Agricultural Economics Commons^™

Evaluation And Enhancement Of Carbon Sequestration Potential Of Existing Vegetation Along Roadsides, Vikram Kapoor, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Samer Dessouky

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18HSTSA01. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"The objectives of this study were to evaluate the vegetative composition and carbon sequestration potential of vegetation along a major roadway in Texas. Soil and vegetation were evaluated along IH-35 within Bexar County for composition and carbon content. Three 20 m transects were placed at each site and percent vegetative cover was estimated and above ground plant biomass, and soil was collected from three 0.25 m2 subplots along each transect. Plant and soil samples were analyzed for carbon content. Two non-native grasses, …

Ag Lease Termination And Hunting Rights, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

There are many questions regarding the differences between written and unwritten agricultural land leases for cropland and for pasture. This Q&A explores some of the more important differences, focusing on lease termination requirements and the status of hunting rights on leased cropland and pasture. How are cropland leases terminated in Nebraska? That depends on the type of cropland lease. If it is a written lease, the lease terminates according to its terms. If the lease does not address how the lease is terminated, it automatically terminates without notice on the last day of the lease (no six- months notice requirement). …

Do Consumers Who Prefer Gluten-Free Also Prefer Organic?, Tatiana Drugova, Kynda R. Curtis

All Current Publications

This fact sheet summarizes results of an online survey that examined consumer preferences for labels on bread and cookies, focusing on the preferences for organic and gluten-free labels and how they relate to the consumer wheat/gluten intolerance/avoidance.

Estimating Demand Elasticities For Rice In Benin, Ogoudele Simon Codjo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice consumption in Benin is increasing along with shifting consumer demand toward higher quality rice. In this context of changing demands, experimental estimation methods provide an effective way to estimate the current state of consumer preferences. We conducted a hypothetical choice experiment in 15 open markets in Benin to analyze the demand for rice and its substitutes. The results reveal that consumers value quality rice, even those in the low-income class. While high income consumers are more likely to choose high quality imported rice, low- and middle-income consumers are more likely to select high quality domestic rice among the set …

Poultry Labeling: Knowledge, Perceptions, And Preferences Among Adolescents, Eleni L. Parsons

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, perceptions, and preferences of adolescents in regard to the labeling of poultry products. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) were used to display the relationship of perceptions, attitude, and behavior intentions. Quantitative data was collected in a descriptive research design. The population included youth, aged 14 – 18 years, involved in the Arkansas 4-H State O’Rama competition (N = 400). The sample (n = 80) ensured a 90% confidence interval of the population. Data was collected by administering paper surveys that addressed four product labels …

The Economic Evaluation Of Input Use Prescription Maps: Are You Paying To Make Less Profit?, Grant Edward Gardner

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

Variable Rate Prescriptions used by farmers to apply agricultural inputs are largely privatized and are normally seen only by the farmer that applies the prescription and the consultants whom create the prescription maps. Farmers need a way to evaluate the prescriptions that are being applied to fields. This paper explores modeling techniques which could be applied by farmers to determine the profitability of a particular consultant. Regression modeling is used on field trials which have been divided into site-specific management zones (SSMZ) based on a consultant’s variable rate prescriptions. Production functions are created for each management zone. The production functions …

Which Credence Production Attributes Do Consumers Prefer? The Case Of Milk, Emmanouil Petrakis

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

The interest of consumers for non-traditional food production attributes like antibiotics free and animal welfare have made consumer preferences more complex. These new attributes, usually non-identifiable by inspection or experience of the product are called credence attributes. The objectives of this study are to analyze consumer preferences for milk production attributes by eliciting the relative importance of these attributes for consumers, and to identify possible sources of heterogeneity related to consumer characteristics and actual purchase data. The research method used to elicit consumer preferences is Paired Comparison Method. Consumers from California and Texas were administered the online survey questionnaire in …

Evaluation And Enhancement Of Carbon Sequestration Potential Of Existing Vegetation Along Roadsides, Vikram Kapoor, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the vegetative composition and carbon sequestration potential of vegetation along a major roadway in Texas. Soil and vegetation were evaluated along IH-35 within Bexar County for composition and carbon content. Three 20 m transects were placed at each site and percent vegetative cover was estimated and above ground plant biomass, and soil was collected from three 0.25 m2 subplots along each transect. Plant and soil samples were analyzed for carbon content. Two non-native grasses, bermudagrass and King Ranch bluestem, were the dominant cover at all sites accounting for > 90% coverage at several …

Essays In Microeconomics, Teng Ma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays of different topics in microeconomics.

