Agriculture Commons^™

Shrinkage Prediction During Pasta Dehydration, Gina Michelle Bressani

Open Access Theses

Shrinkage models from different fields of study were reviewed. Pasta was used as a model to further develop the hypothesis of predicting shrinkage in terms of the rate of relaxation and the rate of moisture loss. An extended literature review of pasta properties, such as isotherms, diffusivity, glass transition, rheological properties, and shrinkage was conducted. Isotherm and glass transition models were developed from the literature data acquired. Creep was tested with a 25 mm-diameter flat plate at 20 to 40°C at varying moisture content. Viscoelastic properties for the Burgers model for creep were determined, where higher moisture content samples resulted …

Wheat Stored In Triple Layer Plastic Bags: Protection Against The Rice Weevil, Sitophilus Oryzae L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) And The Effect Of Air Leaks On Hermetic Storage, Daniel Thomas Martin

Open Access Theses

Triple layer bags consisting of two inner layers of 80 micron thick high-density polyethylene (HDPE) surrounded by an outer woven polypropylene bag have proven to be an effective technology for hermetic storage of cowpea and to prevent loss caused by the cowpea bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). This bagging technology is called the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) system. If PICS bags prove useful for protecting other crops against their insect pests during storage it would allow farmers to store these commodities for longer periods of time to increase personal food availability and market flexibility. Accordingly, PICS bags were …

Characteristics And Practices That May Lead To Listeria Monocytogenes Contamination In Retail Delis, Jingjin Wang

Open Access Theses

The foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes, can contaminate ready-to-eat (RTE) deli meats at retail delis, since retail delis provide an ideal environment for L. monocytogenes growth. Current risk assessment indicates that 83% of listeriosis cases from RTE deli meats are all from RTE deli that are sliced at retail delis. Strategies for controlling L. monocytogenes in retail establishments are essential to prevent post-processing contamination of RTE foods. In order to determine the potential risk factors associated with L. monocytogenes contamination and develop best practices to reduce L. monocytogenes , we sampled the retail establishment environment, isolated L. monocytogenes, and …

Breakthrough Of Sub-Saharan Africa’S Agricultural Production In The 21st Century: The Role Of Foreign Aid, Jiangyi Qian

Open Access Theses

Sub-Saharan African countries' agricultural production has accelerated in the twenty-first century. This study shows that aggregate African agricultural production exhibits a breakthrough after 2000. More specifically, agricultural production breakthroughs occurred in 24 sub-Saharan African countries after 2000. 15 of them were caused by yield improvement and 8 of them were caused by area expansion. These breakthroughs helped these countries meet their increasing food consumption demands and lower their dependency on agricultural imports. However, we also found these breakthroughs were fragile. In addition to the influences of recent natural disasters and drought, these fertilizer-enabled production accelerations might also have been negatively …

Understanding Childhood Malnutrition In Nepal: A Hierarchical Regression Approach, Timothy M. Smith

Open Access Theses

This thesis investigates the determinants of childhood malnutrition in Nepal, with a particular emphasis on the importance of district characteristics relative to household and child characteristics. Using a new dataset constructed from child and household data from the 2006 and 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and community characteristics aggregated from the 2004 and 2010 Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS), we estimate a variety of hierarchical regression models, which allow us to partition variance in height-for-age Z-scores between the levels of different hierarchical specifications, and then to partition that variance further, between group-level parameters.

Our findings suggest that the …

Determinants Of Energy Efficiency Across Countries, Guolin Yao

Open Access Theses

With economic development, environmental concerns become more important. Economies cannot be developed without energy consumption, which is the major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Higher energy efficiency is one means of reducing emissions, but what determines energy efficiency?

In this research we attempt to find answers to this question by using cross-sectional country data; that is, we examine a wide range of possible determinants of energy efficiency at the country level in an attempt to find the most important causal factors. All countries are divided into three income groups: high-income countries, middle-income countries, and low-income countries. Energy intensity is used …

The Influence Of An Advanced Agriculture & Life Science Course On Students' Views Of The Nature Of Science, Megan N. Anderson

Open Access Theses

One of the goals in today's society is to ensure that students exiting school have the ability to understand, develop, and comprehend scientific information. For students to be able to meet these goals, it is imperative that they become scientifically literate and understand the concept of the Nature of Science (NOS). The discipline of Agricultural Education has strong connections with science and today many students are earning science credit and developing science understanding through Agricultural Education courses. If students are continuing to gain science mastery through their Agricultural Education courses, they should also be gaining adequate conceptions of science and …

An Exploratory Study Of Diversified Mentoring Relationships Among Graduate Students And Their Advisors In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Fields, Krystin R. Bodden

Open Access Theses

Minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In graduate education, factors such as racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, stereotypes, tokenism, and a lack of role models can all plague students and contribute to uncompleted degrees and non-entrance into STEM fields. One of the tools being used to combat these barriers is effective mentoring. Graduate students and their advisors generally have close working relationships and advisors serve in a tremendously important role in the development of the graduate student, so an effective mentoring relationship is vital.

The purpose of this study was to explore …

Comparative Analysis Of The True Profitability Between Genetic Multiplication And Terminal Pig Production, Nicholas H. Dekryger

Open Access Theses

In the agriculture industry today, farmers and agribusinesses must continually deal numerous uncertainties and consequential financials burdens. Market prices, both in grains and livestock, have varied quiet substantially over the past five years creating difficulties in risk management and sales. As a means to combat the uncertainty facing the agriculture industry, solid business strategies must be implemented in order to absorb any external impact. Using part of the strategy outlined in The Breakthrough Imperative, an analysis was done on the strategy used by Belstra Group Farms with the goal to determine the true profitability of gilt multiplication.

