Screw cap wine closures provide many benefits in maintenance of wine quality over time, however acceptance of their use by purchasers has varied. This work first investigates how factors like age, gender, income and education affect the decision to purchase screw cap wines and to what extent these factors impact consumer decisions to bring screw cap wine to various social settings. The results of a questionnaire pooling attitudes and behaviors of wine purchasers (n=319) indicate that factors such as age, wine knowledge, income and gender influence a consumer’s decision to purchase screw cap wine. Education and income positively impact the acceptance of screw cap wines and the likelihood of purchasing them. Age has a negative effect on acceptance of screw cap wines in social situations. Gender was found to not be significant in regards to likelihood of screw cap wine purchase generally, however men tended to view screw cap wines as more acceptable in more social situations than women.

<p>  </p> <p>While many studies have evaluated corn and soybean marketing strategies and crop insurance coverage levels separately, few studies have examined their interactions simultaneously.  This study evaluated the risk return tradeoff between marketing and crop insurance strategies in a portfolio context.  The Target MOTAD model was the primary method used to explore the tradeoffs between expected returns and downside risk.  On average, the hedge and roll strategy had the highest net return over the 30-year period for both corn and soybeans.  When corn and soybeans were evaluated separately, results indicated that the optimal combination of marketing strategies was not dependent on crop insurance coverage levels.  The strategies contributing to an optimal portfolio for corn were a mixture of the hedge and roll strategy, and the marketing year cash price strategy.  Combining the hedge and roll strategy with the marketing year cash price strategy was also optimal for soybeans.  When corn and soybean strategies were optimized simultaneously, however, optimal marketing strategies were dependent on the crop insurance coverage level chosen.  The optimal marketing strategies to mitigate risk for the 75 and 80 percent revenue protection plan included the corn hedge and roll strategy, the soybean marketing year cash price strategy, and the soybean six-month cash price strategy.  For the 85 percent revenue protection plan, the optimal marketing strategies were the corn hedge and roll strategy, soybean marketing year cash price strategy, and the soybean hedge and roll strategy. For the 90 and 95 percent supplemental coverage option (SCO) and enhanced coverage option (ECO) plans, the optimal marketing strategies were the corn marketing year cash price, the corn hedge and roll, and the soybean six-month cash price strategy. </p>

The agricultural industry has an opportunity to shift to a more sustainable practice that helps restore vital topsoil, improve water quality, reduce environmental impact, and sequester atmospheric carbon into the vast soil carbon pool. However, to implement these practices at considerable scale, agricultural producers require access to resources and capital they rarely have and can be difficult to acquire. As a company, investing in regenerative agriculture in supply chains can lead to reduced Scope 3 emissions, more resilient supply chains, and better marketability as an investment fund, an employer, and a brand. Insetting regenerative agriculture can protect supply chains against climate risks and productivity loss, as well as serve as a more secure alternative to carbon credit offsets. Four successful companies, General Mills, Organic Valley, Nestlé, and Nespresso, have been shown to benefit from investing in regenerative agriculture as part of their evolution towards reaching net zero emissions. Based on their strategies, this paper has developed a recommended framework for programming investments for insetting regenerative agriculture. The recommendations rest on six pillars: 1) determining impact, 2) providing direct support to farmers, 3) place-specific strategies, 4) collaboration through partnerships, 5) scalable programming, and 6) educate consumers. Together, these represent a comprehensive approach to insetting that will provide long-term benefits to businesses, suppliers, and the planet.

