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Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons™

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2008

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Articles 31 - 60 of 145

Full-Text Articles in Agricultural and Resource Economics

Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, J. David Aiken Oct 2008

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 …

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Samoa’S Tree Of Life: A Study Of The Roles Of Coconut Products In The Samoan Economy, Past And Present, Dale Hoff Oct 2008

Samoa’S Tree Of Life: A Study Of The Roles Of Coconut Products In The Samoan Economy, Past And Present, Dale Hoff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This focus of this paper is the role that coconut products have played in Samoa’s cash economy, past and present. This paper begins with a brief history of the use of coconut products in Samoa before independence. Next, the decline of the copra and copra oil industries in the 1980s and 1990s is highlighted, and several causes for this decline are explained. The current roles of coconut products such as copra oil, virgin coconut oil, whole coconuts sold locally, coconut cream, coconut shell handicrafts, and coconut wood are then analyzed. Specific attention is given to the potential role of copra …

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Planting Prosperity And Harvesting Health: Trade-Offs And Sustainability In The Oregon-Washington Regional Food System, Sheila A. Martin, Tia Henderson, Meg Merrick, Elizabeth Mylott, Kelly Haines, Colin Price, Amy Koski, Rebecca Dann Oct 2008

Planting Prosperity And Harvesting Health: Trade-Offs And Sustainability In The Oregon-Washington Regional Food System, Sheila A. Martin, Tia Henderson, Meg Merrick, Elizabeth Mylott, Kelly Haines, Colin Price, Amy Koski, Rebecca Dann

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

This assessment reveals food system sustainability trends in Oregon and Washington, focusing specifically on the producers in both states and the consumers in the Portland- Vancouver region. We began the assessment by asking a group of food system stakeholders from Oregon and Washington to define broadly supported goals for a sustainable food system. They also helped us identify the data necessary to understand trends in the food system. This information can be used in the future to establish benchmarks and to assess future progress toward food system sustainability goals. Framed by stakeholder concerns, this report will assist program and policy …

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The Effect Of Marketing Cooperatives On Innovation, Kyriakos Drivas, Konstantinos Giannakas Oct 2008

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 …

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The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson Oct 2008

The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Sorghum & Pearl Millet In Zambia: Production Guide, [2006], Kimberley Christiansen Sep 2008

Sorghum & Pearl Millet In Zambia: Production Guide, [2006], Kimberley Christiansen

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

U.S. government publication about sorghum and pearl millet production and sales in Zambia.

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Calf Finishing Versus Background/Yearling Finishing Systems: Where’S The Profit?, Rebecca M. Small, Darrell R. Mark Sep 2008

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 …

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Department Of Agricultural Economics Publications In 2007 Sep 2008

Department Of Agricultural Economics Publications In 2007

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Annual Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publication List (for 2007)

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The Impact Of Technological Change On A Competitive Industry, Richard K. Perrin Sep 2008

The Impact Of Technological Change On A Competitive Industry, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study analytically evaluates the impact of technological change on output and input markets in a competitive industry of identical firms. Firm-level technology and technological change are represented parametrically as local approximations to unknown functional forms. The comparative statics analysis solves for changes in equilibrium market prices and quantities as functions of parameters that characterize technological change. The technology-induced shift in industry supply is shown to equal the rate of technological change plus the share-weighted induced change in input prices. The model provides a consistent and systematic framework for evaluating the impact of technological change, either ex ante or ex …

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Management And Marketing 2009 Winter Wheat, Alan May, Jack Davis, Matthew Diersen Sep 2008

Management And Marketing 2009 Winter Wheat, Alan May, Jack Davis, Matthew Diersen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

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A Crash Course In Infrastructure: Expensive But Essential Components For Rural (And Urban) Nebraska’S Future, Sandra K. Scofield Sep 2008

A Crash Course In Infrastructure: Expensive But Essential Components For Rural (And Urban) Nebraska’S Future, Sandra K. Scofield

Rural Initiative Program: Publications and Reports

“Ironically rural America has become viewed by a growing number of Americans as having a higher quality of life not because of wat it has, but rather because of what it does not have.” This quote from an unknown author found by a graduate student in the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative focuses on a poin we often forget.

No doubt you can name many things we are happy not to have in rural Nebraska: smog, traffic jams, urban canyons, lack of green or open spaces, the list goes on. Many of these “deficiencies” amount to assets that rural areas …

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Using Hedge Information As A Risk Management Tool For Feeder Cattle, B. Williams, Matthew Stockton, Roger K. Wilson Sep 2008

Using Hedge Information As A Risk Management Tool For Feeder Cattle, B. Williams, Matthew 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 …

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The Economic Impact Of Crp Acres In South Dakota Returning To Crop Production, Gary Taylor, Larry Janssen Sep 2008

The Economic Impact Of Crp Acres In South Dakota Returning To Crop Production, Gary Taylor, Larry Janssen

Economics Staff Paper Series (1969 - 2017)

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was created in the 1985 Farm Bill as a program to remove highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production for from 10 to 15 years. Although CRP was originally viewed as a supply control program it rapidly evolved into a program that met many environmental objectives. In 2007 South Dakota had 729,397 acres of CRP contracts expired, which was nearly 47% of the 1.56 million acres enrolled in the program. During this period, there was no new farm bill or new CRP policy provisions. The policy environment in late 2006 and most of …

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2008 Nebraska Farm Income Prospects, Bruce B. Johnson Sep 2008

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 …

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Will Agricultural Research Make Future Irrigation Reductions Easier?, Ray Supalla Sep 2008

