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Despite the continuing perceived economic centrality of agriculture in Intsika Yethu local municipality, rural households engage and pursue diverse non-farm livelihood activities to cope with diverse challenges and risks such as drought. This study assessed the importance of existing livelihood strategies adopted by the different rural households in Intsika Yethu; the link between households’ ownership and access to different ‘assets’; factors determining households’ ability to adopt certain livelihood strategies in the area. A survey of 120 households in six administrative areas and informal discussions with key informants were used to collect demographic data, data on socio-economic activities and factors determining the choice of livelihood strategies of the households in Intsika Yethu. The research findings indicated that only about 10% of the interviewed households relied solely on on-farm livelihood strategy only. Credit, remittances, market distance, affiliating to cooperatives, education and household size have a potential of influencing households to shift from on-farm livelihood strategy to other livelihood strategies. The government may need to promote programs and awareness on how households can diversify their livelihood strategies as a way of coping with economic constraints in the area.

A total of 120 structured questionnaires were administered to analyse marketing channels used by smallholder crop farmers, at Abaqulusi Municipality, Vryheid and KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa. Research methodology consisted of research design, sample frame, sampling procedure, data collection and data analysis which were used in the study. Descriptive statistics analysis was used, where frequencies and percentages of the variables were indicated. Variables which were measured included demographic socio-economic profile of survey household heads where age, marital status, educational level, occupation other than farming, land ownership, household size and gender of the household heads.The results show that the statistically significant variables (gender, household size) at 5% level positively affect smallholder crop farmers’ access to market information, expertise on grades and standards, availability of contractual agreements, existence of extensive social capital, availability of good market infrastructure, group participation and reliance on tradition. These findings suggest that an adjustment in each one of the significant variables can significantly influence the probability of participation in either formal or informal marketing, and hence their marketing channels. In the light of the foregoing research findings, several policy options were suggested. These include encouraging collective action, promotion of contract farming, ensuring the availability of market information to all farmers, encouraging value addition and investment in rural infrastructure.

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Watershed models are powerful tools for simulating different scenarios to understand the impact of management practices and are used to support and guide decision-making. However, there are often challenges and limitations to using watershed models in some areas of watershed modeling; 1) model calibration in the areas with data limitations; 2) acquiring complete weather data that accurately reflect watershed model responses; 3) accurate representation of manure operation in watershed models. This dissertation addresses each of the aforementioned challenges using new approaches and tools in three studies with the main objective of achieving a better prediction of water quality and quantity and enhancing watershed models. Chapter 2 presents a method (multi-basin calibration (MBC)) to estimate watershed model parameters that lack long-term streamflow records. In the MBC method, first, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models are initialized individually for several similar neighboring watersheds with a short period of measured streamflow. Then, we aggregate the simulated and observed flows from each initialization with short histories to generate a combined observed-simulated streamflow record that is longer than the initial length of each individual member in order to increase the information content. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) from this merged time series was used as the basis for calibrating using a differential evolution algorithm. To evaluate the MBC, SWAT models for three newly instrumented USGS gages in Lake Champlain Basin of Vermont, USA, were compared to the commonly used similarity-based regionalization (SBR) approach. Results demonstrate that short periods of hydrological measurement from multiple locations in a basin can represent a system similar to long-term measurements. Chapter 3 develops a method to generate a complete weather data time series with the integration of multiple Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) stations and to assess the benefit of much higher density, lower reliability precipitation measurements from private citizens collected by the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network data that was integrated into the GHCN. To evaluate the performance of the methodology, generated weather data is used to force the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models of 21 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)-Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) watersheds to simulate daily streamflow. The results demonstrated that integration of multiple GHCN stations including higher-density, but perhaps lower-quality weather data can enhance model performance. A comparison with published SWAT model results further corroborated improved model performance using newly combined GHCN data. Chapter 4 develops a hybrid SWAT model, SWAT-Dairy, to accurately represent the impact of manure operation on nutrient transport. The SWAT-Dairy model incorporates process-based livestock routines, developed in the R platform, which quantify daily manure production, stored manure, daily total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), organic and mineral N and P, and