Life Sciences Commons^™

Yield And Nutritive Quality Of Fresh And Ensiled Reduced Lignin Alfalfa In Monoculture And Diculture With Novel Tall Fescue, Morgan Boss

All Theses

The objectives of this research were to: (1) evaluate the yield, nutritional value, and digestibility of fresh and ensiled reduced lignin alfalfa (RLA; Medicago sativa L.) in monoculture and when mixed with novel endophyte-infected tall fescue (F; Festuca arundinacea) in comparison to a conventional alfalfa (CA) cultivar; and (2) evaluate ensiled samples under varying DM concentrations; with or without inoculant. A trial was prepared as a randomized complete block design with 4 replicates per treatment. Treatments included reduced lignin alfalfa (RLA), conventional alfalfa (CA) and tall fescue (F) plots as well as RLA/F and CA/F plots. Plots were harvested on …

An Economic Impact And Investment Analysis Of Armillaria Root Rot In The United States Peach Industry, Gracie Herrin

All Theses

Peach production in the United States has decreased over the last decade due to increased disease prevalence. Armillaria root rot (ARR) is a lethal root fungus that affects many stone fruits, including peaches, often leading to rapid decline/death of trees and abandonment of orchards. This thesis is divided into four chapters which focus on answering four key questions that, to the best of my knowledge, have not been addressed in previous industry research.

The second chapter determines the magnitude of ARR disease prevalence in the United States and producers’ maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for a theoretical ARR-resistant rootstock. Results …

An Almost Ideal Demand System Analysis Of Orange And Grapefruit Beverage Consumption In The United States, Catrice Taylor

All Theses

This thesis estimates a demand system for natural fruit juices and flavored citrus drinks. Consumption and price data from the Florida Department of Citrus is used to estimate a Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand System for natural fruit and fruit juice drink elasticities. The monthly data covers the period from October 2004 to June 2014. Elasticities show orange juice does not have a substitute among the other beverages. 100% orange juice and grapefruit juice are compliments, although other studies have found them to be substitutes.

An Examination Of The Feasiblity Of A Food Hub For The Pee Dee Region, Emily Purcell

All Theses

Horry County, the home of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, attracts a large level of spending by visitors who are helping to fuel growing demand for locally produced food. Regional growers are interested in meeting this demand but are limited by retail requirements with respect to lot size, timing, and quality (including food safety aspects such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification). A number of communities have turned to food hubs as a means of aggregating production by local growers and providing appropriate marketing functions, such as storage and meeting standards. Hence, food hubs can fill a gap between producers and …

Serving As Suppliers To Institutional Foodservices: Supply Chain Considerations Of Small And Medium Scale Specialty Crop Producers, Laura Westray

All Theses

Institutional foodservice, which includes schools, hospitals, and long-term care facilities, is an important food marketing channel. The centralized nature of the US food system effectively, and supply, logistic and other constraints, effectively precludes small and medium scale (SMS) specialty crop producers from serving as suppliers to these types of operations. Passage of The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and increasing public attention to food safety issues, further complicates this matter. While the FSMA Tester-Hagen Amendment provides regulatory exemptions for SME producers, it is likely that in the future food purchases on or behalf of institutions will require more stringent food …

Temporal Aggregation And Treatment Of Zero Dependent Variables In The Estimation Of Food Demand Using Cross-Sectional Data, Kristyn Leffler

All Theses

This study analyzes U.S. consumers' demand for eight food commodity groups: Cereal and Bakery goods, Meat and Eggs, Dairy, Fruits and Vegetables, Nonalcoholic Beverages, Fats and Oils, Sugar and Sweets, and Miscellaneous goods. The estimation of the demand system of equations is carried out using the EASI demand model of Lewbel and Pendakur (2009) and five years of data (2002-2006) from the Nielsen Homescan program. Two different levels of temporal aggregation, monthly and the average month within a year, referred to as 'annual' were considered. Using the monthly data, I evaluated the performance of two econometric methods to account for …

Evaluating Nature Of Expenditures And Economic Impact Of Tourism Spending On Nature-Based Activities In South Carolina Coastal Economies, Alexis Imler

All Theses

The general goal of this study is to better understand South Carolina coastal tourism. The region of study includes the coastal counties of Horry, Charleston, and Beaufort (and Georgetown, Berkeley, Dorchester, and Jasper counties for the economic impact analysis). This study includes two types of analyses: a regression analysis of visitors' expenditures and an economic impact analysis of tourist spending.
The empirical visitors' expenditure models are specified using economic consumer demand theory. The regression analysis of the model is conducted using data from a tourist survey of 818 South Carolina visitors (conduced in fall 2008 and summer 2009). The activity …

Back To The Basics: What Does The Market Tell Us About Harvest Grain Basis, Matthew Fischer

All Theses

Grain marketing in the United States is a complex system; therefore producers require information on grain markets to effectively manage risk. Futures markets provide the mechanism for price risk management based on the national supply and demand signals. However price risk is managed on the local level, therefore the relationship between local cash price and futures price, basis, must be understood.
The market forces which explain grain basis are the cost of storage and the transportation cost. The current body of research in grain basis uses the storage component of basis as the driving force. This approach is applicable to …

Evaluating The Impacts Of Production Process And Product Origin On Willingness To Pay For Shrimp, Addison Ellis

All Theses

The 2002 Farm Bill included a provision requiring various agricultural commodities to comply with country of origin labeling (COOL). Proponents of COOL argued that the policy would support U.S. producers and benefit U.S. consumers. This argument was based on the assumption that U.S. consumers prefer domestic products to imported products and hence the demand for U.S. products would increase following the implementation of COOL. However, analyzing the impact of COOL on shrimp, one of the first commodities covered the program, is complicated by recent trade disputes, concerns over the safety of farm raised products and potential stigma effects associated with …

Evaluation And Adjustment Of Usda Wasde Cotton Forecasts, David Tysinger

All Theses

The dynamic and volatile nature of agricultural markets causes individuals to rely on forecasts in their decision-making. WASDE cotton forecasts are shown to be especially volatile as cotton is one of the most trade dependent commodities in the world. Therefore, its evaluation requires us to look beyond U.S. WASDE categories and evaluate forecasts for China and the World.
This study will use data from monthly WASDE balance sheets for upland cotton for the U.S, China and World over 1985/1986 through 2008/2009 including unpublished price forecasts. The results of this study will provide information that can be used to improve the …

Willingness To Pay For Locally Grown And Organically Produced Fruits And Vegetables In Dominica, Seraphine George

All Theses

ABSTRACT
With the intent of improving agricultural revenues and solidifying her place as an eco-tourism destination, it has been proposed that the island nation of The Commonwealth of Dominica convert all agricultural activities to organic production. To meet this challenge from the supply perspective, training of farmers in organic production practices has already begun. It remains, however, to quantify the potential demand for organically produced products. With this information in hand, appropriate producer support and marketing programs could be developed that would help to promote the production and consumption of Dominica‟s organic outputs and would propel Dominica toward its desired …

The Effects Of Decoupled Payments On Production Decisions Under Base Acreage And Yield Updating Uncertainty: An Investigation Of Agricultural Chemical Use, Janet Peckham

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When first introduced, decoupled payments were thought to have minimal impacts on current production decisions and input use. In order to comply with the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture requiring all World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries to reduce trade distorting agricultural policies, in 1996 U.S. agricultural policies began shifting away from coupled payments, based on current prices, production, or output, towards decoupled payments.
However, the literature has identified several mechanisms by which decoupled payments have the potential to distort production in the current period. First, risk averse producers may increase production due to insurance and wealth effects. Second, in …

Influence Of Selected Economic, Demographic And Political Characteristics On Growth In Africa, Richard Ogwal-Omara

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ABSTRACT Despite their common sources of development funds, African countries have had varying rates of growth. This study assesses the influence of selected social and economic variables on economic growth in Africa using data from 45 African countries for the year 2005. Regression results show that literacy rate, property rights, net budget surplus and inflation rate significantly influenced on growth in Africa. Judicial independence, number of days to start business and reliability of financial institutions did not show significant influence on growth in Africa. To promote growth, African governments need to redesign their education systems in order to be able …

Financial Impact Analysis Of Ipm With Conventional Sampling And Ipm With Binomial Sequential Sampling Method To Traditionally Operated Farms For Collards, 2007, Myra Clarisse Ferrer

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Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been very successful in directing farming to a more environment-friendly production. However, the extent of its economic impact is an equally-important question. This study looks at the amounts of savings and potential market profitability of using IPM in South Carolina collard production considering alternative scouting methods. Conventional sampling (CS) and binomial sequential scouting method (SSM), a recently developed scouting system for traditionally operated collard farms are compared. SSM is geared towards a more economical execution of scouting without forfeiting the effectiveness of the process. Financial analysis specifically costs and returns methods and sensitivity analysis on …

Intestate Tenure And Rural Land Uses In Selected Areas Of South Carolina, Gloria Bromell Tinubu

All Theses

No abstract provided.