Agriculture Commons^™

Factors Associated With Farm Service Agency Direct Farm Ownership Loan Delinquency, Mohammad Ismile Hossain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the factors associated with loan defaults in the USDA's Direct Farm Ownership (FO) loan program, emphasizing factors that affect how long it takes to default. This study uses a Cox Proportional Hazards model on a dataset of more than 47,000 loan records originated during 2011-2020 to identify loan characteristics, financial factors, and geographic settings related to the likelihood and timing of delinquency, which is defined as being 90 days past due. Recent research has focused on differences in loan outcomes based on demographics. This study, on the other hand, focuses on loan size, interest rates and terms, …

Associations Of Variation In Mtdna With Feed Efficiency In Beef Cattle And The Evaluation Of Transcriptomic Changes In Fetal Kidney Due To Hydrallantois, Lauren Elizabeth Seier

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Project 1 focused on the central role that mitochondria play in ATP production, highlighting that variation within the mtDNA may influence feed efficiency. Variation in the mitochondrial genome was uncovered, and associations with feed efficiency in beef cattle were identified. Growth and feed intake phenotypes, as well as low-pass sequencing, were collected on beef steers across two populations. Protein coding variants were identified and used to classify animals into mitochondrial haplotypes. A linear mixed model was employed, which detected a significant association between mitochondrial haplotype and DMI. A significant haplotype with a variant in Complex I was associated with reduced …

What’S The Beef With Agriculture? Evaluating The Effectiveness Of An Agricultural Literacy Intervention On Students’ Attitudes And Knowledge Toward Sustainability And Animal Agriculture, Jenny E. Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Agricultural literacy is essential for helping individuals understand how food systems impact their daily lives and society. While most research has focused on students’ knowledge, this study addresses the underexplored role of attitudes—critical predictors of behavior—as outcomes of educational interventions. This research analyzed survey data collected before and after an agricultural literacy intervention delivered to high school students in school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs. The curriculum focused on sustainability in animal agriculture.

Findings from paired samples t-tests showed statistically significant improvements in students' attitudes (from moderately neutral to more positive) and knowledge scores. Further analyses revealed that demographic factors such …

B.R. Wells Arkansas Rice Research Studies 2024, J. Hardke, X. Sha, N. Bateman

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Research reports contained in the publication may represent preliminary or only a single year of results; therefore, these results should not be read as a basis for long-term recommendations.

Several research reports in this publication will appear in other University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station publications. This duplication is the result of the overlap in research coverage between disciplines and our effort to inform Arkansas rice producers of all the research being conducted with funds from the rice check-off program. This publication also contains research funded by industry, federal, and state agencies.

Use of products …

Microbial And Ecophysiological Indices Of Agricultural Soils As Affected By Different Farming Practices In Tropical Monsoon Climate, Gulshan Ara Begum, Sajal Roy, Nasrin Chowdhury

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Organic farming is increasingly promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture due to its positive effects on soil microbial dynamics, a critical component of ecosystem functioning. However, empirical comparisons of microbial responses across these systems are scarce. Therefore, we conducted a study to assess the various microbial indices of soils taken from distinct crop fields (e.g., brinjal, chilli, tomato, bean, and fallow lands) managed under both conventional and organic farming techniques. Composite soil samples from surface layer (0–15 cm) were collected in a completely random way from Bandarban upazila of Bangladesh (22°11'24.0"N 92°09'00.0"E, organic fields; 22°10'12.0"N 92°09'36.0"E, conventional fields). …

Potential Impact Of Dotted Paropsine Beetle And Other Leaf Beetles On Eucalyptus In Utah, Marion Murray, Victoria Xiong, Megan Kast

All Current Publications

Dotted paropsine leaf beetle (DPLB) is an invasive eucalyptus pest native to Australia. Its first U.S. detection was in California in 2022. DPLB feeds on several eucalyptus species, with blue gum as its primary host. Feeding damage includes semicircular notches on leaf edges, defoliation of young leaves, and dieback of shoot tips. DPLB poses a threat to eucalyptus plantings across the western U.S. and to cut foliage producers in Utah.

