Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3525-2782

Date Available

9-8-2024

Year of Publication

2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Agriculture

Department/School/Program

Agricultural Economics

First Advisor

Dr. Tyler Mark

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three essays regarding the impacts of tile drainage implementation in row crop production and the evaluation of the farm machinery markets of combine harvesters and tractors. The second chapter focuses on tile drainage in traditional row crop agricultural systems. Although tile drain systems have been used for many years, recently, their popularity has increased. This increase has led to questions about these systems' costs and environmental impacts. These concerns have left many operations and individuals questioning if the system’s benefits outweigh the costs. This dissertation presents a life cycle cost (LCC) and carbon footprint (CF) Analysis for implementing a new tile drain system into a traditional row crop operation. This model presents an LCC and CF for a tile drain system and will provide the needed baseline to compare different system designs and materials for implementing a tile drain system.

Chapters three and four focus on used farm machinery markets for combine harvesters and tractors. Despite previous research evaluating the cost of farm machinery, much of the research is outdated or lacks a comprehensive view of the market, including limitations in evaluating newer machinery technologies. Couple these gaps with recent market shifts from the pandemic and supply chain shortages, and the literary work related to farm machinery falls short. Chapter three addresses the limitations of new machinery technologies by evaluating factors related to precision technologies and their effect on used combined prices. This chapter uses a hedonic pricing model with historical auction data to estimate used combined values. The full results from this chapter will provide a comprehensive evaluation of both precision agriculture technologies and brands and will assist in further understanding the factors and impacts of precision agriculture on combine harvesters.

The fourth chapter addresses the issue of evaluating machinery prices after a major market shift. Similar to the third chapter, a hedonic model was developed to assess the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the used tractor market. The model included various control variables for the industry, including age, auction specifies, use, horsepower, and machinery specifics. Results suggest that a 16.3% increase in tractor prices can be attributed to the pandemic. Overall, this study will evaluate the pandemic's impact on the farm machinery sector and produce valuable estimations to assist operators in valuing machinery for both buying and selling.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.401

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