Agribusiness Commons^™

Sustainable Management Of Groundwater In Louisiana, Dependra Bhatta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The common property nature of the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) results in the formation of a cone of depression in the southern portion of the aquifer encompassing Concordia parish, Louisiana. Excessive groundwater withdrawal and the resulting cone of depression formation have caused some wells to go dry and others to be affected by saltwater intrusion. The depleting groundwater stock can be managed optimally using different groundwater management policies. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to both policymakers and researchers to understand the effects of policies to keep the aquifer sustainable.

My dissertation is written in a three-essay format. …

Federal Grant Applications: What You Need To Know Before You Start Writing, Steve Richards

Agribusiness

Sometimes disaster relief arrives as a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant, and there may be more grants resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. While obtaining a grant is appealing, many producers overlook grant application details causing many grant proposals to be rejected immediately, before they are read or considered. The checklist provided by this brief will help producers prepare grant applications and avoid common pitfalls.

Increasing Groundwater Recharge Activity In The San Joaquin Valley Of California, Jacob Willhite, Jacob Willhite

Agricultural Education and Communication

Over the past several decades, groundwater has become a primary source of water used for agriculture in California. Surface water available for agricultural use has depleted due to declining rain totals and reallocation to environmental purposes. As a result, groundwater overdraft has become a severe challenge, especially in the San Joaquin Valley of California. This excessive overdraft causes a plethora of issues, one of the most serious being land subsidence (Faunt, Sneed, Traum, & Brandt, 2016). Studies suggest some areas of the San Joaquin Valley have experienced more than a 28-foot drop in the land level since the 1970’s (Alley …

Size And Scope Of Carbon County Agriculture 2019, Ryan Feuz, Ryan Larsen, Steven Price

All Current Publications

Carbon County is located south of Duchesne and Wasatch counties in east-central Utah. Along with Emery County to the south, it is often referred to as Utah’s Castle Country. The county became industrialized very early after statehood with the arrival of the railroads and discovery of many coal beds for which the county is named. It is also a large producer of natural gas within the state. Its primary economic base today comes from regional services, retail, tourism, recreation and resource extraction. As of 2017, the population was estimated at 20,295. Price is the largest city and county seat. This …

Economic And Environmental Implications Of Biomass Commercialization In Agricultural Processing, Bin Li, Onur Boyabatli, Buket Avci

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Motivated by the agricultural industries, this paper studies the economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialization; that is, converting organic waste into a saleable product, from the perspective of a processor that uses a commodity input to produce both a commodity output and biomass. We characterize the economic value of biomass commercializa- tion and examine how input and output spot price uncertainties affect this value. Using a model calibration, we find that lower input spot price variability or higher output spot price variabil- ity or correlation between the two spot prices increases this value for a typical palm oil mill. …

Applications Of Blockchain In Agriculture, Karen Dicicco

Theses and Dissertations

Blockchain has been around since 2009, but it isn’t till the last few years that organizations have been looking into using blockchain for other applications than cryptocurrency. One industry that organizations have been researching blockchain is agriculture. Out of different use cases there are been organizations that are prototyping blockchain for food traceability and these prototypes have been successful. Blockchain is a buzzword and before an organization builds a prototype, they should research what blockchain and decide if their use case is a blockchain or database solution, what blockchain platforms are available to use.

The Future Of Work: How Employers Are Adjusting To Millennial Expectations, Felipe Vallejo

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this research was to examine how agricultural based companies are staying ahead while new technology advancements and millennial expectations are influencing future labor markets.

Bonipak Trucker Lounge Improvements, Lauren M. Reade

Agricultural Education and Communication

Bonita Packing Company, also known as Bonipak, has been a produce grower and shipper in the Santa Maria Valley for nearly 90 years and has contracts with customers all over the United States and Canada. Since 1932, the family owned and operated business has maintained steady growth as the population continues to rise all while making it a goal to uphold their family values and maintain their deep roots within the community. Transitioning into a fourth generation family farm, the Bonipak team hopes to continue to promote growth and maintain a positive reputation within the community and beyond. With multiple …

