Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 241 p. : col. map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 228-241).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität zu Rostock.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 337-353).

Thesis (M.Sc.(Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

China faces enormous challenges in generating sustained and inclusive agricultural and rural development. However the rapid growth occurring both inside and outside the agricultural sector provides new opportunities to meet the challenges. The development of higher value agrifood chains may provide opportunities for rural households to increase their levels of specialisation, scale and incomes, and for rural areas to broaden their employment and tax revenues bases. Facilitation of these developments effectively forms an agricultural modernisation strategy that is becoming increasingly described and prescribed by Chinese policy makers, researchers and development agencies. Despite the attention that has been given to this agricultural modernisation strategy, it has not proceeded without problems in China and has been subject to little rigorous scrutiny. This thesis uses a detailed industry case study approach to examine the way that Chinese agriculture is modernising and, as an applied study, to identify areas where China’s agricultural modernisation strategy can be refined. China’s agricultural modernisation strategy is analysed through the window of a particular Chinese agricultural and rural industry, namely the beef industry. The beef industry resembles many other agricultural and livestock industries that are commercialising, modernising and segmenting with important implications for food safety, the environment and rural incomes. In addition to providing insights into developments in the broader agricultural and livestock sectors, the Chinese beef industry is also worth examining in its own right because of its significant place in the world beef industry and in China’s livestock sector, and because it is used as a “pillar industry” in the development of many poor areas. While the thesis focuses predominantly on the beef industry, differences and similarities with other livestock industries are noted throughout the analysis. The use of an industry case study allows for a detailed analysis of a cross section of China’s markets, agribusiness and production sectors, and the integration of the sectors that form the industry. One novel aspect of the thesis is that the industry modernisation process is seen as a movement from low to high value agrifood chains in all of these sectors and for the industry as a whole. The thesis examines the drivers of and constraints to the movement from low to high value agrifood chains, the sustainability of the development of the higher value agrifood chains, and the implications for industry participants. The study draws on multiple forms of data, including extensive interview and fieldwork data over a ten year period across China, budget and scenario analyses; and macro-level data and policy documents. The cross-verification of this data allows for a rigorous, multi-disciplinary and “grounded” form of analysis that can complement other studies which draw on fewer sources of data. The thesis also provides a longitudinal and diachronic perspective of the agricultural modernisation process in contrast to a shorter term snapshot. The thesis examines the reasons and the measures by which China is attempting to move the agricultural sector beyond its primary reliance on traditional, low value agrifood chains. While the logic of these reasons and measures can be discerned, it is argued that China has attempted to “skip” development stages by over emphasising the development of large scale modern high value agrifood chains. The attempt to force the pace of modernisation has led to significant distortions and detrimental impacts. The thesis argues the need for China to refine its agricultural modernisation development strategy to be both more market conforming and to bring more benefits to industry participants in rural areas. This is best done by taking a more incremental approach to agricultural modernisation with an increased emphasis on mid value agrifood chains and the development of market facilitating policies. The analysis, findings and recommendations of the thesis may be of interest to policy makers, development agencies and researchers working on China’s agricultural and livestock sectors.

Tesis de grado Carrera de Ingenieria Agronomica, Universidad Mayor De San Andres, Facultad de Agronomia. / Abstract in Spanish and English.

Um estudo de viabilidade foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de verificar a economicidade de um sistema de produção de ciclo completo de pecuária de bovinos de corte, sob alta lotação. O sistema foi inicialmente concebido para a utilização em pesquisas na Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo, sendo que esta dissertação buscou avaliar a viabilidade econômica de tal sistema quando aplicado à pecuária comercial. Para tanto foram utilizados dez cenários, nove dos quais definidos a partir da variação de preços dos produtos vendidos, utilização de capital próprio e recursos de financiamento rural via programa do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). O décimo cenário utilizado foi definido a partir de um nível pré-determinado de preço dos produtos vendidos e utilização de capital próprio, decorrente de arrendamento de área liberada a partir da intensificação do sistema de produção. O método de análise econômica utilizado foi o de Fluxo de Caixa e as técnicas aplicadas foram: Payback Simples, Payback Descontado, Valor Presente Líquido (VPL) e Taxa Interna de Retorno (TIR). O sistema mostrou-se economicamente viável estritamente para os cenários que consideraram o nível máximo de projeção de preços da arroba da carne e para o cenário que considerou o arrendamento de área liberada a partir da intensificação do sistema de produção. A utilização de financiamento via Programa de Crédito Rural do BNDES proporcionou melhora expressiva nos valores monetários e índices utilizados na análise. / A study was carried out to verify the economic viability of a life-cycle production system of beef cattle under high stocking. This system was initially designed for use in research at the school of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Universidade São Paulo, but this dissertation tried to evaluate the economic viability of this system when applied to commercial livestock. Therefore, ten scenarios were studied. Nine of them were determined by the variation of prices of products, use of own capital and resources from rural finance programs from Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Ecônomico e Social (BNDES). The tenth scenario was based on a predetermined level of prices of products and use of own capital, due to leasing of the area released from the intensification of the production system. The analysis method was the Cash Flow and the applied techniques were: Simple Payback, Discounted Payback, Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The system showed to be economically viable for the scenarios that considered the maximum projection of meat prices and for the scenario that considered the leasing area related to the intensification of the production system. Funding from BNDES Rural Credit Program has provided significant improvement in the monetary values and indices used in the analysis.

Um estudo de viabilidade foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de verificar a economicidade de um sistema de produção de ciclo completo de pecuária de bovinos de corte, sob alta lotação. O sistema foi inicialmente concebido para a utilização em pesquisas na Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo, sendo que esta dissertação buscou avaliar a viabilidade econômica de tal sistema quando aplicado à pecuária comercial. Para tanto foram utilizados dez cenários, nove dos quais definidos a partir da variação de preços dos produtos vendidos, utilização de capital próprio e recursos de financiamento rural via programa do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). O décimo cenário utilizado foi definido a partir de um nível pré-determinado de preço dos produtos vendidos e utilização de capital próprio, decorrente de arrendamento de área liberada a partir da intensificação do sistema de produção. O método de análise econômica utilizado foi o de Fluxo de Caixa e as técnicas aplicadas foram: Payback Simples, Payback Descontado, Valor Presente Líquido (VPL) e Taxa Interna de Retorno (TIR). O sistema mostrou-se economicamente viável estritamente para os cenários que consideraram o nível máximo de projeção de preços da arroba da carne e para o cenário que considerou o arrendamento de área liberada a partir da intensificação do sistema de produção. A utilização de financiamento via Programa de Crédito Rural do BNDES proporcionou melhora expressiva nos valores monetários e índices utilizados na análise. / A study was carried out to verify the economic viability of a life-cycle production system of beef cattle under high stocking. This system was initially designed for use in research at the school of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Universidade São Paulo, but this dissertation tried to evaluate the economic viability of this system when applied to commercial livestock. Therefore, ten scenarios were studied. Nine of them were determined by the variation of prices of products, use of own capital and resources from rural finance programs from Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Ecônomico e Social (BNDES). The tenth scenario was based on a predetermined level of prices of products and use of own capital, due to leasing of the area released from the intensification of the production system. The analysis method was the Cash Flow and the applied techniques were: Simple Payback, Discounted Payback, Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The system showed to be economically viable for the scenarios that considered the maximum projection of meat prices and for the scenario that considered the leasing area related to the intensification of the production system. Funding from BNDES Rural Credit Program has provided significant improvement in the monetary values and indices used in the analysis.