Discussion of changes taking place in American agriculture followed by a review of the traditional model of extension suggests there is dissonance between what is needed to inform contemporary agriculture and what extension actually does. The paper further suggests that difficulty in packaging...

Cost, returns, and economies of scale for small, medium and large catfish farms with recirculating ponds are presented for the upper Texas coast. Internal rates of return are 0.150, 0.183 and 0.219, respectively. Total investment is higher than farms with static ponds but investment per unit...

Two methodological approaches were applied to estimating the number of non-bearing trees in the absence of such date using data for the Southern USA pecan industry. The first approach distinguished between bearing and non-bearing phases of a tree life and directly estimated the number of...

Major changes affecting Agricultural Economics include: level and sources of funding, increased accountability, a renewed emphasis on teaching, increasing university and college linkages, an evolving student base, and the continuing adoption of educational technology. Major implications include:...

Three hog genotypes are simulated to determine how producer profits, economically optimal slaughter weights, and carcass component weights change under three pricing models. Live weight pricing pays more for the fatter barrows whereas a three component (separate payments for fat, lean, and...

Stochastic index theory views each commodity price change as an independent observation on the rate of inflation that can be estimated by averaging over all prices. Our methodology estimates both the overall rate of inflation and relative price changes along with standard errors.

The average real salary of agricultural economists has risen approximately 20 percent over the last two decades. Currently agricultural economists' salaries are approximately 6 percent above the average college of agricultural salary and 1 percent above the average of all university faculty....

Conjoint analysis, widely used in marketing research, offers an alternative resource valuation approach suited to outdoor recreation activities characterized as multiattribute. Design, implementation, and interpretation of conjoint analysis are reviewed in the context of recreation applications....

Survey data of 2,538 dairy farmers located in 12 southern states were used to analyze the factors influencing farmers' choice of milk handlers. Results from a qualitative response model indicate that a combination of price and non-price factors contribute to dairy farmers' attitudes toward their...