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/Reader

Popp, Michael

Committee Member/Second Reader

Huang, Qiuqiong

Committee Member/Third Reader

Nalley, Lawton

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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