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Is there a trade-off between the short-run and long-run real effects of monetary policy "leaning against the wind"? We provide novel evidence on this question from the United States in 1920–1921. Our identification strategy exploits county-level variation in access to the Federal Reserve's discount window, and hand-collected data on banking and agriculture in Illinois. In the short term, tightened conditions at the discount window decreased bank lending and lowered crop prices and farm revenues. In the long term, however, they lowered debt-to-output levels and led to greater farmland utilization, suggesting an avoidance of debt overhang problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In agrivoltaic systems, photovoltaic (PV) modules are ground-mounted between crops replacing a part of greenhouse or are set below or above the cover film of greenhouse; these can provide solutions with respect to land competition and climate change mitigation. These systems have certain additional functions, namely, sunlight sharing, land sharing and power generation, as compared to the conventional agricultural production systems. These new functions are not adequately performed by traditionally used functional units (FUs), such as the mass- or the area-based FU, in agricultural life cycle assessment (LCA). Therefore, this study proposed new FUs for agrivoltaic systems, namely the modified area-based FU and the monetary-based FU. The modified area-based FU was derived by adding area covered by PV modules to the cultivated area addressing the function of land sharing. The monetary-based FU was derived by adding the prices of crops and electricity addressing the function of the system as a producer of differently valued market goods. The traditional area-based FU is based on the function of solar sharing because crop cultivation and power generation share the same sunlight falling on the same land. These new and traditional FUs were applied to a tomato greenhouse, with and without organic photovoltaics, as a case study of Japan. A combination of traditional and new FUs helps to maintain focus on crop production as the primary function of agricultural land and to better understand the environmental impacts of agrivoltaic systems. Finally, as the sharing of sunlight and land happen simultaneously, a method that addresses both these functions while reporting LCA results was considered. Highlights • The modified area-based FU can be used to express the function of land sharing. • The monetary-based FU can address as a producer of differently valued market goods. • The area-based FU is used to reflect solar sharing as the same sunlight is shared. • The old FUs (mass or area-based) do not adequately perform the new functions. • Combining the FUs will help in better understanding of the environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce economic and national security risks, U.S. energy policy, in 2005 and 2007, mandated production of renewable biofuels. By 2010, the renewable biofuel industry was consuming approximately one-third of domestic corn and soybean production. To meet this growing demand, conservation and pastureland has been cultivated with corn and soybean, resulting in a reduction in ecosystem services. Perennial bioenergy crops (e.g., switchgrass) offer a more sustainable alternative. However, unlike annual crops, farmers and landowners have little experience with perennial bioenergy crop production. Uncertainty in production and prices may impact the supply of these novel crops into an emerging market. Using a contingent supply method, we show that agricultural landowners are willing to produce perennial bioenergy crops, given competitive returns, but only on a portion of their land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has the potential to affect crop prices and price volatility. However, the economic models used in prior assessments largely do not include known, automatic, stabilizing factors. Crop storage can stabilize prices and U.S. crop policy tends to provide support that moves opposite prices. We quantify effects of circa 2050 climate forcing on the inter-annual variability of U.S. Corn Belt corn and soybean yields using statistical crop models and climate scenarios from regional and global climate models. Climate change generally reduces mean yields and increases the inter-annual variability of yields in the Midwestern U.S. Using these yield impacts and an economic model with automatic market stabilizers, we find only modest increases in price volatility. Although individual producers and states are negatively affected by the yield reductions, the aggregate effect for all corn and soybean producer returns can be positive because of price increases. Moreover, agricultural policies based on price levels or revenue variation offset some of the impacts of market variation on farm income. Our results differ from other recent results and temper concerns that increasing climate instability necessarily translates to greater uncertainty about agricultural commodity uses, including as food and biofuels, in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyzed changing comovement relationship between prices of crude oil and food crops/food index using a detrended cross-correlation analysis (DCCA) approach proposed by Podobnik and Stanley (2008). In order to detect the changing nature of cross-correlation coefficient over time, we estimated the detrended cross-correlation coefficient on a rolling window and found that cross-correlations were negative before 2004 for most of the items but they increased considerably after the surge in crude oil price in 2007 that caused diversion of food grains for production of biofuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some