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Comments on an article about the agricultural productivity of Pennsylvania in 18th century. Discussion on economic development; Details of income distribution; Performance of the agriculture sector in the state.

We investigate the effect of financial access on convergence in the US agricultural sector. We find that financial access allows states with lower real per-capita agricultural production to catch up faster with those with higher real per-capita agricultural production. Our results are robust to various specifications and in the presence of other factors determinant of dynamics in the agricultural sector, such as the level of unemployment and competition. Therefore, this paper unveils higher opportunity costs of lower financial access in terms of welfare improvement, policy dissemination, and technological spillovers across the states. We recommend the implementations and dissemination of strategiesthat will ensure the availability, to all farmers, of innovations developed in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies time series techniques to test for convergence in agricultural total factor productivity among the USA and a sample of nine European countries for the period 1973–1993. The data set used in this paper obtained from Ball et al . (2001). The wide spectrum of unit root test results obtained in the present study support the presence of convergence among the sample countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will increasingly impact large areas of South America, affecting important natural resources and people's livelihoods. These impacts will make rural people disproportionately more vulnerable, given their dependency on ecosystem services and their exposure to other stressors, such as new rules imposed by agribusiness and trends toward the commodification of natural resources. This paper focuses on the vulnerability of rural communities in Andean drylands of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, showing how different economic and political pathways lead to different levels of vulnerability. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the methodological and theoretical concept of vulnerability, which framed the research. Starting from the premise that global environmental change impacts are strongly linked to styles of development, the discussion explores the diverse institutional capital and governance schemes as well as different development styles in the case studies and their role in increasing or reducing local vulnerability to climate and water scarcity. Using a comparative perspective, the exposures and adaptive capacities of rural actors in three river basins are discussed, emphasizing situations that speak for the ways in which development styles counteract or magnify conditions of vulnerability. The analysis considers irrigated and non-irrigated agriculture, water property interests, different productive structures (viticulture, horticulture, etc.), producer typologies (large/small, export, etc.), and geographical location. Finally, the paper offers some insights about development style and adaptive capacities of rural people to overcome those vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the medium‐ to long‐run effects of slavery in the United States in a spatial regression discontinuity design. Using the boundary between free and slave states immediately antebellum, we find that legal slavery decreased per capita manufacturing output by as much as 30% in the decades following the Civil War. Perhaps surprisingly, agricultural output and farm values were only briefly depressed in former slave states after the war. Although emancipation ended slavery, political forces kept the institution from being completely disintegrated, and we explore channels through which this was possible. We show that slavery affected the structure of the economy in a given region—specifically through agricultural production decisions—and that these structures persisted long after passage of the 13th Amendment. However, sharecropping played a relatively small role in this region. Our results support mounting evidence in recent literature of the significant and lasting effects of institutions on economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corn is the most widely grown crop in the Americas, with annual production in the United States of approximately 332 million metric tons. Improved climate forecasts, together with climate-related decision tools for corn producers based on these improved forecasts, could substantially reduce uncertainty and increase profitability for corn producers. The purpose of this paper is to acquaint climate information developers, climate information users, and climate researchers with an overview of weather conditions throughout the year that affect corn production as well as forecast content and timing needed by producers. The authors provide a graphic depicting the climate-informed decision cycle, which they call the climate forecast–decision cycle calendar for corn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the use of wheat land fallow production systems as a climate change adaptation strategy. Using data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, we find that fallow is an important adaption strategy for wheat farms in the U.S. Pacific Northwest region. In particular, we find that a warmer and wetter climate increases the share of fallow in total cropland and thus reduces cropland in production. Our simulations project that, on average by 2050, the share of fallow (1.5 million acres in 2012) in the U.S. Pacific Northwest region will increase by 1.3% (0.12 million acres) under a medium climate change scenario and by 1.8% (0.16 million acres) under a high climate change scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liu, C., 2019. Attribution of marine crop production in the United States of America based on artificial neural network learning. In: Li, L.; Wan, X.; and Huang, X. (eds.), Recent Developments in Practices and Research on Coastal Regions: Transportation, Environment and Economy. Journal of Coastal Research Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 98, pp. 277–283. