BROOKINGS, S.D. - SDSU Extension releases results of a survey which looks to answer the question, what motivates changes in land-use?
"There has been moderate to extensive land use conversion activity in the Western Corn Belt, where corn and soybeans are the dominant cropland use," explained Tong Wang, SDSU Extension Advanced Production Specialist. "To understand motivations of land use change from producers' perspective, a survey on land operators' views was carried out among 3000 randomly selected farmers in east river South Dakota and North Dakota during spring 2015."
Wang was on the team which analyzed the survey results from 1026 farmers.
Prices and Yields
"Economic returns directly affect land use decisions," said Wang. "Not surprisingly, among all motivators listed, crop prices, input market prices and improved crop yields were regarded by producers as the three most important influences on land use decisions (Figure 1)."
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Survey results also show that that farm location, operation size, ownership status and land slope strongly influenced motives for land-use change (Table 1).
The survey also showed equipment, pest management, crop insurance, climate patterns, wildlife habitat, labor availability and drought-tolerant seed impacting farmers' land-use decisions.
To view survey results, visit this link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916304888 .
