Francis Tsiboe, Jesse B. Tack, Keith Coble, Ardian Harri and Joseph Cooper
The increased availability and adoption of precision agriculture technologies has left researchers to grapple with how to best utilize the associated high-frequency large-volume…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased availability and adoption of precision agriculture technologies has left researchers to grapple with how to best utilize the associated high-frequency large-volume of data. Since the wealth of information from precision equipment can easily be aggregated in real-time, this poses an interesting question of how aggregates of high-frequency data may complement, or substitute for, publicly released periodic reports from government agencies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized advances in event study and yield projection methodologies to test whether simulated weekly harvest-time yields potentially drive futures price that are significantly different from the status quo. The study employs a two-step methodology to ascertain how corn futures price reactions and price levels would have evolved if market participants had access to weekly forecasted yields. The marginal effects of new information on futures price returns are first established by exploiting the variation between news in publicly available information and price returns. Given this relationship, the study then estimates the counterfactual evolution of corn futures price attributable to new information associated with simulated weekly forecasted yields.
Findings
The results show that the market for corn exhibits only semi-strong form efficiency, as the “news” provided by the monthly Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates reports is incorporated into prices in at most two days after the release. As expected, an increase in corn yields relative to what was publicly known elicits a futures price decrease. The counterfactual analysis suggests that if weekly harvest-time yields were available to market participants, the daily corn futures price will potentially be relatively volatile during the harvest period, but the final price at the end of the harvest season will be lower.
Originality/value
The study uses simulation to show the potential evolution of corn futures price if market participants had access to weekly harvest-time yields. In doing so, the study provides insights centered around the ongoing debate regarding the economic value of USDA reports in the presence of growing information availability within the private sector.
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Madhav Regmi, Allen M. Featherstone and Jesse Tack
Federally subsidized crop insurance aims to mitigate farm risks of crop producers. A body of literature has examined informational problems under this program. However, few…
Abstract
Purpose
Federally subsidized crop insurance aims to mitigate farm risks of crop producers. A body of literature has examined informational problems under this program. However, few studies empirically link crop insurance participation with farm financial performance. Most use county-level aggregates to argue that crop insurance participation is associated with increased farm financial debt. Using farm-level data, this study provides empirical evidence of crop insurance's effects on farm financial risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The impact of crop insurance on farm financial risks is assessed using farm-level data from Kansas. The sample consists of at least 1,600 farms each year from 2002 to 2015. Financial risks are measured using the probability of falling into the critical zone of five different financial ratios. The study uses two matching estimators to estimate the causal effects of crop insurance participation on farm financial risks. Several alternative empirical approaches account for unobserved heterogeneity and potential endogeneity.
Findings
Crop insurance participation has reduced the farm's likelihood of being in the critical liquidity risk by 8%. This result is robust across matching estimators and alternative specifications to account for unobserved heterogeneity and potential endogeneity.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies to examine whether crop insurance reduces farm financial risks. This study provides empirical evidence of the extent to which crop insurance enrollment impacts farm financial risks. Findings suggest that crop insurance is critical to maintaining the financial well-being of crop producers, and significantly reduces the likelihood of producers being in a critical liquidity risk.
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Jesse B. Tack, Kristiina Ala-Kokko, Grant E. Gardner, Vincent Breneman, Shawn Arita and Joseph Cooper
Supply chains are a complex but integral part of the food distribution system with unique vulnerabilities, as agricultural production is a function of biological processes and…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chains are a complex but integral part of the food distribution system with unique vulnerabilities, as agricultural production is a function of biological processes and food goods are perishable necessities. Various shocks, including pandemics, geopolitical conflicts and extreme weather events, can cause disruptions to the food supply chain. International trade often plays an adaptive role in mitigating the effects of these shocks as it allows for a market-oriented redistribution of resources that can mitigate the impacts of localized shortages and surpluses.
Design/methodology/approach
With this in mind, our goal is to combine information on weather shocks and trade flows to propose novel supply chain resilience metrics focusing on key weather drivers in over 50 countries. We focus on the role of extreme heat (degree days above 29°C) for maize, soybeans and rice, but the approach is general enough to be widely applied to any combination of crops, trade partners and weather/climate variables.
Findings
We focus on the role of extreme heat (degree days above 29°C) for maize, soybeans and rice, but the approach is general enough to be widely applied to any combination of crops and weather/climate variables. Leveraging globally gridded temperature data, we estimate the metrics for the United States and find a heterogeneous range of resilience across crops and risk dimensions. In addition, we provide a detailed look at the spatial correlations with the US and its historical trade partners and find evidence that these metrics could (potentially) be enhanced via strategic trade relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Leveraging globally gridded temperature data, we estimate the metrics for the United States of America and China to demonstrate differences that might arise from a net-exporter versus net-importer perspective. Our results suggest that these metrics can be useful for disentangling the resilience a country faces between its own internal supply chain versus its participation in other countries’ supply chains.
