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Subject: search.filters.subject.Meat industry and trade

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    The effect of heat treatment on blood : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology in Product Development and Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 1968) Tervit, Helen Margaret
    New Zealand is a meat producing and exporting country and therefore has a large meat processing industry. In any industry, the utilisation of waste materials from the production of the main product as "byproducts" aids in the reduction of the manufacturing costs of the primary product, because of increased utilisation of overheads, and results in increased profit. During the processing of animal carcases to produce meat, a large amount of waste materials, including offal, skins, hooves, bones and blood, is produced. One of these waste materials, blood, is drained from the animals immediately after their slaughter and is available in large quantities as a raw material for the production of byproducts. Besides the reduction of meat processing costs, the recovery of blood solids considerably reduces the effluent load of the processing plant, blood solids being mainly organic matter. Unfortunately this latter consideration, i.e. the reduction of the Biological Oxygen Demand of the effluent from meat processing plants, is often the prime consideration in blood processing in New Zealand, as the cost of recovery may exceed the value of the final product; the quality and therefore value of blood products being of little importance. The major products produced from whole blood are animal feedstuffs (blood meal) and fertiliser (dried blood, and blood and bone), although blood may be processed into black puddings, or utilised as a protein binder in sausage manufacture. Blood is also processed by separating the red corpuscles from the plasma, and manufacturing edible and pharmaceutical products from these separated fractions. This improves the value of the final products obtained from blood, but the advantage of this refinement in processing would depend on the cost of the separation process and the individual processing of the two fractions; this would depend to a large extent upon the throughput of the plant. [From Introduction]
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    An evaluation of the welfare effects of United States meat import quotas using the concept of economic surplus : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Agricultural Economics and Marketing at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1974) Bryant, L. I
    The original objective of this study was to estimate the effect of United States Meat Import Quotas on economic welfare in the United States and New Zealand. Welfare was to be estimated as the changes in the economic rent of United States producers, in United States consumers' surplus, and in revenue of the New Zealand beef industry, resulting from a change in quotas. An economic model was formulated expressing the relationship between the beef markets in the United States, New Zealand, and the rest of the world. The model was used to estimate the values of endogenous variables assuming the absence of United States meat import quotas. This was done by estimating the coefficients of the model based on those years in which quotas were not effective. It was expected that the projected values for endogenous variables, obtained by experimentation with the model, would provide a basis for the estimation of the welfare effects of quotas. However initial experimentation demonstrated that the estimated values for endogenous variables in the model were inconsistent with economic theory. As the New Zealand sector of the model required the use of inputs generated by the United States sector, experimentation with the New Zealand sector was abandoned. The points of disagreement between economic theory and the estimated model on the effect of quotas were as follows; (i) The supply and demand for fed beef was expected to rise, but the model predicted a fall. (ii) Domestic supply of manufacturing beef was expected to rise, but the model predicted a fall. (iii) Demand for manufacturing beef was expected to fall, but the model predicted a rise. (iv) Import supply was expected to fall, but the model predicted a rise. Disagreement (iv) is the most serious in terms of the objectives of this study as the restrictive effect of quotas on imports is the reason for their use. It was concluded that the unsatisfactory results obtained in the analysis were due to deficiencies in the econometric model or the data used to estimate the coefficients of the model. Four types of error were considered in term of their possible relevance to the model estimated in the study; specification error; errors in variables; multicollineanity; and autocorrelation. The most important source of error is considered to be in the specification of the model however the other sources of error mentioned are also considered to have been present. Although this study has not achieved the original objective it demonstrates a method whereby the welfare effects of restrictive trade practices can be assessed. For this reason it is considered that some contribution to applied economics has been made.
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    Risk-return analysis of high performing organic and conventional meat production systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Agricultural Systems and Management at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Beheregaray Neto, Vasco
    Demand for organic meat is growing rapidly and so is the interest of New Zealand farmers in producing it. However, information on the advantages of such a system is limited. Studies that have evaluated organic farming systems were either carried out overseas under different conditions or were solely based on comparisons of before versus after the conversion to organic farming, instead of organic versus alternative investment options. The present study examines the economic viability of options available to commercial meat producers of high performance organic systems and a high performance conventional farming system in New Zealand. This involved a robust analysis evaluating the risk-return profiles of strategic enterprise changes and linking these to the risk-preferences of the managers. The Stockpol® model was used to simulate the biological feasibility and undertake a preliminary economic assessment of the alternatives: (i) Full organic and (ii) Intensive beef cattle and lamb finishing systems. A spreadsheet (Excel®) model was developed to undertake a full economic and risk analysis (@Risk®) of those options. Both the full organic and intensive conventional options had a greater chance of achieving long-term target sustainable business growth (SBG) for both case study farms than their base systems (status quo). Continuation of the base system had lower net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) for both case study farms and a lower probability of achieving acceptable levels of business growth. On Case Farm One, the NOPAT mean of the conventional was higher and exhibited greater variation than the full organic alternative. On Case Farm Two, the NOPAT mean of the full organic was also slightly lower than the conventional option but both options exhibited a very similar risk-return profile. The sensitivity regression analysis revealed for both farmers that market uncertainty had the greatest impact on NOPAT mean variability followed by premium price for organic farms, then production risk. So, premium price is an important factor influencing farm profitability. The Activity-Based Costing (ABC) has shown that organic farming had higher production costs than conventional farming because of changes in the enterprise structure. The cumulative distribution function of production costs showed greater variability for lamb meat under the full organic option while beef production costs has more variation under the conventional alternative. The challenges of organic farming are significant e.g. animal health, weeds, and marketing. Therefore, it requires progressive managers to develop business skills associated with strategic management to enhance their proactive production approach. Managers must be thinking differently in terms of product and market and an open mind and willingness to learn are essential requisites to cope with organic farming. Further research could involve this approach using other livestock enterprises and the models developed could be used to quantify the benefits gained from improvements to the system such as selection for parasite resistance. Key words: organic farming, activity based costing, strategic plan, modelling, model, progressive farmers, New Zealand, risk-return profile, sustainable business growth.