Agriculture Commons^™

Cost Benefit Analysis Of Café Standards Compared To The Alternative Fuel/Carbon Tax, Brian Levinson

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

The Cafe Standards were introduced in 1975 following the Oil Embargo. The goals of this program were simple. To reduce co2 emissions in vehicles by increasing a mandatory average mpg level for car manufacturers in the United States. Recently, in 2012, the Obama Administration set new Cafe Standard requirements for car manufacturers. By 2025, all new cars on the road in the United States must average 54.5 miles per gallon, which would double the current 27 mpg average in place right now. While the intentions of this policy are to reduce co2 emissions while at the same time increasing savings …

The Economics Of The Audubon Society's Sanctuary Program For Golf Courses, Dan Hyszczak

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Millions of people play golf every year, and in 2011 Golf Courses gained $22 billion dollars in revenue. This statistic combined with golf’s inherent place in the natural environment lead to questions of value and development for golf course owners. In 1991, The Audubon Society created their Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses (ACSP) to promote environmentally sustainable practices for golf courses and to recognize the courses that are the most environmentally in both the United States and around the world.

This paper builds off of prior research that connects golf course beauty with revenue by examining the effects of …

Preferences For Coral Reef And Fishery Management In Okinawa, Japan, Nils Carlson

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This study is an example of how a nonmarket valuation method – a choice experiment – can be used to influence and guide ecosystem conservation efforts. Using a choice experiment survey, this study estimates the willingness to pay (WTP) for certain hypothetical attributes of a restored and conserved coral reef in Okinawa, Japan. I find that an increase in the amount of fish available to catch in ten years as well as an increase in the extent and health of the coral reefs and the number of marine biodiversity found in the Okinawan waters after ten-years, both positively affect respondent’s …

An Exploratory Statistical Analysis Of The External And Internal Effects Of Art Museums In The United States, John Eder

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

An Exploratory Statistical Analysis of the External and Internal Effects of Art Museums in the United States

Invited Introduction To Jerec, Noelwah Netusil

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Welcome By The Editor, Sahan T. M. Dissanayake

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Annual And Seasonal Price Patterns For Cattle, Kathleen Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Annual average prices over the last 35 years for feeder steers (500-600 lb and 700-800 lb) and fed steers for Nebraska are shown in Figure 1. The U.S. cattle history has well documented 10 to 12 year cycles of rising and falling production with inverse price cycles. Historical prices within the cattle industry cycles for Nebraska can be seen from the figure with similar low prices during the bottom of the cycles in 1986 and 1996. In 1996, higher than average feed grain prices resulted in the narrowing of the spread between lighter weight and heavier weight steers. Cattle prices …

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 18, 2015, Chris Fenimore

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 18, 2015 (8/18/15) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

2015-2016 Land Management, Relations, And Alternative Cash Lease Provisions Participant Manual

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

This publication was used as the participant manual for the 2015-2016 land management and flex lease meetings held across the state of Nebraska. This effort was supported by grant funding made available from the Nebraska Soybean Board and the North Central Risk Management Education Center.

Determining A Cooperative’S Least-Cost Equity Position, Jeffrey S. Royer

Cornhusker Economics

A simple measure of interest coverage can serve as the basis for a valuable equity management and planning tool for both agricultural cooperatives and rural electric cooperatives (RECs). The timesinterest- earned ratio (TIER) can be used by a cooperative to determine the least-cost mix of debt and equity capital that satisfies a particular interest coverage requirement given the cooperative's rate of return on equity and average interest rate. Identifying the least-cost mix of debt and equity is important because if the cooperative uses too much debt in its capitalization, it may be unable to cover its interest expenses; if it …

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 11, 2015, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 11, 2015 (8/11/15) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Agricultural Teachers’ Concerns: A Regional Perspective., Cristian A. Calixto

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Visualization And Analysis Of Sensory Data, Luke Neumann, Sung Yeon Choi, Brian Olsen, Sungahn Ko, David Ebert Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Recently, California has suffered a severe drought, making water a scarce resource to its population. Many viticulturists are based in this area who rely on heavy irrigation to produce a better grape and a better wine. Not just in California, but throughout the nation, irrigation must be applied intelligently for efficient use of water and funding. By taking measurements of physical characteristics of a vineyard over time, one may be able to visualize trends in the data which lend itself to describing preferred growing methods. Wireless sensors can be used to take measurements including moisture, temperature, sunlight, and more. Sensors …

