CC96-396 Productcion Flexibility Contracts: Provisions, Implications and the Participation Decision

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127) was signed into law by President Clinton on April 4, 1996. Most provisions of the new law, including the commodity provisions, will be effective for seven years, 1996-2002. Unlike previous farm bills, provisions relating to commodity supports are grouped together under what is known as the Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) program. Producers of seven commodities: corn, sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, rice and cotton must sign Productive Flexibility Contracts (PFCs) to participate in the AMTA. These seven commodities are referred to as "contract commodities." This publication focuses on the PFCs, beginning with an overview of contract provisions. Potential short- and long-run implications of PFCs are then discussed.

RP94-217 No. 18 Use of Crop Futures and Options by the Nontrader

Crop producers make a number of decisions that are market related. They may be categorized as financial decisions, production decisions, or marketing decisions. All three decisions depend on what prices are likely to be at some specific time in the future. The marketing decisions is complex. This research publication discusses the number of alternatives that are available even for the producer who does not directly buy or sell futures or options contracts.

Market and Welfare Effects of Mandatory Country-Of-Origin Labeling in the Specialty Crops Sector

Public Law 107-171 of the U.S. Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 required country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables) and peanuts. While a goal of this law was to benefit domestic consumers by allowing them to make informed consumption decisions, the effects of COOL on the interest groups involved have been the subject of a heated on-going debate.

AN OVERVIEW OF DEPREDATING BIRD DAMAGE CONTROL IN CALIFORNIA

To many people, California is synonomous with Disneyland, freeways, Los Angeles smog, Yosemite, the California missions, or for you bird aficionados, the California Condor. But do you think about California when you eat strawberry shortcake? You should -- California leads the nation in strawberry production. How about artichokes? California produces over 98% of the artichokes raised in the United States. Dates? California produces over 99% of the dates in the United States. Yes, California is all of these, and it is much more. California may well be the most diverse state in the United States. Within its 100.2 million acres, California has the lowest place in the U.S. in Death Valley and one of the highest mountains with Mt. Whitney. Because California is such a diverse state and has a wide variety of micro- climates, it supports a uniquely diverse agriculture. Agriculture uses only about 36 million acres of its total 100.2 million acres, and most of the cash return from crops is produced on 8,6 million acres that are irrigated. California produces about 250 crops and livestock commodities (excluding nursery crops) and provides the U.S. with about 25% of its table foods. California leads the nation in the production of 46 commercial crops and livestock commodities; its farmers and ranchers marketed $8.6 billion of crop and livestock products in 1975, and the state’s harvested farm production in 1975 set a new record at 51.1 million tons. HISTORY OF BIRD PROBLEMS Records such as this are not achieved without some risk. Crops growing in Cali- fornia have always had competition from many types of vertebrate pests. The wide variety of crops grown in California and the varied climates and situations in which they are grown has resulted in many different species of birds damaging crops. Birds have compet- ed with man for his crops since the dawn of agriculture. McAtee (1932) cited examples of bird damage that occurred in a wide variety of crops in California during the early 1900s. During the 1920s, many requests for Information and relief from damage caused by a wide variety of birds, culminated in the assignment, in May 1929, of two biologists, S. E. Piper and Johnson Neff, of the former U.S. Bio- logical Survey, to initiate field studies in California. In cooperation with the Cali- fornia Department of Food and Agriculture and County Agricultural Commissioners, the study was to determine the problems and devise control procedures relative to bird depredations. Piper and Neff found such damage as Horned Larks pulling sprouting crops, House Finches disbudding deciduous fruit trees and devouring mature fruit. Blackbirds were a problem in the rice crop. Early controls were varied and, for the most part, lacked effectiveness. Flagging of fields was common to deter Horned Larks. Windmill devices were tried to frighten birds. Shooting to kill birds was common; scarecrows were.used. The six-year study brought forth the basis of most of the depredating bird control techniques still in use in California. At the end of the study, these two biologists compiled a book called “Procedure and Methods in Controlling Birds Injurious to Crops in California.” This was and still is the “Bible” for bird damage control techniques used in California. The thorough investigations conducted by these biologists resulted in techniques that have remained valid in California for over 40 years.

