Economic Impact Assessment of Bovine Tuberculosis in the South West of England

Bovine TB (bTB) presents a significant challenge to beef and dairy farmers. In 2009 7,449 herds were subject to movement restrictions in Great Britain because of bTB. Of these, 52% were in South West England and 20% were in Devon alone. With over 25% of holdings with cattle in the South West likely to suffer a bTB breakdown within the course of a year, understanding the cost implications on farm businesses is vital in order to demonstrate the impact that this disease is having on agricultural communities and the agricultural economy. The research undertaken for this report has revealed considerable variation across a range of different types of costs associated with bTB. Consequently average figures, either for costs or calculating compensation, obscure much of the detail at an individual farm level. The research also points to a range of ‘hidden’ and longer term costs that fall beyond the scope of the compensation scheme. Finally, in addition to economic losses, bTB is imposing considerable costs on the personal well-being of many farm households and also raises profound livestock welfare issues.Bovine Tuberculosis, Costs, Beef farmers, Dairy farmers, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Is Devon's agriculture fit for purpose in an era of climate change? A report on a stakeholder jury for Devon County Council

Devon County Counci

Farm incomes in Devon 2007/08

Devon County Counci

Discussion Group Report: Campaign Finance

Campaign finance\u27 laws cover the manner in which money is raised, spent and reported by candidate committees, political action committees, political parties and independent expenditure groups. This report will examine existing laws in New Mexico, potential problem areas in those laws and options for amending current laws. The real or perceived influence of money on the political process creates an inevitable tension between the right to free speech on the one hand, and the established norm of one person, one vote on the other. Existing laws governing campaign finance in New Mexico focus on reporting requirements, limits on campaign spending, and public campaign funding (for Public Regulation Commission races). With the exception of the Voter Action Act, which provides public campaign funding for Public Regulation Commission races, existing laws discussed in this report are drawn from the various sections of the Campaign Disclosure Act. In accordance with the Task Force matrix, each of the following issue areas will be addressed separately: campaign spending, campaign donations, campaign reporting, public campaign funding and third-party expenditures/out-of-state funding.\u2

X-ray properties of an Unbiased Hard X-ray Detected Sample of AGN

The SWIFT gamma ray observatory's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) has detected a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) based solely on their hard X-ray flux (14-195 keV). In this paper, we present for the first time {\it XMM-Newton} X-ray spectra for 22 BAT AGNs with no previously analyzed X-ray spectra. If our sources are a representative sample of the BAT AGN, as we claim, our results present for the first time global X-ray properties of an unbiased towards absorption (n$_H = 0.03$), AGN sample. We find 9/22 low absorption (n$_H < 10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$), simple power law model sources, where 4 of these sources have a statistically significant soft component. Among these sources, we find the presence of a warm absorber statistically significant for only one Seyfert 1 source, contrasting with the ASCA results of \citet{rey97} and \citet{geo98}, who find signatures of warm absorption in half or more of their Seyfert 1 samples at similar redshifts. Additionally, the remaining sources (14/22) have more complex spectra, well-fit by an absorbed power law at $E > 2.0$ keV. Five of the complex sources are classified as Compton-thick candidates. Further, we find four more sources with properties consistent with the hidden/buried AGN reported by Ueda {\it et al.} (2007). Finally, we include a comparison of the {\it XMM-Newton} EPIC spectra with available SWIFT X-ray Telescope (XRT) observations. From these comparisons, we find 6/16 sources with varying column densities, 6/16 sources with varying power law indices, and 13/16 sources with varying fluxes, over periods of hours to months. Flux and power law index are correlated for objects where both parameters vary.Comment: 39 pages, 16 figures, accepted to Ap

