Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Communism To The European Union: A Case Study Of Agricultural And Economic Development In Poland, Samantha Anuszewska Anders

Economics Theses

This paper explores the Poland’s agricultural value added per worker as an indicator of economic success post-Soviet era and into its transition to the European Union. Holding GDP and other factors constant, our model shows that Poland’s value added per worker is superior to most other countries in Europe. This success is attributed to Poland’s private agricultural system, which was retained despite Soviet influence. We further conclude that countries that produce a high quantity of potatoes and rye, Poland’s top crops, on average have lower value added per worker.

Wetland Manipulation In The Yalahau Region Of The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, Jennifer P. Mathews

Jennifer P Mathews

Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily …

Lifeways In The Northern Maya Lowlands: New Approaches To Archaeology In The Yucatán Peninsula, Jennifer Mathews, Bethany Morrison

Jennifer P Mathews

The flat, dry reaches of the northern Yucatan Peninsula have been largely ignored by archaeologists drawn to the more illustrious sites of the south. This book is the first volume to focus entirely on the northern Maya lowlands, presenting a broad cross-section of current research projects in the region by both established and up-and-coming scholars. To address the heretofore unrecognized importance of the northern lowlands in Maya prehistory, the contributors cover key topics relevant to Maya studies: the environmental and historical significance of the region, the archaeology of both large and small sites, the development of agriculture, resource management, ancient …

At The Intersection Of Human Agency And Technology: Genetically Modified Organisms, James Libengood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the Neolithic period and the rise of agriculture along Mesopotamia’s “Fertile Crescent,” greater societies have formed thus requiring laws and governance to ensure their continued preservation. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi is one such example of how agricultural technologies directly created new social and institutional structures in codifying slavery into law, or how mercantile transactions are to be conducted. Similarly, GMOs are the result of modern agricultural technologies that are altering laws and society as a result of their implementation. This transformation informs the central inquiries of my research question: Why are GMOs necessary, and what influences do they …

Settlement-Size Scaling Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems In The New World, W. Randall Haas, Cynthia J. Klink, Greg J. Maggard, Mark S. Aldenderfer

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Settlement size predicts extreme variation in the rates and magnitudes of many social and ecological processes in human societies. Yet, the factors that drive human settlement-size variation remain poorly understood. Size variation among economically integrated settlements tends to be heavy tailed such that the smallest settlements are extremely common and the largest settlements extremely large and rare. The upper tail of this size distribution is often formalized mathematically as a power-law function. Explanations for this scaling structure in human settlement systems tend to emphasize complex socioeconomic processes including agriculture, manufacturing, and warfare-behaviors that tend to differentially nucleate and disperse populations …

Review Of Sweet Treats Around The World: An Encyclopedia Of Food And Culture, Rebecca Tolley

ETSU Faculty Works

Review of Sweet Treats Around the World : An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Timothy G. Roufs and Kathleen Smyth Roufs. 2014. 623p, 9781610692205, $100.00

Characterizing And Mapping The Field Scale Spatial Variability Of Surface Horizon Soil Properties And Water Content With Noninvasive Em38, Ryan W.R. Schroeder, Robert Austin, Joshua Heitman, Adam Howard

Purdue GIS Day

The spatial variability of physical soil properties at the field scale is increasingly important in agriculture and natural resource management. Changes in topography, parent material, management practices, erosion/deposition rates, etc. can influence the variability of the soil’s physical properties and help guide management and land use plans. The Geonics EM38 is a noninvasive geophysical sensor which is used to measure the apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) of the soil through electromagnetic induction – primarily influenced by clay content, soil moisture content, and salinity. Soil moisture has been found to be a significant contributor to ECa and is therefore useful in determining …

The Influence Of Gendered Roles And Responsibilities On The Adoption Of Technologies That Mitigate Drought Risk: The Case Of Drought-Tolerant Maize Seed In Eastern Uganda, Monica Fisher, Edward R. Carr

Sustainability and Social Justice

Gender-disaggregated, household survey data for Uganda are used to examine how gendered roles and responsibilities influence adoption of drought-tolerant (DT) maize, a new technology that can help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa adapt to drought risk. Multinomial logit (MNL) regression results indicate that, compared to men farmers, women farmers have much lower adoption of DT maize, mainly due to differences in resource access, notably land, agricultural information, and credit. Differentiation of women and men farmers by various characteristics reveals that whether a male farmer was younger or older, or poor or non-poor has no significant influence on DT maize adoption; …

Competency Requirements And Levels Of Lips For Updating Information Services For Agricultural Research In Nigerian University Libraries, Austin Jude Chikodi Mole Mnla

