The costs of corn- and soybean-based feeds compose a substantial proportion of the variable costs faced by both mainstream and emergent confined livestock producers. This research develops a method to provide a joint distribution of prices of corn and soybean meal at a future time. Black's 1976...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/19/04.

Replaced with revised version of paper 05/26/04.

Weather conditions are a primary source of dairy production risk. Hot and humid weather induces heat stress, which reduces lactation. Heat abatement, such as ventilation, directly affects the temperature and humidity. Abatement can increase expected profit, but cannot eliminate the lost revenue...

Weather conditions pose unique risks to dairy producers. Weather derivatives represent a potentially promising approach to augment dairy producers' risk management against adverse weather events. This study examines the effect of basis risk in weather derivatives, and whether the existence of...