The signing of the Food Security Act of 1985 (FSA 85), by President Reagan in December 1985 culminated a lengthy deliberation process involving food producing and consuming groups throughout the United States. During the debate, an analysis of a wide range of policy options for the 1985 Farm...

On July 27, 1993 a multidisciplinary committee was formed at Iowa State University to provide preliminary estimates for the economic effects of the 1993 floods on Iowa's agricultural enterprises. This report summarizes the committee's initial estimates of the losses by broad economic category;...

A better understanding of the relationship between a state's agricultural sector and the national agricultural economy increases the ability of agricultural interest groups to anticipate and understand policy developments. This paper develops and documents a state-level model of the Iowa...

The Cost of Recreational Horses in Anoka County

The objective of this study was twofold: (1) to identify nontraditional sources of data that can be used to monitor economic activity in rural areas, and (2) to test the relationship between such data and trends in traditional measures, such as income and employment.

If economic growth elsewhere raises an individual's earning prospects relative to his present location, then the individual will move. However, if the individual can exploit economic growth elsewhere by commuting, he will not need to move to gain from the expansion. County-level data from eight...

A sample of Iowa farm couples is used to evaluate whether off-farm labor supply decisions respond to permanent and transitory components of farm income. Off-farm labor supply of both spouses declines in response to increases in permanent farm income. Farm wives also reduce off-farm labor supply...

In general, economic conditions have favored Iowa as a premier livestock-producing state, but at the same time, government policies have worked against Iowa's livestock-feeding industries. The authors trace Iowa's dilemma as it must decide whether to become self-sufficient in feed, or be one of...