Beef is a heterogeneous commodity, which makes it difficult to compare beef prices in an international level. This paper evaluates several methods of comparing beef prices to be used in measuring both comparative advantage and protection. The most suitable method is one that compares the prices...

McDonald's Corporation, one of the largest buyers of meat in the U.S. fast-food industry, recently adopted a policy that prohibits its direct suppliers from using medically important antibiotics as growth promotants in food animals after 2004. Although the implications of such a voluntary ban in...

Because antibiotic drugs are widely used in starter, grower, finishing, and sow feeds, a ban on their use would impact pork production processes and practices, and therefore would have an economic impact on the U.S. pork industry and pork market. This study considers the economic effects of a...

Both producers and consumers may respond to the use of producer contributions to fund commodity promotion. The microeconomic foundation is laid for evaluating generic promotion campaigns where government is involved, supply is uncontrolled, and markets are close to saturation. The recent...

Beef is a heterogeneous commodity, which makes it difficult to compare beef prices in an international level. This paper evaluates several methods of comparing beef prices to be used in measuring both comparative advantage and protection. The most suitable method is one that compares the prices...

In general, economic conditions have favored Iowa as a premier livestock-producing state, but at the same time, government policies have worked against Iowa's livestock-feeding industries. The authors trace Iowa's dilemma as it must decide whether to become self-sufficient in feed, or be one of...

This study of the firm under uncertainty relaxes the standard single production cycle assumption. Under realistic circumstances, a forward-looking risk-averse firm will produce more than a risk-neutral firm, and an increase in the mean-preserving price spread will increase the risk-averse firm's...

We develop a portfolio choice model for farmers faced with both price and production uncertainty who can hedge this uncertainty using both options and futures contracts. We then simulate the decision process of a typical Iowa farmer and derive his or her optimal options and futures position.

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...

This analysis uses the 2011 FAPRI-CARD (Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute–Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) baseline to evaluate the impact of four alternative scenarios on U.S. and world agricultural markets, as well as on world fertilizer use and world...