This article tests the efficiency of the hog options market and assesses the impact of the 1996 contract redesign on efficiency. We find that the hog options market is efficient, but some options yielded excess returns during the live hogs period but not during the lean hogs period. Our findings...

The paper examines empirical returns from holding thirty- and ninety-day call and put positions,and the forecasting performance of implied volatility in the live and feeder cattle optionsmarkets. In both markets, implied volatility is an upwardly biased and inefficient predictor ofrealized...

This paper investigates whether the accuracy of outlook hog price forecasts can be improvedusing composite forecasts in an out-of-sample context. Price forecasts from four wellrecognizedoutlook programs are combined with futures-based forecasts, ARIMA, andunrestricted Vector Autoregressive (VAR)...

Includes cover page, journal info, contents page, and editorial information

This report gives results of a 1975-76 survey of marketing, farm supply, and related service cooperatives in the United States. Total gross business volume for cooperatives amounted to $55.9 billion, while total net business amounted to $40.1 billion. Total number of cooperatives and cooperative...

Cover page and table of contents for issue 41/2

The January/February 1991 issue of Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States reports the following information: U.S. agricultural exports fell nearly $600 million to $39.3 billion, their first decline in 4 years. Wheat exports fell $2 billion, and other grains fell to a lesser degree,...

A comparative analysis was performed looking at using cash, futures, options, or insurance to manage the price of calves for cow-calf producer. Risk can be reduced with the futures market and with options or LRP insurance. Options and LRP insurance are equivalent in the amount of risk that is...

The first step towards forecasting the price and output of the cattle industry is understanding the dynamics of the livestock production process. This study follows up on the Weimar and Stillman (1990) paper by using data from 1970 to 2005 to estimate the parameters that characterizes the cattle...