Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), an invasive weed, is a threat to slash pine forests. Using a dynamic optimization model, we estimated the impact of cogongrass on the profitability of slash pine forestry under four scenarios: no threat of cogongrass infestation; infestation is uncertain, and no control measures are taken; infestation is uncertain, but control measures are undertaken by one landowner but not the neighbors; and infestation is uncertain, and control measures are undertaken by everyone. Results indicate that annual net returns per acre under each scenario, respectively, are $25.30, $16.97, $13.89, and $17.38. Results suggest fostering a cooperative behavior among landowners is desirable.

This article undertakes an empirical investigation of the determinants of voluntary adoption of the ISO 14001 environmental management system by French farmers. The adoption model incorporates the expected profitability of implementing the standard and investigates the impact of prior knowledge on the probability of adopting. Two information measures are considered: a “reported information” indicator and an “estimated knowledge” score. The probit parameter estimates reveal that, while the expected profitability of implementing the standard is a significant determinant of adoption, real and perceived prior knowledge measures play a significant but potentially counterintuitive role.

This research presents a systematic and unified approach to evaluating forecast rationality that considers the potential of nonstationarity in forecasts and realized values. The approach is applied to one-quarter ahead U.S. Department of Agriculture livestock price forecasts from 1982 through 2004. Results show that forecasts and realized prices are integrated of the same order, and those that are nonstationary are cointegrated. However, the stationary price forecasts for hogs, turkeys, eggs, and milk are biased and improperly scaled, and forecast errors tend to be repeated. Similarly, nonstationary forecasts for cattle and broilers are also biased and irrational in the long run, but short-run dynamics are rational.

Dominant users of Lake Okeechobee water resources are agricultural producers and recreational anglers These uses will be directly affected, should the lake become infested with zebra mussels. We employ a probabilistic bioeconomic simulation model to estimate the potential impact of zebra mussels on consumptive water uses, recreational angling, and wetland ecosystem services under alternative public management scenarios. Without public management, the expected net economic impact from zebra mussels is –$244.1 million over 20 years. Public investment in prevention and eradication will yield a net expected gain of +$188.7 million, a superior strategy to either prevention or eradication alone.

Since the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, the commodity grain system has been under pressure to segregate GM and non-GM crops. Starting at the level of the grain handler, members of the grain supply chain have successfully used quality assurance and identity preservation programs to segregate non GM crops. Producers delivering high-value, identity-preserved crops have become interested in implementing these quality management systems at the farm level. We conduct a cost-benefit analysis that shows that quality assurance program may be profitable for producers, depending on their farm size and equipment management strategy.

In this study, we used farm-level data from a university feed-out program to evaluate how the value of feeder cattle ultimately realized through finishing and grid pricing differs from their market value at public auction. Consistent with the theory of factor price disparity, results indicate that significant risk premiums exist in the feeder cattle market. Producers of cattle with known feedlot performance, carcass potential, or both might be better off retaining ownership of their calves or marketing them in a way that communicates the information that is known about their potential performance directly to the buyer.

Determining appropriate topics and target audiences is essential to design effective educational outreach programs. Based on landowner responses to a mail survey, we determined both the importance and the availability of wildlife and forest management information topics to Mississippi landowners. Combining this information clearly identified the appropriate subject matter for outreach programs—topics important to landowners and for which information was relatively unavailable. The importance of wildlife and forest management information relative to its availability depended on the region, land use patterns, and landowner characteristics, thus demonstrating which segments of the population should be targeted to maximize program impact.

Herein we explore the economic value of delaying inevitable environmental damage due to aquatic invasive species, which is a problem especially relevant to tropic and subtropical regions. We developed an analytical framework and tested it using a stated preference survey. The results suggest that delaying the impacts can be valuable. Other tests reveal characteristics of the willingness-to-pay estimates that are consistent with economic theory.