How Beliefs Shape What We Consider When Choosing What To Eat, Christopher Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

What determines which foods we consider? One factor, certainly, is what we like to eat, and if liking what we eat were the sole relevant outcome of food consumption, there would be little to say about incomplete consideration. However, diet quality has important, well-documented effects on health outcomes (as well as other important considerations, such as differential environmental impact). Close to 75 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, which increases the likelihood that the individual will experience one or more serious non-communicable diseases. A food’s healthiness is an important consideration for many people when making food choices, but, …

Adaptive Crop Switching For Irrigated Agriculture In Response To Climate Change In The Western U.S., Shahryar Fazli, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Rejoice Thomas, Aqil Tariq, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Adaptive irrigation strategies are crucial for balancing water use, economic viability, and food security in the arid Western United States. However, as a key indicator vital in regulating agricultural productivity and crop irrigation, water use efficiency (WUEc) is becoming increasingly complex to estimate due to climate change. This study explores the critical role of key meteorological drivers, such as maximum temperature (tmax) and vapor pressure deficit (vpd), and their impacts on crop-specific WUEc. Future impacts are also assessed through integrating machine learning models with climate projections from the CMIP6 framework under SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios to forecast WUEc trends from …

Cultivating The Wild: Strategies For Entrepreneurs Navigating Niche And Specialty Food Markets, Trey Malone, Courtney F. Cooper

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction Consumer demand for authenticity and sustainability in food systems is growing, creating both opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs in niche and specialty markets. While wild-foraged and hunted foods are often perceived as more "natural" and sustainable, attempts to scale these products through farming may compromise their perceived authenticity.Methods To explore these dynamics, we conducted discrete choice experiments with a nationally representative sample of 1,039 U.S. consumers. Participants evaluated their willingness to pay (WTP) for salmon, venison, and morel mushrooms, presented in both wild-foraged/hunted and farm-raised forms.Results Consumers exhibited strong preferences for wild versions of all three products, with average …

High Spatial Resolution Crop Type And Land Use Land Cover Classification Without Labels: A Framework Using Multi-Temporal Planetscope Images And Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Model, Minh Tri Le

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Previous studies often combined high spatial resolution data (e.g., PlanetScope) with wider spectral range data (e.g., Sentinel-2) and relied on supervised classification methods to produce land use and land cover (LULC) maps. This study proposed a new unsupervised framework to generate crop type and LULC maps at high spatial resolution (< 5 m) using available PlanetScope data solely without requiring ground truths. We used PlanetScope surface reflectance images and their derived spectral indices during growing seasons to create multi-temporal input features, which were fed into an unsupervised Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Model (VBGMM). The VBGMM, unlike the traditional unsupervised classification methods, (1) first estimated optimal parameters that are most suitable based on the input features and then (2) assigned pixels to the cluster with maximum posteriori probability of a mixture of several Gaussian distributions. The crop type and LULC maps were then generated by labeling the derived clusters using the best possible assignment method, referring to the existing crop type or LULC products. We evaluated the produced PlanetScope-based crop type and LULC maps using true labels, corresponding reference maps, and other unsupervised classification methods. The results demonstrated the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed framework in mapping crop types and LULC at 3–5 m pixels across various ecosystems, climate zones, and human-managed landscapes. The spatial patterns of PlanetScope-based maps were (1) highly comparable with all the reference datasets at 10–30 m spatial resolution and (2) better than the traditional GMM and K-means clustering methods. The VBGMM produced classification maps with high confidence, yielding class probabilities above 0.9 for over 90 % of all study areas. The area percentage for all crop type and LULC classes agreed well with their reference maps, with R2 of 0.95 and RMSE of 1.04 %. The confusion matrices using true labels indicated that PlanetScope-based maps achieved a higher overall accuracy of 84 % than the supervised referenced maps of 81 %. Besides, the entropy comparison showed that our framework-based maps were better at capturing fine-scale features such as developed areas within cities that commonly mix with open space and vegetation, deforestation and cropland conversion in South America, smallholder croplands in Africa and Asia, and generating homogeneous crop fields in North America. This study further highlighted the potential for future research to implement our proposed framework to generate timely and extensive annotated datasets, which can be used for operationally training machine learning models to map crop types and LULC, track deforestation, detect wildfires, and delineate flooded areas at larger scales using medium/coarse Earth observations.

