Experience, Expectations and Hindsight: Evidence of a Cognitive Wedge in Stated Preference Retrospectives

This paper combines fishing trip decisions - made before observing trip outcomes - with responses to set of double-bounded dichotomous choice CV questions regarding the outcome of the trip, to explore cognitive elements of choice and their implications for decision modeling and welfare analysis. Extending the approach taken by McConnell et al. (1999), wherein the unobserved component of random utility is linked between the trip decision and the retrospective trip evaluation, we decompose the unobserved component into linked and independent elements, and make the linked component a function of cognitive factors hypothesized as affecting differences between the RP and SP responses. Results suggest that a significant "wedge" exists between the closely related trip decision and its retrospective valuation, and that this wedge is not fully explained by factors such as experience, recall, and unobserved time costs.

Turning the Tide on Persistent Rural Poverty: Blueprint for a Path Forward

It is the goal of NeighborWorks America to make every place a community of opportunity. Unfortunately, some areas are being left behind more than others as our global and national economies continue to shift. Rural communities are among them. The people who have toiled in the coal mines of Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as in the paper and textile mills in Maine and western North Carolina, have not fared well in the changing economy. Likewise, the historically disenfranchised Native Americans in the Southwest, Latinos in the border colonias and the residents of the disaster-plagued Delta are struggling to survive. Our country needs to bring opportunity back to these regions and their people.Although rural America accounts for less than 20 percent of the country's overall population, 85 percent of persistent-poverty counties are outside of metro areas. Yet at the same time, there are so many examples of people and organizations doing good work; they just need support and the resources to go to scale. Special attention clearly is required, and that's why we formed the Rural Initiative

Mole drainage for increased productivity in the south west irrigation area

Heavy soils, with low rates of soil-water movement, such as those found in the South-West Irrigation Area (SWIA), require closely spaced (2-6 m apart) subsoil drainage systems to provide sufficient water movement to control the effects of salt-waterlogging on pastures. Such close spacing using traditional buried pipe or tile drainage systems is impractical. As a result, mole drainage systems, used in other parts of the world for over 50 years, have gained popularity in the SWIA in recent years. This Bulletin Farmnote reports the current ‘best-bet’ mole draining technique for SWIA conditions gathered from observations over a number of years from several mole drainage systems installed by Agriculture WA and members of the Dardanup and Wellesley LCDCs.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1123/thumbnail.jp

Considerations for Estimating Electrode Performance in Li-Ion Cells

No abstract availabl

PEM Electrolyzer Types

Overview Basic Electrolyzer Types and System Components Anode liquid feed Cathode liquid feed Cathode vapor feed Applications Challenges XXX

Greener pastures 1 - The greener pasture project: managing nutrients in dairy pastures

As dairy farmers have strived to maintain profitability, many have farmed more intensively. More cows are milked and increasing inputs of fertiliser and purchased feed are used per hectare. However, these increased nutrient inputs have far exceeded the increase in nutrient output in milk production. The increasing nutrient surplus (inputs minus outputs) from intensification on dairy farms has met with increasing community concern about the environmental footprint of the dairy industry. In some other countries, dairy farmers who have intensified by increasing nitrogen inputs are now faced with legislation controlling the amount of fertiliser nitrogen that they can use. The Greener Pastures project was set up to assist the Australian dairy industry meet the two major challenges managing high performing pasture systems: maintaining profitability while meeting the expectations of a community that is increasingly sensitive to environmental issues.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1130/thumbnail.jp

Greener pastures 7 - A fresh look at nutrient losses from intensively managed pastures

Dairy farmers in Western Australia have a long history of being concerned for the environment in which they live and work, from early involvement with Landcare District Committees through to participating in the various programs run in DairyCatch. They have planted trees, organised soil testing programs, carried out salinity surveys and, more recently, have signed up for effluent, nutrient and irrigation water management programs. Many of these programs produce benefits both on and off the farm—they can improve the farm environment, increase farm productivity and reduce nutrient losses to surface and ground water. The wider community has supported farmers with funding from both State and National landcare programs.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1135/thumbnail.jp

Greener pastures 6 - Managing soil acidity in dairy pastures

During 1999-2009, soil testing for pH (in CaCl2) was used to determine lime application for 48 paddocks at the Vasse Research Centre at Busselton, in the south-west of Western Australia (WA). Paddocks had been grazed intensively by dairy cows and their young stock over a period of 10 years, as part of the Vasse Milk Farmlets and Greener Pastures farming system projects. Pasture consisted of annual ryegrasses with some subterranean clover. Soils in the 48 paddocks were 1-2 m sand to sandy loam over massive clay, known locally as Abba sand. For many soils in the region, including Abba sands, the topography is flat and the soils are waterlogged from June to early September in the typical May to November growing season. No major liming program had been undertaken in the 48 paddocks before April 1999, and soil testing in 1999 indicated soil pH for the top 10 cm of soil was 4.0-5.0 in all paddocks. Soil acidification was therefore identified as a major problem, and a liming program was undertaken to rectify the problem, starting in 1999.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1127/thumbnail.jp

Livestock Risk Protection

5 pp., 4 tablesLivestock risk protection (LRP) insurance policies protect producers from adverse price changes in the livestock market. This publication explains how LRP works, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these polices, and gives examples of specific contracts