By broadening the definition of an ecosystem to include economic activities, can we better characterize the interactions and relationships among agricultural activities and important indicators of ecological system health? This paper addresses research approaches for assessing the role of...

This USDA-sponsored study uses panels of ethanol industry experts and follow up interviews with plant owners and managers to examine how information technology has impacted the structure, organization, and operations of the fuel ethanol industry. The study examined the following questions...

For U.S. agriculture to continue along a sustainable path of economic development, further production increases must be generated by technologies that are both profitable and more environmentally benign. In this context, we assess the role of these green or sustainable technologies in steering...

An important dimension of product differentiation and segregation for specialty crops is the added handling and transaction costs incurred. Some forms of business organization may realize lower costs of providing such services, and if specialty crop production is growing relative to commodity...

For a postscript copy of this paper, click <a href="/Data/isu/isu285.ps"> here. The paper examines changes in employment and wage patterns, industrial restructuring, and foreign competition that affect opportunities of recent immigrants to the non-metropolitan Midwest, especially to Iowa. The focus is on food and kindred...</a>

The primary focus of this paper is the impact of knowledge creation and innovative activity on non-farm employment growth. Non-farm employment growth is modeled in a stylized model where new knowledge and local economic externalities are key factors driving technology growth. For our empirical...

In this paper we examine the relation between geographic location and innovative behavior.Knowledge spillins, as opposed to knowledge spillovers, are modeled as an externality which existsbetween geographically close economic agents and enters the representative inventor productionfunction...

The primary focus of this paper is the impact of knowledge creation and innovative activity onnon-farm employment growth. Non-farm employment growth is modeled in a stylized modelwhere new knowledge and local economic externalities are key factors driving technologygrowth. For our empirical...