Columns VIII-IX introduce government consumption and total fertility; again the results match those of Table 7, though the coefficient on yield remains consistent but is no longer significant at the 10 percent level. Finally, just as in Table 7, Columns X-XI drop the government consumption variable and report a coefficient of 0.35, now significant at the 10 percent level and consistent in magnitude with Table 7. Overall, the results using a 10-year lag on yield remain highly consistent with the results in Table 7, though the statistical threshold for significance is not passed in two of the second stage specifications. Finally, Table 10 presents a NAVA growth framework using GMM instrumentation and finds similar agricultural productivity effects on value added in non-agriculture sectors. Column I runs difference GMM and finds that a 10-year lag on yield is associated with subsequent increases in non-agricultural value added per worker, significant just short of 5 percent levels. The coefficient of 0.1 suggests that a 0.5 ton increase in yields leads to a 5 percent higher non-agricultural labor productivity 10 years later, which translates to a 0.5 percentage point higher growth rate. Note that this magnitude lies between the fixed effects coefficients of 0.05-0.06 and the IV coefficients of 0.27- 0.37 in Table 6, adding support to the overall results. The specification in Column I passes the Sargan test for over identification of instruments with a p-value of 0.43. Column II employs the Blundell-Bond “system” GMM estimator, though this does not pass a Sargan test under any relevant specification, so we prefer to interpret only difference GMM specifications. Column III adds the fertilizer price instrument to the exogenous variables in the specification, and finds similar results to Column I. Again, the estimation passes a Sargan test, and the AR test is satisfied with a pvalue of 0.09. Our analysis documents the strong positive links between agronomic inputs—fertilizer, water and modern seeds—and cereal yields per hectare, even after a variety of controls are introduced. We employ a combination of fixed effect,gutter berries instrumental variable and Arellano-Bond GMM estimators to posit a causal economy-wide link between, first, input use and yields, and, second, yields and various measures of economic growth and structural change.

We construct a novel instrument exploiting the economic geography of fertilizer production, which together with global fertilizer price fluctuations allow us to study economic growth and structural change in a statistically causal framework. The cross-country substantiation of both agricultural yield production functions and their links to various dimensions of economic growth and structural change are novel empirically. Taking the coefficients from Table 4, a representative country with yields of 1 t/ha that introduces an input package to jump from, say, 15 kg/ha to 65 kg/ha of fertilizer use would be expected to see an average yield jump of 147-470 kg/ha; while increasing from 10 to 50 percent use of modern seed would be expected to increase yields by 480 kg/ha. On the economic growth side, the instrumental variable results suggest that boosting yields from 1.5 t/ha to 2.0 t/ha is linked to a range of 13 to 19 percent increase in income per capita, a 3.3 to 3.9 percentage point lower share of labor in agriculture five years later, and approximately 20 percent higher non-agricultural labor productivity after roughly one decade. The estimated effects are identified based on exogenous variation in fertilizer prices, and are robust to the inclusion of controls for investment and standard macroeconomic policy indicator variables. The results suggest that land productivity promotes growth both by supporting changing labor shares and by increasing total factor productivity. Regressions focused on marginal effects of individual variables are, of course, not intended to evaluate nonlinear outcomes guided by Leontief-style agricultural production functions and discontinuous policy functions, so the regression results might underestimate the potential effects of yields. The results might also be constrained by issues of heterogeneity in cross-country production functions . The evidence in this paper points to strong potential yield and growth effects resulting from policy efforts to support adoption of a green revolution-type package of inputs in economies with low agricultural productivity and a large share of the labor force still in agriculture. The results suggest a particularly strong role for fertilizer, which is highly consistent with field station agronomic evidence.

