College of Agriculture

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As the foundation of the land grant mission at Montana State University, the College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station provide instruction in traditional and innovative degree programs and conduct research on old and new challenges for Montana’s agricultural community. This integration creates opportunities for students and faculty to excel through hands-on learning, to serve through campus and community engagement, to explore unique solutions to distinct and interesting questions and to connect Montanans with the global community through research discoveries and outreach.

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    Substance-abuse treatment and mortality
    (2015-02) Swensen, Isaac D.
    Drug-overdose deaths, which have more than doubled over the past decade, represent a growing public-health concern. Though substance-abuse treatment may be effective in reducing drug abuse, evidence for a causal effect of treatment on drug-related mortality is lacking. I analyze the effect of substance-abuse treatment on mortality by exploiting county-level variation in treatment facilities driven by facility openings and closings. The estimates indicate that a 10% increase in facilities lowers a county's drug-induced mortality rate by 2%. The estimated effects persist across individual and county characteristics and further indicate that spillovers of treatment reduce other related causes of death.
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    Using Quantile Regression to Measure the Differential Impact of Economic and Demographic Variables on Obesity
    (2012-09) Belasco, Eric J.; Chidmi, B.; Lyford, C. P.; Funtanilla, M.
    The fight against obesity in the U.S. has become a pressing priority for policy makers due to many undesirable outcomes including escalating health care costs, reduced quality of life and increased mortality. This analysis uses data from the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to evaluate the relationship between behavioral, economic, and demographic factors with BMI while explicitly accounting for systematic heterogeneity using a quantile regression. Results suggest that the effect of exercise, smoking, occupation, and race vary by sizeable amounts from high to low BMI-quantiles. This strongly indicates that future research efforts and policy responses to obesity need to account for these differences in order to develop more effective policies.
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    The impact of rural health care accessibility on cancer-related behaviors and outcomes
    (Springer, 2014) Belasco, Eric J.; Gong, Gordon; Pence, Barbara; Wilkes, Ethan C.
    Background: This research seeks to identify the relationship between economic factors related to the ability to receive and pay for health services and adverse cancer outcomes, as well as preventative screening and behavioral factors that influence the risk of cancer. We focus on the Northern High Plains region, where we are able to compare regions with extremely low access to health services with those with relatively high levels of access.
 Objective: This study aims to identify health disparities in rural communities, particularly among Native American populations, and, thereby, begin to determine the most effective means by which to deliver health services to areas where geography, economics, and culture might prevent traditional models of health delivery from providing sufficient incentives for the prevention of adverse cancer-related outcomes.
 Methods: The Health Care Accessibility Index (HCAI) is computed through the use of principal component analysis and includes economic variables as well as variables concerning institutional and geographic access to health care. Index values are then regressed onto cancer outcomes, cancer-prevention outcomes, and cancer-related risk, using weighted least squares and quantile regressions.

 Results: Counties with relatively poor access to health care (low HCAI) also have statistically (1) lower breast cancer screening rates, (2) higher smoking prevalence, and (4) higher cancer-related mortality rates. Breast cancer screening is found to be especially sensitive to areas of low health accessibility.

 Conclusions: Empirical results provide support for policy efforts to increase the accessibility of health care services that are targeted to areas with mammography screening rates, high obesity rates, high smoking prevalence, as well as areas near Native American reservation territories.
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