From the Paper "Genetic engineering is being used more and more in agriculture to produce plants which are resistant to disease and thus increase crop yields. This research paper will examine methods used to produce transgenic plants and an experiment which produced genetically engineered rice with resistance to sheath blight.
"Transgenic plants are produced for three major reasons. (Glick and Pasternack, 1998, p. 427). Firstly, transgenic plants often improve crop yields by inducing resistance to pests and other factors which affect the yield, or improving the ornamental value of plants by developing new colors, or strains resistance to certain climactic conditions. Secondly, transgenic plants can be used to produce medically and commercial important proteins and metabolites in large amounts under..."
Abstract The paper hypothesizes that Isoproterenol will increase the heart rate of a chick embryo heart, in which the chick was incubated for approximately 48 hours, when topically applied. The author of the paper shows that the reasoning for this hypothesis is that Isoproterenol acts as a sympathetic stimulant by stimulating the beta receptors found in the heart, and these kinds of stimulants (hence the name stimulant) tend to speed up actions. Especially since this chemical mimics norepinephrine's effects, I deduced that this would speed up the heart rate. An experiment was performed on 48-hour chick embryos and the results are discussed in the paper.
From the Paper "Description: An egg was incubated for approximately 48 hours. I am approximating 48-hours based on the comparison of my embryo to pictures of the different stages. Once removed from the incubator, I made an incision around the circumference of the egg and removed the roof, exposing the interior. The embryo with all structures still attached- in situ- (yolk, egg white, etc.) was poured into a dish of saline solution. The egg remained in the same position for a couple of hours, blunt-end up, so that the embryo conveniently lay on top. The temperature of the water was measured as 32?C and the normal heart rate of the chick was recorded as 76bpm."
From the Paper "The European Community needs a policy for agriculture to standardize the method of establishing an equilibrium price for agricultural commodities. Countries choose not to allow free-market pricing of agricultural commodities in order to ensure what the country perceives is a greater public good in the form of farm employment which remains stabilized, to increases in production, preservation of the country's agricultural heritage. The problem is that attempts to regulate the price of any commodity, arrives at a price schedule which is not efficient. This is the case with the prices set by the European Community on farm produce.
Inequalities exist in any market where the price paid by the consumer does not equal the cost of the producer to produce the item. Inequalities may also exist if their is substantial public..."
From the Paper "This research reviews the harvest and pricing of teak timber. Teak is a tropical hardwood that varies slightly in appearance according to the country of origin (Kaiser, 1992, p. 44). Burma teak characteristically has a yellow-brown sapwood with a dark golden-brown heartwood. All teak darkens after exposure to the air. The grain can be straight, wavy or fiddleback. Teak has a coarse texture and is naturally oily. Teak has medium bending strength, low stiffness and shock resistance, high crushing strength and moderate steam bending rating (Kaiser, 1992, p. 44).
Teak grows naturally and also on plantations (Kaiser, 1992, p. 44). Teak has been transplanted to East and West Africa and to the Caribbean. The true, or..."
From the Paper "Theories on the evolution of agriculture are numerous and contradictory. These theories fall into two main categories. The materialist theories have Marxist economic theory as the reason for agricultural development and the environmentalist theories which assume a change in the environment caused the beginnings of agriculture. Both of these groups of theorists agree on the probable time frame for the beginnings of agricultural evolution as the ending of the pleistocene era. Different theories place the area of the genesis of agriculture at various sites around the world. Most theories have agriculture's origins at more than one site. This paper will present some of the theories and hypotheses about the origins of agriculture. The debate is continuing as more archeological and biological data is accumulated. There is no consensus in the.."
From the Paper "NAFTA AND UNITED STATES AGRICULTURE
Introduction
This research examines the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on agricultural industries in the United States. Within the agricultural sector, an emphasis is placed on the meat products industry, and within the meat products industry, an emphasis is placed on the beef industry.
From Perception to Reality
Many Americans tend to think that NAFTA will greatly harm the United States economy. This perception was supported by Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan in 1996 and by third-party candidate Ross Perot in 1992. The gist of this perception is that free trade generally and NAFTA specifically will rob the United States of industrial jobs and destroy global market.."
From the Paper "This research paper consists of a summary and review of Jeremy Rifkin's book Beyond Beef.
Rifkin traces the changing but nonetheless central role of cattle as civilization evolved. In ancient cultures, such as that of Egypt, and in the later Roman Mithran cult, the bull was revered as a god and as a symbol of fertility and martial/masculine prowess. The great nomadic tribes of Central Asia valued cattle as possessions, as well as a blood sacrifice to the gods. As the European economies developed and their populations cultivated a taste for beef, cattle became a commodity and an important source of wealth and power. First introduced into the New World by the Spanish, cattle ranching dominated the societies of many Central and South American..."
From the Paper " Wine has one of the most precise and extensive systems of identification and production control of any food product. Although the great majority of the world's wine is ordinary table wine of no special distinction, most wines are labeled at least by region of production, type of grape or type of wine, and year of production. As the quality of wine increases the specifics of identification are more rigorous and, often, controlled by law. Systems by which wine production and identification is regulated in various countries are, in large part, based on the system developed in France, which is known generally as the appellation d'origine c"ntrol"e (AOC) or simply appellation c"ntrol"e (AC). The French system identifies the particular region in which a wine is made, such as Bordeaux, and subdivides the region into increasingly specific locales for which even types of grapes..."
