This paper is a 2014 agricultural outlook covering multiple agricultural commodities and issues.

Replaced with revised version of paper 7/21/09.

We examine behavior in the Michigan fluid milk market. Over-order premiums exist because fluid milk demands are inelastic. Collusion by cooperatives is required to realize these profits. In absence of collusion, the minimum prices defined by federal milk marketing orders prevails as excess fluid...

Mexico is a major destination of dairy exports and is the single largest importer of US dairy exports. We use a restricted source almost ideal demand system to estimate the demand for dairy products imported into Mexico. The estimation facilitates an examination of the demand for dairy imports...

Livestock producers can respond to increasing consumer demand for certain production process attributes by providing verifiable information on the practices used. Consumer willingness to pay data were used to inform producer decision-making regarding selection of verification entities for four...

This report examines optimum supply formula (OSF) in the tart cherry industry. The OSF is a tool for stabilizing market prices as authorized by a federal market order (FMO). The current OSF sets the optimum supply volume (OSV), or free sales of tart cherries in a given harvest year equal to the...

Most of the increase in ethanol production in the 2008-2012 period can be attributed to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and earlier federal energy legislation. The expansion in U.S. biofuel production, particularly ethanol, was the predominant cause of the elevated...

Wheat consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is increasing rapidly, faster than any other major food grain. Between 2000 and 2009, per capita wheat consumption in SSA increased at a rate of 0.35 kilogram (kg)/year, outpacing maize and rice. Total wheat consumption increased by nearly 650,000...

The 2012 harvest was, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock national food balance sheet estimates, a major surplus production season. However, by November the same year, Zambia started experiencing widespread maize meal shortages and skyrocketing maize meal prices. Responding to...

This analysis examined optimum supply formula (OSF) in the tart cherry industry. The OSF is a tool for stabilizing market prices as authorized by a federal market order (FMO). The current OSF sets free sales of tart cherries in a given harvest year, or optimum supply volume (OSV), equal to the...