Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Risk Management Strategies For Nebraska Grain And Oilseed Producers: A Stochastic Simulation And Analysis, Jim A. Jansen

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

Uncertainty in revenue for grain and oilseed operations located across Nebraska exists due to commodity price volatility and yield variability. Several risk management tools enable producers to deal with financial losses from revenue declines including crop insurance, marketing strategies, and government farm programs. Producers may need to combine multiple tools for an effective risk management strategy, but research lacks on integrating these tools currently available to producers across the state. Actions amongst individuals actively engaged in the industry show their plans to deal with revenue declines may lead to less than optimal strategies.

Stochastic simulation utilizing eight representative farms across …

The 2012 Drought: Some Economic Implications, Bruce B. Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

This issue is the first in a series addressing current drought conditions, economic impacts and resources for Nebraska agriculture.

Tax Consequences To Drought, Tina Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

It’s been a few years since we’ve had to deal with the drought related tax laws, but with the recent drought conditions across the Midwest, it’s a good time to review them.

Agricultural Disaster Assistance, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

This issue is the second in a series addressing current drought conditions, economic impacts and resources for Nebraska agriculture.

Making Good Management Choices During A Time Of Crisis, Matthew Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

This issue is the third in a series addressing drought conditions, economic impacts and resources for Nebraska agriculture.

Impact Of Hybrid Rice On Food Security: A Spatial Equilibrium Analysis Of Global Adoption And Diffusion Of Hybrid Rice Varieties, Till Ludwig

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice is the staple crop for most consumers in Asia. More than half of the global population depends on rice. However, scarce resources for agricultural production and unfavorable conditions will make it hard to meet future demand in rice and threaten future food security. Hybrid rice technology is a method to increase the productivity of resources needed for rice production. Current developments show not only yield improvements in comparison to existing conventional and hybrid varieties, but also fuel hopes for new abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. The objective of this study is to determine what impact hybrid rice varieties can …

Three Essays On Contingent Valuation, Samuel Zapata Raudales

All Dissertations

Contingent valuation (CV), a survey-based method, is widely used by researchers and government agencies to assess the value of those goods or services whose market price is not well defined. This dissertation comprises three essays analyzing and extending the theoretical foundations, estimation methods and empirical applications of the CV method. The first and second essay focuses on producers' willingness to pay for novel inputs or technologies. The first essay analyzes the theoretical underpinnings of producer WTP for new inputs. In addition to conceptualizing the producer WTP function, I derived its comparative statics and show how these properties can be used …

Food Environment And Childhood Obesity, Yucong Jiao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether children's food environment, especially food stores that have fresh produce, affects obesity prevalence among elementary school children in the state of Arkansas. Misclassified food outlet types in the Dun and Bradstreet commercial data set were first corrected and then food environment measures were computed and aggregated to geographic regions corresponding to school attendance areas. After applying classical panel estimation, it was found that the fixed effects model fit the data best. Results indicate that an additional supermarket within a one-mile radial of the census neighborhood block center will bring down childhood obesity prevalence by 0.58 percent, …

Motivating Factors For Young Adults In The Brattleboro Area To Start In Organic Agriculture For Their Career, Tomokazu Utsugi

Capstone Collection

Despite a worldwide push for the conversion of conventional agriculture to organic agriculture, organic farming itself is not a very popular vocational choice for young people. Brattleboro, one of the towns in Vermont, is no exception. Although several local organizations are promoting local agriculture and food security, in reality, not many young people in Brattleboro want to choose organic agriculture as their career.

With a total of 17 in-depth qualitative interviews with young adults in the Brattleboro area, this inquiry sought to identify a range of factors that would motivate them to choose organic agriculture as their career. The results …

Effects Of Natural Resource Abundance On Institutions: Which, Where And When?, Luisa Blanco, Jeffrey Nugent, Graham Veenstra

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Much research has gone into the effects of oil and other natural resources on growth in which political institutions are often seen as the link between the two. Since institutions are difficult to measure and change very slowly over time, the analysis has largely been confined to cross-country comparisons, most frequently investigating the effects on levels of democracy. This paper builds on recent analyses of the effects of oil endowments, prices and exports on democracy to examine the effects on several different types of institutional change, making use of panel data on over 100 countries between 1975 and 2005 wherever …

