Agricultural Economics Commons^™

Industrialization And Globalization: A Battle Over Values?, Gary D. Lynne

Cornhusker Economics

About a year ago a French farmer proclaimed, while he checked himself into jail for his part in vandalizing a new McDonald’s restaurant, “My struggle remains the same . . . the battle against globalization, and for the right of people to feed themselves as they choose'' (New York Times, August 29, 1999). Such protests reflect even more fundamental underlying concerns for food produced in ways not always meeting higher level needs, e.g., not satisfying the cultural needs for the French, a country in which the event of a meal is often just as important as the food itself. The …

What Can We Expect From The Markets For The Next Few Months, Lynn Lutgen

Cornhusker Economics

When we started into June we had the chance of fluctuating markets due to drought in some areas and hot weather coupled with inadequate subsoil moisture in other areas of the United States. Then the rains started, and since then we have had general widespread and very adequate rainfall. Now that is not to say that some areas such as Southwestern Nebraska are not suffering from drought conditions, but for most of the U.S. the drought and chance of drought has certainly been curtailed.

Acreage Trends Mixed For Gmos, Roy Frederick

Cornhusker Economics

USDA’s June Crop Report made headlines mostly because the corn acreage planted for 2000 exceeded expectations. At 79.6 million acres, the total was at least 1 million acres higher than most pre-report guesses. Prices skidded, helped along by reports of timely rains throughout the Corn Belt.

Farm Use Of Computers And Internet, Matt Spilker

Cornhusker Economics

The availability of personal computers and the Internet has changed the business climate on farms and ranches across the United States. Record keeping, business analysis, communications and marketing are a few notable examples of potential computing applications. But how many in the farm sector have taken advantage of this potential tool?

Responding To Financial Stress, Larry L. Bitney

Cornhusker Economics

Drought, low grain prices and high fuel prices are on the minds of many Nebraska farm families this summer. The impact of these events will of course be different by area of the state, by enterprise mix on each farm and the financial position of the business coming into this year. Unless managed properly, these events are likely to lead to financial difficulty this fall or next spring.

Who Is Buying Nebraska Farmland?, Bruce B. Johnson, David Drozd

Cornhusker Economics

As part of our ongoing monitoring and analysis of Nebraska抯 agricultural land market, we have tracked for several years the patterns and trends of actual real estate transactions. Each year, our reporters from around the state provide us with detailed information on about 500 transactions which have occurred during the previous 12 months. They report on sales which they deem as armslength and typical for their locality. Given that only about three percent of the state's agricultural land base changes ownership each year, the tracts reported in our survey represent about 10 percent of the total annual transactions? a size …

Preharvest Soybean Marketing Strategies, George H. Pfeiffer, Roger K. Wilson, Jim Kendrick

Cornhusker Economics

Soybean producers who decide to use the futures markets to price their crop face a number of important decisions. Among the choices they face are whether to use futures or options on futures, when should positions be established and liquidated, which futures months are most appropriate and what particular marketing strategies or combinations of strategies to employ. Ongoing research in Nebraska on soybean marketing strategies from the early 80's through the present has revealed evidence that relatively simple marketing strategies employing futures markets can be profitable for producers, and that the most profitable strategies have been relatively consistent over time. …

Telecommunications Act Of 1996: Issues That Effect Nebraskans, John J. Allen

Cornhusker Economics

With the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the pace of regulatory change increased exponentially. The impact on rural areas is significant; the issues specific to Southern states and communities unique. This report provides a brief history of telecommunications regulation and an overview of the key elements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Innovations in state telecommunications regulations, as well as a summary of actions taken by Southern states since the 1996 Act was adopted, are discussed. After this whirlwind tour of telecommunications regulation, the report examines the evidence for the importance of telecommunications technology in rural areas and …

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Developments 1999-2000, Bruce Johnson, Brandon G.Y. Raddatz

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Reports

Nebraska's agricultural real estate market conditions have been monitored and analyzed annually since 1978 by the Department of Agricultural Economics-UNL. In the most recent survey for 2000, the markets for agricultural land were found to have remained relatively unchanged over the past year, despite generally poor farm commodity prices. As of February 1st, 2000, the UNL survey showed the state all-land average value to be $698 per acre, a 1.1 percent increase from 12 months earlier. While the values for particular classes of land across the sub-state areas moved in both directions, the percentage changes from year-earlier levels were generally …

Arkansas Agriculture Situation And Outlook 2000, Bruce Ahrendsen, Eric Wailes, Bruce Dixon, H. L. Goodwin Jr., Tony Windham

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Many farmers in Arkansas and other parts of the United States are experiencing financial stress. The purpose of this report is to highlight the situation of Arkansas farmers and to offer an outlook for 2000. The report emphasizes the production, price, income, financial, farmland value, and interest rate outlook for Arkansas farmers and considers the impact of the macroeconomy on agriculture. The contribution of poultry production to the Arkansas agricultural economy is also presented and analyzed.

