The economy of alternative grazing regimes in Setesdal Vesthei and south-western Hardangervidda

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Stochastic Optimization: An Application to Sub-Arctic Dairy Farming

The paper demonstrates how a deterministic farm linear programming (LP) model can be made stochastic and simulated using Solver and Simetar© in Excel©. The demonstration is conducted with an LP-model for a dairy farm for a sub arctic region of Norway. The income risks arising from variation in milk and crop yields due to winter damage in leys and pastures have been quantified for farms demonstrating low, medium and high forage yield risk. The estimated distribution of farm profit will be skewed to the left, indicating a downside risk. In the presence of risks, farmers maximize income by producing the milk quota with using surplus forage for meat production. The analysis demonstrated here may assist farmers and farm managers in improving sensitivity analysis for risky variables in farm LP models.dairy production, Northern Norway, stochastic optimization, stochastic simulation, yield risks, Livestock Production/Industries,

Taxation of Agriculture in selected countries. Study of The United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy with relevance to the WTO

This report looks at the special measures for agriculture within the field of taxation and social security. Chapter 1 and 2 deal with general overview of taxes and taxation principles. Chapter 3 give more detailed information of the tax system in the selected countries, US, Canada, Australia, Germany, UK, France, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. Chapter four deals with notifications to the Committee on Agriculture in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) concerning tax measures. In chapter 5 we have tried to systematize the different tax schemes in the selected countries.Taxation of Agriculture in selected countries. Study of The United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy with relevance to the WTOpublishedVersio

Climate Change Adaptation in Vulnerable Crop and Livestock Production Systems in Mgeta, Tanzania

Awareness regarding effects of climate change on the environment and livelihoods is becoming more apparent than at any time before (Elisha, 2006). Among the farming systems that have attracted the attention in Tanzania, are those in Mgeta in thehigh altitude water catchment area in the Uluguru Mountains. Land degradation have been widely reported in Mgeta (Ponte, 2001), and is currently threatening the source of water for domestic use and livelihoods of the local communities. Increased occurrence of droughts and dry spells during the growing seasons might reinforce the problem. A robust cropping system toreplace the erosion vulnerable vegetables seems needed if agriculture is to persist in the area. Farmers in Mgeta grow vegetables in pure stand and in intercropping systems on bench terraces and in steep slopes, especially tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, beans, green peas and maize. Besides, traditional goats (free roaming) and pigs are kept for meat and manure for the vegetables. In 1988, Norwegian dairy goats were introduced and currently farmers upgrade the local goats by crossing with dairy bucks. The dairy goats are tethered or kept indoors to avoid land degradation due to overgrazing. Expanding goat milk production might be advantageous since a market for milk, or milk products such as yoghurt, can be found both locally and in the neighboring towns. In this paper a traditional cropping-livestock system with meat goats and pigs and extensive vegetable production is compared with dairy goats and more use of multi-purpose trees (MPTs) and grass and less vegetables

An Excel Based Stochastic LP Model for a Dairy and Meat Farm

This paper describes a stochastic linear programming model for farms with a milk and cattle meat production system. This model documentation is worked out using the farm account records for three family farms in Northern Norway. The model is built in Excel using the addin Simetar to analyze risks. The LP model maximizes farm gross margins but the fixed costs of each farm are subtracted in order to compute farm profit and risk in farm profit. Data for the 15 years from 1991 2005 from the farms and from the annual editions of the Handbook of farm planning (NILF, 2000) have been used as a basis for developing the stochastic variables. The following variables have been made stochastic: area and yield of green fodder, yields of leys and pastures, yield of milk per cow, meat price, milk price, fuel costs and costs of concentrate feed. The rate of interest is also made stochastic. In the model the rate of interest is affecting the risk in farm profit through the fixed costs. Emphasize has been given to build a flexible model allowing for examining effects of changes in several ways e.g. length of grazing period, calving time, or harvesting method for grass. The milk production is restricted by a farm specific milk quota, but otherwise the farming intensity is varied as farmers may choose selling e.g. small calves or up to two years old castrates with extensive use of pasture. Updating the model with data for another year is facilitated by defining prices for one year at a time and by cell referencing all variables. The records may be replaced with records for family farms with similar production systems in other areas in the country. The production is based on grass and pasture roughage. Dairy farms in more central areas also produce cereals, grain and oilseeds and the model has to be developed further for such farms. The model will be used to carry out different farm economics analysis for Norwegian family farms combining milk and cattle meat production in production systems involving extensive use of pasture.publishedVersio

