A pre-economic feasibility study was undertaken to determine the potential of cereal straw for industrial utilization in Minnesota. Specifically, utilizing straw for pulp and paper manufacture was of interest. The availability of cereal straw fiber supplies at various locations across the state of Minnesota, along with pre-processing issues such as transportation, harvesting, handling, and storage, are discussed and priced. The greatest economic advantage of straw for industrial use appears to be the low cost of the raw material compared to traditional raw materials. This also provides an excellent opportunity for additional income for farmers. The methodology and information provided here should be helpful in evaluating the feasibility of utilizing straw for other industrial purposes in other parts of the world. However, in some Third World countries, long-standing on-farm, traditional uses of cereal straws for fuel, fiber, and animal feed may limit their availability for industrial utilization.

This paper examines whether the dollar value of health benefits that consumers derive from organic food could account for the price premiums they pay. Price and sales data from realized transactions are inadequate to reveal consumer preferences for health benefits. Our exploratory alternative method estimates the value of health benefits to a hypothetical consumer who assesses risks as risk assessors do and values a unit reduction in all fatal risks equally, regardless of the source of any risk. Under these assumptions, our estimates of the value of health benefits derived from substituting an organic diet for a conventionally produced diet approach zero. For a common organic product, apple juice, we estimated the cost of reducing risks by buying the organic characteristic. The cost of averting each adverse health outcome is 27 to 461 times as large as the value of benefits. If the characteristics of our hypothetical consumer match those of the typical consumer, two inferences follow from our estimates of benefits and costs. First, the typical consumer is unlikely to purchase organic food for health reasons. Second, consumers who choose organic food could differ from typical consumers in several dimensions: perceptions of the level of risk from dietary intake of pesticides, perceptions of the nature of adverse health outcomes from pesticides, or in the importance attached to other attributes of organic food. Our analysis is exploratory partially because there are several behavioral assumptions implicit in the values we calculate. Also, we focus on risks that can be quantitatively estimated, measuring the probability of an adverse health outcome with readily accessible data. Currently, only cancer risks can be measured in terms of probabilities from readily accessible data.

Nonpoint sources of P pollution have been implicated in the declining water quality of many lakes in the northeastern U.S. Most of the agricultural nonpoint P contribution to surface waters comes from field runoff. Water quality may be improved by better understanding the movement, or flow, of P through a farm so that reasons for buildup of high soil P levels can be identified and remedies explored. In this study, the managed flows of P (P in imported and exported products) were estimated based on 1hour farmer interviews on 45 Vermont farms and 1 New York farm. Farm P inflow/outflow budgets were developed using information from the interviews. It was estimated that an average of 57% of the P brought onto the farms was not exported. Phosphorus imported in feed and minerals averaged 65% of the total P imports, while purchased fertilizer contributed to an average of 35% of the total farm P imports. Phosphorus was often fed in excess of the cow's nutritional requirements recommended by the National Research Council. Soil test P levels on two pairs of farms with similar animal densities and soil types reflected the large differences in the estimated net P accumulation. For all 46 farms, there was a significant relationship between net P accumulation and animal density (r2 = 0.59). Farms grouped by management operation type (confinement, pasture - based [non-organic], and pasture-based [organic]) were different in average farm size, animal density, P imports, net P accumulation, milk production, and predominant crop. Feeding of excess P results from the high P levels recommended by feed salesmen and nutritionists, who typically take into account the available home-grown forages and provide the suggested needs for purchases of concentrates and minerals. In a survey of seven Vermont dairy feed consultants and salespersons, rations were designed to feed cows as much as 50% more P than research has indicated is necessary.

To promote agricultural sustainability, there is a growing interest in developing soil quality indicators that can be used as early indicators of changes in management practices by growers, agricultural professionals, and researchers. A study was conducted on four commercial growers' fields and two research stations in western Oregon with treatments that had been started from 1 to 7 years prior to initiating the investigation. The primary comparison at each site was a winter cover crop and winter fallow in rotation with summer vegetable crops. The effects of these treatments on microbial biomass carbon (MBC), mineralizable N, soil enzyme activity (arylsulfatase and β-glucosidase), and cotton strip decomposition were analyzed to monitor changes in soil quality over a 2-year period. The cotton strip method was tested because of its simplicity (buried in soil for short periods and then assessed for tensile strength or weight loss) and potential as a soil biological indicator. Results showed that cover cropping significantly affected MBC and soil enzyme activity. Mineralizable N and CO2 respiration (laboratory incubation) did not respond to winter cover crop treatment. Cotton strip decomposition was relatively insensitive to field treatments. Because MBC and β-glucosidase activity responded quickly to field management treatment and were less variable than the other measurements, they showed the most potential as soil quality indicators. Total C (organic matter index) and extractable nutrients were not significantly affected by cover cropping (even after 7 years), indicating selected biological properties are superior to these chemical properties for detecting effects of soil management.

Over the long run, a sustainable food production system requires both a sufficient base of agricultural land and agricultural practices that do not degrade the land. However, current policies and programs for protecting agricultural land are not systematically integrated with those promoting sustainable agriculture. There are various ways that policymakers, agricultural support organizations, and researchers could better integrate farmland preservation and sustainable agriculture efforts. This paper suggests several approaches for developing such connections including: coordinating local, state, and federal policies, conducting related research, and developing integrated outreach and education programs.