This paper examines the role of uncertain crude oil prices, uncertain crop yields, and competition for acreage on corn, soybean, and switchgrass prices under biofuel production mandates. We find enforcement of the cellulosic mandate is costly in that it raises equilibrium prices of all three...

Increased availability and demand for low-deductible crop insurance policies have increased focus on crop insurance rating methods. Actuarial fairness cannot be achieved if constant multiplicative factors are used to determine how premiums change as coverage levels increase. A comparison of...

The efficiency of redistribution of government-provided revenue insurance programs is compared with the efficiency of the 1990 farm program. The results indicate that revenue insurance would be more efficient because it would provide subsidies when and only when revenue is low and marginal...

In this paper, we examine more closely some of the forces that underlie economic growth at the county level. In an effort to describe a much more comprehensive regional economic growth model, we address a variety of different hypotheses by introducing a large number of growth-related variables....

We project U.S. ethanol production and its impact on planted acreage, crop prices, livestock production, trade, and retail food costs. The projections are made using a multicommodity, multicountry, partial equilibrium model. Results indicate that expanded U.S. ethanol production will cause...

The remarkable expansion of global wind power capacity in many countries brings forward several key economic questions regarding the performance of impacted electricity markets. Wind forecast uncertainties and rules that penalize scheduling deviations often discourage wind energy producers from...

Low and inconsistent beef quality has been blamed by some for the losses of beef's share of total meat consumption. Tighter vertical coordination through use of alternative marketing arrangements and more precise price signaling through use of different cattle valuation methods may help improve...

This work measures the impact of captive supplies, or cattle procured through alternative marketing agreements (AMAs), on meatpacker costs, gross margins, and profits. Confidential profit and loss data were examined from all the individual packing plants within the four largest packing firms for...