User fees have become a popular means of financing public services, including certain transportation facilities. The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 includes provisions for user fees to finance part of the costs of operations, maintenance, and new construction of the U.S. port system. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the welfare implications of this legislation. An analytical model is developed and used to estimate the impact of port user fees on grain and oilseed producers, consumers, and the government. The results of the analysis indicate that the user fee has a relatively small effect on producer welfare and that the efficiency gains resulting from the replacement of the government subsidy for port operations, maintenance, and new construction with a user fee are negligible.

Last week was Australia's 200th birthday. When the rebels in America won what they called their war of independence, Britain lost her penal colonies in the Carolinas and looked around for replacements. The first colonial fleet arrived in Australia on January 26,1788, and included, along with 700 convicts, 44 sheep and 6 cattle. If Britain had defeated her American colonists, then the history of both Australia and Louisiana would likely have been very different. The French flag might be flying today over both Sydney and New Orleans.

In this study, two methods of entering and accessing dairy herd records are compared: the traditional mail-in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) system and the Direct Access to Records by Telephone (DART) system, which provides more timely and convenient access to records. An evaluation of DART was carried out using mail survey responses from 117 DART users and telephone surveys of 40 randomly selected users. Results indicate that DART users are generally satisfied with the system and feel that it improves their herd management. Variations in use of the DART system by DART users are explained by herd, cost, and management variables. DART users and comparable non-DART, DHI users are compared with respect to gains in herd production efficiency. Results indicate that DART users made somewhat better gains in most efficiency measures but that the differences were generally not statistically significant.

The current “Uruguay Round” of trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) began with the Declaration by trade ministers at Punta del Este, Uruguay, in September 1986. To conduct the negotiations, an agricultural negotiating group, along with fourteen other such groups, has been established. Negotiating proposals on agriculture have been offered by the Nordic Countries, the European Community (EC), Canada, the Cairns group, Japan, and the United States.

The effect of irrigation system uniformity on the selection of risk-efficient irrigation strategies is evaluated using crop simulation and stochastic dominance procedures. Alternative strategies are evaluated under assumptions of both uniform and non-uniform application. Results indicate that the variability of net returns resulting from the employment of a specified schedule increases when irrigation uniformity is explicitly represented. Solutions derived using economic efficiency and stochastic dominance criteria indicate that the uniformity with which irrigations are applied contributes to the application of water-intensive irrigation schedules.

Qualitative models can be used for decision making under uncertainty. This provides a useful framework for evaluating the models. If the costs for every action/state of nature combination are known, decisions made using a well-calibrated model would result in actual costs being close to expected costs. In addition, the actual cost can be compared to the cost of perfect foresight actions, giving a bound on the value of a better model. Application of these procedures is made using a logit model developed to predict Missouri country grain elevator bankruptcies.

The growing popularity of marine recreational fishing has created considerable interest in artificial marine habitat development to maintain and enhance coastal fishery stocks. This paper provides a comparative evaluation of travel cost methods to estimate recreational use benefits for new habitat site planning. Theoretical concerns about price and quality effects of substitute sites, corner solutions in site choice, and econometric estimation are considered. Results from a case study indicate that benefit estimates are influenced by the way these concerns are addressed, but relatively simple single site models can provide defensible estimates. Practical limitations on data collection and model estimation are also considered.

A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand equations for Louisiana rice producers. Generalized Leontief cost and factor share equations were fitted for the 1955-87 period using Zellner's SURE system estimation procedure. The Aitken parameter estimates reveal that: (1) the optimal input mix of rice farmers varies with production scale, (2) the factor-augmenting technical change is labor and chemical saving but seed using, (3) pairwise input substitutions are limited, and (4) factor demands are own-price inelastic. An implication is that Louisiana rice farmers will not appreciably alter their factor utilizations when relative input prices change.

Vector autoregression was utilized to investigate dynamic relationships existing between prices of purebred bulls and prices of slaughter steers, utility cows, feeder calves, and cow-calf pairs. Results suggest purebred bull prices respond most quickly to an increase in utility cow prices (proxy for slaughter bull prices). Feeder calf prices exhibited the most pronounced positive effect on the price of herd sires, with a lagged response which took over two years to build.