crops, crop price is variable and dependent on yield quality e.g., price of sugar beet root. Therefore, all parameters that increase the sugar content, increase the unit sugar beet root price e.g., irrigation water and nitrogen application rate. In this study, the required equations were derived for determining optimum applied water for sugar beet at variable crop price as a function of sum of irrigation water and seasonal rainfall under land and water limiting conditions. Results showed that the optimum applied water depth under land limited resulted in 1.2% increase in net income per unit area compared to maximum yield condition. Whereas, under water limiting condition, the net benefit per unit water is maximized and increased by 12% compared to maximum yield conditions. Increase in base crop price resulted in decrease and increase in optimum water depth under water and land limiting conditions, respectively. Under water limiting conditions, increase in seasonal rainfall from 0 to 6 and 12 cm decreased the optimum applied water from 47.4 to 54.8 and 65.3% and increased the irrigated area from 90 to 135 and 225%, respectively, compared with the full irrigation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese farmers faced price volatility risk of major agricultural crops. The main purpose of this article is to compute and determine exactly the sizes and degrees of major crops market risk. The market risk analysis of major crops such as coarse grain rice, wheat, corn, cotton and soybean are determined using the VaR (Value at Risk) model. The practical consequences indicated that the normal distribution model is not appropriate used in evaluating the major crops market risk due to various degrees of market risk in various crops such as the cotton and soybean crops with higher levels of market risk, while the coarse grain rice with the medium risk level and finally the corn and wheat with lower levels of market risk. According to the results, the crops having similar characteristics belong to the same level of market risk. Therefore it is essential to accomplish the market risk management system to monitor the risk of major crops by introducing various kinds of products. This ensures the competency, accuracy and decreases significantly the cost of market risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the output price effects on the US crop production, employing an ex-ante approach to the differential systems of input demand and output supply. The estimation results of the differential input demand show that the expansion of crop production leads to an increase in acreage (i.e. extensive margin) and a proportional rise in input usage improving yield per acre (i.e. intensive margin). The substitutable relationship between fertilizer and land supports that crop producers have an option to choose either intensive or extensive margin in response to changes in their relative prices. In addition, the estimation results of the differential output supply highlight that the composition of crop supply can be altered by changes in ex-ante crop prices. The estimation results suggest that crop producers substitute corn supply for the supply of cotton, wheat and soybeans or vice versa. Based on the estimated elasticities, the decompositions of profit-maximizing input demand are conducted, which reveals that a change in ex-ante crop prices is associated closely with resource reallocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was aimed to detect the seasonal phenomenon of the monthly sales of potato crop in Baghdad for the period (January 2010 - December 2015), using the krusskle - Wallis method. The research also aimed to determine the shape of the time series of the monthly sales of the potato crop whether to follow additive or multiplicative model. The problem of the research is presence of the seasonal phenomenon in the monthly sales of the potato crop, which will be reflected in one way or another on the short-term planning process. According to the results obtained, the monthly sales of the potato crop were predicted at 60 observations for the period January 2016 - December 2020, where the results were consistent with those in the original time series. We conclude from the results obtained that the monthly sale of the potato crop contains seasonal variations and confirms the nature of the pattern that the potato crop has been affected by the season to a large extent. This research was concluded that there was an increase in sales of potato crop during specific months of the year. This is confirmed by the results of the research, which will be reflected in one way or another on the low prices in the months of high sales according to the law of supply and demand. The research included recommendations such as preventing import at peak time (peak season of production) and the need to work on the development of laws and legislation to protect local agricultural products. The research also recommended the imposition of taxes and customs duties on imported agricultural products and not to allow entry into Iraq during the peak season of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the mechanisms of deforestation is necessary in order to slow or arrest its progress. To accomplish this requires rigorously estimating the demand for deforestation. We contribute to this endeavor by estimating the effect of crop prices on the demand for conversion of land from forest to agriculture in the tropics during the 21st century. The two main difficulties involved are the lack of harmonized data on local crop prices in the tropics and the fact that they are determined simultaneously with decisions to deforest. We propose a strategy to circumvent these two issues using high-resolution annual forest