ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Public support for integrated pest management (IPM) is derived in part from concerns over food safety and the environment, yet few studies have assessed the economic value of health and environmental benefits of IPM. An approach is suggested for such an assessment and applied to the Virginia peanut IPM program. Effects of IPM on environmental risks posed by pesticides are assessed and society's willingness to pay to reduce those risks is estimated. The annual environmental benefits of the peanut IPM program are estimated at $844,000. The estimates of pesticide risks and willingness to pay can be applied elsewhere in economic assessments of IPM.Integrated pest management, Willingness to pay, Environmental benefits, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

THE ROLE OF COLLABORATIVE SOFTWARE AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN THE SMARTER CITIES

The transition from the traditional city to the smart city is made by supported efforts regarding the achievement of a more steady, more efficient, more responsible city, through convergent strategies that deal with Smart Transportation Systems, Energy and Utilities Management, Water Management, Smart Public Safety, Healthcare Systems, Environmental Management, Educational Systems, Telecommunications (ITC Support),etc. and Positive Thinking. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) meets the customers’ needs and the administration, the management of data, information, knowledge and decisions through Collaborative Systems and Decision Support Systems have a major impact both at the level of the smart city and the level of subsystems/services, and the information technology within smart cities becomes a major direction of research in the field of ITC.Smart City, Collaborative Systems, Decision Support Systems (DSS), Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Portal technology

Product Attributes and Consumer Willingness to Pay for Environmental Management Systems in Agriculture: Using the Choice Modeling Technique

Consumer concerns in food purchasing contain a number of elements, including food safety, environment, animal welfare, and other social issues. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer perceptions of the potential benefits of products that are produced using an environmental management system (EMS) in agriculture, and to identify those factors that influence choice. The choice modeling technique uses consumer responses (preferences) to estimate Montrealers= willingness to pay (WTP) for production practices that decrease the impacts on the environment, as well as for other potential benefits of EMS production. Results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a price premium for these environmental benefits. This could provide a justification for government to provide incentives for environmental farm management practices and support to certification and labelling programs.Consumer/Household Economics,

Tools to support the self assessment of the performance of Food Safety Management Systems

Changes in food supply chains, health and demographic situations, lifestyle and social situations, environmental conditions, and increased legislative requirements have led to significant efforts in the development of quality and safety management systems in agribusiness and food industry worldwide (Ropkins and Beck, 2000; Efstratiadis, Karirti, and Arvanitoyannis, 2000; Jacxsens, et al, 2009a, Luning and Marcelis, 2009a). Nowadays, companies have implemented various quality assurance (QA) guidelines and standards, such as GMP and HACCP guidelines (like General Principles of food hygiene (Codex Alimentarius 2003), GFSI guidance document (GFSI (2007), and quality assurance standards (like ISO 9001:2008 (2008), ISO22000:2005 (2005), BRC (2008), and IFS (2007) into their company own food safety management system. The performance of such systems in practice is, however, still variable. Moreover, the continuous pressure on food safety management system (FSMS) performance and the dynamic environment wherein the systems operate (such as emerging pathogens, changing consumer demands, developments in preservation techniques) require that they can be systematically analysed to determine opportunities for improvement (Wallace, et al, 2005; Manning et al, 2006; Van der Spiegel et al, 2006; Cornier et al, 2007; Luning et al, 2009a). Within the European project entitled ‘PathogenCombat- EU FOOD-CT-2005-007081’ various tools have been developed to support food companies and establishments in systematically analysing and judging their food safety management system and its microbiological performance as basis for strategic choices on interventions to improve the FSMS performance. This chapter describes briefly principles of the major tools that have been developed and some others, which are still under still under construction

The Role and Responsibility of the Environmental, Health & Safety Manager in establishing an organization’s commitment towards environmental stewardship and workplace safety [as elements of social responsibility]

Background: Effective and leading Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Management is a topic of interest and necessity for many organizations and EHS professionals. The role and responsibility of the EHS Manager in establishing an organization\u27s commitment towards environmental stewardship and workplace safety [as elements of social responsibility] evolves continuously. Objective: The purpose of this thesis is to identify the roles and responsibilities of an effective EHS Manager, and those roles and responsibilities that support an organization achieving environmental stewardship and workplace safety. Method: Salient elements, actions, and characteristics identified as a role or responsibility of the EHS manager within the initial literature review were researched using a three step approach: attendance and participation at EHS conferences and expositions, review of professional literature, and in-depth analysis of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) full interviews conducted by the National Safety Council (NSC) for their annual article CEOs who Get It. Results: An organization\u27s commitment towards environmental stewardship and workplace safety requires the EHS Manager not only to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, but to provide effective leadership with voluntary EHS management systems and programs. The depth of this voluntary commitment to EHS is based on the organization\u27s top manager/ executive, and the organization\u27s vision and mission. Significance to EHS Management: The significance of this topic to EHS management is that it presents fundamental requirements of top line management, industry standards, and best practices not required under current regulation to ensure environmental stewardship and a safe workplace

