Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Patch habitat contributions to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and crop production in the Northern Great Plains(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2023) Duff, Hannah Katherine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bruce D. Maxwell; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.In response to global calls for sustainable food production and biodiversity conservation, we explored the potential of conserving small non-crop patch habitats, or ecological refugia, to meet food production and conservation objectives within agroecosystems. This dissertation considered multi-objective outcomes of conserving ecological refugia within dryland grain production systems in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) that included agronomic, ecological, and economic tradeoffs, and policy implications. First, we proposed the union of production oriented and ecologically oriented agriculture within a precision agroecology framework. We advocated for the merger of precision agriculture technology and agroecological principles to transform food systems. First, we explored the potential to incorporate biodiversity into crop fields using precision conservation to conserve low-yield areas as patch habitat and manage for sub-field variation. Second, we found that small ecological refugia increased plant and arthropod diversity, provided ecosystem service tradeoffs, and enhanced crop yield, but not crop quality in three dryland grain production systems in the NGP. Third, we found that local biodiversity response to landscape context was scale-dependent, and that correlations between landscape variables and local biodiversity were lowest at the most distant extent (< or = 5km from the ecological refuge). Partial R-squared values were highest when both local and landscape variables were included, and when composition and configuration variables were included in models predicting local biodiversity. These results suggested that local conservation efforts should be coordinated with landscape-level efforts to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem service provision across agricultural landscapes. Last, we found that removing low-yielding portions of crop fields from production could provide positive returns on investment to farmers but profitability depended on the size of the patch removed, harvest year, grain price received, potential yield gain associated with ecosystem services, and government conservation program incentives. Additional noneconomic policy levers may be needed to incentivize adoption of on-farm conservation practices. Looking forward, ecological refugia have the potential to host biodiversity, increase agroecosystem functioning, and benefit crop production. Future research should investigate site-specific practices for patch habitat conservation, determine effective incentives for on-farm conservation, and coordinate landscape-scale efforts to create and connect agroecological landscapes.Item An assessment of influences on organic agricultural producers' attitudes, behaviors, and decisions related to sustainable best management practices(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2018) Kurnick, Rebecca Anita; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Shannon ArnoldA definition for sustainable agriculture that spans competing agriculturalists' philosophies is ambiguous. Organic agriculture is a transformative approach that balances the goals of sustainable agriculture. Understanding how producers identify themselves may give insight as to what drives their decision to explore innovative practices. The purpose of this study was to assess influences on organic agricultural producers' attitudes, behaviors, and decisions related to sustainable best management practices. The objectives of this research were to: 1.) Describe organic agricultural producers' attitudes surrounding sustainable best management practices, 2.) Describe organic agricultural producers' behaviors surrounding sustainable best management practices, and 3.) Describe other influential factors on organic agricultural producers' decisions to adopt sustainable best management practices. Rogers' Diffusions of Innovations and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were used to analyze organic producers' attitudes, behaviors, and decisions related to sustainable best management practices (BMP). This descriptive study utilized a survey research design of producer members of the Montana Organic Association. Data analysis was conducted utilizing Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess the relationships between questions and constructs of the TPB. The strongest pairwise relationships indicated that respondents with a positive attitude to implement sustainable practices likely intend to implement them, and that respondents with a high intention to implement BMP likely will participate in the behavior. Respondents considered themselves risk takers, leaders, and deliberators who use an integrated whole farm approach. Influences of peers and social groups had a significant effect on producers' decisions to implement sustainable BMPs. Results suggest these theories are valuable to study agricultural producers' decisions. Future research should include a much larger population of organic and conventional agricultural producers to allow for the model to draw conclusions about broader populations. Sustainability can be a divisive topic. Future work utilizing the theories should include researching agriculturalists from all backgrounds on their feelings about non-production specific agricultural concepts and terminology. There is unlimited potential for uniting divided groups to solve common problems related to environmental resources, policy, and markets. Future research should include a larger sample of organic and conventional producers to draw conclusions about broader populations.Item A study of wetlands management : applications to Rwanda(Montana State University - Bozeman, 2000) Nyagatare, Guillaume; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: James W. BauderItem Project FRESH(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Aune, Matthew David; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: John Brittingham; Ralph Johnson (co-chair)Project FRESH is about creating a sustainable food system for our future. It is the goal of this project to design a large scaled environmentally controlled farm. The vision of this farm is to relieve many of the social and environmental stress that arise out of our current food systems. Furthermore this book is a compilation of research that investigates the problems and solutions that pertain to our modern food system. The first part of the book is research that expresses the current issues that exist with our food system today. This research will state and elaborate on the problems for which Project FRESH is attempting to combat. The second part of this book is the design proposal for Project FRESH. The design goal of this project is to create a fresh perspective on agriculture and its connection to the city. Creating a symbol for our future that patches agriculture back into our cities urban fabric. This symbol is to express the importances of locally grown food and its impact not only on the environment but its overall social and health benefits as well.Item Sustainable cropping systems for the Northern Great Plains : energetic and economic considerations(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2012) Burgess, Macdonald Hugh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Perry Miller.; Perry R. Miller and Clain A. Jones were co-authors of the article, 'Pulse crops improve energy intensity and productivity of cereal production in Montana, USA' in the journal 'Journal of sustainable agriculture ' which is contained within this thesis.Reliance on non-renewable resources is among the fundamental challenges to agricultural sustainability. Quantification of inputs in units of embodied fossil energy offers insight into sustainable use of these resources. Metrics of intensity, efficiency of non-renewable energy inputs to agriculture have been proposed for optimization in search of sustainability in the face of energy scarcity. Such analyses have found controversial results however, and further theoretical understanding is necessary. The research presented here focuses on approaches to sustainability targeting the semiarid northern Great Plains of North America. The 4 million ha of cropland fallowed in this region every year represent both a challenge to sustainability and an opportunity to address that challenge. Long identified as unsustainable when accomplished by tillage and without fertilizer input, the summerfallow-wheat crop production system is also energy-efficient by definitions that do not account for changes in soil fertility. It is shown here that accounting for lost soil N as an energy input to crop production partially resolves this paradox, but no strategy for energetic valuation of systems that build soil quality is apparent. Alternatives to summerfallow considered here include pulse crops (e.g. pea and lentil) grown for grain, forage, or as cover crops. In research conducted on farms already growing pulses, the largest effect on cropping system energy productivity was due to increased wheat yield rather than a reduction of inputs. In plot-scale research addressing a wider variety of production practices, neither system-level energy intensity nor productivity provided more insight into energy price exposure than basic economic analyses.Item Garden to plate : the effects of garden-based learning on student understanding and environmental engagement(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2012) Sullivan, Melissa Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.In this investigation, student participation in the on-campus organic garden project was used to determine whether being part of such a project encouraged student learning and environmental awareness. Students rotated through the garden project on a trimester basis in groups of six or seven and were given responsibility for all aspects of the garden program from choosing which seeds to plant to running the monthly campus farmers' market. Weekly blog posts, survey and questionnaire responses, teacher observations and interview responses were analyzed to determine the effects of working in the garden on the students. Results showed that student interest in gardening increased over the course of the project assignment, as well as knowledge of sustainable agriculture practices. Connections to content learned in the classroom were also strengthened through student involvement in the garden project.