The dissemination of information by extension agents on dairy management practices used to control mastitis and the reception and use of that information by producers are investigated. Producers are surveyed to determine current practices used. The relationship between milk yield, somatic cell count, management practices, and producer and production characteristics is estimated. Subjective probabilities are elicited from “experts,” extension agents, and producers concerning the impact and cost of various management practices. Subjective marginal value products and marginal input costs are computed and compared for the respondent groups. Stochastic dominance is used to rank the relative importance of the practices as perceived by the respondents.

Contract grazing feeder cattle is an arrangement where cattle owned by one party graze forage produced on land owned by another party. The forage producer is paid a fixed price per pound gained. Stochastic dominance analysis is used to compare contract grazing and the more traditional system in which the same individual owns both the cattle and land.

This article reports on analyses of the cost effectiveness of three soil erosion control policy alternatives, specifically 1) uniform-rate cost sharing, 2) variable-rate cost sharing, and 3) fixed subsidy payments per unit reduction in erosion. A brief discussion of the place of these alternative subsidy strategies within the context of the current policy environment is presented. Integer programming is employed to simulate adoption of “best management practices” (BMPs) on a set of representative farms in a case study water-shed in response to these alternative subsidy strategies. Conclusions and policy implications are outlined.

Using input-output tables for 1972 and 1977 we examine direct and indirect energy use in the production of fourteen U.S. agricultural products. We find that between 1972 and 1977 energy use increased in absolute terms but decreased in terms of Btus required per dollar of output.

Although this trend is encouraging in terms of the long-run ability of U.S. agriculture to adjust to higher energy prices, the following caveats should be mentioned; (1) a large part of the decrease in primary energy intensity is attributable to one sector, meat animals, (2) there was a substantial increase in electricity intensity in almost all sectors, and (3) there was an increase in the use of energy embodied in fertilizers and agricultural chemicals in the very important food grain and feed sectors.

Linear programming and regional input-output models were applied to estimate the impacts of increased pumping costs for irrigated agriculture due to groundwater depletion principally caused by the expanding urban area of San Antonio, Texas. A biophysical simulator was used to estimate linear programming coefficients of crop yield by irrigation level and timing. The results indicate significant local (county) economic impacts from groundwater mining but insignificant regional impacts. A major improvement in irrigation efficiency would be required to offset the increased pumping costs and reduced water availability associated with increased lifts due to urban expansion.

Macartney rose is a range management problem on 500,000 acres of rangeland in Texas. Roller chopping followed by burning is an effective method of improving infested rangeland. However, uncertainty associated with implementing effective burns adversely affects economic feasibility of the treatment sequence. Discrete stochastic programming is used to determine optimal burning schedules under uncertainty. Optimal schedules and expected net returns vary with changes in the probability of a successful burn.

A conceptual optimal control theory model which considers farm level decision making with respect to soil management is developed. A simplified version of the theoretical model is applied to the Piedmont area of Virginia. The model includes the productivity impacts of both soil erosion and technological progress. Both the theoretical model and its empirical application are improvements over previous efforts. Results suggest that farmers in the study area can achieve substantial reductions in soil erosion by adopting alternative farming practices.

This study explores the potential of routine preharvest cross-hedging of rough rice using wheat futures contract prices. A numerical simulation approach combined with risk efficiency analysis evaluates a wide range of cross-hedging alternatives. Results establish that farm-level cross-hedging can be considered a viable marketing alternative.

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 existing dairy price support program, few have explicitly considered the relationship between risk aversion, capital investment, milk production, and support price policy in this process. This paper considers the role of uncertainty and risk-averse behavior and suggests that these elements are crucial to an economic analysis of the current program and future dairy policy issues.

Considering pest management in terms of a set of technology characteristics allows an investigation of various pest-management characteristics and how they relate to a total pest-management package. Employing restricted and unrestricted least squares in this investigation indicates the unique impact individual pest-management characteristics exert on net returns. A Stein-rule estimator is also employed in assessing this impact.

The monthly and quarterly price determination processes for 31–40 and 21–25 size classes of raw-headless shrimp were examined to determine price leadership between market levels. Causal relationships were assessed using Haugh-Pierce, Sims, and Granger methods. Price models at the retail, wholesale, and exvessel market levels were estimated. Economic factors analyzed were income, prices of competing products, landings and imports of raw headless shrimp, total retail supply, beginning stocks, and marketing costs.

