This paper investigates the farm-level impacts of the 1996 farm bill on the South. Focus group perceptions of risk sources, observed acreage changes, and the farm-level impact of increased price risk are evaluated. Focus group respondents ranked price and yield as the two most important sources...

A whole-farm simulation model is used to analyze the impacts of PST adoption on representative farms in Missouri and Indiana. Farmers who do not adopt experience lower average annual net cash farm incomes than adopters. Lower feed prices and/or an average PST/feed response decrease the incentive...

Market forces, when viewed from the perspective of faculty salaries alone, clearly indicate that the highest and best use of a faculty member's time and expertise is no longer university employment. As a result, many productive faculty members are becoming increasingly dissatisfied, and many top...

Protecting the safety of the U.S. food supply is a shared responsibility. Accomplishing that task requires the efforts of multiple government agencies combined with private sector participation. Despite the best efforts of the public–private partnership, the presence of microbial...

Although Canada has developed an effective animal identification system, and the provinces are progressing toward a system that has full traceback capabilities, the U.S. and Mexico have made little or no progress. Contemporary U.S. proposals for state initiatives will not work. In the meantime,...

This study investigates the potential impacts of food safety outbreaks on domestic shipments, imports, and prices of the produce industry. Three case studies were analyzed to assess these potential impacts: the cantaloupe outbreak of March–April 2008, the spinach outbreak of September...

Increased demand for corn for ethanol production has helped push grain prices to record levels. This has increased livestock production costs, and producers have responded with changes to production systems. This paper explores the degree to which costs can be mitigated with alternative feeds,...

The beef industry in the United States consists of several distinct production levels ranging from the cow-calf producer at the lowest level to the final consumer. These sectors face varying levels of profitability, degrees of market power, conflicting goals, and price signals. Environmental...

Animal identification has been one of the most contentious issues for the last decade in the livestock industry. More specifically, at issue is the idea of a government-sponsored identification system, although it is unclear that an identification system forced on the industry by the market...

The provision for producers to update base acres and payment yields in the 2002 farm bill afforded an opportunity to test whether it was feasible to deliver a complex simulation model directly to producers. A Monte Carlo simulation model for assessing the economic impacts of the alternative base...