Recent Changes in Farm Structure: A Canada-U.S. Comparison

Following a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements, the past two decades have seen increased trade and investment liberalization between Canada and the United States in the agri-food sector. Changes in trade policy are one of several paths by which farm structure can change. This increased liberalization, together with the largest drop in Canadian farm numbers recorded by the Census of Agriculture in thirty years, has provided the impetus to review some aspects of farm structure. In particular, this article presents the latest Canadian and U.S. data on the number of farms by sales class, the concentration of sales and other production-related variables, and the distribution of income and receipts. We explore whether significant changes in the latter two elements of farm structure have occurred during this period of trade and investment liberalization.Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade,

Examining A Decade Of Reading And Mathematics Student Achievement Among Primary And Secondary Traditional Public School And Charter School Students: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

The current investigation will synthesize numerous studies conducted across the nation at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Meta-analytic techniques will assist parents and educators in making evidence-based decisions while adding to the research supporting educational reform and promoting best practices in both educational models. This study was specifically designed to consider a number of variables in charter schools relative to traditional public schools, including socioeconomic status, English language learning, school competition, and eligibility for special education that may impact student mathematics and reading achievement. The findings of the current investigation suggest that students in charter school programs are not performing as well as students in traditional public schools on mathematics and reading achievement examinations

Effects of Modified Distillers Grains and Corn Ratios as Supplements in Diets Varying in Forage Quality on Performance of Growing Beef Steers

Distillers grains (DG) have been intensively used for beef production, but prices relative to corn vary such that it may be beneficial to displace a portion of DG with corn in certain circumstances. Four ratios of supplemental energy (40% of diet DM) from modified distillers grains and corn (100:0, 80:20, 60:40, and 40:60) were supplemented in one of 3 forage diets (56% of diet DM) and evaluated for performance. Forages were high (brome hay + sorghum silage) or low quality. Low quality forages were corn residue baled through conventional rake and bale, or by disengaging the spreader on the combine and baling the tailings (easy bale). Steers fed the high quality forage had greater ADG due to greater DMI, but similar F:G as both residue forage diets, which were not different. Decreasing the ratio of modified DG:corn linearly decreased ADG and resulted in poorer F:G

International Space Station United States Orbital Segment Oxygen Generation System On-Orbit Operational Experience

The International Space Station (ISS) United States Orbital Segment (USOS) Oxygen Generation System (OGS) was originally intended to be installed in ISS Node 3. The OGS rack delivery was accelerated, and it was launched to ISS in July of 2006 and installed in the US Laboratory Module. Various modification kits were installed to provide its interfaces, and the OGS was first activated in July of 2007 for 15 hours, In October of 2007 it was again activated for 76 hours with varied production rates and day/night cycling. Operational time in each instance was limited by the quantity of feedwater in a Payload Water Reservoir (PWR) bag. Feedwater will be provided by PWR bag until the USOS Water Recovery System (WRS) is delivered to SS in fall of 2008. This paper will discuss operating experience and characteristics of the OGS, as well as operational issues and their resolution

Rating the Financial Health of U.S. Production Agriculture using Synthetic Credit Rating

Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics,

Effect of Crude Glycerin Concentration on Growing Steer Performance in Forage Diets

The effect of increasing crude glycerin concentration was evaluated in a 91- d growing trial utilizing 60 steers. Crude glycerin was included at 0, 4, 8, and 12% of dietary DM in diets consisting of 50% wheat straw; 22.9- 37.0% wet corn bran, and 8.0- 10.1% soybean meal. Crude glycerin replaced wet corn bran and soybean meal was added to maintain dietary CP. Steer ending BW was not different among treatments. Th ere was a quadratic increase in DMI from 0 to 8% crude glycerin and subsequent decrease at 12%. Th ere was no difference in ADG or feed efficiency among crude glycerin concentrations. Therefore, crude glycerin appears to have an energy value slightly less than wet corn bran in a forage- based diet

Low Frequency Vibration Approach for Assessing Performance of Wood Floor Systems1

The primary means of inspecting buildings and other structures is to evaluate each structure member individually. This is a time-consuming and expensive process, particularly if sheathing or other covering materials must be removed to access the structural members. The objective of this study was to determine if a low frequency vibration method could be used to effectively assess the structural performance of wood floors as component systems. Twelve wood floors were constructed with solid sawn wood joists in the laboratory and tested with both vibration and static load methods. The results indicated that the forced vibration method was capable of measuring the fundamental natural frequency (bending mode) of the wood floors investigated. An analytical model derived from the flexural beam theory was found to fit the physics of the floor structures and can be used to correlate natural frequency to section modulus (EI product) of the floor systems