Due to changing feed price relationships for beef production, it is anticipated that linear programming (LP) will be used to develop optimal feeding strategies for cow-calf operations in the South. An important relationship between forage quality and forage intake has been ignored in previous LP analyses. Forage quality and cows' intake of it are inversely related; i.e., as forage quality decreases with maturity, a cow's or calf's consumption of a particular forage must increase to continue meeting the animal's nutritional requirements. However, as the quality of forage decreases, digestibility decreases, and the animal's maximum intake capacity of that forage decreases (Figure 1). It is hypothesized that consideration of intake restrictions will change the optimal LP forage production system, livestock grazing system or supplemental feeding strategies when forages are an important nutrient source.

Unfortunately, procedures are not available for handling variations induced by unquantifiable difference in location, soil, weather or management, particularly if the data source is farm survey information from relatively small samples for a single production season. Estimation problems occur regardless of whether classical, profit or trans-log approaches are used. Procedures suggested by Hoch and Hoch and Mundlak for handling these disturbances in classical production functions require a priori knowledge to devise a weighting system or observations over time to provide estimates of weights.

Profit functions as proposed by Lau and Yotopoulos require data to be of such nature that a production function can be specified either in the normal form or that the relationship between profit and input quantities can be specified and estimated. The price of the product is also required to be either a function of quality or of selling costs or that some common or average price is utilized.

Feeder calf producers face a problem common to all owners of productive assets: how long should the asset (brood cow) be used before it is replaced? Expected productivity of a brood cow can be measured by two parameters: (1) the likelihood that she will wean a calf, and (2) its anticipated weight when weaned. Both are independent functions of the cow's age which decline annually after reaching peaks in the early years of her productive life. The calf producer who expects to maximize profits in the long run must choose an optimal rate of replacement for his brood cows.

Managers of business firms, large or small, farm or nonfarm, must make investment decisions under conditions of risk and uncertainty. However, in evaluating investments, the assumption of perfect knowledge has often been used to simplify the analysis. For example, an estimate of average annual net returns is frequently discounted into perpetuity to evaluate a real estate investment alternative. Capital budgeting literature suggests a number of approaches to evaluating alternative investments. However, use of concepts such as the payback period, average rate of return, internal rate of return and net present value embodies the assumption of perfect knowledge.

This paper presents empirical estimates of livestock capital formation and disposition on farms in 14 southern U.S. states during 1974. Livestock capital is defined to include dairy and beef breeding cows. Concern with measuring the formation and disposition of livestock capital stems from the demand for knowledge of its importance as farm input, output and investment and from its inconsistent treatment given it in current USDA statistical series and the subsequent impact on farm income measurement.

The objectives of this study are to present new information on dairy and beef cow capital formation and disposition via development of a cow capital flows account, and to provide a perspective on the importance of this information by incorporating it into estimates of farm income.

Public elementary and secondary education represent the largest single expenditure by units of state and local governments. Nearly 30 percent of all tax dollars raised at the state and local level is spent for funding public elementary and secondary schools. The magnitude of expenditures for public education relative to other public goods makes questions concerning resource allocation for this service extremely important. It is not surprising that a great deal of attention has been directed toward determining if the educational process can be made more efficient.

Politicians, school administrators and other decision-makers who deal with school finance problems in rural and urban areas face a key policy question concerning the educational production process: “Does the spending of additional tax dollars in local public schools necessarily insure increased scholastic achievement for all students?”

If inferences from research are to be correct, economists, research workers and extension specialists should distinguish between adjustment recommendations for an individual farmer with his unique set of values as opposed to recommendations for a hypothetical group of farmers. Too often, economic analyses are based on the implied assumption that all individuals fit a general definition of the economic man whose one objective is to maximize profits. A single goal, such as profit maximization, is often used to derive the “otpimum” plan because the planning model is operational and is assumed to provide an analytical approximation of firm behavior. Other goals may be relevant to the firm's decision-maker, and economists generally recognize that multiple goals are important in making business decisions. Consequently, single goal models are not always a realistic approach to the decision process and may not provide the farmer with an acceptable solution.

Substantial variations in equity and income of cattle producers and feeders in highly leveraged operations have occurred during the early 1970s as the result of wide variations in prices of cattle and purchased feed. Moreover, severe losses in many commercial feedlots have resulted in greater forage inputs in beef production, with feeder cattle placed in feedlots at heavier weights and for shorter periods of time. The large price uncertainty, together with possible changes in the livestock production system, make cattle producers' search for effective methods of risk management more urgent.

