As agricultural products move from being economic commodities to quality-differentiated goods, price dispersion within specific markets increases and implicit subsidies from high quality producers to low quality producers are removed. This paper examines how these distributional effects can influence patterns of support and opposition to changes in marketing arrangements. The simple model devel...

Pseudomonas, an enormously diverse genus of the γ-Proteobacteria, is an important member of soil microbial communities. In this study, genetic heterogeneity and plant growth promotory property of Pseudomonas was compared within the group Pseudomonas sensu stricto isolated from the lesser explored niches of Himalayan region. A significant difference (P < 0.001 in total Pseudomonas count) was obs...

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) surveyed U.S. sheep producers to determine the kinds of non-lethal (NL) predator control measures they used in 1994. An analysis of responses from 8,451 sheep producers showed that 34% of the nation's sheep producers used fencing, 25% used husbandry, 20% used guard animals, 4% used frightening tactics, 0.3% used aversion, and 3% used othe...

Sustainable agriculture is a complex problem that demands consideration of many interrelated factors, processes, and institutions. Unfortunately, current definitions of sustainability are expansive, and use as a guide for strategic planning or decision making is clouded by ambiguity and a plethora of definitions. Regardless of how sustainability is defined, agricultural producers are interested...

Agricultural frontiers are dynamic environments characterized by the conversion of native habitats to agriculture. Because they are currently concentrated in diverse tropical habitats, agricultural frontiers are areas where the largest number of species is exposed to hazardous land management practices, including pesticide use. Focusing on the Amazonian frontier, we show that producers have var...

We surveyed nursery producers in New York to determine the extent, nature and economic impact of deer damage to their operations, and to assess their attitudes towards deer. Seventy-three percent of the producers experienced deer damage to their crops in 1988. Average costs for replacement were nearly $6,000 per grower for those reporting damage estimates (and over $8,000 if 1 extreme value was...

GRACEnet (greenhouse gas reduction through agricultural carbon enhancement network) is a new research program initiated by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The primary objectives of GRACEnet are to identify and develop agricultural strategies that will enhance soil C sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide a ...