This study investigates consumer preferences for two emerging food waste reduction technologies – gene editing and all-natural spray coating – applied to apples. Using a discrete choice experiment with a nationally representative sample of U.S. consumers (n = 413), we estimate willingness to pay for gene-edited apples, spray-coated apples, and untreated apples. A generalized mixed logit model in willingness to pay space reveals that consumers exhibit the highest WTP for gene-edited apples ($2.45/lb), followed by spray-coated apples ($2.37/lb), with untreated apples valued least ($1.79/lb). Latent Class Analysis identifies three consumer segments: Price-Sensitive Skeptics, Sustainability-Oriented Consumers, and Selective Technology Adopters. Sustainability-Oriented Consumers showed the strongest support for both technologies, while Selective Technology Adopters displayed a clear preference for gene editing. Behavioral attitudes, rather than demographic variables, were the main drivers of segmentation. These findings suggest that tailored marketing strategies and policy interventions, including sustainability messaging, pricing incentives, and educational outreach, can support the adoption of food waste-reducing technologies. Overall, consumers are receptive to both gene-edited and spray-coated apples, though concerns about biotechnology and price sensitivity remain. Results offer insights for producers, retailers, and regulators aiming to enhance fresh produce sustainability and reduce food waste along the supply chain.

This article investigates the direct impact of energy prices (Crude Oil and Natural Gas) on agricultural markets (wheat, maize, soybeans) and the indirect effect through fertilizers using monthly data covering the period from January 1990 to February 2021. Additionally, the analysis is further extended up to 2024. The conditional covariances of energy and fertilizer prices capture the spikes in the 2008 crisis and the volatile time after, and the deterministic nonlinear Fourier trends eliminate the unit root problem. The results show that agricultural prices are affected directly by changes in energy prices and indirectly through fertilizer prices.

This paper extends existing national and regional estimates of Cooprative Extension staffing and funding levels through 2024 and describes changes in Extension program priorities. From a peak of 17,694 professional staff working in Extension nation-wide in 1979, we estimate this declined to 13,188 by 2024. Funding sources for Extension became more diversified over time, relying less on Federal (especially formula) funds and more on State and non-government sources. Program content shifted along with funding sources, with a declining share of Extension resources devoted to agriculture, although with significant differences across States and regions.

Used farm machinery values play a critical role in farm management and in assessing the financial health of the agricultural sector. However, the heterogeneity of machines, particularly regarding embedded technology and usage, complicates efforts to isolate the factors that influence prices. This study leverages a detailed dataset from Tractor Zoom to estimate the effects of machine characteristics and market conditions on auction prices of used 300 to 450 horsepower tractors. We find a nonlinear relationship between machine usage and price: tractors with fewer than 500 hours of use lose approximately $118 per additional hour, while tractors with more than 10,000 hours show only a weakly significant decline of about $2 per hour. We also document pronounced seasonal patterns, with lower prices during the Midwest crop-growing season. These findings provide new evidence on machinery valuation and offer updated insights to inform farmers’ machinery replacement decisions.

This study develops a replicable framework for estimating the size and economic contribution of the bioeconomy and circular economy, using Southern Arizona as an illustrative case. It employs input–output modeling to include multiplier effects, reporting results in terms of jobs supported and value added. Because the framework relies exclusively on publicly available state- and county-level data, it can be readily applied to other U.S. regions, enabling consistent comparison across places and over time.

This paper presents research on the economic value of wildlife watching trips. Our analysis accounts for wildlife mobility and connectivity between viewing sites, which could bias basic welfare calculations, by linking demand to spatially connected, site-specific populations. We examine the potential for bias with an application to birdwatching in Indiana. Viewers value species diversity and population abundance, particularly sandhill cranes. Scenarios that ignore spatial connectivity overstate welfare losses by up to 34%.

Irrigation is a key agricultural input that can influence nutrition through production and income pathways, yet its role in shaping diets remains underexamined. This study examines the effects of irrigation on food consumption and diet quality among farming households. We find that irrigation adoption increases consumption of milk, wheat, and sugar, but it has a limited or no effect on higher intake of nutrient-rich foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, eggs, and meat. Groundwater irrigation has stronger effects on nutrient-dense food consumption than surface water irrigation. These findings highlight the need for nutrition-sensitive irrigation policies to improve access to healthier and more diverse diets.

We analyze district‑level data for paddy, wheat, and millets (2010–2019) across India to identify yield hotspots with consistently high or rising productivity and coldspots with persistent declines. Spatial clustering and regression analyses show that weather, irrigation, fertilizer use, and farmers’ mobile-based information access shape yield performance. Coldspots produce roughly half the yield of hotspots due to lower input and information use. Hotspots cluster in north and southern India, while coldspots dominate the west, east, and northeast. Average yield gaps for paddy, wheat, and millets are 2.0, 2.4, and 1.0 t ha−1, respectively. Closing these gaps could substantially raise farm revenues.

Changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic included emergency benefit allotments and operation waivers. Using five expenditure-based measures of the nutritional quality of food purchases, we tested whether changes in SNAP during the first year of the pandemic were associated with better nutritional quality of food purchases by participating households with children relative to income-eligible nonparticipating households. Most nutritional quality measures declined from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 2020 (pandemic) with larger decreases for SNAP households. SNAP participation was associated with small negative differences for nutritional quality of food purchases from stores.