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Quality Changes and Limited Marketing Season Effects on the Demand for Fresh Blueberries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Antonia L. Hoelper
Affiliation:
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Francisco, CA
Michele C. Marra
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maine, Orono
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Abstract

This study examines the notion that fresh-fruit prices follow a time trend separate from the effect of seasonal supply changes over the marketing season. In particular, quality changes and a limited marketing season are hypothesized to contribute to the seasonal changes in demand. The empirical results support these hypotheses for the Boston fresh-blueberry market.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

This research was funded by a cooperative agreement, no. 58-3J31-7-0047, between the U.S. Department of Agriculture/ Agricultural Cooperative Service and the University of Maine, and by the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. The authors wish to thank Wally Thurman and Hartwig Schaefer for the original inspiration for the study; Greg Adams and Jim Leiby, respectively, for various other forms of inspiration; Jim Calnan and Donna Lupo from the Boston/USDA Market News Service for help with the data; two anonymous reviewers for very constructive suggestions; and Tim Woods and Florence Bubar for technical help. MAES Publication no. 1585.

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