Agricultural Economics Commons^™

An Economic Analysis Of Sprinkling For Bloom Delay And Freeze Protection Of Apples In Farmington, Utah, Jay Val Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major purpose of this study is to analyze the economic feasibility of bloom delay by sprinkling as a means of protecting delicious apples from frost. The framework of this study is based on decision making theory under uncertainty. It demonstrates the usefulness of the Bayesian approach to determine optimum action to take in face of uncertain climatic conditions. The economic analysis was conducted for Farmington, Utah, where significant relationships were found between the end of winter rest (end of chill-unit accumulation) and time of full bloom of red delicious apples.

A posteriori probabilities for the state of nature were …

Consumer Profile Differences Among Utah And Idaho Boaters, Thomas D. Singleton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate the consumer characteristics of boaters in Utah and Idaho. This has entailed a descriptive analysis of boater's socio-economic profiles, facilities and equipment, preferences and attitudes, and activity patterns.

Concomitantly a test of the hypothesis that boating is not a homogenous recreational activity was attempted. Two statistical analyses were carried out. The first test was to determine whether the profiles of boaters having different activity specialities differed. This was accomplished by finding the means of selected boater characteristics (i.e., income, children, length of boat) for each boating speciality. The L.S.D. multiple …

An Interregional Competition Study Of Utah Agriculture Using The Linear Programming Technique, Douglas Lee Andersen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purposes of this paper were to inventory the available agricultural production resources in Utah, to determine how those resources could be allocated most efficiently, and to provide information to aid the crop and livestock producing sectors in Utah in making informed production and marketing decisions.

Utah was divided into eight agricultural production and product consumption regions and the rest of the country was regionalized into product supply and market areas. Input and output coefficients, production costs, and market prices for the major Utah crop and livestock production enterprises and their products were developed. A linear program was then used …

Economics Of Land Use Planning: A Case Study Of Annexation In Heber Valley, Utah, Lyle C. Summers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Some theories and methodologies applicable to land use planning problems were reviewed along with the history of land use and land use legislation in the United States and Utah. This review served to point out that federal land use policy is moving away from the incentive approach to controlling land use and toward a more mandatory approach aimed at giving increased emphasis to environmental quality and less to economic efficiency.

A model for conceptualizing and analyzing annexation problems was developed and applied to a problem in Heber City, Wasatch County, Utah. The analysis demonstrated that annexation is feasible by showing …

Investigation Of Factors Contributing To The Declining Range Sheep Industry In Utah, Jerry W. Boehme

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this paper is to document the major reasons sheep producers are liquidating their business, and to provide some insight into the present use of land and labor resources taken out of sheep production, Data compiled for the study were obtained from personnel interviews of former sheep producers statistically selected from a master list of all producers who stopped sheep production from 1968 to June 1974. The general characteristics of Utah sheep ranches were presented followed by an analysis of producers who, and the reasons why, they sold their herds, The last section of the report documents the …

Intraregional Efficiency Of Production Decisions And Interregional Efficiency Of Input Use In Bolivian Agriculture, Stephen C. Hammond

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The main objectives of this study were to analyze the efficiency with which Bolivian farmers utilize productive resources as they combine them in crop production and to examine the possibility of interregional resource immobility in the production of agricultural products.

Bolivia was divided into seven distinct production regions called departments. A linear program maximizing model was generated for the major crops produced in each department. Land, labor, irrigation, and capital were the input coefficients used in the models. They produced a net return to management, land, and fixed costs associated with land. The linear program using these coefficients generated the …

Economics Of Land Use Planning--Utah Recreational Subdivisions, 1962-72, Donald William (Sandy) Mac Pherson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Economic and environmental inventory and evaluation were made of Utah recreational subdivisions filed with the state from 1962 through 1972. Major data were collected from standard subdivision questionnaires, filed by developers with Utah Real Estate Division, Department of Business Regulation. Study included 62,716 lots, 238,004 acres, and a value, in terms of developers' projected gross sales, of $211,836,550 in 1972 dollars.

Description of Utah recreational urbanization included: community services such as water supply and sanitation, drainage and flooding, fire protection, roads, and schools; developer sales inducements, improvement costs, and selling costs; subdivision layout characteristics, locations, magnitude, value, and buildout rates; …

Economic Feasibility Of Controlling Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata) On State And Private Rangelands In Utah, Stan D. Hinckley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spraying with the chemical herbicide 2,4-D is the most widely used method of controlling big sagebrush. Spraying is very effective in increasing forage production and generally is not poisonous to either man or animals.

Two procedures can be used to calculate the internal rate of return to big sagebrush control: standard and modified discounting. Standard discounting assumes all nonuse costs are incurred in the year of treatment, and the annual income stream is constant throughout the effective life of treatment. Modified discounting correctly assumes the nonuse cost is incurred in the period of deferment, and the income stream does not …

Import Substitution Potentials And Marketing Policies For Forest Products In Iran, M. A. Salimi-Manshadi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumption data for different forest products were calculated for nine years (1962 to 1970). Then, taking consumption as a function of per capita disposable income and population, mathematical models were developed. By regressing per capita consumption of each product on per capita disposable income and determining the corresponding coefficients, the per capita demand for the products in the target years was calculated. The total projected demand was then computed by the products of per capita consumption and population in the target years.

Through regression analysis the future import of forest products was projected, and import substitution possibilities were discussed.

Finally, …

Irrigation And Non-Irrigation Alternatives For Reducing Sugar Cane Transportation Costs In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Lee M. Bailey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major objective of this study was to investigate various alternatives for lowering the cost of transporting sugar cane in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. These alternatives included both irrigation and non-irrigation possibilities. Production costs for sugar cane were determined by using studies completed by the USAID-Utah State University study team, budget studies of Senor Carlos Castro of the Guabira' sugar cane mill in Santa Cruz and a study undertaken by Senor Enrique Gomez, a graduate student at Utah State University.

A cane registry commissioned by the National Sugar Cane Commission was used in conjunction with a least-cost transportation model in order …

Present Livestock Feed Balance, Projected Feed Requirement And Potential For The State Of Utah, Roberto Savelli C.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objectives of this thesis were to estimate the present livestock feed balance and project livestock feed requirements and balances to 1980 for the State of Utah.

Present feed production was obtained from published data. Livestock feed requirements were calculated using factors published in Livestock-Feed Relationships, a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The projections of feed requirements to 1980 were made by projecting livestock numbers based on a least squares analysis of past trends. Utilizing the projected numbers permits calculation of the feed requirements.

Feed production in 1980 was obtained by projecting past feed production and by …

A Method Of Estimating Minimum Dairy Farm Sizes For Specific Income Levels, K. Dale Russell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this paper is to calculate a method of estimating minimum dairy farm sizes for specific income levels. A survey of a sample of Utah dairy farmers was conducted to obtain data to calculate a long run average cost schedule. Dairy farmers who had just recently built new facilities and with varying sized herds were interviewed. Individual costs were studied to establish their effect on the long run average cost curve. Different average revenue curves for varying prices and production levels were used to establish minimum cow numbers needed to give specified incomes and growth potentials. Marginal analysis …

An Evaluation Of The Competitive Position Of Utah Livestock Production To Other Livestock Producing Areas, Kenneth H. Gray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to make an evaluation of the competitive position of the Utah livestock industry by use of a linear programming model (MPS-360). This is on the basis of the least cost means of production to meet the quantity demanded of the livestock products. This is accomplished by dividing the United States into six regions where Utah is one of these regions to enable careful consideration of Utah's agricultural enterprises.

The agricultural products used in the analysis are beef, pork, broilers, turkeys, eggs and milk.

The feeds used for production are barley, wheat, corn, oats, milo, …

A Study Of Factor Input Services In Cache County, Utah, 1969, Terry N. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A study was made to analyze the extent o f factor input service s in Cache County, Utah, in 1969.

Fertilizer, feed and machinery dealers we re interviewed to obtain the extent of the services which they provided to farmers in Cache County. One machinery dealer provided a service in the form of a rental program while all others provided none. Fertilizer dealers provided spreaders while feed dealers provided only a delivery service.

The Farm Service Division of the Amalgamated Sugar Company was examined as a case study. Budgets for different sizes of beet growers were formulated and compared to …

Economic Rent Values For Pheasant Hunting In Utah, Braulio Rodriguez V.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A conceptual model relating recreation resource values to the concept of economic rent was developed. The model argues that recreation sites possess both quality and location characteristics which serve as rent producing agents. Sites of better quality extract economic rents relative to those of lesser quality while those located most advantageously to user origins earn location rents relative to those more distantly located. The economic rent values are expressed by the differential use costs and recreationist activity associated with individual site usage.

