Determinant Controllability of Responsibility Accounting in Profit Planning

The issue of stewardship and scarcity of resources have brought about the need to attach responsibility to activities. Systems designed expected to accumulate costs for the purpose of ascertaining product and period costs in order to plan profit have failed to identify responsibility managers who should control these costs. This study sought to review literature on the controllability principle in responsibility accounting concept as a determinant of profit planning. Arising from this study, controllability establishes and reports the cause and effect relationships between activities of specific managers and the performance of their activities. It is also observed that in addition to assigning costs to specific responsibility centres, two extreme levels of the application of the controllability principle exist. These are the low level and high level controllability accounting application systems. Nonetheless, there are some organizations that fall within the continuum of these application systems.Key words: Controllability; Principal-Agent model; Profit planning; Responsibility accountin

A review on farm household modelling with a focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation

This study systematically reviewed the literature to evaluate how suitable existing farm and farm household models are to study aspects of food security in relation to climate change adaptation, risk management and mitigation. We systematically scanned approximately 16,000 research articles covering more than a 1000 models. We found 126 models that met the criteria for subsequent detailed analysis. Although many models use climate as an input, few were used to study climate change adaptation or mitigation at farm level. Promising mixtures of methodologies include mathematical programming for farm level decision-making, dynamic simulation for the production components and agent based modelling for the spread of information and technologies between farmers. There is a need for more explicit farm level analyses with a focus on adaptation, vulnerability and risk. In general terms, this systematic review concludes that there are enough techniques for integrated assessments of farm systems in relation to climate change, adaptation and mitigation, but they have not yet been combined in a way that is meaningful to farm level decision makers

Full adoption of the most effective strategies to mitigate methane emissions by ruminants can help meet the 1.5 °C target by 2030 but not 2050

To meet the 1.5 °C target, methane (CH) from ruminants must be reduced by 11 to 30% by 2030 and 24 to 47% by 2050 compared to 2010 levels. A meta-analysis identified strategies to decrease product-based (PB; CH per unit meat or milk) and absolute (ABS) enteric CH emissions while maintaining or increasing animal productivity (AP; weight gain or milk yield). Next, the potential of different adoption rates of one PB or one ABS strategy to contribute to the 1.5 °C target was estimated. The database included findings from 430 peer-reviewed studies, which reported 98 mitigation strategies that can be classified into three categories: animal and feed management, diet formulation, and rumen manipulation. A random-effects meta-analysis weighted by inverse variance was carried out. Three PB strategies—namely, increasing feeding level, decreasing grass maturity, and decreasing dietary forage-to-concentrate ratio—decreased CH per unit meat or milk by on average 12% and increased AP by a median of 17%. Five ABS strategies—namely CH inhibitors, tanniferous forages, electron sinks, oils and fats, and oilseeds—decreased daily methane by on average 21%. Globally, only 100% adoption of the most effective PB and ABS strategies can meet the 1.5 °C target by 2030 but not 2050, because mitigation effects are offset by projected increases in CH due to increasing milk and meat demand. Notably, by 2030 and 2050, low- and middle-income countries may not meet their contribution to the 1.5 °C target for this same reason, whereas high-income countries could meet their contributions due to only a minor projected increase in enteric CH emissions.We thank the GLOBAL NETWORK project for generating part of the database. The GLOBAL NETWORK project (https://globalresearchalliance.org/research/livestock/collaborative-activities/global-research-project/; accessed 20 June 2020) was a multinational initiative funded by the Joint Programming Initiative on Food Security, Agriculture, and Climate Change and was coordinated by the Feed and Nutrition Network (https://globalresearchalliance.org/research/livestock/networks/feed-nutrition-network/; accessed 20 June 2020) within the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural GHG (https://globalresearchalliance.org; accessed 20 June 2020). We thank MitiGate, which was part of the Animal Change project funded by the EU under Grant Agreement FP7-266018 for sharing their database with us (http://mitigate.ibers.aber.ac.uk/, accessed 1 July 2017). Part of C.A., A.N.H., and S.C.M.’s time in the early stages of this project was funded by the Kravis Scientific Research Fund (New York) and a gift from Sue and Steve Mandel to the Environmental Defense Fund. Another part of C.A.’s work on this project was supported by the National Program for Scientific Research and Advanced Studies - PROCIENCIA within the framework of the "Project for the Improvement and Expansion of the Services of the National System of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation" (Contract No. 016-2019) and by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (issued through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbei) through the research “Programme of Climate Smart Livestock” (Programme 2017.0119.2). Part of A.N.H.’s work was funded by the US Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC) National Institute of Food and Agriculture Federal Appropriations under Project PEN 04539 and Accession no. 1000803. E.K. was supported by the Sesnon Endowed Chair Fund of the University of California, Davis

Data for: Supporting sustainable expansion of livestock production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: Scenario analysis of investment options

Technical notes on the Global Economic Model (IMPACT) and Investment Scenarios included in the Study, Supporting sustainable expansion of livestock production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

Contributions of livestock-derived foods to nutrient supply under changing demand in low- and middle-income countries

For eight, selected low and middle income countries included in a cross-country study of the role of livestock, this dataset shows: (1) assumptions made about household incomes and total population in 2050, associated with four scenarios of global change; (2) scenario projections of household food demand and net trade in 2050; (3) nutrient composition of selected foods of plant and animal origins included in the study; (4) calories and nutrient supply per capita in the study countries in 2010; and (5) the percent contributions of different types of livestock-derived foods to countries' nutrient supply in 2010 and 2050.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Data for: Supporting sustainable expansion of livestock production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: Scenario analysis of investment options

Technical notes on the Global Economic Model (IMPACT) and Investment Scenarios included in the Study, Supporting sustainable expansion of livestock production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa:THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

ASSESSMENT OF NEW YORK’S POLLUTION DISCHARGE ELIMINATION PERMITS FOR CAFO’S: A REGIONAL ANALYSIS

In this paper, we apply mathematical programming methods to account explicitly for restrictions on land application of nutrients from large dairy operations in New York and to analyze the effects on measured outcomes of farm management adjustments to the nutrient policy and to recent changes in relevant agricultural prices. Based on a set of unique data, we assess the effects of new regulations for nutrient management by confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on farm income, land use, manure and fertilizer management, and environmental quality for an important dairy production region in New York. Our mathematical methods also allow us to make distinctions between the value of land for production and as a manure disposal site so that we can assess the differential effects of the land nutrient application standards on the economic value of land. The results indicate that adjustments to dairy rations in response to the current high prices of traditional feed ingredients lead to increased nitrogen and phosphorus content in dairy waste. In addition, crop nutrient applications from manure far exceed the critical uptake levels for optimum yield and increase the risks of nutrient loading to the environment. In a related paper, we demonstrate that while the CAFO regulations correct for this problem, the reductions in the risks of nutrient loadings could be accompanied by losses to farm income. Our current application to an important dairy production region in Western New York further buttresses this point. We also demonstrate that farm net revenue is sensitive to the availability of nearby land suitable for manure disposal. Since the new nutrient restrictions require that about half of the manure produced on the dairy farms in the region be transported off-site for disposal, crops with higher potential to absorb field nutrients are more attractive than would otherwise be the case. The shadow prices for CAFO land with low soil phosphorus increase, reflecting not only the value of land for crop production but also its value as a site for manure disposal. These shadow prices reflect what the CAFOs could pay for additional land, and this price falls as the distance to the CAFO increases