The size, scale, and number of subwatersheds can affect a watershed modeling process and subsequent results. The objective of this study was to determine the appropriate level of subwatershed division for simulating sediment yield. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model with a...

New pesticidal crops are taking advantage of advances in geneticengineering. For example, corn has been engineered to express Bt proteinsthat are toxic to the European corn borer. These crops are effective pestmanagement tools for United States growers. However, there is concern thatpests will...

This paper develops a model analyzing the first best policy for a social planner when pesticide use causes resistance, the level of pest infestation is heterogeneous among farmers, and the development of a backstop technology is an endogenous and uncertain process which depends on the cumulative...

Genetically engineered Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn provides farmers with a new tool for controlling the European corn borer (ECB). The high efficacy and potential rapid adoption of Bt corn has raised concerns that the ECB will develop resistance to Bt. The Environmental Protection Agency...

This study presents the results of comparing land use estimates between three different data sets for the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). The comparisons were performed between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) National Resource...

Landscape amenities can be scarce in places with large areas of open space. Intensely farmed areas with high levels of monocropping and livestock production are akin to developed open space areas and do not provide many services in terms of landscape amenities. Open space in the form of farmland...

Growing demand for corn due to the expansion of ethanol has increased concerns that environmentally sensitive lands retired from agricultural production into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will be cropped again. Iowa produces more ethanol than any other state in the United States, and it...

The current debate over resistance management plans mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency for transgenic crops ignores management practices that are complementary to refuge schemes. A dynamic production model is developed that measures the costs and benefits of crop rotation and...

The use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in agriculture has been on the rise since 1995. Scientists have been working to develop a high-dose refuge management plan that can effectively delay European corn borer resistance to pesticidal GMO corn. This paper develops a stochastic...