AGRICULTURE IN CANADA: WHO WILL GROW THE FOOD?

Key issues in the current agricultural debate include the future of family farms, levels of government support for farms, the roles of marketing institutions and the effect of new trade arrangements. In part, these issues have arisen because of recent price volatility, but the agricultural debate has also raised basic questions: Can farming in Canada survive, and if so, what will the new farms look like? The future of farming is approached through evidence on land values and assessments of alternative land use. The future structure of farms is approached through a review of farm size, location and product mix. Farm sizes are increasingly bi-modal, with small farms relatively insulated from farm markets, and large specialized farms dependent on the market for a narrow range of commodities. Policy changes influencing product mix or regional specialization are also reviewed. About one-half of farm output in Canada now comes from the prairie region of Canada. Open trading relationships and subsidy changes are further modifying the regional location of farming. Changes in marketing board arrangements and withering of prime farmland restrictions will lead to further shifts. The following appear to be key factors in assessing future directions for farming and farm structure: For small farms, numbers are not declining, but these operations contribute relatively little to farm output. For commercial farms, technology and scale factors are leading to larger sizes and increasing specialization. Specialization is expected to occur regionally as well as within farms, and the prairie provinces are likely to become an increasingly important part of Canadian agriculture. The sizes of commercial farms are such that few farms will be financed by single families, and the balance sheets as well as the management structures of new commercial farms will increasingly mirror those in the non-farm economy.Food Security and Poverty,

BUYER PREFERENCES FOR DURUM WHEAT: A STATED PREFERENCE APPROACH

The central issue addressed in this paper is the attributes preferred by a sample of buyers of durum wheat grown in Canada. Primary emphasis is the value placed on certain visual and nonvisual attributes by US buyers of durum wheat. In addition, a source variable in the analysis is used to test preferences of US buyers for US-source compared to Canadian-source durum. The latter is a method to test whether durum millers in the US believe that Canadian durum is a superior product, a view widely-held in the Canadian grain trade. Results indicate that higher bushel weight has a positive effect on purchase probability, and appears to be more important to buyers' purchasing decision than protein content, amylase content, or the choice between no. 1 and no. 2 grade. US millers in the study are shown either a) to prefer US-grown durum over that from Canada, or b) to dislike the single desk seller arrangement involved in purchasing Canadian durum. It appears that US managers who grow or market durum wheat have a competitive edge over their Canadian competitors when marketing to US-based durum users.Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

A Nutraceutical Industry: Policy Implications for Future Directions

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

SUPPLY CHAIN COMPETENCY: RECIPE FOR CEREAL AND LIVESTOCK MARKETING IN ALBERTA?

This study examines the nature of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the Canadian barley industry, economic theories related to SCM, identifies SCM drivers and reviews the Canadian barley marketing system. Two surveys were conducted; one on the feed barley segment of the market; another on the malt barley segment of the market. These surveys provide an outline of the attributes sought by buyers of feed barley in Alberta and by buyers of malt barley in Canada and the United States. A further goal of these surveys was to assess the extent of motivations for SCM in the barley supply chain. Study methods include scaling, factor analysis and stated preference techniques to analyze purchasers' preferences for specific product attributes, business relationships and product source. The major attributes of feed barley sought by Alberta feed manufacturers appear to be physical characteristics such as moisture level, absence of foreign material, high bushel weight and uniform appearance of kernels. Features identified as of moderate importance included levels of certain key amino acids, starch level in the barley sample, as well as such seller characteristics as whether the seller was personally known to the buyer, and willingness of the seller to enter into a long-term supply contract. At the level of the Alberta feed mill industry, results therefore indicate that physical, readily identifiable attributes dominate in the selection of feed barley. As a result, the study identified that SCM is not yet a part of the awareness of barley buyers at feed mills. Among buyers of malt barley, physical or easily assessed attributes such as size of kernel, germination percentage, variety and location where produced ranked highly in a factor analysis as important to malt barley buyers. While results from the sample of Canadian and US buyers did not indicate strong potential for SCM in the malt barley sector, the study found there to be differences in attributes desired by US versus Canadian malt purchasers. Main differences were the concern of US buyers with the region where the barley was grown, and the apparently much higher willingness of US buyers to obtain their malt barley from more than one source. These differences may suggest a potential for SCM in malt barley focused on procuring supplies from regions identified as preferred locations for barley used in malt production.Industrial Organization,

Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer Dose and Application Timing on Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Irrigated Hybrid Rice under Semi-Arid Conditions

Nitrogen fertilizer is the major input in rice production and the optimum rate and application timing management assure profitability and sustainability of the production system. This study aims to investigate hybrid rice response to different nitrogen fertilizer levels and the timing of application and quantify hybrid rice nitrogen use efficiency. Field experiments were conducted during the dry and the wet seasons 2016 at the research station of Africa Rice at Ndiaye in Senegal. Six nitrogen rates (0, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 kg N/ha) and three hybrid rice varieties (AR031H, AR032H, AR033H) and one inbred variety (Sahel108) and two nitrogen fertilizer application timings (three split and four split) were combined within a split-split plot design. The results showed significant effect of nitrogen rate and timing on rice grain yield that varied from 4.10 to 11.58 tons/ha and most the yield components. Rice grain yield exhibited curvilinear relationship with the applied nitrogen rates during the dry season under both nitrogen application timings and a linear relationship during the wet season under three splits. Nitrogen rate of 150 kg/ha was revealed optimum with best performance achieved by the Hybrid rice AR033H. Hybrid rice genotypes achieved greater nitrogen use efficiency compared to the inbred rice Sahel108. Hence, hybrid rice genotypes, and nitrogen rate of 150 kg/ha applied in four splits could be recommended to improve rice production and food security for achieving self-sufficiency in rice as targeted by Senegal and the neighboring countries

