Replaced with revised version of paper 07/21/10.

It is well documented that ‘‘unanticipated’’ information contained in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop reports induces large price reactions in corn and soybean markets. Thus, a natural question that arises from this literature is: To what extent are...

We introduce a fast and inexpensive method to rule out potential barriers to adopting a technology. We use this method to asses the role of exogeneous contract enforcement as a barrier to market for Kenya's French Bean export market. We survey 240 farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya who were...

This paper examines producers’ motives underlying the adoption of sustainable practices. In particular, we focus on expected economic, social, and personal rewards, and examine the role of producers’ risk perception and risk tolerance. Results from personal computer-guided interviews with164...

Basis risk has been cited as a primary concern for implementing weather hedges. This study investigates several dimensions of weather basis risk for the U.S. corn market at various levels of aggregation. The results suggest that while the degree of geographic basis risk may be significant in...

Farmers need information about the expected value and variability of net revenues for alternative crop insurance and futures hedging strategies to manage risk. Specifically, the model will determine which risk management strategies are most desirable under various levels of risk aversion. The...

To many people, futures trading is a little understood and rather suspicious activity. The word most often associated with this trading is "speculation", the idea being that most of those involved in futures markets are gamblers in a high stakes game seeking profit at the expense of those...