Risk And Marketing Behavior: Pricing Fed Cattle On A Grid, Scott Fausti, Zhiguang Wang, Beshir Qasmi, Matthew A. Diersen

Economics Staff Paper Series (1969 - 2017)

A seven year comparative study of grid pricing versus average pricing of slaughter cattle was conducted to evaluate carcass quality market signals. The primary objective of the study is to determine if market signals sent through the grid pricing system are encouraging producers to market on a grid and discouraging them to market by the pen. Two secondary objectives investigate: 1) if price risk associated with carcass quality uncertainty affects marketing decisions, and 2) if a change in price risk (volatility) affects producer marketing decisions. An EARCH-ln-Mean modeling procedure was adopted. Empirical results suggest that the grid premium and discount …

Nebraska’S Sandhill Crane Migration: Opportunities For Additional Economic Activity, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

Each year in March and April, thousands of visitors come to Nebraska’s Central Platte River Valley to witness a true wonder of the natural world: The annual migration of Sandhill cranes.

Several hundred thousand cranes gather annually along the Platte River to feed, court and gather energy before traveling further north to breed. Their numbers and fame are estimated to attract over 70,000 visitors, who spend on average 1.3 days in the region (Edwards and Thompson, 2010).

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Cornhusker Economics

4^th of July Holiday

Resolving Division Fence Disputes In Nebraska, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Ideally, neighbors can agree between themselves on most fencing issues. If they cannot agree, Nebraska Division Fence Statutes provide a legal process for resolving fence disputes. A 2010 amendment establishes the requirements for splitting cost of a wire division fence equally (50-50) between neighbors. Mediation is probably the most cost-effective way to resolve fence disputes if the parties cannot settle the matter between themselves.

Rural Nebraskans’ Ties To Agriculture, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

A recent report released by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Department of Agricultural Economics and the UNL Bureau of Business Research outlines the economic impact of agriculture to Nebraska. Using 2010 data, the report concludes that agriculture provides over 40 percent of the state’s total business receipts, 26.9 percent of the state’s gross state product and 24 percent of the state’s total workforce. In short, the report concludes that more than a fourth of Nebraska’s economy can be attributed to the agricultural production complex.

Land Is Life: A Policy Advocacy Case Study Of The Northern Thailand Land Reform Movement, Jason Lubanski

Capstone Collection

This case study provides an in-depth examination of the work of the Thailand Northern Land Reform Movement using the framework of Jeff Unsicker's "Policy Advocacy Circles". Due to increasing population pressures, the liberalization of land markets, and agribusiness pressures, Thailand has experienced an increase in land ownership inequality and a growing number of landless and nearly landless small-scale farmers. In order to address this situation, agricultural communities have joined together at local and national levels to fight for the legislation of land reform policies, including Community Land Titles, progressive land taxes, and a National Land Bank to assist with land …

South Dakota Agricultural Land Market Factors, Burton Pflueger, Larry Janssen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Relationship Between Obesity And The Prevalence Of Food Deserts In Arkansas, Hillarie Whitehorn

Student Theses and Dissertations

The nation -wide increase in obesity rates has led to growing interest among academics and policy makers to identify factors related to obesity rates. The methodology adopted is a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The quantitative analysis entails a conducting OLS regression with obesity rates as the dependent variable and number of supercenters as the independent variable. The analysis is conducted at the county level covering all the 75 counties of the Arkansas. The qualitative part includes an ethnographic study of food selections among supercenters, supermarkets, and grocery stores for Jonesboro, one of the big towns in Arkansas. The …

South Dakota Agricultural Land Cash Rent Values: 2012, Burton Pflueger, Larry Janssen

Economics Commentator (1972- 2016)

No abstract provided.

Green Infrastructure Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Green infrastructure is an approach for managing stormwater that uses vegetation and soils to capture and treat rainwater where it falls. Unlike single-purpose gray infrastructure, green infrastructure realizes multiple benefits at once, including flood mitigation, improved water and air quality, community beautification, provision of recreational opportunities, and energy and cost savings. This resource directory is intended to help communities design, implement, fund, and monitor green infrastructure practices and programs. It was compiled by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. …