A stochastic budget simulator and generalized stochastic dominance are used to compare the risk management properties of grazing contracts to futures and option contracts. The results show that the risks of backgrounding feeder cattle are reduced significantly for pasture owners in a grazing contract. However, the risks of the cattle owner in a grazing contract are not significantly reduced. The results also show that generally risk averse pasture owners prefer grazing contracts to integrated production when traditional hedging is used to manage price risks. In addition, grazing contracts compare favorably with put option contracts for some pasture owners.

In August 1994, the Secretary of Agriculture announced the termination of the marketing order and the associated flow-to-market, or prorate, controls for fresh California and Arizona (CA/AZ) lemons. Lemon growers and handlers have expressed concern over the impact of this decision on retail-FOB margins. This study presents an econometric model of fresh lemon marketing margins that tests for the presence of buyer and seller market power during previous periods of marketing order suspension. The results show that buyer and, to a lesser extent, seller market power cause retail-FOB margins to widen during periods of prorate suspension.

This study presents a testing methodology to analyze potential price asymmetries among the farm, wholesale, and retail levels of the U.S. broiler industry. Lag length, direction of causality, and asymmetric relationships are empirically determined. Results suggest that concentration and power of the integrators in the industry have allowed the wholesale price to become the center, causal price in the market. Asymmetric price transmissions, however, are limited. While downward movements in the wholesale price are passed on more fully to growers than increases in the wholesale price, only consumers in the North Central region of the U.S. share a larger portion of wholesalers’ price increases than price decreases.

Product placement survey data for 192 Asian-American households in Houston were used to analyze the value of rice quality attributes via the Consumer Goods Characteristics Model (CGCM). Five rice varieties were used for this study: domestic Lemont, Jasmine 85, Toro II, and two different Thai import varieties. For each variety, marginal implicit prices were calculated at the means for seven characteristics: color, texture, aroma, stickiness, flavor, aftertaste, and moisture.

This study examines how sociodemographic characteristics of a household's main meal planner affect use of nutritional information concerning ingredients, health benefits, calories, sodium, vitamins/minerals, fiber, fat, cholesterol, and sugar content on food packages. Results generally suggest that well-educated, female main meal planners are more likely to use various types of nutritional information than others. Main meal planners who place more importance on nutrition but less importance on taste and those who have a higher perception of the healthfulness of their diet are more likely to use nutritional information on packages than others. Household size, race, employment status, urbanization, region, age, and income are also significant factors.

An ordered probit model is used to investigate the factors that determine post-choice satisfaction of southeastern U.S. dairy farmers with their milk handlers. The impact on farmer satisfaction of milk handler attributes, farm/farmer characteristics, and farm location is tested. Results support the hypothesis that mailbox price and the quality of service provided by milk handlers have a positive effect on satisfaction levels. Bargaining-operating cooperatives are negatively associated with farmer satisfaction when contrasted against independently owned milk handlers and bargaining-only cooperatives. Choice and the ability to switch milk handlers are also important determinants of farmer satisfaction.

This study provides an analysis of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners' participation in forestry assistance programs. A probit model was used for data collected from a random sample of 329 Indiana landowners. The analysis revealed that total land owned, commercial reasons for ownership, government sources of information, and membership in forestry organizations influenced NIPF landowners' program participation. Age, fear of loss of property rights, and duration since the first wooded tract was acquired also influenced program participation. Location of landowners' residence on their wooded land and landowners' knowledge of and willingness to participate in a conservation easement influenced the participation in cost-share programs.

An interregional input-output model of the Monroe, Louisiana, Functional Economic Area constructed with IMPLAN is used to assess economic linkages between a small urban core and a surrounding rural periphery. The contribution of agriculture, especially in the rural periphery, to the urban core (Ouachita Parish) economy is demonstrated. Also assessed is the possibility of using the core's food processing sector to facilitate periphery economic growth. While results demonstrated stronger rural-urban linkages than have been found in other regions, growth in the urban food processing industry, as currently structured, did not imply rapid growth in the periphery.

Efforts to stabilize employment and output in the agricultural sector of Yugoslavia through monetization contributed to inflationary pressures. Granger causality tests suggest that increases in the rate of growth in the supply of money to subsidize state-owned agribusinesses were insufficient to maintain purchases of wheat and corn, but did cause purchases of cattle and swine. This result may be explained by producers having more flexibility in grain marketing (i.e., storage options and private buyers) and the perishability issues related to livestock marketing. The policy to maintain employment through monetization is shown to have been ineffective.