dynamic manure nutrient fractions based on animal characteristics, feed characteristics, and environmental conditions. Outputs are then used in SWAT to simulate the impact of livestock manure production. The new model, with simulated manure application management, is applied to a farm in the Little Otter Creek Basin in Vermont, US. Subbasin- and farm-level N and P losses from manure management using the new model were compared for different feed management scenarios. / Doctor of Philosophy / In the past few decades, watershed management has become more challenging due to rapid population growth, climate change, and agricultural practices. In order to achieve better watershed management strategies, it is essential to understand the complex interaction between different biological, physical, and chemical processes occurring in the watershed. Watershed models are useful tools that help scientists and engineers to understand and predict how climate and land-use changes and agricultural management practices affect different components of a watershed system. While watershed models have many advantages, they are often limited by challenges and obstacles, such as model parameter estimations in the areas with limited measured streamflow data, acquiring complete and accurate weather data, and explicit representation of animal management impacts on water quality in manure applications. This dissertation addresses the challenges mentioned earlier by developing new approaches and methods that improve water quality and quantity using watershed models. A long record of measured streamflow data is necessary for watershed models to accurately represent watershed systems and estimate the parameters that cannot be directly measured. However, many watersheds worldwide are not monitored or are newly instrumented with a short period of recorded data. Chapter 2 introduces a new approach (multi basin calibration (MBC)) that integrates short periods of recorded data from several watersheds to provide a similar representation of the watershed system as long-term records. MBC was compared with a commonly used method that requires long recorded streamflow data from a neighboring watershed. The results showed that MBC improved model results and captured hydrological processes better for the watershed with a short period of recorded data than the traditionally used method. Obtaining accurate weather data for a watershed model can also be challenging since land-based weather stations often contain missing data. In recent years, hydrological modelers and researchers have access to the much higher density of weather measurements from private citizens that collect data with inexpensive equipment. However, no study has evaluated the benefits of using much higher-density data from private citizens for watershed modeling. Chapter 3 presents a new methodology to acquire complete weather data time series with the integration of all weather stations, including higher density private citizen-based measurements. Then the weather data were used to force watershed models of 21 watersheds across the United States. The results showed that the new methodology provides weather data that reflect the watershed model response with satisfactory performance ratings in 18 out of 21 watersheds. Lastly, chapter 4 develops a dairy model and integrates it into one of the most commonly used watershed models, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to investigate how different farm management scenarios impact manure production and nutrient contents as well as their consequent effect on water quality during manure application on farm fields.

<p dir="ltr">The expected rapid development of renewable energy in the United States has raised concerns about its effects on farmland prices, yet there is little empirical evidence on the impact of solar energy development on farmland prices. This study aims to examine the heterogenous impact of commercial and utility-scale solar energy on farmland prices in Indi- ana. Drawing on farmland transactions from 2015 to 2020, we employ quantile and expectile hedonic price regressions to estimate the heterogeneous impact of proximity to solar energy facilities across the conditional price distribution. This study finds an inverse, non-linear relation between the proximity to solar energy and per acre land prices. We find that solar farms provide a premium to neighboring farmland parcels. However, this premium is heterogenous, with higher premiums on parcels with higher conditional prices. As we move across the higher conditional expectiles, we observe a price drop ranging from 0.8% (0.1 expectile) to 1.8% (0.9 expectile) for an additional mile increase from neighboring solar farms. Similarly, price premium for a proximity to solar energy is as high as 2.1% for 99th expectile farmland price. Thus, policymakers should consider the effect of solar energy to avoid potential damage on agricultural production and land price movements.</p>

Financial stress in agriculture has been a concern over the past century. Agrarian values and "love of the land" seem to yield public conclusions for the support of the industry. Much of this support is in the interest of preserving a viable food producing sector in an volatile world climate. High interest rates, declining land values and highly competitive export markets have spurred renewed concern for farm survival in the past ten years. One alternative to traditional price supports and tariffs for farm household support is off-farm income. This may take many forms including off-farm wages and salaries, rental income, interest and dividend income and, retirement or pension funds. Central to the analysis of nonfarm income generation is the allocation of time by farm households. For farmers who place a high value on the farm lifestyle, occupational choice is embedded in the time decision to such an extent that the resource allocations based on economic efficiency criteria may be altered. Tobit techniques offer a new approach to the analysis of farm household decisions on time allocation. The procedure allows the investigator to estimate and evaluate parameters that may affect the amount of off-farm work by farm household members. The Tobit analysis is designed for censored data sets. The data in this study were censored because there were missing observations on the quantity of off-farm work for those individuals who did not work off-farm in 1986. Results of Tobit analyses of off-farm work by farm operators and spouses in three Oregon counties indicated that high levels of gross farm income reduce the likelihood and extent of off-farm work. Middle-aged operators worked off-farm more while the presence of small children and elderly dependents in the farm household inhibited off-farm work. The allocation decisions of the spouse and the operator appeared to be independent; this supports a nonsimultaneous Tobit specification like the one used in this research. / Graduation date: 1988

