The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance—insurance thatpays indemnities...

A common problem in agricultural credit markets in developing countries is the coexistence of a competitive market equilibrium interest rate and credit rationing. The literature typically explains the existence of credit rationing in competitive credit markets using adverse selection and moral...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance--insurance that pays indemnities...

This study determines the entry and exit thresholds of table grape farming with irreversible investment under uncertainty. Real option approach is adopted to consider the investment and management flexibility. Also revenue insurance is introduced to consider the effect of the risk management...

Using a published single-season model of adult population dynamics and data from field experiments, Mitchell and Riedell develop a complete life cycle model for northern corn rootworm. To develop the life cycle model, Mitchell and Riedell use temperature-dependent development and age-dependent...

In order to prolong the efficacy of Bt, the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops. Growers, however, have no economic incentive to comply with requirements because, on average, refuge crops are riskier and less productive. The authors evaluate...

A primary change to crop insurance contained in the USDA's Farm Bill Proposal is Supplemental Deductible Coverage (SDC). SDC would allow farmers who purchase individual crop insurance coverage to purchase GRP in the amount of the individual policy deductible. GRP indemnities would be accelerated...

We describe four recently developed panel data estimators for unbalanced and nested data, a common problem for economic and experimental data. We estimate a western corn rootworm damage function with each estimator, including separate parameters for random effects from year, location, and...

Mitchell describes a maximum likelihood method using historical weather data to estimate a parametric model of daily precipitation and maximum and minimum air temperatures. Historical weather data from Brookings, SD, and Boone, IA, are used to create the model. Mitchell describes the process of...