An alternative version of decomposition analysis, based on factor cost shares rather than input demand functions, is presented and applied to Greek agriculture. Decomposition analysis shows that most of the changes in factor cost shares during the period from 1973 to 1989 are attributed to technical change and factor substitution, while the role of the scale effect is small, except that of fertilizer. The decomposition analysis results are then used to analyze the implications of Greece's fertilizer and feed subsidy removal, which took place in 1990.

This research examines the predictability of a profit maximization model, an expected value-variance utility maximization (E-V) model, and two versions of the target-MOTAD model for modeling risky agricultural production decisions. Model solutions were translated into expected value and variance of farm income for analysis. Direct comparison and chi-square analysis of actual and predicted expected income distributions were used in the analyses. It was concluded that the utility maximization and cash-cost target-MOTAD models predicted distributions of farm income better than the variable-cost target-MOTAD and profit maximization models.

Agricultural exports are important to many regional economies, as is the case for agricultural exports either produced in or shipped through Louisiana. A hybrid (revised and verified) IMPLAN model of the Louisiana economy is used to estimate the direct and indirect impact of agricultural exports. Original model estimates of foreign exports lacked holistic (overall) accuracy. However, other, more general uses of the model were unaffected by this lack of accuracy. While the contributions of agricultural exports to the state economy were substantial, impacts were concentrated in unprocessed products. Increasing the export of processed agricultural products should enhance economic activity.

Exotic aquatic plant management is a major concern for public reservoir management in many regions of the United States. A study was conducted to measure the effects of alternative aquatic plant management strategies on recreational expenditures and regional economic activity. The study area was Lake Guntersville, Alabama, and the local economy surrounding the lake. Lake Guntersville is one of the largest reservoirs in the Tennessee Valley Authority system. Results suggested that relatively moderate levels of aquatic plant control are associated with the highest levels of recreation-related economic effects on the economy surrounding Lake Guntersville.

This study examines per trip consumer surplus associated with guided Whitewater rafting on two southern rivers. First, household recreation demand functions are estimated based on the individual travel cost model using truncated count data regression methods and alternative price specifications. Findings show mean per trip consumer surplus point estimates between $89 and $286, depending on modeling assumptions and river quality. Magnitudes of these surpluses are very dependent on assumptions about the opportunity cost of time.

This study evaluates the economic impact of a ban on methyl bromide on the U.S. winter fresh vegetable market for six major crops: tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and watermelons. Florida is the primary domestic supplier of these products. Mexico and Texas are the competing suppliers of the five vegetable crops and peppers, respectively. Leontief technologies represent both monocrop and double-crop production systems; linear inverse demand functions represent four demand regions in the U.S. and Canada. By increasing production costs and reducing yields, a ban on methyl bromide decreases Florida's FOB revenues by 54% and increases those of Mexico by 65%. Price increases to U.S. fresh vegetable consumers range from near zero to over 10%, depending upon the commodity and location.

Declining domestic cigarette consumption, increased global competition, and loss of import restrictions indicate decreased demand for U.S. flue-cured tobacco. The effects of 10% declines in domestic and export demand are evaluated under a policy of reducing quota to maintain price versus a policy of allowing price to fall to maintain quota. Changes in prices, quantities, revenues, and economic rents are simulated. Losses to nonfarming quota owners are minimized under a policy of price maintenance, while losses in revenues to tobacco-producing areas are minimized by a policy of quota maintenance. Aggregate losses to tobacco growers are greater under a policy of quota maintenance.

In his recent article, Onianwa used the absolute price version of the Rotterdam demand model to estimate Mexican and Canadian import demands for U.S. beef products. The specification of the Rotterdam model allows straightforward testing of the basic theoretical properties of demand. Based on theory, a system of demand equations should obey adding up, homogeneity, symmetry, and negativity (Theil 1971, 1975; Deaton and Muellbauer). Adding up is guaranteed or automatically satisfied in the Rotterdam model and other similar demand models like the almost ideal demand system (AIDS). Hence, adding up cannot be tested. Negativity can be checked by calculating the eigenvalues of the Rotterdam Slutsky matrix (all eigenvalues should be nonpositive). The remaining two properties, homogeneity and symmetry, can be straightforwardly tested by using the likelihood ratio test, as in the present paper, or the Wald or Lagrange multiplier tests; homogeneity can also be tested separately for each demand equation using the F-test.