The supply side of beef industry has not responded well to the rising demand for beef. This industry is still highly dependent on imported beef and feeder cattle for beef production to meet the local demand. The objective of this study is to analyse the impacts of different importation policy scenarios on beef industry in Peninsular Malaysia. A simulation model that based on estimated market model is used to analyse the policy. The findings imply that the number of import cattle for breeding (ICTB) should be maintained, while import of cattle for slaughter or feeder cattle should be increased by 20%. This will improve beef self-sufficiency level while stabilizing beef retail price.

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Climate change has significantly impact the economic development and trade of developing countries particularly those largely rely on agriculture. According to the World Bank, oil palm was the main contributor of GDP for Malaysia agriculture. Climate change affects oil palm growth and productivity in a number of ways, including reduction in sex-ration, disrupts the pollination process, abortion of newly produced inflorescence, drops in productivity, and increase in ranges and distribution of pests and diseases. Much of the economic researches devoted to employ production function and Ricardian approach. This study, therefore, focuses to model the effect of climate change on oil palm production by using supply response approach. An annual time series data used for the period of 37 years starting from 1980 until 2016, and Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) co-integration_-employed in achieving the objective of the study. Six econometric models consisting of linear and non-linear equations were constructed by incorporating temperature and rainfall as proxies for climate variable to estimate the yield response model. The results revealed that oil palm production was very negatively affected by changes in temperature compared to changes in rainfall. Meanwhile, the planted area and own price upsurge the supply of palm oil. The results also indicated that Model 3 and Model 6 were the best model to represent the linear and non-linear effect of climate_change on oil palm production, respectively. Quantifying the impact of climate change on palm oil production can help policy makers and relevant stakeholders to determine the best adaptation and mitigation measures.

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IntroductionIndustry reports and anecdotal evidence indicate that the death loss rate in cattle feedlots has increased over time. Such increases in death loss rates impact feedlot cost and thus profitability.ObjectivesThe primary objective of this study is to examine whether feedlot death loss rates in cattle have changed over time, to analyze the nature of any identified structural change, and to identify possible catalysts for that change.MethodsData from the Kansas Feedlot Performance and Feed Cost Summary from 1992 through 2017 is used to model feedlot death loss rate as a function of feeder cattle placement weight, days on feed, time, and seasonality in the form of monthly dummy variables. Commonly used tests of structural change, including the CUSUM, CUSUMSQ, and Bai and Perron methods, are implemented to examine the existence and nature of any structural changes in the proposed model. All tests indicate the presence of structural breaks in the model, including both systematic change and abrupt change. Following a synthesis of structural test results, the final model is modified to include a structural shift parameter for the period from December 2000 to September 2010.ResultsModels indicate that days on feed has a significant positive influence on death loss rate. Trend variables indicate that death loss rates have increased systematically over the period studied. However, the structural shift parameter in the modified model is positive and significant for December 2000 to September 2010, indicating that death loss is higher on average during this period. Variance of death loss percentage is also higher during this period. Parallels between evidence of structural change and possible industry and environmental catalysts are also discussed.ConclusionsStatistical evidence does indicate changes in the structure of death loss rates. Ongoing factors such as changes in feeding rations prompted by market forces and feeding technologies may have contributed to systematic change. Other events, such as weather events and beta agonist use could result in abrupt changes. No clear evidence directly connects these factors to death loss rates and disaggregated data would be required to facilitate such a study.