A recently developed nested error component model for unbalanced panel data is used to estimate insect damage functions. The model estimates the separate random effects for location and year on the variability of yield loss and has smaller standard errors for the regression coefficient than the...

We analyze the effects of crop insurance and the Marketing Loan Program on optimal nitrogen use and acreage allocation for a case cotton-sorghum farm in Texas. A mathematical programming model is used to simulate the optimal nitrogen fertilizer rate, crop acreage allocation, coverage level, and...

Water scarcity has been a significant issue for several decades in the Texas High Plains, with agriculture identified as the main activity contributing to this scarcity. To address this issue, much effort has been devoted to developing and encouraging adoption of sophisticated irrigation systems...

Using a principal-agent model, we find the optimal subsidy contract that induces grower compliance with Bt corn refuge requirements for managing insect resistance when asymmetric information exists concerning grower behavior. The optimal contract balances the cost of monitoring and the benefit...

Economic analyses of pests typically assume damage is either additively separable from pest free yield or proportional to it. This paper describes the ecological assumptions required for additive and proportional damage functions to demonstrate that both specifications are reasonable. Ecological...

This paper describes a composed error model for estimating the conditional distribution of yield loss to serve as an insect damage function. The two-part error separates yield variability due to pest damage from other non-pest factors such as soil heterogeneity, non-uniform application of...

Given the importance of adopting weed resistance management BMPs, it is important to develop methods to compare BMP adoption among farms and to identify factors that affect BMP adoption. Because of the relatively large number of BMPs and interactions among them, a composite index that integrates...

Recent agronomic research finds that economically optimal seeding densities have likely increased for many Midwestern corn farmers as a result of genetic improvements including new GM traits such as Bt corn and herbicide tolerance. We derive a per acre demand model for hybrid seed corn to...