IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea01/20695.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Crop Yields Normally Distributed?

Author

Listed:
  • Ramirez, Octavio A.
  • Misra, Sukant K.
  • Field, James E.

Abstract

This paper revisits the issue of crop yield distributions using improved model specifications, estimation and testing procedures that address the methodological concerns raised in recent literature that could have invalidated previous conclusions of yield non-normality. It shows beyond reasonable doubt that some crop yield distributions are non-normal, kurtotic and right or left skewed, depending on the circumstances. A procedure to jointly estimate non-normal farm- and aggregate-level yield distributions with similar means but different variances is illustrated, and the consequences of incorrectly assuming yield normality are explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramirez, Octavio A. & Misra, Sukant K. & Field, James E., 2001. "Are Crop Yields Normally Distributed?," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20695, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea01:20695
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.20695
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/20695/files/sp01ra02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.20695?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard E. Just & Quinn Weninger, 1999. "Are Crop Yields Normally Distributed?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(2), pages 287-304.
    2. Scott M. Swinton & Robert P. King, 1991. "Evaluating Robust Regression Techniques for Detrending Crop Yield Data with Nonnormal Errors," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(2), pages 446-451.
    3. Octavio A. Ramírez, 1997. "Estimation and Use of a Multivariate Parametric Model for Simulating Heteroskedastic, Correlated, Nonnormal Random Variables: The Case of Corn Belt Corn, Soybean, and Wheat Yields," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(1), pages 191-205.
    4. Charles B. Moss & J. S. Shonkwiler, 1993. "Estimating Yield Distributions with a Stochastic Trend and Nonnormal Errors," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1056-1062.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arora, Gaurav & Agarwal, Sandip K., 2020. "Agricultural input use and index insurance adoption: Concept and evidence," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304508, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Kapiamba, Luabeya F., 2005. "Modeling Heteroskedasticity of Crop Yield Distributions: Implications for Normality," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19475, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. David A. Hennessy, 2009. "Crop Yield Skewness Under Law of the Minimum Technology," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 197-208.
    4. Hennessy, David A., 2009. "Crop Yield Skewness and the Normal Distribution," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Zheng, Qiujie & Wang, H. Holly & Shi, Qinghua, 2008. "Estimating Farm Level Multivariate Yield Distribution Using Nonparametric Methods," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6509, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Agarwal, Sandip Kumar, 2017. "Subjective beliefs and decision making under uncertainty in the field," ISU General Staff Papers 201701010800006248, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Ozaki, Vitor & Campos, Rogério, 2017. "Reduzindo a Incerteza no Mercado de Seguros: Uma Abordagem via Informações de Sensoriamento Remoto e Atuária," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 71(4), December.
    8. Norwood, F. Bailey & Roberts, Matthew C. & Lusk, Jayson L., 2002. "How Are Crop Yields Distributed?," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19733, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Li, Shuang & Ker, Alan P., 2013. "An Assessment of the Canadian Federal-Provincial Crop Production Insurance Program under Future Climate Change Scenarios in Ontario," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151213, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Chen, Xiaomei & Wang, H. Holly & Makus, Larry D., 2007. "Production Risk and Crop Insurance Effectiveness: Organic Versus Conventional Apples," SCC-76 Meeting, 2007, March 15-17, Gulf Shores, Alabama 9381, SCC-76: Economics and Management of Risk in Agriculture and Natural Resources.
    11. Tor N. Tolhurst & Alan P. Ker, 2015. "On Technological Change in Crop Yields," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 137-158.
    12. Ker, Alan. P & Tolhurst, Tor & Liu, Yong, 2015. "Rating Area-yield Crop Insurance Contracts Using Bayesian Model Averaging and Mixture Models," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205211, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Conradt, Sarah & Bokusheva, Raushan & Finger, Robert & Kussaiynov, Talgat, 2014. "Yield Trend Estimation in the Presence of Farm Heterogeneity and Non-linear Technological Change," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 53(2), pages 1-20, May.
    14. Clop-Gallart, M. Merce & Juarez-Rubio, Francisco, 2005. "Elicitation of Subjective Crop Yield PDF for DSS Implementation," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24561, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Zanini, Fabio C. & Irwin, Scott H. & Schnitkey, Gary D. & Sherrick, Bruce J., 2000. "Estimating Farm-Level Yield Distributions For Corn And Soybeans In Illinois," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21720, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Park, Eunchun & Brorsen, B. Wade & Harri, Ardian, 2016. "Using Bayesian Spatial Smoothing and Extreme Value Theory to Develop Area-Yield Crop Insurance Rating," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235754, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Boyer, Christopher M. & Lambert, Dayton M. & Larson, James A. & Tyler, Donald, 2017. "Investment Analysis of Long-term Cover Crops and Tillage Systems on Cotton Production," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258525, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Coble, Keith H. & Heifner, Richard G. & Zuniga, Manuel, 2000. "Implications Of Crop Yield And Revenue Insurance For Producer Hedging," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 25(2), pages 1-21, December.
    19. Lu, Yue & Ramirez, Octavio A. & Rejesus, Roderick M. & Knight, Thomas O. & Sherrick, Bruce J., 2008. "Empirically Evaluating the Flexibility of the Johnson Family of Distributions: A Crop Insurance Application," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 37(1), pages 1-13, April.
    20. Phoebe Koundouri & Nikolaos Kourogenis, 2011. "On the Distribution of Crop Yields: Does the Central Limit Theorem Apply?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1341-1357.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea01:20695. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.