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Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Herrera, Hector, Committee Member ; Cozzens, Susan, Committee Chair ; Rogers, Juan, Committee Member ; Shapira, Philip, Committee Member ; Bowman, Kirk, Committee Member.

Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

Typescript, etc.

This study analyzes the main factors that affect sugar imports to the United States from western hemisphere producing countries. Important variables such as Free Trade Agreements, production capacity levels and the quota imposed by the United States to the imported sugar will be analyzed under the scope of the gravity model. The estimation of the model is carried out using an OLS analysis. The variables used to create a reliable single-commodity gravity model are: sugar production indicators, distances between the involved countries, population, import quotas, and a set of dummy variables such as FTA (Free Trade Agreements) and border, that augment the model in order to identify and capture the effects of transactional costs and productivity on the sugar industry. The main focus is to assess the extent in which the variables affect sugar imports by the United States. The participation of the United States on international trade makes it essential identifying the FTAs in which they are involved. Some of the FTAs are the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), The Dominican Republic and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), and individual FTAs. On the other hand, the major constraint to U.S. sugar imports are the tariff rate-quotas (TRQ), which are analyzed in order to determine the degree of the effect of this distortion on sugar trade. This research will demonstrate that although the existence of efficient sugar producers and, that FTAs suppose an increase of trade between countries, in the sugar industry, quotas have shown weighting more than any other factor in the U.S. sugar imports.

As national interests continue to encourage the development of advanced cellulosic biofuels, through legislation, research support and other means, a wide range of alternative agricultural crops are being evaluated in various regions of the country as potential feedstock material for biofuel processing facilities. Previous research has shown that both energy cane and sweet sorghum can be successfully grown in Louisiana. This study evaluated the economic feasibility of utilizing energy cane and sweet sorghum as biofuel feedstock crops. Economic analysis focused on two primary factors: estimation of feedstock cost and optimal location of processing facilities. Five cropping sequences were evaluated in the production of energy cane and sweet sorghum as feedstock crops. Production costs per acre were similar across the two crops and alternative cropping sequences. Estimated feedstock costs per dry ton were more variable for sweet sorghum, as compared with energy cane, due to the wider range of expected yields observed for sweet sorghum across alternative production periods. Transportation costs from field to processing facility along with the percent of idle land not enrolled in conservation programs were found to be two of the major factors which will influence optimal location of feedstock processing facilities.

This study examines the impacts RTAs have had in the Asia-Pacific region regarding agricultural trade flows in order to make a prediction on how the proposed TPP agreement will affect the region. The estimation was carried out using a Gravity Model framework to observe the trade creation and trade diversion effects of five existing RTAs in the Asia-Pacific region. These agreements include NAFTA, AFTA, MERCOSUR, APEC, and CER. It is expected that RTAs were to have a positive effect for trade creation and a negative trade diversion effect. The gravity model included export flows of agricultural commodities (defined as food and live animals) between countries in the Asia- Pacific region to one another as the dependent variable. The right hand side of the equation included the traditional variables in a gravity model: GDP of exporter (importer), population of exporter (importer), and the distance between exporter and importer. It also consisted of additional variables to capture trade effects due to exchange rates, common language between trading partners, shared border, whether a country is landlocked, and mutual membership in a RTA as our independent variables. Of the five agreements examined AFTA, CER, and MERCOSUR resulted in significant trade creation effects while APEC and NAFTA showed signs of possible trade diversion. It was also concluded that GDP and population had the expected positive signs and that distance also had the expected sign (negative). Also, sharing a common border or language did have an effect on bilateral trade. These results suggest that the TPP should expect a trade creation effect with possible trade diversion effects as well.

More efficient water application is generally achieved when the design parameters match actual field conditions. On four sites, Kostiakov infiltration functions were derived from cylinder and blocked furrow infiltrometers and SCS (Soil Conservation Service) intake families according to soil type. An infiltration function was also developed using a hydrodynamic computer model to adjust equation parameters to fit field data. Computer simulations of level furrow irrigation, using each Kostiakov infiltration function, were compared to actual field data. Excluding those functions fit to the field data, Kostiakov infiltration functions obtained from blocked furrow infiltrometers generally provided the most consistent input for level furrow irrigation design and evaluation.