A new, post-industrial, paradigm for agriculture is emerging under the concept of sustainable agriculture. The sustainability paradigm has emerged to solve problems created by the industrial model, primarily environmental pollution and resource base degradation. The role of farm size in this...

A stochastic budget simulator and generalized stochastic dominance are used to compare the risk management properties of grazing contracts to futures and option contracts. The results show that the risks of backgrounding feeder cattle are reduced significantly for pasture owners in a grazing...

Major regulatory reform issues which involve environmental policy include issues of unfunded mandates, risk assessment, and property rights. Each of these proposed reforms involves major changes in environmental policies with impacts on different groups. Property rights is the core issue in...

This research examines the predictability of a profit maximization model, an expected value-variance utility maximization (E-V) model, and two versions of the target-MOTAD model for modeling risky agricultural production decisions. Model solutions were translated into expected value and variance...

Exotic aquatic plant management is a major concern for public reservoir management in many regions of the United States. A study was conducted to measure the effects of alternative aquatic plant management strategies on recreational expenditures and regional economic activity. The study areas...

The 1994 congressional elections brought expectations of policy reform that extended to agriculture. This paper examines the role of economic analysis and how policymakers made use of it in developing the policies of the Agricultural Reconciliation Act, also known as the Freedom to Farm Act....

Agricultural economists are appropriately concerned about their profession's contributions to policy decisions. An examination of alternative approaches to transforming policy analyses is in order. There are opportunities to (a) focus on income and wealth distribution, (b) give attention to the...

As the environmental policy recommendations of economists become more acceptable, differences in the professional understanding of, and support for, different policy forms are becoming more apparent. These different approaches to environmental policy and research are described around a taxonomy...

A descriptive analysis and a survey of literature were used in this assessment of the transformation of the structure of production agriculture. The changes in production agriculture have important implications for resource use, population distribution in rural communities, and the survival of...