Crop Planning In Sustainable Agriculture: Dynamic Farmland Allocation In The Presence Of Crop Rotation Benefits, Onur Boyabatli, Javad Nasiry, Yangfang (Helen) Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines crop planning decision in sustainable agriculture---that is, how to allocate farmland among multiple crops in each growing season when the crops have rotation benefits across growing seasons. We consider a farmer who periodically allocates the farmland between two crops in the presence of revenue uncertainty where revenue is stochastically larger and farming cost is lower when a crop is grown on rotated farmland (where the other crop was grown in the previous season). We characterize the optimal dynamic farmland allocation policy and perform sensitivity analysis to investigate how revenue uncertainty of each crop affects the farmer's optimal …

Creating An Efficient Business Plan For Longview Club Lambs, Karlee J. Dornbush

Agricultural Education and Communication

Longview Club Lambs is a small startup business located in Lincoln, California. Longview Club Lambs has the goal to maintain a high of level efficiency and productivity to compete with other club lamb businesses within the next three years (Longview Club Lambs, 2018). In order to do this, Longview Club Lambs will need to evaluate its current practices and determine the necessary adjustments that should be made to their business plan.

To create this new business model, the business will need to re-evaluate all its management practices and make the needed changes to adjust to a larger scale operation. Implementing …

Quantitative Appraisal Of Non-Irrigated Cropland In South Dakota, Shelby Riggs

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This appraisal attempts to remove subjectivity from the appraisal process and replace it with quantitative analysis of known data to generate a fair market value of the subject property. Two methods of appraisal were used, the income approach and the comparable sales approach. For the income approach, I used the average cash rent for the region, the current property taxes for the subject property, and a capitalization rate based on Stokes' (2018) capitalization rate formula to arrive at my income-based valuation. For the comparable sales approach, I utilized Stokes' (2018) research in optimization modeling to estimate a market value for …

The Use Of Mentoring To Effect Cultural Change: Irish Farm Deaths And Injuries, Maurice Murphy, Kieran O'Connell

Dept. of Management & Enterprise Conference Material

Agriculture is the most dangerous occupation in Ireland. For every fatality in the sector, more than 125 farm workers are injured, many of them so seriously that the viability of the farm is undermined. These terrible and largely hidden figures have remained constant for the past decade, despite legal requirements, awareness-raising events and inspections by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). The agricultural sector accounts for just 6% of the working population of Ireland, yet it consistently has the highest proportion of fatal incidents of any sector. This was again evident in 2017 where 51% (24 of the 47) of …

Systemic Behaviour Change: Irish Farm Deaths And Injuries, Maurice Murphy, Kieran O'Connell

Dept. of Management & Enterprise Conference Material

While the Irish agricultural sector accounts for just 6% of the working population of Ireland, it consistently has the highest proportion of fatal incidents of any sector - generally ranging from between 35% and 45% of all workplace fatalities in any given year. This was again evident in 2014 where 55% (30 of the 56) of the fatal workplace incidents were in the agricultural sector. Agriculture has an ageing workforce with the average age of an Irish farmer now standing at fifty-seven and farmers are eight times more likely to be fatally injured in a farm accident than the general …

Hosting The Third Annual Young Women In Agriculture Career And Leadership Seminar, Emma E. Morris, Madyline J. Braught

Agricultural Education and Communication

Agriculture has traditionally been a male-dominated industry; however, recent years have shown a significant growth in female presence. Women are beginning to take leadership roles both on the farm and within advocacy, lobbying, and business entities in the industry. According to the latest agricultural census data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2012, women farmers controlled seven percent of the nation’s farmland (Census, 2014). Additionally, women held leadership roles in 14 percent of the nation’s two million farms (Census, 2014). This data is several years old, and likely the numbers have grown since the last census was …

Agricultural Information Needs And Food Access In The Stann Creek District Of Belize, Sam Harris

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural information sources available to farmers and to describe food access and availability for the people of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize. This study used descriptive survey research methods with convenience sampling of the general public (n=22) and of farmers (n = 38) in the summer of 2017. Farmers use a variety of agricultural information sources with the extension service cited most often, followed by friends and fellow farmers. Weather, lack of information, pests, and inadequate access to capital were of primary concern for farmers. Face to face meetings were …

Agricultural Information Needs And Food Access In The Stann Creek District Of Belize, Sam E. Harris, Donna L. Graham

