More than half of all transactions for U.S. agricultural products are still conducted through spot market exchanges, in which commodities are bought and sold in open market transactions for immediate delivery. But a growing share of U.S. farm production is produced and sold under agricultural...

Marketing and production contracts covered 39 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2008, up from 36 percent in 2001, and a substantial increase over 28 percent in 1991 and 11 percent in 1969. However, aggregate contract use has stabilized in recent years and no longer suggests...

Nearly all farm business ventures involve financial risk. In some instances, private and public tools used to manage financial risks in agriculture may influence farmers' production decisions. These decisions, in turn, can influence environmental quality. This bulletin summarizes research and...

This report analyzes farmers' choice of crop insurance contracts and tests for the presence of asymmetric information in the market for multiple yield and revenue insurance products. Farmers' risk characteristics, their level of income, and the cost of insurance significantly affect their...

The epizootiology of Entomophthora canarjensis Macleod, Tyrrell, & Soper in populations of the woolly pine needle aphid (Schizolachnus piniradiatae (Davidson)) was investigated during a 5-year period in an isolated plantation of red pine (Pinus resinosa Aitj in northern Ontario. Climatic factors...

Six Eurasian species of Carduus thistles (Compositae: Cynareael are troublesome weeds in North America. They are attacked by about 340 species of phytophagous insects, including 71 that are oligophagous on Cynareae. Of these Eurasian insects, 39 were extensively tested for host specificity, and...