Bid prices were elicited for standard-label cookies, muffins, and potato chips and those identified as not including genetically modified (GM) ingredients using an experimental auction. Including a statement that the product did not include GM ingredients increased bids over those offered for...

Scientific inquiry is increasing our knowledge of plant and animal genomics. The ability to specify heterogeneous production processes, to sort agricultural inputs by genotype, or to guide breeding programs to satisfy specific markets based on genetic expression may potentially increase producer...

Teaching efficiency is investigated for the nine departments in the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources at North Dakota State University. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, departments are compared to their College peers in converting teaching faculty and teaching funds...

Co-products of processing agricultural commodities are often marketed through private transaction rather than through public markets or those in which public transaction information is recorded or available. The resulting lack of historical price information prohibits the use of positive time...

During the past decade, the grain shipping industry has become highly competitive and technologically advanced. These changes, along with the introduction of innovative shipping mechanisms, have made logistics management an important source of opportunity and risk for grain shippers. In this...

Agricultural firms that use Value at Risk (VaR) tend to be the large diversified corporations. The benefits of VaR in the agricultural industry are not limited to large conglomerates; however, and this study provides empirical examples of how mid to large sized commodity end-users can use VaR to...

Malt barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. However, growers face considerable risk due to "coverage gaps" in crop insurance that result in uncertain indemnity payments due to...

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), commonly known as scab, has been a severe problem for wheat and barley producers since 1993. This study provides an update of economic losses suffered by wheat and barley producers in scab-affected regions in the United States. Emphasis is placed on estimating direct...

Canola has become an important crop in the last decade in the U.S. Production of canola is risky and competes with other crops which have a range of risk reduction mechanisms. Alternative contracting strategies were evaluated by comparing returns to labor and management for growers and gross...

There are important challenges to the grain handling and shipping industries. The study evaluated changes in marketing costs for the primary grain marketing functions and quantified measures of risk. The results indicate that 1) basis risk has increased; 2) all marketing costs have increased; 3) the...