One of the impacts of higher prices along with greater volatility in futures and basis is thatthere is pressure for an escalation in cash contracting for grain. This volatility has resulted inan unprecedented level of contracting with growers in recent years. There is a wide array ofcash...

One of the impacts of higher prices along with greater volatility in futures and basis is that there is pressure for an escalation in cash contracting for grain. This volatility has resulted in an unprecedented level of contracting with growers in recent years. There is a wide array of cash...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of R&D investments, and the structure of the seed distribution sector using novel data sets that have not been used before to describe competition in these industries. The results describe four sets of issues of particular importance. One is...

Malt barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. However, growers face considerable risk due to "“coverage gaps"” in crop insurance that result in uncertain indemnity payments due to...

The presence of multiple sources of uncertainty complicates hedging decisions. One of these is the output price and its correlation with input prices. The other is how far forward a firm covers its positions. This study analyzes hedging strategies for grain importers as processors. The...

This report provides estimates of the lignite industry's contribution to the North Dakota economy, using key economic indicators such as retail trade activity, personal income, total business activity, employment, and tax revenues. The estimates are based on actual industry expenditures for 2001...

Agricultural firms that use Value at Risk (VaR) tend to be the large diversified corporations. The benefits of VaR in the agricultural industry are not limited to large conglomerates; however, and this study provides empirical examples of how mid to large sized commodity end-users can use VaR to...

Quality related yield and price losses have had significant impact on producer income and risks, and in some instances exceeded yield and price losses covered by conventional insurance instruments. However, there are no effective third party quality risk transfer mechanisms especially for barley...