Fertilizer’s high private return on experimental plots and in the field suggests some sort of market failure that policy can address; scholars debate whether the failure is due to credit constraints or non-rational behavior on the part of farmers . Regardless, the evidence presented in this paper suggests social returns from fertilizer use that exceed the immediate private returns, furthering the case for policy efforts. It is worth briefly describing the main concerns about increasing fertilizer use. One set is environmental. These are legitimate and require foresight in policy planning, but as Palm et al. have indicated, countries should not simply avoid fertilizers for environmental reasons, since soil degradation induced by fertilizer omission poses much a greater risk to agricultural production. A second class of concerns focuses on inequality and the potential scale bias of modern inputs. Hayami and Ruttan review the evidence on the alleged scale bias in the Asian green revolution and find that the evidence does not support this allegation. A third set of concerns focuses on both the challenges of governments implementing input support programs and also the challenges of exiting from them in due course. Though there is evidence that subsidy programs can be successful , there is also evidence that they can be subject to elite capture, and there is concern that their fiscal drag effects can far outlive their usefulness . While our results provide some evidence for a causal link from agricultural productivity increases to structural change and higher non-agricultural labor productivity, we can only speculate on the mechanisms through which these effects play out. Nevertheless, our novel identification of a causal link from yield increases to labor composition shift and non-agricultural productivity increases rules out models where structural change is driven solely by “pull” forces from growing non-agricultural sectors. To the extent that our results show that yield increases contribute to increases in non-agricultural labor productivity growth, this suggests that structural change involves more than just the satiation of food needs and the movement of labor into other sectors. This labor share shift somehow accelerates labor productivity growth. One possible mechanism might be increasing returns in the non-agricultural sector, perhaps through learning-by-doing as in the example modeled in Section 2 of this paper. Perhaps increased food production lowers average prices and frees up consumers’ resources for other consumption and for productive public and private investments, raising labor productivity elsewhere. Or perhaps higher availability of staple foods promotes improved health and labor productivity across sectors. Identifying more precise causal pathways between staple yields and structural change forms an important topic for future work.

Karadimou and Markatos developed a transient two-phase model to study particle distribution in the indoor environment using Large Eddy Simulation method. Baek et al. used CFD analysis to study various combinations of air conditioners and fans to improve growth rate in a plant factory. More recently, Niam et al. performed numerical investigation and determined the optimum position of air conditioners in a small vertical plant factory is over the top. In addition, a variety of mathematical techniques are proposed to provide sub-model for investigating photosynthesis. According to Boulard et al., tall canopies can induce a stronger cooling of the interior air by using a CFD model to study the water vapor, temperature, and CO2 distribution in a Venlo-type semi-closed glass greenhouse. Despite the fact that photosynthesis plays an integral role in distribution of species and uniformity along cultivation trays, this issue has not been well addressed. Although numerous research works have been done to investigate the turbulent flow in enclosures and buildings, this study is the first to numerically investigate the transport phenomena considering the product generation and reactant consumption through photosynthesis and plants transpiration with CFD simulations for IVFS-based studies. Furthermore, a newly proposed objective uniformity parameter is defined to quantify velocity uniformity for individual cultivation trays. Moreover, numerical simulations are performed to simulate and optimize fluid flow and heat transfer in an IVFS for eight distinct placements of flow inlets and outlets in this study. Accordingly, the effects of each case on uniformity, relative humidity, temperature,strawberry gutter system and carbon dioxide concentration are discussed in detail. Finally, an overall efficiency parameter is defined to provide a holistic comparison of all parameters and their uniformity of each case.In this study, three-dimensional modeling of conjugated fluid flow and heat transfer is performed to simulate the turbulent flow inside a culture room having four towers for hydroponic lettuce growth. Assuming that the four towers are symmetric, a quarter of the room with four cultivation trays is selected as the computational domain, as illustrated in Fig. 1a.The effect of LED lights on heat transfer is considered through constant heat flux boundary conditions at the bottom surface of each tray as shown in Fig. 1b. Lastly, the species transfer due to photosynthesis are occurring only in the exchange zone, which is illustrated in Fig. 1c. To study the impact of air inlet/exit locations on characteristics of air flow, four square areas, denoted as A, B, C, and D in Fig. 1a, are considered to be inlet, exit, or wall. To perform a systematic study, Table 1 presents the location of inlet and exit for all eight cases studied. With the aim of comparing all of the proposed designs, case AB is selected to be the baseline.To consider the effect of heat transfer with the outdoor ambient air, a solid wall zone comprised of plywood with a thickness of 0.12 m is assumed in the simulation. A constant-temperature boundary condition is set on the outer surface of the wall. Both conduction and convective heat transfer are considered within the model. All dimensions and boundary conditions are listed in Table 2.

