Dairy Digester Contracts: The Role of Ownership and Herd Expansion

Last registered on September 08, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Dairy Digester Contracts: The Role of Ownership and Herd Expansion

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016447

Initial registration date

September 05, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

September 08, 2025, 9:26 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Jasmin Wehner

Affiliation

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Wendong Zhang

PI Affiliation

Cornell University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Chris Wolf

PI Affiliation

Cornell University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-09-17

End date

2025-12-31

Keywords

Agriculture, Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

Dairy, Digester Adoption, Climate Change Adaptation

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study investigates dairy farmers’ willingness to accept for anaerobic digester inevstments/contracts on their farms by examining how acceptance varies depending on herd size and ownership structure. Respondents are randomly assigned to a between subject design: a digester owned by the farm or a digester owned and managed by a developer company. Within each scenario, they are presented with two contract options: one based on their current herd size and another that depends on a twenty percent increase in their milking herd.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Wehner, Jasmin, Chris Wolf and Wendong Zhang. 2025. "Dairy Digester Contracts: The Role of Ownership and Herd Expansion." AEA RCT Registry. September 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16447-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-09-17

Intervention End Date

2025-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Willingness to accept for digester contracts

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Technology adoption

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We implement a between-subjects design, randomly assigning dairy farmers (stratified by state) to either a farm-owned or developer-owned digester scenario, with 50 percent in each group. Within their assigned group, each participant sees two contract offers: one based on their current herd size, and one with a 20 percent larger herd. Starting prices $X$ are drawn from a uniform range (USD40–USD1000 for farm-owned, USD40–USD500 for developer-owned), with follow-up prices adjusted by a random amount $U. The herd size and price variations are applied within subjects, while ownership type varies between subjects.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Individual farmer

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

413 dairy farmers with dairy digester

Sample size: planned number of observations

413 dairy farmers with dairy digester

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Developer-owned digester contracts (firm-owned): Approximately half the sample, with varied annual net profits distributed as follows: 23 farmers at $40, 23 at $60, 23 at $80, 23 at $100, 23 at $120, 23 at $150, 23 at $200, 23 at $300, and 23 at $500 per cow per year. Farm-owned digester contracts: The other half of the sample, with annual net profits distributed as: 23 farmers at $40, 23 at $100, 23 at $150, 23 at $200, 23 at $250, 23 at $300, 23 at $500, 23 at $750, and 23 at $1000 per cow per year.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB