Can Producers Place Valid and Reliable Valuations on Wool Price-Risk Information?

Using the contingent valuation method farmers in the high rainfall region of Western Australia were asked to value the information that they used to reduce risk associated with wool prices. To ascertain whether these values were both valid and reliable they were combined with additional data collected from the questionnaires and incorporated into profit functions so that farmers' attitudes towards risk could be estimated. These risk attitudes may be deemed reliable and valid providing they correspond to those estimated by other researchers. Results showed that the farmers' risk aversion coefficients were comparable to those estimated in the Australian literature. Therefore it may be argued that these farmers were able to nominate valid and reliable valuations for the information that they used.