Este trabalho utilizou a metodologia Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), desenvolvida pela Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA, 2008), para quantificar o volume de gases de efeito estufa emitido nas etapas do ciclo de vida do etanol: manejo agrícola da cana-de-açúcar, transporte da matéria-prima da lavoura até a usina, beneficiamento industrial, cogeração de energia elétrica e logística até uma base primária de armazenamento. O arcabouço metodológico foi aplicado em cinco diferentes regiões do Estado de São Paulo, o maior produtor brasileiro: Araçatuba, Assis, Ribeirão Preto, Jaú e Piracicaba. Ademais, objetivou-se examinar o impacto relativo que os seguintes tópicos têm nas emissões de gases de efeito estufa no ciclo de vida do etanol: (1) localização da produção de cana-de-açúcar; (2) utilização de diferentes combustíveis na etapa do manejo agrícola da cana-de-açúcar; (3) extinção da prática de queimar o canavial na fase da pré-colheita; e (4) utilização de uma logística intermodal para distribuir o etanol até uma base primária de armazenamento. No cenário base, considerou-se a utilização de óleo diesel no manejo agrícola da cana-de-açúcar, a prática de queimar previamente o canavial na fase da pré-colheita e a logística rodoviária para transportar o etanol das regiões produtoras até uma base primária de armazenamento localizada no porto de Santos-SP. Já para a análise de sensibilidade dos parâmetros de emissões, os demais cenários contemplam as possíveis combinações entre o uso de biodiesel no manejo agrícola (B20 ou B100), extinção da queima do canavial na fase da pré-colheita e logística rodo-ferroviária. Constatou-se que, independentemente do cenário analisado, em média, a maior parcela das emissões de gases de efeito estufa no ciclo de vida do etanol foi proveniente do manejo agrícola da cana-de-açúcar. Devido às características intrínsecas ao solo e a gestão das operações, as emissões são diferentes entre as regiões (amplitude de 60 kg de CO2e/tonelada de etanol). Ademais, essa etapa representou 51% e 62%, quando foi considerado, respectivamente, a logística rodoviária e a intermodalidade rodo-ferroviária para transportar o produto até Santos-SP. A utilização da intermodalidade de transporte rodo-ferroviária para distribuição do etanol corroborou para a minimização de gases de efeito estufa. Considerando a média dos cenários analisados, essa redução chegou a 13% no ciclo de vida e a 74% apenas na etapa da logística. Por fim, observou-se que existe minimização no volume de gases lançados na atmosfera em decorrência da sinergia entre o consumo de biodiesel B100 no manejo agrícola da cana-de-açúcar, a extinção da prática da queima do canavial na fase da pré-colheita e a utilização de logística intermodal rodo-ferroviária para se transportar o produto até uma base de armazenamento em Santos-SP. Em média, o volume de gases de efeito estufa emitidos diminuíram em 43% no ciclo de vida do etanol. / This thesis adopts the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) methodology, developed by the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA, 2008), to quantify the volume of greenhouse gases that are emitted during the following stages of the ethanol life-cycle: 1) sugarcane farm management, 2) transportation of the raw material from the field to the mill, 3) industrial processing, 4) co-generation of electricity, and 5) logistics to the primary storage base. The methodology is applied over five different regions of the State of São Paulo, the largest ethanol producing State in Brazil: Araçatuba, Assis, Ribeirão Preto, Jaú e Piracicaba. Furthermore, this thesis aims to exam the following impacts related to the greenhouse gases emitted by the stages of ethanol life-cycle: (1) sugar production location; (2) usage of different fuels at the stage of sugarcane farm management; (3) extinction of the practice of burning the sugarcane field during the pre-harvest; and (4) utilization of intermodal logistics in order to transport the end-product to a primary storage base. In the base scenario, it is assumed 1) the utilization of diesel oil in the farm management of sugarcane, 2) the practice of previously burning the sugarcane field in the pre-harvest and 3) the road logistics to transport ethanol from the producing regions to a primary storage base located in the port of Santos-SP. To analyze the sensibility of emission parameters, other scenarios comprehend the possible combinations between the usage of biodiesel in farm management (B20ou B100), as well as the extinction of the practice of burning the sugarcane field in the pre-harvest and road-rail logistics. It was verified that, on average, regardless of the analyzed scenario, the largest portion of greenhouse gas emissions during the ethanol life cycle is concentrated at the sugarcane farm management stage. Due to the intrinsic characteristics of the soil and the required operations management, the emissions differ between regions (amplitude of 60 kg CO2e/ton of ethanol). Moreover, when both, road logistics and road-rail intermodality to transport the product to Santos-SP are considered, this stage represents 51% and 62%, respectively. The utilization of road-rail transportation intermodality to distribute ethanol contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission. By considering the average of analyzed scenarios, this reduction achieves 13% during the life cycle and 74% only during the logistics stage. Finally, it was observed that there is a reduction on the volume of gases emitted into the atmosphere as a result of synergy among the use of biodiesel B100 in sugarcane farm management, the extinction of the practice of burning the sugarcane field in the pre-harvest and the utilization of intermodal logistic in order to transport the product to a primary storage base in Santos-SP. On average, the emitted volume of greenhouse gas decreases by 43% in the life cycle of ethanol.