loss data for the tropics, combined with information on crop-specific agricultural suitability and annual international crop prices. We find that crop price variation has a significant impact on deforestation: increases in crop prices are estimated to be responsible for one-third of total deforestation in the tropics (totaling about 2 million km2) during the period 2001–2018. We also find that the degree of openness to international trade and the level of economic development are first-order local characteristics affecting the magnitude of the impact of crop prices on deforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the various governmental schemes that support agriculture, support prices have been adopted by many developing countries. A support price for an agricultural crop is a guaranteed price at which a governmental entity agrees to purchase that crop from farmers. Despite this surety, a surprising practice of 'distressed' selling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biophysical and economic consequences of climate change for agriculture are surrounded by uncertainties. The evaluation of climate change impacts on global and regional agriculture has been studied at length. In most cases, however, global and regional impacts are examined separately. Here we present a regionalized assessment – for the 2030 time horizon – covering the whole European Union while accounting for market feedback through international markets. To account for uncertainty on climate effects, we defined several simulation scenarios that differ as to climate projections and assumptions on the degree of carbon fertilization. Biophysical simulations show that crop productivity effects are largely determined by the degree of carbon fertilization, leading to decreased productivity in the absence of carbon fertilization and increased productivity otherwise. The magnitude of those effects differs across regions and crops, with maize being one of the most negatively affected in the EU. Economic simulations show that, while, on the whole, crop price effects attenuate the global impacts of climate change, aggregate results conceal significant regional disparities and their related trade adjustment. These results suggest that a multi-scale perspective is helpful for assessing climate change impacts on agriculture, as it will improve understanding of how regional and global agrifood markets respond to climate change and how these responses interact with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we have analysed farmers' awareness about Minimum Support Price (MSP) and its impact on diversification of crops grown in India. We used nationally representative data collected by National Sample Survey Office, 70th round data. The data revealed that only 23.72 and 20.04 per cent of farmers in the rural agricultural households in India are aware of MSP of crops grown by them in kharif and rabi season, respectively. From the results of probit model, it is inferred that MSP needs to be backed up by effective procurement coupled with awareness creation by extension system to enable more number of farmers to take benefit of this safety net. We have also explored the relationship between farmers' awareness about MSP and decision to go for crop specialization using Heckman selection model. The study shows that farmers' knowledge of MSP had not lead to specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood is a limited resource which is exposed to a continuously growing global demand not least because of a politically fostered bioenergy use. One approach to master the challenge to sustainably meet this increasing wood demand is short rotation forestry ( SRF). However, SRF is only gradually evolving and it is not fully understood which determinants hamper its expansion. This study provides theoretical insights into economic and environmental determinants of an SRF expansion and their interplay. This assessment requires the incorporation of farmers' decision-making based on an explicit investment appraisal. Therefore, we use an agent-based model to depict the decision-making of profit-maximizing farmers facing the choice between SRF, the cultivation of conventional annual agricultural crops and abstaining from cultivation (fallow land). The land use decisions are influenced by general economic determinants, such as market prices for wood and annual crops, and by site-dependent determinants, such as the environmental site quality. We found that the willingness to pay for SRF-based products and for annual crops most strongly influences the coverage of SRF in the landscape. SRF will in most cases be established on sites with low productivity. However, a decrease in the willingness to pay for annual crops will lead to a reallocation of SRF plantations to sites with higher productivity. Furthermore, our model results indicate that the impact of the distance to processing plants on farmers' decisions strongly depends on general economic determinants and the given spatial structure of the underlying natural landscape. Analysing the relative importance of different determinants of an SRF expansion, this study gives insights into the approach of using SRF to sustainably meet the growing wood demand. Moreover, these insights are taken as a starting point for the design of effective government interventions to promote SRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comprehensively examines price transmission from world, neighbour country, and internal commercial hub markets to Nigerian urban markets, as well as from urban to rural markets within the country, for seven key food security crops (maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, yams and cowpeas). There are three key findings: (i) tradability matters for price