USDA and Cooperative Extension Service forecasts of hog prices are directly tested for incremental value vis-à-vis futures-based forecasts in a forecast encompassing framework. At horizons less than six months, the lean hog futures-based forecast is found to be more accurate than both the USDA...

An empirical methodology is developed for statistically testing the hedging effectiveness among competing futures contracts. The presented methodology is based on the encompassing principle, widely used in the forecasting literature, and applied here to minimum variance hedging regressions....

A risk management model based on portfolio theory which accounts jointly for price, quantity, interest rate and exchange rate risks is developed and applied to cocoa and coffee production and exports in the Ivory Coast. Utilizing commodity and financial futures markets jointly, the results show...

It is possible for the traditional hedge ratio estimation to produce erroneous guidance to risk managers because of the restrictive assumptions. This study adopts nonparametric locally polynomial kernel estimation to exclude the assumptions. Results from the hog complex find that hedge ratios...