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Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior

Agricultural yields have increased steadily in the last half century, particularly since the Green Revolution. At the same time, inflation-adjusted agricultural commodity prices have been trending downward as increases in supply outpace the growth of demand. Recent severe weather events, biofuel mandates, and a switch toward a more meat-heavy diet in emerging economies have nevertheless boosted commodity prices. Whether this is a temporary jump or the beginning of a longer-term trend is an open question. Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior examines the factors contributing to the remarkably steady increase in global yields and assesses whether yield growth can continue. This research also considers whether agricultural productivity growth has been, and will be, associated with significant environmental externalities. Among the topics studied are genetically modified crops; changing climatic factors; farm production responses to government regulations including crop insurance, transport subsidies, and electricity subsidies for groundwater extraction; and the role of specific farm practices such as crop diversification, disease management, and water-saving methods. This research provides new evidence that technological as well as policy choices influence agricultural productivity. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Wolfram Schlenker

1. Heterogeneous Yield Impacts from Adoption of Genetically Engineered Corn and the Importance of Controlling for Weather
Jayson L. Lusk, Jesse Tack, and Nathan P. Hendricks

2. Impacts of Climate Change and Extreme Weather on US Agricultural Productivity: Evidence and Projection
Sun Ling Wang, Eldon Ball, Richard Nehring, Ryan Williams, and Truong Chau

3. Farming under Weather Risk: Adaptation, Moral Hazard, and Selection on Moral Hazard
Hsing-Hsiang Huang and Michael R. Moore

4. Intranational Trade Costs, Reallocation, and Technical Change: Evidence from a Canadian Agricultural Trade Policy Reform
Mark Brown, Shon M. Ferguson, and Crina Viju-Miljusevic

5. Electricity Prices, Groundwater, and Agriculture: The Environmental and Agricultural Impacts of Electricity Subsidies in India
Reena Badiani-Magnusson and Katrina Jessoe

6. Estimating the Impact of Crop Diversity on Agricultural Productivity in South Africa
Cecilia Bellora, Élodie Blanc, Jean-Marc Bourgeon, and Eric Strobl

7. Crop Disease and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from a Dynamic Structural Model of Verticillium Wilt Management
Christine L. Carroll, Colin A. Carter, Rachael E. Goodhue, and C.-Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell

8. Willingness to Pay for Low Water Footprint Foods during Drought
Hannah Krovetz, Rebecca Taylor, and Sofia B. Villas-Boas
 
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index

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