Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Irrigation Demand In A Changing Climate: Using Disaggregate Data To Predict Future Groundwater Use, Calvin R. Shaneyfelt

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

The paper estimates an irrigation water demand function using disaggregate climate and well data over a 33 year time period. Aggregating climate information over long periods, like a year, causes a loss of detail on temporal climatic variation, while aggregating climate information over space causes a loss of detail on spatial variation. This analysis uses disaggregate climate variation at a temporospatial level to determine the effects of climate on groundwater use. Results show that increased heat, measured in cooling degree-days, correlates with increased water use, while increased precipitation correlates with decreased water use. However, the effects are generally magnified for …

Essays On Smallholder Farmers In Jamaica: Context-Specific Evidence For Food Security Policymaking, Deborah Evadne Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three essays that examined the experiences and welfare of traditional food crop farmers in Western Jamaica. It systematically analyses the interplay between smallholder farmers and often overlooked variables in society. The study used qualitative interviewing, field observations and discourse analysis techniques to generate context-specific evidence for food security policymaking.

The first essay examined smallholder farmers' motives for farming. This formed the basis for a farmer typology that provides a portrait of the participants, and was used to inform findings in subsequent essays in this dissertation. The theory of planned behavior provided the conceptual grounding and …

Assessing Food Policy Options In Asia To Reduce Price Volatility Of Rice Market, Ranjitsinh Mane

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice is a staple food in Asia and its prices at national and international levels are largely influenced by different policy actions of trading countries. The consequence of the 2008 food crisis was food riots and rationing of rice in many nations. The ASEAN Plus Three (APT) countries have adopted an institutional framework called ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserves (APTERR) to address food security concerns of ASEAN countries that may arise due to climate change, supply chain disruptions or price speculation in the regional rice market. The RICEFLOW model is used to study the effectiveness of the strategic grain …

Recession And Recovery: Jobs In Nebraska: 2008 To 2012, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

A commonly used resource for tracking changes in jobs and income at the county level is the Regional Economic Information System (REIS) data base produced annually by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). REIS data are derived from tax filings by employers, employees and the self-employed. The data base has been relatively unchanged (except for a reorganization of industry codes) since 1969. Reporting is always for the tax year two-years previous to the release date, so the data are more about historical than current conditions. However, REIS is generally seen as reliable and does provide a trend line that now …

Conditional Cash Transfers, Community, And Empowerment Of Women In Colombia, Harlan Downs-Tepper

21st Century Social Justice

In 2001, the Colombian government initiated an experiment in poverty alleviation called Familias en Acción. This conditional cash transfer (CCT) program takes a novel approach to poverty reduction by addressing short- and long-term factors contributing to poverty. Though Colombia’s CCT program is just one of a wave of similar initiatives, its unique context and unexpected social effects, beyond the primary intentions of program designers, differentiate it from other such programs. Drawing on 200 interviews and focus group discussions which he conducted with academic experts, program beneficiaries and program administrators in three Colombian cities, the author finds that an unexpected …

A Win-Win On Agricultural Lands: Creating Wildlife Habitat Through Agroforestry, Gary Bentrup

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

With increasing demands from society for limited resources, agroforestry will likely be one source of solutions as people find it increasingly necessary to achieve multiple social, economic, and ecological objectives on the same plot of land. Indications are that this is a growing field, so wildlife biologists of the future may want to consider incorporating agroforestry into their career development.

2012 Agricultural Data In Perspective, Matthew Diersen, Christian Tchamda

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Stop Lion Hunting, Paul A. Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard Collection

According to my informal tally, at least seven mountain lions have so far been killed in Nebraska during 2014, as follows: 1 & 2: Two were killed on January 1 and 2, at the start of Nebraska's first hunting season. Both were killed by treeing the animals with dogs, then shooting them execution style. One was killed by a man who bought the permit ($13,500) at auction; the other by a teenager who won a Game & Park's fund -raising lottery. 3: An adult male was accidentally killed by a vehicle on February 1, in Sioux County. 4: An adult …

Implications Of Local And Regional Food Systems: Toward A New Food Economy In Portland, Oregon, Michael Mercer Mertens

Dissertations and Theses

The local food movement in the Portland Metro Region of Oregon is as prevalent as anywhere in the Country. To a large degree this is driven by the Portland Metro area food culture and the diverse agricultural landscape present in the Willamette Valley and throughout the State. Portlanders demand local food and thus far the rural periphery has been able to provide it; driving a new food economy that has economic implications throughout the region. As this regional food economy emerges much attention has been focused on harnessing its power for economic development perpetuated by the belief that there exists …

The 24th Annual Research Conference Abstract Booklet, Nikki Lynn Rogers

University of Gondar Research Conferences

Staff members, postgraduate and senior undergraduate students of the University, invited guests and speakers participated in the conference. The annual conference of the University is meant to share experiences in research activities among juniors and seniors, staff and students, and invited guests. It is also meant to motivate students and young faculty to engage in research and also to initiate and strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations. The findings of the studies and the resulting recommendations are expected to be used in solving the diverse societal problems we have been facing.

