Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural and Resource Economics

Major Professor

Charles C. Martinez

Committee Members

Alicia Rihn, T. Edward Yu, Liz Eckelkamp

Abstract

One of the important and widely common tools that bull buyers use to ease the selection process is the use of expected progeny differences (EPD). This study employs a lab-in-the-field experimental design, combining real-world auction data with a survey instrument to gather insights into producers' seedstock buying behaviors using EPD information. A total of 208 participants took part voluntarily in our study; 101 of which were from Tennessee, 30 were from Alabama, 37 from West Virginia, and 40 of which were from Iowa. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of four treatments groups, which included EPD information with different arrangements. The result shows that the buyers in treatment 3 (control treatment flipped) have the highest average accuracy in predicting bull prices followed by treatment 2 (EPD values for different traits excluding percentile rank), treatment 3, and the control group (treatment 2 flipped) while no significant difference was found between the treatment groups. The findings of this study will guide breeders and industry stakeholders in developing strategies to market and promote the adoption of advanced selection tools like EPDs. The second chapter of this thesis explores consumers' preferences and shopping behavior for value-added local farm cheese products using eye-tracking technology in an actual retail setting. A total of 98 participants were recruited for the experiment with each participant incentivized $20 for their participation that they can spend to buy products from store or choose to buy nothing. In the first stage of study, participants were asked to watch a video or read a graphical image of advertisement, participants walked in the store with eye tracking glasses on and made their purchases during the second stage and filled in a survey after completing their purchase. The result showed that the participants treated with graphical image of advertising spent on average more than those treated with video advertising. No significant difference was found between the treatment groups regarding expenses in store. These results can be leveraged to understand consumer’s shopping behavior in a retail outlet and provide insights for small dairy businesses moving into value addition.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS