Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / As the dairy industry faces the future, consumers’ demand for better milk quality and safety is increasing. Milk quality is of major interest to both consumers and dairy farmers alike. However, scientific data on milk quality in terms of somatic cell count (SCC) in Uganda and most developing countries has been lacking. This study used SCC to compare Southwestern Uganda’s milk quality against international standards. The study also sought to assess dairy farmers’ perceptions about milk quality. Milk samples were obtained from 100 farms in Mbarara and Kiruhura districts, the major cattle corridor in Uganda. The milk’s SCC was analyzed using a DeLaval DCC. A structured questionnaire surveyed farmers on milking procedures and milk-quality perception. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis was used to characterize and compare milk quality against the international benchmark. The study found that the 100 farms had an average SCC of 507,000 cells/ml. About 34% of farms in the study had SCC under 200,000 cells/ml, an indication of high-quality milk. Excluding 7% of the farms with SCC over 1,000,000 cells/ml, the remaining 93% had an average SCC of 276,000 cells/ml, a level comparable to international standards, well below the EU threshold of 400,000. The study also revealed that 98% of farmers considered milk quality as important or very important both to them and to the milk buyers. However, all farmers reported that they currently do not receive a milk-quality premium and are not penalized for poor quality. Seventy-nine percent of farmers reported the cooperative they belong to as their main source of information on management practices. An improved perception of milk quality both domestically and internationally will benefit Uganda’s dairy farmers and its dairy industry at large. Consumers must be assured that Uganda’s dairy industry, its government, industry stakeholders such as the Dairy Development Authority, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, and the private sector place the utmost importance on the quality and safety of milk and other dairy products. New technologies to measure for SCC and strict food safety regulations will help improve the country’s milk-quality image, allowing Uganda’s dairy industry to tap into major milk export markets. Most developed countries have seen increased raw-milk quality or reduced SCC as a result of strong regulatory pressure.

Master of Science / Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / The purpose of this study was to identify how K-State Research and Extension (KSRE) has established and maintained its brand through external communication with target audiences. The three research objectives were to determine the extent to which, 1) branding guidelines were followed, 2) calls to action were provided, and 3) key audiences were targeted. A quantitative content analysis was conducted to assess a representative sample of all communication KSRE state employees published within one year, November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2013. The Social Exchange Theory (SET) served as the framework and research objectives were based on the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). The study found the correct name of the organization appeared in only 56.6 % (n= 611) of units; appearances of images, graphics, and the official slogan were also minimal. Primarily, the study identified a need for increased specification and clarity in the guidelines in order to promote increased consistency. This study serves as a benchmark for future measurement, a basis for recommended changes, and a call for other state extension agencies to examine communication in similar studies. The researcher recommends the organization makes substantial edits and additions to the branding guidelines, provides employees with training, and implements a regular evaluation of communication efforts to monitor brand representation and communication effectiveness. Additionally, the researcher addresses the need for an IMC model specific to extension, to help communicators implement more strategic and measurable efforts.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Rodney D. Jones / After remaining stable for several decades, corn price has recently had unprecedented price increases and volatility. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts an average corn price of $5.80 per bushel for 2008, which is 232% of its 28-year (1980-2007) average price of $2.50. The record increase in corn price was the result of increased starch-based ethanol production associated with increased energy costs, and other factors such as a declining value in the United States dollar, and increased global commodity demand. High corn prices have impacted the profitability of the livestock feeding industry. It was less clear how the record high corn prices would affect the cow-calf industry since corn is not a significant input for cow-calf enterprises. This study quantified the relationship between cow-calf profitability and corn price. Because feed costs for a cow-calf producer are among the highest variable costs for the operation, both grazing and non-grazing feed costs were estimated as a function of corn price. Models were estimated to determine if a relationship between corn price and Returns Over Variable Costs (ROVC) at the cow-calf level could be identified. Corn price from 1978-2007 explained none of the variability in grass grazing rental rate, however when the projected 2008 corn price was included in the analysis, corn price explained 10% of the variation in grass grazing rates. Year (linear time trend) and corn price from 1978-2008 explained 88% of historical grass grazing rental rate variability, 71% of alfalfa price variability, and 63% of other hay price variability in Kansas. These results suggest that the new corn market paradigm likely will increase the relationship between corn price and feed costs at the cow-calf level. Several models were evaluated using bulk diesel fuel price, feeder calf price, corn price, alfalfa price, other hay price, and grass grazing rental rate to estimate Kansas cow-calf producer ROVC. Models that included diesel fuel price, feeder calf price, grazing rent, and one of the harvested feeds (corn, alfalfa, or other hay) price explained 90-91% of the variability in ROVC. Models that included diesel fuel price, feeder calf price, and either grazing rent or corn price explained less of the variability in ROVC; using grazing rent explained 89% and using corn price explained 79%. Including grass grazing rental rate along with corn price, feeder calf price, and bulk diesel fuel price improved the model's ability to predict ROVC, explaining 91% of the variability. While cow-calf producers might use very little corn directly in their operations, this research shows that corn price is an important determinant of cow-calf production returns, and corn price can be used by producers to plan for future rising costs in order to maximize returns.