Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On Climate Change-Related Extreme Events, Alvin E. Harris

Dissertations

There are increasing and urgent calls for global economies to join in the fight against the impacts of climate change (World Bank, 2020). With reports such as the World Bank (2020) of climate change costing billions of dollars in losses for economies, the purpose of my dissertation is to examine the effects of climate change-related extreme events and their potential economic effects in three areas: agriculture, migration, and the labor market.

My first essay focuses on the factors that influence farmers’ perception of risk and adaptive strategies against the effects of climate change-related extreme events. I examine whether farmers’ social …

A View From Above: Alternative Perspectives On Smallholder Livelihoods And Agrobiodiversity Conservation In Northern Ecuador, Chris Hair

Dissertations

Food security and deintensification of agriculture are serious concerns in Latin America. Agriculture, especially at small-scale subsistence levels, is hard work, and comes with some economic and physical risk. Transitions from traditional multi-cropping to mono-cropping systems introduce two particular risks that are new to most smallholders: (1) the loss of agricultural diversity and (2) the potential for widespread failure when focusing on the cultivation of a single crop. This research explores how Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), or drones, can be used for rapid inventories of crop diversity and to enhance crop management techniques on small-scale farms. In the community …

Changing Agricultural Landscapes: An Investigation Of Dragon Fruit Production In Southern Vietnam., Laura Krauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural transition represents an essential component of land-use and land-cover change in developing countries across the world, as economic and social factors pressure agriculturalists out of traditional subsistence farming into food commodity production. Modernization has altered modes of income, land ownership, and livelihood in Southeast Asia drastically in recent years. The Bình Thuận Province of southern Vietnam experienced a particularly radical transformation with the introduction of dragon fruit cultivation, which has been profoundly encouraged by outside markets in China, Australia, and Japan. This research combines remote sensing and qualitative research to examine and characterize a changing agricultural landscape in rural …

Chronic Kidney Disease From Non-Traditional Causes Throughout Central America, Abigail K. Watson

Senior Theses

Throughout many Central American countries, incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been on the rise. The disease mainly affects agricultural workers and differs from typical CKD. Patients in these countries often do not have preexisting conditions such as diabetes or hypertension known to be traditional causes of CKD. They also experience increased damage to the kidney tubules, rather than the glomeruli generally more heavily impacted. There has been speculation regarding the causes of CKDnT (chronic kidney disease of nontraditional causes), but no consensus has been reached. Two major hypotheses to explain the high prevalence among Central American sugarcane workers …

Local Knowledge And Climate Information: The Role Of Trust And Risk In Agricultural Decisions About Drought, Adam J. Snitker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change is projected to dramatically impact agricultural production across the world. Agricultural producers must adapt to changing conditions by implementing practices and utilizing knowledge that creates resilient operations. This study explores how Montana farmers and ranchers use of different types of knowledge during periods of drought and how risk perceptions and trust influence the use of knowledge. To understand the role trust and risk in producers’ use of local knowledge and climate information, I conducted five focus groups with 34 Montana agricultural producers. Producers explained that they encounter many agriculture-related risks, including uncertain forecasts, financial losses, and adverse weather. …

Producing Tradition: International Standards And Development In Jordanian Olive Oil, Brittany Eleanor Cook

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation project examines how value is changed and created through organic certification and the universalizing ideas of capacity building within the olive oil industry in Jordan and how these shifts affect the social and material processes of production. I approach organic olive oil production in Jordan as one method that producers use in accessing markets and capacity building. By shifting from looking strictly at organic certified farms to examining the larger context of capacity building and international standards, I identify how organic is just one strategy in a larger effort to diversify Jordanian agricultural production and to access global …

Uncertainty Analysis Of The Performance Of A System Of Best Management Practices For Achieving Phosphorus Load Reduction To Surface Waters, Jason D.M. Igras

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The repeated occurrence of Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms suggests an inadequate phosphorus management system that results in excessive loads to the lake. In response, Canadian and United States’ governments have issued a new management objective, a 40% reduction in total and dissolved reactive phosphorus loads relative to 2008. To provide scientific evidence to guide managers toward achieving their management objective, we used the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 31010 Bowtie Risk Analysis Tool to analyze the performance of the phosphorus management system. The effectiveness of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and their adoption were combined into a Bayesian belief …

Crops Or Crafts? Changes In Land Use In The Imbabura Valley Of Ecuador, Christopher Richard Hair

Master's Theses

In rural societies where urbanization and modernization are contributing to rapid growth, changes in land use can both reflect and bring about broader changes within a community. This study seeks to investigate changes in land use in the Imbabura valley of Ecuador from the perspective of the local inhabitants. To accomplish this, three data collection techniques were employed: repeat photography, ethnographic interviews, and archival research. Repeat photography involves re-photographing historic photographs from the original site. A combination of 35 historic photographs taken in the 1950s were re-photographed during the summer of 2015. The resulting repeat photo pairs were used in …

(Re)Localizing Finland’S Foodshed: Grassroots Movements In Food Distribution And Urban Agriculture, Sophia E. Albov

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Finland’s agricultural landscape and food production systems have deep societal roots and intimate connections to the Finnish cultural identity. The thesis explores this cultural heritage through an examination of grassroots food distribution networks rapidly diffusing across Finland and an examination of urban agricultural practices in the capital city of Helsinki. This thesis aims to address the following questions: (1) What is the role of grassroots food distribution networks in Finland, and to what extent are they creating alternative farmer-consumer linkages that support eating local? (2) How is urban agriculture structured and organized in Helsinki and within the broader context of …

Agriculture, Influence, And Instability Under The Ancien Régime: 1708-1768, Adam J. Polk

Masters Theses

The French Revolution has been studied from myriad perspectives. The majority of scholarship focuses on the political and urban chaos of the times. Agricultural conditions and the influence of onerous taxation and stagnant agricultural options are given only a cursory examination in most research. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between agronomic and environmental conditions and the eruption of violence in urban centers during the French Revolution and the years leading up to it (1708-1768). This period prior to the French Revolution serves as a template to investigate the nature of the rural-agricultural influences, with a particular focus paid …