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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Planning Your Business In The Volatile Economy Of 2009, Doug Jose
Planning Your Business In The Volatile Economy Of 2009, Doug Jose
Cornhusker Economics
Planning what to grow in 2009 has many complications this year. Among the possible unknowns at the farm level are market prices for commodities, the cost and availability of inputs and the cost and availability of operating credit. I say “possible” because through contractual arrangements and forward pricing decisions you may already have locked in many of these prices for the next production cycle. Then there are a number of general economic situations which will impact agriculture. The financial recovery both here and worldwide is critical. Agriculture needs improvement in our general economy and improved consumer confidence in order to …
New Rural Residents: Insights Into Their Decision To Stay Or Leave, Charlotte Narjes, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel
New Rural Residents: Insights Into Their Decision To Stay Or Leave, Charlotte Narjes, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel
Cornhusker Economics
What brought new residents to the Nebraska Panhandle? For many, it was the image of a small town environment, which they described as a family and faith oriented community, safe and free of traffic and congestion and often located closer to family.
This insight was one of many identified through twelve regional focus group interviews conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty as part of a research project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture-National Research Initiative.
While a number of individuals were pleased with the small town atmosphere, others found that their image of the community did not …
Cow Size, Perhaps More Than Just A Production Efficiency Decision, Matthew Stockton, Dillion Feuz, Roger K. Wilson
Cow Size, Perhaps More Than Just A Production Efficiency Decision, Matthew Stockton, Dillion Feuz, Roger K. Wilson
Cornhusker Economics
In Cattle Today, an online beef producer’s magazine, a February 7, 2008 article titled “Preconditioned Calves Give Premium At Market” contained this statement, "We're weaning calves bigger and younger than we ever have. Many calves now weigh 600 to 700 pounds at weaning, whereas 20 or 30 years ago a yearling would weigh 600 to 700 pounds.” (http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2008/February/CT1 411.shtml).
If you asked experts in the beef industry, you would probably get many different answers as to why calf size has increased. Some of the factors that probably have had an influence in increasing size include a better understanding of …
Can Genetically Engineered Nutraceuticals Win Back Skeptical Consumers?, Karoline Kastanek, Emie Yiannaka
Can Genetically Engineered Nutraceuticals Win Back Skeptical Consumers?, Karoline Kastanek, Emie Yiannaka
Cornhusker Economics
The unexpected (to many) consumer resistance to the first generation genetically modified (GM) food products that focused on producers, and aimed at increasing yields, hurt the prospects of the agricultural biotechnology sector. As a response and in an effort to win back skeptical consumers, agricultural biotechnology firms started working on food products with functional properties desirable to consumers, that are commonly known as second generation GM products. Food products in this category include vitamin A enriched rice and maize (golden rice and golden maize), high protein wheat, and high oleic soybean oil, to name a few. Recently, a new generation …
Moving To The Nebraska Panhandle: A Broad Picture Of The Decision Process, Charlotte Narjes
Moving To The Nebraska Panhandle: A Broad Picture Of The Decision Process, Charlotte Narjes
Cornhusker Economics
New residents to the Nebraska Panhandle compared and researched rural communities before making their decision to move. This was one of the themes that emerged in a qualitative study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture CSREES National Research Initiative Grant program. The new movers not only compared communities, but they had choices, as one individual stated, “We spent about six months looking at different communities … we developed a formula … 50 percent job … 25 percent community, 25 percent school.”
