Authors:
Tina L. Saitone and Richard J. Sexton
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California, United States

Date of Publication:
September 26, 2005

Publication:
Agricultural Issues Center, University of California

Abstract:
Alpacas were introduced into the U.S. from South America in 1984, and the domestic alpaca herd has grown rapidly in the succeeding 20 years. The benefits of raising alpacas are touted routinely on national television, and alpaca breeding stock in the U.S. sells routinely for prices in the range of $25,000 per head, many timeshigher than prices obtainable in Peru, where the world’s largest alpaca herd resides. We study the evolution of the U.S. alpaca industry and ask whether today’s current prices for alpaca stock can be justified by fundamental economic conditions governing the industry, or whether alpacas represent the latest speculative bubble in American agriculture.

Read the rest of the article: http://aic.ucdavis.edu/research1/alpaca_RAE.pdf