Louisiana farmers were surveyed to determine their adoption of information and record-keeping technologies, including the internet, DHIA, use of financial measures, and frequency of use of computerized records. Factors influencing adoption included having a family successor, overall technology...

This study analyses survey data gathered from small and large-scale poultry producers in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal, and highlights factors constraining the impact of commercial poultry production on the local economy. It was found that small-scale poultry production has the ability to...

Geographic concentration in the U.S. hog industry from 1982 to 1995 is investigated using an entropy based measure. Results indicate that geographic concentration is occurring to the greatest degree in Kansas, Missouri, and North Carolina. Hog production is also increasing in North Carolina,...

The culling of the sows is an important task of the breeders and farmers, besides it is a determining factor of profitable pork production. During our research we have surveyed the data of 1969 sows in a Hungarian large-scale pig farm. For the calculation of our results we used one of the...

Technical efficiency, the ratio of physical inputs to outputs, is a popular means of assessing agricultural performance. Benchmarking of these efficiencies is a fundamental tool for the farming industry. More sophisticated techniques have been developed recently which offer a greater degree of...

U.S. trade of beef and live cattle has declined substantially since the discoveries of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada and the United States in 2003. Imports of live cattle from Canada resumed in July 2005, but U.S. beef exports remained substantially below pre-BSE levels as...

Traditionally, hog production has been concentrated in the Corn Belt region of the United States. During the past decade, North Carolina has become an important hog production state and now ranks second only to Iowa. More recently, expansion in the U.S. hog industry has been in other...

Scientific inquiry is increasing our knowledge of plant and animal genomics. The ability to specify heterogeneous production processes, to sort agricultural inputs by genotype, or to guide breeding programs to satisfy specific markets based on genetic expression may potentially increase producer...

The U.S. pork sector is evolving from an industry of small, independent firms vertically linked by spot markets to one of substantially larger firms vertically connected through contractual agreements and integration. Potential benefits to this tighter vertical arrangement include lower consumer...