The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for the Lesser Prairie Chicken provides monetary compensation to agricultural producers for species habitat development. The advantages and disadvantages of program enrollment, as well as the overall economic impact are evaluated for a typical...

Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents located throughout the United States. The black-tailed prairie dog is a common species that primarily inhabits the Great Plains region, with a large population in Texas. While these animals continue to thrive in many locations, there has been a significant...

Playa lakes are very important to the Texas High Plains. They provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, and are the Ogallala Aquifer’s primary recharge source. Plowing and sedimentation have caused substantial damage to the overall health of many playas. A need exists to protect this...

This paper examines the role of risk aversion in setting herbicide label rates and application rates. Companies establish label rates to be efficacious for a wide range of conditions. The use of reduced rates of herbicide offer the opportunity to increase farm profit and reduce herbicide use, an...

This study combines survey information and GIS based optimization model to identify the optimal distribution of broiler litter in crop production. The results obtained provide more plausible transportation routes than the method that does not utilize all these constraints.

Changes in management practices are often proposed to reduce phosphorus loading from a watershed due to over application of poultry litter. This study determines the choice, location, and level of each best management practice in the watershed to meet a Total Maximum Daily Load and margins of...

The continued decline in the availability of water from the Ogallala Aquifer has led to an increased interest in conservation policies designed to extend the life of the aquifer to sustain rural economies in the Texas Panhandle. This study evaluates the effectiveness of five policies in terms of...

Neither poultry litter nor DMB currently have economically sustainable utilization options that are also environmentally sustainable. The purpose of this research is to investigate the appropriateness of blending poultry litter and DMB as a sustainable way to utilize these products, for use in...

The probability of a severe infestation ranges from 2% to 98% depending on investment in monitoring, prevention, and response technology. Given the estimated potential for economic damages, preliminary results indicate that prudent investment in prevention and early response net a present value...

This study estimates the economic impacts of the U.S. environmental horticulture industry (also known as the Green Industry) to be $147.8 billion in output, 1,964,339 jobs, $95.1 billion in value added, $64.3 billion in labor income, and $6.9 billion in indirect business taxes, with these values...