Managing Risk in Farming: Concepts, Research, and Analysis

The risks confronted by grain and cotton farmers are of particular interest, given the changing role of the Government after passage of the 1996 Farm Act. With the shift toward less government intervention in the post-1996 Farm Act environment, a more sophisticated understanding of risk and risk management is important to help producers make better decisions in risky situations and to assist policymakers in assessing the effectiveness of different types of risk protection tools. In response, this report provides a rigorous, yet accessible, description of risk and risk management tools and strategies at the farm level. It also provides never-before-published data on farmers' assessments of the risks they face, their use of alternative risk management strategies, and the changes they would make if faced with financial difficulty. It also compares price risk across crops and time periods, and provides detailed information on yield variability.crop insurance, diversification, futures contracts, leasing, leveraging, liquidity, livestock insurance, marketing contracts, options contracts, production contracts, revenue insurance, risk, vertical integration, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

A ‘driving force’ in developing the nation’s forests: The McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program.

The McIntire-Stennis (M-S) Cooperative Forestry Research Program has provided fundamental support for creating and strengthening forestry research and graduate training efforts at colleges and universities across the nation for nearly 50 years. M-S funding has helped produce thousands of forestry scientists and other research professionals, and M-S–supported research has provided critical basic understanding and applied solutions to extend the benefits that flow from forests and related rangelands across the nation over time. The 1962 legislation that created the M-S program authorized funding of up to one-half of the funds appropriated for federal forestry research conducted directly by the USDA. Throughout the program’s history, however, M-S appropriations have been far below the authorized level. In 2012, the M-S program’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated. Congress and the President therefore have a truly significant “golden anniversary” opportunity to strengthen the nation’s investment in research and training that represents an essential and powerful “driving force behind progress” in sustaining forests for ecological, economic, and social benefits for present and future generations

Capturing Fleeting Intermediates in a Catalytic C-H Amination Reaction Cycle

We have applied an ambient ionization technique, desorption electrospray ionization MS, to identify transient reactive species of an archetypal C–H amination reaction catalyzed by a dirhodium tetracarboxylate complex. Using this analytical method, we have detected previously proposed short-lived reaction intermediates, including two nitrenoid complexes that differ in oxidation state. Our findings suggest that an Rh-nitrene oxidant can react with hydrocarbon substrates through a hydrogen atom abstraction pathway and raise the intriguing possibility that two catalytic C–H amination pathways may be operative in a typical bulk solution reaction. As highlighted by these results, desorption electrospray ionization MS should have broad applicability for the mechanistic study of catalytic processes

Isotopic studies in the natural sources of radium in groundwater in Illinois

Stable and radioactive isotopes in groundwater were studied in an investigation of the natural geologic sources of high concentrations of ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra in confined aquifers in the Cambrian and Ordovician bedrock of northern Illinois. The covariation of ¹⁸0 and D determined that the groundwater has a meteoric isotopic composition. Groundwater in unconfined aquifers has ¹⁸0 values (-6.6 to -7.9⁰/₀₀) that are similar to contemporary meteoric water. However, a source of recharge related to glaciation is required for groundwater in confined aquifers of the Cambrian and Ordovician that is significantly depleted in ¹⁸0 (¹⁸0 values range to -12.7⁰/₀₀ and are less than -9⁰/₀₀ over large regions) . The covariation of ³⁴S and ¹⁸0 in dissolved sulfates determined a mixing line between two sources; oxidation of sulfide minerals and dissolution of marine evaporites. Dissolved sulfates from evaporite sources are present in large concentrations in confined aquifers but are of a different isotopic composition than evaporites of Cambrian or Ordovician age. Glaciation may be important with regard to recharge of the sulfates. The ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio in groundwater from the Cambrian and Ordovician are unexpectedly high; values range from 2.1 to 40.7. The lowest ratios occur in primary recharge zones. In confined aquifers values are greater than 20 over large regions. Alpha recoil damage is a mechanism that contributes to the disequilibrium. However, the regional variation in activity ratios and in ²³⁴U concentrations supports the concept that glacial recharge has contributed to the high ratios. Radiological and geochemical mechanisms that partition ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U and ²³⁰Th on the sandstone matrix are important to the dissolved ²²⁶Ra concentration.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Surve