Student Wins National and Regional Awards for Farm Thesis
Contact: Tim Dalton, 581-3237
ORONO — A former UMaine master’s student recently was awarded a first place national award and a second place regional award for her thesis on the effectiveness of new federal farm legislation.
It is the first time a UMaine student has won such an honor, according to Timothy J. Dalton, associate professor of Resource Economics and Policy and advisor to student Kelly Cobourn.
Cobourn, a Virginia native, received the first place award from the American Agricultural Economics Association and second place in a separate Northeast regional competition held by the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association for her thesis assessing the effectiveness of new federal farm bill provisions as they affect farmers and land use.
Titled “Environmental Conservation on Agricultural Working Lands: Assessing Policy Alternatives Using a Spatially Heterogeneous Land Allocation Model,” Cobourn found that using new federal farm subsidies and other programs to keep agricultural land in active farming increased environmental benefits but resulted in a decrease in land value. Her thesis suggests that alternative federal programs be considered to help preserve working farms and improve environmental outcomes. The research was based on land-use patterns in Iowa.
After two-and-a-half years at UMaine, Cobourn now is pursuing a doctorate degree at the University of California at Davis.