OFF-FARM LABOR AND THE STRUCTURE OF U.S. AGRICULTURE: THE CASE OF CORN/SOYBEAN FARMS

While the growing importance of off-farm earnings suggests large benefits accrue to farmers from efforts to expand off-farm income opportunities, survival still depends on greater efficiency. To comprehensively gauge the economic health of farm operator households we interpret off-farm income as an output along with corn, soybeans, livestock, and other crops. To accomplish this task we use two related methodologies. First, using 2000 data, we setup a multiactivity cost function to analyze labor allocation decisions within the farm operator household and also to estimate returns to scale and scope. Second, using 1996-2000 data, we follow an input distance function approach to estimate returns to scale, technical progress, cost economies, and technical efficiency--and compare the relative performance of farm operator households with and without off-farm wages and salaries. Our preliminary results suggest that over our sample period, scale economies are a primary factor driving up farm operator household size and decreasing the competitiveness of small farm operator households in the base farm operator household model where off-farm income is constrained to zero. But small farm operator households appear to achieve efficiency levels more comparable to larger farm operator households when off-farm income is accommodated. The evidence therefore suggests that while short-falls in these productivity components are decreasing the competitiveness of small farm operator households as agricultural structure changes, corn/soybean farm operator households have partially adapted to such pressures by increasing off-farm income and, therefore, achieving economies of scope.Labor and Human Capital,

Nova tecnologia para secagem de filé salgado de cação.

bitstream/item/118250/1/nova-tecnologia-para-secagem-de-file-salgado-de-cacao.pd

Supersymmetric pairing of kinks for polynomial nonlinearities

We show how one can obtain kink solutions of ordinary differential equations with polynomial nonlinearities by an efficient factorization procedure directly related to the factorization of their nonlinear polynomial part. We focus on reaction-diffusion equations in the travelling frame and damped-anharmonic-oscillator equations. We also report an interesting pairing of the kink solutions, a result obtained by reversing the factorization brackets in the supersymmetric quantum mechanical style. In this way, one gets ordinary differential equations with a different polynomial nonlinearity possessing kink solutions of different width but propagating at the same velocity as the kinks of the original equation. This pairing of kinks could have many applications. We illustrate the mathematical procedure with several important cases, among which the generalized Fisher equation, the FitzHugh-Nagumo equation, and the polymerization fronts of microtubulesComment: 13 pages, 2 figures, revised during the 2nd week of Dec. 200

Manual para processamento de pimentas (Capsicum spp) desidratada.

Introdução. Secagem de pimenta - Processo utilizado pelos produtores. Desidratação de pimenta - Secagem artificial em secador de cabine. Higiene e sanificação. Recomendações gerais para as etapas de processamento. Vantagens deste processo. Referências bibliográficas.bitstream/item/79988/1/doc63-2005.pd

Manual para a produção em pequena escala de conserva de tomate desidratado.

Higiene e sanitização. Fluxograma básico de processamento de tomate. Etapas de processamento de tomate seco. Elaboração de conserva de tomate. Etapas de processamento de conserva. Como estimar o lucro e os custos envolvidos no processamento.bitstream/item/65526/1/2003-DOC-0052.pd

Secagem como método de conservação de frutas.

Secagem como método de conservação: secagem natural x desidratação; tipos de secadores utilizados para frutas. Secadores de frutas desenvolvidos pela Embrapa Agroindústria de Alimentos: secador de frutas elétrico; secador de frutas solar; higiene no processamento de frutas. Processamento de frutas desidratadas: Banana; Uva; Ameixa; Pêssego; Figo; Abacaxi; Manga.bitstream/item/65529/1/2003-DOC-0054.pd