Agriculture Commons^™

South Dakota Farmers’ Perceived Extreme Weather Frequency And Adaptation Measures, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted surveys of eastern South Dakota (SD) commodity crop producers with the support of the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council. Using publicly available addresses of government program participants, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked to take a follow up survey. 94 were ineligible, and 350 responded for a 59% response rate. Producers could take the survey online or via …

South Dakota Farmers’ Perceived Value Of Carbon Credits, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted surveys with South Dakota commodity crop producers in the eastern part of the state in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, challenges and benefits to using conservation practices, and their attitudes about the environment. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency of government program participants, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the survey …

South Dakota Farmers’ Usage Of Integrated Crop & Livestock Management, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted producer surveys in the eastern part of South Dakota in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, and their values. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked …

South Dakota Farmer Survey Chemical Use On Cropland, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted surveys with South Dakota (SD) commodity crop producers in the eastern part of the state in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, challenges, and benefits to using conservation practices, and their attitudes about the environment. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency of government program participants, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the …

South Dakota Farmers’ Usage Of Cover Crops, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted producer surveys in the eastern part of South Dakota in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, and their values. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked …

South Dakota Farmers’ Usage Of Conservation Tillage, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted producer surveys in the eastern part of South Dakota in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, and their values. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked …

South Dakota Farmers’ Usage Of Diversified Crop Rotations, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted producer surveys in the eastern part of South Dakota in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, soil and water conservation practices, and their values. Using publicly available addresses from the Farm Service Agency, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible, and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked to take a follow up …

Measuring Ecosystem Services From Soil Health. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Research Report #1, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Benjamin Timothy Dube, Bryony Sands, Joshua W. Faulkner, Meredith Albers, Maggie Payne

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

There are a multitude of approaches to evaluating soil health and the soil processes influenced by soil health. As the state of Vermont explores innovative programs that compensate farmers for soil health and associated ecosystem services, the selection of soil health indicators and quantification methods is a foundational first step that influences other aspects of program design. What is measured determines the ecosystem services that can be inferred, the accuracy of data that informs decisions, and programmatic transaction costs. Simply put, what is measured matters. The PES Working Group identified organic matter, bulk density, aggregate stability, greenhouse gas flux from …

The Custom Service Industry's Role In Precision Agriculture Adoption: A Literature Review, Scott W. Fausti, Bruce Erickson, David Clay, Sharon Clay

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

This literature review focuses on the role of the precision agriculture (PA) custom services industry in facilitating farmer adoption of PA technology. Based on the review, a series of stylized facts are developed that characterize the custom services industry's role in the PA adoption process in the United States. The literature suggests that increasing the availability of custom services in local agricultural production markets will positively influence the rate of PA adoption. Recent PA custom services industry field surveys, however, indicate that skilled labor, proficient in PA technology, is critical to develop and provide custom services needed to increase the …

Is The Custom Service Industry's Role In Precision Agriculture Linked To Workforce Development?, Scott W. Fausti, Bruce Erickson, David Clay, Sharon Clay

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Retail dealership survey data suggests that the lack of a qualified precision agriculture (PA) workforce limits the ability of the PA service industry to provide technological knowledge and services to producers who have adopted PA technology. The key empirical findings suggest that retail dealerships have the greatest difficulty finding workers who have, a) the capability to operate and collect data using specialized PA technology, b) the capability to interpret and develop management strategies using PA generated data, and c) a basic generalized competency in PA technology and its applications. The perceived shortage of skilled workers suggests that there is a …

Farmers’ Adoption And Perceived Benefits Of Diversified Crop Rotations In The Margins Of U.S. Corn Belt, Tong Wang, Jin Hailong, Yubing Fan, Oladipo Obembe, Dapeng Li

