Agriculture Commons^™

Buying Revenue Protection (Rp) Versus Buying The Rp With Harvest Price Exclusion (Rphpe) Version Of Multi-Peril Crop Insurance, Matt Stockton, Shannon Sand

Cornhusker Economics

In a conversation with one of the TAPS participants about Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) he suggested that you would never recommend RPHPE, due to the risk associated with a higher fall harvest price compared to the spring or predicted price. Since the year 2000, this has occurred about one-third of the time. This price reversal may alter indemnity size considerably, depending on which insurance is selected and if one qualifies for an indemnity. The discussion with the TAPS participant focused on the concern of risk exposure from pre-selling uninsured grain due to an unexpected increase in harvest price. This relates …

Nebraska Women In Agriculture Conference Marks 39 Years, Ryan Evans, Sarah Treffer, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Women in Agriculture program marked 39 years of educating and empowering females in farming, ranching, and agribusiness, with nearly 380 people attending its annual conference on February 22 and 23, 2024 in Kearney, Nebraska, with a pre-conference session held on February 21. Including 25 workshops, 5 keynotes, and activities to help learn about risk management, farm and ranch improvement, and successful business practices.

Will Saf Turbocharge The Corn Ethanol Market?, Richard Perrin, Lilyan Fulginiti, Felipe Miranda De Souza Almeida

Cornhusker Economics

The long-run outlook for the corn ethanol industry is questionable, due to a transition to electric and hybrid vehicles. One source of hope for the long run is the potential demand for producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). SAF is a key component in the United States Aviation Climate Action Plan, a path to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the aviation industry by 2050. Demand for ethanol for SAF offers hope to the ethanol industry, but it depends a great deal on policy decisions that are being made now. Here we sketch out this story.

Based on the information available …

Value Of Gain In The Lamb Feeding Industry, Jay Parsons

Cornhusker Economics

Value of gain (VOG) is a term in the livestock feeding industry that refers to the average value of a pound of gain. It is the most appropriate revenue value to use in comparison to the cost of gain to determine profit margin.

2022 Census Of Agriculture: Nebraska Highlights, Kathleen Brooks, Bradley Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

In February 2024, the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service published data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. This data is collected every five years. The current article highlights a few of the Nebraska numbers. Two significant highlights from the data are the total number of farms and the total value of production. U.S. farm numbers declined modestly in the U.S. from 2.04 million in 2017 to 1.90 million in 2022. The total value of production for U.S. farms and ranches increased substantially from $388.5 billion in 2017 to $543.1 billion in 2022. Crop production accounted for …

Increasing Workforce Skills: The Possible Disconnect Between Employers And Potential Job Seekers, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

In a multi-year survey of potential job seekers, those who are likely to change jobs in the next year or who are likely to reenter the workforce in the next year, several key training obstacles for improving their employment situation were identified. There seemed to be only slight differences in how they viewed these challenges, regardless of whether they saw their potential job as a career, a steppingstone to a career, or just a job to get by. The cost of training, the lack of available training, the distance or transportation to the training, lack of time, and the knowledge …

Embracing Diversity In Agricultural Economics, Timothy L. Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

To steal an overused cliché, “There’s room in the tent for everyone.” Over the 2023 academic year, I have reiterated this message to all my students, with one addition. Not only is there room for everyone, but all are invited AND welcome. Food is something we all have in common, no matter the background. I think this is why producers in the state of Nebraska feel as strongly as they do about the food they produce; it is life-giving and should be taken seriously. Nebraska Agriculture is part of what makes our state great, and that is not a secret …

Slight Cost Of Production Changes Noted In The 2024 Nebraska Crop Enterprise Budgets, Glennis Mcmclure

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska crop budgets are available for the 2024 production season. The 84 enterprise budgets prepared in the October 2023 timeframe use input prices collected as of that time. Overall, estimates reflect slight cost of production decreases in the budgets when compared to the 2023 cost estimates. For 2024, the main drivers of cost decreases are due to decreased fuel and fertilizer costs. In some cases, pesticide costs decreased, yet for some of those products, prices increased. Seed and interest costs have increased for 2024 adding to cash expenses, while land opportunity costs and depreciation costs have continued to rise …

Program Requirements For Beef Cattle Certified As Usda Organic, Carsten Loseke, Elliott James Dennis

Cornhusker Economics

This document provides an overview of the use and production of the USDA Certified Organic program for the beef cattle industry, with an emphasis on the state of Nebraska. We detail what cattle qualify, feed requirements, medical and health standards of cattle, and premiums paid by consumers for USDA certified organic products. All information is taken from the Organic Foods Production Act Provisions available in the Federal Register.

