Agricultural Economics Commons^™

The Impacts Of Social Activism And Corporate Social Responsibility On Food Fraud, Anubrata Deka, Emie Yiannaka, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

A recent report finds that 86% of Americans expect for-profit companies to be active in addressing social and environmental issues (Porter Novelli/Cone 2019). In addition to benefiting society, engagement in prosocial behavior, known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), can improve a firm’s competitiveness and economic performance. Engagement in proactive CSR can enhance a firm’s relationship with the public by building its reputation of being a trustworthy, credible and responsible citizen. Studies have argued that the reputation firms develop through CSR activities can provide ‘insurance-like’ protection from future negative publicity and attacks on the firm (Godfrey et al. 2009; Gardberg and …

Weather Impacts The Agricultural Production Efficiency Of Wheat: The Importance Of Precipitation Shocks, Bowen Chen, Elliott James Dennis, Allen M. Featherstone

Cornhusker Economics

Weather affects the production environment that farmers face and, in some cases, can affect their ability to efficiently convert production inputs into outputs. Despite that the effect of weather shocks on agricultural production has been well documented (Donaldson, 1968; Ito and Kurosaki, 2009; Schlenker and Roberts, 2009; Tack, Barkley, and Nalley, 2015), few studies have accounted for the weather as a source of production inefficiency or lower agricultural productivity. In a recently published paper, we showed the effects that weather has on the production efficiency of winter wheat farms and discussed some of the implications that climate change could …

Effects Of Foliar Application Of Zno Nanoparticles On Lentil Production, Stress Level And Nutritional Seed Quality Under Field Conditions, Marek Kolenčík, Dávid Ernst, Matej Komár, Martin Urík, Martin Šebesta, Ľuba Ďurišová, Marek Bujdoš, Ivan Černý, Juraj Chlpík, Martin Juriga, Ramakanth Illa, Yu Qian, Huan Feng, Gabriela Kratošová, Karla Čech Barabaszová, Ladislav Ducsay, Elena Aydın

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Nanotechnology offers new opportunities for the development of novel materials and strategies that improve technology and industry. This applies especially to agriculture, and our previous field studies have indicated that zinc oxide nanoparticles provide promising nano-fertilizer dispersion in sustainable agriculture. However, little is known about the precise ZnO-NP effects on legumes. Herein, 1 mg·L⁻¹ ZnO-NP spray was dispersed on lentil plants to establish the direct NP effects on lentil production, seed nutritional quality, and stress response under field conditions. Although ZnO-NP exposure positively affected yield, thousand-seed weight and the number of pods per plant, there was no statistically significant …

Relationships Between Reported Pandemic Impacts And Well-Being Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt

Cornhusker Economics

Since March of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Nebraskans in many ways, including their physical health, mental health, work, and socialization. The 2021 Nebraska Rural Poll examined to what extent various elements of life were affected or disrupted by the pandemic as well as respondents’ general assessments of their well-being. Did rural Nebraskans’ assessments of the impacts the pandemic has had on their lives correlate with their assessment of their well-being?

Insights Into Nebraska Rural Grocery Store Ownership, Marilyn R. Schlake, Shawn Kaskie, Greg Mckee, Charlotte Narjes, Jason Tuller, John Westra

Cornhusker Economics

In Fall 2020, University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers started a research project to better understand the perceptions and experiences of transitioning a rural grocery store to new ownership. The project is part of the Heartland Challenge program funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Researchers conducted a survey of Nebraska rural grocers to seek their input and determine future research directions. Sixty-seven of the 216 distributed surveys were completed either electronically or by print. Survey questions pertained to challenges and opportunities owners experienced while operating a rural grocery operation, community support and involvement in store transition, and motivations for continued operation …

Cooperative-Led Green Value Chain Development For Selected Highland Vegetables In Buguias, Benguet, Paul Kenneth B. Maghirang

Journal of Economics, Management and Agricultural Development

This study proposes a cooperative-led green value chain model for selected highland vegetables in Buguias, Benguet. Primary and secondary data were used in the study. Primary data were gathered through KII, FGD, and survey interviews among 30 farmer-members of LIFMPC. Descriptive, cost and returns, and value chain analysis were conducted. The proposed model of cooperative-led green value chain for selected highland vegetables was developed based on current practices of the farmer respondents. The greening opportunities were identified in different segments of the chain, from input sourcing to consumption, as well as the actors and their activities. Performing these green practices …

Rural Business Development Corporation Annual Report 2022, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

All other publications

In accordance with section 63 of the Financial Management Act 2006, we hereby submit for your information and presentation to Parliament, the annual report of the Rural Business Development Corporation for the reporting period ended 30 June 2023.

