Applications of mathematical programming on four New Zealand horticultural holdings : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Horticultural Science in Massey University

Although fifteen years have passed since the publication of Dorfman's article 1 Dorfman, Robert, "Mathematical or 'Linear' Programming, a Non-Mathematical Exposition," American Economic Review, vol.43,p.797, 1953. describing linear programming in terms readily understood by the most non-mathematical agricultural economist, and fourteen years have lapsed since Heady published an article 2 Heady, Earl o., "Simplified Presentation and Logical Aspects of Linear Programming Technique," Journal of Farm Economics, vol.36, p. 1035, 1954. demonstrating the obvious potential of linear programming in solving a large class of farm management problems, 'real life' applications of programming, particularly those concerned with horticultural management are surprisingly few. 3 For interesting applications of programming to horticultural or part-horticultural holdings, see: Simpson, I.G., Hales, A.W., and Fletcher, A., "Linear Programming and Uncertain Prices in Horticulture," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.15, P.617, 1963; Camm, B.M., "Risk in Vegetable Production on a Fen Farm," The Farm economist, vol.10, p.89, 1962-65; Wesney, D. , "A study or the Financial Returns to Process Pea Growers in Hawkes Bay," unpublished M.Agr .Sc. thesis, Massey University Library, 1964; and Tyler, G.J., "An Application of Linear Programming," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.13, p.473, 1960. Linear programming has been accepted in the U.S.A. as an extremely useful and versatile tool for both farm management research and advisory work but has not as yet been widely accepted in the United Kingdom, where simpler techniques such as Programme Planning 4 Clarke, G.B. and Simpson, I.G., "A Theoretical Approach to the Profit Maximisation Problems in Farm Management," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 13, p.25o, 1959. For a comparison of the merits of Programme Planning and Linear Programming see Candler, Wilfred and Warren Musgrave, "A Practical Approach to the Profit Maximisation Problems in Farm Management," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.14, p.2O8, 1960.are advocated. Official advisory services in New Zealand tend to be based on techniques used in the United Kingdom and hence linear programming has not been given adequate opportunity to demonstrate its usefulness

Studies in Trade and Investment - AGRICULTURAL TRADE - PLANTING THE SEEDS OF REGIONAL LIBERALIZATION IN ASIA

this chapter points out policy priorities and future research needs on regional agricultural trade liberalization.agricultural trade liberalization, policy

Food consumption patterns and nutrition in urban Java households: the discriminatory power of some socioeconomic variables

Food consumption patterns are undergoing substantial change in many countries as economic development proceeds. The trend is a move away from traditional cereals towards higher‐value and higher‐protein foods. Explaining such changes only in terms of traditional economic variables can lead to biased estimates of income effects and perhaps biased projections of food demand. Household survey data from Indonesia are used to measure the importance of several socioeconomic variables in explaining differences in household food consumption patterns and nutrition. Household expenditure and the level of women’s education are shown to be the most influential in this explanation.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Modelling the impact of policies to reduce environmental impacts in the New Zealand dairy sector

Agriculture remains a major sector of the New Zealand economy, with the vast majority of farm and food production exported. The accelerating intensification of farming in New Zealand over recent decades raises concern over the current sustainability of New Zealand farming, and whether it can remain so in the future. In this study, we focus on the impacts of policies to reduce environmental impacts of dairy farming, with a particular focus on nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. We use a modified version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database, with improved specification of the agricultural sector and land-use. We augment the model with environmental indicators for New Zealand, including nitrogen balances and GHG emissions. We simulate a range of scenarios involving reductions in fertiliser use and stocking rates on dairy farms, from an updated 2010 database. In particular, we consider seven scenarios, with the objective of exploring reductions in the dairy stocking rate and the application of nitrogenous fertiliser to dairy farms to target reductions in the dairy sector’s nitrogen balance of 10%, 20% and 30%. Reducing fertiliser use and stocking rates are two of the approaches that dairy farmers can take in order to reduce their emissions of nitrogen and GHGs. Our results suggest that the nitrogen balance could be reduced by 10% with a 16% cut in nitrogenous fertiliser and a 5% fall in the stocking rate. Reducing fertiliser use and stocking rate by 31% and 11% respectively could result in a 20% cut to the dairy sector’s nitrogen balance. To achieve a 30% reduction in the nitrogen balance, our results suggest that the cut back in fertiliser use would need to be 45%, with the stocking rate reduced by 19%. Across these scenarios, our results indicate that value added in the dairy farm sector could fall by between 2% and 13%, while export earnings from dairy products may fall by between US$269 million and US$1,145 million

Agricultural Policy Reform and Industry Adjustment in Australia and New Zealand

Some sectors of Australian and New Zealand farming have been heavily assisted in the past. New Zealand underwent an economy-wide deregulation in the mid-to-late 980s that included abrupt removal of practically all agricultural assistance. Policy reform in Australia has been more gradual and is industry focused, but in some cases substantial industry assistance has been withdrawn. Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, and that of the sheep and beef sector in New Zealand, are discussed as case studies of these deregulations. Conclusions are drawn from these experiences, a major one being that previously-assisted farmers can successfully make the transition to market-driven agriculture.agricultural adjustment, policy reform, Australia, New Zealand, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Zero-bias conductance anomaly in bilayer quantum Hall systems

Bilayer quantum Hall system at total filling factor $\nu=1$ shows a rich variety of broken symmetry ground states because of the competition between the interlayer and intralayer Coulomb interactions. When the layers are sufficiently close, a bilayer system develops spontaneous interlayer phase-coherence that manifests itself through a spectacular enhancement of the zero-bias interlayer tunneling conductance. We present a theory of this tunneling conductance anomaly, and show that the zero-bias conductance is proportional to the square of the {\it quasiparticle} tunneling amplitude.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the PPHMF-IV conference proceedings. (For more details, see cond-mat/0103454) New version contains two added reference

Prison Anger Reduction Programs Evaluation Development Project

This report describes efforts to develop Alaska-specific norms for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), using the Megargee offender classification system, for use in program evaluations in Alaska correctional facilities, specifically for evaluation of three pilot anger reduction programs initiated at Alaska Department of Corrections institutions in late 1984/early 1985: (1) Women in Crisis (at Fairbanks Correctional Center); (2) M. E. N., Inc. (at Lemon Creek Correctional Center, Juneau); (3) Bering Sea Women's Group (at Nome Correctional Center). The report provides assessments of the three programs and the correctional centers where they were held and makes recommendations for completing the development of Alaska-specific MMPI-based norms and for the administration of the MMPI as pre- and post-test for measuring psychological changes — particularly in hostility/frustration levels — in participants in anger reduction programs.Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual AssaultIntroduction / Section I. History of the Project / Section II. Psychological Testing / Section III. Site Assessment — Facilities / Section IV. Site Assessment — Programs / Section V. Recommendations / APPENDICES / A. Domestic Violence Evaluation Project: Assessment of Programs for Anger Reduction in Incarcerated Alaskan Prisoners [Project proposal] / B. Letter from Nancy E. Schafer to Barbara Miklos, June 7, 1985 / C. Site Visits / D. Criminal Justice Assessment Cervices, Inc.: Experimental MMPI Scales Availabl

HOG PRODUCTION IN CHINA: TECHNOLOGICAL BIAS AND FACTOR DEMAND

China's agricultural output has expanded rapidly since the economic reforms of the late 1970s, reflecting both productivity growth and mobilization of inputs. Over the same period, increased consumption of livestock products has been a feature of China's food consumption. Widely different projections of China's demand for feedgrains to feed its expanding livestock sector have motivated this research. Productivity growth is an important component of such projections, but past estimates have been controversial, few focus on livestock, and we are aware of none that examine technological bias in China's livestock production. For example, does the nature of technical progress lead to increased or reduced use of feedgrains relative to other inputs? A feature of China's livestock sector is rapid structural change towards larger and more commercial and intensive production systems. As specialization has developed over the last two decades, the share of backyard livestock production has declined and the shares of specialized households and commercial enterprises have increased. We measure technological change and biases for each of these structures so that this information can be eventually combined with that on structural change when making feedgrain demand projections. Our commodity focus in this paper is on hog production, which is the major consumer of feedgrains in China. We use a translog cost function and adjusted livestock data to estimate technological change and biases. Technical change has not been neutral, and the bias towards feedgrain-saving was found to be statistically significant. We also find that the demand for feedgrains is elastic with respect to its own price and that strong substitution relationships exist with respect to some other inputs. Thus input price changes are important, along with technological biases, in changing the feedgrain input shares to hog production.Production Economics,