The agricultural industry, like other industries, has become increasingly dependent upon energy resources such as electricity, fossil fuels, chemicals and fertilizers, largely due to relatively low energy prices. In the middle 1970s, however, energy prices rose sharply as a result of continuously rightward shifting energy demands and leftward shifting energy supplies due to dwindling domestic reserves and oil price increases by OPEC nations. Although the rapidly rising energy prices may have been viewed initially as a temporary phenomenon, most now agree that we are in an era of high energy prices. Carter and Youde [2] have discussed some impacts of the changing energy situation on U.S. agriculture.

The U.S. farm sector has long been dominated by independent firms exemplifying competitive free enterprise norms. Individual farm operators have had considerable freedom in controlling their own operations. Certain government programs and financial limitations have been the major restraints on their decision making.

In about the past two decades, however, a number of production subsectors have become organized or structured along lines more closely resembling industrial sectors of the economy than the traditional agricultural sector. At the same time, other production subsectors have remained virtually unaffected by this industrialization process and have retained their traditional independent form of organization. Concern over industrialization in agriculture relates to the question of who will control agricultural resources.

Literature is replete with studies projecting the performance of agriculture to 1980, 1985 and the year 2000. These studies are usually based upon a dynamic certainty econometric model which, in turn, either assumes or projects annual rates of growth in the stock of producer capital over the time period covered by the study. In two recent assessments of the state of the art King [12] and Tweeten [27] cited several needed changes in our approach to sector econometric projections models, which should lead to increases in accuracy and consistency of future projections. Among those listed were incorporation of risk and uncertainty associated with expected outcomes and integration of disparate models into an aggregate sector projections system. Both of these authors failed, however, to identify the lack of financing considerations in present sector projections models. For example, those studies that sought to explain aggregate demand for farm producer capital when projecting the capital stocks associated with future output levels ignored the implicit rental price of capital and other variables suggested by finance and risk theory.

It has become abundantly clear this nation is confronted with a set of issues regarding allocation and use of land resources which present profound challenges to agricultural economists as well as all citizens. The ability of existing institutions to adequately deal with land use policy questions is being increasingly questioned. The theoretical causes of market failure in land policy and alternatives to the market have been dealt with extensively in the literature and will not be repeated here. The purpose of this paper is to comment on research and educational programs and needs in land policy and planning with particular reference to the South.

The paper by Long, Infanger and Danielson [5] (hereafter referred to as LID) does a good job of presenting conventional rationale for an approach to land use planning. Survey results presented in the LID paper clearly identify the topics currently concentrated upon in land use research and educational programs. Identification of the specific nature of current educational programs in land use is a necessary first step in assessing the effectiveness of these programs. The primary objective of this paper is not to further review current research and extension activities but to take a fresh look at issues involved in land use planning, and point out areas where both rationale and approach of conventional research and extension land use efforts should be subjected to further scrutiny. Comments are not restricted to the LID paper only, but relate also to described land use research and educational programs.

Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding factors that influence public service expenditures in rural communities. Much public service research has been focused on the question of whether economies of population size exist for public service delivery systems, and, if so, what are the optimum size delivery systems. Of particular concern to communities is the impact of economic growth on provision of public services. Community leaders need to know how to plan for provision of these services when facing changing economic conditions. They must be able to evaluate whether or not economic growth, especially rural industrialization, should be followed as a strategy for enhancing both quality and quantity of these services.

Rapidly rising public sector costs are at issue in a great many communities. Quite often blame has been placed on recent development. This has caused communities to become wary of growth that might result in costs greater than benefits received.

A model is described in this paper that permits ex ante evaluation of the economic effects of community growth. The paper begins with a brief discussion of community growth and previous impact modeling efforts. The Economic Growth Impact Model is then presented. This is followed by a description of the package within which the model is incorporated. Finally, an application of the model is highlighted.

During the past eleven years Oklahoma's population has increased by approximately 12 percent. Several counties located in the central and southeastern parts of the state have increased from 12 to 40 percent. Since the rate of natural increase during this period approximated three percent, much population increase was due to in-migration from other states and abroad.

Given the fact that Oklahoma is gaining in population, and specific areas are growing quite rapidly while others are declining, the purpose of this study is to determine why Oklahoma is relatively popular and why certain counties are gaining population while others are losing.1 Emphasis will be on human and economic characteristics of Oklahoma counties assuming a neoclassical economic framework of mobility.