Thirteen questions were asked to 78 new residents that participated in …
Simple Rules That May Help Ranchers Select Replacement Heifers For Increased Pregnancy Rates And Reduce Dystocia, Matt Stockton, Roger K. Wilson
Simple Rules That May Help Ranchers Select Replacement Heifers For Increased Pregnancy Rates And Reduce Dystocia, Matt Stockton, Roger K. Wilson
Cornhusker Economics
Every year livestock producers replace cows they cull from their herds with young animals often selected from progeny of the cows they currently own. Since replacement rates for beef cattle in Nebraska tend to average between 16 to 20 percent annually, this is not a trivial undertaking. Much of the talk among producers tends to concentrate on muscling and other physically observable characteristics, and the genetic composition of animals to be selected as replacements. These criteria are important, but what must also be considered is the ability of the selected replacement animals to perform reproductively. Producers expect cost to be …
Leasing Decisions For The Volatile Year Ahead, Bruce B. Johnson
Leasing Decisions For The Volatile Year Ahead, Bruce B. Johnson
Cornhusker Economics
As if the economic environment for production agriculture isn’t risky enough already, we are now heading into an ‘economic headwind’ that few of us could even have imagined just a few short months ago. A global financial system brought to a screeching halt along with massive asset devaluation, has brought the United States and the rest of the world community to a financial crisis unseen since the depression of the 1930s. While policy makers are responding with measures to divert economic disaster, there seems to be little disagreement that we are, in the very least, staring into the face of …
Putting A Value On "Sweat Equity", David J. Goeller
Putting A Value On "Sweat Equity", David J. Goeller
Cornhusker Economics
For some farm/ranch families, deciding what to do with the family business can be very troublesome. How can we pass the farming business to the next generation while at the same time not create animosity or envy between the heirs? If we divide it equally between all the children, will it create such small pieces that the successor child cannot make a living operating the family farm? If one child is required to buy out his/her siblings will the business generate enough income to make this a feasible option? Most parents would say “We want to treat our children fairly.” …
Ethanol And Low Carbon Fuel Standards, Richard K. Perrin
Ethanol And Low Carbon Fuel Standards, Richard K. Perrin
Cornhusker Economics
There have been two primary reasons why the public has had an interest in more ethanol, rather than leaving the issue to the private market. First, it has been thought to be beneficial in slowing climate change. Second, it would increase energy independence by reducing the amount of petroleum we import. We will discuss the first of these issues in this article, with the second issue to be addressed in a later article.
Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, J. David Aiken
Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, J. David Aiken
Cornhusker Economics
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trap solar heat in the atmosphere, increasing global temperature by an estimated 1.4 degrees. Increases in GHG emissions resulting largely from energy use have led to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere, leading to global warming. Major impacts of global warming include rising sea levels, higher temperatures and increased global migration of disease-carrying insects.
While there is continuing scientific discussion regarding how quickly the earth’s atmosphere will warm and when the adverse global warming impacts will occur, most scientists believe that GHG emissions must be reduced 50-80 percent in the next 50 years to minimize …
The Effect Of Marketing Cooperatives On Innovation, Kyriakos Drivas, Konstantinos Giannakas
The Effect Of Marketing Cooperatives On Innovation, Kyriakos Drivas, Konstantinos Giannakas
Cornhusker Economics
Cooperative organizations constitute an integral part of the increasingly industrialized agri-food system, accounting for 25 to 30 percent of total farm supply and marketing expenditures. When compared to profit-maximizing investor-owned firms (IOFs), a distinguishing feature of cooperatives (co-ops) is that the owners are also the users of the services provided by the organization. With members as both owners and users of its services, a co-op is typically assumed to focus on maximizing member welfare rather than profits.
The economic ramifications of the different objective functions of the cooperative organization have received considerable attention in the relevant literature, with the main …
Calf Finishing Versus Background/Yearling Finishing Systems: Where’S The Profit?, Rebecca M. Small, Darrell R. Mark
Calf Finishing Versus Background/Yearling Finishing Systems: Where’S The Profit?, Rebecca M. Small, Darrell R. Mark
Cornhusker Economics
As corn prices have more than doubled in the last two years, cattle producers continually look for alternatives to finishing calves exclusively in feedlots on high concentrate rations. Historically, Nebraska feeders have placed a high proportion of fall-weaned calves on feed in October and November and sold them as fed cattle in May. However, as corn prices increase, livestock producers have more incentive to background calves during the winter and following summer on forages, and delay placing the cattle on feed until they are long yearlings at the end of the summer grazing season.
Based on University of Nebraska–Lincoln research …
Using Hedge Information As A Risk Management Tool For Feeder Cattle, B. Williams, M. Stockton, Roger K. Wilson
Using Hedge Information As A Risk Management Tool For Feeder Cattle, B. Williams, M. Stockton, Roger K. Wilson
Cornhusker Economics
Hedging can be a valuable tool to minimize price uncertainty for producers. There are two types of hedges producers may use, a short hedge and a long hedge. Short hedges are used to lock in a net selling price when prices are expected to fall, while a long hedge is used to lock in a buying price when prices are expected to rise for a commodity that is bought and used as an input.
A short hedge is initiated by selling a contract on the futures market. The contract is generally bought back close to the time the contracted commodity …
2008 Nebraska Farm Income Prospects, Bruce B. Johnson
2008 Nebraska Farm Income Prospects, Bruce B. Johnson
Cornhusker Economics
There’s a quiet late-summer hush over Nebraska’s cropland these days. Except for swaths of earlier hail and extended flooding, crops are looking good just about everywhere. And if good weather holds through harvest and prices remain strong, a banner year for Nebraska’s crop producers could be in the making. While it is still too early to call it official, the income potential associated with our major crops may be nothing short of “bin-busting.”
