Technical efficiency (TE) is an important measure of farm performance. This study measured the TE of wheat farms across six states in the U.S. Western Great Plains based on production and farm management-specific variables. Significant factors positively influencing efficiency were insecticide...

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) takes cropland out of production for 10 years, reducing grain supplies available to elevators. Results suggest that the program has negatively impacted elevator merchandising margins, but that elevators adjusted rather quickly to CRP changes, making most of...

Insect infestation during storage and processing causes millions of dollars of wheat damage annually in the United States. Insect infestation reduces wheat storing processing profit as well as consumer confidence in wheat food products. Meanwhile, increased concerns about insecticide use have...

Kenya is currently in the process of introducing genetically modified maize (Bt maize). A major concern is that the Bt gene might cross into local varieties through cross pollination. Current regulatory strategies to ensure coexistence of the two cropping systems at the farm level rely on...

This study provides additional evidence of the usefulness of mean-variance procedures in the presence of options which can truncate and skew the returns distribution. Using a simulation analysis, price hedging decisions are examined for hog producers when options are available. Mean-variance...

Previous research found that country elevators that are the first in their area to grade wheat and pay quality-adjusted prices would receive above-normal profits at the expense of their competitors. Because of spatial monopsony, these early-adopting elevators would pass on to producers only 70%...

The Renewable Fuel Standard mandate in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 16 billion gallons out of 36 billion gallons of ethanol be produced from cellulosic feedstocks in 2022, but the mandate was apparently enacted without critical assessments of the agricultural impacts...