The Economics of Soil Erosion: A Model of Farm Decision-Making

Soil erosion is widely considered to be a serious threat to the long-term viability of agriculture in many parts of the world. The problem is particularly serious in certain developing countries. This paper examines key factors affecting smallholder farmers, decisions about soil depletion and conservation. The analysis focuses exclusively on the on-site productivity losses due to soil erosion in an attempt to understand farmer behaviour, thus ignoring any externality effects or off-site costs. The physical processes of soil erosion are described and its economic effects are reviewed, drawing on theoretical and empirical studies to date. Contrary to arguments that farmers are not aware of the extent and effects of erosion, an economic rationale for them to deplete their soil may be found in relatively simple conceptual models. While much of the research focuses on the North American context, this paper emphasises the relevance of economic models for analysing the situation in developing countries. A simulation model is presented and used to describe the economic consequences of soil erosion for smallholder agriculture in Malawi. Simulation analysis indicates that few conservation measures will be attractive to smallholder farmers due primarily to the low productivity of this sector. The results highlight how incentives to invest in alternative cropping systems are influenced by a number of factors, including the initial and ongoing costs, the sensitivity of yields to erosion and the farmer's discount rate. The study also compares alternative measures of the benefit of different cropping systems to the farmer and explores the implications of the results for agricultural pricing policy.Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe 22 "Songs" that comprise this manuscript are "translations" of a film cycle by the same name, shot by American filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Brakhage understood the work of the filmmaker-of the artist-to be that of document, rather than documentary. He proposed that an artist should present experience with as little mediation as possible. My project attempts to language Brakhage's film documents in as immediate a manner as possible. Each "Song" is presented in six "frames," or text; boxes, conforming to the 4:3 aspect ratio of 8mm film. Each text; box is centered lengthwise on the page, which simultaneously focuses the eye on the text; inside the box and draws attention to the extended margins that border the box. Furthermore, each frame varies the visual density of the text; inside it, much as a film varies the kinds of information within each of its frames. The arrangement of the boxes on the page invites the reader to experience the project as a spatio-visual event as well as a linguistic one. The text;s themselves obsessively return to linguistic and imagistic tropes: windows appear, are broken, and reappear; light shines into the house through these windows, shines over their shards and then across the water outside; the water is striated by wind, the wind moves through the trees, the trees are seen through the windows of the house, bits of glass in their branches and bark. Such a domestic terrain never fully resolves itself, and the reader experiences the joys and pains of the home as a structure that includes and protects even as it excludes and separates. The recurring images in the text; point the reader to the border, to a way out of the text; and into the margins-the literal margin of the page and the symbolic margin of a human making a home for himself in the world

Should Europe Further Strengthen Intellectual Property for Plant Breeders? An Analysis of Seed Industry Proposals

This paper illustrates the potential negative effects of increasing the scope of plant breeders' rights (PBR) protection, as has been proposed for Europe by leading plant breeding firms. Such a policy could increase the costs for varietal development for breeding companies, particularly if their access to varieties of the market leader is constrained. This is represented as an asymmetrical increase in breeders' cost functions in a simple model of endogenous quality choice under price competition. Increased scope of IPR protection leads to increased profits for the leading breeding company but decreases in varietal quality and both farm and overall profits.intellectual property rights, product differentiation, plant breeding, genetic diversity, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, L13, O34, Q16,

The Effects of Strengthened IPR Regimes on the Plant Breeding Sector in Developing Countries

This paper analyzes the effect of intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes on the plant breeding sector in developing countries. Most of these countries have implemented a system of plant variety protection (PVP), or are in the process of doing so, generally as part of their obligations under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This paper presents the results of research on the initial effects of IPRs on the plant breeding sector in five case study countries (China, Colombia, India, Kenya and Uganda). Three of the countries have PVP systems in place and the other two are in the process of either developing or implementing legislation. But the ease of implementing PVP seems to have been overestimated. Opportunities to minimize the transaction costs of acquiring and enforcing rights are being missed. Detailed interviews with both domestic and international seed companies suggest that PVP can not be expected to initiate the development of a commercial seed sector. But a well functioning system can play a role in stimulating further development of the sector, although a measured approach to increasing the scope of protection will probably better balance interests than rapid adoption standards of industrialized countries. The results also highlight the particular challenges facing national agricultural research institutes in determining how to best make use of IPRs, such as PVP, particularly given broader changes in publicly-financed agricultural research.Crop Production/Industries, L3, O3, Q16,

Product differentiation under the WTO; An analysis of labelling and tariff or tax measures concerning farm animal welfare

This report examines the possibility of giving preferential treatment to imports of meat products that meet improved standards in terms of animal welfare in production. Three specific forms of preferential treatment are considered here as possible measures for increasing levels of animal welfare in meat production in the EU and its exporting partners: labelling of products (either voluntary or compulsory), differentiated import tariffs and differentiated consumer taxes. The likely admissibility of such measures under WTO rules is assessed by means of an analysis of previous decisions by WTO dispute settlement panels. It is concluded that all of the measures analysed have a possibility of being upheld, based on a defence relying on Article XX of the GATT and perhaps also the TBT Agreement. While the incentives offered by labelling could be reinforced with differentiated tariffs or taxes, these financial instruments involve various additional complications. They could best be considered after the possibilities of regulated labelling schemes have been exhausted.International Relations/Trade,

Rural Livelihoods: Interplay Between Farm Activities, Non-farm Activities and the Resource Base

