Replaced with edited version of paper 12/23/08.

In production agriculture, good management is demonstrated by profits that are persistenly greater than those of similar neighboring farms. This research examined the effects of management practices on risk-adjusted profit per acre for Kansas farms over 1990-1999. The management practices were...

Recent econometric studies indicate that the effect of government farm subsidies on farmland rental rates may be smaller than once thought. This literature has corrected for bias due to expectation error in measured subsidy payments. We suggest two additional sources of bias—inertia and...

Feeder calf prices are determined by the interaction of many factors. This study uses transactions data from Iowa preconditioned and regular feeder calf auction sales to investigate the impact of a wide variety of factors, many of which have not been used in previous studies on feeder calf...

Entropy and jackknife estimation procedures were used to find that custom rates are 20.3% lower than the true cost to own and operate machinery for an average size Kansas farm. A method was then developed to estimate a farms total machinery costs with which to benchmark machinery costs.

Forecasting feeder cattle basis has long been difficult because of the myriad factors that influence basis, including input and output prices and lot characteristics. This research draws upon knowledge of the various factors that influence cash feeder cattle prices to develop hedonic feeder...

The product life cycle of the new value added marketing strategy that a quality heifer program created in adding, a new product (heifers with additional value characteristics) is explored. The new product that will be examined is related to the Show-Me Select Heifer Replacement program. The Tier...