Clyde F. Kiker

El Niño–Southern Oscillation Impacts on Winter Vegetable Production in Florida*

Abstract Florida’s mild winters allow the state to play a vital role in supplying fresh vegetables for U.S. consumers. Producers also benefit from premium prices when low temperatures prevent production in most of the country. This study characterizes the influence of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the Florida vegetable industry using statistical analysis of the response of historical crop (yield, prices, production, and value) and weather variables (freeze hazard, temperatures, rainfall, and solar radiation) to ENSO phase and its interaction with location and time of year. Annual mean yields showed little evidence of response to ENSO phase and its interaction with location. ENSO phase and season interacted to influence quarterly yields, prices, production, and value. Yields (tomato, bell pepper, sweet corn, and snap bean) were lower and prices (bell pepper and snap bean) were higher in El Nino than in neutral or La Nina winters. Production and value of tomatoes were higher in La Nina winters....

Macro-scale economic influences on tropical forest depletion

Abstract The paper examines the influence of global and domestic factors on forest depletion in 45 tropical developing countries from 1967 to 1985. It links forest depletion with conditions in the international markets and with domestic macroeconomic and demographic factors. Calculated elasticities suggest that real exchange rate devaluation, debt service, food self-sufficiency, income, and export prices of forestry and agricultural output had significant influence on the depletion of tropical forests during the study period.

SOUTH FLORIDA: THE REALITY OF CHANGE AND THE PROSPECTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY: Adaptive learning for science-based policy: the Everglades restoration☆

Abstract The Everglades ecosystem restoration is totally unprecedented. The spatial scale involves all of southern Florida and the temporal scale is decades. Although it is one of the most studied ecosystems in the world, much additional knowledge will have to be acquired for the restoration to ultimately reestablish a naturally functioning ecosystem. Additionally, political support will have to be maintained throughout the endeavor, and this will require a different form of understanding, a form useful to decision-makers and political representatives. Adaptive ecological learning embedded in an adaptive ecosystem assessment and management structure is offered as a possible supplement to the ongoing scientific learning. The goal of such an adaptive ecological learning approach is to facilitate more holistic understanding useful to decision-makers and political representatives.

Braden, John B., and Stephen B. Lovejoy, eds. Agriculture and Water Quality: International Perspective. Boulder CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1990, xii + 224 pp.,

Overview, J.B.Braden and S.B.Lovejoy. Part 1 Issues and policy options: agriculture and water quality - where are we and why?, Lawrence Libby and William Boggess incentive policies for control of agricultural water pollution, Kathleen Segerson control of agricultural pollution by regulation, Glen Anderson et al. Part 2 Policy applications: incentive policies in Sweden to reduce agricultural water pollution, Karl Ivar Kumm national agroenvironmental incentives programs - the US experience, Katherine Reichelderfer Californias proposition 65 - a new regulatory trend?, Gloria E.Helfand and Sandra O.Archibald water quality and agriculture - the case of the Murray-Darling basin in Australia, Warren Musgrave. Part 3 Environmental policies and agricultural competitiveness: environmental regulation and agricultural trade competitiveness, C.Ford Runge international trading arrangements, the intensity of resource use and environmental quality, Michael Young.

25

McConnell presented a dynamic model of soil erosion which gives insight into the influence of economic factors affecting a farmers use of soil. We applaud his effort, for there is limited literature on what motivates land users to conserve or erode soil. Ervin and Ervin give an excellent review of that literature. A problem with the article is a number of aspects implied, but not dealt with specifically, which lead to the assertion that the optimal private and social rates of erosion are identical. The following from the abstract reflects McConnells position.

An Economic Model of Soil Conservation: Comment

Abstract While technological learning has long been recognized in industrial settings, it has received little attention in agriculture. The basic idea is that technological performance improves through experience, i.e. ‘learning by doing’. In this paper learning is viewed as being of three types: informational, observational and experiential learning. The cost of learning and the complexity of the technology are identified as affecting the rate of learning. Overall community learning is seen as an important dimension in the rates of adoption and adaptation of new technologies. Research and extension efforts to increase agricultural productivity should incorporate activities to facilitate learning by researchers and extension agents as well as farmers.

Systematic learning of agricultural technologies

Recently many state and federal agencies in the U.S. have embraced an ecosystems management approach to environmental protection and regulation. This approach requires a high degree of cooperation between natural and social scientists to translate policy objectives into research hypotheses, models, and evaluation procedures to guide implementation decisions. An adaptive procedure to guide interdisciplinary research is described and illustrated with highlights of recent progress and pitfalls from the restoration initiative for the Everglades/South Florida ecosystem.

Ecosystem Management and the Florida Everglades: The Role of Social Scientists

The relationship between social conflict and ecological processes has received relatively little attention in the economics literature. Yet recent public concern has focused on the variability of ecosystems over time and how societies adapt to environmental change. We present a heuristic framework based on Kaufmann’s statistical theory of order within complex systems to consider the interplay between ecosystems and social institutions in “ecological-economic organizations. ” We use this framework to evaluate social conflicts over water and ecosystem management during the past century in the South Florida/Everglades region. The analysis indicates a social adaptation process leading to centralized management and a transformation of the essential attributes of the ecosystem. It remains to be determined whether new initiatives to restore the ecosystem can succeed without causing more social conflict.

Ecosystems and Social Conflict: Lessons from the Florida Everglades

Artificial drying of corn in the Southeastern Coastal Plain was shown to be financially feasible for average annual per farm production levels of greater than 10,000 bushels. Net present values for four types of drying systems were evaluated using simulation modeling in which weather conditions, yield levels, and prices were entered as stochastic variables. Scale of production and irrigation substantially influenced crop drying potential. Stochastic efficiency analysis was used to evaluate the riskiness of the investment.

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF ON-FARM GRAIN DRYING

Development and commercialization of technologies that utilize on-farm energy sources are beset by uncertainty. Producer gas, a technology that allows wood to be converted to a gaseous fuel which can power internal combustion engines, is evaluated for irrigation systems using simulation modeling and stochastic efficiency analysis. For many market conditions, producer gas stochastically dominates diesel fuel for powering a center pivot irrigation system in terms of lower cost. Commercial potential exists, but experience with pilot installations is required to further reduce uncertainty.