Annual/Termination Reports:

[08/30/2005] [08/07/2006] [08/22/2007] [09/03/2009] [07/02/2010]

Report Information

Participants

Paudel, Krishna - Louisiana State University; Westra, John - Louisiana State University; Hall, Larry - Louisiana State University; Devkota, Nirmala - Louisiana State University; Fleming, Ron - University of Kentucky; Day, Kyle -University of Kentucky; Goldsmith, Peter - University of Illinois; Parkhurst, Gregory - Mississippi State University; Hite, Diane - Auburn University; Ho, Sa - Auburn University; Hatch, Upton - Auburn University; Fozard, Yasmin - Morgan State University; Letson, David - University of Miami; Shulstad, Bob - University of Georgia; Smathers, Webb - Clemson University; Hunt, Fen - USDA;
Halbrook, Steve - Farm Foundation; Stratis, Nick - Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Thomas, Michael - Florida A&M University; Abazinge, Michael - Florida A&M University; Hladik, Christine; Florida A&M University; Johnson, Elijah - Florida A&M University; Harwell, Mark - Florida A&M University; Milla, Katherine - Florida A&M University; Williams, La Drier - Florida A&M University; Bain, Andrea - Florida A&M University; Goff, Falan - Florida A&M University; Lorenzo, Alfredo - Florida A&M University; Salaudeen, Tajudeen - Florida A&M University; Simmons, Donna - Florida A&M University; Magee, Charles - Florida A&M University.

Brief Summary of Minutes

Bob Shulstad reported on renewal of SERA 30, informing that we need to submit Appendix E forms. He told us proceedings have been difficult to find, suggesting that we should have abstracts and power point files of the presentations accessible by web.

Proceedings have been difficult to find as they have been posted on Southern Rural Development Center's website at Mississippi State University. Thus, future proceedings will be placed on a dedicated website at Louisiana State University. Krishna Paudel awaits previously promised funds of $2,000 for site development from Bill Park. A motion was passed to authorize a formal request for website development funds.

John Westra of Louisiana State U was voted in as the new secretary-treasurer of SERA 30.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 18-19 2006, in Auburn Alabama; it will be organized by Diane Hite. The main theme will be Homeland Security with an invasive species subtopic. The 2007 meeting may be held in Washington, DC so NRCS and others could attend.

An invited paper session for the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting was discussed. The session will be based on Pete Goldsmith's, Ron Fleming's and John Westra's papers on evaluation of agro-environmental policies and programs.

Farm Foundation requested an issue report from the meeting. These are lay-oriented and consolidated for each topic covered in the meeting.

Accomplishments

For each SERA 30 meeting, a major topic and a subtopic relevant to southern agriculture and natural resources are chosen. A call for papers goes out to a wide range of individuals, including those outside the group. In the 2005 meeting, participants focused on economics of environmental justice, and economics of water quality. <br /> <br /> This year we were successful in attracting papers by two individuals outside the group: Yasmin Fozard from Morgan State University presented an urban planning paper related to environmental justice, and Pete Goldsmith of University of Illinois presented a paper related to water quality. A total of 14 papers were presented. <br /> <br /> Six papers detailed many innovations to assist policy makers and resource managers in addressing the issue of water quality. Goldsmith et al. provided a methodology for farmers and communities to identify optimal locations and correct compensation for those affected by animal operations. Hall et al. similarly use GIS and survey methods to develop a methodology that can help control non point pollution from dairy operations. Pagoulatos et al. and Westra et al. examined impacts of two conservation policies, Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Security Program. Letson et al. examined the usefulness of weather information in agricultural management, while Parkhurst and Shogren used experimental economics as a development tool for smart subsidy programs. In a seventh related paper, Thomas et al. examined the use of assurance bonds to control against escape of nonnative species in aquaculture.<br /> <br /> Seven papers were presented in the area of environmental justice. Fleming et al. explored the socioeconomic factors related to citing of waste sites, while Ho and Hite examined the relationships among housing values, cancer mortality and environmental quality in the southeast. Lorenzo et al., and Fozard presented results of neighborhood level studies of environmental justice. Three of the papers in the session - two by Devkota et al., and one by Thomas - were related to recreation demand models. <br /> <br /> Titles of the papers presented can be found in the publications list following. The papers are all to be published in proceedings later in 2005.

Publications

"Measuring the Impacts of Confined Animal Feeding Operations: Technical Issues and Policy Implications." Peter Goldsmith, University of Illinois, Jungik Kim, Korean Land Development Company, Michael Thomas Florida A&M University.<br /> <br /> "The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in Kentucky: Does it Address Environmental Quality Problems?" Angelos Pagoulatos, Ronald A. Fleming and Kyle C. Day. University of Kentucky.<br /> <br /> "The Uncertain Value of Perfect ENSO Phase Forecasts: Stochastic Agricultural Prices and Intra-Phase Climatic Variations." David Letson, University of Miami, Guillermo Podesta, University of Miami, and Andres Ferreyra, University of Florida.<br /> <br /> "The Conservation Security Program: Economic and Environmental Effects." John V. Westra, Louisiana State University and Bruce Vondracek and Julie Zimmerman, University of Minnesota.<br /> <br /> "Integrating Survey Information and GIS Modeling Approach to Develop an Optimal Decision Making Tool for Controlling Water Pollution in the Louisiana Dairy Production Region." Larry Hall, Krishna Paudel, Wayne Gauthier, John Westra, Huizhen Niu, Louisiana State University and Keshav Bhattarai, Central Missouri State University.<br /> <br /> "Smart Subsidies for Habitat Conservation." Gregory M. Parkhurst, Mississippi State University, Jason F. Shogren, University of Wyoming. <br /> <br /> "The Use of Environmental Assurance Bonds to Reduce the Establishment and Spread of the Invasive Black Carp." Michael H. Thomas, Florida A&M University, Terrill R. Hanson, Mississippi State University, and Nick Stratis, Florida Department of Environmental Protection.<br /> <br /> "Environmental Justice Revisited: The Case of Kentucky." Ronald Fleming, Angelos Pagoulatos, University of Kentucky and Arun K. Srinivasan, Indiana University.<br /> <br /> "The Count Data Analysis of Coastal Recreation Visits in Elmer's Island." Nirmala Devkota, Krishna P. Paudel, Larry Hall and Rex H. Caffey, Louisiana State University.<br /> <br /> "Baltimore's Last Frontier: The Middle Branch Waterfront." Yasmin M. Fozard, Morgan State University.<br /> <br /> "Geospatial Measures for Evaluating Amenity Open Spaces in Urban Communities." Alfredo B. Lorenzo, Erica Ellis and Samuel E. Hand, Florida A&M University.<br /> <br /> "Environmental Justice in Southeastern Housing Markets." Sa Chau Ho and Diane Hite, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Multinomial Logit for Recreational Choice Modeling: The Case of Elmer's Island." Nirmala Devkota, Krishna P. Paudel, Larry Hall and Rex H. Caffey, Louisiana State University.<br /> <br /> "Using the Distribution of Consumer Surplus to Measure Equity in Recreation: Five Examples in Florida." Michael H. Thomas, Florida A&M University.

