Digital Commons Network^™

Environmental Implications Of Modern Food Production: An Analysis For The Conscious Consumer, Jessica T. Coming

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores the pathways by which agriculture affects the environment and determines which foods have the greatest climate, water, and land impacts. Agricultural effects on the environment are extensive, from loss of habitat and declines in regional biodiversity to disruption of global nutrient cycles and climate change. Global food production accounts for 26-34% of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, makes up 38-46% of habitable land, and is responsible for 70% of freshwater extraction. The effect of agriculture on the environment is most significantly dictated by what type of food is being produced. Animal-based food products consistently have the highest …

From The Ground Up: A Complex Systems Approach To Climate Change Adaptation In Agriculture, Karen Buchsbaum

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to global agriculture and food security. Small farms are especially vulnerable to the local impacts of large-scale drivers of change. Effective adaptation in agriculture requires working across scales, and geographic, political, and disciplinary boundaries to address barriers. I use elements of case study, agent-based modeling and serious games, to design a model of farmer decision-making using the sociocognitive framework of climate change adaptation. I examine how adaptation functions as a process, how complex dynamics influence farmer behavior, and how individual decisions influence collective behavior in response to climate change. This novel approach to adaptation …

Tennessee Forestry Commission 2024 Annual Report, Tennessee. Department Of Agriculture.

Forestry Commission Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Waterbird-Perceived Damage, Control Measures, And Economic Implications For Rice Production In The Brazilian Cerrado, Demetrio Luis Guadagnin, Alexandre Afonso Meyer, João Augusto Rossi Borges, Fernanda Maia Justo

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Waterbirds have the potential to inflict economic damage to crops. However, is rice (Oryza sativa) production in the Brazilian Cerrado significantly affected by waterbirds? This study aimed to assess the extent of waterbird damage on irrigated rice production in Central Brazil. We conducted surveys of waterbird populations in rice agroecosystem habitats throughout the cultivation cycle and analyzed the expenses associated with waterbird-induced yield losses and the control measures employed by farmers. The 2 most prevalent waterbird species observed were Dendrocygna viduatta and D. autumnalis, comprising 68.6% of all recorded waterbirds. These species were more frequently encountered and …

Efficacy Of A Laser As A Starling Deterrent And Its Effect On Lactating Dairy Cow Behavior, Callan A. Lichtenwalter, Marcos Marcondes, Kyle R. Taylor, Craig Mcconnel, Amber Adams Progar

Human–Wildlife Interactions

European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) cause damage (including structural damage) on dairies, eat cattle feed, and can potentially spread disease through their fecal matter. Deterring starlings from dairies without affecting cow (Bos taurus) welfare is vital, and lasers have been effective starling deterrence tools in urban roosts and in some crops. To evaluate if the use of lasers on dairies would affect starling use of freestall barns as night roosts, or lactating cow behavior, 1 laser was installed in each of the 2 freestall barns at the Knott Dairy Center at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA. …

Artificial Intelligence Teamwork For Agricultural Information Service Delivery In A Changing World: A Paradigm Shift, Taiwo Bosede Ajayi Dr, Onaade Ojo Dr, Modupe Atinuke Otuyalo, Wosilat Omolara Oyeniyi, Oluwole Ibiyem Ogunyemi Dr, Rufus Dirinfo Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

As the global agricultural landscape faces unprecedented challenges driven by climate change, population growth, and shifting consumer demands, there is a pressing need for innovative solutions to ensure food security and sustainable agricultural practices. This paper explores the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in reshaping how agricultural information is developed, disseminated, and utilized to enhance service delivery. AI-powered technologies, including machine learning, data analytics, and automation, are revolutionizing agriculture by providing real-time insights, optimizing resource allocation, and improving decision-making for farmers, policymakers, and stakeholders across the agricultural value chain. This research delves into the multifaceted applications of AI in …

Analyzing Stakeholder Perceptions On Biogas Production Incentives Under California’S Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Emily Read

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Accounting for more than half of California’s methane emissions, the dairy and livestock sector has become a central focus for the state’s emission reduction efforts. As a leader in climate policy, California’s approach to addressing agricultural methane emissions has the potential to shape the future of livestock agriculture on a national and global scale. The state has prioritized anaerobic digesters as the primary strategy for addressing livestock methane, a decision that has been both widely contested and strongly supported by stakeholders. This thesis investigates stakeholder perceptions on livestock biogas under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) using interview and survey …

Innovative Approaches And Challenges In Brunei's Agricultural Management, Nuramalina Manshor, Ulaganathan Subramanian

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

The management and development in agriculture attract agricultural economic science for the pricing, business, farm policy, and financial knowledge. It conjointly draws on plant and animal sciences for soil, seed and fertilizer information, weed control, insect management, and rationing and breeding; agricultural engineering knowledge for farmhouses, vehicles, irrigation, field drying, drainage, and management of erosions; and data on human behavior in Science and Social Science.

