This study investigates productive efficiency for a sample of Missouri crop-only (specialized) and integrated crop-livestock (diversified) farms using a cost frontier approach. Results suggest that significant cost inefficiency exists among sample farms. Lower cost efficiency in both types of farms was attributed to improper scale of operations and misallocation of inputs. On average, diversified farms were as technically and scale efficient as specialized farms. Lower allocative efficiency diluted gains in technical efficiency and resulted in greater cost inefficiency for diversified farms than for specialized farms. Technical efficiency was independent of farm size, whereas allocative, scale, and scope efficiencies were not.

The farm level economic implications of the political turmoil surrounding tobacco are examined. Tobacco ranks first in crop receipts in the Southeastern United States. Free market advocates typically want to eliminate the tobacco program because of its cartellike nature. Health advocates want to maintain the program because it limits tobacco production. Cigarette manufacturers tolerate the program because of the political support they receive from program stakeholders. The effects of cigarette price increases with and without a program are examined. Whether or not the program is maintained in the face of declining tobacco demand has significant implications for Southern agriculture.

Fruit is an important component of the food industry in the United States, and “fresh-cut” products are an increasing portion of that consumption. We found that packaging and juice content played a significant role in the choices Indiana consumers made when purchasing fresh-cut melon products. Brand was not as important as the other fresh-cut melon attributes. Indiana consumers had a clear dislike for cup-shaped transparent packages compared with tamper-proof, bowl, and squared packages. However, they were willing to pay a premium for packages that have no fruit juices on the bottom.

In this article, possible use of climate forecasts in rainfall index insurance of hay and forage production is considered in a geographical area (southeast United States) relatively heavily impacted by the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Analysis of the stochastic properties of rainfall, yields, and the ENSO forecasts using the copula technique shows that the forecast impact depends on the proximity to the Gulf Coast where the impact of the ENSO is more pronounced and earlier in the year. Stochastic modeling shows that the use of skillful long-term climate forecasts by the insured producers creates intertemporal adverse selection that can be precluded by offering forecast conditional premiums. The impacts on the efficiency of the rainfall index insurance and results of sensitivity analysis with respect to model parameters are discussed.

This study measures the impacts of use of nutrition information and household socioeconomic characteristics on market participation and amount purchased of whole-fat and low-fat milks in the South. Data are from the 1987-88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. The results showed that use of nutrition information had little effect on purchase levels, but did affect market participation. Results suggest promotion of milk purchases on the basis of nutritional benefits through health professionals and product packaging are useful tools for the dairy industry to attract market participation.

During the 1960s and through 1973, a single equation demand system resulted in reasonably accurate forecasts of both pork and beef prices at the farm and retail levels (Grimes 1974a, 1974b). Errors in forecasts were primarily attributable to errors in projections of supply variables and, to a lesser extent, projections of consumer income. Some minor errors resulted from random variation, captured in an error variable.

The effects of the exchange rate and the income and money supply of the United States and its major trading partners on the U.S. agricultural trade balance are examined using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Results suggest that the exchange rate is the key determinant of the short- and long-run behavior of the trade balance. It is also found that the income and money supply in both the United States and the trading partners have significant impacts on U.S. agricultural trade in both the short and long run.

Few studies to date have addressed the relationship between the food industry's environmental and financial performances although the industry is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. We analyze the impact of environmental news about selected food companies on their stock prices. Results show that positive (negative) events that are the result of direct internal company actions lead to higher (lower) predicted returns, whereas events related to third-party opinions lead to smaller changes in predicted returns in short event windows. This study highlights the importance of conducting the analysis on a disaggregated basis by incorporating firm-level variables.

In this study we apply a spatial conditional logit model to determine factors influencing land cover change in three contiguous counties in West Georgia between 1992 and 2001 using point (pixel) based observations of land characteristics. We found that accessibility to population and population growth affect not only development of rural lands and transition between agricultural and forestry uses, but also influence changes between forest types. The model could be used to project land use–land cover change at watershed or subwatershed level and thus serve as a valuable tool for county and city planners.

Undergraduate Food and Resource Economics majors and those with different majors were surveyed to determine the perceived advantages and disadvantages of distance and online education courses from a student perspective. Specific objectives included determining if students who have been exposed to more online courses are more likely to rate online education as positive or negative relative to the traditional classroom setting. In general, Food and Resource Economics majors tended to view distance and online education courses less favorably than did the others.

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with improved health outcomes,yet there is limited understanding of the impact of cost and accessibilityon fruit and vegetable intake in rural settings. This study examines therelationship between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and their costand accessibility among blacks and non-Hispanic whites in a rural area.Individual characteristics from a 2006 mail survey (n = 1,510) were combinedwith store locations and price information from a 2006 ground-truthed censusof retail outlets. The mail survey covered seven counties in central Texaswith 38 supermarkets/grocery stores. Blacks tended to live closer to asupermarket or grocery store, but they were only slightly more likely thanwhites to consume two or more servings of fruit daily and much less likelyto consume three or more servings of vegetables. Multivariate probitregression analysis revealed that neither access nor cost was related tofruit or vegetable consumption among white respondents. Among blacks, costwas also not associated with consumption. In contrast to whites, however,each additional mile was associated with a three percentage point decline inthe probability of consuming two or more servings of fruit daily and a 1.8percentage point decline in the probability of consuming three or morevegetable servings.

