As Congress develops new farm legislation, some are lobbying for a new partnership between U.S. taxpayers and farmers. In exchange for an annual transfer of $10 to $20billion from taxpayers to agriculture, farmers would do much more to enhance environmental quality. An attractive feature of a...

Worldwide, a segment of consumers can afford to pay substantial price premiums for very high quality agricultural products with attributes those consumers value. At the same time, many U.S. farmers are producing these high-quality products but are not using market mechanisms that allow them to...

Worldwide, a segment of consumers can afford to pay substantial price premiums for very high quality agricultural products with attributes those consumers value. At the same time, many U.S. farmers are producing these high-quality products but are not using market mechanisms that allow them to...

Demand for non-GMO (genetically modified organism) corn and soybeans is high in the EU and Japan, which are two of the largest markets for U.S. corn and soybeans. This presents a potential problem for markets if U.S. processors find themselves scrambling to locate and purchase non-GMO crops. By...

Farmers can choose from a wide selection of crop insurance products and marketing strategies. Combinations of these risk management tools have varying effects on the user's risk environment. In this paper, the authors rank nine risk management strategies for their impacts on average returns,...

To what extent can a significant portion of the environmental benefits offered by CRP be maintained if CRP outlays are significantly reduced? Recent CARD research reported here in a succinct manner addresses the issue of economic and environmental trade-offs in CRP.

The question of whether the United States should once again authorize acreage set-asides will be addressed now that Congress has decided to hold hearings about a possible early rewrite of farm policy. Questions about the impact of acreage set-asides on farm income and national policy goals will...

The authors survey various types of GMO (genetically modified organism) corn and soybeans, including both pest-resistant and herbicide-resistant varieties, and then evaluate the extent to which farmers have begun to use GMO crops. Figures cited include percentages of acres planted with GMO...

The vast majority of crop and revenue insurance policies sold in the United States are single-crop policies that insure against low yields or low revenues for each crop grown on a particular farm. This practice of insuring one crop at a time runs counter to the traditional risk management...

The next few weeks should bring some clarity to the future of the 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol tax credit and the 54-cent-per-gallon import tariff because both are scheduled to expire on December 31. Although the arguments in support of and against their extension have changed little since the...