This paper suggests how a particular vertical arrangement, Top of the Market Pricing (TOMP), can have horizontal anti-competitive effects. The theory is also applicable to other vertical arrangements in use in the fed cattle market. The theory changes the theoretical backdrop for examining...

South Dakota has recently experienced a significant increase in the proportion of acres treated with insecticide. Unfortunately, data on insecticide usage by crop at the county level is not available. The following case study seeks to uncover the reasons for this increase by analyzing...

Between 1995 and 2005, a drastic increase in ethanol production in the United States led to increased production of corn and substantially increased shares of corn destined for ethanol plants. The objectives of this paper are to investigate/identify: 1) the changes in the volume of grain handled...

We propose a fear index for corn using the variance swap rate synthesized from out-of-the-money call and put options as a measure of implied variance. Previous studies estimate implied variance based on Black (1976) model or forecast variance using the GARCH models. Our implied variance...

The relationship between publicly reported weekly grid premiums and discounts for specific carcass characteristics and the percentage of those characteristics reflected in total weekly slaughter volume (i.e., proportional slaughter volume) is investigated. Granger Causality and multi-lag VAR...

The year 2008 will long be remembered as a year when corn based ethanol has seen tremendous change. The Energy Independence and Security Act, which passed in late 2007, gave a huge boost to the industry as it mandated an increase in biofuel production and use. In 2008, the industry witnessed...

The ability of the former federal voluntary price reporting system to facilitate market efficiency in the cash markets for U.S. livestock was questioned by producer groups and academic researchers prior to implementation of federal mandatory price reporting regulations. In the cash market for...

Mandatory livestock price reporting was implemented in April 2001. Empirical evidence indicates a significant change in volatility occurred in publicly reported fed cattle grid premiums and discounts after its implementation. Empirical analysis of grid premiums and discounts across the pre-and...

Using responses from a mail survey conducted among 203 South Dakota grain elevator managers in 2002, we analyzed the degree to which their elevators were prepared to segregate non-transgenic from commodity grains. Results showed four percent of the managers expected their own, and ten percent...