Agricultural Economics Department

 

First Advisor

Lia Nogueira

Second Advisor

E. Wesley F. Peterson

Date of this Version

Summer 7-26-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Agricultural Economics

Under the supervision of Professors Lia Nogueira and E. Wesley F. Peterson

Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2018

Comments

Copyright 2018, Emily A. O’Donnell

Abstract

The impact of irrigation technology on farmers’ management strategies and resulting environmental benefits depends upon agronomic properties and market forces. We evaluate the role of deficit irrigation using soil moisture probe technology on corn yield and evapotranspiration, which is a measure of water use efficiency. Evapotranspiration represents the water that transits through the plant during planting to harvest (transpiration) and the evaporation from the soil into the environment, or the displaced water in the production process. We develop yield and evapotranspiration response functions to inform a constrained profit maximization model used to identify the optimal irrigation level across a variety of input and output prices, expected rainfall and government policy limiting irrigation scenarios. Our results indicate that when including irrigation and output costs, farmers' profit is maximized at full irrigation across average observed output and input prices. When increasing input prices and/or decreasing output prices, profit maximization changes as well as the optimal amount of irrigation. Limiting irrigation by constraining evapotranspiration by a small amount has a large negative effect on farmers' profit. The technology evaluated in this study is not widely used by farmers, making our results helpful in understanding the implications of deficit irrigation and soil moisture probes.

Advisors: Lia Nogueira and Wes Peterson

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