The economic feasibility of investing in sprinkler irrigation technology for rice production is investigated using linear programming and capital budgeting to identify the net annual benefits and net present value, respectively. Groundwater and both flat rate and volumetrically priced surface water sources of irrigation water are analyzed. Under typical practices occurring in rice production operations in the Texas Rice Belt, sprinkler irrigation technology is not profitable at current water costs. Producers using volumetrically priced surface water have the greatest incentive to consider sprinkler irrigation, but water prices must increase by over 250 percent for the investment in a sprinkler irrigation system to become attractive. Yield reductions associated with sprinkle-irrigated rice are a significant disincentive. For equivalent flood- and sprinkle-irrigated rice yields, an increase in water prices of over 175 percent is required before the investment in a sprinkler irrigation system becomes economically feasible.

The analysis examines quantitatively the findings of previous studies of the pricing efficiency of various agricultural markets using a logit framework. The findings provide insight into the importance of commodity characteristics, uncertainty, and testing procedures used on the results of past research of pricing efficiency. The study also identifies several areas for further research.

Numerous studies have analyzed annual crop mix decisions in light of producer risk preferences. Few studies have focused on perennial crop mix decisions. This study attempts to identify not only the optimal mix of grapefruit and oranges for various riskaversion levels, but also optimal planting densities within each species. Experimental plot data from a grapefruit and orange spacing trial over the 1970-82 period were used in a MOTAD formulation to address optimal perennial crop mix and planting density decisions under different capital constraints. An examination of results suggests crop mix and planting density diversification within and across species of citrus as a means of reducing income variability.

Quality discounts and premiums for rough rice in Texas rice bid/acceptance markets are analyzed. The most important quality factors determining the value of rough rice are head yield and peck. A one percentage point reduction in peck damage raises the price received per hundredweight of rough rice by $.13 to $.68 across markets and years. Since peck damage can be reduced by controlling the rice stinkbug, evaluation of alternative methods for better control of this pest in Texas rice fields is needed.

Linear programming and stochastic farm growth simulation models are used to assess the impact of alternative enterprise selection, variation in farm income, inflation, and off-farm income on the growth of small, part-time farms in East Central Oklahoma. Results indicate that alternative rates of inflation or variation in farm income do not significantly impact the operation or expansion of part-time farming operations. Adoption of alternative enterprises on part-time farms can lead to full-time farming operations where expansion initially is aided through use of off-farm income. Small full-time operators could greatly enhance family income by obtaining off-farm employment and income.

The Net Present Value Sire Summary Professional Package (NPVSS) is a microcomputer program designed for technical personnel to help dairy producers better manage investments in genetic improvement. NPVSS is written in C language, utilizes the MS-DOS operating system, and requires 256K of RAM. It is menu driven and includes parameter screens to define herd management characteristics of individual producers. Profit rankings of bulls can be generated to evaluate alternative: a) objective functions (selection policies for genetic merit in milk income and type scores), b) herd management performance factors (conception rate, calving interval, age at first calving), and c) economic factors (milk price, semen price, discount rate, planning horizon).

The Agricultural Risk Management Simulator (ARMS) is a microcomputer program designed to help users evaluate strategies for managing yield and price risk in crop farming operations. Risk management strategies are defined by choices regarding crop mix, the purchase of multiple peril crop insurance, and the use of forward contracting. Probabilistic budgeting is used to determine the net cash flow probability distribution for each strategy considered. Flexibility with regard to both sources of probabilistic information and the form of yield and price probability distributions is a noteworthy feature of the program.

ICEASE (Irrigation Cost Estimator and System Evaluator) is a microcomputer model designed and developed to meet the need for conducting economic evaluation of adjustments to irrigation systems and management techniques to improve the use of irrigated water. ICEASE can calculate the annual operating costs for irrigation systems and has five options that can be used to economically evaluate improvements in the pumping plant or the way the irrigation system is used for crop production.

Soybean Trader is a microcomputer simulation of international grain trading. The program uses the format of a graphics-oriented game to teach basic economic principles and to stimulate interest in agricultural trade. Profits from trading serve as a score, and competition is encouraged by ranking top scores in Traders' Hall of Fame. Results of tests with adult and youth audiences indicated that the program is an interesting and effective teaching tool.