Esta dissertação trata do \"USP na Escolinha\", Programa de extensão universitária conduzido, desde 2013, na Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA/USP) da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). O Programa se dedica às crianças matriculadas no ensino fundamental, tendo por propósito apresentar a instituição, e seus respectivos cursos e formações, ao mesmo tempo que procura enriquecer o processo de formação, por meio da divulgação de elementos e conceitos relativos à sustentabilidade, bem-estar animal, reciclagem, entre outros assuntos relacionados às áreas de conhecimento desenvolvidas pela FZEA/USP no Campus Fernando Costa em que se localiza. Partindo dessa contextualização, o objetivo deste estudo foi o de documentar o referido Programa como uma alternativa genuína e inovadora para a promoção da inclusão social da comunidade regional no âmbito da FZEA/USP, bem como, com a própria USP, por meio da disseminação de conhecimento sobre diferentes possibilidades de interação com a Universidade e suas propostas de inclusão. Nesse sentido, parte-se da constatação de que o sistema social é reprodutor de desigualdades nas mais variadas interações entre os sujeitos, de modo que são necessárias ações para que haja a ruptura dessa reprodução. Como método, utilizou-se pesquisa exploratória por meio da condução de estudo de caso. Questionário semiestruturado foi aplicado aos familiares das crianças participantes do Programa no período de 2016 a 2018. O intuito foi o de capturar o conhecimento que a família tinha sobre a instituição antes da experiência. Entre outros impactos, esta dissertação contribui para contextualizar os desafios e oportunidades de políticas públicas universitárias dedicadas à inclusão social. O estudo em particular corrobora o Programa \"USP na Escolinha\" como estratégia de ruptura da reprodução dos sistemas de desigualdades de oportunidades. Por um lado, se evidencia amplo e generalizado desconhecimento dos familiares entrevistados sobre oportunidades oferecidas pela FZEA/USP e a USP, bem como as formas e caminhos para acesso. Por outro, o estudo projeta o Programa como importante veículo de comunicação, mas também de sensibilização de todos os atores envolvidos. A partir de sua lógica de integração criança-família-professor, o Programa fomenta a aproximação e sentimento de pertencimento da família à Instituição, assim como a vontade genuína na criança pelo conhecimento e ensino universitário em geral e pelo agronegócio em particular, ao referir-se a área-foco de atuação da FZEA/USP e do Campus Fernando Costa em que se localiza. Por fim, ressalta-se ainda que ao documentar o Programa, essa dissertação procura despertar o interesse de outras instituições de ensino por práticas educativas de natureza inclusivas. / This dissertation deals with \"USP na Escolinha\", University Extension Program conducted since 2013 at the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA / USP) at the University of São Paulo (USP). The program is dedicated to children enrolled in elementary education, with the purpose of presenting the institution and its respective courses and training, while at the same time seeking to enrich the training process by disseminating elements and concepts related to sustainability, animal welfare, recycling, among other subjects related to the areas of knowledge developed by FZEA / USP at the Fernando Costa Campus where it is located. Based on this contextualization, the objective of this study was to document the Program as a genuine and innovative alternative for the promotion of social inclusion of the regional community within FZEA / USP, as well as with USP itself, through the dissemination of knowledge about different possibilities of interaction with the University and its proposals for inclusion. In this sense, it is based on the fact that the social system is a reproducer of inequalities in the most varied interactions among the subjects, so that actions are necessary to break the reproduction. As a method, we used exploratory research through the conduction of a case study. Semi-structured questionnaire was applied to the families of the children participating in the Program from 2016 to 2018. The purpose was to capture the knowledge that the family had about the institution before the experience. Among other impacts, this dissertation contributes to contextualize the challenges and opportunities of university public policies dedicated to social inclusion. The study in particular corroborates the \"USP in the School\" Program as a strategy to break the reproduction of systems of inequalities of opportunity. On the one hand, there is a widespread and widespread lack of knowledge about the opportunities offered by FZEA / USP and USP, as well as the ways and means of access. On the other hand, the study projects the Program as an important vehicle for communication, but also for raising awareness among all the actors involved. Based on its logic of child-family-teacher integration, the Program fosters the family\'s approach and feeling of belonging to the Institution, as well as the genuine will of the child through university knowledge and education in general and agribusiness in particular, the area of focus of FZEA / USP and the Fernando Costa Campus where it is located. Finally, it is emphasized that in documenting the Program, this dissertation seeks to arouse the interest of other educational institutions for inclusive educational practices.