Economics Faculty Publications

Monoculture and simplified two-crop rotation systems compromise the ecosystem services essential to crop production, diminish agricultural productivity, and cause detrimental effects on the environment. In contrast to the simplified two-crop rotation, diversified crop rotation (DCR) refers to rotation systems that contain three or more crops. Despite multiple benefits generated by DCR, its usage has dwindled over the past several decades. This paper examined determinants of farmers' adoption decisions and perceived benefits of DCR in the west margins of the U.S. Corn Belt where crop diversity has declined. We analyzed 708 farmer responses from a farmer survey conducted in the eastern …

Measuring Palatability As A Linear Combination Of Nutrient Levels In Food Items, Jeffrey S. Young

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

It well known that palatability and nutritional quality of foods and/or diets are viewed as being in tension with one another. While there exist multiple measures of healthiness, there are no such measures for tastiness. This gap limits the degree to which researchers can investigate this tension and its implications for dietary behavior and hence public health and nutrition policy. The scope of future work concerning the dietary behavior of Americans would expand greatly if researchers better understood consumers’ willingness to eat certain foods, which matters as much as recommending those foods for them to eat in the first place. …

Yield And Economic Performance Of Crop Rotation Systems In South Dakota, Hanxiao Feng, Tong Wang, Shannon L. Osborne, Sandeep Kumar

Economics Faculty Publications

Crop yield and economic profitability, both highly dependent on local crop management, soil characteristics, and weather conditions, are among the most influential factors to consider when considering a cropping system. The objective of this study was to compare the economic returns of three different 4-yr diverse crop rotations with that of a 2-yr traditional crop rotation in eastern South Dakota. The rotations included were (a) corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]–spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–pea (Pisum sativum L.) (CSSwP), (b) corn–pea–winter wheat–soybean (CPWwS), (c) corn–oat (Avena sativa L.)–winter wheat–soybean (COWwS), and (d) corn–soybean …

Crop Yield And Economics Of Cropping Systems Involving Different Rotations, Tillage, And Cover Crops, J. Singh, T. Wang, S. Kumar, Pete Sexton, J. Davis, A. Bly

Economics Faculty Publications

Diversified cropping systems integrated with winter cover crops (CCs) and no-till (NT) systems can provide substantial soil conservation benefits in the midwestern Corn Belt of the United States, but there is uncertainty on how these practices affect producer profits. This study compared crop yield and economic performance from cropping systems that featured three crop rotations: corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.; two-year), corn–soybean–oat (Avena sativa L.; three-year), and corn–soybean–oat–winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.; four-year); two tillage systems: NT and conventional-till (CT); and two cover cropping managements: CC and no-cover crop. Tillage and rotation treatments …

Wrack Lines Volume 21, Number 1, Born Out Of Crises: Responses, Research And Reflections On A Better Future, Lynn Bonner, Robert J. Klee, Robert Pomeroy, Judy A. Benson

Wrack Lines

Articles in this issue explore various actions taken in response to different crises: lessons about the environment from the COVID-19 pandemic; how seafood sellers in the CT and Southeast Asia responded to the challenges of the pandemic; how the challenges of rising seas and developed coasts are being dealt with through managed retreat, buyouts and other actions in NC and CT; and research on the long-term effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on dolphins led by CTSG Director Sylvain De Guise.

2021 South Dakota Producer Resurvey Descriptive Results, Tong Wang, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Stephen Cheye, Ness School Of Management And Economics

South Dakota Farm Survey

From January to March 2021, researchers from South Dakota State University (SDSU) and Utah State University (USU) conducted a resurvey of South Dakota of commodity crop producers in the eastern part of the state to study their attitudes and usage of soil and water conservation practices including cover crops, diversified crop rotations, conservation tillage, and integrated crop and livestock management. These same producers completed a similar survey in 2018 (see Wang et al. 2021a, b; Saak et al. 2021; Kolady et al. 2020; Avemegah et al. 2020).1 In the 2018 surveys, farming operations in 34 South Dakota counties east of …

