In the next five years, NE-165 will sponsor a worldwide web home page, Internet discussion groups, meetings, conferences, books, reports, and invited paper and symposium sessions that support the development of common research approaches, the summation of research results, and their dissemination to business, government, and consumer groups. The collaboration will be organized in order to both facilitate research and its delivery to users of the information. For example, research on market interactions, vertical coordination, and international marketing will be directly useful to businesses considering market strategies, consumer groups analyzing price and quality in food markets, and decision makers shaping government policy. NE-165's work on developing economic analysis of the benefits and costs of alternative private and public food quality control options will also be directly useful to the same parties. For example, benefit/cost analysis of HACCP approaches will inform private and government actions. The expected outcome of this Project is an improved understanding of the operation of the post farm gate food marketing system. The benefits of this improved understanding will principally be felt in improved private and public decision making and improved performance of the system.
