Agriculture Commons^™

Cost Minimization Of Supplying Biomass For Ethanol Biorefineries, Yayuan Jin, Prabodh Illukpitiya

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

A major hurdle facing commercial biofuel production is the cost of producing the feedstock. Since biofuel feedstock is bulky in nature, a large proportion of cost needed to be allocated for harvesting and transportation of feedstock. Economic viability of ethanol production from cellulosic feedstock depends in part of the cost to produce, harvest and deliver feedstock to the ethanol production facilities. A well-developed harvesting and transportation system does not exist for most feedstock. Hence to determine accurate estimation of the harvest, transportation and storage costs is important in ethanol production. The objectives of the study are to determine the optimal …

Satisfaction With Community Services In Rural Nebraska, Rebecca J. Vogt

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Rural Poll celebrated its 20th year this fall. The goal of the Rural Poll has been to give rural Nebraskans and their leaders a better understanding of the issues, challenges and concerns of Nebraska’s rural citizens. For twenty years, this annual effort has focused on topics such as community, government policy, the environment, well-being and work. While the Poll has collected information from a number of different topics ranging from taxes to climate change, a number of core questions included each year are providing insights about trends and changes occurring in rural Nebraska. Some of those questions that …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 5, 2016, Brian Fuchs

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 5, 2016 (1/5/16) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Impact Of Irrigation Method On Water Use Efficiency And Productivity Of Fodder Crops In Nepal, Ajay K. Jha, Razan Malla, Mohan Sharma, Jeeban Panthi, Tarendra Lakhankar, Nir Y. Krakauer, Soni M. Pradhanang, Piyush Dahal, Madan Lall Shrestha

Publications and Research

Improved irrigation use efficiency is an important tool for intensifying and diversifying agriculture in Nepal, resulting in higher economic yield from irrigated farmlands with a minimum input of water. Research was conducted to evaluate the effect of irrigation method (furrow vs. drip) on the productivity of nutritious fodder species during off-monsoon dry periods in different elevation zones of central Nepal. A split-block factorial design was used. The factors considered were treatment location, fodder crop, and irrigation method. Commonly used local agronomical practices were followed in all respects except irrigation method. Results revealed that location effect was significant (p < 0.01) with highest fodder productivity seen for the middle elevation site, Syangja. Species effects were also significant, with teosinte (Euchlaena mexicana) having higher yield than cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Irrigation method impacted green biomass yield (higher with furrow irrigation) but both methods yielded similar dry biomass, while water use was 73% less under drip irrigation. Our findings indicated that the controlled application of water through drip irrigation is able to produce acceptable yields of nutritionally dense fodder species during dry seasons, leading to more effective utilization and resource conservation of available land, fertilizer and water. Higher productivity of these nutritional fodders resulted in higher milk productivity for livestock smallholders. The ability to grow fodder crops year-round in lowland and hill regions of Nepal with limited water storages using low-cost, water-efficient drip irrigation may greatly increase livestock productivity and, hence, the economic security of smallholder farmers.

Winter Cover Crops Impact On The Distribution Of Soil Inorganic Nitrogen And Subsequent Crop Uptake And Yield Following Fall Applied Anhydrous Ammonium, William Travis Deppe

Theses and Dissertations

The pairing of cover crops with spring application of nitrogen has shown improved nitrogen efficiency in corn production systems. However, studies have shown that only 50% of central Illinois farmers practice spring application of nitrogen. Furthermore, the literature demonstrates that in years with above average rainfall, fall applied N management systems are more susceptible to N loading relative to spring systems. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine the efficacy of winter cover crops to impact the distribution of soil inorganic N following fall applied anhydrous ammonium. The experimental site is located at the Illinois State University Research …

Corn Era Hybrid Response To Nitrogen Fertilization, Krishna P. Woli, Matthew J. Boyer, Roger Wesley Elmore, John E. Sawyer, Lori J. Abendroth, Daniel W. Barker

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Corn (Zea mays L.) N use is of continued interest due to agronomic performance and environmental issues. This 2-yr study evaluated era hybrid response to fertilizer nitrogen (FN) rate in a factorial arrangement of one popular hybrid per five decades (1960–2000 eras) and five N rates (0–224 kg N ha^–1). An additional hybrid per era was grown at 168 kg N ha^–1. Hybrid productivity and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) increased across the eras, but not between the 1980 and 1990 eras. Grain yield (GY) increased 65% and total plant biomass 43%, however, total plant nitrogen …

Jujube: A New Fruit Crop For Utah Production And Edible Low Water Landscapes 2012-14, Roger Kjelgren

