Drought concerns in the United States were the resounding cry throughout the Midwest last spring. The drought fears were so severe that on May 16 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scheduled a press conference to unveil the findings of the National Drought Policy Commission. This coincided with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA) 90-day forecast calling for drought conditions to persist. There is no doubt that weather premiums exist in futures contracts for upcoming crops and will remain until the crop materilizes. The hard question to answer is: What is the size of a given weather permium?

A ban on over-the-counter feed antibiotics was implemented in Sweden in 1986. Similar bans were enacted in Norway in 1992, in Finland in 1996 (for grower-finishing hogs), in Denmark in 1998, and in Poland and Switzerland in 1999. In a study we conducted in 1999, we explored what would happen if a ban on the use of over-the-counter antibiotics in swine rations were to be implemented in the United States. Specifically, our purpose was to estimate the likely economic effects of such a ban on the U.S. pork industry and pork market.

It is estimated that before the 1750s, Iowa had around 2.3 million acres of wetlands. Today, Iowa has about 35,000 acres, with over 98 percent of the original wetlands converted to other uses—primarily agricultural production.

“It is important for me to help U.S. policymakers and farmers understand what is happening in China and the implications for U.S. and world commodity markets,” Cheng Fang says.