U.S. Fresh Produce Wholesale Sector Trade Practices: Initial Survey Results

The wholesale sector is an intermediate stage in the supply chain of fresh produce. In general, business operations in this sector do not transform a specific product, but rather provide services related to the sale of the product. The term 'wholesaler' refers to all merchants that are part of this intermediate stage in the supply chain; namely, wholesale merchants, distributors, jobbers, shippers, import/export merchants, agents, brokers, commission merchants, and other types of intermediaries (US Census 2004). This definition of wholesalers, however, does not accurately depict all the activities and relationships participants in this supply chain sector develop. Hence, in order to be consistent with a correct terminology and to understand the results presented in this report, the use of 'intermediaries' throughout this paper refers to all participants including grower-shipper/distributors, brokers, custom service providers and wholesalers.Agribusiness,

Michigan Tart Cherry Processors: Issues and Strategy

Michigan accounts for approximately 70 percent of the total number of tart cherry processing firms in the U.S. Changes in preferences of consumers and increasing participation of global competitors are driving down demand for traditional tart cherry products and imposing new pressures on the U.S. industry, particularly in Michigan. The objective of this report is to document main characteristics of the tart cherry processing industry in Michigan; namely, business characteristics, category of products, supply sources, and market outlets. Also, the study aims to assess business strategies and future expectations for the industry in Michigan. Interviews with managers of tart cherry processing companies were conducted to document the objectives of this research. For the purpose of this project only processing companies that at the time of the interviews reported processing raw tart cherries were contacted. Nineteen firms were selected from the Cherry Marketing Institute 2003 Statistical Handbook (CMI, 2003) and contacted for personal interviews in 2004. The scope of the study allows the results to present an important description of the tart cherry processing industry in Michigan. Moreover, results are useful indicators of where the industry's current position and challenges that participants perceive will be the most important in the future.Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

National and International Factors in Pickle Markets

This report presents global and domestic information regarding production, trade and market developments for pickled cucumbers. U.S. cucumber production and trade are commonly divided into two categories: fresh and pickling. Michigan is the largest producer of pickling cucumbers in the country, accounting for 18 percent of total U.S. production. Like many agri-food industries, this processed product sector has gone through numerous changes in the past decade which have influenced production and marketing trends, and assessing the influence of individual factors is difficult. However, using production and trade data it is possible to infer some possible drivers of trends and outcomes for the industry. Year-round supply from other countries, quality products at more competitive prices, changing consumer preferences, and more service-oriented business models have introduced new marketing structures likely to continue driving future trade and production patterns. The information presented in this report is important in order to assess competitiveness and develop a broad and well-informed perspective for the pickling industry in Michigan. The report is structured as follows: first, we present information on global volume produced in the period 1992 to 2004, including rates of change in production and shares of total world production by country. Second, we compare total acreage trends in the U.S and production and acreage trends in Michigan during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Third, we highlight information on pickled cucumber import and export volumes by country. Finally, we present a brief description of historic trends in food marketing and globalization that are likely to continue influencing the pickling industry in the future.Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

Michigan: A State at the Intersection of the Debate over Full Planting Flexibility

Greater flexibility in U.S. farm programs with elimination of the restriction on the planting of fruit and vegetable crops (FAVR crops) is likely to be a major issue in congressional 2007 farm policy discussions. Michigan is a state with a wide range of both FAVR and program crops planted under the current policy. To capture the diversity of situations that would apply among of crops covered by the current policy, this research has examined a broad set of Michigan FAVR crops (dry beans, pickling cucumbers, processing tomatoes, fresh market tomatoes, squash, and blueberries). We evaluate both those factors that are likely to prevent the entry of DCP crop producers into the production of FAVR crops (barriers to entry or disincentives) and those factors that are likely to encourage DCP crop producers to enter the production of FAVR crops (inducements to entry or incentives). The balance will determine the likely outcome from elimination of the FAVR. With the exception of dry beans, a change in the FAVR would provide only small (or no) positive incentives for DCP crop producers to enter the production of FAVR crops. Similarly, barriers to entry would, in many cases, be high enough to significantly limit, or even prohibit, movement of DCP crop producers into the markets for FAVR crops. When considering these factors in combination, only dry beans appear to have the potential for entry of a significant number of new producers. In most other cases, the probability of entry by new producers appears to be low. Even with a low or zero response in total supply, equity issues will likely still arise.Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

Technological Leapfrogging as a Source of Competitive Advantage

This paper examines technological leapfrogging industries characterized by long term investments in perennial crops. Threshold farm size and economic valuation are used to evaluate adoption of harvester innovations. Less than 1 percent of Polish farmers are able to adopt overhead harvesters and sunk costs limit the ability of rapid adjustments in U.S. technology.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Lattice-Ordered Algebras That are Subdirect Products of Valuation Domains

