M.S.

The primary objective of this research is to measure the impacts of rising energy prices on U.S. agriculture and to analyze the capability of U.S. agricultural producers to adjust for energy price volatility. This study compares four different models of producer adjustment: the static model, the simple error correction model, the partial adjustment model, and the fully dynamic model. The first three models are nested within the fully dynamic model using ]948-2002 U.S. agriculture data. Morishima elasticities of substitution and price elasticities are estimated to investigate whether U.S. agriculture's responses to energy prices have changed over time. The elasticity estimates indicate that there are substitutions among production factors in U.S. agricultural production, and the substitution elasticities have increased over the 1948-2002 period. This finding suggests an increasing possibility for farmers to substitute other production inputs for energy to mitigate the effects of changing energy prices. / Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

This thesis models trade flows between countries as a function of several variables, including those representing membership in multilateral trade agreements (MTAs). The objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of trade policies, trading costs, trade agreements and other demographic characteristics on exports of food and agriculture products. More specifically, the paper uses a gravity model augmented with three sets of dummy variables to estimate the impact of 13 trade arrangements on intra-bloc and extra-bloc trade. Results indicate that several MTAs enhance intra-bloc trading at the expense of non-members while others have been successful at increasing both intra-bloc trade and trade with the rest of the world. Findings further suggest that several arrangements had no significant effect on member trading and that a few have effectively reduced trade for members.

This thesis estimates the production, cost, and profit functions for North Dakota agriculture using state-level input-output quantity and price data for the period 1960-2004. A Cobb-Douglas functional form with Hick-neutral technology change is used to measure the contribution of capital, land, labor, materials, energy, and chemical inputs quantities and output quantity using the primal production function; contribution of capital quantity, land quantity, output quantity, labor price, materials price, energy price, and chemical price to cost using the dual restricted cost function; and the contribution of capital quantity, land quantity, labor price, materials price, energy price, chemical price, output price to profit using the dual restricted profit function. In contrast to previous studies, quantile regression is used to explore the linear or nonlinear relationship between the independent and dependent variable by estimating parameter coefficients at each quantile using time-series data. Empirical findings suggest the cost function is the best model to examine the relationship between input prices, output quantity and cost using quantile regression for North Dakota agriculture, Further, the quantile regression suggests a linear and non-linear relationship between cost and certain independent variables.

Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Animal Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / The smallholder dairy sector in South Africa is characterized by a low input production system and poor animal productivity. Research has been carried out to benchmark cow productivity on smallholder dairy herds; however, there is a paucity of information on the current status of breeding practices and the genetic consititution of cattle used in this production system. This information is vital for the development of sound and sustainable breeding programs for SHD production, which can have an enormous positive impact on food security and rural livelihoods. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of genetic diversity and population structure in South African smallholder dairy (SHD) herds using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A total of 192 animals from SHD dairy herds were genotyped using the GeneSeek® Genomic Profiler (GGP) 150K-BeadChip. Four specialized dairy breeds included the Ayrshire(n = 200), Holstein(n = 231), Jersey (n = 224) and Nguni (n = 209) were used as the reference populations. The mean MAF values ranged from 0.30 Ayshire (AYR), Jersey (JER), and Nguni (NGI) to 0.31 Holstein (HOL) and SHD between the populations. There were slight differences in the levels of genetic diversity ranged between 0.39 (JER and NGI) to 0.40 (AYR, HOL, and SHD). A moderate level of inbreeding (0.02) was observed in the SHD population, which results in high genetic diversity among this herds. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed four homogeneous clusters comprising of AYR, HOL, JER, NGI, and a heterogeneous cluster of the SHD. The heterogeneity observed in the SHD population indicates widespread crossbreeding. The model-based cluster analysis corresponded with the PCA and pointed out the predominance of HOL, JER, with marginal gene flow from the AYR and NGI. These results have provided a useful insight into the genetic structure and prevailing breeding practices on South African SHD herds. / National Research Foundation (NRF), Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and University of Limpopo (UL)

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. October 2014. / The study seeks to establish how sustainable agriculture can improve livelihoods and consequently alleviate poverty in Topiya community of Mpumalanga Province. The study also entails an investigation into whether the Topiya community is food insecure, and in this instance, how sustainable agriculture can be embraced smoothly to improve the food security status of the Topiya community. The study also seeks to unearth whether raising rural agricultural productivity is sufficient to improve livelihoods or a more robust and multi dimensional approach is needed to improve rural livelihoods in general. A research instrument (questionnaire) was designed and administered to 19 households. The data is analyzed by way of frequencies and percentages. The results yielded by this study demonstrated that Topiya Community is food insecure and a plethora of factors such as but not limited to lack of adequate arable land, lack of farm assets, lack understanding of the concept of sustainable agriculture contributes to this. The results also pointed to the fact that an intrinsic understanding of what sustainable agriculture entails is of paramount importance for the concept to be embraced and achieve the objectives of improving food security and consequently alleviating poverty.

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