Water management is a major concern across the world. From northern China to the Middle East to Africa to the United States, growing populations can stress local water resources as they demand more water for both direct consumption and agriculture. Irrigation based agriculture draws especially heavily on these resources and usually cannot survive without them; however, irrigation systems must b...

We hypothesize that biological diversification across ecological, spatial, and temporal scales maintains and regenerates the ecosystem services that provide critical inputs—such as maintenance of soil quality, nitrogen fixation, pollination, and pest control—to agriculture. Agrobiodiversity is sustained by diversified farming practices and it also supplies multiple ecosystem services to agricul...

Based on a survey of 897 farming households in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, our results show that while farming households had high demands for capital, 47.7% have experienced having their application for a Rural Credit Cooperative (RCC) loan denied because of their low income. Agricultural production and income are significantly influenced by weather risks, and agricultural income accounts for...

We present a high-quality (>100× depth) Illumina genome sequence of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, a model species for symbiosis and reproductive conflict studies. We compare this genome with three previously sequenced genomes of ants from different subfamilies and focus our analyses on aspects of the genome likely to be associated with known evolutionary changes. The first is the ...

The advent of scientific shrimp farming in India during 1990-91 not only boosted shrimp production but also attracted criticism on the grounds of generating adverse environmental and social impact challenging the sustainability of the system. Thus while examining the performance of alternative shrimp farming systems incorporating of the cost of negative externalities generated by shrimp farming...

Introduction Measures of farm diversification Data and model specification Econometric results Discussion Summary and conclusions Acknowledgements References Appendix Abstract. Farm planning often focuses on optimal diversification with respect to risk, where the riskmanagement strategies combine production, marketing, financial and environmental aspects of the farmfirm. In this study an empiri...

The purpose of this preliminary study was to define the vertical migration pattern in the dinoflagellate community in the shallow coastal sea. Migrations were followed in an area of mussel farming, through two 24-hour samplings, first during mixed and second during stratified water column conditions. Despite variable physical environment we were able to follow vertical migrations of some autotr...

Contract farming is a growing practice in developing countries and first-world economies, alike. It generates necessary guarantees to sustain the continued operations of vulnerable farmers while enabling the manufacturers to manage the aggregate supply and price risk. We consider a single manufacturer who owns several manufacturing plants, each with a random demand for the crop. The manufacture...

Disclaimer: The information in this publication does not constitute legal or professional advice and the Scottish Government cannot accept any liability for actions arising from its use. The views expressed within this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Scottish Government. Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the consultees who gave freely ...