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PurposeThe study investigates whether there is an association between climate types and farm risk attitudes of principal operators.Design/methodology/approachThe study exploits temperature variation in the diverse climate types across the US and defines hot- and cold-climate states. Ordered logit and generalized ordered logit models are used to model principal operators' farm risk attitudes, which are measured on a Likert scale. The study uses two datasets. The first dataset is a 2017 survey of US large commercial producers (LCPs). The second dataset provides a Köppen-Geiger climate classification of the US at a spatial resolution of 5 arcmin for a 25-year period (1986–2010).FindingsThe study finds that principal operators in hot-climate states are 4–5% more likely to have a higher willingness to take farm risk compared to principal operators in cold-climate states.Research limitations/implicationsIt is likely that farm risk mitigation decisions differ between hot- and cold-climate states. For instance, the authors show that corn acres' enrollment in federal crop insurance and computers' usage for farm business are pursued more intensely in cold-climate states than in hot-climate states. A differentiation of farm risk attitude by hot- and cold-climate states may help agribusiness, the government and economists in their farm product offerings, farm risk management programs and agricultural finance models, respectively.Originality/valueBased on Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the study introduces hot- and cold-climate concepts to understand the relationship between climate types and principal operators' farm risk attitudes.

Understanding how farm household consumption responds to adverse income shocks can provide insight into household well-being and appropriate agricultural policy. Using a split-sample survey of Indiana specialty producers, where we randomly assign respondents to treatments that vary the size of a hypothetical income shock, we estimate the relationship between income loss and household consumption. Given that postdisaster producers' risk preferences are important for business decisions, we elicit producers' risk preferences. We find that food and miscellaneous expenses are the most sensitive to income losses. We also find evidence for decreasing absolute risk aversion among producers after the income loss shock.

The study examines financial and transaction characteristics that influence mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in U.S. agribusinesses. During the M&A private phase, we model the likelihood of firms becoming bidders or targets as a function of firms' past financial performance. During the M&A public phase, the likelihood of bidders becoming acquirers is modeled as a function of firms' past financial performance and M&A transaction characteristics. The results for the subset of bidders in the M&A private phase suggest that the likelihood of a firm becoming a bidder is positively correlated with the bidder's firm size 1 year before the M&A announcement. In contrast, the likelihood of a firm becoming a bidder is negatively associated with bidder's leverage, cash level, and very low market valuations. For the subset of targeted firms, the likelihood of firms being targeted is positively associated with the firm's leverage and negatively related with its profitability. Our results for the M&A public phase model show that firm experience in the M&A market is positively associated with the likelihood of acquisition completion. In addition, relative to nonhorizontal transactions, horizontal mergers tend to be more difficult to complete. [EconLit Citations: G34, M2].

Emergency Medical Services provider agencies and programs for systems of care for time-sensitive conditions in many communities and regions struggle with hospitals to obtain feedback data regarding patient outcomes and hospital processes relevant to EMS quality programs. EMS provider agencies also have issues in providing information to hospitals at the time of patient transfer to support continuity of care. The paper presents a position statement and supporting rationale from the National EMS Management Association on the bi-lateral exchange of data between EMS and hospitals. It examines the underlying issues and offers recommendations for how the various barriers to bi-lateral information exchange can be resolved.

This study is a first exploratory approach to identify differences and similarities between U.S. and Argentine farmers’ main management strategies. Considering the importance of agriculture in these countries and the key roles both of them play in agriculture world markets, our findings could help agribusiness industries and policymakers to make well-informed decisions based on a more comprehensive understanding of farmers’ behavior in both countries. Regarding sociodemographic aspects, U.S. farming is more family-operated, farmers are older, and farms are, on average, a smaller scale than in Argentina. The results show that U.S. farmers work more on their own farm compared to Argentine farmers. Regarding the factors considered more important in farm management, Argentine and U.S. farmers are more concerned about costs and productive aspects than about marketing issues or human resources aspects. This study also indicates that farmers in both countries prefer to do most of the farm tasks by themselves.