Impact Statements

1. Research conducted for SERA 30 this year will be helpful to policymakers interested in the areas of water quality and environmental justice. Water quality issues are particularly of interest in the southeast, where total maximum daily load requirements for agricultural runoff are under development. Environmental justice issues have become an important consideration by federal agencies, such as USEPA.
2. Public policies promulgated at the federal level are now required to account for environmental quality impacts on underprivileged socio-economic groups, and thus statistical methods for their measurement of interest.

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Report Information

Participants

Guthrie, Richard - Auburn University; Jolly, Curtis - Auburn University; Hite, Diane - Auburn University; Ho, Sa - Auburn University; De Parisot, Christopher - Auburn University; Hatch, Upton - Auburn University; Bhattarai, Gandhi Raj - Auburn University; Srivastava, Puneet - Auburn University; Marzen, Luke - Auburn University; Bransby, David - Auburn University; Traxler, Greg - Auburn University; Simpson, Eugene - Auburn University; Thompson, Henry - Auburn University; LaBand, David - Auburn University; Tanger, Shaun - Auburn University; Zhu, Pengyu - Auburn University; Zhang, Yaoqi - Auburn University; Thomas, Michael - Florida A&M University; Shulstad, Bob - University of Georgia; Wetzstein, Michael - University of Georgia; Paudel, Krishna - Louisiana State University; Westra, John - Louisiana State University; Hall, Larry - Louisiana State University; Devkota, Nirmala - Louisiana State University; Hanson, Terry - Mississippi State University;
Yeboah, Osei-Agyeman - North Carolina A&T State University; Ofori-Boadu, Victor - North Carolina A&T State University; Mandizha, Blessing - North Carolina A&T State University; Fosu, Edward - North Carolina A&T State University; Thomas, Terrence - North Carolina A&T State University; Kebede, Ellene - Tuskegee University; Halbrook, Steve - Farm Foundation; Garret, Lynn -USDA-APHIS

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes from the annual meeting last year were read and approved by the members present.

Osei-Agyeman Yeboah of North Carolina A&T University was elected secretary-treasurer of SERA 30 for the upcoming year. John Westra of Louisiana State University will serve as Vice-President and Diane Hite of Auburn University will serve as President of SERA 30 next year.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana in conjunction with a national conference that the Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy (CNREP) at LSU is organizing under the direction of John Westra. The two main themes will be interaction of land management and water (quantity and quality) and economics of extreme events (global climate change, natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, drought, etc.). The next meeting will be held after graduation (late May, 2007), but no firm dates were determined.

An invited paper session for the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting was discussed but it was decided that there didn't appear to be a critical mass of papers of any one theme to submit a proposal.

Registration fees this year will likely be sufficient to cover expenses associated with the annual meeting. However, there were not enough funds to help with any additional expenses, such as SERA 30 website development.
We discussed the difficulty in finding the proceeding of SERA 30 meetings that have been posted on Southern Rural Development Center's website at Mississippi State University. However, Krishna Paudel has agreed to have a graduate student at LSU develop a dedicated website on the Department of Agricultural Economics server Louisiana State University. SERA 30 agreed to provide funds ($4,000) for site development and $500 per year for website maintenance. Paudel will request the funds directly from Bill Park at the University of Tennessee who maintains a checking account with the SERA 30 funds.
Bob Shulstad reported on provisional renewal of SERA 30, informing that we need to submit Application E forms and a revised project proposal.
Farm Foundation requested an issue report from the meeting. These are lay-oriented and consolidated for each topic covered in the meeting.