A model was …

Agriculture, Climate Change, And Adaptation In Morocco: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis, Ismail Ouraich

Open Access Dissertations

The empirical analysis in this dissertation comprises two essays investigating the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Morocco, with an emphasis on climate uncertainty and robust adaptation.^ The first essay in Chapter 4 provides estimates of economic impacts of climate change, and estimates on the extent to which the current Moroccan agricultural development and investment strategy, the Plan Maroc Vert (PMV), could help in agricultural adaptation to climate change and uncertainty.^ We simulated three cases. First, we examined the impacts of PMV on the economy in the absence of climate change and found that it could provide about a …

Holistic Management, A Lifelong Management Goal, Jesse Russell, D. R. Zobell

All Current Publications

There are many misconceptions concerning farmers and ranchers, and not understood by those living in urban areas. However they are looked upon, the successful managers in today’s production agriculture must have a firm knowledge of many different resources. Some of these resources include but are not limited to; soil, grasses and/or other crops, cattle and/or other production animals and their biological processes, labor resources. In order to be profitable these operators must be able to manage their finances as well.

Optimizing Water Use Through Management Of Spatiotemporal Variation Using Site Specific Technologies, Laura J. Dotterer

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

The effects of landscape variability can be minimized through site-specific crop management. Variability in production agriculture affects profitability of operation mainly through yield impacts and the efficiency of input use. A field can be broken down into smaller areas called management zones. Management zones are created by an area in the field that has similar yield-limiting factors, and thus, the same rate of an input can be applied to that area to increase efficiency or yield. Variable rate irrigation (VRI) is a site specific water management tool that can be utilized to apply the optimal amount of water on all …

Utah Urban Small-Scale Mixed Vegetable Production Costs And Returns - 5 Acres, 2014, Kynda Curtis, Shawn Olsen, Trevor Knudsen, Katie Wagner

All Current Publications

This publication is intended to be a guide used to make production decisions, determine potential returns and prepare business and marketing plans.

La Eficiencia En Los Manejos Orgánicos De Plagas En La Parroquia San Pedro De Vilcabamba., Lauren Miranda

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Organic agriculture is a practice that continues to grow on the global scale due to increasing market demands as interest in the consumption of healthier foods with minimal environmental impact continues to rise. However, as with all forms of agriculture, organic agroecosystems too have problems with the presence of pests – fungi, insects, bacteria, pathogens – and other sicknesses that affect both the yield and quality of the harvest, which in turn affects the well-being, in terms of nutrition and socioeconomic standing, of the people and families that depend on agriculture as their principal form of subsistence. With this in …

Pre-Maceration, Saignée And Temperature Affect Daily Evolution Of Pigment Extraction During Vinification, Ottorino L. Pantani, Federico M. Stefanini, Irene Lozzi, Luca Calamai, Alessandra Biondi Bartolini, Stefano Di Blasi

COBRA Preprint Series

Consumer demand for intensely coloured wines necessitates the systematic testing of pigment extraction in Sangiovese, a cultivar poor in easily extractable anthocyanins. Pre-fermentation (absent, cold soak pre-fermentation at 5 °C, cryomaceration by liquid N₂ addition), temperature (20 or 30 °C), and saignée were compared during vinification (800 kg). Concentrations of anthocyanins, non-anthocyanic flavonoids and SO₂-resistant pigments were recorded daily. A semiparametric Bayesian model permitted the kinetic description and the comparison of sigmoidal- and exponential-like curves. In total anthocyanins, saignée at 30 °C yielded a significant gain, later lost at drawing off; cryomaceration had little effect and cold …

Growing South Dakota (Spring 2014), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

This issue contains the SDSU Extension 2013 Annual Report.

[Page] 2 The New SDSU Extension: Two Years Later, Change Has Brought New Successes
[Page] 4 Your 24-7 Connection: iGrow.org Makes SDSU Extension Easily Accessible, Responsive
[Page] 5 SDSU Regional Extension Centers: Your Front Door To SDSU
[Pages] 6-7 Leading The Challenge: Projects To Address Food Security, Financial Knowledge Underway
[Pages] 8-9 Regional Collaboration: SET Grants & Food Networks Initiated
[Pages] 10-11 Encouraging & Empowering: Native American Program Assists Reservations In Striving For Healthy Food, Healthy Communities & Youth Science Programming
[Page] 12 Evaluating Yields: Crop Performance Testing Provides Important, Unbiased …

A High Tunnel For Strong Winds And Space Utility, Ron Patterson

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes modifications to high tunnels for strong winds and space utility.

Utah Urban Small-Scale Mixed Vegetable Production Costs And Returns - 2 Acres, 2014, Shawn Olsen, Kynda Curtis, Katie Wagner, Trevor Knudsen

All Current Publications

This publication is intended to be a guide used to make production decisions, determine potential returns and prepare business and marketing plans.

Key Resources Of Ranch Management, Cody Butler, D. R. Zobell

All Current Publications

There are five essentials for successful ranch management. These essentials consist of: 1) A lifelong approach to management needs, both integrative and holistic. 2) Strive for continuous improvement of key resources. 3) Assemble and use good analysis and decision-making tools. 4) Wage war on cost. 5) Place an emphasis on marketing.

Unpermitted Urban Agriculture: Transgressive Actions, Changing Norms And The Local Food Movement, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Roberta keeps four chickens in her backyard. Bob snuck onto the vacant lot next door, which the bank foreclosed upon and now owns, and planted a vegetable garden. Vien operates an occasional underground restaurant from his friends’ microbrewery after beer-making operations cease for the day. The common thread tying these actions together is that they are unauthorized; they are being undertaken in violation of existing laws and often norms. In this Article, I explore ideas surrounding the overlap between food policy and land use law, specifically the transgressive1 actions that people living in urban and suburban communities are undertaking to …