Assessment Of Spatial Distribution Patterns And Infestation Risk Over Time Of Spotted Lanterfly (Lycorma Delicatula) In New York State, Alanna Richman

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive treehopper native to Asia. It was first introduced to Pennsylvania in 2014, and as of 2020 it has expanded to New York state. Their preferred host tree is the invasive tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), but they will feed on over 173 different plants worldwide. Preferred host species in New York state include agricultural vegetation such as grape vines and fruit trees. Positive Spotted Lanternfly site data collected by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets and iMapInvasives were analyzed using ArcGIS Pro to assess spatial distribution patterns. …

Complex, Diverse And Changing Agribusiness And Livelihood Systems In The Amazon [Complexidade, Diversidade E Mudanças No Cenário Agricultural Na Amazônia], Francisco De Assis Costa, Eduardo D. Assad, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Eduardo S. Brondizio, Philip M. Fearnside, Rachael Garrett, Susanna Hecht, Sebastian Heilpern, David Mcgrath, Gustavo Oliveira, Henrique Dos Santos Pereira, Marianne Schmink

Sustainability and Social Justice

Finding pathways to more sustainable agriculture and resource use remains the most pressing challenge for Amazonian countries. Characterizing recent changes in the structure and types of agrarian production systems, this review identifies responses to deal with the challenges and opportunities to promote more sustainable production and extraction economies in the Amazon. While regional agriculture and resource economies rest on a rich diversity of producers, knowledge, and production systems, the expansion of agribusiness enterprises has come to dominate the distribution of subsidies, institutional support, and logistical infrastructure. These trends are associated with forest loss and degradation, pollution of waterways, pressures on …

Isolation And Characterization Of Microbes From Agricultural Fields And Their Evaluation For The Control Of Plant Pests, Hira Liaqat Ali, Sumaira Mazhar, Afeefa Chaudhry

Journal of Bioresource Management

Plant diseases due to pests cause huge loss to crop fields every year. For the control of plant pest, pesticides are under use. Fusarium wilt is caused by phytopathogen Fusarium oxysporum. More than 100 species were affected due to this disease caused by this virus. Fungi also affect onion plant crop yield every year, when chemical pesticides are applied to onion crop field. It will increase the cost of onion production and it is also dangerous for the environment and living organism other than the targeted pests. A number of microorganisms like fungi, bacteria and nematode are currently being …

Living Among Wildlife: Elevating Human-Wildlife Interactions And Coexistence, Bridget Rebecca Murphy

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

After a semester of learning, both in class and in nature, my writing honed in further on this human-nature divide. To me, I see humans as part of nature – as we are mammals, animals, part of the food chain, biological beings no higher than others on our planet. We have simply constructed this false narrative around us within our societies, minds and media that embeds this division between us and nature, between us and wildlife. Humans have been managing, stewarding, living off and within landscapes for thousands of years. As time and technology evolved, a lot of people began …

We Built This Country For Free – Using A Phenomenological Approach For (Re) Imagining Mississippi Black Small-Scale Farmers, Destiny Denise Crockett

Theses and Dissertations

By the early 20th century, in 1920, Black farmers owned 14% of US farmland. Today, in the 21st century, Black farmers own less than 2% of US farmland. The demise of Black farmers and Black farmland in US Agriculture is a direct result of social, political, and racial weaponization against their foodways, culture, and livelihoods. The history concerning the plight of Black farmers goes beyond USDA's historical discrimination but enters a position where racism is embedded and perpetuated within the structure of US agriculture. In effect, Black small-scale farmers have reaped the downfall of this system, enduring racial biases and …

The Status And Prospects Of Phytoremediation Of Heavy Metals, Aniruddha Acharya, Enrique Perez, Miller Maddox-Mandolini, Hania De La Fuente

Faculty Publications - Biological Sciences

The release of heavy metals into the agricultural soil and waterbodies has been accelerated due to anthropogenic activities. They are not usually required for biological functions thus, their accumulation in biological system poses serious threat to health and environment globally. Phytoremediation offers a safe, inexpensive, and ecologically sustainable technique to clean habitats contaminated with heavy metals. Though several plants have been identified and used as a potential candidate for such phytoremediation, the technique is still at its formative stage and has been mostly confined to laboratory and greenhouses. However, recently several field studies have shown promising results that can propel …

