Valuing Monitoring Networks for Invasive Species: The Case of Soybean Rust

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the benefits of the soybean rust monitoring network to producers and to determine how this value changes as producers become more aware of the true risk of infection. To accomplish this objective, we build upon the work of Roberts et al. (2007). Their paper also sought to value the US soybean rust sentinel plot system using a static farm level model of decision making. We expand upon their work in two ways. First we develop a dynamic model so we can consider how producers accumulating knowledge about their risk of rust affects the value of the monitoring network over time. Second, we assemble the county level data necessary to optimize the spatial arrangement of sentinel plots.

The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, the analytical model we develop is applicable to a variety of situations where there is an opportunity for publically provided information to help producers learn about random processes that affect their success. Second, the results provide useful information for guiding future investments in the current soybean rust network.