scholarly journals Seed Funds Leverage External Awards for Research in Natural Resources and Agricultural Systems

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
John M. Davis ◽  
Pamela S. Soltis ◽  
Damian C. Adams ◽  
Sherry L. Larkin ◽  
Robert A. Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Institutional Investment ◽  
Support Teams ◽  
Seed Funding ◽  
Funding Programs ◽  
Proposal Review

In the United States, “seed fund” programs in biomedical fields have been reported to enhance faculty success in securing federal awards. Seed funds are relatively small internal grants that are allocated by universities to their faculty to invigorate research, in anticipation that they will lead to larger benefits—these benefits could be the creation of stronger teams that lead to larger external grants and/or more impactful publications. We hypothesized that a seed funding approach for research on natural resources and agricultural systems, including forest systems, may have similar benefits. Here, we report that seed funding supported faculty development in numerous ways, including leveraging to generate external competitive awards. For each dollar of institutional investment in each of the three seed funding programs, faculty acquired $6, >$50, and $4.50, respectively, in external funding that was leveraged within three years of the seed fund award date. Notably, the majority of the leveraged funding was from federal granting agencies through competitive programs. Federal competitive awards are important elements of tenure and promotion dossiers, as they reflect success in acquiring grants that are difficult to obtain, thus providing evidence of research excellence. We speculate that the seed fund proposal review process prepared faculty for competitive awards. Finally, we suggest best management practices for the implementation of seed funding to support teams of faculty.

A technique for assessing environmental impact risks of agricultural systems

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olha Sydorovych ◽  
Charles W. Raczkowski ◽  
Ada Wossink ◽  
J. Paul Mueller ◽  
Nancy G. Creamer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Conventional Tillage ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Tillage System

AbstractConventional agriculture often aims to achieve high returns without allowing for sustainable natural resource management. To prevent environmental degradation, agricultural systems must be assessed and environmental standards need to be developed. This study used a multi-factor approach to assess the potential environmental impact risk of six diverse systems: five production systems and a successional system or abandoned agronomic field. Assessment factors were soil quality status, amount of pesticide and fertilizer applied and tillage intensity. The assessment identified the best management practices (BMP)–conventional tillage system as a high-risk system mostly because of extensive tillage. The certified organic system was also extensively tilled and was characterized by P build-up in the soil, but performed well based on other assessment factors. Conversely, the BMP–no tillage and the crop–animal integrated system were characterized as low risk mainly because of reduced tillage. The paper discusses assessment strengths and weaknesses, ways to improve indicators used, and the need for additional indicators. We concluded that with further development the technique will become a resourceful tool to promote agricultural sustainability and environmental stewardship and assist policy-making processes.

scholarly journals Quinoa’s Potential to Enhance Dietary Management of Obesity and Type-2 Diabetes: A Review of the Current Evidence

Diabetology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Alexander Little ◽  
Kevin Murphy ◽  
Patrick Solverson
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lipid Absorption ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dietary Management ◽  
Obesity And Diabetes

The prevalence of diet-induced obesity and type-2 diabetes remains a growing concern in the United States. As best management practices still include improved diet and physical activity, bioactive food components, contained within functional foods, show promise in curbing the cardiometabolic complications associated with excess weight and diabetes. Quinoa is an emerging candidate crop for its versatility in wide-ranging growing conditions as one approach to address food security, but it also contains several components that may serve as a dietary tool for post-industrial countries struggling with the health complications of caloric excess. Preliminary rodent feeding studies demonstrate that components within quinoa, namely, phytosteroids, phenolics, polysaccharides, and peptides, can prevent adiposity, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia. Mechanistic activity may involve reduced lipid absorption and adipogenesis, increased energy expenditure and glucose oxidation and corrected gut microbiota. Other intestinal actions may include blocked carbohydrate digestion with enhanced incretin signaling. Evidence in clinical trials is lacking and future research spanning cells to the clinic is needed to further elucidate the interesting preliminary reports reviewed here. Quinoa offers several unique attributes that could be harnessed to improve the dietary management of obesity and diabetes.

