Agribusinesses firms were surveyed to assess the competencies of their recent college-graduate employees according to whether the employees had agricultural or business degrees. Both graduate types received high average ratings for their computer skills and low average ratings for their...

Farm, wholesale and retail price relationships for U.S. hogs are analyzed. Price transmission estimates indicate partial adjustment in each market category when price changes in any other market. This implies imperfect price transmission between the market levels. Tests of Granger no-causality...

This study examines the influences of economic and non-economic variables on the size of U.S. sow breeding operations using a probit model. Data from a national survey of U.S. hog operations identifying two different size categories were used in this study. Findings indicate that factors such as...

A previous study showed that imposing economic restrictions improves the forecasting ability of food demand systems, thus warranting their use even when rejected in-sample. This study attempts to determine whether this is due solely to the fact that restrictions improve degrees of freedom....

A replicated, small plot study on watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunberg) Matsumura and Nakai] in 1997, 1999, and 2000 revealed that production management intensity affected yields and profitability of watermelon, in Oklahoma. Management intensity was based on a combination of cultural...

A bivariate probit model was used to determine public and private food assistance participation among the population below 125 percent poverty level, using the Current Population Survey data. Food stamp use and food pantry use were complements. Household income, food insecurity status, household...

The objective of this research is to determine the cost to harvest lignocellulosic biomass, such as crop residue and perennial grasses, for use as biorefinery feedstock, and to determine the potential economies of size that might result from a coordinated structure. The estimates show that...

We develop a conceptual bioeconomic model of floriculture production, wherein optimal decision rules depend on an intertemporal economic objective to maximize profits subject to economic and biological processes. The necessary conditions highlight intertemporal tradeoffs between aesthetic...

Adoption of herbicide-tolerant (HT) soybeans is proceeding rapidly despite little difference between the net returns to HT versus conventional soybeans. Using a multivariate probit model, we analyze the interaction of off-farm work and adoption and test if farmers adopt HT soybeans because its...

This paper evaluates scale economies and efficiencies for Rural Credit Cooperatives (RCCs) in China using both parametric and nonparametric techniques. Diseconomies of scale and allocative inefficiency are found. The results reveal the need for RCCs to decrease their size and the need for...