Date of Graduation

8-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Agricultural Economics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Goodwin, Harold L. Jr.

Committee Member

Watkins, Susan E.

Second Committee Member

Kadlecik, Ondrej

Third Committee Member

Ahrendsen, Bruce L.

Keywords

Social sciences; Energy costs; Poultry production; Propane usage in broilers

Abstract

This study focuses on analyzing the common practice of U.S. broiler farmers to operate on cash basis instead open credit lines for operating cost of propane gas for heating. Data for analysis were taken over from U.S. ABRF at Savoy and Slovak Farm Univerza at Trnava pri Laborci. Predicting the propane gas usage and propane gas cost was analyzed using the OLS model. It describes impact of selected factors on gas usage and cost. The overall purpose of the thesis is to find out which approach from designed scenarios is more economically efficient for farmer: (a) to pre-purchase propane gas with credit (operating loan) or (b) to continue purchasing propane gas regularly without credit (cash basis).

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