In our model, the species exchange zone of photosynthesis is defined to be directly above the upper surface of each tray. These zones have the same cross-sectional area as the trays with the height of 0.1 m. Within the exchange zone, the water transpiration rate and carbon dioxide consumption rate are defined according to the experimental data obtained by Jin et al.and Adeyemi et al..One of the most critical factors affecting crop growth rate is the air flow velocity over plants. A fluid stream with horizontal speed ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 m s−1 can escalate the species exchange between the flow and plant leaves resulting in enhancement of photosynthesis. In indoor farming systems, the flow velocity can be controlled well using ventilation fans for more efficient plant growth. However, heterogeneous distribution of feeding air over plant trays can cause undesirable non-uniformity in crop production, which should be avoided. Therefore, it is important to study the effect of inlet-outlet location and flow rate on the flow patterns throughout the culture room. Herein, the most favorable condition is defined as the condition at which the flow velocity above all trays is equal to the optimum speed Uo, which is set to be 0.4 m s−1. The objective uniformity, OU, defined in Eq. is used to assess the overall flow conditions. The OU for all eight cases as a function of mass flow rate are summarized in Fig. 5. Since the inlet/exit area and air density remain the same, the mass flow rate is directly proportional to flow velocity. In addition, the target flow velocity over the plants is set to be 0.4 m s−1. Therefore, a general trend of OU first increases and then decreases when increasing the overall mass flow rate. Depending on the design, the peak of OU occurs at different mass flow rate for each case. Another general trend can be observed that the peak of OU occurs at a lower mass flow rate if the inlet is located at the top due to buoyancy force. This can be clearly demonstrated by cases AB and BA or AD and DA . Therefore, there exists a different optimal inlet/exit design for each mass flow rate condition. As can be seen from Fig. 5, the maximum OU at flow rates of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 kg s−1 is observed for configurations AD, BC, BA, and DA, respectively. Therefore, this simulation model can identify optimal flow configuration at a specific mass flow rate condition.

Research over the past 2 decades has shown that seasonally flooded lands support a suite of native fishes and provide food web subsidies within and to downstream habitats . At the same time, these studies have shown that the Yolo Bypass is far from optimal habitat because the landscape has been altered to drain relatively quickly, and is often disconnected from the Sacramento River by levees and weirs that create major passage problems for upstream migrating adult fishes, such as Chinook Salmon and sturgeon . Several of these issues will be addressed in coming years by proposed structural changes to Fremont Weir at the upstream end of Yolo Bypass, and by the additional improvements to the floodplain’s water distribution system . However, the question remains whether changes to agricultural land management and infrastructure can provide reliable fish habitat that can increase the growth and survival of juvenile native fishes, and thereby contribute to reversing their overall decline, aid in the recovery of native fishes listed under the U.S. and California Endangered Species acts, and increase the availability of fishery resources. To help the overarching objective of providing reliable fish habitat, our team conducted a series of field studies during 2012-2017. To test fish and food web responses within different land-management scenarios, we conducted our project on standard rice and winter wheat fields, adjacent fallow lands, and rice fields with different harvest practices or other experimental modifications. This work yielded several publications that provided insight into habitat conditions in flooded rice fields for fish and invertebrates . The focus of our effort was on rearing habitat for young Chinook Salmon, but this work may also be relevant to other native fishes. The goal of this paper is to summarize the key lessons learned from 6 years of research on the feasibility of using farm fields as rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook Salmon in the Yolo Bypass and other Central Valley locations. Our hope is that our summary will provide guidance to future researchers, as well as inform managers as they evaluate potential management approaches. An important caveat is that our studies were not intended as a proof of concept for any specific management actions. Rather, our research was intended to examine some of the attributes that could reduce limitations to rearing conditions identified in early research,hydroponic grow table and gain insight into some of the key considerations for potential future agricultural floodplain management.

A second major caveat is that we had to rely on juvenile hatchery Chinook Salmon as a surrogate for wild Chinook Salmon, our ultimate target for habitat restoration. We recognize that there are several potential differences in the behavior of hatchery and wild Chinook Salmon . However, hatchery salmon were the only feasible alternative in this case since downstream migrating wild juvenile Chinook Salmon were mostly cut off from the Yolo Bypass because of extreme drought conditions. Nonetheless, hatchery salmon have been used successfully as a research tool in many types of ecological studies, so many of the lessons learned here should have at least some relevance to wild Sacramento River Chinook Salmon. Finally, our project was separate from a number of other fish management research projects in agricultural parcels, such as current efforts to investigate whether invertebrates grown on flooded rice fields can be used as a food subsidy for adjacent river channels . Previous research has shown that inundated Yolo Bypass floodplain habitat typically has substantially higher densities of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and drift invertebrates than the adjacent Sacramento River across a suite of water year types . Our studies consistently showed that managed inundation of agricultural fields supported statistically higher levels of phytoplankton and invertebrates than the Sacramento River . Also notable was that phytoplankton and zooplankton densities in our flooded experimental fields in Yolo Bypass were higher than those measured during river inundated flood events and in the Toe Drain, a perennial tidal channel . In addition, the invertebrate community in flooded rice fields was completely dominated by zooplankton , particularly Cladocera, whereas drift invertebrates such as Diptera were found in higher concentrations in study sites at Conaway Ranch and Dos Rios. Drift invertebrates are often a more substantial part of the food web in natural flood events in Yolo Bypass . Nonetheless, zooplankton densities can be relatively high in Yolo Bypass during dry seasons and drought years . The specific reasons for these differences include longer residence time and shallower depths in the Yolo Bypass than in adjacent perennial river channels.

