INSTITUTIONAL LOCK-IN AND PRODUCER-CONTROLLED CROP RESEARCH CHECK-OFFS IN SASKATCHEWAN

Today, there are nine provincially legislated check-off programs in Saskatchewan. Check-off and research investment rates among these programs are typically low. Most check-off rates are below 0.5 per cent of the value of the underlying commodity and agency research expenditures as a percentage of the value of the underlying commodity are, in most cases, less than 0.1 per cent. Persistently low levels of investment combined with evidence from empirical studies suggest farmers chronically underinvest in crop research from a profit maximizing perspective. The refundable nature of Saskatchewan crop research check-offs may be one reason why farmers’ collective level of research investment has not increased in a material way. Of the nine provincially legislated crop check-off agencies, eight were established and continue to operate as Commissions which administer mandatory yet refundable check-offs. With refundable check-offs, producers may request and receive a full refund of their check-off contribution. It can be hypothesized that Commissions may set check-off rates below the optimal, farmer-profit-maximizing level to avoid excessive refund requests. Anecdotal evidence from the Saskatchewan Pulse Development Board and Australia’s Grains Research Development Corporation suggests that when check-offs are compulsory check-off rates are higher. Despite the apparent advantages of switching to compulsory levies, no Commission has attempted to switch. The findings of this thesis suggest Crop Development Commissions in Saskatchewan suffer from institutional lock-in which inhibits their ability to switch to non-refundable check-offs. Large set-up cost associated with establishing a Commission, coordination effects that occur both within a Commission and between Commissions, and the adaptive expectations of farmers and those directly involved with crop development check-offs have made the costs of switching from a Commission to a board prohibitively high. As a result, Commissions are entrenched and unable to adopt non-refundable check-offs

Understanding economic abuse through an intersectional lens: Financial abuse, control and exploitation of South Asian women’s productive and reproductive labours

Existing literature on financial abuse focuses on men’s control over money, goods, assets and over women’s education/work, thereby implicitly constructing economic activity as paid work. This paper responds to this under-recognition of men’s (and in the context of particular communities, their family’s) abuse of and control over women’s unpaid (domestic) labour within a broader conceptualization of economic abuse. Drawing upon life-history interviews with 41 South Asian women from two separate studies in the UK and India, this paper takes an intersectional perspective to explore how gender, migration status, race/ethnicity and class can help understand women’s experiences as a continuum of economic abuse

Nutritional, physiological, and histological responses in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. fed diets with genetically modified maize

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether standard fish meal diets prepared with increasing levels of genetically modified (GM; 150 and 300 g kg)1) maize (event MON810) as a starch source, showed any nutritional or physiological adverse effects on Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. postsmolt. The diets with low or high inclusions ofGMmaize and its nearisogenic parental line (nongenetically modified; nGM maize), were balanced with Suprex maize (Reference) to obtain compositional equivalency of diet starch, sugars and all other nutrients. Total starch level in all diets was 160 g kg)1. After 82 days of feeding, fish growth was high in all groups, however fish fed theGMmaize showed slight but significant lower feed intake, which was followed by slight but significant lower specific growth rate and final body weights, compared with fish fed nGM maize, none of the groups varied significantly from fish fed the Reference diet. There was no variation in feed conversion ratios (FCR), protein and lipid efficiency ratios (PER and LER), or protein- and lipid-productive values (PPV and LPV) in this study. No significant effect of maize type was detected on apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of dry matter, protein or lipid. Hematological analysis and plasma nutrients varied within normal ranges for Atlantic salmon in all diet groups, except for somewhat elevated aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) values in all groups. Hepatosomatic index (HSI) with values ranging from 1.37 to 1.60, was signi- ficantly higher for the high GM maize group compared with the high nGM maize group but not when compared with the Reference diet group. Lowered spleen (SSI) and head-kidney somatic indices (H-KSI) were registered when fed GM compared withnGMmaize, the Reference treatment was however, equal to both. Distal intestine somatic index (DISI) was significantly higher for GM maize-fed fish compared with nGM maize-fed fish, but not significantly different from the Reference diet group. Histological evaluation of the mid- and distal intestine, liver, spleen and head-kidney did not reveal any dietrelated morphological changes. Maltase activities in the midand distal intestinal tissue homogenates were affected by diet, the fish fed high GM maize having higher activities compared with highnGMmaize-fed fish. Leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activities were not affected by diet. Sodium-dependent D-glucose uptake in brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) isolated from pyloric caeca of fish fed highGMmaize was significantly higher than that found in fish fed the analogous diet with high nGM maize. Based on the present findings, the conclusions made are: Atlantic salmon smolts fed GM maize (event MON810), its near-isogenic parental line and suprex maize (Reference diet), all resulted in high growth rates, ADC and feed utilization. Health, when evaluated by means of mortality (low), normal ranges of blood and plasma parameters, except somewhat elevated ASAT values and minor variations in organ sizes, were considered good in all diet groups. The changes in the glucose transport mechanism and intestinal maltase enzyme activity in the gastrointestinal tract warrant further studies