Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Community Supported Agriculture At Indian Creek Nature Center's Sugar Grove Farm: Sustainable Farming For Iowa, Erin Anzalone

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Agriculture is the largest revenue source for the state of Iowa and the state’s two priority crops are corn and soybeans. Farming practices that emphasize monoculture production of these crops can reduce biological diversity and habitat for all-important pollinators, and exacerbate runoff and erosion that sends nutrient-rich soil, herbicides, and pesticides into streams and rivers. The industrial agriculture model is lucrative now, but unsustainable for Iowa over the long run. Sugar Grove Farm, a subset of Indian Creek Nature Center (ICNC), plans to grow a variety of food crops on a large-scale, economically sustainable farm, and support low-income households in …

Measuring The Adaptive Response To Drought, Kyle Eagar

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Scientific evidence suggests that future climate change has the potential to bring about an increase in both the frequency and duration of drought in some regions of the world (United Nations, 2012). Economists have theorized that at least some of the adverse effects of these droughts will be mitigated through various adaptive responses by agricultural producers. The effectiveness of any adaptive response to climate change will depend on how quickly producers can recognize a change in climatic patterns and respond accordingly. The following paper investigates the relationship between a specific climate signal (prolonged drought) and the land use decision of …

Wildfire In Utah: The Physical And Economic Consequences Of Wildfire, Paul Mark Jakus, Man-Keun Kim, Randy S. Martin, Ian Hammond, Edd Hammill, Nancy O. Mesner, Jacob Stout

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

PRELUDE

On June 26, 2012 a lightning strike ignited a wildfire in the Manti-La Sal National Forest of central Utah’s Carbon and Emery counties (Figure P.1). By the time the Seeley wildfire was contained three weeks later, some 48,000 acres of federal, state, and private land had been burned and $8.7 million in suppression costs expended (Styler 2012). According to the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS.gov) project, nearly one-third of the acreage was severely burned, damaging vegetation and soils for years to come. Severe burns vastly increase the erosion potential of burnt landscapes, and the steep lands of Huntington …

Multiplex Social Ecological Network Analysis Reveals How Social Changes Affect Community Robustness More Than Resource Depletion, Jacopo A. Baggio, Shauna B. Burnsilver, Alex Arenas, James S. Magdanz, Gary P. Kofinas, Manlio De Domenico

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social–ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources.

Interdisciplinary Modeling For Water-Related Issues Graduate Course, Laurel Saito, Alexander Fernald, Timothy Link

All ECSTATIC Materials

The science and management of aquatic ecosystems is inherently interdisciplinary, with issues associated with hydrology, atmospheric science, water quality, geochemistry, sociology, economics, environmental science, and ecology. Addressing water resources issues in any one discipline invariably involves effects that concern other disciplines, and attempts to address one issue often have consequences that exacerbate existing issues or concerns, or create new ones (Jørgensen et al. 1992; Lackey et al. 1975; Straskraba 1994) due to the strongly interactive nature of key processes (Christensen et al. 1996). Thus, research and management of aquatic ecosystems must be interdisciplinary to be most effective, but such truly …

Bioeconomic Factors Of Beef Heifer Maturity To Consider When Establishing Criteria To Optimally Select And/Or Retain Herd Replacements, M. C. Stockton, R. K. Wilson, Dillon M. Feuz, L. A. Stalker, R. N. Funston

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Understanding the biology of heifer maturity and its relationship to calving difficulty and subsequent breeding success is a vital step in building abioeconomic model to identify optimal production and profitability. A limited dependent variable probit model is used to quantify the responses among heifer maturities, measured by a maturity index (MI), on dystocia and second pregnancy. The MI account for heifer age, birth BW, prebreeding BW, nutrition level, and dam size and age and is found to be inversely related to dystocia occurrence. On average there is a 2.2% increase in the probability of dystocia with every 1 point drop …

Estimating The Effectiveness Of A Seasonal Gas Tax For Controlling Episodic Pm2.5 Concentrations In Cache County, Utah, Leo A. Moscardini

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cache County, Utah boasts an abundance of awe-inspiring natural beauty. However, at times, its air quality rivals the worst in the United States. During the winter months of December through February, particulate matter measuring two and a half micrometers or less, commonly known as PM_2.5, often concentrates to dangerously high levels causing extensive harm to public health. Lawmakers have scrambled to pass legislation aimed at mitigating the risks posed by poor air quality, recently adopting a county-wide vehicle emissions testing program designed to reduce exhaust emissions from on-road mobile sources. However, its efficacy has been hotly debated and many …

Nutritional And Economic Analysis Of Small-Scale Agriculture In Imbabura, Ecuador, Jake Erickson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Intervention projects in the developing world normally aim to satisfy either the nutritional needs of a group, or advancing the economic stability, but not both. One of the many issues that may arise by narrowly focusing and creating an aid program is that although a group may be fed, they are not equipped to mitigate risks that will arise after project completion and thus continue or revert back to a malnourished state. A bridge is required to join the economic and nutritional programs to create aid interventions that are sustainable past the point of donor separation.

