Indices for cashmere fleece competition and across farm comparisons: The role of staple length in identifying goats of higher cashmere production

A single focus on mean fibre diameter (MFD, μm) as the definition of cashmere quality overlooks the effects of fibre length, softness and fibre curvature on cashmere processing, textile quality and consumer acceptance. Many farmers overlook the importance of cashmere staple length (SL, cm) in their fleece assessments. We aimed to determine the importance of SL in comparison with MFD when evaluating cashmere production and to identify how across farm comparisons of cashmere fleeces can be objectively undertaken. A sample of 1244 commercial cashmere fleeces from goats originating from many Australian farms was used. Least squares models, relating the logarithm of clean cashmere production (CCMwt, g) to MFD and SL, were fitted. Six years of data from the Australian cashmere industry between farm fleece competitions were analysed to determine the relation between CCMwt and MFD. In the research flocks, adjusting CCMwt of individual goats across farms for MFD only accounted for 2% of the variance, whereas SL accounted for 39% of the variance. The least squares additive model involving only SL was: log10(CCMwt)=1.570+0.06010×SL. Thus CCMwt was proportional to: 100.06010×SL=1.1484SL. It was appropriate to adjust CCMwt for SL by a factor 1/1.1484(SL-SL0) where SL0 is a standard SL of 7.5cm. The between farm index for cashmere weight equals: cleancashmerestaplelengthindex=2.823×CCMwt/1.1484SL. For industry fleece competitions, regression analysis indicated that there was no association between cashmere production and MFD (P=0.81), similar to the research data. Adjusting CCMwt for MFD in across farm comparison and fleece competitions appears to be ineffective. For farm comparisons and in fleece competitions it is important to assess cashmere SL. The use of the Clean Cashmere Staple Length Index will provide a more robust comparison of cashmere productivity between farms as it is an indirect indicator of desirable skin secondary follicle development. The results have application in development projects where obtaining a cashmere MFD test is costly or unavailable. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

International perspectives on psychosocial working conditions, mental health, and stress of dairy farm operators

Dairy farm operators-farmers, workers, and family members-are faced with many demands and stressors in their daily work and these appear to be shared across countries and cultures. Dairy operators experience high psychosocial demands with respect to a hard work and production ethos, economic influences, and social and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, both traditional and industrial farms are highly dependent on external conditions, such as weather, fluctuating markets, and regulations from government authorities. Possible external stressors include disease outbreaks, taxes related to dairy production, and recent negative societal attitudes to farming in general. Dairy farm operators may have very few or no opportunities to influence and control these external conditions, demands, and expectations. High work demands and expectations coupled with low control and lack of social support can lead to a poor psychosocial work environment, with increased stress levels, ill mental health, depression, and, in the worst cases, suicide. Internationally, farmers with ill mental health have different health service options depending on their location. Regardless of location, it is initially the responsibility of the individual farmer and farm family to handle mental health and stress, which can be of short- or long-term duration. This paper reviews the literature on the topics of psychosocial working conditions, mental health, stress, depression, and suicide among dairy farm operators, farm workers, and farm family members in an international perspective.

Migration and the right to social security: perceptions of off-farm migrants' rights to social insurance in China's Jiangsu Province

In 2001 China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. By so doing the national government became legally bound, "to the maximum of its available resources", to achieve "progressively" full realization of the rights specified in the Covenant. Included amongst these entitlements is the "right of everyone to social security, including social insurance". This paper uses data from Jiangsu to examine the extent to which urbanites agree that previously disenfranchised migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population. Many urbanites fear that their existing entitlements to social protection will be diluted if social insurance coverage is extended to include new populations. Accordingly, state agencies and the media have sought to promote acceptance of a more positive view of migrant workers than has traditionally prevailed within towns and cities. We find that younger urban residents, urban residents who already have social insurance and urban residents working in the state-owned sector are more likely to agree that migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population. © 2007 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Effects of intergroup contact on Chinese off-farm migrants' attitudes to urban locals

This study models the effects on attitudes and behavioral interaction of intergroup contact between minority-status off-farm migrants and majority-status local urban residents in urban China. Responses from a sample of 548 migrants to Fuzhou indicate positive effects of friendship contact on attitudes and positive effects of both friendship and non-friendship contact on behaviour. Results imply that while contact per se may improve intergroup functioning in urban China, it takes more intimate contact to translate improved intergroup functioning into improved intergroup relations in this urban setting.

One Health approach to controlling a Q fever outbreak on an Australian goat farm

A recent outbreak of Q fever was linked to an intensive goat and sheep dairy farm in Victoria, Australia, 2012-2014. Seventeen employees and one family member were confirmed with Q fever over a 28-month period, including two culture-positive cases. The outbreak investigation and management involved a One Health approach with representation from human, animal, environmental and public health. Seroprevalence in non-pregnant milking goats was 15% [95% confidence interval (CI) 7–27]; active infection was confirmed by positive quantitative PCR on several animal specimens. Genotyping of Coxiella burnetii DNA obtained from goat and human specimens was identical by two typing methods. A number of farming practices probably contributed to the outbreak, with similar precipitating factors to the Netherlands outbreak, 2007-2012. Compared to workers in a high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) filtered factory, administrative staff in an unfiltered adjoining office and those regularly handling goats and kids had 5·49 (95% CI 1·29–23·4) and 5·65 (95% CI 1·09–29·3) times the risk of infection, respectively; suggesting factory workers were protected from windborne spread of organisms. Reduction in the incidence of human cases was achieved through an intensive human vaccination programme plus environmental and biosecurity interventions. Subsequent non-occupational acquisition of Q fever in the spouse of an employee, indicates that infection remains endemic in the goat herd, and remains a challenge to manage without source control.