scholarly journals Rewarding Best Pest Management Practices via Reduced Crop Insurance Premiums

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh J. Beckie ◽  
Stuart J. Smyth ◽  
Micheal D. K. Owen ◽  
Savannah Gleim
Keyword(s):  
Pest Management ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Insurance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Sites Of Action ◽  
Industry Sectors

Despite decades of research, development, and extension on the mitigation and management of pesticide resistance, the global agricultural situation is becoming increasingly dire. Pest populations with evolved resistance to multiple pesticide sites of action are becoming the norm, with fewer remaining effective xenobiotics for control. We argue that financial incentives and not regulations are needed to encourage farmers or land managers to use best management practices recommended by academia. Although some incentives are offered by pesticide manufacturers or distributors, there is a paucity of incentives by other industry sectors and all levels of government (federal or state/provincial). Crop insurance can be important to facilitate and reward best pest management practices and address other important agricultural policy objectives. Herein, we describe possible changes to crop insurance programs in the United States and Canada through premium rate changes to incentivise clients to adopt best management practices.

scholarly journals Obesity and Energy Balance in GI Cancer

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (35) ◽  
pp. 4217-4224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin C. Brown ◽  
Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cancer Prognosis ◽  
Gi Cancer ◽  
Cancer Types ◽  
Gi Cancers ◽  
Obesity And Cancer ◽  
The Relationship

The prevalence of overweight (body mass index [BMI], 25 to 29.9 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) have increased dramatically in the United States. Because increasing BMI is associated with the development of multiple different cancer types, including most GI cancers, providers will frequently encounter patients with GI cancer who are overweight or obese. Mounting evidence associates overweight and/or obesity with worsened prognosis in multiple GI cancers, including esophageal, gastric, hepatocellular, pancreatic, and colorectal. However, these data are observational and may be subject to bias and/or confounding. Furthermore, in some cancer types, the associations between BMI and outcomes is not linear, where overweight and class I obese patients may have an improvement in outcome. This report provides a brief highlight of existing studies that have linked overweight and/or obesity to prognosis in GI cancer; provides recommendations on best management practices; and discusses limitations, controversies, and future directions in this rapidly evolving area. There are multiple areas of promise that warrant continued investigation: What are the comparative contributions of energy balance, including weight, dietary patterns, and physical activity on cancer prognosis? What are the specific physiologic pathways that mediate the relationship between energy balance and prognosis? What is the relationship between low muscle mass (sarcopenia) or sarcopenic obesity and cancer prognosis? Are there subsets of patients for whom purposefully altering energy balance would be deleterious to prognosis? This area is rich with opportunities to understand how states of energy (im)balance can be favorably altered to promote healthy survivorship.

Generating a Visual Effects Analysis for the Deepwater Horizon Endangered Species Act Biological Assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 300294
Author(s):  
Travis Coley ◽  
Jessica Odell ◽  
Doug Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Endangered Species ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Endangered Species Act ◽  
Deepwater Horizon ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Assessment ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Species Responses

Although species expertise, professional judgment, and scientific literature pave the way for making determinations of effects, the vastness of the Deepwater Horizon Incident response inspired a systematic approach. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Endangered Species Act Biological Assessment (BA) for this response began with the development of ecological models for each of the listed species potentially affected by the response. These models are tabular and connect individual strands of logic, referred to as effects pathways, which relate a potential cleanup activity to the anticipated species response. Effects pathways cannot be used alone, as they are inherently isolated and independent of any response action data. To bring the effects pathways into the context of the actual cleanup effort, a forensic geographically aware action record was generated. This record was primarily built using prescriptions for cleanup, known as Shoreline Cleanup Recommendations (STRs), Incident Command System (ICS) Forms, and Best Management Practices (BMP) Checklists. The combination of effects pathways and the action record was completed using table joining techniques. The anticipated species responses to actions were then used to create a series of heat maps. These show the accumulation of species responses along the landscape based on temporal components of activities, such as frequency and intensity. These maps provide a visual means of consuming the vast occurrences of the response to facilitate the effects analysis of the BA.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of forestry best management practices in the United States: Literature review