A concentration of poor in rural areas has resulted in a research and policy focus on agricultural technologies and (poor) households impact on soil productivity. But farm households do not live of farming alone, non-farm activities play a principal role even in remote areas. With a unique household-level dataset covering seven regions in Africa and two in Asia we analyze (1) the importance of non-farm income in different geographical zones; (2) the role of geographical factors in determining access to non-farm employment; (3) the role of non-farm income in external input use and soil nitrogen balances. Distinguishing geographical zones based on the distance to urban areas we find the share of non-farm income increasing from 12 percent in the remote areas to 35 percent in peri-urban areas. Geographical location is found to explain a major part of the variation in individual non-farm participation, besides characteristics like education and gender. At household level we find non-farm income not playing a role of significance in explaining external input use, inorganic fertilizer use nor changes in the nitrogen balance. Households thus appear not to invest non-farm income in agriculture. This limits the contribution of non-farm income to reducing widespread soil nutrient depletion witnessed in Africa.off-farm income, rural development, micro-economics, Labor and Human Capital, Q12, D1, J43, Q24,

Analysing the role of institutional arrangements: vegetable value chains in East Africa

Institutional innovations are increasingly seen as key to achieving not only agricultural growth, by overcoming market failures, but also to ensure that poor smallholders also benefit from this process. This paper analyses institutional arrangements for vegetable marketing in East Africa from a transaction cost perspective. Marketing of vegetables is still dominated by spot markets with some, but still limited, movement towards farmers' engaging collectively in contract farming through producers' organisations. It appears that little is understood concerning how farmers and traders have overcome transaction costs in such situations, and this area deserves increased attention. An understanding of how institutional change occurs is necessary if donor agencies wish to support this process.Agribusiness, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

A combination of amino acids and caffeine enhances sprint running capacity in a hot, hypoxic environment

Heat and hypoxia exacerbate central nervous system (CNS) fatigue. We therefore investigated whether essential amino acid (EAA) and caffeine ingestion attenuates CNS fatigue in a simulated team sport–specific running protocol in a hot, hypoxic environment. Subelite male team sport athletes (n = 8) performed a repeat sprint running protocol on a nonmotorized treadmill in an extreme environment on 4 separate occasions. Participants ingested one of four supplements: a double placebo, 3 mg.kg⁻¹ body mass of caffeine + placebo, 2 × 7 g EAA (Musashi Create)+placebo, or caffeine + EAA before each exercise session using a randomized, double-blind crossover design. Electromyography (EMG) activity and quadriceps evoked responses to magnetic stimulation were assessed from the dominant leg at preexercise, halftime, and postexercise. Central activation ratio (CAR) was used to quantify completeness of quadriceps activation. Oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex was measured via near-infrared spectroscopy. Mean sprint work was higher (M = 174 J, 95% CI [23, 324], p < .05, d = 0.30; effect size, likely beneficial) in the caffeine + EAA condition versus EAAs alone. The decline in EMG activity was less (M = 13%, 95% CI [0, 26]; p < .01, d = 0.58, likely beneficial) in caffeine + EAA versus EAA alone. Similarly, the pre- to postexercise decrement in CAR was significantly less (M = −2.7%, 95% CI [0.4, 5.4]; p < .05, d = 0.50, likely beneficial) when caffeine + EAA were ingested compared with placebo. Cerebral oxygenation was lower (M = −5.6%, 95% CI [1.0, 10.1]; p < .01, d = 0.60, very likely beneficial) in the caffeine + EAA condition compared with LNAA alone. Coingestion of caffeine and EAA appears to maintain muscle activation and central drive, with a small improvement in running performance.13 page(s

Mediterranean countries' food consumption and sourcing patterns:An Ecological Footprint viewpoint

AbstractSecuring food for growing populations while minimizing environmental externalities is becoming a key topic in the current sustainability debate. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean region, which is characterized by scarce natural resources and increasing climate-related impacts.This paper focuses on the pressure Mediterranean people place on the Earth ecosystems because of their food consumption and sourcing patterns and then explores ways in which such pressure can be reduced. To do so, it uses an Ecological-Footprint-Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output (EF-MRIO) approach applied to 15 Mediterranean countries. Results indicate that food consumption is a substantial driver of the region's ecological deficit, whereby demand for renewable resources and ecosystems services outpaces the capacity of its ecosystems to provide them. Portugal, Malta and Greece are found to have the highest per capita food Footprints (1.50, 1.25 and 1.22 global hectares (gha), respectively), while Slovenia, Egypt and Israel have the lowest (0.63, 0.64 and 0.79gha, respectively). With the exception of France, all Mediterranean countries rely on the biocapacity of foreign countries to satisfy their residents' demand for food.By analyzing the effect of shifting to a calorie-adequate diet or changing dietary patterns, we finally point out that the region's Ecological Footprint – and therefore its ecological deficit – could be reduced by 8% to 10%

Edible crabs “Go West”: migrations and incubation cycle of Cancer pagurus revealed by electronic tags

Crustaceans are key components of marine ecosystems which, like other exploited marine taxa, show seasonable patterns of distribution and activity, with consequences for their availability to capture by targeted fisheries. Despite concerns over the sustainability of crab fisheries worldwide, difficulties in observing crabs’ behaviour over their annual cycles, and the timings and durations of reproduction, remain poorly understood. From the release of 128 mature female edible crabs tagged with electronic data storage tags (DSTs), we demonstrate predominantly westward migration in the English Channel. Eastern Channel crabs migrated further than western Channel crabs, while crabs released outside the Channel showed little or no migration. Individual migrations were punctuated by a 7-month hiatus, when crabs remained stationary, coincident with the main period of crab spawning and egg incubation. Incubation commenced earlier in the west, from late October onwards, and brooding locations, determined using tidal geolocation, occurred throughout the species range. With an overall return rate of 34%, our results demonstrate that previous reluctance to tag crabs with relatively high-cost DSTs for fear of loss following moulting is unfounded, and that DSTs can generate precise information with regards life-history metrics that would be unachievable using other conventional means