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...

Futures markets on agricultural commodities typically trade with maximum maturity dates of less than four years. If these markets did trade with maturities eight or ten years distant, futures prices would have value as price forecasts and as a way to structure long-term swaps and insurance...

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...

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...

This paper assesses the roles of various factors influencing the volatility of crude oil prices and the possible linkage between this volatility and agricultural commodity markets. Stochastic volatility models are applied to weekly crude oil, corn, and wheat futures prices from November 1998 to...

This study examines aggregate county income growth across the 48 contiguous states from 1990 to 2005. To control for endogeneity we estimate a two-stage spatial error model and infer parameter significance by implementing a number of spatial bootstrap algorithms. We find that outdoor recreation...