Total Income of Canadian Farm Operators, 2003

Farm Analysis Bulletins (FAB) are undertaken to provide a better understanding of Canadian agriculture at the farm level. Using data from various sources such as Census, Farm Financial Surveys (FFS), Taxfiler, NISA database, etc, FAB's provide information on farm situation as well as highlighting and discussing farm related issues. This farm analysis bulletin provides an overview of the income situation of Canadian farm operators in 2003. The information is based on a sample of tax records from the Net Income Stabilization Account/Taxation Data Program (NISA/TDP) database. It includes information on operators of unincorporated farms reporting total operating revenues of $10,000 and over or those operating an incorporated farm reporting total operating revenues of$25,000 or more. Communal farming operations are excluded. The NISA/TDP is a major source of financial data for the Whole Farm Data Project (WFDP). The information from personal income tax records is valuable because it provides detailed revenue and expense data and allows estimates of off-farm income for farm families.Net Income Stabilization Account, NISA, Taxation Data Program, TDP, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Financial Economics,

Valuing Farm Financial Information

Despite the merits of good farm record keeping, little is known about the value farmers place on their farm financial records. This study uses a willingness-to-accept experimental second price auction to elicit such values from farmers. Results indicate farm records are extremely valuable and that some diversity in values is explained by the characteristics of the records and farmers. We find that experimental auctions can be used to elicit values for extremely high-valued goods, and we demonstrate how they can be used to value a complex good comprised of many sub-components.Farm Management,

Validation of Factors Influencing Successful Small Scale Farming in North Carolina

This phase of the research project involves developing a survey instrument to test the validity and predictive value of the variables identified in previous case studies. Given the importance of small farm viability, this research project focuses on identifying ways to further enhance successful small farming in North Carolina. The survey instrument was designed to solicit production and financial data, attitudes and beliefs about farming, as well as demographic questions. The results demonstrated that successful farmers indicators were the “love of farming” and “manageable debt”. Other strong indicators of successful farmers included a combination of marketing strategies that utilize technology such as websites as well as local farmers markets and educational level. Knowledge about the successful small farm is likely to provide valuable information about how to evaluate the “successfulness” of small farm operations and produce best practices models for small scale farm operations.Small Farmers, Agribusiness, Agribusiness, Farm Management,

Does Migration Income Help Hometown Business? Evidences from Rural Households Survey in China

This empirical study examines effects of household migration income on non-farm business in rural China. The restrictions on labor mobility in China were loosened after the economic reform in 1978. As a result, more and more rural households have family members engaging in temporary migration, working and living between rural home and urban areas, which forms a large "floating" population of migrant workers. The income migrant workers bringing home provides a vital capital resource for the credit deprived rural areas, and hence strongly promotes hometown non-farm business. This paper raises three questions: first, how does migration income affect the probability that rural households will start non-farm business? Second, how does migration income impact the probability that rural households will remain in non-farm business after starting up? Third, whether and how much does migration income increase non-farm business income? The findings indicate that migration income not only raises the probability of starting and remaining in non-farm business, but also increases non-farm business income. The empirical results in this paper confirm that, for financially constrained rural households in China, migration income offers a valuable capital resource and facilitates the development of diverse business operation in rural China.Migration, Rural China, Non-farm Business, Probit

Can the Ag Credit Survey predict national credit conditions?

With the farm boom ending in 2009, many farmers have become less able to repay short-term loans. As farm profit margins erode and farm loan delinquencies rise, some in the agricultural industry worry that lending standards will tighten—as they did in the farm debt crisis of the 1980s. ; One barometer of future agricultural credit conditions is agricultural bankers. Experience and access to information give these bankers a unique perspective on agricultural credit conditions. In fact, several Federal Reserve banks survey agricultural bankers in their district to tap this source of information. But how reliable are regional Federal Reserve agricultural credit surveys? And can a regional survey shed light on future loan delinquencies and credit standards nationwide? ; Briggeman examines the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions to explore these questions. He concludes that the Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions reliably predicts farm loan repayment rates in the district and provides valuable insight into future farm loan delinquencies and credit standards nationwide. The most recent Survey data suggest that the nation’s farm loan delinquencies will continue to rise in the year ahead, which may cause collateral requirements to stay elevated heading into 2010.