Population-Based Study of Child Mortality (0-4) and Income Inequality in Japan and the Developed world 1989-91 v 2012-14: Any Excess Deaths Between the Most Unequal Countries?

Introduction: Parental child `neglect’ is usually linked to parents but can apply to nations using the criteria explicit in UNICEF statement “in the last analysis Child-Mortality-Rates (CMR) indicates how well a nation meets the needs of its children”. Hence under-five (0-4) CMR rates of Japan and twenty Other Developed Countries (ODC) are compared within the context of relative poverty. Method: WHO data yields CMR rates per million (pm), analysed between 1989-91 and 2012-14 to compare Japan against ODC. World Bank Income Inequality data used as a measure of relative poverty. Excess deaths calculated by matching the most unequal Income Inequality country’s CMR with the most equal nation. Results: All countries reduced CMR substantially. The highest CMR was in USA 1383pm, followed by three English-speaking countries. Japan at 597pm was 19th of 21. USA and New Zealand were double Japan’s CMR, whilst twelve ODC had rates 25% higher than Japan. Most unequal Income Inequality USA at 15.9 times, Japan the most equal at 4.5 times. Income Inequality and CMR were strongly correlated (+0.6188 p<0.005). The countries with the lowest Income Inequality, had lowest CMR namely Finland Japan, Norway and Sweden. America not matching Japan’s CMR, meant an average excess of 16,838 US children’s deaths annually. Discussion: The strong statistical association between higher CMR and Income Inequality, suggests that one factor in Japan’s results is the lower social inequality, unlike Canada, New Zealand, the UK and USA. Does Japan’s results indicate cultural factors suggesting Japan is more child orientated than English-speaking countries

Bachia heteropa

Number of Pages: 10Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Effects of restricted basilar papillar lesions and hair cell regeneration on auditory forebrain frequency organization in adult European Starlings

The frequency organization of neurons in the forebrain Field L complex (FLC) of adult starlings was investigated to determine the effects of hair cell (HC) destruction in the basal portion of the basilar papilla (BP) and of subsequent HC regeneration. Conventional microelectrode mapping techniques were used in normal starlings and in lesioned starlings either 2 d or 6-10 weeks after aminoglycoside treatment. Histological examination of the BP and recordings of auditory brainstem evoked responses confirmed massive loss of HCs in the basal portion of the BP and hearing losses at frequencies >2 kHz in starlings tested 2 d after aminoglycoside treatment. In these birds, all neurons in the region of the FLC in which characteristic frequencies (CFs) normally increase from 2 to 6 kHz had CF in the range of 2-4 kHz. The significantly elevated thresholds of responses in this region of altered tonotopic organization indicated that they were the residue of prelesion responses and did not reflect CNS plasticity. In the long-term recovery birds, there was histological evidence of substantial HC regeneration. The tonotopic organization of the high-frequency region of the FLC did not differ from that in normal starlings, but the mean threshold at CF in this frequency range was intermediate between the values in the normal and lesioned short-recovery groups. The recovery of normal tonotopicity indicates considerable stability of the topography of neuronal connections in the avian auditory system, but the residual loss of sensitivity suggests deficiencies in high-frequency HC function

Population Density and Home Range Estimates of Black Rat (Rattus rattus) Populations in Southwestern Puerto Rico

Black rats are among the world’s most invasive rodent species and are responsible for considerable agricultural losses and risks to human health through zoonotic disease. In Puerto Rico, rats may also compete with the primary rabies reservoir (the small Indian mongoose) for baits during oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programs. We evaluated black rat population density and home range size on the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, southwestern Puerto Rico. We fitted 10 rats with VHF transmitters and tracked them using radio telemetry for approximately 4 weeks. We entered locations into ArcGIS and obtained minimum convex polygon (MCP) home range estimates. We established two plots of 55 snap traps and performed removal for 5 consecutive days during January and July, to correspond roughly with wet and dry seasons for this region. To calculate abundance, we entered snap trap data using a removal model approach in Program MARK. We calculated the effective trapping area by creating a buffer around the trapping area based on the square root of mean home range estimate. We divided the abundance calculated in MARK by the effective trapping area to calculate the estimated population density. Mean MCP home range estimate was 0.28 ha (SE: 0.05, range: 0.07-0.50 ha). Population density estimates were 114.7 (SE: 201.80) and 19.3 (SE: 6.85) per ha for January and July, respectively. To reduce the potential for rat consumption of ORV baits, wildlife managers should consider conducting ORV activities in Puerto Rico during periods of lower rat abundance or density