Both farmland values and rental rates have seen significant increases over the past few crop years. The increase in land values, in particular, has members of the agricultural and outside investment communities concerned over the potential for a significant decline in land values and the...

This paper analyzes the effect of landowner risk preferences and land quality on the optimal mix of vertically integrated production and contracted production of an energy crop in a region characterized by heterogeneity in landowners’ risk preferences and land quality and with riskiness of...

The biodiesel industry in the United States has realized significant growth over the past decade through large increases in annual production and production capacity and a transition from smaller batch plants to larger-scale continuous producers. The larger, continuous-flow plants provide...

The successful expansion of the U.S. crop insurance program has not eliminated ad hoc disaster assistance. An alternative currently being explored by members of Congress and others in preparation of the 2007 farm bill is to simply remove the "ad hoc" part of disaster assistance programs by...

A wide variety of insurance products is available to agricultural producers to insure against yield or price risks in the markets for the raw commodities they produce. Value-added enterprises, such as ethanol production, have been expanding over the last decade. This paper outlines the...