Source identification and quantification of particulate matter emitted from livestock houses

There is need to identify and quantify the contribution of different sources to airborne particulate matter (PM) emissions from animal houses. To this end, we compared the chemical and morphological characteristics of fine and coarse PM from known sources collected from animal houses with the characteristics of on-farm fine and coarse airborne PM using two methods: classification rules based on decision trees and multiple linear regression. Fourteen different farms corresponding to seven different housing systems for poultry and pigs were sampled during winter. A total of 28 fine and 28 coarse on-farm airborne PM samples were collected, together with a representative sample of each known source per farm (56 known source samples in total). Source contributions were calculated as relative percentage contributions in particle numbers and then estimated in particle mass. Based on particle numbers, results showed that in poultry houses, most on-farm airborne PM originated from feathers (ranging from 4% to 43% in fine PM and from 6% to 35% in coarse PM) and manure (ranging from 9% to 85% in fine PM and from 30% to 94% in coarse PM). For pigs, most on-farm airborne PM originated from manure (ranging from 70% to 98% in fine PM and from 41% to 94% in coarse PM). Based on particle mass, for poultry most on-farm airborne PM still originated from feathers and manure; for pigs, however, most PM originated from skin and manure. Feed had a negligible contribution to on-farm airborne PM compared with other sources. Results presented in this study improve the understanding of sources of PM in different animal housing systems, which may be valuable when choosing optimal PM reduction technique

The use of case studies in researching the conversion to organic farming systems

This poster reviews the use of case studies in studying farms converting to organic production. Particular reference is made to the 'Conversion to organic field vegetable production' project, which is making use of case studies. Case studies facilitate an in depth analysis of a farm during the conversion to organic production and enable researchers and farmers to gain a greater understanding of the complex changes that take place. Case studies also provide a valuable tool for disseminating the result

Modelling the economic efficiency of using different strategies to control Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome at herd level

PRRS is among the diseases with the highest economic impact in pig production worldwide. Different strategies have been developed and applied to combat PRRS at farm level. The broad variety of available intervention strategies makes it difficult to decide on the most cost-efficient strategy for a given farm situation, as it depends on many farm-individual factors like disease severity, prices or farm structure. Aim of this study was to create a simulation tool to estimate the cost-efficiency of different control strategies at individual farm level. Baseline is a model that estimates the costs of PRRS, based on changes in health and productivity, in a specific farm setting (e.g. farm type, herd size, type of batch farrowing). The model evaluates different intervention scenarios: depopulation/repopulation (D/R), close & roll-over (C&R), mass vaccination of sows (MS), mass vaccination of sows and vaccination of piglets (MS + piglets), improvements in internal biosecurity (BSM), and combinations of vaccinations with BSM. Data on improvement in health and productivity parameters for each intervention were obtained through literature review and from expert opinions. The economic efficiency of the different strategies was assessed over 5 years through investment appraisals: the resulting expected value (EV) indicated the most cost-effective strategy. Calculations were performed for 5 example scenarios with varying farm type (farrow-to-finish – breeding herd), disease severity (slightly – moderately – severely affected) and PRRSV detection (yes – no). The assumed herd size was 1000 sows with farm and price structure as commonly found in Germany. In a moderately affected (moderate deviations in health and productivity parameters from what could be expected in an average negative herd), unstable farrow-to-finish herd, the most cost-efficient strategies according to their median EV were C&R (€1′126′807) and MS + piglets (€ 1′114′649). In a slightly affected farrow-to-finish herd, no virus detected, the highest median EV was for MS + piglets (€ 721′745) and MS (€ 664′111). Results indicate that the expected benefits of interventions and the most efficient strategy depend on the individual farm situation, e.g. disease severity. The model provides new insights regarding the cost-efficiency of various PRRSV intervention strategies at farm level. It is a valuable tool for farmers and veterinarians to estimate expected economic consequences of an intervention for a specific farm setting and thus enables a better informed decision

Factors Influencing the Selection of Precision Farming Information Sources by Cotton Producers

Precision farming information demanded by cotton producers is provided by various suppliers, including consultants, farm input dealerships, University Extension systems, and media sources. Factors associated with the decisions to select among information sources to search for precision farming information are analyzed using a multivariate probit regression accounting for correlation among the different selection decisions. Factors influencing these decisions are age, education, and income. These findings should be valuable to precision farming information providers who may be able to better meet their target clientele needs.Extension, information-source-use decisions, media, multivariate probit, precision agriculture technologies, private sources, Farm Management, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Tools for managing manure nutrients

Manures are a valuable source of nutrients (and organic matter), and can be seen as a method of transferring nutrients around the farm (for homeproduced manures) or as a method of importing fertility (imported manures or composts). Good manure management offers a ‘win-win’ opportunity: benefits to soil fertility and benefits to the environment (less pollution). This paper describes two tools for manure nutrient planning: the use of look-up tables to assess nutrient content, and the development of a Decision Support Tool for describing nutrient transformations during manure management