This study develops and uses a survey to gather information on demographics, production and management practices, and perceptions on using cover crops as a conservation practice from citrus growers and utilizes the double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting cover crops in citrus production. The survey is conducted for citrus producers in Florida and Texas. The study finds that, on average, growers from Florida are willing to pay $509.48/acre per year for adopting cover crops. This is substantially less than the WTP for growers in Texas, who are willing to pay more than $1,000/acre per year for cover crops. The study analyzes the factors that have significant impacts on growers’ WTP for cover crops and discusses the heterogeneity in the grower perceptions on the benefits and drawbacks of using this conservation practice by state. Although using cover crops has not been a popular conservation practice in perennial fruit production systems, its potential to improve soil quality is particularly important for citrus production in Florida where soils are sandy and have low organic matter.

This paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of environmental standards by studying the role of income inequality and freedom of the press. Given that evidence of the environmental Kuznets curve has only been found for some countries, it is thus crucial to investigate whether other factors besides income per capita levels may be affecting countries' decisions to pass environmentally-friendly legislation. We investigate the effects that inequality and freedom of the press have on environmental stringency for a sample of OECD and BRIICS countries and a global sample of 82 countries using data over the period 1994–2015. We hypothesize that the more unequal a society is, and the greater the oppression of the press is, the less stringent environmental policies are. The results partially confirm our hypothesis. In particular, lack of press freedom is negatively correlated with environmental stringency, whereas inequality shows a non-linear effect only for non-high-income countries.

Predominance of production and marketing contracts in the broiler industry suggests a traditional analysis of price relationships might no longer be appropriate. In this study, markets for broiler cuts are defined as spatial. Results of a vector autoregressive regression analysis of monthly USDA data from 1987 to 2000 verify the price relationship between white meat and whole broiler prices. Price shocks in the boneless skinless breast market have a greater effect than dark meat shocks, suggesting this market is most important in price transmission. These results will assist industry participants to form more effective marketing and pricing strategies, thus adding efficiency to the market.

This paper reports results from a U.S. national telephone survey ongenetically modified foods (vegetable oil, cornflakes, and salmon). Thesurvey featured a contingent valuation in which respondents chose betweenthe GM and non-GM alternatives with an option of indifference. The binomialand multinomial logit models yielded estimated willingness to pay (WTP) toavoid the GM alternatives. Respondents were willing to pay 20.9%, 14.8%,28.4%, and 29.7% of the base prices to avoid GM vegetable oil, GMcornflakes, GM-fed salmon, and GM salmon, respectively. The inclusion ofindifference option could increase the sample size and moderate the meanWTP.

Stocker cattle ownership is compared to contract grazing using stochastic simulation. Returns are evaluated for both cattle owners and caretakers in contract grazing agreements. For caretakers, contract grazing is significantly less risky than cattle ownership. Slightly to moderately risk-averse caretakers could be expected to prefer some type of contract grazing to direct ownership of cattle. For cattle owners, contracting reduces risk only slightly while significantly reducing expected returns.

Value-added centers have been established in many states. These centers vary greatly in objectives, operational structures, staffing, and funding. This paper uses examples of several centers and programs, with a specific emphasis on three centers, to provide a better understanding of value-added centers and their operations.

Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), an invasive weed, is a threat to slash pine forests. Using a dynamic optimization model, we estimated the impact of cogongrass on the profitability of slash pine forestry under four scenarios: no threat of cogongrass infestation; infestation is uncertain, and no control measures are taken; infestation is uncertain, but control measures are undertaken by one landowner but not the neighbors; and infestation is uncertain, and control measures are undertaken by everyone. Results indicate that annual net returns per acre under each scenario, respectively, are $25.30, $16.97, $13.89, and $17.38. Results suggest fostering a cooperative behavior among landowners is desirable.

In this paper, we present an econometric analysis of the effects of a price floor on price dynamics and price volatility. A price floor (implemented as a part of government pricing policy) provides a censoring mechanism for price determination. We specify and estimate a dynamic Tobit model under time-varying volatility. The model is applied to analyze the effects of a price support program on price dynamics and price volatility in the U.S. American cheese market. The econometric analysis provides useful insights on price dynamics in the presence of a government-determined price floor.