Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Ethanol's Impact On Nebraska's Economy, Kasey Rathke

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

From Climate Change To Mountain Range, Mitchell Flash

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Suburbanization: Not A Good Fit For The Future, Gavin Salee

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

From Trash To Treasure, Caleb Greenfield

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Nuclear's True Image, Bryan Bordenkecher

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Red Ethanol, Blake Albers

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Cleaner And Greener Doesn't Always Mean Clean And Green, Justin Hladik

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Riding The Gdpism Wave, Zach Mcdonald

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

The Benefits Of Biogas, Sam Neal

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Residential Scaled Renewable Energy System In Nebraska, Jerrod Bley

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Electrifying Nebraska's Daily Commuters, Dirk Wiseman

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies, Fall 2011

No abstract provided.

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow, Randolph Cantrell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Shrinking farm numbers, population losses, and empty storefronts on Main Street have come to be seen as symptoms of an inevitable slide to oblivion for many Heartland communities. Empirical evidence of such decline is easily found, making the trend a favorite topic for journalists. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow offers a very different interpretation of the same trends. His central argument is that Middle America (defined as eight states including most of the Great Plains) has been characterized by adaptation to changing social and economic realities in a way that has made the region a "more vibrant contributor …

Nebraska Isolated Lands Statutes, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Nebraska statutes establish a procedure for owners of land that does not have access to a public road, to have the county build an access road at the landlocked landowner’s expense. These statutes are called the Isolated Lands Statutes (NRS §§ 39-1713 to -1719). The process to provide access to isolated lands is not simple, and probably costly. The best way to avoid these situations is to make sure your land has access to a public road before you buy it. This newsletter provides a general overview of the isolated lands statutes. If you have questions regarding the isolated lands …

Animal Welfare Update, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Beginning in 2002, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) embarked upon a campaign to ban battery cages for laying hens, gestation crates for pregnant sows and veal crates for veal calves. The HSUS strategy is to gather sufficient signatures to place their animal welfare initiative on the ballot, and present an emotional campaign regarding food animal confinement including sad pictures of laying hens, pregnant sows and veal calves in tight confinement. This approach has resulted, in recent years, in voter support exceeding 60 percent.

It seemed that the HSUS could do no wrong, and that wherever they proposed …

Changing Farm Policies For Changing Times, Bradley D. Lubben, Jim A. Jansen, Matthew C. Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

It has long been said that farm policy and farm bills are much more evolutionary than revolutionary. Policy changes tend to occur rather slowly and gradually, unless some economic or policy shock creates an opportunity or urgent need for a change in policy direction.

The current debate in Washington could provide just that shock to point federal farm policy in a new direction. Farm legislation authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill expires in 2012, and the initial debate over re-authorization was already well underway when the Federal Debt Ceiling/Deficit Reduction Compromise legislation was passed in August. That legislation created a …

Does Contribution Equal Compensation?, David J. Goeller

Cornhusker Economics

Should contributions to the success of a family farm or ranch be compensated? One of the most difficult decisions owners of a farm and ranch business confront occurs when one heir returns to the family business, while he or she has siblings that do not. If you start out with the premise that we all love our children and hope to treat them fairly, it follows that if contributions to the success of the farming business are more or less equal we should compensate our children more or less equally. The difficulty arises because the farming heir will many times …

“I Think I’M Going To Have A Tax Problem This Year”, Tina N. Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

Many things in agriculture move fast. Technology is growing and changing rapidly. Input dealers are knocking on your doors earlier and earlier each year. This summer it seemed like many producers were dealing with marketing their 2010 crop, growing their 2011 crop and making input decisions on their 2012 crop. Each of these things complicates the tax planning each year. Add that to the record high profitability many agricultural producers have seen over the past five years, and one of the most common comments I’m hearing is “I think I’m going to have a tax problem this year.” You’re not …

Farmland Values: The Effects Of Commodity Prices, Yields, Profit Margins And Capitalization Rates, Matthew C. Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

Recent price increases for many of the crops grown in Nebraska have been followed directly by higher input costs. Land cost is one of these escalating factors. Typically, those that invest in real estate or land use a ratio of income relative to opportunity cost to evaluate the value of that purchase. This ratio involves factors related to the lands use and productive capacity, and is known as the “Capitalization rate” or “Cap Rate.”

Buyer Willingness To Pay For Irrigation Systems: Evidence From The 2011 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey, Chris L. Thompson, Bruce B. Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

In Nebraska, irrigation is the best risk management tool to hedge against weather variations that negatively impact crop production. An agricultural producer’s ability to “make rain” is insurance against yearly variation in both yields and financial returns. As technology has progressed, reducing labor requirements and increasing efficiency of water application, irrigation has become a mainstay on thousands of Nebraska farms. In fact, the state ranks first in irrigated acres.

