Average net farm income was $69,787 in 2009 for the 95 farms included in this annual report of the Southwestern Minnesota Farm Business Management Association. Average earnings decreased by 63% from $190,901 in 2008. This continues the downward trend that began in 2008 after six years of steady...

We were asked by the Legislature to conduct "research into the effects feedlots have on the value of nearby property." To do so, we carried out a statistical examination of the interrelationships among residential property sales prices and nearby feedlots in a southwestern Minnesota study area....

A comparison of regional dairy cooperatives with investor owned dairy firms for the period 1976-1987 produced empirical findings that are at variance with the hypotheses suggested by the theory of cooperatives. The cooperatives in the sample performed significantly better than the IOFs when...