Agribusiness Commons^™

Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range, Terence J. Centner, Ronald C. Griffin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Fence-in laws in most states require ranchers to pay for fences to keep their livestock from trespassing onto others' property. Some states, or jurisdictions within states, have a fence-out rule that requires ranchers' neighbors to pay for fences to keep livestock out. Both rules are Pareto optimal. Using a potential Pareto criterion, we show that a preference for fence-out in some areas may end as conditions change, such as increased nonranching land uses. Changed conditions may have legal consequences. Specific fence-out and fence cost-sharing provisions may be potentially Pareto inefficient and may be challenged for being unconstitutional under the due …

Vegetable Budgeting Handbook For The Manjimup District, Peter Gartrell

Horticulture published reports

Budgeting for existing or proposed business activities are critical in the decision making and implementation chain. Success of any business results from good planning. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Business management involves a revolving cycle of identifying resources and opportunities, setting goals, planning, budgeting, implementing, recording, controlling, revision and reevaluation. This document deals with only one facet of the budgeting phase of the cycle.

The most significant reasons for budgeting are the establishment of the expected outcome and the assessment of risk. By making adjustments to cost and income parameters one can see how sensitive the business or …

Experience In Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Environments Affects Behaviour Of Pigs In A T-Maze Task, Michael Mendl, Hans W. Erhard, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence

Sentience Collection

Previous research showed that pigs reared in substrate-impoverished conditions performed a smaller proportion of their total behavioural repertoire in their home pens (showed lower behavioural diversity), than pigs reared in substrate-enriched conditions. This study examined whether these differences were the result of fundamental changes in behavioural organisation. A T-maze task was used to test the hypothesis that substrate-impoverished pigs are prone to develop fixed, unvarying behaviour which may underlie their reduced behavioural diversity. They were predicted to be poorer at reversing previous response patterns in the maze, and less able to alter their behaviour in response to a novel (distracting) …

Management Of California Oak Woodlands: Uncertainties And Modeling, Jay E. Noel, Richard P. Thompson

Agribusiness

A mathematical policy model of oak woodlands is presented. The model illustrates the policy uncertainties that exist in the management of oak woodlands. These uncertainties include: (1) selection of a policy criterion function, (2) woodland dynamics, (3) initial and final state of the woodland stock. The paper provides a review of each of the uncertainty issues. The final section of the paper describes a modeling approach that can be developed to assist policy makers in evaluating alternative oak woodland policy actions.

Thinking Styles And Financial Characteristics Of Selected Canadian Farm Managers, Wayne W. Howard, George L. Brinkman, Remy Lambert

Agribusiness

The thinking styles of selected Canadian farm managers are identified using the life styles inventory (LSI). The farmers'LSI scores are compared with those of a base sample of nonfarmers, and correlations between the farmers'LSI scores and financial indicators are examined. Results indicate that farmers do thinking differently than nonfarmers and that there are significant correlations between thinking styles and financial measures.

Sow Preference For Types Of Flooring In Farrowing Crates, P. A. Phillips, D. Fraser, B. K. Thompson

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

A preference-testing apparatus was used to provide sows with continuous access to three identical farrowing crates, each with a different type of flooring. The crates radiated from a central hub area sufficiently large for sows to enter or leave any crate freely. In exp. 1, nine sows from a concrete-floored gestation room were offered crates over concrete, plastic-coated rod, and galvanized metal rod. In exp. 2, sows were pre-exposed for a period of 1 wk to one of the three floors before entry into the preference testing apparatus. Video recording was used to determine sow position from 3 d before …

Smallholder Dairying Under Transactions Costs In East Africa, Steven Staal, Christopher L. Delgado, Charles F. Nicholson

Agribusiness

It is argued that dairying is vital to future viability of many small farms in East Africa and that high transactions costs for dairy production and marketing limit participation by asset-and information-poor smallholders. Case studies from Kenya and Ethiopia illustrate the role of dairy cooperatives in reducing transactions costs. Analysis of the determinants of producer prices received by a sample of dairy producers near Addis Ababa suggests that different levels of access to infrastructure, assets, and information explain why different households contemporaneously accept widely different producer prices for fluid milk.

