Agriculture Commons^™

Can Pastoral Linkages To Livestock Markets Be Sustained In Southern Ethiopia?, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Seyoum Tezera, Zewdu Edea

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The PARIMA project has facilitated collective action, empowerment of women, and increased involvement in livestock marketing among pastoralists on the Borana Plateau since 2001. Fifty-nine collective-action groups formed by PARIMA and her partners have been recently merged into market-oriented cooperatives, consistent with government policy. We used focus groups and participatory appraisals to assess the extent that market linkages have been sustained since previously reported in 2006. The markets have been growing, but are volatile. Members report they need access to early warning and livestock market-information systems, as well as more capital, to promote trade. Export firms have imposed added conditions …

Costs Of Implementing Collective Action And Capacity Building Among Pastoralists In Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Seyoum Tezera, Solomon Desta

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Since 2000, the PARIMA project has implemented risk-management activities among semi-settled pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. The goal has been to improve human welfare via collective action and capacity building. Outcomes include progress in income generation, asset conservation, and livelihood diversification. Fifty-nine collective-action groups were created. Dominated by women, they included over 2,000 founding members and groups have recently merged to form 37 cooperatives, consistent with government policy. Creating sustainable impacts via collective action and capacity building requires many inputs. Taking raw, illiterate volunteers and transforming them into sustainable groups took up to three years, on average. Costs of implementing this …

Evaluation Of Best Management Practices To Reduce Nutrients Runoff In Watersheds In Arkansas, Hector German Rodriguez Diaz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are many non point sources (NPS) of pollution issues across the state of Arkansas. Each region of the state has different concerns. Many watersheds have been included in the Arkansas's 2008 303(d) list for NPS impairments with sediment and nutrients being the primary causes of concern. This research hypothesized that there are no cost or net returns risks when adopting best management practices (BMPs) to control nutrients runoff and that selection, timing, placement and cost have no impact on the implementation of BMPs. Using two priority watersheds, the L'Anguille River and the Lincoln Lake, as examples, the environmental benefits …

Eleven Years Of Parima Activities In North-Central Kenya: Impacts On Egerton University And Neighboring Communities, D. Layne Coppock, Abdillahi Aboud, Mark Mutinda, Stellamaris Muthoka

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The PARIMA project was created to improve the well-being of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia via risk-management research, training, and outreach. The project began to collaborate with Egerton University’s Department of Natural Resources in 1998 and many joint activities were undertaken over the next 11 years. Among them were regional household research on pastoral risks and their management, a training program for Egerton teaching staff to obtain post-graduate degrees, facilitation of Egerton faculty and staff to attend professional meetings, and provision of computer hardware and software that led to the creation of a GIS teaching and …

Simple Cooling Method Improves The Quality Of Marketed Camel Milk In Northern Kenya, D. Layne Coppock, A. O. Adongo, F. Wayua, I. J. Sagalla, H. K. Walaga, C. Amboga

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Milk marketing is important for many pastoralists to generate income, especially poor households with little else to sell. Milk is accumulated at pastoral settlements and transported to local markets on foot, by pack animals, or in vehicles. Despite challenges of heat and long-distance travel, pastoralists or traders do not attempt to cool marketed milk and possibly reduce risk of spoilage. Milk spoilage is an important problem that limits urban consumer demand. Our research objective was to determine effects of water-soaked hemp (burlap), wrapped around plastic jerry cans, on reducing milk temperature and enhancing quality of marketed camel milk, a key …

Alternative Sampling And Analysis Methods For Digital Soil Mapping In Southwestern Utah, Colby W. Brungard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Digital soil mapping (DSM) relies on quantitative relationships between easily measured environmental covariates and field and laboratory data. We applied innovative sampling and inference techniques to predict the distribution of soil properties, soil attributes, taxonomic classes, and dominant vegetation across a 30,000-ha complex Great Basin landscape in southwestern Utah. This arid rangeland was characterized by rugged topography, diverse vegetation, and intricate geology. Environmental covariates calculated from digital elevation models (DEM) and spectral satellite data were used to represent factors controlling soil development and distribution. We investigated optimal sample size and sampled the environmental covariates using conditioned Latin Hypercube Sampling (cLHS). …

Costs Of Pelleting To Enhance The Logistics Of Distillers Grains Shipping, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Elif Kongar

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Biofuels, especially corn-based ethanol, can help meet some of the increasing demand for transportation fuels. Currently, the most heavily utilized substrate is corn grain, which is readily converted into ethanol at a relatively low cost compared to other biomass sources. The production of ethanol in the U.S. has been dramatically increasing during the last several years; so too has the quantity of manufacturing coproducts. These nonfermentable residues are most often dried and sold as distillers dried grains with solubles – DDGS. Even though these materials are used to feed livestock in local markets, as the size of the industry continues …

South Dakota Thriving, Fall 2009, College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

Table of Contents:
[Page] 2 Growing Farmers Markets: South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service Helps Develop and Grow Booming Homegrown markets
[Page] 4 Lighari Leads Restructuring of Extension: Director of South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service Focuses on Building Relationships
[Page} 6 South Dakota's Newest Research Station: The Addition of the SDSU Cow Camp Means Another Tremendous Resource for South Dakota and SDSU
[Page] 8 SDSU Rodeo Builds World Champs: Focus on Academics and Team Leads to Success Inside Both the Classroom and the Arena
|[Page] 12 Behind the Scenes in SDSU's Anatomy Lab: SDSU's Hands-On Anatomy Lab Gives Students the Edge …

Factors Influencing Perennial Pasture Adoption In The Medium Rainfall Zone Of The South West Natural Resource Management Region Of Western Australia, Ned Crossley, Stephen Tunbridge, Kathi Mcdonald

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Interview With Angela Martin, Village Gardens, 2009 (Audio), Angela Martin

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Angela Martin by Steve Jarosz at Village Gardens, Portland, Oregon on August 6th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Esperance Area Acid Sulfate Soil Hazard Mapping, Paul Galloway, Simon Clarendon

Resource management technical reports

This project created a regional scale (1:100 000) acid sulfate soil (ASS) hazard map for the Lake Warden and Esperance town areas, using a combination of existing soil-landscape mapping information and elevation data, supported by field observations and laboratory data from 18 soil cores and 29 additional borelogs with descriptive information useful for identifying ASS and potential ASS materials. All data gathered during this project used common standards and protocols developed in Australia for identifying and mapping ASS materials. The project extends the mapping for acid sulfate soil in the region, complementing existing maps compiled for other parts of the …

Preparing For A Changing And Variable Climate: Final Report To Grape And Wine Research And Development Corporation Rt 07/02-2, Glynn Ward

All other publications

Climate change has the potential to reshape the Australian wine industry. Regions will be differentially impacted and will respond according to their unique viticultural, environmental, economic and social characteristics. An industry forum and regional workshop series was held in Western Australia focusing on three wine regions: Margaret River, Pemberton and Mount Barker. Fine scale climate information (mesoscale maps) and overviews of current and emerging technologies and resources that can be used by the wine industry to plan for and manage the risks and opportunities resulting from a changing and variable climate were presented. The information indicated that the wine regions …

Preparing For A Changing And Variable Climate, Glynn Ward

Research Reports

Climate change has the potential to reshape the Australian wine industry. Regions will be differentially impacted and will respond according to their unique viticultural, environmental, economic and social characteristics. An industry forum and regional workshop series was held in Western Australia focusing on three wine regions: Margaret River, Pemberton and Mount Barker. Fine scale climate information (mesoscale maps) and overviews of current and emerging technologies and resources that can be used by the wine industry to plan for and manage the risks and opportunities resulting from a changing and variable climate were presented. The information indicated that the wine regions …

Interview With Sarah Patterson, Lettuce Grow Garden Foundation, 2009 (Audio), Sarah Patterson

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Sarah Patterson by Diane Mahon in Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Rodney Bender, Growing Gardens, 2009 (Audio), Rodney Bender

