The Weakening Relationships between Farm and Food Prices

Farm share of the food dollar: an IO approach for the United States and Canada

“…The remaining share or marketing margin includes all costs associated with processing and distributing the product beyond the farm gate. The reliability of the longstanding ERS method for calculating the farm share and marketing bill has diminished over time with the quality and quantity of data (Elitzak, ; Schluter et al, ) and for this reason, ERS discontinued their farm share series based on this methodology after publication of the 2006 marketing bill report.…”

“…Farm shares in other regions have been typically calculated on a product‐by‐product basis by dividing the item's retail price into the value of the farm‐product quantity equivalent needed to produce the retail item after accounting for losses related to storage, processing, and distribution (Elitzak, ). Estimating the farmer share of the food dollar using a product‐by‐product price spread has several limitations (Elitzak, ; Gale, ; Schluter et al, ). First, the fixed consumer basket assumption ignores the increased complexity of the food landscape, including the rise of niche products and convenience food products, and poses a challenge for accounting for supply chain losses.…”

“…Schluter et al. () contend the price spread approach that is based on a traditional view of the agri‐food system where consumer food expenditures send price signals back up the supply chain, whereas a more contemporary institutional view would recognize that retailers use significant resources to identify consumer preferences and adapt products accordingly.…”

“…The systematic approach uses annual data generated on a regular basis by government units with input–output (IO) techniques (Canning, ). IO data are considered to be better quality, timelier, and more complete than data sources used in the price spread approach (Schluter et al, ). In particular, using IO data allows for information about the entire agri‐food system to be obtained from a single, consolidated data source.…”

L’euro alimentaire en France et le partage des valeurs ajoutées

“…La méthode de l'USDA s'appuie sur une relation fondamentale, issue des travaux de Leontief (1966Leontief ( , 1986, entre les valeurs ajoutées des branches et la demande inale. Elle a déjà été utilisée dans de nombreux travaux américains sur la consommation alimentaire (voir notamment Schluter et al, 1998). Comme tout exercice de ce type, la principale limite tient à l'hypothèse de coeficients ixes de production, hypothèse que l'on retrouve à différents stades de la décomposition.…”