U.S. agriculture formally entered a new era in April 1996 when a new seven-year farm bill was signed into law overturning 60 years of commodity programs. The new bill set agriculture on a new course where markets, not government programs, will determine agriculture's products and its bottom...

U.S. agriculture had a very good year in 1997, with profits widely shared among the nation's farmers. While few producers could boast of bell-ringer profits, as they did in 1996, nearly all could claim a good year. The year was especially welcome to the nation's cattle producers, who had...

Lean supplies, strong export activity, and vibrant demand both at home and abroad have pushed crop prices to record highs, offsetting today’s spiraling production costs. As a result, farm profits and investments have soared, and farmland values have boomed. ; But commodity markets in...

Farmland values in the states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District rose about 5.5 percent over the year ended June 30, 1997. Indeed, over the past two years prices in many parts of the country have risen sharply. The jump in farmland values comes at a time of dynamic change in the farm sector....

A dynamic three-commodity rational-expectations storage model is used to compare the impact of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 with a free-market policy, and with pre-FAIR policies. Results suggest that FAIR did not lead to significant increases in long-run...