USDA and Cooperative Extension Service forecasts of hog prices are directly tested for incremental value vis-à-vis futures-based forecasts in a forecast encompassing framework. At horizons less than six months, the lean hog futures-based forecast is found to be more accurate than both the USDA...

The fruit and vegetable industry does not have a risk management instrument or a well-structured price discovery system, such as commodity futures contracts, to aid in the marketing and management of its price risk. Since the 1980s, financial futures contracts based on indexes of stocks,...

This research examines the potential basis behavior and hedging effectiveness for the Minneapolis Grain Exchange's (MGE's) cash settled corn contract. MGE futures cash settle to the National Corn Index (NCI) calculated by the Data Transmission Network (DTN). Focusing on seven regions in...

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...