Chapter 1 investigates the effect of environmental uncertainty over the issue of resource allocation in a common pool resources setting. This chapter provides a model of how agents allocate resource among abatement technology, production, and saving with an endogenously determined uncertain damage. The results of a laboratory experiment show a negative effect of uncertain damage on abatement technology adoption and a non-linear relationship between the investment in abatement technology and the self reported risk aversion. Contrary to the “common belief” that greater risk averse agents invest more in abatement …

The Value Of Grazed Corn Residue For Crop And Cattle Producers, Jay Parsons, D. D. Redfearn, Mary E. Drewnoski

Cornhusker Economics

The Western Corn Belt has historically been corn and wheat cropping systems with cattle integrated on nearby grasslands. Recent agricultural production data ranked Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and North Dakota in the top 10 states for both corn and beef cattle production in the United States. In 2017, these four states had about 20% of the beef cow inventory in the United States with Nebraska alone having 1.9 million beef cows (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2018). Forage-based livestock production is a fundamental component of these agricultural economies. However, a large quantity of grasslands in this region were converted into …

2019 Nebraska Property Tax Issues, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Nebraska property taxes are the tenth highest in the United States, sales taxes are the ninth lowest, and both income taxes and total state taxes are in the middle. Property taxes account for 38% of total state and local tax collections in Nebraska, the highest of any tax. Sales taxes are 29% of total tax collections, and income taxes are 26%. If property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes were equalized as sources of state and local revenue, property taxes would need to be reduced over $600 million.

Sixty percent of property taxes go to K-12 education funding. Nebraska state …

The World Is In Better Shape Than Most People Think, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

Steven Pinker (2018, page 40) reports that “… large majorities in eleven developed countries said ‘the world is getting worse’ and in most of the last forty years a solid majority of Americans have said the country is ‘heading in the wrong direction.’” Recent polls conducted by the Pew Research Center show that Americans are pessimistic about the future (Gramlich, 2019) and that around the world many people are dissatisfied with the way democracy works in their countries (Wike et al., 2019). According to Twenge (2019), the level of happiness in the United States has been trending down for the …

The Economic Evaluation Of Input Use Prescription Maps: Are You Paying To Make Less Profit?, Taro Mieno, Grant Gardner

Cornhusker Economics

Technological advances in data collection and analysis engines have made variable rate input use application much more common. Producers typically purchase software that produces site-specific prescription maps or purchase maps from consultants. The process of generating prescriptions maps is typically black-box, i.e. the process is unknown. Does using these purchased maps lead to more profits for producers?

This article discusses a method of verifying the economic profitability of site-specific prescription maps using an on-farm field experiment and statistical and economic analysis. A 76-acre field in Crawford County, Ohio is used for the study.

The maps on the following page are …

Willingness To Pay Of Nigerian Poultry Producers And Feed Millers For Aflatoxin-Safe Maize, Andrew M. Johnson, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Bamikole Ayedun, Joan R. Fulton, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Akande Adebowale, Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, Victor Manyong

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Dietary aflatoxin exposure is a widespread problem in the developing world and causes severe negative health consequences to humans and livestock animals. A new biological control product, called Aflasafe, has been introduced in Nigeria to mitigate aflatoxin contamination of maize in the field and in storage. No known prior work has estimated how much African agribusinesses using maize for animal feed will pay for aflatoxin-safe maize. This study measured the levels of Aflasafe awareness, surveyed current aflatoxin management practices, and estimated, using choice experiments, willingness to pay (WTP) for aflatoxin-safe maize by Nigerian poultry producers and feed millers. Data was …

Cover Crop Utilization Across Nebraska And Implications For Cropland Lease Arrangements In 2019, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes, Jay Parsons

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2018-2019 provides insight on recent trends in the market value of land and cash rental across the state. Each year the special feature section from this report covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2019 focuses on trends and considerations for cover crops across Nebraska and implications on cropland lease arrangements.