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Rodney Bender by Sarah Roecker at Growing Gardens Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Caitlin Blethen, Growing Gardens, 2009 (Audio), Caitlin Blethen

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Caitlin Blethen by Kristin Milner at Growing Gardens Organization Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Marissa Madrigal, Jeff Cogen Chief Of Staff, 2009 (Audio), Marissa Madrigal

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Marissa Madrigal by Andrea Schons in Portland, Oregon on July 23rd, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Survey Of Us Fuel Ethanol Plants, Jessica A. Saunders, Kurt A. Rosentrater

Kurt A. Rosentrater

The ethanol industry is growing in response to increased consumer demands for fuel as well as the renewable fuel standard. Corn ethanol processing creates the following products: 1/3 ethanol, 1/3 distillers grains, and 1/3 carbon dioxide. As the production of ethanol increases so does the generation of its coproducts, and viable uses continually need to be developed. A survey was mailed to operational US ethanol plants to determine current practices. It inquired about processes, equipment used, end products, and desired future directions for coproducts. Results indicated that approximately one-third of plant managers surveyed expressed a willingness to alter current drying …

Options For Achieving And Maintaining Low Salinity In Agricultural Dams, Tilwin Westrup

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Proc Report In Style, Wendy Boberg

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

I would like to demonstrate how you can create colorful PDF files using ODS (Output Delivery System) with different predefined style templates for the layout and color scheme of both tables and graphs. There are a few different ways you can customize your reports in the Report Procedure. Traffic lighting is a very popular technique and can be achieved by changing the font and/or the background colors. I prefer to customize my reports by adding background color to highlight a row, column, and/or cell in a table.

I will share my favorite styles and show you how to look at …

Using Time Series To Study Effect Of Air Temperature On Body Temperature Of Cows In Puerto Rico, Y. Zeng, A. M. Parkhurst, J. Pantoja

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Body temperature is an important measure for monitoring the health status of cows. The objective of this study is to (1) determine if a cow’s body temperature is related to ambient temperature, relative humidity, and/or temperature humidity index (THI); (2) look for signs of heat stress. The data are collected at five minute intervals during the summer months (December through February) in Puerto Rico. Regression analysis and a succession of time series analyses are conducted in time domains. Nonparametric spectral estimation and cross-spectra analysis are also performed in the frequency domain. A search for indications of heat stress is performed …

Comparing Experimental Designs For A Bi-Logistical Model Used To Estimate Heat Stress When Moving Feedlot Cattle, X. Li, A. M. Parkhurst, T. L. Mader

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Processing and handling cattle requires expenditure of energy causing an elevation of body temperature, depending on the ambient conditions. Therefore, caution should be exercised in moving cattle, especially during summer. More knowledge of the dynamics of body temperature, (Tb), could lead to specific recommendations on how far and under what conditions cattle can be moved before becoming thermally challenged. Data comes from feedlot trials conducted over four days. A bi-logistic mixed model of Tb is used to describe the effects of moving and handling on Tb. This model provides estimates for several important biological parameters describing the thermal challenge and …

Using Time Series To Study Dynamics Of Sweat Rates Of Holstein Cows Exposed To Initial And Prolonged Solar Heat Stress, B. Liang, A. M. Parkhurst, K. G. Gebremedhin, C. N. Lee, R. J. Collier, P. E. Hillman

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Sweating is a very important way for cows to cope with heat stress. We are interested in the ability of Holstein cows to sustain high sweat or evaporation rates when exposed to solar radiation. There were two solar heat stress treatments: onset and prolonged. The onset data provided an opportunity to examine the impact of sudden exposure to a solar thermal load. The prolonged data allowed us to examine the impact of exposure to solar heat stress for an expended period (5 hr). Two questions of interest were: Do cows sweat at a constant or cyclic rate? Is there a …

Sequential Bayesian Classification: Dna Barcodes, Michael P. Anderson, Suzanne Dubnicka

