Focus group discussions were conducted in April 1997 in two rural North Dakota counties to examine whether the problem of inadequate or missing goods and services in those areas can be solved by using the cooperative business approach. An earlier study (Bhuyan, 1996a) has shown that many rural...

Many North Dakota communities find it financially difficult to provide or maintain such necessary services as public safety, water and sewer services, garbage disposal, grocery and retail stores, local credit, medical care and similar other services due to gradual decline in both population and...

Trade analysis of retail and service sectors allows economic development practioners to evaluate the performance of these sectors in their respective communities. Estimation of market potential identifies specific business categories (e.g., computer stores) that have potential for further...

A wide variety of cooperatives outside the agricultural sector have been playing an important role in the nation's rural and urban areas by providing housing for the elderly and poor, affordable health care, child care, and education. These firms may constitute both business models that reduce...

There are important challenges to the grain handling and shipping industries. The study evaluated changes in marketing costs for the primary grain marketing functions and quantified measures of risk. The results indicate that 1) basis risk has increased; 2) all marketing costs have increased; 3) the...

There has been massive investment in agricultural assets including farmland, handling and trading, technology, fertilizer, and others. Studies about investing in farmlands have been extensive, but have limited focus on investing IN non-farmland agricultural assets. This paper analyzes the role...

One of the impacts of higher prices along with greater volatility in futures and basis is that there is pressure for an escalation in cash contracting for grain. This volatility has resulted in an unprecedented level of contracting with growers for specific purchases in recent years. There is a...

Buyers of grain use premiums and discounts to convey to suppliers the value of quality characteristics. Premiums and discounts are determined by supply and demand for those quality characteristics. This report, the eighth in a series, contains the results of a 1991 survey of pricing and...