A stochastic distance function frontier was estimated using data from a national survey of organic farmers to evaluate the effect of farm-specific attributes on efficiency. Farm-specific and regional variables that shift efficiency were incorporated into the multioutput distance function,...

This manuscript investigates the productivity-industrial concentration relationship in U.S. food industries. We identify a critical level of industrial concentration beyond which its relationship with productivity growth becomes negative. The welfare effects of an increase in concentration -...

The meat processing industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy. It generates substantial employment and export earnings. Hence, the growth of the meat processing industry is an important issue for Australia. The meat processing industry and its share in total Australian...

A sample of Kansas farms was used to examine the relationship between overall efficiency and farm characteristics. Overall efficiency was significantly related to operator age, farm size, and farm type. Approximately 26.7% of the farms were in the top one-third overall efficiency category for...

Using a nonparametric linear programming approach, our contribution is to examine if efficiency gains in Western crop production are realized due to diversification and to demonstrate that the diversification efficiency gains realized are a product of economies of scope efficiency gains and...

Easily accessible county data produced frontiers which substantially underestimated the reduction in risk by enrolling in the CRP. Furthermore, the county yield data portrayed an unattainable level of utility for a moderately risk averse farmer. Farm level data predicted CRP enrollment similar...

This paper estimates and compares the net returns of an organic row crop rotation to the returns of a conventional row crop rotation in the Midwest, and explores some of the sources of risk associated with organic row crop production. The study concludes modeling the optimal land use of a...