Willingness to Adopt Best Management Practices by Beef Cattle Producers in a Southeastern Tennessee Watershed
Willingness to Adopt Best Management Practices by Beef Cattle Producers in a Southeastern Tennessee Watershed

Author: Alicia Marie Signore

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13:

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Extensive beef cattle farming in the ridge and valley region of East Tennessee suggests that cattle producers could play an important role in improving water quality through the adoption of livestock best management practices (BMPs). This study examines factors influencing willingness to adopt four BMPs—rotational grazing, pasture improvement, stream water crossing, and water tank systems—by beef cattle operations in a southeast Tennessee watershed. Factors examined include farm and farmer characteristics, farmer attitudes, and a hypothetical incentive program encouraging adoption of these practices. Data was collected through a mail survey of 5,150 farmland owners in McMinn, Bradley, and Monroe Counties. Respondents were asked if they would be willing to adopt each of the four BMPs at a given cost share, with the cost share amounts ranging from 50% to 125% of the expected out-of-pocket costs of installation/annual management, and how many acres/units of the practice they would implement. Younger, more educated producers with higher income levels were more willing to adopt one or more of the BMPs. Higher cost share amounts appeared to have greater influence on adoption of stream crossings than on rotational grazing, water tanks, and pasture improvement. Pasture improvement showed the greatest level of overall adoption interest, although many would-be adopters had already taken steps to improve their pastures. Analysis suggests producers have the most interest in a bundle of BMPs that include rotational grazing, water tanks, and pasture improvements. The analysis also suggests a preference away from stream crossings and BMP bundles that included stream crossings, unless all four BMPs were concomitantly implemented. Factors influencing willingness to adopt were analyzed along with factors influencing adoption intensity using regression analysis. Cost-share incentives did not play a substantial role in explaining adoption, but the influence of other explanatory factors was similar to other results found in the BMP adoption literature.

Incentives for Best Management Practice Adoption Among Beef Cattle Producers and Effects on Upland Sediment Loss
Incentives for Best Management Practice Adoption Among Beef Cattle Producers and Effects on Upland Sediment Loss

Author: Laura Jane Medwid

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13:

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Federal programs incentivize livestock managers to adopt best management practices (BMPs), such as rotational grazing, water tank systems, stream crossings, and pasture improvement to prevent or reduce soil erosion. This thesis addresses the challenge of integrating socio-economic data on rotational grazing (RG) adoption behavior with hydrologic/biophysical models to analyze the association between incentives, BMP adoption, and changes in soil erosion. Using primary survey data of livestock producers in an East Tennessee watershed, the study estimates willingness to adopt BMPs among livestock producers. The propensity to adopt one or multiple management technologies, given an incentive, is estimated with a multivariate probit regression. The likelihood producers adopt RG is integrated into the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model to generate upland sediment loss abatement curves for the watershed. Abatement curves specific to each hydrologic response unit (HRU) comprising the watershed are estimated and then aggregated to determine an aggregate abatement curve for the watershed. Based on the abatement curves, HRU are ranked according to programmatic cost efficiency. The maximum upland sediment loss reduction with rotational grazing totals 1,450 tons/year at a cost of $170/ton across the Oostanaula Creek Watershed.

Achieving Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Goals in the Chesapeake Bay
Achieving Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Goals in the Chesapeake Bay

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-09-26

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0309210828

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The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary, as well as an important commercial and recreational resource. However, excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from human activities and land development have disrupted the ecosystem, causing harmful algae blooms, degraded habitats, and diminished populations of many species of fish and shellfish. In 1983, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was established, based on a cooperative partnership among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Maryland, and the commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia, to address the extent, complexity, and sources of pollutants entering the Bay. In 2008, the CBP launched a series of initiatives to increase the transparency of the program and heighten its accountability and in 2009 an executive order injected new energy into the restoration. In addition, as part of the effect to improve the pace of progress and increase accountability in the Bay restoration, a two-year milestone strategy was introduced aimed at reducing overall pollution in the Bay by focusing on incremental, short-term commitments from each of the Bay jurisdictions. The National Research Council (NRC) established the Committee on the Evaluation of Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation for Nutrient Reduction in Improve Water Quality in 2009 in response to a request from the EPA. The committee was charged to assess the framework used by the states and the CBP for tracking nutrient and sediment control practices that are implemented in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and to evaluate the two-year milestone strategy. The committee was also to assess existing adaptive management strategies and to recommend improvements that could help CBP to meet its nutrient and sediment reduction goals. The committee did not attempt to identify every possible strategy that could be implemented but instead focused on approaches that are not being implemented to their full potential or that may have substantial, unrealized potential in the Bay watershed. Because many of these strategies have policy or societal implications that could not be fully evaluated by the committee, the strategies are not prioritized but are offered to encourage further consideration and exploration among the CBP partners and stakeholders.