The Economic Benefits Of New Information Technology, Wayne H. Howard, Glenn Fox, Calum Turvey

Agribusiness

The purpose of this study is to analyze the demand and supply of information within the agriculture sector. This study has three components to meet this goal: i) a review of the literature, ii) a survey of Canadian farmers, and iii) interviews with agribusiness firms and government agencies.

Problems And Prospects In Agricultural Financing In Nigeria Under Economic Deregulation., Odu Paul C.

Bullion

The paper focus on the government economic deregulation in Nigeria in 1986 which was discussed in sections. Section I of the paper reviews the trends in the agricultural finance sector before and during SAP. The perspectives of agricultural lending under deregulation is discussed ln section II. Section III analyses the formal and informal credit to agriculture, and section IV reviews the policy implications/solutions of deregulation under agricultural financing, while section V concludes the paper.

Massively Parallel Computation Of Large-Scale Spatial Price Equilibrium Models With Discriminatory Ad Valorem Tariffs, Anna Nagurney, Charles F. Nicholson, Phillip M. Bishop

Agribusiness

In this paper, we develop a perfectly competitive spatial equilibrium model in price and quantity variables in the presence of discriminatory ad valorem tariffs, a widely used trade policy instrument. We derive the equilibrium conditions and formulate them as a variational inequality problem. An algorithm is then proposed for the computation of the equilibrium pattern and convergence results established. The algorithm resolves the problem into very simple subproblems, each of which can be solved simultaneously and in closed form. Finally, the algorithm is implemented on the massively parallel Thinking Machines CM-2 and CM-5 architectures, known as the Connection Machines, and …

The Effect Of Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Housing Environments On The Diversity Of Behaviour In Pigs, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Michael T. Mendl, Sheena Calvert, Alistair B. Lawrence

Sentience Collection

In intensive farming situations, growing animals are housed in relatively barren environments. The lack of opportunity to perform substrate-interactive and manipulative behaviour patterns may affect the expression and organization of these behaviours. However, making direct comparisons of the behaviour expressed in environments of differing physical complexity is difficult. In this experiment a relative diversity index was used to compare the behavioural repertoires of pigs housed in two different environments for a period of five months. One group of pigs (substrate-enriched) had straw, forest bark and branches added to the standard pens and the other group (substrate-impoverished) did not. The pigs …

Less Meat, Less Misery: Reforming Factory Farms, Henry Spira

Farm Animal Campaign

No abstract provided.

Strategic Planning And Performance: Helping Directors And Managers Communicate, Jay E. Noel, David J. Schaffner

Agribusiness

The results from a survey of California agricultural marketing cooperatives illustrate the importance of boards of directors and management evaluating their strategic planning and performance. This evaluation process improves communication between the two groups, and determines where they agree or disagree on the importance of specific planning factors, competitive forces, strengths, weaknesses, distinctive competency, and performance of their cooperative.

The Australian Family Farm: Is It Soon To Be An Illusive Myth?, Fiona M.H. Mckenzie

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines the challenges faced by Western Australian rural enterprises since 1961 and the effects of economic and demographic change on the agricultural industry over the last thirty years.

Increasing capitalisation and technological advances have led to major shifts in the way the business of farming is conducted. There is evidence to suggest that these changes have contributed to an oversupply of agricultural products, the development of large-scale agri-business firms and a general depopulation of the agricultural sector.

The family farm has always been considered the backbone of Australian agriculture but there is evidence to suggest that in this …

Agribusiness, The Environment And Sustainable Economic Growth In Nigeria., G. E. Ukpong Dr,, G. O. Evbuomwan, E. U. Ukeke, F. O. Afemo

Bullion

The paper reviewed the performance of agribusiness in Nigeria in recent years and some major environmental problems which affected it, with a view to making some suggestions capable of fostering sustainable environment and growth of agribusiness in the interest of all economic agents.

