Agricultural production relies heavily on manmade chemicals used as fertilizers and pesticides, and to regulate plant growth. Pesticides are released intentionally into the environment to control insects, weeds, plant diseases and other pests that affect crop or animal production, as well as to control insects that spread human diseases. Pesticides have a well-established role in agriculture an...

Using farm level data we evaluate the input use and environmental effects of revenue insurance. A priori, the moral hazard effect on input use is indeterminate. This paper empirically assesses the input use impact of the increasingly popular, and federally subsidized, risk management instrument of revenue insurance and the extent to which its effects on input use may differ from those of the ol...

Nitrate losses from subsurface tile drained row cropland in the Upper Midwest U.S. contribute to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Strategies are needed to reduce nitrate losses to the Mississippi River. This paper evaluates the effect of fertilizer rate and timing on nitrate losses in two (East and West) commercial row crop fields located in south-central Minnesota. The Agricultural Drainage and ...

Energy consumption can vary signifi cantly between conventional and organic production systems when accounting for direct energy inputs as well as indirect energy involved in manufacturing, shipping and applying pesticides and nitrogen-based fertilizers. Because organic agriculture reduces the amount of indirect energy inputs, it is often assumed that organic agriculture is less energy intensiv...