A model for availability growth is developed to capture the effect of systemic risk prior to construction of a complex system. The model has been motivated by new generation offshore wind farms where investment decisions need to be taken before test and operational data are available. We develop a generic model to capture the systemic risks arising from innovation in evolutionary system designs...

In the face of a growing human population and increased urbanization, the demand for pesticides will simply rise. Farmers must escalate yields on increasingly fewer farm acres. However, the risks of pesticides, whether real or perceived, may force changes in the way these chemicals are used. Scientists are working toward pest control plans that are environmentally sound, effective, and profitab...

To reduce the need for seasonal inputs, crop protection will have to be delivered via the seed and other planting material. Plant secondary metabolism can be harnessed for this purpose by new breeding technologies, genetic modification and companion cropping, the latter already on-farm in sub-Saharan Africa. Secondary metabolites offer the prospect of pest management as robust as that provided ...

Molecular and metabolomic tools were used to design understand the biodegradation of phenolic compounds in real industrial streams. Bacterial species isolated from an wastewater treatment plant a phenol production factory identified using molecular techniques. Next, potential most promising strains was analyzed presence by-product containing phenol, alfa-methylstyrene, acetophenone, 2-cumylphen...

This paper poses and tests a new model of the location of plants that process ubiquitously supplied ‘von Thünen’ inputs such as raw farm output. The new model rationalizes why agro-industry is city-located but resource-oriented. It demonstrates the significance of relative transport costs in agroindustry location. Furthermore, we present a unprecedented direct test/empirical confirmation of est...

OBJECTIVES This paper identifies the dilemmas experienced by government veterinarians during their investigations of farm animal welfare incidents that involve herd owner social, health, and/or psychological difficulties. The paper builds on exploratory qualitative research into the impact of these difficulties on farm animal welfare. DESIGN The study used a qualitative research approach. Foc...

With the continuing pressure on Australia’s water resources and interand intra-annual rainfall variability, farmers, especially in rainfed agricultural and pastoral zones, have been developing farm dams as a mean of providing additional water sources for irrigation and stock. The density of farm dams has increased over time, and an accurate knowledge of the spatial distribution of farm dams is ...

The demand for ‘local food’ by U.S. consumers has grown markedly over the last several decades, accompanied confusion how to define local food. Is ‘local’ food defined location of farm, processing factory, distribution warehouse, or all three? geographic, political, biophysical boundaries? solely farm-to-table can it include factories? This study evaluates commodity flow ‘localness’ using juris...

Aflatoxins are secondary toxic metabolites produced by some Aspergillus spp. particularly, Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus that contaminate food and feed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the contamination of feedstuffs with Aspergillus spp. and detect genes involved in the aflatoxin biosynthesis pathway of A. flavus and A. parasiticus isolates. A total of 110 cow feed samples ...