NE- 165 Case Study : CANOLA AS AN EMERGING INDUSTRY: A Processor and Producer Perspective

The canola industry in the United States has been very small with a limited canola oil demand being met through imports. However, an apparent increase in consumer demand for more healthful alternatives to traditional vegetable oils has sparked an interest among domestic processors desiring to be among the first entrants to a U.S. canola oil market. Processor interest has in turn led to some producer experimentation with the crop. This case study documents the early activities of U.S. Canola Processors (USCP), one of two companies processing the U.S. crop, and Ralph King, a Central Illinois canola producer. USCP, a joint venture of Central Soya and Calgene, describes their role in terms of "building an industry," according to General Manager Larry Horn. The company actively participated in amending the 1990 Farm Bill which permitted producers to plant some canola without risking their wheat or corn bases. Also, USCP is pursuing the establishment of U.S. grain inspection standards for canola. Company representatives are holding farmer meetings and elevator training as a means of promoting the crop. The goal for USCP is to establish an infrastructure that would permit the company to secure adequate supplies of canola for their processing needs. Ralph King, an Illinois farmer, had a positive experience with canola the first production season and plans to continue experimenting with the crop. Despite his positive production experience, other producers have been less enthusiastic about canola's production season, volunteer plant problems, questionable suitability of canola varieties to specific geographic areas, and a volatile market situation.Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

NE- 165 Case Study : LEANER PORK: Can New Sector Linkages Be Formed?

A more demanding and evolving consumer is creating change in the market for pork and many working within the industry are predicting opportunities for leaner products. However, leaner pork enthusiasts also are frustrated by the established industry food chain that offers little incentive for modification. Modification would require change on the part of genetic suppliers, commercial producers, packers and processors, and retailers. However, many of these food chain participants traditionally have not collaborated with others in the sector. Yet the establishment of these new linkages may be key to the success of a leaner pork industry. This case study documents several of the activities currently occurring within the leaner pork industry and explores new linkages which may be critical in the future. Currently, genetic suppliers are struggling with short-term needs of producers, while attempting to look at the long-term demands of consumers. Hog producers have been profitable and lack incentives to alter practices which would produce leaner animals. Packers are interested in efficiently running large scale operations with large quantities of low cost meat. Retailers struggle with labeling inconsistencies and a low cost mentality that make it difficult to market leaner pork in the meatcase. Leaner pork enthusiasts are making strides to overcome the disadvantages found in the traditional system. Some genetic suppliers are now working with packers to determine animal quality beyond the producer's feedlot. Some packers are creating incentive programs that pay producers for leaner quality. These lean incentive programs may become more attractive for packers and producers if new technologies measuring lean become less prohibitive for larger operations. Many packers are moving into branded products, resulting in incentive programs for producers who supply animals with the desired quality. Overall, these efforts have remained a small portion of total pork industry activities.Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Painting the town red: The Akamon of the Kaga mansion and daimyō gateway architecture in Edo

Built in 1827 to commemorate the marriage of the daimyō Maeda Nariyasu to a daughter of the shogun Tokugawa Ienari, the Akamon or ‘Red Gateway’ of the University of Tokyo, is generally claimed to be a unique gateway because of its distinctive colour and architectural style. This article uses an interdisciplinary methodology, drawing on architectural history, law and art history, to refute this view of the Akamon. It analyses and accounts for the architectural form of the gateway and its ancillary guard houses (bansho) by examining Tokugawa bakufu architectural regulations (oboegaki) and the depiction of daimyō gateways in doro-e and ukiyo-e. It concludes that there were close similarities between the Akamon and the gateways of high ranking daimyō in Edo. This similarity includes the red paint, which, it turns out, was not limited to shogunal bridal gateways but was in more general use by daimyō for their own gateways by the end of the Edo period. Indeed, the Akamon was called the ‘red gateway’ only from the 1880s after the many other red gateways had disappeared following the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate. The expression ‘to paint the town red’ refers not only to the way the Akamon celebrated the marriage of Yōhime, but also more broadly to characterize the way many of the other gateways at daimyō mansions in the central sectors of Edo had entrances that were decorated with bright red paint

