Limonium hyblaeum (Plumbaginaceae), a cushion plant invading coastal southern Australia

The Sicilian endemic herbaceous perennial plant Limonium hyblaeum (family Plumbaginaceae) is rapidly becoming a serious weed in South Australia and Victoria, where it invades saltmarshes and rocky coastal sites exposed to salt spray. It has small, light seeds that float and remain viable in sea water and which can also be dispersed readily by wind, animals and vehicles. It can form dense, extensive mats and buds sprouting from rhizomes allow encroachment into dense native vegetation. It seems certain to be apomictic and is readily able to become dominant. Forming dense, compact cushions which accumulate large amounts of fibrous peat, Limonium hyblaeum is the first cushion plant to become naturalized in Australia; the importance of the cushion habit as an adaptation to salt spray is under-appreciated. Some control measures for Limonium hyblaeum have begun in Victoria, but much remains to be done there and in the other southern Australian states; a ban on the sale of the species by nurseries is urgently required

FINANCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRADEOFFS OF PHOSPHORUS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON VERMONT DAIRY FARMS

FLIPSim is combined with GISPLM to provide policymakers and dairy farmers estimated farm financial impacts on the implementation of 8 Best Management Practices (BMP) designed to reduce phosphorus loading in Lake Champlain. Financial performance indicators are derived for three Vermont dairy farms (60, 150, and 350 cows). Results indicate that feed reformulation and nutrient management are the least cost BMPs but that a combination of 4 BMPs cannot meet the 8% reduction goal. Additional, less effective but more costly BMPs will have to be implemented to meet the goal. None of the individual BMPs cause any of the farms to go out of business. However, the initial declining financial position of the small farm is hastened by the implementation of all BMP's except the row crop field buffer and feed reformulation. The medium farm is also threatened by several costly BMPs. Achieving the desired goal will have an adverse financial impact on watershed farms.Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

The green-leaved variant of Eucalyptus largiflorens: a story involving hybridization and observant local people

Eucalyptus largiflorens (Black Box) is the most common tree in the Chowilla anabranch system on the Murray River floodplain. It typically has dull, glaucous, grey-green leaves. Occasional trees with smaller, glossy green leaves (Green Box) occur scattered amongst the Black Box. In areas with increasing salinity, they usually appear much healthier than adjacent, normal Black Box trees. Green Box plants are intermediate between normal Eucalyptus largiflorens plants and Eucalyptus gracilis plants in many morphological and allozyme characters, strongly suggesting that they are hybrids between those species. Green Box plants tolerate salinity better and use water more conservatively than normal Black Box plants, traits that they have probably inherited from Eucalyptus gracilis. In 1994, the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide used tissue culture and micropropagation to produce nearly 9,000 cloned Green Box plants which were planted out on Riverland floodplains. Since the 1990s, the high cost of producing clonal plants has meant that no further such plantings have occurred. Because Green Box plants can be a considerable distance from the nearest plants of one putative parent (Eucalyptus gracilis), more detailed studies could contribute to the existing work on such phantom hybrids

FINANCIAL IMPACTS OF ALTERNATIVE PHOSPHORUS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: THE CASE OF VERMONT DAIRY FARMS

The Farm Level Income and Policy Simulation Modeling System (FLIPSim) is used to provide policymakers and dairy farmers estimated farm financial impact on the implementation of five field related Best Management Practices (BMP) designed to reduce phosphorus loading in Lake Champlain. Financial performance indicators are derived from deterministic and stochastic FLIPSim analyses for three Vermont dairy farms (60, 150, and 350 cows). Results indicate that residual management and conservation cropping incur the greatest financial impacts. Nutrient management increases income for the large and medium farms. None of the BMP's caused the farms to go out of business. However, the initial declining financial position of the small farm was hastened by the implementation of all BMP's except the row crop field buffer.Livestock Production/Industries,

A NORTHEAST BORROWER TRAINING PROGRAM: EVOLUTION AND IMPACTS

A financial training program designed by Cooperative Extension specialists was provided to over 2,000 USDA/FSA borrowers from the Northeast during the period 1994-1999. Key to the success of the workshops was an in-depth, user-friendly curriculum that evolved over time, eventually replacing satellite-feed instruction with pre-taped videos. Cluster analysis classified nearly 70 percent of workshop participants as "Low Finance Priority" or "Low Finance Knowledge." Farmers in these clusters received a relatively greater educational benefit from the program than those not in these clusters.. Impact analysis indicated that perceived annual gain in farm net worth from application of workshop tools ranged from approximately $5,000 to$10,000. The training addressed the needs of producers typically isolated from Cooperative Extension because the workshop was the only extension program attended that year by nearly two-thirds of them.agricultural finance, workshop methods, borrower training, cluster analysis, impact analysis, Agricultural Finance, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Agricultural and Small Business Retirement Plans and Needs for Information: Evidence from a Vermont Survey

A survey of Vermont agricultural and small business owners and managers was conducted to examine their retirement plans and needs for information. Results from 828 respondents indicate that 42% of them do not have any retirement plan and 45% of the surveyed businesses do not offer any retirement plan for their employees. Results also suggest that most small business owners and managers who do not have a retirement plan are not very interested in more information on retirement planning.Consumer/Household Economics,

Profitability of Northeast Organic Dairy Farms

Livestock Production/Industries,