The Bronze Harvester: Ravaging And Plundering In Greek Warfare, Nicholas Lindberg

Classics

This article argues that the purpose of ravaging in Greek warfare was not to goad the enemy into fighting or to cause systematic economic harm but to facilitate plundering. The cereal harvest was commonly chosen as a time for invasion, because it maximized the amount of plunder an invading force could expect to find in the enemy countryside. While ravagers were unlikely to cause permanent economic harm to a community as a whole, they could imperil the livelihoods of individual farmers, both directly through theft and destruction and indirectly by preventing farmers from processing the harvest in a timely fashion. …

Breaking The Loop: Strategies For Fighting Climate Change On U.S. Farms, Ashley Barry

Honors Capstones

Climate change is an increasingly urgent area of research due to the hardships it causes for lands and communities across the globe. Specifically in regard to the United States (U.S.), climate change has many concerning implications on our agricultural system. Increased weather hazards, decreased crop production, and drought are just a few of the hardships American farmers are facing in their fight to keep their farms alive and feed their communities, despite a rapidly changing climate. This study investigates how farmers can fight and prevent climate change through the use of specific mitigation and adaptation strategies on their farms. Semi- …

Letter From The United States Department Of Agriculture

Florence Dwyer Letters

A high-ranking executive within the United States Department of Agriculture corresponds with Florence P. Dwyer, congresswoman of New Jersey, stating information about farm and conservation programs.

The Detection Of Putative Recessive Lethal Haplotypes In Irish Sheep Populations, Rory Mcauley

ORBioM (Open Research BioSciences Meeting)

In livestock populations, recessive lethal alleles are a known contributor to poor reproductive performance due to embryonic death in homozygous individuals. Despite their lethal effect in the recessive form, these alleles may be maintained at high frequencies among carrier animals because of their positive pleiotropic effects on economically important traits. Although several such recessive alleles have been identified in cattle and pig populations, limited studies have been completed in sheep, and none within Irish sheep populations. Genotype data for 69,034 animals from five major Irish sheep breeds genotyped on a variety of panels was available for this study. Only animals …

Emulating Evolutionary Principles For Agriculture: Designing A Biomimetic Vertical Garden By Mimicking Tracheophyte Evolution, Earl M. Riddell

Honors Theses

Biodiversity, particularly in the world’s equatorial regions, is under threat from human industry. Among the most daunting problems facing these biomes is that of the food industry’s continual expansion into what was once rainforest. Expansive monoculture (large cultivated swaths of a single crop species) are the primary threat to tropical biodiversity. This method of agriculture is harmful because it requires the clearing of land that once supported thousands of species in order to replace it with rows of a single crop. If more plants could be grown in a smaller horizontal square footage, farms need not rely so heavily on …

Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia Annual Report 2022/2023, Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

During 2022/23, the Council continued to monitor biosecurity related developments at national and state levels and proactively engaged with industry, community, and government on biosecurity matters.

The statutory review of the BAM Act also provided opportunities for Council’s previous reports and recommendations to be used as a solid information source for the responsible reviewing agency and its consultants.

A Text Analytics Model For Agricultural Knowledge Discovery And Sustainable Food Production: A Case Study From Oklahoma Panhandle, Ali Bagheri, Saleh Taghvaeian, Dursun Delen

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

With recent increases in the use of social media in agricultural communities, many farmers are showing more and more interest in participating in social media and sharing different aspects of their profession with peers and policymakers. However, researchers have not explored this valuable data source well enough to help improve agribusiness decision-making. This study aims to investigate the potential capability and richness of social media for agricultural knowledge discovery, which can help monitor, detect, and predict critical agricultural events and activities and develop more sustainable food production and agricultural economy. This research utilizes text-mining tools and techniques to collect, process, …

Next-Generation Crispr Gene-Drive Systems Using Cas12a Nuclease, Sara Sanz Juste, Emily M Okamoto, Christina Nguyen, Xuechun Feng, Víctor López Del Amo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

One method for reducing the impact of vector-borne diseases is through the use of CRISPR-based gene drives, which manipulate insect populations due to their ability to rapidly propagate desired genetic traits into a target population. However, all current gene drives employ a Cas9 nuclease that is constitutively active, impeding our control over their propagation abilities and limiting the generation of alternative gene drive arrangements. Yet, other nucleases such as the temperature sensitive Cas12a have not been explored for gene drive designs in insects. to address this, we herein present a proof-of-concept gene-drive system driven by Cas12a that can be regulated …

