On-farm Manure Storage Adoption Rates: the Roles of Herd Size, Spreading Acreage and Cost-share Programs

At a time when the general trend in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is toward larger herds, proposed policy changes in the United States extend regulation downward to smaller operations and to manure-spreading acreage requirements. These are operations that typically have been subject only to state, not national, environmental regulations. How these smaller operations behave – in particular, what influences their manure handling decisions – is an important question given these proposed regulatory changes. This research examines the factors influencing the decision to adopt on-farm manure storage by smaller CAFOs in North Dakota raising a variety of different livestock.Environmental Economics and Policy,