AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCING CARROTS IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY

This report evaluates the U.S. carrot market using a quadratic programming algorithm. North Dakota ships carrots locally and to Minnesota under both the base and 1,000 acre scenarios. North Dakota starts to ship carrots to Illinois as it produces more under other alternative scenarios. This clearly indicates that North Dakota has a comparative advantage in producing carrots over other neighboring states. North Dakota could produce about 8,000 acres of carrots and market them to North Dakota, Minnesota, and Illinois. Additional production of carrots in North Dakota may not affect the national average price of carrots, but local prices may be affected due to regional competition.carrots, quadratic programming, North Dakota, Marketing, Production Economics,

Perceived eating norms and vegetable consumption in children

open access articleBackground Beliefs about the eating behaviour of others (perceived eating norms) have been shown to influence eating behaviour in adults, but no research has examined whether young children are motivated by perceived eating norms. Findings Here we investigated the effect on vegetable intake of exposing children to information about the vegetable intake of other children. One hundred and forty three children aged 6–11 years old took part in a between-subjects experiment. Children were exposed to information suggesting that other children had eaten a large amount of carrots, no carrots, or control information. Children ate more carrots when they believed that other children had eaten a large amount of carrots, compared to all other conditions. Conclusions Perceived eating norms can influence vegetable intake in young children and making use of eating norms to promote healthier eating in children warrants investigation

The Hay and the Carrot: A Model of Corporate Sponsoring of Academic Research

In a moral hazard model with relationship-speci?c investment (?hay?) and limited liability (no ?stick?), we compare two institutional regimes: one without, and one with, ex-post incentives (?carrot?). We examine the welfare implications of introducing ?carrots?. We use this model to analyze corporate sponsoring of academic research. Under restrictive technological assumptions, the introduction of carrots meets certain ciency criteria and cannot make the agent (researcher) worse. These results no longer hold once we allow for a ?bang-for-your-buck?ect - which occurs when the researcher?s following the sponsor?s preferred strategy results in the principal (sponsor) being able to achieve the same results with fewer investment dollars - in conjunction with a concave value function for the sponsor. In this case, the introduc- tion of carrots may be inecient and may make the agent worse. However, if the agent is a monopolist, a renegotiation-proof contract implies that the agent can never be made worse by the introduction of carrots, and carrots never reduce social welfare.

Carrots for dessert

Carrots for dessert is the title of a section of the paper `On polynomial-like mappings' by Douady and Hubbard. In that section the authors define a notion of dyadic carrot fields of the Mandelbrot set M and more generally for Mandelbrot like families. They remark that such carrots are small when the dyadic denominator is large, but they do not even try to prove a precise such statement. In this paper we formulate and prove a precise statement of asymptotic shrinking of dyadic Carrot-fields around M. The same proof carries readily over to show that the dyadic decorations of copies M' of the Mandelbrot set M inside M and inside the parabolic Mandelbrot set shrink to points when the denominator diverge to infinity.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

The consistently superior quality of carrots from one organic farm in Austria compared with conventional farms

The aim of this 5 year investigation was to compare quality parameters of differently cultivated carrots of the same cultivar grown in the same region as well as to compare the relevance of different methods of analysis to differentiate between these products. The following quality tests were applied: • Sensory tests (all harvests) • Food preference tests with laboratory rats (all harvests) • Decomposition tests (all harvests) • P-value determination (all harvests) • Single-Photon-Counting (1999) • Chemical analysis of the main components (1998 and 1999) It could be shown that carrots (var. Tarvil) grown using an organic farming method were significantly preferred by humans and laboratory rats, lost significantly less dry matter during decomposition, had lower P-values, indicating better bioelectrical properties, revealed a significantly better capacity to store biophotons, but showed no conclusive differentiation concerning their main components. Holistic methods were well qualified to distinguish organic from conventional carrots on significant levels

Morphological diversity of Meloidogyne spp. from carrot (Daucus carota subsp. Sativus) in Vietnam

Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. Sativus) is known as one of the most widely cultivated and widely consumed vegetables in the world due to its nutritional and economic values. During a survey of nematodes parasites carrots from Vietnam, six populations of three species of root-knot nematodes, namely M. incognita, M. arenaria, and M. graminicola were found. The species specific primers were confirmed before morphological studies. By combining the morphology and morphometry of the females, males, and juveniles, this study provided useful references for classification of Meloidogyne on carrots in the future. Quantitative morphological studies reveal profound changes corresponding with the generation of morphological disparity at high taxonomic diversity. Especially, this study provided the first morphological and morphometric information of M. graminicola, that is known as aquatic root-knot nematodes, on carrots

Proteomic analysis of the Mycocentrospora acerina-carrot interaction during storage