[pt] A água é o recurso natural de maior importância para a continuidade da vida humanasaudável. Dessa forma, é imperativo prestar atenção em como este recurso é gerenciado diante da ocorrência de diversas crises hídricas e da iminência demuitas outras. Figurando como um bem-público através de normativas nacionais e internacionais, a gestão da água e a distribuição dela com qualidade e igualdade recai sob a responsabilidade de um Estado garantidor de direitos. No entanto, a realidade é outra. É possível observar diversos esforços em direção a privatizar e mercantilizar cada vez mais este recurso, consequentemente limitando-o e excluindo seu acesso às populações mais vulneráveis. Grandes indústrias, principalmente do ramo alimentício desempenham um papel importante nesta dinâmica. Esta pesquisa se propõe a analisar esta dinâmica sob uma vertente do Direito Internacional, olhando para casos específicos dos Estados Unidos e do Brasil, grandes potências mundiais do agronegócio. Um olhar jurídico será utilizado para observar especialmente a condição brasileira e discutir possibilidades de agência diante de cenário tão complexo. / [en] Water is the most important natural resource for the continuation of healthy human life. Thus, it is imperative to pay attention to how this resource is managed in the face of various water crises and the imminent threat of many others. As a public good, regulated by national and international norms, the management of water and its distribution with quality and equality falls under the responsibility of a state that guarantees rights. However, reality tells a different story. Various efforts towards increasingly privatizing and commodifying this resource can be observed, consequently limiting, and excluding its access to the most vulnerable populations. Large industries, especially in the food sector, play a significant role in this dynamic. This research aims to analyse this dynamic from the perspective of International Law, looking at specific cases in the United States and Brazil, major global agribusiness powers. A legal perspective will be used to particularly observe the Brazilian condition and discuss possibilities for agency in such a complex scenario.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:23:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Franchi Winter.pdf: 927409 bytes, checksum: c232a0e890cf58ef7c2fb77318ab045c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-15 / The Agribusiness Receivables Certificate, created by the Law n. 11.076 of December, 30, 2004, in order to increase the share of the private capital in the financing of national agribusiness, is a title of credit that represents the promise to pay in cash, linked to credit rights originated in the agribusiness, issued exclusively by of an agribusiness securitization company. In practical terms, it is a specific securitization instrument applied to the agribusiness sector that grants to the investor safety, liquidity, tax benefits, high capital return and low risks, and to the borrower liquidity, better funding costs and new funding resources. This work, therefore, has the purpose to provide an detailed analysis of the agribusiness receivables certificate in Brazil in order to demonstrate that this kind of transaction can be utilized as an accelerator to the development of the agribusiness sector, as well as happened in others sectors of the economy as the case of the real state with the real state receivables certificate / O Certificado de Recebíveis do Agronegócio, criado em 2004 pela Lei 11.076, de 30 de dezembro, com a finalidade de fomentar a participação privada no financiamento do agronegócio nacional, é um título de crédito representativo da promessa de pagamento em dinheiro vinculado a direitos creditórios do agronegócio de emissão exclusiva de companhia securitizadora do agronegócio. Na prática, trata-se de um instrumento de securitização específico para o setor do agronegócio que confere ao investidor segurança, benefícios fiscais, alto retorno do capital investido e redução de riscos, e ao tomador liquidez, melhores taxas de captação e novas fontes de financiamento. O presente trabalho, portanto, tem como objetivo fazer uma análise detalhada do Certificado de Recebíveis do Agronegócio no Brasil, de forma a demonstrar que esse tipo de operação de securitização pode ser um catalizador para o desenvolvimento do setor do agronegócio, assim como já ocorreu com outros setores da economia, como foi o caso do setor imobiliário com o Certificado de Recebíveis Imobiliário

This dissertation explores the influences on individual decision making in a complex, real world context – the New Zealand wool supply chain. It asks two fundamental questions, first, how do decision makers make decisions in their everyday settings and, second, how is decision making learned and improved through experience and contextual factors. Two contextual aspects of decision making were also examined; these included whether decision making processes varied as a result of uncertainty and risky surroundings, or in cooperative and competitive environments. Further examination included revealing how being a member of a (multi-layered) group influences individual decision making. In-depth qualitative interviewing of sheep farmers, and associated supply chain members in the wool industry was undertaken. Three key decision journeys were explored from both the 'psychological' and the 'social' schools of social psychology in order to give detail on the flow of decision making influences through human systems (whether entities were present, or implied). One of the main aspects of this study was to employ, by analogy, an analysis inspired by the concept of multi-level selection from evolutionary theory as a means of understanding decision making in such a complex, layered system. Other contributions include commentary on the nature of social psychological studies of decision making, suggestions for the expansion of naturalistic decision making to include processes occurring on more than one 'level' of context, the framing of information in the media and the judgment of information sources on the part of experienced and inexperienced farmers, and, the role that globalization may play in driving decision making behaviour.