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Providing a recommendation on whether to make a capacity expanding capital investment in an existing butter plant is the subject of this thesis. This is important as the success of this project will have a significant impact on the future profitability of Land O'Lakes and provide a significant home for its member's milk production. The dairy industry has undergone change over the past decades. Milk production has moved from the traditional production area of the Upper Midwest to drier, more arid areas such as California. This has led to milk price premiums in the Upper Midwest and since milk is the major input to butter manufacturing, it has become more attractive to produce butter in other areas such as California. Much of the data collected in review of the industry were obtained from the USDA. This data were used to describe the industry and focus on the number of butter plants over time, the milk productivity per cow, and the total milk production by state. It provides a clear picture of fewer bigger plants, more productive cows, and a dramatic shift in milk production to the West, primarily California. A Net Present Value (NPV) model is developed to analyze the trade off between the initial capital investment and less costly milk procurement over time. The model also considers maintenance costs, salvage values, plant startup delays, and a one time salvage value gain by shutting down an Upper Midwest plant. After the initial model is developed, sensitivity analysis is conducted, focusing on key variables such as demand growth, and the spread between California and Upper Midwest milk prices. The conclusion is that additional investment in California butter production would be profitable, earning a positive NPV and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) greater than the Land O'Lakes cost of capital. The solution is robust as they remain the same even after modeling lower demand and smaller milk price differentials. Therefore, I recommend that Land O'Lakes move ahead with this capital investment.

Masters of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jeffrey M. Peterson / The expansion of the biofuels industry, world demand, and various other factors are having a historic impact on the price of grains. These high prices have been creating a large increase in production of many water intensive crops such as corn. As corn is among the most input-intensive crops, this extra production has raised concerns about environmental impacts and pressures on water resources in particular. While water quality has been a longstanding concern in the cornbelt, much of the new production is in nontraditional corn regions including the southeast, the High Plains, and the western states. In these areas, there is mounting concern over depletion of already stressed water supplies. In the High Plains, the chief water source is the Ogallala aquifer, one of the largest water resources in the world that underlies eight states from South Dakota to Texas. The Ogallala has enabled many agricultural industries, such as irrigated crops, cattle feeding, and meat processing, to establish themselves in areas that would not be possible otherwise. A consequence is that the economy of this region has become dependent on groundwater availability. Continued overdrafts of the aquifer have caused a long-term drop in water levels and some areas have now reached effective depletion. This thesis seeks to estimate the impact of the rising commodity prices on groundwater consumption and cropping patterns in the Kansas portion of the Ogallala. The economy of this region is particularly dependent on water and irrigated crops, with more than 3 million head of feeder cattle and irrigated crop revenues exceeding $600 million annually. Sheridan (northwestern Kansas), Seward (southwestern Kansas), and Scott (west central Kansas) counties have been selected as representative case study regions. These counties have a wide range of aquifer levels with Seward having an abundant supply, Sheridan an intermediate supply, and Scott nearing effective depletion. Cropping patterns in these counties are typical of the western Kansas region, with most irrigated acreage being planted to corn and with dominant nonirrigated rotations of wheat-fallow and wheat-sorghum-fallow. A Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) model was developed and calibrated to land- and water-use data in the case counties for a base period of 1999-2003. The PMP approach produces a constrained nonlinear optimization model that mimics the land- and water- allocation decision facing producers each year. The choice variables in the model are the acreages planted to each of the major crops and the water use by crop. The model was run for each of the case counties. The PMP calibration procedure ensures that the model solutions fall within a small tolerance of the base period observations. Once calibrated, the models were executed to simulate the impacts of the emerging energy demand for crops over a 60-year period. After the baseline projections were found, the model was then run under increased crop prices that reflect the higher prices observed in 2006 and after. The thesis found that under the high price scenario, both irrigated crop production and water application per acre increased significantly during the early years of the simulated period in all modeled counties. The size of the increases depended on the amount of original water available in each county. The increases generally diminished in magnitude toward the end of the simulation period, but led to smaller ending levels of saturated thickness as compared to the base price in all counties. Finally, in two of the three counties, it was observed that initial increases in irrigated crop acres and water application forces a decline in the aquifer such that less water can be applied per acre in the final years of the simulation. This suggests that high commodity prices forces a higher emphasis on early production levels than later production levels. Additionally, the higher prices have a significant effect on the rate of decline of the Ogallala aquifer.