From the Paper "The cooking of Liguria, like that of most of Italy's regional cuisines, reflects the geography, history and economics of the region. Though it is, in large part, a cuisine in which the ingenuity of perennially poor people produced excellent food, some of its primary innovations--such as pesto--no longer seem to hint of poverty. Instead, Ligurian inventiveness has turned the region's limited resources into a distinctive cuisine. La cucina dei genovesi has developed from a means of meeting basic human needs , while alleviating boredom with invention, to a means of delighting everyone from residents to visitors with the sensual pleasures of eating.
Liguria, popularly known in America as the Italian Riviera, is the second-smallest of Italy's administrative regions. Approximately 2,000 square miles in size, it stretches 200 miles..."
From the Paper "Glenn, Brown, and O'Leary (1998) conducted an experimental study to find and develop crops which could be irrigated by seawater. As the population of the earth increases, the production of food becomes more and more of a problem in order to feed this growing number of people. One of the specific problems facing agriculturalists is the need for water. Fresh water is needed not only for irrigation but also for other human activities, and there is no process that is effective enough at desalinization to provide the volume of water human beings need. The authors also note that the top five plants eaten by people cannot tolerate salt, and these are wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, and soybeans. Since finding enough land and water to produce the foods needed by the world is an urgent problem, the authors ask how the supply of food can be augmented. They answer that one ..."
Abstract There is wide interest for use of satellites to measure environmental factors globally--with respect to alleged global warming and to address feeding the world. Among the most fundamental bases of agriculture is the water content of soil during crop growth. So, inference of soil moisture through remote sensing techniques has been researched for two decades.
From the Paper "SOIL MOISTURE AND ITS INFERENCE VIA REMOTE SENSING
INTRODUCTION
There is wide interest for use of satellites to measure environmental factors globally--with respect to alleged global warming and to address feeding the world. Among the most fundamental bases of agriculture is the water content of soil during crop growth. So, inference of soil moisture through remote sensing techniques has been researched for two decades.
SOIL MOISTURE
Soil moisture is water held--Marshall uses "retention" (16:7)--within earthen pore spaces. Ogrosky and Mockus tabulated "Moisture Holding Capacities," from 0.4 in./ft. of soil for sand to 2.00-3.00 in./ft. for peats (18:21-83). These are maximum amounts soils will retain; often soils are drier than this."
Abstract Every day we awaken is another day closer to the future we envision for our advanced civilization, a future that varies for each individual but includes many of those ideas shared by countless books, movies, and television programs.
From the Paper "Biotechnology and Food: Are the Advantages Worth the Risks?
Every day we awaken is another day closer to the future we envision for our advanced civilization, a future that varies for each individual but includes many of those ideas shared by countless books, movies, and television programs. As science continues to make rapid advances in all areas from astronomy to medicine to technology, that future becomes a greater part of our present. While some pioneers work on flying cars and others concentrate on faster computers, biotechnologists busy themselves with the manipulation of DNA, the makeup of all organisms and the biological basis for both a species? and an individual's characteristics. Recent advances in this technology, known as biotechnology, include cloning and gene therapy, a possible form of treatment for a variety diseases. "
This paper discusses genetic modification of foods, crops plants that are created for human consumption by using modern techniques of molecular biology.
615 words (approx. 2.5 pages), 1 source, 2002, $ 22.95
Abstract The paper states that the issue of genetic modification of foods is a hotly debated issue The author believes that the greatest potential disadvantages of genetically modified foods are negative effects on human health and especially on the environment. On the other hand the author feels that genetically modified foods can increase the nutritional content and create disease resistance of specific crops.
From the Paper "Genetically modified foods have the potential to have great advantages to society. By developing foods that are resistant to drought or pests, scientists may enable these foods to be grown in areas where they are not traditionally cultivated. This may have an especially significant effect on drought-stricken areas in the third world, where cultivation of commercial crops is difficult due to drought and pests."
From the Paper "As might be expected in a country as vast as the USSR, there is an abundance of almost all natural resources. Almost the only commodities which the environment of the Soviet Union does not provide for itself are those of tropical agriculture, such as natural rubber, cacao and coffee. It is above all in minerals that the country is exceedingly wealthy.
But the prime resource of any country is land, and the USSR has one-seventh of the world's land surface. Not all the land, however, is of great value. Extensive areas are tundra, desert, or mountainous, where climate or relief make agriculture impossible and even settlement difficult. The arable land of the USSR is largely confined to the three natural zones of steppe, forest steppe, and mixed forest. Outside these zones there are only very limited, although important, areas of arable land in ... "
This paper discusses Mexico with special reference to its unique highland-lowland geography and its agriculture: Political, farming, watershed, crops, volcanoes, Gulf Coast and productivity.
5,850 words (approx. 23.4 pages), 11 sources, 1984, $ 135.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this research paper is to discuss Mexico with special reference to its unique highland-lowland geography and its agriculture. This research paper will start out with a comparison between the Mexican highlands and the Mexican lowlands as part of the discussion which will include an overview of the geography and political divisions of Mexico. Another section of the paper will then deal with agricultural statistics that pertain to Mexico. One of the specific statistical questions that will be answered is about what percentage of Mexico's land can now be used to grow crops? A third segment of this research report will discuss the drylands and what is being done to make it more productive. The last portion of this research report will be devoted to a discussion of the origin of corn in Mexico.
Comparison between Mexican highlands and lowlands ... "