The Southeastern United States depends on coal to supply 60% of its electricity needs. The region leads in CO2 emissions and ranks second in emissions of SO2 and NO2. Compared with coal, biomass feedstocks have lower emission levels of sulfur or sulfur compounds and can potentially reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. This study examines the economic impacts of cofiring biomass feedstocks with coal in coal-fired plants under three emission credit and two cofiring level scenarios. Economic impacts are estimated for producing, collecting, and transporting feedstock; retrofitting coal-fired utilities for burning feedstock; operating cofired utilities; and coal displaced from burning the feedstock.

Aggregate data are commonly used to determine returns to storage. However, recent studies have shown that aggregating data may lead to underestimated returns. This article compares aggregate and elevator data from Oklahoma to determine if aggregate data underestimate returns. We find no difference between the mean returns estimated with aggregate data and the mean returns estimated with transaction level data from grain elevators in Oklahoma.

Heads of agricultural economics and agribusiness departments across the United States are surveyed to develop an inventory of distance education (DE) offerings by their departments. Perceived challenges, strategies for use, and future plans for DE are assessed. While the majority of the responding departments offer DE, the department heads believed that faculty time costs to develop/deliver DE are high relative to traditional delivery and that both strategic plans for implementing DE and financial incentives for faculty to adopt DE are lacking. The department heads did, however, have positive views about the technological ability of students to use distance courses.

We present a bioeconomic model of three invasive aquatic plants (hydrilla, water hyacinth, and water lettuce) in 13 large Florida lakes, and simulate one-year and steady-state impacts of three control scenarios. We estimate that the steady-state annual net benefit of invasive plant control is $59.95 million. A one-year increase in control yields steady-state gains of $6.55 million per year, and a one-year lapse causes steady-state annual losses of $18.71 million. This model shows that increased control of hydrilla, water hyacinth, and water lettuce is optimal.

This paper examines the effect of the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The results suggest that U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico have been responsive to tariff rate reductions applied to Mexican products. A one percentage point decrease in tariff rates is associated with an increase in U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico by 5.31% in the first 6 years of NAFTA and by 2.62% in the last 6 years of NAFTA. U.S. imports from Mexico have also been attributable to the pre-NAFTA tariff rates. Overall, the results indicate that the U.S-Mexico trade agreement under NAFTA has been trade creating rather than trade diverting.

The impact of the U.S. cotton policy depends on several interrelated factors: how input subsidies interact with producer price supports, producer price expectations, and the extent to which price supports are decoupled from production. Cotton subsidies have a direct impact on world cotton prices, depending on the extent to which price supports are coupled to production. At one extreme, there is a price impact of 12.4% when producers make decisions at the loan rate, but the average price impact is 20.9% when producers make decisions based on the target price. Results are presented for intermediate cases of decoupling.

This research develops a multiregional optimal control model that incorporates regional allocation of a public budget for controlling invasive plants when regionally differential recreation demand functions and species control costs are present. Our equimarginal condition for optimal budget allocation equates the relative marginal economic benefits per dollar spent across regions. The model was applied to Florida Public Conservation Land regions, and results indicate that the magnitude of an annual management budget affects its distribution among species management regions, but the size of the intrinsic growth rate does not affect the pattern of budget allocation among regions.

Typical supermarket chickens are produced with novel or controversial attributes. This continues despite contrasting growth in consumer interest in organic and natural foods. This study surveyed Delaware consumers' likelihood to purchase chicken given different attributes: free range, given antibiotics, irradiated, fed genetically modified (GM) feed, GM chicken, and price. Examining conjoint analysis data with a heteroskedastic two-limit tobit model, GM chicken and other novel attributes were found to lower purchase likelihood significantly. Understanding these results should help the industry meet consumer preferences while aiding its continued expansion to benefit workers and growers across the South.

This paper provides an overview of the development of the Management Analysis and Strategic Thinking (MAST) program conducted by Kansas State University. This intensive management training course for progressive farm and agribusiness operators is being delivered successfully using a combination of face-to-face and distance extension delivery techniques. We find that some parts of the program are best delivered face to face and other parts are best delivered via distance. Of participants surveyed, 94% would recommend the MAST program to their peers, and 100% believe the program will have a positive impact on their businesses' bottom line.