A methodological procedure was developed which generates estimates of total rent values for a given site. The procedure …

Estimating Agricultural Production Functions From Experimental Data For Different Crops In Relation To Irrigation, Fertilization And Soil Management In Northern Utah, Subramaniuam Swami Nathan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Estimates of agricultural production functions from experimental data for four different crops in relation to six variable inputs are calculated by this study. There are four basic sections in the study. The first section covers the review of production function concepts and the procedures and problems that specifically pertain to this study. Also the importance of joint economic-agronomic research efforts, methodologies and applications of agricultural production functions are cited.

The second section includes the presentation data and postulated functional relationships in estimating production functions. Model building programs are used in developing three dimensional figures, which aid in the selection of …

Changes In The Market Structure Of The Grocery Retailing Industry Of Four Selected Utah Retail Selling Areas, 1960-1969, Michael H. Salsibury

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An analysis of four Utah retail selling areas was made to determine the changes in the market structure of the retail grocery industry of these markets. The study markets were Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake, and Provo-Orem. This study was an ex tension of the National Commission Food Marketing study of the retail food marketing industry.

The major changes observed in the study markets were increasing population, dollar food sales, supermarket saturation levels and concentration ratios. The number of retail food outlets was decreasing. The barriers to entry in the study markets increased during the study period.

There was substantial economic …

An Application Of Statistical Decision Theory To Farm Management In Sevier County, Utah, Suwaphot Lakawathana

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major purpose of this study is to present selected empirical results of a study employing decision-making theory as a framework for considering decision making under risk. The particular problem involves choices between alternative crop rotations for Sevier County farmers. The study demonstrates the usefulness of the Bayesian theory that gives more than a point estimation.

A multiple regression model using two linear terms was employed to determine the influence of snow pack and reservoir storage on water availability for irrigation purposes during July, August, and September.

The Bayesian approach was employed. The optimal action or decision was first determined …

An Empirical Analysis Of Demand Interrelationships: An Application To Selected Agricultural Commodities In Venezuela, Hector Luis Mata Brito

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary objective of this study was to develop demand equations at retail for selected Venezuelan food commodities. Commodities included for analysis were rice, refined sugar, crude sugar, flour, potatoes, beef, pork, black beans, corn, and powdered milk.

The basic statistical technique employed in the analysis was least squares multiple regression. Although several mathematical forms for these demand equations were evaluated, a log-log transform was found to be most useful. Independent variables included own price, prices of substitutes and complements, time and income. Observations were taken from Venezuelan time series data over the period 1945-1965.

Development of these basic demand …

The Public And Private Business Profile Of Cache County, Reed E. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Economic development that increases per capita income and creates additional jobs through expansion of present businesses and/or introduction of new businesses and business income is the goal of planners in Cache, Rich , and Box Elder Counties . To help with this goal a Northern Utah study group was organized to gather data on quality, quantity, and use of human, social, physical, and economic resources. This thesis is part of the main study and only includes Cache County.

Input-output models are effective predicting tools. These tools are used in this analysis . To predict different output changes in the economy, …

An Economic Analysis Of Range Improvements On Saddle Creek Allotment And Curlew National Grasslands--With Special Consideration On The Effects Of Improvements On Wildlife Management, Jerry Russell Meyers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Range improvements for livestock were analyzed for the Curlew National Grassland and Saddle Creek Allotment. Increases in aum's which were a result of range improvements were calculated and valued at $4.00 each. Internal rates of return for both study areas were computed with a 15-year project life span for estimated grazing capacity and permitted grazing. Rate of return was then set at 10 percent to calculate project life span for both permitted grazing and estimated grazing capacity for the two areas.

Effects of range improvements for livestock on wildlife habitat were studied. Due to a lack of quantitative data, values …

An Analysis Of The Competitive Position Of Cattle Finishing In Utah And Selected Western States, 1969, Stephen L. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utah's cattle feeding industry was described by using both secondary and primary data. The primary data were collected through use of a personal interview survey.

Primary data were also collected in Idaho, while secondary data were used for Arizona, California and Colorado.

Intrastate analysis of feeding costs showed definite cost savings were achieved in all states through economies of size.

Interstate analysis of feeding costs showed Utah's larger capacity feedlots to be very competitive with larger capacity lots in other states.

1968 prices for both slaughter and feeder cattle were computed for each state. Prices in Utah were slightly lower …

Determining Market Areas For Livestock Grazing, Robert G. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Differentials between rancher costs of operating on private and public range were studied in an attempt to define market areas for livestock grazing in western United States.

