Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

McConnell, Mark D.

Committee Member

Li, Xiaofei

Committee Member

Evans, Kristine O.

Date of Degree

8-6-2021

Original embargo terms

Visible to MSU only for 2 years

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Degree Name

Master of Science

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Forest Resources

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

The collective body of U.S. legislation, colloquially known as the Farm Bill, authorizes a suite of practices and programs under its Conservation Title. This includes the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which incentivizes agricultural producers to remove arable land from production to enhance soil retention, improve water quality, and restore wildlife habitat. Conservation Practice 33: Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds (CP-33) was the first CRP practice to target wildlife habitat restoration. CP-33 incentivizes producers to reestablish native herbaceous vegetation along crop field margins. Producers are often concerned with the economic opportunity costs of CP-33 enrollment. I used yield data derived from 44 agricultural fields in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA to compare the environmental and economic opportunities associated with CP-33 establishment. I used yield data to develop a revenue distribution function to illustrate CP-33 revenue as commodity prices fluctuate. I found that as commodity prices increase, CP-33 implementation becomes less profitable.

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