Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Farmers in Kentucky and beyond as well as fellow academic professionals, both research and extension, are hoped to be beneficiaries of this project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? A refereed journal article published in 2013 inJournal of Agricultural and Applied Economicsand a presented paper are two direct products from a Ph.D. dissertation attributable to this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Six research outputs for the year resulted from research undertaken in this project including a Ph.D dissertation. Four refereed publications including one journal article published in 2013 in Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics as a direct product from a Ph.D. dissertation attributable to this project. Furthermore, three refereed conference proceedings (with a 36.4% acceptance rate) and one selected paper presentation resulted from efforts related to this project. This research program provides theoretical, methodological and empirical disciplinary contributions to the multidisciplinary framework of farm management. The value of this research has been to provide managerial decision-making assistance by evaluating the risk and returns of various production and management practices, including their interrelationships. These contributions in 2013 include theoretical and methodological advancements for incorporating heuristics (experience based decision making) into constrained optimization models. The economic opportunities for combining heuristics management (herein, rules-of-thumb) with several farming technologies (uniform rate, variable rate seeding, variable rate nitrogen and variable rate of both seeding and N) are modeled and investigated. Results suggest that weather-based heuristics as a strategy of selecting optimal production practices is promising for enhancing profitability. The ability to exploit interactive effects between heuristic strategies and precision agriculture technologies offers the potential to enhance profitability of both. Additional contributions to the theoretical underpinnings associated with misperceptions regarding variable rate application were also made. Economic principles drive producers’ variable and uniform rate nitrogen (N) application decisions. Variable rate application may lead to greater N application on less productive soils and increased overall farm N usage; it also may be economically superior to use uniform rate, even with modest spatial variability or soil productivity differences. Empirical contributions in 2013 include providing evidence of the importance for policy makers to consider the use of precision agriculture technologies in establishing ago-environmental polices. Empirical analysis also conveyed evidence that production timing is an essential element in fresh vegetable growers’ efforts to maximize profitability and reduce income risks. Findings indicate that consideration of seasonal price trends results in higher expected net returns and greater opportunities to mitigate risk. Furthermore, risk aversion levels substantially influence production timing when seasonal price trends are considered.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Vassalos, M., C.R. Dillon and T. Coolong. Optimal Land Allocation and Production Timing for Fresh Vegetable Growers under Price and Production Uncertainty . Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 45,4(2013):683-699.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
C.R. Dillon. Heuristic Optimization for Variable Rate Nitrogen and Seeding Decisions Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. J. Stafford, ed. Lleida, Catalonia (Spain). July 7-11, 2013. 761-768.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
C.R. Dillon and Y. Kusunose. Dispelling Misperceptions Regarding Variable Rate Applications Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. J. Stafford, ed. Lleida, Catalonia (Spain). July 7-11, 2013. 769-776.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
J. Schieffer and C.R. Dillon. Precision Agriculture and Agro-environmental Policy Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. J. Stafford, ed. Lleida, Catalonia (Spain). July 7-11, 2013. 755-760.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Vassalos, M., W. Hu, T. Woods, J. Schieffer and C.R. Dillon. Fresh Vegetable Growers Risk Perception, Risk Preference and Choice of Marketing Contracts: A Choice Experiment . Paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, February 2-5, 2013.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Nine research outputs for the year resulted from research undertaken in this project with an additional refereed journal article not reported on the last annual report but published in 2011. Four refereed journal articles published in 2012 include one in Precision Agriculture as a direct product from a Ph.D. dissertation attributable to this project. Furthermore, three poster presentations and two selected paper presentations resulted from efforts related to this project. PARTICIPANTS: During 2012, one Ph.D. student and one M.S. student are receiving graduate education through work related to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Farmers in Kentucky and beyond as well as fellow academic professionals, both research and extension, are hoped to be beneficiaries of this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
This research program provides theoretical, methodological and empirical disciplinary contributions to the multidisciplinary framework of farm management. The value of this research has been to provide managerial decision-making assistance by evaluating the risk and returns of various production and management practices, including their interrelationships. These contributions in 2012 include theoretical and methodological developments of new analytical research techniques for integration of heuristics (experience based decision making) into constrained optimization models. Specifically, the study provides an innovative research method combining the power of optimization with the practicality of heuristics. This helps farm managers face the paradox of needing simple decision-making tools while facing inherently complex problems. Other studies provided methodological contribution through a microeconomic opportunity cost based examination of marginal abatement costs for reduced carbon footprint through precision agriculture strategic or tactical decisions. Theoretical exploration of empirical tests of location-scale criterion for consistency of mean-variance modeling with expected utility hypotheses was also achieved in this review period. Empirically, contributions beyond those already mentioned include economic analyses of automatic section control and automatic section control technology, suitable field/machinery time value estimation and the investigation of hedonic modeling for herbicide price determination. One study showed that automatic section control technology was profitable for a representative commercial sized grain farmer in Kentucky. Additionally, the technology could reduce production risk and require alteration in production practices for optimal use. A related study demonstrated the potential for autosteer as a cost effective means of allowing operation expansion. Another whole farm planning model determines marginal value product and marginal willingness to pay for suitable field time by a Kentucky corn/soybean producer. When suitable field time is constrained it can have values as high as $266/hour during harvest for the risk neutral farmer or $200/hour under risk aversion. The empirical results for hedonic herbicide price modeling indicate the importance of positive (efficacy against grasses and broadleaf weeds) and negative production characteristics (crop response). Moreover, explicit inclusion of the mode of herbicide action improved model fit and performance.
