research Service, USDA, 2002 - This 45-page report reviews how these three industries placed a premium on quality control and information to improve the control of production. (A six-page shorter version can be found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib747/aib74705.pdf.)

 Links checked February 2008.