Practical implications
Since these metrics are a combination of exogenous spatial correlations of weather shocks and endogenous trade patterns, we also discuss how they can be adjusted via strategic trade relationships to enhance resiliency.
Originality/value
Our results provide pertinent insights to US policymakers promoting export expansion under climate change (USDA FAS, 2024). Moreover, the metrics provided here are focused on climate resiliency and thus could be an important component of strategic trade decisions given the recent concerns between the US and Mexico centered around GM maize (Beckman et al., 2024) and the seemingly improving US–India agricultural trade relationship.
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Gregory Ibendahl, Matthew Farrell, Stan Spurlock and Jesse Tack
The cotton industry has seen many technological advances throughout history that have greatly decreased the number of labor hours required to produce a bale of cotton. The latest…
Abstract
Purpose
The cotton industry has seen many technological advances throughout history that have greatly decreased the number of labor hours required to produce a bale of cotton. The latest advancement is a harvesting system that replaces the harvester, boll buggy, and module builder with a single machine. This is an asset replacement decision where there are multiple assets being replaced but the old technology (the defender assets) may all have different remaining lives and optimal lifespans. The purpose of this paper is to find the optimal time to replace the multiple defender assets with a single challenger asset (the improved technology). The goal is to determine if the ages of the boll buggy and the module builder affect the replacement age of the conventional picker.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper extends the Perrin model to allow for multiple defender assets.
Findings
The paper finds that the supporting assets do sometimes affect the decision to replace a conventional cotton picker. If the supporting assets are newer, then the replacement decision may be delayed and if the supporting assets are older then the replacement decision may be accelerated. Field efficiency can affect the decision as well.
Originality/value
While the Perrin model has been used extensively, the authors believe the application to a multiple asset defender is unique. Although this type of replacement decision is not common, there could be other applications as new technology is introduced on the farm.
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Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American…
Abstract
Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.
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The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…
Abstract
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.
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Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence…
Abstract
Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of robotic cutting techniques and applications.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of robotic cutting techniques and applications.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper firstly describes the main cutting techniques used with robots and subsequently discusses robotic cutting applications, giving examples of specific uses.
Findings
This paper shows that robotic laser, water‐jet, ultrasonic, plasma and oxy‐gas cutting techniques are used in a wide range of industries on materials which include plastics, metals, fabrics, foodstuffs and even human tissues. The use of a particular technique reflects application‐specific factors such as material, thickness, precision, cut quality and cutting speed.
Originality/value
Provides an introduction to robotic cutting techniques and their applications.
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This chapter explores knowledge practices around the subject of capital punishment. Capital sentencing jurisprudence and certain strands of academic scholarship on the death…
Abstract
This chapter explores knowledge practices around the subject of capital punishment. Capital sentencing jurisprudence and certain strands of academic scholarship on the death penalty have certain resonances with recent developments in reflexive cultural anthropology. Using the notion of productive unraveling, this chapter seeks to reinforce relations between these various knowledge practices by conceiving of them as situated on the same ground, already interwoven with one another. This chapter presents itself as both an example of and a call for the development of interconnections between these various kinds of expert knowledges concerning the death penalty.
Austerity in Greece has produced the ostensibly counterproductive effect of throwing the country into a deeper depression and rendering it more difficult to repay its debts. I…
Abstract
Austerity in Greece has produced the ostensibly counterproductive effect of throwing the country into a deeper depression and rendering it more difficult to repay its debts. I address this apparent paradox by examining both the integration of Greece into the European Monetary Union and post-crisis austerity measures with a particular focus on the Greek credit system. I do so by employing a historical materialist framework focusing on Marx’s concept of ‘fictitious capital’, capital not backed by a commodity transaction, but by a claim on future value. I argue that, while the crisis is overdetermined, one hitherto unexplored dimension is the rapid expansion of the Greek credit system in the 1990s and 2000s. More specifically, Greek banks expanded to neighbouring countries, and borrowing by households and firmed spiked dramatically after Greece adopted the Euro, but a number of domestic political-economic factors acted as drags to this process. In this context, I argue that the crisis has served as an opportunity to impose a radically accelerated restructuring of the Greek economy in line with the ideal neoliberal utopia. This can be understood as one of the three responses to a crisis of fictitious capital: internal devaluation, asset devaluation or upward. However, the success of this project is far from guaranteed, so far the austerity project pursued by the troika has failed to replace the old Greek balance of social forces that have dominated the post-junta political economy of Greece.