Size, Role and Performance in the Oil and Gas Sector

The oil and gas sector is a key driver of the Canadian and Albertan economies. Directly and indirectly it typically accounts for roughly half of Alberta’s GDP, as well as one-third of the country’s business investment and a quarter of business profits — and rising global demand will only add to these figures. However, that energy sector is also a changeable place populated by companies of all shapes and sizes, from small Emerging Juniors to wellestablished Majors whose daily production capacities are hundreds or thousands of times greater. The sector’s assorted firms have different structures and ambitions, respond in distinct ways to market forces and have unique impacts on the economy. These differences in size, role and performance must be reflected in energy and related economic policies if they are to be effective in achieving policy goals. For example, they must recognize that the smallest firms are not always the fastest growers or the most innovative; that Intermediates are the most highly leveraged, with the highest debt-to-equity ratios; and that while Majors tend to have the lowest average cost per well drilled, they also (along with Emerging Juniors) have the highest operating costs. Despite the industry’s critical importance, relatively little hard data has been made available concerning companies’ structure, behaviour and performance, based on size. This paper goes a considerable way toward filling that gap, bringing together comprehensive datasets on 340 public oil and gas firms to chart essential patterns and trends, so policymakers and industry watchers can better understand the complexity and functioning of this important sector

Analysis of socio-economic aspects of local and national organic farming markets; final report for Defra

The purpose of this study was to take a fresh look at the nature of organic production, consumption and marketing in England and Wales in order to better assess its current and likely contribution to rural development and its ability to meet consumer expectations. Based on a mixed methodological approach the study consulted with 2,300 individuals to reveal a complex and multi-dimensional sector with a highly committed consumer base. The research aimed to describe and account for: (1)The socio-economic impacts of the organic farm supply chains on rural development; (2)The extent to which organic food delivers consumer expectations; and (3) The barriers affecting conversion to organic farming and expansion of existing organic farms. The research reported here is arguably one of the most integrated studies of organic consumption, production and marketing conducted to date. It throws new light on the nature of organic consumption, underlining both the on-going commitment of the majority of committed organic consumers and the gap in perceptions, degrees of ‘brand trust’ and price sensitivity between this group and the majority of consumers who rarely or never buy organic. While this degree of commitment suggests that recent declines in organic consumption may not be sustained and will soon hit a floor, this finding also points to difficulties, particularly in a time of recession, in enrolling new consumers into organic networks, particularly via the direct marketing channels that smaller producers are more likely to depend on. This group of producers, locally embedded and linked to consumers via short supply chains, fulfil the expectations of many organic consumers and exemplify the idea of alternative food producers. Managed by self selecting, entrepreneurial farmers, these organic producers make a valuable contribution towards employment and income generation within the local rural economy. As our broader analysis of food chains and multiplier effects across the regional and national rural economy shows, however, it is the large scale producers, concerned with the production of bulk commodities and integrated into long supply chains, that inevitably account for the main rural employment and income benefits of the organic sector, if measured in aggregate terms. While there is a good case to be made for the rural development benefits of organic farming, it is important to recognise these scale effects and their geographically uneven distribution in any policy assessment.Organic markets, Organic farming, Organic consumers, Rural Economy, Multiplier Analysis, Simple Value Chains, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Rural stress review: final report

Rural Stress Information Networ

Interannual surface evolution of an Antarctic blue-ice moraine using multi-temporal DEMs

Multi-temporal and fine resolution topographic data products are increasingly used to quantify surface elevation change in glacial environments. In this study, we employ 3D digital elevation model (DEM) differencing to quantify the topographic evolution of a blue-ice moraine complex in front of Patriot Hills, Heritage Range, Antarctica. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) was used to acquire multiple topographic datasets of the moraine surface at the beginning and end of the austral summer season in 2012/2013 and during a resurvey field campaign in 2014. A complementary topographic dataset was acquired at the end of season 1 through the application of Structure-from-Motion with multi-view stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry to a set of aerial photographs acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).Three-dimensional cloud-to-cloud differencing was undertaken using the Multiscale Model to Model Cloud Comparison (M3C2) algorithm. DEM differencing revealed net uplift and lateral movement of the moraine crests within season 1 (mean uplift ~0.10 m), and surface lowering of a similar magnitude in some inter-moraine depressions and close to the current ice margin, although we are unable to validate the latter. Our results indicate net uplift across the site between seasons 1 and 2 (mean 0.07 m). This research demonstrates that it is possible to detect dynamic surface topographical change across glacial moraines over short (annual to intra-annual) timescales through the acquisition and differencing of fine-resolution topographic datasets. Such data offer new opportunities to understand the process linkages between surface ablation, ice flow, and debris supply within moraine ice