The presence of food waste, and ways to reduce it, has generated significant debate among industry stakeholders, policy makers, and consumer groups around the world. Many have argued that the variety of date labels used by food manufacturers leads to confusion about food quality and food safety among consumers. Here, we develop a between-subject, laboratory experiment with different date labels (Best by, Fresh by, Sell by, and Use by) for products (ready-to-eat cereal, salad greens, and yogurt) of different sizes and dates to evaluate how date labels influence the value of premeditated food waste of subjects, or their willingness to waste (WTW). Subjects have different WTW over products, sizes, and dates; we expect that ambiguity avoidance may prompt differences in the WTW. The WTW is greatest in the "Use by" treatment, the date label which may be the least ambiguous and suggestive of food safety. The WTW is the lowest for the "Sell by" treatment, which may be the most ambiguous date label about safety or quality for the consumer. Results from the mixed-design, repeated measures ANOVA provide evidence that subjects have different WTW by date labels over products.

All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided this copyright notice appears on all such copies. ! H1: Date labels differentially affect WTW. ! H2a: The "Sell by" relative to the other treatments yields the lowest WTW. ! H2b: The "Use by" relative to the other treatments yields the highest WTW. ! H3: WTW varies by the perishability of products, date, and product size.

Fruit producers in the Eastern United States face a wide range of weather-related risks that have the capacity to largely impact yields and profitability. This research examines the economic implications associated with responding to these risks for sweet cherry production in three different systems: high tunnels, revenue insurance, and weather insurance. The analysis considers a distribution of revenue flows and costs using detailed price, yield, and weather data between 1984 and 2013. Our results show that the high tunnel system generates the largest net return if significant price premiums exist for earlier and larger fruit.

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Promotion programs that subsidize advertising for exported agricultural products continue to be used despite much criticism that they are an inefficient use of taxpayer money. At the same time, others have advocated for an increase in funds to support domestic advertising for fruits and vegetables. We investigate the economic and nutritional effects from changes in both export and domestic promotion expenditures for horticultural and nonhorticultural commodities. Simulation results show that even modest decreases in trade promotion expenditures coupled with a corresponding increase in domestic promotion efforts have the capacity to influence domestic market conditions, caloric intake, and nutrient consumption.