Hypothesis:Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems have developed protocols for prehospital activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory for patients with suspected ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to decrease first-medical-contact-to-balloon time (FMC2B). The rate of “false positive” prehospital activations is high. In order to decrease this rate and expedite care for patients with true STEMI, the American Heart Association (AHA; Dallas, Texas USA) developed the Mission Lifeline PreAct STEMI algorithm, which was implemented in Los Angeles County (LAC; California USA) in 2015. The hypothesis of this study was that implementation of the PreAct algorithm would increase the positive predictive value (PPV) of prehospital activation.Methods:This is an observational pre-/post-study of the effect of the implementation of the PreAct algorithm for patients with suspected STEMI transported to one of five STEMI Receiving Centers (SRCs) within the LAC Regional System. The primary outcome was the PPV of cardiac catheterization laboratory activation for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). The secondary outcome was FMC2B.Results:A total of 1,877 patients were analyzed for the primary outcome in the pre-intervention period and 405 patients in the post-intervention period. There was an overall decrease in cardiac catheterization laboratory activations, from 67% in the pre-intervention period to 49% in the post-intervention period (95% CI for the difference, -14% to -22%). The overall rate of cardiac catheterization declined in post-intervention period as compared the pre-intervention period, from 34% to 30% (95% CI, for the difference -7.6% to 0.4%), but actually increased for subjects who had activation (48% versus 58%; 95% CI, 4.6%-15.0%). Implementation of the PreAct algorithm was associated with an increase in the PPV of activation for PCI or CABG from 37.9% to 48.6%. The overall odds ratio (OR) associated with the intervention was 1.4 (95% CI, 1.1-1.8). The effect of the intervention was to decrease variability between medical centers. There was no associated change in average FMC2B.Conclusions:The implementation of the PreAct algorithm in the LAC EMS system was associated with an overall increase in the PPV of cardiac catheterization laboratory activation.

This study elicits U.S. agricultural producer preferences for five key management success factors: managing output prices; managing production; controlling costs; managing land/equipment/facilities; and managing people. The objective of this analysis was to determine the relative importance of each of the five profit-centric functional areas of management among U.S. farm managers. Significant heterogeneity in preferences was observed over the management areas. Farm managers, on average, placed the highest importance in controlling costs (29% preference share). Differences emerged among groups of farmers in a latent class model where managing people became relatively important to the viability of the agribusiness.

This study aims to understand the adoption of clinical quality measurement throughout the United States on an EMS agency level, the features of agencies that do participate in quality measurement, and the level of physician involvement. It also aims to barriers to implementing quality improvement initiatives in EMS.A 46-question survey was developed to gather agency level data on current quality improvement practices and measurement. The survey was distributed nationally via State EMS Offices to EMS agencies nation-wide using Surveymonkey©. A convenience sample of respondents was enrolled between August and November, 2015. Univariate, bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to describe demographics and relationships between outcomes of interest and their covariates using SAS 9.3©.A total of 1,733 surveys were initiated and 1,060 surveys had complete or near-complete responses. This includes agencies from 45 states representing over 6.23 million 9-1-1 responses annually. Totals of 70.5% (747) agencies reported dedicated QI personnel, 62.5% (663) follow clinical metrics and 33.3% (353) participate in outside quality or research program. Medical director hours varied, notably, 61.5% (649) of EMS agencies had5 hours of medical director time per month. Presence of medical director time was correlated with tracking of QI measures. Air medical [OR 9.64 (1.13, 82.16)] and hospital-based EMS agencies [OR 2.49 (1.36, 4.59)] were more likely to track quality measures compared to fire-based agencies. Agencies in rural only environments were less likely to follow clinical quality metrics. (OR 0.47 CI 0.31 -0.72 p0.0004). For those that track QI measures, the most common are; Response Time (Emergency) (68.3%), On-Scene Time (66.4%), prehospital stroke screen (64.6%), aspirin administration (64.5%), and 12 lead ECG in chest pain patients (63.0%).EMS agencies in the United States have significant practice variability with regard to quality improvement resources, medical direction and specific clinical quality measures. More research is needed to understand the impact of this variation on patient care outcomes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the linkage between agricultural sector and macroeconomic factors with farm financial health. It considers whether agricultural lenders can more accurately anticipate changes in the credit quality of their portfolios by considering broad economic indicators outside the agriculture sector. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines firm, sector, and macroeconomic drivers of probability of default (PD) migrations from a sample of 153 grain farms of actual lender data from Farm Credit Mid-America’s portfolio. A series of ordered logit models are developed. Findings Farm-level and sector-level variables have the most significant impact on PD migrations. Equity to asset ratios, working capital to gross farm income ratios, and gross corn income per acre are found to be the most significant drivers of PD migrations. Macroeconomic variables are shown to unreliably forecast PD migrations, suggesting that agricultural lenders should emphasize firm and sector variables over macroeconomic factors in credit risk models. Originality/value This paper builds the literature on agricultural credit risk by testing a broader set of sector and macroeconomic variables than previous articles. Also, prior articles measured the direction but not magnitude of PD migrations; the ordered model in the analysis measures both.

