Submission Date

7-19-2024

Document Type

Paper

Department

Business & Economics

Faculty Mentor

Scott King

Comments

Presented during the 26th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 19, 2024 at Ursinus College.

Project Description

Research finds that over half of the agricultural lands worldwide have been moderately or severely affected by soil degradation (Kopittke et al., 2019). This problem is further heightened by the fact that many farmers are concerned about the profitability of sustainable practices. As a result, this may lead to an increase in the practice of more harmful conventional agricultural techniques if they continue to be considered more economically beneficial in comparison. This paper aims to see if the use of a specific sustainable practice known as cover cropping can help to increase the level of economic benefits farmers receive. Cover crops are typically planted between growing seasons of desired cash crops to promote and sustain soil health. In general, cover crops have often been found to offer benefits such as increased crop yields and a decreased need for fertilizers through increasing the level of soil nitrogen. Using the USDA Census of Agriculture, data from each county in Pennsylvania will be analyzed to determine if a significant difference in net cash farm income exists between farms that utilize cover crops versus those that do not. The results found will be used to investigate if there is any evidence that encouraging farmers to practice cover cropping in order to sustain soil health can have financial benefits as well.

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