Water source also may have been important for quantity and composition of invertebrates, including zooplankton, since all the managed flooding work was conducted using water from Knights Landing Ridge Cut, not the Sacramento River.Given the high densities of prey in the flooded fields, along with the low metabolic costs of maintaining position in a relatively low-velocity environment, it is not surprising that growth rates of juvenile salmon were comparatively high . This result was consistent across approaches used: cages, enclosures open to the substrate, and free-swimming fish. When cages were used, salmon were PIT tagged to track individual fish growth rates within a specific habitat. We consistently found that salmon growth rates in cages placed in flooded in rice fields were higher than growth rates for juvenile Chinook Salmon of comparative life stage in any of the adjacent riverine habitats and in other regions . Growth rates were also comparatively high when free-swimming salmon were introduced into larger-scale, 0.8-ha flooded agricultural fields. These studies were more representative than those using cages of how migrating salmon might use these habitats under natural flow events. For the multiple years that free-swimming salmon were used , they averaged a mean daily growth rate of 0.98mm d−1. Throughout all study years, caged salmon and free-swimming salmon showed very similar growth rates within the same experimental study units, despite the fact that they likely experienced different micro-habitat conditions . This observation suggests that our salmon growth results were not influenced by cage effects, a well-known issue in enclosure studies . To better understand managed floodplain processes across the region, in 2015, salmon were introduced in fields at a variety of locations in the Central Valley with various vegetative substrates: Sutter Bypass , three locations on the Yolo Bypass , and Dos Rios Ranch at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers . At all of the locations, juvenile Chinook Salmon grew at rates similar to those observed in experiments conducted at Knaggs Ranch in the Yolo Bypass during previous study years. These results suggest that multiple geographical regions and substrate types can support high growth rates of juvenile Chinook Salmon.

Throughout the 2012–2016 study period, we consistently observed that juvenile Chinook Salmon were attracted to sources of inflow, and that this sometimes became the dominant factor in the distribution of salmon on experimental fields or in enclosures. In the previously described PITtag observations in 2013, salmon in both enclosures positioned themselves nearest the inflow, regardless of surrounding habitat structure . This result is not surprising, given that juvenile stream salmonids commonly adopt and defend flow oriented positions in stream environments for acquisition of drifting food resources. On flooded agricultural fields, this orientation toward flow may not only be related to feeding behavior but may also serve to keep juvenile salmon in habitat areas that are hydrologically connected and have higher velocities. In fact, analyses of the environmental factors that predict movement of large groups of tagged juvenile Chinook Salmon in the Yolo Bypass found that drainage of flooded areas was a reliable predictor of fish emigration at downstream trapping stations . Although juvenile Chinook Salmon growth rates were consistently high across substrates and study years, we observed highly variable survival of salmon, and available evidence from the studies suggests that this was related, at least in part, to differences among years in drainage rates of the study fields and habitat availability on the floodplain at large. For example, survival in 2013 ranged from 0.0% to 29.3% in the replicated fields containing different agricultural substrates. This variability was likely unrelated to substrate type; instead, these low survival rates were most likely a result of very dry conditions across Yolo Bypass and the Central Valley, generally, when record drought conditions prevailed during 2012–2015, which affected water quantity and quality. In 2013, our replicated field study likely presented one of the only wetted floodplain areas for miles around, and thus presented a prime feeding opportunity for avian predators such as cormorants, herons, and egrets. However, when the same set of fields was used in 2016, survival was much higher . This was generally a wetter period, avian predation pressure was reduced, and we more efficiently opened the flash boards to facilitate faster drainage and fish emigration. Note, however, there were some differences in methodology among years, which may have contributed to survival variability. Taken together, these observations of free swimming salmon survival suggest that field drainage rate, and overall floodplain habitat availability,flood tray are important factors for improving survival in managed agricultural floodplain habitats. Our observations of juvenile salmon orientation to flow, and the importance of efficient drainage on survival, reinforce observations from natural floodplains that connectivity between perennial channel habitat and seasonal floodplain habitat is an essential attribute of river-floodplain systems . Connectivity of managed floodplain habitats to unmanaged habitats in the river and floodplain is therefore a foundational condition needed to allow volitional migration of juvenile salmon. Further research is needed to identify how to provide sufficient connectivity to maximize rearing and migration opportunities for wild Chinook Salmon.

