After entering into a farmland cash rent contract in the fall, a tenant farmer has flexibility over the spring crop choice and the input application level. Failure to account for these options will bias estimates of what farmers should pay to rent land. Applying Monte Carlo simulation methods,...

Iowa's farmland consists of over 16% hay crops and pastureland, a significant portion of which is under cash rental contracts. This study investigates the comparative relationships between cash rental rates for cropped land and non-cropped land, where the latter includes hay and pastureland. We...

Contracts serve as coordination mechanisms which allocate value, risk, and decision rightsacross buyers and sellers. The use of marketing contracts in agriculture, specifically for crop production,has been increasing over the past decade. This study investigates the determinants ofagricultural...

 The objective of this paper is to examine the status of labor-saving mechanization in U.S. fruit and vegetable harvesting. Fruit and vegetable harvest mechanization has several potential advantages: reduced harvest costs, eliminate problems associated with finding good quality harvest labor,...

Research and Development (R&D) and innovation are crucial features of the seed industry. To support large R&D investments by the private sector, strong intellectual property rights, such as patents, are necessary. The exclusivity granted by patents naturally creates market power positions and...