This paper presents evidence on how farmers’ decisions to adopt a new crop, sunflower,relate to the adoption choices of farmers in their social network of family and friends. Weshow that the relationship is shaped as an inverse-U, suggesting social effects are positivewhen there are few...

In 2009 Iowa farmers had the opportunity to enroll in a new revenue support programcalled ACRE. A survey showed that those who did enroll desired more risk protection andbelieved that payments from ACRE would exceed the value of direct payments forfeited.Operators who did not enroll said the...

A framework is developed to examine the 2011 pilot program established by the RiskManagement Agency (RMA) to insure organic crops. Given that for insurance purposes RMAlinks organic crop prices to their conventional counterparts by a fixed percentage, we calibrateour model to reflect the organic...

This survey reviews the existing literature, identifying the contribution of agriculture, schooling, and nutrition to economic growth and development over time and across countries. Particular attention is paid to the roles of improvements in agricultural technology and of the human capital of...