THE HARVESTING DECISION WHENA STANDING FOREST HAS VALUEA

This paper analyzes the optimal harvest age of a forest if the forest provides a flow of valuable services while standing in addition to the value of the timber when it is harvested. A basic conclusion is that the presence of recreational or other services provided by a standing forest may well have an important impact on when or whether to harvest.     

SUPPLY SHOCKS AND THE INTEREST RATE

The classic example of a temporary supply shock is a failed agricultural harvest. Theoretically, adverse temporary supply shocks are predicted to raise the ex ante real interest rate; that is, a below-normal harvest raises the interest rate. Apparently, however, no one has tested this conclusion using agriculture as the supply shock. This paper examines nineteenth century French data and confirms the hypothesis that deviations from the "average" harvest have an inverse effect on the interest rate. It also finds that temporary fluctuations in government spending affect the interest rate: higher than normal government spending raises the interest rate.     

Somewhere Between: Social Embeddedness and the Spectrum of Wild Edible Huckleberry Harvest and Use

Abstract This case study is centered in northeast Washington State and northern Idaho and focuses on the social ecology of the wild edible huckleberry. The theoretical notion of social embeddedness is the lens through which the harvest and use of this much‐prized resource is viewed and analyzed. Using grounded theory as an over‐arching method, qualitative data were collected over two harvesting seasons regarding who harvests huckleberries in the study area and why. Four categories of use/users were identified. The results suggest a rich tapestry of social relations surrounding this resource that belies the simplistic notion of “commercial” vs. “recreational” use. These relations include temporal, geographic, economic, and cultural dimensions. Policy implications include the need to move beyond the commercial/recreational dichotomy in regulating the harvest of berries as well as the need to link the notions of community forestry and subsistence to the harvest of non‐timber forest products more generally.     

Strengthening Partnership

When is the best time to bring in the service users?

This article, extracted from a wealth of material generated during UEL's first user/carer consultation, reveals a most useful day, enhancing the social work department's existing teaching partnerships with service users. Everything has to begin somewhere and small beginnings, where nurtured properly, harvest rich results. The day at the University of East London testifies that partnership works best when people are involved from the very beginning.     

Differences in fish harvest,fishing effort,and angling guard activities between urban and natural fishing grounds

Recreational fishing is a very popular outdoor leisure activity. Assessing differences in basic metrics in recreational fishing on different types of fishing grounds is very important for effective fisheries management. This study aimed to discover how basic metrics in recreational fishing (harvest, fishing effort, angling guard activities) differ between urban fishing grounds (located in a densely populated city) and natural fishing grounds (located in the countryside). Data were obtained from individual angling logbooks collected by the Czech Fishing Union on the River Elbe and the River Vltava (Prague and Central Bohemia, Czechia, Central Europe). Study shows that urban and natural fishing grounds showed significant differences in basic metrics in recreational fishing. Urban fishing grounds displayed higher fish harvest in general and higher dominance of intensively stocked fish species in catches of anglers (mainly common carp Cyprinus carpio). High harvest rates of common carp can be mostly explained by intensive fish stocking. The only fish species that showed higher harvest on natural fishing grounds were large-growing piscivorous fish with high ecological demands. However, anglers were harvesting larger fish (average body weight) on natural fishing grounds. In addition, fishing effort was similar on both types of fishing grounds. Inversely, angling guards were more active on natural fishing grounds. In conclusion, differences in basic fisheries metrics between urban and natural fishing grounds seem to be partially driven by intensive fish stocking.

     

Manual bamboo cutting tool

The paper presents the development of a cutting tool guide, specifically for the harvest of bamboo. The development was made based on precepts of eco-design and ergonomics, for prioritizing the physical health of the operator and the maintenance of the environment, as well as meet specific requirements of bamboo. The main goal is to spread the use of bamboo as construction material, handicrafts, among others, from a handy, easy assembly and material available tool.     