The annual report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Financial Management Act 2006 and the Rural Business Development Corporation Act 2000.

Evaluating The Impact Of Off-Farm Decisions On Federal Government Program Utilization And Financial Success For Missouri's Beginning Farmers, Lyndsey Ann Parker

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Farmers and ranchers will have to increase production by approximately 70% by the year 2050 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (2017). People in the agriculture industry face several challenges from start-up costs to limited land availability (Ahearn, 2011). There are federal and state government programs available to assist with some of these challenges but bring their own hardships as well. This study measures off-farm decisions that affect financial performance and utilization of government programs for Missouri’s farmers and ranchers. Three types of financial performance of Missouri farms are prioritized in this study, liquidity (current ratio), solvency (debt-to-asset ratio), …

Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation management practice adoption on agricultural land has increased in recent years due to increasing public and private investment. The anticipated impact of increasing conservation management practice adoption are reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved soil, water, and air quality. Understanding how these conservation management practices affect agricultural producers economically is vital to properly incentivize these practices. The existing literature on how conservation management practices affect soil health and crop yields is mixed and generally has been conducted on experimental research stations. These studies may not fully account for the on-farm effects of conservation management practices. The objectives of this …

Forecasting Locational Marginal Prices In Electricity Markets By Using Artificial Neural Networks, Kim Jay R. Rosano, Allan C. Nerves

Journal of Economics, Management and Agricultural Development

Electricity price forecasting is an important tool used by market players in decision-making and strategizing their participation in the electricity market. In most studies, market-clearing price is forecasted as it gives an aggregated overview of system price. However, locational marginal price (LMP) gives better outlook of the price particular to the customer location in the electrical power grid. This study utilizes Artificial Neural Networks to forecast weekday LMP of generator and load nodes. Various inputs such as historical prices and demand, and temporal indices were used. Using data for selected nodes of the Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, forecast Mean …

Developing An Air Pollutant Emissions Database For Global Economic Analysis, Maksym Chepeliev

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

According to the Global Burden of Disease study (Cohen et al., 2017), in 2015 ambient air pollutant emissions caused 4.2 million deaths and a loss of 103.1 million disability-adjusted life-years, making it the fifth-ranked global risk factor. In terms of the welfare costs of mortality and illnesses associated with outdoor air pollutant emissions, global estimates for 2015 range between $2.7-3.2 trillion (Coady et al., 2015; OECD, 2016). Still, while greenhouse gas emissions are usually well represented in many global economic databases and models, air pollutant emission accounts in most cases are not included. In particular, this is the case for …

Driver Liability For Farm And Ranch Operations, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

One major concern of farming and/or ranching operations is the liability of semi-trucks and equipment when they are involved in a traffic accident.

Mistakes In Difficult Conversations, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

Farm families that work together across the family tree and across generations seem to encounter difficulty from time to time when separating “family” from “business.” Having clear, consistent, and honest communications will go a long way towards reducing the troubles that can arise in difficult conversations. This article addresses those troubles.

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’ 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 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 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 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 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 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 …

A Proposal For Insurance To Address Offsite Injuries Accompanying Dicamba Usage, Terence J. Centner

Cornhusker Economics

Soybean producers are familiar with the special dicamba products first sold in 2017 for use on Xtend soybeans to control glyphosate-resistant weeds. Dicamba can be applied as a post-emergent spray to kill weeds that germinate after soybeans have been planted. With the control of these weeds, producers reap increased yields. However, the use of dicamba products led to significant offsite injury to vegetation including non-dicamba-resistant soybeans. Damages to neighbors’ properties from dicamba usage strained the social relations of people living in many rural communities.

