Agricultural Economics Commons^™

Growing South Dakota (Winter 2015), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

This issue includes the 2014 SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station Annual Report.

[Page] 2 AES Director’s Message
[Page] 3 Better Beans: Innovative Research Seeks To Increase Soybean’s Nitrogen-Fixing Ability
[Page] 6 Bioprocessing Adds Value: Researchers Turn Agricultural Residue Into Energy Storage Material
[Page] 8 Protecting Water Quality: Conservation Practices Minimize Erosion, Surface Runoff
[Page] 10 Balancing Ag & Wildlife: Cover Crop Food Plots Help Manage Deer Population
[Page] 11 Industry Insight: Beef Consumers Get Information From Websites, Social Media
[Page] 12 Evaluating Efficiency: Swine Nutritional Studies Underway; New Facility Will Allow For Expanded Research
[Page] 14 SDSU Hosts National Ag Leaders …

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

From Field To Atlas: Upscaling Of Location-Specific Yield Gap Estimates, Lenny G.J. Van Bussel, Patricio Grassini, Justin Van Wart, Joost Wolf, Lieven Claessens, Haishun Yang, Hendrik Boogaard, Hugo De Groot, Kazuki Saito, Kenneth Cassman, Martin K. Van Ittersum

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Accurate estimation of yield gaps is only possible for locations where high quality local data are available,which are, however, lacking in many regions of the world. The challenge is how yield gap estimates based on location-specific input data can be used to obtain yield gap estimates for larger spatial areas. Hence,insight about the minimum number of locations required to achieve robust estimates of yield gaps at larger spatial scales is essential because data collection at a large number of locations is expensive and time consuming. In this paper we describe an approach that consists of a climate zonation scheme supplemented …

How Good Is Good Enough? Data Requirements For Reliable Crop Yield Simulations And Yield-Gap Analysis, Patricio Grassini, Lenny G.J. Van Bussel, Justin Van Wart, Joost Wolf, Lieven Claessens, Haishun Yang, Hendrik Boogaard, Hugo De Groot, Martin K. Van Ittersum, Kenneth Cassman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Numerous studies have been published during the past two decades that use simulation models to assess crop yield gaps (quantified as the difference between potential and actual farm yields), impact of climate change on future crop yields, and land-use change. However, there is a wide range in quality and spatial and temporal scale and resolution of climate and soil data underpinning these studies, as well as widely differing assumptions about cropping-system context and crop model calibration. Here we present an explicit rationale and methodology for selecting data sources for simulating crop yields and estimating yield gaps at specific locations that …

Testing Carbon Farming Opportunities For Salinity Management, Peter Ritson, Mike G. Clarke, Adele Killen, Sarah Jeffery

All other publications

An emerging prospect for farm revenue from revegetation of saline and other lands that are marginal or non-productive for agriculture is the sale of carbon credits. Australian Government schemes for carbon credits include the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) and the proposed Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) Therefore, this study aimed to assess the potential for woody vegetation (trees and shrubs) established on and around salt-affected lands in the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store (sequester) the carbon in new growth. Revegetation plantings on six farms were selected for the study after the landowners expressed …

Three Essays On Land Ownership, Gender, And Agricultural Productivity In The Case Of Developing Countries, Krishna H. Koirala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation set out to evaluate the impact of land ownership and role of gender to the Filipino farmers and to investigate gender difference in agricultural productivity and technical efficiency of Malawian rural households. The first essay investigates the impact of land ownership on the productivity and technical efficiency of rice farmers in the Philippines. We use a 2007-2012 Loop Survey from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and analyzed it by using a stochastic frontier function method. Results show that land ownership has a significant impact on technical efficiency. In particular, counter to the theory, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform …

Three Essays On Economic Analysis Of Production Systems Of U.S. Grass-Fed Beef Industry, Basu Deb Bhandari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation research consists of three essays. The first two studies analyze experimental research data based on three pasture systems for grass-fed beef (GFB) production in the Gulf Coast Region. System 1 included bermudagrass and ryegrass; System 2 included bermudagrass, ryegrass, rye, dallisgrass, and clover mixtures (red, white, and berseem clovers); and System 3 included bermudagrass, soybean, sorghum sudan hybrid, ryegrass, rye, dallisgrass, and clover mixtures (red, white, and berseem clovers). Fifty-four Fall-born steers were weaned in May and grouped into nine groups and randomly blocked into treatments and replicates. Inputs and output data were recorded on a daily basis. …

