Agriculture Commons^™

Characterizing Nitrogen Loss And Greenhouse Gas Flux Across An Intensification Gradient In Diversified Vegetable Systems, Debendra Shrestha

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

The area of vegetable production is growing rapidly world-wide, as are efforts to increase production on existing lands in these labor- and input-intensive systems. Yet information on nutrient losses, greenhouse gas emissions, and input efficiency is lacking. Sustainable intensification of these systems requires knowing how to optimize nutrient and water inputs to improve yields while minimizing negative environmental consequences. This work characterizes soil nitrogen (N) dynamics, nitrate (NO₃¯) leaching, greenhouse gas emissions, and crop yield in five diversified vegetable systems spanning a gradient of intensification that is characterized by inputs, tillage and rotational fallow periods. The study systems …

2017 – 2018 Kentucky Agricultural Economic Situation And Outlook, Kenneth H. Burdine, Todd D. Davis, Jerry Pierce, William M. Snell, Timothy A. Woods, Jeffrey W. Stringer, Bobby Ammerman, Chad Niman, William R. Thomas

Agricultural Situation and Outlook

No abstract provided.

Economic Impact Of The Sugarcane Aphid Outbreak In South Texas, Samuel D. Zapata, Rebekka Dudensing, Danielle Sekula, Gabriela Esparza-Díaz, Raul Villanueva

Entomology Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to estimate the economic impact of the sugarcane aphid (SCA) outbreak in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), Texas. Local producers were surveyed to gather detailed information about crop production and pest control practices. Collected data were used to estimate the reduction in profit associated with the SCA infestation, as well as the monetary value of the prevented loss attributed to control efforts. Sorghum industry losses were then used to assess the overall economic impact of the SCA outbreak in the RGV economy.

Organic Solvent Exposure And Depressive Symptoms Among Licensed Pesticide Applicators In The Agricultural Health Study, Miriam Siegel, Sarah E. Starks, Wayne T. Sanderson, Freya Kamel, Jane A. Hoppin, Fred Gerr

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Purpose

Although organic solvents are often used in agricultural operations, neurotoxic effects of solvent exposure have not been extensively studied among farmers. The current analysis examined associations between questionnaire-based metrics of organic solvent exposure and depressive symptoms among farmers.

Methods

Results from 692 male Agricultural Health Study participants were analyzed. Solvent type and exposure duration were assessed by questionnaire. An “ever-use” variable and years of use categories were constructed for exposure to gasoline, paint/lacquer thinner, petroleum distillates, and any solvent. Depressive symptoms were ascertained with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); scores were analyzed separately as continuous (0–60) …

Hedonic Pricing Of Chocolate Quality Characteristics: Is There A Difference For Fruit Or Nut Chocolate?, Willie B. Bedell, Michael R. Reed

Agricultural Economics Presentations

Chocolate campaigns in the United States have focused on the production of premier quality and healthy blend chocolate bars. We expect that merchandising efforts will offer a higher price for fruit or nut blend chocolates. Using online retail data from Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, we applied the hedonic function to estimate retailers offer price for a blended bar. The findings show that online retailers have mixed offer prices for a blend or plain bar. The paper suggests that studies would learn much more from a data and analysis that control for quantity sold and time effects in the chocolate market.

Assessing Tourists’ Preferences For Recreational Trips In National And Natural Parks As A Premise For Long-Term Sustainable Management Plans, Diana E. Dumitras, Iulia C. Muresan, Ionel M. Jitea, Valentin C. Mihai, Simona E. Balazs, Tiberiu Iancu

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Sustainable tourism management plans rely on relevant and consistent information about factors that can influence the decision to visit a protected area. This paper uses the choice experiment method to investigate tourists’ preferences with regard to recreational trip characteristics in national and natural parks in Romania. An on-site survey questionnaire was administered to visitors. The multinomial logit model was employed to investigate the preference orderings of the identified groups of recreational users. Overall, results indicate that tourists gain benefits after visiting the parks. Main preference differences were found for information sources and location of campsites. Visitors who stated that the …