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

DNA barcodes are short strands of nucleotide bases taken from the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). A single barcode may have the form C C G G C A T A G T A G G C A C T G and typically ranges in length from 255 to around 700 nucleotide bases. Unlike nuclear DNA (nDNA), mtDNA remains largely unchanged as it is passed from mother to o spring. It has been proposed that these barcodes may be used as a method of di erentiating between biological species (Hebert, Ratnasingham, and deWaard 2003). …

A Stem Profile Model Calibrated By Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Modeling, Yuqing Yang, Shongming Huang, Shawn X. Meng

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

A stem profile model was developed for black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) trees in Alberta, Canada using a nonlinear mixed model approach. The model included two random parameters to capture between-subject variation and a general covariance structure to model within-subject residual autocorrelation. After evaluating various covariance structures, the 4-banded toeplitz and the spatial power structures were chosen for further evaluation. The 4-banded toeplitz structure provided a better fit. The model was further evaluated using an independent data set to examine its validation accuracy. Model validation results showed that the model was able to accurately predict stem diameters at the …

Mapping Qtl With Covariates, Cherie A. Ochsenfeld, Kristofer Jennings, R. W. Doerge

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis is an effective tool for locating regions of the genome associated with a trait. Quantitative trait data are complex, and when statistically testing for the location of a QTL, the distribution of the test statistic is typically unknown. Historically, asymptotic thresholds have been difficult to derive for QTL analysis. Permutation testing has successfully provided significance thresholds for QTL analysis, but the need for exchangeability among the observations limits these empirically derived thresholds to simple linear models and does not permit the inclusion of important covariates in the model. We address the limitation of permutation theory …

Statistical Methods For Affymetrix Tiling Array Data, Gayla Olbricht, Nagesh Sardesai, Stanton B. Gelvin, Bruce A. Craig, R. W. Doerge

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Tiling arrays are a microarray technology currently being used for a variety of genomic and epigenomic applications, such as the mapping of transcription, DNA methylation, and histone modifications. Tiling arrays provide high-density coverage of a genome, or a genomic region, through the systematic and sequential placement of probes without regard to genome annotation. In this paper we compare the Affymetrix tiling array to the Affymetrix GeneChip® 3’ expression array and propose methods that address statistical and bioinformatic issues that accompany gene expression data that are generated from Affymetrix tiling arrays. Real data from the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana motivate this …

Application Of The Dya Method To Compare Wheat Cultivar Yields, Arlin Feyerherm, Allan Fritz

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

At the 1998 conference, we proposed use of the DYA (differential yielding ability) method to compare the yielding ability of wheat cultivars. In this paper we review the method: its models and assumptions, and then show computation of sample statistics. An example will exhibit the output from performance trial yields when the method is applied in one of the nine ecogeographic areas of fall-planted wheat in the Midwest. Results of comparable outputs over years forecasted which cultivars would become popular with growers in Kansas

Comparative Study Of Time Series And Multiple Regression For Modeling Dependence Of Cattle Body Temperature On Environmental Variables During Heat Stress, M. Pathak, A. M. Parkhurst, R. A. Arias, T. L. Mader

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

During the summer, a challenging thermal environment is known to cause a significant reduction in food intake, growth, milk production, reproduction and even death in cattle. In this study, we attempt to characterize the relationship of cattle body temperature with several environmental variables, such as air temperature, soil surface temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, incoming and outgoing short and long wave radiation. For these variables, the measurements taken over time are correlated. This places severe restrictions on the applicability of many conventional statistical methods that depend on the assumption of independent and identically distributed errors. In addition to …

Statistical Issues In Next-Generation Sequencing, Paul L. Auer, R. W. Doerge

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

High throughput deep-sequencing or next-generation sequencing has emerged as an exciting new tool in a great number of applications (e.g., variant discovery, profiling of histone modifications, identifying transcription factor binding sites, resequencing, and transcriptome characterization). Even though this technology has generated unprecedented amounts of data in the scientific community few studies have looked carefully at its inherent variability. Recent studies of mRNA expression levels found little appreciable technical variation in Illumina’s Solexa sequencing platform (a next-generation sequencing device). Although these results are encouraging, they are limited to a specific platform and application, and have been made without any attention to …