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September, 2025

Misclassification Error in Remote Sensing Matters: The Effect of Ethanol Plants on Local Cropland Transitions

By: Pates, Nicholas J.; Hendricks, Nathan P.; Lark, Tyler J.
The quality of land cover data substantially affects estimates of treatment effects in land use change studies. We estimate the local impact of US ethanol plant expansions on cropland retention and conversion. Due to misclassification error, we show that using raw data from the Cropland Data Layer gives mixed results or results counter to economic expectations, while a cleaned version gives consistent and intuitive results. Our findings also highlight the importance of other methodological choices. Our preferred specification shows that plant expansions increase the probability of cropland conversion by 1.5 percentage points and cropland retention by 0.1 percentage points in plant neighborhoods.
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September, 2025

Seeding Rate Responses to Markets, Resources, and Technologies

By: Che, Yuyuan; Hennessy, David A.; Feng, Hongli
Corn and soybean seeding rates in the United States have diverged. We develop a theoretical model of seeding rate choices considering a resource budget trade-off between seeds and resources per seed. Using extensive farm-level data, we find soybean rates are more own-price elastic than corn. Soybean rates would decrease by 1.7% more than corn, with a 1% increase in seed-to-crop price ratio. More land-embodied inputs increase both rates, while more seed-embodied inputs increase corn rates but decrease soybean rates. The difference in price elasticities due to plant architecture has implications for both economic surplus division from innovations and ecological policy outcomes.
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September, 2025

Adopting Rotational Grazing and Cover Crops: Drivers and Complementarities

By: Wongpiyabovorn, Oranuch; Wang, Tong
Both rotational grazing (RG) and cover crop (CC) grazing extend the grazing period while requiring additional investment in fencing and water systems. Using a 2023 farmer survey in South Dakota, we found that 33.9% and 9.3% of respondents had adopted RG and CC grazing only, respectively, while 37.2% had adopted both practices. Our regression results further highlight the complementary relationship between RG and CC grazing, which indicates the potential to expedite CC adoption through financially incentivizing RG implementation. Additionally, integrated crop and livestock enterprises with a more balanced share of grassland and cropland acreage could be a target group for promoting CC adoption.
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September, 2025

The Role of Spatially Varying Descriptive Norm Nudges on Public Valuation of Ecosystem Services Associated with Improved Soil Health

By: Mavroutsikos, Charalampos; Schoengold, Karina; Yiannaka, Amalia; Banerjee, Simanti; Giannakas, Konstantinos; Awada, Tala
This study examines public values for ecosystem services (ES) associated with soil health in agricultural lands. We use a choice experiment of Nebraska residents to investigate the effect of descriptive norm nudging on willingness-to-pay (WTP) for ES. Empirical results show an overall positive WTP for ES-generating policies but significant differences across treatment groups. Results show a higher WTP for a social norm nudge that refers to a relatively large geographic area (state versus county). Results also show that total WTP for state households would pay for conservation practice incentives on less than 10% of cropland.
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September, 2025

H-2A Wages and Livestock Farm Labor Demand

By: Holtkamp, Audrey; Orazem, Peter F.
This study examines how livestock farm labor demand responds to local wages for native workers and the adverse effect wage rate paid to foreign workers with an H-2A visa. Livestock producersÕ demand for domestic labor is elastic, but the demand for H-2A workers is more elastic. This implies that equiproportional increases in all wages will shift relative demand toward domestically sourcedÑbut possibly undocumentedÑlabor. Our analysis also shows that capital and labor are complementary inputs in livestock production, meaning that the use of hired labor increases as farms invest more in capital.
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September, 2025

Procurement Strategies to Improve and Assure Higher Quality Soybeans

By: Bullock, David W.; Wilson, William W.
This study compares purchasing strategies for meeting essential amino acid (EAA) requirements for soybeans in the Pacific Northwest export market. The analysis shows that specifying minimum EAA requirements in purchase contracts is the most reliable and cost-effective strategy and instills a sense of security and trust in meeting high-quality EAA end-user requirements. Additionally, purchasing based on minimum protein and oil specifications meets EAA requirements about 80% of the time, with the odds increasing to 93% when targeting origins based on soybean quality survey reports, albeit with added testing costs.
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September, 2025