Findings from the 2017 Census of Agriculture in …

Growing South Dakota (Summer 2019), College Of Agriculture, Food And Environmental Sciences

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

[Page] 3 Celebration of Faculty Excellence
[Page] 6 Ag and Biosystems Engineering - Quarter Scale Tractor Team Named Reserve National Champs - Jackrabbit Wrestler Passionate About Sharing the Story of Pork - Mesonet Spray Tool Aids Precision Application Decisions
[Page] 10 Ag Business and Economics -POET Commodity Trading Fund
[Page] 12 Ag Education, Communication and Leadership - Leadership Opportunities Launch Recent Graduate to Career Readiness
[Page] 14 Agronomy, Horticulture & Plant Science - Local Foods Education Center Donates Over 5,000 Pumpkins - Seeding Success - Doug Malo Retires After 43 Years of Teaching - Howard Woodard's 29-Year Career Had a …

The Impact Of Different Data Processing Methods On Site-Specific Management Recommendation, Zhengzheng Gao

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

Understanding the impact of different data processing methods on site-specific management recommendation is vital to famers and consultants. This thesis investigates how data processing methods affect variable selection in production function estimation and the consequent economically optimal input use recommendation map. We utilized LASSO, a regression analysis method for feature selection. Data are collected from two years of on-farm trials from the same field in Hamilton county, Nebraska. Results suggest that the feature selection process and final recommendation about seed and nitrogen rates can be very sensitive to the way we process and analyze data, and the effects can be …

Dealing With Control Of The Farm/Ranch, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

As I have traveled the state presenting farm and ranch succession/transition workshops, I’ve run into several family situations where the older generation is lucky enough to have the next generation come back to the farm. The younger generation, in some instances, is not that young anymore and have formed knowledgeable opinions about how the farm or ranch should operate. I wrote this article to challenge both the younger and older generations as they move their operation forward as a family.

Long term family cohesiveness can become challenging if there are control issues within the family. The younger generation often brings …

Will “Matopiba” Change The Competitive Landscape In The International Grain Market?, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

In a previous article in this space (on 6/20/2018), I discussed changes in the corn market and highlighted how the rapid growth of the Brazilian winter crop has been reshaping the market within Brazil and abroad. However, since corn exported by Brazil comes mainly from the country’s center-west, its competitiveness in the international market is grossly impacted by the transportation infrastructure in Brazil. The same issue applies to Brazilian soybeans as well.

The development of a new agricultural frontier in Brazil, in a region known as Matopiba, may help Brazilian grain become more competitive and bring more changes to the …

Expanding The Farm Income Safety Net, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

When the 2018 Farm Bill was passed in December, producers were looking ahead to implementation and thinking of the coming decision between enrollment under the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program. With continued low price projections at the time, the safety net decision may have seemed relatively straight-forward. Now, with all of the weather and market challenges in 2019 coupled with ad hoc assistance expected from the federal government, the safety net and the decisions related to it have become exceedingly complex. A look at the wide and expanding safety net for crop producers …

Nebraska Property Taxes And The 2019 Flood, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Much of eastern and central Nebraska suffered devastating flooding in March 2019. Much agricultural land, as well as agricultural, residential, industrial and commercial property has been damaged or destroyed. A 2019 bill just enacted— Legislative Bill 512—allows property owners suffering significant flood damage to have the 2019 property taxes on flood damaged property lowered.

Under prior Nebraska law, land and buildings were valued for property tax purposes on January 1 of each year. There were no statutory provisions for changing that property valuation after January 1 due to property damage, although some county assessors have done so in the past. …

Point-Of-Decision Prompts And Cognitive Resources, Christopher R. Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

Many of us have long-term goals to maintain or achieve a healthy body weight. However, most of us have a hard time following through on these plans. Maintaining a healthy body weight requires constant consideration of the future consequences of our current actions, which are shaped by our immediate desires, such as eating the tasty-looking brownie at the coffee shop or relaxing after a long day of work instead of forcing ourselves to go to the gym. The difficulty in balancing short-term and long-term goals is reflected in the change in the average American body type over the past five …

Four Steps To Improved Group Productivity, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

Just ask anyone - people waste a lot of time in meetings – all kinds of meetings. The meetings could be work related, within community organizations or even within a family. They can be anywhere people get together and want to go beyond a discussion and move toward action. Groups, both large and small, often discuss important issues but many times the conversations are all over the place or they are so short that decisions are often hard to make due to the lack of clarity and focus in the discussion.