transmission, but tradability varies across crops and regions. The strongest international linkages are with neighbouring countries. Rice price transmission is high across all markets, while coarse grain price correspondence is low with world prices but high with neighbour country market prices; (ii) our results imply that local conditions matter for price transmission, and are relatively more important than trade for some crops (e.g. yams, cassava) than others (e.g. imported rice, maize); (iii) larger than expected long-run price transmission parameters in world and neighbour countries for rice and coarse grains suggest that, in these select markets, there are either large transactions costs or quality premiums that vary systematically with border prices, and/or mark-ups captured by traders with market power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dioscorea sparsiflora Hemsley (camote de cerro) is a wild species with agricultural potential that is not exploited as a crop but is collected for consumption and sale in western Mexico. The objective of the present research was to evaluate the effect of different light intensities (26,000, 18,000, and 14,000 lux), three shading periods (60, 90, and 180 d), and five types of containers two cylindrical (7 and 9 L), one rectangular (60 L), and two hydroponic channels: one 30 cm wide (45 L), and the other, 40 cm wide (60 L) on two D. sparsiflora accessions. The performances of two accessions (751 and 112) in previous treatments were also evaluated. The tuber weight was highest, with 18,000 lux (6.9 t ha-1), and had the highest yield when cultivated with a 60 d shading (33 t ha-1) and in the rectangular container (40 t ha-1). Accession 751 obtained the highest averages for tuber weight and diameter (43 t ha-1 and 73 mm, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on genetically-engineered (GE) crop contamination and damages concepts related to market loss in GE crop contamination cases. It mentions price overhang effect from an econometric perspective and confirming the thesis that for major contamination events and acceptance of the inclusion of price overhang in damages. It also mentions economic losses caused by the contaminators' allegedly tortious acts and effect on commodity crop pricing.

Modern intensive agriculture has led to biodiversity loss by restricting the number of crops, resulting in a limited range of nutrients available to the community. Alternative specialty crops can contribute to crop diversification in agricultural production systems and enhance human health and well-being by providing a diverse array of food crops. Rapid demographic changes in the U.S. population has created higher demands for and sales potential of fruits and vegetables, and has brought new market opportunities for farmers in the United States to grow alternative specialty crops. The introduction of alternative specialty crops has many inherited advantages including economic benefits to farmers through multiple facets: diversifying crop with value added crops, improving resilience to climate variability, maintaining yields with less resources, and boosting crop resistance to pests and diseases. However, there are challenges associated with the introduction and establishment of new crops, which include lack of information on candidates, cultural practices, and marketing as well as policy and institutional barriers. Farmers may face risk from poor economic returns and their businesses are likely to fail if proper management and marketing information are not available. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges associated with introduction of alternative specialty crops, and discuss how to mitigate potential problems associated with the introduction and establishment of alternative specialty crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal fluctuations of crop price and yield can have a strong influence on farmers' revenue. Under uncertainty, farmers' crop selection on – what to cultivate and how much of their land to allocate to different crops– is of crucial importance to secure their revenue as well as related ecosystem services. Multi-crop farming can be seen as a strategy to mitigate uncertainties that farmers face. In this study, we used Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) to quantify the fluctuations of crop price and yield for single and multiple crop selections in South Korea. Furthermore, risk adjusted revenue of each crop selection was analysed using the Sharpe ratio. We constructed three empirical crop portfolios containing one, three and five crops. For the single crop farming, six main crops in South Korea were analysed, and household data were used to build empirical crop portfolios. Our results showed that revenue from rice farming was the most stable, whereas it fluctuated strongly for pepper. However, growing rice provided the lowest revenue and farmers who cultivate multiple crops might as much as double their revenue compared to rice farming. Diversified crop farming can be a means of enhancing revenue. The biggest part of fluctuations in portfolios with several crops was seasonal, which might be mitigated by planning in advance. The artificial stability of rice price was due to policy intervention. However, it should be noted that the rice policy has been reformed and a high protection for domestic rice farming would no longer last in the future in South Korea. These results might have practical consequences for farmers' decision making on crop selection as well as for agricultural policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World crop prices increased dramatically during the period 2006–2009. In this context of high crop prices, farmers may tend to increase the amount of agro-chemical inputs they use in