The socioeconomic movement is an effort to better explain human behavior by combining insights of economists and sociologists. This paper contributes to the socioeconomic literature by including the influence of relationships, values, and social bonds in the neoclassical economic model by introducing social capital coefficients. The usefulness of the resulting social capital model is demonstrated theoretically in a two-firm cooperative model and tested empirically using data from a survey of students who allocate their time between individual and joint projects.

With increasingly thin margins and new technologies, it is important that farm managers know their cost of field operations on a per unit basis (e.g., acre, ton, bale). Accurate per unit costs give confidence when constructing enterprise budgets and evaluating new technologies, such as no-till. Custom rates are often used as a proxy for per unit costs; however, this research, using entropy and jackknife estimation procedures, found that custom rates understate total ownership and operating costs by approximately 25% for an average Kansas farm. Estimates from these models are then used to benchmark actual costs against expected cost.

We analyze the effects of crop insurance and the Marketing Loan Program onoptimal nitrogen use and acreage allocation for a case cotton–sorghum farmin Texas. A mathematical programming model is used to solve for the optimalnitrogen fertilizer rate, crop acreage allocation, coverage level, and priceelection factor, along with participation in the crop insurance and theMarketing Loan Program for both crops. Results show that depending on thecrop and farmer risk aversion, these federal risk management programsincrease or decrease optimal fertilizer rates –6% to 3%, increase optimalcotton acreage 94% to 144%, and decrease sorghum acres up to 50%.

Economic analysis was conducted on hypothetical agronomic research on new crop cultivars for Arkansas dryland soybean and wheat producers. In relation to farmers' attitudes toward risk, the microeconomic effects and level of adoption of yield variability reducing cultivars were analyzed utilizing a production management decision-making model formulated with mathematical programming techniques. The study indicated that negative covariance between crops continues to be an effective means of reducing production risk associated with yield variability. However, under varying circumstances, agronomic research on the breeding of new soybean and wheat cultivars with reduced yield variability is worthwhile if there is only slight concurrent reduction in expected yields.

The economic viability of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia is assessed based on a five-year survey of producers. Results indicate the program increases yield 100 pounds per acre. This implies a 19 percent internal rate of return for producers over a ten-year period.

Recent trends in the southeastern states toward increased use of irrigation in agriculture may be attributed to risk aversion management by farmers in response to recent drought periods. Despite ample annual average rainfall in the Southeast during the growing season, the vicissitudes of rainfall patterns provide sufficient reason to consider irrigation for field crops as well as for vegetables and fruit (Ganguly). Increased use of irrigation additionally results in new demands for water in rural areas.

It is also well documented that nonmetropolitan areas are experiencing substantial rates of positive net immigration (Wardell and Gilchrist). In the Southeast, there is a trend for new manufacturing plants to locate in rural areas where wages, taxes, and union activity are at low levels. As growth occurs in these nonmetropolitan regions, industrial, residential, and commercial activities require additional supplies of water.

The value of an innovative seed technology is estimated in a discrete stochastic programming framework for a representative farm in the northern Corn Belt. Temperature-activated polymer-coated seed has the potential to increase net returns by increasing yields due to early planting and use of longer season varieties, as well as reducing yield loss due to delayed planting. A biophysical simulation model was used to estimate die impact of polymer-coated seed on corn and soybean yields and on field day availability for five planting periods, three crop varieties, and two tillage systems on two different soils under varying weather conditions.

This study evaluates the Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite) whole-farm adjusted gross revenue insurance program on net farm income risk using panel data from 49 southeast Kansas beef farms. On average for the group, but not each individual farm, AGR-Lite reduces the mean and standard deviation of net farm income, raises the average minimum, and lowers the average maximum observations of the net income distribution. Thirty-four farms (69%) received at least one indemnity payment. Stochastic efficiency with respect to a function reveals that AGR-Lite is preferred by 18 of the farm managers (37%) when an upper bound on the risk-aversion coefficient is used.

This paper analyzes the effects of uncertain soil loss in farm planning models. A disaggregated approach was used because of an interest in examining the impact of probabilistic soil loss constraints on farm level decisionmaking. A stochastic programming model was used to consider different levels of probability of soil loss. Traditional methods of analysis are shown to consistently overestimate net returns.

High natural gas prices have agricultural producers searching for alternative energy sources for irrigation. The economic feasibility of electric and hybrid (electric/wind) systems are evaluated as alternatives to natural gas powered irrigation. Texas Panhandle and Southern Kansas farms are assessed with a quarter-mile sprinkler system, three crops, and two pumping lifts. Breakeven points identify the price at which conversion from a natural gas irrigation system to an electric or hybrid system is cost effective. Results indicate electricity is a more feasible energy source for irrigation and policy changes such as net metering are necessary to make hybrid systems viable.

Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify approaches to farm management based on a list of management questions posed to a sample of U.S. cash-grain farmers. Three approaches were identified by the factor analysis: price negotiation, long-term cost control, and input adjustment. Estimated factor scores regressed against farm and operator characteristics indicate a profile of producers using each approach that is closely related to stage-of-life of the farm operator and farm business. In addition to operator age and planning horizon, operator risk preference and farm organization and location were other important determinants of the approach to management.

