Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to use the DuPont expansion to examine those factors underlying differences in (rates of) return on different crop portfolios over space (ten regions) and time (1960-2004). The paper also estimates the impact of government payments on farmland values...

This article provides a farm sector comparison of levels of capital input for fourteen OECD countries for the period 1973 to 2002. The starting point for construction of a measure of capital input is the measurement of capital stock. Estimates of depreciable capital are derived by representing...

We estimated the economic benefits resulting from controlling soybean aphid infestation by using a multi-regional competitive dynamic equilibrium model. Results indicate that the reduction of soybean production resulting from a soybean aphid infestation is largely absorbed by reducing soybean...

With a focus on individual motorists in car-owning households in Germany, this analysis econometrically investigates the determinants of automobile travel for nonwork service activities against the backdrop of two questions: (a) Does gender play a role in determining the probability of car use...

A stochastic optimization model was developed to determine optimal testing strategies, costs, and risks for dual marketing of genetically modified (GM) and non-GM wheat in an export supply chain. The optimal testing strategy is derived that minimizes disutility of additional system costs due to...

Rapidly declining gasoline prices from their record high during the summer of 2008, while ethanol prices remained relatively high, made it difficult for many bio-fuel policy modelers to fully explain the impacts of U.S. bio-fuel policies on fuel prices. Using profit-maximization models for...

The United States Department of Agriculture has issued statistics on prices received by farmers since 1866. Beginning in 1924, prices received were collected as of the middle of the month instead of the first of the month. In this research analysis both univariate and transfer function...

Abstract: A detailed report for food policy makers and economists reviews the concepts and existing research findings on establishing economy of scale adjustments in order to assess whether such adjustments would be justifiable for the US Food Stamp Program (FSP). Following an evaluation of...

Programming models approximate market prices and quantities when regulations constrain firm choices, because market outcomes result when welfare is appropriately defined and includes performance and environmental constraints. This study discusses market operation in quality-constrained sectors,...

Estimation of uncertainty using agronomic models typically requires a Monte Carlo study with a large number of simulations. Parallel computation dramatically speeds repetitive computation of this sort. The use of a Beowulf cluster parallel computer offers a low cost method of parallel computing...