The equine influenza virus is a significant cause of respiratory disease in horses. Even though horses generally recover from this virus, sometimes horses with equine influenza develop secondary bacterial infections which can cause severe pneumonia, thereby increasing recovery times. Owners and managers are faced with the decision of whether to delay preventative treatment in hopes of the horse avoids contracting a secondary bacterial infection (“wait and see”) or aggressively treat the horse with an antibiotic in hopes of avoiding a serious infection (“treat now”). From a decision making standpoint, the economic considerations include explicit treatment costs as well as nonmonetary costs the owner or manager bear when caring for an ill horse. This study investigating horse owner/manager preferences for treatment alternatives is approached in two parts. The first part of the study collects data from field practitioners to estimate the cost of treatment strategies under different scenarios. The second part consists of a questionnaire presented to horse owners and managers and includes four choices between alternative treatment strategies. Analyzing the data using a conjoint analysis approach, respondents’ willingness to pay for different elements of a treatment strategy are estimated. Based on treatment strategies and demographic interactions, a respondent was willing to pay to cover the cost of a horse who became ill with the equine influenza, but individual price sensitivities suggested horse owners and managers are willing to “treat now” versus “wait and see” in order to not see their horse feel poorly and miss training time.

Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA), this thesis examines how risks and food security, in relation to Genetically Modified (GM) foods, are constructed within the media context. The project analyzes news articles that appeared in two Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, and two British newspapers, The London Times and the Guardian, during three particular time periods between 1997 and 2005. I evaluate whether or not the selected articles contribute to the public’s understanding of science, and how journalism constructs risk and uncertainty. I also evaluate the use of expert knowledge by journalists. Using the theory of Risk Society, as proposed by sociologist Ulrich Beck, the project explores the connections between political, social, and economic issues connected to globalization. This thesis concludes that journalism in both Canada and Britain does not appear to adequately inform their citizens on matters of food security and the risks of GMOs.

This thesis has two basic aims. The first aim is to analyze the global value chain of fruits and vegetables and the current international market with apples. The second aim is to analyze the value chain of apples in Czechia and measure its connection to global value chains. The research was carried out by analyzing secondary sources and basing on an own qualitative survey. This thesis is divided into two major parts. The first part deals with the global value chain (GVC) of fruits and vegetables. This chain is examined through five dimensions which are typical for GVC analysis: input-output structure, geographic scope, governance, institutional context and upgrading. The second part focuses only on one specific crop, apples. Firstly, it is studied at the global level, then the thesis concentrates only on the value chain of apples in Czechia.

<p>For agricultural soils to be perpetually productive, farmers must maintain and improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. The loss of soil to erosion is a major challenge to soil health, contributing to farmland loss and declines in productivity. This is a long-term problem for agriculture because there is a limited amount of topsoil available. Another costly loss happens when<em> residual nitrogen is lost to leaching or carried away in runoff. This is a particular problem in the fall and winter months when fields lie fallow, and there are no plants to take up excess nitrogen. Losing nitrogen is a problem for both the nutrient content of the soil as well as a serious concern in terms of water contamination.</em><em> </em>Cover crops provide a way to at least partially address each of these and many other agronomic and soil health issues. Although there has been a steady increase in cover crop use, adoption has been relatively slow. This is likely due to a lack of economic information and understanding of the associated risk. To address this problem, field level data was gathered from farmers across central and northeastern Indiana. The data included information on cash crop yield, cover crops grown, fertilizer use, among many other variables. The sample was trimmed based on the estimated propensity to cover crop, in order to reduce selection bias. Using this data, the effect of cover crops on the mean and variation of the subsequent cash crop yield was estimated using regression analysis. This information was combined in a stochastic analysis of a farm enterprise budget. The effects of cover crops on farm finance and risk were evaluated. These final analyses provide agricultural producers with more information to make informed decisions regarding the adoption of cover crops. The information may also provide insight to policy makers, who may wish to understand more completely the private economics of cover crops. The results indicated that cover crops have the ability to provide economic benefits when grown prior to corn in our study region. These include increased yield, reduced need for nitrogen fertilizer, and increased temporal yield stability. These benefits translate into higher revenue from the sale of the grain, lower input costs, and lower risk and uncertainty. However, the results for soybeans showed cover crops had a negative, albeit statistically insignificant, effect on desirable measures. This led to lower projected revenue, higher projected costs, and increased expected risk. Even so, the average corn-soybean contribution margin with cover crops was nearly equal to the baseline scenario. Furthermore, the analysis of risk showed that the corn-soybean two-year average would be preferred by farmers with moderate to high risk aversion. The difference between the effect of cover crops in corn and soybeans may be due to differences in the crop’s inherent nitrogen needs and the difficulty of cover crop establishment after corn in the region.<br></p>