Cultural Worldview And Rural Consumer Preferences For Genetically Modified Foods, Nathan P. Kemper

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

The consumer acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods varies widely based on personal values and social context. This study investigates how cultural worldviews—measured through the Individualism–Communitarianism and Hierarchical–Egalitarianism dimensions—affect willingness to pay (WTP) for food labeling attributes related to GM content. We surveyed 932 U.S. primary grocery shoppers and conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with poultry product options. Using a Mixed Logit model and supplemental cognitive data from Query Theory, we find that rural individualists are more accepting of GM-labeled products. At the same time, urban communitarians show a stronger preference for non-GM labels. These results offer insight into …

Miniature Carnation Cut Flower Production In Utah, Kellie Webb, Melanie Stock, Benjamin Scow, Cheyenne Reid, Victoria Xiong, Claudia Nischwitz, Nick Volesky

All Current Publications

Carnation is one of the most popular cut flowers worldwide and has been grown for centuries. The delicate, fringed petals of miniature carnation have a spicy, clove-like scent and are often used commercially in potpourri and perfume. Florists value the scent, versatility in both large and small design work, long vase life, and broad range of colors, which include yellow, orange, pink, white, red, and purple. While traditionally grown under cover in regions like Colombia and Ecuador, carnation may be a viable cut flower for U.S. Intermountain West growers, as plants tolerate frost and grow well in both cool and …

Changing Aspen Stand Structure Following Large Carnivore Restoration In Yellowstone, Luke E. Painter, Robert L. Beschta, William J. Ripple

Aspen Bibliography

Restoration of large carnivores in northern Yellowstone National Park in the late 20th century resulted in a sustained reduction of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis) and their herbivory, facilitating new growth of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) saplings. In 2020–21, we examined 87 randomly selected, previously sampled aspen stands across northern Yellowstone, combining random plots with stand-wide observations. Forty-three percent of stands contained a new cohort of small trees (5–10 cm dbh), the first documented recruitment of overstory aspen trees in northern Yellowstone since the 1940s. Both aspen saplings ( ≥2 m tall) and small trees were …

Delphinium Cut Flower Production In Utah, Nick Volesky, Melanie Stock

All Current Publications

Delphinium is a perennial crop that produces tall racemes in two flushes per season. Its long stems serve as vertical line elements, adding height and balance to floral arrangements. Popular series are available in striking shades of blue, which are not commonly found among cut flowers, making delphinium an excellent choice for local market production. This fact sheet provides an overview of how to grow, harvest, and store delphinium, including yields for various cultivars. It also covers its common pests and diseases, and reviews its economic value for cut flower producers.

Cropland Acres Vs Base Acres In Nebraska, Jessica J. Groskopf, Cory Walters

Cornhusker Economics

Discusses cropland acres versus base acres in Nebraska.

Canopy Insect Communities Are Shaped By The Genes And Phenotypes Of Their Aspen Hosts, Clay J. Morrow, Jennifer Lind-Riehl, Christopher T. Cole, Kennedy Rubert-Nason, Cécile Ané, Richard L. Lindroth

Aspen Bibliography

1. Community genetics research aims to identify genetic and phenotypic mechanisms that shape communities as extended phenotypes. To date, most progress has been made identifying variation in herbivore communities associated with intraspecific variation in plants, with little focus on identifying specific genes or traits responsible for that variation. Here, we identify how extended phenotype variation of a foundation tree species, Populus tremuloides, arises from trait variation among individuals and specific genes. 2. We quantified heritability for 13 tree traits -- including phenology, defense chemistry, reproduction, and morphology -- and for 18 associated insect species (640,557 individuals). We performed genomic …

Veterinary Drug Residue Regulations In Major U.S. Export Markets, Elliott James Dennis, Akinbode Okunola

Cornhusker Economics

Trade agreements shape the global agricultural trade landscape, encompassing both tariff and non-tariff measures. Among the latter, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures such as maximum residue limits (MRLs) are gaining attention. As trade tensions escalate, there is growing concern that countries could use SPS measures as a tool of retaliation in international agricultural markets, as they are often a focal point in trade negotiations (Disdier and Marette, 2010; Disdier and van Tongeren 2010; Grant et al., 2015).

