Research Highlights

Post-doctoral Research Highlights:

I am working as a post-doctoral fellow of economic modeling at Auburn University, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology as a member of Sustainably Collocating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity System (SCAPES) team. This research feasibility and profitability of agrivoltaic system which is designed to collocate solar energy with agricultural crops to meet food and energy demand while reducing greenhouse gas emission. I am 1) studying motivations and barriers for the adoption of agrivoltaic system among farmers and solar developers, 2) studying impact of small refinery exemptions on ethanol price and biofuel market, 3) designing contracting policies in the presence of biofuel crop insurance for profit maximization, 4) designing profit maximizing framework for energy and crop production model on specialty crop agrivoltaic system, and 5) bird population diversity on corn and soil yield in the US.

Ph.D. and M.S. Research Highlights:

During MS research, I studied sustainability, efficiency, productivity, farm succession, and diversity of small and resource poor farmers in Kentucky using survey method. These farmers are continuously pushed out of the agricultural system due to lack of resources and declining in-farm income. I found there is no one solution to the problem of local farmers to build sustainable production system because issues related to agricultural sustainability are very localized and thus require localized solutions.

Further, I worked as a researcher where I studied variation of land surface temperature in relation to land use such as agriculture, forest, and developed land—a phenomenon called as urban heat island using Satellite based remotely sensed data. I further studied impact of soil amendments in the plant physiology, fruit quality, and chemical composition of hot pepper and eggplants. I found that the temperature of developed areas is about 2.5^oC higher than surrounding forests area. More interestingly, the temperature in agricultural land is more rapidly increasing compared to developed areas.

During my Ph.D., I used benefit-cost analysis, contingent valuation, conjoint analysis, vegetation simulation, and input-output modeling to study ecosystem service benefit, productivity, economic contribution, and landowners’ willingness to sustainably manage their land for cattle, timber, and wildlife management. I found that a landowner’s decision to manage land depends upon economic benefits, land management objectives, and past experiences. I further studied the impact of rainfall on the ecosystem service benefit and found that the effect of rainfall varies by ecosystem services.

You can find the list of peer reviewed research papers and other publications from my MS and Ph.D. research (Rice et al., 2016, Mishra, 2017, Antonious et al., 2017, Antonious et al., 2018a, Antonious et al., 2018b, Mishra et. al., 2018, Mishra et al., 2019, Antonious et al., 2019, Mishra, 2022, Gore et al., 2022, Jeffries et al., 2023, Mckinney et al., 2023, Mishra et al., 2023a, and Mishra et al., 2023b) and regular updates from ongoing research by visiting this page and attached links regularly.

Ph.D. Research Site at Wildlife Habitat Research Area in Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area

Details

Picture Description: This research site was established in 1984 to study the long-term effect of prescribed fire on wildlife habitat. Nine treatments were applied to 27 stands which over the long term created grassland, savanna, woodland, and forest ecosystem. Annual burns create grasslands, 2- to 3-year burns create savanna, and 4-year burns create uneven-aged woodland/forest. I quantified economic return from timber, cattle, and deer habitat management from this research site. Treatment Keys: pine harvested (H), hardwood thinned (T), prescribed fire return interval (1, 2, 3, or 4), Clear cut and site preparation (CCSP), Clear cut, site preparation (CCSP), and lightly burned every four year to reduce fire fuel, annually burned pine savanna (PSB), and Unmanaged stands (Control).