Master of Science / Food Science Institute / Michael E. Dikeman / The objective was to determine the effects of needle-free injection (NF) compared with traditional needle injection (N) on microbial translocation of generic E. coli in beef strip loins. Longissimus muscles (LM) (n=5) from USDA Select carcasses were used in preliminary research to determine the optimal injection pressure required for NF injections. Seven treatments with sterile colored saline solution were administered: 1) 90 psi ; 2) 55 psi ; 3) 50 psi ; 4) 45 psi ; 5) 30 psi ; 6) 25 psi ; or 7) 20 psi . For the second portion of the experiment 15 LM were obtained and halved; the surfaces were inoculated with generic E. coli at a level of 106 CFU/cm2 (three replications of five loins). Matching halves were allocated to NF or N injection treatments with a phosphate, salt solution. Immediately after injection, two cores, 23 cm2 in area, were taken aseptically from each half. A 2-mm thick cross-sectional slice was removed from the inoculated surface of the core and labeled “surface”. Using sterile technique, the two cores from each half were sliced into cross-sectional strips at depths of 1, 3, and 5 cm. Corresponding depth measurements were combined in stomacher bags with 99 ml of peptone water and stomached. Serial dilutions were then plated. From the preliminary study, it was determined that 25 psi was the optimal pressure for NF injection based on dispersion, visual appraisal, and solution retention. Samples taken from the surface of N injected LM had lower (P < 0.05) microbial counts than NF-injected muscles (2.79 versus 3.23 log CFU/g, respectively). The 3 and 5 cm depth samples from N injection had the least (P < 0.05) microbial contamination (1.69 and 2.12 log CFU/g) compared to NF injections. Samples from 1 cm deep of N injected LM had lower (P < 0.05) (2.53 log CFU/g) microbial counts than the 1 cm samples of NF injected LM (3.04 log CFU/g). Traditional N injection resulted in approximately 0.5 log CFU/g less microbial contamination at all depths. N injection posed fewer microbial risks when compared with NF injection using these defined application settings.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / David G. Barton / The goal of this thesis is to evaluate future financial strategies for the Garden City Co-op (GCC). The evaluation will include a standard financial analysis of historical financial information and pro forma financial projections of selected strategies. The strategies will be evaluated using management assumptions in which liquidity and solvency are proactively managed. The ultimate goal of the GCC is to return as much profit to its patron-owners as possible but at the same time provided them with the product and services they need for their own business at a competitive level. The GCC has recently experiencing unusually high profits and believes this will be the trend over the next six to eight years due to the business ventures and relationships that currently are in place to grow sales outside the Co-op's traditional trade territories. The increased revenues and profits have come primarily from profitable joint ventures, especially from a very high volume of petroleum sales to non-member patrons. The most critical relationship is member patron-owner relationship with CHS Inc., a large regional cooperative that owns two oil refineries and is the primary supplier of petroleum products to GCC. The profits being made by CHS Inc.'s fuel refineries are distributed to GCC as patronage refunds based on the volume of refined fuels purchased from them. This much larger stream of patronage refunds from CHS and other regional co-op's being distributed to GCC is causing GCC to pause and evaluate how best to move forward. The GCC has the challenge of what to do with increased earnings. Does the GCC return earnings back to its member-owners retain earnings for future investment opportunities, or do they commit them to help finance current investment opportunities? Does GCC grow its most profitable business lines, such as nonmember-nonpatron petroleum sales? Given the close relationship with CHS in terms of income distributions and equity management, including cash patronage refunds and cash equity redemptions of retained patronage refunds, and the close relationship with its own member patron-owners, is its current income distribution and equity management program sustainable under various strategies?

