Land fragmentation, also known as scattered land holdings, is a common phenomenon in agriculture around the world. In some cases, it has even persisted through government-supported land consolidation programs that aim to improve agricultural productivity. This study evaluates the effect of land...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance—insurance thatpays indemnities...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance--insurance that pays indemnities...

The EPA has imposed mandatory refuge requirements for Bt crops to prolong the efficacy of Bt. Growers have no economic incentive to plant the required refuge because refuge crops are on average less productive and more risky. This paper evaluates refuge insurance--insurance that pays indemnities...

Subsidies and fines are compared to voluntary and mandatory refuge insurance (insurance for pest damage on Bt corn refuge) as mechanisms for securing grower compliance with EPA refuge mandates. A conceptual model partially ranks mechanisms. Tradeoffs between mechanisms using grower welfare,...

A bioeconomic model is developed to evaluate the tradeoff between the risk of resistance and increased productivity when refuge is planted in conjunction with transgenic pesticidal corn. The model is used to evaluate controversial refuge recommendations when producers are allowed to treat refuge...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/21/06.

Many of the poor in the developing world rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Unfortunately, agricultural production is inherently risky, which puts these farmers at risk of not being able to meet even their basic subsistence needs. Therefore, understanding these farmers’ attitudes...

With increased volatility of feed prices dairy farm managers are no longer concerned with managing just milk price volatility but are considering the adoption of risk management programs that address income over feed cost (IOFC) margin risk. Successful margin risk management should be founded on...

A common approach in the literature, whether the investigation is about futures price risk premiums or biases in option-based implied volatility coefficients, is to use samples in which consecutive observations can be regarded as uncorrelated. That will be the case for non- overlapping forecast...