GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICY AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION: A RECURSIVE STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS

Contamination of groundwater by agricultural practices presents a dilemma between protecting a vital resource and maintaining a valuable part of the economy. Policies to balance these objectives are presented. In addition to an historical baseline, policies that ban certain pesticides, taxes and subsidies, and control cultural practices are also considered. A model is developed to reflect the current state of agriculture in Eastern Suffolk County. This model consists of a recursive programming component, which has input for it generated by a stochastic model of Colorado potato beetle pest dynamics and management strategies to control those pests. While income is reduced by banning pesticides, the reduction is small when compared with the improvement in environmental quality. Further efforts to reduce pesticide use resulted in a reduction in potato acreage and incomes, as well as yields. Analysis concludes that improvements in both farm income and environmental quality could be achieved through the adoption of subsidies for low-input conservation crops.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Organic barley producers' desired qualities for crop improvement

Barley fits well into many different organic farming systems. It can be grown as either a winter or spring annual crop in many temperate regions. Barley can be used for food, malting, or animal feed, providing growers with diverse marketing opportunities. Despite its advantages, many organic farmers in the USA have not adopted barley as a regular crop in their rotation. Researchers surveyed organic barley producers to discover what they considered to be the main obstacles to growing barley. The primary obstacles identified were limited markets and price. Breeding and development of high-quality barley suitable for organic systems and specialty markets may be a way to expand markets and secure a better price. Farmers identified yield as the most important agronomic trait of interest, but other traits such as nutritional quality were also highly ranked. Naked (hull-less) barley bred for multi-use quality is a possible alternative that allows organic farmers to sell into multiple markets. Most respondents expressed interest in the development of such varieties suitable for organic farming conditions. The researchers conducted follow-up interviews to obtain detailed information on how barley is used in organic farming systems, production practices, costs of production, and what traits farmers would like to see breeders focus on

Improving Barley for Organic Producers: What Do Organic Producers Want?

Researchers surveyed organic barley producers in order to find out how many acres they are growing, what varieties they grow, what markets they are growing barley for, whether they receive a price premium for organic barley, whether they are growing or would be interested in growing multi-use naked barley, what production challenges they face, and what traits they would like to see improved

Geranium Oil Profile

NYS IPM Type: Minimum Risk PesticideGeranium oil is an essential oil primarily derived from Pelargonium graveolens, but may be extracted from other plants in the genera Geranium and Pelargonium. The oil is a mixture of various aromatics and esters. The primary use is as a fragrance and flavoring agent, but it is also used as an insecticide, fungicide, herbicide, rodenticide and antimicrobial. In reviewing the health and safety incidents related to geranium oil, none were related to its pesticidal uses

Lauryl Sulfate Profile

NYS IPM Type: Minimum Risk PesticideLauryl sulfate, otherwise known as hydrogen dodecyl sulfate, is an anionic surfactant. It is not commonly used in pesticides, with sodium lauryl sulfate being the preferred form. Lauryl sulfate has selective antimicrobial activity and is also synergistic with various insecticides. Given current limited uses, there is little evidence that lauryl sulfate poses significant risks to human health or the environment

A Global Vision and Strategy for Organic Farming Research - Condensed version. Version February, 2017

TIPI, the Technology Innovation Platform of IFOAM – Organics International, aims to foster international collaboration in organic agriculture research, engage and involve all stakeholders that benefit from organic agriculture research, facilitate exchange of scientific knowledge of organic food and farming systems, and help disseminate, apply and implement innovations and scientific knowledge consistent with the principles of organic agriculture. This document lays down TIPI’s Global Vision and Strategy to advance organic agriculture through research, development, innovation and technology transfer. For more information about TIPI see www.organic‐research.net/tipi.htm