2016 ◽  
Vol 360 ◽  
pp. 133-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cristan ◽  
W. Michael Aust ◽  
M. Chad Bolding ◽  
Scott M. Barrett ◽  
John F. Munsell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Best Management ◽  
United States Literature

Welfare effects of forestry best management practices in the United States

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1674-1683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changyou Sun
Keyword(s):  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare Loss ◽  
Equilibrium Displacement Model ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Welfare Losses ◽  
State Forestry

State forestry best management practice (BMP) programs have been widely developed and implemented to prevent nonpoint source water pollution in the past three decades. The unanswered question is how forestry BMPs have affected the welfare positions of consumers, mills, loggers, and forest landowners. A Muth-type equilibrium displacement model was constructed to examine welfare changes of these stakeholders. The model considered a two-stage vertical production system with variable proportion production technology and imperfect market structure. Industrial mills experienced little welfare loss from forestry BMP regulation. Consumers had the largest absolute welfare loss, and loggers had the largest relative welfare loss in the base scenario. The supply elasticity of harvesting services had the greatest impact on the relative incidence of welfare losses between landowners and loggers, and in the long run their welfare losses were comparable. These results may help to improve future state forestry BMP guidelines and design incentive systems for increasing implementation rates.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal variation of bacterial water quality and the relationship with pasture land cover

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Scott ◽  
Mansoor D. K. Leh ◽  
Brian E. Haggard
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Illinois River ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Pasture Land ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Pathogens are a major cause of water quality impairment and public health concern world-wide. In the United States, each state is tasked with developing water quality standards (WQS) to protect the designated use(s) of waterbodies. Several streams in the Illinois River Watershed in northwest Arkansas are currently listed as impaired due to elevated levels of pathogens. Our objective was to evaluate Escherichia coli (E. coli) numbers at 29 stream sites, compare these numbers to the applicable WQS, and investigate the relationship between E. coli numbers and land cover variables. E. coli numbers in samples collected at most sites were within allowable limits, although there were several instances of violations of the WQS. Violations were variable from year to year at some sites, and elevated levels of E. coli were spatially localized during baseflow. Violations also were positively related to pasture land cover in the drainage area, and particularly within the riparian buffer area. This relationship was non-linear, or threshold based, where there was a significant increase in the mean E. coli exceedances when riparian pasture land cover was greater than approximately 50%. These results can be used to identify specific stream reaches where E. coli numbers might be elevated and the implementation of best management practices can be geographically targeted.

scholarly journals Modeling Container-grown Euphorbia pulcherrima Production System Components: Impacts on Carbon Footprint and Variable Costs Using a Life Cycle Assessment

HortScience ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewayne L. Ingram ◽  
Charles R. Hall ◽  
Joshua Knight
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Production System ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Model System ◽  
Euphorbia Pulcherrima

A model production system for a 15.2-cm poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) in the north Atlantic region of the United States was developed through grower interviews and best management practices and analyzed using a life cycle assessment (LCA). The model system involved direct sticking of unrooted cuttings. The propagation phase was 4 weeks, followed by 9 weeks of irrigation using a boom system and 4 weeks of flood-floor irrigation. The carbon footprint, or global warming potential (GWP), for the plant was calculated as 0.474 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO2e), with a variable cost of $1.030. Major contributors to the GWP were the substrate and filling pots, fertilization, the container, irrigation, and overhead electricity. The major contributors to variable costs were the unrooted cuttings and labor to prepare and stick ($0.471). Furthermore, the substrate and filling containers and irrigation were notable contributors. Material inputs accounted for 0.304 kg CO2e, whereas equipment use was estimated to be 0.163 kg CO2e, which comprised 64.2% and 35.8% of total GWP, respectively. Material inputs accounted for $0.665 (64.6%) of variable costs, whereas labor accounted for 19.6% of variable costs for this model. Water use per plant was 77.2 L with boom irrigation for the 9 weeks during production spacing (32.8 plant/m2) and represented 64% of the total water use. LCA was an effective tool for analyzing the components of a model system of greenhouse-grown, flowering, potted plants. Information gained from this study can be used by growers considering system alterations to improve efficiency.

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