A Bioeconomic Model for Sustainable Grazing of Old World Bluestem under Uncertainty

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DOI: 10.4236/nr.2013.44044    3,795 Downloads   5,390 Views  

ABSTRACT

"WW B. Dahl", a perennial old world bluestem (OWB) grass, has been promoted as a forage suitable for dryland grazing. Dryland grazing of OWB is however inherently risky economically and ecologically, and may not be sustainable while remaining profitable. In this paper we develop a biological and economic single-season model of dryland grazing given production and price uncertainty, and identify a stocking rate that maximizes expected net revenue, subject to a sustainability constraint. We then simulate the distribution of net revenues, and find that probability of loss is greater than 35%, and median profit is roughly $30/ha.

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A. Benson and C. Zilverberg, "A Bioeconomic Model for Sustainable Grazing of Old World Bluestem under Uncertainty," Natural Resources, Vol. 4 No. 4, 2013, pp. 362-368. doi: 10.4236/nr.2013.44044.

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