This paper proposes the …

A Proposal To Make Grain Storage Financially Feasible, David L. Garrett

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The United States has a National Oil Reserve but not a food reserve. Just as the oil reserve is designed to buffer unforeseen disruptions in the critical supply, the nation should also have a food reserve for the same purpose.

The United States and other developed nations have little or no food reserve beyond the typical demands between growing seasons. Marvelous production achievements in agriculture beginning in the early 1960s and known as the “Green Revolution” are now leveling off. Food production, suffering from such negative side effects as reduced water tables, is being outstripped by population growth (Bourne, 2009).

Comparative Assessment Of Water Markets: Insights From The Murray-Darling Basin Of Australia And The Western Usa, R. Quentin Grafton, Gary D. Libecap, Eric Edwards, R. J. O'Brien, Clay Landry

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Water markets in Australia's Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) and the western USA are compared in terms of their ability to allocate scarce water resources. The study finds that the gains from trade in the MDB are worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year (note that all monetary units of dollars in this article are treated as US$ because Australian$ are converted at par). Total market turnover in water rights exceeds US$2 billion per year while the volume of trade exceeds over 20% of surface water extractions. In Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Texas, trades of committed water annually range between …

Determining Profitability Strategies For Various Retained Ownership Enterprises In Utah, Matthew H. Hirschi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With the price of corn now over $6 per bushel, and with feedlot total cost per pound of gain now approaching $1.00 per pound of gain there are new incentives to try and add weight to calves outside of feedlots. The question then arises of how to add weight to a calf in the most economical manner. There are many different feeding programs to consider. However, with few exceptions, the cheapest way to add weight outside of a feedlot usually involves the calf grazing for an extended period of time. Winter pasture grazing, wheat pasture grazing and corn stalk grazing …

Gis-Based Estimation Of Housing Amenities: The Case Of High Grounds And Stagnant Streams, Shibashis Mukherjee, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We use GIS and econometric methods to estimate the marginal implicit values of environmental amenities associated with residential land parcels in the mountain town of Logan, Utah. Amenities include proximity to open spaces (such as parks, golf courses and lakes), commercial zones, major roads, streams, and general visibility of surrounding topography in the valley as determined by the elevation of the land parcel. The amenity value estimates are corrected for spatial autocorrelation. We find spatially dependent relationships between (1) a parcel’s value and its elevation, and (2) a parcel’s value and its adjacency to a stagnant stream. To our knowledge, …

Matching Grants, Income Redistribution And Decentralized Leadership, Arthur J. Caplan, C. Emilson, D. Silva

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We examine the decentralized provision of an impure public good by regional governments in a federation similar in certain respects to both the European Union and the United States. The central authority redistributes income and provides matching grants on a per rate basis after it observes the regions’ contributions to the impure public good. Imperfectly mobile workers react to regional and central governments’ policies by establishing residence in their most preferred region. Despite imperfect labor mobility, we show that the allocation of the impure public good and the interregional income redistribution policy are generally efficient in a federation with decentralized …

Carbon Sequestration And Permit Trading On The Competitive Fringe, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper makes two contributions to the carbon-sequestration literature. The first is the development of a theoretical framework in which sequestration and permit trading are analyzed jointly in the context of a competitive fringe model. The second is a numerical analysis demonstrating the role market structure, or market power, might play in the determination of an equilibrium sequestration allocation and carbon price. We present three comparative-static cases, the first two of which assess the impact of relative changes in the cost structures of the dominant firm and competitive fringe. For these two cases we find that the equilibrium allocation of …

Foreign Direct Investment, Non-Traded Goods And Real Wages, Reza Oladi, John Gilbert, H. Beladi

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Using a three‐sector general equilibrium model with non‐traded goods, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers. We show that foreign direct investment increases the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers alike, but widens the gap between the two under plausible conditions.

