THE KEYS TO PREPARING SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH GRANT PROPOSALS

This article seeks to demystify the competitive grant recommendation process of scientific peer review panels. The National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (NRICGP) administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Cooperative State Research, Extension, and Education Service (USDA-CSREES) serves as the focus of this article. This article provides a brief background on the NRICGP and discusses the application process, the scientific peer review process, guidelines for grant writing, and ways to interpret reviewer comments if a proposal is not funded. The essentials of good grant writing discussed in this article are transferable to other USDA competitive grant programs.competitive grants, national research initiative competitive grants program, NRI, USDA-CSREES, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

HOPES AND FEARS: THE NEW WORLD TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AND SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE

Understanding the impacts of the Uruguay Round (UR) Agreement on southern commodities serves as a starting point to assess the potential impacts of the next global trade negotiations in terms of hope (expanding export markets) and fear (new competition). Key issues examined include whether or not the UR Agreement resulted in new markets or new competition for key southern commodities-cotton, poultry, tobacco, and rice. For new markets, export data were analyzed to determine if exports increased since the passage of the UR Agreement in 1994. Also, countries that are leading world importers of these southern commodities were identified and data analyzed to determine whether the U.S. is exporting to these top markets. Alternatively, to assess whether the UR Agreement resulted in new competition for southern commodities, countries that are leading world exporters were identified and data analyzed to determine whether the U.S. is among them. Data analyses was supplemented with interviews of southern commodities experts who assess impacts of the GATT-UR and identify issues for the next round of global trade negotiations.agricultural trade, cotton, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), international trade, poultry, rice, the South, tobacco, Uruguay Round Agreements, World Trade Organization (WTO), International Relations/Trade,

PROSPECTS FOR CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL FDI INFLOWS: A GRAVITY MODEL APPROACH

This paper attempts to provide insights into the prospects for China's agricultural FDI inflows through a gravity model approach. A panel data over 1994-2001 is used. Determinants of China's agricultural FDI inflows are identified and future levels of China's agricultural FDI inflows from major source countries are evaluated.Financial Economics,

China's Biotech Policies and Their Impacts on U.S. Agricultural Exports to China

China is a key player in global agricultural markets, and the number one importer of U.S. soybeans and cotton, whereby soybeans and cotton are two of the main biotech commodities commercialized in the United States. As of 2005, 87% of soybeans and 79% of cotton planted in the U.S. were biotech. Thus, changes in China's biotech policies may have a significant impact on U.S. biotech commodity exports to China. An understanding of the evolution of China's biotech regulations and factors that may influence China's future biotech policies is crucial for both U.S. producers and policymakers. This article introduces the development of China's biotech regulations in detail. Focusing on soybeans and cotton, the impact of China's biotech policy changes on U.S. trade with China are examined. Results indicate that changes in China's biotech policies in 2001 did cause delay of U.S. soybean exports to China in the short-run, immediately after China's policies were announced. However, no long term impacts on U.S. soybean exports to China were found. For cotton, a non-food commodity and China's dominant commercialized biotech commodity, it appears that U.S. cotton exports to China were not affected by China's biotech policies.International Relations/Trade, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS OF THE U.S. FOOD-PROCESSING INDUSTRY

Agribusiness,

Student Retention: Impacts of an Agricultural Economics First Year Seminar Course

As universities seek to enhance student retention, a positive first year experience is critical for student success. The objective of this research is to determine whether an agricultural economics first-year seminar course improves retention rates of its undergraduate students. This course provides a unique opportunity for students to learn about the agricultural economics discipline, and also gain insights into what it takes to be a successful college student. Analysis examines whether departmental retention and graduation rates improve after course implementation in 1998, and compares departmental retention and graduation rates to those of the college and university. Qualitative analysis using student evaluations, senior exit interviews and student surveys also assess the impact of this course on student success. Results show that retention and graduation rates improve following course implementation. Retention, four-year graduation rates and five-year graduation rates for the Department exceed those for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and exceed the four-year graduation rates for the university.first year seminar, first year experience, student retention, graduation rates, student success, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Impacts of China's Food Consumption on U.S. Soybean Exports

A model examines how the international and China’s market prices impact China’s soybean imports from the U.S. and South America. Based on soybean crushing ratios and a market clearing presumption, an equation of China’s soybean oil import prices is designed to achieve the goal.China's Soybean Imports, U.S. Soybean Exports, South American Soybean Exports, Price Elasticities, Soybean Crushing Ratios, Marke Clear, GMM, Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade, Q17,

Tidally-driven Roche-Lobe Overflow of Hot Jupiters with MESA

Many exoplanets have now been detected in orbits with ultra-short periods, very close to the Roche limit. Building upon our previous work, we study the possibility that mass loss through Roche lobe overflow (RLO) may affect the evolution of these planets, and could possibly transform a hot Jupiter into a lower-mass planet (hot Neptune or super-Earth). We focus here on systems in which the mass loss occurs slowly ("stable mass transfer" in the language of binary star evolution) and we compute their evolution in detail with the binary evolution code MESA. We include the effects of tides, RLO, irradiation and photo-evaporation of the planet, as well as the stellar wind and magnetic braking. Our calculations all start with a hot Jupiter close to its Roche limit, in orbit around a sun-like star. The initial orbital decay and onset of RLO are driven by tidal dissipation in the star. We confirm that such a system can indeed evolve to produce lower-mass planets in orbits of a few days. The RLO phase eventually ends and, depending on the details of the mass transfer and on the planetary core mass, the orbital period can remain around a few days for several Gyr. The remnant planets have a rocky core and some amount of envelope material, which is slowly removed via photo-evaporation at nearly constant orbital period; these have properties resembling many of the observed super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. For these remnant planets we also predict an anti-correlation between mass and orbital period; very low-mass planets ($M_{\rm pl}\,\lesssim\,5\,M_{\oplus}$) in ultra-short periods ($P_{\rm orb}$<1d) cannot be produced through this type of evolution.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted by ApJ. The manuscript has been revised significantly to address the referee's comments. A link to MESA inlist files is now provided on page

INVESTMENT ANALYSIS OF REPLACING ENDOPHYTE-INFECTED WITH ENDOPHYTE-FREE TALL FESCUE PASTURES

Cattle consuming tall fescue pastures infected with the endophyte Neotyphodium coenophialum often suffer physiological disorders that reduce animal performance. One solution is to replace endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures with an endophyte-free mixture. A benefit-cost analysis was conducted to determine the profitability of pasture restoration. The profitability of this action depends on the percentage of endophyte in existing pastures, the discount rate, and the stand life of the endophyte-free tall fescue variety. Our benefit-cost analysis results indicate that in order for pasture replacement to be profitable, the existing pastures must be infected with more than 16.1% of the endophyte, assuming the stand life of endophyte-free tall fescue is 12 years and the discount rate is three per cent. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the impact on the critical infestation level when the following parameters are changed: the discount rate, the baseline calving rates, and the pasture stand life. This research provides farmers with a practical investment analysis model for replacing endophyte-infected with endophyte-free tall fescue pastures.Land Economics/Use,

Economic Analysis of Cellulase Production by Clostridium thermocellum in Solid State and Submerged Fermentation

Replaced with revised version of paper 09/24/04.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,