Aeroponic System Optimization For Butterhead Lettuce Growth And Future Sustainability Using Flow Blurring Atomization: An Overview, Taylor J. Johnson

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

The global population has grown by 6 billion people over the last century and is trending toward 9.7 billion people by the year 2050. Agriculture accounts for 70% of global fresh water usage. Technology must be developed to accommodate the increase of food production demanded by the growing global population and the subsequent increase in water usage. Aeroponic technology is a water-efficient vertical farming technology that can reduce water usage by 90% by suspending plant roots in air within a controlled chamber and supplying atomized droplets of a water-nutrient solution directly to the roots.

This study simultaneously tests six droplet …

Assessing Natural Resources Conservation Service (Nrcs) Impacts On Rice And Soybean Efficiency In The Mid-South, Ayodeji Samuel Ayiti

LSU Master's Theses

The study investigates how the Mid-South region of the U.S. rice and irrigated soybean production efficiency is influenced by (NRCS) incentives. To evaluate the effect of crop insurance, subsidies, and conservation incentives on lowering inefficiency, this study used a stochastic frontier model (SFA). The dataset covered the years 2010 – 2023, which allowed for a thorough evaluation of efficiency trends over time. While crop insurance programs reduce inefficiency in rice production, it shockingly increases inefficiency in soybean production, according to the study, which highlights the disparate effects of net support (insurance-subsidy).

The results show that while external factors like changes …

First Detection And Tracing Of Grapevine Red Blotch Virus (Grbv) In Australia Using Tiled Amplicon Sequencing, Tonny Kinene, Andrew S. Taylor, Richard Fennessy, Brenda A. Coutts, David Lovelock, Cuiping Wang, Kamalpreet Kaur, Thao Tran, Brendan Rodoni, Fiona E. Constable, Monica A. Kehoe

Viticulture Research Articles

Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV; species Grablovirus vitis, genus Grablovirus, family Geminiviridae) poses a significant threat to viticulture worldwide, impacting grapevine health and wine quality. Here, we report the first detection and tracing of GRBV in Australia and provide a summary of a subsequent survey to determine the extent of GRBV distribution in Western Australia. Additionally, the study introduces a tiled amplicon sequencing method, which, when combined with long-read nanopore sequencing, enables rapid GRBV genome sequencing. Our analysis suggests a single introduction of GRBV from North America to Australia through the state of Victoria and subsequently to …

Larger Price Limits For Cattle Futures Contracts: Should We Pay Attention To That?, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

The CME Group has recently announced an increase in price limits for its cattle futures contracts. This means that cattle futures prices now have a wider range to fluctuate on any given day, and the possibility of larger price fluctuations implies that traders may find larger gains as well as larger losses in their trading accounts at the end of the day. This is certainly something that people trading in futures markets should be aware of, but the change in price limits itself is just a regular update that happens every year. Let's take a closer look at this.

Aspen Impedes Wildfire Spread In Southwestern United States Landscapes, Matthew P. Harris, Jonathan D. Coop, Jared A. Balik, Jessika R. Mcfarland, Sean A. Parks, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are generally thought to impede fire spread, yet the extent of this effect is not well quantified in relation to other vegetation types. We examined the influence of aspen cover on interpolated daily fire spread rates, the relative abundance of aspen at fire perimeters versus burn interiors, and whether these relationships shifted under more fire-conducive atmospheric conditions. Our study incorporated 314 fires occurring between 2001 and 2020 in the southwestern United States and a suite of gridded vegetation, topography, and fire weather predictor variables. We found that aspen slows fire progression: as aspen cover …

Squash Bug Integrated Pest Management, Nick Volesky, Marion Murray

All Current Publications

This infographic reviews integrated pest management for squash bugs. It includes information on the following: resistant varieties of vegetables to plant and crop rotation, homemade traps, mechanical destruction, mulches, trap crops, natural enemies, and organic and synthetic insecticides.