Estimating Desirable Cattle Traits Using Latent Class And Mixed Logit Models: A Choice Modeling Application To The U.S. Grass-Fed Beef Industry, Isaac Sitienei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the preferences for cattle traits using mixed logit and latent class models. Choice experiment data from a 2013 mail survey of 1,052 U.S. grass-fed beef producers were used. The findings indicate that grass-fed beef producers generally preferred lower-priced, heavy animals that were small-to-medium framed and easy to handle for grass-finishing. Black animals that were retained from their own calves were preferred. Relative to intact males, steers and heifers were preferred. Except for the estimated parameter for the weight attribute, the standard deviations for the temperament, body frame, source, color, gender, and price attribute levels were significant at …

A Market-Based Approach For Valuing Ecosystem Services On Coastal Properties, Michelle A. Savolainen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As part of ongoing efforts to assess ecosystem services provided by wetlands, this research focuses on estimating the private monetary value of wetland services to residential property owners in Louisiana and Alabama using a hedonic price model. Understanding that tradeoffs must be made with limited resources, valuing ecosystem services is important for policy and decision making purposes, such as determining how much public and private financial resources should be put towards wetland maintenance and restoration. Data on property transactions, wetland coverage, and built infrastructure were collected for the analysis. Based on theory and results from a Box-Cox model, the log-linear …

Evaluating Commodity Farm Program Selection And Economic Return Variability On Representative Farms In The Mississippi River Delta Region Using A Risk Return Framework, Michael Anthony Deliberto

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Agricultural Act of 2014, signed February 7, 2014, introduces a new era of federal support in the production of major agricultural commodities in the United States for the 2014 through 2018 crop years. The ultimate result of the Act was a 954-page piece of legislation that represented market-oriented policies such as the creation of an area-wide shallow loss revenue support program for covered commodities and a greater reliance on crop insurance products offered as a suite of risk management tools available to producers. The impact that this law has on agricultural producers in the Mississippi River delta region of …

Factors Influencing Sustainable Cocoa Production In Northern Haiti, Wegbert Chery

LSU Master's Theses

Given the environmental concerns on the one hand, especially soil erosion and deforestation, and the hope that the global cocoa market offers on the other hand, cocoa production is a potential candidate to simultaneously guarantee a competitive return to investment for farmers in northern Haiti and mitigate the negative environmental impact of farming practices. It becomes crucial for policy makers and investors to know and understand the key elements of the decision to produce cocoa. Though there has been substantial effort to improve the cocoa sector in Haiti, cocoa production systems in Haiti lag behind in the area of sustainability. …

Three Essays On Food Demand, Land Use Intensity, And Food Crop Portfolio Choice Under Weather Risk, Aditya Raj Khanal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Food security and adaptation to climate change has been an important research and development agenda in most of the development organizations and in the national policy of developing countries. The most vulnerable population from climate change and food security problems are rural and agricultural households in the developing and low income countries. Weather and climatic factors and food security has a direct link with poverty because a large majority of poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The primary focus of this dissertation is to analyze consumption and production aspects of the rural agricultural households. …

Essays On The Effect Of Trade Facilitation On Bilateral Agricultural Trade, Trina Biswas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation offers three independent studies that each contributes to the literature on trade facilitation. The papers are built on the gravity model framework where the relationship between trade facilitation variables and the volume of agricultural exports across the border are examined. To deal with the issue of endogeneity, instrumental variable regression is used. The study also corrects for sample-selection bias present in the trade data. The first paper examines the role of e-governance on bilateral agricultural trade. The study finds that better quality of e-governance promotes agricultural exports. Specifically, according to the findings of the paper, the quality of …

Agricultural Policy, Off-Farm Income, And Farmland Values: The Case Of South Korea, Hyunjeong Joo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Farmland plays a dual role for farm business households; it can be both a production cost and an asset. As a production cost, farmland affects farm production decisions. As an asset, farmland comprises 80% of the total farm households’ assets. The total land available for farming is decreasing due to non-farming demand for land. The primary goal of this dissertation is to examine the impact of farm household income on farmland values. Specifically, I will assess the impact of off-farm income and government subsidies on farmland values in South Korean farm households. The majority of the studies on off-farm income, …