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,

A PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF DAIRY FEEDING SYSTEMS IN THE NORTHEAST

This study analyzes the use and profitability of three distinct feeding systems; confinement feeding, traditional grazing, and management-intensive grazing from a randomly selected sample of northeastern dairy farms. The confinement feeding farms were significantly larger and produced more milk per cow, while the farms using management-intensive grazing incurred the lowest production costs. Both confinement feeding and management-intensive grazing generated significantly higher rates of return to farm assets relative to farms using a mixed system. Multiple regression analysis confirms the critical importance of herd size, milk production per cow, debt level and veterinary expenses to farm profitability in all production systems.Livestock Production/Industries,

Expanding Extension\u27s Reach: Partnering With FSA to Meet Educational Goals

Extension specialists at Penn State and University of Vermont continued their successful expansion of extension clientele to partner with FSA to train new loan officers from 12 states on agricultural production practices, related equipment and marketing challenges. The 3-4 day workshops were designed around a series of visits to farms and ag businesses. A follow-up workshop focused specifically on entrepreneurial innovators. Participant evaluations indicated that visits to ag businesses were the most highly rated activity, followed closely by farm visits. Overall satisfaction was very high, and nearly all participants indicated the training would make them better loan officers

AGN observations with a less than 100 GeV threshold using H.E.S.S. II

The recent addition of the 28 m Cherenkov telescope (CT5) to the H.E.S.S. array extended the experiment's sensitivity towards low energies. The lowest energy threshold is obtained using monoscopic observations with CT5, providing access to gamma-ray energies below 100 GeV. This is particularly beneficial for studies of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with soft spectra and located at redshifts >= 0.5. Stereoscopic measurements with the full array (CT1-5) provide a better background rejection than CT5 Mono, at a cost of a higher threshold. We report on the analysis employing the CT5 data for AGN observations with a < 100 GeV threshold. In particular, the spectra of PKS 2155-304 and PG 1553+113 are presented.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherland

A FINANCIAL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR USDA/FSA BORROWERS: 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% 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,

In Situ Calls Of The Marine Perciform Glaucosoma Hebraicum

West Australian dhufish (Glaucosoma hebraicum), a marine perciform, possess a swim bladder which has associated muscles that are used in sound production. Individuals have been recorded producing sounds during capture that may be associated with disturbance from their normal behaviour. To determine whether individuals produce sound during natural behaviour, a passive sea-noise logger was deployed on the seafloor for one month in close proximity to low-relief artificialsubstrates occupied by G. hebraicum. During this time, both juvenile and sub-adult G. hebraicum were observed within metres of the logger on numerous occasions. At approximately the same time, sounds with characteristics similar to the disturbance calls of G. hebraicum were detected by the logger. Two types of swimbladder generated calls were recorded, one of widely-spaced pulses and the other of pulses in quick succession The maximum received levels and sound exposurelevels of the recorded calls were 132 dB re 1 μPa and 121 dB re 1 μPa2.s, respectively. Based on previously determined G. hebraicum source levels and time of arrival techniques (direct and surface-reflected ray paths), the vocalising fish were estimated at between 1 and 19.5 m from the hydrophone and thus within the area where they had been observed. This study has provided evidence that juvenile G. hebraicum produce sounds at similar source levels to those generated during human induced disturbance. This indicates that sound is produced by individuals of this species during normal behaviour, but may or may not be associated with natural sources of disturbance