Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Enhancing Production Efficiency And Farm Profitability Through Innovative Extension Programming, Nathan W. Conner, Matt Stockton, Daran Rudnick, Charles Burr, Tessa Burford

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Cooperative Extension strives to provide agricultural producers with non-formal educational opportunities designed to positively impact agriculture (NIFA, 2021). Therefore, a team of Extension professionals at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln developed and facilitate an ongoing professional development program designed to enhance the engagement of agricultural producers in farm management, especially in the areas of input use efficiency and profitability. Andragogy was used as the framework to help ensure the Testing Agricultural Performance Solutions (TAPS) program provided agricultural producers with non-formal education that aligned with andragogical principles. Knowles (1980) refers to andragogy as the “art and science of helping adults …

The Economic Effects Of Covid-19 On Smallholder Farmers In Kenya, Sarah Hope Brasche

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Like many Sub-Saharan African countries, the Kenyan economy heavily relies on agriculture. Agriculture in Kenya accounted for 50% of the total workforce in 2019 and 70% of the rural workforce. Though reliant on agriculture for employment and subsistence, Kenya has been historically impoverished and malnourished. Kenya has been experiencing an economic recession since 2018, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively speaking to other African countries, Kenya managed to escape the worst health effects of the pandemic, but the economic effects were substantial. This study analyzes survey responses from 1,059 Kenyan smallholder agricultural producers on the economic impacts they …

Assessing Determinants Of Participation In Conservation Programs In The U. S., Manita Ale

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

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has implemented conservation programs through Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA). Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are some of them. These programs provide financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to adopt land management practices that generate environmental benefits. In this study, we explore the determinants of participation in conservation programs (CRP, CSP, EQIP) in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. For this, we use a unique survey-based data set comprising observations from row crop farmers in these states. We are …

The Perceptions Of Psycap Growth Among College Student Leaders Who Mentor, James Lee

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the perceptions of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) growth among college student leaders who mentor. Recent research documented a positive association between mentoring and the mentee’s PsyCap growth, yet little is known about how mentoring impacts the mentor’s PsyCap. Additionally, though PsyCap has been researched considerably in the last decade, little is known about both the antecedents of PsyCap and the social mechanisms that contribute to the growth of PsyCap. This study addresses these gaps and examines the influence of mentoring for leadership development on the mentors’ perceptions of PsyCap growth. There are …

Water Scarcity: Impact On Water Rights, Institutions, And An Irrigated Agriculture, Nataly Medina

All Theses

This thesis combines two papers to provide a better understanding of the effects and management of water scarcity during periods of water shortage. The first manuscript discusses the evolution of water rights across the southeastern United States in response to increasing demands and droughts, while the second manuscript studies the effects of water scarcity on agriculture production in the western US.

The southeastern United States has historically benefited from abundant water supplies, allowing them to apply the riparian doctrine with little regulation. However, in the past few decades, the region has undergone major shifts in water policy. In the first …

An Assessment Of Clemson Cooperative Extension Agents’ Perceptions Of Work-Related Factors Leading To Burnout, Erika Hwang

All Theses

Turnover and employee burnout are problems the Cooperative Extension System is facing nationwide, and the Clemson University Cooperative Extension System is no exception. There has been previous research done within the Extension system to identify the factors contributing to turnover and burnout, however, both remain an issue. Yet, there has been no research done to examine the Clemson University Cooperative Extension System individually. To further investigate factors contributing to burnout, this pilot study was conducted with Clemson University Clemson Extension agents using a burnout assessment that has not previously been used in Extension research. This study described Clemson University Cooperative …

Market Outlet Choices Of Small-Scale Fruits And Vegetables Producers In Arkansas, Grace Sivilondire Mahamba

