Many Americans believe that farmers place great value on stewardship and accordingly follow sound environmental practices. This belief has become a stumbling block to developing policies that address environmental issues. The stewardship myth, having evolved from the earliest days of our nation...

Developing new risk management products for all agricultural commodities has increased in importance given recent legislation. Vegetables have been difficult to insure. This paper investigates the use of index contracts for growers belonging to a Kentucky vegetable cooperative. Index contracts...

The increasing use of agricultural contracts and processor concentration raises concerns that processors may offer lower contract prices in absence of local competition. This study examines the price competitiveness of marketing and production contracts depending on the availability of...

The increasing use of agricultural contracts and processor concentration raises concerns that processors may offer lower contract prices in absence of competition from other local contractors and spot markets. This study examines the price competitiveness of marketing and production contracts...

Recent increases in the price of crude oil have led to a rise in the prominence of corn-based ethanol as an alternative source of energy. As a result linkages have been established between commodity and energy prices. The aim of this study is to determine if soybeans, corn, wheat, oil, and...

Consumer interest in locally produced foods marketed through local food networks has been increasing. Local food networks utilize local supply chains such as direct market sales to consumers through CSAs, farmers markets, farm stands, and other alternative outlets. Our goal is to examine the...

Food cooperatives play an important role in local food networks as business organizations that use innovative business strategies to market local foods to their members and consumers. We utilize data from a national study of the members of eight food cooperatives in the U.S. The objective of...

Agribusinesses represent a fundamental link in connecting farmers with retailers and consumers, yet little research has been done to examine the historical financial performance of these food processing firms. Our research examines how publicly-traded agribusinesses perform financially compared...

This study examines whether the local competition for corn to produce ethanol has lead to significantly higher prices for farmers located close to ethanol biorefineries. If any, such price premiums for spatial closeness would be in addition to the general level of corn price changes experienced...