The Impact of Drought on Grain Handling Firms

Drought impact both producers and agribusinesses. This study investigates the impacts of the 2004-2007 droughts on Oklahoma grain handling and fertilizer supply firms. The results indicated an average decline in firm revenues of 30%. Individual firms had single year revenue declines of 85% and drought period declines of 75%.Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Investigation of the Costs of an Increased Shipping Standard for Cotton Warehouses

The speed of shipping cotton from warehouses has become an important issue for the cotton industry. This paper examines issues relating to costs and benefits of an increased cotton shipping standard. The value chain model is used to identify improvements in incentives, information flow and warehouse filling and management strategies.Industrial Organization,

Optimal Cash Purchase Strategies to Reduce Fertilizer Price Risk

Fertilizer price volatility has increased dramatically. This research examines cash purchase and warehouse strategies. Seventeen years of Oklahoma fertilizer prices are examined. The results indicate that mechanical cash purchase strategies can be used to reduce the average cost or variance for fertilizer. Optimal purchase dates are also identified.fertilizer, price risk, seasonal price pattern, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management,

Reflections on the Journal of Cooperatives 1986-2003

The Journal of Cooperatives (formally titled the Journal of Agricultural Cooperation) was published as a print journal from 1986 to 2003. The journal resumed publication as an electronic journal in 2007. This article provides a short history of the journal, analyzes trends in authorship, institution, content, research method and intended audience, and considers issues relating to electronic publication. The journal’s historical and current mission statements are also discussed, and a future thrust for the journal is presented.Cooperative, academic journal, electronic publishing, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Estimation of Efficiency with the Stochastic Frontier Cost Function and Heteroscedasticity: A Monte Carlo Study

The objective of this article is to address heteroscedasticity in the stochastic frontier cost function using aggregated data and verify it using a Monte Carlo study. We find that when the translog form of a stochastic frontier cost function with aggregated data is estimated, all explanatory variables can inversely affect the variation of error terms. Our Monte Carlo study shows that heteroscedasticity is only significant in the random effect and the unexplained error term not in the inefficiency error term. Also, it does not cause biases, which is quite opposite of previous research. These are because our model is approximately defined by first order Taylor series around zero inefficiency area. But, disregarding heteroscedasticity causes the average inefficiency to be overestimated when the variation of inefficiency term dominates the other error terms.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,