Dollar Stores And Supermarket Survivability In Non-Metropolitan Us Communities, Cami Farmer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the growing popularity of dollar stores, concerns have surfaced over the potential relationship between dollar stores and the closures of grocery stores. Healthy food accessibility for consumers, particularly those in rural areas, has additionally become of great interest. This thesis aims to investigate the potential relationship of dollar store presence and grocery store closures. Data used included County Business Patterns, Rural Urban Continuum Codes, American Community Survey, and authorized SNAP retailer data. The spatial distance between grocery stores and the number of dollar stores at various radii were calculated. Following the computation of the number of dollar stores surrounding …

Distillers' Grains: Past, Present, And Future Economic Analyses, Daniel E. Gertner

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

This thesis is comprised of four chapters, each of which discusses or conducts economic research related to the distillers’ grains market. The first three chapters are meant to be standalone papers. Chapter four provides potential paths forward in distillers’ grains research based on the findings of the first three chapters and concludes the thesis.

The first chapter conducts a comprehensive literature review that categorizes and summarizes economic research on distillers’ grains products. This section shows how the physical market has moved beyond the current academic understanding of market products and structure. Existing research finds that traditional distillers’ grains products positively …

Is There Room In The United States Diet For Goat Meat? Analysis Of The 2019 National Goat Meat Survey, Everett Marcus Martin

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Demand for goat meat has steadily increased in the past decade, but few studies have been conducted addressing goat meat attributes and demographic factors on consumers’ willingness to buy goat meat products. Analyzing a national consumer survey on goat meat preference, a logit modeling is used addressing factors affecting willingness to buy three goat meat products: grass-fed, locally grown, and organically raised. Results indicate that quality and freshness attribute characteristics significantly affect consumer willingness to buy grass-fed, organic, and locally grown goat meat.

Tax Planning For High Income, Tina N. Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

Agriculture has always been an industry with cyclical income trends. Prior to 2003, the average farm income reported in our annual data would typically go up and down each year -- having a good year and then a bad year and then a good year again. Since then, the trend has been more about longer periods of good, followed by multiple years of down income, etc. These longer stretches also see more extremes and this makes tax planning even more important and more difficult. More important because we are likely not making a decision that only affects one year and …

The Coronavirus Pandemic And International Trade, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted economic activities around the world. Many businesses had to cease operations and furlough or lay off their workers. The World Bank (2021) has reported that global economic output fell by 3.4% in 2020. The good news is that the massive infusion of financial support from many governments in high-income countries meant that the worst economic effects of the pandemic were mitigated, and a rapid recovery has begun to make up for the pandemic-related losses. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global economy will grow by 5.9% in 2021 recovering the 2020 losses and …

Challenges Of Making Financial Decisions And Avoiding Fraudulent Schemes, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Last month there was an article in the local newspaper about a man accused of defrauding commodity investors for several years in Nebraska. This person is a commodity pool operator (CPO), who is an individual or organization that operates a commodity pool and solicits funds for that pool. A commodity pool is an enterprise in which funds contributed by a number of clients are combined for the purpose of trading futures contracts, options contracts, among other types of financial products. Generally speaking, a CPO manages an investment fund focused on commodity products.

Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies Influence On Family Farms, Cory Walters, Azzeddine Azzam, Taylor Kaus

Cornhusker Economics

The U.S. current taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance program represents a culmination of a series of legislative acts, beginning in 1980 with the Federal Crop Insurance Act, followed by the Federal Insurance Reform Act in 1994, and the Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA) in 2000. All acts aimed at encouraging producer participation through increased premium subsidies and enhanced coverage options. Increased subsidization was effective in increasing participation, as more than 90% of corn acres were covered by some form of crop insurance by 2020. For 2021, premium subsidies in Nebraska for all crop insurance policies ranged from just over $36,000 in Hooker …

Finding Hidden Members In Your Community, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

It is not uncommon for rural Nebraska coffee shop talk to touch on the topic of who is involved or not involved in the community. Typically, the conversation comes to the conclusion that the same people seem to be doing everything. The topic could relate to a civic group, community event, or even an elected office in the community. There are no new faces and no new ideas as well as there is no one there to allow for a leadership transition. Have you ever heard this conversation? Have you participated in it?

Optimal Regulatory Response To Food Fraud, Syed Imran Ali Meerza, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

Food fraud refers to the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food for economic gains. In this context, food fraud can be divided into two broad categories: food adulteration and mislabeling. While food adulteration can be defined as the intentional substitution or addition of substances in a food product to reduce its costs of production, mislabeling refers to acts of misrepresentation of the type or quality of food products. Food fraud is motivated by economic gains and is enabled by the fact that information about the nature of credence goods is typically asymmetric – while product suppliers know the …