Managing Nitrous Oxide Emissions In Agricultural Fields, Mark S. Coyne, Wei Ren

Plant and Soil Sciences Research Report

Agriculture is a major contributor to atmospheric nitrous oxide (N₂O) (Smith et al., 2014; Tian et al., 2015). Unfortunately, nitrous oxide destroys stratospheric ozone (O₃) which protects us from ultraviolet radiation (Cicerone, 1989) and it increases ground level O_3, whichis an air pollutant threatening human health and food production. Nitrous oxide is also 298 times more potent than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in terms of trapping and absorbing reflected solar radiation (Forster et al., 2007). Basic chemistry and physics assure us that increased levels of N₂O in the …

Impacts Of A Community Supported Agriculture (Csa) Voucher Program On Food Lifestyle Behaviors: Evidence From An Employer-Sponsored Pilot Program, Jairus J. Rossi, Timothy A. Woods, James E. Allen Iv

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs have recently received attention for their potential to influence food lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes. We build on and expand inquiries into the relationship between CSA participation and behavior change by presenting the results from a controlled pilot study of first-time CSA shareholders. We offered 95 first-time shareholders a $200 voucher to participate in a CSA. Prior to and immediately following CSA participation, these shareholders completed a survey on food lifestyle behaviors. Using econometric analyses, we measured shareholder behavior changes against an 82 person control group. All participants were drawn from a pool of individuals …

Reducing Equifinality Using Isotopes In A Process-Based Stream Nitrogen Model Highlights The Flux Of Algal Nitrogen From Agricultural Streams, William I. Ford, James F. Fox, Erik Pollock

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The fate of bioavailable nitrogen species transported through agricultural landscapes remains highly uncertain given complexities of measuring fluxes impacting the fluvial N cycle. We present and test a new numerical model named Technology for Removable Annual Nitrogen in Streams For Ecosystem Restoration (TRANSFER), which aims to reduce model uncertainty due to erroneous parameterization, i.e., equifinality, in stream nitrogen cycle assessment and quantify the significance of transient and permanent removal pathways. TRANSFER couples nitrogen elemental and stable isotope mass‐balance equations with existing hydrologic, hydraulic, sediment transport, algal biomass, and sediment organic …

Selection Of Breeding Stock By U.S. Meat Goat Producers, Narayan Nyaupane, Jeffrey Gillespie, Kenneth Mcmillin, Robert Harrison, Isaac Stienei

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

Using nationwide survey data, we investigate U.S. meat goat producer preferences and willingness to pay for meat goat breeding stock attributes. Discrete choice experiments were employed, and mixed logit and latent class models were used for analysis. Results showed that producers preferred animals that were highly masculine/feminine, had good structure and soundness, and were of the Boer breed, whereas they preferred fewer animals that were older, of Kiko and Spanish breeds, and priced higher. Significant preference heterogeneity was found among the respondents. Larger-scale producers had greater preference for high masculinity/femininity, good structure and soundness, and Boer bucks.

The Influence Of The Agricultural Cluster On The Fayette County Economy [2017], Alison Davis, Simona E. Balazs

Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky Reports

Executive Summary:

Historically, employment associated with agriculture in Fayette County has been limited to production agriculture. Recently, the Ag Cluster has been extended to include agricultural inputs and food processing and manufacturing. However, there are hundreds of establishments in the county that are service-based (finance, veterinary, recreation), transportation, communications, as well as wholesale and retail businesses that are 100% dedicated to agriculture. These businesses have never been included in an economic impact study exploring the impact of agriculture in Fayette County. Ignoring these businesses underestimates the value of the agricultural sector. This is particularly important in Fayette County because of …

International Diffusion Of Food Safety Standards: The Role Of Domestic Certifiers And International Trade, Rezgar Mohammed, Yuqing Zheng

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

We examined the cross-national adoption of six major private food safety standards, focusing on the role of certifiers and international trade. Results show that the number of certification bodies existing in the domestic country, food exports, and the proportion of food exports to North America had positive effects on a country's adoption of food safety standards. Distance leads to product differentiation for the standards and therefore disadvantages developing countries in Africa and Asia for adopting the standards, which are all based in the United States or Europe. Providing these countries with better access to certifiers can alleviate this geographic disadvantage.

