Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Driver Liability For Farm And Ranch Operations, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

One major concern of farming and/or ranching operations is the liability of semi-trucks and equipment when they are involved in a traffic accident.

Mistakes In Difficult Conversations, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

Farm families that work together across the family tree and across generations seem to encounter difficulty from time to time when separating “family” from “business.” Having clear, consistent, and honest communications will go a long way towards reducing the troubles that can arise in difficult conversations. This article addresses those troubles.

A Proposal For Insurance To Address Offsite Injuries Accompanying Dicamba Usage, Terence J. Centner

Cornhusker Economics

Soybean producers are familiar with the special dicamba products first sold in 2017 for use on Xtend soybeans to control glyphosate-resistant weeds. Dicamba can be applied as a post-emergent spray to kill weeds that germinate after soybeans have been planted. With the control of these weeds, producers reap increased yields. However, the use of dicamba products led to significant offsite injury to vegetation including non-dicamba-resistant soybeans. Damages to neighbors’ properties from dicamba usage strained the social relations of people living in many rural communities.

Tax Planning For High Income, Tina Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

Agriculture has always been an industry with cyclical income trends. Prior to 2003, the average farm income reported in our annual data would typically go up and down each year -- having a good year and then a bad year and then a good year again. Since then, the trend has been more about longer periods of good, followed by multiple years of down income, etc. These longer stretches also see more extremes and this makes tax planning even more important and more difficult. More important because we are likely not making a decision that only affects one year and …

The Coronavirus Pandemic And International Trade, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted economic activities around the world. Many businesses had to cease operations and furlough or lay off their workers. The World Bank (2021) has reported that global economic output fell by 3.4% in 2020. The good news is that the massive infusion of financial support from many governments in high-income countries meant that the worst economic effects of the pandemic were mitigated, and a rapid recovery has begun to make up for the pandemic-related losses. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global economy will grow by 5.9% in 2021 recovering the 2020 losses and …

Challenges Of Making Financial Decisions And Avoiding Fraudulent Schemes, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Last month there was an article in the local newspaper about a man accused of defrauding commodity investors for several years in Nebraska. This person is a commodity pool operator (CPO), who is an individual or organization that operates a commodity pool and solicits funds for that pool. A commodity pool is an enterprise in which funds contributed by a number of clients are combined for the purpose of trading futures contracts, options contracts, among other types of financial products. Generally speaking, a CPO manages an investment fund focused on commodity products.

Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies Influence On Family Farms, Cory Walters, Azzeddine Azzam, Taylor Kaus

Cornhusker Economics

The U.S. current taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance program represents a culmination of a series of legislative acts, beginning in 1980 with the Federal Crop Insurance Act, followed by the Federal Insurance Reform Act in 1994, and the Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA) in 2000. All acts aimed at encouraging producer participation through increased premium subsidies and enhanced coverage options. Increased subsidization was effective in increasing participation, as more than 90% of corn acres were covered by some form of crop insurance by 2020. For 2021, premium subsidies in Nebraska for all crop insurance policies ranged from just over $36,000 in Hooker …

Finding Hidden Members In Your Community, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

It is not uncommon for rural Nebraska coffee shop talk to touch on the topic of who is involved or not involved in the community. Typically, the conversation comes to the conclusion that the same people seem to be doing everything. The topic could relate to a civic group, community event, or even an elected office in the community. There are no new faces and no new ideas as well as there is no one there to allow for a leadership transition. Have you ever heard this conversation? Have you participated in it?

Optimal Regulatory Response To Food Fraud, Syed Imran Ali Meerza, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

Food fraud refers to the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food for economic gains. In this context, food fraud can be divided into two broad categories: food adulteration and mislabeling. While food adulteration can be defined as the intentional substitution or addition of substances in a food product to reduce its costs of production, mislabeling refers to acts of misrepresentation of the type or quality of food products. Food fraud is motivated by economic gains and is enabled by the fact that information about the nature of credence goods is typically asymmetric – while product suppliers know the …

Evolving Protein Demand And Income Elasticity, Tim Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

Teaching large classes in the Ag Econ department has some unique benefits. One of them is that I have a pulse on the attitudes of a large cross-section of producers. One concern that has been gradually gaining momentum is the threat that plant protein poses against traditional animal protein, namely beef.

Trends in protein demand do not support this specific fear. In general, consumers’ appetite for animal protein continues to grow. This article explains the concept of income elasticity, along with the changing income elasticities of specific meats.

Allowing Consumers To Choose Quantities In Choice Experiments Impacts Consumer Choice, Rationality, And Willingness-To-Pay Estimates, Elliott James Dennis

Cornhusker Economics

Choice experiments are frequently used by industry and academic researchers to examine existing and hypothetical products. These experiments generally fix the quantity purchased and allow product attributes to vary. New choice experiments have explored allowing quantity to be a flexible choice attribute. In a recently published paper, we explored the potential differences and similarities between these two choice experiment frameworks. To illustrate these comparisons and any relative improvements by using a quantity choice framework, we used a between-subject design that assessed U.S. meat preferences.

