Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2015
Since the early 1970s, the economic environment and the agricultural sector in particular have been characterized by constant change. Technologies are rapidly changing from the farm level through the various processing stages to the marketing of food products. New food products and markets, both domestic and international, are continuously emerging (Connor). Unprecedented linkages to world markets and to domestic macroeconomic policies have also been factors shaping the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors in the past 10 to 15 years. For the most part, the effects of these changes on the demand for agricultural products have not generally been empirically determined. Little attention has been paid to keeping abreast of changes and their implications for farmers and processors in any systematic fashion.