Work planned on advertising dovetails with research by Northeast Coordinating Committee NEC-63 on commodity advertising (Forker and Ward, Kinnucan et al.). That effort focuses on the funding of such advertising by check-off programs and the need for related national promotion boards to evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. In contrast, our analysis focuses on advertising from all sources, and most importantly on the impact of advertising of branded food products on consumer choice.
The other regional project that worked on post farm gate marketing issues was NC-194: Organization and Performance of World Food Systems. That regional research project has ended and been replaced by a coordinating committee, NCR-182, of the same name. It no longer has a funded core research group and is distinctly less active than the earlier research project. The focus of NCR-182 is on international trade and related policies. Similarly, S-256 and the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC) focus on international trade issues.
The international research in the proposed renewal of NE-165 focuses squarely on the organization of post farm gate food processing and distribution systems in other developed economies (Canada and the European Union). A 1995 conference organized by the Food Marketing Policy Center, the University of Reading, and Southampton University titled Food Retailer-Manufacturer Competitive Relationships in the E.U. and USA: Emerging Research Issues, serves as a basis for proposed collaborative research on comparative food system questions. Related current research includes Cotterill (1995), Hughes (1994) and Rama and Pieri (1995). In addition, WRCC-72: Agribusiness Research Emphasizing Competitiveness and the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA) focus on the applied analysis of business strategies in the food marketing system. Finally, S-222: Economic Issues Affecting U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Systems, has emphasized a range of work that includes marketing issues related to that specific commodity group.
Among these projects, NE-165 is unique because it assembles agricultural economists and economists who are specialists in strategic marketing issues, organization of industry, and public polices related to competition and regulation. It is a global project that employs a particular mode of economic analysis, the subdiscipline called industrial organization and regulation analysis. The application of this common research paradigm to the food system is the unifying principle of this Project proposal. (For a more extensive discussion of Current and Previous Work, see the Appendix.)
In summary, a significant current research literature, much of it by NE-165 members, exists on the economics of post farm gate marketing of food products. This literature ranges across firm strategy, market structure, and vertical integration issues; an understanding of food demand and how it is shaped; private and public provision of food quality; and domestic and international food markets. In these areas, the NE-165 Project has been central in creating a network of economists, with links to other disciplines, to foster collaboration and increased research productivity. A major strength of the Project has been and will be the interaction and working together of a talented group of researchers to focus upon critical public policy issues and private strategies that determine related food system performance.
