Small U.S. farms and those run by socially disadvantaged minority operators tend not to purchase insurance or to participate in insurance-type programs operated by USDA. This report traces the lack of use of such risk management measures to several characteristics of such farmers, who include...

Marketing and production contracts covered 39 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2008, up from 36 percent in 2001, and a substantial increase over 28 percent in 1991 and 11 percent in 1969. However, aggregate contract use has stabilized in recent years and no longer suggests...

Most U.S. farmers prepare their soil for seeding and weed and pest control through tillage—plowing operations that disturb the soil. Tillage practices affect soil carbon, water pollution, and farmers’ energy and pesticide use, and therefore data on tillage can be valuable for understanding...

The epizootiology of Entomophthora canarjensis Macleod, Tyrrell, & Soper in populations of the woolly pine needle aphid (Schizolachnus piniradiatae (Davidson)) was investigated during a 5-year period in an isolated plantation of red pine (Pinus resinosa Aitj in northern Ontario. Climatic factors...

Six Eurasian species of Carduus thistles (Compositae: Cynareael are troublesome weeds in North America. They are attacked by about 340 species of phytophagous insects, including 71 that are oligophagous on Cynareae. Of these Eurasian insects, 39 were extensively tested for host specificity, and...