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

ABSTRACT

The study examined the competency requirements and levels of library and information professionals (LIPs)for updating information services for agricultural research in Nigerian university libraries. Employing descriptive survey design, all the 89 library and information professionals (LIPs) in six federal university libraries (three conventional and three agricultural universities) selected based on purposive sampling method were used for the study. The research employed the use of structured questionnaire, code-named, 'UPINSEQ' and an observation checklist as instrument for collecting data. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of …

Working With Locals To Restore Biodiversity To A Rubber Dominated Landscape, Francis Commercon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Xishuangbanna, in Yunnan,China, contains the country’s highest concentration of biodiversity. Since the 1980s,rubber plantations have replaced a significant portion of the prefecture’s lowland Seasonal Tropical Rainforest, leading to wildlife habitat loss and other environmental issues.Monoculture farming practices also leave farmers economically vulnerable to market fluctuations. To learn the best solutions for increasing ecosystem services and income stability in rubber-dominated areas, the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) project Green Rubber engages smallholders directly in establishing and maintaining scientifically rigorous intercropping experiments in their villages.

Using Man’e village and the Green Rubber project as a case study, I asked to what degree and …

Plenary Presentation On George Washington Carver At The Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, 2014, Kenneth M. Quinn

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

No abstract provided.

Nexus 2014/15: Carver 150th, Cooperative Extension 100th, And 1890 Land Grant 125th Birth Year Anniversaries, Walter A. Hill

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

No abstract provided.

George Washington Carver And The Ancient Egyptian Connection, Jon Adkins

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Noncommercial Open Interest On Corn And Soybean Futures Price Volatility, William Grady Ferguson

Masters Theses

Since the early 2000s a dramatic rise in institutional investment in agricultural futures markets has occurred. This rise may have caused an increase in price volatility, potentially resulting in added risk for farmers, agribusinesses, and consumers. Currently, regulators, hedgers, exchanges, and speculators lack information regarding how modern investments in agricultural futures markets affect short-term price volatility. The objective of this analysis is to examine the effect of institutional investment on short-term price volatility for corn and soybean futures markets. Using daily price data for corn and soybean futures from the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), several measures of price volatility …

Nature, Extent, Causes And Issues In Agricultural Distress, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

This paper explains the nature and extent of distress in Indian agriculture by analytically separating the issues therein into two interrelated domains—the agricultural and the agrarian—the former being about production and the latter about distribution; the former about the farm and the latter about the farmer; the former about the inadequacies and inappropriateness of the agricultural developmental programmes, and the latter about the livelihood of the people involved in or dependent upon agrarian activities. In this broader thinking farmers’ suicides and indebtedness become symptoms of a larger malaise. Drawing on our understanding of farmers’ suicides, we show some interrelated demand-side …

Honey Bees’ Impact On The U.S. Economy, James T. Chisel

Economics Theses

Since Colony Collapse Disorder became front-page news in 2006, popular literature ranging from news articles to White House documents has cited the value that honey bees provide. These numbers in articles often are inconsistent and rarely cite the origin of the stated value. This paper examines the major studies on the economic impact that honey bees have in the United States. Then it discusses the existing errors in these studies’ methodologies and offers a preliminary model that incorporates the full economic effects of honey bees. It then offers some policy suggestions in order to better address the needs of honey …

Slides: Ag Water Sharing: Legal Challenges And Considerations, Peter D. Nichols

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Peter D. Nichols, Esq., Partner, Berg, Hill, Greenleaf and Ruscitti, Boulder, CO

25 slides

Slides: The (Largely) Untold Success Story Of Urban Water Conservation, Peter Mayer

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Peter Mayer, P.E., Water Demand Management

20 slides

Slides: Colorado's Water Plan, Lauren Ris

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Lauren Ris, Assistant Director for Water, Colorado Department of Natural Resources

23 slides

Slides: Six Decades Of Texas Water Planning, Ronald Kaiser

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Ronald Kaiser, Professor of Water Law and Policy, Chair of Graduate Water Degree Program, Texas A&M University

32 slides

Slides: Food Production: Technical Challenges In Agricultural Water Conservation, Perry Cabot

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Dr. Perry Cabot, Research Scientist and Extension Specialist, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University

35 slides

A High-Altitude Balloon Platform For Determining Regional Uptake Of Carbon Dioxide Over Agricultural Landscapes, Angela M. Bouche

