This paper examines the economics of farm decisions to prevent and control infectious livestock disease. In the case of diseases with costly control tolerating some level of disease is often rational to the producer. Public policy intervention is based on future value and public good aspects of...

This paper is a 2014 agricultural outlook covering multiple agricultural commodities and issues.

In the period leading up to the start of the Margin Protection Program for Dairy Producers (MPP-Dairy), a survey was undertaken to assess dairy farmer knowledge, attitudes, impressions and expected participation decisions. All surveys were collected in July and August 2014. There are six main...

Consumers are increasingly interested in how animals are handled, transported, and cared for. This study provides the first examination of US resident support for a ballot initiative banning use of gestation crates (stalls) in the swine industry. Results suggest latent associations consumers...

U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dairy Options Pilot Program promoted hedging by producers, and was a test case for similar programs in other agricultural industries. Rapidly shifting milk pricing policies impeded quantitative hedging evaluations while the program was active. Hedging appears...

Over the past twenty years, the R&D-based agricultural biotechnology industry has exhibited cyclical behavior in consolidation. This paper provides a positive, theoretical model of endogenous R&D, in which the number of firms engaged in R&D exhibits cyclical behavior. Additional, empirically...

U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dairy Options Pilot Program promoted hedging by producers, and was a test case for similar programs in other agricultural industries. Rapidly shifting milk pricing policies impeded quantitative hedging evaluations while the program was active. Hedging appears...