Ever more agricultural economics departments are offering appointments for nine rather than twelve months but little if any analysis of the impact of this change has been done. Our research shows that converting to nine-month contracts is an effective way to raise salaries without an initial outlay of new funds and thus meets the retention criterion. Lower ranks do not suffer significantly lower salaries (without supplements) and professors earn more. Because the nine-month alternative costs more, justification for converting all twelve-month faculty members must rest on other factors, such as enhanced grants or comparability.