The search is hampered, however, by a limited scope of choices in risk management. Forward price commitments in cattle production have received limited use at the producer level. Public programs of price support and supply management have never been available. Insurance choices are few, as are alternatives for diversifying use of grazing lands and other resources specialized to cattle production. Often, producers' primary methods of risk-bearing are reliance on financial reserves, including unused borrowing capacity, emergency loans provided by public programs and outside sources of income. However, effective opportunities for reduction of income variability may be offered by vertical integration expressed as retention of calf ownership through finishing stages either on pasture or by custom feeding in commercial feedlots.

Spatial linear programming studies in agriculture require establishment of a land resource base so representative enterprise budgets can be constructed to reflect productivity and limitations of each region's agricultural land. To relate the land base to budgeting procedures requires an economic classification of agricultural soils. Ideally, this classification would group together those soils requiring similar cultural practices and having the same yield capabilities. Costs and returns can then be computed for selected agricultural enterprises within each classification. Technical information on agronomically based soil classifications is available through agricultural experiment station reports and the Soil Conservation Service. These reports give an abundance of detailed physical and chemical soil data on a county basis.

Because technical data are extensive, a problem exists in translating this information into economic groupings suitable for use in constructing budgets. Economic classification of soils for a spatial study should be pragmatic but detailed enough to ensure a meaningful linkage of enterprise budgets to the soil.

Increased competition and conflict among users of water have caused eastern states to investigate alternatives to their common law doctrines dealing with water use, and the legislative trend is toward greater state administration in water management. As a part of this trend, Florida has enacted an administrative water law (Florida Water Resource Act of 1972) based upon a model water code suggested for eastern states. The economic efficiency implications of the allocation processes allowed by the code and the Florida act are examined herein to indicate how more effective use of basic economic principles could increase efficiency of water allocation under an administrative system. Since the present body-of-water law has evolved over time and any modifications must be consistent with this body of law, eastern surface and groundwater law is reviewed first. Then, water allocation under administrative water law, with a focus on the code and the Florida water act, is discussed. Alternative approaches to water allocation which have potential for improving economic efficiency are discussed last.

The value and quantity of agricultural commodity production in various regions of the United States determines farmers' income in each region. Many farmers, businessmen, policy makers and administrators are concerned with the problem of change in farm income resulting from water quality restraints placed on cropland agriculture. This study evaluates the income change from a series of hypothetical national water quality policies by examining the changes in national and regional gross farm income. Long-run changes in total national income of controlling water pollution from farmland by soil loss restraints are relatively small, as aggregate gross income increases by four to six percent depending on the level of control studied.

The changes in regional gross farm income are more extreme since various regions of the country, including the southern states, are affected differently by potential water quality control. This study utilizes a national modeling system to examine these variables and reports an analysis of potential changes in gross farm income caused by environmental restraints placed on agriculture. Environmental goals analyzed are national soil conservation ones, with implications for national and regional farm incomes.

Communities interested in economic growth and development need to be concerned with understanding at least three aspects of the development process. The first deals with identifying existing and historical composition of industry in the community, including an explanation of how changes in the study area differ from changes in other areas, and an identification of industries in which the community has had a comparative advantage. The second aspect deals with the many considerations involved in increasing desired economic activity in the community. This includes business and industrial development. The third aspect is addressed to estimating impacts of growth and development on the local community. Knowledge of expected consequences of alternative growth and development possibilities improves residents' ability to select preferred types of community growth. All three aspects must necessarily be considered as a community strives to expand and improve economic opportunity for its residents.

Emphasis at nearly all levels of government has been placed on rejuvenating rural areas in terms of their income and employment opportunities. Implicitly this rejuvenation is to occur in rural towns and not on farms, since employment opportunities in farming, while improving in the 1973-1976 time period, are not likely to expand greatly. Popular doctrine to stimulate economies of rural towns is fostered by the observed problems of pollution (air, water, noise), slums and human crowding, crime and traffic congestion associated with many large cities, and the concomitant problems of low income, poor consumer and producer services, and declining job opportunities in numerous rural towns. According to popular political opinion, a more desirable social state could be reached by reversing the migration flow, thereby relieving pressures of large cities and enhancing the standard of living potential in rural areas.

