Digital Commons Network^™

Comparison Of Private And Public Lab Fertilizer Recommendation Impacts On Field Crop Production And Soil Test Results, Megan Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

There are many sources that farmers utilize to determine fertilizer needs for crops such as private and public labs, crop advisors, and fertilizer dealers. In many cases, these sources provide recommendations for a specific crop that can vary greatly, which can lead to large differences in cost. An experiment was established in 2021 with 12 sites across the state of Utah in alfalfa, small grains, and corn to test and compare fertilizer recommendations from five labs. The recommendations tested were from two public labs (Utah State University and the University of Idaho) and three commercial labs located in the Western …

Exploring Farmers' Willingness To Accept Payment For Agricultural Conservation In Utah, Asif Ahmed Khan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In view of Utah’s drought situation and the need for conservation of water use, this thesis tries to calculate the compensation required for farmers to switch from cultivating alfalfa-which requires a lot of water, to less water-consuming crops like wheat, hay and even pasture. It proposes a new technique for this calculation using big data, including satellite images from National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), agricultural statistics from National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), climate data from Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) climate group and land use data from the state of Utah. These data are integrated into a …

Student Perceptions Of Male And Female Instructors In A Post-Secondary Welding Course, S. Kjersti R. Decker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural mechanics and welding have traditionally been perceived to be careers reserved for males, yet more females have entered professions using welding such as agricultural education. This research was developed because of the lack of gender research in welding. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of learning from a male instructor versus a female instructor in a post-secondary welding course. We examined associations and differences between students’ preference of a male and a female welding instructor as well as individual self-efficacy and perceptions towards using welding technology. The population for this study was undergraduate students and …

Practical Improvements For Pivot And Surface Irrigation, Jonathan A. Holt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Irrigation is critical to meeting global food and fiber demands. Optimizing agricultural irrigation may help sustain production levels, while reducing its demand for water. This research evaluated precision sprinklers and drip irrigation for pivots, five pivot track mitigation tools, three scientific irrigation scheduling (SIS) methods, sensors for surface irrigation cutoff, and automating surface systems to implement surge irrigation. With pivots and surface irrigation being the most common methods for irrigation in the West, small improvements from these tools could result in significant water savings.

Low energy precision application (LEPA) sprinklers and mobile drip irrigation (MDI) were tested on two pivots. …

Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important challenges facing society today. Through effective management for carbon sequestration private agricultural lands could become an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper explores the many different methods that farmers, ranchers, and landowners could use to implement sequestration on their land and examines the barriers to further participation in these projects by reviewing the challenges in the world’s current carbon offset markets and offering possible solutions.

The Relationship Between Bird Species Richness And Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Productivity, Kaeli Mueller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As humans harvest increasing amounts of biomass, it is crucial to gain an understanding of how much energy is being appropriated and the impact that this could have on ecosystems and biodiversity. The primary way in which humans impact biodiversity loss is through land use change. One way of quantifying the impact of land use change is through human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP). This measurement represents the total amount of energy derived from photosynthesis that humans remove from ecosystems and appropriate for their own use. My research studies the relationship between HANPP and bird species richness at the …

Drone Technology In Agriculture Appraisal, Cj Johnson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this project is to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of implementing a UAV/drone technology within agricultural appraisals. This project is categorized into four categories; introduction, literature review, methodology, and conclusions. The methodology portion of the project is a capital budget analysis measuring the effectiveness of UAVs within the appraisal department. The capital budget will be further developed by conducting a Present Value (NPV) analysis. The NPV analysis consists of a five-year NPV analysis measuring changes in productivity and total revenue caused by UAV technology.

Results were found by using @Risk simulation to simulate data gathered during the project. …

Essays On The Economics Of Regional Development And Public Policy, Wai Yan Siu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

My dissertation integrating theory and practice into fostering sustainable, ecofriendly, and equitable public policy that promote the well-being of generations to come. My main research questions are: how can we transform the complex socioeconomic systems to build future resilience? In the first chapter, I identify and quantify the effect of the presence of tight oil and gas extraction on the agricultural productivity. This study informs evidence-based policymaking on pressing environmental issues. In the next chapter, I studied the effectiveness of existing policy of urban growth control from an evolutionary landscape and found that the decades-old regulation does not fulfill its …

Space-Time Dynamics Of The Uinta Fremont Agricultural Transition In Eastern Utah And Northwestern Colorado, Trista N. Schiele