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comprises two studies investigating the market outlet choices of small-scale fruit and vegetable producers in Arkansas. By examining the marketing decisions of producers in the region, the objective was to profile producers based on their utilization of different available outlets and identify the factors influencing their decisions regarding where to sell their products. Data from a survey conducted in the Ozark Mountain Region (comprising Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma) during Fall of 2022 were analyzed using k-means clustering to classify producers based on their characteristics, thus establishing distinct producer profiles. Multinomial logit regression was employed to determine …

On The Economics Of The Transition To A Circular Economy, Ahmed Chennak, Konstantinos Giannakas, Tala Awada

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Humanity is facing complex challenges posed by population growth, climate change, and the need to increase food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy production while confronting the scarcity of natural resources. The transition to a circular economy, characterized by reduced resource use and waste, is being increasingly recognized in academic, business, and policy making circles as essential to meeting these challenges, with the emphasis being on the development of methods and processes that enable and facilitate the transition from a linear to a circular economy. This paper argues the need for an increased emphasis on the economics of the circular economy and …

Crop-Livestock Diversification And Efficiency In Agriculture, Jay Parsons, Maroua Afi

Cornhusker Economics

Diversification is a familiar strategy for managing risk in agriculture. It can take several forms including growing more than one crop or operating a farm with both crop and livestock enterprises. As with other strategies for managing risk, diversification comes with a unique set of costs. Managing a farm with multiple enterprises creates additional overhead as well as additional demands on management, labor, land, capital, and other resources. Diversification adds complexity to an operation and too much complexity can lead to inefficiencies.

The Role Of Gastronomy In Cultural Politics: Lesson Learned From Italy, Rifki Elindawati, Henny Saptatia Drajati Nugrahani

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

Cultural politics is one of the efforts used by national governments in promoting culture in various countries to achieve their national interests. Italy tries to implement its cultural politics by seeing gastronomy as a diplomatic tool or gastrodiplomacy. This study attempts to seek answer for two research question, first is how does Italy intensively carry out a gastrodiplomacy as its cultural politics. The theory used in this research is the integral state of Gramsci's Hegemony. The research method that will be used in this paper is a descriptive qualitative research method analysis. Meanwhile, the data collection method used is document …

Climate & Conflict: View Into A Warming World, Faelynn Carroll

Master's Theses

Unlike weather patterns, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a large-scale, cyclical climate system that is now predictable for up to a year and a half in advance. ENSO cycles occur every two to seven years for approximately two years at a time, affecting large swaths of the globe with plausibly random variation in the exact location and strength of local effects. However, its systemic nature allows for aggregate effects to be accounted for by its outcomes. This research uses novel 0.5 x 0.5 degree ENSO teleconnection analysis for precipitation and temperature to uncover environmental mechanisms that underly the …

Investing In Nature Can Improve Equity And Economic Returns, Justin Andrew Johnson, Uris Baldos, Erwin Corong, Thomas Hertel, Stephen Polasky, Raffaello Cervigni, Toby Roxburgh, Giovanni Ruta, Colette Salemi, Sumil Thakrar

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Sustainable development requires jointly achieving economic development to raise standards of living and environmental sustainability to secure these gains for the long run. Here, we develop a local-to-global, and global-to-local, earth-economy model that integrates the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP)-computable general equilibrium model of the economy with the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model of fine-scale, spatially explicit ecosystem services. The integrated model, GTAP–InVEST, jointly determines land use, environmental conditions, ecosystem services, market prices, supply and demand across economic sectors, trade across regions, and aggregate performance metrics like GDP. We use the integrated model to analyze the …

Improving The Land Trust Model’S Impact On Environmental Conservation In Northern California, Peter Talbot

Master's Projects and Capstones

For years, the land trust sector of California and much of the United States has operated with a dollars and acres mentality that has prioritized fundraising as a result of acreage protected. Within California, nearly 5.8 million acres of land have been protected by 132 land trusts throughout the state. To accommodate for the diverse cross-section of land and the many needs of the population, land trusts take on numerous shapes and sizes. A unique aspect of this diversity is the rich agricultural and natural spaces found throughout the state. This mix of land and variety of land uses has …