Even so, the situation is almost bitter-sweet in this diverse state where livestock and crop production go hand-in-hand. Record-level prices for corn and soybeans convert to escalating …
Will Agricultural Research Make Future Irrigation Reductions Easier?, Ray Supalla
Will Agricultural Research Make Future Irrigation Reductions Easier?, Ray Supalla
Cornhusker Economics
Nebraska agricultural research has historically improved farm income, increased land values, reduced food costs, enhanced the Nebraska economy and contributed to the general good throughout the world. These contributions often resulted from improving the productivity of our land and water resources. Over the past 40 years, corn and soybean yields per acre of land and per acre-inch of water consumed have each increased by about 60 percent. In short, we have learned how to produce more with less!
These research induced improvements in productivity have contributed to making our land and water resources increasingly valuable. Nebraska irrigated land that sold …
Proposed Anti-Affirmative Action Constitutional Amendment, J. David Aiken
Proposed Anti-Affirmative Action Constitutional Amendment, J. David Aiken
Cornhusker Economics
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents have adopted resolutions opposing the anti-affirmative action constitutional amendment. The University of Nebraska does not have racial or gender quotas in student admissions or University employment.
Resolving Water Use Conflicts By “Walking-In-The-Shoes” Of Others: The Case Of Tuttle Creek Lake, Robert Sheeder, Gary D. Lynne
Resolving Water Use Conflicts By “Walking-In-The-Shoes” Of Others: The Case Of Tuttle Creek Lake, Robert Sheeder, Gary D. Lynne
Cornhusker Economics
In Nebraska, surface water is most typically used for irrigation and recreation. Yet these same rivers and streams also sometimes provide valuable drinking water, both locally and in communities downstream in other states, especially in Kansas. Given the role that both ground and surface water play in sustaining and shaping the Nebraska way of life, it perhaps comes as no surprise that conflict and controversy often mar any attempt to regulate behaviors or change property rights in regard to the uses of this water. This is clearly evident in the case of the Republican River Compact, a case in which …
A Republican River Water Bailout?, J. David Aiken
A Republican River Water Bailout?, J. David Aiken
Cornhusker Economics
Nebraska is in violation of the Republican River Compact Settlement for 2006 by an estimated 41,430 acre-feet (AF) of water. Kansas has claimed damages of $72 million for Nebraska’s settlement violations, has demanded irrigation cutbacks of nearly 50 percent and has initiated formal arbitration proceedings under the settlement for resolving compliance disagreements. The July 9, 2008 Cornhusker Economics newsletter suggested that Kansas was entitled to only half the water and money it claimed. Kansas has proposed that Nebraska ultimately needs to shut down all wells within 2.5 miles of the Republican River and tributaries with all irrigation wells installed after …
Making A Sure Decision Now For Potential Disaster Assistance Later, Bradley Lubben
Making A Sure Decision Now For Potential Disaster Assistance Later, Bradley Lubben
Cornhusker Economics
The new farm bill included some significant changes in the farm income safety net. As a result, crop producers will need to make a number of decisions about new farm program participation, some in a very short period of time.
The first program decision for crop producers is the simple question of signing up for the 2008 commodity programs. These crop support programs did not change for 2008, except for some legislative language that will eliminate farms with less than ten base acres from the farm program, unless those farms were limited resource or socially-disadvantaged farms. The deadline for sign-up …
Wheat Profits Reach Ten Year High, Paul Burgener
Wheat Profits Reach Ten Year High, Paul Burgener
Cornhusker Economics
With concerns about increasing costs on the minds of wheat farmers, it is time to look back at the past ten years to evaluate wheat production profitability. To maintain consistency over the past ten years, two systems (pivot irrigated and clean till dryland wheat fallow) were compared across the past four University of Nebraska Crop Budgets (1999, 2001, 2004 and 2006), and a 2008 update completed for Nebraska Panhandle crops.
