Agricultural producers have used futures markets to manage price risk, confident that 1) cash and futures prices move together over time, 2) cash and futures prices converge as the contract approaches expiration, and 3) funds held in margin accounts as a performance bond were secure in...

This paper examines the impact of sex-sorted semen adoption on dairy farm level economics. Representative dairies are used to simulate the financial impacts of moving to this new technology. Key economic, financial and herd dynamics will be compared among dairies to show how the uses of...

Ethanol production in 15, 30, and 80 million gallon per year production plants are analyzed at various subsidy levels. The results indicate that removing per plant subsidy limits allows reduced total state subsidy expenditures. This action takes advantage of the economies of scale inherent in...

This paper provides a comparison of successful and financially distressed producers based on the data from more than 400 individualized financial analyses. These objective variables are combined with subjective observations of management styles and attitudes to provide unique identification of...

The 2002 Farm Bill affects economic activity of farms and ranches in the southern United States. Using stochastic simulation techniques, key financial variables were projected for 39 representative farms and ranches in ten southern states. Results indicate 24 of 39 farms studied have more than a...

Many groups have discussed with alarm the impact of agricultural land conversion to non-agricultural uses. This research indicates little evidence that beef cow inventory has been negatively affected by land fragmentation. Average acres per transaction, total transactions, or a fragmentation...

The primary objective of this paper was to determine key factors impacting the frequency of consumer visits to Texas farmers’ markets measured in number of visits per month. Data obtained from in-person surveys administered in two farmers’ markets locations were used to determine consumer,...

The 1996 and 2002 farm bills moved government support toward decoupled tools rather than support coupled to production and/or prices. This paper analyzes whether areas with more production risk would prefer decoupled or coupled support. The results indicate areas with more yield risk would...

The sensitivity of net cash farm income to changes in selected production variables, output prices, and input costs varies significantly across representative U.S. dairies. Different regions of the country were impacted differently by changes to production and prices.

Historically, U.S. dairymen have been thought to move to a new location to seek better economic opportunities or to leave an area that has become disadvantaged due to regulation or economics. Recently, there again have been major shifts in dairy production across the United States.