With increasing interest in renewable energy from agriculture, including biopower and cellulose ethanol, several aspects of the industry must be understood. Study of the organization of the biopower industry represents an under researched area and a new application of transaction cost theory to...

Mailbox milk prices from a representative dairy operation in Illinois are used to gauge the farmlevel hedging effectiveness of Class III milk futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Predominantly used by manufacturers and end users to price cheese, the Class III milk futures are not...

Production records for swine producers specializing in niche markets (e.g., natural) are analyzed to determine the factors impacting profitability. The data span a cross section of 42 niche pork producers and record their 2006 production costs. Profitability was measured by the net margin...

Cellulosic-based ethanol production is a cornerstone of current and proposed U.S. renewable fuels policy. Indeed, some recent proposals include a nearly five-fold increase in renewable fuels production, the majority of which would have to come from cellulosic ethanol. U.S. farmers will clearly...

Agribusinesses, producers and farm managers rely heavily on forecasts made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other government agencies in forming expectations that drive management decisions. While agency forecasts are a valuable and low cost source of forecast information, it is...

Organizational costs in biomass transactions could be a key barrier to commercial development of cellulosic-based industries and will influence the organizational choices of biomass producers and bioenergy processors. Understanding biomass producer characteristics and preferences will be...

Agricultural risk managers need forecasts of price volatility that are accurate and meaningful. This is especially true given the greater emphasis on firm level risk measurement and management (e.g., Value-at-Risk and Enterprise Risk Management). Implied volatility is known to provide a readily...

Cash forward contracting is a common, and often preferred, means of managing price risk for agribusinesses. Despite this, little is known about the performance of cash forward markets, in particular the role they play in price discovery. The lumber market provides a unique case for examining...

California specialty crop growers are exposed to extreme price volatility, as well as considerable yield volatility caused by fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, and other specific weather events. Weather derivatives do provide a promising market-based solution to managing risks for...