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This study investigates the strategies and policy impacts of the environmental, family farm, and sustainable agriculture groups in the 1990 farm bill legislation. In spite of "genuine" interest in a fundamental policy reform, and in spite of a common agenda, the three different types of interest groups mostly opted for parochial, incremental policy demands. This self-restrictive interest group behavior and the groups' limited impacts on policy outcomes is explained by organizational limitations and self-interests of the challenging interest groups as well as by institutional protection of the American political system. This protection specifically applies to the agricultural domain with its distinctive farm bill construction. <u>New and potentially challenging farm bill interest groups have not been agents for fundamental policy change</u>, as the policy status quo (old policies as well as governmental inaction) is structurally protected. / Master of Arts

This dissertation develops a systems theory perspective of the concept of sustainable development, and explores a systematic approach to employ this concept to an economic analysis. An examination of interpretations, foundations and the framework of the concept of sustainable development is conducted; and an empirical application of this concept through a multiple criteria evaluation of agricultural management systems in Richmond County, Virginia is presented. Various interpretations of the concept of sustainable development are found to be based on Six "E" considerations: Economic, Energy, Environmental, Ecological, Equity, and Ethical. These interpretations with their different foci constitute a three dimensional view of economic development while neo-classical economics has a one dimensional view. The concept of sustainable development recognizes absolute resource scarcity, which is represented by the limited quantity of resources for inputs to economic systems; and is represented by the limits of the assimilative capacity of the environment for waste discharges. Advocates of the capacity of the environment for waste discharges. Advocates of the absolute quantity limit of resources generally employ the second law of thermodynamics, but a close examination indicates that this application of the second law is incorrect. The inapplicability of the second law thus widens the range of alternative choices that can be included in the design of a sustainable development path. For example, low-input sustainable agriculture loses its self-evidence meaning of sustainability. Its sustainablity should depend on its economic, environmental, and social values in different areas. To employ a multiple criteria approach to evaluating economic and environmental impacts of agricultural management systems in Richmond County, Virginia, a multi-objective dynamic programming model; coupled with the Chemical, Runoff, and Erosion from Agricultural Management Systems simulation model; is developed. The results of the model suggest an improvement in economic and environmental benefits can be achieved through use of a mixture of legume and non-legume cover crops rather than use of poultry litter as fertilizer source or simply lowering fertilizer application rates. The results also indicate there is no possibility of achieving a 40% reduction of nitrogen loading as required by Chesapeake Bay Agreement by employing the any of 14 agricultural management systems analyzed in this study. / Ph. D.

La presente investigación tiene como propósito elaborar un estudio de pre-factibilidad para la instalación de una planta productora de compost en el distrito de Pátapo, aprovechando los residuos orgánicos para satisfacer la demanda de abono orgánico, para ello se plantearon tres objetivos: evaluar la pre-factibilidad comercial, técnica y financiera. En base a ello, se obtuvo que para el año 2026 se tiene una demanda insatisfecha de 4 111 421 toneladas de abono orgánico, donde el precio de venta de los sacos de 50 kg de compost para ese mismo año sería de S/61,58. En relación al aspecto técnico, dicho distrito para el año 2026 estaría generando un total de 16 578,37 kg de residuos sólidos al día, de las cuales el 74,86% está representado por residuos orgánicos, para ello la planta requiere de un área total de 4 423,03 𝑚2 de acuerdo al Método de Guerchet y estaría ubicado en el mismo distrito, donde se estaría empleando un sistema de compostaje cerrado y la capacidad diseñada sería 31 sacos/h. Así mismo referente al aspecto financiero, se requiere una inversión total de S/ 7 097 607,70, de las cuales el 76,4% se estaría financiando y como indicador de rentabilidad presenta un VAN de S/ 4 181 709,36 mientras que en el costo beneficio sería que por cada S/1 invertido, se estaría ganando S/2,50. En síntesis, es viable la instalación la planta de acuerdo a sus tres aspectos evaluados, donde se estaría cumpliendo con el 8,15% de la demanda nacional insatisfecha para el año 2026. / The purpose of this research is to prepare a pre-feasibility study for the installation of a compost production plant in the district of Pátapo, taking advantage of organic waste to meet the demand for organic fertilizer, for this, three objectives were proposed, which are to evaluate the commercial, technical and financial pre-feasibility. Based on this, it was obtained that for the year 2026 there is an unsatisfied demand of 4 111 421 tons of organic fertilizer, where the sale price of the 50 kg bags of compost for that same year would be S / 61,58. In relation to the technical aspect, said district by 2026 would be generating a total of 16 578,37 kg of solid waste per day, of which 74,86% is represented by organic waste, for this the plant requires an area total of 4 423,03 𝑚2according to the Guerchet method and would be located in the same district, where a closed composting system would be used and the designed capacity would be 31 bags / h. Likewise, regarding the financial aspect, a total investment of S / 7 097 607,70 is required, in which 76,4% would be financed and as an indicator of profitability it presents a VAN of S / 4 181 709,36 while that the cost benefit would be S / 3,50. In summary, the installation of the plant is viable according to its three evaluated aspects, where it would be meeting 8,15% of the unsatisfied national demand by 2026.

