Clark, Christopher D.

January, 2022

By: Ren, Yongwang ; Lambert, Dayton M. ; Clark, Christopher D. ; Boyer, Christopher N. ; Griffith, Andrew P.
Cattle producers in the Fescue Belt predominantly rely on cool-season grass (CSG) pastures. Supplementing CSGs with warm-season grasses (WSG) can provide economic and environmental benefits. We elicit Tennessee cattle producer willingness-to-adopt WSG using data from a hypothetical choice experiment that offered a monetary incentive to establish WSG pasture. A novel double-hurdle regression with Student-t errors was estimated using a Bayesian Hamiltonian Monte Carlo procedure. About 66% of participants were willing to convert 14%-21% of their pasture acres to WSG depending on the incentive amount. A $95/acre incentive is estimated to convert 7,631 acres to WSG, costing $0.77 million.

January, 2020

By: Holley, Kristen; Jensen, Kimberley L.; Lambert, Dayton M.; Clark, Christopher D.
This study applies a bivariate Multiple Indicator–Multiple Causation model to examine farm and operator characteristics associated with the likelihood of using pasture management (PM) and prescribed grazing (PGR) practices. Data are from a survey of cattle operations. Most commonly used practices included adjusting livestock and pasture fertilization. Least used were geotextiles in trafficked areas and buffering sensitive areas. Use of PM practices was income sensitive. Land stewardship and government conservation incentive views influenced PGR. Results suggest complementarities between most PGR and PM practices. However, those with higher opportunity costs and off-farm benefits (e.g., stream crossings) are not complementary with other practices.