Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

The Digital Age: Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans’ Use Of Technology: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans use the Internet or email from home. The groups most likely to use the Internet or email from home include: persons living in or near larger communities, residents of the Panhandle region, persons with higher household incomes, younger persons, females, married persons, persons with higher education levels and persons with management, professional or education occupations. The Internet applications used by the majority of rural Nebraskans include: research, looking for health information, purchasing a product, watching a video and social networking.

Most rural Nebraskans have positive opinions about shopping online: that the Internet is the best place to …

Car Ownership Modeling And Forecasts For China, Xiayi Huang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

A great increase of private car ownership took place in China from 1980 to 2009 with the development of the economy. To explain the relationship between car ownership and economic and social changes, an ordinary least squares linear regression model is developed using car ownership per capita as the dependent variable with GDP, savings deposits and highway mileages per capita as the independent variables. The model is tested and corrected for econometric problems such as spurious correlation and cointegration. Finally, the regression model is used to project oil consumption by the Chinese transportation sector through 2015. The result shows that …

Factors Affecting Feeder Cattle Prices In The Southeast, Kenneth H. Burdine

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Traditional factors known to affect feeder cattle prices, such as corn prices, have been questioned recently given the volatile nature of agricultural markets and some recent research findings. This work utilizes two very current and unique datasets to examine feeder cattle pricing relationships from Kentucky internet auctions and Certified Preconditioned for Health (CPH) sales. In addition to examining traditional pricing factors, factors that affect feeder cattle basis were also examined. Basis questions are of great interest in the southeast as transportation costs to major cattle feeding areas have been impacted by rising fuel prices and increased market volatility. Finally, price …

Climate Impact On Agricultural Efficiency, Federico J. Trindade

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Introduction

Method

Degree Days

Results

Conclusions

A Framework For Monitoring Local And Regional Food Systems, Heather Victoria Davis

Capstone Collection

The US food system has been experiencing gradual, yet significant, changes in recent years - with many people recognizing that conventional approaches are not only unsustainable, but also detrimental. As an alternative paradigm, the development of local food systems has been flourishing because of the benefits they bring to us: more local control over our food; supporting the local economy and entrepreneurs; healthier food options; fewer “food miles” and the related benefits of lowered use of petroleum; stronger community bonds; job creation for our rural communities; more gentle on the environment; and a more secure food system overall. Monitoring the …

The Campaign For Bias-Free Policing In Vermont: One State’S Resistance To The Localization Of Federal Immigration Agency, Amanda L. Park

Capstone Collection

There are roughly 1,500 immigrants from Mexico and Central America currently working on farms in Vermont, helping to sustain approximately half of all milk produced in the state. But the lack of adequate visa-to-work options leaves these individuals without proper documentation to be in the US. As such, they are vulnerable to exploitation by their employers, susceptible to harassment from the communities in which they live, and under constant threat of deportation by federal immigration agents. Now, the US Department of Homeland Security—in charge of domestic defense and immigration—is attempting to use local and state law enforcement officers in the …

Crop Insurance Changes In 2011, H. Doug Jose

Cornhusker Economics

For a number of years the Risk Management Agency (RMA) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working with the crop insurance industry to streamline the crop insurance program for the major crops. The new Common Crop Insurance Policy, referred to as the COMBO Policy, is in effect beginning with crops harvested in 2011. Crops covered include corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, wheat, barley, cotton, rice, canola and sunflowers.

Department Of Economics Publication List 2010, Penny Stover

Economics Pamphlet Series (1985-2016)

This compilation lists published works authored by Department of Economics faculty members and other staff working on projects funded through the Department of Economics. Publications resulting from their research and academic activities are indexed by author at the end of the pamphlet for easy access by the public. The articles were published between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010.

Bacterial Fermentation And The Missing Terroir Factor In Historic Cookery, Ken Albala

College of the Pacific Faculty Books and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Technological Change And Productivity Analysis In Nebraska, Dereje B. Megeressa

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Productivity growth has been an important source of US economic growth throughout the century

The years since 1940 have been an even faster growth in agricultural productivity (Ball, et.al. 1998; Tokgöz, 2002).

Several factors have been identified as the most important sources of productivity change in US agriculture.

Chandler (1962) attributes over 75 percent of the growth in productivity to technological factors in the post war years.

In Nebraska, several productivity studies conducted that include (Perrin et al, 2001; ball et al, 2001; and Palestina et al(2009).

