The number of insecticide applications made by an apple grower to control an insect infestation is modeled as a geometric random variable. Insecticide efficacy, rate per application, month of treatment, and method of application all have significant impacts on the expected number of applications. The number of applications to control a given insect population is dependent on the probability of achieving successful control with a given application. Results suggest that northeastern growers have the highest and mid-Atlantic growers the lowest probability of controlling an infestation with a given application. Results also indicate that scales require the least and moths the most number of applications. Growers are not responsive to per unit insecticide prices, but respond negatively to insecticide toxicity, supporting findings from previous pesticide demand analyses.

Public support for integrated pest management (IPM) is derived in part from concerns over food safety and the environment, yet few studies have assessed the economic value of health and environmental benefits of IPM. An approach is suggested for such an assessment and applied to the Virginia peanut IPM program. Effects of IPM on environmental risks posed by pesticides are assessed and society's willingness to pay to reduce those risks is estimated. The annual environmental benefits of the peanut IPM program are estimated at $844,000. The estimates of pesticide risks and willingness to pay can be applied elsewhere in economic assessments of IPM.

A year ago, apprehensive about writing this address, I spoke with former president Joe Broder. He advised me to pick something I cared about deeply. That advice, although well meant, left me rather stymied. I care about teaching, but Joe Broder's own presidential address had handled that topic better than I thought I could. So I floundered for a while, without gaining a focus. Then came August and the signing into law of the new welfare bill. A few months earlier, farm programs had also been vastly modified. My topic finally came together. The combination of the 1996 Farm Bill and the new welfare legislation clearly signaled major changes for the rural South, and I wondered what these changes would entail.

Requiring that crop applications of manure be based on phosphorus content (P-standard) could increase poultry litter disposal costs. Microbial phytase reduces litter P content and could reduce litter disposal costs under a P-standard. For a representative Virginia turkey farm, phytase costs $2,500 and could increase value of litter used for fertilizer on the turkey farm by $390 and reduce supplemental P feed costs by $1,431. Based on assumed litter demand and supply, estimated litter export prices with phytase could exceed export prices without phytase by $3.81 per ton. Phytase net returns to the farm are an estimated $1,435.

Environmental policies make a difference in shaping producers' choices among dairy production technologies, the sizes and locations of their dairies, and even which dairies ultimately survive. Induced policy innovation means producers reacting to policies, and policies, in turn, being shaped by their effects. Profiles of experiences with environmental compliance in Texas and Florida were analyzed. Results demonstrate that the timing and sequencing of policy signals make a difference in compliance behavior and options. Furthermore, ex ante assessments of the costs of environmental compliance are challenging to carry out, and consequently can undermine the policy goal of maintaining the maximum number of options for compliance.

Actual performance records of production contract farmers are used to assess the extent to which contract production reduces the risk borne by pork producers. Comparisons of contracting relative to independent market production reveal that farmers who enter into production contracts based on absolute performance measures reduce risks associated with variable income. Weak evidence is found that relative performance contracts, similar to those used in the broiler chicken industry, further reduce income variability. The effectiveness of such relative performance contracts will rely on several factors; among these are increased contract production and a more uniform pork production and processing system.

The beef industry in the United States consists of several distinct production levels ranging from the cow-calf producer at the lowest level to the final consumer. These sectors face varying levels of profitability, degrees of market power, conflicting goals, and price signals. Environmental regulations involve questions of what costs are involved, who is in a position to pay these costs, and whether market prices are capable of signaling different environmental practices. Understanding the relationships within the beef industry may allow researchers to fine-tune analyses of environmental issues in the beef industry.

Indonesia is a rapidly growing and competitive market for U.S. fruit. A restricted, source-differentiated, almost ideal demand system is estimated for apples, oranges, grapes, and other fruit in Indonesia. The Marshallian expenditure elasticities for U.S. fruit are estimated to be between 1.01 and 1.21. For grapes and oranges, competition with other fruits appears to be more important than competition with other supply sources. For apples, strong sourcedifferentiated substitution relationships are found.

Using IRI Infoscan data pertaining to six types of spaghetti sauces and employing an extension of the demand systems framework developed by Duffy, estimates are obtained of own-price, cross-price, and total expenditure elasticities as well as own- and crossproduct advertising elasticities. We augment the Duffy model through the use of a polynomial inverse lag mechanism to deal with the carryover effects of advertising. We also account for the impacts of features in newspaper fliers, in-store displays, and coupons. Advertising efforts by industry leaders in spaghetti sauce produce positive own-advertising elasticities (ranging from .000058 to .0168) and negative cross-advertising elasticities (ranging from –.000003 to –.0094). Own-price elasticities are in the elastic range, and nearly all compensated cross-price effects are positive, indicative of Hicksian substitutes.