The factors affecting the supply of rubber from Sarawak, East Malaysia, were identified and reviewed in an historical framework. A methodical framework for the general analysis of economic relationships between variables was reviewed and a practical application of the methodology to the supply of rubber from Sarawak was carried out. An econometric analysis of the long run factors affecting the production of rubber was carried out. (1) Two log-differenced autoregressive models of the rubber supply were formulated. (2) The models were tested for parameter constancy to identify structural breaks in the time series and for structural invariance to determine whether they were suitable for policy analysis, forecasting and backcasting. (3) The variables were tested for bivariate Granger Causality to determine the relationships between the factors of production and the output of rubber. (4) Forecast Error Variance Decomposition analysis of multivariate Granger Causality was carried out using a Vector Autoregressive Model. The results confirm the a priori economic theory that long run changes in supply have been affected primarily by changes in area under rubber production and long term price trends. The area planted to rubber has depended upon price incentives and the availability of scarce labour resources. Prices have been affected by the supply of rubber from Sarawak but this is posited to be a reflection of global supply trends affecting prices. While the results generally confirm the economic theory, caution is urged when interpreting the results. The severe inadequacies of the data used highlights the need for more accurate time series and the mainly methodological approach of this study.

Biofuels have been widely recognized as a potential renewable energy source, and the United States’ government has been interested in producing ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass such as switchgrass. To evaluate whether lignocellulosic biomass based biofuels production is economically feasible, this paper estimated the capital investment outlays, operation costs, and net present value for investment in alternative switchgrass feedstock supply chain configurations in East Tennessee a 25 million gallon per year ethanol biorefinery. Two scenarios are analyzed in the study. The conventional hay harvest scenario includes the production, harvest, storage and transportation of biomass feedstocks from the fields to the biorefinery. The preprocessing scenario added preprocessing facilities into the biomass supply chain. According to various harvest, storage, preprocessing, and harvest equipment options, analysis and comparisons were made among different systems. The capital budgeting model developed in this study generated the optimal feedstock supply chain configurations to determine the largest net present value of cash flow from investment. Results of this study shown that with the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) incentives, a round bale system using feedstock stored without tarp on pallets using custom hired equipment had the largest positive net present value. By comparison, if all the harvest equipment is purchased rather than custom hired, the stretch wrap baler preprocessing systems, using switchgrass harvested by a chopper with rotary cutter-header, was found to have a cost advantage over conventional hay harvest logistic systems (large round bale and large square bale systems) and pellet preprocessing systems. Assuming most likely values for switchgrass price and production costs, none of the feed stock supply chain configurations evaluated in this study produced a positive net present value when BCAP subsidies were assumed to not be available. However, without the BCAP incentives and based on combination of optimistic assumption, the round bale system using feedstock stored without tarp on pallets using custom hired equipment still has the largest positive net present value. Without the BCAP incentives, no feedstock supply chain configuration using purchased rather than custom hired equipment generated a positive net present value.