None of the studies disaggregate land into poor and good …

Comparison Of Growing Media For Container Grown Plants, Paul Harris, David Longer, Derrick Oosterhuis, Dimitra Loka

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Greenhouse and growth chamber experiments are conducted worldwide in efforts to produce solutions that would increase yields of agronomic crops. However, the results of those experiments vary due to the many growth media being used. An experiment was conducted in the fall of 2010 to identify a broadly acceptable growth media that would produce uniform stands and optimum results in greenhouse and growth chamber settings. A total of six growth media were tested on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) at the Arkansas Agricutural Research and Extension Center’s Altheimer Lab in Fayetteville. The plants grown in each medium were harvested six weeks after …

Overcoming The Obstacles To Sustainability In Ghana, Ashley M. Scott

CMC Senior Theses

For several decades following its independence from Great Britain, Ghana’s policies continued to promote over-extraction of natural resources to the detriment of its economy and rural communities.  Agricultural and forestry policy has gradually evolved to foster more sustainable and equitable practices, as in building partnerships with the private sector to fund infrastructure improvements.  Policy has recently recognized the dire need to adopt agricultural practices and means of forest resource extraction that are compatible with ecological stewardship.  However, many shortcomings are still apparent.  Large logging operations completely disregard forestry regulations with impunity, whereas rural sustenance extractors are severely punished in the …

Molecular And Phenotypic Comparisons Of Salt Effects On Soybean Cultivars With Differential Chloride Uptake Capacities, Sharon Faye Holifield, Fernando Ledesma Rodriguez, Richard D. Cartwright, Pengyin Chen, Kenneth Korth

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Genetic manipulation of crop plants, through breeding or transgenic approaches, for enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress holds great promise for improving yields and promoting new methods for sustainable agriculture. This study examines the potential role that genes of the soybean, Glycine max L., encoding elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1α) and glyoxalase I (GlxI) might play in response to salt stress. Previous reports have suggested a possible function for both GlxI and EF-1α in conferring enhanced salt tolerance in other plant species. In addition to other possible mechanisms, salt tolerance in soybeans can be regulated by plant uptake and transport of chloride …

A Good Drought Plan May Save Your Ranch And Improve Your Bottomline, Matthew C. Stockton, Sunil P. Dhoubhadel

Cornhusker Economics

If you are a beef cattle producer that depends on rain fed pasture then you know how costly a severe drought can be. Whatever actions are taken to mitigate drought, there is always an associated cost whether it be physical or psychological. From an economic perspective, drought mitigation is managed from two main objectives – demand management and/or supply management. Demand management options include decreasing the demand for feed, such as selling livestock, weaning calves early and moving them to a dry lot or sale and/or reducing the grazing time in pastures. Supply management includes options that increase the supply …

Climate Change, Agricultural Productivity And Food Security In Sub-Saharan Africa, Aziza Kibonge

Cornhusker Economics

Agricultural productivity growth is a necessary condition for food security. Climate is directly related to the ability of a region to produce food. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) reports that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are likely to be severely affected by climate change and climate variability. Projections show that extreme heat and heavy precipitation are likely to become more frequent, affecting the ability of an already stressed area to produce cash as well as food crops. Most of SSA agriculture (96 percent of harvested acres) is rainfed, making crop yields very sensitive to the temporal and …

The Keystone Xl Pipeline Project, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan Fulginiti

Cornhusker Economics

Prior to Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s visit to the White House last week, the United States Department of State released the EnSys study of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project proposed to run through Nebraska’s sandhills. The release ignited new debates amid concern that the U.S. Department of State would soon decide whether to grant a permit for the pipeline. The Nebraska Unicameral is considering bills to provide more constraints on pipeline construction. Below is a summary of information about this project that could affect many Nebraskans.

Afghanistan Connection : Heroin Production, Distribution, And Consumption , Brandon J. Swartz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Heroin prices are a reflection of supply and demand, and similar to any other market, profits motivate participation. The intent of this research is to examine the change in Afghan opium production due to political conflict affecting Europe’s heroin market and government policies. If the Taliban remain in power, or a new Afghan government is formed, the changes will affect the heroin market in Europe to a certain degree. In the heroin market, the degree of change is dependent on many socioeconomic forces such as law enforcement, corruption, and proximity to Afghanistan. An econometric model that examines the degree of …

Public Preferences Of The Great Lakes Environment : A Lake Michigan Pilot Study, Fangming Liu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Great Lakes watershed is home to over 40 million people, and the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem is vital to the overall economic, societal, and environmental health of the U.S. and Canada. However, environmental issues related to them are sometimes overlooked. Policymakers and the public face the challenges of balancing economic benefits with the need to conserve and/or replenish regional natural resources to ensure long term prosperity. From the literature review, nine critical stressors of ecological services were delineated, which include pollution and contamination, agricultural erosion, non-native species, degraded recreational resources, loss of wetlands habitat, climate change, risk …

Participation In Agricultural Governmental Cost Share Programs In The Kentucky River Watershed, Pedro Miguel Fernandes Da Costa

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to review existing literature of factors that influence farmers’ decision to participate in conservation programs. This study is also intended to collect county data and information on conservation programs and participation in the Kentucky River watershed region, which can be analyzed and used to draw differences in characteristics of the region that would suggest willingness to participate in a trading scheme for improvements in water quality.

The results suggest that more participation in a trading scheme from some counties than others should be expected. Counties with more farms and larger farms will probably have …

2010 Ohio Animal Welfare Compromise, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

In June 2010, Ohio elected officials and animal welfare activists negotiated an animal welfare compromise agreement that kept an animal welfare proposition off the November ballot in Ohio.