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Abstract
The marginal benefit and cost of diversification for Florida orange
producers is studied using certainty equivalents. The primary contribution of
this study is the application of the mean-variance model to farm management
decisions. Results indicate that for moderate and high levels of risk
aversion, diversification into strawberry, grapefruit, or additional orange
production is not optimal. However, moderately risk-averse Florida orange
producers would diversify into grapefruit production, if the annual amortized
fixed costs were reduced by as little as 10%.