Using a national household survey and a newly established food security scale, socio-demographic factors affecting the level of household food insecurity in Mexico were identified. Households more likely to be food insecure include those with younger, less-educated household heads, headed by single, widowed or divorced women, with disabled household members, with native language speakers, with children, as well as rural and lower-income households. The model was also estimated for the rural and lower-income subpopulation, finding that low levels of education, native language speakers, and number of kids are factors associated with higher levels of food insecurity.

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This paper examines the effect of the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The results suggest that U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico have been responsive to tariff rate reductions applied to Mexican products. A one percentage point decrease in tariff rates is associated with an increase in U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico by 5.31% in the first 6 years of NAFTA and by 2.62% in the last 6 years of NAFTA. U.S. imports from Mexico have also been attributable to the pre-NAFTA tariff rates. Overall, the results indicate that the U.S-Mexico trade agreement under NAFTA has been trade creating rather than trade diverting.

US exports of apples, poultry, and unmanufactured tobacco were analyzed using regression techniques to determine their responsiveness to foreign market development expenditures. It was determined that apple and tobacco exports were responsive, while poultry exports were not. Marginal returns to an additional dollar of export promotion for apples and tobacco were $60 and 31, respectively. Results indicated that response to poultry promotion was not different from zero. This is likely due to aggregation of data which does not permit isolating impacts of specific promotional efforts.

United States agriculture is dependent on foreign labor. Current US immigration policies have been alleged to disrupt agricultural labor availability, particularly that of hired foreign labor. A national survey of dairy farmers across herd sizes and regions of the United States was conducted and the results were used to estimate the extent to which hired foreign labor dependency will affect exit intentions in dairy farming. This study found that the expected probability of exit from dairy farming increased as the use of hired foreign labor intensified. But the expected probability of exit also decreased rapidly as herd sizes got larger. Given the immigration policy currently in place, farmers expecting labor shortages in the future are expected to experience greater tendency to exit the industry.

Major components of agricultural competitiveness, including definitions, factors, and indicators of competitiveness, are discussed. The case of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is used to illustrate how factors have influenced the competitive position of the NAFTA countries. Traditional neoclassical trade theory is used to evaluate the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations and trade preferences on agricultural competitiveness. Pre- and post-NAFTA market shares are evaluated for five agricultural commodities of importance to the southern United States. The results of these evaluations are compared with theoretical expectations and discussed with special emphasis on implications for future trade negotiations.

The North American agricultural markets have become much more integrated; but the level of integration varies across sectors and over time. Differential tariff phasing-out periods and remaining trade disputes are two of many factors contributing to this. This article applies panel data unit root tests to study price convergence and market integration in the North American onion markets. Commodity and variety monthly base price data for the period of 1998 to 2006 are used. Empirical results decisively suggest the existence of price convergence across markets as well as onion varieties. A two-sample period analysis shows an increase in the speed of price convergence over time, suggesting deeper market integration as NAFTA was fully implemented. Further analysis based on a two-country-market basis found that U.S.-Canadian markets have experienced deeper market integration compared with U.S.-Mexican markets as well as Canadian-Mexican markets. [EconLit citations: F150, Q170]. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Although immigration is a controversial issue, it is also of major importance to the United States and to agriculture. Immigration policy has been discussed in the recent presidential debates and will likely be debated again in Congress at some point in the near future. Agricultural producer organizations, commodity associations, and lobbying groups have been at the forefront of this issue for many years. Our profession certainly has a role to play by informing constituent groups and the public with objective analytical results.