Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has been the principal perennial herbaceous crop investigated for bioenergy production in North America given its high production potential, relatively low input requirements, and potential suitability for use on marginal lands. Few large trials have determined switchgrass yields at field scale on marginal lands, including analysis of production costs. Thus, a field-scale study was conducted to develop realistic yield and cost estimates for diverse regions of the USA. Objectives included measuring switchgrass response to fertility treatments (0, 56, and 112 kg N ha À1 ) and generating corresponding estimates of production costs for sites with diverse soil and climatic conditions. Trials occurred in Iowa, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Virginia, USA. Cultivars and management practices were site specific, and field-scale equipment was used for all management practices. Input costs were estimated using final harvest-year (2015) prices, and equipment operation costs were estimated with the MachData model ($2015). Switchgrass yields generally were below those reported elsewhere, averaging 6.3 Mg ha À1 across sites and treatments. Establishment stand percent ranged from 28% to 76% and was linked to initial year production. No response to N was observed at any site in the first production year. In subsequent seasons, N generally increased yields on well-drained soils; however, responses to N were nil or negative on less well-drained soils. Greatest percent increases in response to 112 kg N ha À1 were 57% and 76% on well-drained South Dakota and Virginia sites, where breakeven prices to justify N applications were over $70 and $63 Mg À1 , respectively. For some sites, typically promoted N application rates may be economically unjustified; it remains unknown whether a bioenergy industry can support the breakeven prices estimated for sites where N inputs had positive effects on switchgrass yield.

In the future, the U.S. ornamental horticulture industry may be faced with limited water resources and increased requirements to reduce pollution runoff from production areas. The concerns are most evident to outdoor, uncovered container crop production, which relies on daily irrigation. Capture of precipitation and irrigation runoff from ornamental horticulture nurseries to be recycled as irrigation could potentially generate cost savings relative to the cost of alternative water sources. Existing nurseries may incur large investment costs to modify their infrastructure for water capture to recycle. These added costs must be compared with costs of alternative sources such as off-farm municipal or on-farm well water. Using both existing case nurseries and simulated nurseries, this study employed partial budgeting for comparison of annual costs of recapture and recycling to the alternatives of either municipally delivered water or on-farm well extraction. On-site visits were conducted at mid-Atlantic ornamental horticulture operations that recycle water currently to gather data for constructing budgets and to determine factors that enhance or inhibit nursery adoption of recycling. The partial budgeting analysis was followed by breakeven analysis with regard to costs of regrading, pond excavation, and opportunity costs of land to isolate their effects on the nursery adoption decision. Six of eight case nurseries currently obtaining from 20% to 100% of their irrigation needs from recycled water achieve lower production costs as a result of recycling compared with using alternative municipal or well water sources. Recycling would also reduce pollution runoff as water containing nutrients and chemicals would be retained for reuse on the farm rather than being discharged to public water bodies. Two case nurseries and two simulated nurseries that were constructed based on average conditions for nurseries participating in a mail survey see higher production costs as a result of recycling. The cost of land regrading for water recapture, excavating the recapture pond, and the opportunity cost of production area occupied by the recapture pond are critical for determination of the least cost outcome. Public funding incentives for water collection and recycling could motivate increased water conservation and reduced pollution runoff within the horticulture industry.

Because of environmental concerns, many states are regulating animal manure applications to crops. A conceptual model is presented to describe manure demand for crop nutrient application under alternative regulatory standards. Demand relationships are incorporated into a spatial equilibrium model to estimate welfare costs of phosphorus and nitrogen regulatory standards for manure applications. Model estimates for Virginia indicate that regulatory standards for manure application achieve large reductions in excess nitrogen and phosphorus and result in 5–15% welfare losses excluding nonmarket environmental valuation. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.

Abstract. Recycling irrigation water can provide water during periods of drought for horticulture operations and can reduce nonpoint-source pollution, but water recycling increases production costs and can increase risk of disease infestation from waterborne pathogens such as Pythium and Phytophthora. This study of water recycling adoption by horticultural growers in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania finds that the potential for increased disease infestation would reduce growers' probability of adopting water recycling. Widespread adoption of recycling irrigation water would require government incentives or coercion or growers' ability to pass cost increases on to customers.

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Producers' and consumers' risk perceptions and preferences can affect perceived costs and benefits of agricultural water quality protection. Many studies find that integrated pest management actually reduces economic risks to farmers. Results from crop rotation and conservation tillage studies are mixed, while nutrient management studies indicate a potential for higher risk compared with conventional practices. Uncertainty about pollution damages to water resources is likely also to increase the perceived benefits of a given quantity of water quality protection practices. Public policies to reduce uncertainty about the costs and benefits of water quality protection practices may produce net social benefits.R educing water quality damage from agriculture is an important social objective in the United States and many other countries. Policymakers, researchers, and educators seek to develop and extend agricultural production practices with fewer negative environmental impacts. Producers' and consumers' risk perceptions (Bessler) and risk preferences (Robison et al.) potentially can affect their perceptions of the costs and benefits of water quality protection practices. Farmers may be slow to adopt new practices because they are uncertain how such practices will affect their costs and returns. Risk-averse farmers may be unwilling to accept voluntarily the risks implied by conservation practices even in cases where such practices increase their expected returns. 1 If uncertainty about costs and benefits is an important barrier to adoption of less damaging technologies, then reducing uncertainty may have a high payoff to individuals and society.Our study summarizes previous research on the effects of uncertainty on costs and benefits of water quality protection in agriculture and describes the implications of research findings for policymakers and for future research. Previous studies have reviewed the literature on the farm-level economic effects of water Darrell J. Bosch in a professor,

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Farmers and taxpayers would benefit from more cost-effective agricultural nutrient pollution control measures. The objectives of our study are (1) to assess compliance costs and reductions in phosphorus loadings from implementation of nutrient management and riparian buffers; and (2) to estimate how the spatial scenario, which is the method of representing farms within the watershed, affects estimated compliance costs and reductions in phosphorus deliveries. Estimated compliance costs are quite sensitive to the spatial scenario. Buffers are more cost-effective than nutrient management under one of the two spatial scenarios, whereas nutrient management is more cost-effective under the other scenario. Shifts to more erosive crops reduce the effectiveness of both pollution control measures.