Agriculture Commons^™

The Ecological Impact Of Casitas On Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Populations In The Florida Keys, Fl, (Usa), Benjamin C. Gutzler

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Casitas are artificial structures placed on the seabed by fishermen to aggregate Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) for ease of capture. Some researchers suggest that they may also enhance lobster populations in shelter-limited environments. Conversely, aggregation of lobsters within casitas may be detrimental to the population if the nutritional condition or mortality of lobsters is poorer in casitas than in natural shelters. Small juvenile lobsters may be at particular risk because their foraging range is smaller and they are more readily preyed upon than larger lobsters. If so, then casitas placed in lobster nurseries may function as "ecological traps"; wherein …

Guardians Of The Countryside Public Choice Theory And The Farm Lobby In The Eu's Common Agricultural Policy, Amy J. Costa

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Through various waves of reform, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy remains inefficient without meeting all of its stated goals. The MacSherry reforms of 1992 resulted in the opposite of what leaders intended: higher spending and a growing bureaucracy. Later in the 1990s, Agenda 2000 slashed its originally planned cutbacks after farmers protested. Though support exists for reducing spending on agriculture, market intervention remains.

This thesis explores the problem through the use of public choice theory. -Consumers make too large a group to organize effectively or inform themselves about the issue, while farmers consist of a smaller group with well-defined …

Efficiency Of Mechanical Harvest For Immature Vegetable Soybean Pods, Tadesse Mebrahtu, Chris Mullins

Virginia Journal of Science

Since soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) is low in saturated fat and active in reducing blood cholesterol, it is gaining interest as a healthy snack food. Direct consumption of vegetable soybeans is very popular in the Orient. However, the cultivars used in Asia are not adapted to U.S. production systems. The objectives of this study were to determine the efficiency of mechanical harvest and to identify vegetable soybean cultivars adapted for a mechanical harvest system. To implement the objectives, four vegetable soybean cultivars were planted in a randomized complete block design at Randolph Research Farm, Virginia State University. The cultivars …

Bioprospecting, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article discusses that the product applications of bioprospecting are almost limitless. This area of biotechnology has been labeled bioprospecting, and it is a practice that is creating worldwide controversy. Defined simply, bioprospecting is "scientific research that looks for a useful application, process, or product in nature." However, as with most biotechnologies, the definition does not address the complexities of bioprospecting. Archeologists are finding that some biotechnologies, such as the use of herbs for medicine and the use of fermentation and yeast in food products, date back 5,000 to 10,000 years (De Miranda, 2004). The four main categories of biotechnologies …

Small Farmers' Cooperatives In Brazil, 1964-1984 Reasons For Success Or Failure, Henry H. Gerber

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study is concerned with cooperative business enterprises of small farmers. The topic has been chosen because peasants' association in supply and marketing cooperatives is considered an essential element in rural development. The author's field experience leads him to agree in principle with this assumption. But, as exemplified by Brazil, a variety of factors (ecological, sociohistorical, legal, economic and so forth) may hinder or help the inception and survival of cooperatives.

Thus, if a government aims at integrating the small producer into the national economy as supplier and consumer (as in Brazil), measures to implement t~is policy must not be …