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...

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...

Increasingly, interdisciplinary research is being touted as a way to solve real-life problems of interest to the taxpayers who support research at public universities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits of interdisciplinary agricultural research involving economists and natural...

This study identifies and analyzes factors that contribute to the success of small farms. Particular attention is given to the effect of participation in marketing and supply cooperatives on the success of small farms. Using modified net farm income per dollar of assets and operator’s...

The elimination of the quota program in 2002 reduced the barrier to entry into the peanut shelling industry. Peanut producers have expressed interest in integrating up to peanut shelling and marketing their own peanuts to peanut manufacturers. The peanut shelling and manufacturing sectors are...

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...