Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Please see attached "copy of minutes" for NC1177's minutes, report, and participants.

Agricultural and Rural Finance Markets in Transition has had another productive year. Member activities continue to focus on the project’s four objectives. The objectives and activities related to each are provided below. 1. Investigate capital structure, financial performance, and investment strategies of firms producing renewable energy in context of long term climate change. Implications of these findings for agriculture and rural communities will be delineated. Members from a number of institutions explored important issues in renewable energy production and the effects of climate change on agricultural production and the farm financial sector. The works include a Louisiana State University study on mergers and acquisitions in the biofuel industry and several studies by Cornell University on climate change, technology, and insurance adoption issues in China. 2. Identify financial institutions and services that benefit farmers and rural communities and expand agricultural markets, promote growth and trade in developing countries. Multiple universities have completed studies related to growth and trade of agricultural products in developing countries. The selected publication list highlights many studies by Cornell University on agricultural production in China and Mexico. 3. Examine the impact of recent fluctuations in capital and commodity markets on the financial performance, credit availability, real estate values, and capital structure of farms, agribusinesses, and lenders in urban and rural communities. Multiple universities have examined lender relationships and long term financial health of U.S. farms. Examples include studies of the role of off-farm income for small farm survival by researchers at Louisiana State University and the role of farm program payments in farm financial conditions by researchers at University of Florida and Cornell University. Farm real estate accounts for more than 80% of the wealth of the farm sector, and as a result, a number of researchers have examined important issues related to the pricing of agricultural land, including researchers from University of Illinois and Cornell University. 4. Evaluate the management strategies, capital needs, and policy impacting the financial performance and long-term sustainability of firms in the food and agribusiness sector. The long-term sustainability of firms was investigated by a number of researchers. The various issues examined include the role of farm policy, technology adoption, and the efficiency of the Farm Credit System. The following provides a list of more general accomplishments for 2014. Also included with the annual report is a list of selected publications from project members in 2014. Project members have also served in numerous leadership roles within the agricultural economics profession. In 2014, members coordinated abstract reviews for multiple national and regional conferences, served as peer reviewers for scholarly journals and experts for major grant reviews. Project members continue to exhibit excellent grantsmanship in securing both internal and external funding for related research and extension efforts. A partial list of the grant activity of members in 2014 is included with the attached list of publications.

Selected Publications: 1. Sobekova, Kristina, Michael R. Thomsen, and Bruce L. Ahrendsen. 2013. “Market Trends and Consumer Demand for Fresh Berries.” Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce Vol. 07, No. 2-3: 11-14. Available at: purl.umn.edu/164771. 2. Ahrendsen, Bruce L., Harry Bremmers, Wim Heijman, and Johan van Ophem. 2013. “Editorial on Agribusiness and Rural Development as a Global Challenge: A Thematic Issue of APSTRACT.” Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce Vol. 07, No. 2-3: 7-9. 3. Moss, Charles B., Andrew Schmitz, and Troy G. Schmitz. 2014. Decoupling under U.S. Farm Programs. Natural Resources 5(1), 10-14. 4. Moss, Charles B. and Andrew Schmitz. 2014. Valuing Carbon Recycling Through Ethanol: Zero Prices for Environmental Goods in a General Equilibrium Framework. Theoretical Economics Letters 4(3), 235-240. 5. Farnsworth, Derek, Kelly Grogan, Ariena H.C. van Bruggen and Charles B. Moss. 2014. The Potential Economic Cost and Response to Greening in Florida Citrus. Choices 29(3) Webpage: http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/pdf/cmsarticle_393.pdf . 6. Moss, Charles B. and Andrew Schmitz. 2014. Environmental Flows from Alternative Land Uses in the Delta, Pacific, and Southeastern States: 1947 – 2007. Journal of Environmental Protection 5(16), 1531-1540. 7. Moss, Charles B. and Andrew Schmitz. 2014. Choosing Between Increased Means and Reduced Variance: Implications for Genetically Modified Crops. AgBioForum 17(2): 161-165. 8. Moss, Charles B. 2014. Mathematical Statistics for Applied Econometrics. CRC/Chapman-Hall. 9. Moss, Charles B., Andrew Schmitz, and Troy G. Schmitz. 2014. Ethanol and Distiller’s Grain: Implications of the Multiproduct Firm on United States Bioenergy Policy. In Modeling, Dynamics, and Optimization and Bioeconomics I Edited by Alberto Adrego Pinto and David Zilberman, pp. 497-509 New York: Springer. 10. Seale, James L., Jr., Cody P. Dahl, Charles B. Moss, and Anita Regmi. 2014. International Evidence on Cross-Price Effects of Food and Other Goods. In Festschrift in Honor of Peter Schmidt: Econometric Methods and Applications edited Robin C. Sickles and William C. Horrace, pp.125-218 New York: Springer. 