Theses and Dissertations
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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Subject "agriculture"
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Item Open Access Determinants of producer resiliency: investigating the probability that agricultural producers exit the industry in the face of drought(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Nelson, Ron, author; Goemans, Christopher, advisor; Pritchett, James, advisor; Shields, Martin, committee memberFor the last two years agricultural producers in Colorado have been faced with severe drought conditions resulting in significant economic losses. With a changing climate, likely leading to an increased probability of extreme and recurring droughts, it is becoming an ever more important policy concern to determine the effect that drought has on the resiliency of farmers and ranchers. To date, research on farmer resiliency in the developed countries has primarily been theoretical; the majority of empirical work focused on producers in developing countries. This paper analyzes survey data collected from 2012 to investigate which factors impact farmer and rancher drought resiliency within Colorado. Specifically, we are interested in determining if, and how, continued drought impacts the likelihood that farmers and ranchers will leave the industry. Results highlight the relative importance that a producer's overall wealth and the region where their enterprise operates.Item Open Access Valuation of natural resources in a small mountain community: three essays in non-market valuation and rural development(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Cline, Sarah A., author; Seidl, Andrew, advisorNatural resources are important to rural economies in terms of the amenities they provide and the economic opportunities they generate for the surrounding communities. In many rural areas, open space provided by ranchlands provides important amenities to tourists and residents. In addition, land use may also affect the local water quality and thus produce further impacts on local amenities and regional economic opportunities. This dissertation looks at the value of ranchland open space and water quality in Chaffee County, Colorado. The value of ranchland open space and water quality to visitors to Chaffee County is estimated using non-market valuation techniques. Two joint-methods are used to obtain values for ranchland open space and water quality. The first method combines travel cost and contingent behavior data, while the second method uses travel cost, contingent behavior and contingent valuation information to estimate values for these resources. A third application combines regional economic analysis with the non-market valuation data to estimate the impacts of decreased natural resource quality on the local economy. The results show loss of ranchland open space will result in welfare losses to visitors to the county and that associated impacts from decreased water quality could significantly increase those losses.