Inter-annual climate variability in the Southeastern US that affects farm productivity and cash flows is largely driven by the predictable El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the ENSO anomalies on the performance of agricultural loan...

In this paper, we set out to establish if there is a link between finance and economic growth in rural areas. In particular, we evaluate the relation between credit by major lenders in rural areas - commercial banks and Farm Credit System institutions - and economic growth for the period...

The aging of farmers in the US today coincides with fluctuating incomes resulting from recent market price volatility and policy changes. We evaluate how farmers' retirement or exit, as well as their disinvestment from farming in preparation for retirement, are affected by economic and...

Recent work shows that the weather affects U.S. labor productivity and supply (e.g., Deryugina and Hsiang, 2016). Although agricultural economists have identified factors that affect farmers' allocation of labor between on- and off- farm work, they have not related labor supply to weather. We...

The success of efforts to promote sustainability and growth of beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) depends on a set of diverse factors whose individual impacts on the survival or exit from farming need to be examined. This paper evaluates how a variety of economic and demographic factors,...