Sustainable Energy Crops: An Analysis Of Ethanol Production From Cassava In Thailand, Aerwadee Ubolsook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The first essay formulates a dynamic general equilibrium optimal control model of an energy crop as part of a country's planned resource use over a period of time. The model attempts to allocate consumption, production, and factors of production to achieve the country's sustainable development goal. A Cobb-Douglas specification is used for both utility and production functions in the model. We calibrate the model with Thailand data. The selected model is used to generate the stationary state solution and to simulate the optimal policy function and optimal time paths. Two methods are used: a linear approximation method and the Runke-Kutta …

Evaluating Native Wheatgrasses For Restoration Of Sagebrush Steppes, Jayanti Ray Mukherjee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pseudoroegneria spicata and Elymus wawawaiensis are two native perennial bunchgrasses of North America's Intermountain West. Frequent drought, past overgrazing practices, subsequent weed invasions, and increased wildfire frequency have combined to severely degrade natural landscapes in the region, leading to a decline in the abundance of native vegetation. Being formerly widespread throughout the region, P. spicata is a favorite for restoration purposes in the Intermountain West. Elymus wawawaiensis, which occupies a more restricted distribution in the Intermountain West, is often used as a restoration surrogate for P. spicata. However, since most restoration sites are outside the native range of …

The Comparison Of Five Different Cattle Feeding Enterprises: A Stochastic Simulation On Expected Returns And The Effects Of Lrp Insurance, Caleb H. Bott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This was a study on the Utah cattle industry which compared five different feeding enterprises. These feeding enterprises included feeding cull cows, finishing beef yearling steers, finishing Holstein yearling steers, backgrounding beef steer calves, and backgrounding Holstein steer calves. The main purpose of this study was to determine which feeding enterprise was the most profitable for Utah cattle producers.

Another objective of the study was to determine if LRP insurance lowered the volatility in the returns to these feeding enterprises. In order to answer these two questions of interest, a historical analysis of Utah cattle and feed prices was conducted …

Object-Based Segmentation And Classification Of One Meter Imagery For Use In Forest Management Plans, W. Kevin Wells

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research developed an ArcGIS Python model that extracts polygons from aerial imagery and assigns each polygon a vegetation type based on a modified set of landcover classes from the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project. The model showed an ability to generate polygons that accurately represent vegetation community boundaries across a large landscape. The model is for use by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to assist in the preparation of forest management plans. The model was judged useful because it was easy to use, it met a designated 50% threshold of useable polygons, and it met …

Can Fighting Grade Inflation Help The Bottom Line?, Arthur J. Caplan, John Gilbert

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This article uses a rich set of student transcript data to estimate the economic cost incurred by a university when it does not adopt a ‘mean-shift grading policy’ to fight grade inflation. We show that even in the face of moral hazard constraints a university can enhance its profitability by fighting grade inflation with a distribution-shifting policy.

Gis-Based Estimation Of Marginal Implicit Prices Of Housing Amenities: The Case Of High Ground And Stagnant Streams, Arthur J. Caplan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

We use GIS and econometric methods to estimate the marginal implicit values of environmental amenities associated with residential land parcels in the mountain town of Logan, Utah. Amenities include proximity to open spaces (such as parks, golf courses and lakes), commercial zones, major roads, streams, and general visibility of surrounding topography in the valley as determined by the elevation of the land parcel. The amenity value estimates are corrected for spatial autocorrelation. We find spatially dependent relationships between (1) a parcel’s value and its elevation, and (2) a parcel’s value and its adjacency to a stagnant stream. To our knowledge, …

Estimating Hypothetical Bias In Economically Emergent Africa: A Generic Public Good Experiment, Arthur J. Caplan, David Aadland, Anthony Macharia

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper reports results from a contingent valuation based public good experiment conducted in the African nation of Botswana. In a sample of university students, we find evidence that stated willingness to contribute to a public good in a hypothetical setting is higher than actual contribution levels. However, results from regression analysis suggest that this is true only in the second round of the experiment, when participants making actual contributions have learned to significantly lower their contribution levels. As globalization expands markets, and economies such as Botswana's continue to modernize, there is a growing need to understand how hypothetical bias …

Does "Free Sampling" Enhance The Value Of Public Goods?, Arthur J. Caplan, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Sandra Marquart-Pyatt

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This study investigates whether a ‘free sampling’ marketing strategy induces an enduring WTP premium effect for public goods. Using data from a unique field experiment involving curbside recycling, we find that the premium effect associated with providing non-participating households a brief opportunity to participate in a curbside recycling program for free is relatively small and not enduring. It may therefore not be cost effective to offer a free-sampling participation incentive for this type (or similar types) of local public good(s).

