Jon Biermacher, Ph.D.

Current Research

Jon Biermacher generates useful economic information in the areas of forage-based beef production, technology and biotechnology adoption, soil health, and regenerative agriculture. Examples of these areas include: economic feasibility of conservation tillage and forage establishment systems, economics of perennial cool-season forage systems (such as biotechnologically enhanced tall fescue and orchard grass varieties), economics of byproduct supplementation programs for winter stocker cattle grazing systems, economics of alternative practices for managing and marketing cull cows, and economics of cover crops in cool-season cereal forage grazing systems.

Biermacher's research also focuses on generating useful economic information surrounding pecan orchard establishment and management systems. Examples of pecan orchard management systems being analyzed include: economics of alternative pecan orchard irrigation systems, economics of alternative pecan tree planting methods, economics of alterative pest management strategies, and economics of alternative methods for grazing forages growing within pecan orchards.

The Problem

As new production and marketing systems are developed, agricultural producers will seek reliable, unbiased information about the economic benefits and costs associated with these new systems before they adopt them on their farms and ranches.

The Approach

Economic models are used to evaluate the expected benefits and costs associated with newly developed, technologically enhanced production and marketing systems that are developed via on-farm research projects by researchers at the Noble Research Institute.

Current Projects

• Economic evaluation of novel, biotechnologically enhanced summer-dormant tall fescue grazing systems
• Economic evaluation of alternative irrigation systems used to establish pecan orchards
• Economic evaluation of cover crops designed to regenerate degraded soils
• Economic evaluation of alternative cull cow management and marketing practices
• Economic evaluation of enhanced yield and quality traits in bermudagrass cultivars
• Economic evaluation of conservation tillage practices for establishing annual small grain pastures
• Economic evaluation of the rainfall index annual forage insurance program (RIAFP)
• Economic evaluation of delaying the control of wood brush encroachment on grasslands