During post harvest storage, a large proportion of carrots (more than 50%) may have to be discarded due to the development of liquorice rot caused by Mycocentrospora acerina. This fungus is soil borne and brought into the store in to soil adhering to the root. Liquorice rot development is mainly related to physiological or structural resistance of carrot, therefore the control of this storage disease is based on cultural practices and storage conditions. It is believed that carrots at the beginning of storage can resist disease developments due to chemical defence mechanisms involving some proteins, peptides and secondary metabolites. The hypothesis is that proteome changes during storage of carrots are related to the susceptibility to M. acerina. During root-pathogen interactions, several genes have been reported to provide resistance against pathogens but only few proteins have been identified using proteomic approaches. Little is known about proteins involved during M. acerina - carrot interaction. The carrots used in this study are grown under two different agricultural practices (one conventional, one organic) in order to investigate the effect of the cropping system on the susceptibility to liquorice rot. We developed a bioassay for infection studies of M. acerina on conventional and organic carrots in order to determine the important time points of the infection process. Then the proteome is investigated at these different time points. The protocol for extraction of proteins has been improved so that it can be used to obtain an optimal recovery of proteins from both plant and pathogen on their own as well as from infected carrot roots. Proteomes of carrot and of M. acerina are characterized by two dimensional gel electrophoreses and the proteins whose synthesis varies significantly in the course of pathogen infection are identified by mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF-TOF)

Effect of carrot puree edible films on quality preservation of fresh-cut carrots

peer-reviewedFinancial support from the high level talent fund of Henan University of Technology Science and Technology (No. 2012BS024) is gratefully acknowledged.The effect of edible films based on carrot puree, chitosan, corn starch, gelatin, glycerol and cinnamaldehyde on fresh-cut carrots was studied during storage. Several parameters, such as firmness, colour, weight loss, total carotenoids, total phenols, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and peroxidase (POD) activity in coated carrots were determined at regular intervals and then compared with the uncoated carrots throughout the storage period. Significant and expected changes were observed in all carrot samples that were compared. The coating treatment significantly (P < 0.05) delayed the senescence, reduced the deterioration of exterior quality and retained total carotenoids well compared with control (P < 0.05). In addition, significant inhibition of PPO activity (P < 0.05) and POD activity (P < 0.05) as well as reduced accumulation of polyphenols (P < 0.05) were observed for all coated samples. All of these favourable responses induced by coating treatment on minimally processed fresh-cut carrots showed beneficial physiological effects, which would give some useful references to the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processing industry and satisfy people’s requirements allowing for extending product shelf life without negatively affecting the sensory quality or acceptability.Henan University of Technology Science and Technolog

Sticks and Carrots

The tax-payer-as-gambler (TAG) model of tax non-compliance is the classic vehicle for providing some simple insights. Under fairly general conditions this model supports the following four propositions: (1) if the rate of return to evasion is positive everyone evades tax; (2) people with higher risk-aversion tend to evade less; (3) people with higher personal income tend to evade more; (4) increasing any of the standard tax-enforcement parameters (the probability of audit, the proportional surcharge on evaded tax and the tax rate) will reduce the amount of concealed income. Not all of these TAG model predictions seem intuitively reasonable, nor are they all borne out by empirical evidence.There are three principal intellectual routes for a more satisfactory approach:(a)A re-examination of the underlying model of taxpayer motivation. This encompasses relaxation of the expected-utility assumption, introduction of time into the modeling framework and an extension of the range of arguments of the utility function.(b)A revision of the model of interaction between the taxpayer and the tax authority. This allows the introduction of an explicit strategic interaction encapsulated in the auditing relationship. Neither the models with precommitment or those without precommitment fully capture the relevant features of the noncompliance problem. Both neglect the problem of "ghosts".(c)The role of the modeling of firms. This route is relatively neglected in the theoretical and empirical literature. An elementary treatment of the problem suggests that it has potential as an exploratory tool and as a guide to policy makers.Compliance, tax evasion, risk-taking, enforcement.

Organic diets and physical activity: Research experience using a rat model

Total energy expenditure or heat production is comprised of basal metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and physical activity. Physical activity is the most variable and easily altered component of total heat production. Physical activity is influenced by a number of biological parameters i.e. diet, genetics, age, and gender. The diet components of the macro as well as micronutrients and other components (secondary metabolites) associated with a diet could contribute to the well being of the animal and cause variation in physical activity. In order to investigate physical activity as a parameter to differentiate diets based on conventional or organic grown carrots the total heat production and physical activity was measured in a rat model. The experimental diets were formulated to meet the NRC requirements for rats by mixing 40% of freeze dried carrots with an Altromin chow diet. The carrots were from a 2-year field study. The carrots were grown by three different cultivation strategies: one conventional (C) and two organic systems (OA, organic using animal manure; and OB, organic using cover crops). The diets were given to weaned female GKMol rats, in groups of five rats per diet and given their assigned diet, for approx. 2.5 months. Throughout the experimental period the rats were monitored and weighed each week. The rat’s heat production and physical activity was measured with two open-air circuit respiration chambers, and measurement was done on a group of 5 rats. In the chamber the rats were placed in individual cages. The activity was measured using both passive infrared detectors and with video recording. There was not surprisingly lower physical activity level of rats during the day. Being night-active animals, rats are usually resting during the day-time