Farmers markets are an important market channel for farmers who want to sell their products directly to consumers. This sector has grown dramatically in the last 10 years, more than doubling from 2,863 markets in 2000 to 6,132 in 2010. However, the increasing number of markets obscures the...

Organic conversion subsidies used in Europe are less likely to be politically acceptable in the United States, where organic agriculture development is market-driven. Persistent barriers to conversion in the United States include limited availability of and access to production and market...

Sustainability assessment is fundamental to improving the long- term viability of agricultural systems. A variety of assessment tools have been developed for the practitioner to evaluate sustainability at multiple levels, from field to farm. This report is a compilation of annotated references...

We examine consistency with economic theory of markup decisions for a risk averse firm facing demand uncertainty. We derive testable comparative static results that describe the influence on the markup of expected demand, demand uncertainty, average variable costs and exogenous demand shifters....

Cotton farmers in the Piedmont region incorrectly believe conservation systems with winter cover crop and no-till cultivation yield less than conventional systems. We model the effect of organic matter on productivity and show how ignoring this effect causes returns to be underestimated. Farmers...

Farmer's willingness to voluntarily reduce insecticide use is not considered when regulatory approaches toenvironmental protection are proposed. Regulations that require behavior that would voluntarily be undertaken are excessive and economically inefficient. Using survey data from a contingent...

This paper describes preferences for attributes of ideal soil substitutes reported by industry demand segments, and relates those attributes to willingness to pay for soil substitutes. Regression results on principal components indicate that concern over product stability, safety and...

Organic farmers have traditionally relied on a variety of marketing channels, suggesting that earned organic income will depend on the farmer's experience in producing and selling organic products and their comparative advantage in bargaining and marketing skills. A discrete choice model of the...