The contentious 2002 Farm Bill has been described by many as the most politicized farm legislation in recent history. Many lawmakers concluded that the 1996 Farm Bill was based on flawed assumptions and that U.S. farmers needed a more dependable safety net. Hence, their support for the 2002 Farm...

The non-point pollution rules proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have generated questions regarding the costs of compliance for Wisconsin agriculture. It is clear that some agricultural practices will have to change if the proposed rules are enacted, but the costs of...

This paper examines the relationship between New York coffee futures and cash export prices in Guatemala and Honduras . Cointegration tests suggest that the futures market is serving its price discovery function, and provides a vehicle by which to manage the domestic price risk in export...

The temporal relationship between Chicago corn and soybean cash prices, nearby futures prices, and interest rates is examined using daily 1980-1989 data. Johansen cointegration tests suggest joint movement of the three series over the data period considered. In addition, analyses of individual...

The existence of a commodity market risk premium has attracted the interest of researchers for several decades. Most attempts to measure risk premiums have been focused on futures markets. However, if the risk premium is a payment made by hedgers (as suggested by Keynes) to reduce their risk...

There has been considerable interest focused on the further development and expansion of a domestic bio-fuels industry. While most early attention from the commercial sector focused on ethanol, interest is now growing in the area of biodiesel production. Reasons for growing interest in biodiesel...

There has been considerable interest recently in alternative cropping opportunities for US grain producers. One crop that has received significant interest has been industrial hemp. Hemp production has essentially been non-existent in the US since the 1950's. The purpose of this paper is to...