Nutrient Optimization For Vegetable Production Under Decoupled Aquaponics Using Brackish Water, Salma Walid Hany Ahmed Abdelfattah

Theses and Dissertations

As the world moves to more sustainable agriculture methods in the agribusiness industry, decoupled aquaponics is recognized as one of the newest techniques currently being utilized to achieve more local food security. As the topic is still freshly new within the industry, a finite number of publications and studies have been made that address the topic hands-on with its many variables. Subsequently, in this paper, an experiment was conducted to assess the most optimized production conditions of both lacinato kale (Brassica oleracea var.palmifolia) and Swiss chard Bright Light (Beta vulgaris ssp. Cicla var. flavescens) plants through the utilization of a …

Climate Change: The Ultimate Cereal Killer: The Impact Of Temperature And Precipitation On Agricultural Yields, Hayley Huber, Robert Salita, Ruth Abraham

Gettysburg College Headquarters

The global food supply depends on agricultural production, but as the negative effects of climate change are exacerbated by human activity, how will agriculture need to change to accommodate both climate change and the increasing population? In order to understand what adaptations will be necessary, we perform analysis on the relationship between climate change (temperature and precipitation) and crop yields (barley, rice, and soybean). We take a multinational approach, using ten countries for each model, to see the global impact of climate change on production. Testing many models, we settle on country-specific time trends, eliminating many confounding variables by focusing …

Rural Development Hubs: A Possibility For Nebraska?, Marilyn R. Schlake

Cornhusker Economics

The Aspen Institute, Community Strategies Group conducted an analysis of 43 Rural Development Hubs from across the country to discover their strategies, organizational structures, regional roles, and practices. Their aim was to learn how rural regions can help investors, policymakers and other local and regional decision-makers better serve their regions. The following provides an overview of their findings detailed in the report: Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure. The report provides an opportunity for further discussion on the potential role of Rural Development Hubs in Nebraska. Rural Development Hubs are defined as a “place-rooted organization working hand-in -glove …

Citing Seeds, Citing People: Bibliography And Indigenous Memory, Relations, And Living Knowledge-Keepers, Megan Peiser Choctaw Nation Of Oklahoma

Criticism

By turning the page or reading further, you are accepting a responsibility to this story, its storyteller, its ancestors, and its future ancestors. You are accepting a relationship of reciprocity where you treat this knowledge as sacred for how it nourished you, share it only as it has been instructed to share, and to ensure it remains unviolated for future generations.

This story is told by myself, Megan Peiser, Chahta Ohoyo. I share knowledge entrusted to me by Anishinaabe women I call friends and sisters, by seed-keepers of many peoples Indigenous to Turtle Island, and knowledge come to me from …

The Root Of Culture: Human Ritual And The Soils Of West Virginia, Aleece Mount

Masters Theses

The Cumberland Mountains of Southern West Virginia are home to mountaintop removal, with the Guyandotte River watershed exhibiting some of the most extreme examples. The strip-mining practices have removed fertile soil, altered water courses, deeply polluted the land, and stripped people of their wealth – prosperity in happiness and abundance of possessions and resources. This has resulted in some of the nation’s worst health, education, and economic conditions. The communities of this watershed live at the heart of the economic and political forces that undermine community and ecological well-being.

Southern West Virginia has a deep and continued history of living …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

What’S Good: Sharing Food And Meaning-Making Among Commensals, Lucor Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To explore how systems of meaning are formed and reformed over an individual’s lifetime in the context of food, meals, and commensality, this research applies a critical phenomenological lens to food-centered life histories centered on the life experiences of childhood, adulthood and the diffusion of food knowledge within a food centric community between individuals within age cohorts and across generations. Through reflective interviewing community members within Denver metropolitan area anti-hunger organization, this research is able to provide insight into several secondary questions, including: Is childhood a formative space for the cementation of these systems of meaning and value and do …