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The purpose of this paper is to compare the characteristics of farms who participate in farm management associations to the wider population of farms at the state level.

Farm-level records obtained from the USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) are compared to similar data obtained from farm management associations in three states: Illinois, Kansas, and Kentucky.

Data collected through farm management associations tend to represent larger farms and a greater share of crop producers as compared to livestock producers. Association data, however, capture a greater share of younger farm operators.

This is the first study to compare farm statistics from several farm management associations to ARMS, and the study confirms the findings of existing studies of prior USDA surveys.

The purpose of this article is to offer an introduction of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) for applied research in agricultural finance and farm management.

This article provides a brief overview of the history, design, use, and accessibility of the ARMS in government reporting and applied research.

The ARMS provides a number of unique advantages for addressing critical issues of the agricultural sector.

The paper provides an access point for researchers who are unfamiliar with the basic features of ARMS.

The purpose of this review article is to demonstrate how the quasi-experimental approach has been used to study environmental and natural resource issues related to agricultural production.

This review article first provides a short introduction to the quasi-experimental approach using the potential outcomes framework and then uses studies on the environmental sustainability of agricultural production to illustrate how quasi-experimental methods have been applied. Papers reviewed consist of studies that estimate the environmental externalities from agricultural production, evaluate agri-environmental and other related policies and programs, and demonstrate issues related to on-farm resource use and climate adaptation.

Difference-in-differences (DID) and two-way fixed effects methods that utilize the spatial and temporal variation in panel data are widely used to estimate the causal impact of changes in agricultural production and policy on the environment. Utilizing the discontinuities and limits created by agricultural policies and regulations, local treatment effects on land and other input use are estimated using regression discontinuity (RD) or instrumental variable (IV) methods with cross-sectional data.

Challenges faced by the food systems have made agricultural sustainability more critical than ever. Over the past three decades, the quasi-experimental approach has become the powerhouse of applied economic research. This review article focuses on quasi-experimental studies on the environmental sustainability of agriculture to provide methodological insights and to highlight gaps in the economics literature of agricultural sustainability.

There is growing interest from the global development community in the role of agricultural research and extension (AR & E) systems to achieve development targets. Despite this interest, many smallholders in developing countries continue to lack access to updated agricultural information and reliable services. In an effort to increase the effectiveness, impact, and reach of AR & E programs, many governments have attempted to reform their national systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper systematically compares the systems and reforms of AR & E in China and India in order to draw out lessons applicable to developing countries. This paper first reviews the existing literature on AR & E systems and their role in agricultural and economic development. The authors then provide a detailed review and comparative analysis of the reforms and approaches implemented in the AR & E systems of China and India. The authors apply this comparative analysis to draw out lessons that can be applied to inform the reformation of AR & E systems in developing countries.

The authors find that although both countries face similar agricultural development challenges, each took a different approach in the reformation of AR & E to address these challenges. Each country’s approaches had different impacts on the effectiveness of the system. Lessons from the reformation of the AR & E systems in China and India can be used to inform and improve the impact of AR & E in developing countries.

The paper examines two systems together using a set of common indicators and factors. The paper’s value comes from its usefulness in informing future AR & E reforms in other developing countries in order to increase the impact of these reforms on development outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how the federal crop insurance (FCI) program influences farm debt use, one of the key financial decisions made by farm operators.

Using data from the nationally representative Agricultural Resource Management Survey, the paper implements a propensity score matching model of the impact of FCI participation on various measures of farm business debt use. To account for the simultaneity of financial decisions, the paper further tests this relationship using a seemingly unrelated regression model.

FCI participation is associated with an increase in use of short-term farm debt, but not long-term debt, consistent with risk balancing behavior and current trends in the farm sector.

In addition to risk balancing, the results are also consistent with credit constraints or lender preferences. The paper cannot fully establish causality between crop insurance participation and short-term debt levels. Future research should address these limitations.

Agricultural lending standards are generally conservative and the farm sector as a whole currently has historically low leverage, which implies that an increase in debt use may not be a threat to the financial health of the farm sector.

The results indicate that the reduction in total risk facing the farm sector is significantly less than the decline in risk provided by FCI, which is an important consideration for policymakers.

This is the first paper to use an econometric model to analyze the relationship between FCI and farm debt use decisions. This paper can inform future research on the FCI program and farm financial decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of farmers’ agricultural production mode transformation, from the perspective of agricultural division of labor and cooperation, on their agricultural production efficiency including technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency.

This paper analyzes the impact of the agricultural production mode’s transformation on farmers’ agricultural production efficiency, based on the classical theory of division of labor and specialization, transaction costs and cooperation. It uses 2013 survey data from 396 farms in 15 Chinese provinces to explore the contributing factors of agricultural production efficiency using a double selection model (DSM), which can correct the endogenous selection bias in farmers’ decisions.

