ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCING THE USE OF ATRAZINE: AN EXAMPLE OF CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

Restricting or eliminating the use of atrazine in the Midwest would have important economic consequences for farmers, consumers, and the environment. These consequences can only be evaluated with cooperation between economists and weed scientists. The weed control choice set available to farmers cannot be observed through deductive research. Economists and weed scientists worked together to identify all possible weed control strategies for corn and sorghum in the Midwest and to incorporate them into an economic model. An atrazine ban was found to be the costliest strategy, and a targeted, water-quality based strategy the most cost effective.Atrazine, Deductive research, Environmental exposure, Herbicides, Inductive research, Welfare, Crop Production/Industries,

Risk Preferences, Perceptions and Systematic Biases

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/21/06.Risk and Uncertainty,

PRODUCTION DECISIONS WITH UNCERTAIN MARKETS: THE CASE OF BT CORN

The effect of marketing uncertainty due to consumer opposition over genetically modified (GM) grain is modeled in the context of a producer's decision to plant GM. The model shows that a tendency to plant less GM acreage and obtain premium prices for Non-GM grain is tempered by increased price risk.Crop Production/Industries,

AN ANALYSIS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN PORK PRODUCTION

The rapid expansion of large-scale pork production has been accompanied by increasing concerns regarding potential detrimental consequences of environmental hazards on the health of producers. This study makes use of health indicators obtained from attendees at the World Pork Expo between 1991 and 1995 to evaluate the impact of pork production generally and of confinement production, specifically, on producer health. The analysis expands existing studies because the larger number of participants allows for detailed analysis, both nonfarmers and non-pork farmers are used as controls, both objective as well as self-reported health measures are considered, and personal characteristics such as height, weight, age, gender, smoking habits, and years of exposure to confinement operations and swine operations are controlled. The analysis shows that pork producers are more likely to report nagging respiratory symptoms (cough, sinus problems, sore throat) than are other farmers. Confinement operators have increased incidence of some symptoms relative to other pork producers. However, there was no evidence of permanent loss of pulmonary function associated with pork production or confinement operation. Farmers suffered from a greater incidence of hearing loss and loss of dominant hand strength relative to nonfarmers. Pork producers had even greater incidence of lost hand strength than other farmers but had no added incidence of hearing loss. On the plus side, farmers had lower blood pressure than did nonfarmers.

Estimating the Potential Value of Variable Rate Nitrogen Applications: A Comparison of Spatial Econometric and Geostatistical Models

Site-specific crop response functions (SSCRFs) are useful for estimating the value of variable rate nitrogen applications (VRA), but appropriate statistical models are necessary. Problems estimating SSCRFs using experimental field data include region, spatial, treatment, and strip dependent heteroskedasticity and correlation. We develop a spatial autoregressive error (SARE) model for dealing with these problems and compare results with previous analysis based on a geostatistical (GEO) model. VRA value estimates for the two models differ notably for 1995 data from Southern Minnesota. Furthermore, findings show that the results of a comparison of model performance are location specific.geostatistics, precision agriculture, site-specific crop response functions, spatial autoregressive error, variable rate nitrogen application, Crop Production/Industries,

Firm Size, Technical Change And Wages In The Pork Sector, 1990 -2005

Economists have long puzzled over the fact that large firms pay higher wages than small firms, even after controlling for worker’s observed productive characteristics. One possible explanation has been that firm size is correlated with unobserved productive attributes which confound firm size with other productive characteristics. This study investigates the size-wage premium in the context of firms competing within a single market for a relatively homogeneous product: hogs. We pay particular attention to the matching process by which workers are linked to farms of different size and technology use, and whether the matching process may explain differences in wages across farms. The study relies on four surveys of employees on hog farms collected in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. We find that there are large wage premia paid to workers on larger farms that persist over time. Although more educated and experienced workers are more likely to work on larger and more technologically advanced hog farms, the positive relationships between wages and both farm size and technology adoption remain large and statistically significant even after controlling for differences in observable worker attributes and in the observed sorting process of workers across farms.pork; technology; Hog Farms; Wages; Propensity Score; Size; Wage Premium

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF BT CORN?

A common perception is that the value of Bt corn arises from two components-Bt corn increases expected profit and reduces profit variability. This perception encourages farmers and the policy makers to add a risk benefit to estimates of the value of Bt corn to account for the variability reduction. However, a conceptual model generates a useful decomposition of the value of Bt corn and a condition determining the impact of Bt corn on profit variability. An empirical model finds that Bt corn increases profit variability and thus decreases the value of Bt corn by 10-25% depending on risk preferences.Crop Production/Industries,

BT CORN AND INSECT RESISTANCE: AN ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF REFUGES

Genetically engineered crops offer farmers a new option for controlling pests. The high efficacy of these pesticidal crops, combined with the potential for widespread adoption, has raised concerns that pest resistance may prematurely diminish their value. In response to these concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency requires resistance management plans. Current resistance management plans rely on a high-dose refuge strategy. This analysis extends the current framework for evaluating high-dose refuge strategies to include a measure of agricultural productivity and conventional pesticide use. The economic tradeoff relative to agricultural productivity, conventional pesticide use, and pest resistance is assessed when Bt corn is planted to control the European corn borer.Crop Production/Industries,

A test for complementarities among multiple technologies that avoids the curse of dimensionality

We propose a strategy to identify the complementarity or substitutability among technology bundles. Under the assumption that alternative technologies are independent, we develop a hypothetical distribution of multiple technology adoptions. Differences between the observed distribution of technology choices and the hypothetical distribution can be subjected to statistical tests. Combinations of technologies that occur with greater frequency than would occur under independence are complementary technologies. Combinations that occur with less frequency are substitute technologies. This method is easily applied to simultaneous decisions regarding many technologies. We use the strategy to evaluate multiple technology adoptions on U.S. hog farms. We find that some technologies used in pork production are substitutable for one another while others are complementary. However, as the number of bundled technologies increases, they are increasingly likely to be complementary with one another, even if subsets are substitutes when viewed in isolation. This finding suggests that farmers have an incentive to adopt many technologies at once. Larger farms and farms run by more educated operators are the most likely to adopt multiple technologies. The complementarity among technologies in large bundles is contributing to a form of returns to scale that contributes to growth in average farm size.human capital; technology; adoption; complementarity; substitutability; independence; hogs; pork; farm size

Estimating the Benefits of Bt Corn and Cost of Insect Resistance Management Ex Ante

This paper estimates farmer benefits for corn rootworm (CRW) active Bt corn and costs of complying with Environmental Protection Agency insect resistance management requirements. The estimates are obtained from farmer survey data that were collected in Minnesota in 2002, just prior to the commercial releases of CRW Bt corn. Benefit estimates range from $14 to$33.4 million, while compliance cost estimated range from $3.5 to$8.7 million depending on whether or not CRW Bt corn also controlled the European corn borer and whether of not it was approved for sale in major export markets.Bt corn, compliance costs, corn rootworm, insect resistance management, willingness to pay, Crop Production/Industries,