Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers
Most previous research on post-harvest grain storage by farmers has assumed risk-neutral behavior and/or made restrictive assumptions about underlying price probability distributions. In this study, we solve the optimal on-farm storage problem for a risk-averse farmer under more general assumptions...
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Western Agricultural Economics Association
2003-12-01
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Series: | Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics |
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Online Access: | https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/31063 |
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doaj-a34ff5369a444cd49b5d50723f2bacef2020-11-25T01:14:17ZengWestern Agricultural Economics AssociationJournal of Agricultural and Resource Economics1068-55022327-82852003-12-0128355857910.22004/ag.econ.3106331063Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse FarmersJing-Yi LaiRobert J. MyersSteven D. HansonMost previous research on post-harvest grain storage by farmers has assumed risk-neutral behavior and/or made restrictive assumptions about underlying price probability distributions. In this study, we solve the optimal on-farm storage problem for a risk-averse farmer under more general assumptions about underlying price distributions. The resulting model is applied to Michigan corn farmers and findings show, contrary to the "sell all or nothing" risk-neutral rule, risk-averse farmers will spread sales out over the storage season. As farmers become more risk averse, the optimal strategy is to sell more grain at harvest and spread sales over the storage season, even though this practice reduces expected return. This result is more consistent with observed farmer behavior than the "sell all or nothing" risk-neutral rule.https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/31063grain storagerisk aversionstochastic dynamic programming |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jing-Yi Lai Robert J. Myers Steven D. Hanson |
spellingShingle |
Jing-Yi Lai Robert J. Myers Steven D. Hanson Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics grain storage risk aversion stochastic dynamic programming |
author_facet |
Jing-Yi Lai Robert J. Myers Steven D. Hanson |
author_sort |
Jing-Yi Lai |
title |
Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers |
title_short |
Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers |
title_full |
Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers |
title_fullStr |
Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Optimal On-Farm Grain Storage by Risk-Averse Farmers |
title_sort |
optimal on-farm grain storage by risk-averse farmers |
publisher |
Western Agricultural Economics Association |
series |
Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics |
issn |
1068-5502 2327-8285 |
publishDate |
2003-12-01 |
description |
Most previous research on post-harvest grain storage by farmers has assumed risk-neutral behavior and/or made restrictive assumptions about underlying price probability distributions. In this study, we solve the optimal on-farm storage problem for a risk-averse farmer under more general assumptions about underlying price distributions. The resulting model is applied to Michigan corn farmers and findings show, contrary to the "sell all or nothing" risk-neutral rule, risk-averse farmers will spread sales out over the storage season. As farmers become more risk averse, the optimal strategy is to sell more grain at harvest and spread sales over the storage season, even though this practice reduces expected return. This result is more consistent with observed farmer behavior than the "sell all or nothing" risk-neutral rule. |
topic |
grain storage risk aversion stochastic dynamic programming |
url |
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/31063 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT jingyilai optimalonfarmgrainstoragebyriskaversefarmers AT robertjmyers optimalonfarmgrainstoragebyriskaversefarmers AT stevendhanson optimalonfarmgrainstoragebyriskaversefarmers |
_version_ |
1725157649409900544 |