Accomplishments

For each SERA 30 meeting, a major topic and a subtopic relevant to southern agriculture and natural resources are chosen. A call for papers goes out to a wide range of individuals, including those outside the group. In the 2006 meeting, participants focused on economics of homeland security and invasive species . <br /> <br /> This year we were successful in attracting papers by several individuals outside the group. Two presentations from outsiders focused on homeland security issues: David Bransby of Auburn University presented a paper on bioenergy and its potential role in national security and Eugene Simpson or Auburn University presented a paper on the potential economic impacts of avian influenza in Alabama. An invited paper by a USDA economist, Lynn Garret of USDA-APHIS, focused on the other main theme this year  economics of invasive species. In addition to these three papers, 15 papers by members of SERA 30 were presented.<br /> <br /> Six papers, including the two papers described above, presented research on one of the main themes  the economics of homeland security. Yeboah et al. described preliminary findings from a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the incidence of BSE in the US beef market. In two different papers, Ho et al. examined peoples risk perceptions and the impacts of property values for residents of counties adjacent to and near the chemical munitions incinerator in Anniston Alabama. Last under this theme, Hanson described a national risk management project involving the feasibility of insurance products in the aquaculture industry.<br /> <br /> Three papers, including the one described above, were presented in the area of the economics of invasive species  the other main theme of the 2006 annual meeting. Mullen et al. presented a theoretical description of how invasive species colonize, while Westra et al. described regional and national economic impacts of simulated infestations of Asian Soybean Rust in the U.S. <br /> <br /> Titles of all the papers presented can be found in the publications list following. These papers will be published in proceedings later in 2006 and posted to the SERA 30 website and the Farm Foundation website.<br />

Publications

"The Potential Role of Bioenergy in National Security and Environmental Sustainability." David Bransby, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "BSE Incidence and the US Beef Trade: A General Equilibrium Modeling." Osei-Agyeman Yeboah, Victor Ofori-Boadu and Blessing Mandizha, NC A&T State University, and Henry Thompson, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Economic Impact of Avian Influenza in Alabama." Eugene Simpson, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Determinants of Risk Perception Associated with the Anniston, AL: Results of a Direct Mail Survey." And "Property Value Impacts of the Anniston, AL Chemical Warhead Incinerator." Sa Chau Ho, Christophe de Parisot and Diane Hite, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "National Risk Management Feasibility Program for Aquaculture - Examining the Feasibility of Aquaculture Insurance." Terry Hanson, Mississippi State University.<br /> <br /> "The Economics of Invasive Species." Lynn R. Garret, USDA-APHIS.<br /> <br /> "Modeling the Determinants of Invasive Species Isolated Colonies: An Analysis of Their Formation and Control." Jeffrey Mullen, Keith Douce and Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia.<br /> <br /> "Asian Soybean Rust: Simulated Economic and Environmental Impacts Nationally and for the Southern U.S." John V. Westra, Louisiana State University, Robert C. Johansson and Michael J. Livingston, USDA-ERS.<br /> <br /> "The value of open space in rural and suburban areas: a spatial hedonic approach". Andres Jauregui, Columbus State University, Diane Hite, Auburn University, and Brent Sohngen, Ohio State University.<br /> <br /> "Explaining Citizen Attitudes in the U.S. about Children Learning to Hunt and Implications for State Regulation of Game Populations through Licensed Hunting." David LaBand and Shaun Tanger, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Economic Analysis of Demand for Urban Forests". Pengyu Zhu, Yaoqi Zhang, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Recreation on Timberland as a Source of Income for Rural Economies and Private Forestland Owners." Ellene Kebede, Tuskegee University.<br /> <br /> "A Simple Bioeconomic Modeling of Land Use Change and its Impact on Water Quality and Agricultural Returns." Gandhi Raj Bhattarai, Diane Hite, Puneet Srivastava, Upton Hatch and Luke Marzen, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Eastern North Carolina Counties Exposure to Hog Waste: Are there Racial Inequities?" Edward Fosu, Osei-Agyeman Yeboah, and Terrence Thomas, N.C A&T State University.<br /> <br /> "Poverty, Language and Participation in Non-Farm Labor Markets in Rural Paraguay." Daniel Corrella and Greg Traxler, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> "Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept Differences among Broiler Producers in Louisiana." Krishna P. Paudel, Louisiana State University.<br /> <br /> "A Multinomial Logit Model to Evaluate Factors Affecting Coastal Recreational Visits in Louisiana." Nirmala Devkota Krishna P. Paudel Rex H. Caffey and Larry Hall, Louisiana State University.

Impact Statements

1. Research conducted for SERA 30 this year will be helpful to policymakers interested in the areas homeland security and invasive species. Homeland security and bio-terrorism issues are particularly of interest in the southeast, where significant concentrations of livestock enterprises (poultry and hog operations) are present or under development. Invasive species are another particularly important issue in the Southern U.S. as many economically significant agricultural crops (row crops, fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals) are produced in this region. Recent problems and potential problems with invasive species have served to highlight the increasing pressure placed upon these crops and the potential economic costs associated with these invasive species in the U.S.

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Report Information

Participants

Whitehead, John - Appalachian State University; Hindsley, Paul - East Carolina University; Landry, Craig - East Carolina University; Bin, Okmyung - East Carolina University; Thomas, Michael - Florida A&M University; Salaudeen, Tajudeen - Florida A&M University; Lin, Shanshan - University of Georgia; Richardson, William - Louisiana State University Agricultural Center; Boethel, David - Louisiana State University Agricultural Center; Coreil, Paul - Louisiana State University Agricultural Center; Dunn, Michael - Louisiana State University; Keithly, Walter - Louisiana State University; Kazmierczak, Richard - Louisiana State University; Paudel, Krishna - Louisiana State University; Westra, John - Louisiana State University; Broussard, Whitney - Louisiana State University; Chintawar, Sachin - Louisiana State University; Tyler, Mark - Louisiana State University; Hanson, Terry - Mississippi State University; Petrolia, Daniel - Mississippi State University; Banerjee, Swagata - Mississippi State University; Bhattarai, Keshav - University of Central Missouri; Morgan, Ash - University of West Florida; Huth, Bill - University of West Florida; Ford, Mark - Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana; Armbruster, Walter - Farm Foundation; Hunt, Fenn - USDA-CSREES

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes from the annual meeting last year were read and approved by the members present.