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Marine crops play an important role in the food chain and in agriculture. Marine crop products are used as livestock feed and to meet people's food requirements. This paper examines what factors cause differences in marine crop production and attribution to marine crop yield. The paper builds a marine crop production model based on an artificial neural network. Then it analyzes the sensitivity of all factors to understand their contributions to marine crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the productivity literature by demonstrating novel econometric methods to estimate input-mix efficiency (IME) in a parametric framework. Input-mix efficiency is defined as the potential improvement in productivity with change in input mix. Any change in input-mix (e.g., land to labou r ratio) will result in change in productivity. The advantage of this approach is that it does not require data on input prices to estimate the mix efficiency levels. A nonlinear input-aggregator function (e.g., Constant Elasticity of Substitution) is used to derive an expression for input-mix efficiency. Bayesian stochastic frontier is estimated for obtaining mix efficiency using US state-level agricultural data for the period 1960–2004. Significant variation in input-mix efficiency is noted across the states and regions, attributable to diverse topographic and geographic conditions. Furthermore, comparisons of allocative and mix efficiencies provide insightful policy implications. The production incentives such as taxes and subsidies could help farmers in adjusting their input mix in response to changes in input prices, which can affect the US agricultural productivity significantly. The proposed methodology can be extended by i) using flexible functional forms; ii) introducing various time- and region-varying input aggregators; and iii) defining more sophisticated weights for input aggregators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely and accurate monitoring of crops is essential for food security. Here, we examine how well solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) can inform crop productivity across the United States. Based on tower‐level observations and process‐based modeling, we find highly linear gross primary production (GPP):SIF relationships for C4 crops, while C3 crops show some saturation of GPP at high light when SIF continues to increase. C4 crops yield higher GPP:SIF ratios (30–50%) primarily because SIF is most sensitive to the light reactions (does not account for photorespiration). Scaling to the satellite, we compare SIF from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) against tower‐derived GPP and county‐level crop statistics. Temporally, TROPOMI SIF strongly agrees with GPP observations upscaled across a corn and soybean dominated cropland (R2 = 0.89). Spatially, county‐level TROPOMI SIF correlates with crop productivity (R2 = 0.72; 0.86 when accounting for planted area and C3/C4 contributions), highlighting the potential of SIF for reliable crop monitoring. Plain Language Summary: Crop monitoring is essential for ensuring food security, but reliable, instantaneous production estimates at the global scale are lacking. The monitoring of crop production in a changing climate is of paramount importance to sustainable food security. Accurate estimates of crop production are dependent on adequately quantifying crop photosynthesis. Our paper demonstrates that solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), an emission of red to far‐red light from chlorophyll is highly correlated with crop photosynthesis. We show that a new high spatial resolution satellite SIF data set is highly correlated with crop productivity in the United States, which is benchmarked by the United States Department of Agriculture county‐level crop statistics. These results will improve the understanding of crop production and carbon flux over agricultural lands, as well as provide an accurate, large‐scale, and timely monitoring method for global crop production estimates. Key Points: The photosynthetic pathway (C3, C4) impacts the relationship between CO2 uptake and SIF, which helps to interpret satellite signalsTROPOMI SIF agrees well with the seasonality of crop gross primary production (GPP) when accounting for C3/C4 fractionationTROPOMI SIF is highly correlated with USDA reported crop productivity at the county scale [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States is currently responsible for 40%–45% of the world’s corn supply and 70% of total global exports [the U.S. Department of Agriculture–National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA–NASS)]. Therefore, analyses of the spatial and temporal patterns of historical U.S. corn yields might provide insight into future crop-production potential and food security. In this study, county-level maize yield data from 1910 to 2001 were used to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of yield growth rates and interannual yield variability across the U.S. Corn Belt. Widespread decadal-scale changes in corn yield variability and yield growth rates have occurred since the 1930s across the Corn Belt, but the response has varied substantially with geographic location. Northern portions of the Great Plains have experienced consistently high interannual corn yield variability, averaging 30%–40% relative to the mean. Increasing usage of irrigation in Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, since the 1950s, has helped boost yields by 75%–90% over rain-fed corn, creating a yield gap of 2–4 T ha-1 between irrigated and nonirrigated corn that could potentially be exploited in other regions. Furthermore, irrigation has reduced interannual variability by a factor of 3 in these same regions. A small region from eastern Iowa into northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin has experienced minimal interannual yield variability, averaging only 6%–10% relative to mean yields. This paper shows that the choice of time period used for statistical analysis impacted conclusions drawn about twentieth-century trends in corn yield variability. Widespread increases in yield variability were apparent from 1950 onward, but were not significant over the entire 1930–2001 period. There is also evidence that yield variability decreased from the early 1990s to 2001. Corn yield growth rates peaked at an annual-average rate of 3%–5% in the 1960s (124.5 kg ha-1 yr-1), but have steadily declined to a relative rate of 0.78% yr-1 (49.2 kg ha-1 yr-1) during the 1990s. A general inverse relationship between increasing corn yield and decreasing yield growth rates was noted after county-level yields reached 4 T ha-1, suggesting that widespread, significant increases in corn yield are not likely to take place in the future, particularly on irrigated land, without a second