Working the system : government in Queensland

Most of what has been written about Queensland politics over recent years has focused on the political style and policies of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and his personal dominance of the Queensland political stage. One of the effects of this consuming interest of observers in the person rather than the party has been to deflect attention from the way the Nationals built and broadened their power base, eclipsed the Liberals in government and kept the Labor party in the political wilderness. Even less has been known about how the Nationals in government have operated, although there have been some inklings as a result of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. This book is about how politics and government have been played, and continue to be played, in Queensland. In particular, it is about how the Nationals have operated as a government and how they have used political power. The Queensland National party staunchly professes its affection for the British monarchy, its commitment to democratic ideals, its attachment to the so-called Westminster system, and its determination forever to preserve and defend these traditions. Rhetoric aside, however, the Nationals over the years have shown they neither appreciated nor were concerned about the role of the various institutions in a parliamentary system of accountable government, the interrelationships among them, or the principle of the separation of powers

Discipline-Specific Compared to Generic Training of Teachers in Higher Education

A recurrent theme arising in the higher education sector is the suitability and effectiveness of generic versus discipline-specific training of university teachers, who are often recruited based on their disciplinary specialties to become teachers in higher education. We compared two groups of participants who had undergone training using a generic post-graduate certificate in higher education (PGCertGeneric) versus a discipline-specific course in veterinary education (PGCertVetEd). The study was conducted using a survey that allowed comparison of participants who completed PGCertGeneric (n=21) with PGCertVetEd (n=22). Results indicated that participants from both PGCertGeneric and PGCertVetEd considered teaching to be satisfying and important to their careers, valued the teaching observation component of the course, and identified similar training needs. However, the participants of the PGCertVetEd felt that the course made them better teachers, valued the relevance of the components taught, understood course design better, were encouraged to do further courses/reading in teaching and learning, changed their teaching as a result of the course, and were less stressed about teaching as compared to the PGCertGeneric participants (p<.05). It is likely that the PGCertVetEd, which was designed and developed by veterinarians with a wider understanding of the veterinary sector, helped the participants perceive the training course as suited to their needs

Rendering an Account: An Open-State Archive in Postgraduate Supervision

The paper begins with a brief account of the transformation of research degree studies under the pressures of global capitalism and neo-liberal governmentality. A parallel transformation is occurring in the conduct of research through the use of information and communication technologies. Yet the potential of ICTs to shape practices of surveillance or to produce new student-supervisor relations and enhance the processes of developing the dissertation has received almost no critical attention. As doctoral supervisor and student, we then describe the features and uses of a web-based open state archive of the student's work-in-progress, developed by the student and accessible to his supervisor. Our intention was to encourage more open conversations between data and theorising, student and supervisor, and ultimately between the student and professional community. However, we recognise that relations of accountability, as these have developed within a contemporary "audit revolution" (Power, 1994, 1997) in universities, create particular "lines of visibility" (Munro, 1996). Thus while the open-state archive may help to redefine in less managerial terms notions of quality, transparency, flexibility and accountability, it might also make possible greater supervisory surveillance. How should we think about the panoptical potential of this archive? We argue that the diverse kinds of interactional patterns and pedagogical intervention it encourages help to create shifting subjectivities. Moreover, the archive itself is multiple, in bringing together an array of diverse materials that can be read in various ways, by following multiple paths. It therefore constitutes a collage, which we identify as a mode of cognition and of accounting distinct from but related to argument and narrative. As a more "open" text (Iser, 1978) it has an indeterminacy which may render it less open to abuse for the technologies of managerial accountability

Market intelligence for informing crop-breeding decisions by CGIAR and NARES

Crop breeding by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in partnership with national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and privately owned seed companies, forms the backbone of the research and development (R&D) effort needed to ensure future food security in developing regions. Over the past decades, varieties derived from CGIAR germplasm have helped provide food for hundreds of millions living in harsh and vulnerable environments. However, the capacity to deliver increased benefits from crop breeding will depend on effective strategies to address the stubbornly slow rate of uptake of improved varieties. Meeting the challengewill require, among other inputs, deeper insights on the evolving preferences and requirements of farmers, processors and consumers. In short, breeding will need to be led more by demand. Key to the success of demand-led breeding will be the availability of reliable and timely intelligence on the current and future preferences and requirements of farmers, processors and consumers. Although ‘market intelligence’ has existed in various forms in CGIAR’s social science research agenda, an opportunity exists for increased relevance based on shared approaches and tools and new partnerships, both within CGIAR and between CGIAR and its partners. Beginning in 2022, a coordinated effort through the CGIAR Initiative on Market Intelligence looks to build cross-functional and transdisciplinary teams to provide market intelligence in support of crop breeding and seed-system development