A sample of 226 cash grain farms in the Lake States-Corn Belt region are analyzed to estimate the impact of restricting pesticide use on profits. These 226 farms are classified into small, medium, and large farms according to their sale revenues. The results suggest the existence of pest management practices that could substantially reduce pesticide use without incurring economic losses. The reductions in profits associated with gradual reductions in pesticide expenditure appear to increase with farm size.

Per capita rice consumption in the U.S. has doubled over the past decade. The effects of social and demographic variables on the household's rice consumption decisions are analyzed along with income and price variables. A double-hurdle model is used to solve simultaneously the consumer decisions whether to purchase rice and how much. The joint decision hypothesis is tested and accepted. The non-normal distribution of error terms may be responsible for possible bias in the empirical test of the joint decision hypothesis. The hyperbolic sine transformation is used to correct the problem in this study prior to testing the joint decision hypothesis.

The prospects for U.S. beef products in the advent of a North American Free Trade Agreement were examined using a system-wide approach to import allocation. Results indicate that increases in the standard of living in Mexico and Canada would stimulate increased importation of processed and unprocessed beef products. Bulk beef product in both countries had expenditure elasticities greater than one, while semi-processed and highly processed beef products had expenditure elasticities of less than one.

Ordinary least squares and seemingly unrelated regression procedures were used to analyze the impacts of changes in rice prices and production costs on U.S. rice planted acreage. National and regional response models were estimated over the 1970-92 period. Supply-inducing prices of rice were estimated as a function of effective rice support prices and seasonal average market prices. Expected production costs per acre were estimated using lagged actual total variable cash production expenses per acre adjusted by the previous 3-year average annual change in variable expenses. Estimated short-run price and production cost elasticities were found to be inelastic at the national level. However, the magnitude of the production cost elasticities were found to be greater than the price elasticities. Estimated long-run elasticities at the U.S. level were inelastic for changes in price but elastic for changes in production costs. Although acreage response varied across regions, similar relationships were found between price and production cost elasticities.

A Barro-type economic growth model is estimated for the 50 states in the U.S. using data for three decades beginning in 1960. Frontier estimation techniques are used to test for the presence of state-specific shocks to economic growth that are independent of the usual, normally-distributed random errors. We find that large, positive shocks to growth occurred during the period 1960-90. Our results indicate that the error term structure assumed under OLS may not be appropriate for modeling economic growth.

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.

Agriculture operates in an uncertain environment. Yields, prices, and resource usage can change dramatically from year to year. However, most analyses of the agricultural sector, at least those using mathematical programming methods, assume decision making is based on average yields, ignoring yield variability. This study examines how explicit consideration of stochastic yield outcomes influence a sector analysis. We develop a model that can be used for stochastic sector analysis. We extend the risk framework developed by Hazell and others to incorporate discrete yield outcomes as well as consumption activities dependent upon yield outcomes. An empirical application addresses a comparison between sector analysis with and without considerations of the economic effects of yield variability in a global warming context.

This study examines the valuation of research as intangible capital in agriculture using Tobin's q theory. The market value of public research capital is estimated to be 8.6 times higher than conventional assets. Private research capital is valued 5.2 times higher than conventional assets. The estimated valuation multiplier for all farm assets dropped 1/3 over the last decade. In recent years the valuation multiplier has dropped below a dollar, which indicates the market is undervaluing farm assets.

Rural-urban differences in the supply of nursing home services are hypothesized to be jointly affected by competitive and regulatory forces, government policies, and the cost structure. Study findings indicate that rural services are slightly less accessible and lower in quality. A translog cost share function reveals no difference in the operating cost structure of rural and urban homes. Cost shares for nursing care are directly related to the degree of skilled nursing provided by homes. Significant scale economies were not detected for any of the major operating costs.

This article evaluates the effects of alternative fluid milk procurement strategies on the aggregate net revenue of Florida cooperative members. They are (1) supplemental milk obtained from import sources, (2) supplemental milk obtained from a supply plant, (3) increased supply as a result of an expanded production area, and (4) supplemental milk obtained through pooling arrangements with regional dairy cooperatives. The final ranking of a scenario appears to be dependent primarily on the total cost of exports within the model. The optimum procurement strategy for Florida cooperatives should concentrate on reducing the quantity of surplus milk.

