Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Water Quality Impacts From Agricultural Land-Use In The Karst Groundwater Basin Of Qingmuguan, Chongqing, China, Ted W. Baker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Karst regions are composed of soluble rock, often limestone, which leads to the formation of fissures, sinkholes and water flow conduits such as caves. Pollutants in karst waters tend to be quickly directed and concentrated into these subsurface conduits. As a result of this and other factors, water resources are especially sensitive to contamination and pollution in karst areas. Pollutant concentrations going into fluvial systems travelling through the subsurface in karst areas are often very similar to the concentrations arriving at outlets such as springs. Areas connected by karst conduit flows must be distinctly determined and special attention should be …

An Analysis Of Illegal Bushmeat Availability In Local Restaurants Located In Voi, Kenya, Bridget A. Sutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The illegal bushmeat harvest has been identified as a reason for declining wildlife populations throughout much of Africa. For many years the trade was thought to exist primarily in Western Africa. The illegal use of bushmeat in Eastern Africa, including Kenya, went undocumented and unstudied. In 2004, the Born Free Foundation published a study which claimed illegal sale of wild game was substantial in butcheries throughout Nairobi, Kenya. In an effort to determine other markets of the commercial trade, the goal of this study was to analyze local restaurants in Voi, Kenya for illegal bushmeat sale. The town of Voi …

A Comparison Of The Economic Profitability Of Specified Risk Management Alternatives For Intermountain West Farmers, Cody D. Bingham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research is to provide quantitative and limited qualitative analysis for the United States Intermountain West on the economic effectiveness of risk management alternatives in an agricultural operation. This research is not meant to be an exhaustive comparison of every potential combination of alternatives and risk scenarios. Instead, specific parameters such as farm size, crops grown, risk attitudes and risk management strategies are set to guide the research and offer a basis of comparison.

This research evaluates several levels of coverage using Multiple Peril Crop Insurance, Crop Revenue Coverage Insurance, Adjusted Gross Revenue – Lite Insurance and …

Treatment Of Saltcedar (Tamarix Spp.): Economics And Feasibility, Christopher L. Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The invasive species Saltcedar is affecting water and land resources throughout the western states of America. Because of great water use capabilities and other ecosystem detriments, Saltcedar has been targeted for treatment.

For successful management of Saltcedar, individual landowners need to be aware of the costs and benefits of treating Saltcedar. Eleven of the most commonly reported treatment methods were evaluated for firm level economic feasibility. Evaluated on the basis of treatment cost, treatment effectiveness, Saltcedar water-use, and re-vegetation water-use, a production plan of ten years was created for each treatment method. Some treatment methods required re-treatment and were evaluated …

Nursery Production Of Selected Actinorhizal Species, Taun D. Beddes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An important aspect of sustainable landscaping includes utilization of plants requiring few to no inputs once installed. Limited research exists for many of these species. For this research, we chose four with potential for use: Mexican cliffrose (Purshia mexicana), silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), roundleaf buffaloberry (Shepherdia rotundifolia), and seaside alder (Alnus maritima). All are actinorhizal, meaning they form a symbiotic relationship with soil-borne Frankia bacteria that fix atmospheric N₂ for plant use. Many actinorhizal species are also native to arid environments where soils have low organic matter (OM) content. We suspect …

Teach A Man: Proactively Battling Food Insecurity By Increasing Access To Local Foods, Christina Fox

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This Chinese proverb has broad application when addressing the issue of food insecurity. It transcends beyond national borders and gender categories. It applies to many men, women, and children who are confronted by food insecurity today in America. Food insecurity is the "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Environmental Elitism Vs. Environmental Justice: How Egyptian Ngos Shape Environmental Injustices Between The Elite And The Rest, Sarah Sensamaust

Archived Theses and Dissertations

[abstract not provided]

An Emerging Triangle: Climate Change, Migration And Human Rights: The Case Of New Zealand,Tuvalu And Kiribati, Sarah Stefanos

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Three important global issues - climate change, migration, and human rights- form an emerging triangle because of their interrelatedness. However, critical analysis of the relationship between these three issues apart from an as yet legally meaningless discourse about an imminent global catastrophe of 250 million 'climate refugees' has been limited. This paper examines the climate change, migration, and human rights triangle through the lens of the Pacific, where some of the states most severely threatened by climate change can be found. Extremely small Pacific states whose inhabitants have lived on coral reef islands (called atolls) for more than 2000 years, …

What Comes First, Agricultural Growth Or Democracy?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Today, the international community faces two major development challenges, how to ignite growth and how to establish democracy. Economic research has identified two plausible hypotheses regarding this association. The first hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with democracy and institutions that secure property rights. The second hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with physical and human capital accumulation. In this paper we discuss some of the econometric evidence on the relationship between institutions, human capital, and agricultural productivity growth across developed and developing countries with the objective of finding support for one or the other hypothesis. We use Barro type …

