scholarly journals Economic Studies Reinforce Efforts to Safeguard Specialty Crops in the United States

Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-26
Author(s):  
M. Fuchs ◽  
C. V. Almeyda ◽  
M. Al Rwahnih ◽  
S. S. Atallah ◽  
E. J. Cieniewicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Specialty Crops ◽  
Extension Educators ◽  
Specialty Crop ◽  
Planting Material ◽  
Planting Materials ◽  
Economic Studies

Pathogen-tested foundation plant stocks are the cornerstone of sustainable specialty crop production. They provide the propagative units that are used to produce clean planting materials, which are essential as the first-line management option of diseases caused by graft-transmissible pathogens such as viruses, viroids, bacteria, and phytoplasmas. In the United States, efforts to produce, maintain, and distribute pathogen-tested propagative material of specialty crops are spearheaded by centers of the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN). Agricultural economists collaborated with plant pathologists, extension educators, specialty crop growers, and regulators to investigate the impacts of select diseases caused by graft-transmissible pathogens and to estimate the return on investments in NCPN centers. Economic studies have proven valuable to the NCPN in (i) incentivizing the use of clean planting material derived from pathogen-tested foundation plant stocks; (ii) documenting benefits of clean plant centers, which can outweigh operating costs by 10:1 to 150:1; (iii) aiding the development of disease management solutions that are not only ecologically driven but also profit maximizing; and (iv) disseminating integrated disease management recommendations that resonate with growers. Together, economic studies have reinforced efforts to safeguard specialty crops in the United States through the production and use of clean planting material.

scholarly journals Horticultural Crop Production in High Tunnels in the United States: A Snapshot

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward E. Carey ◽  
Lewis Jett ◽  
William J. Lamont ◽  
Terrance T. Nennich ◽  
Michael D. Orzolek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cut Flower ◽  
Horticultural Crop ◽  
Specialty Crops ◽  
Yield And Quality ◽  
Small Fruit ◽  
High Tunnels

High tunnels are becoming an increasingly important production tool for vegetable, small fruit, and cut flower growers in many parts of the United States. They provide a protected environment relative to the open field, allowing for earlier or later production of many crops, and they typically improve yield and quality as well as disease and pest management. Producers, ranging from small-scale market gardens to larger scale farms, are using high tunnels of various forms to produce for early markets, schedule production through extended seasons, grow specialty crops that require some environmental modification, and capture premium prices. The rapid ongoing adoption of high tunnels has resulted in numerous grower innovations and increased university research and extension programming to serve grower needs. An informal survey of extension specialists was conducted in 2007 to estimate numbers (area) of high tunnels and crops being grown in them by state, and to identify current research and extension efforts. Results of this survey provide an indication of the increasing importance of these structures for horticultural crop production across the country.

scholarly journals Growing climatic sensitivity of U.S. agriculture linked to technological change and regional specialization

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. eaat4343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Ortiz-Bobea ◽  
Erwin Knippenberg ◽  
Robert G. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Specialty Crops ◽  
Regional Specialization ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Sensitivity

A pressing question for climate change adaptation is whether ongoing transformations of the agricultural sector affect its ability to cope with climatic variations. We examine this question in the United States, where major increases in productivity have fueled most of agricultural production growth over the past half-century. To quantify the evolving climate sensitivity of the sector and identify its sources, we combine state-level measures of agricultural productivity with detailed climate data for 1960–2004. We find that agriculture is growing more sensitive to climate in Midwestern states for two distinct but compounding reasons: a rising climatic sensitivity of nonirrigated cereal and oilseed crops and a growing specialization in crop production. In contrast, other regions specialize in less climate-sensitive production such as irrigated specialty crops or livestock. Results suggest that reducing vulnerability to climate change should consider the role of policies in inducing regional specialization.

scholarly journals An Optimal Redesign Approach for Optimal Global Supply Chain Redesign: Brazilian Soybean Grain Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Juan José Uchuya Lopéz ◽  
Raad Yahya Qassim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Rail Transportation ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Inland Waterways

Brazil and the United States are the leading soybean grain producing and exporting countries in the world. Although crop production cost is significantly lower in Brazil than in the United States due to more advanced crop production technology, this competitive advantage vanishes in view of the higher logistics costs in Brazil than in the United States, in view of the dominance of road transportation in Brazil, whilst river and rail transportation are prevalent in the United States. In order to regain its competitive advantage, there is a clear need for a redesign of the inland supply chain in Brazil through the use and expansion of existent inland waterways and rail networks. In this paper, an optimal supply chain redesign methodology is presented to achieve the aforesaid objective, with a focus on Mato Grosso which is the largest producer and exporting state in Brazil. This methodology is in fact applicable to multiply echelon global supply chains in general.

scholarly journals Crop switching reduces agricultural losses from climate change in the United States by half under RCP 8.5

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Rising ◽  
Naresh Devineni
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Cross Validation ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
Bayesian Hierarchical ◽  
Rcp 8.5

AbstractA key strategy for agriculture to adapt to climate change is by switching crops and relocating crop production. We develop an approach to estimate the economic potential of crop reallocation using a Bayesian hierarchical model of yields. We apply the model to six crops in the United States, and show that it outperforms traditional empirical models under cross-validation. The fitted model parameters provide evidence of considerable existing climate adaptation across counties. If crop locations are held constant in the future, total agriculture profits for the six crops will drop by 31% for the temperature patterns of 2070 under RCP 8.5. When crop lands are reallocated to avoid yield decreases and take advantage of yield increases, half of these losses are avoided (16% loss), but 57% of counties are allocated crops different from those currently planted. Our results provide a framework for identifying crop adaptation opportunities, but suggest limits to their potential.

Herbicide-Resistant Weeds in the United States and Their Impact on Extension

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Scott ◽  
Mark J. Vangessel ◽  
Susan White-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extension Education ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Common Lambsquarters ◽  
Herbicide Resistant ◽  
Agronomic Crops ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Impact

Herbicide-resistant weeds have impacted crop production throughout the United States, but the effect they have on extension programming has not been evaluated. In June 2007, 38 extension weed specialists throughout the United States, responded to a survey on herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds and the impact they are having on extension education programming. Survey results revealed that HR weeds have had a significant impact on extension programming particularly for agronomic crops. In the last 10 yr, agronomic weed specialists' extension programming was almost twice as likely to be impacted by the presence of HR weeds as compared to horticultural programming. In the next 5 yr, agronomic extension programming is twice as likely to be altered. Of 37 weed species reported, seven genera or species of weeds represented 80% of the major HR biotypes reported. These include Amaranthus species, horseweed, Setaria species, common lambsquarters, kochia, giant ragweed, and Lolium species. Five weed species (common ragweed, common lambsquarters, horseweed, kochia, and three foxtail species) exhibited weed by mode of action (MOA) interactions when evaluated as major or minor problems. Herbicide resistance problem severity differed for weed species, herbicide MOA, and crops. The results of this survey of university extension personnel confirm that HR weeds have impacted extension programming and will continue to impact programming in the future.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document