Publications
- Shockley, J.M., C.R. Dillon, T. Stombaugh and S. Shearer. Whole Farm Analysis of Automatic Section Control for Self Agricultural Machinery. Precision Agriculture. 13,4(2012):411-420.
- Shockley, J.M., C.R. Dillon and T. Stombaugh. The Influence of Auto-Steer on Machinery Selection and Land Acquisition. Journal of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. 75,1(2012):1-7.
- Vassalos, M., C.R. Dillon and P. Childs. Empirically Testing for the Location-Scale Condition: A Review of the Economic Literature. Journal of Risk Model Validation. 6,3(2012):51-66.
- Dillon, C.R. and J.M. Shockley. The Value of Suitable Working Time for Crop Production Machinery Activities. Journal of International Farm Management. 5,4(2011):1-11.
- Vassalos, M., C.R. Dillon and A. Pagoulatos. A Hedonic Price Analysis of Corn and Soybean Herbicides. Food Economics. 9,1&2(2012):117-128.
- Vassalos, M. and C.R. Dillon. Choice of Optimal Planting and Marketing Decisions for Fresh Vegetable Producers: A Mathematical Programming Approach. Paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Birmingham, Alabama, February 6-9, 2012.
- Brown, R., C.R. Dillon, J. Schieffer and J. Shockley. The Impact of Precision Agriculture Techniques on Kentucky Grain Farmers Carbon Footprint. Paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Birmingham, Alabama, February 6-9, 2012.
- Brown, R., C.R. Dillon and J. Schieffer. Using Mathematical Programming to Determine a Carbon Efficient Frontier. Poster presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, August 12-14, 2012.
- Vassalos, M. W. Hu, T. Woods, J. Schieffer and C.R. Dillon. Marketing Contracts for Fresh Market Tomatoes: A Choice Based Experiment. Poster presented and selected for poster tour at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, August 12-14, 2012.
- Dillon, C.R. and M. Vassalos. A Heuristic Optimization Model for Vegetable Production and Marketing Decisions. Poster presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, August 12-14, 2012.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Three research outputs for the year resulted from research undertaken in this project. One refereed journal article published in Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics is a direct product from a Ph.D. dissertation attributable to this project. Furthermore, a poster presentation and a selected paper presentation resulted from efforts related to this project. PARTICIPANTS: During 2012, one postdoctoral scholar, one Ph.D. student and one M.S. student are receiving graduate education through work related to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Farmers in Kentucky and beyond as well as fellow academic professionals, both research and extension, are hoped to be beneficiaries of this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The value of this research project has been to provide managerial decision-making assistance by evaluating the risk and returns of various production and management practices, including their interrelationships. These contributions in 2011 include empirical evaluation of the economics of auto-steer navigation, edamame profitability and transitions to organic production by Greek farmers. A whole farm assessment of the economic, risk, and production implications due to the adoption of auto-steer navigation determined that the technology was profitable for a grain farmer in Kentucky with net returns increasing nearly 1% or over $3 per acre. Additionally, auto-steer navigation enables reduction in production risk. Adoption of the technology is accompanied with altered production practices in exploiting its optimal value. Soybean production is impacted the most by the addition of sub-meter auto-steer navigation. When analyzing both auto-steer systems concurrently adopted, it is evident that sub-meter dominates RTK auto-steer when determining the optimal production practices. The economic potential for edamame production by Kentucky farmers was established in another study undertaken in this project. For the economically preferred weed management strategy of conventional tillage over cover cropping, the break-even price of $0.37/pound was required to switch from traditional soybean production. This indicates the potential for edamame to flourish in Kentucky with favorable market price levels but the need for substantial investment in harvesting machinery is noted. Transition to organic farming by Greek producers was most positively influenced by use of direct sales, education level and lack of off farm employment opportunities.
