Research on climate change in recent decades has disproportionately focused on predicting impacts while largely ignoring adaptation strategies. How agricultural systems can adapt to minimize the uncertainty caused by rising temperatures is one of the most important research issues today. We...

The relationship between complete-feed prices and ingredient prices are estimated to analyze the effect of higher commodity prices on feed costs, with particular attention to the substitutability of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). Using an historical positive price correlation...

An understanding of the diversity of community water systems (CWS) in the United States is essential when evaluating the financial implications of the 1986 and subsequent amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This diversity, in terms of size, primary water source, ownership, and...

Ethanol policies have contributed to changes in the levels and the volatilities of revenues and costs facing ethanol firms. The implications of these policies for optimal investment behavior are investigated through an extension of the real options framework that allows for the consideration of...

A hedonic cost function is used to isolate the O&M costs for water treatments. For small systems, costs are substantial for some technologies, but not for others. Financial burdens may still be substantial for small systems; rural systems have some cost advantage given input costs relative to...

This paper outlines a method to determine the tradeoff between economies of size in water treatment and diseconomies of distribution. Empirical results for New York are used to identify the implications for the rehabilitation and consolidation of rural water systems. -

TIrroughout the debate over re-authorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), it has been clear that members of both Houses of Congress are keenly aware of the financial burden facing the owners of small water systems in their efforts to comply with the 1986 and future amendments to the...

A real option analysis of dry-grind corn ethanol plants compared to a standard net present value analysis (NPV) shows that the option values increase entry prices and lower exit prices of investment and disinvestment considerably. For a large plant, the gross margin of ethanol price over the...