South Dakota dairy industry has shifted toward large operations to offset declining numbers of dairy cows and milk production stemming from rapid exodus of smaller (100-cow) dairy farms. This study examines the regional and state level economic impacts of expansion by large and medium size...

Beef industry data suggest that carcass yield and quality grades have shown little improvement over the last six years. Trend analysis of grid market share and carcass quality suggests that grid pricing has not made sufficient progress in achieving the goals envisioned for it as a value based...

The information value of the former USDA voluntary price reporting system is investigated for dressed weight slaughter steers. The ability of the former system to promote market transparency and price discovery in the cash market is evaluated with state level mandatory price reporting data...

As part of the sustainable agriculture research program in the Economics Department at South Dakota State University (SDSU), ‘organic’ and ‘conventional’ crop prices have been compared for nearly a decade. This pamphlet serves as an update of price comparisons through 2003 and a final...

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...

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...

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...