As with most agricultural industries, the U.S. dairy industry has evolved into a structure including fewer yet larger firms. In Louisiana, total milk production has declined along with dairy farm numbers since 1972. This study addresses the impact of alternative policies, macroeconomic factors,...

Best management practices (BMPs) consist of conservation methods promoted to reduce water pollution from agricultural activities. This study investigates the likely determinants of Louisiana dairy producers' decisions to voluntarily implement BMPs. Farm size, milk productivity, frequency of...

Hog farmers’ preferences for autonomy are assessed through the use of eight questions dealing with their preferences for general decision making and with respect to specific management actions. Farmers generally preferred to make a higher percentage of the decisions about their...

An important aspect of structural change in the U.S. hog industry has been the adoption of breeding technology. The adoption of each of four breeding technologies, weekly farrowing, intensive breeding, terminal crossbreeding, and artificial insemination, in U.S. hog production is analyzed using...

This study examines the adoption of best-management practices (BMPs) in terms of the total number of practices implemented up to a certain period, using count data analysis. Poisson and negative binomial regressions were used to examine the likely determinants of producers’ decisions to...

Rising production costs, primarily associated with increasing fuel and fertilizer prices, combined with a relatively flat to slightly declining market price trend, have significantly reduced profit margins from sugarcane production in Louisiana over the past few years. Harvest operations are one...

In the past several decades, the international rice market has undergone major changes experiencing a strong expansion in traded volumes and in the volatility of rice prices. International rice prices are, furthermore, expected to remain at relatively high levels because of higher fertilizer and...

Some of the literature about foreign direct investment (FDI) analyzes the location of FDI. It tries to identify the factors that affect FDI flows. On the association between remittances and growth, this is still an open discussion. This journal style dissertation is an attempt to investigate...