This paper addresses the development of farm businesses in Sweden, 2000–2007, with regard to their specialization in single farm enterprises, diversified agricultural production and diversification with new income-generating ventures. Furthermore, regression analysis is used to study the impact of farm characteristics on the observed specialization and diversification. The study is based a pane...

Agricultural policy faces conflicting social goals. On one hand, efficient large-scale agriculture provides an adequate, low cost food supply, but many Americans continue to idealize the smaller family farm, believing that it promotes a democratic society with strong values. The changing structure of agriculture from many small farms to fewer but larger farms is a concern often expressed. Many ...

In contrast to large, modern confinement dairy systems, management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) systems can provide a satisfactory income level on a farm that one family can operate with their own labor and management. This is good news for many farm families. What makes the news even better still for these families is that a traditional, Wisconsin dairy farm with average or better manag...

This paper explores the redistributive effect of classical horizontal inequities induced by agricultural support policy. Within farm type horizontal inequity (HI) is associated with differences in the level of support received by farms of a given type and level of pre-support income, whereas between farm type HI arises from systematic differences in support levels between commodity regimes. The...

In the ear’ly 1980s, however, it became evident that farm exports would decline and that farm income growth would fall short of earlier expectations. From 1980 to 1986, farmers lost $293 billion in equity as farm real estate values declined to r’eflect the lower’ earning potential. Moreover, as crop prices fell by 14,4 percent from 1980 to 1986, many farmers were unable to meet their debt oblig...

Farmers in developing countries have limited opportunities for borrowing to even out variability associated with risky farm income, but they can save. A dynamic programming model of savings is presented in the current paper which examines optimal savings strategies for farmers, using a case study of integrated rice-shrimp farms in Vietnam. It is shown that when savings are accounted for, the ex...

climate change phenomenon is an important environmental challenge of the world that has increased its speed with the increasing extension of greenhouse gases and remote relationship phenomena. changes in precipitation level, drought occurrence and in the level of surface and groundwater resources are the recognized consequences of climate change. in order to study climate change phenomenon cons...

Farmland values in the states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District rose about 5.5 percent over the year ended June 30, 1997 (McDaniel and Lamb). Indeed, over the past two years prices in many parts of the country have risen sharply. The jump in farmland values comes at a time of dynamic change in the farm sector. Last year, the federal government enacted sweeping farm legislation that both low...

The Modified Arkansas Off-Stream Reservoir Analysis (MARORA) model estimates the economics of on-farm reservoirs and other water conservation improvements in alternative ground water situations. With restricted ground water supply, a combination of different water conservation methods is estimated to provide the greatest economic return. On-farm reservoirs are not economical if ground water is ...