This study investigates the recent evolution of corn yield, with a special focus on the tradeoff between corn profitability and risk. The analysis relies on time-series data from Wisconsin experimental farms at the edge of the Corn Belt. An econometric model of corn yield, corn grain moisture,...

The paper investigates the linkages between technological change and production risk, with an application to corn. The effects of technology on risk exposure are characterized based on the properties of the risk premium. We define technological progress to be risk-increasing (risk-decreasing) if...

New global results are obtained on the LeChatelier-Samuelson principle reflecting the properties of constrained behavior. Relying on the saddle point characterization of the Lagrangean, simple yet powerful LeChatelier results are derived and investigated under general conditions. The results do...

This paper proposes a new way to evaluate the role of profitability and risk in the dairy industry, one that incorporates the effects of uncertainty about future returns when investments are irreversible, or sunk. The usefulness of this new approach is demonstrated by the light it sheds on...

No abstract available

This paper presents an assessment of the linkages between crop genetic diversity, farm productivity and risk management. A flexible moment-based approach is used to analyse the impact of crop genetic diversity on the mean, variance and skewness of yield. Using farm-level data from Sicily...

The paper investigates the nature of arbitrage price dynamics and expectations formation in the US broiler market. The analysis provides evidence of heterogeneous expectations among market participants. A significant part of broiler pricing is found to be consistent with quasi-rational...

A nonparametric analysis of technical change under profit maximization and a "generalized augmentation" hypothesis is proposed. It allows for Hicks neutral as well as biased technical change. An empirical application to U.S. agriculture is presented in the context of input-output translating...

This paper investigates the properties of industry equilibrium under pric e uncertainty given free entry and exit. For any form of risk-averse behavior, it is shown that an increase in demand uncertainty (as meas ured by a mean-preserving spread) increases mean output price and red uces output...