Impacts Of Corn Price And Imported Beef Price On Domestic Beef Price In South Korea, Gwanseon Kim, Tyler Mark

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

South Korea is one of the largest beef importing countries in the world. Australia, USA, and New Zealand provide the majority of beef they import. The objective of this study is to evaluate the price relationship of Korean cattle and corn, prices of the imported beef and corn, and prices of Korean cattle and imported beef. We examine threshold points using threshold vector autoregressive (TVAR) model by assuming the presence of nonlinearity. We find that there are two thresholds in Australian beef price with first difference data. This study finds that the current Korean beef price is positively affected by …

Using The Vehicle Routing Problem To Reduce Field Completion Times With Multiple Machines, Hasan Seyyedhasani, Joseph S. Dvorak

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a powerful tool used to express many logistics problems, yet unlike other vehicle routing challenges, agricultural field work consists of machine paths that completely cover a field. In this work, the allocation and ordering of field paths among a number of available machines has been transformed into a VRP that enables optimization of completion time for the entire field. A basic heuristic algorithm (a modified form of the common Clarke-Wright algorithm) and a meta-heuristic algorithm, Tabu Search, were employed for optimization. Both techniques were evaluated through computer simulations in two fields: a hypothetical basic …

Organelle_Pba, A Pipeline For Assembling Chloroplast And Mitochondrial Genomes From Pacbio Dna Sequencing Data, Aboozar Soorni, David Haak, David Zaitlin, Aureliano Bombarely

Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center Faculty Publications

Background: The development of long-read sequencing technologies, such as single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing by PacBio, has produced a revolution in the sequencing of small genomes. Sequencing organelle genomes using PacBio long-read data is a cost effective, straightforward approach. Nevertheless, the availability of simple-to-use software to perform the assembly from raw reads is limited at present.

Results: We present Organelle-PBA, a Perl program designed specifically for the assembly of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. For chloroplast genomes, the program selects the chloroplast reads from a whole genome sequencing pool, maps the reads to a reference sequence from a closely related species, and …

Investment For Trade? Impact Of Investment From Gulf Cooperation Council Countries On Trade, Sattam Faleh Almodarra

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The world has made great progress over the centuries through the massive increase in the interconnectedness of nations around the globe. Today, the world is connected through various ways, including the movement of goods, people, and money. The amount of goods traded across countries borders has drastically increased as the result of technological progress and the removal of barriers to trade. Not only has the world become more interconnected with the physical flows of goods and services, but also countries of the world have become more integrated financially. This study proposes to analyze how increase in financial flows, as measured …

Three Essays On Food Safety Regulations And International Trade Of Agricultural Products, Jun Ho Seok

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation investigates food safety regulations and international trade of agricultural products dividing into three aspects: the signalling effect from U.S. strict food safety regulations on U.S. vegetable exports, political determinants of sanitary and photosanitary non-tariff barriers, and the impact of trade barriers on employment in developing countries. In chapter 2, we investigate the impact of high U.S. maximum residue limit (MRL) standards on U.S vegetable exports to 102 countries utilizing the hierarchical model. MRL, which is one of non-tariff barriers with respect to food safety, is applied to home and foreign countries at the same time. Thus, firms in …

An Examination Of Milk Quality Effects On Milk Yield And Dairy Production Economics In The Southeastern United States, Derek T. Nolan

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Mastitis is one of the most costly diseases to dairy producers around the world with milk yield loss being the biggest contributor to economic losses. The objective of first study of this thesis was to determine the impacts of high somatic cell counts on milk yield loss. To accomplish this, over one million cow data records were collected from Southeastern US dairy herds. The objective of the second study was to determine optimum treatment cost of clinical mastitis by combining two economic modeling approaches used in animal health economics. The last objective of this thesis was to determine how much …

What Induces Female Kicking In Callosobruchus Maculatus? Disentangling The Effects Of Male Traits On Female Mating Decisions, William I. Licht