The Effect of a Cooperative Grain Alliance on Wheat Basis

By: Beeler, Ashley; Lambert, Dayton M.; Kenkel, Phil; Brorsen, B. Wade
This study estimates the impact of joining a cooperative grain alliance on the wheat basis for elevators in Oklahoma. The study uses augmented difference-in-differences regressions to analyze the effects of joining the alliance on an elevatorÕs grain basis. Entry is not randomly assigned across elevators, and an elevatorÕs basis is codetermined with its neighboring elevators due to transport costs and other unobserved variables. Instrumental variable regression is used to address these issues. The main takeaway is that joining the alliance did not change the wheat basis.
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September, 2025

Conceptualization of How Adopting Novel Technology Induces Structural and Behavioral Changes on Farms

By: Martinsson, Elin; Storm, Hugo
Predicting the effects of technology adoption, particularly smart farming, is challenging as farmers often alter their behavior and farms once using a new technology. We derive incentives for structural and behavioral change triggered by technology adoption by considering features of smart farming technology and economic theory. As a result, we contribute a conceptual framework describing processes of change linked to technology features. Specifically, we focus on rebound effects, economies of size and scope, and risk balancing. To provide examples of how our framework applies, we conduct a literature review of previous research studying farm-level effects of smart farming.
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September, 2025

Are Milking Management Technologies Increasing the Labor Efficiency, Productivity and Profitability of Pasture-Based Dairy Farms? Evidence from Ireland

By: Palma-Molina, Paula; Hennessy, Thia; Dillon, Emma; Shalloo, Laurence; Onakuse, Stephen
Pasture-based dairy farmers currently face increasing seasonal workload in addition to declining workforce availability. Milking management technologies have the potential to improve labor efficiency with a consequent increase in productivity and profitability. However, there is a lack of evidence of the effects of these technologies on dairy farm performance. Using farm-level data from Ireland and a propensity score matching approach, we found that milking management technologies did not significantly impact labor efficiency. However, we did find a positive impact on milk yield and milk solids, which translated into increased gross output and in turn gross margin per hectare.
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September, 2025

Regional Spillovers in Wheat Variety Selection: Kansas Wheat Breeding and Variety Adoption

By: Barkley, Andrew
A wheat variety adoption model is developed to include neighboring Kansas Crop Reporting District (CRD) variety adoption decisions and yields. The model is estimated with wheat variety data from nine CRDs between 1974 and 2023. The regional spillovers provide more observations and greater information to producers about the potential performance and adaptability of the wheat varieties available for adoption. Regional spillovers have a strong statistical association with Kansas wheat variety adoption decisions. Policies and programs that promote variety trial locations in diverse growing conditions could provide additional useful information to wheat producers, who benefit from faster adoption of new higher-yielding varieties.
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May, 2025

Enhancing Decision Making in Livestock Risk Protection Insurance: Insights into Optimal LRP Contract Selection

By: Haviland, Logan B.; Feuz, Ryan
We identify optimal producer-selected coverage options across all marketing months and insurable commodities within Livestock Risk Protection Insurance. Optimal contracts are defined as those having combinations of coverage length and level that have historically provided the highest probability of a positive net return and the highest average net return. Using probabilistic modeling, we evaluate the effect of producer size on the likelihood of purchasing optimal contracts. Results indicate that (i) optimal contracts generally have relatively higher coverage levels, (ii) producers often purchase contracts not identified as optimal, and (iii) producers are categorized within two distinct groups when considering optimal contract selection.
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May, 2025

An Ex Ante Analysis of the Effects of Climate on Agricultural Production Risk

By: Chavas, Jean-Paul; Zhang, Wei
We investigate the dynamic and spatial determinants of the distribution of agricultural productivity around the world, with a focus on the effects of climate on production risk. We treat weather shocks as part of the error term and proceed evaluating the probability distribution of agricultural productivity conditional on climate. The adverse effects of higher temperature are found to be more severe in countries exhibiting low agricultural productivity. The negative codependence across countries means that spatial diversification tends to reduce food insecurity at the world level. This effect contributes to dimming the adverse effects of rising temperatures on world food insecurity.
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May, 2025

Consumers’ Valuation for Local Foods: The Case of “Alaska Grown”

By: Zheng, Qiujie; Nayga, Jr., Rodolfo M.; Gao, Zhifeng
We use a choice experiment to elicit consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for lettuce with the "Alaska Grown" label, taking into account its interactive effects with the organic and hydroponic grown claims. We test whether providing information about local food benefits affects consumers' WTP for the Alaska Grown label. The results show that consumers are willing to pay a premium for lettuce with the Alaska Grown label; providing information further increases their WTP. However, the information effect is limited or negative if organic or hydroponic claims are present on the locally grown foods.
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May, 2025