Along with increased irrigation come irrigation regulations to control over-use or abuse of water rights. With legal restrictions forcing the year to year management of irrigation allocations, some producers in Nebraska …

The Economic Effects Of Purity Standards In Biotech Labeling Laws, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

Discussions on the appropriate regulatory norms for biotech or genetically modified (GM) foods date back to the early 1980s. Twenty-five years later, a consensus on what such norms should be remains elusive. While the safety of GM foods prior to their commercialization is evaluated through, more or less, the same methods around the world, countries differ widely on their treatment of GM foods that have been deemed safe for market introduction. Some countries, including the United States and Canada consider these GM foods substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts, and do not require segregation and labeling of these products. Others, …

Nebraska And “The Great Recession” - Jobs And Income: 2007-2009, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

Recovery may be seen as weak, but “The Great Recession” which officially began with a second consecutive quarter of negative economic growth in December, 2007, officially ended in June, 2009.

The effect of the recession on employment was dramatic and continues through today, with a seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate at 9.2 percent as of July, 2011, according to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment remains at or above ten percent in seven states.

Nebraska fared better than most states during the recession. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate never exceeded five percent and is currently at 4.2 percent …

Applying Data Mining Techniques To Evaluate Applications For Agricultural Loans, Emile J. Salame

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

Financial lending institutions continuously look at improving their credit risk models. This study examines the performance of three estimation methods: logistic regression, decision tree, and neural networks, in terms of their misclassification rates of credit default. The study uses 17,328 loans of grain producers for the period of 2006 - 2010. Those loans belong to the category of “diversified loans / core standard” originating from a large financial lending institution. The data has been split into nine different sets to acknowledge three factors: the shift in price of grains to a higher plateau after 2006, the contamination effect on defaulting …

Sustainable Practices Like Recycling: Could Colleges And Universities Be Role Models?, Prabhakar Shrestha, Gary D. Lynne

Cornhusker Economics

For the very first time in the history of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this year's summer graduates wore a "green" gown for their commencement exercises. The gown is made from sustainably harvested wood pulp, with zippers made from 100 percent recycled plastics. Practices like these are a step in a positive direction, suggesting colleges and universities could become leaders in sustainable practices, as well as in ensuring that the curriculum used in helping form the education obtained by students includes sustainability principles.

Business Competency For Ag Businesses; A Key To A Prosperous And Sustainable Future, Matthew Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

Husker Ag SMARTS, a statewide professional business management training program was developed and is delivered by the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is in conjunction with several partners, University of Nebraska Extension and financial institutions across the state. This joint effort has been financially supported by banking institutions and public funding through the North Central Risk Management Education Center. Local banks and cooperatives have been excited to see this program offered, and have been very supportive in giving scholarships, identifying possible participants and encouraging their clients to become involved.

The SMARTS portion of the program’s name is …

Legal Fences In Nebraska, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

This week I received two telephone calls asking “What is a legal fence in Nebraska?” Our recent fencing statute - which requires all landowners to split the cost of a division fence 50/50, is probably the source of this interest. So this newsletter begins with a brief history of the legal fence’s role in Nebraska fence law, and then lists the legal fence provisions in the 2011 Nebraska fence statutes.

Departmental Publications In Agricultural Economics 2010, Pamela A. Holmes

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Publications by Faculty, Research Associates and Graduate Students in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Agricultural Economics in 2010.

Past Successes And Future Prospects For Nebraska Agriculture, Ray Supalla

Cornhusker Economics

When I joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty in 1976, Nebraska had 5.5 million irrigated acres, irrigated corn yields averaged 115 bushels per acre, irrigation water was worth $25 per acre per year, center pivot irrigated land was selling for $1,000 per acre, net farm income averaged $0.8 billion per year and both groundwater pumping and nitrogen fertilization practices were unrestricted. Today as I prepare to retire, Nebraska has 8.5 million irrigated acres, irrigated corn yields average 186 bushels, irrigation water is worth more than $100 per acre per year, pivot irrigated land is selling for over $4,000 per acre, …

Gender, Interdisciplinarity And Global Food Crises, Marianna Khachaturyan, Ann Mari May, Gale Summerfield

Cornhusker Economics

Higher education plays a pivotal role in analyzing and offering potential solutions to the world’s problems, and seldom have the world’s economic and social problems appeared more critical. As the world’s population increases and faces the unpredictable effects of climate change and begins to come to terms with the possibility of peak oil and its implications, we face rising concerns about food security and global food crises.

As we work to address these growing concerns it is increasingly apparent that our research must be interdisciplinary in nature. Because women play critical roles in the supply and consumption of agricultural products, …

Satisfied Customers Are Not Good Enough, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

There used to be a time when all a business wanted were satisfied customers. Having satisfied customers was seen as the pinnacle of success. But today it appears that is not the case.

With everyone wanting to take their business to “the next level,” it is no surprise that businesses, especially in the service and sales area, are looking for new ways to take their satisfied customers and transform them into passionate advocates.