U.S. Honey Supply Chain: Structural Change, Promotions and the China Connection

Abstract

Honey is a by-product of the pollination of plants and essential to almost all agricultural plant product. Demand for honey provides a partial compensation for the pollination services. Hence, programs to support honey demand such as promotions are potentially very important to the agricultural sector as well as the honey industry. Honey is utilized for table consumption and for manufacturing and both U.S. domestic and foreign honey imports both contribute to the U.S. honey availability. Econometric models are estimated showing the domestic table-use and manufacturing demand with the models explicitly incorporating the effects of generic promotion of honey. Rates-of-return to the U.S. honey promotion programs are estimated with rates assigned to domestic production and imports.