We introduce uncertainty about farmer characteristics into the moral hazard problem facing a regulator offering agri-environmental contracts. Our model allows for a continuum of farmer compliance costs. For reasonable parameter values the model predicts high levels of cheating and intensive monitoring, contrary to the evidence. We therefore add variation in farmers’ propensity to cheat, the reg...

This study aims to explore the farmers' perceptions of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination using a reflexive research method called Q methodology. A structured sample was composed of 46 farmers selected according to gender, farming experience, level of education, and production type. Statements relevant to the farmers' perceptions of and attitudes toward FMD vaccination, related to confide...

Farmers need information at all stages of the farming life cycle to make optimal decisions. The required information includes not only prior knowledge but also real time (dynamic) information such as market prices and current production levels. Some valuable information needed by the farmers is produced by government organizations and is available in different locations in different formats. Al...

LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 62, No. 1, 2013 (“Community Informatics in China,” edited by Kate Williams), pp. 95–104. © 2013 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois Abstract The reading rooms in the rural areas of Beijing are among the oldest farmers’ reading rooms in China. By 2011, 3,974 farmers’ reading rooms had been established in rural areas of Beijing; there is now one farmers’ reading roo...

Nutrient enrichment of water resources has degraded coastal waters throughout the world, including in the United States (e.g., Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Neuse Estuary). Agricultural nonpoint sources have significant impacts on water resources. As a result, nutrient management planning is the primary tool recommended to reduce nutrient losses from agricultural fields. Its effectiveness...

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES Farmers experience airway obstruction, which may be attributable in part to endotoxin inhalation. CD14 is a receptor for endotoxin. MATERIALS AND METHODS Based on our findings of increased circulating CD14 associated with the CD14/-159 T allele, we hypothesized that carriers of this allele would have decreased lung function among endotoxin-exposed individuals. CD14/-1...

A survey of 125 farmers was conducted in 2005 in the Central and Western highlands of Kenya and the Kullu valley in the Western Himalayas of India to investigate pest management practices and constraints among farmers growing cruciferous vegetables. Lepidopteran insects were the most important pests affecting the crops and pest management relied primarily on application of pyrethroid and/or org...

This paper estimates a stochastic production using household survey data to analyze the relationship between farmers’ health impediments and agricultural production efficiency in Ethiopia. The results show that healthy farmers produce more per unit of inputs, earn more income and supply more labor than farmers affected by sickness. The model results show that production inefficiency increases s...

Agricultural economists have long debated the efficiency and viability of smallholder agriculture. While much research has shown that small farmers in developing regions are often more efficient than larger farmers, some have challenged the validity of that evidence, citing potential problems that come with farmers' selfreporting of land size. If smaller farmers systematically under-report the ...

This study was undertaken to assess the socio-economic impact of producing export oriented agricultural crops on the livelihoods of the farmers, in eastern Ethiopia. A random sample of 305 farmers was studied. Comparisons were made between producers and non-producers using the Ztest and regression analysis. It was found that producers of export oriented crops are better off than the non-produce...