2019: Does Agricultural Conservation Increase Resilience to Adverse Weather and Reduce Crop Insurance Indemnities? (Environmental Defense Fund)
Current agricultural production practices lead to a variety of environmental problems, including nitrogen fertilizer runoff, hazardous algal blooms, greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and declining soil fertility. Agricultural conservation practices such as conservation tillage and cover crops offer the promise to reverse these trends, but improving sustainability and maintaining a financially viable farm sector must go hand-in-hand. This novel study will assess the relationship between conservation practice adoption, weather, yields, and crop insurance indemnities, to provide the robust information needed to inform modifications to crop insurance products that encourage agricultural conservation adoption.
Cornell: Jennifer Ifft (Dyson School), Kelly Gardner (Dyson School)
EDF: Maggie Monast (Agricultural Sustainability)