EXPLORING THE EXISTENCE OF GRADER BIAS IN BEEF GRADING

Ju Won Jang, Ariun Ishdorj, David Anderson, Tsengeg Purevjav and Garland Dahlke

No 196872, 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia from Southern Agricultural Economics Association

Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) beef grading system plays an important role in marketing and promoting of beef. USDA graders inspect beef carcasses and determine quality grade within a few seconds. Although the graders are well-trained, the nature of this grading process may lead to grading errors. In this paper we examine whether systematic grader bias exists in calling quality grade. Using data from a large-scale packing plant in Midwest we find that seasonality of beef demand and macroeconomic events influence the grading behavior of USDA graders. Producers gain financially from grade called by USDA graders rather than measured by camera.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Livestock Production/Industries; Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/196872/files/E ... 20BEEF%20GRADING.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: EXPLORING THE EXISTENCE OF GRADER BIAS IN BEEF GRADING (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:saea15:196872

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.196872

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia from Southern Agricultural Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().