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Eating good food and helping the community: The drivers of online local food purchasing
No full textLiterature indicates that local food has enjoyed a surge in popularity partly due to increasing consumer awareness of its positive impact on both the economy and the environment of rural communities. However, little research has been dedicated to examining customer purchasing of local food in an e-commerce context. The objective of this research is to develop a model that draws from the sense of community theory and quality-based intention model to assess how a sense of community influences customer experience in purchasing local food via e-grocery. Data was collected from 404 customers in West Java, Indonesia via an online survey. The dataset was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling, and the results show that a sense of community combined with food quality and e-grocery quality contributes to a new approach to understanding and predicting satisfaction and behavioral intention. Specifically, a sense of community influences satisfaction and behavioral intention, and food quality drives satisfaction
Farmers’ willingness to transform untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer: Does information technology adoption make a difference?
No full textUsing untreated livestock manure adversely affects the environment and human health. Although transforming untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer can alleviate these adverse effects, the adoption rate of this technology is relatively low in rural areas. This study investigates whether information technology adoption, focusing on Internet use, increases farmers’ willingness to transform untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer using data collected from pig breeding farmers in the Hubei province of China. A recursive bivariate probit model addresses the sample selection bias issues. Findings show that Internet use increases the probability of pig breeding farmers’ willingness to transform untreated manure by around 35–56 percentage points. Gender, farm size, credit availability, extension contact, environmental protection attitude and governmental regulation are also important factors driving pig breeding farmers’ willingness to transform untreated manure. Moreover, the impact of Internet use on farmers’ willingness to transform untreated pig manure tends to be higher for pig breeding farmers with a larger breeding size and longer breeding years. Our findings have significant policy implications that help to improve livestock manure management, environmental quality, and the well-being and health of livestock breeding farmers
Comments on Exposure Draft for Proposed ISSA 5000, sustainability assurance engagements by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Committee of AFAANZ
No full textThe Exposure Draft for Proposed International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000 has been issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) because there is increasing demand by stakeholders for assurance of sustainability information. Our recommendations include: (i) a more flexible approach to ethics and quality management instead of the requirements for standards that are at least as demanding as the accounting profession's standards; (ii) more differentiation between the requirements for limited as opposed to reasonable assurance and (iii) more cautious use of the term materiality and clearer definitions of the different materiality concepts to avoid potential confusion
Spatiotemporal expression and haplotypes identification of KRT84 gene and their association with wool traits in Gansu Alpine Fine-wool sheep
No full textKeratin (K) is a major protein component of hair and is involved in hair growth and development. In this study, we analysed the expression, localization, and polymorphism of the K84 gene (KRT84) in Gansu Alpine Fine-wool sheep using immunofluorescence, RT-qPCR, and PARMS (penta-primer amplification refractory mutation system). Haplotypes of KRT84 were also constructed and their relationship with wool traits analysed. It was revealed that KRT84 was highly expressed in hair follicles, including the inner root sheath, outer root sheath, and hair medulla and at all six lamb ages investigated from 1 to 270 days of age. Three SNPs were detected in KRT84 exon 1, and they formed three haplotypes (named H1, H2, and H3) and six genotypes. Analyses revealed an association between haplotype combinations (diplotypes) and the mean fibre curvature, mean staple length, mean staple strength, mean fibre diameter, the coefficient of variation of fibre diameter, and comfort factor for these sheep. These results suggest that KRT84 is of importance in determining several key traits in Gansu Alpine Fine-wool sheep and that the gene could possibly be used as a genetic marker for wool trait selection in these sheep
A global dataset on phosphorus in agricultural soils
No full textNumerous drivers such as farming practices, erosion, land-use change, and soil biogeochemical background, determine the global spatial distribution of phosphorus (P) in agricultural soils. Here, we revised an approach published earlier (called here GPASOIL-v0), in which several global datasets describing these drivers were combined with a process model for soil P dynamics to reconstruct the past and current distribution of P in cropland and grassland soils. The objective of the present update, called GPASOIL-v1, is to incorporate recent advances in process understanding about soil inorganic P dynamics, in datasets to describe the different drivers, and in regional soil P measurements for benchmarking. We trace the impact of the update on the reconstructed soil P. After the update we estimate a global averaged inorganic labile P of 187 kgP ha‾¹ for cropland and 91 kgP ha‾¹ for grassland in 2018 for the top 0–0.3 m soil layer, but these values are sensitive to the mineralization rates chosen for the organic P pools. Uncertainty in the driver estimates lead to coefficients of variation of 0.22 and 0.54 for cropland and grassland, respectively. This work makes the methods for simulating the agricultural soil P maps more transparent and reproducible than previous estimates, and increases the confidence in the new estimates, while the evaluation against regional dataset still suggests rooms for further improvement