Western Australia’S Agricultural R&D Ecosystem, Ross Kingwell

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

• Decades ago, the agricultural R&D ecosystem in Western Australia (WA) was fairly simple with few funders and some key providers of R&D services such as the Department of Agriculture, CSIRO and the University of Western Australia.
• Since then, the agricultural R&D ecosystem in WA has increased in complexity with more R&D providers and a greater injection of industry and private funding.
• These changes have occurred against a backdrop of the total investment in agricultural R&D declining as a share of agriculture’s gross value of production.
• State and federal governments have reduced their share of the total investment in agricultural R&D. …

Soil Health In Nebraska: Exploring Practitioners' Needs And Insights From A Long-Term Organic Farm, Ingrids Isabel Mata Vigil

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

Soil health is foundational to sustainable agriculture, environmental resilience, and long-term food security. Yet, the adoption of soil health assessments remains limited, often perceived as too technical, costly, or difficult to implement in real-world contexts. To better understand these challenges, the first chapter presents findings from a statewide survey of 41 soil health practitioners in Nebraska, including farmers, extension educators, NRCS staff, and conservation professionals. Respondents highlighted the need for simpler, more accessible, and context-specific tools for soil health assessment that help practitioners make informed decisions aligned with their management goals. Complementing these insights, the second chapter includes an independent, …

Evaluating The Effects Of Row Spacing, Legume Intercropping, Fertilizer Source, And Fertilizer Timing On Intermediate Wheatgrass In Eastern Nebraska, Madeline M. Johnston

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

Kernza^® is the trademarked name of the perennial crop intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium). In addition to its potential for dual-use as a grain and forage crop, Kernza is marketed to provide needed environmental services by increasing crop biodiversity, sequestering soil carbon, and reducing nitrate leaching. However, more work is needed in cultivar selection and crop management to increase total grain yields and prevent long-term grain yield decline. Furthermore, research in quantifying and understanding Kernza’s ability to affect soil properties and water dynamics is limited.

Two field experiments were conducted at the Eastern Nebraska Research Extension and Education …

Evaluating Biodegradable Mulch As A Soil Conservation Tool And The Impact On Soil Properties And Yield In Soybean (Glycine Max) Cropping Systems In Eastern Nebraska, Ana Clara Gomes

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

This study, conducted during the 2024 growing season, evaluated short-term effects of soil management practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil microclimate, nitrogen dynamics, weed suppression, and soybean (Glycine max) yield. In addition to conventional tillage and no-till, this research included cereal rye (Secale cereale) cover cropping and a novel sprayable biodegradable mulch (BioWRAP®) to assess emerging strategies for sustainable soybean systems under contrasting moisture regimes.

Field trials were established at two eastern Nebraska locations: Havelock (dryland, silty clay loam) and ENREEC (irrigated, clay loam). A strip-block randomized design with four replications tested six soil management …

An Agricultural Needs Assessment In The Tri-County Area Of Utah, Cheyenne Reid, Lendel K. Narine, Brooke Holgate

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

An agricultural needs assessment was conducted in the Tri-County area, i.e., Uintah, Daggett, and Duchesne counties, to inform extension programming. Results showed that profitability, business development, and land use were high-priority needs. Gaps in producers’ access to information were found, highlighting the need for targeted education programs to address agricultural challenges.

Status Of The Western Australian Pastoral Rangelands 2024: Total Vegetative Cover, Cover Risk And Pasture Condition, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) monitors and reports on the vegetation condition of pastoral rangelands in Western Australia. Two levels of reporting are provided: every 5 years a full report (this report) details the state, trend and risk of decrease of vegetation condition in the pastoral rangelands using information derived from remotely sensed and on-ground data; in the intervening years, short reports are provided based on remotely sensed data.

This full report is based on remotely sensed vegetation cover data, rainfall data, livestock data and station-level rangeland condition assessment (RCA) data available in November 2024. Data …

Primary Investigation Of Rice-Fish Co-Culture: Investigating The Feasibility Of Raising Fish In Flooded Rice Paddies In The Southern Usa, Yulin Jia, Aaron K. Jackson, Bartholomew Green, S. Adam Fuller, Heather Box, Laduska Sells, Candis Ray, Paxton Harper, Brennan Smith

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

With limited land and water resources available it has become critical to maximize output for agricultural products while maintaining sustainable farming practices. Ricefish co-culture can be used to maximize limited land and water resources for production of rice and fish concurrently and reduce the need of chemical inputs. While rice-fish co-culture has been practiced in Asia for centuries, very few studies have examined the feasibility and economic impact of rice fish co-culture in the U.S.A. Two studies were conducted in Stuttgart, Arkansas, U.S.A. from 2023-2024 to investigate the suitability of raising Koi carp in flooded rice paddies with a sushi …