agricultural revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the firm-level relationship among productivity, decision to export, and environmental performance. The emerging theoretical and empirical literature suggests that trade has an important role in determining firms' heterogeneity: increased openness to trade induces a reallocation effect that increases within-industry efficiency, thereby linking firms' decisions to export and adopt newer (and cleaner) technology. We argue that this framework provides the following empirically-relevant predictions: there is an inverse relationship between firm productivity and pollution emissions per unit output; exporting firms have lower emissions per unit output; and larger firms have a lower emission intensity. To examine these implications empirically, we have assembled a uniquely detailed dataset of the U.S. manufacturing industry for the years 2002, 2005, and 2008 by matching facility-level air emission data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the facility's economic characteristics contained in the National Establishment Time Series database. The strategy is to first estimate a facility-level total factor productivity parameter as a plant-specific fixed effect. We then investigate how this estimated productivity parameter correlates with emission intensity on a pollutant-by-pollutant basis. Our empirical findings support the hypotheses suggested by the conceptual model. For each criteria air pollutant considered, we find a significant negative correlation between estimated facility productivity and emission intensity. Conditional on a facility's estimated productivity and other controls, exporting facilities have significantly lower emissions per value of sales than non-exporting facilities in the same industry. We also find that plant size is negatively and significantly related to emission intensity for all pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates climate change adaptation through agricultural land uses under three regional representative agricultural pathways, using data from the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. The three pathways are bottom-up projections of local biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, and they are consistent to downscaled regional climate scenarios. Results show that changes in agricultural land uses under future climate change and representative agricultural pathways are substantially different, compared with results not considering representative agricultural pathways. This finding suggests that climate change impacts and adaptation may be underestimated or overestimated if future biophysical and socioeconomic developments are not incorporated, particularly in regional agricultural assessments of climate change adaptation. One implication from this analysis for global adaptation strategies is the need for future infrastructure supports to maintain a climate-resilient agricultural production system due to changes in agricultural land uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relation between the business cycle and convergence in levels of agricultural productivity across the 48 contiguous states. First, we find evidence of convergence in total factor productivity levels across the different phases of the business cycle, but the speed of convergence was greater during periods of contraction in economic activity than during periods of expansion. Second, we find that technology embodied in capital was an important source of productivity growth in agriculture. As with the rate of catch-up, the embodiment effect was much stronger during low economic activity phases of the business cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zywnosc is the property of Polish Society of Food Technologists - Scientific Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sixty years ago, T.W. Schultz introduced the idea of the productivity "residual" to agricultural economics (1956). Schultz's main message was that growth in conventional inputs accounted for little of the observed growth in agricultural output, and that there was work to be done by agricultural economists to understand and ultimately eliminate this unexplained residual called "productivity." Thus was launched the economics of agricultural productivity as a sub-field within agricultural economics, along with the economics of agricultural R&D and innovation and related government policy. Much progress has been made in the decades since. Still, critical issues remain unresolved. This matters because agricultural innovation and productivity matter, and so do the related policies that rest to some extent on our established understanding of the economic relationships. In this paper I review some unsettled issues related to economic models and measures applied to agricultural R&D and productivity, and some unfinished business in terms of economic and policy questions that are not yet well answered. Before doing that, I present some evidence on agricultural productivity and why it matters. Next, with a nod to "factology," I present available productivity measures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and International Science and Technology Practice and Policy (InSTePP) Center, and compare them in the context of translog cost function models. In subsequent sections I use these and other data to develop new evidence related to two contentious questions: (a) Do farmers benefit from public agricultural R&D? (b) Has U.S. agricultural productivity growth slowed in recent decades? The answers are revealed within. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulk commodity row crop production in the United States is frequently subject to narrow profit margins, often complicated by weather, supply chains, trade, and other factors. Farmers seeking to increase profits and hedge against market volatility often seek to diversify their operations, including producing more lucrative or productive crop varieties. Recombinant plants producing animal or other non-native proteins (commonly referred to as plant molecular farming) present a value-added opportunity for row crop farmers. However, these crops must be produced under robust identity preserved systems to prevent comingling with bulk commodities to maintain the value for farmers, mitigate against market disruptions, and minimize any potential food, feed, or environmental risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation in agriculture was substantial during the 20th century. Is 'modern' technological control of the environment replacing a 'primitive' dependency on natural advantages and disadvantages, or has agricultural production remained persistently dependent on the environment? This paper estimates how the 20th century modernization of United States Plains' agriculture changed the impact of environmental characteristics on agricultural land values. Despite substantial technological innovation and rising land values from 1945 to 2002, counties' environmental characteristics largely maintained influence on land values. Environmental change has become no less costly, as technological innovation has not reduced the importance of natural advantages or disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to understand the impact of public R&D and public infrastructure on the performance of the U.S. agricultural sector during the last part of the twentieth century. A neoclassical Solow growth model is not sufficient for this understanding given the sustained growth performance of the sector. We base our analysis on a well-known endogenous growth model, the ‘AK model’ where non-convexities are introduced through non-rival inputs. Based on these models and within the dynamic models that rationalize private and public decision making, we have identified three testable hypotheses regarding the aggregate agricultural production technology. They are: (1) increasing returns to scale over all inputs; (2) positive effect of additional units of public inputs on the long-run demand for private capital; and (3) negative impact of public inputs on cost. They are tested using two estimation procedures on two data sets for U.S. agriculture. One, covering the period 1948–1994, developed by USDA, the other, covering the period 1926–1990, from Thirtle et al. Maximum likelihood estimates do not conform to the regularity and behavioral properties of the economic model rendering them unusable for testing these hypotheses. Bayesian estimates, although not totally satisfactory, do not reject the hypotheses after prior imposition of some of the regularity conditions. This supports the notion of an important role for public inputs on the rapid and sustained growth of the sector. We calculate that, on average, one additional dollar spent on public R&D stock reduces private cost by $6.5, implying a return on these public expenses of 190%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the influence of climate normals (average long-term surface wetness and temperature) and interannual climate variance on farms in the United States and Brazil using satellite data. The paper finds that just climate normals or just climate variance variables can explain both net revenues and how much land is used for cropland. However, because they are correlated with each other, it is important to include both normals and variance in the same statistical model to get accurate measures of their individual contribution to farm outcomes. In general, higher climate variance increases the probability that land is used for cropland in both countries and higher temperatures reduce both cropland and land values. Other annual effects were not consistent across the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we try to evaluate changes in welfare gains and their distribution due to trade liberalisation when imperfect information is considered. The results of two versions of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, using the GTAP database and representing goods as well as capital flows, are compared. In the first version, a standard world CGE approach is followed. In the second version, we included risk aversion, imperfect information and production lag in the agricultural sector. After a brief description of the two versions, changes in welfare, represented by the income of two types of household (middle-low and middle-high) in three regions (Europe, United States, Rest of the World) after agricultural trade liberalisation are presented. Theoretical and political consequences of the results are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cooperative Extension and other institutions (e.g., technical colleges, on-line self study programs, university short courses, etc.) frequently stress the importance of financial management education for successful farming operations. The research reported in this paper attempts to quantify the contributions of such training to the financial performance of dairy farms in Wisconsin. Our results suggest a link between a deeper understanding of financial concepts and greater financial returns but that it is a relatively weak one. Moreover, simple exposure to farm management training programs and self-confidence in farm financial decision-making ability are not significantly related to farm financial outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new, high-resolution (4 km), gridded land surface dataset produced with the Land Information System (LIS) is introduced, and the first set of synthesis of key hydroclimatic variables is reported. The dataset is produced over a 33-yr time period (1980-2012) for the U.S. Midwest with the intent to aid the agricultural community in understanding hydroclimatic impacts on crop production and decision-making in operational practices. While approximately 20 hydroclimatic variables are available through the LIS dataset, the focus here is on soil water content, soil temperature, and evapotranspiration. To assess the performance of the model, the LIS dataset is compared with in situ hydrometeorological observations across the study domain and with coarse-resolution reanalysis products [NARR, MERRA, and NLDAS-2 (phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System)]. In agricultural regions such as the U.S. Midwest, finescale hydroclimatic mapping that links the regional scale to the field scale is necessary. The new dataset provides this link as an intermediate-scale product that links point observations and coarse gridded datasets. In general, the LIS dataset compares well with in situ observations and coarser gridded products in terms of both temporal and spatial patterns, but cases of strong disagreement exist particularly in areas with sandy soils. The dataset is made available to the broader research community as an effort to fill the gap in spatial hydroclimatic data availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased trade and human mobility result in sizable benefits to society, but are often accompanied by negative consequences, such as increased introduction of invasive pests to different landscapes and seascapes. In this paper, we