order to increase yield and manage risks related to crop production. These practices could, however, have potentially adverse environmental effects in terms of loss of biodiversity and increased water and air pollution. This study uses a structural econometric model to measure the effects of crop prices on demand for agro-chemical inputs and land allocation. We study individual farms observed in the period 2006–2009 in the French Département de la Meuse . We estimate a multi-output profit function using farm-level panel data. Our results show that an increase in the rapeseed price, which is the principal feedstock for the production of biodiesel in France, has a positive and significant effect on demand for agro-chemical inputs. Higher rapeseed prices also induce an expansion in the land area allocated to rapeseed at the expense of barley and set-aside. These results suggest that changes in the rapeseed price, partly driven by biofuel policies, induce changes in demand for chemicals and land allocation which may have potentially adverse effects on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the amount of commercially available genetically modified organisms (GMOs) grows recent years, the diversity of target sequences for molecular detection techniques are eagerly needed. Considered as the gold standard for GMO analysis, the real-time PCR technology was optimized to produce a high-throughput GMO screening method. With this method we can detect 19 transgenic targets. The specificity of the assays was demonstrated to be 100 % by the specific amplification of DNA derived from reference material from 20 genetically modified crops and 4 non modified crops. Furthermore, most assays showed a very sensitive detection, reaching the limit of ten copies. The 19 assays are the most frequently used genetic elements present in GM crops and theoretically enable the screening of the known GMO described in Chinese markets. Easy to use, fast and cost efficient, this method approach fits the purpose of GMO testing laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate long and short-term impact of changes in oil prices and the exchange rate on prices of seven groups of agricultural products in Russia (buckwheat, grain crops, potatoes, oat, wheat, rye, barley). In this paper, Granger causality approach is applied to test long-run interlinkages with monthly data from January 1999 to October 2015. For testing the response of agricultural prices to sudden shocks in oil prices and exchange rate in the short run, we use impulse-response techniques. The results of impulse response analysis show that agricultural prices are not particularly sensitive to changes in oil prices and the exchange rate of Russian ruble in the short term, except for imported commodities. In the long run, Granger causal relationship between agricultural prices and oil prices is missing, and with exchange rate is observed only in case of imported agricultural goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing smallholder farmers with agricultural information could improve economic development, by helping them to grow more crops, which they could then sell for more money. Widespread mobile phone ownership in Africa means that, for the first time, there is a realistic opportunity to deliver pertinent information to remote farmers throughout the continent. Efforts to harness the potential of mobile phones include the development of agricultural market information services (MIS) – applications that send farmers crop pricing information via short message service or SMS. These services promote economic development among some farmers in the developing world, but not yet in rural Kenya. To understand what factors impede the adoption of these services, we qualitatively studied Kenyan farmers’ mobile phone usage patterns and their interactions withMFarm, a commercially available MIS. Using affordance theory to guide our analysis, we discovered a mismatch between the design of MIS and smallholder farmers’ perceptions of their mobile phones’ communication capabilities. We use these findings to motivate a design agenda that encourages software developers and development practitioners to adopt an ecological perspective when creating mobile applications for sub-Saharan Africa's rural farmers. Strategies for implementing this approach include reconsidering the design of mobile phones, and developing innovative educational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops and estimates mixture models of crop price comovements using copula functions, which allow for departures from normality during extreme market circumstances. The models also account for unique time-series patterns inherent in crop price data. The results point to two main conclusions. First, mixture models appear to provide an easy-to-estimate approach for capturing real-life crop price movements. Second, mixture models find that, during extreme market downswings, correlations in price movements strengthen by several orders of magnitude. These results suggest that structured securities assembled from different crops tend to lose diversified protection during extreme market downswings, the exact times when such protection is needed most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the effects of water supply variations on micro-level agricultural irrigation under institutional water constraints and projects the irrigation percentage and farm income under future climate scenarios. We use a highly detailed data sample of irrigation status, water rights, water supply, and agricultural land use from Idaho's Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer area. Results indicate that a 1-unit increase in irrigation percentage leads to ~US$12 ha increase in crop revenue. Compared to crop