Characterization of aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic strains of Aspergillus section Flavi isolated from corn grains of different geographic origins in Brazil

Aflatoxins can cause great economic losses and serious risks to humans and animals health. The largest aflatoxin producers belong to Aspergillus section Flavi and can occur naturally in food commodities. Studies showed that molecular tools as well as the type of sclerotia produced by the strains could be helpful for identification of Aspergillus species and could be correlated with levels of toxin production. The purpose of this work was to characterize the genetic diversity using AFLP technique, the type of sclerotia and the ability of aflatoxin production by isolated strains from corn of different origins in Brazil, and to verify whether qPCR based on aflR and aflP genes is appropriate for estimating the level of aflatoxin production. All the 75 strains were classified as A. flavus and the AFLP technique showed a wide intraspecific variability within them. Regarding sclerotia production, 34% were classified as S and 66% as L type. Among the aflatoxin-producers, 52.8% produced aflatoxin B-1, while 47.2% aflatoxins B-1 and B-2. Statistical analysis showed no correlation between sclerotia production and aflatoxigenicty, and no correlation between the phylogenetic clusters and aflatoxin production. Concerning the relative expression of aflR and aflP, Pearson's correlation test demonstrated low positive correlation between the expression of the aflR and aflP genes and the production of AFB(1) and AFB(2), but showed high positive correlation between aflR and aflP expression. In contrast to the other reference strains, A. oryzae ATCC 7282 showed no amplification of aflR and aflP. The results highlight the need for detection of reliable and reproducible markers with a high positive correlation with aflatoxin production.

Eficiência agrícola da produção de soja, milho e trigo no estado do Rio Grande do Sul entre 1980 e 2008

Eficiência agrícola (EA) é utilizada como indicador do nível de desenvolvimento agrícola regional, expressando, por meio da relação entre as produtividades real e atingível, o nível tecnológico empregado nas culturas. Com base nisso, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a EA das culturas da soja, do milho e do trigo para o estado do Rio Grande do Sul, entre os anos de 1980 e 2008, identificando os principais fatores que as condicionaram. A EA foi obtida pela relação entre a produtividade atingível (PA) e a real (PR). A PR foi obtida junto ao banco de dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). A PA foi obtida pela estimativa da produtividade potencial (PPf), pelo método de Zona Agroecológica da FAO, deflacionada pelo déficit hídrico em cada uma das fases da cultura. Verificou-se que as EAs médias para as culturas do milho, da soja e do trigo para o RS foram iguais a 54, 61 e 43%, respectivamente. Nas localidades de Santa Rosa, São Borja e Veranópolis, a EA para a soja foi, ao contrário das demais localidades, negativa. Os principais fatores que contribuíram para o aumento da EA, na maioria das localidades, foram: mudanças no uso e fertilidade do solo; uso de mecanização agrícola; preços pagos pelas commodities; investimentos em pesquisa e desenvolvimento; adoção do zoneamento de risco climático; e melhoramento genético.

Are sustainable companies less risky and more profitable?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences in accounting indicators when comparing sustainable enterprises to other similar companies that are not considered as sustainable. The Corporate Sustainability Index of BM (São Paulo Stock, Commodities and Futures Exchange) was the criterion selected to break down the samples into sustainable and non-sustainable enterprises. The accounting indicators were separated into two kinds: risk (dividend payout, percentage growth of assets, financial leverage, current liquidity, asset size, variability of earnings, and accounting beta) and return (ROA, ROE, asset turnover, and net margin). We individually analyzed the companies in the energy sector, followed by those in the banking sector, as well as the entire ISE portfolio as of 2008/2009, including all the sectors. Mann-Whitney tests were performed in order to verify the difference of the means between the groups (ISE and non-ISE). The results, considering the method chosen and the time span covered by the study, indicate that there are no differences between sustainable companies and the others, when they are assessed by the accounting indicators used here.

Hedging na produção de açúcar e álcool: uma integração de decisões financeiras e de produção

O risco financeiro ao qual o produtor agrícola está exposto no momento da comercialização do produto final demanda o uso de instrumentos de redução de risco, a fim de assegurar um preço que viabilize economicamente o processo produtivo. Este artigo analisa o problema de elaboração de estratégias de proteção financeira na presença de restrições de produção, através de um modelo de otimização multiperíodo determinístico. A incerteza é descrita através de árvores de cenários e o risco analisado através das abordagens clássicas de média-variância. O comportamento do modelo proposto é analisado no caso do mercado sucroalcooleiro, para a gestão financeira de usinas sucroalcooleiras, sendo as estratégias de hedging construídas com base no mercado futuro de álcool e açúcar.

