Antimicrobial drugs are fed to hogs at sub-therapeutic levels to prevent disease and promote growth. However, there is concern that the presence of antimicrobial drugs in hog feed is a factor promoting the development of antimicrobial drug-resistant bacteria. This study describes the extent to...

Beef cow-calf production in the United States is widespread, occurring in every State. Nearly 765,000 farms, about 35 percent of the 2.2 million farms in the United States, had a beef cow inventory in 2007. Most of these were small, part-time operations. About a third of farms that raise beef...

Estimates of price and scale elasticities for U.S. consumed shrimp are derived using aggregate shrimp data differentiated by source country. Own-price elasticities for all countries had the expected negative signs, were statistically significant, and inelastic. The scale elasticities for all...

This paper develops a dynamic model of crop production under uncertainty with intraseasonal input choices. Crop production involves multiple stages, including at least seeding, post emergence fertilizer/pesticide application and harvesting. If the farmer receives new information about the output...

The identification of optimal management zones, including optimal uniform grid size, is a complex issue central to the successful implementation of variable rate input application. A novel economic optimization model is developed and applied that identifies the economically optimal management...

This paper develops a theoretically consistent behavioral model of farmer decision-making that allows for analysis of the relative impacts of the determinants of SSI value. The model departs from previous literature by assuming that SSI reduces uncertainty, but not eliminate it. Results show...

Dairy farmers in Louisiana were surveyed to find out the factors leading these farmers to terminate best management practices. Results indicated that only few farmers have exited the practices once they adopt those. However, the longevity of best management practices adoption can be increased by...

This paper examines how off-farm work affects the economic performance of crop and (selected) livestock farms. It estimates returns to scale and technical efficiency following an input distance function approach and compares the relative performance of dairy and corn farm operator households...

In this paper, we estimate the time-varying betas or input elasticities and returns to scale in a stochastic frontier cumulative rolling regression analysis framework using FAO data of Southeast Asian countries from 1960-2002. Empirical results indicated returns to scale are overestimated by...