This paper examines the relationship between industrialized production in the pork and broiler industries and the natural environment. Historical perspectives are presented regarding the movement toward increasingly concentrated and coordinated pork and broiler production units in the South. The relationships between animal by-product management and environmental quality, both at the farm level and within a geographic region, are addressed. Using the North Carolina pork industry as a background, current regulations and potential policy implications to protect environmental quality are discussed.

Industrialization of the food and agricultural sectors changes the pattern of external effects. Participants helped or harmed in the process attempt to influence outcomes through markets and politics. Decisions about property rights and boundaries determine benefits and burdens and the relative cost of animal agriculture in different jurisdictions. Prescriptions to redefine property rights are influenced by selective perception of rights to share in the benefits and be protected from costs. Political choices about the appropriate jurisdiction (state versus local) for addressing environmental and nuisance effects of animal agriculture affect whose preferences count and will influence the development of these sectors.

The impacts of generic dairy advertising on retail, wholesale, and farm dairy markets are estimated in this study at the national level. The results indicate that generic dairy advertising had a major impact on retail, wholesale, and farm markets for the dairy industry. The main conclusion of the study is that farmers are receiving a high return on their investment in generic dairy advertising, i.e., an average rate of return of $3.40 for every dollar invested over the period 1984–95. Moreover, the return on investment in advertising was higher in the most recent year, almost double the average for the previous 11 years.

This article examines whether the assumption of perfect competition in the U.S. dairy industry biases the findings of economic impacts of generic dairy advertising. An imperfect competition model based on an approach similar to that of Appelbaum is developed and used to evaluate generic milk advertising. The results are compared with a perfect competition model. The findings indicate positive price and quantity impacts due to generic advertising. The differences in magnitude of impacts between the two models are small, suggesting that the assumption of perfect competition for U.S. dairy models is plausible.

German social theorist Ulrich Beck has suggested that the political economy of post-industrial society has shifted away from the competition among relatively well-defined social groups for control of benefit streams resulting from technological and organizational innovations that characterized the roughly 200-year period of industrialization. In its place, we find constantly changing aggregates of individuals engaged in temporary or limited alliances competing to affect the distribution of social, environmental, and economic risks. Beck argues that a complex set of forces has brought about this shift. He mentions many oft noted changes in gender and family roles, in employment patterns, and global interdependencies, but two points are especially relevant to me collection of issues that have been discussed in these four papers.

Laboratory experiments are used to generate data that facilitate investigation of pricing behavior in forward and spot markets. Results suggest a tendency for prices in a spot market to converge to levels higher than those in a forward market. The difference in these market environments is the supply schedule. Buyers in a spot market are aware that supply is inelastic and become relatively aggressive bidders. Forward markets have a relatively elastic supply schedule and buyers fare better. This may motivate firms to promote forward markets and/or vertically integrate in the procurement of inputs.

In the fields of agriculture and resource economics, good economics is predicated by good science. By partnering more with physical scientists, economists will be better able to provide the broad policy-making community with practical recommendations for addressing resource issues. An example of collaboration is presented for the development of environmental indicators of the potential risk to the environment of die loss of pesticides from farm fields, which will be used by economists to adjust conventionally measured agricultural output for water quality impacts associated with agricultural production.

Forecasts of economic time series are often evaluated according to their accuracy as measured by either quantitative precision or qualitative reliability. We argue that consumers purchase forecasts for the potential utility gains from utilizing them, not for their accuracy. Using Monte Carlo techniques to incorporate the temporal heteroskedasticity inherent in asset returns, the expected utility of a set of qualitative forecasts is simulated for corn and soybean futures prices. Monetary values for forecasts of various reliability levels are derived. The method goes beyond statistical forecast evaluation, allowing individuals to incorporate their own utility function and trading system into valuing a set of asset price forecasts.

Restricting or eliminating the use of atrazine in the Midwest would have important economic consequences for farmers, consumers, and the environment. These consequences can only be evaluated with cooperation between economists and weed scientists. The weed control choice set available to farmers cannot be observed through deductive research. Economists and weed scientists worked together to identify all possible weed control strategies for corn and sorghum in the Midwest and to incorporate them into an economic model. An atrazine ban was found to be the costliest strategy, and a targeted, water-quality based strategy the most cost effective.