In approaching such complicated water issues as faced in the Central Valley, the United Nations has attempted to create a process for effective water resource governance with its Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) process. This approach outlines four dimensions of water governance that must be acknowledged and balanced in an effective policymaking process.2 Initially, policymakers must divide water resources equitably along socio-economic strata. After this, water resources must be efficiently used to promote economic growth. In allocating this resource between parties, all stakeholders and citizens must be given equal political opportunities to influence the division and distribution process. Finally, it is essential to the United Nations that water be appropriated and used in an environmentally sustainable way that not only protects ecosystems, but also those who depend on those ecosystems for their livelihoods. It is essential that policymakers in charge of distributing California’s water rights use the IWRM program as a baseline and a starting point for any future policy regimens, as these are the four most basic and integral components of the issue that must be addressed. Beyond the IWRM guidelines, policymakers must approach water distribution issues with the several diverse viewpoints and interests of Californians in mind. It is important to note that as policy issues are being debated, the problem itself is also constantly in flux. In the face of these varied challenges that put a strain on already scarce water resources, appropriate governance and management is becoming more and more necessary. It has been stated that “as a result of climate change,environmental degradation, and a lack of sustained investment in the system, our water system can nolonger meet the needs of the state.”3 The distribution of water in the Central Valley requires an intricate balance of interests between rival, yet deeply interconnected parties.In creating successful water policy, party lines must be crossed and compromises must be agreed upon in the interest of California’s economic, environmental, and social wellbeing.

This dissertation analyzes the changes introduced in the U.S.-Mexico food-chain, and the ways in which the multinational corporations that control the food industrial complex from seed to shelves have altered the labor dynamics of farm-workers. Over the past two decades, U.S. agribusiness and big retail-chains such as Wal-Mart have reached the top of the food pyramid and have come to control the process of production, supply, and distribution of agricultural inputs and perishable food. My study analyzes the impact of U.S. agribusiness on growers and farm-workers, focusing on how the integration of agriculture into a “free-trade” world economy has affected the working conditions of farm-labor. It explores how migrant farm-workers have responded to their deteriorating labor conditions with a campaign led by the Farm-Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) that involved innovative cross-border grassroots tactics and strategy. It traces how this campaign culminated in the achievement of the first labor contract for guest-workers in U.S. history. Based on participant observation, interviews with the workers and their union leaders, and the analysis of workers’ grievances, I conclude that such a reorganization of the farm-labor movement at the grassroots level is crucial to the creation of a food-chain that is capable of satisfying the needs of production and consumption for the global population.

This study investigates the case of a Zambian institution providing credit for smallholder agribusiness commercialization and compares this lender’s model with the major microfinance institutions, to identify specific mechanisms employed by the lender and how these have been adapted to suit seasonal agricultural production credit requirements. Econometric models are developed to examine the influence of key economic factors such as nominal and real interest rates, loan fees, and loan term on the supply of credit by the lender. Other important factors considered relevant in the lender’s market include availability of contract markets for financed production and the type of borrower (cooperative or investor-owned agribusinesses). The study uses loan-level and firm-level loan data aggregated from an electronic loan database of individual loan files kept by the lender. Cross sectional data over three years (2005 – 2007) are used in the study. The study finds that loan fees, loan term and availability of contract markets to borrowers are the key determinants of credit supply. In addition, the study finds that interest rates do not significantly influence the lender’s credit supply decisions, a finding that is consistent with literature on credit rationing in markets with asymmetric information. The study finds no evidence of economies of scale benefit to the lender being passed along to borrowers through lower loan fees. The study contributes to the literature and development needs of agricultural lenders and smallholder agribusinesses in Zambia through the analysis of different factors that influence the lender’s credit supply decisions.

The liberalizing economic reforms that began under Fujimori in the 1990s have had a profound impact on primary production processes throughout the country of Peru. In the northern coastal region of La Libertad, such reforms have rearranged the physical landscape for the cultivation of nontraditional exports and have as a result altered internal migration mechanisms that provide abundant and cheap labor to domestic and multinational corporations operating on the coast. The downward pressures on labor have been acute as Peru competes for investment on a global scale with other developing countries. Organized resistance in response to poor working conditions and an inadequate regulatory framework has made few tangible gains over the years despite widespread discontent among agribusiness workers. Looking at the macro-level economic framework and national legislation, ethnic divisions of labor and task specification, as well as internal corporate practices that dissuade union affiliation, this study will examine the factors that have limited union organizing in northern Peruvian agribusiness the role of corporations, specifically that of Camposol, in community and regional development. / text

