Estimation of wild pig damage to corn production in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Wild pigs are known to be an agricultural pest, but few studies have been done to quantify wild pig damage to corn and the landscape characteristics that are conducive to this damage. In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, only 15 of the 125 sampled corn fields were damaged (12%). Using yield estimates, input costs and hectares of crop lost, this study concluded that wild pigs cause US$1,753 of damage per hectare. The proportion of corn that was planted within selected buffer scales consistently had a negative effect on whether a field would be damaged. The proportion of soybean planted within the buffer, and the proportion of disturbance had negative impacts on whether a field would be damaged. At multiple buffer scales, the proportion of shrub/scrub, adjacent crops and forest had negative effects on the amount of damage seen in a damaged field