A Home Device for Vestibular Stimulation

The goal of this project, which was presented to the team by Kevin Maher (President of Advanced Therapeutic devices), was to develop a product prototype for safe, vestibular stimulation for children with developmental disabilities. Vestibular stimulation is a form of therapy that increases muscle coordination. It works by stimulating the canals and sacs within the inner ear that detect accelerations. The project targeted children from ages two to seven years old, under 48 inches tall, and less than 100 lbs. The production device also sought to differ from stimulation devices found in hospitals in a few respects: it would cost under $5000, reside in a patient’s home, be hand-powered, and be controlled by an average person. The final device needed to support a 200 lb. load at the edge of the structure and adjust for the center of gravities for the range of children. After sessions of brainstorming, the team produced three workable layouts, only one was adequate. The final setup had a structure of ¼ in. aluminum structural pipe similar to a football field goal. This structure mounted on a single bearing housing and steel shaft. The final design had two bars to mount weights in order to adjust the center of gravity. The prototype, however, used a swinging bar, lock, and a sliding weight. The final prototype had an adjustable footrest and a five-point restraint harness. The final cost and weight was$1700 and no more than 500 lb. The design met all of the requirements and had adequate safety for any child’s needs, but the team thought the design needed significant changes before it became a final product

CEO Incentives and Firm Size

What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives, and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that while one measure of CEO incentives (the dollar change in CEO wealth per dollar change in firm value) falls by a factor of ten between firms in the smallest and largest deciles in our sample, another measure of CEO incentives (the value of CEO equity stakes) increases by roughly the same magnitude. We resolve the confusion about which of these measures better reflects CEO incentives by developing and solving a model that allows CEO productivity to differ for firms of different sizes. The crucial parameter is shown to be the elasticity of CEO productivity with respect to firm size. Our empirical results suggest that CEO marginal products rise significantly, and overall CEO incentives are roughly constant or decline slightly with firm size. We also show that the appropriate measure of incentives depends on the type of CEO activity being considered. For activities whose dollar impact is the same for large and small firms (such as the purchase of a corporate jet), the dollars-on-dollars measure is appropriate, and large firms suffer significant agency problems due to their weak incentives. For activities whose percentage impact is similar across firms of different sizes (such as a corporate reorganization) the equity stake measure is better, and the incentive problem faced by large firms is not as severe. Finally, using a multi-task model, we discuss the implication of our findings for the design of control systems.

Creation of a trajectory framework that could be sustainable for a continuous exploration of Mars and its moons

As humanity looks to the Cislunar region in recent space flight operations, the question remains: where will technology advance next? Mars is of particular interest with both the public and private sector aiming to get humans on the planet in the coming decades. Investigating stable trajectories in the Mars-Phobos-Deimos system for telecommunications and observation is the next step in developing future mission plans. Innovations in orbital mechanics must be considered, neither the Two Body Problem (2BP) nor the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) are sufficient to effectively model satellite motion. Instead, in similar fashion to the patched-conics solution of transfers between the influence of celestial bodies, a patched CR3BP-2BP-CR3BP method of propagating the orbits is proposed. To begin, assumptions about Deimos and Phobos will be made—co-planar orbits and spherical symmetry to name a few. Once the problem has been successfully modeled, each assumption will be undone methodically to increase modeling accuracy. Impulsive maneuvers will be considered, as well as low, continuous thrust maneuvers. The aim of this project is to develop a robust, sustainable trajectory framework that can be used in future missions

CEO pay, shareholder returns, and accounting profits

We assess the impact on CEO pay (including salary, cash bonus, and benefits in kind) of changes in both accounting and shareholder returns in 99 British companies in the years 1972-89. After correcting for heterogeneity biases inherent in the standard specifications of the problem, we find a strong positive relationship between CEO pay and within-company changes in shareholder returns, and no statistically significant relationship between CEO pay and within-company changes in accounting returns. Differences between firms in long-term average profitability do appear to have a substantial effect on CEO pay, while differences between firms in shareholder returns add nothing to the within-firm pay dynamics.These findings call into question the rationale for explicitly share-based incentive schemes