PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, TECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, AND EFFICIENCY CHANGE IN CHINESE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION FROM 1984 TO 1993

This study applies a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to analyze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Chinese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty- nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change index. The results showed that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories. Technical progress has been the most important factor to Chinese agricultural productivity growth since 1984 and will remain crucial to productivity growth in low-technology provinces. Low efficiency in many important agricultural provinces indicates a great potential for China to increase productivity through improving technical efficiency. Continuously expanding market economy and enhancing rural education may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and productivity in agricultural production.Chinese agriculture, Total Factor Productivity (TFP), technology, technical efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)., Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

REGIONAL FACTOR DEMAND IN U.S. WHEAT PRODUCTION

This study applies a translog cost function to analyze factor demands in four U.S. wheat production regions. The results show that factor demands are inelastic across all regions. The interdependent relationships among inputs and the effects of price changes on the relative cost shares are substantiallywheat production, factor demand, elasticity of substitution, regional comparisons, translog models, curvature condition, Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics,

WORLD FEED BARLEY TRADE UNDER ALTERNATIVE TRADE POLICY SCENARIOS

A spatial equilibrium model based on a quadratic programming algorithm was developed to analyze world feed barley trade and international competition among major exporters (Australia, Canada, the European Union, and the United States) under the current and alternative trade policy scenarios. The U.S. Export Enhancement Program (EEP) plays an important role to maintain U.S. market share in importing countries. Eliminating Canadian rail subsidy decreases Canadian offshore exports, but greatly increases its exports to the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) increases feed barley trade within North America, but has little impact on world trade flows for feed barley. Canada benefits most under the Uruguay Round Agreement of GATT and the world free trade through significantly higher exports to offshore markets and the United States. Australia also gains from free trade. The European Union is worse off under free trade.feed barley, international grain trade, trade policy, spatial equilibrium model, International Relations/Trade,

WHEAT IMPORT DEMAND IN THE JAPANESE FLOUR MILLING INDUSTRY: A PRODUCTION THEORY APPROACH

The translog cost function is used to analyze import demand for wheat differentiated by class and country of origin in the Japanese wheat flour milling industry. Results indicate that U.S. wheat faces strong competition in the Japanese wheat market, but its multiple classes and end-use characteristics enable the United States to preserve the largest market share in Japan.import demand, Japan, wheat, production theory, translog cost function, International Relations/Trade,

The improved assembly of 7DL chromosome provides insight into the structure and evolution of bread wheat

Wheat is one of the most important staple crops worldwide and also an excellent model species for crop evolution and polyploidization studies. The breakthrough of sequencing the bread wheat genome and progenitor genomes lays the foundation to decipher the complexity of wheat origin and evolutionary process as well as the genetic consequences of polyploidization. In this study, we sequenced 3286 BACs from chromosome 7DL of bread wheat cv. Chinese Spring and integrated the unmapped contigs from IWGSC v1 and available PacBio sequences to close gaps present in the 7DL assembly. In total, 8043 out of 12 825 gaps, representing 3 491 264 bp, were closed. We then used the improved assembly of 7DL to perform comparative genomic analysis of bread wheat (Ta7DL) and its D donor, Aegilops tauschii (At7DL), to identify domestication signatures. Results showed a strong syntenic relationship between Ta7DL and At7DL, although some small rearrangements were detected at the distal regions. A total of 53 genes appear to be lost genes during wheat polyploidization, with 23% (12 genes) as RGA (disease resistance gene analogue). Furthermore, 86 positively selected genes (PSGs) were identified, considered to be domestication‐related candidates. Finally, overlapping of QTLs obtained from GWAS analysis and PSGs indicated that TraesCS7D02G321000 may be one of the domestication genes involved in grain morphology. This study provides comparative information on the sequence, structure and organization between bread wheat and Ae. tauschii from the perspective of the 7DL chromosome, which contribute to better understanding of the evolution of wheat, and supports wheat crop improvement

Estimation and uncertainty analyses of grassland biomass in Northern China: Comparison of multiple remote sensing data sources and modeling approaches

Accurate estimation of grassland biomass and its dynamics are crucial not only for the biogeochemical dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems, but also for the sustainable use of grassland resources. However, estimations of grassland biomass on large spatial scale usually suffer from large variability and mostly lack quantitative uncertainty analyses. In this study, the spatial grassland biomass estimation and its uncertainty were assessed based on 265 field measurements and remote sensing data across Northern China during 2001-2005. Potential sources of uncertainty, including remote sensing data sources (DATsrc), model forms (MODfrm) and model parameters (biomass allocation, BMallo, e.g. root:shoot ratio), were determined and their relative contribution was quantified. The results showed that the annual grassland biomass in Northern China was 1268.37 +/- 180.84Tg (i.e., 532.02 +/- 99.71 g/m(2)) during 2001-2005, increasing from western to eastern area, with a mean relative uncertainty of 19.8%. There were distinguishable differences among the uncertainty contributions of three sources (BMallo >DATsrc>MODfrm), which contributed 52%, 27% and 13%, respectively. This study highlighted the need to concern the uncertainty in grassland biomass estimation, especially for the uncertainty related to BMallo. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, TECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, AND EFFICIENCY CHANGE IN CHINESE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION FROM 1984 TO 1993

This study applies a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to analyze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Chinese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty- nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change index. The results showed that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories. Technical progress has been the most important factor to Chinese agricultural productivity growth since 1984 and will remain crucial to productivity growth in low-technology provinces. Low efficiency in many important agricultural provinces indicates a great potential for China to increase productivity through improving technical efficiency. Continuously expanding market economy and enhancing rural education may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and productivity in agricultural production

REGIONAL FACTOR DEMAND IN U.S. WHEAT PRODUCTION

This study applies a translog cost function to analyze factor demands in four U.S. wheat production regions. The results show that factor demands are inelastic across all regions. The interdependent relationships among inputs and the effects of price changes on the relative cost shares are substantiall

REGIONAL FACTOR DEMAND IN U.S. WHEAT PRODUCTION

This study applies a translog cost function to analyze factor demands in four U.S. wheat production regions. The results show that factor demands are inelastic across all regions. The interdependent relationships among inputs and the effects of price changes on the relative cost shares are substantially different across regions.wheat production, factor demand, elasticity of substitution, regional comparisons, translog models, curvature condition.