ABSTRACT
The USDA model endogenizes cropping area as follows. Farmers are assumed to allocate their land to those crops for which they expect to get the highest net returns per hectare and these returns will depend on expected prices and yields. The yield depends on trend, output/input prices and research stocks. The trend is used to capture technology improvement over time, such as the adoption of high yield seeds and better growing
practices. Changes in the stock of research and irrigated areas also affect yield. Production is defined as the product of area harvested and yield.