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-04T11:45:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valdir_Ferreira_Barbalho.pdf: 853263 bytes, checksum: c7a84e0d810e0c7cf024f4574e2ef2be (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-06-24 / The beef-cattle segment of the livestock industry occupies a very important position in the Brazilian economy. As in any other business venture, management in this segment requires reliable information as the basis for taking decisions. Therefore this study examines ways in which accounting can be used to help beef-cattle raisers and agricultural producers in general enhance their operational, economic, and financial management and obtain guidance to help them run their businesses efficiently. The basic concepts of beef-cattle raising are explained and some market data presented in order to introduce readers to the subject and point to the current business outlook for the segment. I then proceed to outline a number of accounting concepts and the way in which they may be deployed to underpin decision-taking in the beef-cattle segment, since accounting data and controls are essential to the growth and maintenance of any business enterprise. Field research was conducted in an attempt to determine the extent to which management in the beef-cattle segment currently makes use of accounting data for decision taking purposes, the conclusion being that they rarely used accounting data in their decision taking procedures. Another finding was that managers basically use accounting to meet taxation requirements. Finally, the study proposes models for Accounting reports, suggestions on controls and criteria for evaluating stocks of live animals, quick calculations to track changes in net worth of herds, and certain key performance indicators. In short, the study seeks to illustrate the beef-cattle segment, the current outlook for the business and how Accounting may be useful for management processes in the segment. / A pecu??ria bovina de corte representa uma atividade econ??mica de grande import??ncia para a economia nacional e, como qualquer empresa, sua administra????o necessita de informa????es confi??veis e ??teis para a tomada de decis??o. Dessa forma, este trabalho aborda como a Contabilidade pode auxiliar o pecuarista de gado de corte, bem como os produtores rurais de forma geral, na gest??o operacional, econ??mica e financeira de suas atividades, com o fim de orient??-los para a efic??cia do neg??cio. S??o explanados conceitos b??sicos da pecu??ria bovina de corte, bem como alguns dados de mercado, visando introduzir o leitor no assunto e tamb??m situ??-lo quanto ao cen??rio atual do neg??cio. Posteriormente, s??o expostos conceitos cont??beis e de que maneira estes podem contribuir no momento da tomada de decis??o do pecuarista, visto que a Contabilidade, por suas informa????es e controles, ?? necess??ria para o processo de crescimento e manuten????o de qualquer a????o empreendedora. A pesquisa de campo efetuada procurou estabelecer qual o grau de utiliza????o da informa????o cont??bil, pelo gestor rural de pecu??ria de corte, quando da tomada de decis??o. A pesquisa constatou que raramente os pecuaristas utilizam as informa????es cont??beis para ajud??-los na tomada de decis??o. A pesquisa tamb??m concluiu que os gestores utilizam a Contabilidade, basicamente, para cumprir exig??ncias fiscais e tribut??rias. Ao final, o trabalho prop??e modelos de relat??rios cont??beis, sugest??es sobre controles e crit??rios de avalia????o de estoques de animais vivos, c??lculos r??pidos da varia????o patrimonial do rebanho e alguns indicadores de controles de desempenho. Enfim, o trabalho busca explanar sobre a atividade pecu??ria bovina de corte, o panorama atual do neg??cio e como a Contabilidade pode interferir positivamente no processo de gest??o desse setor produtivo.

Drawing on workplace ethnography at a farm in the East of England and interviews with former participants on the UK's temporary foreign worker programme, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, this thesis contributes to understanding of the everyday work and living experiences of migrant workers in UK horticulture. In particular, it assesses the influence of supermarket-driven supply chains and of immigration status on these experiences. This thus reveals a labour process which is strongly shaped by structural factors, yet workers' agency is also shown to play an important part. The analysis is organised around working and living spaces. It first explores the living spaces of the camp in which migrant workers were required to reside as a result of the conditions attached to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme. Such conditions, it is argued, give rise to both social and physical enclosure and thus to employers' control of migrant workers. Secondly, the thesis focuses on everyday work spaces, illustrating how migrants' work efforts are influenced by two features of production operating in UK food supply chains: just in time and total quality control. The role of surveillance and technology are shown to be important in habituating migrants' bodies and their work efforts. The analysis of spaces of work also reveals how the piece rate form of payment and uncertainty over rates of pay are used to gain workers' consent and intensification of work effort. Moreover, it contributes to understanding of the bodily effects of that effort. The thesis further explores leisure and consumption spaces away from the camp. These can be sites of stigma, racism and exclusion and simultaneously reveal the working of a transnational social field. The analysis of these spaces provides evidence of how immigration status and nationality can shape both migrants' own identities and how others perceive them.