"Results in this study demonstrate that GMO strategies use available information, extract and transform it through resource investments that are not compensated by energy-efficient results, and this trend are likely to increase due to ecosystem reaction. Moreover, resources invested into a process that stores information in seed that does not maximize power is counterproductive, and this singular approach reduces opportunities to explore other patterns and alternative plant breeding and production system strategies that may provide more consistent and sustainable system performance in the long term."
Paul Hixson Collection., Reports on a speech by representatives of the American Soybean Association expressing concern about resources being directed by the U.S. Agency for International Development toward aiding foreign competitors. They suggested changing emphasis of government programs from helping other countries grow more soybeans to helping them use more soybeans.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 169 Document Number: D08994
Notes:
Datu Case Studies, Datu Research, Durham, North Carolina. Summary of a case study posted on the website of the National Association of Conservation Districts, Washington, D.C. 2 pages., Study shows adoption of conservation practices boosted net income $83-110 per acre.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10581
Notes:
306 pages., PhD dissertation in agricultural economics, Texas A&M University, College Station. Only the abstract stored in ACDC., Via database., Results indicate the soybean checkoff program has been highly effective over the study period returning $6.9 in revenue to soybean producers for every checkoff dollar spent.
26 pages., via online journal., This paper employs the patent data of four major genetically modified (GM) crops, soybeans, cotton, maize and rapeseed, to illustratee how the innovation of GM crop technology diffused and distributed globally over time. Data collected from the Derwent Innovation Index, were employed to construct country patent citation networks, from 1984 to 2015, and the results revealed that developed countries were early adopters, and the primary actors in the innovation of GM crop technology. Only seven developing countries appeared in the country citation network. Most developed countries were reluctant to apply GM crop technology for commercial cultivation. Private businesses stood out in the patent citation network. The early adoption and better performance of developed countries can be explained by the activities of large established private companies.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 82 Document Number: D10831
Notes:
10 pages., via website AgWeb's Farm Journal, In their story, “Plowed Under, The Next American Farm Bust Is Upon Us,” (paywall) the Wall Street Journal reported on the tough times we’re facing in agriculture. They are tough. And, as a corn and soybean farmer, it’s painful to see. But farmers are nothing if not resilient. And we’ll survive this one too.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Results showed that different segments of producers had distinctive purchasing behaviors. Specifically, analytic-oriented producers tended to focus on product performance and less on the relationship with suppliers when buying their inputs. They also tended to be loyal to input brands, rely less on dealers/retailers and salespeople, and they are willing to change suppliers more often than other producers. Intuitive-oriented producers valued more the relationship with the supplier and are interested in contacting the salesperson if they need a product. Balanced-oriented producers declared to be less loyal to brands, but were more stable in terms of not changing input suppliers frequently.
February 5 issue via online. 3 pages., Describes the addition as a way for editors and advertisers to connect with corn and soybean growers, in particular, during the growing season.
18 pages., via online journal, The aim of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of small-scale farmers in Brazil towards genetically modified (GM) crops based on a sample of 15 focus groups involving 111 individuals. The analysis of the corpus shows heterogeneous perceptions regarding these crops, shaped by diverse factors, including economic prospects and concerns with the impact on health and the environment. There are many misgivings about these effects among the farmers, who are keen to receive unbiased information on the topic. These uncertainties affect them more as consumers, as most would prefer eating GM-free food, than as producers, as they consider other aspects, especially economic feasibility, when deciding what to grow. Although most farmers believe they should have a voice in decision-making on agricultural issues, few have made concerted efforts to be heard.
Author emphasizes the value of farm broadcasters in sharing information about the numerous initiatives supported by the agricultural organizations such as the American Soybean Association.
Benavidez, Justin R. (author), Ribera, Luis A. (author), and Thayer, Anastasia (author)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
2020
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11717
Notes:
Paper presented at the 2020 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri, July 26-28, 2020. 20 pages., Authors assessed the impact of tweets by U.S. President Donald Trump on agricultural commodity prices during the trade war with China. Results indicated tht days with high counts of tweets with keywords associated with the 2018-2019 trade war led to statistically significant structural breaks in the price series for hogs, corn, cotton, and soybeans.
