Research

Abstract: Water scarcity is a significant challenge for farmers in major rice producing countries, as traditional rice production typically requires rice fields to remain flooded throughout the growing season. Alternate Wetting and Drying(AWD) is a water management technique developed for rice cultivation where rice fields are allowed to dry intermittently. This paper evaluates the causal impact of the AWD irrigation technique on water savings and rice yields in a large scale gravity-based irrigation system in the Philippines. Using a two-year panel data set from a trial based on a random encouragement design, we employ a difference-in-differences empirical strategy and conduct a number of robustness checks (e.g., propensity score matching, changes-in-changes, and Kinky Least Squares) to achieve the study objective. We find strong positive impacts on water savings and no penalty in terms of rice yields when farmers are randomly encouraged to adopt AWD. Results from the heterogeneity analysis indicates that midstream farmers save the most amount of water and upstream and midstream farmers experience greatest improved yield. Findings highlight AWD's potential to address water scarcity and adapt to climate change, suggesting its broader adoption in rice -producing regions-especially those facing water stress. It also points to the need for improved water infrastructure and stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure more equitable water distribution

Abstract: Addressing the pressing challenge of global food security necessitates enhancing crop yields through technological advancements like hybrid rice. This study examines the farm-level impact of hybrid rice adoption on rice yield and net farm income in three Asian countries, India, the Philippines, and Nepal. Cross-sectional survey data from the three countries, as well as various econometric techniques that help address and assess the role of unobservable confounding factors, are used to achieve the study objective. In general, across the three countries investigated, our empirical results indicate that hybrid rice adoption results in statistically significant yield increases, while maintaining (or in some instances improving) farm profitability. Robustness checks, including sensitivity analyses to unobserved confounders, suggest that these effects are generally robust, although estimates exhibit some sensitivity to unobserved confounding factors (e.g., potential omitted variable bias). The findings underscore the importance of hybrid rice as a potentially viable strategy for sustainable rice intensification in Asian developing countries and the need for complementary policy interventions that can help scale-up its adoption in Asian contexts. 

Abstract: Agricultural land is the most valuable asset for U.S. farmers, and its valuation reflects both current productivity and expectations of future returns. While prior research has established that diverse and complex landscapes enhance ecosystem services, crop yields, and long-term resilience, little is known about whether these ecological benefits are capitalized into farmland values. This study empirically examines the relationship between landscape complexity and agricultural land values in the United States, using county-level data on farmland values from the USDA Census of Agriculture and the Iowa Farmland Values Survey, combined with landscape complexity measures derived from the Cropland Data Layer. We measure compositional complexity with the Shannon Diversity Index and configurational complexity with mean patch area, and control for weather and other relevant factors in a fixed-effects framework.

Our preliminary results suggest that higher landscape complexity is associated with higher farmland values, with stronger and statistically significant effects observed in the Iowa panel dataset compared to the national census data. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that the ecological and productivity benefits of landscape complexity are, at least in part, embodied in agricultural land values. By quantifying this capitalization, the study highlights the economic rationale for policies that support more diverse and resilient agricultural landscapes.