Bill Huth of the University of West Florida was elected secretary of SERA 30 for the upcoming year. Osei-Agyeman Yeboah of North Carolina A&T University will serve as Vice-President and John Westra of Louisiana State University will serve as President of SERA 30 next year.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington DC and be "hosted" by USDA-CSREES. During the business meeting, SERA 30 members decided to accept Fenn Hunt's suggestion/offer to meet in Washington DC and interact with USDA-CSREES program leaders as well as economists from USDA-ERS and USEPA, among other agencies. The main themes for the 2008 program will be determined by an interactive process of SERA 30 members led by Michael Thomas of Florida A&M University and assisted by Terry Hanson of Mississippi State University. Mike will be emailing SERA 30 members to solicit ideas and suggestions for main themes for the workshop/conference in 2008. These themes may reflect focus areas for USDA-CSREES in the 2008-2009 fiscal years. The next meeting will be held after graduation but before Memorial Day weekend - probably the week of May 19 - 23, 2008, but no firm dates yet. The meeting space will most likely be the USDA-CSREES conference room(s). Arrangements for hotel accommodations are being pursued by a committee led by Fenn Hunt of USDA-CSREES and John Westra of Louisiana State University.

An invited paper session for the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting was discussed and it was decided that a proposal would be submitted on economic effects and impacts of invasive species in the Southern U.S.

The annual meeting and workshop of SERA 30 was held in conjunction with CNREP 2007, the second annual conference on Challenges of Natural Resource Economics and Policy that LSU's Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy (CNREP) conducts. Registration fees for this jointly-held workshop and conference year were insufficient to cover expenses associated with the annual meeting. Sponsorship by several organizations, including continued support from the Farm Foundation helped to defray some, but not all of the expenses associated with the meetings. The host institution, LSU, had to cover the remaining shortfall in revenues from registration fees and sponsorships.

We discussed the difficulty in finding the proceedings of SERA 30 meetings that have been posted on Southern Rural Development Center's website at Mississippi State University. Krishna Paudel of LSU indicated that he has been unsuccessful in gathering minutes from business meetings and abstracts of papers presented at meetings prior to 1999. Evidently the few remaining hard copies of this material are scarce. Terry Hanson from Mississippi State University suggested a few individuals (John Reynolds, retired U of FL; John Bergstrom, U of GA; Webb Smathers, Clemson; Upton Hatch, NC State; Martin Redfern, U of AR; past SERA 30 administrative advisors and Farm Foundation who funded the printing annually) who may have hard copies that could be scanned and placed on the SERA 30 website that LSU Department of Agricultural Economics is now hosting.

John Westra reported that Bob Shulstad, from the University of George, had reported via email that renewal of SERA 30 was approved last fall after John Westra had submitted a revised project proposal Application and Appendix forms E into the NIMSS system. The approval is valid through September 30, 2009.

http://www.nimss.umd.edu/homepages/home.cfm?trackID=6576

Walter Armbruster of the Farm Foundation requested an issue report from the meeting. These are lay-oriented presentation of some core theme with supporting information from specific presentations or papers presented at the meetings, similar to an executive summary of one or two key themes from the meeting. John Westra at LSU is coordinating this effort so suggestions and materials should be sent to him by the end of June, 2007.

Accomplishments

For each SERA 30 meeting, a major topic and a subtopic relevant to southern agriculture and natural resources are chosen. A call for papers went out to a wide range of individuals, including those outside the group. In the 2007 meeting, participants focused on valuing coastal resource amenities and the economics and environmental impacts of natural resource management. <br /> <br /> This year we were successful in attracting papers by several individuals outside the group. In addition to the three papers by non-SERA 30 researchers, nine papers were presented by members of SERA 30. Additionally, several posters were developed and "presented" during the SERA 30/CNREP 2007 conference.<br /> <br /> Four papers presented research on the first main theme of the SERA 30 meeting - valuing coastal resource amenities. Hindsley et al., from East Carolina University, described how congestion affects recreational beach site selection in North Carolina. Continuing the North Carolina coastal theme, Whitehead et al., of Appalachian State University, estimated the economic benefits of recreational boating on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW). Next we moved down to the Florida coast where Huth et al. of the University of West Florida estimated the demand of divers for large ship artificial reefs. Last Keithly et al. of LSU estimated the value of various types of wetlands and open water in coastal Louisiana.<br /> <br /> The second theme - the economics and environmental impacts of natural resource managemeny - had eight papers and was divided into two sessions. Ban Banerjee from Mississippi State University presented research on forecasting water demand and crop values. Water demand, in the form of irrigation management strategies and how risk aversion affects this was presented by Lin et al. from the University of Georgia. Paudel and Dunn continued the water demand topic with a case study of the optimal allocation of groundwater from the Sparta Aquifer. Last in that session, Paudel et al. went underground to analyze the spatial distribution and infestation of Formosan Subterranean Termites.<br /> <br /> In the second session for the second them, the topic of invasive species was picked up by Salaudeen et al. from Florida A&M University who described how Tropical Soda Apples are having an adverse economic affect on cattle production in Florida. Tyler et al., from LSU, continued the livestock subject by presenting ideas on how the growth in the U.S. livestock sector faces environmental challenges in applying phosphorus to the land so as not to adversely affect water quality. The water quality topic was continued by Broussard and Westra, from LSU, who described how government commodity programs affect crop selection and land management in the U.S. and how those impact water quality in the Mississippi River Basin and contribute to the hypoxia problem in the Gulf of Mexico. Paudel and Bhattarai, from LSU, ended the session by talking about how to economically apply poultry litter for crop nutrients but to not create water quality problems in the process.<br /> <br /> Titles of all the papers presented can be found in the publications list following. These papers will be published in proceedings later in 2007 and posted to the SERA 30 website and the Farm Foundation website.

