A probabilistic financial model was developed to assess the economic feasibility of energy-cane-based hydrolysis ethanol production. At an expected price of $1.97/gallon and no tax credit, the chances of a positive NPV were 70%. By slightly increasing feedstock and ethanol yields by 5 units, the...

Smallholder farmers have long been denied access to formal credit, largely because of the high administrative fees associated with loans. A possible solution to this problem, which has become increasingly popular, is the use of microcredit financing, where innovative means of securing the loans,...

This report summarizes the financial and production records of 90 dairy farms from throughout Michigan in 2010. To be included, the farms must have produced at least 50 percent of gross cash farm income from milk and dairy animal sales. The records came from Michigan State University’s TelFarm...

In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts,...

Texas High Plains (THP) is a major cotton producing region in the US with low rainfall and decreasing irrigation water availability. Hence stochastic rainfall poses considerable production risk in the region and developing strategies to maximize the average profit and minimize the year to year...

Hybrid rice, one of the viable and proven technologies has been considered as a new frontier to increase rice production for meeting growing demand for staple food in Bangladesh. Using farm survey data this paper examines comparative profitability of hybrid and inbred rice cultivation and...

The current debate on trade liberalization is accompanied by an increased concern about environmental and food safety issues leading to frictions of different country groups under the World Trade Organization (WTO). This discussion paper aims at shedding more light on some of the issues in the...

Interest in Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) of dairy cattle has increased during the last 2 decades. Most dairy producers utilizing MIG were former confinement or non-intensive pasture operations while the others started their operation with MIG. While research publications tout the financial...

Realizing the potential for economics research depends on the successful completion of several interdependent tasks: • A problem is identified, • Data related to the problem are collected, • Description transforms data into useful information, • Theory is brought to bear...