Agriculture Commons^™

Bio-Based Sprayable Mulch For Weed Control In Row Crop Systems, Camila Chiaranda Rodrigues

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Improving current crop productivity levels requires transformative advancements in management, engineering, and science. One of the main challenges is the increasing difficulty of weed management due to herbicide-resistant weeds. There is a growing need for alternative weed management methods to reduce pesticide use and improve environmental safety. An emerging technology that is being developed is spray-on films which could help address these challenges. Spray-on films are liquid solutions that after spraying on the soil will dry and form a physical barrier. The overall objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a chicken feather bio-based sprayable mulch film …

Trucks, Trains, And Barges: For Brazilian Soybeans, It’S Not Your Grandpa’S Infrastructure Anymore, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

In the popular movie “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”, the tagline said, “Steve Martin had no reason to panic… until John Candy came along”. In the soybean market, we could say, “We had no reason to panic… until Brazil came along”. Brazil has been rapidly growing its soybean production for the last 30 years and has recently become the largest exporter in the world. In 2024/25, USDA estimates that Brazil will account for 58% of soybean exports worldwide, followed by the United States with 28%. These are roughly the numbers for 2023/24 and 2022/23 as well.

Still, despite the massive growth …

Wics Conference 2024: Creating Connections Together: Agenda And Abstracts, Daren D. Redfearn, Christopher A. Proctor

Water and Integrated Cropping Systems Conferences

WICS Conference 2024: Creating Connections Together

Agenda and Abstracts

Water Security (Quantity/Quality)

Nebraska Groundwater Quality Clearinghouse; Augustine Adjei, Martha Rhoades, and Kent Eskridge

Assessing the AquaCrop model’s accuracy for soybean under variable irrigation; Anmol Singh

Yield response of irrigated maize hybrids to water availability; Thais Murias Jardi, Saleh Taghvaeian, Chris Proctor, Daran Rudnick, and Chuck Burr

Using the DSSAT CERES-Maize model to evaluate farmers' irrigation decisions; Rintu Sen

Nutrient Management and Cycling

Effect of cover crop mixtures and crop rotation on nitrogen dynamics and crop yield in southeast Nebraska; Madhusudhan Adhikaari

Nitrogen inhibitors reduce nitrogen losses via ammonia volatilization, nitrous …

Your Sco/Eco Policy Under The Hood: What County Yield Is The Rma Using?, Cory Walters, Ken Harrison, Connor Whalen

Cornhusker Economics

Over the past decade, crop insurance has continued to expand contract offerings through new area-based policies. Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) was introduced in the mid-2010s. Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) was introduced in the early 2020s, and Margin Protection (MP) was introduced in the mid-to-late 2010s. The ECO premium subsidy was recently increased for the 2025 crop year to further encourage producer participation. Both the SCO and ECO programs have experienced increased participation for a variety of reasons.

How To Communicate Your Estate Plan To Family When Dividing Assets Unequally, Anastasia Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

Provides a guide on how to effectively approach estate planning conversations with family members.

Effectively communicating an estate plan with unequal division of assets can be challenging, but approaching it with honesty, clarity, and empathy can help prevent misunderstandings and family disputes. Open, respectful dialogue—paired with thoughtful explanations and transparent documentation—ensures that your family understands your intentions and feels valued, even when tough decisions are involved.

Ultimately, your goal isn’t just to pass down financial assets, but also to preserve family harmony and, where applicable, secure the future of a viable business. By fostering open communication, you can create a …

Twas Facilitates Gene-Scale Trait Genetic Dissection Through Gene Expression, Structural Variations, And Alternative Splicing In Soybean, Delin Li, Qi Wang, Yu Tian, Xiangguang Lyv, Hao Zhang, Huilong Hong, Huawei Gao, Yan-Fei Li, Chaosen Zhao, Jiajun Wang, Ruizhen Wang, Jinliang Yang, Bin Liu, Patrick S. Schnable, James C. Schnable, Ying-Hui Li, Li-Juan Qiu

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) identifies trait-associated loci, but identifying the causal genes can be a bottleneck, due in part to slow decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD). A transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) addresses this issue by identifying gene expression–phenotype associations or integrating gene expression quantitative trait loci with GWAS results. Here, we used self-pollinated soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) as a model to evaluate the application of TWAS to the genetic dissection of traits in plant species with slow LD decay. We generated RNA sequencing data for a soybean diversity panel and identified the genetic expression regulation of 29 …

The Economics Of The ‘Buy Local’ Trend, Susweta Ray, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

The results of our study underline the significance of the explicit consideration of consumer and producer heterogeneity and the size and type of the locality when analyzing the market and welfare impacts of the ‘Buy Local’ trend. In addition to providing important new insights on the market and welfare impacts of the ‘Buy Local’ trend, our analysis can also provide a valuable theoretical grounding for empirical studies aimed at quantifying the economic impacts of the trend in different food product markets as well as the impact of current and emerging policies affecting the markets for local foods.

