IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/ajagec/v49y1967i3p610-621..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Re-examination of the Farm Diversification Problem

Author

Listed:
  • S. R. Johnson

Abstract

The problem of selecting combinations of enterprises for farms is similar in nature to the portfolio problem for the investor. That is, when net incomes from farm enterprises are viewed in probabilistic terms and the farmer is assumed to be endowed with a particular amount of land, the problem of selecting an optimal mix of enterprises can be interpreted as a special case of the portfolio problem. Recognition of the similarity of the two problems provides a basis for applying the results of recent research in portfolio analysis to studying farm diversification. In particular, the separation theorem and its immediate corollaries suggest a solution to the farm diversification problem under rather general conditions regarding both the decision maker's preference for risk and the feasible set determined by alternative mixes of enterprises. An application of this theorem to the farm diversification problem is made in this article, and a number of extensions which improve the usefulness of the results are suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • S. R. Johnson, 1967. "A Re-examination of the Farm Diversification Problem," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 610-621.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:49:y:1967:i:3:p:610-621.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/1236896
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Petr Havlik & Geoffroy Enjolras & Jean-Marie Boisson & Florence Jacquet & Michel Lherm & Patrick Veysset, 2008. "Environmental good production in the optimum activities portfolio of a risk averse-farmer," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 86(1), pages 9-33.
    2. Nicholas A. Lancaster & Ariana P. Torres, 2019. "Investigating the Drivers of Farm Diversification Among U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Operations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Bartolini, Fabio & Andreoli, Maria & Brunori, Gianluca, 2014. "Explaining determinants of the on-farm diversification: empirical evidence from Tuscany region," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 3(2), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Turvey, Calum Greig & Kimble, John W. & Baker, Timothy G., 1987. "Efficient Set Mathematics, the Separation Theorem, and Farm Operating Decisions," 1987 Annual Meeting, August 2-5, East Lansing, Michigan 270094, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Turvey, Calum G. & Driver, H.C., 1985. "An Examination of Systematic Risks in Agriculture: A Farm Sector Capital Asset Pricing Model," 1985 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Ames, Iowa 278553, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Bravo-Ureta, Boris E. & Cocchi, Horacio & Solís, Daniel, 2006. "Output Diversification among Small-Scale Hillside Farmers in El Salvador," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3012, Inter-American Development Bank.
    7. Gempesaw, Conrado M., II & Tambe, A.M. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr. & Toensmeyer, Ulrich C., 1988. "The Single Index Market Model In Agriculture," Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 17(2), pages 1-9, October.
    8. Erik J. O’Donoghue & Michael J. Roberts & Nigel Key, 2009. "Did the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act Alter Farm Enterprise Diversification?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 80-104, February.
    9. Kliebenstein, James B. & Scott, John T., Jr., 1975. "Assessment Of Risk When Contract Crops Are Included Among Other Crop Alternatives," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 7(2), pages 1-6, December.
    10. Steven C. Blank, 1995. "The new risk environment in California agriculture," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 155-168.
    11. Turvey, Calum G. & Baker, Timothy G., 1990. "A Pedagogic Review of the Efficient Set Mathematics Applied to Farm Operating Risk," Department of Agricultural Economics and Business 258630, University of Guelph.
    12. Turvey, Calum G. & Baker, Timothy G. & Weersink, Alfons, 1992. "Farm Operating Risk And Cash Rent Determination," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 17(1), pages 1-7, July.
    13. Anderson, Jock R., 1975. "Programming For Efficient Planning Against Non-Normal Risk," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 19(2), pages 1-14, August.
    14. Miller, Matthew Edward, 2003. "An economic perspective on Iowa farm diversification in the twentieth century," ISU General Staff Papers 2003010108000018194, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Koo, Won W. & Burt, Oscar R., 1982. "U.S. Wheat Storage Control Under Joint Criteria Of Mean Benefits And Price Variation," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, July.
    16. Blank, Steven C., 2005. "Hedging with off-farm income: implications for production and investment decisions across farm sizes," 2005 Annual Meeting, July 6-8, 2005, San Francisco, California 291741, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    17. Dillon, Carl R., 1992. "Microeconomic Effects Of Reduced Yield Variability Cultivars Of Soybeans And Wheat," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-13, July.
    18. Anderson, Jock R., 1972. "An Overview of Modelling in Agricultural Management," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 40(03), pages 1-12, September.
    19. K. C. Schaefer, 1992. "A Portfolio Model For Evaluating Risk In Economic Development Projects, With An Application To Agriculture In Niger," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 412-423, September.
    20. Larsen, Ryan A. & Leatham, David J. & Mjelde, James W. & Wolfley, Jared L., 2008. "Geographical Diversification: An Application of Copula Based CVaR," 2008 Agricultural and Rural Finance Markets in Transition, September 25-26, 2008, Kansas City, Missouri 119533, Regional Research Committee NC-1014: Agricultural and Rural Finance Markets in Transition.
    21. Petr Havlik & Geoffroy Enjolras & Jean-Marie Boisson & Florence Jacquet & Michel Lherm & Patrick Veysset, 2008. "Environmental good production in the optimum activities portfolio of a risk averse-farmer," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 86(1), pages 9-33.
    22. Culas, Richard J., 2006. "Causes of farm diversification over time: an Australian perspective on an Eastern Norway model," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9.
    23. Mumey, G.A. & Bauer, L. & Boyda, A., 1988. "An Estimate of Risk and Returns From Cropping Alternatives," Project Report Series 232065, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    24. Kashanian, Motahareh & Pishvaee, Mir Saman & Sahebi, Hadi, 2020. "Sustainable biomass portfolio sourcing plan using multi-stage stochastic programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:49:y:1967:i:3:p:610-621.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.