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent work in Utah’s northern Uinta Basin documents associations between variability in precipitation and fluctuating populations during the Fremont period, AD 300-1350. In this study, I evaluate the role that precipitation variability had on observed regional population density and settlement patterns. I test a model of village formation in Cub Creek, Utah across the larger Uinta Basin and its periphery by creating two predictive statistical models using archaeological data anchored in space and time. I conclude that while precipitation variability plays a role in the initial adoption of farming practices which itself leads to higher population densities, changes in patterns …

Ranchers Adapting To Climate Variability In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Utah, Hadia Akbar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Changes in climate influence agricultural production. This study looks at the impacts of climate variability in the Utah regions of the Upper Colorado River Basin by combining regression techniques with interview data to explore how climate variability affects agricultural production and how the farmers are adapting their practices to these changes. The results show that climate does not have any significant impact on cattle and hay production in the study area on a decadal scale. However, on an annual basis temperature seems to have more impact than precipitation. Among non-climatic variables, commodity prices and their regulations by the government are …

Agriculture Teacher Attitudes Regarding Gifted Education And Teaching Gifted Students In The Agriculture Classroom, Olivia M. Hile

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agriculture teachers are responsible for a wide variety of students in their classrooms. It was unclear before this research how much preservice teacher instruction agriculture teachers were receiving to prepare them to teach students identified as gifted. This research aimed to measure teacher attitudes, characterization of gifted students, professional development needs, and related demographic information. Of the agriculture teachers who completed a traditional teacher preparation program, 54.50% felt that they were adequately prepared to meet the needs of gifted students in their classroom.

Participants characterized gifted agriculture students as outstanding problem solvers, quick to memorize information, and excellent in science. …

Subsistence Strategy Tradeoffs In Long-Term Population Stability Over The Past 6,000 Years, Darcy A. Bird

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

I conduct the first comparative analysis of long term human population stability in North America. Questions regarding population stability among animals and plants are fundamental to population ecology, yet no anthropological research has addressed human population stability. This is an important knowledge gap, because a species’ population stability can have implications for its risk of extinction and for the stability of the ecological community in which it lives. I use archaeological and paleoclimatological data to compare long term population stability with subsistence strategy and climate stability over 6,000 years. I conduct my analysis on a large scale to better understand …

Understanding Wetlands And Irrigation In The Little Snake River Basin, Wyoming, Lindsey Washkoviak

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Little Snake River Basin (LSRB) is a managed basin in South-central Wyoming located within the Colorado River watershed facing severe water shortages. There is increased pressure on water resource managers and agricultural producers to adopt water efficiency practices that could negatively affect wetland resources. However, studies have begun to quantify the importance of irrigation for recharging groundwater, maintaining late season instream flows, and maintaining and creating wetlands that provide wildlife habitat and ecosystem services.

In the LSRB there are 11,636 acres of wetlands; 56% of which overlap with irrigation. Conversion to more efficient irrigation could reduce water availability to …

The Value Of Farmland: Mapping Assessor Data To Understand Land Use Change, Lyndi Perry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ideas developed by regional economists have potential applications within the urban planning field. One potential application is toward conserving farmland, and within this thesis this topic is examined for the study area of Utah County, Utah. Using assessor data, a land value map is created and further used to develop a regional economic model and spatial models that were analyzed for patterns of land use change.

Findings show that representing land value as continuous surface maps is a useful approach. The maps reveal that Utah County has densified as its population increased while farmland loss still occurred in agriculturally-important areas. …

The Power Law Distribution Of Agricultural Land Size, Lauren Chamberlain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper demonstrates that the distribution of county level agricultural land size in the United States is best described by a power-law distribution, a distribution that displays extremely heavy tails. This indicates that the majority of farmland exists in the upper tail. Our analysis indicates that the top 5% of agricultural counties account for about 25% of agricultural land between 1997-2012. The power-law distribution of farm size has important implications for the design of more efficient regional and national agricultural policies as counties close to the mean account for little of the cumulative distribution of total agricultural land. This has …

Assessment Of Potential Changes In Crop Yields In The Central United States Under Climate Change Regimes, Neil Matthews-Pennanen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Climate change is one of the great challenges facing agriculture in the 21^st century. The goal of this study was to produce projections of crop yields for the central United States in the 2030s, 2060s, and 2090s based on the relationship between weather and yield from historical crop yields from 1980 to 2010. These projections were made across 16 states in the US, from Louisiana in the south to Minnesota in the north. They include projections for maize, soybeans, cotton, spring wheat, and winter wheat.

