Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics

From a farmer to a policymaker, various stakeholders influence and are affected by the agricultural environment. This dissertation includes three essays that delve into the decision-making within the agricultural environment, exploring the incentives and outcomes for the stakeholders involved. With a focus on countries significant for global agriculture and food supply, these essays have important implications domestically and for the United States. My first essay evaluates herding as a potential source of bias in the USDA's international baseline projections. As USDA's annual Agricultural Baseline Projections contribute significantly to agricultural policy in the United States, their accuracy is vital. Although the bias in the baselines has been documented in the literature, its sources have not been evaluated yet. I propose herding, a behavioral phenomenon, as a potential bias-inducing choice in the preparation of the projections. My results provide strong evidence for the herding of projection trends toward the United States and suggest that herding is rational and error-reducing only for corn yield and wheat import projections but not for other crops and variables, thereby impacting not only the agricultural policy in the US but also global agricultural markets. The second essay evaluates the impact of an environmental policy that restricts land use for farmers in the context of the Brazilian Amazon, an area of crucial importance for global food supply. By analyzing the effects on both landowning farmers and landless peasants, this study examines the incentives generated and their subsequent influence on illegal occupations and land conflicts. The findings suggest that the policy leads to an increase in illegal occupations while decreasing land conflicts. Furthermore, by exploring heterogeneity in the impact relative to land values, I find that landowning farmers and squatters both make strategic choices about whether to engage in conflict depending on the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ani Katchova (Advisor); Brian Roe (Committee Member); Leah Bevis (Advisor) Subjects: Agriculture; Economics; Environmental Economics

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2009, Urban Studies and Public Affairs

A descriptive retrospective study was performed to display the intersection of U.S. Agricultural Policies (which created the U.S. food supply composition) and Health Policies (which focused on disease treatment) on an individual level disease, obesity (described as BMI units). The intersection in the 20th century between U.S. agricultural and health policy shaped the nutrient composition of the food supply and school children's growth. However, here is a disproportionate increase in obesity occurring among US children as compared to children in 13 other developed countries and adults possibly because selection has been occurring for phenotypes that have ‘thrifty' metabolic settings expressed as obesity. Obesity is a disease of mal-nutrition caused by unhealthy diet quality and quantity with the lifespan cost of obesity increasing if obesity is developed in childhood because of the longer duration of co-morbid conditions (CSDH, 2008; Deckelbaum & Williams, 2001). Policies to resolve childhood obesity need to reflect the changing nature of agricultural production, provide a food supply that provides affordable appropriate nutrition to the entire population, and create a healthy food environment to foster appropriate body weights. Federal manipulation of agricultural production, distribution, and price accelerated after WWII. Unintended consequence of agricultural policies changed the food supply creating a niche for cheaper alternative processed and refined foods. Increases in nutritional programs and exponential increases in crop subsidy programs began in the 1960s creating a food supply that was very different in both which crops were produced and price from the early part of the century. The U.S. Diet changed over the century from one that supplied a diet low in fat and high in unprocessed grains fruits and vegetables to a diet high in fat, sugar, and processed foods and low in vegetables and fruit. Consumption patterns also changed during of the century; as consum (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Raymond Cox III (Committee Chair) Subjects: Agriculture; Nutrition; Public Administration; Public Health

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2015, Environment and Natural Resources

Interest organizations endeavor to influence government in ways that are beneficial for their stakeholders making their activities significant for both theoretical and practical reasons. This research examined the structure of the contemporary agricultural interest group community to explore theoretical questions about whether pluralism exists in agricultural policy making processes and whether agricultural interest groups create policy engagement niches. From a practical perspective, the project examined the contemporary federal agricultural interest group community to assess what groups participate and how. Lobbying disclosure data from the 112th U.S. Congress was analyzed using descriptive statistics and cluster analysis, complemented by organizational interviews. Analysis indicated a few key findings: 1) agricultural policy encompassed a variety of issues but the domain had a strong focus on agricultural production and the environment; 2) the federal agricultural interest group community encompasses a large and diverse set of actors across a variety of interests and the majority of these groups were not considered farm organizations; 3) most of the organizations that engage federal agricultural policy are more specialized than general, but generalist groups are the most active of all organizations types; 4) the vast majority of interests engage in a limited fashion in the domain, which is simultaneously characterized by policy bandwagons and issue niches; 5) patterns of engagement by the overwhelming majority of interest groups in the agricultural domain were similar, while a few of the 1,235 organizations in the community exhibited unique lobbying patterns carving out policy engagement niches; 6) interview responses indicated mixed results for the existence of niche partitioning behavior in the federal agriculture domain, aligning with patterns of lobbying in which a portion of organizations carved out unique niches, but the vast majority did not. These findi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeff Sharp PhD (Advisor); Neal Hooker PhD (Committee Member); Kerry Ard PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Political Science; Sociology

Artium Baccalaureus (AB), Ohio University, 2014, French

Pendant que les communautes rurales se trouvent de plus en plus poussees vers l’urbanisation, les paysans francais s’accrochent a leurs proprietes et a leur heritage. L’agriculture mecanisee, alimentee par un haut taux d’investissement et des developpements technologiques, remplace le besoin du travail manuel a la campagne pendant que les methodes productivistes augment brusquement la reserve des produits agricoles aux niveaux excessifs, font baisser les prix, et saisissent la part de marche. Bien que les grandes corporations agroalimentaires en France soient mieux regulees que celles dans d’autres pays tels que les Etats-Unis, la legislation au niveau national et au niveau europeen favorisent les operations agricoles plus efficaces au depens des petites fermes traditionnelles. Cette these part en exploration des chances de reussite de redynamiser les communautes rurales durables en France, et les benefices atteignables si l’on soutient des methodes de culture traditionnelles et moins intensives. As rural communities find themselves continuously pushed towards urbanization, the French provincial-farmer class clings to its landholdings and its heritage. New investments in expensive farming equipment and techniques are replacing the need for manual labor in the countryside as productivist methods hike the supply of agricultural products to excessive levels, depress prices, and seize market share. While large food and agriculture corporations in France are more tightly regulated than they are in countries such as the United States, legislation at both the national and European levels have favored more efficient agricultural operations to the detriment of traditional small farms. This thesis explores the viability of reinvigorating sustainable rural communities in France and the benefits of supporting less-intensive, more traditional farming practices.