couple an existing model of the biological spread ofNasutitermes corniger, an invasive neotropical termite recently introduced to Florida, with information on the costs to treat and repair affected structures, and use this coupled model to simulate the potential short-term costs of establishment of this structural pest. We construct empirical distributions of control and repair costs, using surveys of the pest control industry and homeowners, and use them to simulate treatment and damage costs through a re-sampling procedure. Our results suggest that the net present value of potential costs from an uncheckedN. cornigerinvasion in Florida range between $6.9 and $9.9 million over the next 10 years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Voluntary approaches have traditionally been used to address environmental externalities emanating from agricultural production in the United States. However, voluntary approaches have largely failed to improve water quality in impaired waters. This paper assesses how to increase the efficiency of voluntary conservation in the context of the Chesapeake Bay. Field-level data representative of cropland in the bay watershed are analyzed using a programming model to quantify the gains of targeting technology- based incentives and of performance-based incentives. Performance-based approaches were the most efficient. The efficiency of technology-based approaches was improved by targeting cropland with features indicative of low marginal abatement costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Cooperative Extension Service was created 100 years ago to serve as a boundary or interface organization between science generated at the nation′s land grant universities and rural communities. Production agriculture in the US is becoming increasingly complex and challenging in the face of a rapidly changing climate and the need to balance growing crop productivity with environmental protection. Simultaneously, extension budgets are diminishing and extension personnel are stretched thin with numerous, diverse stakeholders and decreasing budgets. Evidence from surveys of farmers suggests that they are more likely to go to private retailers and consultants for information than extension. This paper explores the role that extension can play in facilitating climate change adaptation in agriculture using data from a survey of agricultural advisors in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska and a survey of extension educators in the 12 state North Central Region. Evidence from these surveys shows that a majority of extension educators believe that climate change is happening and that they should help farmers prepare. It also shows that private agricultural advisors trust extension as a source of information about climate change. This suggests that extension needs to continue to foster its relationship with private information providers because working through them will be the best way to ultimately reach farmers with climate change information. However extension educators must be better informed and trained about climate change; university specialists and researchers can play a critical role in this training process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the aggregate demand for single- and multi-year crop insurance contracts and to discuss market potential for multi-year crop insurances. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors develop a dynamic discrete choice model of insurance alternatives, in which single- and multi-year insurance contracts are offered to heterogeneous risk averse farmers. The farmers determine their insurances choices based on inter-temporal utilities. Findings – The results show that in a competitive insurance market with heterogeneous risk averse farmers, there is simultaneous demand for both insurance contracts. Moreover, the introduction of multi-year contracts enhances the market penetration of insurance products. Research limitations/implications – The effect of introducing multi-year crop insurance is moderate when applying the model to US corn production. In practice, however, the increase of insurance demand could be more pronounced because we did not consider marketing and administrative costs and thus ignore this cost reduction potential of multi-year insurance. Originality/value – This study adds to the literature analyzing the feasibility of multi-year crop insurance and also shows that there is market potential for multi-year crop insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil analysis is a key practice to increase the efficiency of nutrient management in agriculture. Since the early 20th century, increasingly sophisticated methods have been developed to describe and manipulate the inherent spatial variability in soil chemical properties within the realms of classical and spatial statistics. In this paper, we reviewed design‐based (classical) and model‐based (geostatistical) sampling to suggest field‐scale sampling strategies consistent with common agronomic management goals in annual crop production systems. To assess the relevance of common sampling methods in relation to practice, current extension recommendations across the United States were compared with results from peer‐reviewed literature. Despite decades of research, specific recommendations for sample sizes, sampling depths, numbers of soil cores, and layouts were highly variable for classical and geostatistical approaches. Mobile nutrients, such as NO3, are frequently lacking in spatial structure and rarely are recommended for site‐specific management. Nonmobile nutrients, such as P, are more spatially dependent and exhibit nested spatial structures that are inconsistent across fields. For these reasons, we recommend design‐based sampling in most situations for simplicity, cost, and objectivity. The common design‐based sampling protocol prescribes collection of individual cores in a zig‐zag pattern that are combined to produce a composite sample. This protocol should be amended because it is not sufficiently randomized and is inadequate for log‐normally distributed variables. To facilitate site‐specific management, we recommend structured approaches for delineating management zones or strata and for researchers to systematically enumerate confounding variables while explicitly defining the scope of inference for future soil sampling studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving global food security requires an understanding of the current status and the future trends in the yield gap for