Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2006. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Vincent H. Smith. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91).

Previous studies have shown that hands-on cooking classes focusing on fruit and vegetables, nutritional value, and food safety have increased fruit and vegetable consumption in children. Some of the most nutrient rich fruits and vegetables are classified as United States Department of Agriculture specialty crops. USDA specialty crops are used only for consumption and offer a variety of important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Thus, children who are not receiving the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables each day are not getting the proper nutrition. The design of this study is a prospective cohort of 69 day care participants. The intervention targeted many topics: meal preparation, nutrition education, food safety, food cost, and benefits of buying local foods. After one month in the program, participants showed no change in fruit and vegetable acceptance or fruit consumption. Participants showed a decrease in amount of vegetables eaten "yesterday" after participation in the study. Further research should be done in the area of cooking classes for children living in rural communities.

Agribusinesses are multifaceted businesses that may be involved in all the phases of agricultural production, processing, manufacturing, distributing, and retailing. Although US agriculture is a multi-billion dollar industry, the majority of agribusinesses are considered small firms, having less than $250,000 in annual gross sales. This study investigates potential innovative marketing approaches for US agribusinesses, specifically for small farms and agribusinesses. One marketing approach involves an agritourism marketing tool based on an agricultural geocaching program, AgCache. The second proposed marketing approach explores the specialty crops marketing channel to institutional foodservice establishments.  For AgCache, exploratory qualitative analysis was first conducted through a series of in-depth interviews with current AgCache site owners. This was followed by survey data collection and analysis using a probit model to assess the interest in hosting an AgCache. For the specialty crops marketing channel, a probit model was utilized in order to assess the barriers faced by small-scale specialty crop producers as well as their interests in selling to institutional foodservice establishments. Specific attention was paid to logistic and food safety marketing constraints. The results reveal that with adequate attention towards specified barriers, the two marketing approaches can be implemented by US agribusinesses.  As well, there is also a strong interest by small farms and agribusinesses to implement these two marketing approaches. This study provides information valuable not only to small farms and agribusinesses, but also to rural communities\' economic development and stakeholders involved in the agricultural industry. Results will be of interest to those in, and seeking to support agribusinesses and small-scale farms. / Master of Science

Recent technological innovations allow Southeastern blueberry farmers to machine harvest highly profitable fresh-market berries with marginally equivalent quality as labor intensive hand harvesting, drastically reducing labor costs while minimally increasing equipment costs. Concurrent with these innovations, the largest blueberry producing Southeastern states of North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi have proposed statewide legislation affecting immigrant status and enforcement, leading to documented labor shortages and wage volatility among seasonal agricultural laborers. Using survey information, this study uses ex-post and ex-ante logit regression models to determine if machine harvester technology (MHT) adoption is explained by human capital variables, production differences, risk preferences, wage variability, regional differences and differences in Southeastern blueberry cultivars. Ex-post results conclude that experience, production increases, observed measures of risk-averse preferences, increased wage variation, and regional differences explain current MHT adoption in the Southeast. Ex-ante results conclude regional differences explain future consideration of MHT adoption likelihood.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF LANIE HAERTLING, for the Master of Science degree in Food & Nutrition, presented on December 9, 2013, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: THE STUDY OF FOOD ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTHFULNESS OF DIET IN THE POPULATION ATTENDING THE GOOD FOOD: LOCAL PROGRAM IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Sara Long Roth Objective: Distinguish six attributes of the Good Food: Local program participants. Design: At the first class of each Good Food: Local course a survey was administered to all participants. Subjects and Setting: The study included participants age 18 or older who attended a Good Food: Local event during the months of June to September, 2013. Statistical Analysis: Statistical analyses used to analyze the data include: frequencies, Cross tabulations, Spearman Rank Test and Pearson's Correlation. Results: The population reported to consume more fruits and vegetables than the national average, live in close distance to a large grocery store, not be confined by cost when purchasing groceries and felt comfortable preparing meals from a recipe. The main barriers to purchasing local specialty crops are availability, convenience. and cost. Conclusions: Results of this study can be used in developing future curriculums for programs increasing familiarity with local specialty crops.

6 pp. / The plant nursery business is complex and requires knowledge about the technical aspects of growing plants and managing a business. This publication is an introduction for those interested in starting their own wholesale nursery business. Different types of production systems - container and field production- are discussed as well as the types of plants typically grown in Southwest nurseries. Starting a business involves many decisions that will culminate in the development of a business plan. Resources for new producers include national, regional, and local trade organizations. A worksheet with questions is included to help future operators consider whether they want to start a new wholesale production nursery. Publication AZ1393 Revised 07/2017. Originally published 2006

Labor intensive sectors such as the specialty crop sector have historically had strong reliance on foreign labor, constituting roughly oneifth of all U.S. farms while incurring roughly two-thirds of direct-hire expenses. It is estimated that more than half unauthorized of the foreign-born labor force in the specialty crop sector are unauthorized for US employment. Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey for 1989-2014, this study uses a treatment effects approach (via propensity score matching and minimum-biased estimation) to evaluate the farm wage implications of legalization of foreign-born specialty crop farm workers nationally, as well as specifically in California. Positive wage effects are estimated in nationally and in California, with higher magnitude effects observed in California.

No description available.

Improving diversity of food systems by targeting whole grain cereals, pseudo-cereals, and millets is essential to enhance nutritional qualities beyond macro and micronutrient balance and to address emerging global food and nutritional security-linked public health challenges. However, human health relevant nutritional parameters of whole grains vary widely among species, genotypes, growing conditions, and further due to different processing methods. Therefore, it is important to screen human health relevant nutritional parameters of these whole grains prior to targeting them for wider public health solutions linked to non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD). Based on this rationale, oats from different processing stages and from different production systems, buckwheat, teff, pearl millet, and different genotypes of sorghum were analyzed for health relevant phenolic bioactive linked antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic properties using in vitro assay models. Overall, high phenolic-linked antioxidant and anti-diabetic properties were observed in whole grain oats, rolled oat, buckwheat, teff, and select sorghum genotypes.

This study examines small and medium scale specialty crop growers’ preferences for marketing contract attributes and willingness to adopt blockchain-based smart contracts. The data used were collected using an online survey and discrete choice experiment. Findings indicate that farmers prefer higher average prices, cash, check or electronic bank payment over cryptocurrency, and immediate payment upon product delivery over delayed payment. When choosing a contract, farmers viewed traditional text-based contracts and digital platforms with automated smart contracts equivalently, on average. On average, farmers showed no preference for providing and not providing traceability lot codes to buyers, and between choosing a contract and marketing their products as usual. Although we find that some farmers prefer to provide traceability lot codes to buyers while others do not, and some farmers prefer having a contract option while others do not. These insights could be useful to buyers and specialty crop farmers seeking to contract.