The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture received a grant from the National Research Initiative (NRI), CSREES USDA. The purpose was to help small- and medium-sized farmers and entrepreneurs enhance the viability of their farms through the establishment of vineyards, on-farm wineries, and production of value-added products from grapes and grape by-products. This publication looks at efforts by the UA Grape and Wine Research Program to enhance the profitability of muscadine grapes. Included are discussions of research designed to develop the market potential of muscadines as fresh fruit and as value-added products such as juice, wine, sweet spreads, vinegar, and dried products. The skin and seeds of muscadines have traditionally been considered waste; however, recent research has shown that they contain nutraceutical components. Reports are included of research to quantify these nutraceuticals and to develop products containing them

The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture received a grant from the USDA’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) program. The purpose was to help small- and medium-sized farmers and entrepreneurs become more profitable and therefore add stability to the family farm. One approach to doing this is to investigate opportunities to enhance profits by adding value to traditional raw products

Considerations for Starting a Winery

This publication is for anyone who has ever considered entering the wine industry. The goal of this publication is to provide information about requirements and procedures for starting a winery. It is not a “how-to” manual but rather is designed to serve as a starting point to investigate the many aspects of owning and operating a winery. Although the manuscript frequently refers to procedures for starting a winery in Arkansas, the concepts presented are applicable throughout the U.S. Detailed economic information on starting a winery is covered in a companion publication. Both publications are part of a project supported by the National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, grant number #2006-55618-17203. The purpose of this grant is to provide research and training to help owners of small- and medium-sized farms in Arkansas and throughout the U.S. explore the potential for grapes as an alternative and sustainable crop

An Optimization Model for Winery Capacity Use

An optimization model to sequence wine flow through the production process is developed. The model is formulated as a mixed integer program and accounts for winemaking specifications, market conditions, grape availability, and tank capacity. An empirical example is provided to demonstrate results and uses of the model.Agribusiness,

Large N and the renormalization group

In the large N limit, we show that the Local Potential Approximation to the flow equation for the Legendre effective action, is in effect no longer an approximation, but exact - in a sense, and under conditions, that we determine precisely. We explain why the same is not true for the Polchinski or Wilson flow equations and, by deriving an exact relation between the Polchinski and Legendre effective potentials (that holds for all N), we find the correct large N limit of these flow equations. We also show that all forms (and all parts) of the renormalization group are exactly soluble in the large N limit, choosing as an example, D dimensional O(N) invariant N-component scalar field theory.Comment: 13 pages, uses harvmac; Added: one page with further clarification of the main results, discussion of earlier work, and new references. To be published in Phys. Lett.

Derivative Expansion of the Exact Renormalization Group

The functional flow equations for the Legendre effective action, with respect to changes in a smooth cutoff, are approximated by a derivative expansion; no other approximation is made. This results in a set of coupled non-linear differential equations. The corresponding differential equations for a fixed point action have at most a countable number of solutions that are well defined for all values of the field. We apply the technique to the fixed points of one-component real scalar field theory in three dimensions. Only two non-singular solutions are found: the gaussian fixed point and an approximation to the Wilson fixed point. The latter is used to compute critical exponents, by carrying the approximation to second order. The results appear to converge rapidly.Comment: 14 pages (with figures), Plain TeX, uses psfig, 4 postscript figures appended as uuencoded compressed tar file, SHEP 93/94-16, CERN-TH.7203/94. (Added small details and minor improvements in rigour : the version to be published in Phys.Lett.B

Three dimensional massive scalar field theory and the derivative expansion of the renormalization group

We show that non-perturbative fixed points of the exact renormalization group, their perturbations and corresponding massive field theories can all be determined directly in the continuum -- without using bare actions or any tuning procedure. As an example, we estimate the universal couplings of the non-perturbative three-dimensional one-component massive scalar field theory in the Ising model universality class, by using a derivative expansion (and no other approximation). These are compared to the recent results from other methods. At order derivative-squared approximation, the four-point coupling at zero momentum is better determined by other methods, but factoring this out appropriately, all our other results are in very close agreement with the most powerful of these methods. In addition we provide for the first time, estimates of the n-point couplings at zero momentum, with n=12,14, and the order momentum-squared parts with n=2 ... 10.Comment: 33 pages, 1 eps figure, 7 tables; TeX + harvmac; version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Production and Handling Practices for Safe Produce

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture received a grant from the USDA’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems program to help small- and medium-sized farms become more profitable and to therefore add stability to the family farm. One approach to doing this is to help farmers growing produce reduce or eliminate safety hazards which may be associated with their products

Good Agricultural and Handling Practices for Grapes and Other Fresh Produce

In recent years consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased dramatically. This trend has increased the amount of produce being purchased at farmer’s markets, road-side stands, and neighborhood markets since consumers say they feel that the direct contact with growers at these markets makes them better able to assess the quality and safety of the produce. This buying trend has opened new markets to small- and medium-sized farms, which sell at these local outlets

Marketing Options for Grapes and Grape Products

Many owners of small- and medium-size farms in Arkansas and across the U.S. have begun to explore the potential of juice and wine grapes as an alternative crop to increase the profitability and stability of their farming operations. Grapes are unique in that they are not only well-suited for marketing through traditional commercial channels but also are popular in direct marketing venues such as produce stands, farmers markets, community sponsored agricultural ventures, and pick-your-own operations. This publication provides an overview of the various types of market channels available for grape growers and explores their potential as outlets for regional grape producers. It is not intended as a “how-to” book but rather is designed to help identify some of the factors which might be involved in deciding to become a part of the grape and wine industr