Professional Interests

• Economic formats for use by animal scientists, crop and soil scientists, and horticulturists in reporting research
• Development of new protocol for National Academy of Science/Board on Agriculture species committee on the nutrient requirements for food animals and poultry
• Development of risk management firm level decision support concepts and software, including components for estimation of probability density functions
• Supply/demand analysis and agricultural sector modeling; use of model results by farmers, agribusinessmen, and policy analysts in decision making
• Analysis of design and management schemes for field crop and field crop/forage/livestock systems (e.g., crop rotations, cover crops, pest management schemes, forage quality, alternative tillage/planting systems, harvest systems, storage systems, feeding systems, manure management) (joint with Animal Science, Crop and Soil Science, Entomology, and Agricultural Engineering)
• Interface between production economics and biological and physical systems modeling concepts (joint with MSU faculty in Animal Science, Agricultural Engineering, Crop and Soil Science and Entomology; animal scientists at the University of California-Davis and animal and plant scientists at the ARS/USDA National Dairy Forage Research Center at Madison, Wisconsin)
• Analysis of the economic efficacy of multiple peril crop insurance, including Group Risk Plan, as a yield risk management tool for agriculture (micro and macro considerations). Includes considerations of complementarity with forward pricing instruments and substitutionality with other federal government programs. (Joint with faculty at MSU, University of Kentucky, Ohio State and ERS/USDA)
• Issues in groundwater quality management from an agricultural non-point perspective, particularly the development of State Agrichemical Management Plans as required by EPA
• Future of the beef cattle sector in Michigan agriculture (micro and macro)
• Design of experiments on farms as a component in farmer's information systems. Can one significantly improve on what farmers are already doing?
• Implications for production economics, finance and management research of the ongoing vertical integration in the swine industry. Relevance of the total quality management scheme. What is common across a wide range of commodities/sectoral types of farms?
• Rural nonfarm and rural farm without livestock interface. What institutional structure from the "states" perspective? Voluntary actions? Contingent schemes?