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September 1, 2005
Farm Business and Transition Planning
direction from management.
Surveys have shown that the most …
May 28, 2010
Energy
reported the results of a major survey of U.S. livestock feeders …
May 28, 2010
Cash Prices & Marketing Strategies
reported the results of a major survey of U.S. livestock feeders …
June 28, 2018
Hedging & Options
May 23, 2024
Recent Videos, Risk and Profit Online Mini-Conference Presentations
as of May 21, 2024)
ERW = explosive remnants of war; NTS = nontechnical survey.
Potentially contaminated areas with explosive ordnance:Jan. 2023 ‐ 174,000 km2Jan. 2024 ‐ 156,000 km2
2021
2023
Poltava
DnipropetrovskChernivtsi …
April 16, 2025
Recent Videos, Risk and Profit Online Mini-Conference Presentations
haCleared through demining or non‐technical survey1.7 mln ha in 2024
Cleared …
November 5, 2025
Recent Videos, Risk and Profit Online Mini-Conference Presentations
Ukraine
Source: Ukrainian Geological Survey 3
4Source: NASA Harvest
Crops …
July 1, 2024
Land Leasing
Forms
rates may be available from surveys conducted by state Extension … the area.
State soil survey indices or crop suitability …
February 1, 2008
Water Policy
Hydrology
The Kansas Geological Survey High Plains Aquifer Section-Level …
September 1, 2009
Assessing Business Opportunities
My M.Sc. thesis research showed simultaneity between meat (broiler chicken) and egg supply and
demand explained the negative sign on egg price in the supply equation. The small poultry farmers
shifted from egg production to broiler production with increasing egg prices because they knew
consumers substituted egg with meat when egg prices were rising.
4
among small African farmers in their book, Banking in Africa. They
explain this behavior as a strategic response to government behavior,
arguing that these small farmers believed that “… the government would
appropriate monetary assets, as happened in Ghana and Uganda, for
example, where bank deposits were confiscated and money holdings
taxed respectively” (p. 43‐44).
The seminar presenter’s conclusion was a genuine error resulting from
using North American and European lenses to explain behavior in a very
remote environment that shared little in common with North America or
Europe. He did not mean any malice and was technically a victim of the
geography of economic thought. Similar errors occur frequently
whenever we find ourselves in cultures different from ours and we forget
that our basic assumptions about behavior do not translate completely
across cultural boundaries.
Our Assumptions Are Not Necessarily Universal
Economists are frequently the butt of jokes about assumptions. But, it is
important that we maintain consciousness about the assumptions we are
using to interpret our environment, especially if they involve other
people who may not share them.
Assumptions we make about the economic and economic behavior are so
deep seated in our brains that we are frequently unaware of them. For
example, the assumption of profit as the motivation for business is hardly
questioned because “everybody knows that’s why you start a business.”
But that assumption is not universal because there are people who start
businesses not motivated by profit but by such things as creating a job for
themselves. For these people, profit, if it comes, is purely a by‐product of
the freedom they sought from owning their own business. Also, when
you are used to doing large deals, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that
not all successful businesses are large. Success must be defined in terms
of the entrepreneur’s objectives.
A few years ago, I was privileged to work with an $11 million southeast
Kansas company with a consistent return on sales of 0.4 percent. My job
was to find a way to increase profits. Recognizing the importance of
assumptions, I started by surveying all of the company’s s …