Increased productivity is a key to a healthy and thriving economy. Consequently, the trend in productivity, economywide, is one of the most closely watched of our common economic performance indicators. Agriculture, in particular, has been a very successful sector of the U.S. economy in terms of...

The unprecedented growth in crop yields and agricultural total factor productivity over the past 70 years owes much to a series of biological innovations embodied in seeds, beginning with the development of hybrid crops in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, continuing with...

Agricultural biotechnology has been advancing very rapidly, and while it presents many promises, it also poses as many questions. Many dimensions to agricultural biotechnology need to be considered to adequately inform public policy. Policy is made more difficult by the fact that agricultural...

Revolving loan funds (RLF's) operate, in principle, by issuing new loans as old loans are repaid. Although best suited to increasing credit access for viable firms that lack alternative funding sources, many RLF's are assisting local businesses in need of capital but financially nonviable. Two...

Fifteen lettuce and bagged salad shippers were interviewed as part of a larger study on changes in produce marketing. Retail consolidation, changes in technology, and increased consumer demand for convenience, product diversity, and year-round availability have all influenced shipper-retailer...

The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined longrun average, or "usual" intakes of 10 key nutrients and dietary components: energy intake, vitamin C, iron, zinc, calcium, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber. Results were estimated for...

This paper examines how consolidation in the marketing system affects prices for orange juice. We isolated the pricing behavior of brand marketers, wholesalers, and retailers by observing the retail prices for specific orange juice products, including leading national brands and private label...

The number of new food processing plants rose sharply in 1995. Profitability from food manufacturing and retailing operations (excluding interest expense) continued to increase, reflecting strong sales, wage and producer price stability, and streamlining of operations. The number of mergers and...

For the southern Africa region, both a grain stocking program and an import insurance program would have reduced food supply variability more than historical food aid during 1970-95. The stocking program and the import insurance program would have been less expensive than food aid from a donor...

Factors related to local and regional economic growth are attractiveness to retirees, right-to-work laws, excellent high school completion rates, good public education expenditures, and access to transportation networks. These were associated with improved county earnings in 1979-89, according...