Publications

The Role of Congestion in Recreational Beach Site Choice<br /> Paul Hindsley, Craig Landry, Okmyung Bin, and Has Vogelsong, East Carolina University<br /> <br /> A Determination of the Economic Benefits and Economic Impacts of Recreation Boating on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) in North Carolina, USA<br /> John Whitehead, Appalachian State University; Jim Herstine and Chris Dumas, University of North Carolina Wilmington<br /> <br /> Diving Demand for Large Ship Artificial Reefs<br /> Ash Morgan, Bill Huth, and Greg Martin, University of West Florida <br /> <br /> The Value of Wetlands versus Open Water in Louisiana<br /> Walter R. Keithly, Jr. and Baifu Xu, LSU; John Barras, USGS; and Richard F. Kazmierczak, Jr., LSU<br /> <br /> Role of Forecasting Water Demand and Crop Value in Agriculture<br /> Swagata Ban Banerjee and Steven W. Martin, Mississippi State University<br /> <br /> Influence of Risk Aversion on Optimal Irrigation Management Strategies<br /> Shanshan Lin, Jeffrey D. Mullen, and Gerrit Hoogenboom, University of Georgia<br /> <br /> Optimal Allocation of Shared Ground Water: A Case of Sparta Aquifer in Louisiana<br /> Krishna Paudel and Michael Dunn, LSU<br /> <br /> A Spatial Model of Formosan Subterranean Termite Spread and Infestation in Louisiana<br /> Junpyo Hong, Krishna Paudel, and Michael Dunn, LSU<br /> <br /> Economic Impact of Tropical Soda Apple on Cattle Production in Florida<br /> Tajudeen Tayo Salaudeen and Michael H. Thomas, Florida A&M University; David Harding, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<br /> <br /> Growing the U.S. Livestock Economy: The Environmental (Phosphorus Assimilation) Challenge<br /> Tyler Mark, Louisiana State University; Allan Gray, Brad Joern, and Michael Boehlje, Purdue University<br /> <br /> Agricultural Policy, Land Management, and Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin: An Economic Temporal and Spatial Analysis<br /> Whitney Broussard and John V. Westra, LSU<br /> <br /> A GIS-based Economic Model for Optimal Use of Broiler Litter as Crop Nutrients in Louisiana<br /> Krishna Paudel, LSU; and Keshav Bhattarai, University of Central Missouri<br />

Impact Statements

1. Research conducted for SERA 30 this year will be helpful to policymakers interested in the areas of natural resource valuation and in how human activities and natural resource management decisions affect the environment.
2. Natural resource valuation is critically important to policy makers and resource managers as this information helps them allocate scarce resources for managing natural resources and improving environmental amenities.
3. The second theme of this years SERA 30 workshop is important for policy makers and agencies charged with tending our natural resource base.
4. The papers presented this year identified some critical issues that are policy-relevant and give clear guidance to agency personnel charged with managing resources and safeguarding the environment. Though most of the research presented at the SERA 30 meetings focused on southern problems, the issues and the research methods used to analyze these resource and environmental issues are applicable to other sectors of the economy and regions of the nation.

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Report Information

Participants

John Westra (jwestra@lsu.edu) - LSU; Larry Hall (lhall2etigers@lsu.edu) - LSU; Fen Hunt (fhunt@csrees.usda.gov) - CSREES/NIFA; Dan Petrolia (petrolia@agecon.msstate.edu) - MS State; John Bergstrom (jberg@uga.edu) - UGA;
Ermanno Affuso (ermanno@auburn.edu) - Auburn; Diane Hite (hitedia@auburn.edu) - Auburn; Kim Morgan (morgan@agecon.msstate.edu) - MS State; Seong-Hoon Cho (scho9@utk.edu) - Tennessee; Seung Gyu Kim (sgkim@utk.edu) - Tennessee; Suhyun Jung (suhyunj@utk.edu) - Tennessee; Joe Price (pricejn2@uga.edu) - UGA; David Keiser (keiser@uga.edu) - UGA; Warren Kriesel (wkriesel@uga.edu) - UGA; Jeff Mullen (jmullen@uga.edu) - UGA; Bob Shulstad (shulstad@uga.edu) - UGA; Denis Nadolnyak (nadolda@auburn.edu) - Auburn

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes from the annual meeting last year were read and approved by the members present.

Dan Petrolia of Mississippi State University was elected secretary of SERA 30 for the upcoming year. Laila Racevskis of the University of Florida will serve as Vice-President and Jeff Mullen of the University of Georgia will serve as President of SERA 30 next year.

The next meeting is being arranged by the Vice-President, Laila Racevskis of the University of Florida; location and date to be determined later. During the business meeting, Bob Shulstad, our Academic Advisor from the Experiment Station, presented information on Multistate Research and Extension Projects. This led to the SERA 30 members discussing the advantages and disadvantages of transforming the group from an Information Exchange Group to a Multistate Project. At the end of the discussion, it was decided to develop a Wiki page to poll all members of SERA 30 about their preferences for how the group should continue.

During the ensuing month the Wiki page was online, the general consensus of the membership was that we should spend some more time talking about this and develop a more formal plan to address a Multistate Project, if that is what the membership desired. This path was selected primarily because the timeframe, between the 2009 Annual Meeting and the deadline for submission of the paperwork for Multistate Projects was about one month - too short a time period to sufficiently gauge the membership's wishes. This resulted in a request for a one-year extension of the existing SERA 30 project being sent to the SERA Review Committee of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (SAAESD). The request was approved in early July 2009.

The annual meeting and workshop of SERA 30 was held at the University of Georgia and hosted by the Department of Agricultural Economics at that university. Registration fees for this jointly-held workshop and meeting were sufficient to cover expenses associated with the annual meeting, as only expenses for breaks and lunch were incurred.

For those interested, the most recent project proposal Application and Appendix forms E are available in the NIMSS system at:

http://www.nimss.umd.edu/homepages/home.cfm?trackID=6576

That project was valid through September 30, 2009 before the extension was implemented.

