About

Rachael Goodhue is a Professor and the Donald H and Miriam C Stelling Endowed Chair at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. Her research focuses on agricultural marketing and organization, industrial organization, contracting, agricultural and agri-environmental regulation and policy, pesticide use and regulation, and property rights. She is involved in teaching courses such as Intermediate Microeconomics: Imperfect Competition, Markets and Welfare Economics, and Analysis of California Agriculture and Resources, contributing to the understanding of market structures, policy impacts, and resource management within the agricultural sector.

Research topics

• Biology
• Economics
• Business
• Food science
• Marketing
• Agricultural economics
• Environmental science
• Microeconomics
• Agronomy
• Horticulture
• Commerce
• Ecology
• Agricultural science
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation, Not Wheat Pre-cropping, Suppressed Charcoal Rot in Strawberries

  Plant Disease · 2025-12-08

  article

  Charcoal rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Mp) has become a major threat to the California strawberry industry. We examined the effect of growing ‘Summit 515’ wheat (wheat) as a pre-crop of strawberries with and without anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) on suppressing charcoal rot in strawberries. A series of pot experiments, replicated field trials on the Central Coast, and demonstration trials on commercial fields in the Southern Coast were conducted. Economic analysis using a partial budget was performed using data from the field trials. Growing wheat did not significantly reduce soil Mp populations, and growing and incorporating wheat failed to suppress charcoal rot in strawberries in a replicated field trial. In contrast, ASD applied within beds (bed-ASD) in a sandy loam demonstration trial and ASD applied on a flat ground (broadcast-ASD) in loamy sand replicated field trials suppressed charcoal rot in strawberries. However, the Mp populations in the soil were significantly reduced only in the demonstration trial. Potential mechanisms and cumulative Eh and cumulative soil temperature conditions required for those cases are discussed. In a clay loam demonstration trial, bed-ASD did not develop sufficient anaerobiosis and failed to suppress the disease because of large soil clods in the beds. A partial budget economic analysis indicated that broadcast-ASD may be cost-prohibitive, whereas the bed-ASD is more viable. Taken together, bed-ASD may be a viable option for suppressing charcoal rot in strawberries in sandy to loamy fields in the Southern Coast of California. Bed-ASD in fields with high clay content soils remains challenging.

  PublisherDOI

• Evaluating projections of the costs of pesticide regulation: Evidence from California's chlorpyrifos withdrawal

  Agricultural Systems · 2025-08-23 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Regulations restricting the use of pesticide active ingredients are often enacted because new information on environmental and human health hazards is identified. Restrictions on pesticide use can disrupt pest management programs and cause significant economic impacts depending on the price, availability, and effectiveness of alternative products. When developing policies, regulators often face legal requirements to obtain projections of the costs of potential regulations. Ex-ante analyses are important in guiding policy decisions, but post-hoc evaluation of cost projection methods and results is rarely conducted. Our study aimed to identify how unpredictable changes in pest management practices, product prices, and agricultural systems in response to regulation or external factors may affect the accuracy of projections. We evaluate the accuracy of projections made prior to the 2020 withdrawal of the insecticide chlorpyrifos in California using data from the post-withdrawal period 2020–2022 and identify the relative contributions of changes in crop acreage, pesticide prices, and pesticide use decisions to management costs in six commodities (almond, alfalfa, citrus, cotton, grape, and walnut). We find changes in statewide acreage contributed most to differences between projected and realized costs; increased almond acreage led to underestimated costs, while decreased alfalfa, cotton, and table grape acreage overestimated costs. Increases in pesticide prices contributed most to underestimated costs in citrus, wine grapes, and walnuts. In most cases, the assumption that alternatives would replace chlorpyrifos proportionate to their use prior to withdrawal was accurate. We conclude that economic projections of costs of pesticide regulations pre-enactment can adequately represent realized costs and identify ways to enrich ex-ante analyses based on available information. • Regulations restricting use of certain pesticides can increase pest management cost. • Accurately projecting economic costs of regulations assists in implementation. • Previous projections are evaluated for accuracy using new data after regulations. • Changes in product prices and crop acreage affected accuracy of projections. • Accounting for uncertainties in some variables may increase the breadth of analyses.

  PublisherDOI

• Pesticide Use and Cropland Consolidation in California Organic Agriculture

  Ecological Economics · 2024-01-20 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Developing agricultural pest management strategies with reduced-risks to surface water: An economic case study of California's Central Coast region

  Journal of Environmental Management · 2024-05-01 · 3 citations

  articleCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Developing Agricultural Pest Management Strategies with Reduced-Risks to Surface Water: An Economic Case Study of California's Central Coast Region

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Economic damages of food-safety incidents in complex markets: 2018 <i>E. coli</i> outbreak and romaine lettuce

