Costs, returns, and profitability of cow-calf farms that are organic or transitioning to organic are compared with those of cow-calf farms that are non-organic. A method of matching samples is used for the comparison. Results suggest higher cost of organic production due to higher unpaid labor,...

We examine U.S. dairy farmer adopter characteristics and adoption rates of eleven technologies. Excepting grazing, technologies were generally adopted complementarily. Four were used on higher percentages of farms in 2005 than 2000. The interaction of farm size with adoption suggests greater...

Factors influencing farmer selection of a crawfish marketing outlet were analyzed using 2008 survey data from the Louisiana crawfish industry. Most farmers sell directly to wholesalers. Probit results show farm size, farm income, household income, age, education, and pre-market grading and...

Adoption decisions and profitability of advanced breeding technologies are analyzed for U.S. dairy farms. The bivariate probit with selection model is used. Results show that specialized, younger, more educated farmers with longer planning horizons are more likely to adopt the technologies, with...

The assumption of homogeneity between family and hired farm labor is common in farm labor research. Controlling for region and farm size, this study employs a seemingly unrelated regression analysis to jointly estimate a translog cost function and factor cost shares to determine the elasticity...

In recent years, significant structural and production system changes have been noted in the U.S. and European Union, as well as increased interest in pasture-based dairy systems. Technical efficiency, returns to scale, and farm characteristics are compared by size and production system in...

Profitability and labor associated with rotational grazing at three stocking rates and continuous grazing at a medium stocking rate are compared. On a per-acre basis, profits are lowest for low stocking rate rotational grazing. Labor is greatest on both per-acre and per-cow bases with high...

Personal interviews were conducted with 52 beef cattle producers in Louisiana to determine their preferences and purchase decisions for livestock revenue insurance. Conjoint analysis was utilized to determine the importance of selected attributes of insurance policies for these producers. The...

Thirty crawfish processors' preferences for hypothetical crawfish peeling machines are evaluated using conjoint analysis. Deveining is the most important attribute, with fat retention, individual handling of crawfish, and backstrap retention being roughly equal in importance. Whether the machine...

This study combines survey information and GIS based optimization model to identify the optimal distribution of broiler litter in crop production. The results obtained provide more plausible transportation routes than the method that does not utilize all these constraints.