Exploring the factors associated with crop residue burning in the Arkansas Delta Region
Date
2022
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Delamaire, Marie- The environmental and health hazards produced by crop residue burning have become a growing concern in the various regions where it takes place. To address this issue, research that aims to understand producer motivations for crop residue burning has been increasingly undertaken. These studies have largely focused on the agronomic, economic, and social factors associated with the practice. However, no such study has been undertaken so far in the U.S. This is problematic given that crop residue burning is common in many agricultural areas of the U.S., particularly in the Arkansas Delta Region. Furthermore, it is difficult to generalize previous results to U.S. producers given the stark socioeconomic differences between the U.S. and the countries where previous research has taken place. ☐ The primary goal of this research paper is to address the current gap in the literature and explore the factors associated with crop residue burning for U.S. producers in the Arkansas Delta Region. We surveyed 105 Arkansas Delta Region producers and crop consultants about their general farm information, their farm’s agronomic and economic characteristics, perceptions of crop residue burning, and plans for future burning. Statistical analysis of the survey data was aimed at finding which factors are associated with crop residue burning. Additionally, our analysis tested the validity of previous results on a U.S. sample as well as testing novel potential factors associated with crop residue burning (CRB). ☐ Our results found that producers who burn crop residue are generally more likely to perceive that CRB confers agronomic and economic benefits than non-burning producers. Burning and non-burning producers were similarly likely to believe that burning causes negative effects on the environment, but non-burners were much less likely to believe that burning causes negative effects on human health. Compared to other crop residues, rice residue was the most likely to be burned by producers. Our analysis also found that rice-rice no tillage systems, rice-soybean conventional systems, and soybean-corn conservation systems were significantly positively associated with CRB. Additionally, we found that soybean-cotton conservation systems were significantly negatively associated with CRB, and that producers are likely to keep using CRB throughout the next decade. In fact, our results suggest that the likelihood of non-burner producers engaging in burning will increase throughout the next decade. The likelihood of continued use of CRB by current burners does not appear to significantly change over that time as well. We also found that the driving times between producer farms and homes were not significantly different between burning and non-burning producers, making driving time unlikely to be a factor associated with CRB. Lastly, results indicated that burning producers have conversations about burning significantly more often than non-burning producers. The information generated by this study could be used as a framework from which future research on the motivations and factors associated with CRB be conducted. Furthermore, this research could be used as a basis from which institutions and policy makers could make educated policy decisions, such as the formulation of CRB regulations, incentive programs, and producer outreach programs.
Description
Keywords
Agricultural economics, Agriculture, Arkansas, Crop burning, Crop residue burning