A four equation input demand system for aggregate Southeastern United States agriculture consistent with dynamic optimizing behavior is specified and estimated. Labor and materials are considered as variable inputs while land and capital are treated as quasi-fixed inputs. It is found that the adjustment rates for capital and land differ considerably and are interdependent. Further, the data appear consistent with the existence of an aggregate production technology and the hypothesized optimizing behavior.

Markov chain analysis of changes in the number and size of cotton gin firms in West Texas was conducted assuming stationary and non-stationary transition probabilities. Projections of industry structure were made to 1999 with stationary probability assumptions and six sets of assumed conditions for labor and energy costs and technological change in the non-stationary transition model. Results indicate a continued decline in number of firms, but labor, energy, and technology conditions alter the configuration of the structural changes.

The Economic Emergency (EE) loan program, administered by the FmHA, was created by Congress in 1978. The primary purpose of the program was to provide credit to farmers who were unable to obtain credit from normal lenders due to economic stress. Over six billion dollars of EE loans were extended nationally during fiscal years 1978 through 1981. This paper examines the allocation of EE loans at the state level and the expansionary effect of the program on farm credit markets. Empirical evidence is provided that EE funds were allocated to states consistently with the general criteria cited in the development of the EE program and that the EE program expanded farm credit markets rather than displacing loans from other sources.

In the past four decades, productivity in United States field crops has been transformed by the mechanical and fertilizer revolutions. Since input data are typically not available by crop, most investigations of productivity have been at the aggregate level. This paper develops a simultaneous equation, partial adjustment model of the demand for inputs, which generates estimates of the technical change parameters for wheat, corn, soybeans, and cotton. These estimates allow comparisons of the factor saving biases in technical change, leading to a novel test of the induced innovation hypothesis and the suggestion that the productivity slowdown may yet affect agriculture in the United States.

Classical approaches to the economics of pest management have focused almost exclusively on single-species models. This study develops and implements a methodology with which to evaluate multi-species, non-stochastic, managerial decisions subject to stochastic elements of the plant-insect system. Multi-species insect management strategies (combinations of scouting interval, threshold value, and choice of pesticide) are analyzed using a physiological mechanistic soybean plant growth model coupled to three insect population dynamics models. Preliminary results indicate that net returns are maximized and variance is reduced with lower thresholds and more frequent scouting than current recommendations.

The adoption of multiphase electric power for electric irrigation has been limited in an area characterized by extremely rapid expansion of irrigated acreage despite production cost advantages. Theoretical and empirical evidence of failure in the existing market for multiphase power development are presented. Alternative development mechanisms are presented and discussed.

Financial analysis of an ethanol/electricity cogeneration plant indicates a rapid payback of investment and a high internal rate of return. This is primarily because cogeneration of steam for generation of electricity and biomass conversion to ethanol results in increased engineering efficiency compared to alternative ethanol alone production processes. Economic sensitivity testing included alternative price levels, interest rates, capacities, costs, and a “stand alone” case with no federal government excise tax subsidies. Supply and price analyses suggest the procurement of locally produced feedstock in Alabama and surrounding states is feasible. The robustness of the economic analysis provides support for consideration of ethanol cogeneration as a currently feasible strategy to utilize excess agricultural production capacity.

This analysis used simulation to compare the cost of intergenerational transfer of farm estates under the pre-1981 tax rules and the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) provisions. ERTA reduces transfer costs for almost all the estates considered. Large estates tend to benefit more than small estates if they qualify for use valuation or if they are large enough to be affected by the reduction in tax rates. ERTA does not create new forces for change in U.S. agriculture, but it tends to strengthen the tendency toward larger farm size and favor those who already own farm resources.

This study develops a theoretical model of the multiproduct firm which allows for imperfect competition in the output market. Hypotheses are tested for retail meat prices concerning the degree and speed of price transmission, the effects of interfirm competition, and the interrelationship between prices within the store. Empirical results indicated that meat prices within a store were highly interrelated. Further, the firm was found to be very responsive to prices of competitors in the short run, but more responsive to wholesale price changes in the long run.

Risk Management strategies for maintaining student performance in large classes are discussed. Risk management theory is discussed and used to describe student behavior. Results of risk management experiments in which students are exposed to alternative levels of grading are reported along with other factors which influence student behavior. Class performance was not found to decline under a system involving only a 50 percent chance of assignments being graded. Procedures for implementing and limitations of chance grading systems in large classes are discussed.