Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical synopsis of risk balancing hypothesis (RBH) and estimate empirical models examining debt, savings and debt-to-equity use decisions of small US farms.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use primary survey data from Tennessee and generalized linear models (GLMs).

Findings

The study’s findings suggest that the perceived higher business risk (BR) significantly increases the extent of debt use, savings use and debt-to-equity of small farmers. Moreover, results indicate that factors such as age and education of the operator, family involvement, incomes, land acreage, adoption of alternative on-farm enterprises and farmers' continuation plan significantly influence the financing decisions of small farm operations.

Originality/value

The authors investigated an essential empirical question examining the risk balancing behavior of small US farm operations. While risk balancing has been a theme of several studies, none of the previous studies have specifically looked at the behavior in the context of small US farms. The theoretical synopsis and empirical findings contribute to the literature of risk balancing, debt use and savings use decisions and the policy discussions on farm financial and support strategies.

中文翻译：

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商业风险、财务风险和储蓄：感知到的较高商业风险是否会导致美国小型农业经营者储蓄？

目的

本文的目的是介绍风险平衡假说 (RBH) 的理论概要，并估计检验美国小型农场的债务、储蓄和债转股使用决策的实证模型。

设计/方法/途径

作者使用来自田纳西州的原始调查数据和广义线性模型 (GLM)。

发现

研究结果表明，感知到的较高商业风险 (BR) 显着增加了小农的债务使用、储蓄使用和债务股本比。此外，结果表明，经营者的年龄和教育程度、家庭参与程度、收入、土地面积、替代农场企业的采用以及农民的延续计划等因素显着影响小型农场经营的融资决策。

原创性/价值

作者调查了一个重要的实证问题，该问题检验了美国小型农场经营的风险平衡行为。虽然风险平衡一直是多项研究的主题，但之前的研究都没有专门研究美国小型农场的行为。理论概要和实证结果有助于风险平衡、债务使用和储蓄使用决策的文献以及关于农场金融和支持策略的政策讨论。