Farmers that participate in agricultural division of labor and cooperation means transform their agricultural production from a traditional self-sufficient mode to one that is specialized and intensive. Agricultural division of labor measured by farmers’ participation in an agricultural division of labor in the production stages, or in agricultural products, and agricultural cooperation measured by farmers’ participation in farmers’ cooperatives significantly and positively influence their agricultural production efficiency after correcting farmers’ endogenous selection bias.

This paper proposes a unified framework to analyze the impact of farmers’ agricultural production mode transformation on their production efficiency. Further, it builds a DSM for an empirical analysis to avoid the endogenous biases in farmers’ self-selection behavior. This paper also provides ways for policy makers to improve farmers’ agricultural production efficiency from the modern agricultural production perspective.

Building on the risk balancing theory and on recent discussions the appropriateness of using farm income maximization as behavioural assumption, this paper extends the risk balancing framework by accounting for business-household interactions. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically introduce the concept of farm household risk balancing, a theoretical framework in which the farm household sets a constraint on the total household-level risk and balances farm-level and off-farm-level risk.

The paper argues that the risk behaviour of farmers is better understood by considering risk at the household level. Using an analytical framework, equations are derived linking the farm activities, off-farm activities, consumption and business and private liquidity.

The framework shows that a farm household that wants to minimize the risk that total household cash flow falls below consumption needs, may exhibit a wide variety of behavioural responses to changes in the policy and economic environment.

The framework suggests multiple ways for policy makers and individual farmers to support risk management.

Risk management is at the core of the agricultural policy and it is of paramount importance to be able to understand behavioural responses to market and policy instruments. This paper contributes to that by suggesting that the focus of current risk analysis and management studies may be too narrowly focused at the farm level.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the feasibility of preparing a statement of owner equity (SOE) and statement of cash flows (SOCF) for the agricultural sector. Also, the use of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) to collect data needed to supplement the US farm sector accounts to prepare a sector SOE and SOCF is discussed.

An SOE and SOCF for an individual producer was used to provide an example format for preparing an SOE and SOCF for the agricultural sector and to identify the data needed from the ARMS survey to supplement farm sector accounts.

The format and data needed to prepare a sector SOE and SOCF were identified and the feasibility of the collection of that data using current ERS/USDA survey collection methods would provide the data needed to prepare the statements. However, the use of two independent data collection authorities to collect the data would result in an agricultural sector SOE and SOCF that would not reconcile.

The paper initiates a dialog of possible alternatives available to the ERS/USDA and researchers concerning data needed and data sources available to prepare an agricultural sector SOE and SOCF, as well as the shortfalls and inaccuracies that would result.

The aim of this paper is to review the issues surrounding water security in terms of quantity and quality and its impact on food availability.

The research involved an examination and evaluation of existing literature so that the key elements of a water security policy model could be determined.

Water demand and availability is multifaceted and the degree of water security can be determined at a personal, national or international level. One of the key drivers of water security is the current and continued ability of water resources to meet the often conflicting needs of domestic supply, food production and amenity uses, including the requirement to irrigate food production areas in order to improve food yields and feed the growing global human population and mitigate the impact of any environmental change.

This paper provides an overview of the subject of water security and therefore will be of value to policy makers, academics or those developing environmental risk management strategies for organisations within the food supply chain.

This study aims to investigate the role of social capital in Iranian agricultural students' acquisition of generic skills. For this purpose, the effect of various social capital dimensions on students' generic skills development was examined.

A survey was conducted among 190 third- and fourth-year undergraduate students in one of the colleges of agriculture and natural resources in Iran. The partial least square method was used to examine the relationships among various social capital dimensions (i.e. social values, social trust, social networks, social cohesion, social participation, social communications and information sharing) with students' generic skills.

The findings showed that social networks and social participation are effective factors in the generic skills development of students. A model designed for the development of students' generic skills based on their social capital level predicted up to 33% of generic skills' variances. Furthermore, the multi-group analysis showed that males and females vary on how various social capital dimensions affect their generic skills. In this respect, the social participation dimension had a significantly greater impact on female students' generic skills, whereas the generic skills of male students were influenced more by the social cohesion dimension.

Developing generic skills through social capital can be considered as an effective strategy in countries that do not have formal programs for developing students' generic skills. Additionally, higher education policymakers should present a more supportive approach for developing generic skills of female students through social participation in the campuses.

So far, no study has examined the relationships among various social capital dimensions and students' generic skills in Iran. The picture is even more unclear when it comes to the differences between male and female students. The results of this study confirmed the importance of social networks and social participation in the universities to support students and to improve their generic skills and, consequently, their employability competencies. Furthermore, it could be inferred that male and female students have similarities and also differences in terms of the effect of social capital on developing generic skills that can provide a path for future studies.