The purpose of this study was to explore what it means to be farming in Saskatchewan today. Naturalistic inquiry using open-ended interviews provided the framework for four farmers narratives. The goal was to gain insight into farmers lives, to expand the understanding of farmers experiences, and to explore potential stressors of farming life. The farmers interviews revealed the heart, soul, and spirit of farming today. Although they said they were losing hope in farming, they demonstrated characteristics of determination, perseverance and tenacity that keep them farming. The insights learned from this sample of Saskatchewan farmers are relevant not only to farm families but also to new entrants into farming, professionals who work with farmers in challenging times, and government policy makers. This study may help to provide information, develop understanding of farmers needs, and raise questions that contribute to knowledge and meaning about how it is to farm in Saskatchewan today. Implications for practise and research conclude the study.

The purpose of this study was to explore what it means to be farming in Saskatchewan today. Naturalistic inquiry using open-ended interviews provided the framework for four farmers narratives. The goal was to gain insight into farmers lives, to expand the understanding of farmers experiences, and to explore potential stressors of farming life. The farmers interviews revealed the heart, soul, and spirit of farming today. Although they said they were losing hope in farming, they demonstrated characteristics of determination, perseverance and tenacity that keep them farming. The insights learned from this sample of Saskatchewan farmers are relevant not only to farm families but also to new entrants into farming, professionals who work with farmers in challenging times, and government policy makers. This study may help to provide information, develop understanding of farmers needs, and raise questions that contribute to knowledge and meaning about how it is to farm in Saskatchewan today. Implications for practise and research conclude the study.

It was almost four years ago when I first visited the Pomona College Organic Farm and since then I have learned everything from the basics of gardening to the complex steps required to organize students for events and activities. As I learned more and saw so many students come and go, I saw a need for written documentation that would allow future generations of students to benefit from the skills that my peers and I have learned in our time at the Farm. The value of the Farm is grounded in having a vibrant physical space, and right now the knowledge to maintain and improve this space is only passed down from person to person. I hope to eventually combine the disparate bits of knowledge that I have accumulated over the years into a single guidebook. This thesis project, which is the first major section of that guidebook, covers the Farm’s history and basic technical skills like soil preparation, planting, plant maintenance, weeding, pest control, and tool use. This is a living document and will be constantly updated as the Farm changes and grows and as new information comes to light. Although the Farm has come a long way over the years, it still has a lot of unrealized potential, and I hope that this document both facilitates and records the great changes that are soon to come.

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.

The construction of traditional large-scale central power plants and the extension of power lines in Taiwan have tremendous difficulties in terms of land acquisition and environmental protection for a long time. In addition, one potential risk of energy supply is that over 95% of energy source is imported overseas. Therefore, the most important goal of Taiwan energy policy is to cut down the amount of energy import. To achieve the goal, it is important to explore innovatively local energy source by developing renewable and clean energy. Around the available renewable energy technologies, wind power technique is the most mature one in addition to hydraulic power generation. However due to limited land resources and restrictive regulations, it is expected that wind farm development in Taiwan can only be located offshore, instead of inland. Besides, a multi-functional wind farm site, which involves ocean farm ranch, is desirable to bring mutual benefits for both developers and local stake holders. The current study has used System Dynamics(SD) to analyze the influence of Multi-functional offshore wind farm on economic. We discuss the change of fish catch with building offshore wind farm¡Aand the change of economic output in open ocean with offshore wind farm combine marine ranching. It is therefore easy for the decision makers to comprehend the economical benefit difference if an offshore multi-functional wind farm were to develop in the future. The result of this study is building offshore wind farm will reduced the fishing revenue in a short time¡Abut the total fishing revenue will increased in a long time. The Multi-functional offshore wind farm has better economic output than offshore wind farm.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