Discretionary-based disclosure: evidence from the Brazilian market

The primary objective of this paper is to identify the factors that explain Brazilian companies level of voluntary disclosure. Underpinning this work is the Discretionary-based Disclosure theory. The sample is composed of the top 100 largest non-financial companies listed in the Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (Brazilian Securities, Commodities, and Futures exchange - BOVESPA). Information was gathered from Financial Statements for the years ending in 2006, 2007, and 2008, with the use of content analysis. A disclosure framework based on 27 studies from these years was created, with a total of 92 voluntary items divided into two dimensions: economic (43) and socio-environmental (49). Based on the existing literature, a total of 12 hypotheses were elaborated and tested using a panel data approach. Results evidence that: (a) Sector and Origin of Control are statistically significant in all three models tested: economic, socio-environmental, and total; (b) Profitability is relevant in the economic model and in the total model; (c) Tobin s Q is relevant in the socio-environmental model and in the total disclosure model; (d) Leverage and Auditing Firm are only relevant in the economic disclosure model; (e) Size, Governance, Stock Issuing, Growth Opportunities and Concentration of Control are not statistically significant in any of the three models.

Desenvolvimento de modelo matemático de otimização logística para o transporte multimodal de safras agrícolas pelo corredor centro-oeste

Este artigo apresenta um modelo matemático de otimização logística para o transporte multimodal de safras agrícolas pelo corredor Centro-Oeste. Tal ferramenta foi desenvolvida no contexto de três amplos projetos de pesquisa financiados pela FINEP e executados por um grupo de universidades. O modelo, conhecido genericamente como Modelo de fluxo de Custo Mínimo Multiproduto, considera a otimização de fluxos em rede, para os produtos açúcar, álcool, milho, soja, óleo de soja, farelo de soja e trigo. O modelo proposto para estimativa dos fluxos inter-regionais mostrou-se uma ferramenta factível para fins de avaliação do potencial de utilização da multimodalidade. A análise destes resultados gera importantes subsídios para a seleção dos locais com potencial para instalação de mecanismos e equipamentos de transferência de cargas, além de auxiliar no dimensionamento dessas infraestruturas. Também é um resultado importante do ferramental desenvolvido a identificação das zonas de cargas que apresentam potencial captável pelas ferrovias, hidrovias e dutovias, ou seja, possibilita a identificação das regiões que revelam potencial para uso da multimodalidade.

Innovative treatments for shelf-life extension of whole and fresh-cut fruit

Maintaining the postharvest quality of whole and fresh-cut fruit during storage and distribution is the major challenge facing fruit industry. For this purpose, industry adopt a wide range of technologies to enable extended shelf-life. Many factors can lead to loss of quality in fresh product, hence the common description of these products as ‘perishable’. As a consequence normal factors such as transpiration and respiration lead ultimately to water loss and senescence of the product. Fruits and vegetables are living commodities and their rate of respiration is of key importance to maintenance of quality. It has been commonly observed that the greater the respiration rate of a product, the shorter the shelf-life. The principal problem for fresh-cut fruit industries is the relative shorter shelf-life of minimally processed fruit (MPF) compared to intact product. This fact is strictly connected with the higher ethylene production of fruit tissue stimulated during fresh-cut processing (peeling, cutting, dipping). 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is an inhibitor of ethylene action and several researches have shown its effectiveness on the inhibition of ripening and senescence incidence for intact fruit and consequently on their shelf-life extension. More recently 1-MCP treatment has been tested also for shelf-life extension of MPF but discordant results have been obtained. Considering that in some countries 1-MCP is already a commercial product registered for the use on a number of horticultural products, the main aim of this actual study was to enhance our understanding on the effects of 1-MCP treatment on the quality maintenance of whole and fresh-cut climacteric and non-climacteric fruit (apple, kiwifruit and pineapple). Concerning the effects of 1-MCP on whole fruit, was investigated the effects of a semi-commercial postharvest treatment with 1-MCP on the quality of Pink Lady apples as functions of fruit ripening stage, 1-MCP dose, storage time and also in combination with controlled atmospheres storage in order to better understand what is the relationship among these parameters and if is possible to maximize the 1-MCP treatment to meet the market/consumer needs and then in order to put in the market excellent fruit. To achieve this purpose an incomplete three-level three-factor design was adopted. During the storage were monitored several quality parameters: firmness, ripening index, ethylene and carbon dioxide production and were also performed a sensory evaluations after 6 month of storage. In this study the higher retention of firmness (at the end of storage) was achieved by applying the greatest 1-MCP concentration to fruits with the lowest maturity stage. This finding means that in these semi-commercial conditions we may considerate completely blocked the fruit softening. 1-MCP was able to delay also the ethylene and CO2 production and the maturity parameters (soluble solids content and total acidity). Only in some cases 1-MCP generate a synergistic effect with the CA storage. The results of sensory analyses indicated that, the 1-MCP treatment did not affect the sweetness and whole fruit flavour while had a little effect on the decreasing cut fruit flavour. On the contrary the treated apple was more sour, crisp, firm and juicy. The effects of some treatment (dipping and MAP) on the nutrient stability were also investigated showing that in this case study the adopted treatments did not have drastic effects on the antioxidant compounds on the contrary the dipping may enhance the total antioxidant activity by the accumulation of ascorbic acid on the apple cut surface. Results concerning the effects of 1-MCP in combination with MAP on the quality parameters behaviour of the kiwifruit were not always consistent and clear: in terms of colour maintenance, it seemed to have a synergistic effect with N2O MAP; as far as ripening index is concerned, 1-MCP had a preservative effect, but just for sample packed in air.

