Cotton warehouses face unique inventory management challenges. This research addresses this challenge by proposing innovative strategies to enhance warehouse efficiency. Three key objectives are addressed: modeling cotton bale movements, evaluating an alternative to the current bale handling process, and evaluating an alternative to the current cotton bale marketing system. Results reveal significant cost savings. Changing bale receiving and placement strategy by using gin codes yields a $499,000 per-cycle reduction for an Oklahoma cotton warehouse case. Altering order fulfillment techniques, such as grouping 30 orders, saves $34,000 per cycle. Implementing quality-based bale substitution leads to a $1.3 million saving per cycle.

Livestock abortion is a source of economic loss for farmers, but its economic impact has not been estimated in many Low and Middle-Income Countries. This article presents an estimation methodology and estimates for the gross and net cost of an abortion based on a sample of livestock-owning households in three regions of northern Tanzania and market data. We then generate aggregate estimates of abortion losses across Tanzania. We estimate annual gross and net annual losses of about $263 Million (about TZS 600 billion) and $131 million (about TZS 300 billion), respectively.

Safflower grown in the western U.S. is often produced for birdseed mixes. Increasing demand for birdseed products, combined with regional drought, has shrunk western safflower availability. To satisfy the growing demand, processors may look to contracting strategies to incentivize production. We compare expected risk and corresponding certainty equivalents both from the processor and producer viewpoints under various contracting mechanisms and risk aversion levels. Results suggest that contracts containing a combination of lump sum acreage payments and fixed price performance payments would incentivize producer adoption of safflower while maintaining processor profitability and limiting the risk exposure of both parties.

By examining the econometric interrelationships of rice export prices of India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, this study examines the most influential rice-exporting countries in the international rice export market. The sampled countries are the source of more than 80% of the global rice exports. In the process, this study relies on online data portals of the United Nations and country-level sources for aromatic and non-aromatic rice export price information from India, Pakistan, and Thailand. This study employed the Prais-Winsten and Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) estimation processes with the error correction procedure. Combining the findings from both models, this study concludes that in terms of interactions, the non-aromatic long-grain rice price of the U.S., and the aromatic rice price of Pakistan are the most correlated prices in the international rice market. Considering the number of countries influenced by the price of a given country, our results indicate that Vietnam is the price leader in the non-aromatic long-grain market, followed by Argentina, Brazil, and India. India, the largest exporter, is the fourth top price leader. In the case of aromatic rice, Thailand is the absolute leader. Many countries in Asia and Africa rely on rice imports to meet domestic demand, where the food security situation is already precarious. Based on the findings, this study suggests closely monitoring rice production and export trends of Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, India and Thailand to provide early warning when necessary to better manage supply shocks in the international rice market.

In Europe, uptake of multi-peril crop insurance remains limited, leading to discussions on premium subsidies. A study of 228 Saxony farmers investigated their attitudes and willingness to pay for a multi-peril crop insurance in 2022. Using a cluster analysis based on farmers’ satisfaction with current risk management as well as market supply of tools, perceived benefits of the insurance, and views on governmental intervention, four farmer segments were identified. Each showed varied attitudes toward insurance subsidies, willingness to pay, and farm characteristics. As an initial ex-ante study on this topic, the insights are invaluable for insurance providers and policy makers.

This paper examines the impact of land ownership on farm-level investment and investment risk (variability) in Indian agriculture using nationally representative survey data. The study adopts a flexible moment approach with White’s heteroscedasticity consistent standard error method. Results reveal that land ownership intensity significantly augments on-farm investment and reduces its variability. Other variables like family head’s education, access to irrigation, technical advice, credit and nonfarm income have significant inducement effects on-farm investment. We also observe that farmers’ education, age, irrigation, technical advice, MSP awareness and commercialization reduce farm investment risk. Findings have important policy implications for Indian land tenancy

The objective was to estimate the difference in cost, revenue, and profit between unassisted and assisted calvings on western Canadian cow-calf operations. Historical records of individual animal production measures from 2015 to 2020 and industry-described inputs were used in a modified decision tree model. The incidence of assisted calvings in heifers and cows was 4.6 and 2%, respectively. Assisted heifers and cows had an expected profit of −$227.43 and −$67.06 CAD per calving, respectively, while unassisted heifers and cows had an expected profit of −$76.11 and $120.12 CAD per calving, respectively. Calving assistance can impact the profitability of western Canadian cow-calf operations.

This study examines the grazing management plans (GMPs) adoption and prioritization of environmental and economic objectives among U.S. cow-calf and stocker operations, utilizing 2020–2021 survey data and logistic regression analysis. Findings reveal regional adoption differences, with higher rates in the Midwest. Operations with succession plans, larger grazing lands, and stocker activities are more likely to adopt GMPs. Operations with more privately owned land and smaller herd sizes prefer environmental goals, while those with less grazing land prioritize economic outcomes due to resource concerns. The study provides insights for policies promoting GMP adoption and sustainability in the U.S. beef sector.

Using the Heckman framework, we develop profiles of households who purchase Greek yogurt and non-Greek yogurt and estimate own-price, cross-price, and income elasticities of demand. Attention is centered on the impacts of age, race, education, and ethnicity of the household head, household income, household size, region, the presence of children, and prices of Greek yogurt and non-Greek yogurt. This analysis rests on data acquired from Nielsen pertaining to 164,484 households over calendar years 2018–2020. Own-price elasticities are estimated to be −1.36 for Greek yogurt and −0.70 for non-Greek yogurt. Additionally, these yogurt products are not only substitutes but also necessities.