Theses and Dissertations

Kwabena Krah

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Petrolia, Daniel R.

Committee Member

Williams, Angelica S.

Committee Member

Harri, Ardian

Committee Member

Coble, Keith H.

Date of Degree

8-14-2015

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agricultural Economics

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract

This study employed a stated choice experiment survey to identify southeastern U.S. farmers’ preferences for contracts to produce Giant Miscanthus. We developed a more theoretically consistent framework which takes into account risk preference and perception information and also accounts for heterogeneous status-quo alternatives. Results from our Random Parameter Logit model indicated that price per ton of harvested Giant Miscanthus, biorefinery harvest, and establishment cost-share all had significant positive effects on the probability of a producer accepting a contract to produce Giant Miscanthus, whereas contract length had a significant negative effect. Our analysis also found evidence of significant preference heterogeneity in producers’ preferences for biorefinery harvest, yield insurance, and contract length. We also found that incorporating risk perception and risk preference information, as well as accounting for heterogeneous status-quo alternatives in the decision framework improved overall model performance even though the respective individual coefficients for these variables were not statistically significant.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/21143

Comments

Risk perception||Risk preference||Giant Miscanthus||Biofuels||Choice experiment||Contract Attributes

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