Why Tariffs Are A Tax On American Consumers, Timothy Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

Summary

The takeaway from this article should be that tariffs are a political tool, not an economic one. They do raise prices and revenue, but not as much as advertised (by either side).

At its core, Economics is the study of how scarcity is solved. That is, how limited resources are best utilized. Time and time again, Adam Smith’s idea that the invisible hand of markets would guide us to welfare-maximizing solutions, largely through specialization and trade. It’s why most of us specialize in one career and trade our hard-earned money for goods and services instead of producing them at …

Gsl Researcher (Fall 2024)

GSL Researcher

Greetings

People

Range and pasture update

Highlighted research

Ranch update

Historical research

GSL Open House agenda

GSL in the news

Nebline, October 2024

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Super Fair Showcases 4-H’ers Learning Experiences

10 Money-$aving Grocery $hopping Hacks You Need to Try, Alyssa Havlovic

Recipe of the Month: Air Fryer Pork and Apple Burgers, Alyssa Havlovic

Growing Woody Floral Plants in the Home Garden, Sarah Browning

Garden Guie: Things to Do This Month, Mary Jane Frogge

Highboy Cover Crop Interseeding Project, John Nelson

Car Seat Safety for Your Family, Hayley Jackson-Perez

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Lorene Bartos

Join 4-H

4-H Livestock Scholarship Recipients

State 4-H Horse Expo Top Results

Lancaster County Volunteers Receive Statewide 4-H Awards

4-H Announcements

Super Fair 4-H/FFA Top Results

State Fair 4-H …

Understanding Session Disparities And Advancing Experiential Learning In Turfgrass Management, Luqi Li

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

PLAS 229: Introductory Turfgrass Management Laboratory is a sophomore-level course focusing on the practical skills required in turfgrass management. This portfolio documents the teaching methods, course materials, and an analysis of student learning outcomes with a focus on understanding disparities in student performance across sessions and enhancing practical skills through applied activities. Statistical analysis revealed that Session A outperformed Session B on two key field quizzes. This disparity is attributed to logistical differences: students in Session A attended the hands-on, field-based learning opportunities, while Session B faced scheduling conflicts that limited engagement with critical content. These findings underscore the importance …

Summer- And Fall-Planted Cover Crops Across Nebraska: Assessing Performance Using Aerial Imagery And Evaluating Short-Term Soil Impacts, Grace Emperatriz Pacheco Jiron

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cover crops are widely recognized for improving soil health and promoting sustainability in agricultural systems. Despite the increasing use of monitoring tools like aerial imagery, their application in evaluating summer-planted cover crops in the Great Plains remains limited, hindering effective management strategies. Fall-planted cover crops provide long-term environmental benefits, including enhanced soil quality and erosion control; however, understanding their short-term effects on soil properties is crucial for encouraging adoption. This study assessed summer- and fall-planted cover crops across Nebraska, integrating aerial imagery and soil health analyses.

Over two years, fifteen summer-planted monocultures and five mixtures were evaluated for establishment, biomass …

Climate Smart Agriculture, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

There are several programs encouraging producers to reduce their carbon intensity, including United States Department of Agriculture climate-smart agriculture programs, the 2024 Nebraska Climate Action Plan, and the 2024 Nitrogen Reduction Incentive Act. The hope is that producers with lower carbon intensity (CI) scores will receive a premium for their products. Producers would be well advised to learn more about these programs, as reducing carbon intensity in agriculture seems to be an emerging agricultural policy trend that will be with us for some time to come.

Dissecting The Genetic Architecture Of Sunflower Disc Diameter Using Genome-Wide Association Study, Yavuz Delen, Ravi V. Mural, Semra Palali-Delen, Gen Xu, James C. Schnable, Ismail M. Dweikat, Jinliang Yang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) plays an essential role in meeting the demand for edible oil worldwide. The yield of sunflower seeds encompasses several component traits, including the disc diameter. Over three consecutive years, 2019, 2020, and 2022, we assessed phenotypic variation in disc diameter across a diverse set of sunflower accessions (N = 342) in replicated field trials. Upon aggregating the phenotypic data from multiple years, we estimated the broad sense heritability (H²) of the disc diameter trait to be 0.88. A subset of N = 274 accessions was genotyped by using the tunable genotyping-by-sequencing (tGBS) method, …

Why Is Workforce Development Such A Big Deal Now?, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

For those linked to agriculture or agri-business, you are not only dealing with the national constraints of the current workforce, but if you are involved specifically in production agriculture, you are also hit by the changing size and scope of on-farm workforce trends. These are just a few of the reasons why workforce development in general, and especially in the agricultural sector, is a big deal now.

Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter Newsletter, Issue #65 September 2024

Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter: Newsletters

Chapter Officers and Committees for 2024

2023 Chapter Awards Recipients: Undergraduate Awards, Graduate, Teaching and Research Awards

Lack of Award nominations and New Initiates

Membership information and Dues form

Chapter Student Award Fund Info

In Memoriam: Lyle E. Davis (January 27, 1927-January 23, 2023); David John Andrews (June 28, 1933-February 15, 2024); Richard A. Wiese (April 3, 1928-February 22, 2024); William T. “Bill” Ahlschwede (January 31, 1942-February 27, 2024); Theodore (Ted) Eugene Hartung (January 26, 1929-June 5, 2024); John Edward Foster (May 22, 1940-October 1, 2024)

Willingness To Pay And Market Potential For Biowrap: An Economic Study Of A New Biodegradable Mulch Product In Home Gardening, Gengchen Cai

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study explores the market potential of BioWRAP, a biodegradable sprayable weed suppression product, by assessing the willingness to pay (WTP) among American home gardeners. Traditional plastic mulch offers significant agronomic benefits but poses considerable environmental challenges, making BioWRAP a promising alternative due to its similar benefits and reduced environmental impact. Using a double-bounded contingent valuation method, we analyze the WTP for BioWRAP among different demographic groups and gardening practices. Our findings indicate that the highest WTP for BioWRAP is among home gardeners who currently use chemical sprays for weed suppression, followed by those using physical barriers, with the lowest …

How Much Green To Keep The Garden Clean? An Analysis Of The Willingness To Pay (Wtp) Of Home Gardeners For Biowrap Technology, Gengchen Cai, Kanij Fatema, Karina A. Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

A research team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, and South Dakota School of Mines are working on creating an alternative product that would use locally available materials to create a spray-on, biodegradable polymer that can suppress weeds and will biodegrade in a timeframe that is amenable to crop production. We broadly refer to this technology as BioWRAP (Bioplastics with Regenerative Agricultural Properties).

Our results show that the home garden market is potentially a significant one for a BioWRAP product. Continued work in the development of the BioWRAP technology is necessary to determine what the cost of a …

Cover Crop Utilization Across Nebraska And Implications For Cropland Lease Arrangements In 2024, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2023-2024 provides insight on recent trends in the market value of land and cash rental across the state. Each year, the special feature section covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect the interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2024 focuses on trends and considerations for cover crops across Nebraska and implications on lease arrangements.

Findings from the 2022 Census of Agriculture in Table 1 provide …

Association Mapping Of Important Agronomic Traits In Mucuna Pruriens (L.) Dc., Patrush Lepcha, Mahesh Shekhar, Leelambika Murugesan, Mahammad Jaheer, Ratan Chopra, Vikas Belamkar, Narayana Sathyanarayana

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background The tropical legume Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. can meet three agricultural needs: low-cost protein, highvalue medicines, and green manure or cover crops. But like other underutilized crops, it needs more modern breeding resources. Identifying marker-trait associations (MTAs) can facilitate marker-assisted breeding and crop improvement. Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of identifying MTAs using a small number of accessions (< 100). We have characterized a panel of 70 M. pruriens accessions across two consecutive years and performed association analysis for 16 phenotypic traits related to seed (seed length, seed width, seed thickness, seed yield per plant, hundred seed weight); pod (pod length, pod width, number of pods …

Working Capital And Cash Flow Tools To Improve Farm Business Performance, Matthew Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

The point of this short essay is to briefly review the need and purpose of both tools, hoping that such a review will help farm managers and operators use them to reach their higher potential and improve their businesses and lives. Working capital represents the businesses’ ability to deal with short-term conditions and its resilience conferred upon it as a result of past performance in accumulating liquid assets. The cash flow document provides the ebb and flow of liquid assets during the normal cycle of doing business, providing recognizable events, plans that can be scrutinized, and identifiable challenges. These tools, …

Conservation Decision Making And Agricultural Land Leasing - An Experimental Investigation Of The Role Of Gender, Diya Ganguly, Simanti Banerjee, Christopher Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

This research investigated the impact of landowner gender and of the different types of contract leases offered by them to a male tenant, on the conservation (or non-conservation) choice made by the tenant. Specifically, we investigate if a) female and male landowners offer different rental contracts and b) whether tenants choose different actions based on the landowner’s gender. For this purpose, we implemented a controlled, gender-context-loaded economic experiment with university students, in which we tested contract and land use choice under different treatments for three types of rental contracts – fixed rent, fixed rent with penalty, and fixed rent with …

Nebline, August/September 2024

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Preserving the Harvest: Canning, Freezing and Drying Tips, Kayla Colgrove

How Savvy are YOU with Home Canning?