This study examines both accruals based earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM) in U.S. agribusinesses. In particular, the focus is on agribusinesses that report low earnings quality, defined as firms with extreme level of accruals compared to their peers. The cross-sectional modified Jones model (Jones 1991; Dechow et al 1995) is used to test for AEM. To capture REM practices, we implement the discretionary expenses model by Roychowdhury (2006). We find evidence of AEM and find no evidence of REM in agribusinesses. In addition, our results show that managers might be managing earnings through specific accruals doubtful accounts receivable provisions and special items. Dans la presente etude, nous examinons la gestion du resultat en comptabilite d'exercice et la gestion reelle du resultat dans les agroentreprises etatsuniennes. Nous avons mis l'accent sur les agroentreprises qui signalaient un resultat de faible qualite, soit des entreprises qui ont des charges a payer tres elevees comparativement a leurs pairs. Nous avons utilise la version modifiee du modele transversal intrasectoriel de Jones (Jones 1991, Dechow et al 1995) pour evaluer la gestion du resultat en comptabilite d'exercice. Pour deceler les pratiques de gestion reelle du resultat, nous avons utilise le modele de Roychowdhury (2006) qui tient compte des depenses discretionnaires. Selon les resultats de notre etude, les agroentreprises adoptent la gestion du resultat en comptabilite d'exercice plutot que la gestion reelle du resultat. De plus, il se pourrait que les gestionnaires gerent le resultat en apportant des ajustements specifiques aux provisions pour comptes clients douteux et aux elements exceptionnels.

Hoover Seeds is a fictional case study written to illustrate the challenges faced by food and agribusiness firms that are transitioning from small, entrepreneurial businesses to larger, more professionally managed enterprises. Though fictional, the competitive and financial situation of Hoover Seeds is based on realistic facts. The case introduces Dan Hoover, the Chief Executive Officer of Hoover Seeds, Inc., a small, family-owned and operated seed company in Ohio. Founded by his grandfather, Dan has worked his way up the ranks of the company and, now leading the company, has worked to expand market share. The case study details the sales, production, administration, and finances of the firm. Exhibit A includes a full set of financial statements over four years. The case also has industry context with market, customer, and competitor details.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of accounting for complex organizational forms on data collection with the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).Design/methodology/approachThis research reviews the literature from accounting theory along with the goals of data collection for policy analysis to draw conclusions about the applicability of accounting pronouncements.FindingsHistorically, the financial data collected in ARMS were based on financial accounting standards which were adequate for most purposes. However, this study develops the fact that many of these financial accounting standards were created to provide information for equity market transactions. The complexities of accounting for consolidations will provide valuable information, but implementing these standards will require accounting sophistication that is not prevalent in agriculture.Originality/valueBy drawing accounting theory together with the targeted use of data, this study offers guidelines to improve the data quality for a growing complex US agriculture.

