The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of research and development (R&D) investment on the export performance of Canadian agrifood small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and on that of related sectors, namely, the textile and clothing sector and the manufacture of leather goods and similar products. First, we analyzed explanatory factors for R&D expenses, and then, we analyzed the impact of R&D on extensive (market access) and intensive (trade value) margins of trade using a difference‐in‐differences approach. We used data obtained from the Statistics Canada's National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File (NALMF) for 2010–2015 and the Trade by Exporter Characteristics (TEC) database. The size of firms and their support from the Canadian government affect their propensity to invest in R&D and the amount of R&D expenses and their intensity, measured as the ratio of R&D to sales of goods and services. Overall, our results show that investment in R&D has a positive impact on the export performance of agrifood SMEs; the impact is smaller when the destination is one of the states in the United States.

Empirical studies show that market concentration and pricing policies regulation have an important impact on price transmission. These factors lead to an asymmetric price transmission, particularly in agricultural commodities markets. This paper investigates farm-retail price transmission along the Canadian dairy and pork values chains using Threshold Autoregressive, Momentum Threshold Autoregressive, Error Correction Models and Granger causality test. Using monthly price data, we found that farm-retail price transmission is asymmetric in short and long-term between raw milk and butter price while it is symmetric in the cheese case. In the pork sector, price transmission is asymmetric in long-term and symmetric in short-term between farm price and respectively pork chops and bacon prices. Because of processor and retailer concentration, consumer prices respond more quickly to upward than downward of farm prices. The processors, retailers and distributors concentration along the value chain in Canadian dairy and pork sectors and the supply management regulation policies as well as income stabilization insurance program are the main factors generating this market structure. Consideration of the characteristics of farmers, processors, and retailers in the value chain and the actors' potential reactions to the agricultural policy could better protect consumers and producers from market distortion.Keywords: asymmetric price transmission, Canadian dairy and pork's value chain, market power, threshold error correction model JEL codes: Q13, C22, D4 This phenomenon called "asymmetric price transmission" has some implications for economic policies outcomes. On the one hand, consumers do not fully benefit from input price reductions, while producers, on the other hand, do not benefit from consumer price increases (Meyer and von Taubadel, 2004). According to Vavra and Goodwin (2005), when price transmission is not total and symmetric, trade liberalization effects on consumer welfare are overestimated.Price dynamic analysis in agri-food industry was a major preoccupation for policy-makers, agri-food firms, and consumers. Several authors such as Kinnucan

Improved crops are advocated to meet the dual challenge of food security and the fight against poverty in developing countries. As most poor people in developing countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, an important key to get them out of poverty is to increase agricultural productivity by using technologies such as improved crops. However, the rate of improved crops adoption remains surprisingly low in Niger, one of the world poorest countries. In this paper, we examine the factors affecting adoption of improved crops by rural farmers focusing on Niger. Using the 2014's National Survey on Households Living Conditions and Agriculture, we investigate the effect of farmers' socioeconomic characteristics, the farm's quality, the geographic location, the production system, the access to improved seeds and the land tenure on the probability to use improved crops rather than local crops. Our results suggest that the ownership of a government land title is the most important driver in the adoption of improved crops by rural farmers. In addition, being a female, educated, practicing polyculture, having access to improved seed increase the probability to adopt improved crops. In contrast, household size, operating on the parcel for a long period and the parcel size reduces the probability to use improved crops. These determinants of improved crops adoption should be considered in Niger's agricultural policy to succeed in the dissemination of improved crops among rural farmers.