Regional Conservation Partnership Program: A Tool for Natural Resources Management Across Watersheds

This article introduces the Regional Conservation Partnership Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u27s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The program encourages partnerships among Extension professionals, conservation agency representatives, and farmers that focus on addressing natural resources concerns through the development and implementation of regional watershed plans. These plans assist farmers in practicing sustainable crop and animal production methods. Extension professionals will find the program useful as a tool for building collaborations at watershed and regional scales to promote agricultural production practices that enhance natural resources conservation

Regional Conservation Partnership Program: A Tool for Natural Resources Management Across Watersheds

This article introduces the Regional Conservation Partnership Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u27s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The program encourages partnerships among Extension professionals, conservation agency representatives, and farmers that focus on addressing natural resources concerns through the development and implementation of regional watershed plans. These plans assist farmers in practicing sustainable crop and animal production methods. Extension professionals will find the program useful as a tool for building collaborations at watershed and regional scales to promote agricultural production practices that enhance natural resources conservation

Economic Policy and Resource Implications of Biofuel Feedstock Production

Dramatically higher fuel prices and massive petroleum imports from politically unstable countries have contributed to a major national initiative to generate renewable fuels in the United States. Often, such policies are enacted and implemented with huge taxpayer expenditures without due diligence to the consequences. The evaluation of the water quality impacts of converting pastureland to intensive biomass production for fuel in a southern Texas watershed suggest significant increases erosion and nutrient loadings to water bodies. The Best Management Practices (BMPs), cover crop and filter strips when implemented individually failed to produce status-quo reduction levels. Combined BMPs implementation produced improved mitigation, at substantially higher costs, highlighting the issue of sustainability related to the economics of renewable fuels. The estimation of the net energy of biomass ethanol accounting for the production input data indicate a greater than one energy return for biomass crops. However, the policy results indicate that only 70 percent in net contribution to the energy supply is achieved due to relatively lower energy returns compared to conventional fossil fuels. In addition, because the ethanol produced has to have the energy used deleted from the total, the cost of producing a gallon of biomass ethanol is substantially higher than that of gasoline. The impacts of an exogenously-specified biofuel mandate fulfilled by the production of a dedicated biomass crop and its consequent effects on commodity prices and overall welfare are estimated. Net farm income increased due to an increase in crop prices; however, both consumer surplus and total surplus decreased. The analysis is extended to estimate the sensitivity of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres returning to crop production and the potential of higher biomass yields. The results indicate that net farm income decreased and consumer surplus increased due to a decrease in crop prices, resulting in an increase in overall welfare. This current research evaluates the unintended consequences of the U.S. energy policy and provides interesting insights of the potential economic and environmental impacts. These results suggest policy makers should be cautious before enacting energy policy and consider multiple alternative energy sources in an economic and financial context to achieve a sustainable energy goal

Estimation of Irrigation Water Demand: A Case Study for the Texas High Plains

On the Texas High Plains, water from the Ogallala aquifer is used to supplement irrigation requirements, since annual rainfall is below 20.5 in/ year. This study addresses land and water demand by testing the effects of water costs, crop prices, and technology on water use and crop production acreages.Ogallala, Irrigation, Water Demand, Technology, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics,

Energy Cost Comparisons of Centre Pivot Systems in the Northern Texas High Plains

A study was done to compare energy costs of high, medium, and low pressure sprinkler systems in the North Texas High Plains and to estimate the amount of savings in dollar terms by adopting the change

Economic Value of Groundwater Resources and Irrigated Agriculture in the Oklahoma Panhandle

An economic optimization model was developed using available groundwater resources in the Oklahoma Panhandle to estimate value of water for irrigated agriculture in the area. The model will serve as policy tool to analyze alternative water management strategies and conservation programs to assess the economic impact of depleting Ogallala Aquifer.Ogallala Aquifer, Irrigated Agriculture, Groundwater Conservation, Water Management Policy, Oklahoma Panhandle, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Role of Farmer Heterogeneity in Nutrient Management: A Farm-Level Analysis

Understanding farmer heterogeneity regarding nutrient management decisions is crucial for the success of any nonpoint source pollution prevention programs. Data from a farm- level experiment of cover crops in corn production were used in the Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function framework to examine preference for nitrogen strategies over a range of risk aversion levels. We show the highest net return and certainty equivalent to the consideration of N supplied by cover crops. The results provide insights into policy discussions about the level of conservation incentives and plans that offer solutions to mitigate nonpoint source pollution

Effect of Agricultural Activity on River Water Quality: A Case Study for the Lower Colorado River Basin

This case study investigates the effect of a change in cropping pattern involving expanded acres of crops for biofuel feedstock, on the discharge of nutrients to rivers. Annual data from 1968-2008 on stream flow, cropped acres, and precipitation for Wharton County, Texas are used. A positive impact of increased corn acreage over this period on river discharge is identified.Biofuels, Stream Flow, Discharge, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Effect of Cost-Sharing Federal Programs on Adoption of Water Conservation Practices: Results from Propensity Score Matching Approach

The extent of recommended conservation practices is crucial for addressing natural resource concerns on the farms. The practices implementation is supported by working lands conservation programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. The paper applies a propensity score matching approach to evaluate the effects of enrollment in the two federal conservation programs on irrigation water conservation practices adoption in Louisiana row crop agriculture. The analysis reveals that enrollment in the programs leads to statistically significant greater adoption of water management practices. The analysis provides correction for selection bias in adoption that can result from not accounting for the differences between program participants and non-participants. The analysis enables to provide a stronger and relatively accurate argument about the impact of conservation support programs on the adoption of conservation on the ground

Valuation of ecosystem services from wetlands mitigation in the United States

© 2015 by the authors. Section 404 of the U.S. Clean Water Act includes most wetlands in its jurisdiction and requires wetland mitigation to compensate for permitted wetland losses. These mitigation wetlands can provide ecosystem services similar to original wetlands if properly constructed. Improvement of wetland monitoring requirements coupled with economic assessment is critical for effective implementation of the mitigation policy. The economic assessment when left out of evaluation of mitigation policy could result in mitigation wetlands being given too little weight in policy decisions. Under the assumption that mitigation requirements reported in the Army Corps permit files represent actual wetland creation, ecosystem services value is estimated using a wetland benefit-function transfer approach. Wetland mitigation requirements during 2010-2012 recorded in the Army Corps permit files is used for the analysis. The results indicate that cumulative ecosystem services value per acre per year is in the range of $5000 to$70,000, which translates to a nationwide annual aggregate benefit of $2.7 billion. Given the history of the ecosystem services not fully captured nor adequately quantified, the current analysis is an initial step in understanding the value of wetland mitigation