Research activities at the University of Gondar are primarily aimed at solving …

Do Weather Fluctuations Cause People To Seek Information About Climate Change?, Corey Lang

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

Learning about the causes and consequences of climate change can be an important avenue for supporting mitigation policy and efficient adaptation. This paper uses internet search activity data, a distinctly revealed preference approach, to examine if local weather fluctuations cause people to seek information about climate change. The results suggest that weather fluctuations do have an effect on climate change related search behavior, however not always in ways that are consistent with the projected impacts of climate change. While search activity increases with extreme heat in summer and extended periods of no rainfall and declines in extreme cold in winter, …

Back To The Kitchen: Escaping Processed Food, Ken Albala

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

To escape the adverse effects of consuming industrial processed food, society must learn fundamental cooking skills once more.

South Dakota 2014 Agricultural Land Values And Cash Rental Rates, Larry Janssen, Kim Dillivan, Bronc Mcmurty

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Snap: An Evaluation Of How Families In A Low Socioecnomic Bracket Decide What To Eat., Kate-Marie Roycroft

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to look at the major factors that influence how SNAP recipients make decisions about food purchases. The secondary purpose of this paper is to touch upon whether or not SNAP recipients suffer disproportionally from food insecurity and obesity-related chronic diseases. Three sets of interviews helped to inform this study: interviews with employees at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), interviews with researchers who have studied SNAP recipients extensively as part of their work, and interviews with nonprofit coordinators that work with SNAP recipients after they are approved for their benefits. Additional data was …

Matrilineal Asset Inheritance, Female Bargaining Power, And Household Welfare In Malawi, Nicholas T. Garcia

Master's Theses

Matrilineal inheritance practices in Malawi exogenously determine female land holdings at the time of marriage, allowing for the identification of the effect of increased female bargaining power on household consumption decisions. I use the matrilineal ethnicity of the head of household as an instrument for the share of total household land inherited by the female head or male head’s wife. I find that child’s height-for-age decreases with female assets, and evidence suggesting increased consumption from households’ own production. Since the food basket from own consumption is high in carbs but not nutritious, long-term child health suffers despite receiving more resources …

The Right To Food Under Hugo Chávez, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

This article investigates the right to food in Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013). It argues that although Chávez respected the right of (especially poor) Venezuelans to food, he failed to protect that right at the same time as he tried to fulfill it. In the short term, he fulfilled the right to food by establishing state-run stores where food could be purchased at a substantial discount, and by imposing price controls on food. At the same time, however, he reduced the supply of food by undermining property rights, expropriating large-scale farms and ranches as well as some wholesale and …

Forecasting Corn And Soybean Yields With Crop Conditions, Nicholas Jorgensen, Matthew Diersen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Grid Valuation Of Beef Carcass Quality: Market Power And Market Trends, Scott Fausti, Bahir Qasmi, Matthew Diersen, Bill Adamson

Economics Staff Paper Series (1969 - 2017)

The fed cattle grid pricing system’s premium and discount incentive mechanism is investigated. Two issues are addressed: a) we investigate changes in the weekly market value of an animal’s carcass quality attributes as determined by the USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) additive grid; and b) an evaluation of the effect of packer behavior on grid valuation of carcass quality attributes. A pooled-cross sectional data set containing carcass information on 598 fed steers evaluated weekly on the AMS publically reported price grid (National Carcass Premiums and Discounts for Slaughter Steers and Heifers) was constructed for the years 2001 to 2008 (226,000 observations). …

Assessing The Sources Of Risk And Risk Management Strategies Surrounding Poverty Traps And Mangrove Ecosystem Services In Rural Coastal Tanzania, Sarah Martin

Senior Honors Projects

Mangrove ecosystems consist of trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats throughout tropical and subtropical regions. These habitats provide essential ecosystem services to surrounding communities – including protection from erosion, flooding, and storm surge, access to raw materials, carbon sequestration, and nursery habitat for many species of marine life. Poor and vulnerable populations in rural coastal communities tend to rely disproportionately on natural resources to fuel their livelihoods, as they lack access to other market goods and services. Unfortunately, mangrove ecosystems have been substantially degraded over the last two decades. Therefore, the poor and vulnerable populations that rely …

Agricultural Productivity In The Greater Middle East, Zahra Tayebi

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

The purpose of this research is to determine TFP growth in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Syria considering weather as well as economic and social factors that might be affecting it. A translog production function was used to estimate TFP over the period 1980-2010. Precipitation, temperature, drought and irrigation were included in the analysis. The results show increasing agricultural productivity at the average rate of 2.66% during the period. Temperature and precipitation play a significant role in agricultural production and most frequent extreme drought episodes and irrigation affect, substantially, agricultural productivity growth in the region. The results highlight that respect …