Defining And Meeting The Demand For Agricultural Machinery In China: A Case Study Of John Deere, Garrett W. Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There has been little research conducted regarding the agricultural machinery market in China. However, current data suggest that this demand is dramatically increasing. This dissertation endeavors to generally define the current demand of the agricultural machinery market in China. There has been research conducted on multiple factors of the agricultural machinery market in China, such as land tenure rights, rural migration, government agricultural policies, and others. Through the use of limited quantitative data, market demand is analyzed and defined. By means of a qualitative case study of a successful multinational corporation, Deere & Co., how the demand is being met …

Microbial Growth Inhibition And Decomposition Of Milk Mineral And Sodium Tripolyphosphate Added To Media Or Fresh Ground Beef, Rossarin Tansawat

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Milk mineral (MM) is a type II antioxidant (metal chelator) that can bind iron and prevent iron catalysis of lipid oxidation. Thus, MM might have microbial growth inhibition effects on iron-dependent bacteria. Objective 1 was to evaluate effects of MM on growth of non-pathogenic iron-dependent bacterial strains (Listeria innocua, Eschericia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens). MM (1.5 % w/v) did not significantly inhibit growth of Listeria and E. coli. However, growth of Pseudomonas fluorescens was consistently and significantly reduced by ~1 log colony forming units per ml (CFU/ml) with all levels of MM (0.5, 0.75, 1.5 % …

The Role Of Flavor-Flavor Conditioning And Sensory-Based, Vegetable-Themed Education In Increasing Vegetable Consumption In Elementary School-Aged Children, Meagan Roxanne Latimer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study aimed to increase vegetable consumption and preference in elementary school-aged children using two interventions: 1) flavor-flavor conditioning; and 2) sensory-based, vegetable-themed education. In both interventions, increase in consumption was measured by visual observation of how many vegetables children took and consumed from a vegetable buffet. Preferences were measured with a self-administered survey.

In the flavor-flavor intervention, children ages 5 to 11 (n=59) were exposed to sweetened and nonsweetened vegetable purees. Preferences were assessed prior to intervention using a rating and ranking system. Nine paired tastings were presented. Children received a posttest immediately after the final conditioning (n=27) and …

A Novel Role For Non-Heme Iron In Myoglobin Oxidation: An Examination Of The Antioxidant Effects Of Iron Chelating Compounds In Meat And Myoglobin Model Systems, Karin E. Allen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Myoglobin (Mb) oxidation, and the subsequent browning, is the primary basis for consumer rejection of fresh retail beef. Considerable effort has been directed by the industry towards the development of techniques that can enhance color stability. However, the underlying mechanism of Mb oxidation has been studied extensively, but is still not entirely understood. Current models focus on the role of lipid oxidation byproducts, pH, and anionic ligands as promoters of Mb oxidation. It is known that chelation of iron and copper delays Mb oxidation and browning, but a clear role for these metals has not been established in any current …

The Effect Of Lipids On Recognition Thresholds And Intensity Ratings Of The Five Basic Tastes, Jennifer Ellen Thurgood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In addition to the contribution of lipids to food texture and aroma, the effect of lipids on taste perception is now commonly studied. It has been found that lipids may affect taste perception through lipid composition (i.e., cis-polyunsaturated fatty acids).

This study assessed the effect of lipid composition on the recognition thresholds of the basic tastes (i.e., sour, umami, bitter, salty, sweet) in emulsion model systems as well as taste intensities perceived at low suprathreshold concentrations. Taste thresholds and intensities in corresponding aqueous systems were determined for comparison. To evaluate the effect of lipid chemical composition on tastant detection, …

Consequences Of Vegetation Change On The Dynamics Of Labile Organic Matter And Soil Nitrogen Cycling In A Semiarid Ecosystem, Toby D. Hooker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Sagebrush-dominated ecosystems are being transformed by wildfire, rangeland improvement techniques, and exotic plant invasions. These disturbances have substantial effects on the composition and structure of native vegetation, but the effects on ecosystem C and N dynamics are poorly understood. To examine whether differences in dominant vegetation affect the quantity and quality of plant organic matter inputs to soil, ecosystem C and N pools and rates of plant turnover were compared among historically grazed Wyoming big sagebrush, introduced perennial crested wheatgrass, and invasive annual cheatgrass communities. Since low soil moisture during the summer may inhibit the microbial colonization of plant detrital …

The Relationship Between Education About Dress Practices And Change In Perception Of Self-Concept Related To Dress, Jennifer L. Nielson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The influence of an individual's dress practices on his/her sense of self has been studied for many years. Courses such as the Dress and Humanity course at Utah State University have been developed to educate students on the impact of dress on society. In this study, students in the Dress and Humanity course were given a pre-course and post-course survey to determine if self-perceptions related to dress practices underwent a change over the duration of the semester. Significant differences were found in the categories of body image, evaluating self-esteem, and communication of self to others. A relationship was found between …