Viability of tallow inclusion in Atlantic salmon diet, as assessed by an on-farm grow out trial

The results of a recent increase in research interest directed at the inclusion of tallow in fish feed formulations are suggesting tallow is viable as a potential substitute for other alternative lipid sources such as poultry by-product oil. Although strong growth performance data has been shown, reservations still exist regarding reduced digestibility and the potential impacts this could have on performance over the duration of a grow-out period in low temperature conditions. Also little information is yet available on the potential effect of dietary tallow inclusion on final product quality. A large scale farm based study testing the inclusion of tallow at 40% inclusion, partially replacing poultry by-product oil, in commercial diets of Atlantic salmon over a winter grow-out period in southern Tasmania, Australia was conducted. Tallow inclusion had no impact on growth performance or nutrient digestibility. Tallow resulted in a slight improvement in fillet quality exhibiting a significant reduction in n - 6 PUFA and the n6:n3 ratio, and an increased n - 3LC-PUFA tissue deposition. Consumers were unable to display any preference in liking between 3 salmon products (cold smoked, hot smoked, and cooked) as a result of tallow inclusion. This study demonstrates the viability of partial inclusion of tallow in Atlantic salmon diets over a winter grow-out period. Statement of relevance: Improved knowledge of alternative dietary energy sources (oils and fats) to be used in aquafeed, (replacing the increasingly expensive, and diminishingly available, fish oil) is a key area of research towards improved environmental sustainability and economic viability of the aquaculture sector. Following a promising laboratory based, research scale, in vivo trial aimed at assessing the viability of tallow in salmon feed, a larger and longer duration farm-based trial was implemented to validate initial findings. Consumer test of final products (fresh-cooked, hot smoked and cold smoked fillets) showed no modification of sensorial attributes. Tallow is hereto shown to be a highly viable alternative oil for the salmon aquafeed industry.

A deeper look at ethics within banking corporations: the approach of one of the biggest bank in the world

Existe uma preocupação crescente da sociedade com a ética, devida em parte aos numerosos escândalos que surgiram no mundo corporativo ultimamente, em particular no setor financeiro em que as repercussões de malversações têm geralmente um impacto maior para a sociedade do que podem ter quando acontecem em outro setor de atividade. Outra consequência é o interesse cada vez maior dos acadêmicos em estudar ética dos negócios. Porém, a pesar do uso frequente do termo ética e dos conceitos relacionados, não existe ainda um consenso sobre uma definição comum de ética dos negócios. Pertence a cada corporação definir o que considera ser ética dos negócios. Portanto, para entender melhor o que tem por trás do termo ética, é preciso voltar a sua definição, explicar a sua evolução, colocá-lo dentro do nosso contexto contemporâneo, para depois aplicá-lo à área de interesse. Para o setor bancário, ética se refere mais ao aspecto legal, mas também faz referência ao desenvolvimento da responsabilidade social corporativa dentro das corporações através de diferentes práticas. A literatura a respeito ressalta que a abordagem da ética pelas corporações bancárias tradicionais desconecta a ética do foco de negócio, considerando que não pertence ao centro da sua atividade. De fato, as corporações respondem aos mesmos mecanismos isomorfos institucionais, os quais as levam a adotar práticas com o objetivo de conseguir legitimidade dentro da sociedade. Ao contrário dessas corporações bancárias tradicionais, os bancos qualificados como éticos pela literatura, tem em comum o fato de estruturar as suas atividades sobre ou em volta da ética, diferenciando-se dos outros bancos por ter como principal objetivo ser ético. O banco Brasileiro Itaú Unibanco, um dos maiores bancos tradicionais do mundo em termos de valor de mercado, foi percebido aos poucos como um banco muito preocupado com a ética, e foi recentemente reconhecido como o banco mais sustentável do mundo pela revista Financial Times. O Itaú 5 Unibanco desenhou e implementou um programa de ética, o qual junta um componente teórico (com diretrizes, regras e princípios e um código de ética), usado como um suporte para o componente prático (estrutura organizacional particular e práticas cotidianas). Esse programa levou o Banco Itaú a ser campeão inovador na institucionalização da ética dentro do setor bancário.

Can unobserved heterogeneity in farmer ability explain the inverse relationship between farm size and productivity?

The well-known inverse relationship between farm-size and productivity is usually explained in terms of diminishing returns with respect to land and other inputs coupled with various types of market frictions that prevent the efficient allocation of land across farms. We show that even if in the absence of diminishing returns one can provide an alternative explanation for this phenomenon using endogenous occupational choice and heterogeneity with respect to farming skills.