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Contracting and Organizations Research Institute

University of MissouriUniversity of Missouri Columbia


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The Contracting and Organizations Research Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to the study of the organization and structure of economic enterprise and of the effects of legal, political, social, and economic institutions on the structure and performance of economic organizations. CORI was founded to encourage and enable empirical research on contracting and organizational structure, drawing on such fields as economics, law, business, and related social sciences.

CORI-AG is CORI's agribusiness focus area website, with contracts and research specifically related to the structure of the agrifood system. This site will provide information on a wide range of contracting and organizational issues from the development and transfer of intellectual property in agbiotech research to the structure and coordination and food retail. In addition to research on the structure of the US agricultural sector, CORI-AG will include work on the global food system and development of international agricultural markets.
CORI NEWS & RESEARCH UPDATES
Do Farm Income Programs Affect Farmers' Risk Management Activities?

A recent working by Dr. Andrea Woolverton and CORI Director Michael Sykuta examines the role farm income programs have on US farmers' risk management practices. Using a comparative analysis between US corn producers and maize producers in South Africa, Woolverton and Sykuta show the presence of farm income programs in the US appear to significantly affect the level and timing of US famers' risk management practices by effectively creating an income floor, thereby reducing the incentive to invest in market-based risk management tools. The paper shed light on the likely effects of reductions in US federal farm programs. Download and read the full paper.

Why Do Pork Packers Use Hog Procurement Contracts?

A fair bit has been written attempting to explain the rapid expansion of contracting in agriculture, particularly in the hog industry. Much of this research focuses on a relatively small portion of the overall contracting activitiy, namely, on production (or resource-providing) contracts in which the packer owns the animals being raised by the producer. CORI Post-doctoral Fellow Jong-Ick Jang and CORI Director Michael Sykuta's recent working paper explores packers' incentive to use marketing or procurement contracts to assure optimal hog quality over time. Download and read the complete paper.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
NEW PUBLICATIONS
Markets, Contracts or Integration? A Complementarity Perspective
How are we to explain the diverse nature of contractual and organizational forms in an industry across regions and time? What do existing economic theories of organization offer? CORI Fellows Harvey James, Peter Klein and Michael Sykuta address this issue in the context of changes in the agri-food sector. The authors draw on the literature of adoption and diffusion of new technologies to suggest a new perspective and research approach to examine geographic and intertemporal patterns of contracting and integration in agriculture. Read the complete study.
 
Last Updated May 14, 2009
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