Nixtamalization, a key production step for masa flour used for tacos, corn tortillas, and chips, traditionally involves corn kernel cooking for 1 h and a lengthy process of steeping (16–18 h) in a lime solution. This study aimed at accelerating the traditional nixtamalization (TN) process using power ultrasound with acoustic energy density around 1.85 W/g for 1 h during cooking followed by brief steeping for 1 h. The cooked kernels (nixtamal) were evaluated for texture and color, while the cooking liquor (nejayote) was evaluated for solid losses. The power ultrasound-assisted nixtamalization resulted in significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced process time and softer nixtamal with less solid losses in nejayote than control (TN). Response surface methodology established significant relationships of sonication duration and cooking temperature to texture, color of nixtamal, and dry matter loss in nejayote. This study indicates that power ultrasound ameliorated traditional nixtamalization in terms of quality and operation time.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify relevant financial concepts and skills that are being taught and/or should be taught, as part of the financial management curriculum in undergraduate agricultural economics and agribusiness programs.Design/methodology/approachThe skill gap analysis uses survey respondents' rankings of the importance and competence scores of recent graduates' skills. The scores help to identify opportunities for improvement in the most critical areas of importance. The skill gap is calculated as (Average importance–Average competence)*Average importance.FindingsGenerally, employers in the agricultural financial services sector saw greater opportunities for improvement in finance skills relative to non‐finance skills. The results also indicated a greater focus on business and financial risk might be helpful in increasing the competence of new hires. Finally, respondents strongly endorsed maintaining a focus on the problem‐solving skills in undergraduate agribusiness programs.Originality/valueThe value of the study would be that departments of agricultural and applied economics would use the results of this survey to enhance their financial management curriculum and their undergraduate program. By responding to the desires of employers, agricultural economics and agribusiness programs cannot only remain relevant as a source of employees for the industry but the first choice of agricultural financial services sector when they are searching for new hires. This should also help inform students of the desirability of the skills they acquire in their degree programs. This information will also benefit the agricultural finance services sector by assisting college and university instructors in developing and/or enhancing their agricultural finance course(s) so that the may provide their students with the requisite financial and non‐financial skills that they require.

The Agricultural Technical Schools (ATS) of Egypt were designed to prepare skilled workers for the agricultural economy. A project funded by USAID through the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) was designed to prepare ATS instructors for incorporating supervised agricultural internships and agribusiness decision–making skills into their curricula. Workshops were presented, with assistance from university faculty in Egypt, on topics including planning, conducting and evaluating internships, and on selected agribusiness competencies that were relevant to ATS programs. Workshop participants rated the workshops and materials very highly. The ATS instructors also indicated that their competency in teaching the topics had increased as a result of the workshops. The instructors indicated other topics that future workshops could address. The researchers identified a series of lessons learned about conducting workshops in a foreign country and offered recommendations to assist other U.S. faculty in getting involved in international development projects.

This study introduces the accrual anomaly problem in the agribusiness literature. The authors document the accrual anomaly, introduced by Sloan (1996) for the complete U.S. market, in the food supply chain. A mimicked risk-free trading strategy shorting high accrual agribusinesses and longing low accrual agribusinesses yield statistically significant annual abnormal returns of 5.9% during 1970–2004. Results for the food supply chain are different from results by Sloan and others. In particular, results for high accrual agribusiness are similar to results by Sloan for the complete U.S. market, but low accrual agribusinesses perform differently. The authors believe that this contrasting result is not industry specific, but rather a result supporting the idea that the fixation hypothesis by Sloan fails to explain the accrual anomaly problem. This is important because the fixation hypothesis is prevalent in the literature; a well-articulated hypothesis on the accrual anomaly has not yet been offered. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A relative increase in demand for one type of beef can have one of two potentially countervailing effects: it can cause substitution of one type for another and/or it might expand overall demand. The results of a random parameters logit analysis indicate that regardless of whether USDA Choice or upgraded steak demand increases, the expansion effect dominates the substitution effect. We also show that, for our sample of consumers, the introduction of a new “natural” steak causes a greater reduction in market share for USDA Choice beef than ungraded beef. Despite this result, however, overall steak demand increases. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Working Paper Brian C. Briggeman, Michael A. Gunderson, Brent A. Gloy* July 31, 2009 *The authors are Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Assistant Professor, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or the Federal Reserve System.

Agricultural credit risk migration is examined using loan records gathered from four agricultural lenders. Results indicate that lender risk ratings are much more stable than ratings based on credit scores estimated from financial statements, highlighting the importance played by nonfinancial factors such as management capacity, character, and collateral in assessing credit risk. Additionally, the borrower’s risk tier, personal characteristics, and the stage of the business life cycle provide useful information in predicting credit quality downgrades, while the primary agricultural enterprise does not impact the likelihood of a downgrade.

The agribusiness sector is comprised of interrelated subsectors working in concert to provide goods and services to consumers around the world. With the need to accommodate economic, social, and environmental concerns, organizations and managers in the sector share many of the challenges that exist in other business value chains.