A Novel Synthetic Yeast For Enzymatic Biodigester Pretreatment, Tianyu Tan, Mark S. Aronson, Arren Liu, Jill H. Osterhus, Melissa Robins, Suraj Mohan, Erich Leazer, Bowman Clark, Alexa Petrucciani, Katherine Lowery, James Welch, Casey Martin, Helena Lysandrou, Michael E. Scharf, Jenna Rickus

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lignin, a complex organic polymer, is a major roadblock to the efficiency of biofuel conversion as it both physically blocks carbohydrate substrates and poisons biomass degrading enzymes, even if broken down to monomer units. A pretreatment process is often applied to separate the lignin from biomass prior to biofuel conversion. However, contemporary methods of pretreatment require large amounts of energy, which may be economically uncompelling or unfeasible. Taking inspiration from several genes that have been isolated from termites and fungi which translate to enzymes that degrade lignin, we want to establish a novel “enzymatic pretreatment” system where microbes secrete these …

Visualization Of The Growth And Production Of Grapes Through Analysis Of Sensory Data, Sung Yeon Choi, Luke Neumann, Brian Olsen, Sungahn Ko, David Ebert Ph.D

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Grapes used in the wine industry have been one of the highest value crops in the United States. However, with unpredictable weather changes and recent drought in the Western United States, vineyard owners and grape growers have faced difficulties on producing good quality grapes suited for wine making. Therefore, a technology that would keep record of environmental data and incorporate the data to support agricultural decisions will help the growers to produce quality grapes even in extreme conditions. As such, this research focuses on developing an interactive system that uses sensory data and visual analytics to facilitate vineyard management and …

Detecting Genomic Regions Responsible For Resistance In Arabidopsis, Valeria Cancino, Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, Rucha Karve

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Ralstonia solanacearum is a soil-borne plant root colonizing pathogen and the casual agent of bacterial wilt (BW) disease. BW leads to severe yield loss in a wide variety of agricultural commodity crops, such as tomato, banana, and pepper. In this study, we look at the plant-pathogen interaction between Ralstonia solanacearum and various ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana with the goal of finding resistant ecotypes. To identify resistant ecotypes, seeds are first sterilized and left to soak in the dark. Then the seeds are plated on agar media, transferred to a growth chamber, and allowed to grow for 5 days. On day …

Evaluation Of Two Non-Destructive Methods For Estimating Biomass In A Prairie, Arnoldas Pivorius, Laura Ploughe, Jeff Dukes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The estimation of above ground biomass is important in managing natural resources, like assessing habitat conditions. Direct, destructive measurements by clipping, drying, and weighing plant matter is time consuming and labor intensive. It is of interest to develop non-invasive methods to complement or replace direct vegetation harvest. Two non-invasive methods were evaluated, light penetration and visual obstruction, in the Purdue Wildlife Area prairie. Light penetration in the grassland plots were measured using a Decagon light stick (LP-80), 5 cm from the ground and above the plants. Estimation of visual obstruction was done using a Robel pole, which focuses on the …

Farm Program Payments And Protection Under Arc And Plc, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

Earlier this year, Nebraska crop producers and local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices worked through countless meetings, visits, and analyses to make farm program enrollment decisions regarding base acreage, payment yields, and the election between Agriculture Risk Coverage at the county level (ARC-CO), Agriculture Risk Coverage at the individual level (ARC-IC), or Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The decisions involved deciphering a complex set of farm programs and related crop insurance choices and relied at least in part on producer perceptions of yield and price directions and volatility through the 2018 crop year.

U.S. Drought Monitor, August 4, 2015, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for August 4, 2015 (8/4/15) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Chemical Oxygen Demand Reduction Using The Algae Dunaliella Primolecta And Chlorella Vulgaris, Angeles L. Mora, Alejandro Hernandez, Alejandro Calderón-Urrea

STAR Program Research Presentations

Farm industry wastewater is characterized by high organic materials and by high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Farms with large livestock and poultry operations can be a major source of wastewater thus a major concern for effective environmental and industrial management. Effective environmental and industrial management are high in cost therefor biofuels produced from plants have a potential of replacing a portion of fossil fuel consumption with a renewable efficient alternative. Due to California’s water crisis in the recent years, it is questioned if a biological treatment system that uses algal growth to create renewable energy in the form of biodiesel …