cropping systems worldwide. The aim of this study was to scientifically understand the existing yield gap research, recognize the knowledge base and influential articles, and uncover key research themes and how these have evolved over the past three decades. Bibliometric methods were used to analyze articles related to the yield gap available in the largest scientific database, the Web of Science. A total of 6049 relevant articles published from 1993 to 2023 were numerically analyzed for patterns, trends, and clusters. The findings identified a few primary authors of widely cited publications. Geographically, the United States and China were the two major contributors to the publication pool, with articles from China mostly affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Agricultural University, while the United States had a more scattered distribution of affiliated institutions. The research on yield gaps primarily focused on biological factors, such as the effects of crop varieties, agronomic management, climate change, and soil conditions, with a limited exploration of social and economic factors. Within the auspices of the current food issues worldwide, this study provides a thorough view of the progress and key topics in crop yield gap research, contributing to the existing body of knowledge and providing guidance for researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders involved in agricultural productivity enhancement and sustainable food production. Amid the increasing trend in hunger worldwide over the past decade, we thus concluded that, by establishing appropriate benchmarks, re-prioritizing research needs, and focusing on transforming natural resources rather than inputs, the crop yield gap approach can be useful in terms of the clear inclusion of local contexts and socioeconomic constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the American South, postbellum economic development may have been restricted in part by white landowners' access to low-wage black labor. This paper examines the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on black out-migration and subsequent agricultural development. Flooded counties experienced an immediate and persistent out-migration of black population. Over time, landowners in flooded counties modernized agricultural production and increased its capital intensity relative to landowners in nearby similar non-flooded counties. Landowners resisted black out-migration, however, benefiting from the status quo system of labor-intensive agricultural production. (JEL J15, J43, N32, N52, N92, Q54, R23) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses statistics on agricultural productivity compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service to test the productivity slowdown hypothesis. The indexes of productivity growth span the years 1948 to 2009. In our analysis, we apply econometric techniques that allow for multiple structural breaks at unknown points in time and in various forms. The tests identify a break in trend in 1974 and an intercept shift in 1985. These results point to slower productivity growth in agriculture beginning in 1974. Prior to 1974, productivity grew at an annual rate ofl.71%, but this slowed to 1.56% after 1974. This slower rate of productivity growth persisted after the intercept shift in 1985 but from a higher absolute level of productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate change and food security have become critical issues in the agricultural policy agenda. Although global warming is expected to increase both the frequency and severity of heat stress on dairy cattle, there are very few economic studies focusing on this issue. This paper contributes to the literature by integrating the frontier methodology, commonly used in applied production economics, with heat stress indexes used by animal scientists but largely ignored by economists. Our econometric models are useful to quantify gross benefits expected from adaptation to climatic conditions represented by the Temperature Humidity Index (THI) and alternatively by the Equivalent Temperature Index (ETI). Stochastic production frontier analysis is used to measure technical efficiency for an unbalanced panel of 103 dairy farms located in Florida and Georgia. Five alternative model specifications are evaluated. The results reveal that both THI and ETI have a significant nonlinear negative effect on milk production. The climatic indexes when incorporated in the frontier specification absorb some of the output shortfall that otherwise would be attributable to inefficiency. The results indicate that using fans combined with sprinklers is an effective adaptation to offset output losses stemming from heat stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Forestry Review is the property of Commonwealth Forestry Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The vermicompost (earthworm humus) is a particularly effective fertilizer for both vegetables and fruits, as well as for large crops. This fertilizer has, in a high percentage all of the 16 nutrients that are essential for plants. The vermicompost is obtained through the aid of Eisenia fetida (Savigny), also known as: "compost earthworm", "red earthworm", "redworm" "brandling worm". Eisenia fetida is a species of earthworm developed by researchers and geneticists in the 1950's and 1960's, having a much higher reproductive capacity and better adaptability to the living environment than other existing species. It was first used in the USA in farms where large quantities of biomass and natural fertilizers were needed. In addition, this species of earthworm processes large amounts of biodegradable organic waste more rapidly with maximum productivity of natural humus. Thanks to these benefits, farmers around the world began to grow earthworms and produce vermicompost in a growing number. One of the most important advantages of using the vermicompost is that it increases production, both in terms of quantity and quality. Another advantage is that it helps in the suppression of harmful fungi in the soil. These microorganisms produce hormones, vitamins, nutrients, enzymes, amino acids and minerals that are important for plants. The vermicompost has a positive effect not only on plants but also on the soil. It greatly improves the structure of the soil, decreasing its density, increasing the aeration and the absorption of nitrogen from the atmosphere. Therefore, it repairs the soils affected by the long-term use of chemical substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for