The impact of adopting integrated pest management (IPM) techniques is examined for peach producers in eight states accounting for most of the U.S. production. The method accounts for self-selectivity, simultaneity, and the pesticide demand equations are theoretically consistent with a restricted-profit function. Biological pest management techniques tend to reduce pesticide use and pesticide toxicity substantially, while pesticide-efficiency techniques (using scouting and economic thresholds) have an increasing effect on pesticide use and toxicity, and cultural techniques have an insignificant effect on pesticide use and toxicity.

Price-quality relationships for alfalfa hay were analyzed by hedonic pricing models using 1996-2001 Wisconsin auction data. Individual nutrients included in the analysis all affected alfalfa price, with acid detergent fiber accounting for the largest impact. Alternative pricing models, based on an aggregate quality index or detailed quality information, were similar in their ability to predict price. However, disaggregating price predictions to account for differences in relative feed value (RFV) and crude protein (CP) indicate that both RFV and CP are important determinants of price and that aggregating the two into a quality index is not warranted.

Agriculture was once seen as the solution to many of the nation's problems. A strong agricultural sector translated into a strong America. Kohl et al. have presented four reasons for the past public commitment to agriculture. First, the agricultural sector has had considerable political power; second, there has been a widely held perception that farmers were economically disadvantaged relative to the rest of society; third, for many decades the growth of rural economies has been dependent on healthy agricultural sectors; and, finally, information produced by colleges of agriculture has been seen as a public good worthy of support by general tax revenues.

Government support uncertainty, scarce yield information, and the inherent risk in bioeconomic phenomena are some of the deterrents faced by investors in the nascent cellulosic biofuel industry. A financial probabilistic model was developed to contrast the economic feasibility of producing cellulosic biofuels from energy cane and sweet sorghum using three technologies: hydrolysis, pyrolysis, and gasification. Hydrolysis and pyrolysis proved feasible (showed possibilities of a positive net present value) without government support and conditioned to stochastic feedstock yields and biofuel prices. Gasification was feasible with government support. Improved feedstock and biofuel productivity would considerably raise the feasibility probabilities for hydrolysis and pyrolysis without government support.

Tall fescue toxicosis adversely affects calving rate and weight gainsreducing returns to cow-calf producers in the south–central United States.This grazing study estimated animal and economic performance implications ofendophyte-infected fescue and calving season. Establishing novelendophyte-infected tall fescue on 25% of pasture acres resulted in improvedcalving rates (87% vs. 70%), weaning weights (532 lbs vs. 513 lbs), andpartial returns per acre ($257 vs. $217). Additionally, fall-calving cowshad higher calving rates (91% vs. 67%), weaning weights (550 lbs vs. 496lbs), and partial returns per acre ($269 vs. $199) than spring calvingcows.

This article analyzes economic tradeoffs among harvest date, fertilizer applied, nutrient removal, and switchgrass yield as they vary with respect to input and output prices. Economic sensitivity analyses suggest that higher biomass prices lead to earlier harvest. Optimal harvest time occurs beyond time of maximum yield because nutrient removal in the biomass is an important economic consideration. Switchgrass price premia that reflect the cost of non-optimal harvest time are driven by standing crop yield loss, nutrient removal, storage loss, and opportunity cost. These price premia could provide a mechanism to compensate producers for alternative harvest times and aid with logistics management.

The impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction on the efficiency of Alberta’s dairy industry is assessed through a technical efficiency analysis over the period 1996–2016, with and without emissions included as a “bad” output. Environmentally adjusted technical efficiency and technical efficiency estimates are highly correlated; thus, reducing GHG emissions may not result in decreased efficiency. Increased milk per cow, a southern Alberta location, and increased use of forage are associated with greater environmentally adjusted technical efficiency. The opportunity cost of foregone milk revenue associated with reduced emissions is Can$308.29 per metric ton of GHG. The results imply possible policy strategies to reduce emissions.

The “Aggie Bond” program was established in the 1980s to provide beginningand low-equity farmers access to capital. The bonds, which pay tax-exemptinterest, may be used by qualifying famers for purchases of farm real estateand equipment. Using Aggie Bond data collected from states and Census ofAgriculture data spanning 25 years, we examine whether the program has hadan impact on farm entrance, land ownership, and the size of operation. We donot find strong evidence that the program led to an increase in theproportion of beginning farmers; however, we find limited evidence theprogram helped beginning farmers become full land owners as well asincreased the rate of growth in the proportion of beginning farmers who arefull land owners.

This study investigated the influence of economic, personal, and attitudinal factors on the intended conservation effort of a sample of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract holders after their contracts have expired. Economic factors were found to dominate the decision about future conservation effort. Attitudes towards conservation were found to have no significant influence on the decision. This fact may relate to the recent changes in the regulatory environment brought about by the 1985 Food Security Act which changed conservation from a voluntary to regulated nature.