ABSTRACT
Cost of production (COP) information is being generated for different clientele groups at the federal and state level. Since the purposes for generating COP information differs between federal and state agencies one would expect that differences in methods and, consequently, results will occur since sampling methods and calculation techniques vary. The recent discussions in the literature surrounding the differences in COP estimates by US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (ERS) and land grant institutions suggests that some reconciliation between methods is appropriate. One source of differences in the COP estimates produced by the land grant institutions and ERS is the method of periodic updating used by ERS. The method used by some land grant institutions of interviewing farmer panels with face-to-face interaction is one way to arrive at a consensus about what costs really are. However, this method may not be desirable or practicable for ERS.