the northeastern states of the U.S. allows for terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration offsets generated by afforestation activities only. This paper estimates the maximum potential quantity and associated costs of increasing the storage of carbon by afforestation of existing agricultural land in the 11 states of the Northeast United States. The focus of the work was to describe location, the quantity, and at what cost it would be economically attractive to shift agricultural production to afforestation to increase carbon storage in the region. Widely available data sets were used to (1) identify spatially-explicit areas for lower costs carbon offsets and (2) estimate carbon supply curves related to afforestation of agricultural land over three time periods (10, 20, and 40 years). Carbon accumulation and total carbon offset project costs were estimated at a county scale and combined to identify expected costs per ton of carbon dioxide equivalents (COe). Large variation in estimated costs per ton of COe are driven by varying carbon accumulation potentials and opportunity costs of taking land out of agricultural production, as well as the duration of the project activity. Results show that the lowest cost carbon offset projects will be in certain counties of Maine, Vermont, and New York. Pasture land, with lower opportunity costs, generally presents the opportunity for lower cost carbon offset projects relative to cropland. This analysis estimates that afforestation of pasture land in the northeast will not become economically attractive until the price rises above $10 per metric tonne (MT) COe and that up to 583 million MT could be economically sequestered if the price were to rise to $50 per MT COe, based on a 40-year project life. With regard to cropland in the northeast, afforestation does not become economically advantageous for land owners until the price rises above $40 per MT COe. It is estimated that up to 487,000 MT could be sequestered from cropland if the price were to rise to $50 per MT COe, based on a 40-year project life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although executives acknowledge the strong link between innovations and performance, they are still challenged by crossing the bridge from great ideas to revenue. The objective of this paper is to understand better the approaches used by the food and agricultural sector to select product innovation projects, and to draw a picture of an innovation portfolio of a food and agribusiness company. This paper adds to the management literature by studying a different sector, the U.S. agricultural sector and focusing on the implementation of theoretical models. The survey of about 100 companies, indicate that the food and agribusiness sector tends to use cross-functional teams and several selection methods when they select product innovation projects. This selection process yields to a diversified portfolio in terms of potential for return, time to market, and costs already incurred. However, companies tend to be biased towards in-house and low risk projects. Company and industry characteristics' effects on the results are present but limited. It is important to note that this dissertation does not study the effect of these practices on performance, which is a necessary follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption and diffusion of contract farming and vertical integration in modern agriculture has varied widely across regions, commodities, or farm types. This paper lays out a framework for understanding the evolution of organizational practices in U.S. agriculture by drawing on theories of the diffusion of technology and organizational complementarities. Using recent trends as stylized facts, with case studies from various agricultural industries, we argue that research identifying complementarities within specific sectors of the agrifood system will greatly improve our understanding of the organizational structure of agricultural production, and we identify several specific lines of inquiry. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with a review of the methods and assumptions used to measure capital service flows. Two data series on capital inputs in U.S. agriculture are briefly described and compared. We show that measures of capital services are sensitive to the treatment of interest rates. Notably, the use of fixed versus variable market rates significantly affects measures of the quantity and productivity of agricultural capital in the United States. We conclude that when calculating capital usage in U.S. agriculture, the use of a fixed interest rate generates more plausible estimates than the use of an annual market rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Farm to school programs are at the vanguard of efforts to create an alternative agrifood system in the United States. Regionally-based, mid-tier food distributors may play an important role in harnessing the potential of farm to school programs to create viable market opportunities for small- and mid-size family farmers, while bringing more locally grown fresh food to school cafeterias. This paper focuses on the perspectives of food distributors. Our findings suggest that the food distributors profiled have the potential to help institutionalize farm to school programs. Notably, their relationships with farmers may be a critical element in expanding the scale and scope of local school food procurement. Their ability to catalyze local school food procurement however, is limited by the structural context in which farm to school programs operate. Specifically, the oppositional school year and agriculture production cycle, and tight food service budget constraints disembed and limit the potential of farm to school programs to decrease the “marketness” of school food procurement and to shift it from a process based largely on price to one that is more territorially embedded. As farm to school programs continue to gain support, regionally-based food distributors that have the meaningful relationships necessary to re-embed the school food service market back into the larger society may be critical to enabling advocates to achieve their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess how production costs and capital accumulation patterns in agriculture have evolved over time, by paying special attention to the influence of risk. A dynamic state-contingent cost-minimisation approach is applied to assess production decisions in US agriculture over the last century. Results suggest