Are Too Many Or Too Few Babies Being Born?, Wesley Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

An additional 1.8 billion people will be added to the world’s population by 2050. At the same time, average incomes are likely to rise. Data from the Groningen Growth and Development Center suggest that average real (inflation-adjusted) GDP per capita increased by a factor of fifteen between 1820 and 2018 and World Bank data indicate that real per capita GDP more than tripled over the past 62 years. It is likely that these trends will continue and there will be more people with higher average incomes in the future straining global food systems and natural resources. Slower population growth rates …

Recognizing Power And Control When Planning Your Estate, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

The older generations have spent their entire professional lives using the power and control that they accumulated through hard work and their long tenures. Having them retire and give up that control and power is difficult for some in those generations. Overall, it is challenging for them to give up control or power.

Agriculture And Community Well-Being: A Review Of Three Research Studies., Marilyn R. Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

Personal observations are often obscure to the facts. For instance, recently I worked at a booth at Husker Harvest Days. The booth focused on rural community development. My observations were that many of the agricultural producers decided to not stop at our booth or for those who did stop, conversations showed a disconnect of the importance of their local community to their farm operations. Similarly, when working with communities, I have observed the lack of understanding of the importance of the agricultural producers to the local community’s well-being. Why the disconnect between these two very important components of our rural …

Pass-Through Entity Tax Deduction, Tina N. Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

In 2023, the State of Nebraska became the 36th state to implement a Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) Deduction law. This law is in response to a change made by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018 which limited the state and local tax deduction eligible for itemized deductions to $10,000. This new state law allows partnerships and s-corporations to pay the state income tax on behalf of their owners which qualifies it for a federal tax law deduction. The individuals will then receive a credit on their individual return for the tax paid on their behalf.

Will Nebraska Farms And Ranches Be Ready For Double Digit Operating Line Rates?, Jeffrey Stokes, Jim Jansen

Cornhusker Economics

For those involved in agriculture, it has been quite a while since interest rates on farm real estate, equipment, and operating lines have been as high as they are for the industry. As the fall harvest winds down and producers focus on next year, interest rates on operating lines may cause shock. It has been over 20 years since interest rates on operating lines exceeded 10%. To better understand what may be causing interest rates on operating lines to rise, it will be beneficial to understand some basic monetary policy tools the Fed has at its disposal. The tool receiving …

Notes From The Brazilian Cornfields, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

In the last few months, I have been traveling in Brazil. My objective with this trip is to meet with industry professionals, government officials, and academic researchers to learn about recent developments in Brazilian agriculture and what we can expect to see in the future. I have essentially been asking people their opinions about the main developments in Brazil in the last few years and their perspectives for the future. One of the main topics that has emerged consistently in these conversations is, not surprisingly, the corn market.

Diesel Tractor Fuel Efficiency And Exhaust Emissions Standards, Jerin Tekolste, Cory Walters, Michael Mccullough, Lynn Hamilton, Lia Nogueira, Roger M. Hoy

Cornhusker Economics

Diesel engine performance and costs represent crucial factors for agricultural producers while pollutants from the exhaust are largely a social concern but also important to producers. Beginning in 1970, Congress authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions with amendments in subsequent years (U.S. EPA, 2023). In 1996 the EPA issued strict Exhaust Emission Standards for Nonroad Compression-Ignition Engines, causing a major paradigm shift in acceptable emission levels. A primary concern coming from many manufacturers was the difficulty of designing an engine to meet these standards without compromising the engines’ power output and efficient fuel consumption (Lloyd and Cackette 2001; …

Owning Our Identity – Celebrating Cooperatives In 2023, Charlotte Narjes

Cornhusker Economics

Owning Our Identity is the 2023 theme to build awareness of cooperatives nationally. October has been nationally recognized as cooperative month since 1964. The following bullets in this year’s USDA Proclamation emphasize the impact of cooperatives.

Market And Welfare Impacts Of A “Portion Size Reduction” Policy, Hanin Hosni, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

The portion size of common food items consumed at home, restaurants and fast-food establishments in the United States (US) has increased since the 1970s, with the portion size of meals and beverages in several restaurants exceeding the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration recommendations. Portion size has continued to grow in parallel with increasing body weights and food waste. According to USDA, 35% of the US population suffers from obesity while 40 million people are food insecure. At the same time, about 1/3 of the US food supply goes unconsumed, with 2/3 of food waste occurring …

Insurance, Policy, And Education For Livestock Producers, Milan Chauhan, Bradley Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

Federal crop insurance programs have existed since the 1930s, but for livestock producers, federal insurance programs were virtually nonexistent until the past 20 years. Livestock producers may not face exactly the same production risks that crop producers face, but they do face similar production risks related to grazing capacity and forage production and of course face price risks just like crop producers do.

A Classical Fall Statistics Problem, Timothy L. Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

An evaluation of traditional baseball measures and suggestions for alternatives, centering on statistics related to the offensive quality of a player.

