The main forces of trade agreements and budgets will certainly play a strong role in driving the 2007 farm bill debate. Other factors ranging from the political makeup of Congress to the growing level of rhetoric calling for reform, from the cost-price squeeze facing producers to the emergence...

If adoption of herbicide-resistant seed and adoption of conservation-tillage practices are determined simultaneously, adoption of herbicide-resistance seed could indirectly reduce soil erosion and adoption of conservation-tillage practices could indirectly reduce residual herbicide use and...

This study investigates productive efficiency for a sample of Missouri crop-only (specialized) and integrated crop-livestock (diversified) farms using a cost frontier approach. Results suggest that significant cost inefficiency exists among sample farms. Lower cost efficiency in both types of...

We examine the economic tradeoff between the costs of pre-event preparedness and post-event response to the potential introduction of an infectious animal disease. In a simplified case study setting, we examine the conditions for optimality of an enhanced pre-event detection system considering...

This study summarizes research on farm-, local-, regional-, and macro-level economic effects of ethanol production. Given current production levels, the ethanol production industry annually employees approximately 3,500 workers, pays out nearly $132 million in worker salaries, generates over...

This paper explores the influence of demographic and spatial variables on individual participation and consumption of wildland area recreation. Data from the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment are combined with geographical information system-based distance measures to develop...

The nature of credit risk assessment and basis of loan approval decisions of the Farm Service Agency are analyzed in the aftermath of the black farmers’ 1997 class action suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This study did not uncover convincing evidence of racial...

The contingent valuation method was used to elicit Japanese consumers’ willingness-to-pay for genetically modified organism (GMO) segregation programs. The results revealed that most consumers pay nonnegligible premiums for products produced under strict GMO-segregation programs. However,...

This article examines the economics of groundwater irrigation and shallow tubewell (STW) ownership decision making, using farm-level data collected from 324 households in Nepal. STW irrigation generated a significant positive effect on rice yield and farmers’ incomes. Based on a probit...

A two-stage multinomial logit selection model is used to model the relationship between demographic characteristics and housing density across Tennessee’s six metropolitan statistical areas. The study finds that there is both spatial correlation and heterogeneity in the most densely...