Robert W. Rudd

Pricing in Kentucky Fertilizer Markets

This article analyzes the empirical results of a study of the relation of selected structural elements to price determination in eight Kentucky retail fertilizer markets. Multiple regression analysis indicated that at-farm fertilizer price was significantly associated with buyer knowledge and deliberativeness, cooperative purchasing and number of seller firms; but not significantly associated with number of farms, size of purchases, number of purchases and distance. The results suggest that models analyzing prices at the farm level can be significantly improved by including relevant dimensions of buyer knowledge and farmer decision-making processes as structural elements.