This article examines the current level and likely trends in adoption of a variety of technologies for site‐specific crop management in four north‐central states. It also explores the extent to which farmers are jointly adopting multiple components. Technology adoption theories are applied to rationalize the observed selectivity in adoption. Farmer responses reveal that uncertainty in returns due to adoption, high costs of adoption, and lack of demonstrated effects of the advanced site‐specific technologies on yields and input‐use are some of the major reasons for current low rates of adoption and for the piecemeal approach to site‐specific crop management.
Managerial ability generally is considered a key determinant of success in farming. This analysis evaluates managerial performance over the period 1976–1983 for a sample of 179 Illinois cash grain producers. Characteristics of the superior and inferior performing groups are presented and the variability of performance is assessed.
A welfare methodology is adapted to evaluate market and distributional effects of a completed pseudorabies eradication effort in the U. S. The model predicts small market effects from pseudorabies eradication. Welfare analysis suggests that, in states generating relatively large hog numbers, producers will experience a net gain from eradication in all scenarios considered, yet in smaller hog producing areas individual hog operations may lose producer surplus. Consumer surplus changes vary by scenario but are always positive. In general, the national pseudorabies eradication program is shown to be economically efficient.
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