Virginia Tech® home

Darrell Bosch

Professor

Virginia Tech Professor Darrell Bosch

Professor Darrell Bosch headshot
308 Hutcheson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061

Darrell Bosch's research focuses on cost-effective ways to reduce non-point source pollution from agriculture and other sources. Recent areas where he has applied his research include climate change and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, recycling of irrigation water by horticultural operations, improvements to water infrastructure, and effects of energy cost increases on U.S. agriculture. To learn more about Bosch's work at AAEC, click on the information below.

Expertise:

Education

  • Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of Minnesota, 1984
  • M.S., Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, 1980
  • B.A., Political Science, Central College, 1971

 

Role of Graduate Students

Graduate students play an important role in planning and carrying out research in which I am involved. Their research involvement is a very important part in their graduate education.

Current Projects

  • Thriving Agricultural Systems in Urbanized Landscapes
  • Costs and returns from alternative strawberry varieties under open field and high tunnel production conditions
  • Costs of reducing ammonia, greenhouse gas, nitrogen, and phosphorus emissions from a dairy/poultry farm

International Research

  • Ecuador Sustainable Development Research Internship Project.

Future Research

  • Costs and benefits of expanded ecosystem services from U.S. agriculture

Current teaching

  • AAEC 5104 Research Project Planning
  • ALS/WATR 4614 Watershed Assessment, Management, and Policy
  • WATR 5614G Advanced Watershed Assessment, Management, and Policy 

Other Teaching and Advising

I serve as major/co-major advisor to graduate students. I mentor my students so they will develop their independence, creativity, and organizational skills in carrying out research.  

With Alwang and Norton, I have led several groups of undergraduate students in six-week research internships in Ecuador. These trips provide students with the opportunity to gain first hand research experience and proficiency in Spanish as well as expose them to Ecuadorian culture and institutions. In addition, I have also advised undergraduates on other research topics dealing with environmental economics and agriculture.

Experience

  • Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, 1999 - Present.
  • Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, 1990-1999.
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, 1984-1990.
  • Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, 1980-1984.
  • Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Society, University of Tennessee, 1978-1980.

Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, 2018

Honorable Mention, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Land, Water and Environmental Economics Section Outstanding Poster Award, AAEA annual meeting, 2016

Co-Editor, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics (2010-2013)

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review Outstanding Journal Article, 2007

Visiting Scholar at LAMETA (Institute of Applied and Theoretical Economics), Montpellier, France, Jan-Jul, 2008.

