The profitability of value-added products in dairy farm diversification initiatives

A more open and competitive dairy market has encouraged certain dairy farms to adopt value-adding strategies in order to achieve a higher profitability, which may be important for farms’ survival. This paper investigated the role of some product characteristics in the profitability of value-added products in these farms. For this purpose, we used a unique database of 265 different products commercialized by 49 Spanish dairy farms that offers information on nine attributes of each product. Using hedonic models as a baseline, we examined the influence of these attributes on the margin per liter (ML) of the products. The results of the regression indicated that cheese and yogurt generated 0.688 and 1.518 € more of margin per liter than liquid milk. Similarly, we found a set of attributes that have a positive influence on ML, including possession of a certificate of protected designation of origin (PDO), the milk-type composition (proportion of sheep milk), a longer expiration period, and involvement in direct marketing strategies (DMS). However, other recognized attributes such as organic labeling, maturation period, size of the sales unit and returnable packaging did not have a significant influence on ML. Our findings also showed that firms producing more elaborated products as cheese and yogurt need a lower percentage of their production to cover the fixed costs associated to transformation and commercialization. Overall, our results revealed that the elaboration of value-added dairy products improves the profitability of dairy farms

Análisis de la calidad de la leche en un modelo microeconómico multi-output: El papel de la genética

[EN] In this paper we analyze the influence of genetics on milk quality. For that purpose, we use a multi-output production model in which milk quality is included as an additional output in milk production. A distance function is used to estimate empirically the contribution of genetics to milk quality. For that purpose, we use a panel data of 96 dairy farms in Asturias. This dataset contains indexes measuring the genetic traits of the herd.[ES] Este trabajo analiza la calidad en la producción de leche y su relación con la genética del rebaño. El marco analítico es un modelo de producción multi-output en el que la calidad de la leche se considera como un output del proceso productivo. El modelo propuesto abre la posibilidad del tratamiento empírico de la calidad y la genética mediante el uso de funciones distancia. En la parte empírica del trabajo se usa un panel de datos de 96 explotaciones lecheras asturianas que contiene índices genéticos del rebaño.Álvarez, A.; Arias, C.; Roibás, D. (2005). Analyzing milk quality using a microeconomic multi-output model: The role of genetics. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 5(10):3-17. doi:10.7201/earn.2005.10.01SWORD31751

Experimental Ethno-Research Praxis for Uncovering the User Experience in Pervasive Interactive Multimedia Systems

This workshop aims to provide a framework for novel inter-disciplinary reflections, experimental research & evaluation experiences to shed light on relevant future communications scenarios for mobile and pervasive iTV. Special attention is given to issues such as sociability, creativity & content creation, context awareness, interactivity, connectivity and convergence of platforms. Participants (no more than 15) will be divided into different areas such as travel, daily peripatetic life and asked to tell within their group a related story (real or fiction) about an experience they’d like to communicate. Thereafter each group will make a scenario script for an appropriate pervasive iTV application that enables the creation and sharing content (their stories) and the understanding of novel interaction models that support social use and active participation by users. In order to allow all the participants will discuss about the appropriateness of the scenarios presented, the group itself using theatre will enact these scenarios. The thoughts raised will be collected in a final Poster.status: publishe

Efficiency and Sustainability in Farm Diversification Initiatives in Northern Spain

The value-added diversification strategy provides an option for guaranteeing the sustainability of small farms. This study examines how factors related to managerial strategy and socio-environmental sustainability influence the efficiency of diversification initiatives. For this purpose, we use a novel and unique database of value-added ventures implemented by 49 dairy farms located in northern Spain. We construct a production frontier using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to estimate technical efficiency. The mean technical efficiency of the initiatives was 0.56 and 0.59 for the constant and variable returns specifications, respectively. Determinants of efficiency are analyzed with a two-step procedure with a double bootstrap. We find that the elaborations of more complex products other than fresh milk are negatively associated with efficiency. However, specialization in one product with different variants and direct sales both have a positive association with efficiency. In terms of socio-environmental variables, there is a positive association between efficiency and the use of quality schemes such as ‘protected designation of origin’ (PDO), the use of organic labelling and the farmer having university education, and a negative association with the percentage of family labor. Our findings support the idea that value-added diversification contributes to more resilient pathways of development and underlines the importance of good quality management of marketing and operational factors