U.S. Economy Less Robust, Roy Frederick

Cornhusker Economics

The U.S. economy is a lot like the human body. Experts know a great deal about both. That doesn’t mean, however, that quick remedies are possible for every ailment that comes along.

An Economic Development Strategy For Rural Nebraska: Recommendations From The Nebraska Rural Development Commission, Sam Cordes

Cornhusker Economics

Earlier this year the Nebraska Rural Development Commission released a report titled Determining the Future of Rural Nebraska. The stated goal of the report is ?..to stimulate discussion, debate and consensus regarding what we should be doing locally, regionally, and at the state level and nationally to create our future for the next millennium.?This 53 page report provides a wealth of information and ideas for anyone who is interested in the future of rural Nebraska.*

Planning For Beef Cattle Operations In The Face Of Drought, Richard T. Clark

Cornhusker Economics

Parts of Nebraska are extremely dry. Even timely rains are not likely to result in normal crop and grass production on non-irrigated ground. Livestock operations dependent on grass from April through the remainder of the year are greatly susceptible to problems. Below normal grass production will mean lower carrying capacities. Rainfall shortage may also impact livestock drinking water in areas with shallow wells and areas that depend on small earthen dams. Early planning usually offers more options since the options are often time dependent. But late planning is better than no planning.

Corn And Soybeans Basis Patterns For Selected Locations In South Dakota: 1999, Bashir Qasmi

Economics Research Reports (1969 - 2017)

For successful marketing and merchandising in commodity markets, it is important to understand the relationship between cash and futures contract prices. The principal measure for relating these prices is local cash basis.

1999 Farm And Ranch Profitability, Gary Bredensteiner

Cornhusker Economics

For the past 5 years, the Nebraska Farm Business Association (a Cooperative Extension program) and the Nebraska Farm and Ranch Management (a Nebraska Community College program) have used the same computer program to provide business financial analysis information to cooperating farms and ranches. Each of those 5 years, average data has been compiled and published in a year-end report provided free to cooperators and offered for sale to the general public. Following are a few excerpts and observations from the 56 page publication.

Endangered Species, The Platte Cooperative Agreement, Environmental Assessment And Nebraska Water Rights, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

On July 1, 1997, the states of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming, and the U.S. Department of the Interior signed the "Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitat Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska," more commonly known as the Platte River Cooperative Agreement (PRCA). The PRCA is a proposed framework for cooperatively addressing Platte River endangered species issues. In order to implement the PRCA, the endangered species recovery program that the PRCA proposes must be reviewed and federally approved under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). …

Bulletin 4422 - Exotic Diseases - Cattle, Agriculture Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

An exotic disease is a disease that is not present in Australia.

If an exotic disease did occur in Australia it would cause· production losses, stock deaths and stop exports of primary production. When export markets are lost they can only be re-established once it is proven the disease is eradicated

New Generation Cooperatives, Jeffrey S. Royer

Cornhusker Economics

New Generation Cooperatives (NGCs) are farmerowned cooperative organizations generally characterized by an involvement in value-added processing activities and a linkage of producer capital contributions to product delivery rights. Although the earliest NGCs were established in the North Central United States, particularly in North Dakota and Minnesota, interest in this organizational form has spread to other regions of the country because of the perceived success of many of these cooperatives. Recently, NGCs have been involved in traditional value-added activities such as corn sweetener production, sugar beet processing, pasta production and hog operations, as well as activities related to emerging niche markets …

Producer Ownership In The Marketing Chain, Allen Prosch

Cornhusker Economics

Pork producers continue to seek avenues to retain ownership of their product as it moves along the “Pork Supply Chain.” The activities being considered have the potential to improve the return that producers receive for their products. Many of the activities have broader implications to all production agriculture.

Divide And Conquer Marketing, Deb Rood

Cornhusker Economics

Why is commodity marketing so hard to learn? Whenever you start you become overwhelmed with information. You hear from one advisory telling you to sell puts, another is telling you to buy calls. You are told to cover your costs of production. They want you to watch the charts for a head and shoulders, which you thought was in the shampoo isle at the grocery store. Learning marketing can be confusing and daunting, causing many producers to just give up. But the hard fact is, that if you are selling grain or livestock some basic knowledge in marketing is a …

Fuel Prices And Farm Costs, Larry L. Bitney, Wade Nutzman

Cornhusker Economics

We have received questions lately on the impact of increased fuel prices on Nebraska's agricultural producers. While the direction is certain, the magnitude of the effect is a difficult question to answer. Strategies employed by individual producers that we have visited with range from a few who locked in diesel fuel prices at lower levels, to those who were waiting as long as possible to buy their fuel for spring work.

