Date of Award:
5-1992
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Economics and Finance
Department name when degree awarded
Economics
Committee Chair(s)
DeeVon Bailey
Committee
DeeVon Bailey
Committee
Herbert Fullerton
Committee
Jay Andersen
Abstract
Processing alfalfa for export is of significant interest to areas like Millard County, the largest hay-producing county in Utah. In the past year there have been significant reductions in the price of hay as a result of increased supplies in the central and western United States. This thesis analyzes the benefits and costs of processing alfalfa into cubes and recompressed bales in order to enter the export market.
Costs of production were estimated through the use of enterprise budgets first for the farmer to establish the costs and returns for raising the hay, and secondly for cubing and recompressing the alfalfa at different levels of production and different prices based on those levels of production. The cash flows from these different enterprises were then analyzed using benefit cost ratios, net benefit investment ratios, and internal rates of return.
The general conclusion reached is that it is feasible to process alfalfa for export. Profits are sensitive to the price spread between raw and finished products more so than to production efficiencies.
Checksum
cfea54b9bcfe3b036219ed69459f54f3
Recommended Citation
Bates, Dan J., "Economic Comparison of Selected Processing Alternatives for Alfalfa" (1992). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 4094.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4094
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