This paper examines the industrialization process of U.S. agriculture by examining the trends in the number of farms, the concentration of production during the last decade, and the dynamics of farm survivability, entry, and exit underlying aggregate statistics. We next examine vertical...

The poultry industry is the most vertically integrated of U.S. agriculture and food production and is rapidly progressing toward being one of the most concentrated. In 2002, the top 15 broiler states accounted for 94.4% of U.S. production. From 1982-2002, the top four broiler firms had a...

Harvest timeliness is a continual problem in rotation of cotton and peanuts. Efficient allocation of land and labor resources during production of cotton and peanuts requires decisions be made on allocating resources throughout the growing season. Of particular concern is efficient allocation...

This paper reports results from a U.S. national telephone survey on genetically modified foods (vegetable oil, cornflakes, and salmon). The survey featured a contingent valuation in which respondents chose between the GM and non-GM alternatives with an option of indifference. The binomial and...

We analyze the effects of crop insurance and the Marketing Loan Program on optimal nitrogen use and acreage allocation for a case cotton-sorghum farm in Texas. A mathematical programming model is used to solve for the optimal nitrogen fertilizer rate, crop acreage allocation, coverage level, and...

We employed Vickrey auctions to generate willingness-to-pay (WTP) data for red meat traceability and related product characteristics with comparable experimental auctions in the United States, Canada, the U.K., and Japan. The results show that subjects are willing to pay a nontrivial premium for...

The Nariva Swamp on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean is being degraded due to increasing human activity. However, its conservation is desirable, as it is an internationally recognized wetland. The study examined an ecotourism project, with an emphasis on community participation, as a...

Do cost considerations justify the current structure of production of extension services in which one or more providers exists in virtually all of the contiguous U.S. states? Provision of extension services has sizable cost implications for the host institutions. Yet, to our knowledge, there has...

Farm financial structure may affect both short- and long-run input usage, thereby affecting farm efficiency. Any inefficiencies arising from the choice of inputs can be magnified over time as credit constraints continue to affect input usage. In a panel of 54 North Dakota crop farms, efficiency...

This study uses a hedonic property price method to estimate how wetlands affect residential property values in a rural area. The study utilizes wetland inventory data coupled with extensive property sales records between January 2000 and September 2004 from Carteret County, NC. Our results...