Selected recent publications

  • Alwang, Jeffrey, Victor Barrera, Darrell J. Bosch, Susan Chen, Jorge A. Delgado, Catherine Larochelle, George W. Norton. 2024. Undergraduate Research in the Andes: Overcoming Barriers to Developing-Country Farm-Household Focused Analysis. Applied Economics Teaching Resources.
  • Grady, Caitlin, Michael Gomez, Lisa Wanger, Raj Cibin, David Abler, Darrell Bosch, and Jayson Kaye. Impacts of Future Scenarios on the Nitrogen loss from Agricultural Supply Chains in the Chesapeake Bay. Environmental Research Letters. July 30, 2024. Vol. 19, No. 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad5d0b
  • Kaufman, D.E., G.W. Shenk, G. Bhatt, K.W. Asplen, O.H. Devereux, J.R. Rigelman, J.H. Ellis, B.F. Hobbs, D.J. Bosch, G.L. Van Houtven, A.E. McGarity, L.C. Linker, W.P. Ball. 2021. Supporting More Cost-Effective Watershed Management Strategies for Chesapeake Bay with a Modeling and Optimization Framework. Environmental Modelling and Software. 144.105141 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105141
  • Xu, Y.*, D.J. Bosch, M.B. Wagena, A.S. Collick, and Z.M. Easton. 2020. Reducing Nitrogen Control Costs by Within- and Cross-county Targeting. Journal of Environmental Management. 263(2020) 110333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110333
  • Xu, Y.*, D. J. Bosch, M.B. Wagena, A.S. Collick, and Z.M. Easton. 2019. Meeting Water Quality Goals by Spatial Targeting of Best Management Practices under Climate Change. Environmental Management. 63(2): 173-184. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-018-01133-8. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-018-01133-8
  • Bosch, D.J., M.B. Wagena, A.C. Ross, A.S. Collick, and Z.M. Easton. 2018. Meeting Water Quality Goals under Climate Change in Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12684.
  • Xiang Cao, Darrell J. Bosch, and James W. Pease. 2017. Recycling Irrigation Water on Ornamental Nursery Operations: Will Consumer Premiums Compensate for Growers’ Costs? HortScience.
  • Giuffria, Jonathon M., Darrell J. Bosch, Daniel B. Taylor, and Nasrin Alamdari. 2017. Costs of Water Quality Goals under Climate change in Urbanizing Watersheds: Difficult Run, Virginia. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. (143:9) (July 2017)
  • Ferraro, Nathaniel, Darrell J. Bosch, James W. Pease, and James S. Owen. 2017. Costs of Capturing and Recycling Irrigation Water in Container Nurseries. HortScience.
  • Cultice, Alyssa, Darrell J. Bosch, James Pease, Kevin J. Boyle, and Weibin Xu. Horticultural Growers’ Willingness to Adopt Recycling of Irrigation Water. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 48(1)(2016): 99-118. 
  • Tanellari, E., D. Bosch, K. Boyle, and E. Mykerezi. “On Consumers' Attitudes and Willingness to Pay for Improved Drinking Water Quality and Infrastructure.”, Water Resources Research, (2015) 51, 47–57, doi:10.1002/2013WR014934.
  • Pan, Ane, Darrell J. Bosch, and Huiman Ma. Assessing Water Poverty in China Using Holistic and Dynamic Principal Component Analysis. Social Indicators Research. (2015): doi:10.1007/s11205-015-1191-3. 
  • Bosch, D., J. Pease, R. Wieland, and D. Parker. "Paying for Performance: Using Cover Crops to Improve Water Quality." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review..  42:3 (December 2013): 491-507.
  • Lee, J., E. Kleczyk, D. J. Bosch, A. M. Dietrich, and V. K. Lohani. Homeowners' Decisionmaking In A Pipe Failure Prone Area.” Journal of American Water Works Association 105(No. 5): May 2013: E231-E241.
  • Bosch, D., J. Pease, M.L. Wolfe, C. Zobel, J. Osorio, T. Denckla Cobb, and G. Evanylo.  2012. “Community DECISIONS: Stakeholder Focused Watershed Planning.”  Journal of Environmental Management.  112: 226-232. 
  • Kleczyk, E. J. and D. J. Bosch. “Households' Preferences for Plumbing Materials.” Corrosion Resistance. Dr  Shih (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-0467-4, InTech, (2012) 
  • Bosch, D., N. Kuminoff, K. Stephenson, J. Pope, A. Harris, and A. Miller.  “Evaluation of Policy Options for Expanding Oyster Aquaculture in Virginia.”  Aquaculture Economics and Management.  (14) (2010): 145-163.
  • A. Arnette, C. Zobel, D. Bosch, J. Pease, T. Metcalfe. “Ranking Watershed Goals with Analytical Hierarchy Process:  Effects of Participant Grouping Scenarios.” Environmental Modelling & Software.  (25) (2009): 1459-1469.
  • Lee, J., E. Kleczyk, D. Bosch, E. Tanellari, S. Dwyer, and A. Dietrich.  "Case Study: Preference Trade-offs Towards Home Plumbing Attributes and Materials.” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.  (135:4) (July/August 2009): 237-243.  
  • Farooqi, O. E., Loganathan, G. V. (Late), Lee, J., Edwards, M. A., Scardina, P., and Bosch, D.  “Criteria for Plumbing System Replacement.”  Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.  (135:4) (July/August 2009): 227-236.