DERIVED DEMAND FOR WHEAT BY CLASS

To quantify price responsiveness and economic substitutability among wheat classes, derived demand functions were specified from a normalized quadratic profit function. Own-price and cross-price elasticities were estimated for hard red winter, hard red spring, soft wheat (combined red and white), and durum wheat. In general, soft wheat varieties were less responsive to their own price than were hard wheat varieties. Cross-price elasticities indicate that hard red winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, and soft wheat varieties are economic substitutes. Cross-price elasticities are different from those previously reported, which can have important policy implications.