BUDGET PLANNER: USER-ORIENTED WHOLE-FARM BUDGETING SOFTWARE

Budget Planner is a whole-farm or enterprise budgeting software program that is simple to use for farmers, extension agents, and other budgeters who are sometimes inexperienced, but that also provides the detail necessary to be accurate. Program defaults eliminate repetitive questions that change little from budget to budget. Defaults can be temporarily overridden, or they can be permanently changed with a detailed modify program. The program leads a user through a sequence similar to that a producer might utilize. Input forms were created to enlarge the user clientele and eventually increase computer use by farmers and extension agents.Farm Management,

THE COST OF MEETING EQUITY: OPPORTUNITY COST OF IRRIGATION IN THE FISH-SUNDAYS SCHEME OF SOUTH AFRICA

In this paper the incremental values of water are calculated for irrigators in the Fish-Sundays Scheme of South Africa's Eastern Cape province. The socio-political pressure for redistribution of agricultural resources provided the imperative for this study. The model of the Fish-Sundays Scheme reflects a survey of 50 000ha of fodder and citrus production. It explicitly models the water demand on sixteen typical farms, for five irrigation technologies, six crops and four livestock activities. The existing allocation generates an average value of R0.0423/m3/year, which increases to R0.0681/m3/year if farmer-to-farmer trading is allowed given existing infrastructure. Unrestricted trade raises the average value to R0.0719/m3/year. The marginal cost of additional water in the source basin is R0.05/m3/year for the first 315 million m3 and R1.27/m3/year to extend capacity beyond that.water value, irrigation, linear programming, South Africa, Eastern Cape, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q12,

SUSTAINABILITY: OBSERVATIONS, EXPECTATIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Agricultural and Food Policy,

MANURE VALUE AND LIVEWEIGHT SWINE DECISIONS

Produced as a joint product, economic theory suggests that manure value could influence livestock management decisions such as herd size and optimal market weights. This study examines the concept of manure and its connection with optimal replacement age or market weight. A model of a swine finishing operation representative of North Carolina conditions is developed. Over the range of conditions considered, manure value is negative and does not affect market weights. The marginal per head change in manure value is small relative to the marginal per head change in net returns from pork production. Further, economies of scale with respect to irrigation cause manure value to increase with herd size.Manure value, Market weight, Response surface, Swine, Livestock Production/Industries,

MARKET ANALYSIS OF A STUDENT AGRIBUSINESS ORGANIZATION AS A PLANNING AND EDUCATIONAL TOOL

Although marketing principles and strategies are taught in all major agribusiness management programs in the country, few agribusiness student groups use these very principles in the planning of their own activities. This article describes a market research project developed by the AgriBusiness Association at Colorado State University (CSU) as an example of how to integrate coursework with an undergraduate agribusiness organization's program of activities. In addition to reinforcing marketing principles learned at CSU, the project taught students the importance of setting objectives, research design, and data analysis. Many of the findings were used to plan and improve the club.agribusiness clubs, marketing, undergraduate students, Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Pressures and Preferences Affecting Willingness to Apply Beef Manure on Crops in the Colorado High Plains

Little is known about producers' willingness to use manure. Past studies have focused on substitutability for fertilizers. We surveyed crop producers in a cattle-dense region of the Colorado Plains about whether and why they apply manure, focusing on how pressures (like owning cattle) or preferences (pro and con) affect their adoption. Using logistic regression, findings show that pressure and preference (PS/PF) significantly affect adoption. A producer with high PS/PF was 10 times more likely to use manure than one with low PS/PF. Policy and decision makers can use such findings to inform education and policy aimed at increasing the land application of manure.cattle, economic benefits, economic costs, management, manure application, Crop Production/Industries,

An Application of Mixed Logit Estimation in the Analysis of Producers’ Stated Preferences

This paper analyzes Colorado Corn producers’ preferences over both private- and environmental public-good production system attributes. Current production practices are characterized by intensive water and chemical use, resulting in non-point source pollution to water bodies as well as soil erosion problems. Data from a stated preference survey are employed to analyze key attributes of experimentally configured irrigation systems, proposed as alternatives to current practices. Panel mixed logit estimations find positive preferences for profit, risk reduction, and, importantly, systems with less environmental impact in terms of nitrate leaching and soil erosion. The results also find presence of significant preference heterogeneity and a complementary relationship between the two environmental attributes. Analysis of this kind can be used by policy makers to predict behavioral responses associated with introduction of new technologies, or to assess welfare implications of agricultural policy changes and stricter environmental regulations.Agricultural production, profit-maximization, environment, mixed logit, stated preference, attribute part-worth, nitrate leaching, soil erosion, risk, Crop Production/Industries, C10, D62, Q12, Q15, Q51,

Internalizing Externalities when there are Significant Private Non-Market Rents

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

FARM COMPUTER ADOPTION IN THE GREAT PLAINS

Computers change rapidly, yet the last survey on computer use in agriculture was in 1991. We surveyed Great Plains producers in 1995 and used logit analysis to characterize adopters and non-adopters. About 37% of these producers use computers which is consistent with the general population. We confirmed previous surveys emphasizing the importance of education, age/experience, and other farm characteristics on adoption. However, we also found that education and experience may no longer be a significant influence. Future research and education could focus on when and where computers are most needed, and therefore when adoption is most appropriate.adoption, agriculture, computers, farmers, Great Plains, logit, Farm Management,

Economic performance of exotic dairy cattle under smallholder conditions in the marginal zones of Kenya using three analytical approaches

Smallholder exotic dairy cattle have been adopted in the dry marginal zones of Kenya from the high potential areas over the last two decades contrary to the opinion of experts. The objective of this study therefore was to evaluate the economic performance of this dairy establishment in the marginal zones. Three approaches were used for the evaluation: the stochastic cost frontier to determine inefficiencies and the causative institutional and socio-economic factors; cost-factor demand systems; and the supply response analyses to determine the elasticity estimates of policy variables. The results from these approaches are supplementary and seem to support the need for government interventions in institutional and socio-economic factors that have a high public good component in order to expand dairy establishment in the marginal zones.Marginal zones, stochastic frontier, systems analysis, institutional and socio-economic factors, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,