Profitability of Organic Farming Systems

The majority of the farmers I meet, that are interested in organic farming are financially driven. It is important that the message on financial returns from organic farming is clear. In cattle production systems when we look at the figures, the majority of cattle farmers are making a positive gross margin but are spending some of the premia cheque to cover fixed costs. In the organic situation costs are generally lower but so is gross output. The net margin delivered on organic beef farms is on average higher than the average beef farmer. The targets I have set on the paper that I believe are achievable on the majority of organic beef farms and should be profitable enterprises. When the financial analysis is completed on organic dairy farms, it must be noted that when measured in net margin achieved per litre or per cow the results are as good as the best dairy farmers in the country, however the key issue is stocking rate. Only dairy farmers stocked up to about 1.7 livestock units per hectare will increase net margin. Farms stocked higher than this will loose out unless the milk price gap widens significantly. In the tillage sector my colleagues produce crop budgets each year, last year the budgets went out the window as harvest returns disastrous due to the weather. The organic tillage budget produced in the paper shows excellent returns for organic tillage crops. The cost of imports and lack of supply is keeping the price up, the weakening of sterling may have an effect later on, however even if organic grain prices drop significantly, the returns are mush better than conventional tillage. This is an option Irish tillage farmers should be exploring

Financial Performance of Organic Cattle Farming

FFI/ha on organic cattle rearing farms was 56% higher than on conventional farms due entirely to lower costs of production (€240/ha v €640/ha). However the organic farms were selected as monitor farms and therefore represent the better producers whilst the conventional farms were selected at random. Output and direct payments per ha were higher on conventional farms but not sufficient to cover the additional costs. Organic farms were 24% larger than conventional farms. Organic drystock cattle producers had a more viable socio-economic profile, whilst technical performance was higher on the conventional farms. Organic dairy farms had 7% higher farm income over conventional dairy farmers in 2007. However, these data are based on a small sample and should therefore be interpreted with caution

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 459

In the matter of the fact-finding between the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, employer, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 459, union. PERB case no. M2009-336. Before: James R. McDonnell, Ph.D., fact finder

Effect of time interval variations on network RTK in a high multipath environment

The research aim for this project was to investigate the effect of time interval variations on Network RTK in a high multipath environment. Meaning does the time in between observing each point at the end of a line using Network RTK GNSS effect the accuracy of the calculated distance between the two points. And how is the relationship of time and accuracy affected when introduced to a high multipath environment. Finally, how can these determined accuracies for horizontal distance measurement be applied to survey regulation accuracy for cadastral surveys of 10mm + 50ppm stated in the CSR. The analysis looked at two different datasets. First a dataset captured over a 12-hour period free from the effects of multipath. And secondly a dataset captured over a 12- hour period with the effect of multipath present. The analysis calculations used the Zero Distance Method and utilized two different time intervals firstly a 30-minute window and second a 5-minute window. The key findings from the research found that using the shorter time lapse window of 5-minutes produced a calculated distance with high accuracy over the 30-minute time lapse window. The was found for both the multipath free and multipath present datasets. These results successfully achieved the research aim and aligned with previous research

Revision Of The Computer Technology Curriculum At Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Based On Small Business Training Needs

