Methyl Bromide in the United States is supplied by only four firms (two producers and two importers) who reap windfall profits from MB restrictions. Since 1992 we estimate that over $300 million in cumulative windfall profits have resulted from restrictions on Methyl Bromide and currently run...

In this paper, we show formally that cooperatives can possess an informational - and hence cost - advantage compared to For Profit Firms. This advantage is directly linked to the goal alignment between the cooperative and its members, and is influenced by the extent of income redistribution...

Over the last 20 years the cheese manufacturing sector has become the most important market for U.S. farm milk. Using a plant-level dataset encompassing the 1972-1997 period we examine the production characteristics of this industry. Using the results obtained from our cost function we estimate...

Using U.S. apparel catalogue data, we estimate hedonic price functions to identify market valuation of environmental attributes of apparel goods. We identify a significant and robust premium for the organic fibers embodied in the apparel goods. We find an additional organic premium for baby...

An optimization model is used to evaluate the economics of various components of a large agribusiness. The benefits of using interger programming are contrasted to traditional linear programming analysis in conjunction with outside-the-model budgeting analysis.

Market structure is tested in 47 subsectors of the US food industry between 1958-1994. All industries exert market power in at least some of the sample years. Deadweight loss estimates resulting from noncompetitive behavior ranging from over $5 billion in soft drinks to under $1 million in the...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing performance and behavior of market advisory services in corn and soybeans. Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years....

Developing new risk management products for all agricultural commodities has increased in importance given recent legislation. Vegetables have been difficult to insure. This paper investigates the use of index contracts for growers belonging to a Kentucky vegetable cooperative. Index contracts...

Optimal hedging strategies are analyzed for a cooperative operating a price pooling system in the presence of price and quantity risk. A three-period model, accounting for default risk and storage, is developed. Hedging allows the cooperative to increase the pool price offered to farmers by 2.8...

This paper examines the effects of financial decsion on production, input demands, profitability, and productivityis in U.S. food manufacturing industry. Empirical results shows that output supply, variable input demands, profitability and productivity are affected by agency costs of debt and...