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural information sources available to farmers and to describe food access and availability for the people of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize. This study used descriptive survey research methods with convenience sampling of the general public (n=22) and of farmers (n = 38) in the summer of 2017. Farmers use a variety of agricultural information sources with the extension service cited most often, followed by friends and fellow farmers. Weather, lack of information, pests, and inadequate access to capital were of primary concern for farmers. Face-to-face meetings were used most often by extension …

An Integrated Approach To Improving Rural Livelihoods: Examples From India And Bangladesh, Barry Croke, Wendy Merritt, Peter Cornish, Geoffrey J. Syme, Christian H. Roth

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper presents an overview of work in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and SW Bangladesh through a series of projects from 2005 to the present, considering the impact of farming systems, water shed development and/or agricultural intensification on livelihoods in selected rural areas of India and Bangladesh. The projects spanned a range of scales spanning from the village scale (∼  1 km²) to the meso-scale (∼  100 km²), and considered social as well as biophysical aspects. They focused mainly on the food and water part of the food-water-energy nexus. These projects were in collaboration with a …

Capacity Management In Agricultural Commodity Processing And Application In The Palm Industry, Onur Boyabatli, Jason Quang Dang Nguyen, Tong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the capacity investment decisions of a processor that uses a commodity input to produce both a commodity output and a byproduct in the context of agricultural industries. We employ a multi-period model to study the optimal one-time processing and (output) storage capacity investment decisions---in addition to the periodic processing and inventory decisions---when both input and output spot prices as well as production yield are uncertain. We characterize the optimal decisions and perform sensitivity analysis to investigate how spot price uncertainty affects the processor's optimal capacity and profitability. Using a calibration based on the palm industry, we study …

Farm Deaths And Injuries: Changing Irish Farmer Attitudes And Behaviour On Farm Safety, Maurice Murphy, Kieran O'Connell

Dept. of Management & Enterprise Conference Material

While the Irish agricultural sector accounts for just 6% of the working population of Ireland, it consistently has the highest proportion of fatal incidents of any sector - generally ranging from between 35% and 45% of all workplace fatalities in any given year. This was again evident in 2014 where 55% (30 of the 56) of the fatal workplace incidents were in the agricultural sector. Agriculture has an ageing workforce with the average age of an Irish farmer now standing at fifty-seven and farmers are eight times more likely to be fatally injured in a farm accident than the general …

Business Model: California Agriculture Marketing Agency, Mary M. Alameda, Emma L. Larson

Agricultural Education and Communication

The importance of creating a marketing agency specializing in agriculture is to bridge the gap between producers and consumers. The lack of transparency from the producer has created a torn industry causing the average consumer to be questioning his or her food, or simply not understanding the agricultural way of life. An agricultural marketing firm in California can represent and advocate for local businesses to start closing the producer to consumer gap.

The American farmer excels at many things, but lacks in public communications. Modern day farmers have been able to produce more food than ever despite fewer resources and …

Do Farm Subsidies Affect Crop Diversification?, Chadwick O'Neal

Georgia College Student Research Events

The United States spends $20 billion each year on farm subsidies. Farmers face increased risk and income variation when their crop portfolio is less diversified. It’s possible for farm subsidies to decrease diversification if they are focused on specific crops. Utilizing state level subsidy and agricultural data from the Environmental Working Group, I used econometric analysis to estimate the effect of farm subsidies on crop diversification. I used the number of acres planted from the 15 top most subsidized and grown crops in the United States to derive my dependent variable, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). The HHI is a market …

Warehouse Receipts In United States Law – Summary For The Pacific-Rim, Drew L. Kershen

Faculty Articles

The Second Pacific-Rim Colloquium (January 2015) had its focus on the business structure for warehouses and warehouse receipts and discussions about creating an Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) system, particularly on an “open” or a “closed” system. The Colloquium identified two legal concepts – “negotiable” and “duly negotiated” – as the ultimate goals for a functioning EWR system. However, foundations for an EWR system must be in place before legal concepts can become functionally meaningful.