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

1. Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.; also known as a Chinese date) is a drought tolerant fruit tree unknown in Utah but is widely grown in Asia for fruit quality and health benefits, both fresh and dried. Jujube tolerance of cold and dry conditions in China ostensibly suggests that it should tolerate Utah’s cold, dry and high pH conditions. Jujube’s drought tolerance is partly due to small, glossy leaves and deep root system that are also attractive for low water landscaping, particularly edible landscaping, and possibly small fruit production in Utah. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of jujube …

H.F. Hauff Pruner Housing & Ergonomics, Erich E. Heilman

All Undergraduate Projects

The technology of electric tree pruners in the current agricultural market has many engineering problems, including; a deficit in power output, excessive overheating, and ergonomics. The 3-man pruner team has coordinated with H.F. Hauff Co. Inc., an agricultural equipment company owned by Neil Hauff, to produce an electric pruner prototype which addresses these problems. The methods used to design the optimal pruner prototype includes traditional engineering stress analysis, force flow analysis, finite element software, and Solidworks modeling software. The construction of the pruner involved manual machining methods and C.N.C. (Computerized Numerical Control) mill technology. During the design process, the team …

Agricultural Policy Reform: An Argument For A Soil Erosion Tax, Alex M. Ingulsrud

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The purpose of this research is to examine the history of soil erosion and US agricultural policy in order to show why a soil erosion tax would be a good policy. Part A of this essay focuses on the dust bowl as an archetype for modern agriculture and ecological limits. Historical lessons are drawn from the dust bowl that illustrate why a soil erosion tax would be more practical than past policies for agricultural policy to coerce farmers into implement soil conversation practices. Part B of this essay examines the current dilemma of soil erosion and agricultural policy, why a …

Agriculture In A Transformative Policy Space: An Introduction, Chewe Nkonde

Zambia Social Science Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Ashley Chishiba, Sylvia Jana Harrison

Zambia Social Science Journal

Reviews of: Agriculture in Zambia: Past, Present, and Future, Antony Chapoto and Nicholas J. Sitko eds., 2015 and: Forced to leave: Commercial farming and displacement in Zambia, by Human Rights Watch, 2017.

Conservation Agriculture: Gendered Impacts On Households' Livelihoods, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Antony Chapoto

Zambia Social Science Journal

In response to climate change, new technologies resilient to climatic variability have been promoted among smallholder farmers. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been promoted since the 1990s in sub-Saharan Africa. However, as with any new technology, various factors affect adoption and ultimately the impact of the technology. Gender is one such factor. Both female and male smallholder farmers are faced with numerous constraints to accessing productive resources. Female farmers face more problems in adopting new technology than do male farmers, resulting in few of them adopting them. This in turn reduces the impact that these technologies have on their livelihood. Using …

Relative Growth Of Carcass Tissues Of Goat Kids From Five Breed Types Finished On Pasture Or Feedlot, Raquel Vasconcelos Lourençon, Heraldo Cesar Gonçalves, Paulo Roberto De Lima Meirelles, Richard Browning Jr., Maria Lenira Leite-Browning, Andréia Cristina Toniolo Chávari, Raquel Ornelas Marques, Gil Ignacio Lara Canizares, Natalia Santos Leal, Helen Fernanda Barros Gomes

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

he aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cross breeding, finishing system, and gender on the relative growth of carcass tissues of dairy kids. Seventy eight kids (39 male and 39 female) from five breed types were used: Alpine; ½ Boer + ½ Alpine (½ BA); ½ Nubian + ½ Alpine (½ ANA); ¾ Boer + ¼ Alpine (¾ BA); and ½ Nubian + ¼ Boer + ¼ Alpine (TC). Kids were distributed into two finishing systems: in pasture with doe (FS1) and weaned in feedlot (FS2). Kids were slaughtered at a mean age of 128.4 ± …

Automated Cropping Intensity Extraction From Isolines Of Wavelet Spectra, Bingwen Qiu, Zhuangzhuang Wang, Zhenghong Tang, Chongcheng Chen, Zhanling Fan, Weijiao Li

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Timely and accurate monitoring of cropping intensity (CI) is essential to help us understand changes in food production. This paper aims to develop an automatic Cropping Intensity extraction method based on the Isolines of Wavelet Spectra (CIIWS) with consideration of intra- class variability. The CIIWS method involves the following procedures: (1) characterizing vegetation dynamics from time–frequency dimensions through a continuous wavelet transform performed on vegetation index temporal profiles; (2) deriving three main features, the skeleton width, maximum number of strong brightness centers and the intersection of their scale intervals, through computing a series of wavelet isolines from the wavelet spectra; …

