Dean A. Bangsund

Assessing the Economic Impact of Invasive Weeds: The Case of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula)1

Abstract Leafy spurge has become a serious problem for ranchers and land managers in the northern Great Plains region. A bioeconomic model was developed to estimate the economic impacts of leafy spurge on grazing land and wildland in a four-state region (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming). Leafy spurge infestations on grazing land were estimated to result in a loss in regional grazing capacity sufficient to support a herd of 90,000 cows. Direct economic impacts on stock growers, landowners, and agribusiness firms were estimated to exceed

Biological Control of Leafy Spurge: Utilization and Implementation

37 million annually, whereas secondary impacts throughout the regional economy totaled almost

Review of literature on economics and policy of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils

83 million. Impacts on wildland were smaller but still substantial. Study results indicated the serious nature of the leafy spurge problem in the northern Great Plains region and helped to justify enhanced control efforts. Nomenclature: Leafy spurge, Euphorbia esula L. #3 EPHES. Abbreviations: AUM, animal unit month.

An economic analysis of the Waffle.

Abstract Leafy spurge is an exotic, noxious, perennial weed which is widely established in the north central United States and is an especially serious problem in the northern Great Plains. In 1997, the Agricultural Research Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, US Department of Agriculture, initiated a major Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research and demonstration project, The Ecological Area-wide Management (TEAM) Leafy Spurge (TLS), to develop and demonstrate ecologically based IPM strategies that can produce effective, affordable leafy spurge control. A key component of the TLS project was expanding the use of biological control agents. To assess the level of insect utilization and implementation and the level of current and perceived future control of leafy spurge as a result of biological control agents, a mail survey of 468 individuals that obtained biological control agents (insects) at TLS-sponsored events and of all the county weed boards in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming was conducted. Forty-six percent of the landowner/land managers and 70% of the county weed boards responded to the questionnaire. Respondents reported basic information about the number and characteristics of release sites, and characteristics of the leafy spurge stands, as well as the level of control to date and perceived level of eventual control.

Contributions of Renewable Energy Industries to the Local Economy in North Dakota

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe key economic and policy‐related issues with regard to terrestrial C sequestration and provide an overview of the economics of C sequestration on agricultural soils in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – Recent economic literature on carbon sequestration was reviewed to gather insights on the role of agriculture in greenhouse gas emissions mitigation. Results from the most salient studies were presented in an attempt to highlight the general consensus on producer‐level responses to C sequestration incentives and the likely mechanisms used to facilitate C sequestration activities on agricultural soils.Findings – The likely economic potential of agriculture to store soil C appears to be considerably less than the technical potential. Terrestrial C sequestration is a readily implementable option for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and can provide mitigation comparable in cost to current abatement options in other industries. Despite conside...

Regional Economic Impacts of Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat and Barley

The Red River of the North has a long history of flooding. A host of physical characteristics and man-made factors contribute to widespread flooding in the basin. Attempts to mitigate flood damage in the basin have been limited to using dikes/levees and waterways/diversions. Other flood mitigation strategies are insufficient by themselves to make meaningful reductions in flood damages, and spring flooding continues to cause damage. Another option to mitigating flood damages in the Red River basin is the concept of using hundreds or thousands of ‘micro-basin’ storage areas, called the Waffle, comprised of roads and adjacent lands throughout the region. This study employs net present value analysis to evaluate the economic feasibility of using the Waffle to reduce flood damages in the basin. Net benefits are positive in 130 of the 132 scenarios evaluated. Eighty-five percent of the scenarios resulted in over

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF FUSARIUM HEAD BLIGHT IN WHEAT AND BARLEY: 1998-2000

300 million in net benefits, and nearly 68% have net benefits in excess of

Economic Effect of Leafy Spurge in the Upper Great Plains: Methods, Models, and Results

400 million. The large positive net benefits from the Waffle suggest that policy makers should compare the cost-effectiveness of Waffle-type and structural flood protections. There are likely flood-prone areas that nonstructural flood protection alone or in combination with structural measures will be economically preferred to structural measures alone.

Assessing economic impacts of biological control of weeds: the case of leafy spurge in the northern Great Plains of the United States.

Energy production in North Dakota is typically associated with fossil fuels, but in the past decade there has been considerable growth in renewable energy, which is comprised of ethanol production, electricity generation from wind turbines, and the manufacture of wind turbine components. Using expenditures data from renewable energy firms, we find that expansion of renewable energy infrastructure between 2002 and 2011 increased retail sales, personal income, employment, and total tax collections. Total economic impact associated with construction expenditures peaked in 2008 and 2009. In 2011 the total economic impact of the operations of renewable energy industries in North Dakota was

ECONOMIC EFFECT OF LEAFY SPURGE IN THE UPPER GREAT PLAINS: METHODS, MODELS, AND RESULTS

1.0 billion, two-thirds of which was contributed by ethanol production.