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The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, PL92-500, established the goals of making the nation's streams and lakes swimmable and fishable by 1983 and eliminating both point and non-point pollution discharge by 1985. Implementation of this act, even if carried out uniformly and on the basis of scientifically determined information, could have far-reaching impacts on the agricultural sector.The purpose of this article is to: 1.Review the requirements of the legislation.2.Review selected research.3.Estimate the potential economic impact of proposed regulations on agriculture in Mississippi.4.Identify research needed to minimize the adverse economic impact of attaining the objectives of the regulations.

Having started science operations in May 2009, the Kepler photometer has been able to provide exquisite data of solar-like stars. Five out of the 42 stars observed continuously during the survey phase show evidence of oscillations, even though they are rather faint (magnitudes from 10.5 to 12). In this paper, we present an overview of the results of the seismic analysis of 4 of these stars observed during more than eight months., 5 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the ASP proceedings of "The 61st Fujihara seminar: Progress in solar/stellar physics with helio- and asteroseismology", 13th-17th March 2011, Hakone, Japan

The satellite CoRoT (Convection, Rotation, and planetary Transits) has provided high-quality data for almost six years. We show here the asteroseismic analysis and modeling of HD169392A, which belongs to a binary system weakly gravitationally bound as the distance between the two components is of 4250 AU. The main component, HD169392A, is a G0IV star with a magnitude of 7.50 while the second component is a G0V-G2IV star with a magnitude of 8.98. This analysis focuses on the main component, as the secondary one is too faint to measure any seismic parameters. A complete modeling has been possible thanks to the complementary spectroscopic observations from HARPS, providing Teff=5985+/-60K, log g=3.96+/-0.07, and [Fe/H]=- 0.04+/-0.10., 6 pages, 1 figure. Proceedings of the Fujihara seminar held in Hakone (Japan) in November 2012

The NASA Kepler mission is providing an unprecedented set of asteroseismic data. In particular, short-cadence lightcurves (~60s samplings), allow us to study solar-like stars covering a wide range of masses, spectral types and evolutionary stages. Oscillations have been observed in around 600 out of 2000 stars observed for one month during the survey phase of the Kepler mission. The measured light curves can present features related to the surface magnetic activity (starspots) and, thus we are able to obtain a good estimation of the surface (differential) rotation. In this work we establish the basis of such research and we show a potential method to find stars with fast surface rotations., 8 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the ASP proceedings of "The 61st Fujihara seminar: Progress in solar/stellar physics with helio- and asteroseismology", 13th-17th March 2011, Hakone, Japan

Thirty years ago, at the joint meeting of the American Economic Association and the American Farm Economic Association, Karl Brandt, of Stanford University, chaired a session on "Agricultural Policy-Recent Changes and Future Implications." In the lead paper Willard W. Cochrane provided ". .. (1) a description of government in agriculture as of 1956-57, (2) an appraisal of the parity idea in price supporting actions, (3) an appraisal of surplus disposal activities and the development of new markets, and (4) an appraisal of production control activities." The Soil Bank had just come into being with its attendant adverse publicity, public debate, and high (for that time) U.S. Treasury costs. A comparison of the papers in this session with those in 1956 and subsequent debates in the remainder of the 1950s suggests a thirtyto thirty-five-year cycle in agricultural policy. Surely, it's just a coincidence, but this also happens to be about the professional life span of agricultural economists. Purcell's paper offers a cornucopia of ideas, opinions, value judgments, and hypotheses (supported and unsupported) that will surely stimulate debate and discussion in our profession. In the first few paragraphs he redefines the responsibilities of the profession to include sociology, psychology, and other social sciences, challenges Malthus, affirms that the competitive system will adjust resource use and criticizes government programs. Yet, in later statements he proposes more government intervention but supports the goal of preserving and enhancing efficiency in production, fabrication, and distribution of foods and kindred products. Even so, his arguments in support of the excess capacity thesis are very persuasive. If the overriding goal is to enhance domestic food prices, then I agree with Purcell that we must restrict the resources used to produce those products. However, I would want considerably more information than has been provided before supporting his proposal for resettlement ventures on marginal croplands and for other uses with an area versus an individual farm focus. Even if such were cost effective, would meet environmental standards, and would not adversely impact one segment of the population, I am not sure that economists and agronomists, or anyone for that matter, has or should have the ability to decide which areas are marginal for crop production under future conditions. How are you going to quickly return these areas to production to accommodate serious, always unanticipated, worldwide food shortages? How do you compensate for the impact upon the local economy, local governments, and local institutions associated with the loss of agriculture's contribution? Will enough people utilize the hunting preserves and zoos to offset the loss of agricultural economic activity? Will timber production sustain the local economy and local institutions? How would whatever income is generated by these activities be distributed and to whom? When you idle land, you also idle labor, management, and capital and reduce economic activity. Even though there are many unanswered questions, the idea of an area approach is intriguing, and I would encourage continuing its evaluation. I agree with Purcell's statement that "a major challenge to the profession is that of providing guidelines for more orderly adjustment in the agriculture-food system." Particularly, he calls for "new approaches to manage the excess capacity in the U.S. agriculture-food system and simultaneously enhance competitiveness in international markets." This suggests that effective programs must involve both supply adjustments and efforts that affect the demand side of the price equation. Reliance on supply management (management of excess capacity) alone will lead to some seVerner G. Hurt is a professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University.