Homesteading In Maine: Motivations And Current Trends, Alexandrea Merchant

Master's Theses and Capstones

People in the United States who practice the alternative lifestyle of “homesteading” seek to live self-sufficient lives by growing food, building dwellings, and living with resolute autonomy. Great variation exists in the degree of self-sufficiency attained and desired by individuals engaged in homesteading. It was the purpose of this study to illuminate the motivations underlying adopting and engagement in this lifestyle in Maine homesteaders. Through interviews with 10 homesteaders in Maine and participant observation, I documented the narratives and elucidated the motivations of this under researched group. Common themes emerged. Participants expressed concerns about personal health, the environment, and institutions. …

Building Buy-In: A Qualitative Study Seeking To Understand Stakeholder Perceptions Of A University Extension System Through The Lens Of External Branding, Anissa M. Zagonel, Lauri Baker, Ricky Telg

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

A brand is an organization’s link to its audiences. When the audience is asked to participate in building a brand culture, they are more likely to hold a favorable attitude toward the brand and be loyal to the brand long term. The purpose of this study was to understand the UF/IFAS Extension brand’s image from the perspective of the brand’s stakeholders, specifically focusing on brand awareness, audience groups, and potential future obstacles for the brand. A series of six online focus groups were conducted during the spring/summer of 2021 using Zoom. Major themes identified were a public knowledge gap related …

Pronghorn Survival And Resource Selection In Western Nebraska's Agriculturally Dominated Landscape, Katie Piecora

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska’s pronghorn population has been stable over the last decade, yet their presence on the landscape remains a contentious subject amongst private landowners. Conversion of grassland for crop production and increased anthropogenic activity has drastically altered pronghorn behavior throughout their current range, however basic ecology and resource use by pronghorn in Nebraska remains poorly understood. Establishing baseline population metrics and seasonal patterns of resource use for this population at the eastern periphery of the species range is critical to guide management actions. We deployed GPS collars on 110 adult pronghorn to quantify survival, mortality risk, and seasonal resource selection in …

Skeleton Weed In Western Australia: Control Program 2023–2024, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity bulletins

Skeleton weed can reduce crop yields by competing for moisture and nutrients (mainly nitrogen). This guide helps you manage and eradicate skeleton weed infestations on your property, and helps to stop the spread across WA. Without the coordinated program aimed at controlling the spread, skeleton weed would now be much more abundant and widely established throughout cereal growing areas.

Skeleton Weed In Western Australia: Management Guide, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity bulletins

Skeleton weed can reduce crop yields by competing for moisture and nutrients (mainly nitrogen). This guide helps you manage and eradicate skeleton weed infestations on your property, and helps to stop the spread across WA.

Without the coordinated program aimed at controlling the spread, skeleton weed would now be much more abundant and widely established throughout cereal growing areas.

Industry Funding Scheme (grains, seeds and hay)

The Grains, Seeds and Hay Industry Funding Scheme is overseen by a seven-member Industry Management Committee. These 2 groups are comprised of producers and others with an interest in the industry. They meet in …

What Regenerative Agriculture Can Teach Medical Students About Human Health, David Ebbott, Dimitrios Papanagnou

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Cover Crop Application On Dredged Sediments Increases Corn Yield Through Microorganism-Associated Enzyme-Driven Nutrient Mineralization, Ashley N. Julian, Louise M. Stevenson, Megan A. Rúa

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background & Aims

Common strategies to mitigate soil degradation of agricultural soils include cover crop application and soil amendment addition. Applying dredged sediments as a soil amendment is gaining popularity since they often provide benefits other amendments lack; however, their use with cover crops is largely unexplored. To understand how cover crop use changes the restorative properties of dredged sediments, we assessed soil physical and chemical properties, enzymatic activities, and corn yield for plots of dredged sediments with and without a cover crop.

Methods

We assessed soil texture, bulk density, water content, pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, calcium, magnesium, …

Hydroponics For A Bakery, Celia Kinneary

Interdisciplinary Studies: Student Publications

The food system is very important for humankind, but due to its complexities it is not very sustainable. Industrial farming uses many chemicals to grow crops and it is the main practice farmers use. This method of farming wastes water, pollutes water systems, destroys soil, and decreases biodiversity. These crops are then used to create different products within the food industry. New methods of farming such as hydroponics need to be pursued to prevent these unsustainable practices. They have far fewer impacts on water waste, water pollution, soil destruction, or the decrease of biodiversity. This will also ensure food industry …