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This research examined small farmers' operational choice in converting to organic farming in the Southern region of the United States. A logistic model fitted to survey data from responses of 456 produce growers found the key determinants of the conversion choices of farmers and offered quantitative impacts of the major influential factors retained in the fitted model. Among them, barriers to the conversion were linked to farmer's age, risk aversion, years of farming, and the lack of education as well as low yield of organic farming; nevertheless, the model also revealed the existence of stimuli reflecting on access to farmers markets, peer exemplars, and operational scale. The confluence of variables retained partially explained a slow but steady conversion to organic farming in the United States. Besides the broad implication for policy making in the agricultural sector, this study found that organic farming was closely tied to small farms and organic farming could be a back road to the future of small US farms.

There is a large body of literature in economics examining the US meat market, but few studies have focused on the US goat meat market. This study, as a catch-up effort, provides an estimate of the demand for goat meat and assesses the impact of driving factors in the US goat meat market. The data for this study were collected in 11 southern states and specifically elicit the demand and consumer preferences in this nonconventional market. Four econometric models are fitted to examine the multiple layers of the demand, including the current, the potential, the latent, and the seasonal demand. Findings indicate a substantial demand for goat meat with great growth potential, driven by demographic factors and food safety concerns. Ethnic groups and the aged comprise the current niches for goat meat, and the preferences for healthy and safe meat will define the market in the future.

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