Natural and managed floodplain habitat is subject to a variety of flow and environmental conditions. Variation in flow and temperature dictates when and where managed agricultural habitats may be accessible and suitable for rearing salmonids, with challenges during both wet and dry years, as well as during warm periods. As noted previously, survival in the replicated fields was variable but generally low. We associate these results with the effects of extreme drought conditions that prevailed during the core of our study from 2012 through 2015. Although our field studies were conducted during a time of year when wild salmon have historically used the Yolo Bypass floodplain , the extreme drought made for warm water temperatures, and resulted in our study site being one of the few inundated wetland locations in the region. As such, avian predators were attracted to the experimental fields, exacerbating salmon mortality during drainage. We observed high concentrations of cormorants, herons, and egrets on the experimental fields, and this concentration increased over the study period. As many as 51 wading birds and 23 cormorants were noted during a single survey.This situation highlights the importance of the weather dependent, regional context of environmental conditions, which govern how and when managed floodplains can be beneficial rearing habitats for juvenile salmon. Under certain circumstances, flooded fields can generate high salmon growth but in other scenarios, these habitats can provide poor environmental conditions for salmonids and/or become predation hot spots. Even during wetter conditions, we found that management of agricultural floodplain habitat was challenging. For example, we had hoped to test the idea of using rice field infrastructure to extend the duration of Yolo Bypass inundation events in an attempt to approximate the longer-duration events of more natural floodplains; that is, through flood extension. As noted by Takata et al. , use of the Yolo Bypass by wild Chinook Salmon is strongly tied to hydrology, and salmon quickly leave river-inundated floodplains once drainage begins. We therefore reasoned that flooded rice fields might provide an opportunity to extend the duration of flooding beyond the typical Yolo Bypass hydrograph. In 2015, a flood extension study was planned but not conducted because drought conditions precluded Sacramento River inflow via Fremont Weir. To test the flood extension concept in 2016, we needed substantial landowner cooperation and assistance to install draining structures that allowed maintenance of local flooding after high flow events. Even then, we found it difficult to maintain water levels and field integrity during the tests. In our case, we were fortunate to have the cooperation of willing landowners. Partnership with landowners was key, and would be critical with any future efforts to test the concept of flood extension. We also planned a similar test in 2017, but high and long-duration flood flows prevented the study from occurring.

Although the same levels of data collection and precision application of inputs are not likely to be widely used in resource-poor farming situations, advances in technologies are likely to provide additional options in those regions.For example, the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition initiative is promoting global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide . There are over 150 partners in this initiative from national governments, non-governmental, international and private sector organizations who support this effort. It is clear that there is a need for a more focused effort to connect the various agricultural systems modeling, database, data harmonization, open-access, and DSS efforts together, so that the scientific resources being invested in these different initiatives will contribute to compatible set of models, data, and platforms to ensure global public goods. This is critically important, considering that these tools are increasingly needed to ensure that agriculture will meet the food demands of the next 50 to 100 years and will be sustainable environmentally and economically. Efforts are underway to remedy this situation by a number of groups . Moreover, as detailed in Antle et al. , there is a need for strategies such as private-public partnerships to bring together the power of private sector investments with the ongoing research to advance models and modeling tools. This is true for production models of crops and animals as well as economic models across each of the first three Use Cases that address issues in data-poor areas in Sub Saharan Africa. Finally, based on the current status of models, data, and knowledge systems, a strategy should include the appropriate modification and in some cases re-programming of existing component models that already include many needed capabilities. This would facilitate extension of components that respond to factors that are not currently considered by models, using a range of methods including statistical models,vertical rack system reduced form models, extended databases, and modular models that integrate component sub-modules. Seavert et al. suggested that some data limitations could be overcome by integrating farm-level models and knowledge products with landscape-scale data and models.

