The U.S. hog industry expanded rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s. Along with this expansion, hog farms have become larger, partly due to economies of size and new business arrangements. Using markov chain analysis, this study analyzes the movement of hog farms among three different size...

This article explores the issue of cooperative growth from both an empirical and theoretical perspective. Using total assets as the measure of cooperative size, we present long-term, time-series data from seven of the largest regional agricultural cooperatives in Canada and the United States. We...

This study examines possible factors which have lead to increased concentration in the cooperative grain marketing sector. The effect, on this industry, of changes in transportation and communication is described. Empirical analysis was performed with data from local grain marketing cooperatives...

Global market segments for value-added agricultural products are identified using factor and cluster analysis. Twentysix variables, selected as potentially affecting trade and consumption of value-added agricultural products are first analyzed in factor analysis. The resulting factor scores are...

Trainload shipments of grain by elevators substantially reduce their transportation costs. However, many elevators must make investments upgrading their plant before they can ship in trainload movements. In this article, a logit model is developed which considers the investment decision for...