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Exploiting the Relationship between Farm-Level Yields and County-Level Yields for Applied Analysis

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  • Gerlt, Scott
  • Thompson, Wyatt
  • Miller, Douglas

Abstract

County-level yield data are used in applied research and crop insurance policy in place of farmlevel yield data, which are likely sparse, not broadly representative, and subject to selection bias. We exploit the fact that county-level yields are the aggregate of farm-level yields to derive bounds that can be reduced to direct relationships between county- and farm-level yields under certain conditions. Simulation experiments indicate that crop insurance premium estimates derived from this method have the potential for bias in certain conditions but are reasonably precise in other conditions, suggesting that these relationships are a new tool for applied analysts.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerlt, Scott & Thompson, Wyatt & Miller, Douglas, 2014. "Exploiting the Relationship between Farm-Level Yields and County-Level Yields for Applied Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 1-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:186590
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.186590
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexandre Gohin, 2019. "General Equilibrium Modelling of the Insurance Industry: U.S. Crop Insurance," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 4(2), pages 108-145, December.
    2. Lim, Jinsoon & Kim, Sanghyo & Zulauf, Carl, 2015. "What Explains the Share of Farm Loss Systemic with County Loss?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205804, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Luckstead, Jeff & Devadoss, Stephen, 2016. "Implication of 2014 Farm Policies for Wheat Production," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235362, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Porth, Lysa & Tan, Ken Seng & Zhu, Wenjun, 2016. "A Relational Model for Predicting Farm-Level Crop Yield Distributions in the Absence of Farm-Level Data," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236278, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Gohin, Alex, 2017. "Macroeconomic impacts of the U.S. farm policy: a second best assessment," Conference papers 332819, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Mane, Ranjitsinh & Watkins, Bradley, 2018. "Stochastic Analysis of County and Multi County Yields for Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) payments for Arkansas Row Crop Producers," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266698, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    7. Gohin, Alexandre, 2018. "Lessons from the U.S. risk management instruments for the future CAP," 162nd Seminar, April 26-27, 2018, Budapest, Hungary 271965, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Wade, Tara & Kurkalova, Lyubov & Secchi, Silvia, 2016. "Modeling Field-Level Conservation Tillage Adoption with Aggregate Choice Data," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(2), May.
    9. Gerlt, Scott & Westhoff, Patrick, "undated". "Comparison of County ARC and SCO," 2014 AAEA: Crop Insurance and the 2014 Farm Bill Symposium: Implementing Change in U.S. Agricultural Policy, October 8-9, 2014, Louisville, KY 184289, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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