According to the 1974 U.S. Census of Agriculture, $31.7 million worth of greenhouse vegetables were produced on a covered area of 37.2 million square feet. Though this represents less than 2 percent of total fresh market vegetable production in the country, traditionally greenhouse vegetables have provided high quality produce during months when field production is at a low level. This has been especially the case in the Northcentral and Northeast regions where a relatively large and affluent population of the metropolitan areas demands a year round supply of fresh vegetables. Much of the greenhouse production relates to the growing of salad items. Tomatoes are the single most important crop accounting for roughly two-thirds of the covered area and value of all greenhouse vegetables. In 1974, 63 percent of the U.S. covered area for tomatoes was located in the Northcentral region, 10 percent in the Northeast and the rest in the South and the West.

Major increases in energy prices since 1973 have raised considerable interest in the effect of a continuation of these increases on interregional competition. There is speculation in the Northeast that a general increase in energy prices will cause agricultural production to shift closer to the consumers. This production shift supposedly will lead to self-sufficiency in many products which were once grown in the Northeast and are now largely imported from other regions. This paper uses a simple interregional trade model to estimate the possible impact of higher energy prices on interregional competition, and on the Northeast in particular. It does this by assuming values for the relevant variables in the model and estimating the changes in the system. A range of values are used to estimate the sensitivity of the conclusions to the assumptions.

Increased bird density on egg production operations has led to high electricity consumption and manure handling problems. Anaerobic digestion offers a source of energy (biogas) and a consistent method of manure management. This paper reports the results of a computer simulation model designed to evaluate the economic viability of biogas-to-electricity systems on four egg farms containing different numbers of hens. These results indicate that the economic viability of the investment analyzed is directly related to the number of hens and projected electricity prices.

In the Northeast, the principal market expansion for its manufactured products is likely to come from outside. Sales to export markets can create jobs and could potentially exacerbate the region's dependence on imported energy. This analysis demonstrates that 26% of the Northeast's manufacturing employment is in sectors which have experienced significant expansion in exports in recent years. For most of the export sectors, the employment contribution is above the average for domestically-oriented industries, and the energy requirement is below the average. By focusing export promotion policies on these sectors, employment objectives need not conflict with energy conservation objectives.

An analysis of all valid single family house sales over a four-year period before the March, 1979, TMI accident and over the 9 months following the accident, and within a 25-mile radius of the plant and in two control areas, disclosed no evidence that the accident had measurable lasting effects on residential property values. Shortly following the accident there was a sharp decline in the volume of residential sales within 10 miles of the plant, but the real estate market returned to normal within a month, considering the financial market conditions at that time.