Publications by authors named "David L Ortega"

This study analyzes the effect of avian influenza outbreaks on retail price premiums in the US poultry market. We estimate hedonic price models for eggs, chickens, and turkeys, controlling for quality characteristics, unobserved time, and regional factors. To measure the impact of avian influenza outbreaks we use 2 proxies.

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Background: A "food system" approach to improve diet quality by intervening within areas such as food supply chains is gaining prominence. However, evidence of such interventions' impact, and understanding of appropriate methods to evaluate them, is lacking.

Objectives: We present an impact evaluation of an intervention that aimed to increase consumption of nutritious foods by supporting food-producing firms in Kenya.

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This Research Communication investigates how well U.S. dairy farmers understand the voting behaviour and willingness to pay of consumers for products with production traits relevant to animal health, welfare and biotechnology.

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Increasing consumption of alternatives to animal-based food products can have significant implications for the sustainability of global food systems. We utilize consumers' food values to identify the drivers of demand for alternative meat and milk products in China, the world's largest consumer market. Using data from 3015 Chinese consumers, we find that public food values, such as environmental impacts and animal welfare, drive consumers' demand for alternative meat and milk.

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We use stated preference data to study farmers' preferences for two alternative strategies to manage drought risks in Bangladesh. A choice experiment on drought tolerant rice varieties and weather index insurance was administered to 2306 farmers. Two overarching preference classes or meso-groups were identified using an equality constrained latent class model, each containing various patterns of attribute non-attendance.

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Article Synopsis
  • The demand for specialty coffee is increasing as consumers seek higher quality and diverse options, necessitating a deeper understanding of their preferences.
  • Research using the Midlife Development Inventory shows that personality traits, specifically the Big Six, influence how much consumers are willing to pay for coffee from farmer cooperatives, with an average premium of $1.31 per cup.
  • Extraverted and conscientious consumers tend to pay even more, while those with higher agency show less willingness to pay, indicating that personality traits often play a more significant role in purchase decisions than traditional sociodemographic factors.
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Argentinean beef is recognized and demanded internationally. Locally, consumers are often unable to afford certified beef products, and may rely on external cues to determine beef quality. Uncovering demand for beef attributes and marketing them accordingly, may require an understanding of consumers' product purchasing strategies, which involves retailer choice.

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Perennial crops have numerous ecological and agronomic advantages over their annual counterparts. We estimate discrete choice models to evaluate farmers' preferences for perennial attributes of pigeon pea intercropped with maize in central and southern Malawi. Pigeon pea is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous crop, which has the potential to ameliorate soil fertility problems related to continuous maize cultivation, which are common in Southern Africa.

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The purpose of this study is to explore emerging markets for imported beef in China by assessing Beijing consumer demand for quality attributes. This study utilizes data from an in-store choice experiment to evaluate consumer willingness-to-pay for select food quality attributes (food safety, animal welfare, Green Food and Organic certification) taking into account country-of-origin information. Our results show that Beijing consumers value food safety information the most, and are willing to pay more for Australian beef products than for US or domestic (Chinese) beef.

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