For the irrigated production, a yield goal of 80 bushels per acre is used to determine the cost structure and to compute the potential returns for each year. The dryland …
Co-Product Store: An Economic Budget For Determining Co-Product Storage Costs, Josie Waterbury, Darrell R. Mark
Co-Product Store: An Economic Budget For Determining Co-Product Storage Costs, Josie Waterbury, Darrell R. Mark
Cornhusker Economics
In the last few years the decrease in co-product price, particularly that of wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) during the late summer months, has provided incentive for producers to purchase co-products during this period. This provided producers the opportunity to store the co-product and feed it at a later date. Although current co-product prices are not mirroring the “typical” ethanol co-product seasonal price trend (Waterbury and Mark, 2008) that has been evident in the past (Figure 1 on next page), storage opportunities still exist for cattle feeders and cow/calf operations. From an economic perspective, ethanol co-products continue to be …
Using Averages To Create Budgets, Tina N. Barrett
Using Averages To Create Budgets, Tina N. Barrett
Cornhusker Economics
As we gather and create averages of farm data each year, I’m often asked if the average is a good measure for budgeting. After all no farm is truly “average.” I think by understanding the averages and having some knowledge of your own costs, you can create a meaningful budget for any farm. So what do you need to know about the averages? It is helpful to know the range for the field, the median or middle number, as well as some of the assumptions that are made when gathering the information. A copy of a sample budget at the …
The Republican River: Negotiation, Arbitration, And A Federal Water Master, J. David Aiken
The Republican River: Negotiation, Arbitration, And A Federal Water Master, J. David Aiken
Cornhusker Economics
Nebraska is in violation of the Republican River Compact Settlement for 2006 by an estimated 41,430 acre-feet (AF) of water. Kansas has claimed damages of $72 million for Nebraska’s settlement violations, has demanded irrigation cutbacks of nearly 50 percent, and has initiated formal arbitration proceedings under the settlement for resolving compliance disagreements. If Nebraska and Kansas are unable to negotiate a compromise on the water overuse, it is possible that a Federal Water Master would be appointed to ensure that future Nebraska water use stayed within settlement limits.
Using Appreciative Inquiry In Community Development, Alan Baquet, Connie Hancock, Charlotte Narjes
Using Appreciative Inquiry In Community Development, Alan Baquet, Connie Hancock, Charlotte Narjes
Cornhusker Economics
The Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI), an outreach effort of the Department of Agricultural Economics, is committed to being relevant and responsive to the needs of Nebraskans. Under the leadership of Dr. Alan Baquet, a trained facilitator in Appreciative Inquiry, CARI and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension are working with communities using an appreciative inquiry approach.
Communities have primarily used community development methods that look directly at the needs or problems, rather than on what is working well. This often leads to a focus on a certain project or program. Technical resources may be brought in to address a …
Biodiesel Production: Focus On Palm Oil And Jatropha, Kepifri Lakoh, E. Wesley F. Peterson
Biodiesel Production: Focus On Palm Oil And Jatropha, Kepifri Lakoh, E. Wesley F. Peterson
Cornhusker Economics
Given high gasoline prices and the negative environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, there is increased interest in alternative energy sources, including biofuels. Brazil and the United States have been leading the way with ethanol production derived from sugar cane and corn. Recently, there has been increased interest in another biofuel, biodiesel, particularly in Europe (the leading producer). Biodiesel, a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel, can be produced from the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats. In the United States, most biodiesel is made from rapeseed (canola) or soybeans. But elsewhere, there are other biodiesel feedstocks such as palm oil and …
Human Reactions To Today's Economic Realities: Some Thoughts, Bruce B. Johnson
Human Reactions To Today's Economic Realities: Some Thoughts, Bruce B. Johnson
Cornhusker Economics
In recent days, the media has been full of economic news—much of it unsettling and hard to even comprehend:
• Gasoline hits a historic $4.00 per gallon for the first time in the U.S.
• Angry protests gather in developing nations over surging food prices.
• Expected world food production shortfalls mount as weather factors cut into production levels.
• From locally to globally, extreme weather events (a reflection of global climatic change) are occurring with increasing frequency—and with them, severe economic disruption.
• Unemployment levels rise as the U.S. economy slows.
• Consumer confidence falls to a 16-year low. …
Understanding The New Farm Income Safety Net, Bradley Lubben
Understanding The New Farm Income Safety Net, Bradley Lubben
Cornhusker Economics
The new farm bill recently enacted by Congress includes some major changes in the farm income safety net that will affect producer sign-up and risk management decisions over the 2008- 2012 life of the bill. With current commodity prices at levels high above the existing price-based farm income safety net, many producers have assumed the impact of the farm program will be minimal for the life of the new bill. However, the changes in the new farm bill, particularly the inclusion of two new revenue-based programs, demand a much closer look on the part of producers.
Community Vision Is Important To New Residents, Charlotte Narjes, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel
Community Vision Is Important To New Residents, Charlotte Narjes, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel
Cornhusker Economics
New residents to the Nebraska Panhandle want to see their communities succeed. To better understand the reasons new residents move to the Panhandle, twelve focus groups were held across the region. The focus groups are part of a University of NebraskaSLincoln research project funded by a 2006 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative (USDA-NRI), looking at the characteristics and motivations of new residents in the eleven counties. The research project includes a demographic study, a mail survey to new residents, an iterative three-phase survey process to community development practitioners and a focus group of new …