Contracting in agriculture has increased over the past several decades. This activity has heightened concerns about concentration, market power, and farmer welfare. The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the underlying motivations for contracting and to highlight some of the trade-offs...

Cotton ginning represents an agribusiness that is heavily dependent on production agriculture. Recent changes in farm legislation and other government policies may have a long run impact on the variability of cotton production. This paper examines the potential impacts of increased production...

Potential economic impacts of hunting activities suggested opportunities for non-industrial private landowners in Mississippi to capitalize on apparent market demand for fee-access hunting. Data were collected from outfitting individuals/firms operating within Mississippi to analyze the impact...

The advent of genetically altered seed has had a revolutionary effect on the cotton, soybean, and corn seed industries. The basic premise for the use of these seed are to reduce costs through lower applications of chemicals and savings on trips through the field, thus, lowering production costs....

A recent merger "wave" has occurred within the economy, including the agricultural sector. Some research has been conducted on publicly traded companies, but there is little information available on merger activity within agricultural cooperatives. This paper presents the results of a recent...

Precision application technology has been an important topic in agriculture in recent years. This technology has the promise to improve farm management through improved information and control over in-field variability of soil characteristics and productivity. Despite this apparent promise,...

This analysis presents the results of a survey of agricultural producers in Mississippi regarding their use of contracting. The study focuses on cross-commodity differences in contracting and the variable underlying contracting. Logistic regression models are used to examine the impacts of...

A number of programs have been introduced to limit environmental nonpoint pollution (NPP) associated with agricultural practices. One such program, precision agriculture, involves a range of management practices that utilize site-specific information at the field level. These practices can limit...

Much attention has been paid to alternative fuel sources of late. Ethanol has been a politically popular alternative fuel additive and has recently been pushed to the forefront as a leading replacement to MTBE as an oxygenate. This paper examines the potential markets for ethanol, including...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations could have important implications for Southern Agriculture. This paper explores some of the issues surrounding the WTO negotiations for cotton. Specifically, this paper examines the impacts of the phase-out of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) on...