What Comes First, Agricultural Growth Or Democracy?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Lilyan E. Fulginiti Publications

Today, the international community faces two major development challenges, how to ignite growth and how to establish democracy. Economic research has identified two plausible hypotheses regarding this association. The first hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with democracy and institutions that secure property rights. The second hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with physical and human capital accumulation. In this paper we discuss some of the econometric evidence on the relationship between institutions, human capital, and agricultural productivity growth across developed and developing countries with the objective of finding support for one or the other hypothesis. We use Barro type …

Markets

Cornhusker Economics

Markets

Can Genetically Engineered Nutraceuticals Win Back Skeptical Consumers?, Karoline Kastanek, Emie Yiannaka

Cornhusker Economics

The unexpected (to many) consumer resistance to the first generation genetically modified (GM) food products that focused on producers, and aimed at increasing yields, hurt the prospects of the agricultural biotechnology sector. As a response and in an effort to win back skeptical consumers, agricultural biotechnology firms started working on food products with functional properties desirable to consumers, that are commonly known as second generation GM products. Food products in this category include vitamin A enriched rice and maize (golden rice and golden maize), high protein wheat, and high oleic soybean oil, to name a few. Recently, a new generation …

Moving To The Nebraska Panhandle: A Broad Picture Of The Decision Process, Charlotte Narjes

Cornhusker Economics

New residents to the Nebraska Panhandle compared and researched rural communities before making their decision to move. This was one of the themes that emerged in a qualitative study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture CSREES National Research Initiative Grant program. The new movers not only compared communities, but they had choices, as one individual stated, “We spent about six months looking at different communities … we developed a formula … 50 percent job … 25 percent community, 25 percent school.”

Thirteen questions were asked to 78 new residents that participated in …

Simple Rules That May Help Ranchers Select Replacement Heifers For Increased Pregnancy Rates And Reduce Dystocia, Matthew Stockton, Roger K. Wilson

Cornhusker Economics

Every year livestock producers replace cows they cull from their herds with young animals often selected from progeny of the cows they currently own. Since replacement rates for beef cattle in Nebraska tend to average between 16 to 20 percent annually, this is not a trivial undertaking. Much of the talk among producers tends to concentrate on muscling and other physically observable characteristics, and the genetic composition of animals to be selected as replacements. These criteria are important, but what must also be considered is the ability of the selected replacement animals to perform reproductively. Producers expect cost to be …

Dynamic Market Impacts Of Generic Dairy Advertising, Charles F. Nicholson, Harry M. Kaiser

Agribusiness

Generic advertising of fluid milk and cheese represents the principal promotional activity undertaken with the $370 million per year provided by dairy farmers and fluid milk processors. This article describes a stock-flow-feedback simulation model that includes 17 intermediate and final dairy products, short-term and long-term milk supply response and government policies that influence the impacts of generic advertising on net revenues for dairy farmers. Permanent increases in generic advertising expenditures increase net revenues for dairy farmers, with a cumulative net benefit to cost ratio of 2.8. Permanent decreases produce a larger reduction in net revenues and indicate a net benefit …

Beware Of Radical Change: China’S Agrarian Revolution, John A. Donaldson, Forrest Q. Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Leasing Decisions For The Volatile Year Ahead, Bruce B. Johnson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Leasing Decisions For The Volatile Year Ahead, Bruce B. Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

As if the economic environment for production agriculture isn’t risky enough already, we are now heading into an ‘economic headwind’ that few of us could even have imagined just a few short months ago. A global financial system brought to a screeching halt along with massive asset devaluation, has brought the United States and the rest of the world community to a financial crisis unseen since the depression of the 1930s. While policy makers are responding with measures to divert economic disaster, there seems to be little disagreement that we are, in the very least, staring into the face of …

Estimating Griliches' K-Shifts, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Griliches’ k-shift, a crucial parameter in the welfare evaluation of technological change, is shown to be equal to the radial rate of technological change plus a vector of commodity bias parameters obtained from the distance function. The analysis permits decomposition of sectoral productivity growth into productivity growth by commodity. The k-shifts estimated for wheat, corn, soybeans and beef in U.S. agriculture indicate a decrease in the marginal cost of production of corn, soybeans and wheat during the 1950-1993 years.

Putting A Value On "Sweat Equity", David J. Goeller

Cornhusker Economics

For some farm/ranch families, deciding what to do with the family business can be very troublesome. How can we pass the farming business to the next generation while at the same time not create animosity or envy between the heirs? If we divide it equally between all the children, will it create such small pieces that the successor child cannot make a living operating the family farm? If one child is required to buy out his/her siblings will the business generate enough income to make this a feasible option? Most parents would say “We want to treat our children fairly.” …

Ethanol And Low Carbon Fuel Standards, Richard K. Perrin

Cornhusker Economics

There have been two primary reasons why the public has had an interest in more ethanol, rather than leaving the issue to the private market. First, it has been thought to be beneficial in slowing climate change. Second, it would increase energy independence by reducing the amount of petroleum we import. We will discuss the first of these issues in this article, with the second issue to be addressed in a later article.

Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trap solar heat in the atmosphere, increasing global temperature by an estimated 1.4 degrees. Increases in GHG emissions resulting largely from energy use have led to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere, leading to global warming. Major impacts of global warming include rising sea levels, higher temperatures and increased global migration of disease-carrying insects.

While there is continuing scientific discussion regarding how quickly the earth’s atmosphere will warm and when the adverse global warming impacts will occur, most scientists believe that GHG emissions must be reduced 50-80 percent in the next 50 years to minimize …

2007 Farm Bill Forums: Issues And Options, Bradley Lubben, Samuel Funk, Troy J. Dumler

Department of Agricultural Economics: Presentations, Working Papers, and Gray Literature

A Series of Farm Bill Educational Meetings for Producers and Interested Policy Stakeholders in Kansas and Nebraska.

The debate on the 2007 Farm Bill has begun in earnest in Washington. The new Congress has already convened several hearings on farm policy issues, including energy and conservation. The Administration has just released its policy recommendations for the new farm bill, opening up further discussion that will grow over the coming months. The current farm bill, passed in 2002, runs through September 2007 and includes programs covering the 2007-2008 crop year. Before it expires, Congress will need to reconcile the current discussion …

Climate Change And Farm Use Of Weather Information, Ikrom Artikov, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Presentations, Working Papers, and Gray Literature

Rapid global climate change as represented by rising temperatures and more erratic and severe weather events has heightened the interest in how farmers use weather information. Due to the food supply being so essential, it behooves us to pay attention to this phenomenon, and especially to put effort into understanding how farmers will respond and adapt to information about climate generally and forecasts in particular. To reduce the negative effects of climate on crop production and enhance field operations, the best weather information needs to be influencing farmer decisions.

Samoa’S Tree Of Life: A Study Of The Roles Of Coconut Products In The Samoan Economy, Past And Present, Dale Hoff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This focus of this paper is the role that coconut products have played in Samoa’s cash economy, past and present. This paper begins with a brief history of the use of coconut products in Samoa before independence. Next, the decline of the copra and copra oil industries in the 1980s and 1990s is highlighted, and several causes for this decline are explained. The current roles of coconut products such as copra oil, virgin coconut oil, whole coconuts sold locally, coconut cream, coconut shell handicrafts, and coconut wood are then analyzed. Specific attention is given to the potential role of copra …

The Effect Of Marketing Cooperatives On Innovation, Kyriakos Drivas, Konstantinos Giannakas

Cornhusker Economics

Cooperative organizations constitute an integral part of the increasingly industrialized agri-food system, accounting for 25 to 30 percent of total farm supply and marketing expenditures. When compared to profit-maximizing investor-owned firms (IOFs), a distinguishing feature of cooperatives (co-ops) is that the owners are also the users of the services provided by the organization. With members as both owners and users of its services, a co-op is typically assumed to focus on maximizing member welfare rather than profits.

The economic ramifications of the different objective functions of the cooperative organization have received considerable attention in the relevant literature, with the main …

Planting Prosperity And Harvesting Health: Trade-Offs And Sustainability In The Oregon-Washington Regional Food System, Sheila A. Martin, Tia Henderson, Meg Merrick, Elizabeth Mylott, Kelly Haines, Colin Price, Amy Koski, Rebecca Dann

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

This assessment reveals food system sustainability trends in Oregon and Washington, focusing specifically on the producers in both states and the consumers in the Portland- Vancouver region. We began the assessment by asking a group of food system stakeholders from Oregon and Washington to define broadly supported goals for a sustainable food system. They also helped us identify the data necessary to understand trends in the food system. This information can be used in the future to establish benchmarks and to assess future progress toward food system sustainability goals. Framed by stakeholder concerns, this report will assist program and policy …

The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Sorghum & Pearl Millet In Zambia: Production Guide, [2006], Kimberley Christiansen

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

U.S. government publication about sorghum and pearl millet production and sales in Zambia.

Calf Finishing Versus Background/Yearling Finishing Systems: Where’S The Profit?, Rebecca M. Small, Darrell R. Mark

Cornhusker Economics

As corn prices have more than doubled in the last two years, cattle producers continually look for alternatives to finishing calves exclusively in feedlots on high concentrate rations. Historically, Nebraska feeders have placed a high proportion of fall-weaned calves on feed in October and November and sold them as fed cattle in May. However, as corn prices increase, livestock producers have more incentive to background calves during the winter and following summer on forages, and delay placing the cattle on feed until they are long yearlings at the end of the summer grazing season.

Based on University of Nebraska–Lincoln research …