Few decisions are more important to feeder cattle producers than how to market their product. This study uses the hedonic pricing model to show which method of marketing results in higher prices (traditional auctions or video board sales) and which characteristics of cattle, conditions of sale, and market conditions result in price premiums and discounts. The two equations used were estimated by ordinary least squares in the SAS Reg procedure with 3131 observations over the 1996-2007 period. Model I (47 independent variables) was developed to estimate implicit values of various animal attributes, conditions of sale, and market conditions on the Tennessee Livestock Producers (TLP) video board sale. The dependent variable was sale price for each lot. Model II (36 independent variables) specified the ratio of TLP sale price to Tennessee auction market average price as a function of various animal attributes and conditions of sale. Lot characteristics that had significant positive implicit prices included: steers, larger lots, medium and large frame number 1 muscling, existence of a health program, animals penned the night before weighing, higher live cattle futures prices, and the fall season. Lot characteristics that had significant negative implicit prices included: mixed gender, fleshiness, higher weights, larger weight range, Charolais cross, longer distance to feedlot area, higher corn prices, and the spring season. TLP sale price exceeded Tennessee auction average price for similar cattle by 9 percent on average over the 12 years. The amount by which TLP price exceeded auction price was significantly positively affected by number of head in the lot, indication that animals were PVP certified, longer distance from farm to weigh point, allowance of pencil shrink, and allowing buyers to choose a load from a larger group of animals. The price difference was significantly negatively affected by the fact that the lot was of mixed gender, weight range for the lot was wide, the lot contained a larger percentage of animals that were not black or black baldy, animals showed substantial “ear”, animals had been fed supplement or were “home raised”, and location of animals was farther from typical feedlot areas.

Under the theme of ¨DRezoning Decisions Associated with Housing Price, Land Use Plan, and Urban Sprawl: Empirical Estimations¡¬, this thesis consists of two research with two related topics. The first part analyzes the dynamics of zoning structure and accommodates the neighborhood spillover effects associated with the real estate market, focusing particularly neighborhood spillover effects between rezoning of vacant parcels and housing price. It is found that the price of a house is positively influenced by the prices of other houses in its neighborhood but the rezoning status of a vacant parcel in a neighboring location plays an insignificant role in explaining the price of a house. The contrasting results of neighborhood spillover effects between rezoning and housing price clarify the direction of association between rezoning and housing price. The second part examines whether the manipulation of land use plan influences spatial development patterns in Knoxville area. It is hypothesized that rezoning approvals from undevelopable land classifications to developable land classifications are affected by the area currently designated for agricultural-rural residential use. The results show that the average distances between the closest parcels identified as preexisting development and parcels predicted to be approved for developable land classification drop under the hypothetical land use plan scenarios with expanded area designated for agricultural-rural residential use. The drops of the average distances are due to the increases in the frequency of denials of rezoning petitions for development in the area expanded for agricultural-rural residential uses. These results indicate that a manipulation of agricultural-rural residential use areas encourages rezoning for development closer to the area of preexisting development, and thereby reduces urban sprawl.

The data intensive nature of precision farming necessitates the use of different technologies to collect, transmit, manipulate, and apply information. Understanding the economic factors associated with decisions regarding technology adoption and abandonment is essential to the continued growth and feasibility of precision farming. The development of precision agricultural technologies, as well as educational and promotional efforts concerning precision farming, can benefit from an understanding of the factors influencing adoption and abandonment of precision agricultural technology. The first part of the study examined farm and farmer characteristics influencing the adoption and subsequent abandonment of precision soil sampling in cotton production. The second part of the study analyzed farm and farmer characteristics influencing adoption of personal digital assistants (PDA) and other handheld computers with global positioning systems (GPS) capabilities in cotton production. Farm and farmer characteristics affecting adoption and abandonment of precision soil sampling in cotton production were examined first using univariate analysis of farm and farm characteristics of adopters and non-adopters and second using probit analysis. Younger, more educated farmers who had positive perceptions about the future of precision agriculture, and who operated larger farms were more likely to adopt precision soil sampling. Computer use in farm management and placing a greater percentage of cropped acres in crops other than cotton also positively influenced adoption. Younger farmers who used variable-rate application of inputs were less likely to abandon precision soil sampling. Acreage and the percentage of cropped acres in crops other than cotton positively influenced abandonment. Results indicate that younger farmers who perceive that Extension services were useful in making precision farming decisions have a higher probability of adopting a PDA or handheld GPS device. The presence of greater yield variability and the use of remotely sensed crop images, grid soil sampling, plant mapping, and variable-rate application of certain inputs also increase the probability of adoption. Percentages of PDA/handheld GPS device use were highest for variable-rate application of fertilizer and lime, management zone identification, drainage management, and the application of growth regulator.