Selective Tooth Clipping In The Management Of Low-Birth-Weight Piglets, S. Robert, B. K. Thompson, David Fraser

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

A study was designed to test the potential benefits of selective tooth clipping (the practice of leaving the eye teeth intact in the smallest piglets of a litter to make them more competitive) under commercial conditions. A total of 346 litters were assigned to either the control treatment where all piglets had their teeth clipped, or the experimental treatment where one or more piglets of low birth weight had their teeth left intact. Piglets were weighed within 24 h of birth and at 7, 21 and 56 d. In litters of 12-14 animals, but not in smaller litters, the lower-birth-weight …

Ontario Beef Producers'attitudes About Artificial Insemination, Wayne H. Howard, John Cranfield

Agribusiness

Characteristics and attitudes of Ontario beef producers who use artificial insemination and those who use natural breeding are compared. Natural breeders are characterized as larger as well as more commercial and profit oriented. Time, convenience and problems with heat detection are the main problems natural breeders associate with artificial insemination.

The New Ethic For Animals And The Dairy Industry, Bernard Rollin

Morality and Ethics of Industrial Farming Collection

There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of those who use animals to dismiss the new social concern with animal treatment as the irrational ravings of tofu-eating, ginseng-guzzling, urban wimps and bunny-hugging extremists.“Animal welfare is what we already do; animal rights if what they want us to do,” one animal scientist said, neatly summarizing the situation. However, what is of paramount importance is that “they” are not just a band of radicals; the new ethic for animals has taken root among society in general. As one cowboy in Kingsville, Texas put it to me:“Hell, Doc, if it were just …

New Chief Executive To Take Agriculture Into The Future, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The appointment of Graeme Robertson as Chief Executive Officer of the Government agencies involved in agriculture is a milestone in the delivery of services to the agricultural sector in Western Australia

Valuation Of Transferable Delivery Rights For Marketing Cooperatives, Charles V. Moore, Jay E. Noel

Agribusiness

Delivery rights to a cooperative's marketing pool can take on a value independent of the members' equity share under certain conditions. Based on anecdotal information, transferable delivery rights become valuable when the pool is fixed in size (closed), members are protected from exploitation of quasi economic rents, and have an assured "home" for their production. The greater the potential buyers' aversion to risk, the higher the value of the delivery right. The right has additional value if the cooperative generates a premium per unit return due to product differentiation and market power. Cooperatives competing with investor-owned firms in less than …

Do Animal Protection Laws Dupe The Public?, Henry Spira

Farm Animal Campaign

As outlined by Wolfson, laws give the perception of protecting farm animals but, in reality, provide little or no protection. Federal law fails to provide any protection to farm animals on the farm. Moreover, while many state cruelty laws still cover farm animals in theory, they are rarely if ever applied. And most disconcerting is the trend of farm animals being increasingly excluded from the reach of state cruelty laws.

Obligations And Penalties Under Lemon Laws: Automobiles Versus Tractors, Terence J. Centner, Michael E. Wetzstein

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Distinctive new provisions of tractor lemon laws which create obligations and provide penalties for defective self-propelled agricultural equipment are contrasted with provisions of automobile lemon laws. Lemon-law obligations involve both producers' guarantees to provide consumers with a serviceable vehicle and producers' promises to remedy defects. Due to fewer manufacturer obligations under the tractor lemon laws as opposed to automobile lemon laws, tractors may be expected to have more defects than automobiles. Yet the tractor lemon laws contain fewer penalties in the form of restitution remedies. The inconsistences of these obligations and penalties suggest tractor laws may be inefficient.

