Q1. “The different emphases of the agricultural economics marketing and the agricultural business marketing traditions could be crudely characterised as follows: ‘to agricultural economists marketing is mainly about prices, while business approaches to marketing are mainly about everything except price’.” Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this statement, using examples from agricultural industries and businesses that you are familiar with.
Q2. What do you understand by the term “own-price elasticity of demand”? Are own-price elasticities of demand positive or negative for typical foods or agricultural products? What is the difference between elastic and inelastic own-price elasticities of demand? Illustrate your answer by drawing a diagram (fully labelling axes and curves). What are some examples of food or agricultural product demand curves that are own-price elastic? What are some of the shifters of demand curves and do they move the demand curve outwards or inwards? Illustrate your answer by drawing a diagram (fully labelling axes and curves). How would you go about estimating an own-price elasticity of demand?
Q3. What do you understand by the term “marketing margin”? What marketing functions does this margin refer to? Does the size of the marketing margin at a point in time tell us anything about the efficiency of a market? If not, what other information is required to be able to comment on market efficiency? If you calculate the marketing margin for a particular product each year for many years, what other data is required to be able to say whether market efficiency is increasing or decreasing? Illustrate your answers by drawing a diagram (fully labelling axes and curves) and provide examples from an industry that you are familiar with.
Q4. What do you understand by the terms “value chain” and “supply chain”? Why do value chains form? Compared to the examples provided in the readings from the Chopra and Meindl textbook, what is different about food and agricultural product value chains? Do the textbook concepts still apply to food and agricultural product value chains? Illustrate with examples from an industry that you are familiar with.
Q5. Mapping a value chain is often the first step in analysing its performance. What are the key components, linkages and flows you need to include in a value chain map? What empirical data would you include if it was available? How would you use the information in the value chain map to assess whether the chain was performing well or not? Illustrate your answers with reference to a value chain that you are familiar with.
Q6. Why do some value chains choose to invest in “sustainability”? Which of these reasons is the most important for a value chain that you are familiar with? The Chopra and Meindl chapter suggests four key sustainability indicators that firms should report on to show their sustainability credentials. What other measures of sustainability are important for a value chain that you are familiar with? In this value chain, which of the major drivers of value chain performance are the most affected (positively or negatively) by a focus on sustainability?
Q7. All of New South Wales has been declared to be in drought, with the broad acre agriculture regions the most severely affected. Wheat is a major crop in these areas. What general effect will the drought have on NSW wheat production in 2018? And what economic impacts will that have on the market for NSW wheat? Illustrate your answer by drawing a diagram (fully labelling axes and curves). Will producer surplus for NSW wheat growers be higher or lower than it would have been in a normal season? Illustrate your answer on the diagram. Will wheat producers in other states that are not drought affected be better off or worse off than NSW wheat producers? Why?
