MORE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN SOIL CONSERVATION

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Biofuel Incentives and the Energy Title of the 2007 Farm Bill

Given the increased interest in biofuels and other biorenewables, a separate Energy Title is being considered for the 2007 Farm Bill. The added benefits and costs of such government intervention need to be weighed carefully. The United States has conducted an interesting social experiment with ethanol over the last three decades. The federal government and some state governments have provided incentives to increase both corn grain ethanol production and consumption to improve local air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a substitute fuel from renewable resource that could serve to improve energy security. The experiment was successful, but in large part because the price of crude oil increased. Pushing this experiment further will eventually lead the added costs to outweigh the added benefits. Further expansion is typically justified on grounds of moving to biomass-based ethanol, which is purported to have even greater environmental and development benefits. The simple breakeven analyses presented in this paper seriously question the potential of biomass ethanol as a sustainable biofuel source

ENERGY DEMAND AND CAPACITY TO ADJUST IN U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Genetic Information in Agricultural Productivity and Product Development

A prominent facet of recent changes in agriculture has been the advent of precision breeding techniques. Another has been an increase in the level of information inputs and outputs associated with agricultural production. This paper identifies ways in which these features may complement in expanding the variety of processed products, the level of productivity, and the rate of change in productivity. Using a martingale concept of ﾓmore information,ﾔ we identify conditions under which more information increases the incentives to invest and engage in product differentiation. A theory on how genetic uniformity can enhance the rate of learning through process experimentation, and so the rate of technical change, is also developed.experimentation, genetics, information, martingale, sorting, uniformity, value added.

THE INCREASING ROLE OF AGRIBUSINESS IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

While the demand for traditional agricultural economics is diminishing, there is a growing need for the economics and management of the food sector and the environment. Departments of agricultural economics have shown great flexibility in including agribusiness in their Bachelor's and Master's teaching programs. Ph.D and research programs appear to adjust more slowly to changing demand. Although agricultural economics programs are providing a variety of service course offerings, opportunities for joint programs with biological, physical, and natural sciences, particularly resource management, are not being exploited. If business schools decide to compete for agribusiness students in the future, missed opportunities with other departments and schools may become very costly. If this profession is to remain viable in the long run, it must continue to evolve, developing opportunities with biological, physical, and natural disciplines, in order to meet the demands of a changing market.agribusiness, agricultural economics, education, extension, research, Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Implicit Prices of Soil Characteristics for Farmland in Iowa

Arguments have long persisted that purchasers pay too much for poor land (i.e., less productive, more erosive) relative to the higher quality counterpart. In other words, purchasers are either irrational or poorly in- formed relative to the differences in land productivity between poor and good farmland. Similar arguments have been advanced concerning the willingness-to-pay rent on the part of tenant operators