As rural areas struggle to adjust to the changing U.S. economy with increasing unemployment, falling wages, and constrained capital markets, economic developers look for strategies to promote economic expansion. Development strategies identifying and evaluating county comparative advantage may offer the promise of economic growth in rural areas. This thesis develops two models whereby county comparative advantage can be empirically identified and evaluated. The study first examines ethanol plant location determinants at the county level, in the contiguous forty-eight United States, the second identified industry clusters within Tennessee at the county level and estimated the extent to which these clusters contributed to growth in labor productivity. In the first study, the location of grain-based ethanol plants is determined by infrastructure, product and input markets, fiscal attributes of local communities, and state and federal incentives. Bivariate probit regression along with spatial clustering methods are used to analyze investment activity of ethanol plants at the county level for the contiguous 48 United States from 2000-2007. The ability of a county to supply feedstock, and the absence of previously established ethanol plants, dominated the site selection decision between 2000 and 2007. Other factors, such as access to railroads or navigable rivers, product markets, low worker wages, producer credit and excise tax incentives, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether bans gave some counties comparative advantage with respect to attracting grain-based ethanol plant investment. The second study identified industry clusters or economic linkages between purchasers and suppliers, at the county and regional level for 447 economic sectors in Tennessee. Information about value-added activities or innovative potential is possible by determining the sector composition of the value chains defining an industry cluster. The cluster analysis was extended to estimate the extent to which specific value chains contributed to economic growth between 2001 and 2006 across Tennessee’s 95 counties using an econometric model. County and regional comparative advantage was determined by testing whether the presence of a particular value chain in a given county increased labor productivity during this period.

The purpose of this study was to determine specific types of supervisory methods used in diverse academic subjects to fulfill personal and professional growth in student teachers and interns. The study sought to compare agriculture, science, math and English teacher educator characteristics and the extent to which the three levels of the Supervisory Options for Instructional Leaders (SOIL) Framework—structured, moderately structured, and relatively unstructured—were used. Surveys were collected from 196 student teacher and intern supervisors throughout the United States. The study revealed that demographic associations appeared to have no bearing on the type of supervisory methods used with the exception that rank of the supervisor had a low correlation with the SOIL Framework in supervisors of agricultural education student teachers and interns. Supervisors of student teachers and interns who taught English, science, and agricultural education were most likely to always use moderately structured levels of supervision. Supervisors of math instruction reported using moderately structured levels of supervision often as opposed to always. The relatively unstructured level of supervision was virtually never utilized by supervisors of any subject areas. Recommendations for further study were provided in this thesis. The SPSS version 12.0 for Windows was used to analyze data. Descriptive statistics included frequencies, percentages, means, modes, standard deviations, range, percents and frequencies. Analysis of data utilized Chi Squares, T-Tests, correlation coefficients, analysis of variance, and coefficients of stability. Statistical significance of relationships was established by the a priori .05 probability level.

The 2004 Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, commonly referred to as the Tobacco Buyout Program, ended the federal tobacco program. This act ended price supports and quotas, and also ended reporting requirements. The tobacco industry is now faced with new challenges in tobacco production as they have scant information to base production decisions on. The 2006 Burley Tobacco Survey provides an initial outlook of future production, challenges, trends and expectations. The results from the survey were used to analyze future production decisions. An ordered logit model reveals that producers who received prices of $1.65/lb or more, have farms in excess of 250 acres, received less than 10 percent of total gross farm receipts from tobacco, are 34 years old or younger, or have a graduate or professional degree are more likely to continue burley tobacco production in 2007. Farmers with gross agricultural receipts of $9,999 or less, those who make higher amounts in terms of net household income, and those producers who are from North Carolina are less likely to continue production in 2007.

In this thesis, a model to analyze land use in a multi-county region of the Southeastern United States is presented. Farmer planting decisions are assumed to follow a non-stationary first order Markov decision process. The non-stationary transition probabilities are estimated as a function of the prior year‟s land usage and a set of exogenous variables using annual county level data from 1981 to 2005 using the maximum entropy method suggested by Golan et al. (1996). The transition probabilities are applied to each county‟s prior period crop production to estimate crop production in the current period. The model is graphically validated. A discussion is included on difficulties encountered in estimation of the model. Acreage elasticities are estimated and used to analyze the marginal effects of the explanatory variables on crop land use.

The purpose of this study is to examine burley tobacco growers decision making processes as they pertain to labor usage during the harvest of their crop and adoption rates of mechanical harvesting technology in order to create a laudable document that could be used by those who disseminate knowledge in agricultural communities. This study sought to compare current conventional harvesting methods to mechanical harvesting methods to determine efficiency and affordability of each of the two methods for the tobacco grower. This study incorporated both survey data and focus group data in order to develop the findings herein. Survey data were used to examine burley tobacco growing regions in order to effectively site focus groups and to collect descriptive statistics on burley tobacco growers. Focus groups were conducted in Kentucky and Tennessee, the two major burley tobacco producing states in the southeast. There were 41 growers who participated in the focus groups with burley acreages ranging from 9 – 350 acres and years experience of tobacco production ranging from 3 – 60 years. The study revealed overall that growers were very satisfied with their conventional labor practices. The growers were reluctant to invest in mechanical harvesting technology due to uncertainty about the future of the burley tobacco market, inefficiency of the machines, cost of the harvesters and the availability of migrant labor. Survey data that were collected directly correlate with focus group findings, and recommendations for further study are provided in this thesis.

Much of the water diverted for irrigation in western states is lost by canal seepage. In many areas canal seepage may cause high water tables which necessitate drainage for continued use of the land for agriculture. The Lewiston area has been confronted with a high water table and inadequte drainage for many years. The major objective of these investigations was to obtain information as to the extent of canal seepage losses in the Lewiston area, Utah.

The primary purpose of this study is to aid in the development of an economically practical method, based on car counts, that will yield estimates of fishing pressure and harvest on the Logan River drainage in Utah. The study was conducted during the regular 1950 fishing season, June 14 to October 5.