New Foods Produced With Genome-Editing Technique In The Global Marketplace, Stéphan Marette, Anne-Célia Disdier, John C. Beghin

Cornhusker Economics

This Cornhusker Economics article builds upon a previous Cornhusker Economics article of September 8, 2021, on the heterogenous willingness to pay (WTP) for genome edited (GenEd) apples in France and the US (Beghin, 2022). Using graphical illustration, this new article summarizes in layman's terms two related economic analyses by Marette et al. (2022) and (2023). These analyses investigate Research and Development (R&D) investment in food innovations based on New Plant Engineering Techniques (NPETs), such as GenEd and traditional hybridization methods, and then in the context of international trade. With trade, innovators compete globally with their food novelties in each other’s …

Remote Work Is Not Going Away: How Can Rural Communities Take Advantage Of This Opportunity?, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

Since the COVID-19 pandemic as of 2020, are we looking at a national remote work “new normal” with a hybrid office and remote work combination as an additional option? This is an important question for rural areas. Discusses remote work trends and steps needed to leverage remote work in the rural context.

Seasons, Stress, Salience, And Support For Cooperative Groundwater Management, Jordan Suter, Todd Guilfoos, Karina Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

Background: Common property resources (CPR) are defined as resources where one person’s use affects what is available to others (either now or in the future). One example of a CPR is a shared aquifer, where multiple users have access to the groundwater. Economic researchers have shown that with a CPR, there are economic benefits to regulating the use of the resource, and that well-designed regulation increases the sustainability of agricultural-based economies that rely on CPRs. Many such regulations exist, and examples include allocation limits in some of Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts and Kansas’s Groundwater Management Districts, as well as …

2023 Cash Lease Adjustments For Irrigation Equipment On Cropland Rental Arrangements In Nebraska, Jim Jansen, Jeff Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2022-2023 provides insight into recent trends in the market value of agricultural land and cash rental rates across the state. Each year, the special feature section covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect the interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The 2023 special feature section focuses on cash lease adjustments on irrigation equipment for cropland rental arrangements across Nebraska when the tenant provides a component of the …

Your Farm’S Financial Condition And Profitability Revisited, Matt Stockton, Shannon Sand

Cornhusker Economics

Looking at December futures contracts, corn prices may have reached a high and are tending to recede. If they stay higher, producers will likely have a good year. Still, if they tend to decline, which is possible given current carryover and supply projections, prices may stabilize or decline as we approach harvest. Those with multiperil crop insurance in areas with lower yields, e.g., droughtstricken areas with sufficiently high enough levels of coverage, will benefit from the February projected price of $5.91/bu. For the past two seasons, fall prices exceeded projected prices in the spring, making selling at harvest an attractive …

Assessing Determinants Of Participation In Conservation Programs In The U.S., Manita Ale, Simanti Banerjee, Taro Mieno, Karina Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

In order to generate ecosystem services (ES) from privately owned intensively managed agricultural land, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have implemented many conservation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to name a few. These programs provide financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to adopt land management practices that generate ES.

Intertemporal Preferences Or (In)Attention To Future Costs: Identifying Factors Influencing Variation In Health Behaviors, Christopher Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

When you have the urge to buy a fancy coffee drink at your favorite coffee place, do you think about alternative future uses of the money that you would spend on the drink? If, in the end, you decide to forego buying the drink to save money, you have, by definition, considered what you are giving up now—the drink—in order to have the money later, but many people may not consider the future opportunities they forego when they make decisions now. Research suggests that this asymmetric attention to immediate versus future opportunity costs— the benefits that we give up when …

Nebraska Extension: Supporting The Well-Being Of Farmers And Ranchers, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

Nebraska Extension is a proud member of the North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center. A regional center funded by USDA NIFA, it delivers farm and ranch stress and mental health resources and services in 12 states, including Nebraska.

Since 2021, several programs delivered by Nebraska Extension and its partners have been supported with these funds. This article will review the key programs supported in Nebraska.

Tas Orders, Innovations And Challenges In Futures Markets, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Futures contracts and futures exchanges were developed a long time ago in the process of evolution of commodity trading. They were created with the purpose of facilitating the buying and selling of commodities. Despite challenges along the way, they helped make commodity trading faster, easier, and more efficient for many buyers and sellers. Still today, futures exchanges are constantly looking for new ways to adjust to new developments in commodity markets and further facilitate trading. After all, as we have previously discussed in this space, futures exchanges provide a service to buyers and sellers, i.e., the marketplace to trade futures …

Crop-Livestock Diversification And Efficiency In Agriculture, Jay Parsons, Maroua Afi

Cornhusker Economics

Diversification is a familiar strategy for managing risk in agriculture. It can take several forms including growing more than one crop or operating a farm with both crop and livestock enterprises. As with other strategies for managing risk, diversification comes with a unique set of costs. Managing a farm with multiple enterprises creates additional overhead as well as additional demands on management, labor, land, capital, and other resources. Diversification adds complexity to an operation and too much complexity can lead to inefficiencies.