In July of 1986, we seeded buffelgrass, klein grass, "Catalina" lovegrass, "Cochise" lovegrass, bottlebrush, and sideoats grama grass on retired farmland in the Avra Valley west of Tucson. We seeded these grasses under three irrigation regimes: no establishment irrigation, two establishment irrigations, and four establishment irrigations. In measurements of the standing forage in 1987 -90, four establishment irrigations significantly increased the standing forage over the unirrigated treatments. However, the two irrigation treatment was not significantly different from either four irrigations or no irrigations. Buffelgrass, klein grass, and the lovegrasses appear to be promising species for vegetative cover for this site. We have also measured significant increases in the standing forage over the last four years.

<div>This dissertation covers three separate topics. The first and second are related, the second and third are related, the first and third share no commonalities. Essay number one was previously investigated and therefore builds off the previous work to apply the methods and framework to a recent issue facing agriculture in the US. Essay number two is purely exploratory and offers methodological insights for the purpose of tracking health patterns at a regional level, as well as investigating new hypotheses regarding food and health. Essay number three contains two parts: one original, the second building off previous work and more rigorously investigating a widely discussed economic question.</div><div>The first essay addresses the spatial variation in land value growth in the Corn Belt. It is well established that land values in remote regions (a result of higher transport costs) are more vulnerable to volatility and thus incur risk for landowners. Two historical examples of this are the Great Depression and the 1980s Farm Financial Crisis. The study finds that the Staggers Act may have contributed to lower transport costs in the remote parts of the Corn Belt enough to stabilize land values a little. Similarly, the Ethanol Boom stabilized land values by way of bringing the market to farmers in these regions, thereby lowering their transport costs.</div><div>The second essay is an ecological study investigating links between food purchasing and health outcomes at a market level. Attention is given to links established at an individual level from findings in longitudinal and cohort studies, as well as meta-analyses and cross-sectional studies. The results indicate that many of these previously investigated diet-disease links appear in food purchasing patterns by region, and that regional food marketing data can be useful for nutritional epidemiological studies – within the limitations of an ecological study.</div><div>The third essay tests the hypothesis of whether healthy eating is necessarily more expensive. If so, then the lack of compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) common in low-income adults comes as no surprise. If not, then alternative explanations must be offered and validated. A review of the literature finds that studies purporting the notion that healthy foods are more costly tend to use flawed cost metrics, and that there is a growing body of dissenting literature. Two alternative theories are proposed and tested. The findings generally support the theory in both cases. Thus, the study recommends that emphasis be placed on measures intended to improve diets through other avenues than cost.</div><div><br></div>

This study initially presents historical trends in both the capitalized value and market value of farmland in the eight states comprising the Corn Belt and Lake States production regions as defined by the USDA. An econometric analysis of annual real cash rents per acre prior to determining the capitalized value of farmland in the eight states is then conducted. Two distributed lag models were hypothesized. The comparison of regression results of these two distributed lag models indicates that current year real cash rent can be best explained by current year real net farm income, lagged real net farm income over a period of years, and real cash rent in the previous year. A spreadsheet simulation model is used to project capitalized farmland values in each state as well as regional averages over the 2012-2015 period. These projections reflect alternative assumptions regarding future trends in real net farm income at the state level as well as the rate on 10-year constant maturity U.S. government bonds to assess the potential sensitivity of capitalized farmland values under adverse economic conditions. The projected trends in capitalized farmland values under two alternative stress scenarios reflecting higher interest rates levels and lower net farm income levels indicates that capitalized farmland values are particularly sensitive to interest rate fluctuations since cash rent expectations of landlords are based on current and lagged historical profit performance.

Using seventeen years of data from 1991 to 2008, I derive a pricing model for farmland values. This valuation model is the first using agricultural commodity futures as a proxy for “ex ante” income projections for the crops grown or livestock grazed on United States farmland. While not all inclusive, the model is tested regionally including the Corn Belt, Delta States, Lake States, Mountain, Pacific Northwest, Pacific West and Southeast Regions. Additionally, I test whether interest rate futures contracts have a relationship with farmland values as interest rates have been proven to be a reliable predictor in past research. Farmland capitalization rates and anticipated inflation have hypothesized relationships, but are mainly used as control variables in the study. In general, agricultural commodity futures contracts are a poor predictor of changes in farmland market values. When examining relationships with quarterly percentage change regression models of the included variables, I find the Mountain region provides the most reliable pricing model where both live cattle and Minnesota wheat futures contracts has a positive statistically significant relationships with farmland market values. Also, wheat futures prices have a significant relationship with farmland values in the Corn Belt region. Interest rate futures contracts, farmland capitalization rates and anticipated inflation are not statistically significant in the majority of the regions. As a robustness check, I model the price levels of the variables using Johansen’s cointegration procedure. This time-series econometric methodology provides results in regards to long-run equilibrium relationships between the variables. The results are only slightly better. Corn, orange juice and sugar futures contracts have positive statistically significant relationships with farmland market values in multiple regions. Again, wheat has a statistically significant positive relationship with farmland values in the Corn Belt region. The Mountain region and interest rate futures contracts are not applicable for the cointegration tests as they are not integrated to the order of one.

