Our objective is to identify the determinants for success among USDA’s Value- Added Producer Grants (VAPG) program recipients. Business development has become an important program in departments of agricultural economics. Market share was found to be an important determinant of VAPG...

The number of operating wineries in the United States has doubled during the past decade. Most of this growth has been due to a large number of entrepreneurial landowners developing their own small acreage vineyards and trying to branch into winemaking. However, wineries are capital-intensive...

There are many expenditure options available to farmers who received a tobacco buyout check. A multinomial probit model is used to analyze how farmer, business, and household characteristics influence the choice of expenditure option. Results of the study show that farmers tend to use the...

Individuals exposed to odors from livestock facilities do not report annoyance uniformly. The reaction to a detectable odor depends on perceptions of the odor and its source which are mediated by odor attributes and personal factors. Correlations among these factors were tested in a rural...

A multi-factor capital asset pricing model is used to examine the return characteristics of physical assets comprising the farm asset portfolio. Physical assets analyzed are: 1) farm real estate; 2) machinery and motor vehicles; 3) crops stored on farm; and 4) livestock and poultry. Results for...

The twin problems of moral hazard and adverse selection are often blamed for the lack of insurance for many fruits and vegetables. This paper develops an alternative method of testing for adverse selection that uses a two-stage approach to determine the effects of technical inefficiency on the...