October 13, 2005

NDSU Researchers to Study Alternate Agricultural Land Management Systems

For the next four years, a group of North Dakota State University researchers will evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of agricultural land management alternatives, such as using the same land for grazing and hunting.

Funded by the National Research Institute Competitive Grants Program in the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), the research has five major objectives, according to Larry Leistritz, NDSU Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics professor. Leistritz will serve as the project director along with co-project directors Christopher Schauer and Daniel Nudell, Hettinger Research and Extension Center and Kevin Sedivec, Extension Service rangeland management specialist.

The five objectives are:

• Look at the effect of multiuse land management systems on land taken out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and demonstrate the potential viability and sustainability of producing both agricultural products and wildlife during the same period.
• Evaluate recent and historic agricultural land sales to determine the ratios of local to nonlocal sales and purchases, as well as identify any changes in either the ratio of sales or that of purchase price over time.
• Identify land management objectives of the study area’s landowners and evaluate the implications of alternative land management systems for farm/ranch profitability.
• Evaluate the implications of alternative land management systems on a regional economy and rural community viability.
• Develop nontraditional outreach efforts to disseminate the research findings to different interest groups, such as state and local decision makers, agricultural producers, local and absentee landowners, public and private land managers and sportsmen and conservation groups.

“North Dakota has a substantial number of acres enrolled in CRP, but many of the contracts are set to expire before the end of the decade,” Leistritz says. “At that time, landowners will need to consider whether to re-enroll or to manage it for agriculture, recreation/conservation or multiple uses.”

A multiple-use management system could provide income stability, conservation benefits and recreational opportunities that would be beneficial to private landowners, sportsmen and rural economies, Leistritz says.

The study area will cover portions of four states: Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota.

“No research in the four-state region, of which we are aware, has evaluated a systematic management and land-use plan that provides adequate upland game habitat, cover and food while providing some level of sustainable agricultural production,” Leistritz says.

Others involved in the study include Dean Bangsund and Nancy Hodur, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics research scientists

The researchers received a National Research Institute (NRI) grant of $465,000 for the study. In 2004, 3,296 grant proposals were submitted to the NRI. Of those, 495 were funded. NRI is charged with funding research on key problems of national and regional importance relevant to agriculture, food, the environment and communities on a peer-reviewed basis.

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Source: Larry Leistritz, (701) 231-7455, lleistri@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

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