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael R. Langemeier / This study applies recent advances in nonparametric techniques to investigate growth in labor productivity and convergence in the Kansas farm sector for a panel of 564 farms for the period 1993-2007. The study seeks to answer two questions: First, what are the sources of labor productivity growth in the farm sector and second, is there evidence of convergence or divergence in the growth rate of labor productivity across farms? Following Kumar and Russell (2002), the nonparametric production frontier approach is used to decompose the growth in output per worker into three components: efficiency change, technical change, and capital deepening. Kernel density estimation methods are used to investigate the evolution of the entire distribution of labor productivity and the effects of each of those three growth components on the evolution of the distributions over the sample periods, 1993-07, 1993-02, and 1996-05. Cross-sectional regression methods (ordinary least square, partial linear model, and smooth coefficient model) are later employed to test for convergence in labor productivity growth and the contribution of each of the components to the convergence process. The study yields the following results. First, capital deepening and technical change are the main sources of labor productivity growth. Efficiency change is a source of regress in productivity growth. Second, technical change is not neutral. Third, the distribution of labor productivity in the farm sector has remained unimodal. Capital deepening and technical change are the main factors contributing to labor productivity distributions. Fourth, despite no evidence of technological catching-up, efficiency change and capital deepening contributed to convergence in the growth rate of labor productivity during the entire sample period. Technical change contributes to productivity disparity in the 1993-07 period. The contribution of technical change in the 1993-02 and 1996-05 periods are mixed with evidence of both convergence and disparity. Finally, the results for the 1993-07 period support the existence of a positive relationship between the annual growth in technical change and initial level of capital-labor ratio, suggesting that technology is embodied in capital accumulation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / Larry L. Buschman / C. Michael Smith / Several studies were conducted to develop soybean management options that could provide protection from the soybean stem borer, Dectes texanus LeConte. Selected soybean genotypes were screened for host plant resistance against D. texanus. Soybean plants were grown in a footprint that could be covered by a field cage. When beetles were flying in the fields they were collected and placed in the field cages to increase the insect feeding pressure on the test plants. A susceptible commercial soybean variety treated with the systemic insecticide fipronil was used as a positive antibiosis check. Both commercial soybean varieties and plant introductions (PIs) obtained from the USDA National Soybean Germplasm Collection in maturity groups (MG) VI to VIII were tested over a four-year period. Since the number of ovipositions per plant could not be controlled, the ratio of oviposition punctures (OP’s) per live larvae (OP/ Lv) was used as a novel index of potential plant antibiosis to D. texanus. Field evaluations identified PI165673 as a genotype with a very high OP/ Lv ratio - similar to that for the fipronil antibiosis control. PI165673 appears to be potential source of resistance to D. texanus. Factorial analysis indicated that soybean maturity group was not significant factor in the expression of resistance. The OP/ Lv ratio appears to be more sensitive means of identifying antibiosis than other more conventional damage indices. The use of field cages demonstrated consistent plant responses from year to year during the multi-year study. Greenhouse-grown soybean plants, including transgenic plants containing the Manduca sexta chitinase gene, were not morphologically appropriate for successful D. texanus oviposition because the greenhouse-grown plants were poorly developed and had not produced enough pith in petioles. Therefore the greenhouse results were inconclusive. Analysis of the vertical distribution of D. texanus oviposition on soybean plants revealed that D. texanus oviposition was most likely to occur on leaf petioles on the upper five nodes of the plant canopy. Histomorphological observations of plant petioles indicated that the proportion of the petiole perimeter occupied by vascular bundles might be related to D. texanus oviposition. Both foliar and seed applications of fipronil suppressed D. texanus larval damage on soybean plants. The efficacy of these treatments was sustained for long periods, even until adult beetles were present in early August. The effects of the fipronil seed-treatment and harvest date on grain yield were both significant while the interaction was not. A physiological yield loss of 8.2% and plant lodging losses of 2.9% were associated with D. texanus infestation.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael W. Babcock / Today’s rail industry is the outcome of years of regulatory and technological change. Since the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 the industry has seen consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. The rail industry in Montana has a rich rail history that includes the completion of a northern east-west route over 100 years ago that provided a commerce route from the interior of the US heartland to the ocean ports in the Pacific Northwest. In those hundred years the rail traffic across Montana has seen dramatic change. In the past, those routes have provided access for Montana freight; today those routes primarily serve the needs of consumers and industries far beyond Montana. While the state’s economy is primarily agricultural, the largest user of rail transportation is the energy industry. This leaves the agriculture industry with a lower priority for access, providing a quandary for rail service for the grain industry in the state. In a state where more than eight national and regional rail carriers once operated, Montana is now only serviced by a small handful, one of which operates over 80% of the rail miles within its borders. Furthermore that carrier provides service through those regions that are almost strictly agricultural, needing the greatest access to the most cost effective means of transportation for the bulk movement of grain. The objectives of this thesis are to develop a model to measure railroad costs and competition; determine the principal cost determinants and measure intramodal competition by comparing the rates in a captive market (Montana) to one with more intramodal competition (Kansas).