Recipe of the Month: Freezing Onions, Kayla Colgrove

Deep, Infrequent Irrigation Makes Lawns and Trees Healthier, Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month, Mary Jane Frogge

Get the Jump on Jumping Worms, Kait Jumpman

Preparing Water for Use in an Emergency, Becky Schuerman

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Nicole Miller and Cole Meador

4-H Teen Council Invites New Members

4-H Announcements

Lancaster County Super Fair, August 1-10, 2024

4-H Premiere Communication Event Top Results

4-H Clover College: 55 Hands-on Workshops

4-H …

Linking Risk Preference, Women’S Empowerment, Farm Investment And Household Well-Being, Samuel Olusesi Olumide

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A nuanced understanding of intra-household dynamics can inform the design of more effective empowerment and agricultural investment policies. By integrating household risk preferences and empowerment dynamics, this work offers valuable insights into the complex mechanisms driving household welfare and provides a framework for future interventions to promote gender equality and economic development in rural settings. This thesis addresses three core hypotheses: first, that the spouses of risk-seeking male heads are more likely to be disempowered compared to those of risk-averse male heads; second, that households with risk-seeking male heads and disempowered spouses are likely to invest more in farming activities; …

Online Course Development With University Extension And Industry Experts, Kelsey L. Mccullough

Applied Science Program: Theses

Project Background

While pursuing my college degrees, the highest impact classes have been filled with applications that I understood as being relevant at the time and have used within my career, had hands-on experiences, and included influential interactions with professionals. Taking this idea forward to course development as an online instructor, I know that creating and adapting college classes to be centered on key aspects of the agricultural industry will add to the education quality of the program and the college experience. This paper will describe my first attempt at this model of partnering with academic and industry experts to …

Information About Honey Fraud: Implications Of Information Choice For Consumer Behavior, Christopher R. Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

The study highlights that standard research practice—exposing participants to information—may not capture what will happen outside of the lab when people have a choice about what to read, view, or do with their time. While we found that having participants read about honey fraud significantly shifted their willingness to pay for local and domestic versus imported honey, we did not find those changes when people were able to select a text to read.

The implications of these findings extend beyond the issue of honey fraud to broader contexts of food safety, nutrition, and production techniques. While people have preferences for …

Ideas For Estate And Transition Planning: Gifting Ownership, Jessica J. Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

For many farm and ranch families, bringing children or grandchildren into the operation is the ultimate goal. Successfully bringing additional family members into the operation may require some creativity as all parties need to maintain a viable standard of living. This article is part of a series that will highlight ideas and tactics for bringing another family member into the operation. If this is the first article you are seeing in this series, I would encourage you to go back to the for background and additional guidance.

A strategy that is gaining popularity is the gifting of shares or a …

Annual Forage Insurance Program Performance, Jay Parsons

Cornhusker Economics

In 2014, the Annual Forage Insurance Program (AFIP) was offered for the first time by the USDA – Risk Management Agency (RMA) as a pilot program for the states of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. It was expanded to include Colorado in 2016 and New Mexico in 2017. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the program, and the goal of this article is to provide a summary of where the program is and how it is being used. We will focus specific attention on Nebraska but also provide an overview of the national picture.

The …

Greater Aperture Counteracts Effects Of Reduced Stomatal Density On Water Use Efficiency: A Case Study On Sugarcane And Meta-Analysis, Daniel Lunn, Baskaran Kannan, Amandine Germon, Alistair Leverett, Thomas E. Clemente, Fredy Altpeter, Andrew D.B. Leakey

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Stomata regulate CO₂ and water vapor exchange between leaves and the atmosphere. Stomata are a target for engineering to improve crop intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE). One example is by expressing genes that lower stomatal density (SD) and reduce stomatal conductance (g_sw). However, the quantitative relationship between reduced SD, g_sw, and the mechanisms underlying it is poorly understood. We addressed this knowledge gap using low-SD sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrid) as a case study alongside a meta-analysis of data from 10 species. Transgenic expression of EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR 2 from Sorghum bicolor (SbEPF2) in sugarcane …

Revisiting Fr13a For Submergence Tolerance: Beyond The Sub1a Gene, Waseem Hussain, Mahender Anumalla, Abdelbagi M. Ismail, Harkamal Walia, Vistas Kumar Singh, Ajay Kohli, Sankalp Bhosale, Hans Bhardwaj

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Rice landrace FR13A is the original donor of the SUB1A gene. FR13A harbors hidden genetic variation that surpasses the submergence tolerance level of SUB1A. Here, we provide an overview of the unique features of FR13A associated with exceptional recovery ability that have been overlooked since the significant discovery of the SUB1 locus. We present a detailed overview of how to underpin the new genes associated with the recovery ability seen in FR13A. Finally, we propose a unique approach to develop rice cultivars that surpass submergence tolerance beyond the SUB1 locus from FR13A.