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 – …

Assessing Farmers’ And Landowners’ Attitudes Towards Environmental Sustainability And Their Motivations Towards Walking Tourism In Sheep’S Head Way, Co. Cork, Gráinne Dwyer

Irish Business Journal

Numerous studies within academic literature examine motivations of walkers engaging with nature-based tourism activities, such as hillwalking. However, a gap exists in the literature regarding the suppliers of this type of tourism, namely landowners and farmers. This research hopes to address this identifiable gap in tourism research in a confined study area located in the Sheep’s Head Way in Co. Cork. The purpose of this research was to examine geographical spatial differences in environmental attitudes, and to determine the factors that influenced the landowner’s intentions to permit the walkway throughout their land. To examine these factors, seven semi-structured interviews were …

Agribusiness Department Recruitment Study, Zoe Alyssa Sanchez

Agribusiness

The Agribusiness (AGB) Department within the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is interested in understanding why AGB freshmen are motivated to choose AGB as their major. Consequently, this recruitment study was undertaken to assist the Department in determining why freshmen chose AGB as their major. This study also attempts to assist the Department in understanding freshmen’s overall experience applying to Cal Poly and their perceptions related to agricultural business.

Two surveys were created and used to collect data on freshmen’s overall application experience and perceptions surrounding agricultural business. The collected …

Survey Research Of The Canned Craft Beer Industry, Scott Taylor Hogland

Agribusiness

This study on the canned craft beer industry was done to see whether or not a significant correlation between one’s age and their willingness to purchase craft beers in cans exists. Furthermore, it sets out to test how creating further consumer awareness highlighting the beneficial aspects of cans versus bottles could affect one’s purchasing decisions.

In order to test the hypothesis that millennials are more open to purchasing canned craft beer, the statistical analysis software SPSS has been utilized. Frequencies have been run on every survey question to obtain an analysis of the entire population. Chi-square variance tests and independence …

A Feasibility Study Of Agricultural Production Of Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, And Kale For San Ysidro Farms, Roy Orion Killgore

Agribusiness

The purpose of this study was to determine whether it is more profitable for San Ysidro Farms to establish a new commodity mix and grow brussel sprouts, cabbage, and kale in replace of broccoli and cauliflower or continue its current commodity mix for production. The goal is to determine whether the new commodity mix will bring greater profits during the months of January, February, and March.

The project represents a basic comparison technique of the different commodities grown for San Ysidro. Using the current 2013 cash flow statement and others from the previous production years, a comparison amongst the different …

U.S. Multinationals Abroad: Fdi Determinants In The Global Food Sector, Brandon Charles Banner

Master's Theses

The following study assesses economic and political determinants of foreign direct investment by U.S. firms. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce was used for total and food sector FDI for 35 countries from the years 2001-2008. Using these data in three econometric models, the paper examines the effect on FDI of regional trade blocs as well as political factors such as labor and credit market regulations, and transfers and subsidies. Finally, the thesis provides a comparison of each model on two dependent variables: food sector and total FDI. The study finds that management …

Aesthetic Qualities Of Websites And Their Effects On Public Perceptions Of Agricultural Issues And Organizations, Chase Tyler Hundley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to evaluate perceptions of agricultural issues and organizations based on how information is presented visually in websites. Researchers intended the results to be used to help the agricultural industry more effectively communicate information through better website design and increased persuasiveness. The study was conducted through the use of three focus group sessions as mapped out by Krueger (1998a, 1998b, 1998c) and Morgan (1998a, 1998b). The study used non-agriculture students purposively selected from a class in the University of Arkansas School of Human Environmental Sciences as participants in the study. The subject demographics closely resembled the primary demographics …

An Economic Analysis Of Wine Grape Production In The State Of Connecticut, Jeremy L. Jelliffe

Master's Theses

The Connecticut Wine and Vineyard industry has grown at a steady 3.9% per year over the past decade (ATTTB, 2009). Economic models estimate that the wineries sub-sector contributes $38 million dollars to the state economy and direct employment of 106 residents (Lopez et al., 2010). Programs to support and foster further growth of the industry and CT farm vineyard culture include the Department of Agriculture’s CT Wine Trail and the annual CT Wine festival (DOAG, 2010). Farmland preservation groups also support vineyard development since grape growing tends to secure tracts of farmland for long periods of time.

Investment analysis for …