Publications
- Shockley, J.M., C.R. Dillon and T. Stombaugh. A Whole Farm Analysis on the Influence of Auto-Steer Navigation on Net Returns, Risk, and Production Practices. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 43,1(2011):57-75.
- Shockley, J., C. Dillon and T. Woods. 2011. Estimating the Economic Viability of a New Crop Alternative for the U.S. Organic Market: Edamame-A Vegetable Soybean. Selected poster presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association's 2011 AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 24-26.
- Vassalos, M. and C.R. Dillon. 2011. Going Organic or Conventional A Case Study for the Farm Specific Factors Affecting the Transition to Organic Farming in Lake Kerkini: Greece. Paper presented at the 4th Annual International Symposium on Agriculture, ATINER, Athens, Greece, July 18-19.
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Expertise in precision agriculture economics research resulted in two invited presentations. The first was at the Bright Animal EU Framework 7 Coordination and Support Action Workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark in May 2010 to discuss precision dairy farming integration of economic and environmental aspects. Another presentation was made at the invitation of a session organizer at the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture in Denver, Colorado (July 2010). Furthermore, two refereed journal articles, one Ph.D dissertation and a selected paper resulted from efforts related to this project. PARTICIPANTS: Two Ph.D students are receiving graduate education through work related to this project, one having completed doctoral work in 2010. TARGET AUDIENCES: Farmers in Kentucky and beyond as well as fellow academic professionals, both research and extension, are hoped to be beneficiaries of this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The value of this research project has been to provide managerial decision-making assistance by evaluating the risk and returns of various production and management practices, including their interrelationships. These contributions in 2010 include theoretical and empirical establishment of the need to consider adaptive farmer behavior in policy development as well as the establishment that variable rate fertilization does not globally result in reduced total farm fertilization levels as compared to uniform rate fertilization. Methodologically, the use of Boolean logic conditions in the reflection of low subsidy versus high subsidy choices faced by Greek farmers is modeled with mixed integer nonlinear programming. Results indicate that Greek farm managers appear to have multiple objectives such as protection of the environment, minimization of risk, maximization of family income and better allocation of available family work hours throughout the year. Empirically, contributions beyond those already mentioned include economic analysis of autosteer technology and the investigation of hedonic modeling for herbicide price determination. It was determined that auto-steer navigation was profitable for a grain farmer in Kentucky with net returns increasing up to 0.90% ($3.35/acre). Additionally, the technology could be used in reducing production risk. Adoption of the technology also alters production practices for optimal use. The empirical results for hedonic herbicide price modeling indicate the importance of positive (efficacy against grasses and broadleaf weeds) and negative production characteristics (crop response). Moreover, explicit inclusion of the biochemical and physical way in which herbicides kill a weed, in the form of mode of action, improved model fit and performance.
Publications
- Vassalos, M., C.R. Dillon and P. Karanikolas. Farm Decision-Making in a Multifunctional Context: The Case of Conventional and Organic Farming in Kerkini District, Greece. Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce. 2010,1&2(2010):59-64.
- Luck, J.D., S.K. Pitla, S.A. Shearer, T.G. Mueller, C.R. Dillon, J.P. Fulton and S.F. Higgins. Potential for Pesticide and Nutrient Savings via Map-based Automatic Boom Section Control of Spray Nozzles. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 70,1(2010):19-26.
- Dillon, C.R. Profitability of Dairy Cattle through Precision Livestock Farming. Bright Animal EU Framework 7 Coordination and Support Action Workshop. Copenhagen, Denmark. May 27 and 28, 2010.