Understanding Producers’ Perspectives On Rotational Grazing Benefits Across Us Great Plains, Tong Wang, Hailong Jin, Urs Kreuter, Richard Teague

Economics Faculty Publications

Experimental findings on rotational grazing (RG) trials have generally differed from producer observations of RG outcomes on commercial scale ranches. Factors such as small plot size, short duration trials and relatively rigid grazing management that lacks responsiveness to the dynamic and complex social-ecological systems in grazing trials could all contribute to this disparity in outcomes. These differences call for a better understanding of producer perceptions of RG benefits. To fill this knowledge gap, we surveyed 4500 producers from the Northern and Southern Great Plains of the USA. Among the 875 respondents, 40.5% reported that they used continuous grazing (CG), 52.7% …

Expanding Grass-Based Agriculture On Marginal Land In The U.S. Great Plains: The Role Of Management Intensive Grazing, Tong Wang, Hailong Jin, Urs Kreuter, Richard Teague

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cover-Crop Usage In South Dakota: Farmer Perceived Profitability And Future Adoption Decisions, Tong Wang, Zheng Xu, Deepthi Kolady, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, David Clay

Economics Faculty Publications

Using bivariate ordered logit models, we investigate factors that determine farmers’ perceptions of cover-crop profitability and likelihood of future usage in the climate transition zone of the Northern Great Plains. Our results indicate that approximately 40% of long-term (10+ years) users perceived a profit increase of more than 5%. Additionally, future adoption decisions are positively affected by environment-oriented attitudes and negatively affected by prioritizing short-term profitability. More efforts can be directed toward educational programs that enhance understanding of the short- versus long-term economic benefits of cover crops.

A Review Of The Economics Of Regenerative Agriculture In Western Australia, Anne Bennett

All other publications

• There is no published work detailing the economics of regenerative agriculture in Western Australia.
• Of the work completed in other jurisdictions and nations captured in this review, the profitability of regenerative agriculture compared with conventional agriculture was variable, although generally lower.
• The loss of income associated with the transition from conventional agriculture to regenerative agriculture is a significant barrier to adoption, although it is enterprise-sensitive.
• Farmers who are operating regenerative agriculture systems self-report higher levels of wellbeing.
• Conventional agriculture and regenerative agriculture are overlapping approaches.
• The literature presented in this review is mostly based on small samples, case studies or …

Picking Up Where The Tmdl Leaves Off: Using The Partnership Wild And Scenic River Framework For Collaborative River Restoration, Alan R. Hunt, Meiyin Wu, Tsung-Ta David Hsu, Nancy Roberts-Lawler, Jessica T. Miller, Alessandra Rossi, Lee Lee

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects less than ¼ of a percent of the United States’ river miles, focusing on free-flowing rivers of good water quality with outstandingly remarkable values for recreation, scenery, and other unique river attributes. It predates the enactment of the Clean Water Act, yet includes a clear anti-degradation principle, that pollution should be reduced and eliminated on designated rivers, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state pollution control agencies. However, the federal Clean Water Act lacks a clear management framework for implementing restoration activities to reduce non-point source pollution, of which …

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 …

Faith, Farming And Food Justice, Catherine Curran

Charles Rice Post-Graduate Research Fellowship

Through a liberationist lens, religion and social justice are more similar than different. Food illuminates opportunities for building collective agency and community resilience in which religion and social justice might serve one another (White 2018). Specifically, faith communities can contribute to local food systems by using church-owned lands to provide access to farmland for beginning and BIPOC farmers, improve access to fresh, healthy produce, and enhance food security (FaithLands 2021). Faith communities are shifting mindsets from charity to justice and scarcity to abundance while addressing rural child hunger (Lietz-Bilecky 2020). Overall, this paper explores unique ways the Christian food movement …

South Dakota Farmers’ Views On Environment & Community, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted producer surveys in the eastern part of South Dakota in both 2018 and 2021. Producers could take the survey online or via mail and were asked questions about their farm, farming practices including usage of soil and water conservation practices, and their values.