The problem of defining market areas is basically a problem of grouping differentials between rancher costs of grazing on private leased range and National Forests that are reasonably homogeneous and statistically testing differences among means of the different groups.

Several methods were used to group forests with reasonably uniform differentials into market areas for cattle. A grouping of forests which have the same average grazing fee does not, however, yield market areas which …

An Analysis Of Forest Service Grazing Statistics And A Case Study Of Public Grazing In Rich County, Utah, Barton F. Bailey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Forest Service grazing permits for cattle and sheep were analyzed. A livestock and land resource summary was completed for each non-temporary permit reported on the 98 forests in the twelve western states.

The economic feasibility of private rangeland improvements to offset public land grazing in Rich County, Utah, was analyzed in the second section of this thesis. The internal rate of return for various projects was computed. The internal rate of return was used as an indicator of the economic feasibility to ranchers. These estimates were made on a county basis and do not apply to any particular ranch situation.

Linear Programming Applied To Sheep Ranching In Utah, William R. Flint

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study was initiated to determine how sheep ranches were physically and economically organized in 1964 and to select range and livestock management alternatives which would be profitable to sheep ranches. With data collected from the ranches three model ranches, representing the three most prominent strata, were constructed. These strata were determined by number of breeding ewes that were on the ranch and by the season of grazing on government land, i.e., winter, summer, or year around. After the building of these three ranches, each of them was linear programmed to find the profit maximizing combination of resources both before …

Consumer Attitudes Affecting The Use Of Fluid Milk Products In Metropolitan Salt Lake City, Wayne N. Monson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A survey of 360 respondents in metropolitan Salt Lake City was made to determine their attitudes about fluid milk products and the affect of these attitudes on consumption levels. The fluid milk products studied were regular whole milk, two percent milk, skim milk, and nonfat dry (powdered) milk.

The respondents had the most positive attitudes about regular whole milk. Their attitudes about the other three products were highest for those which most nearly resembled regular whole milk. The consumption levels of the four products followed the same pattern.

The respondents' attitudes about four attitude parameters affected their consumption levels. Those …

Financial Operations Of The Agricultural Credit Corporation In Jordan, Nureddin A. Taqieddin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agriculture is the backbone of Jordan's economy. It provides employment and a living for 40 per cent or more of the total population. However, very few farmers have accumulated enough capital to finance their farm operations from planting to harvest. The Agricultural Credit Corporation was established to provide farmers with credit at a relatively low cost. Without the low cost loans many farmers cannot stay on their farms. The Agricultural Credit Corporation is the most important agency in terms of the direct help it offers to farmers.

The Agricultural Credit Corporation has followed a policy of making loans at a …

The Secondary Benefits Of Irrigation Water: An Economic Appraisal, Erik Bruce Godfrey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The secondary or external benefits of increasing the availability of water for irrigation and changing the allocation of an existing water supply was analyzed from a theoretical point of view.

"Input-output" models for Cache County, Utah, and for the state of Utah were used to indicate the intersectoral relationship of water used by agriculture and other sectors in each economy.

The indirect value of water used by agriculture in Cache County was estimated. A method that extended the procedure used in this thesis was proposed that could be used to estimate the value of water in ether sectors. A "water …

Transfer Of Farm Real Estate In Utah, 1961-1964, Howard Rasmus Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recorded "arms length" transfers of farm real estate were analyzed to determine factors affecting market value and assessment per acre, and assessment to market value ratios.

The data were aggregated by county and geographical groups. The geographical groups were made up of counties with similar population densities and similar climatic conditions.

Using multiple regression analysis and tabular analysis, size of parcel, quality of land, and distance to Salt Lake City were found to affect market value per acre; size of parcel and quality of land were found to affect assessment and assessment to market value ratios.

Estimated Supply Response Of Sugar Beet Production To Changes In Profitableness, Box Elder And Cache Counties, Utah, 1967, Brent W. Spaulding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relative profitability of sugar beets and competitive crops were studied in Box Elder and Cache counties, Utah.

Profitability ratios based on enterprise budget data and resource use requirements were used as a basis for comparison. Sugar beets was found to be more profitable than competing crops in returns per acre, in returns to water used and in returns to fixed investment and management. However, sugar beets was found to be less profitable than certain other crops in returns to operating capital and returns to labor. Also, on land rated low in productivity sugar beets was found to be less …