Using NASA EOS data to predict economic well -being in Kansas agriculture

Agriculture is the lifeblood of the Great Plains. What affects agriculture affects the overall economic well-being of the region. Agricultural success in the Great Plains intimately depends on the production of the vegetation because most of the vegetation in the area is harvested annually, thus annual vegetation quality is an indicator of annual economic well-being. This dissertation examines several aspects of agricultural well-being in the state of Kansas using remotely sensed imagery as predictors.;This dissertation predicts land values for the state of Kansas by including remotely sensed imagery into a hedonic land value model. In the Midwest, and especially in Kansas, farmland values are important to many people. Local and State governments could use farmland values to help make budget decisions. Since farmland values are directly linked to farm well-being, the national government could use farmland values as indicators of the overall well-being of the agricultural sector when determining efficacy of government farm programs that provide subsidies for farmers. However, only a small percentage of farmland is sold each year, which makes determining the general market price difficult, except at a highly aggregated scale. Therefore, estimates of land value at finer scales could be important for assessing disaggregated farm well-being.;This dissertation addresses the question of the value of the spectral images underlying this research. Specifically, wheat yield estimates derived from satellite imagery will be used in a cash-less-futures wheat basis trading strategy to obtain an economic profit. The wheat market generally is considered efficient because the futures market is a reasonable indicator of future realized prices. This implies that on average individuals cannot beat the market. However, with the introduction of more information on excepted localized wheat yields earlier in the year than previously available, there might be a chance for these individuals to garner a profit by trading basis.;Crop revenue is very important to agricultural well-being in the state of Kansas. Thus, this dissertation will also estimate crop revenue for the state of Kansas using remotely sensed imagery.