Identifying environmental, economic, and equity opportunities through a spatial lens

Abstract

Agriculture in the U.S. Corn Belt has become highly specialized, efficiently growing two crops, corn and soybeans, and concentrated livestock production. However, this specialization -and the management system it encourages -has caused negative environmental externalities. For example, beneficial insects and wildlife, their habitat, and water quality have all declined as agricultural production has simplified and expanded on the landscape. Solutions exist to address those negative externalities by incorporating conservation and native perennial cover into the landscape. Nonetheless, these solutions often contradict the traditional productivist norms of agriculture and have other tangible barriers (e.g., cost or alignment with the production system). This dissertation used spatial analysis methods to identify opportunities for environmental, economic, and equitable improvement across the landscape. It included three studies evaluating biophysical, economic, and social factors for conservation practice implementation. In an effort to expand the breadth of analysis, the final chapter focused on social equity at a national extent for environmental resource provisioning.To identify where win-win scenarios for ecosystem services (i.e., nitrate reduction for enhanced water quality) and economic benefits to a landowner exist, three case study watersheds were analyzed to determine whether and how often conservation practices to address nitrate reduction and water quality overlapped with unprofitable subfield areas. The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) and Iowa State Ag Decision Maker financial data were used to identify overlaps between water quality-focused conservation practice placement and unprofitable subfield areas. Approximately 30% of the study area had co-occurring economic and environmental benefits that resulted in a win-win scenario. In the remaining 70% of the study area, trade-offs existed between increasing whole-field profitability and improvements to water quality. While conservation in unprofitable areas tended to be more cost-effective, it did not always differ significantly from implementing conservation practices in profitable areas.