Accomplishments

For each SERA 30 meeting, a major topic and a subtopic relevant to southern agriculture and natural resources are chosen. A call for papers went out to a wide range of individuals, including those outside the group. In the 2009 meeting, participants focused on three main themes: the economics of ecosystem services, valuing coastal resource amenities, and economics of water quality. This year we were twelve papers presented by SERA 30 researchers and graduate students working with those researchers. <br /> <br /> Two papers presented research on the first main theme of the SERA 30 meeting - the economics of ecosystem services. Bergstrom from the University of Georgia gave an overview of and delineation of ecosystem services. Westra et al. of Louisiana State University described findings from a project watershed in Minnesota that estimated physical changes in agroecosystems and estimated economic values of those services.<br /> <br /> The second theme - the valuing coastal resource amenities - had three papers. Cho and Kim from the University of Tennessee presented research findings about how people's preferences for environmental attributes change. Kriesel and Mullen, from the University of Georgia, described their findings from a study estimating marshland values in coastal areas of Georgia. Last, Petrolia and Kim, from Mississippi State University, presented findings from their research into willingness to pay for barrier island restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico.<br /> <br /> Water-related issues, quality and quantity, are always popular research topics. This year was no exception, with four papers related to this topic being presented. First, Keiser and Mullen, from the University of Georgia, presented findings from a water quality trading project they are currently completing. Next, Moore and Price, also from the University of Georgia, talked about a project focused on estimating the economic effects of using water more efficiently in agricultural production. We next were treated to two projects from Louisiana related to Best Management Practices (BMPs) in agricultural designed to address Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restrictions in watersheds. First, Westra et al., from Louisiana State University, described results from BMPs being implemented to address nitrogen water quality concerns in a Mississippi Delta watershed. Hall and Paudel, Louisiana State University, described findings from an economic analysis looking at BMPs in the dairy industry north of Lake Pontchartrain. <br /> <br /> The last three papers covered various topics. Titles of all the papers presented can be found in the publications list following. These papers will be published in proceedings later in 2009 and posted to the SERA 30 website.

Publications

Classifying Ecosystem Services. John Bergstrom, University of Georgia.<br /> <br /> Potential Ecosystem Services Science and Policy Considerations. John Westra, Louisiana State University, with G. Boody, P. Gowda, C. van Schaik, P. Welle and D. Johnson.<br /> <br /> Changes in Preferences for Environmental Attributes. Seong-Hoon Cho and Seung Gyu Kim, University of Tennessee.<br /> <br /> Marshland Valuation in Glynn County. Warren Kriesel and Jeff Mullen, University of Georgia.<br /> <br /> Sensitivity of WTP. Dan Petrolia and Tae-Goun Kim, Mississippi State University. <br /> <br /> Water Quality Trading. David Keiser and Jeff Mullen, University of Georgia.<br /> <br /> Efficiency in Water Use. Rebecca Moore and Joe Price, University of Georgia.<br /> <br /> TMDLs in LA. John Westra and Augustus Matekole, Louisiana State University, with Timothy Appelboom.<br /> <br /> Dairy BMPs. Larry Hall and Krishna Paudel, Louisiana State University.<br /> <br /> Poverty and Sprawl. Seong-Hoon Cho and Su Hyun Jung, University of Tennessee.<br /> <br /> Land Use Change and Energy. Gbenga Ojumu, Ermanno Affuso and Diane Hite, Auburn University.<br /> <br /> Soil Quality Management. Joe Price and J. Egenolf, University of Georgia.

Impact Statements

1. Research conducted for SERA 30 this year will be helpful to policymakers interested in the areas of natural resource valuation and in how people value the ecosystem services that natural and managed agro-ecosystems provide for humans.
2. Natural resource valuation is critically important to policy makers and resource managers as this information helps them allocate scarce resources for managing natural resources and improving environmental amenities.
3. The first and second themes of this year&lsquo;s SERA 30 workshop are important for policy makers and agencies charged with tending our natural resource base as they help us understand the value people place on both natural and managed ecosystems.
4. The papers presented this year identified some critical issues that are policy-relevant and give clear guidance to agency personnel charged with managing resources and safeguarding the environment.
5. Though most of the research presented at the SERA 30 meetings focused on southern problems, the issues and the research methods used to analyze these resource and environmental issues are applicable to other sectors of the economy and regions of the nation.

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Report Information

Participants

Laila Racevskis - UF, racevskis@ufl.edu; John Westra - LSU, jwestra@lsu.edu; Dan Petrolia - MS State, petrolia@agecon.msstate.edu; Jeff Mullen - UGA, jmullen@uga.edu; Bob Shulstad - UGA, shulstad@uga.edu; Krishna Paudel - LSU, kpaudel@agcenter.lsu.edu; Terry Hanson - Auburn, hansontr@auburn.edu; Andrew Muhammad - ERS/USDA, amuhammad@ers.usda.edu; Kim Morgan - MS State, morgan@agecon.msstate.edu; Matt Interis - MS State, interis@agecon.msstate.edu; Matt Freeman - LSU/LA Sea Grant, mfreeman@lsu.edu; Rajan Parajuli - LSU - MS student, rparaj1@tigers.lsu.edu; Mahesh Pandit - LSU - grad student, mpandi2@lsu.edu; Ustuner Birben - LSU - PhD student, ubirben@lsu.edu

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes from the annual meeting last year were read and approved by the members present.

