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Conservation in Agriculture: Evaluation of Irrigation Efficiency Subsidy Programs and Estimating the Value of Robotic Weeding
Conservation in Agriculture: Evaluation of Irrigation Efficiency Subsidy Programs and Estimating the Value of Robotic Weeding
상세정보
- 자료유형
- 학위논문 서양
- 최종처리일시
- 20260202104645
- ISBN
- 9798290615516
- DDC
- 630
- 서명/저자
- Conservation in Agriculture: Evaluation of Irrigation Efficiency Subsidy Programs and Estimating the Value of Robotic Weeding
- 발행사항
- [Sl] : University of California, Davis, 2025
- 발행사항
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2025
- 형태사항
- 152 p
- 주기사항
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-01, Section: B.
- 주기사항
- Advisor: Goodhue, Rachael;Smith, Aaron.
- 학위논문주기
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Davis, 2025.
- 초록/해제
- 요약This dissertation critically evaluates technology adoption in agriculture in the United States. Using robust econometric methods and a model of agricultural production, I study the effects of voluntary conservation incentive programs and adoption of newly developed robotic weeding technologies on farm production decisions. The overarching theme of these three essays is evaluating how adoption of conservation practices and precision agriculture address the challenges of reducing the environmental impact of agriculture and increasing agricultural productivity.Agricultural conservation programs in the United States are largely centered on voluntary financial and technical assistance. The ultimate impact of any conservation program depends on how the new technology affects an individual farmer's production decisions. As a result, changes to the production function caused by technology adoption can erode the potential environmental benefits of adoption or adoption may not be additional, i.e., adoption may occur in the absence of a contract. The first two essays examine how government incentive programs influence farmer behavior related to land use and water use while the third essay evaluates the economics of robotic weeding adoption in specialty crops.The first essay estimates the effect of the California State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) on crop choice and water use in agriculture. I use applicant-level data on SWEEP enrollment combined with remotely-sensed data on crop choice and consumptive water use to estimate the impact of program participation. I find important heterogeneities in program impacts related to the source of water used for irrigation. Funded applicants that have access to surface water switch to more water-intensive crops compared to unfunded applicants.The second essay uses a novel combination of administrative data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and remotely sensed data on consumptive water use to evaluate the effect of irrigation investments through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) on production decisions. We use the EQIP application process to account for selection bias into the program and potential imperfect additionality of contracts. We find that enrollment in EQIP leads to an increase in the proportion of total acreage planted with specialty crops and allows farms to avoid reductions in planted acreage through fallowing or idling acreage. However, after constructing a set of control farms that are free to self-fund irrigation investments, we find that there is limited additionality of the program.The third essay constructs a model of specialty crop production, focusing on the choice between newly developed robotic weeding technologies and conventional weeding. In response to rising labor costs and challenges with labor availability in the United States, new automated and precision agriculture technologies are being developed as alternatives. We calibrate the model using preliminary data collected on weeding efficacy from onion growers in the Pacific Northwest that are experimenting with robotic weeding technologies, parameters from the current literature, and personal communication with individual growers and robotic weeding experts. We find that an interior solution for partial adoption of robotic weeding relies on the relative relationship between the robotic weeding and non-robotic weeding cost functions. For any level of robotic weeding adoption, the two cost functions must cross within the distribution of weed density across a farm. In a sensitivity analysis of the robotic weeding cost function, we find that total farm profits are more sensitive to small changes in weeding efficacy compared to changes in the crop damage rate across the majority of the distribution of weed densities, and is particularly important at high weed densities.Taken together, the papers in this dissertation provide valuable insight into farmers' adoption decisions, including ones influenced by cost-sharing conservation programs and newly available technologies. This research illustrates that financial incentives for adopting more efficient irrigation technologies change the farm production function such that farmers may increase specialty crop acreage and avoid reductions in planted acreage. This response affects the aggregate impact of conservation contracts. We also find that there is limited additionality of installing irrigation technologies through USDA EQIP. Variation in average weed density and differences in the variable costs of production depending on weeding technology adjust the level of robotic weeding adoption for specialty crop production. Robotic weeding and hand weeding are complementary, with the optimal level of robotic weeding adoption across a farm dependent on relative costs and weed density.
- 일반주제명
- Agriculture
- 일반주제명
- Agricultural engineering
- 일반주제명
- Robotics
- 키워드
- Irrigation
- 키워드
- Robotic weeding
- 기타저자
- University of California, Davis Agricultural and Resource Economics
- 기본자료저록
- Dissertations Abstracts International. 87-01B.
- 전자적 위치 및 접속
- 로그인 후 원문을 볼 수 있습니다.
MARC
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■006m o d
■007cr#unu||||||||
■020 ▼a9798290615516
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)AAI32114554
■040 ▼aMiAaPQ▼cMiAaPQ
■0820 ▼a630
■1001 ▼aPicciotto, Isabelle.
