Labor Guide to Labor Law

[Excerpt] This book is a practical guide to labor law in the private sector. The first 8 chapters present a discussion of legal principles primarily based on the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 1947, as amended, commonly referred to as the “Act.” The remaining chapters discuss principles based on the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, as well as on the LMRA

Loan Deficiency Payments or the Loan Program?

Low market prices for corn and soybeans have triggered two federal price support programs

Loan Deficiency Payments or the Loan Program?

Low marked prices for corn and soybeans have triggered two federal price support programs: (1) a Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) that pays producers the difference between county-level prices and that county\u27s loan rate on a date chosen by the producer and (2) a traditional loan program whereby the producer puts grain in storage and uses the grain as collateral on a loan. Producers may enroll in either program, but not in both. Therefore, the authors discuss three choices using existing information to suggest which choice is likely to be the best response

Whole-Farm Revenue Insurance for Crop and Livestock Producers

The collapse in hog prices in the fall of 1998 has renewed interest in using insurance as a means of providing an affordable safety net to U.S. farmers. One option that has received attention is to expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop insurance program to include livestock producers. Because the ongoing financial crisis in the hog sector was not caused by production or disease problems, it is apparent that producers could have benefited from either price insurance or revenue insurance

Whole-Farm Revenue Insurance for Crop and Livestock Producers

The collapse of hog prices in the fall of 1998 precipitated renewed interest in using insurance as a means of providing an affordable safety net to U.S. farmers. Legislation has been introduced that would amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to allow livestock insurance. This paper discusses some of the issues raised by an expansion of revenue insurance, and provides an example of a whole-farm insurance product that insures against revenue losses on a diversified farm producing corn, soybeans, and hogs

Nitrous oxide emission reductions from cutting excessive nitrogen fertilizer applications

Farmers may choose to apply nitrogen fertilizer at a rate that exceeds the average ex post agronomically optimal rate when the yield response to nitrogen varies across growing seasons. Negative environmental consequences such as nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and/or water pollution can result when all the applied nitrogen is not needed by the crop. Here we consider a nonlinear market instrument targeting farmers’ nitrogen use, and by solving for the optimal nitrogen reduction using a model of expected utility of farm profits, we evaluate the induced N2O emission reductions that are consistent with the instrument introduced. The market instrument is nonlinear because of the expected nonlinear relationship between N2O and nitrogen application rates. Our simulations show that, in cases where farmers apply N at rates which exceed recommendations and the N2O response is likely to be non-linear, payments will induce participation in the program and will have a significant impact on both expected and actual N2O emissions without significantly harming expected or actual yields. Failure to consider this nonlinearity would deviate the attention away from N2O pollution because it would require large N reductions (and crop yields) to achieve equivalent N2O abatement

Crop-Based Biofuel Production under Acreage Constraints and Uncertainty

A myriad of policy issues and questions revolve around understanding the bioeconomy. To gain insight, we develop a stochastic and dynamic general equilibrium model and capture the uncertain nature of key variables such as crude oil prices and commodity yields. We also incorporate acreage limitations on key feedstocks such as corn, soybeans, and switchgrass. We make standard assumptions that investors are rational and engage in biofuel production only if returns exceed what they can expect to earn from alternative investments. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, with significant requirements for cellulosic biofuel and biodiesel production. We calculate the level of tax credits required to stimulate this level of production. Subsidies of nearly $2.50 per gallon to biodiesel and$1.86 per gallon to cellulosic biofuel were required, and long-run equilibrium commodity prices were high, with corn at $4.76 per bushel and soybeans at$13.01 per bushel. High commodity prices are due to intense competition for planted acres among the commodities

Reinsuring Group Revenue Insurance with Exchange-Provided Revenue Contracts

Shows that it is feasible to use exchange-based contracts as a substitute for the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. The authors analyze a Group Revenue Contract, which would allow producers to guarantee against reductions in county-level revenues. The insurance company would then purchase put options on an exchange-based revenue contract to protect against statewide revenue shortfalls. The analysis suggests that this reassurance tool would eliminate most though not all of the systemic risk associated with this product