The concept of demand has evolved through the centuries, enriched by the natural-value, exchange-value controversy and the diamond, water paradox of the classicists [11], the intuitive insights of Marshall [8], and the mathematical rigor of Slutsky [10], and Hicks and Men [6]. These developments led to the conceptualization of a demand function as a solution function to a constrained extremum problem [5,6,9, 10].

Declining fishery stocks, increasing fishing effort, and adverse market conditions have produced difficult financial situations for fishermen worldwide. Several high-valued fisheries are considered to be overcapitalized. The purchase and permanent retirement of fishing vessels and/or permits under a buyback program is one approach for reducing fishing capacity. Evidence from previous programs, however, suggests that buybacks are not a panacea for solving overcapacity problems. Whether such programs can help rebuild stocks and improve the financial condition of fleets in any specific fishery depends on a multitude of factors. We consider the potential of a buyback program for the U.S. Atlantic shark fishery.

The food stamp and other assistance programs for low-income households require continual adjustment if some form of equity across time is to be achieved. For this reason, cost-of-living adjustments and related mechanisms for reflecting changes in prices and the economic status of the target populations have been used in formulae for computing the food stamp bonus and other welfare transfers.

Anaerobic digestion systems can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while turning waste products into energy. Past U.S. economic research on anaerobic digesters has studied dairy farms, but limited economic information is available on anaerobic digestion systems for swine. Net present values (NPVs) were calculated for biodigesters and covered lagoons under different coproduct and policy scenarios. With no government intervention, covered lagoons are more promising for swine operations than more capital-intensive biodigesters. As there is interest in subsidizing anaerobic digestion systems, subsidies equal to a $38/t social cost of carbon would provide positive NPVs.

Small family farms account for 72% of the farms in the world. Most of these farms, in developing countries, face labor productivity gaps. One of the strategies to increase agricultural productivity focuses on implementing technical assistance programs. Using agriculture microdata, we estimate the marginal treatment effect of receiving technical assistance services. We find that technical assistance generates heterogeneous effects. On average, agricultural units receiving technical assistance increased their agricultural production by 50.4%. However, there is important heterogeneity of technical assistance’s effects across the production units’ unobserved and observed characteristics.

Faced with risky yields and returns, risk-averse farmers require a premium to take risks. In this paper, we estimate individual farmers’ degrees of risk aversion to adjust for the risk premium in returns and to replace the farmers’ realized returns with their certainty equivalent returns in the production function. In that way, the effect of the inputs on returns will automatically be risk-adjusted, i.e., we obtain risk-adjusted marginal effects of inputs, which can be used in decision-making support of farmers’ input choices in production. Using farm-level data from organic basmati rice smallholders in India, we illustrate this method using nonparametric production functions. The results show that the input elasticities and returns-to-scale estimates change when the farmers’ degree of risk aversion is taken into consideration.

This study formally links the literature on R&D-driven productivity growth to studies which examine GHG emission benefits from increased farm productivity growth. Using a global agricultural model and estimates from the literature, this study examines the impact of greater US public agricultural R&D spending over 2025−2035. The results show that roughly doubling public R&D investments in US agriculture could provide greater economic gains relative to its costs over the period 2017−2050. The GHG mitigation co-benefits from these investments also can be enhanced by combining R&D policies with strategies aimed at directly reducing farm inputs.

We determine optimal stocker strategies based on calving season, herd size, and the number of days of retention before marketing weaned calves. We estimate a hedonic pricing model for feeder cattle and incorporate this into a simulation model that considers the variability of cattle prices and feed costs. The profit and utility-maximizing decision for fall calving herd would be to retain weaned calves for 150-day postweaning. The producer marketing spring-born calves would prefer to sell these calves at weaning. The results are being utilized by extension to aid cattle producers in reducing their feed costs and increasing their profits.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the marketing performance of wheat farmers in Illinois and Kansas over 1982-2004. The results show that farmer benchmark prices for wheat in Illinois and Kansas fall in the middle third of the price range about half to three-quarters of the time. Consistent with previous studies, this refutes the contention that Illinois and Kansas wheat farmers routinely market the bulk of their wheat crop in the bottom portion of the price range. Tests of the average difference between farmer and market benchmark prices are sensitive to the market benchmark considered. The marketing performance of wheat farmers in Illinois and Kansas is about equal to the market if a 24- or 20-month market benchmark is used, slightly above the market if a 12-month price benchmark is used, and significantly less than the market if the harvest benchmark is used. The sensitivity of marketing performance to the market benchmark considered is explained by the seasonal pattern of prices. While Illinois producers performed slightly better than their counterparts in Kansas, notable differences in performance across these two geographic areas is not observed.

The number of Americans living in poverty increased by an estimated 1.2 million during 1969 and 1970, reversing the downward trend in numbers of poor registered through the 1960's. It seems a paradox that 12 percent of our citizens live in poverty in a trillion dollar economy. The grossly unequal distribution of income is illustrated by the fact that average annual after-tax personal income was $3,098 per person in 1970. Yet, 25 million lived below the 1970 poverty level, defined as $3,944 for a family of four. Roughly speaking, those living in poverty existed on incomes of less than one-third of the national per capita level. This paper is not concerned with the highly skewed distribution of personal income, but is directed to the effects on those living below or near the officially defined poverty level.