Spatial agroecology: modelling multiple ecosystem services in periurban landscapes : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University
No full textUrban growth and agricultural intensification share a common trait of reducing landscapes' capacity of producing the critical ecosystem services (ES) on which they depend. The objective of the work described in this thesis was to develop a spatially explicit ES-based design method for the configuration of landscapes to generate regulating ES. Literature review, which is described in Chapter 2, identified a nexus of four research fields - Ecological Urbanism, Landscape Ecology, ES science and agroecology - as an unexplored framework for this ES-based design approach. The method used in this work is described in Chapter 3, where a key flaw in current ES modelling tools forms the basis for a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based conceptual model, ESMAX. Present models are characterised by 'the biophysical gap', an oversight of spatial interactions between ES-supplying landscape components. This inhibits their application to spatial design i.e., the configuration of those components to enhance ES performance. ESMAX is structured around the fundamental natural phenomena of distance-decay as exhibited by all regulating ES, enabling an original method of quantifying and visualising regulating ES produced by different configurations of landscape components. The results of Chapter 3 conceptually validated the model and provided the data for Chapter 4, which proposed a model for assessing landscape multifunctionality (or simultaneous supply of multiple ES) from different landscape configurations. Importantly, the results for different configuration options generate a solution space with which to negotiate specific ES demands and specific contextual spatial constraints. Chapter 5 applied ESMAX and the solution space in an agricultural context. This spatial agroecological approach determined that different configurations of the same total area of trees in a 1 ha paddock produce markedly different levels of ES performance, and that this approach may be useful in supporting an adaptive transition from conventional agriculture to agroecologically based farming systems. Chapter 6 applied spatial agroecology to a 190 ha periurban development site, demonstrating how the same apportioned area of agroecological systems, when subdivided and distributed differently across the site, has a significant bearing on multiple ES production. This suggests that urgent consideration should be given not only to placing trees on farm, but how trees should be placed on farm. Similarly, it supports not only the integration of agriculture with urban systems, but the specific spatial design of agroecological systems to address the regulating ES demands of the urban system. The spatial agricultural approach outlined in this thesis highlights the potential for agroecology in the Anthropocene as a spatially effective source of multiple regulating ES to surrounding communities at various scales
Farmers’ adoption of multiple climate-smart agricultural technologies in Ghana: Determinants and impacts on maize yields and net farm income
No full textThis study investigates the factors affecting maize farmers’ decisions to adopt climate-smart agricultural (CSA) technologies and estimates the impacts of CSA technology adoption on maize yields and net farm income. Unlike most previous studies that analyze a single technology, we consider different combinations of three CSA technologies (zero tillage, row planting, and drought-resistant seed). A multinomial endogenous switching regression model addresses selection bias issues arising from observed and unobserved factors and analyses data collected from 3197 smallholder farmers in three Ghana regions (Brong-Ahafo, Northern, and Ashanti). The findings show that smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt multiple CSA technologies are influenced by farmer-based organization membership, education, resource constraints such as lack of land, access to markets, and production shocks such as perceived pest and disease stress and drought. We also find that adopting all three CSA technologies together has the largest impact on maize yields, while adopting row planting and zero tillage as a combination has the largest impact on net farm income. Governments should collaborate with farmer-based groups and extension officers to improve farmers’ awareness and understanding of the benefits associated with CSA technologies and help them adopt multiple technologies that generate higher benefits
Heterogeneous productivity stabilizes public good contributions under certainty, uncertainty and ambiguity
No full textTypically, a linear public goods game with a voluntary contribution mechanism (VCM) sees declining contributions over repeated one-shot periods of play. However, contributions under uncertainty or ambiguity over heterogeneous productivity on individual contributions have yet to be investigated. We compare contributions under homogenous productivity of 0.6; and certain, uncertain (for future periods only and all periods) or ambiguous heterogeneity in productivity, which can be either a high (0.9) or a low (0.3) type. Certain heterogeneity unexpectedly stabilizes contributions over homogenous, led by high productivity types. Uncertain or ambiguous heterogeneity in productivity weakly lowers contributions, but they remain stable. Thus, in a novel finding that is replicated across our treatments, heterogeneous productivity appears to support stable contributions over time, even when productivity is unknown at time of contribution. This finding suggests uncertain and heterogeneous productivity are an important characteristic of public goods that needs to be considered when modelling them in the field, and reinforces the role of productivity itself in driving voluntary public good contributions
Grape stems in Pinot noir production: To add or not to add?
