Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Harri, Ardian

Committee Member

Coble, Keith

Committee Member

Li, Xiaofei

Committee Member

Roznik, Mitchell

Date of Degree

8-8-2023

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Agricultural Economics

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract

The federal crop insurance program provides crop insurance for millions of acres and many commodities every year. The Risk Management Agency of the USDA is responsible for determining the premium rates for these covered commodities. Currently, the quality of soil is not considered when determining baseline yields and expected premium rates. This study utilizes the moment-based maximum entropy method to assess the effect of incorporating soil in the rate making methodology. Several moments of upland cotton yield in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas are conditioned on weather, irrigation, and soil control variables. Ultimately, I find evidence of mispriced premium rates for counties in all three states for both irrigated and non-irrigated upland cotton yield.

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