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Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices./
Author:	Chen, Le.
Description:	1 online resource (154 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-04, Section: B.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International84-04B.
Subject:	Agriculture. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=29420029click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798352650233

Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices.
Chen, Le.

Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices. - 1 online resource (154 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-04, Section: B.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--North Carolina State University, 2022.

Includes bibliographical references

Healthy soil is the foundation of productive, sustainable agriculture. Soil health management can have multifaceted ecological and economic benefits. The three essays in this dissertation study the economics of soil health management practices adoption in the US.In Chapter 2, we investigate the impact of no-till practice on agricultural land values in the United States (US) Midwest. Two county-level panel data sets - the agricultural census farmland value data and the Iowa Farmland Values Survey data - are separately merged with a novel satellite-based data set on no-till adoption rates to achieve the study objective. Based on linear fixed effect econometric models, recently developed "external-instrumentfree" estimation procedures, and a number of robustness checks, we find that increasing no-till adoption rates has a statistically significant positive effect on agricultural land values at the county-level. Results from the empirical analysis support the notion that economic and environmental benefits from adopting soil conservation practices, such as no-till, are capitalized into higher farmland values.Chapter 3 examines the impact of cover crop adoption on soil erosion levels in the United States (US) Midwest. Based on a novel county-level panel data set with information on soil erosion levels and remotely-sensed cover crop acreage, we estimate linear panel fixed effect econometric models and conduct a number of robustness checks to investigate the direct impact of cover crops on two major types of soil erosion (wind and water erosion). Although we find that counties with higher cover crop acreage have statistically lower soil erosion levels due to water, wind, or both, we believe that the magnitudes of the estimated effects are modest. Moreover, the erosion decreasing effect of cover crops is stronger for water-caused soil erosion rather than for wind-caused soil erosion. Longer-term multi-year use of cover crops also do not seem to increase the soil erosion reducing effects of cover crops over time. Results from the empirical analysis provide further empirical evidence on the impact of cover crops on soil erosion, and provide insights for policy makers in terms of further understanding the full benefits of this particular soil conservation practice.In Chapter 4, we develop a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model to investigate optimal cover crop adoption policies taking into account cumulative effects on soil fertility, uncertain future cash crop prices, partial irreversibility of sunk machinery costs, and flexibility in the timing of adoption over time. Based on a dataset from a 35-year cotton field experiment in West Tennessee (1984-2018), we first estimate the static and dynamic yield effects of cover crop adoption and then use these estimates to evaluate the decision to adopt three cover cropping practices - hairy vetch, winter wheat and crimson clover - under conventional till and no-till production systems. Econometric estimates imply significant cumulative effects of cover crops on yields, as well as static and dynamic substitution effects between cover crops and nitrogen fertilizer inputs. Results of our dynamic programming analysis suggest that at historically prevailing prices for nitrogen fertilizer, it's only optimal for farmers to adopt cover crops with high preexisting levels of soil fertility when no fixed costs are required under conventional tillage, while it's preferable to adopt earlier if no-till practice has been implemented. However, when new machinery costs need to be incurred, the optimal strategy is for cotton farmers to wait and postpone cover crop adoption until new information that reduces uncertainty is available or the sunk cost of adoption decreases.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2023

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798352650233Subjects--Topical Terms:

518588
Agriculture.
Index Terms--Genre/Form:

542853
Electronic books.

Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices.
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245 1 0 $a Essays on the Economics of Soil Health Practices.
264 0 $c 2022
300 $a 1 online resource (154 pages)
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500 $a Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-04, Section: B.
500 $a Advisor: Brown, Zachary; Rejesus, Roderick.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--North Carolina State University, 2022.
504 $a Includes bibliographical references
520 $a Healthy soil is the foundation of productive, sustainable agriculture. Soil health management can have multifaceted ecological and economic benefits. The three essays in this dissertation study the economics of soil health management practices adoption in the US.In Chapter 2, we investigate the impact of no-till practice on agricultural land values in the United States (US) Midwest. Two county-level panel data sets - the agricultural census farmland value data and the Iowa Farmland Values Survey data - are separately merged with a novel satellite-based data set on no-till adoption rates to achieve the study objective. Based on linear fixed effect econometric models, recently developed "external-instrumentfree" estimation procedures, and a number of robustness checks, we find that increasing no-till adoption rates has a statistically significant positive effect on agricultural land values at the county-level. Results from the empirical analysis support the notion that economic and environmental benefits from adopting soil conservation practices, such as no-till, are capitalized into higher farmland values.Chapter 3 examines the impact of cover crop adoption on soil erosion levels in the United States (US) Midwest. Based on a novel county-level panel data set with information on soil erosion levels and remotely-sensed cover crop acreage, we estimate linear panel fixed effect econometric models and conduct a number of robustness checks to investigate the direct impact of cover crops on two major types of soil erosion (wind and water erosion). Although we find that counties with higher cover crop acreage have statistically lower soil erosion levels due to water, wind, or both, we believe that the magnitudes of the estimated effects are modest. Moreover, the erosion decreasing effect of cover crops is stronger for water-caused soil erosion rather than for wind-caused soil erosion. Longer-term multi-year use of cover crops also do not seem to increase the soil erosion reducing effects of cover crops over time. Results from the empirical analysis provide further empirical evidence on the impact of cover crops on soil erosion, and provide insights for policy makers in terms of further understanding the full benefits of this particular soil conservation practice.In Chapter 4, we develop a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model to investigate optimal cover crop adoption policies taking into account cumulative effects on soil fertility, uncertain future cash crop prices, partial irreversibility of sunk machinery costs, and flexibility in the timing of adoption over time. Based on a dataset from a 35-year cotton field experiment in West Tennessee (1984-2018), we first estimate the static and dynamic yield effects of cover crop adoption and then use these estimates to evaluate the decision to adopt three cover cropping practices - hairy vetch, winter wheat and crimson clover - under conventional till and no-till production systems. Econometric estimates imply significant cumulative effects of cover crops on yields, as well as static and dynamic substitution effects between cover crops and nitrogen fertilizer inputs. Results of our dynamic programming analysis suggest that at historically prevailing prices for nitrogen fertilizer, it's only optimal for farmers to adopt cover crops with high preexisting levels of soil fertility when no fixed costs are required under conventional tillage, while it's preferable to adopt earlier if no-till practice has been implemented. However, when new machinery costs need to be incurred, the optimal strategy is for cotton farmers to wait and postpone cover crop adoption until new information that reduces uncertainty is available or the sunk cost of adoption decreases.
533 $a Electronic reproduction. $b Ann Arbor, Mich. : $c ProQuest, $d 2023
538 $a Mode of access: World Wide Web
650 4 $a Agriculture. $3 518588
650 4 $a Soil fertility. $3 656383
650 4 $a Soil erosion. $3 602940
650 4 $a Soil sciences. $3 2122699
655 7 $a Electronic books. $2 lcsh $3 542853
690 $a 0473
690 $a 0481
710 2 $a ProQuest Information and Learning Co. $3 783688
710 2 $a North Carolina State University. $3 1018772
773 0 $t Dissertations Abstracts International $g 84-04B.
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=29420029 $z click for full text (PQDT)