revenue, micro-level irrigation percentage is more prone to changes under long-term water stress. The modest changes in climate, water supply, and crop prices can lead to the change in irrigation percentage by −86 to 53 units and correspondingly in average crop revenue by −52 to 48 % in Idaho's most productive region. Seasonal water supply variations only have limited impact on the productivity of the irrigated agricultural sector as a whole. We postulate that average irrigation percentage and farm income will, in effect, increase under Idaho's institutional water governance in the long run, when junior farmers stop irrigated agriculture practices due to persistent water shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet global energy demands with clean renewable energy such as with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, large surface areas are needed because of the relatively diffuse nature of solar energy. Much of this demand can be matched with aggressive building integrated PV and rooftop PV, but the remainder can be met with land-based PV farms. Using large tracts of land for solar farms will increase competition for land resources as food production demand and energy demand are both growing and vie for the limited land resources. This land competition is exacerbated by the increasing population. These coupled land challenges can be ameliorated using the concept of agrivoltaics or co-developing the same area of land for both solar PV power as well as for conventional agriculture. In this paper, the agrivoltaic experiments to date are reviewed and summarized. A coupled simulation model is developed for both PV production (PVSyst) and agricultural production (Simulateur mulTIdisciplinaire les Cultures Standard (STICS) crop model), to gauge the technical potential of scaling agrivoltaic systems. The results showed that the value of solar generated electricity coupled to shade-tolerant crop production created an over 30% increase in economic value from farms deploying agrivoltaic systems instead of conventional agriculture. Utilizing shade tolerant crops enables crop yield losses to be minimized and thus maintain crop price stability. In addition, this dual use of agricultural land can have a significant effect on national PV production. The results showed an increase in PV power between over 40 and 70 GW if lettuce cultivation alone is converted to agrivoltaic systems in the U.S. It is clear, further work is warranted in this area and that the outputs for different crops and geographic areas should be explored to ascertain the potential of agrivoltaic farming throughout the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of crop price and climate variables on rainfed corn and soybean yields and acreage in the United States using a large panel dataset for the 1977–2007 period. Instrumental variables are used to control for endogeneity of prices in yield and acreage regressions, while allowing for spatially auto-correlated errors. We find that an increase in corn price has a statistically significant positive impact on corn yield, but the effect of soybean price on soybean yields is not statistically significant. The estimated price elasticities of corn yield and acreage are 0.23 and 0.45, respectively. Of the increase in corn supply caused by an increase in corn price, we find that 33.8% is due to price-induced yield enhancement and 66.2% is due to price-induced acreage expansion. We also find that the impact of climate change on corn production ranges from −7% to −41% and on soybean ranges from −8% to −45%, depending on the climate change scenarios, time horizon, and global climate models used to predict climate change. We show that the aggregate net impact of omitting price variables is an overestimation of the effect of climate change on corn yield by up to 9% and on soybean yield by up to 15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful marketing of fresh potatoes is heavily reliant upon tuber appearance. Past attempts to improve the color and appearance of fresh potatoes have included the adoption of new cultivars, application of waxes during packing, control of skin damaging diseases, and foliar application of growth regulators. An analysis of the potential economic impact of the use of the plant growth regulator ethephon(2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) was conducted. Data on the influence of ethephon application rate on tuber size distribution and yield was collected from field trials on the red-skinned cultivar Red LaSoda during 2011 and 2012. These data were then used in conjunction with records of red potato prices for the most recently available five crop years to calculate gross returns. Production costs, chemical and application costs, and packing costs were then subtracted to calculate net economic returns. No adjustment in market value was made to account for the improved skin color measured due to ethephon application, as there are no data to support this assumption. Ethephon rate did not significantly affect total yield in either year, but did influence the distribution of various market classes (A, B and Creamers) in 2012. There was some influence in net value by size class, but total net return was not significantly affected in either year. While ethephon is not a very expensive addition to the total cost of production, it does not appear to provide a significant economic benefit based on the change in tuber size distribution alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of biofuel energy on economic growth, pollution, agriculture price level, and total agriculture production in 16 major biofuel energy consuming countries. The panel model is used in this study taking the period of 2000–2010. The results show that biofuel energy increases