Obtaining estimates of pesticide productivity is an economic response to the growing public concern about the steady increase of pesticide use in the United States. This type of research indicates the cost of limiting pesticide use in terms of foregone output. Previous empirical studies give a “snap-shot”, or “average”, look at pesticide productivity. This research effort employs a random coefficient model to determine the trend of the marginal value product of pesticides in agriculture in the United States. Results show a distinct downward trend in two states, Iowa and Texas. California, however, shows no evidence of a downward trend.

This study examines the trade-off between agricultural production and groundwater contamination potential for ten potential herbicide cancellations. Theoretical and empirical models are developed for estimating losses in consumer and producer benefits in the agricultural commodity market and changes in groundwater quality. Using com and soybean production in the southeastern Coastal Plain as a study area, the analysis concludes that (1) effects of herbicide cancellations on groundwater quality can be very significant; (2) a cancellation does not guarantee groundwater quality improvement; (3) effects of a multiple cancellation are different from the summation of the effects of independent cancellations; and (4) weed density has a very strong effect on losses to farmers and consumers from cancellations, but output demand and supply elasticities do not.

Investigating the underlying producer characteristics associated with regional pest control adoption revealed an interesting proposition. Early adopting producers of firm-specific techniques with characteristics including higher education, more specialized operations, and larger sized business units are dissatisfied with a regional pest control technique. This study provides an explanation of the proposition based on a principal-agent model. Empirical support for the proposition is also presented by developing a multinomial logit model for predicting producers' dissatisfaction with boll weevil eradication.