One of the most fundamental and traditional risk management tools available to agricultural producers is a savings account. Cash reserves in savings provide a safety net for producers, allowing financial obligations and living expenses to be met when unexpected shortfalls in income occur. Crop...

Optimization has been recognized as a powerful tool in teaching and research for a long time. In spite of its well known problem solving capacity, some methodological obstacles have persisted over the years. The main problem is that stochastic variables and their correlations cannot be...

Investment decisions are, as a rule, characterized by uncertainty, irreversibility and flexibility. Simple net present value calculations will not account for these features. In many situations even flexible investment planning with decision trees, which represents the most advanced method of...

The risks associated with farming activities are likely to increase in the future. It, therefore, appears worthwhile to analyse new risk management instruments. This paper investigates weather derivatives for which a market has already emerged in the USA. Contrary to traditional financial...

The risks associated with farming activities are likely to increase in the future. It, therefore, appears worthwhile to analyse new risk management instruments. This paper investigates weather derivatives for which a market has already emerged in the USA. Contrary to traditional financial...

Crop production in the tropics is subject to considerable climate variability caused by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. In Southeast Asia, El Niño causes comparatively dry conditions leading to substantial declines of crop yields with severe consequences for the welfare of...

After the introduction of the new tobacco regime, many regions in Greece, formerly specialized in tobacco cultivation, are now facing serious threats of economic and social decline. Sheep farming is considered by many analysts as a viable alternative to tobacco. This study analyses the financial...

Replaced with revised version of paper 05/26/11.

A stochastic simulation model is used to simulate crop revenues net of farm policy and crop insurance costs. Certainty equivalent analysis is used to rank farm policy and crop insurance alternatives for varying levels of risk aversion.

A stochastic simulation model is used to determine crop insurance premiums and farm program payments for a Illinois corn-soybean and Mississippi corn-soybean-rice-cotton farm. The optimal portfolio of crop insurance and farm programs are determined subject to payment limitations and crop...