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An Economic Analysis In Relation To Aspects Of Kale And Rice Agricultural Production In South Carolina And The Broader Southeastern U.S., Shane Behler

All Theses

Agriculture has been crucial to the economic and cultural well-being of South Carolina throughout the state’s storied history. This importance has not diminished in our contemporary world. Agribusiness, which includes the agriculture and forestry sectors, is the largest industry in the state, providing nearly 260,000 jobs and 51.8 billion in annual economic impact. Almost 25,000 working farms encompass 4.8 million acres of land in South Carolina .

It is no stretch to claim that South Carolina’s agricultural industry affects almost every individual in the state. If not directly involved in the agriculture industry, it is nearly certain all residents have …

Bioleaching Of Arsenic From Agricultural Soils, Zachary Gilstrap

All Theses

Arsenic is a ubiquitous trace metalloid. However, increasing concentrations of arsenic in soil and water is a problem the world faces due to inputs from anthropogenic sources such as mining, milling, agriculture, and coal ash. One method of remediation for these arsenic-contaminated sites is bioleaching. While it is most often used to extract metals from raw ore, it is a viable and environmentally friendly method to remove the same metals from soil. Bioleaching removes metals by cultivating living organisms such as the fungi Aspergillus niger (A.niger) or the bacterium Thiobacillus ferrooxidans (T.ferrooxidans). This research aimed to investigate A. …

University Spillovers: Productivity In The Agricultural And Manufacturing Sectors 1870-1940, David Courtright

All Theses

This paper estimates the effects of college attendance from 1870 to 1940 on productivity in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. I use data from the Records of the Office of Education, Census of Manufacturers, and Census of Agriculture from 1870 to 1940 to analyze trends in college attendance and productivity in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. I find that every one student increase in the average number of students enrolled in a university in a county over the previous decade increases agricultural output per acre by $.01 and manufacturing output per employee by $2.13.

Precision Agriculture Technology Development And Utilization For Hay Production, Perry Jonathan Loftis

All Theses

Mass flow sensor algorithms were developed for a hay yield monitoring system using ultrasonic sensors to measure windrow height. The algorithms indicated accuracies of 17.34% to 9.51%, with a wide tolerance to mounting positions. The developed mass flow algorithms were used in a nitrogen rate strip test on a 25 ac irrigated Tifton 85 bermudagrass field. Results suggested that yield, crude protein content and profit was maximized with the highest nitrogen rate only during the first harvest of 2017. All other harvest suggested a lower rate of nitrogen should be applied in order to maximize profit. A second method of …

Accounting For Soil Inorganic Carbon In The Ecosystem Services Framework For United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Garth Raymond Groshans

All Theses

Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) is currently not included in the list of key soil properties related to ecosystem services (e.g., provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services). Soil inorganic carbon is a dynamic key soil property used in soil classification, taxonomy and fertility, therefore its inclusion in the framework of ecosystem services is important. With soils rapidly changing due to human use and climate change, the soil ecosystem services framework should not include only soil organic carbon (SOC), but SIC as well since it is of global importance to soil fertility and the long-term carbon cycle, especially in semiarid and arid …

The Development, Design, And Testing Of A Remote Sensing System To Measure Cattle Hip Height, Reid Mckie Miller

All Theses

The development of a cattle hip height sensor arose from the need to increase the efficiency, accuracy, and precision with which hip height measurements are taken. Eight infrared sensors were used to measure the hip height of cattle in a commercially available chute system. Stationary testing was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the technology without the variability animals naturally impose. A repetition test was conducted as a part of the stationary tests that indicated there was no significant difference found in measured height with movement of the target forward, backward, and center. However, there was a 0.16 inch average …