Block, John (author / U.S. Secretary of Agriculture)
Format:
Speech
Publication Date:
1984-06-11
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 67 Document Number: D10742
Notes:
Claude W. Gifford Collection. Beyond his materials in the ACDC collection, the Claude W. Gifford Papers, 1919-2004, are deposited in the University of Illinois Archives. Serial Number 8/3/81. Locate finding aid at https://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/, Speech written for presentation to the first Agricultural Communicators Congress, Washington, D.C., June 11, 1984. 8 pages., Author presents 12 features that he ascribes to the role, work, and impact of agricultural journalists and communicators. Among them: "you are national treasuries of this land of ours." He describes current issues facing agriculture and discusses elements of a 2018 farm bill to be developed.
Phase II, This study presents an interpretation of the way Punjabi farmers in a village of the arid Sind perceive the pest hazard and the methods of management that they employ to deal with this situation. It is found that farmers do recognize the seriousness of the problem which consequently leads them to employ traditional as well as pesticide treatment of their crops. But because of financial handicap and other factors, they do not use pesticides regularly or in adequate quantity. As a result the control of pests remains ineffective. (original)
Chibasa, W.M. (author), Kean, S.A. (author), and Department of Agriculture, Mulungushi House, Lusaka, Zambia
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1984
Published:
Zambia
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 95 Document Number: C07383
Notes:
INTERPAKS, Chilanga, Zambia: Adaptive Research Planning Team, Research Branch, Department of Agriculture, 1984. 12 p., Describes how the farming systems research approach was incorporated into the overall Research Branch structure of the Department of Agriculture in Zambia. Presents the various options that were considered for incorporating diagnostic farm research work and on-farm trials into the structure of the Research Branch. Describes the objectives and functions fo the unit formed to undertake adaptive research programs. Concludes with an explanation of the role these adaptive research teams play in linking the research with other organizations.
Phase II, The ability of peasant farmers in the third world to monitor environmental occurrences around them has often been ignored. This study looks at Nigerian farmers' perception of pests and pesticides and determines the relevance of such knowledge as an input to efforts to devise effective integrated pest management strategies. Farmers in Kabba area of Kwara State, Nigeria were extensively interviewed and the following findings were highlighted: they had a deep knowledge of all insect, animal and fungi pests; could identify each pest, know their breeding cycles and their general behaviour characteristics; were able to make a relatively accurate assessment of damage caused by pests; and developed an indigenous integrated pest management strategy. Due to massive pest damage in the last few years, and strenuous advertisement by the Ministry of Agriculture, many farmers are now turning to chemical pesticides for solution to the pest problem. Prognosis of future trends in pesticide usage among farmers reveal the likely danger of farmers becoming pesticide-dependent with the consequent possibilities of human poisoning and eventually aggravating the pest problem. (original)
AGE 85925345; Paper presented at the "Annual Meeting at the American Agricultural Economics Association," 1984 August 5 - 8; Ithaca, NY, This paper analyzes the use of an exhaustible resource by an agricultural industry, taking into account agricultural policy considerations and some of the unique conventional wisdom features of the agricultural sector. The model is especially appropriate for analyzing the utilization of water resources. The model assumes the agricultural industry to be competitive, to have a wide distribution of farm sizes, to go through a process of adoption of a continuously improving technology, and to face inelastic demand. The new technology considered is a land quality-improving technology which is similar in its properties to modern irrigation technologies (drip, sprinkler, and center pivot irrigation). In particular, it considers a price-support policy and its impacts.
