Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1
Distribution of Organic Status for Farms with Some Organic Acres
- Figure 2
Directed Acyclic Graph Showing Causal Paths between Organic Status and Rental Rates and Violations of the Sequential Unconfoundedness Assumption
Source: Adapted from Acharya, Blackwell, and Sen (2016, figure 4).
Tables
- Table 1
Summary Statistics for Farm-Level Variables in the ARMS by Organic Status, 2003-2011
$1,000/Farm Total Sample Conventional Organic Mean St. Dev. Mean St. Dev. Mean St. Dev. Production revenue 393 695 388 675 714 1,543 *** Variable costs 224 420 220 405 487 1,010 *** Fixed costs 73 108 73 106 102 184 *** ROVC 165 369 165 354 184 985 $/Acre Land rental rate 112 114 110 108 253 294 *** Value of rented land 4,119 4,576 4,053 4,416 8,934 10,113 *** Production revenue 658 1,307 626 1,193 2,964 4,138 *** Variable costs 409 887 387 812 2,001 2,749 *** Fixed costs 127 218 124 206 385 617 *** ROVC 251 646 240 592 1,045 2,166 *** Livestock expenses 6 23 6 23 15 39 * Crop insurance revenue 9 26 9 26 10 32 Subsidy receipts 19 21 19 21 16 30 Off-farm income 362 1,102 352 1,053 1,136 2,906 * Conservation payments 1 5 1 5 1 4 * Other Crop diversity Gini (0-1) 0.91 0.03 0.91 0.03 0.91 0.04 Debt-to-asset ratio 0.18 1.87 0.18 1.88 0.22 1.34 Operator age 52 12.66 52 13 49 12.91 ** Acres operated 995 1,306 996 1,299 972 1,749 Crop acres 839 1,059 840 1,053 785 1,438 Rental ratio 0.68 0.36 0.68 0.36 0.66 0.36 N 37,535 36,484 1,051 Note: Significance tests are conducted using Stata svy postestimation, which allows weighting (see www.stata.com/manuals13/rttest.pdf for details). All variables are from the USDA ARMS database, years 2003-2011. Summary statistics are weighted means and standard deviations using ARMS sampling weights and calculated after excluding farms without cash rental rate information, those with less than $5,000 in total value of production as well as farms that were predominantly livestock, woody tree, or nursery production, or located in a crop reporting district without observed organic farms. Land value is the estimated value for rented-not owned-land. Rental ratio is the ratio of rented to total operated acres. In ARMS, premiums are included in the fixed cost variable. Production revenue is revenue from commodity sales only; other sources of income are considered separately. ROVC is the return over variable cost equal to production revenue minus variable cost. All per acre variables are winsorized at the top 1%. ROVC per acre was winsorized at the bottom and top 1%. We inflate all dollar-denominated variables to 2011 (the last year of data we use) using the GDP deflator.
* p < 0.1; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01 (from t-tests of organic versus conventional means).
- Table 2
Summary Statistics for County-Level Variables Applied to Farm-Level Observations by Organic Status
Total Sample Conventional Organic Mean St. Dev. Mean St. Dev. Mean St. Dev. Organic farms in county 4.52 9.38 4.39 9.03 14.55 21.34 *** Proportion irrigated 0.14 0.28 0.14 0.27 0.34 0.40 *** Soil productivity index (0-1) 0.55 0.21 0.55 0.21 0.42 0.22 *** Household income ($/1,000) 37.53 7.33 37.50 7.30 39.51 9.22 ** Urban-rural index (1-9) 5.06 2.49 5.07 2.48 4.27 2.49 *** N 37,535 36,484 1,051 Note: Significance tests are conducted using Stata svy postestimation, which allows weighting (see www.stata.com/manuals13/rttest.pdf for details). All variables are from the USDA NASS Census of Agriculture, except the county soil productivity index, which is from the USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). The urban-rural index takes on values of one through nine, where nine is the most rural. The number of organic farms per county was estimated in 2002 and household income in 1999 using census data.
* p < 0.1; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01 (from t-tests of organic versus conventional means).