<p>This dissertation examines federal farm policy between 1933 and 1965 and its implementation in North and South Carolina. It argues that restricted economic democracy in the Farm State - the full array of agriculture regulations, programs, and agencies associated with the federal government - enabled policy makers to adhere strictly to the principles of progressive farming and parity in the development and implementation of farm policies. These ideals emphasized industrialized, commercial farming by ever-larger farms and excluded many smaller farms from receiving the full benefit of federal farm aid. The resulting programs, by design, contributed significantly to the contraction of the farm population and the concentration of farm assets in the Carolinas. They also steered rural economic development into the channels of agribusiness as a strategy to manage the consequences of those policies. The processes and programs that drove the smallest farms out of business in the early post-war era were beginning to threaten even larger, commercial farming enterprises by the 1960s. In this context, the economic and political interests of farmers became separate from and oppositional to those of industry or consumers and removed incentives to seek common ground. The unwavering pursuit of commercial farming and agribusiness prevented diversified rural development in the Carolinas and contributed to uneven distributions of prosperity in the region. </p><p>Using the methodologies of policy, business, and social history, this work draws upon evidence from a wide variety of sources including the papers of government farm agencies, correspondence of farmers, political office holders, and personnel of the USDA. It also consults the farm press and local press, the writings of farm policy leaders, and Congressional hearings and reports. These documents provide a multifaceted perspective on the development and implementation of farm programs in the Carolinas and offers a new look at the contested process through which farm policy was made and implemented in the post war period.</p> / Dissertation

The thesis project is a study for the integration of farming, urban use, and ecology at the edge of the city. The aims of the test-of-principle are to connect the urban consumer with the rural food producer, processing and productive landscape, and to examine mechanisms for local self-sufficiency and the preservation of farmland from suburban encroachment. The proposed model for this study is a sheep farm within the outskirts of Truro, Nova Scotia. At the landscape scale, the thesis takes the position that urban areas and farmland mutually benefit from co-localization. At the site and building scales, the thesis adopts the ‘farm-to-table’ model, seeking to vertically-integrate the full cycle of food-related programming. The public experience within this food hub is choreographed through visibility, porosity and overlapping circuits with farmer, sheep and product. By balancing the public, process and pragmatism, the thesis demonstrates a role for architecture within the agrarian domain.

This study examines recent evidence of growth and deterioration in the geography of Quebec agriculture. An explanation is sought in the changing food market linkages between producers and consumers. To this end the nature of consumer demand, the conduct and marketing strategies of processors and retailers, their productivity and competitiveness are reviewed in turn. / It is shown that the market system is inherently dynamic and increased vertical control is identified as a key factor. Its role in the process of change is explained in terms of the joint working of economic and political forces. Much policy is found inadvertently to reinforce existing trends. An explanation is suggested in the failure to recognise the complexity of the market process. As a result structural rigidity now threatens the market system. All this is directly evidenced in the spatial characteristics of the farm landscape. Policies are suggested to resolve the issue and strengthen the farm sector.

Tyrimo objektas – smulkieji žemės ūkio produkcijos gamintojai. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti smulkiųjų žemės ūkio gamintojų formavimosi ir funkcionavimo pagrįstumą bei pagrįsti tolesnes raidos Lietuvoje tendencijas. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1)identifikuoti smulkiuosius ūkius ir pagrįsti jų tipologiją; 2)nustatyti smulkiųjų ūkių formavimosi priežastis Lietuvoje ir raidą; 3)įvertinti smulkiųjų ūkių funkcionavimo pozityviuosius ir negatyviuosius aspektus; 4)pagrįsti smulkiųjų ūkių tolesnes raidos kryptis ir šį procesą racionalizuojančias žemės ūkio ir kaimo plėtros politikos priemones. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės literatūros, statistinės bei anketinės apklausos duomenų, teisės šaltinių analizės, loginio modeliavimo, grafinio vaizdavimo metodai. Studijuojant lietuvių ir užsienio autorių publikacijas, statistinės ir anketinės apklausos medžiagą, bei ekonominę situaciją, išnagrinėta smulkiųjų ūkių vieta žemės ūkio sistemoje, atsižvelgiant į ūkininkų apklausos rezultatus nustatytos smulkiųjų ūkių veiklos perspektyvos. / The object of research – small subjects of agricultural production – the creators of private and public goods. The objective of research is to measure the validity of small agricultural producers’ formation and behavior and to base the further tendencies of development in Lithuania. Tasks of research: 1.To identify small farms and to base their typology. 2.To set the reasons and development of small farms formation in Lithuania. 3.To evaluate positive and negative aspects of small farms behavior. 4.To base not only the further trends of small farms development but also means of agricultural and rural development policy that rationalize this process. Research methods: the analysis of scholarly literature, empirical statistical and questionnaire poll data, sources of law and methods of logical modelling and graphic presentment. By reading up publications of Lithuanian and foreign authors’, analysing statistical, questionnaire poll material and economic situation the place of small farms in agricultural system was explored, considering the results of farmers poll the perspectives of small farms activity were set.