The migration of labor is an important mechanism through which an efficient spatial allocation of resources is achieved and maintained. Many studies were designed to determine the efficacy of the market as an allocator of labor between various regions of the economy. However, most of these have concentrated on the allocation mechanism between major metropolitan labor markets or major sub-regions in the general economy. This study was designed to ascertain the effectiveness of labor allocation between rural and metro regions and between different rural regions in the three-state area of Missouri, Kansas and Illinois.

This paper reports an investigation of the potential out-migration response to flue-cured tobacco harvest mechanization in an eight county area of eastern North Carolina. The study is unique in that lost harvest earnings and potential out-migration response are reported in a household context. In addition, as the adoption process of mechanization is still in its beginning stages, out-migration responses are those that could be anticipated.

The impact of increased agricultural productivity and substitution of capital for labor are familiar to agricultural economists. So, too, is the social concern about farm-to-city migration which accompanied the mechanization of agriculture.

Descriptive data have been used to show how industrial job creation is growing faster in nonmetro areas than in metro areas. For example, Haren [5] and Till [11] describe industrial decentralization in the 60s. Janssen and Tweeten [7] illustrate how the trend has continued into the 70s. In Oklahoma, Childs and Doeksen [1] report on how industry has decentralized from 1963 through 1971.

The objective of this paper is to examine and statistically test the dispersion of new manufacturing jobs with respect to size of community in Oklahoma from 1963 through 1974. Previous studies have either been descriptive or have used some measure of dispersion, such as entropy, without statistically testing the results.

The number of employed health care personnel in an area is the combined result of factors affecting both demand and supply for health care personnel. When service areas are compared, differences between each area's number of health care personnel are related to differences in health facilities' ability and desire to attract these persons.

At any point in time, the potential supply of health care personnel is fixed. The choice facing this segment of the labor force is between alternative locations or non-participation. The location decision is a function of salary, working conditions and such non-working conditions as cost of living in the community, schools, cultural opportunities, employment opportunities for other family members and general amenities associated with a community.

Beaver Lake is nestled in the midst of the Ozark Mountains in the northwest corner of Arkansas. The picturesque lake is actually a multi-purpose reservoir constructed and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 28,220 acre lake offers eleven improved public access areas for use by recreationists. Six additional recreational areas have been planned, to be built as demand requires [16].

Costs for development of the six additional parks were estimated by the Corps of Engineers as of July 1974, to be $6.87 million [16].

In many areas of the country, there is strong competition among agricultural, municipal, industrial and other users of water. Water managers are faced with the problem of allocating available water among alternative uses.

The study [11] upon which this paper is based was a cooperative effort with the Central and Southern Florida Control District which is typical of many water management districts making decisions regarding allocation of a limited amount of water among uses and users. When the District was formed, it was developed with emphasis on facilities to provide relief from flooding. Water management responsibilities such as water supply, recreation and the preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife have become important to the public and consequently have received recognition by those responsible for managing the water.

A significant component of risk in agricultural production systems is yield variability. The ability to predict yield and thus reduce risk would have many potential benefits to both individual decision makers and society. For example, in farm planning, quality crop yield forecasts could be crucial in making decisions on optimal crop combinations. At the aggregate level, an example where a yield forecast would have obvious benefits would be cases in which government manages a grain buffer stock.

Forage quality and quantity vary by species, time of year, level and time of fertilizer application and grazing system [6]. Livestock nutritional requirements change with age, rate of gain, weight, date of calving and percentage calf crop [7]. Pasture forage production and livestock forage requirements depicting both quality and quantity need to be compiled by calendar periods to determine optimal pasture programs and livestock systems.

Animal unit months (AUM) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) are the predominant measures of forage quantity produced and required. Neither measurement adequately reflects quality and quantity in forage production and beef requirements throughout the production cycles.

Throughout the southern states and at the federal level, much attention is being focused on the appropriate strategy for controlling cotton insect pests, particularly the boll weevil. This paper presents estimated economic impacts to farmers, regions and consumers of implementing three alternative boll weevil control strategies. One strategy evaluated is a proposed boll weevil eradication program which involves integrating many controls including insecticides, reproduction-diapause control by early season stalk destruction, pheromone-baited traps, trap crops, early season control with insecticide, and massive releases of sterile boll weevils. The plan is to eradicate the boll weevil in the U.S., and then indefinitely maintain a barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent future weevil immigration to the U.S.