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Sexual conflict over mating duration drives the evolution of male and female adaptations that facilitate the manipulation of mating interactions in their favor. This conflict drives the evolution of traits that improve the fitness of the focal sex despite inflicting costs on mates. However, males can express multiple traits that increase and decrease female fitness simultaneously. When the effects of male traits on female fitness increase or decrease with duration of exposure, females traits that influence mating duration are selected upon. Females of Callosobruchus maculatus, a bruchid bean beetle, kick mates to forcefully end copulation. Although both negative effects …

Field-Observed Angles Of Repose For Stored Grain In The United States, Rumela Bhadra, Mark E. Casada, Sidney A. Thompson, Josephine M. Boac, Ronaldo G. Maghirang, Michael D. Montross, Aaron P. Turner, Samuel G. Mcneill

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Bulk grain angle of repose (AoR) is a key parameter for inventorying grain, predicting flow characteristics, and designing bins and grain handling systems. The AoR is defined for two cases, piling (dynamic) or emptying (static), and usually varies with grain type. The objective of this study was to measure piling angles of repose for corn, sorghum, barley, soybeans, oats, and hard red winter (HRW) wheat in steel and concrete bins in the United States. Angles were measured in 182 bins and 7 outdoor piles. The piling AoR for corn ranged from 15.7° to 30.2° (median of 20.4° and standard deviation …

Application Of Hyperspectral Imaging And Acoustic Emission Techniques For Apple Quality Prediction, Nader Ekramirad, Ahmed Rady, Akinbode A. Adedeji, Reza Alimardani

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

There is a growing demand for developing effective non-destructive quality assessment methods with quick response, high accuracy, and low cost for fresh fruits. In this study, hyperspectral reflectance imaging (400 to 1000 nm) and acoustic emission (AE) tests were applied to ‘GoldRush‘ apples (total number, n = 180) to predict fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), and surface color parameters (L*, a*, b*) during an eight-week storage period. Partial least squares (PLS) regression, least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM), and multivariate linear regression (MLR) methods were used to establish models to predict the quality attributes of the apples. The results …

Development And Evaluation Of A Low-Cost Probe-Type Instrument To Measure The Equilibrium Moisture Content Of Grain, Paul R. Armstrong, Samuel G. Mcneill, Naomi Manu, Augustine Bosomtwe, James K. Danso, Enoch Osekre, George Opit

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Storage of grain in bags is common in Africa, Asia, and many other less developed countries making a bag probing method well-suited for moisture content (MC) measurement. A low-cost meter was developed under a USAID project to reduce post-harvest loss (PHL). The meter, referred to as the PHL meter, measures the MC of maize and other grains based on relative humidity (RH) and temperature (T) measurements obtained by a small digital sensor located in the tip of a tubular probe that can be inserted into bags of grain or other grain bulks. Measurements are used by equilibrium moisture content (EMC) …

Effects Of Biochar Treatment Of Municipal Biosolids And Horse Manure On Quality Of Runoff From Fescue Plots, Rachel Williams, Dwayne R. Edwards

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land-applied horse manure and municipal biosolids can increase nutrient and bacteria concentrations in runoff. Biochar has been demonstrated to have beneficial impacts on nutrient retention and runoff quality when used to treat other land-applied organic soil amendments (e.g., poultry manure). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of biochar addition to horse manure and municipal biosolids on runoff concentrations of nutrients and fecal coliforms. Biochar was added at 5% to 8% (wet basis) to horse manure and biosolids that were applied to 2.4 m x 6.1 m fescue plots followed by application of simulated rainfall (102 mm …

Risk Parameters And Assessment Of Dietary Dsrna Exposure In Folsomia Candida, Jeffrey Edward Noland

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Assessing the risk of transgenic crop products is essential when determining the safety of a crop for deregulation and commercialization. The Organization of Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD), International Standards Organization (ISO), and governmental regulatory agencies require a battery of tests to demonstrate the safety of a GM product against several surrogate species of organisms that perform various ecosystem services. Assays are performed using toxicology methods established for pesticides. These methods have been applied to testing the safety, specificity and fate of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry protein toxins engineered into crop plants and information exists on the effects on non-target …