Simulated weather variables based on three climate scenarios were used to project future crop …

Measurement Of Agriculture-Related Air Pollutant Emissions Using Point And Remote Sensors, Kori D. Moore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Measuring air pollution emissions from agricultural activities is usually difficult because of their large area and variability. Traditional air quality sensors, called point samplers, measure conditions in one location, which may not adequately measure a plume. Remote sensors, instruments that measure pollution along a line rather than at a single point, are better able to measure conditions around large areas. This dissertation reports on four agricultural air emissions studies that used both point and remote sensors for comparison. The methods used to calculate the emissions are based on previous work and are further developed in these studies. In particular, an …

High Resolution Multi-Spectral Imagery And Learning Machines In Precision Irrigation Water Management, Leila Hassan-Esfahani

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goals of preserving scarce water resources, cultivating more lands, and saving on irrigation water bills have directed the attention of water resources managers toward the concepts of precision agriculture and, in particular, to precision irrigation. The purpose of precision irrigation is to increase irrigation efficiency to avoid crop water stress, avoid yield reduction due to under-irrigation and leaching of nutrients, runoff, and reduce soil erosion due to over-irrigation. In this study, irrigation efficiency has been defined in terms of irrigation uniformity and the response of the crop to irrigation. Crop water demand, soil moisture, evapotranspiration rate, and potential water …

Systems Modeling And Economic Analysis Of Photovoltaic (Pv) Powered Water Pumping Brackish Water Desalination For Agriculture, Michael A. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this study was to determine the economic viability of solar powered water pumping and desalination systems for agriculture. Growing global demand for agricultural production has put increased pressure on limited freshwater resources in various locations around the word. Many areas have low quality groundwater resources that have not been utilized for agriculture due to limited availability to electricity, high operational costs of diesel generators and the economics associated with water pumping and processing. Reverse osmosis is a desalination technology that removes salts and other minerals from low-quality water, making it fit for drinking or irrigation. Reduced costs …

China And The Northeast Region: Agricultural Machinery, Kelsey White

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Using Chinese government statistical data, relevant laws and policy regulations, and current market projections, this report aims to help new-to-market U.S. exporters understand the development of the agricultural machinery market in China and the Northeast region, identifying both challenges and opportunities.

With a vast land area and diverse topography, China is one of the world's top agricultural producers. Agriculture accounts for about 11% of China's GDP and more than 40% of China's employment. Over the past several years, China has been increasing its agricultural mechanization in an effort to move from traditional to modern farming. The central government has been …

Nutritional And Economic Analysis Of Small-Scale Agriculture In Imbabura, Ecuador, Jake Erickson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Intervention projects in the developing world normally aim to satisfy either the nutritional needs of a group, or advancing the economic stability, but not both. One of the many issues that may arise by narrowly focusing and creating an aid program is that although a group may be fed, they are not equipped to mitigate risks that will arise after project completion and thus continue or revert back to a malnourished state. A bridge is required to join the economic and nutritional programs to create aid interventions that are sustainable past the point of donor separation.

This paper proposes the …

The Southeast In Context: An Assessment Of The Trauma Associated With Agriculture, Martin Welker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Hunter-gatherer tradition prevailed as the dominant subsistence pattern for most of human history. Between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago peoples in the Levant, New World, and Asia began the domestication and cultivation of wild flora and fauna, creating a subsistence pattern that subsequently spread to neighboring regions (Abbo et al. 2010; Bellwood 2009; Purugganan & Fuller 2009; Richerson et al. 2001). The influence of this agricultural transition on human populations is manifested in various forms in the human skeleton, many of which have received intensive study: dental caries, degenerative joint disease, decreased stature, and increased birth rates (Bridges 1991; Larson …

Coping Mechanisms And Level Of Occupational Stress Among Agriculture Teachers And Other Teaching Populations, Kasee L. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teacher stress has been a concern in educational research for several decades. This research sought to identify the specific coping methods which Utah agriculture and non-agriculture teachers utilize to manage potentially stressful events, and to determine if differences exist in the coping mechanisms used between agriculture teacher and non-agriculture teacher groups.

Results showed that agriculture teachers showed a greater level of occupational stress than non-agriculture teachers. It was also concluded that occupational stress for the two teaching groups came from different sources. In regard to the agriculture teacher group, certain demographic characteristics that led to a higher frequency of use …

A Proposal To Make Grain Storage Financially Feasible, David L. Garrett

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The United States has a National Oil Reserve but not a food reserve. Just as the oil reserve is designed to buffer unforeseen disruptions in the critical supply, the nation should also have a food reserve for the same purpose.