Monthly prices generally exhibited unidirectional causality from exvessel to retail price. Quarterly prices were determined interdependently among market levels. Price responses between market levels were found to be symmetric with beginning stocks, landings, and imports of own-size shrimp the most important determinants of price.

The effect of the farmer's choice of crop insurance was evaluated on both the farmer's and lender's performance. This was done using whole-farm, Monte Carlo simulation for Texas wheat/sorghum operations. Results indicate crop insurance would be preferred by moderately risk-averse farmers when farm firm failure became an issue or the insurance loss ratio approached one. A lender always preferred the use of crop insurance, especially when the probability of firm bankruptcy was an issue.

Optimal sizes, number, and locations of Tennessee livestock auction markets were identified as those which minimize the combined costs of assembling and marketing livestock for the state using a separable programming model. The model includes transportation costs, economies of size in market operation, a proxy for reductions in buyers' operating costs attributable to increasing market volumes, and livestock production density, both in and around the state. The model is sufficiently comprehensive and descriptive to be of practical use by policy makers who influence industry change. Results indicate that a reduction in market numbers would lower combined costs.

The U.S. pork sector is modeled to simulate the effects of alternative import levels on prices, production, consumption, farm receipts, and consumer expenditures. Over the 1983–1985 period, producers annually received $600 million less due to increasing imports than if imports had remained at the 1979–1982 average. Farm prices and slaughter were lower by $2.21 per hundredweight and 1.1 million head annually, respectively. Four simulations reflecting alternative import paths over the period 1986–1992 were examined. With lower imports (relative to current levels), production and farm prices rise significantly in the long run; consumers purchase less and pay more.

When obtaining nitrogen (N), phosphate (P) and potash (K), purchasing decisions concerning the quantity and the form of each plant nutrient must be made. Logit models are estimated for the choice-of-form decision by considering those variables influencing the probability that plant nutrients will be purchased in Tennessee as part of a mixed fertilizer or as direct application materials. Parameter and elasticity estimates can be used by fertilizer manufacturers and distributors to anticipate changes in the composition of demand for plant nutrients in Tennessee.

Naive and adaptive schemes have been used as proxies for price expectations in previous studies of supply response. Those studies contain mixed formulas of futures, support, and lagged prices as alternative formulations for price expectations. This study uses a conditional expected price which combines both market and support prices into one price expectations measure. It defines the total effect of available information on supply response. The results indicate the potential usefulness of formulating expected prices as conditional price expectations in supply response analysis, with support prices being the conditional set. Under the provisions of the 1985 Farm Bill, significant reductions in corn and soybean acreages are in prospect for 1987-90.

This study evaluates the economic survivability of rice farms in the Delta area of Mississippi. A general whole-farm simulation model, FLIPSIM V, is used to simulate the operations of representative rice farms over a 10-year period. Although farm size did not change for any of the representative farms considered, the financial structure of these farms changed considerably. Crop mix was found to cause significant differences in the economic growth and financial viability of rice farms in the region.

Financial conditions existing in agriculture are placing severe pressure on lenders as well as borrowers. Data from both good and foreclosed Federal Land Bank loans were analyzed to determine the most important characteristics leading to the failure of loans. The analysis was completed by comparing means through t-tests and the development of a discriminant model. The ratio of total debt service to total income, the debt to asset ratio, the ratio of total loan amount to appraised value, and the ratio of acres in security to acres owned were determined to be the most important discriminating variables.

Consumer behavior with respect to purchase regularity, satisfaction, origin, and willingness to pay for selected local versus non-Tennessee grown fresh produce is examined. Except for origin, consumer behavior with respect to the above is affected by income, household size and age distribution, race, age of respondent, college education, and occupation. The pattern of significant variables changed by commodity. Tomatoes, followed by peaches, had the greatest local market potential. Local promotion of other products may be more difficult. Results suggested consumers have no strong preferences for or against locally grown fresh produce. The prices of locally grown commodities in Knoxville should be less than or equal to those of comparable quality non-Tennessee commodities.

This paper discusses the role of agricultural economics research within the land-grant university system. Fundamental differences between research in the biological sciences and the social sciences are delineated. Implications of these differences for experiment station research programs are discussed. Recommendations are made which have potential for enhancing the role of agricultural economics within colleges of agriculture.