This study considers agritourism and off-farm work as income diversification choices simultaneously and analyzes factors influencing such choices. Further, the study assesses the impact of agritourism, off-farm work, and both on gross cash farm income and total farm household income. We utilized large set of nationwide farm survey data and selectivity-based multinomial choice model. An important finding of our study is that small farms have higher household income if they choose both income diversification strategies rather than a single strategy. Results suggest that education, age of the operator, financial condition, and location of the farm are important factors driving income diversification alternatives. Finally, our study indicates that accounting for selectivity is essential to ensure unbiased and consistent estimates. JEL classifications: C25, D13, Q12, Q14
The introduction of new technology, management practices, and alternative production systems has resulted in rapid structural change in the US dairy industry. This paper examines adoption rates and adopter characteristics for the following dairy technologies, practices, and systems: holding pen with an udder washer, milking units with automatic take-offs, genetic selection technologies, recombinant bovine somatotropin, membership in the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, computerized feed delivery systems, computerized milking systems, use of a nutritionist to design feed rations, grazing, milking cows 3 times daily, and milking parlors. Four of these were used on a greater percentage of farms in 2005 than in 2000, but increased farm sizes and the interaction of farm size with adoption suggest a greater percentage of milk being produced under each, with the exception of grazing. Except for grazing, technologies were generally complementary.
Agritourism is an alternative source of farm income. We examine farmers’ participation in agritourism activities to assess the impact of participation on farm household income and return to assets using a large farm-level survey. The results reveal that older, educated, and female operators are more likely to participate in agritourism. However, government subsidies and the population of the county are negatively correlated with agritourism. Of the types of farm operations examined, small-scale farms that involved agritourism generated the greatest household incomes and returns to assets. For operators of small farms, agritourism can boost the economic well-being of farm households.
The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of natural amenity on farmland values in the contiguous United States using a quantile regression approach and data from the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Agricultural Resource Management Surveys. The contribution of this study is threefold. First, we explicitly include variables representing natural amenity, and soil characteristics of farmland. Second, we employ a quantile regression approach to examine potentially heterogeneous impacts of natural amenity and soil characteristics at different quantiles of farmland values. Third, we utilized data from a nationwide survey of farm household to examine findings in studies using regional data are consistent at a national scale. Our quantile regression analysis offers some insightful results. Natural amenity is positively correlated with farmland values and its impact is often more pronounced at higher price range of farmland.
Contract farming (CF), an institutional innovation, can reduce transaction costs and solve market imperfections in many developing countries. This study compares productivity and technical efficiency (TE) of contract and independent producers of high yielding variety (HYV) paddy seed (a low‐value crop) and ginger (a high‐value crop) producers in a sample of smallholders in Nepal. We address the self‐selection into CF by using propensity score matching and translog stochastic frontier function to estimate our empirical model. Using farm‐level data from Nepal, our findings show that CF increased the average TE levels of HYV paddy seed producers from 87% to 94% and the average TE levels of ginger producers from 89% to 97%. Finally, we find that human capital and distance to the market increases the technical inefficiency of low‐value crop smallholders in Nepal. [EconLit citations: C21, O13, Q12].
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