Recent experience in AgMIP demonstrated the value of multiple models indicating that it would not be useful to pursue a goal of producing perfect models for crops, livestock, and farming systems. Although there are excellent prospects for considerable advances in agricultural systems data, models, and knowledge systems, there are inherent limitations in these tools due to irreducible uncertainties in model structures, spatial variability of physical, chemical, genetic, and socioeconomic conditions. These limitations will continue to vary depending on applications, which suggest that future evaluation of capabilities and limitations should be based on well-defined Use Cases. This review indicates that the current state of agricultural systems models is sufficient for some contemporary applications, but that major advances are needed to achieve the next generation of data, models, and knowledge systems to address more complex issues and achieve food security during the next century.Farmers and other agricultural stakeholders are experimenting with many types of information and communication technology such as websites, blogs, social media and mobile decision support applications. As data scientists integrate ICT with “big” data, farmers can downscale diverse sets of information for local decision-making and upscale local data to see emergent patterns at multiple scales. Social media tools allow extension professionals, farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to communicate in new ways about the broad range of issues affecting agroecological systems. The increasing use of ICT in agriculture has engendered a significant debate about its benefits for achieving extension goals relative to its potential risks and costs. This paper empirically examines ICT use among extension professionals working on sustainable agriculture in California. We broadly define “extension professionals” as professionals engaged in agriculture outreach and extension, either based at a university or elsewhere throughout the food system and agricultural knowledge networks . We particularly emphasize the role of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as innovative extension tools for building knowledge networks, coordination, communication, outreach and education. We draw on diffusion of innovation theory as a framework that can integrate many elements of the debate about the benefits and risks of ICT . Diffusion of innovation theory suggests that ICT adoption depends on how extension professionals perceive the attributes of this innovative technology, such as its relative advantage over other extension tools and its complexity. We also examine how demographic characteristics of extension professionals influence ICT adoption. Our analysis sheds light on the potential technology gap, hinted at by extant research, between extension professionals’ use of ICT and the general public’s, and possibly agricultural clientele’s, greater use of ICT.

Developing policy recommendations to improve the appropriate use of ICT requires identifying the critical barriers to ICT adoption among extension professionals. Our research has implications for broader ideas about how to adapt extension systems to the new realities of agricultural knowledge networks and innovation systems . Modern agricultural knowledge networks are distributed systems, where relevant information is developed and communicated by a wide range of stakeholders. The traditional top-down model of delivering land grant university research to local clientele is becoming obsolete, especially when resources are thin . It must be complemented by a more bottom-up model, where in addition to developing and broadcasting new knowledge, land-grant universities and other extension organizations must build innovation systems that coordinate knowledge networks among different stakeholders . Such networks seek to synergistically combine social, technical and experiential learning. New ICTs are potentially important tools in this endeavor, especially when used to complement other methods of outreach and education. The results of this paper enhance the evidence base for this endeavor. The information technology revolution has transformed the way that people access information and build social connections across the globe. The latest survey results from the Pew Research Center estimated that the percentage of U.S. citizens using at least one social media site increased from 5% in 2005 to 69% in 2016. Social media use was more frequent among women and individuals in higher education and income categories. In 2016, Facebook had the highest market share , followed by Instagram , Pinterest , LinkedIn and Twitter . Farmers are increasingly connected but lag behind the general population. USDA NASS estimated that in 2017 more than 70% of farmers in the United States had computer and internet access and 47% used computers for farm business. Computer and internet usage was higher among wealthy farmers. A study in the Pacific Northwest found that potato growers used popular ICT platforms as frequently as college students — 93% of growers used email compared with 97% of students; 97% of growers used text messages compared with 94% of students; 70% of growers used Facebook compared with 73% of students; and 90% of growers used YouTube compared with 91% of students — and growers overall used 3.5 more varieties of technology than college students. In developing countries, mobile phone technology continues to expand and provides a crucial information and networking resource for rural agricultural populations . Despite some evidence that extension clientele are using ICT at rates approaching those of the general population, extension professionals may be lagging behind both groups. Gharis et al. reported that among participants in a Natural Resources Conservation Service webinar, 53% used Facebook and 10% used Twitter. O’Neill et al. found that the proportion of members of the financial services community of practice for e-Extension using Facebook or Twitter daily is far less than the general population. While the existing research hints at a potential technology gap in extension professionals’ use of ICT, much more research is needed to document and explain ICT adoption and use within agricultural systems. The potential gap in extension professionals’ use of ICT reflects a lively ongoing debate about the costs, benefits, barriers and risks of ICT for agriculture . On the benefits side, ICT may provide access to information, coordination, job opportunities, social networks and improved services . Extension professionals expect ICT to create a snowball effect , with information more quickly reaching a larger and more diverse audience than in person communication methods like workshops and field meetings . The benefits may include the integration of real-time information into mobile applications or websites to provide decision support, linking daily agricultural decisions to economic and agro-ecological processes at multiple scales. Realizing these benefits requires overcoming many potential risks,mobile grow rack barriers and costs. Gadino et al. highlighted the importance of linking traditional in person methods with digital technology and the time required to update ICT with new and real-time information. Newbury et al. identified the barriers as lack of training, concern about information control and time availability.

