While the growing importance of off-farm earnings suggests large benefits accrue to farmers from efforts to expand off-farm income opportunities, economic well being also depends on greater efficiency. To comprehensively gauge the economic health of farm operator households' off-farm income is...

While the growing importance of off-farm earnings suggests large benefits accrue to farmers from efforts to expand off-farm income opportunities, survival still depends on greater efficiency. To comprehensively gauge the economic health of farm operator households we interpret off-farm income as...

This paper develops a methodology to calculate the impact of integrated pest management (IPM) on pesticide use, yields, and farm profits. The methodology is applied to the IPM adoption among fresh market tomato producers in eight states. The method is of general applicability. It accounts for...

Radial and nonradial measures of technical efficiency are calculated empirically for Florida vegetable farms using DEA (data envelopment analysis) techniques. Use of the nonradial measures to calculate overuse of chemical inputs by inefficient farmers is demonstrated and the potential for...

Controversy over the use of genetically engineered (GE) crops may have induced some farmers to disadopt these seeds, making a traditional diffusion model inappropriate. In this study, we develop and estimate a dynamic diffusion model, examine the diffusion paths of GE corn, soybeans, and cotton,...

Adoption of genetically engineered crops with traits for pest management has risen dramatically since their commercial introduction in the mid-1990's. The farm-level impacts of such crops on pesticide use, yields, and net returns vary with the crop and technology examined. Adoption of...

The impact of adopting integrated pest management (IPM) techniques is examined for peach producers in eight states accounting for most of the U.S. production. The method accounts for self-selectivity, simultaneity, and the pesticide demand equations are theoretically consistent with a...

Factors influencing the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques are studied using survey data from individual vegetable producers from Florida, Michigan, and Texas. Farmers who adopt IPM tend to be less risk averse and use more managerial time on farm activities than nonadopters....

This paper examines the impact of pesticide regulation on the number of new pesticide registrations and pesticide toxicity. Results suggest that regulation adversely affects new pesticide introductions but encourages the development of pesticides with fewer toxic side effects. The estimated...

Adoption of herbicide-tolerant (HT) soybeans is proceeding rapidly despite little difference between the net returns to HT versus conventional soybeans. Using a multivariate probit model, we analyze the interaction of off-farm work and adoption and test if farmers adopt HT soybeans because its...