No full textTo produce high quality Pinot noir wine, the extraction of tannins and methoxypyrazines (MPs) is pivotal. This study delves into their development in Pinot noir grape tissues and explores extraction management through whole bunch fermentation practices. Tannin concentration was determined by methyl cellulose precipitation method and the mean degree of polymerisation was determined using HPLC analysing tannin units after phloroglucinolysis. Aroma compounds, including MPs, were identified and quantified by GC-MS. Analysing two Pinot noir clones, AM10/5 and UCD5, revealed distinct tannin and MP development patterns. AM10/5 exhibited higher seed and stem tannin levels but lower MP levels than UCD5 at harvest. Stem MPs increased towards véraison and then decreased towards harvest, while skin MPs remained consistently at low or undetectable levels. This study also found that grape stems exhibited the highest tannin extractability (64%-78%), which explains the significant increase of tannin concentration in whole bunch fermentation treatments. Comparing whole bunch fermentation of two clones, AM10/5 grapes produced wines with higher concentration of tannins and MPs, and darker colour. High proportion of whole bunch addition significantly increased the concentration of MPs in wines made from both clones, which contribute to the enhanced green and vegetative characters in resultant wines. This research provides valuable insights for winemakers to make informed decisions to produce high-quality Pinot noir wines
Estimating diet of the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) using molecular analysis of faeces and colon content : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science at Lincoln University
No full textNew Zealand has a unique ecosystem that evolved without the presence of mammalian predators. Since human colonisation, several species of mammalian predators have been introduced, including the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). The hedgehog, in its native range, mainly feeds on invertebrates, with minor dietary components of bird eggs and lizards. I used molecular methods to analyse the diet of hedgehog in New Zealand. Molecular methods have an important advantage over the traditional visual analysis of faeces and stomach contents as they allow for better identification of soft-bodied remnants of prey items. I successfully used species-specific primers to detect a known species (mealworms, Tenebrio molitor) in hedgehog faeces after a controlled feeding trial.
Next, I trialled a simple visualisation method to compare the quality of DNA extracted from hedgehog stomach and colon contents. Unfortunately, the visualisation method trialled did not determine any differences in the DNA quality of the two sample sources and further trials are required. I created a local reference database of invertebrates collected from pitfall trapping at Kaitorete Spit. Barcode sequences developed for the local reference library were uploaded to BOLD systems to contribute to the growing global database of sequences. This local reference database successfully enhanced the taxonomic rank assignment of amplicon sequence variations produced during metabarcoding. I used high throughput sequencing on faecal and colon samples. Several taxa from the phyla Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Nematoda, and Rotifera were identified and reported at the genus and family (for Arthropoda) taxonomic level. There was a considerable level of taxon heterogeneity in the prey items not between samples. High abundances of Arthropoda were identified in colon samples, while faecal samples had higher abundances of all other phyla. The results from this study are consistent with earlier morphological studies of hedgehog diets in New Zealand and Europe but add greater detail. The dietary results from this study are important and applicable in both New Zealand and worldwide. For New Zealand, this study contributes to understanding the ecological impacts that hedgehogs have in New Zealand while providing justification for ongoing monitoring plans that control hedgehogs to prevent detrimental impacts. Worldwide, these methods can be used, especially in the hedgehog’s natural habitat, to understand their natural diet to assist with conservation where this species is endangered. Future studies should expand the area studied to explore dietary variation across a spatial scale and where other endangered species are at risk from hedgehog predation