The present legal authority for the Food Stamp Program (FSP) is the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977. As adopted, the legislation includes a thorough overhaul of the FSP enacted into law in 1964. The FSP provides direct subsidies in the form of additional food dollars to low-income households to enhance the purchasing of nutritionally adequate diets. The most significant effect both on participating households and the food industry is the elimination of the purchase requirement whereby participants pay for food stamps. Under the new legislation, participants receive food stamps free of charge. The benefits received are roughly equivalent to the value of bonus stamps under the old program (Stucker and Boehm).

A dynamic optimization model is used to compare the profitability of silvopasture with traditional cattle ranching in south Florida. Silvopasture can reduce phosphorus runoff from cattle ranching—a major environmental concern for Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. Silvopasture can also sequester carbon, thereby offsetting global climate change. The effectiveness of phosphorus runoff taxes and carbon sequestration payments for inducing landowners to adopt silvopasture is investigated. We find that phosphorus taxes alone would not induce landowners to adopt silvopasture. However, payments to landowners to sequester carbon, alone or in conjunction with phosphorus runoff taxes, can make silvopasture financially competitive with traditional ranching.

To understand the sources of change in productivity, that appropriate public policy and programs can be developed to increase productivity growth, a reliable and updated measure is needed. The term “productivity” discussed here refers to total factor productivity, or the ratio of value of total agricultural output to that of all inputs used in agricultural production.

The first comprehensive work on the measurement of productivity change in U.S. agriculture was done by Loomis and Barton in 1961. Since then, this index has been updated annually as an offical USDA agricultural productivity index. The weakness of using index numbers lies in the arithmetic formula used. It implies a specific functional form of the production function that may not accurately describe the data. Thus, a need arises to consider an alternative estimate of productivity.

The relationship between student achievement and school inputs has long been a subject of academic research. The general conclusion of past research is that school inputs, such as the number of teachers relative to pupils, has little impact on student academic outcomes. This paper provides a fresh look at this issue. Seventeen alternative measures of student performance in North Carolina school districts are related to a wide array of school policy inputs and socioeconomic characteristics of students and their families. Both static and dynamic analyses are performed. The key findings are (1) the school policy inputs significantly related to student achievement vary by the measure of student achievement used, (2) the joint contribution of school policy inputs to student achievement is relatively small, and (3) the results differ between the static and dynamic analyses; in particular, changes in the number of teachers relative to the number of pupils in the district have a much stronger association with student achievement in the dynamic analysis.

Spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is produced in the warmer ocean waters and is distinguished from the northern American lobster (Homarus americanus) by its lack of claws and relatively smaller size. Florida lobstermen currently account for 98 percent of the U.S. spiny lobster landings. This industry has grown from annual landings of less than a million pounds prior to the 1950s to 11 million pounds in 1974, with a value of over $13 million [5, 6]. Although no formal demand analysis has been completed, it appears that U.S. demand for this luxury seafood has increased considerably faster than domestic production. In current dollars, prices at dockside increased 251 percent from 39 cents per pound in 1960 to over $1.36 per pound at dockside in 1975 (an increase of 73 percent in constant dollars). Increased demand in the U.S. is further suggested by the fact that U.S. consumption of total world production increased from 53 to slightly over 80 percent in this same period.

Several developments in recent years related to the use, valuation, and management of natural resources provide the motivation for this paper. First, increased urbanization during the economic boom times of the 1990s has led to acceleration of the conversion of natural and undeveloped areas to unnatural and built-up areas in many regions of the nation. As a result people concerned about the loss of nature and various associated benefits in their communities are pushing for public action to protect remaining natural and undeveloped areas. The push for these protective actions sets the stage for conflicts with other people who support continued allocation of natural and undeveloped areas to various types of urban-related development. Insight into the resolution of such conflicts can be gained through a better understanding of how natural capital contributes to quality of life in different regions.

This paper provides an overview of the development of the Management Analysis and Strategic Thinking (MAST) program conducted by Kansas State University. This intensive management training course for progressive farm and agribusiness operators is being delivered successfully using a combination of face-to-face and distance extension delivery techniques. We find that some parts of the program are best delivered face to face and other parts are best delivered via distance. Of participants surveyed, 94% would recommend the MAST program to their peers, and 100% believe the program will have a positive impact on their businesses' bottom line.

Survey evidence from U.S. organic farmers is evaluated to identify the factors influencing effectiveness ratings of cooperative extension advisors by organic farmers. A nonlinear logit model is specified for the ratings provided by organic producers, and critical demographic and management factors that influence the ratings are identified. The impact of the organic farmers' status in transitioning to organic production is highlighted. The results indicate that part-time, newer adopters of organic farming methods are more likely to rate extension service providers as effective providers of information. Scenarios to predict extension effectiveness when interacting with specific groups of organic farmers are developed.