Land use response to agricultural policy and market movements on Finnish dairy-farms

Selostus: Tuki- ja hintamuutosten vaikutus maitotilojen pellon käyttöön

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area and Silos and Smokestacks Natural Heritage Area Foundation in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area and Silos and Smokestacks Natural Heritage Area Foundation in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012

Arsenic and heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils in South Savo province

Selostus: Etelä-Savon viljelysmaan arseeni- ja raskasmetallipitoisuudet

Radarsat backscattering from an agricultural scene

Orbital remote sensing in the microwave electromagnetic region has been presented as an important tool for agriculture monitoring. The satellite systems in operation have almost all-weather capability and high spatial resolution, which are features appropriated for agriculture. However, for full exploration of these data, an understanding of the relationships between the characteristics of each system and agricultural targets is necessary. This paper describes the behavior of backscattering coefficient (sigma°) derived from calibrated data of Radarsat images from an agricultural area. It is shown that in a dispersion diagram of sigma° there are three main regions in which most of the fields can be classified. The first one is characterized by low backscattering values, with pastures and bare soils; the second one has intermediate backscattering coefficients and comprises well grown crops mainly; and a third one, with high backscattering coefficients, in which there are fields with strong structures causing a kind of double bounce effect. The results of this research indicate that the use of Radarsat images is optimized when a multitemporal analysis is done making the best use of the agricultural calendar and of the dynamics of different cultures.

Prospective randomized study of two cryopreservation policies avoiding embryo selection: the pronucleate stage leads to a higher cumulative delivery rate than the early cleavage stage.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cumulative live birth rates obtained after cryopreservation of either pronucleate (PN) zygotes or early-cleavage (EC) embryos. DESIGN: Prospective randomized study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S): Three hundred eighty-two patients, involved in an IVF/ICSI program from January 1993 to December 1995, who had their supernumerary embryos cryopreserved either at the PN (group I) or EC (group II) stage. For 89 patients, cryopreservation of EC embryos was canceled because of poor embryo development (group III). Frozen-thawed embryo transfers performed up to December 1998 were considered. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Age, oocytes, zygotes, cryopreserved and transferred embryos, damage after thawing, cumulative embryo scores, implantation, and cumulative live birth rates. RESULT(S): The clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were similar in all groups after fresh embryo transfers. Significantly higher implantation (10.5% vs. 5.9%) and pregnancy rates (19.5% vs. 10.9%; P< or = .02 per transfer after cryopreserved embryo transfers were obtained in group I versus group II, leading to higher cumulative pregnancy (55.5% vs. 38.6%; P < or = .002 and live birth rates (46.9% vs. 27.7%; P< or = .0001.Conclusion(s): The transfer of a maximum of three unselected embryos and freezing of all supernumerary PN zygotes can be safely done with significantly higher cumulative pregnancy chances than cryopreserving at a later EC stage.

Optimal beef cattle management under agricultural policy reforms in Finland

Selostus: Politiikkamuutosten vaikutus lihanautojen optimaaliseen ruokintaan ja teurastuksen ajoitukseen

An overlapping generations approach to price policies in privatehealthcare insurance. The Catalan case

We analyze premium policies and price dispersion among private healthcare insurance firms from an overlapping-generations model. The model shows that firms that apply equal premium to all policyholders and firms that set premiums according to the risk of insured can coexist in the short run, whereas coexistence is unlikely in the long run because it requires the coincidence of economic growth and interest rates. We find support for the model’s results in the Catalan health insurance industry. Keywords: Economic theory, price policies, health insurance, health economics, overlapping-generations. JEL Classifications: I11 / L11 / L23

Audit report on the Muscatine Agricultural Learning Center for the year ended December 31, 2013

Audit report on the Muscatine Agricultural Learning Center for the year ended December 31, 2013

La actividad productiva de la fábrica de harinas “La Montserrat” (Girona) en el año agrícola de 1903-1904 = The Production Activities at the Company Harinera “La Montserrat” (Girona) over the Agricultural Year 1903-1904

Harinera La Montserrat, S.A, a company involved in the manufacturing and trading of cereals and flour, was founded in Girona in 1898 by José Ensesa y Cía., Sociedad en Comandita. With the objective to determine how the product activity of this business was structured, we have studied in detail the operations that were carried out over the agricultural year 1903-1904. We have focused on three main aspects. Firstly, the purchasing of wheat (origin, transportation, prices); secondly, the production of flour (using internal and external wheat, profits); and thirdly, its distribution (customers, destination). Finally, we have analyzed the profit and loos account for this period in order to find out if this business was profitable

Agricultural productivity and structural transformation. Evidence from Brazil

We study the effects of the adoption of new agricultural technologies on structural transformation. To guide empirical work, we present a simple model where the effect of agriculturalproductivity on industrial development depends on the factor bias of technical change. We testthe predictions of the model by studying the introduction of genetically engineered soybeanseeds in Brazil, which had heterogeneous effects on agricultural productivity across areas withdifferent soil and weather characteristics. We find that technical change in soy production wasstrongly labor saving and lead to industrial growth, as predicted by the model.

Immigration and housing: rethinking the role of fiscal policies to manage diversity

We study the two key social issues of immigration and housing in lightof each other and analyse which housing policies work best to distributediversity (racial, economic, cultural) equally across our cities and towns. Inparticular, we compare the impact of direct government expenditure andtax incentives on the housing conditions of immigrants in four Europeancountries: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The analysisshows that the different policies which have been adopted in these countrieshave not succeeded in preventing immigrants from being concentratedin certain neighbourhoods. The reason is that housing benefits andtax incentives are normally “spatially blind”. In our opinion, governmentsshould consider immigration indirectly in their housing policies and, forinstance, distribute social housing more evenly across different areas topromote sustainable levels of diversity.

Agricultural Emergency in Iowa, 1933

This book contains ten articles, originally published as circulars of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station dealing with the Iowa Agricultural farm crisis situation in 1932 and 1933.