DePaul Discoveries

Interactions between the biosphere and atmosphere are an important part of the global carbon cycle, and quantifying the carbon dioxide exchanges between them is helpful in predicting the uptake of carbon dioxide from anthropogenic sources by the biosphere in the future. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural systems cover a large part of the landscape, so understanding their role in influencing the global carbon budget is crucial as anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide grow larger. Carbon dioxide exchanges can be measured by eddy covariance at the ecosystem level (bottom-up approach) or regionally by inversion techniques (top-down approach). Here we describe …

September 2013, Colorado Front Range Flooding, And Impacts On Agriculture And Irrigation Infrastructure: A Case Study In The Left Hand Ditch System, Boulder County, Colorado, Nick Ludolph

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Flooding can cause massive harm to the agricultural sector by flooding fields and damaging the infrastructure that is essential for agricultural activities. Crops are often lost and repairs may be necessary to restore irrigation systems to functional status. This research aims to quantify the damages and losses experienced from the unprecedented September 2013 flooding event in Boulder County Colorado’s Left Hand Ditch Company service area. Damages are cataloged and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies were used to estimate economic impact and determine the landscape characteristics of lands where the highest rates of flooding occurred. Alfalfa and non-alfalfa hays experienced the …

Taylor, William B. (Fa 808), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archvie Project 808. This collection contains information about south central Kentucky, folklore collected by Western Kentucky University student William B. Taylor for credit in folklore class. Information included in the collection includes such things as agricultural practices, beliefs, and legends from the county.

Branching Out: How Virginia Can Strategically Use Trees To Combat Biodiversity Loss, Taylor Pfeiffer

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Biodiversity loss is a particularly concerning effect of climate change because as greenhouse gas emissions increase global temperatures, decreases in the abundance and diversity of species has reduced ecosystem resiliency to these changes (Verchot et al. 2007). Weakened ecosystems and threatened species decrease the environment’s capacity to provide humans with services like safe drinking water, fuel, and protection from natural disasters, just to name a few (US EPA 2013). The agricultural industry plays a unique role in this environmental conversation, as farmland both contributes to climate change and is jeopardized by the negative effects created by the issue in a …

Rural China In Transition: Changes And Transformations In China’S Agriculture And Rural Sector, John A. Donaldson, Forrest Q. Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Agribusiness companies operating in China are transacting in various forms with small agricultural producers, and in doing so, transforming the household-based agriculture in rural China. We argue that the presence of these distinct forms and the diverging relations between agribusiness and producers show the central importance of China’s collective land rights. China’s unique system of land rights – featuring collective ownership but individualized usage rights – has acted as a powerful force in shaping interactions between agribusiness and direct producers. It provides farmers a source of economic income as well as political bargaining power – albeit to various degrees – …

The Impact Of Agriculture On African Civilization In The 21st Century, Andrew S. Targowski

International Journal of African Development

The purpose of this paper is to define the impact of agriculture on African Civilization in the 21^st century. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary big-picture view of the African Civilizations. The multifaceted layers of civilizations will be analyzed as interdependent with the agricultural development of African societies. Among the findings are: Sub-Saharan Africa falls short of meeting its agricultural needs. Only one of two individual Africans has access to clean and enough water. Energy and supply of electricity are woefully inadequate and unreliable. Agriculture as a foundation for development and modernization for Africa is too limited. Environmental …

Grains. Monsanto Contre Schmeiser D'Annabel Soutar, Mariève Isabel

The Goose

Compte-rendu de Grains. Monsanto contre Schmeiser d'Annabel Soutar.

Integration Of Multi-Temporal Optical And L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (Sar) Imagery For Hierarchical Agricultural Crop Classification In Northeastern Ontario, Canada, Autumn A. Gambles

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study integrated multi-temporal, multispectral optical and L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to classify agricultural crops throughout a single growing season in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Various optical and SAR band/date combinations were tested to identify optimal dates and datasets for crop classification at various phenological stages using both object-based decision tree rulesets and traditional per-pixel strategies. Object-based decision tree classification of 2 pairs of SPOT-5 optical and L-Band ALOS SAR imagery yielded crop identification accuracy results comparable with hierarchically masked per-pixel classification, with corn classes regularly achieving high classification accuracies (+90%). Regardless of classification approach, results indicate that at …

Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Laurie Simmons

Sustainability Education Resources

Your generation has been handed an opportunity: the opportunity to change the story of our culture from one of blind consumption to one of conscious ecological living. As individuals, as a society and as a species, we are facing challenges related to sustainability including economic stability, social justice, resource depletion and waste management, biodiversity preservation, climate adaptation and food and agricultural resilience. In this interdisciplinary course you will learn how to seize this opportunity by working with your peers to research and understand how sustainability in different contexts presents solutions to many of these challenges facing modern society. “Sustainable Living” …