Algorithms for network design and routing problems

In this thesis we study three combinatorial optimization problems belonging to the classes of Network Design and Vehicle Routing problems that are strongly linked in the context of the design and management of transportation networks: the Non-Bifurcated Capacitated Network Design Problem (NBP), the Period Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP) and the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows (PDPTW). These problems are NP-hard and contain as special cases some well known difficult problems such as the Traveling Salesman Problem and the Steiner Tree Problem. Moreover, they model the core structure of many practical problems arising in logistics and telecommunications. The NBP is the problem of designing the optimum network to satisfy a given set of traffic demands. Given a set of nodes, a set of potential links and a set of point-to-point demands called commodities, the objective is to select the links to install and dimension their capacities so that all the demands can be routed between their respective endpoints, and the sum of link fixed costs and commodity routing costs is minimized. The problem is called non- bifurcated because the solution network must allow each demand to follow a single path, i.e., the flow of each demand cannot be splitted. Although this is the case in many real applications, the NBP has received significantly less attention in the literature than other capacitated network design problems that allow bifurcation. We describe an exact algorithm for the NBP that is based on solving by an integer programming solver a formulation of the problem strengthened by simple valid inequalities and four new heuristic algorithms. One of these heuristics is an adaptive memory metaheuristic, based on partial enumeration, that could be applied to a wider class of structured combinatorial optimization problems. In the PVRP a fleet of vehicles of identical capacity must be used to service a set of customers over a planning period of several days. Each customer specifies a service frequency, a set of allowable day-combinations and a quantity of product that the customer must receive every time he is visited. For example, a customer may require to be visited twice during a 5-day period imposing that these visits take place on Monday-Thursday or Monday-Friday or Tuesday-Friday. The problem consists in simultaneously assigning a day- combination to each customer and in designing the vehicle routes for each day so that each customer is visited the required number of times, the number of routes on each day does not exceed the number of vehicles available, and the total cost of the routes over the period is minimized. We also consider a tactical variant of this problem, called Tactical Planning Vehicle Routing Problem, where customers require to be visited on a specific day of the period but a penalty cost, called service cost, can be paid to postpone the visit to a later day than that required. At our knowledge all the algorithms proposed in the literature for the PVRP are heuristics. In this thesis we present for the first time an exact algorithm for the PVRP that is based on different relaxations of a set partitioning-like formulation. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is tested on a set of instances from the literature and on a new set of instances. Finally, the PDPTW is to service a set of transportation requests using a fleet of identical vehicles of limited capacity located at a central depot. Each request specifies a pickup location and a delivery location and requires that a given quantity of load is transported from the pickup location to the delivery location. Moreover, each location can be visited only within an associated time window. Each vehicle can perform at most one route and the problem is to satisfy all the requests using the available vehicles so that each request is serviced by a single vehicle, the load on each vehicle does not exceed the capacity, and all locations are visited according to their time window. We formulate the PDPTW as a set partitioning-like problem with additional cuts and we propose an exact algorithm based on different relaxations of the mathematical formulation and a branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm. The new algorithm is tested on two classes of problems from the literature and compared with a recent branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm from the literature.