GDP growth and reduces the level of pollution. However, it increases both agriculture production and agriculture crop prices. Since biofuel energy promotes GDP growth and reduces the level of pollution, it is recommended that these countries should conduct strategies to increase their biofuel energy without causing an increase in agriculture price level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers in the United States often justify agricultural subsidies by stressing that agriculture is the engine of the rural economy. We use the increase in crop prices in the late 2000s to estimate the marginal effect of increased agricultural revenues on local economies in the U.S. Heartland. We find that $1 more in crop revenue generated 64¢ in personal income, with most going to farm proprietors and workers (59%) or nonfarmers who own farm assets (36%). The evidence suggests a weak link between revenues and nonfarm income or employment, or on population. Cuts to agricultural subsidies are therefore likely to have little effect on the broader rural economy in regions like the Heartland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate changes are occurring rapidly at both regional and global scales. Farmers are faced with the challenge of developing new agricultural practices to help them to cope with unpredictable changes in environmental, social, and economic conditions. Under these conditions, adaptive management requires a farmer to learn by monitoring provisional strategies and changing conditions, and then incrementally adjust management practices in light of new information. Exploring adaptive management will increase our understanding of the underlying processes that link farmer societies with their environment across space and time, while accounting for the impacts of an unpredictable climate. Here, we assessed the impacts of temperature and crop price, as surrogates for climate and economic changes, on farmers' adaptive management in crop pest control using an agent-based modeling approach. Our model simulated an artificial society of farmers that relied on field data obtained in the Ecuadorian Andes. Farmers were represented as heterogeneous autonomous agents who interact with and influence each other, and who are capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions. The results of our simulation suggest that variable temperatures led to less effective pest control strategies than those used under stable temperatures. Moreover, farmers used information gained through their own past experience or through interactions with other farmers to initiate an adaptive management approach. At a broader scale, this study generates more than an increased understanding of adaptive management; it highlights how people depend on one another to manage common problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in crops, increased demand, reductions in natural gas prices, and spatial competition among producers and imports are affecting the nitrogen fertilizer industry. A spatial competition model of the US nitrogen fertilizer industry was developed to determine the likely future spatial distribution of production and flows for nitrogen. The model minimizes production and shipping costs from plants and imports to consuming regions. A base model of 2010–2012 was developed and a future case was modeled representative of 2018. The most valuable (lowest cost) origins for US processing are primarily in Louisiana, followed by other states with low natural gas prices. Shadow prices indicate locations in Wyoming, Iowa, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota would be positive. Not all of proposed plants would be viable and if forced to operate at 75% of capacity or more only a few of the new plants including those located in Louisiana, Iowa and North Dakota would be viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do the wet savannahs and shrublands of Africa provide a large reserve of potential croplands to produce food staples or bioenergy with low carbon and biodiversity costs? We find that only small percentages of these lands have meaningful potential to be low-carbon sources of maize (∼2%) or soybeans (9.5-11.5%), meaning that their conversion would release at least one-third less carbon per ton of crop than released on average for the production of those crops on existing croplands. Factoring in land-use change, less than 1% is likely to produce cellulosic ethanol that would meet European standards for greenhouse gas reductions. Biodiversity effects of converting these lands are also likely to be significant as bird and mammal richness is comparable to that of the world's tropical forest regions. Our findings contrast with influential studies that assume these lands provide a large, low-environmental-cost cropland reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DRAINMOD simulation model was used to investigate combinations of drain depth and spacing for major soils of southern Minnesota to maximize profitability and minimize drained volume and surface runoff. Six soil types (Canisteo, Harps, Nicollet, Normania, Okoboji, and Webster) and three locations (Lamberton, Waseca, and Willmar) were included in the original study and one soil-location combination was reported on, herein (Webster–Waseca). Four drain depths (90, 105, 120, and 135 cm) were used and drain spacings were selected to simulate drainage coefficients from 3.2 to 19 mm/day. Soil input files for DRAINMOD were created using a combination of measured data from field sampling (soil texture and bulk density), data estimated with the Rosetta soil parameter model/van Genuchten equation (water retention curves), and publicly available data (soil permeability). Long-term simulations were conducted for each location using 90 