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (O-C Tech) is one of sixteen two-year institutions comprising the statewide comprehensive technical education system in South Carolina. At O-C Tech, over sixty-three percent of the students register for computer technology courses. Many of these students discover that the series of computer courses they are taking may not qualify them for an entry-level position in local small businesses. This results in increased attrition and loss of money and time for students. The purpose of this major applied research project was to provide O-C Tech\u27s Computer Technology (CPT) department with a model microcomputer applications curriculum and a sense of direction for the 1990\u27s. The project was designed to bring resolution to the following research questions. 1. What will the Computer Technology needs of O-C Tech’s students be for the 1990\u27s, taking into account the projected societal changes? 2. What microcomputer business programs would most likely be supported by regional businesses to the extent they would be willing to employ students trained in these applications? 3. Will O-C Tech be able to respond to the needs identified in (1) and (2) above, in terms of curricula, faculty expertise, facilities, and equipment? a. If so, what action must be taken to revise and/or update curricula and programs in the CPT department? b. If not, what additional resources, facilities and/or equipment will be necessary to meet future requirements? The methodology utilized was systemically related to the research questions posed, the results of which were the operational framework for the curriculum model derived. The review of the literature and personal interviews were conducted to determine what others have done to resolve computer education problems. The review of the literature pointed to other studies utilizing the case study approach. Case records were established on three other regional colleges to analyze the characteristics of their CPT curriculum. A cross-case analysis was conducted on the case records to determine the commonality and differences in their offerings. This cross-case analysis was significant in reviewing similarities and differences in recently revised CPT courses. Elements of existing microcomputer applications programs and data findings from the survey questionnaire that were compatible with O-C Tech\u27s CPT framework were adapted for use in the model derived for this project. The model included two prerequisite courses, four core, and five elective courses. The model also has a common course numbering system that facilitates a clearer understanding of course sequence. The proposed microcomputer applications model was presented to the Academic Review Committee, consisting of a cross-section of college representatives, who reviewed the proposal and made appropriate comments. These comments, as well as the data findings from this study were used to formulate the following conclusions and recommendations. It was concluded that serious fragmentation does exist among the technical institutions with regard to uniform CPT articulation at both the two- and four-year colleges. It was also concluded that there is a need for a curriculum model to address this fragmentation, as well as address the perceived training needs of clients at the O-C Tech CPT Resource center. The following recommendations were formulated for O-C Tech as a result of this study: 1. Adopt the Microcomputer Applications Certificate curriculum in this study, including its common course numbering, and mandate its use. 2. Appoint a Task Force on Articulation, comprised of key personnel from selected two- and four-year colleges, to conduct further studies on the problem of articulation among institutions. 3. Continue studies similar to this one to assess the business applications software currently being used by small business owners. 4. Collect follow-up data from the clients who attend the CPT training classes to evaluate the effectiveness of the new applications curriculum. 5. Continue with procedures found in this study to follow-up on what sister institutions are doing to revise their courses to qualify them for transfer to another college. 6. Conduct future studies among regional small businesses to ascertain computer training needs. 7. Repeat this study in five years to determine if there is (a) a continued trend of two-year college to follow the Data Processing Management Curriculum guidelines, and (b) a trend of sister institutions to utilize system-wide guidelines on course development

An assessment of the attitudinal stance of the staff, parents and students of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District as they relate to the Performance Objective Program.

EducationDoctor of Education (Ed.D.

Comparison of merchandising, sales promotion methods and operating results in service station operation; neighborhood versus highway types

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

Remembering to Forget: Native American Presences and the U.S. National Consciousness in Nineteenth-Century Euro-American Fiction

This thesis interrogates the part played by the figure of ‘the Indian’ in the formation of the U.S. national consciousness as reflected in the nineteenth-century fictional works of James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Montgomery Bird, Lydia Maria Child, Helen Hunt Jackson and Herman Melville. I propose that new understandings can be reached concerning Indian representations and national identity in the selected texts via an approach that combines postcolonial and psychoanalytic theories, in particular as detailed by Ranjana Khanna in Dark Continents (2003). I explore how the national ideals articulated by Cooper, Bird, Child and Jackson are predicated on repression identifiable in historical revisionism, disavowal, ideological rhetoric, generic conventions and so forth, which reflects a melancholic nationalism more generally concerning the colonial subjugation of Native Americans. I demonstrate that where the national origins mythology of The Last of the Mohicans is ‘haunted’ by inassimilable historical memories associated with frontier conquest and displacement, the Indian-hating premise of Bird’s Nick of the Woods is yet more melancholic in being overwhelmed by the genocide it seeks to justify. In contrast, Ramona and Hobomok effectuate their own forms of epistemic violence in assimilating the Indian into the national body. However these novels also allow for the principle of an autonomous Indian perspective, which jeopardises the idea of state legitimacy that is crucial for their national ideals. In Melville’s The Confidence-Man a historically recuperative national vision is absent and this allows indirect recognition of the Indian ‘phantoms’ of the nation’s past. These works encompass psychological, ideological and cultural patterns of negotiation with a Native American presence that reflect different facets of the nineteenth-century American psyche and its evolution. My readings of these patterns provide a new perspective on how the nineteenth-century American national consciousness is unable to reconcile its history of imperialist, frontier expansion to its ‘ego-ideal’ as a democratic institution distinguished from its European predecessors