Creating Vertical Strategic Alliances: Theory And Cases From Canada's Agri-Food Sector, Erna Van Duren, Wayne H. Howard, Helen Mckay

Agribusiness

Participants in Canada's agri0food sector have been averse to vertical collaboration for too long. The sector's history of producer marketing boards that were concerned with obtaining bargaining power to redress the market power of buyers has created attitudes the market power of buyers has created attitudes towards buyers and sellers that increase the risk that agri-food organizations will underestimate the advantages of vertical strategic alliances and overestimate the difficulty of building such relationships. However, in spite of the prevailing attitude among participants in Canada's agri-food sector, many organizations have nurtured vertical alliances. This paper develops a framework for understanding how …

An Evaluation Of The Ontario Farm Business Management Association Program, Wayne H. Howard, Glen C. Filson

Agribusiness

The Ontario Farm Business Management Association (FBMA) program was initiated to improve the business management skills of Ontario red meat producers. The program has three aims: • to increase management skills on the farm •to increase management skills in the private sector • to help farmers make use of private sector advice. Two methods were used to evaluate the program. First, FBMA members and other red meat producers were surveyed about their farm and personal characteristics as well as use farm records and information sources. Second, focus groups were held with the FBMA field persons. Results indicate that membership in …

Hanging On Or Handing Over : Proceedings Of A Succession Planning Seminar Held ... 28 July, 1994 At The Dalwallinu Recreation Centre ... 29 July 1994 At The Moora Recreation Centre., Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

All other publications

The two inevitables of life are death and taxes and never has there been a more direct application to these inevitables than the old Russian proverb-

"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."

In 1980 in the Shires of the West Midlands and Northern Wheatbelt there were 1,102 farm enterprises. By 1993, there were 853 farm enterprises - a decline of 23 % and one of the major factors causing this decline is the lack of effective estate planning. It confirms that a significant proportion of farm businesses do not have the resources to fund the retirement …

Animal Production And The New Social Ethic For Animals, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

No abstract provided.

Changes In Water Allocation Mechanisms For California Agriculture, David Zilberman, Neal Macdougall, Farhed Shah

Agribusiness

Existing institutions allocating water in California reflect prior appropriation water rights established when water was abundant. These allocation rules queue users and do not encourage water conservation. increased water scarcity and growing valuation of water's environmental benefits are inducing a transition to water allocation mechanisms that increase water efficiency in agriculture. Transferable rights systems will lead to market-like water allocation, induce farmers to adopt water conservation technology, and may not face strong objection from senior water rights holders. One must weigh the efficiency gains associated with transition from water rights to water markets against the transaction costs associated with installing …

An Optimization Model Of The Dual-Purpose Cattle Production System In The Humid Lowlands Of Venezuela, Charles F. Nicholson, David R. Lee, Richard N. Boisvert, Robert W. Blake, Isabella C. Urbina

Agribusiness

We developed a deterministic, multi-period linear programming (LP) model of the dual-purpose (milk-beef) cattle production system in the Sur del Lago region of Venezuela. The LP model selected animal, forage, and purchased feed activities subject to nutritional, land, and herd composition constraints to maximize discounted herd net margin. A cattle nutrition model provided original coefficients for feeds and animal nutrient requirements. Revised coefficients resulted from an iterative procedure to avoid errors from the interaction between diet and requirements. Model applications demonstrated that alternatives to traditional feeding practices are profitable and nutritionally feasible. However, the benefits of alternative nutritional management depend …

Transportation Of Animals And Welfare, D. B. Adams

Transport of Farm Animals Collection

All forms of transport are potentially hazardous for animals, regardless of whether travel is between or within countries, or by road, rail, air or sea. However, experience shows that animals can be transported under suitable conditions without harm to their welfare.

The provision of suitable conditions and the establishment of a mutually satisfactory framework for regulating the international transport of animals depends on an understanding of welfare needs and of the biological basis for disease, stress and suffering. The author examines the biological aspects of this framework.

The capacity of animals to adapt to the different demands of different forms …

Review Of Policy And Developmental Objectives In Agricultural And Agro-Based Industrial Financing., G.O. Evbuomwan, E.U. Ukeje, F.A. Afelumo

Bullion

This paper reviews and appraise the role of government credit policies in the development of agriculture and agro-based industries in Nigeria. The paper is organized into five sections. Section I reviews the objectives of agricultural development and its role in overall economic development. Section II highlights some major policy measures designed to achieve stated agricultural and agro-industrial development objectives, the major sources of financing and institutions established to support agricultural and agro-based industries are appraised in Section III, while Section IV contains the lessons of experience and implications for policy. Section V summarizes and concludes the paper.