years of historical climate data (1915–2005). Outputs from DRAINMOD were used to create “performance” indices that enable the concurrent consideration of profitability, drainage volumes, and surface runoff, when choosing drain depth and spacing. A spreadsheet design tool was developed to compute and display these indices, based on a few simple user inputs to define cost and crop price. Internal rate of return was used as the basis for profitability considerations. Results obtained indicated that in general, profitability may be increased with increased drain depth and spacing, due to system costs associated with narrower drain spacings. It was found that when considering both profitability and drainage volume, deeper, more widely spaced drainage systems were generally preferable, because of increased profitability and decreased drainage volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of electronic payment machines offer vendors an alternative payment method which can increase farmers markets' sales and customer base. In this study, we elicited the value that managers and vendors assign to different machines' features. Also we estimated customers' values on different markets' features, including access to electronic payment machines. Managers were willing to pay for user-friendly machines, excellent customer service, and excellent quality machine technology. Customers were also willing to pay for excellent quality food, for vendors that are local farmers, and for an entertaining atmosphere. We found no evidence of customers willing to pay premium prices for having access to electronic payment machines at farmers markets. Findings from this study should be useful to those designing ways to implement electronic payment machines at farmers markets in order to increase adoption rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement-induced real border price changes of Mexican imports and exports on wages and employment of agricultural workers in Mexico. I find that changes in real border prices of crops did not affect agricultural wages. On the other hand, increases in the real price of vegetables (main agricultural export) were associated with an increase in employment in the cultivation of vegetables, whereas the drop in the real price of corn (main agricultural import) reduced the employment in the corn sector. This is in line with the predictions of neoclassical trade theory: in the absence of mobility costs or sector-specific skills, factors moved smoothly from import-competing sectors into export-competing sectors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High corn prices cause farmers to plant more corn on fields that were planted to corn in the previous year, rather than alternating between corn and soybeans. Cultivating corn after corn requires greater nitrogen fertilizer and some of this nitrogen flows into waterways and causes environmental damage. We estimate the effect of crop prices on nitrogen losses for most fields in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana using crop data from satellite imagery. Spatial variation in these high-resolution estimates highlights the fact that the environmental effects of agriculture depend not only on what is grown, but also on where and in what sequence it is grown. Our results suggest that the change in corn and soybean prices due to a billion gallons of ethanol production expands the size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico by roughly 30 square miles on average, although there is considerable uncertainty in this estimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal multiproduct time-varying hedge ratios are determined – for a soybean complex – and their risk-mitigating impact is contrasted over single-commodity time-varying and naive hedge ratios. A parsimonious regime-switching dynamic correlation model is employed, with the estimated dynamic correlation matrix among prices varying between two different levels, and the time-varying correlations being applied to the multiproduct setting. Findings obtained are three-fold. First, there is significant evidence that estimated simultaneous correlations among different commodities’ prices (e.g. soybean spot and soybean meal futures) attain different values along the time series. Second, there is a substantial reduction in margin variance provided by the optimal multiproduct time-varying hedge ratios over single time-varying and naive hedge ratios, for both in- and out-of-sample data. Third, average optimal multiproduct time-varying hedge ratios for soybean and soybean meal (0.82 and 0.74, respectively; for out-of-sample data) are significantly below the naive full hedge ratio, providing risk mitigation at lower costs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT The Chinese corn futures market is the second largest after the CBOT in terms of trading volume in contracts. In 2012, the trading volume of corn futures was 37 million contracts (or 378 million metric tons). The relationship between Chinese corn futures and spot prices is studied to gauge the price discovery process. Formal statistical tests are conducted based on Johansen's co-integration, Granger causality and the Garbade-Silber approach for the corn spot prices and futures prices. All empirical analysis is also performed for GMO and non-GMO soybeans to provide a contrast with the corn futures market. The results suggest that Chinese corn futures prices guide the spot prices; that is, the corn futures market can serve as legitimate guide for future cash prices. This conclusion is valid for GMO futures market, but is not found to be the case for non-GMO soybeans, where spot prices guide futures prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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