Changes in vertical coordination in the U.S. broiler, turkey, and egg industries decades ago may provide useful insight into more recent developments in the U.S. pork industry. The need to protect relationship- specific investments created incentives for contracts and vertical integration. In...

Mergers, acquisitions, and internal growth among grocery retailers, largely since 1996, have increased the share of grocery store sales accounted for by the largest 4, 8, and 20 food retailers nationwide. Similar consolidation is occurring among food wholesalers. At the same time, new packaged...

Advanced technology use is less prevalent in rural than in urban manufacturing plants, but plants of comparable size in the same industry use about the same level of technology, regardless of urban/rural location. The rural gap comes about because the mix of rural industries is more heavily...

The unprecedented growth in crop yields and agricultural total factor productivity over the past 70 years owes much to a series of biological innovations embodied in seeds, beginning with the development of hybrid crops in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, continuing with...

Although consumer diets are being upgraded globally, food purchase patterns vary across countries based on income levels. Developing countries are registering rapid increases in retail sales of high-value foods, while developed countries are seeing a rise in sales of products that meet consumer...

Rural America At A Glance, 2004 is a six-page brochure that highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure is the third in a series of reports that uses current social and...

Small U.S. farms and those run by socially disadvantaged minority operators tend not to purchase insurance or to participate in insurance-type programs operated by USDA. This report traces the lack of use of such risk management measures to several characteristics of such farmers, who include...

For U.S. agriculture to continue along a sustainable path of economic development, further production increases must be generated by technologies that are both profitable and more environmentally benign. In this context, we assess the role of these green or sustainable technologies in steering...

Low skill levels among rural workers put rural manufacturing at a competitive disadvantage, according to the "skills shortage" theory. Data from the ERS Rural Manufacturing Survey, conducted in 1996, suggest that is not happening. Skill requirements are rising, but manufacturers who reported...