Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Does temporary land retirement promote organic adoption? Evidence from expiring conservation reserve program contracts(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2022) Wing, Hannah Rose; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Kate Fuller and Daniel P. BigelowThe Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a temporary land retirement program that allows producers to remove environmentally sensitive farmland from agricultural production in exchange for a yearly rental payment. While enrolled in the CRP, land is, by definition, not being used for production and therefore typically complies with standards for organic certification. In order for an operation to become certified organic, producers must comply with organic practices for 36 months prior to when production can be labeled organic. Among other requirements, operators transitioning to organic production cannot apply synthetic pesticides or fertilizers to the land. However, some of the costly three-year transition period can be avoided through participation in the CRP as land enrolled in the program may be eligible to become certified organic in the year that it exits the program. In this paper, we study the extent to which CRP enrollment promotes organic certification. We find that CRP contract expiration leads to increases in organic adoption, and estimate a 0.157 percent increase in new organic operations in response to a 10 percent increase in expiring CRP contracts.Item An investigation of factors that may affect nest success in CRP lands and other grassland habitats in an agricultural landscape(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1996) Clawson, Mark R.Item Effect of summer fallowing, perennial crop cover and conservation reserve practices on soil nitrate distribution(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1994) Pannebakker, Lynn S.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jim BauderDryland agriculture is an economically feasible method of producing crops in some parts of the semi-arid regions of the mid-west and western United States. Summer fallowing, which is commonly practiced in these regions, serves to replenish soil moisture and plant-available nitrate-nitrogen (N0 3--N), while also stabilizing production and more uniformly distributing the work load. In areas where dryland agriculture is concentrated, summer fallowing may lead to N0 3--N contamination of ground-water due to lack of plant uptake of excess water and N. Under certain conditions of precipitation, soil percolation, slope, and cropping intensity, summer fallowing has been shown to cause elevated N03--N concentrations in shallow groundwater wells. These elevated N0 3--N levels have been detected in several areas of the U.S. Two areas where high N0 3--N concentrations have been repeatedly found in groundwater samples are in northeastern and central Montana. Judith Basin and Fergus Counties of Montana were selected for soil sampling to assess any differences in soil NO3--N concentrations under three different land use systems: 1) crop fallow rotation, 2) acreage enrolled in the USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) conservation reserve program (CRP), 3) and rangeland. Soil samples were collected to a depth of three m (10 ft) at four different sites in each county. Soil samples from all sampling depths at each of the eight sites were analyzed for gravel percent (>2 mm diameter) , N0 3--N load, and N0 3--N concentration. Samples from 0 m to 0.6 m were also analyzed for total-N concentration. Trends in soil N0 3-N give evidence that summer fallowing may be the cause of N0 3--N in shallow groundwater in some areas Of Montana where dryland cropping is practiced. Overall, average soil N0 3--N concentration throughout the sampled soil profile was 4.2, 2.0, and 1.3 mgkg-1 for the crop fallow, CRP, and rangeland land use practices, respectively. Average N0 3--N concentration in Fergus County ranged from 2.5 mgkg-1 to 20.4 mgkg-1 under crop fallow while it ranged from only 0.9 to 6.2 mgkg-1 and from 0.9 to 4.2 mgkg-1 for the CRP and rangeland uses, respectively. Average N0 3--N concentration in Judith Basin County ranged from 1.4 mgkg-1 to 6.9 mgkg-1, 0.6 mgkg-1 to 2.0 mgkg-1, and from 0.8 mgkg-1 to 1.4 mgkg-1 under crop fallow, CRP, and rangeland land use systems, respectively. Assuming that extensive use of crop fallow causes increased N0 3--N concentrations under some conditions, alternative land use management practices may be effective in reducing N0 3--N levels in such areas.Item An assessment of the usefulness of winter wheat for nesting dabbling ducks in North and South Dakota(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Skone, Brandi Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jay J. RotellaThe Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is highly valuable for breeding waterfowl, however over the last century has been predominantly converted to some form of agriculture. With the recent increase in economic value of some cash-crops and the potential to lose highly valuable nesting habitat in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), there has been interest in evaluating alternative farming practices to provide additional breeding habitat for waterfowl. We evaluated and compared daily survival rates (DSR) of nests in winter wheat to nests in perennial cover and examined the number of hatched nests per hectare in each habitat to put habitat-specific estimates of nest survival in perspective. We studied nest survival of duck nests (Anas spp.) in winter wheat (n=1,170) and perennial cover (n=3,041) in the PPR of North and South Dakota on 13 to 19, 10.36-km 2 sites each year between 2010 and 2012. . We used an information-theoretic approach to develop and evaluate a set of competing models based on covariates of interest and what has been established important in the waterfowl nest-survival literature. Our top model included a set of covariates that were either highly or moderately supported in all of the models that received substantial amounts of support from the data. Across all species, we found evidence that nest survival was at least as high in winter wheat as in perennial cover, and for several species, estimated nest-survival rates were higher in winter wheat. Nest survival also varied by year and study area, was positively related to nest age and vegetation density, and was negatively related to the number of wetland basins and the proportion of cropland in the landscape. Our estimates for hatched nests per hectare were twice as high in perennial cover compared to values for winter wheat fields. However, estimates for fields of winter wheat were 6.5 times higher than estimates in spring wheat fields. Our results provided evidence that winter wheat could be a useful tool for wildlife managers seeking to add nesting habitat in landscapes used for modern agriculture.Item The Conservation Reserve Program and future use of enrolled land in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1992) Sheard, Michael David; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: James B. Johnson.The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), as authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985 is a voluntary cropland retirement program which relies primarily upon positive economic incentives to farm operators in order to entice them to convert cropland considered highly erodible or otherwise environmentally sensitive into a conserving use for a ten-year period. Through 1989, Montana farm operators enrolled nearly 2.7 million acres of cropland into the CRP. The first CRP contracts were entered into in 1986 and thus will expire in 1995. Under current policy, once the ten year period is over, cropland enrolled in the CRP can be returned to annual cropping, can be used in some alternative commercial use such as haying or grazing, or can remain in a conserving use. There is much concern in Montana and other states over how the future use of these acres could affect commodity prices, farm incomes, government outlays, rural economic activity, and environment quality. This study examines the factors to be used by individual Montana CRP contract holders upon contract expiration to decide the disposition of their CRP land among the alternative uses. A firm level mean-variance decision model is used to incorporate the risk involved with each alternative. The model also considers any one-time start-up costs that may be incurred to convert CRP acres into an alternative use. Test results using survey data from Montana contract holders suggest that very few CRP acres in Montana will remain in a conserving use. Most respondents indicated that they plan to either return all of their CRP acreage to annual cropping, or will hay/graze all of the acreage. The results suggest that the greater the percentage of income derived from range livestock, the more likely the CRP land will be hayed or grazed. Similarly, the greater the percentage of income derived from cropping, the more likely the CRP land will be returned to annual cropping. The evidence is that more CRP land will be hayed or grazed on operations that currently have haying/grazing activities, or that have physical attributes to facilitate haying/grazing activities.