Much farm financial risk research has involved the application of “credit‐scoring” models. We approach the issue of measuring financial risk by using the actual interest rates charged on agricultural loans reported in the USDA’s ARMS survey as market‐based measures of the financial...

Enterprise diversification is a self‐insuring strategy used by farmers to protect against risk. This study examines the impact of various farm, operator, and household characteristics on the level of onfarm enterprise diversification. Evidence exists that larger farms are more specialized....

Producers and lenders seek to avoid agricultural production‐related risks through various managerial and institutional mechanisms. For individual farmers and agribusinesses, risk management involves choosing among alternatives for reducing the effects of risk on the firm, thereby affecting the...

The rate of return on farm assets is a key indicator of the profitability of farm sector investments. The residual income approach is most commonly used to estimate the returns to farm assets, farmland, and labor and management. However this approach may be sensitive to the underlying...

This paper examines the changes in farm sector wealth from 1949 through 2002. The study uses Theil’s entropy‐based measure of inequality of farm wealth for 10 regions of the United States. The entropy measure is then used to decompose U.S. inequality into within‐region and between‐region...

This investigation considers factors affecting off‐farm investment of farm households. A national farm‐level survey was used to evaluate the effects of various farm and operator characteristics on the likelihood of off‐farm investment. Results suggest differences in level of education, age...

The objective of this study was to identify factors that contribute to returns to operators’ labor and management of dairy farms in the U.S. Particular attention is given to the role of education and extension. Operators’ labor and management income (OLMI) is used as a measure of financial...

Based on two time periods (1995 and 1999), this study examines how much of the variability in total farm household income can be attributed to the variability in net farm income and in off‐farm income sources (such as income from off‐farm businesses, wages and salaries, interest and...

Crop insurance and hedging are two risk management strategies used by farmers to manage risk. Using a discrete choice model and farm‐level data, this study investigates the factors influencing farmers’ use of hedging and crop insurance as risk management strategies. In the case of crop...

This research examines factors influencing the adoption of crop and revenue insurance. This is accomplished by estimating a multinomial logit model of insurance choices facing U.S. farmers. Results indicate significant differences in the probabilities of adoption of each insurance plan. The...