The thesis examines the social and economic implications of large-scale agribusiness expansion in Indonesia by analyzing how this economic system, as it is envisioned and materialised, reshapes livelihood possibilities. Based on original interviews with oil palm plantation workers, plantation company officials, smallholders, and on secondary research, this thesis scrutinises the forms of knowledge and practices that constitute large-scale oil palm agribusiness. While oil palm agribusiness produces economic opportunities for groups of individuals from certain social categories, it constrains the prospects of others in systematic ways. Oil palm agribusiness, as a project and as a set of practices, is deployed by a broad range of economic actors at different scales in an attempt to govern access to resources. However, the power of oil palm companies and investors over land, labour, and value is contested and negotiated by workers and smallholders who engage creatively with this economy. The thesis shows that oil palm agribusiness forms a field of power that produces specific subjectivities which transform the meanings and constraints related to this mode of production. The first part of the thesis (chapters 2 and 3) identifies the objectives pursued by those who plan and envision oil palm agribusiness. I emphasise that oil palm agribusiness serves a number of often competing and shifting aims that range from capital accumulation to welfare provision. The second part of the thesis (chapters 4 and 5) demonstrates how the modes of visioning examined in the first part of the thesis produce a broad set of material conditions for populations. I analyse the ways in which these conditions are constantly reshaped by everyday power relations and articulated around the value of labour and land. Based on ethnographic fieldwork that I conducted in West Kalimantan, Lombok, and Nias, these chapters shed light on the lived geographies of labour and the livelihood strategies used by individuals and social groups in the space of oil palm agribusiness.

The thesis examines the social and economic implications of large-scale agribusiness expansion in Indonesia by analyzing how this economic system, as it is envisioned and materialised, reshapes livelihood possibilities. Based on original interviews with oil palm plantation workers, plantation company officials, smallholders, and on secondary research, this thesis scrutinises the forms of knowledge and practices that constitute large-scale oil palm agribusiness. While oil palm agribusiness produces economic opportunities for groups of individuals from certain social categories, it constrains the prospects of others in systematic ways. Oil palm agribusiness, as a project and as a set of practices, is deployed by a broad range of economic actors at different scales in an attempt to govern access to resources. However, the power of oil palm companies and investors over land, labour, and value is contested and negotiated by workers and smallholders who engage creatively with this economy. The thesis shows that oil palm agribusiness forms a field of power that produces specific subjectivities which transform the meanings and constraints related to this mode of production. The first part of the thesis (chapters 2 and 3) identifies the objectives pursued by those who plan and envision oil palm agribusiness. I emphasise that oil palm agribusiness serves a number of often competing and shifting aims that range from capital accumulation to welfare provision. The second part of the thesis (chapters 4 and 5) demonstrates how the modes of visioning examined in the first part of the thesis produce a broad set of material conditions for populations. I analyse the ways in which these conditions are constantly reshaped by everyday power relations and articulated around the value of labour and land. Based on ethnographic fieldwork that I conducted in West Kalimantan, Lombok, and Nias, these chapters shed light on the lived geographies of labour and the livelihood strategies used by individuals and social groups in the space of oil palm agribusiness.

As intra-industry trade increases in U.S. agricultural and food processing industries, the historical agricultural trade surplus is tightening. In efforts to maintain the trade surplus a focus has shifted towards the promotion of agricultural and processed food exports among small and medium sized firms. This study intends to identify and evaluate the potential for exports among small to medium sized agricultural and food processing firms in Kentucky through a collection of survey data. The objectives of this thesis are to identify the state’s product marketing opportunities and product specifications for international exports while identifying transaction requirements for potential exports. An analysis of the constraints and challenges faced by firms in the decision to export reveals rational behavior Binary logistic regression analysis is used to identify the impact of firm characteristics, perceived marketing conditions and information constraints, and financial aspects on a firm’s decision to export. A second logit regression analyzes the impact on a non-exporting firm’s interest in international marketing opportunities. The lack of international market information, financial constraints, and risk are found to be significant factors in the decision to export and interest in foreign marketing.