对付秋燥有高招

10月是万物成熟的金色收获季,也是女性养生的关键季节。女人秋无燥,来年更美丽。当你发现自己皮肤干燥、暗哑无光时,不要简单认为这是皮肤缺乏保养的缘故,事实上恢复美丽皮肤的关键在于秋季养肺润燥。     

ESTIMATING BIAS DUE TO NONRESPONSE IN MAIL SURVEYS

A procedure for minimizing nonresponse error in a self-administeredmail waterfowl harvest survey was tested on a stratified sampleof 3,360 Canada Migratory Game Bird Hunting Permit purchasersin Ontario. On the assumption that follow-ups probe deeper intothe core of nonrespondents, a linear regression model for estimatingparameter values of the population while correcting for nonresponsebias was devised using cumulated responses over three successivemailings. It was estimated that nonrespondents who tended tohave a significantly lower level of participation and involvementin the topic investigated were younger and resided in ruralareas of the province. Nonresponse bias was as high as 14.4percent for waterfowl kill per day of hunting and 11.1 percentfor age of hunters. Results confirm the usefulness of follow-upsof nonrespondents as a means of exploring and correcting fornonresponse error     

An ergonomics approach to citrus harvest mechanization

Due to the increase of production costs in manual harvesting, strategies must be developed in order to overcome these effects, such as the attempts in implementing agricultural machines in harvest activities, whether being totally or partially mechanized. This study brings a qualitative and quantitative comparison on the impacts in work conditions and productivity in Brazilian orchards caused by the use of semi-mechanized harvesting systems, such as multiplatforms. The results come from the application of Ergonomic Work Analysis method, which focuses in the activity, quantifying and analyzing times and frequencies of the harvesting cycle, as well as the amount of movements. To achieve this, footage, interviews and a stopwatch were used in the observation 12 pickers' work cycles, six for each method of harvesting. The data interpretation pointed to improvement in working conditions with a reduction in the amount of movements performed by the picker, and increase of up to 60% in productivity with the use of semi-mechanized harvesting. Thus, the found results indicate the viability of this harvesting method. However, other variables must be observed in future studies in order to complete the guidelines for a healthy progress in the area of citrus harvesting in Brazil.     

A COMMON PROPERTY EXPERIMENT WITH A RENEWABLE RESOURCE

This series of three classroom experiments demonstrates the tragedy of the commons and suggests two possible solutions: communication and individual property rights. In the first and second experiments, students jointly own a renewable resource in the form of a plate of M&Ms. Communication is not allowed in the first experiment, whereas in the second experiment students may try to influence each other's desired harvest. The third experiment divides the plate to establish individual property rights.     

Informal Labor and Social Relations in Northern Malawi: The Theoretical Challenges and Implications of Ganyu Labor for Food Security*

Abstract Food insecurity is a problem faced by smallholder farmers in Malawi. In any given year between 70 and 85 percent of households run out of food stocks several months prior to the next harvest. Once food stocks are depleted many households obtain food by doing ganyu, a type of piecework labor. Limited research has been carried out on ganyu. This paper uses qualitative data to examine ganyu in relation to food security in one area of northern Malawi. Using the livelihoods framework, I argue that the most common form of ganyu is both a livelihood strategy and a measure of vulnerability, rather than a type of social capital as suggested by other authors. High reliance on ganyu points to increased social stratification related to a rise in smallholder tobacco production. Women in female‐headed households appear to rely more on ganyu than in married households. Policy implications of these findings are considered.     

Application of the OCRA Method in the sugar cane harvest and its repercussion on the workers' health. Preliminary study

In Brazil the sugar ethanol industry has had strong growth in the last 10 years, sometimes due to the growing sugar exportation, sometimes due to the alcohol production for automobile fuel and for exportation. Despite the growing mechanization of the raw material harvest (sugar cane), the manual work still persists. The development of this article was based in the application of the OCRA Method in the sugar cane harvesting process, to evaluate the risks to the upper limbs by repetitive movements and epidemiologically prove the ratio risk x harm to the heath of the workers, as well as the probability of developing improvements in the working conditions. The analysis process consists of studying the work organization, the risks to the health of the worker and the distribution of the recovery periods during the working day.     

The Dacha Debate: Household Agriculture and Labor Markets in Post‐Socialist Russia*

Abstract The paper examines the relationship among household agriculture, wages and household structure using panel data on urban households from 1994–2003. Experts using cross‐sectional data differ on whether Russian “dachas” or garden houses are a survival strategy that households use in times of economic difficulty or a hobby of the more affluent. This analysis uses time‐series data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) to assess the effect of household status on the likelihood of participation in agriculture in subsequent years. These data show that households turn to gardening after the onset of economic uncertainty. Estimates of the value of the harvest from dacha gardens suggest that they are profitable and that households make economic calculations. Finally, the regional labor‐market participation rate is modeled as a function of garden land to show that where gardens are more prevalent, labor markets allocate a smaller fraction of the working‐age population.     

