Cheap Food Policy: Fact or Rhetoric?

The term "cheap food policy" has frequently been used as a descriptor for U.S. commodity programs by those who contend these payments to farmers ultimately result in lower food costs for consumers. More recently, farm policy has been criticized for contributing to the obesity problem in the U.S. by making large quantities of fattening foods widely available and relatively inexpensive. This paper econometrically evaluates the impact of direct government payments to farmers from 1960-1999 on the proportion of disposable income consumers spend on food. The model finds the payments do not significantly affect the affordability of food.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Controllable forms for stabilising pole assignment design of generalised bilinear systems

Bilinear structures are able to represent nonlinear phenomena more accurately than linear models, and thereby help to extend the range of satisfactory control performance. However, closed loop characteristics are typically designed by simulation and stability is not guaranteed. In this reported work, it is shown how bilinear systems are a special case of the more general state dependent parameter (SDP) model, which can subsequently be utilised to design stabilising feedback controllers using a special form of nonlinear pole assignment. To establish the link, however, an important generalisation of the SDP pole assignment method is developed

FARM PROGRAM PAYMENTS AND ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Economies of scale are investigated and the impacts of farm payment limitations for producers of cotton and soybeans in Mississippi are evaluated. Limits proposed by the Senate following the recent farm bill debate are overlaid on estimates of the scale economies for the cost of producing these crops to determine the different impacts on farm efficiency and welfare benefits.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Effect of calf-starter protein solubility on calf performance

Three starters containing differently processed protein supplements were fed to Holstein heifer calves, using an early weaning program. One starter contained soybean meal. The other starters contained soybean grits processed through an extrusion cooker to reduce the protein solubility to an intermediate (PDI> 50%) or low (PDI < 15 %) level. Calf performance was similar on all three starters

Consumer Protection of Persons with Disabilities Amidst the COVID-19

The Persons with Disabilities (PWD) sector was one of the most overlooked and affected sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic. As consumers, PWDs have suffered difficult challenges in the access of essential goods and services, including healthcare, and these challenges have been unduly aggravated because of the crisis. The article exposes and examines the negative impact of the crisis on the consumer rights and behavior of PWDs with a special focus on the novel barriers brought about by the pandemic on their right to access. The current pre-pandemic legislation is not adequate to protect PWDs from these novel barriers as there are patent gaps and outdated provisions that need to be addressed. The article uses the doctrinal, analytical, and comparative approach in presenting these gaps and uses the same methods to recommend plausible legislative solutions that would mandate inclusive accessible information and communication technology practices in all online commercial transactions, free access to technological hardware and software, and priority in online commerce for PWDs. These proposed legislative solutions hopefully will mitigate these novel barriers to access with the aim of strengthening consumer protection for PWDs not just during the crisis but more so thereafter

The Establishment of a Unified ASEAN Monetary System Following the European Model: Is it Legally Feasible?

For the last several decades, the drive towards globalization has influenced most of the world’s economic and fiscal direction. Regional cooperation therefore is a natural step towards this thrust. For many years, many sectors have been clamoring for a unified monetary system in the ASEAN patterned after the European Monetary System, the same system that gave birth to the Euro – the European Union’s regional currency. The main benefit of having a regional unified monetary system is price and currency stability. This in turn would result to an accelerated economic growth in the region especially in developing members such as the Philippines. However, the question is – will the current legal frameworks within the ASEAN allow the establishment of an ASEAN Monetary Authority through a unified ASEAN central banking system following the template of the European System of Central Banks? Using the doctrinal and comparative approach, the article exposes the major legal hurdle that prevents the establishment of this unified authority - the member states’ strong legal adherence to monetary sovereignty - a solid doctrine deeply engrained in each of their domestic laws. The article then uses the same approach to present a clear understanding of this major legal hurdle and advocates an openness to its revision, hopefully paving the way for the establishment of a legally feasible unified ASEAN monetary authority

Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture

Innovation and changes in technology have been a driving force for gains in productivity growth in U.S. agriculture. USDA's Economic Research Service has developed annual indexes of agricultural inputs, outputs, and total factor productivity (TFP) for 1948 through 2004. American agriculture relies almost entirely on productivity growth to raise output. By lowering the cost of agricultural commodities, productivity growth benefits not only farmers but also food manufacturers and consumers.Agriculture, productivity, productivity growth, total factor productivity, TFP, labor, farm economy, prices, agricultural research, agricultural output, technology, ERS, USDA, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

Finite-element-analysis model and preliminary ground testing of controls-structures interaction evolutionary model reflector

Results of two different nonlinear finite element analyses and preliminary test results for the final design of the Controls-Structures Interaction Evolutionary Model are presented. Load-deflection data bases are generalized from analysis and testing of the 16-foot diameter, dish shaped reflector. Natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained from vibrational analysis. Experimental and analytical results show similar trends; however, future test hardware modifications and finite element model refinement would be necessary to obtain better correlation. The two nonlinear analysis procedures are both adequate techniques for the analysis of prestressed structures with complex geometries

Cosmological Radiation Hydrodynamics with ENZO

We describe an extension of the cosmological hydrodynamics code ENZO to include the self-consistent transport of ionizing radiation modeled in the flux-limited diffusion approximation. A novel feature of our algorithm is a coupled implicit solution of radiation transport, ionization kinetics, and gas photoheating, making the timestepping for this portion of the calculation resolution independent. The implicit system is coupled to the explicit cosmological hydrodynamics through operator splitting and solved with scalable multigrid methods. We summarize the numerical method, present a verification test on cosmological Stromgren spheres, and then apply it to the problem of cosmological hydrogen reionization.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Recent Directions in Astrophysical Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiation Hydrodynamics, Ed. I. Hubeny, American Institute of Physics (2009