Gharis et al. emphasize lack of professional acceptance by colleagues as a barrier to innovation, which is linked to the capacity to measure effectiveness. O’Neill et al. pointed out the need for organizational procedures; only 29% said their institutions had guidelines for reporting, and only 22% of their respondents reported their own social media outreach activities to their extension administration. There was a notable amount of uncertainty — 27% of non-reporters said they did not know how to use social media, and 38% did not know if their institution had guidelines.Existing research lacks a theoretical framework to integrate the diverse terms of the debate about ICT adoption among extension professionals. Diffusion of innovation theory, which examines how innovations spread through a population of users, provides such a framework. It has been an enduring research topic in agricultural decision-making for more than a century . A central argument of diffusion theory is that the likelihood of an innovation being adopted is related to the following attributes of the innovation: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. We used these attributes to frame our research hypotheses. “Relative advantage” refers to the innovation’s potential benefits and opportunities relative to other extension tools. For ICT, the most frequently discussed advantages are its capacity to reach larger, more diverse and more geographically dispersed audiences . Also, ICT can quickly deliver new information, potentially in real time with linkages to large-scale data. ICT may also provide support for on-the-ground decisions, for example, about agriculture management, or for coordinating the activities of extension professionals. “Compatibility” is the extent to which the innovation is compatible with professional and social norms. For extension, an important norm is delivering scientifically valid and neutral information to support decision-making and stakeholder dialogue. Especially with the everyday mention of “fake news” and “internet trolls,” extension professionals worry that social media may facilitate the spread of misinformation and provide an avenue for unreasonable individuals to corrode civic dialogue. In addition, many extension professionals feel that relative to more traditional outreach and publication strategies, there is a lack of professional incentives and peer recognition for the use of ICT. “Complexity” refers to the difficulties of integrating the innovation. In terms of the ICT debate, not all extension professionals have the technical knowledge to effectively use social media platforms or effectively integrate communication across multiple platforms. It may take too much time to learn how to use social media and maintain an active web presence. These complexities are exacerbated by a lack of widely recognized best practices about how to effectively craft social media communication. “Observability” and “trialability” refer to the extent to which the innovation’s effectiveness can be observed and tracked. There is a lack of clarity about how to track the effectiveness of ICT, for example, observing who accesses and uptakes information posted on Facebook or Twitter . This includes the use of altmetrics, since there is no universally accepted method of measuring social media effectiveness and no clear policies from the University of California, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, or other organizations. Furthermore, it is more difficult to control access to or target the audience for social media information with the same precision as in-person strategies aimed at particular constituencies. We studied ICT use among extension professionals involved in sustainable agriculture in California. An empirical study, it analyzed whether ICT adoption and use was affected by perceptions about ICT and the professional demographics of the individual user.

Holzworth et al. discussed advances in capabilities and applications over time. Basso et al. reviewed the performance of CERES maize , wheat and rice models compared to measured data over the last 30 years in 43 countries. They reported that model performance, using site-specific inputs, was outstanding for the variables compared . Models of cropping and grassland systems share the same fundament characteristics: both describe crop or grassland agro-ecosystem growth and yield responses to climate, soil, plant species characteristics, and management. However, several aspects of grassland/rangeland modeling present unique challenges. Many of these challenges stem from the requirement that grassland models represent several interacting species, including perennial and woody species of grasses. Persistence of plants over multiple years forces the models to consider residual effects over time. Dependency on soil-derived nutrients or human-induced disturbances like fire reinforce the longer-term perspective needed for grassland modeling. Thus, although most biophysical processes are similar additional factors are considered when modeling grasslands. 2.1.1. Model-simulated responses of interest to users The most common response variable modeled for cropping systems is yield, whether of grain, tuber, or forage biomass yield. This yield is harvested at a single point in time for determinate annual crops, while indeterminate crops and grasslands may be harvested multiple times. Although statistical models may be useful for predicting these biological yields in response to some combination of weather conditions, nutrient levels, irrigation amounts, etc. , they do not predict responses to non-linearities and threshold effects outside the range of conditions in data used to develop them. In contrast, dynamic cropping and grassland system models may simulate these biological yields and other responses important to analysts, such as crop water use, nitrogen uptake, nitrate leaching, soil erosion, soil carbon, greenhouse gas emissions,stackable planters and residual soil nutrients.