Employment history affects subsequent choices. Based on their original job choice, operators are divided into farmers and workers. Equations are estimated to determine their probabilities of working off-the-farm. Education increases the probability that workers work off-the-farm, whereas vocational training increases farmers' probability. The probability of working off-the-farm decreases as unearned income increases, and its impact on workers is larger than on farmers. An employed spouse increases the probability that farmers work off-the-farm, but has the opposite impact for workers. Employment density increases the probability that workers will work off-the-farm.

This study uses logit analysis to examine the influence of the perception of local economic opportunities and the willingness to move on the educational aspirations of rural high-school-aged youths. Those youths who are more willing to move have a greater career opportunity set and a strong incentive to achieve in school, since education allows them to compete for jobs elsewhere. A low willingness to move, coupled with a low perception of local job opportunities, translates into a low expected return to education, which reduces the incentive to achieve in school.

The general method of moments procedure is used for estimating a soybean acreage response function assuming that producers hold rational expectations. Results indicate that soybean, corn, and wheat futures prices, lagged acreage, and government programs are significant factors for determining soybean plantings. Implications of the results are that crop acreage selection by Georgia producers is not very responsive to demand shocks. Thus, producers in other regions are more likely to absorb impacts from these shocks on crop acreage selection.

Number of suppliers, approximation of equal-shares market condition and market share held by in-state sources were calculated to determine diversity of sources for 10 fresh fruits and vegetables in eight U.S. wholesale markets. Specificity of growing conditions is associated with few supply sources, unequal market shares and limited purchases from in-state suppliers. For crops with few sources, lower perishability and greater transportability are correlated with greater balance in market shares. For crops with many supply sources, greater perishability and greater transportability are consistent with large market share from imports. Diversity across all commodities can increase market share for local producers.

The effects of structural shifts in the treatment of intergovernmental aid during the 1980s are tested using a sample of 1,929 rural counties with local road responsibilities. A dynamic model is used to test the hypothesis that local public officials treated intergovernmental aid differently after the Reagan/Bush policy of Fiscal Federalism was implemented. Empirical findings from the dynamic model are that Federal aid was much more stimulative at the end of the decade than in earlier years but the effects of state aid remained the same throughout the 1980s. These differences are attributed to a perception that Federal aid is less certain and more transitory than permanent.

This paper considers an application of the differential approach to Japanese demand for beef imports from 1970 to 1993. Results of homothetic demand and negative (significant) own-price elasticities indicate that the Japanese did not discriminate against Australian beef, but the decrease in Australia's trade shares was due to changes in relative prices.

Nature-based tourism (NBT), alternatively known as ecotourism, is a rapidly expanding area in the tourism travel sector. States such as Louisiana with a well established urban-based tourism industry may have expansion opportunities through development of complementary nature-based tourism. This study analyzes the decision to participate in nature-based tourism and identifies factors, including attitudinal, that influence the decision to participate in NBT among Louisiana tourists.

Four policy alternatives for CRP lands upon expiration of the current contracts in Hale County, Texas are evaluated using chance-constrained programming. It was found that if CRP contracts are extended at the current average rental rate, 40 percent of the current enrollment would be expected to return to crop production, while 66 percent would return to crop production if the program were eliminated. The results also indicate that the marginal value of CRP payments to producers is lower than the marginal value of deficiency payments.

The extent of information use by farmers for farm management is tracked in terms of computer adoption and usefulness, and the use of professional providers of information services. The study is based on a survey conducted in 1991, on North Carolina, as part of a regional project involving about fourteen states. The results revealed a low rate of computer adoption by the farmers surveyed. However, computer adoption and usefulness were explained by farm size, educational attainment and farm income. Also farmers' use of professional services, such as that provided by tax preparers and extension agents were positively influenced by farm size, age and education level.

This article systematically estimates the allocative efficiency losses in the U.S. food and tobacco manufacturing industries under alternative oligopoly pricing regimes using a formal model of oligopoly. Using 1987 data for 44 industries and an industry-wide oligopoly pricing scheme, these losses were estimated at approximately 3% of sales~2% in the food industries and 19% in the tobacco industries. Five additional oligopoly pricing regimes, four of which are price leaderships, are simulated and their results compared and tested relative to the industry-wide pricing regime. Findings underscore the importance of cost structure assumptions and that the impact of the type of oligopoly behavior assumed is not as dramatic when differences in demand and cost specifications are smoothed out.