This manuscript investigates the productivity-industrial concentration relationship in U.S. food industries. We identify a critical level of industrial concentration beyond which its relationship with productivity growth becomes negative. The welfare effects of an increase in concentration -...

Expanded processing of agricultural products in rural areas has been widely pursued as a strategy for rural economic development. By adding value to farm products before they leave the area, new processing plants can create new employment opportunities and generate economic spinoffs in rural...

The corn grain ethanol industry experienced rapid growth from 2005- 07. U.S. financial markets obliged and supplied credit at reasonable cost and terms which facilitated this expansion. Now, the biofuel industry is being challenged to nearly triple production under recently passed federal...

Contents: The enduring legacy of Farm Foundation, by David P. Ernstes; Passing the torch: The generational transition for nonadvocacy public education and outreach, by Otto C. Doering III; Collaboration and institutional innovation, by Mark A. Edelman; The alternatives-consequences approach, by...

A stochastic distance function frontier was estimated using data from a national survey of organic farmers to evaluate the effect of farm-specific attributes on efficiency. Farm-specific and regional variables that shift efficiency were incorporated into the multioutput distance function,...