Exploring Agricultural Production Systems And Their Fundamental Components With System Dynamics Modelling, Jeffrey P. Walters, David W. Archer, Gretchen F. Sassenrath, John R. Hendrickson, Jon D. Hanson, John M. Halloran, Peter Vadas, Vladimir J. Alarcon

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

Agricultural production in the United States is undergoing marked changes due to rapid shifts in consumer demands, input costs, and concerns for food safety and environmental impact. Agricultural production systems are comprised of multidimensional components and drivers that interact in complex ways to influence production sustainability. In a mixed-methods approach, we combine qualitative and quantitative data to develop and simulate a system dynamics model that explores the systemic interaction of these drivers on the economic, environmental and social sustainability of agricultural production. We then use this model to evaluate the role of each driver in determining the differences in sustainability …

Common Grasses Of Nebraska: Rangeland Prairie Pasture (Including Grass-Like Plants), Cheryl Dunn, Mitchell B. Stephenson, James Stubbendieck

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Introduction 3 • Plant Groups 4 • Parts of a Grass Plant 5 • Inflorescence Characteristics 5 • Vegetative Characteristics 5 • Parts of a Grass-Like • Plant 5 • Fruit and Floral Characteristics 5 • Vegetative Characteristics 5 •

Warm-Season • Perennial Grasses • Bermudagrass 14 • Blowoutgrass 15 • bluestems: • Big bluestem 16 • Little bluestem 18 • Sand bluestem 20 • Silver bluestem 21 • Yellow bluestem 22 • Buffalograss 24 • dropseeds: • Alkali sacaton 26 • Prairie dropseed 27 • Sand dropseed 29 • Tall dropseed 30 • Eastern gamagrass 32 • gramas: • …

Annual Report: Nebraska Extension In Lancaster County, January 1, 2016 Through December 31, 2016

Lancaster County, Nebraska Extension: Reports

Nebraska Extension accomplishes University of Nebraska- Lincoln 's landgrant mission by extending reliable, research-based information to the public for use in everyday life. It provides programs and resources in the areas of horticulture, pest management, nutrition & food safety, farms & acreages, strong families, youth development, environment of the home, and leadership development.

The Politics Of Maize In Zambia: Who Holds The Keys To Change The Status Quo?, Antony Chapoto, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Barak D. Hoffman, Chance Kabaghe, Nicholas J. Sitko, Auckland Kuteya, Ballard Zulu

Zambia Social Science Journal

As both the national staple food and primary smallholder crop, maize occupies a central position in Zambia’s agricultural political economy. Despite the government’s large subsidies, maize productivity levels remain way below global averages, maize commercialisation in the smallholder sector remains highly concentrated, maize meal prices are highly volatile, and rural poverty remains high. This study uses a political economy framework to better understand the policy-making process, power structures and dynamics involved in the maize sector in order to get a better understanding of who holds the keys to change, and how to influence agricultural policy changes. Net-Map procedure was used …

A Long History Of Low Productivity In Zambia: Is It Time To Do Away With Blanket Recommendations?, Antony Chapoto, Lydia M. Chabala, Olipa N. Lungu

Zambia Social Science Journal

Although there have been calls to ramp up efforts to design and implement a fertiliser programme that recognises the spatial variability of soil fertility and climatic conditions in the country, Zambia like most countries in Africa, continues to rely heavily on outdated general fertiliser recommendations, which are uniform across geographic locations and crops. This could be one of the main reasons why Zambia continues to record low crop productivity despite government fertilizer subsidy programmes. Using soil analysis and household data collected in rural Zambia, this study presents a comparative analysis of location-specific fertilizer application versus blanket recommendation to demonstrate why …

The Effect Of Soil Erosion On Children’S Calorie Intake Among Corn-Producing Households, Davao Region, Philippines, Pedro A. Alviola Iv, Jon Marx P. Sarmiento, Nikko L. Laorden, Nilo B. Oponda

Journal of Economics, Management and Agricultural Development

Soil erosion is a constant challenge to farm productivity and profitability. However, extending the effect to food expenditure and children’s nutrition is yet to be explored. In this research, an attempt was made to establish the path linking soil erosion to children’s calorie intake levels. Using the geo-coordinates of Mindanao soil erosion areas from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to identify the research sites for corn producing households in Davao region. A total of 125 samples were analyzed. A 24-hour food-frequency recall survey was conducted and conversion of food consumption to …