Using seventeen years of data from 1991 to 2008, I derive a pricing model for farmland values. This valuation model is the first using agricultural commodity futures as a proxy for “ex ante” income projections for the crops grown or livestock grazed on United States farmland. While not all inclusive, the model is tested regionally including the Corn Belt, Delta States, Lake States, Mountain, Pacific Northwest, Pacific West and Southeast Regions. Additionally, I test whether interest rate futures contracts have a relationship with farmland values as interest rates have been proven to be a reliable predictor in past research. Farmland capitalization rates and anticipated inflation have hypothesized relationships, but are mainly used as control variables in the study. In general, agricultural commodity futures contracts are a poor predictor of changes in farmland market values. When examining relationships with quarterly percentage change regression models of the included variables, I find the Mountain region provides the most reliable pricing model where both live cattle and Minnesota wheat futures contracts has a positive statistically significant relationships with farmland market values. Also, wheat futures prices have a significant relationship with farmland values in the Corn Belt region. Interest rate futures contracts, farmland capitalization rates and anticipated inflation are not statistically significant in the majority of the regions. As a robustness check, I model the price levels of the variables using Johansen’s cointegration procedure. This time-series econometric methodology provides results in regards to long-run equilibrium relationships between the variables. The results are only slightly better. Corn, orange juice and sugar futures contracts have positive statistically significant relationships with farmland market values in multiple regions. Again, wheat has a statistically significant positive relationship with farmland values in the Corn Belt region. The Mountain region and interest rate futures contracts are not applicable for the cointegration tests as they are not integrated to the order of one.

Mit dem Kartoffelanbau in Hanglagen sind erhebliche Erosionsgefahren verbunden. Insbesondere die Dammformung, das Absieben und der späte Bestandsschluss sind dafür verantwortlich. Zur Beurteilung der Erosionsgefährdung von Kartoffelflächen wurde ein Zusatzmodul für das Modell Erosion-3D entwickelt. Mit diesem Modul lassen sich besonders gefährdete Flächen identifizieren sowie Schutzmaßnahmen wie Hanglängenverkürzung durch Grünstreifen, Schlagteilung und Richtungsänderung der Kartoffeldämme vorab in ihrer Wirksamkeit bewerten. Der Bericht erläutert die Funktionsweise des Zusatzmoduls und seine beispielhafte Anwendung in Praxisbetrieben.

Diss. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2005.

Examensarbete.

<p> In this investigation, a model is developed to explain the loss of farmland to other uses in Central Ontario in the period 1951-1971. Furthermore, it attempts to identify the socio-economic characteristics of operators involved in the loss of farmland process, as well as ascertaining the factors responsible for the change in land use.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Farmland preservation has long been viewed by the public as a worthwhile endeavor. A public program can be set up to bring willing buyers and sellers together to facilitate the transfer of development rights. The farmer is paid for the opportunity cost of forfeiting the development rights to the land, while the general public is taxed the amount of their total benefit created by the existence of farmland. Through the data from an attribute-based choice survey (conducted in four geographic areas) the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of the public to preserve farmland that exhibited certain attributes, was estimated. The attributes included different use (grain, hay, vegetable, pasture, forest), location (near urban), quality (prime), size (varied acreage relative to geographic area sampled), and cost (varied costs from $3 to $50) components. Selection bias was tested for in order to confirm that the respondents are an unbiased representation of the geographic areas sampled. If selection bias was present, it would need to be corrected for in order to aggregate the survey results to the population of the geographic areas. Selection bias was tested for using a bivariate probit model with sample selection, a variation on the Heckman correction model. Selection bias was not significant, so the choice model was estimated using a probit model. The response was dependent on the use, location, quality, size, and cost components. Based on the parameter estimates, the geographic areas were compared using the scale parameter. A variation of the Swait and Louviere method was used to find the optimal scale parameter ratios between pair-wise geographic areas. Heterogeneity of the parameter estimates as well as heterogeneity of variances was tested. Prime farmland was significant and positive in all geographic areas, suggesting it should be included in the national ranking criteria for a farmland preservation program. WTP by household for each attribute was reported. Additionally, the WTP was aggregated to provide a hypothetical range of the monetary benefit farmland provides for the residents of each geographic area. / Master of Science