Obesity constitutes an important public policy issue since it causes external costs to society through increased healthcare costs borne by taxpayers. This study employed random and fixed effects estimations and spatial autoregressive approaches under a panel data structure to unravel possible...

Direct farm marketing sales in the Northeastern region of the U.S. and more specifically in the state of West Virginia increased during the 1990s. To understand the factors that influence recent trends in direct farm marketing, this analysis uses a regression function to test the relationships...

The Opequon watershed is located in northern Virginia (VA) and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia (WV). In both states, Opequon Creek is classified as impaired based on violations of bacteria, benthic and biologic standards. Both VA and WV are using Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans to...

Cow-calf operations are important enterprises for family farmers in Appalachia and provide significant opportunity for supplemental income. This analysis constitutes a thorough economic assessment of pasture-raised beef production, an alternative to traditional production that could benefit the...

The U.S. market for commoditized beef is a dynamic one that has, over the last 30 years, seen decreases in per capita consumption and an increased reliance on large, integrated feedlot facilities that focus on efficient weight gain and producing carcasses deemed desirable according the USDA...

A conceptual model is developed to measure the value of information from in-field soil sensing technologies as compared with grid and other soil sampling methods. Soil sensing offers greater spatial accuracy and the potential to apply inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer immediately, avoiding...

Prior research into variable-rate application (VRA) of fertilizer nutrients has found profitability to be lacking in single nutrient applications to U.S. cereal crops. This study examines the yield and cost effects of VRA phosphorus, potassium and lime application on Michigan corn and soybean...