MEETING PRIVATE GRADES AND STANDARDS IN TRANSITION AGRICULTURE: EXPERIENCES FROM THE ARMENIAN DAIRY INDUSTRY

One of the main trends emerging from the agroindustrialization process is the rise of 'grades and standards' (G&S) in food products. G&S were initially developed by the public sector to reduce transaction costs and ensure product quality and safety but have become a strategic instrument of competition in differentiated product markets (Reardon et al, 2001). Firms are using grades and standards to protect and develop brands in the international marketplace and in some cases to fill in for missing public standards. While producers in developed countries have the resources to meet these requirements, in developing countries these changes have tended to exclude small firms and farmers from participating in market growth, because of the implied investment requirements (Reardon et al, 2001). This is leading to already disadvantaged farmers in these countries being forced to produce basic subsistence food crops and become further excluded from the opportunity to join the global food industry. While past research has evaluated the effects and trends of G&S (Reardon, et al, 2001; Farina & Reardon, 2000; Reardon & Farina, 2002) the organizational structure to enable small farmers to meet these requirements has largely been overlooked. In this paper we use a theoretical contract enforcement framework to argue that private enforcement capital developed through the facilitation of an external aid agency can be an effective means for creating credible and sustainable relationships capable of meeting G&S. We draw upon theory from Cocks and Gow (2002), Oliver and Gow (2002) and Gow et al. (2000) to argue that in situations characterized by high discount rates and low reputation or trust levels (such as transition agriculture) that the use of a third party external enforcement agent can be used to provide the necessary linkage between the parties to facilitate transactions. Through the facilitation role of the external agency, private enforcement capital is developed between the firm and the farmers, opening the path for a sustainable mutually beneficial relationship. Empirical evidence is provided by the case of the United States Department of Agriculture Marketing Assistance Project (USDA MAP) in Armenia and its role in establishing farmer owned milk marketing cooperatives. By acting as an external facilitator in the initial establishment and ongoing development of milk supply cooperatives the USDA MAP has provided a solution to the dual market failure problems of reliable supply of the consistent quality of milk required by processors while enabling farmers access to markets and ensuring timely payment and therefore enabling farmers and firms to credibly contract for the collective marketing of their milk. Through the establishment of a unique and flexibly designed combination of leadership development, training in governance, financial management, dairy management, and quality improvement programs, the USDA MAP has assisted the groups in expanding the self enforcing range in such a manner that the cooperative should be capable of sustaining long term credible exchange relationships once the external agency withdraws. This is important as aid programs have often failed at ensuring sustainability once external management and financial support is removed. Data for this paper was collected through a series of semi-structured interview with USDA MAP staff, dairy processing firm managers, cooperative managers, and cooperative presidents during the fall of 2002, and over a two week period in March, 2003.Livestock Production/Industries,

MEETING PRIVATE GRADES AND STANDARDS IN TRANSITION AGRICULTURE: EXPERIENCES FROM THE ARMENIAN DAIRY INDUSTRY

Livestock Production/Industries,

Tethering polypeptides through bifunctional PEG cross-linking agents to probe protein function: application to ATP synthase.

Chemical crosslinking mediated by short bifunctional reagents has been widely used for determining physical relationships among polypeptides in multisubunit proteins, but less often for functional studies. Here we introduce the approach of tethering polypeptides by using bifunctional reagents containing a lengthy, flexible PEG linker as a form of crosslinking especially suited to functional analyses. The rotary molecular motor ATP synthase was used as a model subject. Single cysteine residues were introduced into selected positions of ATP synthase epsilon subunit, a component of the rotor subcomplex of the enzyme, and the unrelated maltose binding protein (MBP), then the two purified recombinant proteins were crosslinked by means of a dimaleimido-PEG cross-linking agent. Following purification, the epsilon-PEG-MBP was incorporated into membrane-bound ATP synthase by reconstitution with epsilon-depleted F(1)-ATPase and membrane vesicles that had been stripped of endogenous F(1). ATP synthase reconstituted using epsilon-PEG-MBP had reduced ATP hydrolytic activity that was uncoupled from the pumping of H(+), indicating the physical blockage of rotation of the gammaepsilonc(10) rotor by the conjugated MBP, whereas enzyme reconstituted with epsilon-PEG was normal. These results directly demonstrate the feasibility of studying mechanistic features of molecular motors through PEG-based conjugation of unrelated proteins. Since tethering polypeptides provides a means of maintaining proximity without directly specifying or modifying interactions, application of the general method to other types of protein functional studies is envisioned

36 degree step size of proton-driven c-ring rotation in FoF1-ATP synthase

Synthesis of the biological "energy currency molecule" adenosine triphosphate ATP is accomplished by FoF1-ATP synthase. In the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli, proton-driven rotation of a ring of 10 c subunits in the Fo motor powers catalysis in the F1 motor. While F1 uses 120 degree stepping, Fo models predict a step-by-step rotation of c subunits 36 degree at a time, which is here demonstrated by single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Changes in wild meat hunting and use by rural communities during the COVID‐19 socio‐economic shock

There is limited quantitative evidence of the effects of socio‐economic shocks on biological resource use. Focusing on wild meat hunting, a substantial livelihood and food source in tropical regions, we evaluated the impacts of the shock from Nigeria's coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) lockdown on species exploitation around a global biodiversity hotspot. Using a 3‐year quantitative dataset collected during and after the lockdown (covering 1008 hunter‐months) and matching by time of year, we found that successful hunting trip rates were more frequent during the lockdown, with a corresponding increase in the monthly number, mass, and value of animals caught. Moreover, hunters consumed a larger proportion of wild meat and sold less during lockdown, compared to non‐lockdown periods. These results suggest that local communities relied on wild meat to supplement reduced food and income during the lockdown, buffering the COVID‐19's socio‐economic shock. Our findings also indicate that wild species may be especially vulnerable to increased hunting pressure during socio‐economic shocks