11. de Leeuw,Jan Anton Vrieling, Apurba Shee, Clement Atzberger, Kiros M. Hadgu, Chandrashekhar M. Biradar, Humphrey Keah and Calum Turvey (2014) The Potential and Uptake of Remote Sensing in Insurance: A Review. Remote Sensing. 6(11), 10888-10912; doi:10.3390/rs61110888 12. Kong, Rong , Calum Turvey, Xiaolan Xu, Fei Liu, (2014) "Borrower attitudes, lender attitudes and agricultural lending in rural China", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 32 Iss: 2 13. Kong, R., Calum G. Turvey and Hira Channa (2015) "Factors Affecting Farmers’ Participation in China’s Group Guarantee Lending Program China Agricultural Economic Review Forthcoming Vol 7(1) 14. Ricketts, K., C.G. Turvey and M. Gomez (2014) Value Chain Approaches to Development: Smallholder Farmer Perceptions of Risk and Benefits across Three Cocoa Chains in Ghana . Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies 4(1):2-22 15. Rienstra , P., Haile Selassie, and C.G. Turvey (2014) An Analysis Of Welfare Effects Of Export Credit Insurance And Guarantees On The Exporting And Importing Countries Journal of Business and Economics Perspectives 8(2):1-21 16. Turvey, C.G., J. Woodard and E. Liu (2014) Financial Engineering for the Farm Problem. Agricultural Finance Review 74(2):271-286 17. Verteramo Chiu, Leslie J., Calum G. Turvey, (2014) "Cross market price support and agricultural development: Quanto options valuation for cash grains in Mexico", Journal of Risk Finance, The, Vol. 15 Iss: 1, pp.33 – 51 18. Verteramo Chiu, Leslie J., Sivalai V. Khantachavana and Calum G. Turvey, (2014). Risk Rationing and the Demand for Agricultural Credit: A Comparative Investigation of Mexico and China. Agricultural Finance Review 74(2):248-270 19. Zhou, Li and C.G. Turvey (2014) Climate change, adaptation and China's grain production. China Economic Review 28(1):72-89. 20. Zhou, Li and C.G. Turvey (2015) Climate Risk, Income Dynamics and Nutrition Intake in Rural China. China Agricultural Economic Review (forthcoming) 21. Zhou, Li and C.G. Turvey (2014). Testing Asset Dynamics for Poverty Traps in Rural China. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics doi: 10.1111/cjag.12042 June 2014 (forthcoming) 22. Dang, Trang, David J. Leatham, Bruce McCarl and Ximing Wu. “Measuring the efficiency of the Farm Credit System.” Agricultural Finance Review, 74(No. 1, 2014):38-54. 23. Sukcharoen, Kunlapath, Tatevik Zohrabyan, David J. Leatham, and Ximing Wu. “Interdependence of oil prices and stock market indices: A copula approach,” Energy Economics: 44(2014):331:39. 24. Chen, Songjiao, Wilson, W.W., Larsen, R., Dahl. B. “Investing in Agriculture as an Asset Class”, Agribusiness, 2014. Authorship shared. 25. Larsen, R. “Piggybacking on Net Worth”. US Canola Digest, November-December 2014. 26. Ifft, Jennifer, Shang Wu and Todd Kuethe. (2014) “The Impact of Pasture Insurance on Farmland Values” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 43(3). 27. Borchers, Allison, Jennifer Ifft and Todd Kuethe. (2014) “Linking the Price of Agricultural Land to Use Values and Amenities” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 96(5). 28. Ifft, Jennifer, Amirdara Novini, and Kevin Patrick. (2014) “Debt Use by U.S. Farm Businessess, 1992-2011”Economic Information Bulletin. EIB-122. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Econ Res. Serv. 29. Khanal, A.R., and Ashok K. Mishra. “Buying winners and selling losers” trading strategy profitable in the New Economy?” Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 21 (15) 2014: 1090-1093. 30. Khanal, A.R., and Ashok K. Mishra. “Agritourism and Off-farm Work: Survival Strategies for Small Farms.” Agricultural Economics: An International Journal, 45 supplement, 2014: 65–76. 31. Khanal, A.R., Ashok K. Mishra, and K.A. Mottaleb. “Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Financial Performance: The U.S. Ethanol-Based Fuel Industry.” Biomass and Bioenergy, Vol. 61 (Feb), 2014: 138-145. 32. Joo, H., A. Khanal, and Ashok K. Mishra. “Farmers’ participation in Agritourism: Does it affect the Bottom Line?” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Vol. 42(3), 2013: 491-490. 33. Mishra, Ashok K. Mishra, J.M Fannin, and H. Joo. “Off-Farm Work, Intensity of Government Payments, and Farm Exits: Evidence from a National Survey in the United States.” Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 62(2), 2014: 283-306. 34. D’Antoni, J.M., Ashok K. Mishra, and A. R. Khanal. “Examining Labor Substitution: Does Family Matter for U.S. Cash Grain Farmers?” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Vol. 46(2), 2014: 273-284. 35. Park, T. A., Ashok K. Mishra, and S. Wozniak. “Do Farm Operators Benefit from Direct to Consumer Marketing Strategies?” Agricultural Economics: An International Journal, 45(2014): 213-224. 36. Mishra, Ashok K., and A. R. Khanal. “Is Participation in Agri-Environmental Programs Affected by Liquidity and Solvency: Land Use Policy, Vol. 35, 2013: 163-170. Selected Grants and Contracts: 1. UNL Farm Benchmarking Collaboration. Funding Amount: $837,944. Funding Agency: USDA, NIFA. My role is to work with Corey Walters to diversification changes of farms in the northern great plains. NDSU’s portion of funding: $35,353. 2. Corn Wet Mill Market Analysis and Valuation Study. Funding Amount: $75,000. Funded by North Dakota Agriculture Product Utilization Committee. My role is to develop a real options model to estimate value of a corn wet mill facility.