Date Available
6-5-2013
Year of Publication
2013
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
College
Agriculture
Department/School/Program
Agricultural Economics
Advisor
Dr. Carl R. Dillon
Co-Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Jack Schieffer
Abstract
This thesis examines the economic and environmental impacts that precision agriculture technologies (PATs) can have on the carbon footprint of a grain farm. An analysis is offered using two manuscripts. The first examines the impacts of three PATs and compares the findings to a conventional farming method. It was found that all three PATs investigated showed a potential Pareto improvement over conventional farming. The second manuscript expanded the model used previously to in order to develop a process to construct a carbon efficient frontier (CEF). The model employed examined uniform and variable rate technologies. In addition to the CEF, a marginal abatement cost curve was constructed. Using these curves in a complementary fashion, more accurate information on the adaptive behavior of farmer technology adoption can be gleaned. the information gleaned for the two manuscripts can give both producers and policy makers the analytical tools needed to make more information decisions with regard to economic and environmental feasibility of PATs.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Rachael M., "Economic Optimization and Precision Agriculture: A Carbon Footprint Story" (2013). Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics. 11.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/agecon_etds/11
