Numerical simulation of several typical risk management strategies using pro forma financial statements from representative U.S. dairy cooperatives shows that combinations of forwards, swaps, and cash marketing strategies for output (cheese), along with various forward contracts offered to...

During the 1990s, the rate of consolidation among agricultural cooperatives, including mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, and joint ventures, increased significantly. While post‐merger performance has been examined extensively for investor‐owned firms, this has not been the case for...

Korea experienced two outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), one in the year 2000 and one in 2002. After the first outbreak, prices for hogs, pork, and beef dropped 15-20% before the government began an intervention program. The effects of these two outbreaks are examined using Box and...

Although few in number, studies consistently find that price explains little, if any, of the variation in profit across farms. This contrasts with farmers' opinions regarding the importance of price, as well as the use of price supports as a primary policy instrument. Using farm level data from...

Captive supplies have been a contentious issue in the livestock industry for fifteen years and the subject of both theoretical and empirical research. In 2001, mandatory price reporting was implemented. One objective by its proponents was to increase the amount of information available on...

This study investigates the nature of the revision process of USDA corn and soybean production forecasts over the 1970/71 through 2002/03 marketing years. Nordhaus' framework for testing the efficiency of fixed-event forecasts is used. In this framework, efficiency is based on independence of...

The optimal hedging model has become the standard theoretical model of normative hedging behavior due to its intuitive tradeoff of expected return with risk, its effcient use of information and its easy implementation. In practice, the model can be easily implemented with the Parameter Certainty...

The effectiveness of the Class III Milk futures market is analyzed in terms of the reduction in Value-at-Risk (VaR) for milk producers located in four regions: Wisconsin, Northeast, Florida and California. Constant hedge ratios are estimated using Myers and Thompson's (1989) generalized...

A model is developed using basis values (cash prices less futures), marketing weights, and a composite of monthly futures and cash prices to forecast the season-average U.S. corn farm price. Forecast accuracy measures include the absolute percentage error, mean absolute percentage error, squared...

This study investigates the relationship between cash and futures prices in the Brazilian agricultural market, focusing on the effects of trading activity on the price discovery mechanism of futures markets. The results are mixed, but several points begin to emerge. In general, higher trading...