Between 1995 and 2005, a drastic increase in ethanol production in the United States led to increased production of corn and substantially increased shares of corn destined for ethanol plants. The objectives of this paper are to investigate/identify: 1) the changes in the volume of grain handled...

A two-year study of early vs. normal weaning of steer calves was conducted in the western Dakotas in 2003-04. The analysis concludes that early weaning improves feedlot production efficiency and reduces per-day and per-pound feedlot production costs. However, early weaned steers are lighter at...

This article investigates the premium and discount incentive mechanisms in the fed cattle grid pricing system. A pooled cross-sectional dataset containing carcass information on 598 fed steers evaluated weekly on the AMS publically reported price grid was constructed for the years 2001 to 2008...

The objective of this research is to incorporate the relationship between forage yields and rainfall levels to find optimal weights on insurance intervals using Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) insurance. Unlike earlier models, actuarial fairness of the insurance product is...

A consumer preference study that included willingness to pay and consumer sensory experiments was conducted for ground bison versus ground beef. A total of 82 subjects completed the study. The initial statistical analysis suggest that there is consistent consumer behavior with respect to...

A mail survey is used to examine the consistency of alternative risk preference elicitation procedures using five commonly used methods. These elicitation procedures have been used in previous studies to characterise risk preference. Results show little consistency across procedures, supporting...