Economic Impact of Protected Large Carnivores on Sheep Farming in Norway

Norway has historically been a stronghold for carnivore predators. Today there are four protected carnivore species, brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolverine (Gulo gulo), wolf (Canis lupus) and lynx (Lynx lynx), together with the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The carnivore populations were significantly reduced, and wolves and bears almost eradicated nationally during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries (Ministry of the Environment, 1992; 1996-97). Today, the species are protected, and management calls for restoring demographically and/or genetically viable populations (Ministry of the Environment, 1996-97). Another proposal is to view Norwegian management goals and responsibilities in accordance to the Bern Convention in combination with those of Sweden and Finland, i.e. shared-predator populations for the Nordic countries (Nordic Farmers Central Council, 1988). The principle has recently been introduced by the authorities for management of wolves in Norway, defining viability based on a common Norwegian-Swedish populatio

Policy measures to preserve Norwegian coastal and fjord landscapes in small-scale farming systems

The open landscapes produced over centuries by small-scale farming in Norwegian coastal and fjord areas are threatened by agricultural abandonment, raising public concern for maintenance of the species-rich and valuable coastal grasslands. Semi-natural grasslands, traditionally grazed in the spring and fall and mown in summer, are most affected. Two linear programming models, one for small-scale sheep and one for small-scale mixed dairy and meat farms, both described in a separate method article, were developed. In the models is studied effects on production, grazing and land utilization, of altering government financial support among leys on arable land, enclosed farm pasture, grazing animals, and altering the (regulated) prices farmers pay for concentrate feed at the farm level. Sheep grazing can be expanded by intensification through increased fertilization and purchase of concentrate feed. Raising steers instead of bulls on dairy and beef farms with a milk quota would result in more mixed grazing by both sheep and steers, which is advantageous for the landscape. Steers are currently quite rare in Norway and their numbers can be increased with more subsidies for grazing, (Grazing Support (GS)) or by increasing the Regional Environmental Support (RES), a policy instrument targeting local projects for more grazing in specific areas. The current Agriculture and Cultural Landscape (ACL) subsidy payment places a higher value on arable land compared to the more biodiverse farm pastures, resulting in weaker incentives for keeping farm pasture in production. Raising the rate for farm pasture relative to that of arable land in the ACL scheme would result in stronger incentives for keeping such farm pasture in production, and likely increase biodiversity and landscape values. Increased GS for sheep might lead to more purchase of concentrate to keep more animals through the winter and eventually needs to be counteracted with higher prices for concentrated feedstuffs.publishedVersio

External Effects of Mitigating Measures to Reduce Large Carnivore Predation on Sheep

Outfield range pastures with widely dispersed sheep are quite common in Norway, with a summer population of approximately 2.4 million animals. In many areas losses to predators are considerable and identifying efficient mitigating measures against predation is a prime target in nature management. In order to assess economic efficiency, any actual effect of the measure on predation and loss regime must be addressed. One problem with some research is the "scale problem". While sheep outfield home range areas have been measured from 2.2 - 33.8 km2, large carnivores on their ranges might use from several hundred up to even thousands of square kilometres. For lynx (Lynx lynx) the home range varies between 158 and 433 km2, wolverine (Gulo gulo) between 61 and 970 km2 and for the brown bear (Ursus arctos) from 171 to 33,041 km2. Thus there emerges a form of statistical dependence, since the exposure of the carnivores to actions and measures in a sheep home range or sample area might influence how the same carnivores behave outside the area. The external effects on society, the environment or other farmers may therefore outweigh advantages to farmers introducing the measure, and scale evaluation might be of crucial importance in designing field research projects exploring such measures

Ekstensiv storfekjøtproduksjon på kastratar for redusert attgroing i fjellbygder og utmark

Dei siste ti åra har det vore ein vesentleg nedgang i talet på storfe både på landsbasis og i fjellbygdene. På landsbasis er nedgangen vel 12 % medan den samla for Telemark, Buskerud, Oppland, Hedmark og Sør-Trøndelag er knapt 9 % (SSB 2010). Størstedelen av storfekjøtet her i landet vert produsert ved oppfôring av overskotskalvar frå mjølkeproduksjon, men færre mjølkekyr og kalvar har ført til mindre beiteopptak. Med høgare beiteopptak per dyr kan utnyttinga av innmarks- og utmarksareal betrast. Spesielt vil overgang til kastratar i staden for oksar gje større produksjon på beite. Artikkelen jamfører økonomien med oksar og kastratar i fjellbygdene og diskuterer føresetnader for lønsam produksjon av beitebasert kjøt