This paper presents the first part of an ongoing project whose objective is to present a long term relationship between conservation tillage, adoption of GE crops and pesticide use for major crops in the United States. In addition, the project aims to provide some innovative tests on causality...

This paper presents findings on the use of HT corn and quality-adjusted herbicide use for 12 key corn producing states using a panel data set for 1986-2008. Our preliminary findings indicate an insignificant impact of HT corn on herbicide use, conditioning or accounting for HT corn with other...

Replaced with revised version of paper 04/20/10.

This paper presents findings on the use of HT corn and quality-adjusted herbicide use for 12 key corn producing states using a panel data set for 1986-2008. Our preliminary findings indicate an insignificant impact of HT corn on herbicide use, conditioning or accounting for HT corn with other...

We estimate the cost of offsets tied to reductions in the use of nitrogen on U.S. cornfields under the proposed American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Productive utilization of resources has enabled American agriculture to supply the nation with vast quantities of food at a high level of efficiency. However, the USDA shows that 2011 pesticide expenses increased by about $100 million resulting from a slight increase of planted acres and a...

Recent trends in livestock concentration in major corn producing states suggest that increasing risk of water pollution from manure applications may be offsetting declines in risk of water pollution from chemical fertilizer. Analysis of data from ARMS surveys found that potential excess nitrogen...

Agricultural production is known to have environmental impacts, both adverse and beneficial, and it is desirable to incorporate at least some of these impacts in an environmentally sensitive productivity index. In this paper, we construct indicators of water contamination from the use of...

The share of corn used in ethanol production has been growing rapidly. USDA predicts that more than 30 percent of the corn crop will be used for ethanol production in 2009/2010. Expanded corn acreage contributes to the application of more fertilizer and is likely to introduce a larger volume of...

This study uses a cost-function-based model of production processes in U.S. agriculture to represent producers' input and output decisions, and the implied costs of reductions in risk associated with leaching and runoff from agricultural chemical use. The model facilitates evaluation of the...