farmassistance.tamu.edu Machinery Sharing by Agribusiness Firms

Sharing may reduce capital investments and potentially allow fi rms access to higher quality, larger capacity, and / or additional machines. 1 In an effort to improve farm profitability, reduce costs, and manage risk, U.S. agricultural producers are beginning to adopt unique lease and machinery ownership programs (Schwalbe, 2006). Unfortunately, because many actions taken to reduce machinery can result in a decrease in net returns, trade-offs exist. Consider the seemingly simple decision to purchase a ne