THE ETHICS OF CONSTRAINED CHOICE: HOW THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE IMPACTS FARMING AND FARMER BEHAVIOR

The industrialization of agriculture not only alters the ways in which agricultural production occurs, but also impacts the decisions farmers make in important ways. First, constraints created by the economic environment of farming limit what options a farmer has available to him. Second, because of the industrialization of agriculture and the resulting economic pressures it creates for farmers, the fact that decision are constrained creates new ethical challenges for farmers. Having fewer options when faced with severe economic pressures is a very different situation for farmers than having many options available. We discuss the implications of constrained choice and show that it increases the likelihood that farmers will consider unethical behavior.Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Perceived Economic Pressures and Farmer Ethics

We consider the effect of perceived economic pressures on the ethical attitudes of farmers. We hypothesize that an increase in the economic pressures a farmer faces could result in that farmer being more tolerant of unethical conduct than farmers not experiencing economic pressures. To test this hypothesis, we use data from a survey of 3,000 Missouri farmers with farm sales in excess of $10,000 in 2005 in which farmers were asked how acceptable they considered various unethical or questionable farming practices. The survey also contained questions designed to measure perceived economic pressures. We find evidence that economic pressures result in a greater willingness of farmers to tolerate unethical conduct, particularly in the case of actions that have the potential of causing harm or that are influenced by law or contract. We also find that the more frequently a farmer reports observing an unethical action, the more acceptable he is of it.Farm Management,

Explosive Events and the Evolution of the Photospheric Magnetic Field

Transition region explosive events have long been suggested as direct signatures of magnetic reconnection in the solar atmosphere. In seeking further observational evidence to support this interpretation, we study the relation between explosive events and the evolution of the solar magnetic field as seen in line-of-sight photospheric magnetograms. We find that about 38% of events show changes of the magnetic structure in the photosphere at the location of an explosive event over a time period of 1 h. We also discuss potential ambiguities in the analysis of high sensitivity magnetograms

Are Farmers of the Middle Distinctively “Good Stewards?” Evidence from the Missouri Farm Poll, 2006

In this paper we consider the question of whether middle-scale farmers, which we define as producers generating between $100,000 and$250,000 in sales annually, are better agricultural stewards than small and large-scale producers. Our study is motivated by the argument of some commentators that farmers of this class ought to be protected in part because of the unique attitudes and values they possess regarding what constitutes a “good farmer”. We present results of a survey of Missouri farmers designed to assess farmer attitudes and values regarding a variety of indicators of farmer stewardship, such as the most important issues in agriculture, environment and treatment of farm animals, perspectives on the past and future of agriculture, and ethical behavior. We find no evidence that farmers-of-the-middle are particularly noteworthy in these regards. We do find evidence, however, that middle-scale farmers are more pessimistic and anxious about their role in the future of agriculture.Farmers of the middle, good farmer, agrarianism, farmer attitudes and values, Environmental Economics and Policy,

UV-filter pollution: current concerns and future prospects.

UV-filters are widely used in cosmetics and personal care products to protect users' skin from redamage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. Globally, an estimated 16,000 to 25,000 tonnes of products containing UV-filters were used in 2014 with modern consumption likely to be much higher. Beyond this use in cosmetics and personal care products, UV-filters are also widely used to provide UV-stability in industrial products such as paints and plastics. This review discusses the main routes by which UV-filters enter aquatic environments and summarises the conclusions of studies from the past 10 years that have investigated the effects of UV-filters on environmentally relevant species including corals, microalgae, fish, and marine mammals. Safety data regarding the potential impact of UV-filters on human health are also discussed. Finally, we explore the challenges surrounding UV-filter removal and research on more environmentally friendly alternatives to current UV-filters. [Abstract copyright: © 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Physical activity barriers in the workplace : an exploration of factors contributing to non-participation in a UK workplace physical activity intervention

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore factors contributing to non-participation in a workplace physical activity (PA) intervention in a large UK call centre. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 16 inactive individuals (nine male/seven female), aged 27±9 years, who had not taken part in the intervention were interviewed to explore their perceptions of PA, the intervention and factors which contributed to their non-participation. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings – Six superordinate themes were identified: self-efficacy for exercise; attitudes towards PA; lack of time and energy; facilities and the physical environment; response to the PA programme and PA culture. Barriers occurred at multiple levels of influence, and support the use of ecological or multilevel models to help guide future programme design/delivery. Research limitations/implications – The 16 participants were not selected to be representative of the workplace gender or structure. Future intentions relating to PA participation were not considered and participants may have withheld negative opinions about the workplace or intervention despite use of an external researcher. Practical implications – In this group of employees education about the importance of PA for young adults and providing opportunities to gain social benefits from PA would increase perceived benefits and reduce perceived costs of PA. Workplace cultural norms with respect to PA must also be addressed to create a shift in PA participation. Originality/value – Employees’ reasons for non-participation in workplace interventions remain poorly understood and infrequently studied. The study considers a relatively under-studied population of employed young adults, providing practical recommendations for future interventions

The Revenues-Expenditures Nexus: Evidence from Local Government Data

This paper examines the intertemporal linkages between local government expenditures and revenues. In the terminology that has become standard in the literature on vector autoregression analysis, the issue is whether revenues Granger-cause expenditures, or expenditures Granger-cause revenues. The main results that emerge from an analysis of fiscal data from 171 municipal governments over the period 1972-1980 are that: 1) one or two years are sufficient to summarize the relevant dynamic interrelationships; 2) there are important intertemporal linkages between expenditures, taxes and grants; and 3) past revenues help predict current expenditures, but past expenditures do not alter the future path of revenues. This last finding is contrary to results that have emerged from previous analyses of federal fiscal data, and hence suggests the need for additional research on the differences in the processes generating local and federal decisions.

Non-Commutative Instantons and the Seiberg-Witten Map

We present several results concerning non-commutative instantons and the Seiberg-Witten map. Using a simple ansatz we find a large new class of instanton solutions in arbitrary even dimensional non-commutative Yang-Mills theory. These include the two dimensional ``shift operator'' solutions and the four dimensional Nekrasov-Schwarz instantons as special cases. We also study how the Seiberg-Witten map acts on these instanton solutions. The infinitesimal Seiberg-Witten map is shown to take a very simple form in operator language, and this result is used to give a commutative description of non-commutative instantons. The instanton is found to be singular in commutative variables.Comment: 26 pages, AMS-LaTeX. v2: the formula for the commutative description of the Nekrasov-Schwarz instanton corrected (sec. 4). v3: minor correction

Does the World Need U.S. Farmers Even if Americans Don’t?

We consider the implications of trends in the number of U.S. farmers and food imports on the question of what role U.S. farmers have in an increasingly global agrifood system. Our discussion stems from the argument some scholars have made that American consumers can import their food more cheaply from other countries than it can produce it. We consider the distinction between U.S. farmers and agriculture and the effect of the U.S. food footprint on developing nations to argue there might be an important role for U.S. farmers, even if it appears Americans don’t need them. For instance, we may need to protect U.S. farmland and, by implication, U.S. farmers, for future food security needs both domestic and international. We also explore the role of U.S. farmers by considering the question of whether food is a privilege or a right. Although Americans seem to accept that food is a privilege, many scholars and commentators argue that, at least on a global scale, food is a right, particularly for the world’s poor and hungry. If this is the case, then U.S. farmers might have a role in meeting the associated obligation to ensure that the poor of the world have enough food to eat. We look at the consequences of determining that food is a right versus a privilege and the implications of that decision for agricultural subsidies as well as U.S. agriculture and nutrition policies.Food Security and Poverty,