Feedgrain Prices, Hog Production And Fixity, Glenn A. Helmers

Cornhusker Economics

One of the characteristics of the feedgrain sector in recent years has been its large year to year price fluctuations. There are two possible causes for these fluctuations in prices: 1) short-run (one year or less) changes in domestic and export demands, and (2) weather-related shifts in the supply of feedgrains in the face of a feedgrain demand, which exhibits little price responsiveness in the short-run. While both aspects may be involved, here we will examine only the second issue of why fluctuations in domestic feedgrain supply result in such wide fluctuations in prices, due to feedgrain demand being so …

Transgenic Sugarbeets: Potential For Increased Farm Income, Dillon Feuz

Cornhusker Economics

Sugarbeets are grown on nearly 1.5 million acres in the United States, with a production value in excess of $1.1 billion for the 1997 crop year. In Nebraska, sugarbeets are grown on over 65,000 acres in a dozen western counties generating over $36 million dollars in farm revenue. There are two active sugar refineries in the area that contribute to the local economy in terms of value added activity.

Price Enhancement And Risk Management, Roger Selley

Cornhusker Economics

In the recent 2000 Corn-Soybean Expo Marketing workshops participants were given an opportunity to market corn and compare their decisions with others. The workshop is described below, along with some of what we learned. Participants were asked to decide whether they wanted to purchase CRC multi-peril crop insurance and how much corn they wanted to cash forward contract from early April to late July for harvest-time delivery. For workshops in predominately irrigated areas, participants were given past corn yields for a 500-acre farm with a 10- year average yield of 165 bushels per acre based on actual yields from a …

Nebraska’S Agricultural Real Estate Market Holds Steady, Bruce B. Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

Despite the generally poor commodity prices during most of 1999, the markets for agricultural land remained relatively unchanged in terms of value levels and cash rental rates. Preliminary results from the February 1, 2000 UNL land market survey indicate a state all-land average value of $696 per acre, less than a 1 percent increase from 12 months earlier (Figure 1 and Table 1). For the state as a whole, the various classes of cropland moved slightly in both directions of year-earlier levels, with the 12-month changes being hardly more than the recent daily gyrations of the stock market. And though …

Wa Agricultural Growth And The State Economy Research Report Volume 2, Nazrul Islam, Helal Ahammad

Research Reports

The impact of state and national policies on the Western Australian (WA) agriculture can not be assessed realistically unless the distinctive characteristics of WA agriculture are taken into account. The objective of this paper is to develop and document an economic information base for WA agriculture by identifying and exploring the main characteristics of its production systems. The study reveals that agriculture plays a more important role in WA than in the rest of Australia (ROA). The share of WA in the national gross value of agricultural production and exports is much higher than her share in the national gross …

Farmers's Preferences For The Structure Of Agriculture, Communities And Employment In The Future, John C. Allen, Rebecca Filkins

Cornhusker Economics

Tensions continue to develop as farmers and ranchers face changing international marketing conditions, changes in their communities and changes in the overall structure of food and fiber production. In the most recent Nebraska Rural Poll, farmers and ranchers were asked their preferences about the future as well as their expectations for what is to come.

Special Master Decision In Republican River Lawsuit, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

On January 28, 2000 the Special Master issued his first ruling in the Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado lawsuit on the Republican River Compact. The ruling establishes that groundwater pumping in Nebraska will be part of the lawsuit. While the ruling is a legal setback for Nebraska, it does not come as a surprise.

Crop Updates 2000 Cereals - Part 4, C. Tang, Z. Rengel, E. Diatloff, B. Mcgann, Mehmet Cakir, Nick Galwey, David Poulsen, M. Carter, A. Briney, R. Wilson, R. H. Potter, M. G. K. Jones, Ian Barclay, Robyn Mclean, Dean A. Diepeveen, Rob Loughman, Ross Kingwell, Michael O'Connell, Simone Blennerhasset, Benjamin Michael Tiller, Senthold Asseng, Holger Meinke, Bill Bowden, Jeff Russell, Ivan Lee, Clare Johnson, Chris Newman, Robert Emery, Romolo Tassone, Ernestos Kostas, Graeme Ralph, Robert Sudmeyer, David Hall, Harvey Jones

Crop Updates

This session covers twelve papers from different authors:

BREEDING

1.Response to subsoil acidity of wheat genotypes differing in Al-tolerance, C. Tang, Z. Rengel, E. Diatloff and B. McGann, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition/CLIMA, University of Western Australia

2. Application of molecular markers in Barley Improvement, Mehmet Cakir¹, Nick Galwey¹ and David Poulsen^{2, 1}Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, ²Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Hermitage Research Station, Queensland

3. Implementation of molecular markers for wheat improvement in the Western Region, M. Carter¹, A. Briney¹, …

Changes Continue ?Some Observations, Wade Nutzman

Cornhusker Economics

As we enter the new century, one wonders what type of changes ag producers will face. What are some of the main factors that will shape the future? Will many things stay the same as they have been in the past? I started making notes of some of these concepts a few weeks ago. From my perspective, some items on this list deserve mention. These are things that I have heard producers talk about when I have worked with them over the past few years. Some are my observations of what is 慸own the road?for Nebraska agriculture.