Farm Program Projections And Management Implications, Brad Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

USDA’s Farm Service Agency annually distributes commodity program payments to enrolled crop producers every October. The payments come either as Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) payments or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments With higher commodity prices since last fall, the expectations for payments and the reliance on payments as part of the farm’s bottom line are substantially reduced. However, there are still some payments to be made and some important lessons from the current outlook for prices and farm program support.

Readiness For Change, Charlotte Narjes, Marilyn Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

One community is innovative in addressing long-term issues and situations related to quality of life, economic impact, and demographic renewal. Another community is not. What is the difference? What can communities do to be ready for change? What role can Extension play in helping a community address complex situations such as identifying new leaders, being competitive in a digital economy, creating healthy communities, or attracting new populations and retaining exciting community members? One key to success is assessing community readiness for change.

Eu And Us Consumers’ Willingness To Pay For Genome-Edited Apples, John C. Beghin

Cornhusker Economics

New Plant Engineering Techniques (NPETs) refers to new biotechnology tools that allow alterations to a plant’s genome by adding, resequencing, or silencing some of its genes or combined with genes from a crossable plant (so-called cisgenesis). NPETs include genome editing (GenEd) tools, such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), and transcription activator-like
effector nucleases (TALEN). These techniques lead to mutations in plants, which could have been obtained with conventional hybridization and genetic mutation techniques. For that reason, they may be perceived as more natural. These techniques might raise fewer concerns than transgenic techniques incorporating foreign genes into a …

The Potential For Moral Hazard Behavior In Irrigation Decisions Under Crop Insurance, Karina Schoengold, Paloch Suchato, Taro Mieno, Timothy Foster

Cornhusker Economics

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation provides one of the most widely adopted risk mitigation tools used by crop producers across the United States. In 2018,
over 90% of corn and soybean acres were insured in most of the Great Plains and Midwestern United States (Farm Bureau, 2019). As with all insurance, there are questions of whether moral hazard behavior occurs with insurance enrollment. In economics, moral hazard refers to cases where someone makes riskier decisions when he or she is protected from the full cost of doing so. For example, someone
with fire insurance on their home may be less …

Evaluating The Impact Of Covid-19 On Nebraska Land Auctions And Implications For Future Farm Real Estate Sales In 2021, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2020-2021 provides insight into recent trends on the market value of agricultural land and cash
rental rates across the state. Each year, the special feature section from this report covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2021 evaluates the effects of COVID-19 on Nebraska land auctions over the prior year and implications for this transaction method involving future agricultural …

Beef Cow Operations During Drought: Dealing With More Than Dry Conditions, Matt Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

The most recent drought conditions have grown to cover a large portion of the west and the central United States, as shown in Figure 1. Those depending on rain continue to watch and hope that conditions will change, while implementing and considering various strategies to preserve their livelihoods. Those who have been in the business for years have seen other occasions when dry conditions limited forage production and created hardship. Each occurrence has varying outcomes, depending on the many factors faced by individuals. While drought may produce the
same dry conditions for many, its effects are individualized. There are as …

Growing Climate Solutions Act Of 2021, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

On June 24, 2021, the U.S. Senate adopted S. 1251, the
Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021. Cosponsored by
54 senators, including Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer, S. 1251 seeks to make it easier for farmers and ranchers to participate in voluntary carbon credit markets and to get a fair share of the carbon credit revenue they generate. If
adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law by the President, S. 1251 would go a long way in facilitating effective producer participation in U.S. carbon markets.

Weight Status Perceptions And Food Choice, Christopher R. Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

Does your weight status—whether your height and weight put you into the normal weight, overweight, or obese category—predict your food choices, or even the types of food you’ll pay attention to when making a choice? What about the weight status you perceive yourself to be? These are important questions because the percentage of the population that is overweight or obese in the U.S.—and world-
wide—has been increasing for decades despite a wide range of efforts aimed at slowing/reversing its growth. In the U.S., over 70 percent of the population is overweight or obese. High body weight has numerous consequences for …

Revenue Protection Crop Insurance And Prices Rising From Spring To Fall, Jessica Groskopf, Cory Walters

Cornhusker Economics

Storm damage has been felt by many Nebraska farmers this growing season. Crop insurance is a useful tool to help farmers mitigate production losses coming from
storm damage. However, given current price trends, the amount of support producers will receive cannot yet be determined. This article will review how revenue protection crop insurance works when prices rise from the spring to the fall.