On the modeling and simulation of a stratospheric experiment power subsystem

This paper describes an accurate model of the Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS) of the Thermal Analysis Support and Environment Characterization Laboratory (TASEC-Lab), a university experiment developed for using in high-altitude balloon missions to measure and analyze the convection heat transfer. A Li-ion battery and two high efficient DC–DC converters have been characterized through laboratory tests and fitting to the experimental results. The developed mathematical models described in this paper are used to carry out accurate EPS simulations and are validated by comparison with the experimental data

The profitability of value-added products in dairy farm diversification initiatives

A more open and competitive dairy market has encouraged certain dairy farms to adopt value-adding strategies in order to achieve a higher profitability, which may be important for farms’ survival. This paper investigated the role of some product characteristics in the profitability of value-added products in these farms. For this purpose, we used a unique database of 265 different products commercialized by 49 Spanish dairy farms that offers information on nine attributes of each product. Using hedonic models as a baseline, we examined the influence of these attributes on the margin per liter (ML) of the products. The results of the regression indicated that cheese and yogurt generated 0.688 and 1.518 € more of margin per liter than liquid milk. Similarly, we found a set of attributes that have a positive influence on ML, including possession of a certificate of protected designation of origin (PDO), the milk-type composition (proportion of sheep milk), a longer expiration period, and involvement in direct marketing strategies (DMS). However, other recognized attributes such as organic labeling, maturation period, size of the sales unit and returnable packaging did not have a significant influence on ML. Our findings also showed that firms producing more elaborated products as cheese and yogurt need a lower percentage of their production to cover the fixed costs associated to transformation and commercialization. Overall, our results revealed that the elaboration of value-added dairy products improves the profitability of dairy farms

Salinity is the major driver of the global eukaryotic community structure in fish-canning wastewater treatment plants

Fish-canning wastewater is characterized frequently by a high content of salt (NaCl), making its treatment particularly difficult; however, the knowledge of the effect of NaCl on eukaryotic communities is very limited. In the present study, the global diversity of eukaryotes in activated sludges (AS) from 4 different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) treating fish-canning effluents varying in salinity (0.47, 1.36, 1.72 and 12.76 g NaCl/L) was determined by sequencing partial 18S rRNA genes using Illumina MiSeq. A greater diversity than previously reported was observed in the AS community, which comprised 37 and 330 phylum-like and genera-like groups, respectively. In this sense, the more abundant genus-like groups (average relative abundance (RA) > 5%) were Adineta (6.80%), Lecane (16.80%), Dictyostelium (7.36%), Unclassified_Fungi7 (6.94%), Procryptobia (5.13) and Oocystis (5.07%). The eukaryotic communities shared a common core of 25 phylum-like clades (95% of total sequences); therefore, a narrow selection of the eukaryotic populations was found, despite the differences in the abiotic characteristics of fish-canning effluents and reactor operational conditions inflicted. The differences in NaCl concentration were the main factor that influenced the structure of the eukaryotic community, modulating the RAs of the different phylum-like clades of the common core. Higher levels of salt increased the RAs of Ascomycota, Chlorophyta, Choanoflagellata, Cryptophyta, Mollusca, Nematoda, Other Protists and Unclassified Fungi. Among the different eukaryotic genera here found, the RA of Oocystis (Chlorophyta) was intimately correlated to increasing NaCl concentrations and it is proposed as a bioindicator of the global eukaryotic community of fish-canning WWTPs.This study was supported by TREASURE project [CTQ2017-83225-C2-1-R and CTQ2017-83225-C2-2-R projects] from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and Ministry of Universities2023-04-23S