While most Corn Belt farmers consider planting Bt corn to control European corn borer, southwestern Kansas farmers must also take into account an array of other insect pests, including corn rootworm, spider mites, and southwestern corn borer. This research uses a decision analysis framework to...

Planting Bt corn on large areas may lead to European corn borer (ECB) resistance to Bt. Scientists recommend planting a non-Bt corn refuge as part of a resistance management strategy. Different refuge configurations may impact farm profits differently. This paper analyzes the economics of...

Two approaches have been taken to the modeling of poultry demand in U.S. meat demand studies. One has been to ignore turkey, and estimate demands for beef, pork, and chicken. The second has been to include turkey by combining it with chicken, and estimating demands for beef, pork, and poultry....

The case of strategic advertising response is examined for branded and generic meat products (beef, pork, and poultry). A dynamic conceptual model is developed to identify the determinants of advertising expenditures. A time-series model is then used to examine the competitive behavior of...

An Internet survey was administered (14-17 May 2010) to 1210 consumers who had active Facebook, Twitter, or blog accounts to investigate their use of social networks and their attitudes towards direct marketers who utilize these tools. Overall, 94% of participants have an active Facebook account...

A stochastic capital budget was used to analyze the effect of net metering policies and carbon credits on profitability of anaerobic digesters on dairy farms in Pennsylvania. We analyzed three different farm sizes—500, 1,000, and 2,000 cows—and considered the addition of a solids...

Sound human resource management practices such as performance bonuses, performance reviews and feedback, and standard operating procedures allow farm managers to improve the human capital, and profitability, on the farm. To date, no research of the impact of HRM practices on farm profitability...

The financial performance and relationships between several management factors and financial performance are examined in a panel of 107 New York dairy farms. A panel regression model with fixed effects is estimated in an effort to identify management factors that influence profitability. The...

Automatic, or robotic, milking systems have the potential to significantly change the way milk is produced on U.S. dairy farms. However, there is a high degree of uncertainty associated with adoption of this new technology. A real options approach is used to analyze the decision to replace an...

This research tests for causality between indexed retail pork revenues and pork advertising. Evidence was found of feedback between revenues and total pork advertising, but not between revenues and generic advertising. In fact, generic advertising was found to have no significant impact on...