Agribusiness Commons^™

The Statistical Distribution Of U.S. Corn And Soybean Futures Prices, Chiamaka D. Osigwe

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the best-fit empirical distribution for daily U.S. corn and soybean futures price changes and examines how distributional choices affect Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) estimates. The dataset comprises daily nearby futures prices for corn (11/16/1994–04/23/2025) and soybeans (10/16/1979–02/15/2023), yielding 7,626 and 10,853 observations, respectively. An ARCH-LM test confirms the presence of Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH). Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models were estimated, and to account for potential asymmetric effects, an EGARCH model was used. EGARCH (1,1) estimation reveals an inverse leverage effect, where positive price shocks generate higher volatility. Six heavy-tailed distributions were evaluated, and …

Analyzing The Catfish And Trout Competitiveness Trends And Potential Trade Within The Us And Global Aquaculture Industry: A Gravity Model Approach, Diana Marisol Amaya Discua

LSU Master's Theses

The United States is one of the major seafood product importers in the world. Despite the increases in global seafood and aquaculture consumption over the past decades, there is limited information on the trade dynamics of this sector. To address this gap, this study uses an augmented gravity model to evaluate the factors that have influenced catfish and trout imports into the United States. The analysis was conducted using the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator to address issues of heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and zero trade flows. The results highlight the importance of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and exchange rates in …

A Comparison Of Diploid And Triploid Eastern Oysters For Aquaculture Production Under Extreme Temperatures And Salinities, Joshua H. Kim

LSU Master's Theses

Off-bottom aquaculture of Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) is a nascent industry that is increasingly supported by the use of triploid oysters, which grow faster than diploids. Despite their growth advantage, elevated triploid mortality compared to diploids under high temperature, low salinity, or a combination of these conditions challenge consistent triploid production. Identifying the environmental thresholds at which differential triploid mortality occurs and predicting its economic impact are important to informing decision-making in oyster aquaculture. The goal of this thesis was to compare the biological and economic performance of diploid and triploid oysters under high temperature and low salinity conditions. …

Investing In Farmland And Farmland Derivatives, Damilola Stephen Adebayo

LSU Master's Theses

Investing in farmland has evolved from the traditional ownership of farmland for farming to alternatives such as direct farmland purchases for rental income, farmland real estate investment trusts (Farmland REITs), investing in farmland stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and crowdfunding platforms. This study analyzes the dynamic relationship between physical farmland values, farmland derivative prices, and the S&P 500 using annual data from 1970 to 2021. Cointegration methods are used to analyze dynamics and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and Sharpe ratios to measure risk-return properties of farmland assets. It is found that real farmland values, derivatives prices, and the S&P …

Impact Of Rma’S Projected Price On Prevent Planting Claims, Nicolas Enrique Alvarez Mena

LSU Master's Theses

This research studies the presence of ex-post moral hazard in the prevent planting provision from the crop insurance program in cotton, corn, and soybeans for the Plains Region and Southeast Regions of the U.S. Three fixed effect models are developed using the proportion of prevent plant acres as the dependent variable, as well as weather, input price, expected harvest price and a break-even point for the independent variables. In addition, a fourth fixed effect (FE) model is introduced using the logit transformation and the same variables as in previous models. The results show the number of PP claims has been …

Variability In Rice Returns Using A Representative Farm Approach, Adriana Dimas

LSU Master's Theses

Agriculture is a major contributor to the U.S. economy and vital to the continued availability of a safe and inexpensive food supply. Representative farms are virtual farms that represent the production practices of a specific crop and region. Annually, growers face critical management decisions on what crop enterprise selection and combinations will maximize the net returns. Risk for growers comes from the variation in different factors such as yield, market price, production input costs, among others that are required to produce each enterprise. Nine representative farms were established within Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas to evaluate net return variability among different …

Sustainable Management Of Groundwater In Louisiana, Dependra Bhatta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The common property nature of the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) results in the formation of a cone of depression in the southern portion of the aquifer encompassing Concordia parish, Louisiana. Excessive groundwater withdrawal and the resulting cone of depression formation have caused some wells to go dry and others to be affected by saltwater intrusion. The depleting groundwater stock can be managed optimally using different groundwater management policies. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to both policymakers and researchers to understand the effects of policies to keep the aquifer sustainable.

My dissertation is written in a three-essay format. …

Nonconsumptive Outdoor Recreation Expenditures In Louisiana: An Economic Analysis, Jorge Arturo Rojas Orlich

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Socio-Economic Study Of Nature Tourist Behavior In Louisiana, Rudolf Walter Jacobs Ast

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.