Recent survey data revealed that many California citrus growers did not know whether or not important beneficial insects were found on their fields while other growers were relying heavily or even entirely on these insects for pest control. Some pesticides are toxic both to the targeted pest and...

Animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is a significant contributor to the nitrate contamination of groundwater. Some manures also contain heavy metals and salts that may build up either in cropland or groundwater. To find cost-effective policies for pollution reduction...

To meet the growing demand for freshwater, many regions have increased pumping of groundwater in recent years, resulting in declining groundwater levels worldwide. A promising development is technical change regarding groundwater substitutes such as desalination and wastewater recycling....

This paper adapts a generalized expected utility (GEU) maximization model (Epstein and Zin, 1989 and 1991) to examine the intertemporal risk management of wheat producers in the Pacific Northwest. Optimization results based on simulated data indicate the feasibility of the GEU optimization as a...

The objective of this paper is to study the problem of management of irrigation water. We analyse farmers' economic rules of tactical irrigation scheduling in a certain or uncertain environment under water scarcity. The optimal plans depend on uncertain weather conditions and expectations. We...

Abstract Bromus Tectorum is an invasive plant species known to reduce abundance of native perennial grasses, increase fire frequency and intensity, decrease animal performance, and alter microbial communities and ecosystem processes. Specifically, in the Intermountain West, Bromus has been...

This study examines the interaction between insurance, credit and liquidity constraints using a stochastic dynamic model. A risk averse farmer whose objective is to manage both production and market risk is assumed to maximize the expected utility of life-time consumption by using both area...

Optimal recycling of minerals can be thought of as an integral part of the theory of the mine. In this paper, we consider the role that wastewater recycling plays in the optimal extraction of groundwater, a renewable resource. We develop a two-sector dynamic optimization model to solve for the...

The Economics of fertilizer application has been an interesting issue in regard to crop production (Kennedy et al., 1973). Understanding the temporal dynamics complicates the issue along two dimensions: fertilizer carryover and fertilizer runoff. Fertilizer carryover measures the amount of...

A key feature of hydrologically connected surface and groundwater stocks is the two-way exchange of water between the systems. Increasing water scarcity, particularly in arid environments, has spurred debate on how to coordinate management of the two resources. In this paper, I present a model...