Little information exists on grain merchandisers, their characteristics, and the skills needed to be successful. This research contributes toward filling this gap. A summary of survey responses from 230 experienced grain merchandisers quantifies personal characteristics, skills perceived as...

This study analyzed the effect of the Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) program, established under the Federal Agriculture Improvement Reform (FAIR) act of 199, on corn and soybean basis in Missouri. Using daily corn and soybean basis data between 1993 and 1999 for multiple locations in Missouri,...

Studies of hog industry structure often invoke risk reduction and transaction costs explanations for empirical observations but fail to directly examine the core concepts of risk behavior and transaction costs theories. Using a more unified conceptual framework and unique survey and accounting...

Studies of hog industry structure often invoke risk reduction and transaction costs explanations for empirical observations but fail to directly examine the core concepts of risk behavior and transaction costs theories. Using a more unified conceptual framework and unique survey and accounting...

Synchronized artificial insemination was used to inseminate cows using different types of sire genetics, including low-accuracy, calving-ease, and high-accuracy. These three calf sire groups were compared to calves born to cows bred using natural service. We found substantial production...

Behavioral finance is a relatively new field of inquiry that may help better understand farmer marketing. The theory argues that people tend to make certain psychological biases that cause them to not be fully rational in an economic sense. For example, people tend to be about twice as upset...

This research evaluates the interaction of new alternative insurance designs, forward pricing tools and the government revenue protection program while assuming a government loan program is in place. A numerical analysis is conducted using a revenue simulation model that incorporates futures...

This study analyzes the potential risk reduction gains from naive diversification (equal-weighting) among market advisory services for corn and soybeans. The total possible decrease in risk through naive diversification is small, mainly because advisory prices are highly correlated on average....

Although few in number, studies consistently find that price explains little, if any, of the variation in profit across farms. This contrasts with farmers' opinions regarding the importance of price, as well as the use of price supports as a primary policy instrument. Using farm level data from...