USA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11770
Notes:
Online via AgriMarketing Weekly. 1 page., U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that more than 90 percent of corn, soybean, and cotton acreage involves herbicide-resistant varieties. Currently, 92 percent of U.S. cotton acres are planted with genetically-engineered, insect-resistant seeds and 83 percent of U.S. corn acres.
18 pages, via Online Journal, Plant-based milk alternatives–or mylks–have surged in popularity over the past ten years. We consider the politics and consumer subjectivities fostered by mylks as part of the broader trend towards ‘plant-based’ food. We demonstrate how mylk companies inherit and strategically deploy positive framings of milk as wholesome and convenient, as well as negative framings of dairy as environmentally damaging and cruel, to position plant-based as the ‘better’ alternative. By navigating this affective landscape, brands attempt to (re)make mylk as simultaneously palatable and disruptive to the status quo. We examine the politics of mylks through the concept of palatable disruption, where people are encouraged to care about the environment, health, and animal welfare enough to adopt mylks but to ultimately remain consumers of a commodity food. By encouraging consumers to reach for “plant-based” as a way to cope with environmental catastrophe and a life out of balance, mylks promote a neoliberal ethic: they individualize systemic problems and further entrench market mechanisms as solutions, thereby reinforcing the political economy of industrial agriculture. In conclusion, we reflect on the limits of the current plant-based trend for transitioning to more just and sustainable food production and consumption.
2 pages, via Online journal, Every morning I wake up like thousands of others wondering if what I am experiencing is just a bad dream. As I move into the day I am acutely aware that it is not a bad dream and that I as a farmer and an activist have a responsibility to make this devastating situation better.
Wallander, Steven (author), Smith, David (author), Bowman, Maria (author), and Claassen, Roger (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2021-02
Published:
USA: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12143
Notes:
Economic Information Bulletin Number 222. 33 pages., This report detailed how cover crops are managed on corn, cotton, soybean, and wheat fields in the United States. "These surveys reveal that there are many different approaches to using cover crops."
Hennessy, David A. (author), Lindsey, Alexander J. (author), Che, Yuyuan (author), Lindsey, Laura E. (author), Pal Singh, Maninder (author), Feng, Hongli (author), Hawkins, Elizabeth M. (author), Subburayalu, Sakthi (author), Black, Roy (author), Richer, Eric A. (author), and Ochs, Daniel S. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2022-01-24
Published:
United States: Clemson University Press
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12260
4 pages, Selecting optimal corn and soybean seeding rates are difficult decisions to make. A survey of Ohio and Michigan farm operators finds that, although generally keen to learn from others, they tend to emphasize their own experience over outside information sources. Soybean growers declare university and extension recommendations as more important than do corn growers. In response to direct queries and in free comments, growers place more emphasis on understanding the agronomic and technological problems at hand than on adjusting to the market environment. Given the decision environment, we argue that these responses are reasonable.
22 pages., This study assessed the accessibility to nutrition education sources and level of knowledge on soya bean products as alternative/cheap source of protein by rural women. Multistage sampling procedure was utilized in selecting 234 respondents in the study area. Interview schedule and focus group discussion was used to collect information from the rural women. Data was analysed through descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies and means) and inferential statistics (Analysis of variance). The results showed that the women had access to nutrition education on soya beans mostly through; family and friends (x̅= 0.82), local health centres (x̅= 0.78), radio (x̅= 0.80) and television (x̅= 0.71) programmes. The women had overall ‘below average’ knowledge on the products. There was no significant difference in the knowledge scores of the women across the three products (soya milk, iru and cake) (F= 0.167, p≥ 0.05). The result of the bivariate analysis indicated that local health centres (P = 0.035) and Women in Agriculture (P = 0.019) were nutrition education sources whose accessibility had a significant relationship with the level of soya bean product knowledge of the rural women. There is an urgent need for an aggressive campaign on the soya product nutrition education programme in order to increase the knowledge of this important and cheap protein source.