The United States and other developed nations have little or no food reserve beyond the typical demands between growing seasons. Marvelous production achievements in agriculture beginning in the early 1960s and known as the “Green Revolution” are now leveling off. Food production, suffering from such negative side effects as reduced water tables, is being outstripped by population growth (Bourne, 2009).

Estimation Of Field Alfalfa Evapotranspiration In A Windy, Arid Environment, J. Burdette Barker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Evapotranspiration (ET) of center pivot irrigated alfalfa was studied in the windy, arid, Curlew Valley, Northern Box Elder County, Utah, during the summers of 2009 and 2010. ET was estimated using eddy covariance (EC) and surface renewal (SR) techniques. ET estimates from the EC and SR analyses were compared with estimates using ASCE Standardized Reference ET Equation, with both dual and mean crop coefficients.

EC energy balance closure was 0.80, on average, in 2009 and 0.76 in 2010. The SR weighting parameter (α) was calculated through linear regression of EC and SR sensible heat flux estimates. Alpha was found to …

Assessment Of Ruminal Fermentation Characteristics Of Condensed Tannin-Containing Forages Using Continuous Cultures, Christina Marie Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Two independent studies were conducted to assess the effects of feeding condensed tannin (CT)-containing forages to continuous cultures to evaluate their impacts on ruminal fermentation and digestibility, with an emphasis on methane (CH4) and ammonia-N (NH3-N) production. In Chapter 3, treatments consisted of: 1) 100% alfalfa hay (AH), 2) 50% AH and 50% birdsfoot trefoil hay (dry matter (DM) basis; AHBFTH), and 3) 100% birdsfoot trefoil hay (BFTH). Three replicated runs lasted 8 d each, with the first 5 d allowed for microbial adaptation to the diets, and 3 d for data collection and sampling. Methane, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) …

Evaluation Of Semiochemical Strategies For The Protection Of Whitebark Pine Stands Against Mountain Pine Beetle Attack Within The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Greta Katherine Schen-Langenheim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

High-dose verbenone, verbenone plus nonhost volatiles (NHVs), and both semiochemicals in combination with aggregant-baited funnel traps were tested for stand- level protection against mountain pine beetle attack for two consecutive years (2004-2005) at three seral high elevation whitebark pine sites in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2004, two 0.25-hectare treatments comprised of 25 high-dose verbenone pouches or verbenone pouches combined with single baited funnel traps were tested in a push-pull strategy. In 2005, 25 high-dose verbenone and 25 NHV pouches, or verbenone and NHV in combination with baited funnel trap clusters were tested. In both years, treatments were compared to …

Physiological And Molecular Function Of Hap3b In Flowering Time Regulation And Cold Stress Response, Mingxiang Liang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Heme-activated proteins (HAPs) are transcription factors that have multiple roles in plant growth and development, such as embryogenesis, flowering time control, and drought tolerance.

In the present study I found that HAP3b was also involved in controlling response to cold stress. Transcript profiling and gene expression analyses indicated that HAP3b repressed the CBF3 regulon under normal growth conditions. As a result, plants with HAP3b-overexpressed showed decreased survival rates while plants homozygous for the null allele hap3b showed an improved freezing tolerance compared to wild-type plants.

To understand the mechanism of HAP3b in Arabidopsis, i.e. whether it also acts …

The Influence Of Collective Action And Policy In The Development Of Local Food Systems, Lori Porreca

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The modern global agrifood system has had significant negative impacts on consumers and producers. This has precipitated the rise of local food systems that are purported to improve the health and livelihoods of consumers and producers. High expectations have led to significant public and private resources dedicated to the development of local food systems. Despite this, there has been little systematic research exploring the social and institutional conditions that facilitate or frustrate local food system development.

Using a comparative case study approach, this study explored the ways local structural conditions, collective action, food system policies, and the political context affect …

Random Forests Applied As A Soil Spatial Predictive Model In Arid Utah, Alexander Knell Stum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Initial soil surveys are incomplete for large tracts of public land in the western USA. Digital soil mapping offers a quantitative approach as an alternative to traditional soil mapping. I sought to predict soil classes across an arid to semiarid watershed of western Utah by applying random forests (RF) and using environmental covariates derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and digital elevation models (DEM). Random forests are similar to classification and regression trees (CART). However, RF is doubly random. Many (e.g., 500) weak trees are grown (trained) independently because each tree is trained with a new randomly …