■24510▼aConservation in Agriculture: Evaluation of Irrigation Efficiency Subsidy Programs and Estimating the Value of Robotic Weeding
■260 ▼a[Sl]▼bUniversity of California, Davis▼c2025
■260 1▼aAnn Arbor▼bProQuest Dissertations & Theses▼c2025
■300 ▼a152 p
■500 ▼aSource: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-01, Section: B.
■500 ▼aAdvisor: Goodhue, Rachael;Smith, Aaron.
■5021 ▼aThesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Davis, 2025.
■520 ▼aThis dissertation critically evaluates technology adoption in agriculture in the United States. Using robust econometric methods and a model of agricultural production, I study the effects of voluntary conservation incentive programs and adoption of newly developed robotic weeding technologies on farm production decisions. The overarching theme of these three essays is evaluating how adoption of conservation practices and precision agriculture address the challenges of reducing the environmental impact of agriculture and increasing agricultural productivity.Agricultural conservation programs in the United States are largely centered on voluntary financial and technical assistance. The ultimate impact of any conservation program depends on how the new technology affects an individual farmer's production decisions. As a result, changes to the production function caused by technology adoption can erode the potential environmental benefits of adoption or adoption may not be additional, i.e., adoption may occur in the absence of a contract. The first two essays examine how government incentive programs influence farmer behavior related to land use and water use while the third essay evaluates the economics of robotic weeding adoption in specialty crops.The first essay estimates the effect of the California State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) on crop choice and water use in agriculture. I use applicant-level data on SWEEP enrollment combined with remotely-sensed data on crop choice and consumptive water use to estimate the impact of program participation. I find important heterogeneities in program impacts related to the source of water used for irrigation. Funded applicants that have access to surface water switch to more water-intensive crops compared to unfunded applicants.The second essay uses a novel combination of administrative data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and remotely sensed data on consumptive water use to evaluate the effect of irrigation investments through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) on production decisions. We use the EQIP application process to account for selection bias into the program and potential imperfect additionality of contracts. We find that enrollment in EQIP leads to an increase in the proportion of total acreage planted with specialty crops and allows farms to avoid reductions in planted acreage through fallowing or idling acreage. However, after constructing a set of control farms that are free to self-fund irrigation investments, we find that there is limited additionality of the program.The third essay constructs a model of specialty crop production, focusing on the choice between newly developed robotic weeding technologies and conventional weeding. In response to rising labor costs and challenges with labor availability in the United States, new automated and precision agriculture technologies are being developed as alternatives. We calibrate the model using preliminary data collected on weeding efficacy from onion growers in the Pacific Northwest that are experimenting with robotic weeding technologies, parameters from the current literature, and personal communication with individual growers and robotic weeding experts. We find that an interior solution for partial adoption of robotic weeding relies on the relative relationship between the robotic weeding and non-robotic weeding cost functions. For any level of robotic weeding adoption, the two cost functions must cross within the distribution of weed density across a farm. In a sensitivity analysis of the robotic weeding cost function, we find that total farm profits are more sensitive to small changes in weeding efficacy compared to changes in the crop damage rate across the majority of the distribution of weed densities, and is particularly important at high weed densities.Taken together, the papers in this dissertation provide valuable insight into farmers' adoption decisions, including ones influenced by cost-sharing conservation programs and newly available technologies. This research illustrates that financial incentives for adopting more efficient irrigation technologies change the farm production function such that farmers may increase specialty crop acreage and avoid reductions in planted acreage. This response affects the aggregate impact of conservation contracts. We also find that there is limited additionality of installing irrigation technologies through USDA EQIP. Variation in average weed density and differences in the variable costs of production depending on weeding technology adjust the level of robotic weeding adoption for specialty crop production. Robotic weeding and hand weeding are complementary, with the optimal level of robotic weeding adoption across a farm dependent on relative costs and weed density.
■590 ▼aSchool code: 0029.
■650 4▼aAgriculture
■650 4▼aAgricultural engineering
■650 4▼aRobotics
■653 ▼aIrrigation
■653 ▼aRobotic weeding
■653 ▼aAgricultural productivity
■653 ▼aAgricultural conservation programs
■653 ▼aUnited States Department of Agriculture
■653 ▼aEnvironmental Quality Incentives Program
■690 ▼a0503
■690 ▼a0539
■690 ▼a0473
■690 ▼a0771
■71020▼aUniversity of California, Davis▼bAgricultural and Resource Economics.
■7730 ▼tDissertations Abstracts International▼g87-01B.
■790 ▼a0029
■791 ▼aPh.D.
■792 ▼a2025
■793 ▼aEnglish
■85640▼uhttp://www.riss.kr/pdu/ddodLink.do?id=T17358330▼nKERIS▼z이 자료의 원문은 한국교육학술정보원에서 제공합니다.