Equation (2) (3) (4a) (4b) (5) Organic status 0.723***
(0.157)0.354***
(0.115)0.366***
(0.111)0.346***
(0.102)0.273***
(0.079)Soil productivity 1.072***
(0.097)1.051***
(0.094)0.821***
(0.087)Organic farms in county 0.001
(0.001)0.001
(0.001)0.001
(0.001)County percent irrigated 0.675***
(0.064)0.625***
(0.064)0.363***
(0.057)County household income 0.257***
(0.068)0.248***
(0.068)0.181***
(0.066)Crop diversity Gini 1.323***
(0.227)1.192***
(0.208)Fixed costs 0.053***
(0.009)0.004
(0.009)Subsidy receipts 0.035***
(0.005)0.022***
(0.005)Off-farm income 0.026***
(0.003)0.024***
(0.003)Debt-to-asset ratio 0.005***
(0.001)0.004***
(0.001)Operator age 0.004***
(0.001)0.003***
(0.001)Conservation payments 0.046***
(0.006)0.018***
(0.006)Production revenue 0.295***
(0.016)Variable costs 0.118***
(0.017)Crop insurance indemnities 0.014***
(0.003)R-squared 0.004 0.485 0.497 0.515 0.560 Note: The dependent variable for all regressions is the cash rental rate. The sample size for all regressions is 37,535. Tables 1 and 2 provide variable descriptions. Heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors are in parentheses. We suppress output for the following sets of fixed effects that are included in regressions corresponding to columns (3)-(5): year, farm type, crop reporting district, and urban proximity index.
* p < 0.1;
** p < 0.05;
↵*** p < 0.01.
- Table 4
Elasticities of Farmland Rental Rates with Respect to Changes in Observed Variables
Semi-elasticities Organic status 0.255***
(0.070)Soil productivity 0.659***
(0.068)Organic farms in county 0.000
(0.001)County percent irrigated 0.307***
(0.049)Crop diversity Gini 0.856***
(0.148)Debt-to-asset ratio 0.004***
(0.001)Operator age 0.000***
(0.000)Elasticities County household income 0.195***
(0.060)Fixed costs 0.008
(0.475)Off-farm income 0.019***
(0.002)Conservation payments 0.003***
(0.001)Production revenue 0.300***
(0.014)Variable costs 0.129***
(0.014)Crop insurance indemnities 0.004***
(0.001)Note: Tables 1 and 2 provide variable descriptions. Standard errors are in parentheses. Year, farm type, crop reporting district, and urban proximity index fixed effects are included in the regressions used to compute the elasticities shown above, in addition to variables listed.
* p < 0.1;
** p < 0.05;
↵*** p < 0.01.
Dependent Variable Revenue Variable Cost ROVC Semielasticities Organic status 0.154
(0.117)0.229
(0.113)−0.795
(0.791)Soil productivity 0.579***
(0.074)0.318***
(0.082)1.226***
(0.550)Organic farms in county 0.000
(0.001)0.001
(0.001)−0.006*
(0.005)County percent irrigated 0.647***
(0.058)0.525***
(0.058)0.772***
(0.354)Crop diversity Gini 0.457***
(0.165)−0.257
(0.180)0.938
(1.175)Debt-to-asset ratio 0.003***
(0.001)0.005***
(0.001)0.000
(0.009)Operator age 0.000***
(0.000)0.000***
(0.000)0.000***
(0.000)Elasticities County household income 0.122**
(0.057)0.278***
(0.069)−0.359
(0.402)Fixed costs 0.103***
(0.008)0.208***
(0.011)−0.248***
(0.050)Subsidy receipts 0.018***
(0.004)0.034***
(0.004)0.004
(0.030)Off-farm income −0.007***
(0.002)0.005**
(0.003)−0.064***
(0.017)Conservation payments −0.013*** −0.008*** −0.029*** R-squared 0.626 0.636 0.151 Note: Tables 1 and 2 provide variable descriptions. Standard errors are in parentheses. R2 refers to goodness-of-fit for the regression corresponding to the given elasticity calculations. Year, farm type, crop reporting district, and urban proximity index fixed effects are included in the regressions used to compute the elasticities shown above, in addition to variables listed.
* p < 0.1;
** p < 0.05;
↵*** p < 0.01.