- Dillon, C.R. and J. Shockley. Precision Management for Enhancing Farmer Net Returns with the Conservation Reserve Program. Invited Paper. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture. Denver, Colorado. July 18 to 20, 2010. 10 pp. Electronic (CD) proceedings.
- Vassalos M. and C.R. Dillon. A Hedonic Price Analysis of Corn and Soybean Herbicides. Paper presented at the 120th European Association of Agricultural Economists, Chania-Crete, Greece. September 1 to 4, 2010.
- Shockley, Jordan. Ph.D. Dissertation. 2010. Whole Farm Modeling of Precision Agriculture Technologies.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: When evaluating the opportunities for precision agriculture machinery management potential, several factors are important to include. Specifically, the importance of the consideration of interactive effects, economic substitution possibilities, competition for resource allocation across alternative enterprises and the decision-makers attitude towards risk has been identified in preliminary research output. A refereed presented publication beginning the assessment of precision machinery management technology adoption provides evidence of initial research developments on this project. Another presented paper focusing upon variable rate irrigation production economics and several new crop profiles also represent outputs from this experiment station project for the year. PARTICIPANTS: Jordan Shockley received training as a Ph.D. student in agricultural economics through this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Crop producers are the primary target audience of this research project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The economic impact of the research results of this year includes the development of an analytical tool for assessing the economic potential of alternative auto-steer technologies with respect to increasing expected farm net returns and decreasing variability of farm net returns. A whole farm economic model was used to provide a detailed assessment of the potential benefits of auto-steer technology adoption for a hypothetical commercial grain farm in Kentucky. This model thereby allows for interactive effects of exploiting production management substation. Two scenarios were investigated including 1) the addition of a bolt-on auto-steer system with a sub-meter receiver on a self-propelled sprayer and 2) the addition of an integral valve auto-steer system with a RTK GPS receiver on a tractor. It was determined, for all risk levels, that both auto-steer scenarios were profitable and reduced the variability of expected net returns (with coefficient of variation dropping from 11.47 to 11.28 and 11.26 respectively for the two scenarios under high risk aversion); hence auto-steer could be utilized in managing risk as well as enhancing net returns (by 1.2% and 2.3% respectively for the two scenarios under risk neutrality) for the conditions investigated. Another area of accomplishment is regarding updates which were performed for the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and the New Crops Opportunity Center for several new crop enterprises: grain sorghum, sunflowers, dry beans and specialty soybeans. Specifically, the Marketing and Market Outlook sections of the crop profiles were updated as well as the Economic Considerations. The economic data was updated to reflect current economic conditions as well as new net returns per acre.
Publications
- Shockley, J.M., C.R. Dillon and T. Stombaugh. Auto-steer navigation profitability and its influence on management practices: A whole farm analysis. Page 751 to 757 in Proceedings of the 7th European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment. J. Stafford, ed. Wageningen, Netherlands. July 6-8, 2009.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Further analyses of varying factors of production verify that savings from input application reduction alone can economically justify boom section control equipment. Additionally, investigation of the interaction between boom section control and auto-guidance technologies indicates that the advancement of auto-guidance does reduce the cost savings of swath control technology. When the price of fertilizer was increased by 20% from the base price, savings for lightbar navigation and boom section control ranged from $23.67 to $48.18 per acre depending on the field. In another paper, the integrated approach of interdisciplinary research programs of instructors is viewed as a key element in the successful class development and implementation of a precision agriculture course. Complexities and natural linkages across disciplines inherent in the topic encourage the team taught approach. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The economic impact of the research results of this year includes economic evaluation of boom section control technology coupled with lightbar guidance in light of increased fertilizer prices. The substantial opportunity of variable nozzle control technology was also economically demonstrated even though lightbar use reduces its level of benefit.
Publications
- Shockley, J., C. Dillon and S. Shearer. Cost Savings for Multiple Inputs with Swath Control and Auto-guidance Technologies. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Precision Agriculture. Denver, Colorado. July 20-23, 2008.
- C. Dillon, T. Mueller and S. Shearer. Interdisciplinary Team Teaching of Precision Agriculture. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Precision Agriculture. Denver, Colorado. July 20-23, 2008.
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