Risk and Risk Management in the Agricultural Economy

A wide-ranging examination of the risks agricultural producers face and how risk management policies respond to an uncertain economy.

Agricultural producers face greater risk and uncertainty than those in many other sectors of the economy. Sources of risk include weather shocks, disease, and volatile prices that can upend a season's returns. A wide array of federal policies, including crop and livestock insurance programs, are designed to help producers manage these risks, often at substantial cost to taxpayers. This volume examines how producers respond to and manage various risks across multiple dimensions. Contributors investigate the potential for "subsidy harvesting" in livestock insurance markets, the effects of climate change on insurance participation and crop choice, the relationship between the structure of insurance contracts and diversification incentives, and the role of conservation practices in risk mitigation. The research studies present new evidence on the design and consequences of agricultural risk management policies.