Committee: Lois Vines Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Agricultural Economics; Agriculture; Business Costs; Conservation; Demographics; Economics; Environmental Economics; Environmental Health; Environmental Management; Environmental Studies; European Studies; Food Science; Modern History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics

Decoupled payments have emerged as an alternative to traditional agricultural subsidies, expected to reduce distorting impacts on international markets. However, when farmers face imperfections in key markets, even lump-sum payments may induce increases in agricultural output. This dissertation develops a deterministic dynamic optimization model for a representative credit-constrained corn farming household that receives a flow of lump-sum government payments. The interest rate charged on loans increases with the debt-to-asset ratio, due to the lender's information and incentive problems. The model is parameterized with data from the ARMS database of the USDA. Econometric methods are used to estimate coefficients for the production function. Numerical methods are used to approximate a solution for the Bellman equation. Simulations with different values for the lump-sum transfer and other key parameters allow the identification of three potential effects of decoupled payments on agricultural output. First, the access to additional purchasing power provided by decoupled payments (liquidity effect) increases land holdings and output transitorily (along the optimal path) rather than permanently (in the steady state). Farmers achieve their optimum farm size sooner. Second, decoupled payments improve the farming households' creditworthiness and allow the lender to classify them in a less-risky category. This is equivalent to an outward shift in the supply of credit and it reduces the cost of access to debt (creditworthiness effect), reinforcing the liquidity effect. This effect increases farm size and output permanently. Third, replication of the actions of the representative farming household by all will increase land prices that leads the representative corn farming household to reduce its holdings of land and output, both along the optimal path and in the steady state (land price effect). This somewhat mitigates the expansionary impact of the other two effects. The net (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Claudio Gonzalez-Vega (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2012, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

Surface mining of agricultural lands in Iowa began shortly after fundamental changes in farm policies, which occurred under the New Deal. This research examines how changes in farm policy and the volatile farm economy may have influenced farmers in Van Buren County to surface mine their land. This research was conducted by collecting archival data and conducting supplemental semi structured interviews. Although a direct link could not be found between changes in farm policy and the surface mining of agricultural lands, there does appear to be a correlation. The unpredictability of the farm economy encouraged farmers to seek other sources of income from their property. The consequences of these land use decisions are still visible on the landscape today.

Committee: Geoffrey Buckley (Committee Co-Chair); Timothy Anderson (Committee Member); Brad Jokisch (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Agricultural Economics; Agriculture; American History; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Geographic Information Science; Geography; History; Mining; Natural Resource Management; Physical Geography; Soil Sciences

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2002, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

This study identifies how the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) influences agricultural land use change and how Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) manage the program. This research documents land use change in the Lake Erie CREP (LECREP) in Northwest Ohio and describes county level implementation of the program. Data for land use change derived from LECREP enrollment figures that came from federal and state agencies. State and county agents were interviewed and the SWCDs within LECREP were surveyed. Enrolled land is changing primarily to grass filter strips. SWCDs exert their discretion through collaborating with non-governmental groups and targeting environmental zones. SWCD efforts can be constrained by rental rates, which may run counter to program goals.

Committee: Brad Jokisch (Advisor) Subjects: Geography

Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 2006, College of Arts and Sciences - Political Science

Beginning with the MacSharry reforms of 1992 and continuing under the Agenda 2000 reform package and the Fischler mid-term review reforms of 2003, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union has experienced a fundamental restructuring in recent years. From where did this impetus to reform originate? I begin by tracing the history of the CAP, dividing it into two stages: 1) the evolution of the CAP, from its inception in 1957 to the end of the 1970s and 2) the modification of the CAP, from the 1980s onward. After studying the history of the types of reform proposed and pursued, I focus on the major reform period of the last two decades. In this part of the analysis, I investigate the pressures behind CAP reform in the past fifteen years, seeking to explain how internal and external forces compelled policymakers in Brussels either to take or to refrain from action. I identify explanatory variables to characterize the politics of inertia and change within CAP policymaking and decision-making. Lastly, I classify these variables as endogenous or exogenous in nature. In doing so, I find that external pressures prompt CAP reform, while internal pressures ease reform and give it new dimensions.

Committee: Warren Mason (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2013, International Development Studies (International Studies)

The objective of this research is to understand, how people in different socio-economic groups access food, the role of the state in facilitating or hindering access to food, and what constitutes the 'politics of access' to food for people. The data for this research was collected from interviews conducted among four socio-economic groups, and was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis. This research identified market-based entitlements as the most significant form for all the groups to access food, and identified indigenous laborers as lacking access to major endowments and entitlements, amongst all the groups. Finally, this thesis points to the significance of transfer entitlements across the socio-economic groups, and in doing so details the nature of politics, especially those practiced by the state, that help people gain access to the schemes or denies access to them.

Committee: Thomas Smucker PhD (Advisor); Haley Duschinski PhD (Committee Member); E.Edna Wangui PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Cultural Anthropology; Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; Geography; Labor Economics; Public Policy; Regional Studies; Social Research; Social Structure; South Asian Studies; Welfare