Agricultural Economics Commons^™

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 …

The Farmers’ Federation: Regional Racial Mythologies As Agricultural Capital, Jama Mcmurtery Grove

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1927, the Farmers’ Federation agricultural cooperative in Western North Carolina launched an organization to solicit funds from wealthy donors. The money raised through philanthropic campaigns enabled the cooperative to fund large-scale agricultural projects, which helped members navigate the dramatic agricultural transformations of the early twentieth century. Although the cooperative advocated a progressive program of business-minded, scientific farming, its leadership modified programs to reflect farmer members’ limited resources and the realities of mountain production. As a result, the co-op provided a crucial bridge between white farmers and new methods of agricultural production that reached deep into peoples’ familial and productive …

Western Australian Sheep Producer Survey 2018, Mandy Curnow, Janet Conte

Animal production and livestock published reports

This survey was commissioned in 2018 by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), following earlier surveys in 2011 and 2014 conducted as part of national producer surveys for the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Innovation (Sheep CRC). This report is therefore able to analyse respondents’ flock management over time.

The surveys were conducted by telephone with producers who had more than 500 sheep and were located in the Medium Rainfall Zone (MRZ) or Cereal Sheep Zone (CSZ). The sample sizes for the 2011, 2014 and 2018 surveys were 369, 368 and 389 respectively.

Examining The Capacity Of Nebraska Rangelands For Cattle, Kaitlyn Cumming, Jay Parsons, Walter H. Schacht, Brian Baskerville

Cornhusker Economics

According to the 2017 United States Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service report (USDA-NASS 2017), Nebraska is the number one ranked state in the United States for both cattle on feed and for beef slaughtering capacity. It ranks number two in all cattle and calves while ranking number four in the number of beef cows. Beef production has a $12.1 billion impact annually to the Nebraska economy including $6.5 billion in direct sales (Nebraska Beef Cattle Facts 2016).

Given the above information, a research question was motivated to evaluate the forage production of Nebraska’s perennial grazing land systems and …

Eyes In The Field, A Seat At The Table, A Voice At The Ranch : A Study On Optimal Farm Labor Conditions., Christine Wiggins-Romesburg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field of human resource development has twin obligations to promote the performance of organizations and the satisfaction and welfare of all workers. Nevertheless, agriculture appears to be an understudied industry in the field, despite this obligation and the potential for suffering experienced by workers performing crop work. This case study sought to understand the process through which a single agricultural operation fosters optimal conditions for workers engaged in labor-intensive crop production. This study found employees experienced better treatment compared to other agricultural operations, and that conditions were rich in both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors were marked by …