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Full-Text Articles in Agronomy and Crop Sciences

The Elimination Of Madagascar’S Vanilla Marketing Board, Ten Years On, Laure C. Dutoit, Olivier Cadot, Jaime De Melo Aug 2006

The Elimination Of Madagascar’S Vanilla Marketing Board, Ten Years On, Laure C. Dutoit, Olivier Cadot, Jaime De Melo

Olivier Cadot

This paper explores how the elimination of Madagascar’s Vanilla Marketing Board (VMB) in 1993 affected prices paid to farmers, incentives, and regional indicators of poverty and inequality. After steadily losing market share, Madagascar has been able to regain some of the lost ground since the mid-1990s. Margins between FOB and farmgate prices have narrowed down and analysis of changes in poverty and inequality suggests some positive impact in regions where vanilla is grown, though it is difficult to control for other intervening factors. A counterfactual analysis based on a model of Cournot competition between vanilla traders suggests that whatever limited …


Carbon Sequestration In Dryland Soils And Plant Residue As Influenced By Tillage And Crop Rotation, Andrew W. Lenssen, Upendra M. Sainju, Thecan Caesar-Thonthat, Jed Waddell Jul 2006

Carbon Sequestration In Dryland Soils And Plant Residue As Influenced By Tillage And Crop Rotation, Andrew W. Lenssen, Upendra M. Sainju, Thecan Caesar-Thonthat, Jed Waddell

Andrew W. Lenssen

Long-term use of conventional tillage and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–fallow systems in the northern Great Plains have resulted in low soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. We examined the effects of two tillage practices [conventional till (CT) and no-till (NT)], five crop rotations [continuous spring wheat (CW), spring wheat–fallow (W–F), spring wheat–lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) (W–L), spring wheat–spring wheat–fallow (W–W–F), and spring wheat–pea (Pisum sativum L.)–fallow (W–P–F)], and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) planting on plant C input, SOC, and particulate organic carbon (POC). A field experiment was conducted in a mixture of Scobey clay loam (fine-loamy, mixed, Aridic Argiborolls) and Kevin …


Cropping Sequence And Tillage System Influences Annual Crop Production And Water Use In Semiarid Montana, Usa, Andrew W. Lenssen, G. D. Johnson, G. R. Carlson May 2006

Cropping Sequence And Tillage System Influences Annual Crop Production And Water Use In Semiarid Montana, Usa, Andrew W. Lenssen, G. D. Johnson, G. R. Carlson

Andrew W. Lenssen

Available water is typically the biggest constraint to spring wheat production in the northern Great Plains of the USA. The most common rotation for spring wheat is with summer fallow, which is used to accrue additional soil moisture. Tillage during fallow periods controls weeds, which otherwise would use substantial amounts of water, decreasing the efficiency of fallow. Chemical fallow and zero tillage systems improve soil water conservation, allowing for increased cropping intensity. We conducted a field trial from 1998 through 2003 comparing productivity and water use of crops in nine rotations under two tillage systems, conventional and no-till. All rotations …


Conference Keynoter Defends Practices Buried In New England’S Agricultural History, Plans For Future, Madeleine K. Charney Apr 2006

Conference Keynoter Defends Practices Buried In New England’S Agricultural History, Plans For Future, Madeleine K. Charney

Madeleine K. Charney

Brian Donahue, environmental historian, debunks the myths of early New England farming practices.


Tillage And Crop Rotation Effects On Dryland Soil And Residue Carbon And Nitrogen, Upendra M. Sainju, Andrew W. Lenssen, Thecan Caesar-Tonthat, Jed Waddell Mar 2006

Tillage And Crop Rotation Effects On Dryland Soil And Residue Carbon And Nitrogen, Upendra M. Sainju, Andrew W. Lenssen, Thecan Caesar-Tonthat, Jed Waddell

Andrew W. Lenssen

Sustainable management practices are needed to enhance soil productivity in degraded dryland soils in the northern Great Plains. We examined the effects of two tillage practices [conventional till (CT) and no-till (NT)], five crop rotations [continuous spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (CW), spring wheat-fallow (W-F), spring wheat-lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) (W-L), spring wheat-spring wheat-fallow (W-W-F), and spring wheat-pea (Pisum sativum L.)-fallow (W-P-F)], and a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on plant biomass returned to the soil, residue C and N, and soil organic C (SOC), soil total N (STN), and particulate organic C and N (POC and PON) at the 0- …


Incorporating Targeted Grazing Into Farming Systems, Andrew W. Lenssen, Patrick Hatfield, Hayes Goosey, Sue Blodgett Jan 2006

Incorporating Targeted Grazing Into Farming Systems, Andrew W. Lenssen, Patrick Hatfield, Hayes Goosey, Sue Blodgett

Andrew W. Lenssen

When incorporating targeted grazing into farming systems, livestock producers and farm operators need assurance that the benefits from their activities are worth their investments. This chapter will focus on how integrating grazing, particularly with sheep and goats, into farming systems can offer those benefits. The concepts are not new. Cropping systems were once integrated with livestock production: Livestock gained forage value from crop aftermath, crops were grown to sustain livestock, and livestock were used as implements to produce crops. Today, few cropping systems include livestock. Sheep and goats are traditionally produced on rangelands or pasture forages and supplemented during winter …


Response Surface Methodology For Optimizing The Pre-Processing Conditions During Canning Of A Newly Developed And Promising Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata) Variety, Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, Samuel Yenyi, Esther Sakyi-Dawson Dec 2005

Response Surface Methodology For Optimizing The Pre-Processing Conditions During Canning Of A Newly Developed And Promising Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata) Variety, Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, Samuel Yenyi, Esther Sakyi-Dawson

Professor Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa

Cowpea (IT87D195Y) seeds were canned with the objective of investigating the optimal pre-processing conditions that would yield the best quality canned product from the newly developed cowpea variety. Pre-canning procedures such as blanching time, soaking time and sodium hexametaphosphate [(NaPO3)6] salt concentration were used as the independent variables for a Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD). The pre-processing parameters obtained from the CCRD were used for the canning of the cowpeas and the quality characteristics (moisture content, pH of the drained liquid, drained weight, splitting of the seeds, leached solids and seed hardness) of the canned products were studied using response …