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 …

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Agricultural R&D Policy: A Tragedy Of The International Commons, Jennifer S. James, Philip G. Pardey, Julian M. Alston Sep 2008

Agricultural R&D Policy: A Tragedy Of The International Commons, Jennifer S. James, Philip G. Pardey, Julian M. Alston

Agribusiness

Over the past 50 years public agricultural research has contributed enormously to humanity, enabling the supply of food to grow faster than demand in spite of a rapidly growing population, income growth, and shrinking natural resources. Nonetheless, in many countries we see waning public support for agricultural R&D, especially in Africa, a diversion of research resources from farm productivity towards other agendas, and early warning signs of a slowdown in agricultural productivity. The world has continued to collectively underinvest in agricultural R&D because of domestic and international market failures associated with appropriability problems. Governments have failed to effectively address these …

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Spatial Welfare Impacts Of A Grain Ethanol Plant, Justin Van Wart, Richard K. Perrin Sep 2008

Spatial Welfare Impacts Of A Grain Ethanol Plant, Justin Van Wart, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study inquires into the spatial welfare impacts of a grain ethanol plant established in an area with a beef feeding industry. Corn producers will benefit, but by how much? Why do plants seem to price their animal feed byproduct so low that beef producers may benefit from lower feed costs, despite the higher corn price? Why do ethanol plants in some areas dry all their byproduct feed while in other areas plants sell it all in wet form? How are these outcomes affected by the density of corn production, by the density of feedlots, and by the size of …

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Proposed Anti-Affirmative Action Constitutional Amendment, J. David Aiken Aug 2008

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.

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Resolving Water Use Conflicts By “Walking-In-The-Shoes” Of Others: The Case Of Tuttle Creek Lake, Robert Sheeder, Gary D. Lynne Aug 2008

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 …

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Pet Wine Bottles: Will Consumers Accept Them?, David Baird, Wayne Howard Aug 2008

Pet Wine Bottles: Will Consumers Accept Them?, David Baird, Wayne Howard

Agribusiness

No Abstract

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A Republican River Water Bailout?, J. David Aiken Aug 2008

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 …

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Making A Sure Decision Now For Potential Disaster Assistance Later, Bradley Lubben Aug 2008

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 …

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Applying Experimental Economics To Obesity In The Family Household, Mariah D. Ehmke, Travis Warziniack, Christiane Schroeter, Kari Morgan Aug 2008

Applying Experimental Economics To Obesity In The Family Household, Mariah D. Ehmke, Travis Warziniack, Christiane Schroeter, Kari Morgan

Agribusiness

The objective of this study is to identify experimental economic tools that can be employed to explain the role of economic behavior in overweight and obesity in the household. We identify three economic experiments that can be used to understand how parent-child economic relationships relate to obesity. Loss aversion experiments are discussed as a tool to understand challenges some individuals face in achieving a healthy diet. Finally, testbed experiments are introduced as a means to test and understand new policies and incentives for better health at the household level.

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Land Values And Cash Rents: 2008 Summary Aug 2008

Land Values And Cash Rents: 2008 Summary

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Reports

Farm real estate values, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $2,350 per acre on January 1, 2008, up 8.8 percent from 2007. The $2,350 per acre is a record high and $190 more than a year earlier.

Both cropland and pasture values for 2008 are record highs. Cropland values rose by 10 percent to $2,970 per acre, up from the previous high of $2,690 in 2007. Pasture value rose by 6 percent to $1,230 per acre.

While commercial and residential development has slowed in many regions, farm real estate values continue to increase. …

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Economic Factors And Body Weight: An Empirical Analysis, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk Aug 2008

Economic Factors And Body Weight: An Empirical Analysis, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk

Agribusiness

With this study, we investigate the effects of changes in economic factors on body weight by constructing a utility theoretic model. The model is empirically estimated by combining data on individuals’ body weight, demographic and physical activity information, and state level measures pertaining to the prices of food away from home, food at home, and wages. By combining these data sources, we aim to estimate directly the weight effects of price and income changes. The empirical analysis suggests that decreasing the price of food at home could decrease body weight, a finding which has important public policy implications.

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Wheat Profits Reach Ten Year High, Paul Burgener Jul 2008

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 …

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Do College Students Learn By Correcting Missed Exam Questions?, Christiane Schroeter, Steven V. Green, Erin Bess Jul 2008

Do College Students Learn By Correcting Missed Exam Questions?, Christiane Schroeter, Steven V. Green, Erin Bess

Agribusiness

This study determines the learning benefit of correcting missed exam questions. The results show that in addition to exams being an assessment tool, they can also be used as a tool for student learning. The availability of this information will provide help considering design, development, and improvement of traditional assessment methods for student learning.

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Co-Product Store: An Economic Budget For Determining Co-Product Storage Costs, Josie Waterbury, Darrell R. Mark Jul 2008

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 …

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Using Averages To Create Budgets, Tina N. Barrett Jul 2008

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 …

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Rates Of Return To Public Agricultural Research In 48 U.S. States, Alejandro Plastina, Lilyan E. Fulginiti Jul 2008

Rates Of Return To Public Agricultural Research In 48 U.S. States, Alejandro Plastina, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Lilyan E. Fulginiti Publications

The internal rate of return (IRR) to public investment in agricultural R&D is estimated for each of the continental U.S. states. Theoretically, our contribution provides a way of obtaining the returns to a local public good using Rothbart’s concept of virtual prices. Empirically, we use the spatial dependency among states generated by knowledge spillovers to define the ‘appropriate’ jurisdiction. We estimate an average own-state rate of 17% and a social rate of 29%. These figures should inform the policy debate on the allocation of federal funds to research in the actual food crisis environment.

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