This article examines the operating cost structure of 15 cooperatively owned fluid milk processing plants. The selected plants range from small, low-volume facilities to large, high-volume plants with varying levels of capital and labor inputs. Operating costs are presented for the plants by...

Scherer's industrial organization model is modified to characterize the grain marketing system. The modified model identifies the important relationships between economic characteristics and the type of grain facilities found in three states; Alabama, Illinois, and Ohio. Multivariate linear...

Weather conditions are a primary source of dairy production risk. Hot and humid weather induces heat stress, which reduces lactation. Heat abatement, such as ventilation, directly affects the temperature and humidity. Abatement can increase expected profit, but cannot eliminate the lost revenue...

What are the general ideas behind a futures contract price and the concept of the Basis calculation? The Class 3 milk futures contract traded at the Chicago Mercantile present opportunities for you to forward price your milk if your milk is pooled in a multiple component market such as Federal...

Dairy producers operating in the U.S. have been protected against market price variability by the federal price support program for over 35 years. During the late 1970s tax outlays to operate this program grew at a rapid rate. While many authors have addressed the economic implications of the...

In the early 1990s, after four decades of relying on government mandated minimum price supports and public stockholding to achieve price risk management, the United States dairy industry is undertaking a shift to a market clearing equilibrium system. A potentially important component of this new...

Interest in how best to influence the behaviour of clinicians in the interests of both clinical and cost effectiveness has rekindled concern with the social networks of health care professionals. Ever since the seminal work of Coleman et al. [Coleman, J.S., Katz, E., Menzel, H., 1966. Medical...