Ecological, Molecular, And Morphological Data: A Synergistic Approach To Resolve Species Limits Of Lytopylus From The Area De Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae), Ilgoo Kang

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Lytopylus is species-rich genus of Agathidinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae), but limited information of the genus has been published. Morphological, molecular, and ecological data were compared to resolve the species limits of Lytopylus reared from caterpillars collected the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in Costa Rica. Molecular data were initially used to hypothesize species limits, and morphological and host use data were employed to make a final decision when molecular data was indecisive, e.g., when the genetic difference between species was slight. Thirty-two new species are described with image plates of each species. Phylogenetic analyses of the barcode region of the …

An Analysis Of Factors Impacting Hay Auction Prices And The Potential For Nap To Reduce Alfalfa Revenue Risk, Madeline L. Dant

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Hay auctions have generally been understudied due to their unique market structure. Therefore, the factors that influence the price of hay at auction markets are not well-known. The price of hay at auction markets reflects the various characteristics that differentiate each lot of hay sold. This study is aimed at analyzing the determinants of Central Kentucky hay prices. A hedonic price model is estimated using data collected from a Central Kentucky hay auction. Known hay attributes include forage species, form, bale weight, and nutritive value. An important aspect of this analysis is to determine whether the quality measures of the …

Three Essays In Food Consumption And Health Related Issues, Fuad Mohammed Alagsam

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays that make contributions to the research on food consumption and health-related issues. Essay I elaborates on how the interactions of consumers’ beliefs and actions influence Food-Away-From-Home (FAFH) consumption and tests whether consumers compensate for the high caloric intake typically associated with FAFH by changing their behaviors during other meals. Essay II studies consumers’ choices related to time allocations for food consumption and tests how consumers’ lifestyles moderate the effect of secondary eating (eating while doing other activities) on obesity. Lastly, Essay III examines intertemporal choices, through which individuals make trade-offs between immediate gratifications and …

Stored Grain Volume Measurement Using A Low Density Point Cloud, Aaron P. Turner, Joshua J. Jackson, Nicole K. Koeninger, Samuel G. Mcneill, Michael D. Montross, Mark E. Casada, Josephine M. Boac, Rumela Bhadra, Ronaldo G. Maghirang, Sidney A. Thompson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

This technical note presents the development of a new apparatus and data processing method to accurately estimate the volume of stored grain in a bin. Specifically, it was developed to account for the variability in surface topography that can occur in large diameter bins when partially unloaded. This was accomplished using a laser distance meter to create a low density point cloud, from which a surface was interpolated using ArcMap geoprocessing tools. The manually controlled and portable system was designed to hold the laser distance meter and provided a common reference point. The data from the laser distance meter was …

Fourth-Generation Fan Assessment Numeration System (Fans) Design And Performance Specifications, Michael P. Sama, George B. Day, Laura M. Pepple, Richard S. Gates

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Fan Assessment Numeration System (FANS) is a measurement device for generating ventilation fan performance curves. Three different-sized FANS currently exist for assessing ventilation fans commonly used in poultry and livestock housing systems. All FANS consist of an array of anemometers inside an aluminum shroud that traverse the inlet or outlet of a ventilation fan. The FANS design has been updated several times since its inception and is currently in its fourth-generation (G4). The current design iteration (FANS-G4) is reported in this article with an emphasis on the hardware and software control, data acquisition systems, and operational reliability. Six FANS-G4 …

A Method For Reflectance Index Wavelength Selection From Moisture-Controlled Soil And Crop Residue Samples, Ali Hamidisepehr, Michael P. Sama, Aaron P. Turner, Ole O. Wendroth

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Reflectance indices are a method for reducing the dimensionality of spectral measurements used to quantify material properties. Choosing the optimal wavelengths for developing an index based on a given material and property of interest is made difficult by the large number of wavelengths typically available to choose from and the lack of homogeneity when remotely sensing agricultural materials. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using a low-cost method for sensing the moisture content of background materials in traditional crop remote sensing. Moisture-controlled soil and wheat stalk residue samples were measured at varying heights using a reflectance probe connected …