Date of Graduation

8-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Agricultural Economics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Connor, Lawson

Committee Member

Mitchell, James

Second Committee Member

Popp, Michael

Keywords

Corn; Cover Crops; Heterogeneity; Soil Productivity; Soybeans; Yield

Abstract

Identifying the conditions where cover crops will succeed or fail is crucial for advancing conservation agriculture. Cover crops have been widely accepted as a conservation practice that can improve soil health and might improve or stabilize crop yields, though these benefits are not consistent across different regions. This study examines how heterogeneous factors can shape the effectiveness of cover crops on corn and soybean yields across the United States. Using the National Commodity Crop Productivity Index (Index) to measure soil productivity, this study examines how cover crop impacts vary across different levels of soil quality. A county level, 16- year panel dataset consisting of yields from the USDA-RMA, cover crop adoption rates from OpTIS, climate data from PRISM, and Index values from NRCS served as the basis for modeling. The models that were used in this study included fixed effects regressions, quantile regression, and Lewbel IV to identify any heterogeneous and non-linear effects of cover crop adoption on yields and soil productivity. The results show that for corn yields, in areas with low quality soil, the yields improve significantly, while diminishing in areas that had higher productivity to begin with. Conversely, soybeans had more consistent yield gain across the soil quality spectrum, though the area with the most beneficial gain was in the low Index regions. These finding carry significant policy implication, highlighting the need to account for heterogeneous factors when designing conservation policy.

Download

Available for download on Friday, December 19, 2025

Share

COinS