A RANGELAND GRASSHOPPER INSURANCE PROGRAM

The incidence of benefits and costs from controlling rangeland grasshoppers on public grazing lands poses problems of economic efficiency and distributional equity. Public grasshopper control programs operate like public disaster assistance. However, grasshopper infestations are an insurable risk. This article proposes a rangeland grasshopper insurance program which reduces the economic inefficiencies and distributional inequities of the existing program.Risk and Uncertainty,

SUSTAINABILITY: OBSERVATIONS, EXPECTATIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Typical Farm Theory in Agricultural Research

Economists, farm managers, financial advisors and policy makers frequently need to conduct farm level analyses. There is a continual need to evaluate changing technologies, government farm program effects, and changing market conditions at the farm level. The implications of changing financial conditions, policy options or technological alternatives must be understood at the farm level for educational programs to be designed or for necessary policy incentives to be offered to achieve the desired income support, supply response, or shifts in resource use. When conducting farm level research, one is always faced with difficult decisions concerning the type of data on which to base the analysis. Frequently there are only a few options available: 1) collect individual data from a farm or a sample of farms to be analyzed; 2) use aggregate state or regionally reported data; or 3) use synthetic farms, often referred to as the economic-engineering approach. Each of these options has its advantages and disadvantages

Projections of U. S. agricultural capacity and interregional adjustments in production and land use with spatial programming models

Surplus commodity supplies and capacity have characterized American agriculture for the last 35 years. Attempts to restrain this growing capacity and to dampen its effect on farm income have been reflected in price-support programs and acreage-diversion policies. Acreage diversion has been applied largely over all regions. Consequently, interregional shifts in land use have not kept pace with changes in the comparative advantage of different regions resulting from differential rates of change in technology, transportation costs, population growth and demand. This study has been made to help determine the magnitude of interregional shifts in grain production and land use implied for the future under specified conditions of technological improvement and population or demand growth. It also is directed towards measurement of potential surplus capacity of American agriculture in the decade ahead. Finally, the analysis projects conditions of interregional competition in crop production under assumptions allowing increased exports, further development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, alternative rates of technological improvement in various agricultural regions and an advance in the technology of southern agriculture to the level of that in other regions of the nation

INCREASES IN COSTS AND RETURNS DUE TO INTENSIFYING RANGE FORAGE PRODUCTION SURVEYS: AN INFORMATION ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

The U.S. Congress and courts have directed federal natural resource agencies to use better information for management decisions than they have used in the past. It is also important for these agencies to improve the efficiency of resource use where possible. This information economics study estimates increased costs and revenues which can be directly imputed to improving the accuracy of range forage production surveys. It suggests that a high level of survey accuracy may often be justifiable.Crop Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

THE ECONOMIC THRESHOLD FOR GRASSHOPPER CONTROL ON PUBLIC RANGELANDS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for controlling grasshopper populations on public rangelands. Under current guidelines, control of grasshoppers on rangeland should occur if grasshopper densities are at least eight per square yard. This article evaluates the concept of an economic threshold relative to the value of forage saved from destruction during a grasshopper outbreak. It is shown that financial justification for treating grasshopper outbreaks depends upon grasshopper density, rangeland productivity, climate factors, livestock cost and return relationships, and the efficacy of treatment options.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Regional Impact of Retiring Whole Farms

Suppose the government adopted a program of returing marginal land on a whole farm basis. What would happen to the Corn Belt in 1965 if the major goal were to balance supply demand? Where would the nation stand in 1975

Retire Our Excess Grain Capacity?

Now, more than ever, agriculture can outproduce market demand. It looks as though some things will stay this way for some time. Agriculture is faced with a problem of output management or supply control, just as are some nonfarm industries. (See Output Management for Agriculture? in the April issue or reprint FS-910.