Marketing in the food system has at least three broad categories: physical functions, exchange functions, and facilitating functions. Physical functions include those activities that alter the form or place utility of produce. Form utility refers to the appearance the produce will have. Manufacturing, processing, and packaging create additional value for the consumer that prefers the product in an altered state. Place utility refers to the time and location at which the produce is consumed. Some degree of physical transportation and storage is used in selling fresh produce. Exchange functions are activities related to the possession utility of a product. Individuals or firms with knowledge of buyers and sellers can facilitate exchange between these two groups. Buyers and sellers must agree on setting a price for the product and ownership transfer. Fluctuation risks are borne by the owner. In the case of fresh produce, facilitating functions can be thought of as the actions that allow the system to function at peak efficiency. Such types of actions provide conduits for information and capital flows in the produce supply chain. Private firms, government, and industry groups have all historically served in facilitating roles for fresh produce. Standards and grades can ensure the flow of uniform products; financing provides the capital needed to operate the system; market intelligence can drive competition and communication efforts serve to inform the final consumer.

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy of Egypt and other North African and Middle Eastern countries. While a system of Agricultural Technical Schools (ATS) is in place in Upper Egypt, there has not been a comprehensive effort to help ensure that students in those programs are adequately prepared to enter the workforce and be productive. The model that was developed begins with the needs of agricultural business and industry and the perceived preparedness of ATS graduates to enter the workforce. The differences between need and preparedness generate a skill-gap that serves as the basis for curriculum design. Curricular change based on student ability and guided by an external advisory council includes technical skill development, internships, decision-making and leadership. Coupled with curricular improvement, the model allows for faculty development to assist ATS instructors in active learning, competency assessment, leadership activities and internship supervision. A train-thetrainer model utilized agriculture faculty members from Egyptian universities to provide ongoing instruction. Since other nations of the North African and Middle-Eastern regions share similar needs and concerns, the model is proposed to be applicable in those settings as well.

Borrower-level data from 963 agricultural lending relationships are used to examine how several factors influence the costs and returns of extending agricultural credit. The results provide estimates of the costs and returns of agricultural lending and the extent to which these costs and returns are influenced by factors such as loan volume, lender/borrower relationship factors, and contract terms. The findings indicate that economies of size exist in agricultural credit delivery and that lenders pass most of these benefits on to borrowers through lower interest rates. In addition, the impacts of lender/borrower relationship factors were relatively small. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.

Introduction:Previous evaluations of prehospital devices intended for spinal immobilization have focused on the device's ability to restrict motion only. This study defines six relevant criteria for evaluation of cervical immobilization device (CID) performance.Objectives:To suggest relevant criteria for evaluation and use available technology to improve measurements for performance testing of prehospital-care devices.Methods:Six parameters (motion restriction, access, ease of application, environmental performance, radiolucency, and storage size) were used to evaluate three types of CIDs: Device A—a single-use corrugated board; Device B—a reusable foam-block CID; and Device C—hospital towels and adhesive tape. To test motion restriction, the most frequently compared parameters for immobilization devices, 20 volunteers were asked to move their heads and necks through a series of motions (flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation). Their movements were videotaped, still images of each movement were generated, and the degrees of deflection recorded from these still images. To ensure a consistent level of force, electromyography (EMG) of the sternodydomastoid and extensor muscles was employed.Results:Data were produced for each parameter and presented for comparison. The use of video to determine deflection proved to be a useful and highly accurate (±1°) method for measurement. The use of EMG technology enabled force to be controlled indirectly when the subjects used moderate levels of exertion. Overall, Devices A and C restricted motion better than Device B. Although Device C required the shortest time for application, it took the longest to prepare for application. The total time required for preparation and application of A and B essentially were equivalent, with A requiring no preparation time but taking the longest for application, and B having an intermediate interval for application. Device A allowed for the best examination of the head and neck. No differences were detected in performance in extreme environmental conditions or in radiolucency for cervical spine X-ray examinations. Device A consumed the smallest storage volume, B the greatest storage volume, and C an intermediate volume substantially greater than that required for A.Conclusion:Device evaluation should include examination of all relevant performance parameters using the most accurate and meaningful methods possible.