Government finance reforms in the United States have encouraged public entities to focus on their core mission and to use outsourcing to improve efficiency, yet little is known about whether these reforms impact rural areas differently than nonrural areas. This paper analyzes the provision of...

This paper presents a cost function for the pupil transportation industry in Minnesota. In-house provision of transportation was not shown to be more costly than outsourcing. Large contractors may seek the most profitable contracts in urban and suburban areas, while showing little interest in...

The author was involved in strategic planning for the New York apple industry, a process that began in the Spring of 2000. The industry was beset by negative economic performance resulting from a series of factors such as a world over-supply of apples in relation to demand; depressed prices for...

This report is a summary of five years of grape costs and returns data collected from Lake Erie Region grape growers for the 2001-2005 seasons. “Concord” and “Niagara” grapes utilized for juice and generic wine accounted for over 90 percent of the survey acreage. About two-thirds of the...

This report is a summary of five years of grape costs and returns data collected from Lake Erie Region grape growers for the 1996 – 2000 seasons. “Concord” and “Niagara” grapes utilized for juice and generic wine accounted for over 90 percent of the survey acreage. About two-thirds of...

A new CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) system growing Boston lettuce, Lactuca Sativa cv. ‘Vivaldi’, achieves the same quality and quantity of production every day of the year. The year-round constant quantity and quality production indicate potential for success. However, our...