Lrp-Feeder Cattle Insurance Usage Up With Recent Changes, Jay Parsons

Cornhusker Economics

Market uncertainties pose a significant risk to cattle producers, who have a substantial amount of money invested in breeding livestock, land, and other infrastructure. Live-stock Risk Protection (LRP) insurance became available in the early 2000s from the USDA Risk Management Agency to provide cattle and swine producers with a simple price risk management tool to protect against unexpected down-swings in the national market price. LRP is a single-peril insurance product that provides an indemnity to insured producers if a national price index falls below a selected coverage price on the end date of the policy. LRP insurance functions like a …

Joint Bidding In Conservation Auctions: An Experimental Study Of Policy Design And Performance, Simanti Banerjee

Cornhusker Economics

In designing conservation policies both ecologists and economists have argued that greater spatial coordination of producer land use adoption can improve environmental outcomes for a range of important environmental targets such as wetlands restoration, nutrient pollution reduction,and species conservation. Economists have suggested two types of incentive policies for achieving such spatial coordination: the Agglomeration Bonus (AB) (Parkhurst and Shogren, 2007) and spatially-connected auctions (Banerjee et al., 2015). However, a majority of the analyses to date have focused on incentives aimed at individual land manager participation in such schemes (e.g., Fooks et al., 2016). In contrast, a number of countries such …

The New Center For Agricultural Profitability, Larry Van Tassell

Cornhusker Economics

The complex problems faced by agriculture today cannot be solved by isolated disciplines. A holistic, systems approach is needed to address the profitability of agriculture. To assist with these needs, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has approved the development of the Center for Agricultural Profitability (CAP) within the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. CAP will be housed in the Department of Agricultural Economics and will provide a uniting locale for faculty from various disciplines to engage with faculty from the department. CAP will seek to bridge departmental silos and bring together faculty with expertise in several areas (e.g., agribusiness, economics, …

2020 Nebraska Income Averages, Tina Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

Each year the numbers gathered by Nebraska Farm Business, Inc tell a story. Sometimes that story is subtle like a drought or storm that affects a small region of the state. Sometimes it is obvious like the drought in 2012, the run-up of commodity prices from 2008-2013, or the impact of the worldwide pandemic of 2020. The one thing that was unique about the story of 2020 was that the sub-stories are not necessarily what you would expect.

What Do Higher Commodity Prices Mean For Cash Rent?, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

Anyone watching the corn and soybean prices of the last six months or so must be amazed at how fast and how high prices have gone. Just a year ago, cash prices for 2020 corn were bouncing around the $3.00 per bushel area. Now the cash price for 2020 corn delivered to an ethanol plant is nearly $7.00+ per bushel. What do, or what should, these change in prices do to cash rent?

American Rescue Plan Act For Local Communities, Marilyn Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law by President Biden. ARPA provides direct relief to all 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the United States affected by COVID-19. The purpose of ARPA is to support pandemic recovery efforts, replace public sector lost revenue, spur job growth, jump start economic growth through household and business stabilization and ad-dress systemic public health and economic challenges.

Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies Are A Means Of Income Redistribution, Charalampos Mavroutsikos, Konstantinos Giannakas, Cory Walters

Cornhusker Economics

The U.S. federal crop insurance is a major farm policy aimed at providing risk protection/reduced risk expo-sure to agricultural producers. A key component of this policy is the provision of multiple contract options and premium subsidies that reduce the cost of crop insurance to agricultural producers. Premium subsidies have been growing over time and accounted for more than $6 billion in government outlays in 2019, with $2 billion being applied to coverage levels of 80% and higher (USDA-RMA, 2020). While the government has justified the use of premium subsidies as a necessary means of increasing producer participation in crop insurance, …

The Wild Side Of Commodity Markets: Hedging In Times Of High Volatility, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity markets go through periods with low volatility when we generally see small variations in prices, as well as periods with high volatility, when we tend to see large swings in prices. Regardless of the degree of price volatility in the market, producers can always use marketing contracts as a way to hedge the price risk of their operation. Even though the general mechanics of hedging are the same in periods of low volatility and high volatility, some aspects of hedging become more evident in times of high volatility. In this article, we will discuss some of these aspects focusing …

North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, Christine Lockert, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

Farmers and ranchers face many risks and challenges in production agriculture on a daily basis. Changing market fundamentals, farm policy reforms, and crop insurance program developments defined the risk environment that led to the authorization of agricultural risk management education as part of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000. The education efforts have been designed to help producers manage the full range of production, marketing, financial, legal, and human risks that are all part of agriculture.

Nebraska National Agri-Marketing Association And The Continued Covid Effect, Brianna Gable, Rosalee Swartz

Cornhusker Economics

The University of Nebraska’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) student organization is one of more than thirty student chapters across the U.S. and Canada. The objective of student NAMA on campus is to learn first-hand from professionals in marketing, advertising, communications promotion, sales, and public relations, about the many career opportunities in agri-marketing. As chapter members, students develop valuable personal contacts and working relations with agri-marketing professionals and have meaningful opportunities to develop and practice their managerial skills and leadership abilities.