Repaying credit debts and loans (1997)

"Information from Human Environmental Sciences Extension.""Family economics."Revised 10/97/5M

Economic Impacts of Farm Program Payment Limits

The high levels of government payments to farmers resulting from the 1985 farm bill have once again led the Congress to examine the payment limit issue. Payment limits were initially established in 1970 and have since been revised several times. In this report, policy and farm management economists analyze the consequences of alternative payment limits on economic efficiency, economic viability of family-size farms, international competitiveness, and consumer food costs. Effective payment limits encourage reduced farm size and in the presence of economies of size, tend to increase production costs for program crops. The Agricultural and Food Policy Center is charged with evaluating economic impacts of policy alternatives -- not recommending, advocating, or opposing particular policies. The Center's orientation is toward Texas agriculture -- evaluating policy impacts on its producers and consumers. Farm prices and income, however, are determined in world markets that are influenced by national economic policy and farm programs. Texas impacts, therefore, must be evaluated in a much broader national and international market and policy context.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Alfalfa Production as Related to Irrigation Scheduling: An Economic Perspective

This study analyzed the economics of irrigation scheduling for alfalfa hay in the Cache Valley, Utah area. Yield, evapotranspiration (ET) and irrigation drainage loss, along with the costs and returns per acre attributable to irrigation scheduling, were simulated through the use of a computerized plant growth model. The model created yearly irrigation schedules for alfalfa hay based on actual climatic, soil and plant characteristic data from the Utah State University Greenville Experiment Station. The model calculated the irrigation schedules based on a soil-water balance equation which never allowed the available soil water to go below the crop stress point. The production variables (yield, ET, drainage, water application efficiency) achieved with the model-calculated schedules were contrasted against the same variables under conventional practices of zero, five and eight irrigations per season. Under five and eight irrigations, the amount of water applied at each irrigation was varied from one to eight inches, which simulated irrigations ranging from 3.4 to 26.6 hours per set. The yearly irrigation schedules created by the soil-water balance equation maximized crop evapotranspiration and yield. Irrigation drainage was negated while water application efficiencies of 100% were achieved by applying only enough water at each irrigation to refill the soil profile. Using model-estimated yield, net profit for each irrigation option (scheduling, zero, five and eight irrigations) was calculated using nine different irrigation cost scenarios. Based on the 16 years of simulation, irrigation scheduling averaged a lower net profit when compared against five irrigations at three and four inches per irrigation. Compared against eight irrigations at two and three inches per irrigation, net profit for the model-calculated schedules averaged higher or equal. Irrigation scheduling is an excellent method of determining optimal irrigation frequency and amount, and may have a significant impact on net income if an irrigator is substantially over or under irrigating. However, once an optimal pattern of irrigations is established using a scheduling technique it may be more profitable for an irrigator to discontinue incurring the cost of irrigation scheduling and simply use the pattern each successive season, modifying it slightly for an annual variations in climate

The Imortance of Basis In Grain Marketing Decisions

The main purpose of futures markets is to facilitate the trading of contracts which allow producers, processors and merchandisers of commodities to minimize their exposure to the risk of adverse price flucuation. This is achieved by either buying or selling contracts for delivery of a specified amount of a given commodity at a future date. These particul ar players in the futures markets are referred to as hedgers since they are offsetting a cash position by either buying or selling futures contracts

Economic Impacts of Farm Program Payment Limits

The high levels of government payments to farmers resulting from the 1985 farm bill have once again led the Congress to examine the payment limit issue. Payment limits were initially established in 1970 and have since been revised several times. In this report, policy and farm management economists analyze the consequences of alternative payment limits on economic efficiency, economic viability of family-size farms, international competitiveness, and consumer food costs. Effective payment limits encourage reduced farm size and in the presence of economies of size, tend to increase production costs for program crops. The Agricultural and Food Policy Center is charged with evaluating economic impacts of policy alternatives -- not recommending, advocating, or opposing particular policies. The Center's orientation is toward Texas agriculture -- evaluating policy impacts on its producers and consumers. Farm prices and income, however, are determined in world markets that are influenced by national economic policy and farm programs. Texas impacts, therefore, must be evaluated in a much broader national and international market and policy context