The recently implemented Rainfall Index Annual Forage pilot program aims to provide risk coverage for annual forage producers in select states through the use of area rainfall indices as a proxy for yield. This article utilizes unique data from a long-term study of annual ryegrass production with rainfall recorded at the site to determine whether the use of rainfall indices provides adequate coverage for annual forage growers. The rainfall index is highly correlated with actual rainfall. However, it does not provide much yield loss risk protection for our cool-season forage data.

This analysis indicates that generic advertising expenditures, ceteris paribus, generated rightward shifts in demand for fluid milk in the Texas Market Order over the period January 1980 to September 1988. Generally, the results from this study are in agreement with previous research efforts which suggest that generic advertising can increase the demand for fluid milk. Importantly, in this analysis, the impacts of television and radio advertising have been effectively disentangled. Television advertising generates a response that wears off more quickly than radio advertising. Also, the long-run effect of radio advertising is about 1.75 times greater than the long-run effect of television advertising.

Managers of greenhouses, nurseries, and landscape contractors participated in five focus group discussions on labor-related risks. Managers conceptualize labor risks along the human resource management process: (1) recruitment and selection, (2) training and development, (3) performance evaluation and discipline, (4) careers and relationships, and (5) compensation packages. In addition, they identified (6) immigrant employees and (7) labor laws and regulations as sources of risk. They recognized a large number of risk-increasing attributes, but also a number of mediating strategies to reduce these risks.

The North Carolina Agriculture Survey was designed to estimate the willingness to pay for agricultural research and extension programs. We find that North Carolina households are willing to pay between $218 and $401 million for food production programs and between $251 and $698 million for water quality programs annually. We find evidence of divergent validity and differences in the willingness to pay estimates from the single-bound and multiple-bound data.

An automated price reporting system developed through computer technology and hedonic price theory is used to estimate daily cotton market prices, premiums, and discounts. This objective approach for reporting cotton market prices was developed to complement the objective measures of high volume instrument grading of cotton. The computerized, econometric system is limited to the Texas and Oklahoma marketing regions where sales are readily available from electronic markets. The econometric based system has shown all the characteristics of an efficient price reporting system; it is accurate, reliable, consistent, and repeatable in its working process and price estimates.

Writing about empirical tests of stock market efficiency, Fama et al. [2, p. 1] noted that

Laboratory experimental methods are used to investigate the impacts of supply and/or demand risks on prices, quantities traded, and earnings within forward and spot market institutions. Random demand and/or supply shifts can be as much as 25 percent of the expected equilibrium outcome. Nevertheless, results suggest that the spot or forward trading institution itself has a greater influence on market outcomes than the presence of risk within the trading institution. Sellers tend to have relatively higher earnings in a spot market than buyers, regardless of the risk. Total surplus, however, generally is greater in a forward market.

Most major crop and livestock prices became considerably more variable after 1972, resulting in increased producer price risk. Uncertainty in cattle feeding was compounded in that both input (feeder cattle and feed) and product (fed cattle) prices became quite variable after 1972. This uncertainty, accompanied by considerable losses in cattle feeding during the 1973-1975 period, has made hedging a more desirable option [1, 9]. Several studies have examined a short hedge on live cattle at the beginning of the feeding period as a means of reducing risk and increasing returns to cattle feeders. Selective hedging strategies generally reduced the variance of returns per head as well as improved returns during periods when cash feeding was unprofitable [2, 5]. Routine hedging of every pen clearly reduced profits during periods when cattle prices were rising while providing some protection during cash-feeding loss periods [6]. Feeding live cattle on a cash basis was more profitable than routine hedging prior to 1973 [6].

A latent segmentation modeling is used in this study to identify theheterogeneity of willingness-to-pay estimates for quality attributes andcountry-of-origin in the Korean beef market. Three distinctive groups ofgrocery shoppers are identified based on their level of concern (very,moderately, and not too concerned) about the use of antibiotics andgenetically modified organism feed ingredients in beef production. Resultsindicate that the very concerned group values such attributes asantibiotics-free, genetically modified organism-free, and domesticproduction the most among the three groups. Results also suggest that themost important factor in determining grocery shoppers' willingness-to-pay iscountry-of-origin for all three groups.

We use the underlying data of the IMPLAN Pro 3.0 regional economic simulation model to estimate the current economic contribution of Michigan's local food system and explore the chain of transactions giving rise to consumption of locally sourced goods from producer to processor to consumption. The proposed methodology includes both unprocessed and processed foods in the estimation of the local food system's economic value. The model also provides a replicable and consistent approach to estimating the value of local food systems within regional and state economies.

