Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture

Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-03-18

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0309170346

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested that the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council (NRC) convene a panel of experts to examine whether publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the structure of U.S. agriculture and, if so, how. The Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture was asked to assess the role of public-sector agricultural research on changes in the size and numbers of farms, with particular emphasis on the evolution of very-large-scale operations.


Crossing the Chasm

Crossing the Chasm

Author: Geoffrey A. Moore

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0061795860

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Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet. It's essential reading for anyone with a stake in the world's most exciting marketplace.


Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh

Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh

Author: Sraboni, Esha

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published:

Total Pages: 101

ISBN-13:

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Using nationally representative survey data from rural Bangladesh, this paper examines the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and indicators of individual dietary quality. Our findings suggest that women’s empowerment is associated with better dietary quality for individuals within the household, with varying effects across the life course. Women’s empowerment is associated with more diverse diets for children younger than five years, but empowerment measures are not consistently associated with increases in nutrient intake for this age group. Women’s empowerment is positively and significantly associated with adult men’s and women’s dietary diversity and nutrient intakes. Different empowerment domains may have different impacts on nutrition, but other characteristics, such as maternal schooling and household socioeconomic status, may play a more important role for younger children. The importance of maternal education in the dietary quality of young children, and the relatively greater importance of women’s empowerment for older children and adults, imply that policies designed to empower women and improve nutritional status should be informed by knowledge of which specific domains of women’s empowerment matter for particular nutritional outcomes at specific stages of the life course.


Determining Factors and Impacts of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption in West Wollega

Determining Factors and Impacts of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption in West Wollega

Author: Merga Challa

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 3656744033

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Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Agrarian Studies, Wollega University (School of graduate studies), language: English, abstract: This study analyzed factors affecting modern agricultural technology adoption by farmers and the impact of technology adoption decision on the welfare of households in the study area. The data used for the study were obtained from 145 randomly selected sample households in the study area. Binary logit model was employed to analyze the determinants of farmers’ decisions to adopt modern technologies. Moreover, the average effect of adoption on household incomes and expenditure were estimated by using propensity score matching method. The result of the logistic regression showed that household heads’ education level, farm size, credit accessibility, perception of farmers about cost of the inputs and off-farm income positively and significantly affected the farm households’ adoption decision; while family size affected their decision negatively and significantly. The result of the propensity score matching estimation showed that the average income and consumption expenditure of adopters are greater than that of non-adopters. Based on these findings it is recommended that the zonal and the woreda leaders extension agents farm and education experts, policy makers and other development oriented organizations have to plan in such a way that the farm households in the study area will obtain sufficient education, credit accessibilities and also have to train farmers to make them understand the benefits obtained from adopting the new technologies. These bodies have also to arrange policy issues that improve farm labour participation of household members and also to arrange the ways in which farmers obtain means of income outside farming activities.


Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development

Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development

Author: Ephraim Nkonya

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-11-11

Total Pages: 695

ISBN-13: 3319191683

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This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC - which accounts for 78% of the US$300 billion loss – is borne by land users and the remaining share (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law, improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure. The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.


The Chocolate Model of Change

The Chocolate Model of Change

Author: Diane Dormant

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2011-07-03

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1257867555

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A how-to-guide to get others in your organization to accept new technologies, processes, regulations, management, etc.


Technology Adoption

Technology Adoption

Author: Debra Joyce Rubas

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Many fields of economics point to technology as the primary vehicle for change. Agencies pushing change often promote technology adoption to achieve their goals. To improve our understanding of how efforts to push new technologies should be focused, two studies are undertaken. The first study defines and tests for universality using meta-regression analysis on 170 analyses of agricultural production technologies. The second study, a case study on an emerging information technology - climate forecasts, examines how the timing of adoption affects the benefits. A factor exhibiting a systematic positive or negative effect on technology adoption is a universal factor. If the impact is the same regardless of location or technology type, the factor is strongly universal. The factor is weakly universal if the impact varies by location or technology type. Education and farm size are found to be weakly positive universal, age is found to be weakly negative universal, and outreach is not found to be a universal factor in the adoption of technology. These results indicate that technology-promoters may want to change their approach and focus on younger, more educated producers with larger farms. In the second study, an international wheat trade model incorporating climate variability is used to simulate different scenarios when wheat producers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia adopt ENSO-based forecasts for use in production decisions. Adoption timing and levels are varied across countries in the different scenarios. The results are highly consistent. Early adopters benefit the most, there is no incentive for more producers to adopt after 60% to 95% have adopted (meaning the adoption ceiling has been reached), and slower adoption corresponds to ceilings closer to 60% than 95%. Examining technology adoption from two angles provides a deeper understanding of the adoption process and aids technology-promoters in achieving their goals. In addition to focusing on younger, more educated producers with larger farms, technology-promoters wanting wide-spread adoption with high benefits need to push constituents to adopt early and fast.


Deploying Machine Learning

Deploying Machine Learning

Author: Robbie Allen

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Published: 2019-05

Total Pages: 99998

ISBN-13: 9780135226209

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Increasingly, business leaders and managers recognize that machine learning offers their companies immense opportunities for competitive advantage. But most discussions of machine learning are intensely technical or academic, and don't offer practical information leaders can use to identify, evaluate, plan, or manage projects. Deploying Machine Learning fills that gap, helping them clarify exactly how machine learning can help them, and collaborate with technologists to actually apply it successfully. You'll learn: What machine learning is, how it compares to "big data" and "artificial intelligence," and why it's suddenly so important What machine learning can do for you: solutions for computer vision, natural language processing, prediction, and more How to use machine learning to solve real business problems -- from reducing costs through improving decision-making and introducing new products Separating hype from reality: identifying pitfalls, limitations, and misconceptions upfront Knowing enough about the technology to work effectively with your technical team Getting the data right: sourcing, collection, governance, security, and culture Solving harder problems: exploring deep learning and other advanced techniques Understanding today's machine learning software and hardware ecosystem Evaluating potential projects, and addressing workforce concerns Staffing your project, acquiring the right tools, and building a workable project plan Interpreting results -- and building an organization that can increasingly learn from data Using machine learning responsibly and ethically Preparing for tomorrow's advances The authors conclude with five chapter-length case studies: image, text, and video analysis, chatbots, and prediction applications. For each, they don't just present results: they also illuminate the process the company undertook, and the pitfalls it overcame along the way.


Information Seeking Behavior and Technology Adoption: Theories and Trends

Information Seeking Behavior and Technology Adoption: Theories and Trends

Author: Al-Suqri, Mohammed Nasser

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2015-02-28

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1466681578

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With the increasingly complex and ubiquitous data available through modern technology, digital information is being utilized daily by academics and professionals of all disciplines and career paths. Information Seeking Behavior and Technology Adoption: Theories and Trends brings together the many theories and meta-theories that make information science relevant across different disciplines. Highlighting theories that had their base in the early days of text-based information and expanding to the digitization of the Internet, this book is an essential reference source for those involved in the education and training of the next-generation of information science professionals, as well as those who are currently working on the design and development of our current information products, systems, and services.