Background: The cost of rural health continues to be high in the United States despite an overall improvement in national health insurance enrolment. Stakeholder’s perception of adverse selection remains a paramount culprit in the challenges of rural insurance markets. Risk attitude has been...

New Generation Cooperatives (NGCs) are undergoing several structural changes with the acceptance of non-farmer investor equity and demutualization or transformation into investororiented ownerships, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), to ameliorate perceived financial constraints for high...

This case study applies value-at-risk methods to a bread baking company to illustrate how it can be used by a commodity processor in reporting risk, evaluating risk reduction alternatives, and setting risk limits. Results indicate that value-at-risk can be a useful tool for managing the price...

Introduction: This report provides an overview of the important factors affecting investments in agricultural value-added ventures. The introductory section outlines current research on factors important in the location of economic activity. Research applied to specific agricultural value-added...

"As farms increase in size, operators face the decision of remaining loyal to local retail merchants or obtaining volume discounts from distant wholesale input suppliers. When farmers bypass local merchants and buy inputs in volume, they often realize price discounts but forego many services...

Fusarium Head Blight is a fungus affecting wheat and barley in the upper Midwest region of the United States. The purpose of this study is to estimate the direct and secondary regional economic impacts of Fusarium Head Blight infestations from 1998 to 2000. Cumulative direct production and price...

This paper develops a portfolio framework to characterize and analyze the impact of price risk faced by sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley and derives implications for capital markets. Other sources of risk incorporated in the analysis are yields and production cost. Results from...

Introduction: This report provides an overview of the important factors affecting investments in agricultural value-added ventures. The introductory section outlines current research on factors important in the location of economic activity. Research applied to specific agricultural value-added...

Consumers and processors of specialty meats continue to have different perceptions of food safety risk. This creates difficulties in formulating policy initiatives aimed at resolving these issues to enable marketing of specialty meats to move beyond niche markets. This study analyzes the risk...