Paesaggi agrari. Nuove prospettive per i sistemi territoriali: agricoltura ecologica, saperi tradizionali, scambio locale

Il paesaggio, e così anche il paesaggio agrario, può essere considerato come segno del rapporto uomo/natura, come costrutto storico che testimonia il succedersi delle diverse civilizzazioni che l'hanno generato, ma anche come spazio per l'immaginazione territoriale, come progetto per il futuro del territorio. In questo lavoro si trattano le relazioni tra questa visione del paesaggio e le forme di produzione e consumo dei prodotti agricoli, nell'ambito delle trasformazioni che l'ambito rurale sta subendo a partire dagli ultimi decenni, tra pressione dell'urbano, da un lato, e abbandono e crisi dell'agricoltura, dall'altro. Particolare attenzione è riservata a quelle esperienze che, attraverso la produzione biologica e lo scambio locale, esprimono un nuovo progetto di territorio, che prende avvio dal contesto rurale ma che pervade anche le città, proponendo anche nuove relazioni tra città e campagna. Nelle reti della filiera corta e dell'economia solidale che si concretizzano soprattutto come esperienze “dal basso”, di autogestione e partecipazione, si diffondono insieme prodotti e valori. In quest'ottica la sostenibilità ambientale non appare più come una fonte di limitazioni e esternalità negative, per dirla con il linguaggio dell'economia, ma diventa un valore aggiunto di appartenenza collettiva (equilibri ecologici, paesaggio) e un'occasione per nuove relazioni sociali e territoriali.

Catch and by-catch analyses of tropical tuna fishery in the Gulf of Guinea from 2010 to 2012.

Canned tuna is one of the most widespread and recognizable fish commodities in the world. Over all oceans 80% of the total tuna catches are caught by purse seine fishery and in tropical waters their target species are: yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis). Even if this fishing gear is claimed to be very selective, there are high levels of by-catch especially when operating under Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). The main problem is underestimation of by-catch data. In order to solve this problem the scientific community has developed many specific programs (e.g. Observe Program) to collect data about both target species and by-catch with observers onboard. The purposes of this study are to estimate the quantity and composition of target species and by-catch by tuna purse seiner fishery operating in tropical waters and to underline a possible seasonal variability in the by-catch ratio (tunas versus by-catch). Data were collected with the French scientific program ”Observe” on board of the French tuna purse seiner “Via Avenir” during a fishing trip in the Gulf of Guinea (C-E Atlantic) from August to September 2012. Furthermore some by-catch specimens have been sampled to obtain more information about size class composition. In order to achieve those purposes we have shared our data with the French Institute of Research for the Development (IRD), which has data collected by observers onboard in the same study area. Yellowfin tuna results to be the main specie caught in all trips considered (around 71% of the total catches) especially on free swimming schools (FSC) sets. Instead skipjack tuna is the main specie caught under FADs. Different percentages of by-catch with the two fishing modes are observed: the by-catch incidence is higher on FADs sets (96.5% of total by-catch) than on FSC sets (3.5%) and the main category of by-catch is little-tuna (73%). When pooling data for both fishing sets used in purse seine fishery the overall by-catch/catch ratio is 5%, a lower level than in other fishing gears like long-lining and trawling.

Study of thiabendazole resistance and volatile organic compounds production of Penicillium expansum strains

The years of excessive use of thiabendazole to control Penicillium expansum has induced the development of resistance. Sensitivity of fourty eight strains collected from orchards and packinghouses in Emilia Romagna to pure and commercial TBZ was determined in vitro on TBZ amended medium (400μg/mL). Out of 48 strains, 35 were thiabendazole-sensitive (S) and 13 were thiabendazole-resistant (R). Microtiter assay adapted to P. expansum, showed EC50 values ranging from 54 to 320 μg/mL for ten TBZ-resistant strains. At the highest dose (50 μg/mL), resistant strains growth was not inhibited and the reported MICs value were >1000 μg/mL. Therefore, preliminary screening combined with microtiter assay, can be a good strategy to test susceptibility to TBZ. Mutations in the β-tubulin gene were studied on amino acid sequences from residue 167 to residue 357 of 10 P. expansum strains. Mutation at codon 198 was associated with TBZ-resistance. However, its absence in 3 resistant strains can be explained by the involvement of other mechanisms. Moreover, a P. expansum strain LB8/99 showed good antifungal effect against some fungal pathogens through double petri dish assay. It inhibited both mycelium growth and conidia germination of B. cinerea, C. acutatum, and M. laxa, and reduced significantly by 53% and 18% respectively P. expansum. Three major VOCS: geosmin, phenethyl alcolhol (PEA) and an unknown substance were identified by GC-MS analysis. Consistent fumigation of fungal pathogens with PEA (1230 mg/mL), inhibited both conidia germination and mycelium growth of all pathogens, except conidia germination of P. expansum that was reduced by 90% with respect to control. While, the concentration of PEA produced naturally by LB8/99 was ineffective in controlling the pathogens and seemed to have a synergic or additive effect with the other VOCS. Investigations to study the biofumigant effect of LB8/99 on other commodities like seeds and seedlings are in progress.