Using manure as a substitute for commercial fertilizer could potentiallyreduce fertilizer costs and also reduce non-point source pollution.Livestock farmers in Missouri and Iowa were surveyed regarding their manuremanagement practices. Eighty-one percent of turkey farmers versus 5% of beeffarmers transferred manure to other farmers. Fifty-one percent of farmerswho transferred manure indicated it had been tested. Factors decreasingadoption included higher off-farm incomes, solid versus liquid manure, andmore animal units per acre. Factors increasing adoption included distancetransferred, a contract for the manure, payment, and thinking that manuretesting was profitable.

Climatic conditions in semiarid regions like the Oklahoma Panhandle result in wide fluctuations in rainfall, dryland crop yields, and returns to agricultural producers in the area. Irrigated crop production increases peracre yields and significantly reduces fluctuations in yields and net returns.

Irrigated production of food and fiber in the Oklahoma Panhandle has developed rapidly during the past three decades, increasing from 11,500 to 385,900 acres since 1950 (Schwab). The primary source of irrigation water in the area is the Ogallala Formation, an aquifer underlying much of the Great Plains region. Until the past couple of years, the presence of relatively low cost natural gas led producers to expand irrigated production and apply high levels of water to crops irrigated in the area.

Stocker cattle ownership is compared to contract grazing using stochastic simulation. Returns are evaluated for both cattle owners and caretakers in contract grazing agreements. For caretakers, contract grazing is significantly less risky than cattle ownership. Slightly to moderately risk-averse caretakers could be expected to prefer some type of contract grazing to direct ownership of cattle. For cattle owners, contracting reduces risk only slightly while significantly reducing expected returns.

A Censored Incomplete Demand System is applied to household expenditures for edible oil in India. The results show that edible peanut oil is still a luxury good in India, whereas expenditure elasticities for other edible oils are relatively low. The food habit, location, education of household heads, and other demographic variables have significant effects on the choice of edible oils.

This study examines the relationship between urban forests and household income and population density in the 149 cities with populations over 40,000 in nine southeastern states. Our empirical results show that urban forest percentage across the cities has characteristics of the environmental Kuznets curve. We find that household income around $39,000 is a threshold that changes the relationship between income and urban forest coverage from negative to positive, whereas the impact of population density on urban forests is just the opposite, from positive to negative when population density is around 180 persons per square kilometer.

Implicit (hedonic) producer prices for fiber strength uniformity were estimated for the southwest U.S. cotton market using seemingly unrelated regression and market sales data from 1983/84 and 1984/85. Fiber strength and length uniformity had significant effects on the price of cotton, but price was less responsive to both attributes than anticipated. Producer prices were most responsive to fiber length and micronaire and least responsive to color and strength. The market at the producer level appears to be making effective price adjustments with respect to factors such as fiber color, trash content, micronaire, fiber length, and location, but strength and length uniformity premiums and discounts are smaller than those paid by end users.

Hog producers in Indiana and Nebraska were surveyed about sources of risk, effectiveness of risk management strategies, and prior participation in and desire for additional risk management education. Ownership of hogs by the producer, size of the operation, and age did have significant effects on ratings of both sources of risk and effectiveness of risk management strategies. Probit analysis found age, prior attendance, knowledge and prior use of the tool, level of integration, and concern about price and performance risk have significant effects on interest in further education about production contracts, futures and options, packer marketing contracts, and financial management.

This study provides valuable insights into cow-calf producer voluntary participation in the National Animal Identification System and producers' perceptions of several issues critically impacting the success of voluntary traceability systems. Cow-calf producers believe that the most important issues to the U.S. beef industry in designing a national, individual animal traceability system are monitoring/managing disease, maintaining current foreign markets, accessing foreign markets, and increasing consumer confidence. Furthermore, producers are concerned with cost, liability, reliability of technology, failure of system to meet stated goals, and confidentiality of information associated with these systems.

The present article uses the modified Arkansas off-stream reservoir analysis and the environmental policy-integrated climate models to examine the impacts of on-farm reservoirs and tail water recovery systems in conjunction with other best management practices on profitability, water use, and sediment control for rice-soybean farming operations. Results suggest that, under limited water availability conditions, reservoirs and tail water recovery systems can improve profitability, reduce ground water dependence, and reduce the movement of sediment, nutrients, and pesticides off-farm. Although reservoirs may not be profitable under plentiful water conditions, cost-sharing opportunities may make them a viable means of addressing environmental concerns.

Perceived characteristics of thin markets are described and approaches to furthering their study are suggested. Design features of a laboratory thin market, patterned after a typical livestock marketing situation, are described. Price bias and variation from a “thick” private negotiation market with 22 traders is compared to that from a “thin” auction market with 8 traders. No systematic price bias was found in any of the markets. Price variation was actually lower in the thin auction market.