Soybean production in the South has evolved over recent years from conventional soybean production systems (CSPS) in which soybeans are planted after May 1st to early soybean production systems (ESPS) in which soybeans are planted as early as mid-March. The shift was aided by the advent of...

Although several studies have estimated the costs of implementing and maintaining country of origin labeling (COOL), no previous study has documented how increased costs imposed by COOL will be distributed throughout the livestock sector and how producer and consumer welfare will ultimately be...

Ultrasound data are used to sort heifers for immediate sale or for development as replacement stock. While ultrasound improves predictions about conception, the value of ultrasound the data is relatively small. This value is primarily influenced by heifer development costs and bred heifer...

This research evaluates whether or not hedging strategies using call options on the New York Board of Trade cotton futures can be effectively used to protect the new counter-cyclical payment on cotton. Results indicate that some level of counter-cyclical payment hedging is optimal for risk...

Increased demand for corn for ethanol production has helped push grain prices to record levels. This has increased livestock production costs, and producers have responded with changes to production systems. This paper explores the degree to which costs can be mitigated with alternative feeds,...

Real-time ultrasound information taken on beef heifers prior to backgrounding is used to develop a logit model to aid heifer retention decisions. The value of ultrasound data is calculated as the difference in certainty equivalents between a decision rule incorporating ultrasound information and...