the relevance of allowing for the stochastic nature of the production function which permits to capture both the differences in the costs of producing under different states of nature and the differences in the evolution of these costs over time, as well as the differential impacts of different states of nature on investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the impact on agricultural development of the introduction of barbed wire fencing to the American Plains in the late nineteenth century. Without a fence, farmers risked uncompensated damage by others' livestock. From 1880 to 1900, the introduction and near-universal adoption of barbed wire greatly reduced the cost of fences, relative to the predominant wooden fences, especially in counties with the least woodland. Over that period, counties with the least woodland experienced substantial relative increases in settlement, land improvement, land values, and the productivity and production share of crops most in need of protection. This increase in agricultural development appears partly to reflect farmers' increased ability to protect their land from encroachment. States' inability to protect this full bundle of property rights on the frontier, beyond providing formal land titles, might have otherwise restricted agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco is America's most vilified agricultural product. It is also the eighth most valuable crop in the United States, and its immense economic value and historic depth made it an agricultural cornerstone and a cultural focus in the Upper South. The federal tobacco program limited production and ensured a fair price to growers, helping many small family farms survive at no net cost to the American taxpayer. Kentucky ranks second in tobacco production and is the most tobacco-dependent state. This paper examines what has happened to tobacco farmers in western Kentucky since the federal tobacco program was terminated in 2004 and its broader implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociology of agriculture and food (SAF) is one of the most visible substantive subareas in Rural Sociology and a growing subarea in Sociology. While the studying of agriculture has always been a part of Rural Sociology, it was in the 1970s that the process that led to a clear and formal distinction between Rural Sociology and SAF began. SAF grew stronger in the 1980s and became established in the 1990s. This paper reviews salient theoretical and historical events that engendered the establishment and growth of SAF as a separate substantive area from Rural Sociology. Additionally, it reviews its development in the United States in relation to a movement that has been global since its onset. In particular, the paper addresses the ways in which SAF developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia under the intellectual leadership of William Heffernan. Heffernan's "radical" reading of, and methodological approach to, the evolution of agriculture and food are compared with other popular views of, and approaches to, SAF such as the Marxist and the Constructionist. It is argued that Heffernan's approach is grounded in the American theoretical tradition of Pragmatic Democracy exemplified by the classical work of John Dewey. Research on SAF produced at the University of Missouri-Columbia became highly visible as SAF reached its maturity in the mid-1990s. Heffernan's intellectual contribution remains most influential in current salient debates within SAF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractTechnological advances have contributed to impressive yield gains and have greatly altered US agriculture. Selective breeding and directed molecular techniques address biological shortcomings of plants and animals and overcome environmental limitations. Improvements in mechanization, particularly of power sources and harvest equipment, reduce labor requirements and increase productivity and worker safety. Conservation systems, often designed to overcome problems introduced from other technologies, reduce negative impacts on soil and water and improve the environmental sustainability of production systems. Advances in information systems, largely developed in other disciplines and adapted to agriculture, are only beginning to impact US production practices. This paper is the fourth in the series of manuscripts exploring drivers of US agricultural systems. While development of technology is still largely driven by a need to address a problem, adoption is closely linked with other drivers of agricultural systems, most notably social, political and economic. Here, we explore the processes of innovation and adoption of technologies and how they have shaped agriculture. Technologies have increased yield and net output, and have also resulted in decreased control by producers, increased intensification, specialization and complexity of production, greater dependence on non-renewable resources, increased production inputs and hence decreased return, and an enhanced reliance on future technology. Future technologies will need to address emerging issues in land use, decline in work force and societal support of farming, global competition, changing social values in both taste and convenience of food, and increasing concerns for food safety and the environment. The challenge for farmers and researchers is to address these issues and develop technologies that balance the needs of producers with the expectations of society and create economically and environmentally sustainable production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of R&D on multifactor productivity in the U.S. agricultural sector over the 1910–1990 period. We use the Bennet–Bowley indicator to measure agricultural productivity based on a multiple output-multiple input technology. We demonstrate the relationship between the price dependent Bennet–Bowley indicator and the Luenberger productivity indicator which is constructed from directional distance functions without requiring price information. These performance measures are dual to the profit function which arguably makes them especially useful in the agricultural setting. We employ time-series techniques to investigate the effect of R&D on the pattern of productivity growth. We find that we cannot reject the presence of a cointegrating relationship between the two series and that productivity growth in the U.S. agriculture responds positively to R&D expenditure with a lag of between four and ten periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)