Agriculture Commons^™

Sustainable Management Of Groundwater In Louisiana, Dependra Bhatta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The common property nature of the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) results in the formation of a cone of depression in the southern portion of the aquifer encompassing Concordia parish, Louisiana. Excessive groundwater withdrawal and the resulting cone of depression formation have caused some wells to go dry and others to be affected by saltwater intrusion. The depleting groundwater stock can be managed optimally using different groundwater management policies. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to both policymakers and researchers to understand the effects of policies to keep the aquifer sustainable.

My dissertation is written in a three-essay format. …

Saturday Night Live Club Lamb Sale, Tyler P. Wilkerson

Agricultural Education and Communication

“Competition is said to be the backbone of the stock show industry,” (Davis, 1998). A statement spoken in a 1998 thesis paper on the junior livestock industry still holds water in today’s world. Youth livestock exhibition, especially in California, continues to grow in the number of youth participants and the number of livestock entries at shows (Switzer, 2019).

It is the responsibility of livestock breeders to breed, raise, and sell their livestock to maximize the opportunity for youth to acquire livestock to show. In his research, Wendt discusses the capabilities of purchasing livestock through online platforms. He speaks to the …

Increasing Groundwater Recharge Activity In The San Joaquin Valley Of California, Jacob Willhite, Jacob Willhite

Agricultural Education and Communication

Over the past several decades, groundwater has become a primary source of water used for agriculture in California. Surface water available for agricultural use has depleted due to declining rain totals and reallocation to environmental purposes. As a result, groundwater overdraft has become a severe challenge, especially in the San Joaquin Valley of California. This excessive overdraft causes a plethora of issues, one of the most serious being land subsidence (Faunt, Sneed, Traum, & Brandt, 2016). Studies suggest some areas of the San Joaquin Valley have experienced more than a 28-foot drop in the land level since the 1970’s (Alley …

Building Value Through Innovative Eucheuma Spp. Product Development: A Case Study With The Belize Women's Seaweed Farming Association, Bailey Moritz

All Theses And Dissertations

Seaweed aquaculture has been a successful supplemental livelihood in coastal communities worldwide, creating new income opportunities for women in particular. In most cases, raw or dried carrageenan-producing seaweed is sold into supply chains without local value addition taking place. Upgrading value chains can come in the form of new products, differentiation from existing products through marketing, or breaking into new markets. The research investigates the local market potential for value-added Belizean Eucheuma seaweed products and offers insights into a pathway forward for the Belize Women’s Seaweed Farming Association (BWSFA) to take advantage of these opportunities at an early stage of …

Asymmetric Exchange Rate Pass-Through In Southeast Asian Rice Trade, Taylor Wiseman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asian countries consume approximately 90% of the world’s rice supply. Between 2007 and 2014, Thailand, Vietnam, and India accounted for 60% of the world’s exports of rice. This paper estimates the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on bilateral trade flows in Southeast Asia. Because most Southeast Asian countries have state trading enterprises or agencies controlling rice trade, this analysis will provide insight as to whether these agencies respond to exchange rate fluctuations in a manner consistent with economic theory. Behavior inconsistent with economic theory could provide evidence of stabilizing domestic prices, market power, or export expansion policies. The analysis focuses …

The Economics Of On-Farm Rice Drying In Arkansas, Clayton Parker

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Globally, rice producers are faced with the temporal problem of deciding the optimal time to being rice harvest. When harvested, paddy rice is typically at a moisture content (HMC) between 15 and 22%. Upon delivery, the rice is subsequently dried by the mill to a moisture content (MC) of 12.5%. Riceland Foods Inc., the largest miller of rice in the world, uses a stair-step pricing model to charge farmers to dry in price/unit as the MC of grain decreases from a range of +22% to 13.5%. This study estimates an alternative linear relationship in the stair-step model to determine MC …

Use Of Acetolactate Synthase-Inhibiting Herbicides In Inzen Grain Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor L. Moench Ssp. Bicolor), Hunter Bowman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grain sorghum is typically grown as a rotational crop in Arkansas because of its many benefits, one being the effective control of Palmer amaranth through the use of atrazine. However, limited options exist for postemergence (POST) control of weedy grasses within the crop. Inzen™ grain sorghum is the result of a nicosulfuron resistant weedy sorghum biotype cross-bred with a commercial line of grain sorghum. Inzen™ allows for safe use of over-the-top applications of nicosulfuron within the crop. Nicosulfuron is an acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide, which has historically been used in corn for control of weedy grasses. Experiments were conducted in …

Too Good To Eat? Cosmetic Standards And Waste In Agricultural Supply Chain, Jiahui Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

There is a significant amount of food wasted at the farm level due to high cosmetic standards adopted by retailers. We examine the economic incentives for retailers to adopt such high cosmetic standards and their impact on food loss. We build a sequential game between a retailer and a farmer, where the retailer signs a contract with the farmer specifying both the wholesale price and cosmetic quality standard. By adopting high cosmetic standards, retailers can motivate farmers to exert a higher effort to improve the cosmetic quality, e.g., using better seeds and applying more pesticides. As for the drivers of …

Las Compras Públicas Locales Como Estrategia Para La Comercialización E Integración De Las Organizaciones De Productores Agroalimentarios En El Departamento Del Meta, David Orlando Cabra Ramírez

Maestría en Agronegocios

La presente investigación además de proyectarse como requisito para la obtención del título de postgrado correspondiente se concibió a partir de la oportunidad de generar una propuesta concreta que aportará a las líneas estratégicas de trabajo identificadas por la Gobernación del departamento del Meta, para sus próximas administraciones. En este sentido, se identificó la problemática existente en el sector agropecuario departamental y las dificultades habituales que enfrentan las organizaciones de productores agropecuarios formalizados para comercializar sus productos y como tal obtener la retribución correspondiente. A partir de esto, el documento se centra en analizar el contexto departamental buscando identificar los …

Evaluating The Economic Costs And Land Value Implications Of Implementing Cover Crops In Kentucky, Robert C. Ellis

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis is comprised of two essays regarding the costs and impact of land values due to cover crops. This first essay uses a linear-programming resource allocation model combined with sequencing and machinery selection to optimize the practices and machinery utilization of a hypothetical western Kentucky grain farm. This was accomplished through maximizing returns over selected costs at various acreage adoption levels. Additionally, a decision tool was developed to assess the costs related to cover crop adoption. The results show a $30 per acre cost to adopt 1000 acres of cover crops when no benefits were considered. The second essay …