Want to change that situation? If so, here is …

Barriers Missouri's Farmers Face Regarding Beginning Farmer Government Programs, Benjamin J. Travlos

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Federal and state governments have responded to the hardships beginning farmers and ranchers face by creating programs to mediate the identified challenges for new producers. However, hardships still exist for these producers and there is a lack of research on if the programs are providing the needed assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers. This research explores the perceived barriers to beginning farmer federal and state government programs for Missouri producers. Through the utilization of focus groups, the research identified major barriers such as: time, program awareness, program resources, and program requirements and eligibility. Aside from the barriers, the research also …

Assessment Of Household Food Security In Fish Farming Communities In Ghana, Akua S. Akuffo, Kwamena Quagrainie

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The Government of Ghana and international NGOs have been encouraging the adoption of fish farming to alleviate poverty and food insecurity through training workshops, financial contributions and creation of a fisheries ministry. Nevertheless, there is no study on how these efforts have influenced the household’s welfare, particularly their nutritional quality. Based on this, our objective is to identify the ways through which fish farming impacts the household’s nutritional quality. We hypothesize that engaging in fish farming will increase steady income flow and access to fish for the household’s direct consumption. We adopted the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach in a …

North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, Christine Lockert, Cheryl Griffith, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

After several years of growing agricultural prosperity and U.S. net farm income that peaked at almost $124 billion in 2013, the most recent forecast from UDSA's Economic Research Service projects net farm income at less than $70 billion for 2019. The six-year cumulative decline since 2013 is primarily due to a drop in commodity prices, a result of growing supplies, and more recently, trade conflicts and declining exports for key commodities. While the aggregate financial position of U.S. agriculture remains relatively strong with an aggregate debt-asset ratio of less than 14% (USDA-ERS, 2019), total debt has grown while profit margins …

A Successful Year For The Nebraska National Agri-Marketing Association, Austin Harthoorn, Kara Heideman, Rosalee A. Swartz

Cornhusker Economics

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln National Agri- Marketing Association (NAMA) chapter finished in second place at this year’s national marketing competition. The chapter also won the John Deere Signature Award. The John Deere award is given to student chapters based on business knowledge, academic excellence, leadership development and community citizenship. Chapter members Marydith Donnelly and Brent Miller earned scholarships and Allison Brockman made finals in the sales competition.

NAMA marketing team members presented their marketing plan for EnTotal, a dog food made from black soldier fly larvae. The students developed the product concept, which is modeled on insect-based dog foods available …

Identification And Classification Of Poultry Eggs: A Case Study Utilizing Computer Vision And Machine Learning, Jeremy Lubich, Kyle Thomas, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

We developed a method to identify, count, and classify chickens and eggs inside nesting boxes of a chicken coop. Utilizing an IoT AWS Deep Lens Camera for data capture and inferences, we trained and deployed a custom single-shot multibox (SSD) object detection and classification model. This allows us to monitor a complex environment with multiple chickens and eggs moving and appearing simultaneously within the video frames. The models can label video frames with classifications for 8 breeds of chickens and/or 4 colors of eggs, with 98% accuracy on chickens or eggs alone and 82.5% accuracy while detecting both types of …

Feasibility Of Custom Aquaponics For Home Use, Jesse Blanchard

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary goal of this research is to access the feasibility of implementing and operating small scale aquaponic systems in a home setting to serve as a means of producing high quality fresh produce and fish protein to supplement similar store-bought products. Factors such as system cost, skill level and management requirements will be addressed alongside customizable, educational and sustainable aspects of aquaponic systems to determine whether home aquaponic systems are a feasible option for the home grower. To elaborate, feasibility in this research will refer to both economic costs relative to costs of the system. Outlined in this short …

The Effect Of Labeling Information Framing On Genetically Modified Food Choices: A Query Theory Account, Taylor Pruitt

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

The progression of policy that regulates genetically modified (GM) food in the US is a prime example of how the role of the government reformulates in relation to societal changes. Support for various labeling programs is formed around key themes which center on the benefits and costs associated with GM labels. The goal of this experiment was to explore the effect of information framing on GM food choices. This was accomplished by presenting information for or against GM labeling in terms of the benefits (positive framing) or costs (negative framing) to consumers. 1,410 consumers participated in an economic experiment where …