Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Kovacs, Kent

Committee Member

Popp, Michael

Second Committee Member

Huang, Qiuqiong

Third Committee Member

Nalley, Lawton L.

Abstract

We evaluate the use and the proportion of farmland that uses prominent irrigation practices in Arkansas, USA. A bi-variate sample selection model evaluates the determinants of the share of irrigated land in a farm that uses each practice. We evaluate the relationship between the irrigation practices peers use and the intensity that another farmer utilizes that same irrigation practice(s). So, if a peer of an Arkansas Delta farmer uses center pivot irrigation, for example, it increases the probability that the farmer him or herself will use acreage using center pivot by 66%. Conversely, a peer using surge irrigation only results in a farmer using surge irrigation themselves on 9% more acres. A peer that uses pivot decreases the proportion of irrigated land that uses flowmeter by .05. However, a peer using computerized hole selection increases the proportion of irrigated land on a farm using irrigation scheduling by 2.20. We interact the peer effect variables with location and farm practices of a farm to examine heterogeneity in the peer relationship. A peer using computerized hole selection increases the likelihood a farmer uses computerized hole selection by 55%, but if the farmer is in the South Delta, the likelihood of using the practice increases to 115%.

Keywords

Scale and choice in irrigation methods; Social learning; Peer networks

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