Participants were reminded to officially apply for SERA 30 participation through their Experiment Station directors and to fill out Appendix E.
The upcoming renewal of the SERA 30 information exchange group was discussed. Renewal is due July 1st 2010 and the group discussed various options: 1) Renew SERA 30 and do not apply for a multi-state program, 2) Renew SERA 30 and simultaneously work on a multi-state project proposal, and 3) Dissolve SERA 30 and work on a multi-state project proposal and continue to function as an informal working group. The group decided on option 2, we will renew SERA 30 for this year to continue collaboration efforts, and also begin to put together a proposal to become a multi-state project. Bob pointed out that becoming a multi-state project can help us gain access to more funds through Experiment Stations, and that multi-state projects provide a firm base for competitive funding opportunities because they demonstrate integration of research and extension, which is a priority for AFRI. Becoming a multi-state project also can provide momentum to get joint products produced, and improves competitiveness for funds at the national level.

To move forward with the multi-state project proposal, Jeff Mullen volunteered to lead the effort, and Krishna Paudel, John Westra, and Laila Racevskis volunteered to serve as the committee that would help draft the proposal to become a Development Committee, the first step in becoming a multi-state project.

For the coming year, Laila Racevskis will serve as SERA 30 President, and Dan Petrolia will serve as Vice President. Nominations were taken for Secretary, and Diane Hite was nominated for this position. Laila will contact Diane to see if she is willing to serve as Secretary for the coming year.

Next year's SERA 30 meeting was discussed. The group agreed that a coastal theme could attract some funding, and Dan Petrolia volunteered to look into this with some organizations he has been working with. The next meeting will be held in Starkvegas, MS May 22-24 2011. Dan Petrolia will be coordinating the planning logistics for next year's meeting.

It was agreed that Laila Racevskis would draft this year's annual report and SERA 30 renewal and submit them by July 1, 2010. The meeting was then adjourned.

For those interested, the most recent project proposal Application and Appendix forms E are available in the NIMSS system at:

http://www.nimss.umd.edu/homepages/home.cfm?trackID=6576

Accomplishments

This year's SERA30 meeting was held in conjunction with the tri-annual conference of LSU's Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy. There were separately identified SERA 30 tracks that took place throughout the CNREP conference. For each SERA 30 meeting, a major topic and a subtopic relevant to southern agriculture and natural resources are chosen. A call for papers went out to a wide range of individuals, including those outside the group. Papers were requested on topics including, but not limited to: market and nonmarket valuation of coastal resources, environmental benefit-cost analyses, economic linkage/impact assessment, input-output modeling, and comparative assessments of resource management and restoration policy. This year there were 23 papers presented by SERA 30 researchers and graduate students working with those researchers. The following list presents all SERA 30 papers presented at this year's CNREP conference. <br /> <br /> Session 1: Economics of Coastal and Water-Based Recreation<br /> <br /> How a Random Utility Model can Assist in Recreational Policy: The Case of Public Boat Ramp Investments in Lee County Florida, Michael Thomas, Florida A&M University; Frank Lupi, Michigan State University; David Harding, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<br /> <br /> The Value of Public Access to Great Lake Beaches, Feng Song, Frank Lupi and<br /> Michael Kaplowitz, Michigan State University<br /> <br /> Wind Turbines and Coastal Recreation Demand, Craig Landry and Tom Allen, East<br /> Carolina University; Todd Cherry and John Whitehead, Appalachian State University<br /> <br /> An Economic Valuation of the Recreational Fisheries in Sardis and Grenada<br /> Lakes, Clifford Hutt, Kevin Hunt, Leandro Miranda and Steve Grado, Mississippi State University<br /> <br /> Session 2: Role of Weather on Resource Use<br /> <br /> Impacts of Media Coverage of Coastal Weather Events on Attendance Levels<br /> at Northern Gulf State Parks, Kimberly Morgan and James S. Harris, Mississippi State University<br /> <br /> Valuing Weather Information Networks: Changes in Frost Damage and<br /> Mitigation Costs from Diminished Resolution, Jeffrey Mullen and Jennifer Kuhr,<br /> University of Georgia<br /> <br /> Factors Affecting Adoption of Cover Crops and Its Effect on Nitrogen Usage<br /> Among U.S. Farmers, Gnel Gabrielyan, Sachin Chintawar and John Westra, CNREP and<br /> Louisiana State University Agricultural Center<br /> <br /> Session 3: Assessing the Economic Impacts of Restoration<br /> <br /> Recreational Impacts of Coastal Restoration Projects, Joseph Berlin, URS Corp.<br /> Preventing Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana: Estimates of WTP and WTA, Daniel<br /> R. Petrolia, Mississippi State University; Tae-Goun Kim, Korea Maritime University<br /> <br /> Non-market Valuation of Coastal Environment: Uniting Political Aims,<br /> Ecological and Economical Knowledge, Linus Hasselström, Enveco Environmental<br /> Economics Consultancy, Ltd; Cecilia Håkansson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Katarina Östberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology<br /> <br /> The Lower St. John's River Basin Management Action Plan: Assessing<br /> Agricultural, Local Government and Environmental Perspectives, Laila<br /> Racevskis, Tatiana Borisova and Jennison Kipp, University of Florida<br /> <br /> Session 4: Valuing Ecosystem Services<br /> <br /> Willingness to Pay for Environmental Improvements in the Presence of Warm<br /> Glow, Matthew Interis, Mississippi State University; Timothy C. Haab, The Ohio State University<br /> <br /> Working Towards an Ecosystem Service Valuation Standardization, Pamela<br /> Kaval, University of Waikato, New Zealand<br /> <br /> WTP for Red Tide Prevention, Mitigation, and Control Strategies in Florida,<br /> Sherry L. Larkin, Charles M. Adams, University of Florida; John Whitehead, Appalachian State University<br /> <br /> Preferences for Timing of Wetland Loss Prevention in Louisiana, Ross Moore,<br /> Daniel R. Petrolia, Mississippi State University; Tae-goun Kim, Korea Maritime University<br /> <br /> Session 5: Resource and Environmental Economics<br /> <br /> Sustaining Floridas Forest Ecosystems: Potential Effects of County and<br /> Municipal Ordinances, Terry Haines, U.S. Forest Service<br /> <br /> Valuing New Zealand Native Bird Existence for Conservation, Pamela Kaval,<br /> University of Waikato, New Zealand<br /> <br /> The Economic Impact of Cogongrass on Private, Non-Industrial Forest Owners<br /> in Florida, Nandkumar Divate, Michael Thomas, Florida A&M University; David Harding, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Moses Kairo and Oghenekome U. Onokpise, Florida A&M University<br /> <br /> Income, Inequality, and Criteria Air Pollutants in the Cama Counties, Hillary<br /> Huffer, East Carolina University<br /> <br /> Session 6: Environmental and Energy Analysis<br /> <br /> Risk Preference and Human Capital: What Do They Say about Adoption of<br /> Cost-Share Conservation Programs, Hiroki Uematsu and Ashok K. Mishra,<br /> Louisiana State University Agricultural Center<br /> <br /> Biological Control of Arundo donax along the Rio Grande [River]: Benefit-Cost,<br /> Per-Unit Cost, and Impact Analysis of Potential Water Saved, Emily Kaye Seawright, Texas AgriLife Research; M. Edward Rister, Texas A&M University, Texas AgriLife Research; Ronald D. Lacewell, Texas A&M University, Texas AgriLife Research, and Texas AgriLife Extension Service; Dean A. McCorkle, Texas A&M University and Texas AgriLife Extension Service - College Station; Allen W. Sturdivant, Texas A&M University and Agricultural Research and Extension Center - Weslaco; John A. Goolsby and Chenghai Yang, USDA Agricultural Research Service<br /> <br /> Energy Crop Production in the Mississippi Delta and the Environmental<br /> Implications, Tyler Mark, Paul Darby and Jeremy D'Antoni, CNREP and Louisiana State University Agricultural Center<br /> <br /> Carbon Offset Payments and Spatial Biomass Supply in Arkansas: Implications<br /> of Pine and Switchgrass, Aaron Smith, Michael Popp and Lanier Nalley, University of Arkansas