The ethnic balance in several major cities has changed in recent years. Black population of the central cities has increased because of migration to cities from rural areas. At the same time, the white population of suburban areas has increased because many whites have left the central cities for suburban metropolitan areas. More blacks than whites, in general, suffer from underemployment, low incomes, high crime rates, substandard housing and poor health and sanitation conditions. These factors tend to influence the kinds and amount of community services local governments provide or deny to their constituents.

Studies done by such political sociologists as Clark, Lineberry and Fowler, Hirsch, Sanders, and Wilson and Banfield suggest that community attitudes on bond issues, local taxes or local government spending are influenced by the community's ethnic ties.

Much effort is devoted to explaining and forecasting changes in marketings of agricultural commodities. The usual procedure involves formulating hypotheses about behavior of individual producers, then testing them and quantifying relationships by using aggregate data. The purpose of this paper is to suggest and illustrate a procedure that may provide a foundation for improved explanation and prediction of period-to-period changes in marketings.

The procedure uses data obtained from individual producers to test hypotheses about period-to-period changes. Results obtained from an application of this procedure (to analysis of year-to-year changes in hog marketings) suggest that expected profitability alone is unlikely to provide either a very complete explanation or accurate predictions of year-to-year changes.

Fluid milk marketing is characterized by daily and seasonally fluctuating raw milk production, variable fluid processing schedules and seasonally fluctuating consumption patterns. These conditions, plus the perishable nature of the product and a relatively low short-run elasticity of demand for fluid milk, are generally considered to be factors requiring volume of Grade A milk available to an area at any given time to exceed the amount actually consumed in the fluid form—if the market is to be characterized by a reasonable degree of price stability. This excess is often referred to as the minimum or “necessary” reserve. The volume of excess milk available may be greater than this minimum, however, as a result of other factors such as classified pricing or producer prices above equilibrium levels.

The importance of agriculture in developing economies is reflected in the share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) originating in that sector and in the percent of population working in that sector. Brazil received 19 percent of its GDP from agriculture in 1968, and 60 percent of its population was in agriculture. In contrast, only three percent of GDP came from agriculture in the United States, and only six percent of the population was employed in agriculture.

Development of a country's agriculture is dependent on a multitude of factors—not the least of which is availability and use of good seed. Use of high quality seeds increases total yield; allows for more efficient use of fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation because of greater uniformity, better stands and more vigorous plants; usually results in higher quality produce; requires lower planting rates; and usually reduces weed, disease and soil insect problems. Other inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, technical assistance and credit availability are necessary to achieving a sound agriculture.

New directions in national transportation policy have rekindled interest in transportation market structure. The Department of Transportation policy goal to equalize competitive opportunities between modes requires greater understanding of intermodal competitiveness in terms of inherent advantages of each mode in serving particular transportation markets. Flexible railroad ratemaking in the absence of market dominance, provided for in the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, requires measures of intermodal competitiveness to define market dominance.

This article serves two purposes. The first is to develop market area sensitivity as a tool for distinguishing competitive from noncompetitive transportation market structures.

Extremely dry conditions in the Great Plains during Spring and Summer of 1976 have greatly increased the awareness of rural residents and decision-makers of the need for increasing rural fire protection. In addition, increasing investments in farm machinery, buildings, crops and livestock, and urban sprawl have increased the need for improved rural fire protection. Oklahoma farmers have six billion dollars invested in farm property and annually produce crops and livestock worth about 1.9 billion dollars. More than one-third of the state's population lives in rural areas. These large agricultural investments, movements of urban people to small acreages and extremely dry conditions have induced rural residents to pressure county and community officials to improve fire protection. The usual procedure is to approach county commissioners and ask them for funds. Commissioners are acutely aware of the problem, but have several crucial needs competing for limited funds. If they decide to invest in fire equipment such as providing rural truck(s) for an existing department(s) to operate, the problem of optimum placement becomes very important.

Demand for soybeans consists of the derived demand for its use as an input in the production of soybean oil and meal. The marginal value product of any bushel is determined by its oil and protein content and the price of oil and meal. Until recently, traders have been forced to estimate the value of soybeans through a grading scheme based on visual inspection and measured moisture content. Instruments that provide a quick and accurate measurement of the protein and oil content of soybeans and other grains are becoming available. Their use will allow purchasers to adjust the price paid for soybeans that do not possess average protein and oil contents.

The purpose of this paper is to report the development of a system of discounts and premiums that would complement the use of these new instruments in the pricing of soybeans.