Social media has the potential to reshape rural agriculture in developing nations in ways that differ from other Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) because the communication method is mediated through social capital that expands and strengthens relationships. This paper uses two quasi-experimental approaches to estimate the impact of four different communication treatments (including three ICTs) on production practices of small-scale farmers in Rondônia, Brazil. Our difference-in-differences estimation controls for time-invariant unobservable differences in the characteristics of households that do and do not engage with ICTs and draws on a panel from 2009 and 2019. Our propensity score matching is estimated with over 1,200 farmer households surveyed in 2019. We find that the use of social media increases the uptake of both old and new pasture management and cattle practices that are promoted by state and federal agencies via their social media feeds. We also test the impact of the interaction between social media and extension agent visits and find evidence appear to operate independently, potentially as substitutes. Our results suggest that social media is an effective and low-cost way for extension agencies to reach farmers, although we are uncertain as to whether these effects would be stronger with targeted extension visits that use social media to reinforce messaging.

Agricultural monoculture negatively impacts soil quality, particularly in fragile soils that yield limited crop production and are highly susceptible to degradation. Increasing plant diversity in production systems can be an alternative for maintaining soil ecosystem services and increasing crop yields. This study investigated the influence of increased plant diversity on soil health and its impact on soybean and cotton yield in an Ultisol in the Brazilian savanna in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Tested five rates of plant diversity after soybean harvest: (1) very low (VL), (2) low, (3) average, (4) long-term average and (5) high (integrated crop–livestock systems (ICLS)) were tested. Plant diversity improves the health of sandy loam soil, increases C and N fractions in particulate organic matter (POM-C and POM-N) and leads to differences in C utilization by the soil microbial community. High ICLS diversity raises total organic carbon content, being POM-C and POM-N, the labile fractions, more efficient to show changes in sandy loam soil, in the short term, over a period of three years. High diversity promoted yield gains of up to 251 % for cotton and 82 % for soybean in relation to VL plant diversity. Changes in soil microbial composition are able to partially explain crop yield in diversified production systems (R2 ranging from 0.51 to 0.80). Diversifying production components is a sustainable way to maintain biological functions and agricultural quality of loam sandy soil in the Brazilian Cerrado in Mato Grosso.

This study uses choice experiments to assess fresh produce and hay/forage grower preferred drought management strategies, the level of drought at which growers adopt specific management strategies and the level of drought at which they choose to exit farming in the arid west. Results show preferred strategies differ by drought level and across grower groups. Using logit models, we find that fresh produce growers prefer adopting a water-saving technology (cover crops, manure/mulch application, etc.) and hay/forage growers prefer switching to a more efficient irrigation system. Growers would only exit farming in extreme circumstances such as loss of all water resources. Policies aimed at assisting growers with drought adaptation should focus on preferred strategies to ensure effectiveness. Incentives to offset adoption costs are also recommended. Additionally, growers may benefit from information related to productivity changes under various drought management strategies and drought scenarios.

The evolution of storage features in prehistory has been linked to larger socio-economic and demographic changes. The investigation of such an evolution in the archaeological record, however, is restricted in scope, both geographically and chronologically. This article offers a comparative approach to understanding the development of Neolithic to Late Iron Age (c. 5600–50 BC) farming communities in north-eastern Iberia, based on diachronic changes in the volume and shape of underground storage silos. Results indicate that variations in silo capacity and morphology correlate with archaeological evidence for long-term socio-economic changes within these prehistoric and protohistoric farming communities.

In this paper, a travel cost model was applied to the case of firewood collection to assess how the inclusion of household fixed effects and how assumptions regarding conditions in the local labor market impacted resulting welfare estimates. To assess these impacts, a unique household panel data set from Kagera, Tanzania was used. It was estimated that, under the assumption of constrained labor markets, households in the Kagera region of Tanzania are willing-to-pay, on average, $120 per year (2016 USD) for access to local forests. These estimated figures were nearly 50 per cent higher when household fixed effects were excluded and nearly 10 per cent higher under the assumption of perfect labor markets. In addition, these results support previous research showing that, in many developing countries, households' demand for firewood is inelastic and that households would be willing to spend a significant amount of their resources on forest access.

We quantify weather effects on output and incomes for a panel of Kansas farmers. The effects of weather are largely asymmetric with negative temperature and precipitation values affecting output and income differently than above average observations. Precipitation effects depend on timing and seasonal averages. The number of days exceeding 32.2°C (i.e., the “hot” years) negatively impacts production and income measures, although the impact is positive for crop output in the cooler years. The results indicate the importance of including weather in predicting output and income and designing risk management instruments to mitigate weather trends and variability.

What an economist argues about managing the hazards of new production technologies depends on that individual's beliefs about the scientific credibility of assessed risk of new technologies, about the meaning of voluntary risk and compensations, and about the meaning of “progress” and “nature.” None of these beliefs is derived from the core of the economics discipline. Indeed, the economist's arguments often rest not on economic considerations, but on these matters of belief that are established outside the discipline.

An increasing emphasis on surface and groundwater quality and food safety may result in some form of pesticide regulations. A restricted profit function model of Georgia agriculture is used to examine the short-run effects of 2 and 5 percent reductions in all pesticides. Point estimates of short-run impacts, along with their 90 percent confidence intervals are presented.

Estimation of the economic value of irrigation water is complicated by a lack of data on the price or marginal cost of water. Through econometric estimation of an aggregate total value product function, this paper obtains marginal irrigation water value estimates for the Middle Atlantic region. Additionally, the impact of temperature and soil conditions on aggregate production within the region is estimated. Ridge regression and covariance analysis are employed to deal with problems of multicollinearity and simultaneous equation bias, respectively. Estimates indicate a substantial and growing return to irrigation within the region.