Because of the broad definition of a farm—which includes numerous small operations that produce little or no agricultural commodities in any given year—most farm households earn all of their income from nonfarm sources. However, even those operating farms with substantial production often...

The objective of this study is to examine how factors such as government payments, soil productivity ratings, commodity selling price, corn and soybean production, and spatial attributes affect cash rental rates. Baseline estimates of the effects of government payments on cash rents are...

Farm operators are an integral part of some rural economies. The businesses they operate often hire seasonal and full-time employees and purchase goods and services from local farm implement dealers, input suppliers, and financial institutions. Farm household spending on food, furniture and...

This research analyzed the adoption of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in cotton production. Analysis using a logit model found that younger farmers who used a crop consultant, remote-sensing, variable-rate fertilizer, and reported greater...

Among Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants, there is a distinction between farm households using the program to ease out of farming and those using the program to augment production receipts. We find evidence that factors other than crop or livestock revenue and environmental factors...

This article examines what differentiates "socially responsible" farmers (i.e., those who rank environmental benefits higher than profit, based on a Likert style ranking) from farmers who make decisions based solely on financial criteria. A proportional odds model (POM) is proposed to estimate...

State programs promoting their agricultural products have proliferated in response to increased consumer interest in locally grown foods. Tennessee, for example, currently has two state-funded programs promoting its agricultural products. This study examines the factors associated with...

Beef cattle production is responsible for approximately 2.2% of total US GHG production. In some agroecosystems, afforestation has the potential to sequester more carbon than other pasture and rangeland management practices. This research examines the factors, including an incentive, influencing...