Potential for Cost-Share Policies to Improve Groundwater Quality Without Reducing Farm Profits

The Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR) of reinforced the Federal government\u27s commitment to environmental aspects of farm policy that received major attention in 1985 legislation and reinforcement in 1990. All three pieces of legislation placed emphasis on incentive and cost-share policies to reduce adverse soil and water effects of farming practices. A major initiative under FAIR is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), for which $1.3 billion is authorized over 7 years to provide cost-share or incentive payment contracts with crop and livestock producers for environmental and conservation improvements (Young and Shields, 1996). In part, this program is a greatly expanded outgrowth of two other Federal programs that originated in the early 1990s--the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) program and the Water Quality Incentives Program (WQIP)

Impacts of Rising Energy Prices on the Attractiveness of Sustainable Farming Systems

After several years of relatively stable energy prices during the middle-and late-1980s, events of late-1990 in the Middle East reawakened concerns about rising energy prices. Between July 1990, prior to Iraq\u27s August invasion of Kuwait, and October 1990, diesel fuel prices increased by 77 percent. Natural gas, a major factor of production in urea fertilizer, also experienced price increases last fall in the aftermath of Iraq\u27s invasion. Urea prices were affected by these higher natural gas prices. Moreover, Iraq and Kuwait supplied 7 percent of the world\u27s urea prior to last fall and also provided fuel oil for fertilizer plants in Europe. As a result of tightened supplies of oil, natural gas, and urea, analysts began to expect significantly higher farm fuel and fertilizer prices starting with the 1991 crop year. Since many pesticides are petroleum-based, pesticide prices also were expected to rise. Fuel prices in early 1991 have fallen from the levels reached last fall. Nevertheless, events of the past year have caused renewed interest in energy policy. Possible actions to become less dependent on Middle East oil could result in rising real (inflation-adjusted) energy prices during the 1990s. This concern about energy prices comes at a time when interest in sustainable agriculture is increasing because of efforts to reduce soil loss and water contamination. Since the mid-1980s, interest of farmers and the public in farming systems which rely on fewer chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs has steadily increased. These so-called sustainable farming systems make greater use of crop rotations which include legumes and small grains than do more conventional systems. Thus, fertility and weed control are provided in part through rotation effects. Although sustainable systems sometimes involve more mechanical tillage, as a partial substitute for chemical herbicides, some of the techniques of conservation tillage --which leave a good deal of residue on the surface are retained. The issue which this paper addresses is whether rising energy prices will increase the ability of sustainable farming systems to compete economically with more conventional systems. Rising prices of chemical fertilizers and herbicides should reduce the profitability of conventional systems more than they reduce profitability of sustainable systems. Rising fuel costs are less predictable in their effect, since conventional and sustainable systems vary in their relative fuel use

Rural Economy Implications of Farms Converting to Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Some Estimates for South Dakota

The purpose of the research reported in this monograph is to examine the hypothesis implied in that argument, i.e., that adoption of sustainable farming systems would adversely affect rural economies. Effects examined can be conceptualized in terms of the backward and forward linkages shown in Figure 1. The direct (or primary) effect of a conversion from conventional to sustainable farming systems in a local area is the effect on net incomes of agricultural households. Agricultural households are defined here as farm proprietors and their families and hired laborers. Secondary effects result from backward and forward linkages to the farm sector

Crop Enterprise and Whole-farm Budgets for Conventional Farming Systems in Five Areas of South Dakota

The present report and Research Report 90-2 provide bases for several types of analysis now underway at SDSU and to be pursued further in the remainder of 1990 and in 1991. Those analyses include: (1) comparisons of net returns on sustainable and conventional farms in South Dakota; (2) estimations of the effects of changes in Federal farm programs and in other public programs and policies on the relative profitability of sustainable and conventional farming systems; and (3) assessments of the effects of conversions from conventional to sustainable systems on the strength of rural economies. Results of those analyses will be included in future reports. The program of research leading to the present research report and future reports from the analyses just mentioned is supported by the SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station and by Grant No. 88-56 from the Northwest Area Foundation (in St. Paul, MN)

Free energy and equilibrium states for families of interval maps

Funding: MT was partially supported by FCT grant SFRH/BPD/26521/2006 and NSF grants DMS0606343 and DMS 0908093. ND was supported by ERC Bridges project, the Academy of Finland CoE in Analysis and Dynamics Research and an IBM Goldstine fellowship.We study continuity, and lack thereof, of thermodynamical properties for one-dimensional dynamical systems. Under quite general hypotheses, the free energy is shown to be almost upper-semicontinuous: some normalised component of a limit measure will have free energy at least that of the limit of the free energies. From this, we deduce results concerning existence and continuity of equilibrium states (statistical stability). Counterexamples to statistical stability in the absence of strong hypotheses are provided.PostprintPeer reviewe

Seismicity patterns (1963-1983) as stress indicators in the Shumagin seismic gap, Alaska

Earthquakes (1963 to 1983) of magnitude 5.0 to 6.5 form a rim of high seismic activity around a central region of relative seismic quiescence that coincides with the Shumagin seismic gap. This pattern, which can be inferred both from local network and teleseismic earthquake locations, shows high activity near the eastern and western ends of the seismic gap and along the down-dip end of the main thrust zone. The rim of seismicity surrounding an area of seismic quiescence may reflect strong couplign along the elastic-brittle part of the plate boundary where the great earthquakes occur. The temporal behavior of the microseismicity recorded by the Shumagin network is characterized by a burst of activity in 1978 and 1979, and a low or average level of activity from 1980 to January 1983. The increased microearthquake activity during 1978-1979 is located mainly near the down-dip end of the main thrust zone and along the Benioff zone down to 100 to 200 km depth. Composite fault plane solutions of earthquakes occurring in 1978-1979 show down-dip tension between 50 to 120 km depth in the upper plane of the Benioff zone. Composite fault plane solutions of 1981 earthquakes, however, indicate in-plate compression in the same region. Hence, the rate of occurrence and focal mechanisms of microearthquakes located in the Benioff zone below the main thrust both show coincident temporal and spatial variations that may reflect fluctuations in local stresses

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Faculty Recital, The Romantic Flute, Wendell Dobbs

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1196/thumbnail.jp

Marshall University School of Music and Theatre presents Faculty Recital Wendell Dobbs, flute and guest artist John Ingram, piano and Ezgi Karakus, violoncello

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1187/thumbnail.jp

Professor Text: University Fundraising Optimization

University fundraising campaigns are a unique type of cause-related marketing with its own challenges and opportunities. Campaigns like this typically last an extended period, such as five or more years, and goals exist beyond the dollar amount raised. These supplemental goals, such as awareness among potential future donators or brand reputation within the local community, are important to consider and strategize. There can also be unique limitations, such as requiring advertising specifically on recent large gifts or endowment programs. This research explores how machine learning techniques such as natural language processing can be used to optimize a fundraising campaign strategy, execution, and overall performance