This article investigates aspects of the institutions and decision making processes in the United States and the European Union that affect the coordination of domestic farm programs and trade negotiations for agriculture in each entity. We explore how current institutions and processes...

The success of small agricultural producers in meeting the challenges of exporting high value products may be enhanced if interactions with intermediaries and market institutions support basic human needs. We use self-determination theory from social psychology to identify and examine the...

The last two decades have seen major changes to the agricultural landscape in Canada and with them major changes to the co-operative sector. The grain handling co-operatives in Western Canada have disappeared, as have their counterparts in the dairy and poultry sectors. Outside of Western...

A model is developed that shows the usefulness of dynamic optimization in deriving optimal equity recovery strategies for a cooperative lending institution. The objective is to minimize the cost of a member borrowing over time. An interest rate surcharge, above the cost of funds and operating...

Over the years, critics have argued that futures market prices have been either too low or too high. Speculators have often been the target for the wrath of those feeling the futures price does not properly reflect market fundamentals. Recently, the criticism has been vented toward a new type of...

This study examines the effect of changes in production, management, and transaction costs on the change from vertically integrated units to small farmers selling to independent processors in the Sri Lankan tea sector. The results indicate the shift from "make" to "buy" has been affected by the...