U.S. AGRICULTURE AT A CROSSROADS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

APPLYING LISA CONCEPTS ON SOUTHERN FARMS

Agribusiness,

A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE FARMING

Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

SPATIAL PRICE DIFFERENCES DURING MARKET TRADE TRANSITIONS

Industrial Organization,

Prace nad zrównoważonościa

I want to focus my future work on restoring capitalism and reclaiming democracy. Our government has lost the consent of the governed and thus lacks the "just power" to govern, which it must have to restrain rampant economic extraction and exploitation of nature and society.Chcę skoncentrować moją przyszłą pracę na przywróceniu prawdziwego kapitalizmu i odzyskaniu demokracji. Rząd utracił zgodę rządzonych i tym samym brakuje mu „sprawiedliwej władzy” do rządzenia, którą musi posiadać, aby powstrzymać szalejącą ekstrakcję gospodarczą i wyzysk przyrody i społeczeństwa

Farm and Food Policies for a Sustainable Future

United States government policies have incentivized and supported the unsustainable agri-food system of the present and fundamental changes in farm and food policies will be necessary for a sustainable future. US farm policies, initiated in the 1930s, were designed to ensure long run domestic food security by ensuring the economic viability of independent family farms. New mechanical, chemical, and biological technologies of the 1950s made it possible to increase agricultural productivity by applying industrial production strategies to farming. A shift in farm policy during the 1960s made the shift from family farms to industrial agriculture inevitable

SMALL FARMS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: IS SMALL MORE SUSTAINABLE?

A new, post-industrial, paradigm for agriculture is emerging under the concept of sustainable agriculture. The sustainability paradigm has emerged to solve problems created by the industrial model, primarily environmental pollution and resource base degradation. The role of farm size in this transformation to a more sustainable agriculture is the issue addressed. Using a descriptive approach, and relying on a survey of the literature including emerging paradigms and observations, we conclude that, from a sustainability perspective, the smallest effective size will be the most competitive size for farms, as for other knowledge-based enterprises of the future.Agriculture, Farm size, Paradigms, Sustainability, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Family Farms in an Era of Global Uncertainty

We live in uncertain times. The future of our nation is at risk. At no time since the Great Depression has the U.S. been so vulnerable to economic chaos and collapse. U.S. federal budget deficits routinely sets new records, as we continue borrowing money to fund our military misadventure in Iraq and an unending global war on terrorism. Over time, we have become the world’s largest debtor nation, and more important ly, we are no longer borrowing the money from ourselves, from Americans. In fact, we owe much of our federal debt to China, the world’s leading communist nation. Our intern ational trade deficits also have reached historic highs as we come to rely on cheap imports from low-wage count ries such as Mexico, India, and China. Many Americans no longer make enough money to buy things “made in America.” The value of the U.S. dollar has declined precip itously in relation to other wo rld currencies, as the Federal Reserve periodically reduces interest rates in atte mpts to stave off domestic recessions. American consumers are also suffering under the burden of too much debt; yet the government’s response to the current economic crisis is to encourage more borrowing and spending

WHOLE FARM RISK-RATING MICROCOMPUTER MODEL

The Risk-Rating Model is designed to give extension specialists, teachers, and producers a method to analyze production, marketing, and financial risks. These risks may be analyzed either individually or simultaneously. The risk associated with each enterprise, for all combinations of enterprises, and for any combination of marketing strategies is estimated. Optimistic, expected, and pessimistic returns above variable cost and/or total cost are presented in the results. The probability that total return will be equal to or greater than variable cost and/or total cost is also estimated.Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

Sustainable Agriculture: A National Perspective

Public fears regarding possible contamination of foods with agricultural chemicals have combined with persistent concerns for soil conservation and water quality to make agriculture and the environment a major national issue. Fears related to Alar in apples and cyanide in imported grapes, for example, replaced fears of another drought in summer \u2789 news headlines. The Food Market Institute reported that 82 percent of food shoppers responding to a recent survey said that chemical residues in foods posed a serious hazard to their health (Steimel)