  California Agriculture · 2023-05-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Food-safety incidents are costly for everyone in the leafy greens industry. However, it is challenging to estimate the size and distribution of these costs in today's complex supply chains. Extensive use of formal contracts in markets such as leafy greens obscures prices and other terms of trade from the public view. Using proprietary data on prices and sales from a major leafy greens processor operating in the retail and food-service sectors, we are able to separately estimate short-run damages associated with the November 2018 romaine Escherichia coli advisory for growershippers, processors, retailers, and food-service operators. Due to fixed prices in grower-processor contracts, growers were only minimally impacted by the advisory. Processors, meanwhile, lost approximately $55.3 million from price and quantity impacts. Retailers incurred $14.1 million in losses after pulling product from distribution channels and shelves. Foodservice operators were less impacted because lower prices offset losses from destroying potentially contaminated products. Moving forward, the best way to mitigate losses during food-safety incidents is fast and efficient traceability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Product innovation and promotion of value-added products via marketing cooperatives

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2023-02-07 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  Marketing cooperatives (MCs) can have a competitive advantage over investor-owned firms (IOFs) when communicating complex qualities where information asymmetries exist between consumers and producers. For example, the cooperative business model lends credibility and authenticity to health, sustainability, and local production claims. We review the existing literature to discuss opportunities for cooperatives in modern agricultural markets characterized by increased product differentiation. Marketing orders (i.e., regulated producer organizations operating in select industries and geographic regions) can complement cooperatives’ investments in product innovation and brand-specific advertising, and we compare and contrast their actions with functions provided by MCs. A description of the efforts pursued by the Almond Board of California and Blue Diamond illustrates how coordinated producer and market research, product innovation, generic advertising, and brand promotion can ensure MCs' long-term growth and success. We conclude with a discussion of future data and research needs.

  PublisherDOI

• From Handshakes to Blockchains: Economic Analysis of Contracts in Agriculture

  Natural resource management and policy · 2022-01-01 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Economic impacts of food safety incidents in a modern supply chain: <i>E. coli</i> in the romaine lettuce industry

  American Journal of Agricultural Economics · 2022 · 32 citations

  • Business
  • Agricultural economics
  • Commerce

  Abstract Food‐safety incidents disrupt impacted markets, cause destruction of edible product, shake consumer confidence, and impose economic losses upon participants across the implicated supply chain. Despite the prevalence of such incidents, we know surprisingly little about their supply chain impacts, especially in modern produce markets where contracts may impede the diffusion of price impacts through the supply chain. The November 2018 E. coli incident for romaine lettuce in Central California roiled North American produce markets throughout the fall of 2018 and well into 2019. Our study of the economic impacts of this incident benefited from access to disaggregate information on prices and sales for romaine and substitute leafy greens at all stages of the supply chain, enabling us to overcome data limitations that have impeded prior studies. We decompose impacts from the incident into price and quantity components. Romaine growers were largely protected from damage due to fixed‐price provisions in grower‐processor contracts. Economic losses were incurred mostly by romaine shippers and processors, and grocery retailers who pulled saleable product from the supply chain and lost sales during and well after the incident due to reduced consumer demand. We estimate that the total societal loss from the incident was in the range of $276–$343 million. Widespread and long‐lasting impacts from a food‐safety incident demonstrate the economic benefit of industries adopting mandatory food‐safety standards and improved traceability to minimize the occurrence and impacts of such incidents.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Band Steaming for Weed and Disease Control in Leafy Greens and Carrots

  HortScience · 2022-10-18 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Steam injected into the soil, raising soil temperatures to &gt;70 °C for 15 to 20 minutes, will control weed seed and soilborne pathogens. The effect of this reduction in the weed seedbank viability results in weed control in the treated zone that can persist for several weeks or months. The effect of steam pasteurization of soil on weed seeds produces results similar to a preemergence herbicide. In our study, steam was applied to the soil to control weed seed and propagules of Sclerotinia minor and Pythium spp. Replicated field trials in carrot, lettuce, and spinach were conducted using two types of band steam applicators in 2020 and 2021. Data collected were soil temperatures after steam application, weed control, hand weeding times, diseased plant counts, pathogen populations in the soil, and crop yields. Post-steam soil temperature intervals &gt;70 °C in the top 10 cm of the soil ranged from 67 to 176 minutes. Steam reduced weed densities by 64% to 100% and lowered hand weeding times by 23% to 91%. The reduction of S. minor sclerotia propagules after steaming was 69% to 95% compared with the no steam control. The percentage of lettuce plants infected with lettuce drop was reduced by 60% to 70% and the reduction of Pythium spp. propagules in the soil was reduced by 50% to 100% compared with the no steam control, respectively. Lettuce head diameters in steamed soils were 10% to 24% larger compared with the no steam control. Carrots grown in the steam-treated soil had a 10% greater root diameter than the no steam control. Steam increased lettuce yields in two of three trials 22% to 28% compared with the no steam control. Gross revenues for the steam-treated lettuce were $3231/ha higher than in the no steam control. The data suggest that band steam is a viable soil pest control treatment for vegetable crops.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Colin A. Carter

  Agricultural & Applied Economics Association

  49 shared

• C.‐Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell

  Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

  47 shared

• Christine L. Carroll

  Boston University

  38 shared

• Gordon C. Rausser

  University of California, Berkeley

  37 shared

• Krishna V. Subbarao

  University of California, Davis

  35 shared

• Leo K. Simon

  32 shared

• Donglin Zhang

  University of Georgia

  24 shared

• Steven A. Fennimore

  22 shared

Education

• B.A.

  Swarthmore College

  1993

• M.S.

  University of California, Berkeley

  1994

• Ph.D.

  University of California, Berkeley

  1997