This article outlines some of the biggest economic issues threatening the long-term survival of American farming and ranching. In general, the threats are derived from the intersection of global and local scales of decision making. International economic development, personal finance decisions,...

The variability of producers 'net income levels is largely a function of variability in output price, yield, and input prices. Yet, the tools available to manage price risk and yield risk are not widely used by producers. Is the market failing to provide agricultural producers with effective...

A theory is proposed that explains the evolution of a market based on a quality variant as it goes from being a niche to the market norm. Organic commodities are described as such a quality variant and used to focus on the economic and policy issues that arise during a market's evolution. It is...