Effects of organic and ‘low input’ production methods on food quality and safety

The intensification of agricultural production in the last century has resulted in a significant loss of biodiversity, environmental problems and associated societal costs. The use of shorter rotations or monocropping and high levels of mineral fertilisers, pesticides and crop growth regulators may also have had negative impacts on food quality and safety. To reverse the negative environmental and biodiversity impacts of agricultural intensification, a range of different ‘low input’ farming systems have been developed and are now supported by EU and government support schemes. A range of recent reviews concluded that switching to low input, integrated or organic farming practices results in significant environmental benefits and increased biodiversity in agro-ecosystems. Some recent studies also reported higher levels of nutritionally desirable compounds (e.g. vitamins, antioxidants, mineral nutrients) in foods from organic and ‘low input’ production systems compared to food from conventional systems. The increasing demand and current price premiums achieved by foods from low input and especially organic production systems were shown to be closely linked to consumer perceptions about nutritional and health benefits of such foods. However, there are other studies reporting no significant differences in composition between low input and conventional foods, or inconsistent results. There is currently a lack of (a) factorial studies, which allow the effect of individual production system components (e.g. rotation design, fertility management, crop health management, variety choice) on food composition to be assessed and (b) dietary intervention or cohort studies which compare the effect of consuming foods from different production systems on animal and/or human health. It is therefore currently not possible to draw overall conclusions about the effect of low input production on food quality and safety. This paper will (a) describe the range of organic and other ‘low input’ standards, certification and support systems currently used, (b) summarise the currently available information on effects of organic and other low input crop production systems on the environment, biodiversity and food quality, and (c) describe the methodologies and results from subproject 2 of the EU-funded Integrated project QualityLowInputFood. This project focused on improving our knowledge about the effect of organic and low input crop and livestock production systems on food quality and safety parameters

Twenty-Second Annual NASA Supply and Equipment Management Conference

The status of actions from the 1988 conference is reviewed. Environmental safety issues, definitions, and regulations; contract transition, payload logistics transition, and safety and support equipment; supply products and services, bar code technology, and inventory accuracy; equipment management workshop topics; and contract property workshop topics are outlined

Rekomendasi Laboratorium Lingkungan

Environmental laboratory is the laboratory that has the capability and authority to analyze environmental samples especially chemistry/physic/biology to support environmental management according to environmental laws. Based on the definition, environmental laboratory must be accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 to generate accurate, continuous, and reliable environmental quality data which are defensible in terms of environmental regulations and scientific knowledge. However, compliance with regulatory and safety requirements on the operation of laboratory including laboratory waste management, environmental sampling, and quality control and assurance (QC/QA) for environmental laboratory are not covered by the International Standard. So, environmental laboratory must comply with the supplement requirement of Bapedal Decree No. 113: 2000 regarding to general guidance and technical for environmental laboratory. Until middle of 2007, PUSARPEDAL – KLH recommended 24 environmental laboratories and 8 laboratories still in progress for technically assessment

Farm-Level Risk Management Using Irrigation and Weather Derivatives

An agronomic crop growth model—the Decision Support System for Agro-Technology Transfer—and a constant relative risk aversion utility function are used to examine corn irrigation strategies in Mitchell County, Georgia. Precipitation contracts are designed to help farmers manage risk. Three conclusions originate from the findings. First, the optimal irrigation strategy can greatly increase producers’ certainty-equivalent revenue. Second, changes in water pricing policy would have a limited impact on the amount of water used. And third, across levels of risk preference, the precipitation contracts are not effective in increasing certainty-equivalent revenue or reducing cumulative water use.irrigation risk management, water pricing policy, weather derivative contract, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D8, G22, Q15, Q25,

Analytical support for organizations' economic and environmental safety management

Analytical support for organizations' economic and environmental safety management / Maryna Chorna, Liliya Filipishyna, Ganna Nord, Serhii Tkachenko, Kateryna Velychko // Journal of Security and Sustainability. – 2019. – № 8 (3). – Р. 413-422. – DOI: https://doi.org/10.9770/jssi.2019.8.3(10)Chorna, M.; Filipishyna, L.; Nord, G.; Tkachenko, S.; Velychko, K., 2019. Analytical support for organizations’ economic and environmental safety management, Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues 8(3): 413-422. http://doi.org/10.9770/jssi.2019.8.3(10)З метою формування ефективного аналітичного забезпечення управління економічною та екологічною безпекою організацій обґрунтовано вихідні позиції еколого-економічного аналізу. Це дозволило розширити уявлення про економічний аналіз у забезпеченні ефективної взаємодії організації з навколишнім середовищем. У результаті дослідження методів еколого-економічного аналізу пріоритетних об’єктів управління економічною та екологічною безпекою встановлено відсутність системи показників та механізму їх використання, що значно знижує рівень якості інформаційного простору управління.In order to form an effective analytical support for the management of the economic and environment safety of organizations, the initial positions of environmental and economic analysis were substantiated. This allowed expanding the understanding of economic analysis in ensuring the effective interaction of the organization with the environment. As a result of the study of the methods of environmental and economic analysis of the priority objects of management of economic and environment safety, the absence of a system of indicators and a mechanism for their use has been established, which significantly reduces the quality level of the management information space. In order to solve this problem, the work developed the author's methods of environmental and economic analysis:1) models of environmental and economic analysis of the production process in terms of waste management (proposed calculation procedure, interaction mechanism, information support, procedure for factor models construction of waste cost ratios, waste capacity ratios, waste replacement ratios, waste replacement efficiency ratios); 2) procedure for analyzing the cost of processing, recycling and disposal of waste. The use of these techniques allowed us to identify the reserves for increasing the level of environmental and economic security of organizations.С целью формирования эффективного аналитического обеспечения управления экономической и экологической безопасностью организаций обоснованы исходные положения эколого-экономического анализа. Это позволило расширить понимание экономического анализа в обеспечении эффективного взаимодействия организации с внешней средой. В результате изучения методов эколого-экономического анализа приоритетных объектов управления экономической и экологической безопасностью установлено отсутствие системы показателей и механизма их использования, что существенно снижает уровень качества информационного пространства управления