22 pages, This paper presents direct evidence on the impact of a specific extension program that is aimed at promoting the adoption of varieties resistant to the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), specifically the Iowa State University SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trials. We use two data sources: experimental data from these variety trials and a rich proprietary dataset on farmers’ seed purchases. Combining these data, we estimate the value of soybean cyst nematode-resistant variety availability, and the associated variety trials that provide information on their performance to farmers and seed companies. Given the scope and diffusion of this extension program, the focus of the analysis is on Iowa and northern Illinois over the period 2011–2016. Farmers’ seed choices are modeled in a discrete choice framework, specifically a one-level nested logit model. Using the estimated demand model, we find farmers’ marginal willingness to pay for soybean cyst nematode-resistant varieties, and for related extension information provided by the Iowa State University SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trials program, to be large. These results are confirmed by counterfactual analyses showing that, over the six-year period and region of the study, the total ex post welfare change associated with the existence of, and information about, SCN-resistant seeds is about $478 million. About one-third of this surplus is captured by seed suppliers, and two-thirds accrues to farmers.
7 pages, This study aims to identify whether there is dependence between agricultural commodities traded on the Brazilian market. We used the bivariate copula method over a ten-year period to assess the extreme effects on the returns of the following commodities: soybean, wheat, Arabica coffee, and Robusta coffee. The relationship directly affects the dependence between Arabica and Robusta coffees commodities. While the relationship between wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffees, and soybean is positively dependent. Economic growth, market dynamics, and the prices of an agricultural commodity tend to increase the price of other commodities.
7 pages, This study aims to identify whether there is dependence between agricultural commodities traded on the Brazilian market. We used the bivariate copula method over a ten-year period to assess the extreme effects on the returns of the following commodities: soybean, wheat, Arabica coffee, and Robusta coffee. The relationship directly affects the dependence between Arabica and Robusta coffees commodities. While the relationship between wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffees, and soybean is positively dependent. Economic growth, market dynamics, and the prices of an agricultural commodity tend to increase the price of other commodities.
24 pages, Soybean (Glycine max (L. Merr.) has been a crop of interest to address both poverty
and malnutrition in the developing world because of its high levels of both protein and
oil, and its adaptability to grow in tropical environments. Development practitioners
and policymakers have long sought value added opportunities for local crops to move
communities out of poverty by introducing processing or manufacturing technologies.
Soy dairy production technologies sit within this development conceptual model. To
the researchers’ knowledge, no research to date measures soy dairy performance,
though donors and NGOs have launched hundreds of enterprises over the last 18 years.
The lack of firm-level data on operations limits the ability of donors and practitioners
to fund and site sustainable dairy businesses. Therefore, the research team developed
and implemented a recordkeeping system and training program first, as a 14-month
beta test with a network of five dairies in Ghana and Mozambique in 2016-2017.
Learning from the initial research then supported a formal research rollout over 18
months with a network of six different dairies in Malawi and key collaboration from
USAID’s Agricultural Diversification activity. None of the beta or rollout dairies kept
records prior to the intervention. The formal rollout resulted in a unique primary dataset
to address the soy dairy performance knowledge gap. The results of analysis show that
the dairies, on average, achieve positive operating margins of 61%, yet cannot cover
the fixed costs associated with depreciation, amortization of equipment and
infrastructure, working capital, marketing and promotion, and regulatory compliance.
The enterprises in our sample operate only at 9% of capacity, which limits their ability
to cover the normal fixed costs associated with the business. The challenge is not the
technology itself, as when operated, it produces a high-quality dairy product. The
challenges involve a business that requires too much capital for normal operations
relative to a nascent and small addressable market.
Banks, Ken (author) and Kreutz, Christian (author)
Format:
Article
Publication Date:
2008
Published:
Cambodia
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C29019
Notes:
Posted at http://www.crisscrossed.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/1/the-participatory-web.pdf, Pages 30-33 in Annamarie Matthess and Christian Kreutz, Participatory web - new potentials of ICT in rural areas, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische, Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Eschborn, Germany. 41 pages.
