The Michigan State University (MSU) Dairy Team conducted an industry survey with the objectives of identifying and rating industry priorities. After holding discussion groups across the state, two questionnaires were developed and sent to 2,237 dairy farm owners and operators and 480 allied...

This paper outlines proposed research, using concepts of New Institutional Economics, to identify the factors constraining the emergence of a market for domestically produced improved seed potatoes in Mali. It uses the Principal –Agent model to outline how to investigate the feasibility of...

This paper evaluates new tart cherry harvester technology and measures its ability to determine technological leapfrogging and competitive advantage between the United States and Poland. Competitive advantage is evaluated using break-even analysis, threshold farm size analysis and economic...

There is a growing body of literature on the safe use of biotechnology and the need for an international biosafety protocol and national regulations to facilitate the safe development and transfer of biotechnology. Most of these studies, however, address the issue of biosafety from a scientific,...

The Land Grant College and University (LGCU) research system is in a state of confusion. Public research privatization, industry concentration, and balancing money and the Land Grant mission are issues LGCUs currently face. The ag-biotechnology revolution complicates these issues. This paper...

Over the past fifteen years, the agricultural biotechnology industry has exhibited cyclical behavior in concentration and consolidation. This paper provides a theoretical model of endogenous R&D, in which industry concentration exhibits cyclical behavior. The model also generates additional...

The emergence of agricultural biotechnology and policy responses to is altering global agricultural trade patterns. This paper models the effects of restrictive policies concerning the production and consumption of genetically modified agricultural products. The model relies on a...

Many agricultural economists are not familiar with case study research, yet the approach is a useful means of collecting data, and building and testing theory. Case study research has a prescribed set of objectives, epistemology, methodology, and methods that have been developed and tested in a...

The evaluation of USAID funded farming systems research projects must play an important role in the design of future projects if one is to build on past experience to improve project performance. The development of an institutional memory is particularly important as FSR is new and still taking...

This paper presents a financial and risk analysis of improved versus traditional maize production technology in Ethiopia, based on yields simulated with the CERES-Maize crop growth model (Schulthess and Ward, 2000). The purpose is to analyze the potential performance of the SG2000/Ministry of...