Measuring the Impacts of US Export Promotion Program for Wheat in Selected Importing Regions

We examine the impacts of major factors affecting the export demand of wheat with a special focus on the impacts of export promotion programs on US wheat. Study results show negative impacts of own-price and real exchange rate on export demand of wheat, while the real GDP, price of corn, and export promotion expenditure had positive and significant impacts. The per dollar returns to wheat export promotion expenditures were $1.49,$0.42, and $2.01 for Middle East, Pacific Rim, and Mexico, respectively.International Relations/Trade,

FORECASTING IRRIGATION WATER DEMAND: A STRUCTURAL AND TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

An expected utility model was developed to capture the impacts of wealth, other economic, and institutional factors on irrigation acreage allocation decisions. Predicted water demand is derived from an expected utility structural model and various ARIMA models. No significant differences arise between forecasted irrigation acreage and, thereby, amount of forecasted water demand between econometric and time series models. However, estimates of water demand differ significantly from a Blaney-Criddle-based physical model. Keywords: water forecasting, acreage response, water slippage, BC formulawater forecasting, acreage response, water slippage, BC formula, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Measurement of the Homogeneous Contact of a Unitary Fermi gas

By selectively probing the center of a trapped gas, we measure the local, or homogeneous, contact of a unitary Fermi gas as a function of temperature. Tan's contact, C, is proportional to the derivative of the energy with respect to the interaction strength, and is thus an essential thermodynamic quantity for a gas with short-range correlations. Theoretical predictions for the temperature dependence of C differ substantially, especially near the superfluid transition, Tc, where C is predicted to either sharply decrease, sharply increase, or change very little. For T/T_F>0.4, our measurements of the homogeneous gas contact show a gradual decrease of C with increasing temperature, as predicted by theory. We observe a sharp decrease in C at T/T_F=0.16, which may be due to the superfluid phase transition. While a sharp decrease in C below Tc is predicted by some many-body theories, we find that none of the predictions fully accounts for the data.Comment: 5 pages, including a supplementary material section (10 pages). Rewriting of the introduction and discussion section

AN ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PRICE AND EXCHANGE RATE ELASTICITY FOR US SOYBEANS: THE CASE OF JAPAN

Stepwise model selection criteria were tested against the restrictive forms to determine the appropriate model and to confirm the law of one price for the US soybeans. Analysis shows less than one international price transmission and exchange rate elasticities in the long run indicate an incomplete exchange rate pass through.International Relations/Trade,

NON-PRICE PROMOTION IMPACTS ON COTTON AND SOYBEANS EXPORTS UNDER EXCHANGE RATE LINKED SUBSIDIES

Issue of exchange rate-linked subsidies for non-price export promotion has recently emerged as an area of interest among marketing researchers because of fluctuating strength of US dollars and position of US agricultural goods in export markets. One solution to mitigate these impacts was to link the federal export promotion subsidies with the changing value of US dollars. In the study, an equilibrium displacement framework was developed to analyze the effectiveness of exchange rate-linked subsidies for non-price promotion by comparatively analyzing its effectiveness on US soybeans and cotton. The study result shows that an increase in promotion expenditure with an increase in the strength of US dollars and vice versa promotes the export of US cotton and soybeans in export markets and increases the efficiency of federal export promotion programs. Even though transportation cost elasticity was one of major focuses of this study, it emerged as an insignificant factor.export promotion, exchange rate linked subsidies, gross gain, and producer welfare, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

ASSESSING THE EFFICIENCY OF EXCHANGE RATE-LINKED SUBSIDIES FOR NON-PRICE EXPORT PROMOTION: THE CASE OF COTTON

Notwithstanding substantial federal financial support for the export promotion of agricultural products, ways to improve the efficiency of federal funding have not been discussed in empirical research. In this study, an equilibrium displacement framework was developed to evaluate whether the efficiency of export promotion expenditures could be increased by linking them with changes in the exchange rate. In our analysis, the gross gain to domestic cotton producers from the exchange-rate linked subsidy scheme was positive. Findings support exchange-rate linked subsidies for export promotion of agricultural products.International Relations/Trade,

Rapid silviculture appraisal to characterise stand and determine silviculture priorities of community forests in Nepal

Published online: 7 September 2016Community forestry in Nepal is an example of a successful participatory forest management program. Developments in community forestry in four decades have focused on the social and governance aspects with little focus on the technical management of forests. This paper presents a silviculture description of community forests and provides silviculture recommendations using a rapid silviculture appraisal (RSA) approach. The RSA, which is a participatory technique involving local communities in assessing forests and silviculture options, is a simple and costeffective process to gather information and engage forest users in the preparation of operational plans that are relevant to their needs. The RSA conducted on selected community forests in Nepal’s Mid-hills region shows that forests are largely comprised of dominant crowns of one or two species. The majority of studied community forests have tree densities below 500 stems per hectare as a consequence of traditional forest management practices but the quality and quantity of the trees for producing forest products are low. Silviculture options preferred by forest users generally are those which are legally acceptable, doable with existing capacities of forest users and generate multiple forest products. For sustainable production of multiple forest products, the traditional forest management practices have to be integrated with silviculture-based forest management system.Edwin Cedamon, Ian Nuberg, Govinda Paudel, Madan Basyal, Krishna Shrestha, Naya Paude