Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Economic Impacts Of Switchgrass Harvest Time, Nathanial Elsworth Cahill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with cost of production for cellulosic energy crops of switchgrass, miscanthus, and energy sorghum. The first chapter explains the rationale for development of decision support software called Energy Crop Analysis & Planning (ENCAP) and Switchgrass Harvest Date, Yield, Nutrient Removal Estimator (SHYNE). The second chapter examines harvest date implications on yield, nutrient removal, opportunity cost of modified sale dates, and post-harvest storage losses. This harvest date analysis leads to a profit maximizing harvest date from the perspective of the producer. While this harvest date may be optimal for the producer, biorefineries may be interested in sourcing switchgrass …

Sugar And Rice Trade Between The United States And Cuba Trade Potential And Welfare Analysis, Fabian Bloechl

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After the resignation of President Fidel Castro and forty-five years of the U.S.-trade embargo, the political environment between Cuba and the United States is expected to change. With the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act in 2000, trade sanctions were eased for a while. Future trade between both countries would increase the welfare in both countries. This Thesis has the approach to look at the impacts on the commodities of rice and sugar, and the trade sanctions between the United States and Cuba.

Cuba is a net importer of its food supply; therefore, agriculture and food trade is an …

Risk Return Of Farmer-Elevator Contracts For Soybeans And Corn In Arkansas, Marei Undine Houpert

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Arkansas the contribution of Agriculture to the states GDP is comparatively high. To help farmer's return risk the grain industry developed several marketing tools to support farmers. Literature in this research field finds different results for different locations, commodities, marketing tools and marketing years. As Agriculture in Arkansas is important for its economy this study focuses on soybeans and corn produced in the fertile north-eastern area of Arkansas that uses Memphis Tennessee as a spot market palace. The examined marketing tools are pre-harvest futures hedges and forward contracts as well as post-harvest storage strategies and minimum price contracts. All …

A Roadmap To Mindful Consumption Through Informative Labeling Practices: The Effects Of Sustainability Disclosure Formats On Consumer Product Evaluations, Yoon-Na Cho

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the interest of consumers in sustainable and environmentally friendly products, only a limited number of studies have focused on sustainability level disclosures for consumer packaged goods. The general overarching purpose of this dissertation is to extend the internal reference point and information processing literatures to better understand how consumers will process sustainability disclosures. Applying the theoretical lens of assimilation bias in conjunction with self-enhancement offers an important extension to prior work. Across two retail lab studies and four online experiments, I demonstrate that the perceived sustainability utility (i.e., the difference between a specific brand's level of sustainability and category-level …

Local Food And Agriculture Awareness: The Literacy Of Local Produce And Agriculture In Northwest Arkansas, Kyle Colton Flynn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that adolescents and children, both male and female, are failing to meet the daily fruit and vegetable consumption requirements (Kim et al., 2011; Upton et al., 2012; Harris et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that with increased exposure and availability of produce, students (K-5) tend to consume more fruits and vegetables (Cullen et al., 2009; Evans et al., 2012). The purpose of this study is to identify whether Northwest Arkansas eleventh grade high school students possess experience and knowledge of local produce and agriculture. Out of 1054 students enrolled at …