本研究為個案研究，以政大EMBA永續農業促進小組所創「政大一畝田」品牌專案為例，以深度訪談為研究方法，主要探討社會公民社團，如何透過策略聯盟方式，與策略夥伴為利害關係人以及社會共創新價值，並輔以相關文獻的深度分析，對農民團體策略聯盟以推廣有機農業提供具體建議。 根據農糧署2010/05發佈台灣有機認證農地共有4217公頃,僅佔所有農地的0.4％，在政府目前積極的倡導下，消費者認同與消費者支持已大幅增加，台灣的農民團體多自行組織，自產自銷，或者透過地方產銷班等，共同銷售予通路商、中盤商，但現行的銷售管道之銷量不大，又易被中盤商壓價，因此造成台灣有機小農的銷售困境。 研究者發起「政大EMBA永續農業促進小組」，透過資源分析以及環境分析，以組織內部成員之人脈資源、資金、商管知識以及服務熱忱作為基礎，再加上政大之社群資源，與農民團體合作，選定宜蘭三星行健有機合作社作為策略夥伴，推行「政大一畝田」契作稻田認養專案，建立以國內相關企業為目標客群之企業認養的銷售管道。 此公益項目增進台灣有機稻農的生計，也為認養企業與家庭提供樂活體驗、二次公益等社會企業責任的價值，更透過媒體公關行銷，使策略夥伴以及有機議題得到大眾關注，以提昇國民對有機農產的認同與支持。 / Based on the Case of NCCU's My-Farmland Project by National ChengChi University EMBA Sustainable Agriculture Promoting Organization, this paper will discuss how Non-Profit Organizations create new value of sustainability with other stakeholders by strategic alliance and offer some advice to the agricultural organization in Taiwan to promote sustainable agriculture. This paper will also provide literature review on civil society, sustainable agriculture, social enterprise and strategic alliance. According to the Council of Agriculture, the organic farmland officially recorded is 4217 hectares which only accounts for 0.4 percent of the total farmland in Taiwan. Now through the active promotion of the government, both the consumer identification and their support have increased dramatically. The agricultural organizations in Taiwan are made up almost entirely of farmers only. They produce and sell their products on their own. Their main sales channels are to wholesalers, distributors and some end consumers in low volumes. With low bargaining power, organic farmers in Taiwan have a difficult sales condition. This researcher initiated the "National Chengchi University EMBA sustainable agriculture promotion teams" to promote the Case of NCCU's My-Farmland Project through resources and environmental analysis together with the networking, capital, business management knowledge and dedicated services of the members of the NCCU or ganization, plus the community resources of the National Chengchi University. It is the goal of this project to assist the agricultural organizations in Taiwan in prospering and expanding their business. We have selected Ilan Samsung organic cooperatives as a strategic partner to promote and execute the above project and create a sales pipeline for relevant domestic enterprises as target customers. This charity project will provide Taiwan organic farmers with better lives, and also offer country life experiences for the corporations and families who join the project. Additionally, this project will allow the corporations to fulfill their corporate social responsibilities. Furthermore, with the promotion and attention through medias, this project will really increase the consumer identification and their support for the organic farmers in Taiwan.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a strategy that can be adapted by low income households in Orange Farm to meet their food and nutritional requirements. The practice is a basis upon which poor families can enhance their incomes by producing part of their food needs, hence saving money for use on other livelihood obligations. This dissertation discusses the importance of urban and peri-urban agriculture as a method easily available to low income families residing in informal settlements to access food and incomes. Urban agriculture is examined in the context of poverty alleviation. A descriptive and quantitative assessment of the salient variables of the practice in the area is attempted in order to give an insight of the potential role the sector can play in eliminating poverty, enhancing incomes and creating employment. The study shows that participation in urban farming can impact significantly on poverty conditions and improve livelihoods. / MA (Development Studies)

This dissertation is conducted in Gedeo, with the aim of revealing the dynamics of IK of agroforestry system of Gedeo. The dynamics were seen from the perspective of the intergenerational variation in IK acquisition and transmission. The study investigated drivers of IK changes and continuities and the implications to sustainability. The study employed an interdisciplinary approach whereby geographical concepts and approaches were supplemented by anthropological and developmental psychology approaches and concepts. Thus, an exploratory mixed research approach was used. The dynamics were seen by employing cross-sectional approach. Thus, synchronic data were collected from several sources, by employing ranges of qualitative and quantitative tools. The respondents were drawn from the local people and agricultural experts. Accordingly, 72key informants were chosen through purposive and snowball sampling. To determine the spatio-temporal variation of IK, 290 informants aged between 12 and 65 were chosen using multistage stratified sampling. For the household survey, 252 participants were selected using multistage stratified and systematic random sampling. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis and case summary while for quantitative data mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, chi-square, and t-test were employed. The analysis results have shown that the agroforestry system exhibits both indigenous and modern practices. The indigenous practices, which sustained for longer time through generational transfer, appear to be engulfed by modern practice. The study identified knowledge and skill gap between young people and adults. The gap is more significant in normative dimension of IK. This can be attributed to declining rate of IK transmission and acquisition among successive generations, which in turn is attributed to weak contact between young people and adults, and changes in the lifestyle of the young people. Besides, biodiversity loss, demographic pressure, modernization, introduction of market economy, and top-down development approach are among the drivers of the gradual loss of IK. The gradual loss of IK was to have an impact on sustainability of the system. This calls for concerted efforts to maintain the sustainability of IK through revitalization of IK transmission and acquisition. Finally, joint effort is required to document IK, include in school curriculum, and integrate with the modern practices. / Geography / Ph. D. (Geography)