(4/9)
Friday’s WSJ has a most timely article on a new lithium futures contract. All the issues we discussed in class Thursday and in the Telser and Sandor articles are there: who wants to hedge, what are the delivery specifications, how delivery is determined (this one isn’t physically deliverable), and basis risk. Most interesting.
(4/6)
A link to Thurman (2011), book review of The Futures.
(4/3)
An article by Luckstead and Devadoss on the U.S. citrus industry. Note the discussion of freeze effects and also diseases that have led to large reductions in orange acreage.
(3/11)
Read the CME Self-study Guide to Hedging.
You also might find useful the CME’s online Introduction to Futures.
(3/11)
A visual showing farmers’ share of the food dollar, and public perceptions of such.
(2/25)
An analysis due in class on Tuesday March 2nd:
Homework Problem – transport costs
This assignment will not be collected, but will be discussed in class on Tuesday. You will recognize that the problem arises from Tuesday’s discussion of the WSJ article on transport costs and the pandemic. Because it continues a discussion of that article, I have pushed back the schedule of news article presentations — please see the class schedule.
(2/12)
Read the Alston and James handbook chapter on agricultural policy.
(2/4)
Not all coefficients are fixed; arguably none are in the longer run. An example comes from ethanol.
Ethanol plants, mainly in the Midwest in the United States, purchase corn and turn it into two outputs: ethanol (a motor fuel ingredient) and Distillers Dried Grains with Solids (an animal feed ingredient). The output coefficients are often treated as fixed, but they do change. See the following article by Scott Irwin:
Recent Trends in the Ethanol Industry
(2/2)
USDA graphics on farm share of selected food products.
(1/28)
Look at the spreadsheet on the farm share of wheat in flour, courtesy of USDA-ERS. What explanations come to mind for its rise and then fall over the 2000-2019 period?
In connection with the same issue, read how the USDA calculates the farm share of white flour.
The anatomy of a wheat kernel.
(1/26)
EATD Workshop paper for Tuesday 1/26 at 3:00: Yangchuan Wang (Virginia Tech), “Grass-Fed Beef Premiums”
(1/24)
A January 2021 cotton report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service reports production, use, imports, and exports by country — see especially Table 2.
(1/18)
Wall Street Journal article (1/5 edition) Cotton Prices Surge.