Economics Commons^™

Valuation Of Soil Health Ecosystem Services. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Research Report #5, Benjamin Timothy Dube, Alissa C. White, Taylor H. Ricketts, Heather M. Darby

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

In this report, we present estimates for ecosystem services from soil health using two approaches for four different services. One approach generates estimates based on soil-health practices, and the other approach is based on improvements in soil-health indicators. For soil- health practices, such as adopting best-management practices on annual corn, we utilize a set of off-the shelf empirical models widely used to estimate ecological functions on farm landscapes. For soil-health indicators, we make estimates by linking these tools with soil data and statistical models describing how soil-health parameters influence the interaction of soils with water and their environment. We provide …

Hemp In The United States: An Analysis Of Policy And Consumption, Amanda Falkner

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As highlighted by its history, the association between hemp and marijuana has proven to be a barrier to success for industrial hemp production for decades. Once a prevalent agricultural crop in the United States, prohibitive legislation discouraged its production and formally made hemp an illegal crop in 1970. Consequently, hemp and its myriad applications remained underutilized by the United States for over forty years. It wasn’t until the 2014 Farm Bill that hemp production was reintroduced as an option for farmers. This hemp hiatus has created the need for interdisciplinary research in order for the market for the crop to …

Covid-19 Impacts On Vermont Farms And Food Businesses: Pivots, Needs And Opportunities For The Future, Meredith T. Niles, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Belarmino, Mark Cannella, David S. Conner

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This report highlights results from a survey of Vermont farm and food businesses conducted during August and September 2020, with a total of 223 respondents. The survey was distributed via a number of non-profit, business, and state agencies in Vermont. Respondents included farms, food and farm product retail, agritourism operators, on-farm food processors, food and beverage manufacturers, nurseries/greenhouses/garden centers, and food hubs/aggregators. Overall, we find the majority of respondents experienced a COVID-19 business impact, especially in market and financial ways. We also find that the majority of respondents had business changes they wanted to make, but couldn't because of a …

Farm Benchmarking: The Application Of Business, Conservation And Labor Indicators, Mark Cannella, Sara Ziegler,, Qingbin Wang, Mary Peabody, Thomas Leahey, Heather M. Darby

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Center

Farm benchmarking programs will move Vermont’s food system towards important sustainability outcomes by establishing enhanced monitoring of priority indicators and facilitating the adoption of best practices. Farmers, researchers, policy agencies and development professionals agree there is a lack of regular and consistent data available to guide private and public initiatives. This paper identifies and contextualizes over forty priority indicators capable of measuring business performance, conservation, farm labor and community development.

Benchmarking methods need to be adapted to better represent the diversity of enterprises present in Vermont’s agricultural portfolio. The integration of University Extension objectives with food systems research priorities can …

From Tap To Table: Consumer Values, Producer Attitudes, And Vermont Maple Syrup In A Dynamic Landscape, Aidan Conor Mccracken

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Harvesting the sap of maple trees [Acer saccharum] for use in the production of syrups and sugars has a storied history stretching back to the pre-Columbian practices of North America’s indigenous peoples. Since its adaptation by European settlers in the late seventeenth century and into the present day, the production of maple syrup has become especially integral to the livelihoods and cultural identities of farmers in Vermont. While oftentimes esteemed as a timeless agrarian tradition, market forces and environmental changes have led maple syrup producers (or sugarmakers) to adopt new production practices that scarcely resemble the taps, buckets, and draft …

Organic Dairy Profitability In Vermont: Measuring The Impacts Of Management And Market Forces On Farm Financial Performance, Jonathan Patrick Walsh

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The total number of operating dairy farms in the US has decreased by 74.1% over the past 25 years, dropping from 155,339 in 1992 to just 40,219 in 2017. As milk prices have fallen and become more volatile, profit margins have tightened, causing farmers to leave the business due to low profitability. Some Vermont farmers are currently looking for new economic strategies. One approach has been to transition from conventional to organic production in order to take advantage of better prices and new market opportunities. In order to make production decisions, farmers need accurate financial information on the costs and …