An f-ring (i.e., a lattice-ordered ring that is a subdirect product of totally ordered rings) A is called an SV-ring if A/P is a valuation domain for every prime ideal P of A. If M is a maximal ℓ-ideal of A , then the rank of A at M is the number of minimal prime ideals of A contained in M, rank of A is the sup of the ranks of A at each of its maximal ℓ-ideals. If the latter is a positive integer, then A is said to have finite rank, and if A = C(X) is the ring of all real-valued continuous functions on a Tychonoff space, the rank of X is defined to be the rank of the f-ring C(X), and X is called an SV-space if C(X) is an SV-ring. X has finite rank k iff k is the maximal number of pairwise disjoint cozero sets with a point common to all of their closures. In general f-rings these two concepts are unrelated, but if A is uniformly complete (in particular, if A = C(X)) then if A is an SV-ring then it has finite rank. Showing that ihis latter holds makes use of the theory of finite-valued lattice-ordered (abelian) groups. These two kinds of rings are investigated with an emphasis on the uniformly complete case. Fairly powerful machinery seems to have to be used, and even then, we do not know if there is a compact space X of finite rank that fails to be an SV-space

Diabatic processes and the evolution of two contrasting summer extratropical cyclones

Extratropical cyclones are typically weaker and less frequent in summer as a result of differences in the background state flow and diabatic processes with respect to other seasons. Two extratropical cyclones were observed in summer 2012 with a research aircraft during the DIAMET (DIAbatic influences on Mesoscale structure in ExTratropical storms) field campaign. The first cyclone deepened only down to 995 hPa; the second cyclone deepened down to 978 hPa and formed a potential vorticity (PV) tower, a frequent signature of intense cyclones. The objectives of this article are to quantify the effects of diabatic processes and their parametrizations on cyclone dynamics. The cyclones were analyzed through numerical simulations incorporating tracers for the effects of diabatic processes on potential temperature and PV. The simulations were compared with radar rainfall observations and dropsonde measurements. It was found that the observed maximum vapor flux in the stronger cyclone was twice as strong as in the weaker cyclone; the water vapor mass flow along the warm conveyor belt of the stronger cyclone was over half that typical in winter. The model overestimated water vapor mass flow by approximately a factor of two due to deeper structure in the rearwards flow and humidity in the weaker case. An integral tracer interpretation is introduced, relating the tracers with cross-isentropic mass transport and circulation. It is shown that the circulation around the cyclone increases much more slowly than the amplitude of the diabatically-generated PV tower. This effect is explained using the PV impermeability theorem

Achieving 6th Magnet Designation via Virtual Visit during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite the challenges encountered with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Baptist Hospital of Miami achieved the prestigious American Nursing Credentialing Center Magnet 6th designation. We describe the journey including writing the documents, preparing for the virtual visit, and efforts from key stakeholders to support the virtual site visit with the use of technology, to hold videoconferencing and tours “on wheels.” Nurses showcased their professional practice and excellence in patient care through exemplars and narratives presented during the virtual visit. Last, we provide recommendations for success to organizations contemplating a virtual site visit

Distinguishing the cold conveyor belt and sting jet air streams in an intense extratropical cyclone

Strong winds equatorwards and rearwards of a cyclone core have often been associated with two phenomena, the cold conveyor belt (CCB) jet and sting jets. Here, detailed observations of the mesoscale structure in this region of an intense cyclone are analysed. The {\it in-situ} and dropsonde observations were obtained during two research flights through the cyclone during the DIAMET (DIAbatic influences on Mesoscale structures in ExTratropical storms) field campaign. A numerical weather prediction model is used to link the strong wind regions with three types of ``air streams'', or coherent ensembles of trajectories: two types are identified with the CCB, hooking around the cyclone center, while the third is identified with a sting jet, descending from the cloud head to the west of the cyclone. Chemical tracer observations show for the first time that the CCB and sting jet air streams are distinct air masses even when the associated low-level wind maxima are not spatially distinct. In the model, the CCB experiences slow latent heating through weak resolved ascent and convection, while the sting jet experiences weak cooling associated with microphysics during its subsaturated descent. Diagnosis of mesoscale instabilities in the model shows that the CCB passes through largely stable regions, while the sting jet spends relatively long periods in locations characterized by conditional symmetric instability (CSI). The relation of CSI to the observed mesoscale structure of the bent-back front and its possible role in the cloud banding is discussed

Towards Statistical Best Practices For Gender And Sex Data

Suzanne Thornton, Dooti Roy, Stephen Parry, Donna LaLonde, Wendy Martinez, Renee Ellis and David Corliss call for a more inclusive – and informative – approach to collecting data on human gender and sex