In this study we found that Japanese consumers value the conventional health claim “low in saturated fat” more than the relatively newer claims, such as “high in oleic acid.” In addition, consumers do not prefer oil with genetically modified ingredients or oil that is not domestically produced, but they are willing to pay extra for “organic” or “functional food” features. We also found that the scope and source of information on these credence attributes may also affect consumers' choices and willingness to pay and that the effects may not be completely consistent with what one would expect.

Prevented planting provision in crop insurance protects producers from failure to plant attributable to natural causes. We determined the impact of this provision at various crop insurance coverage levels on prevented planting claims and ex post moral hazard. The moral hazard incentive in the prevented planting provision is stronger for corn than soybeans. Reducing the prevented planting coverage factor for corn could likely reduce moral hazard, but the degree of the reduction will likely depend on the revenue protection coverage level. Conversely, we found moral hazard is unlikely to occur for soybean production regardless of the revenue protection coverage level.

Meat goat enterprise efficiency was estimated using an input distance function (IDF) by applying stochastic production frontier techniques for the southeastern U.S. region. We found increasing returns to scale and scope economies for southeastern U.S. meat goat enterprises. Mean technical efficiency was 0.81. Our results suggest southeastern U.S. meat goat enterprises can be scale efficient if their size of operation is >~60 goats or >40 breeding does. Cost and IDF analyses show input expenses decreased substantially with increasing scale of operations in southeastern U.S. meat goat production. Empirical Monte Carlo simulation techniques show consistency of small-sample properties for the IDF.

From production to retail, information systems have become increasingly important in the agrifood system. Retailers use information systems to improve inventory management and increase efficiency in production and logistics. Innovations in agribiotechnology and food safety issues highlighted by incidences related to Starlink corn and “mad cow disease” have raised consumer concerns about their food products. In addition to food safety concerns, consumers are increasingly willing to pay premiums for nonobservable quality characteristics in their food products. This paper outlines a framework for evaluating the implications of traceability for the organization of the agricultural system and highlights potential organizational responses to traceability issues.

Value-based marketing is shaping cattle production; however, market signals differ dramatically depending on carcass quality. This study applies a two-stage coefficients of separate determination procedure to four regional fed cattle datasets sorted by grid value and by carcass quality attributes. Weight is the strongest signal sent when higher valued cattle and better quality cattle are sold on a grid. Quality characteristics send stronger signals when lower valued cattle and poorer quality cattle are sold on a grid. Producers of lower quality cattle can potentially gain $52 to $149 per head by improving quality and $113 to $150 per head by adding weight.

We review the implications of the 2007 Farm Bill for the risk management dimensions of U.S. agriculture and policy. Legislative proposals suggest significant changes in risk management policy, including the introduction of state or national revenue insurance. We also pursue an empirical analysis of the interrelationships of crop insurance, disaster relief, and farm profitability. We find an inverse relationship between disaster assistance and insurance purchases. Our analysis also suggests that farmers that buy insurance and that receive disaster payments tend to have higher returns to farming.

First, please permit me the latitude to use a bit of poetic license in coining the term, “ethanolization,” which attempts to describe the upheaval and chaos witnessed across the agricultural sector attributed to the booming corn-based ethanol industry. Ethanolization has focused its impact on agriculture and, in particular, the U.S. agricultural sector as a combination of market-induced and policy-induced factors have created a “perfect storm” that is causing dramatic shocks to virtually every crop and livestock producer and agribusiness. Coining the term ethanolization also borrows from past eras in agriculture described as the “mechanization” of agriculture in the 1940s and 1950s and the “industrialization” of agriculture in the 1990s. Mechanization described a period when widespread adoption of farm machinery occurred across the United States. Then, industrialization, accredited to a body of writings by Draben-stott and Barkema, portrayed a “quiet revolution” of ever-increasing size and specialization of U.S. farms, ranches, and agribusinesses. Now, ethanolization attempts to characterize a similar revolution that is affecting essentially every facet of American agriculture.

We estimate the influence of policy-induced price changes and of technology supply on North Carolina flue-cured tobacco yields. The decline in land rent and effective output price that accompanied a 1965 policy change from acreage allotments to poundage quotas caused a 12 percent decrease in yields. Farmer yields were more responsive to yield-increasing technologies under acreage allotments than under poundage quotas. Annual yield growth was 0.5 percent under poundage quotas and 4.32 percent under acreage allotments. The growth rate decline is attributable to changes in relative prices and to a slowdown in the supply of available technologies.

One of the more significant changes in the U. S. agricultural industry in recent years has been the increased use of credit to finance production and capital expenditures. Since 1970, outstanding farm debt has more than doubled, rising at an average annual rate of 9.3 percent. However, because net farm income has not increased as fast, the debt burden for farm operators has become relatively higher (Melichar and Waldheger).

This increase in debt load has made financial evaluation more difficult for lenders. Narrow profit margins and increased average loan size have made financial institutions more aware of the need to determine, for their loan portfolio, how borrower and agricultural business characteristics relate to debt repayment ability and loan quality.