Publications

Hector Zapata and Krishna Paudel, 2009. Functional form of the environmental Kuznets curve. Advances in Econometrics 25:471-494.<br /> <br /> Krishna Paudel, Keshav Bhattarai, Wayne Gauthier, and Larry Hall, 2009. A GIS Based Model of Optimal Dairy Manure Transportation for Use as Fertilizer on Land Application. Waste Management 29:1634-1643.<br /> <br /> Krishna Paudel, Keshav Bhattarai, Wayne Gauthier, and Larry Hall, 2009. A GIS Based Model of Optimal Dairy Manure Transportation for Use as Fertilizer on Land Application. Waste Management 29:1634-1643.<br /> <br /> Ram Acharya, Krishna P Paudel and L. Upton Hatch, 2009. Impact of Nostalgia and Past Experience on Recreational Demand for Wilderness. Applied Economics Letters 16:449-453.<br /> <br /> Biswo Poudel, Krishna Paudel and Keshav Bhattarai, 2009. Searching for Environmental Kuznets Curve in Carbon Dioxide Pollutant in Latin American Countries. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 41:13-27.<br /> <br /> Krishna Paudel and Mark Schaefer, 2009. The Environmental Kuznets Curve under a New Framework: Role of Social Capital in Water Pollution. Environmental and Resource Economics 42:265-278.<br /> <br /> Mullen, J.D., Y. Yu, G. Hoogenboom, "Estimating the demand for irrigation water in a humid climate: A case study from the southeastern United States," Agricultural Water Management 96:10 (October 2009) 1421-1428.<br /> <br /> Centner, T.J., C.L.P. Fowler, L.M. Risse, M.E. Wetzstein and J.D. Mullen, "Implementing Environmental Management Systems to Protect Water Quality from Animal Waste Nutrients," in New Trends in Environmental Research (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2009), chapter 9.

Impact Statements

1. The papers presented this year identified some critical issues that are policy-relevant and give clear guidance to agency personnel charged with managing resources and safeguarding the environment. Though most of the research presented at the SERA 30 meetings focused on southern problems, the issues and the research methods used to analyze these resource and environmental issues are applicable to other sectors of the economy and regions of the nation.
2. Other impacts from SERA 30 members include: understanding the relationship between income and pollution, better approach to manage manure so that there is less pollution in dairy production region and factor affecting recreational demand; irrigation acreage projections; and water use projections for agricultural irrigation.
3. A team of UGA scientists estimated agricultural irrigation acres in Georgia to 2050. The primary focus of these projections was the major irrigated row crops grown in Georgia (peanuts, cotton, corn and soybeans). Together these crops account for more than 90 percent of current agricultural irrigation in the state. Statewide, Georgia irrigation acreage is projected to gradually increase for the next 40 years. Projected irrigated acreage in 2010 is 1,336,291 acres, increasing to 1,686,408 acres in 2050. Across crops, projections suggest that over time irrigation acreage for corn, cotton, fresh vegetable and tree nuts will increase, while irrigation acreage for soybeans, peanuts, and processed vegetable will decrease.
4. GA&lsquo;s EPD asked the UGA CAES to provide a detailed forecast for irrigation water demand that would be needed to support agriculture&lsquo;s viability in the state&lsquo;s economy. CAES assembled a team of engineers, economists, and water experts to respond to the needs. The methods the team used allowed the breakdown of water use by water source for Water Planning Regions, counties, watersheds and aquifers as needed for various tasks. Agricultural irrigated land area is projected to grow in Georgia at a rate that will average 0.5 percent per year -- 20 percent over the next 40 years, a decline in the rate of growth observed over the past 20 years.

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