Pesticide Restrictions and Registration Delays: Implications of California’s Sustainable Pest Management for the Lettuce Industry

By: Hart, Jarrett; MacEwan, Duncan; Noel, Jay; Gunasekara, Amrith
Effective pest management ensures the safety and quality of California produce, protects producers, and maintains export market access. California's new Sustainable Pest Management (SPM) framework targets removal of certain priority pesticides but also seeks to reduce economic risk to growers and activate new markets to drive SPM. Removing pesticide products from the registered list of allowable pest control agents increases the need for new pesticides. However, pesticides that are federally approved can be delayed for use in California by 1Ð3 years. We evaluate the economic implications of SPM and California's registration process for lettuce.
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May, 2025

The Role of Communication Framing in Agricultural Climate Action

By: LŠpple, Doris
This article investigates effective communication strategies to enhance farmers' engagement with climate change mitigation. Through an online survey experiment of more than 500 Irish livestock farmers, it examines the impact of message framingÑfocused on reputation concern or expensesÑon information engagement, knowledge, and intentions to adopt greenhouse gas mitigation measures. The findings reveal that while framing significantly reduces engagement with the information, it does not affect knowledge or implementation intentions. This underscores the complexity of motivating climate action, suggesting that advisory programs should employ positively framed messages to generate interest, despite challenges inherent in discussing climate change mitigation.
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May, 2025

Mental Health of PhD Students in US Agricultural Economics Departments

By: Zhang, Xi; Fang, Di; Nayga, Jr., Rodolfo M.
In this study, we investigate the mental well-being of agricultural economics PhD students at 33 universities in the United States. Analysis of our survey data reveals that about 40% of respondents reported experiencing symptoms indicative of depression, anxiety, or suicidal ideation. Although most participants recognized the meaningfulness of their work, achieving a satisfactory work-life balance emerged as a prominent concern. Notably, stress levels were consistent across departments irrespective of their rankings. Furthermore, our examination uncovers some racial disparities: Hispanic and White students exhibited a higher prevalence of mental health issues but were more inclined to seek treatment, while Asian and Black students reported lower prevalence but faced challenges accessing support services.
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May, 2025

Toward Rice Production Self-Sufficiency in Bangladesh: The Role of Plot Attributes, Farmer Characteristics, and Technology

By: Hasan, Mohammad R.; Paudel, Krishna P.; Regmi, Madhav; Bampasidou, Maria; Bhandari, Humnath; Devadoss, Stephen
We examine the interdependence of high-yielding (HY) variety adoption and farm and farmer characteristics to achieve almost self-sufficiency in rice production in Bangladesh. We use data collected by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Bangladesh, to estimate yield differentials, return differentials, and risk. We find that HY rice varieties contributed 61.34%, plot-specific attributes contributed 3.08%, and farmer-specific characteristics contributed 35.58% toward rice productivity. Additionally, adopting HY varieties resulted in a base return increase of about 154.03%. Plot-specific attributes had larger effects on the return model than on the differential yield model, while farmer-specific characteristics adversely impacted HY return gains.
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May, 2025

Impacts of Mexico’s Proposed Ban of Genetically Modified Corn Imports on Global Markets

By: Devadoss, Stephen; Luckstead, Jeff
This study analyzes the effects of the proposed Mexican import ban of GM corn on Mexican, US, and global corn markets. This import ban would have caused considerable trade reallocations. Mexico would have had to import from France, Colombia, and Indonesia to fill the void left by lost imports from the United States. In turn, the United States would have had to divert its lost export sales in Mexico to Japan, Colombia, South Korea, and itself. Because of these trade reallocations, Mexico would have imported from more expensive sources. The United States would have exported to distant countries. Welfare would have decreased in many countries, with Mexico incurring large losses.
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May, 2025

Wheat Export Restriction and Effects on India’s Domestic Prices: A Nonlinear ARDL Modeling Approach

By: Tripathi, Ashutosh K.; Mishra, Ashok K.
This study examines the impact of India's wheat export ban on the domestic wheat market amid the 2022 food price crisis. Study uses nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach. Findings show an asymmetric transmission of changes in global prices to domestic prices in the long and short run under an open trade regime. The transmission elasticity for positive changes in world wheat prices is 53 percentage points higher than that of a negative change in world wheat prices. We found a symmetric relationship between the world and domestic wholesale wheat prices in the export-restricted regime. Export ban was not successful in curbing rise in wheat price increases.
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