Researcher promoting her research at the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Convention
Author: Molly Parker | Major: Agricultural Business with an Agricultural Economics Concentration | Semester: Summer 2024
My name is Molly Parker, and I am a senior at the University of Arkansas in Bumpers College. I am majoring in Agricultural Business with a concentration in Agricultural Economics. My mentor, who works in the Agricultural Economics and Agricultual Business Department, is Dr. Michael Popp. My future plans, after I graduate in December, are to attend graduate school for Agricultual Economics. The semester of research that this blog posts covers is Summer 2024. My undergraduate honors thesis is titled “Analyzing the Marketing Strategies of Cattle Farmers in Arkansas.” Currently, I am analyzing the results of an IRB (Institutional Review Board) approved survey that was sent out to Arkansas cattle producers this summer inquiring about their management and marketing practices. This survey’s goal is to determine how demographic factors affect the adoption of certain preconditioning practices, as well as producer’s price perceptions on the cost, premia, and profitability of these practices. Demographic questions asked include age, gender, education level, income level, dependency on cattle for income, herd size, stocking rate, etc. Questions about preconditioning include practices such as dehorning, castration, bunk breaking, vaccinations, etc.
Originally, I chose the Agricultural Economics concentration due to my combined love for agriculture and mathematics. While I still love mathematics, my interest in economics has become much more than that over the last few years. I have learned how to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to analyze issues that occur in the agricultural industry, and I would like to use these skills to complete my undergraduate research. The reason I chose cattle marketing as my topic of interest is because I grew up on a cattle ranch in Southwest Arkansas. I have seen the struggles that these ranchers go through when trying to make profits, and it is my goal to help these cattle farmers make their operation financially viable while following recommended management practices that will keep their cattle safe and healthy.
This summer, I completed my survey and got it approved by the IRB. After it had IRB approval, my mentor contacted the University of Arkansas Animal Science Department and the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services to ask if they would promote our survey. They agreed to share the survey and sent an email containing a link to it and information about its goals to their Arkansas beef producer contact list. Another way I gathered responses was by traveling to the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association Convention in Hot Springs Arkansas. I stood at the University of Arkansas Animal Science booth and stopped beef producers that were passing by. Once I got their attention, I shared with them the QR code for the survey and explain to them that it was for my undergraduate research. The survey was open from July 5th through July 31st. During this time, I gathered 156 responses, 103 of which were usable. I have begun to analyze the responses to this survey, and I am working on a preliminary report. An example of results from this report is shown in the table below, which shows the preconditioning practices used by cow-calf producers and the number of producers who use each one:
Another research responsibility I have completed this summer is polishing up my literature review. I added eight new sources to my literature review over the past few months, and by doing this, I learned valuable knowledge that will help me analyze the results of this survey.
My mentor, Dr. Popp, has been an incredible mentor, and he shares with me my passion for livestock economics. I first met him as my academic advisor when I first joined the honors college; before I knew which research topic I wanted to pursue. He guided me in the right direction and has been extremely helpful throughout the entire process. Other faculty members on my committee include Dr. James Mitchell and Dr. Kemper, who have provided me with valuable insights on both survey making and the Arkansas beef cattle industry in general. The next step for this research project will be to analyze the results. My committee and I plan to perform t-tests on numerical data and Chi-square tests on qualitative data. I plan to continue this research in Graduate school on a larger scale. In my graduate research, I hope to reach one thousand survey responses so that I may get a better representation of the cattle-farmer population. To accomplish this goal, I plan to utilize the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to send out the survey, as they have a greater list of emails than University of Arkansas Extension Serivces, which is who I am using for my current survey. For my graduate research, I would like to ask more questions about why the producers do or do not participate in certain preconditioning practices.
As for my career goals, I am keeping my options open. This summer, I worked for the Farm Service Agency as a summer intern, and I have considered being a loan officer for them or somewhere like Farm Credit after I complete graduate school. I have also considered becoming a livestock extension economist or a livestock economist for the Farm Bureau. Hopefully, graduate school will open even more opportunities for me to consider as a career choice. I do know that whatever I decide to do after graduating, I will always continue to help cattle farmers decide what is best for their operation and individual circumstances.