Harvest of confusion: immigration reform and California agriculture

"Agriculture was a major stumbling block to immigration reform [in the United States], largely because Congress was unwilling to assign explicit priorities to the competing goals of protecting American workers and admitting supplemental immigrant farmworkers. This article describes the Special Agricultural Worker or SAW legalization program that generated 700,000 applications in California and the hypothetical calculations required to determine whether Replenishment Agricultural Workers or RAWs will be admitted to the United States to do farmwork. The paper concludes that immigration reform did not resolve the century-old debate over agriculture's 'need' for alien workers; instead, SAWs and RAWs have contributed to the harvest of confusion on farm labor."     

Peasants in reserve: temporary West Indian labor in the U.S. farm labor market

In the past 10 years, the British West Indies Temporary Alien Labor Program has received widespread judicial and legislative support and criticism. While sugar and apple producers who import West Indians argue that domestic labor is insufficient to harvest their crops, labor organizations and their supporters maintain that domestic labor is adequate. The resulting labor disputes focus primarily on the issue of whether or not West Indians are displacing US workers or undermining wage rates and working conditions. This article examines the relationships among legal issues surrounding the program, the US farm labor market, and the Jamaican peasantry. It argues that continued imports of foreign labor during times of high domestic unemployment, as well as the varied factors which underlie the continued willingness and ability of Jamaican peasant households to supply workers to US producers, can be most clearly understood from an international and historical perspective, rather than focussing on the needs and problems of any 1 nation.     

Retaining the Benefits of Government–Nonprofit Contracting Relationship: Opposites Attract or Clash?

The benefits and negative consequences of government–nonprofit contracting are well documented. From the literature, we know that government and nonprofits can demonstrate contradictory organization-level characteristics. Some argue that these contradictions make government and nonprofits complementary partners, but empirical evidence reveals the potential loss of nonprofit voluntariness. How does one harvest the alleged benefits of the government–nonprofit relationship while minimizing the potential loss of nonprofit voluntariness? Through the qualitative investigation of one nonprofit, this study identifies seven types of organizational-level differences between the government and the nonprofit. These conflicts are manifested by three forms of power struggle. This illuminates that power struggles are the root cause of the potential loss of nonprofits’ voluntariness. The author argues that as long as nonprofits depend on the government for resources, power struggles will persist and voluntariness will be at risk; hence, addressing resource dependence is the key to answering our research question.     

Policy Sequencing and the Development of Rice Value Chains in Senegal

In response to the world food crisis in 2008, Senegal developed a productivist national food self‐sufficiency programme. However, the critical question is not whether the programme can meet its ambitious target of self‐sufficiency in rice production by 2015, but, if it does, how will domestic rice reach urban markets, where consumers generally prefer imported rice for its superior grain quality. Information collected through interviews and a stakeholder workshop advances the argument that policy sequencing will be crucial in order to upgrade Senegalese rice value chains progressively. Any large‐scale investments in productivity will need to be preceded by investments in post‐harvest grain‐quality infrastructure before sector‐wide marketing strategies can be adopted that enhance the chain competitiveness of domestic relative to imported rice.     

Making Tarefero Pride: The Collaborative Construction of Portable Photomurals for Farmworker Empowerment in Misiones,Argentina

ABSTRACT

This article draws on years of multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Misiones, Argentina to recount the collaborative construction of portable photomurals for farmworker empowerment. The murals depict work, life, and the fight for justice of the farmworkers, called tareferos, who harvest yerba mate, the tea that is Argentina’s most commonly consumed beverage. By making history and the culture of oppression a central focus, this study demonstrates how ethnographic research can support community organizing efforts through building the relationships necessary to forge collaborative, strength-based interventions. Such collaborations can bolster struggles against structural inequality and work to heal community psyches marred by historical trauma.     

Looking within the household: a study on gender,food security,and resilience in cocoa-growing communities

Many West African cocoa households experience a ‘lean season’ before the cocoa harvest, leaving them vulnerable to various events and issues which potentially cause stress – most notably food insecurity. This study, relying primarily on qualitative data from Côte d'Ivoire, examines how income allocation and intra-household dynamics affect household resilience during the lean season. Its findings indicate that in contexts in which women and men's income are separate and destined for different purposes in the household, the fact that men's income is often earmarked for individual spending creates particular problems for households in the lean season. Women's empowerment within the household is essential to improving intra-household resource allocation for resilience. In many contexts, this translates into development programmes supporting women to increase their production and ability to control income independently of men. However, a context of individual gendered agricultural production, and gendered spending obligations, such as West Africa, calls for a slightly different approach. Enhancing agricultural productivity is critical, but in addition it is important to encourage co-operation between women and men in households to result in joint decision-making in the interests of the household.