Dynamic models can also be used to estimate responses in places and for time periods and conditions for which there are no prior experiments. They can be used to simulate experiments and estimate responses that allow users to evaluate economic and environmental trade offs among alternative systems. Simulation experiments can predict responses to various climate and soil conditions, genetics, and management factors that are represented in the model. “Hybrid” agricultural system models that combine dynamic crop simulations with appropriate economic models can simulate policy-relevant “treatment effects” in an experimental design of climate impact and adaptation .One innovation of early crop modeling pioneers was to categorize the crop production situation being modeled to narrow down the many factors that are needed by crop models . Fig. 1 summarizes three crop production levels and factors that influence each. Potential production is defined as crop production that is determined completely by defining factors of CO2, radiation, temperature, and crop characteristics . Potential production models also include partitioning of biomass growth into grain and other plant parts, with defining factors modeled to affect these processes. This potential production level is rarely achieved in real production situations, although under highly intensive management , production approximates the potential level for the specific CO2, temperature, radiation, genetics, and canopy architecture used. For example, crops grown in greenhouses or in intensively managed fields in some regions produce yields that are at or near potential levels. The next production situation is referred to as water-limited and/or nutrient-limited production . At this level, the defining factors are still important, but there may also be limitations in the water and/ or nutrients needed to achieve full growth potential. Crop models that simulate water and/or nutrient-limitations must include soil water and nutrient component modules to simulate the time-varying availability of water and nutrients, the uptake of these resources, and reductions in growth and development if they are not adequate to meet potential growth demands.

Most cropping and grassland system models contain component modules that simulate soil water, nitrogen, and carbon dynamics because of the global importance of these resources in determining yield. Although some models include phosphorus, most of them do not simulate responses to phosphorus, potassium, or micro-nutrients. Models that represent soil water, nitrogen and carbon dynamics are complicated not only because of the physical and chemical processes that occur in soils, but also because of the complexities in management practices used for these resources . Finally, actual production includes additional factors that may reduce growth and yield . Whereas some crop models have capabilities to introduce damage by diseases and insects , the modeling of these reducing factors has not kept up with other advances in crop modeling for a review of recent progress. Most groups modeling cropping and grassland systems do not include these factors. Thus, few current models simulate responses to pest or disease damage or to their management using resistant varieties, agro-chemicals, or other approaches. This is a major limitation for some applications.Dynamic crop models generally include factors at the potential yield level in addition to water- and nitrogen-limited production level. However, the ways that different models include those factors vary. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the components in the Cropping System Model that incorporates the CERES , CROPGRO, and other models in DSSAT . The CSM models can include soil water, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus dynamics and can introduce pest and disease damage into some crops using the concept of coupling points . It also can simulate multiple seasons so that carry-over changes in soil water, N, and P are simulated to represent longer-term changes in soil resources in response to different management systems . A number of other cropping and grassland system models have similar components and capabilities , although most models do not simulate impacts of pests and diseases unless coupled externally with time-series input data or pest models like in DSSAT CSM . Some models have an ability to simulate intercropping .

An unfortunate feature of current crop and grassland models is that modules from one set of models are not compatible with other models. For example, APSIM’s intercropping capabilities are deeply embedded in the system architecture and cannot be simply moved to other models like DSSAT CSM. Moving pest and disease damage modules from DSSAT CSM to APSIM is possible but requires coding of module “wrappers” to handle inter-model communications – a non-trivial task.Most “cropping system” models have evolved as elaborations of component crop and soil models and the focus has been on modeling a single “point” in space over time to explore variability in crop responses to soil, management and weather. A typical structure for this pedigree is shown in Fig. 2. Most operate on daily or hourly time-steps. Some include hourly time steps for computing rates of photosynthesis and other processes but also use daily steps to update state variables such as phenological development, and biomass of plant organs. These time steps are also used to compute changes in soil water, soil nitrogen, and crop biomass that result from soil-water processes including rainfall, infiltration, runoff, percolation, redistribution, and plant uptake, and changes in soil nitrogen. Details of how different growth, hydrology, and soil nutrient processes are represented vary among models. Models may be either functional or mechanistic, with the choice of approach depending on the modeling team’s knowledge of the system, their purpose, the availability of data for parameterization, and their experience in developing and evaluating models. These differences lead to different models producing different responses when used to simulate the same experiment . Most models use simplified functional equations and logic to partition simulated biomass into various plant organs. Functional models also primarily use “capacity” concepts to describe the amount of water stored in a soil that is available to plants; mechanistic models, in contrast, use the potential energy of soil water and “instantaneous rate” concepts from soil physics. In capacity-based functional models, it is the difference between the upper and lower limits of soil water-holding capacity that determine the amount of water available to plants. In this type of soil water model, water movement and its availability for crop growth are represented by functional equations on a daily time step, even though infiltration and runoff processes may be computed with smaller time steps. Some modeling systems can operate with either capacity based or energy based soil water modules and ideally a flexible agro-ecosystem simulation engine or platform will be able to work with component modules specified to different degrees of “mechanism”. Although some models include input information on plant genetics ,stacking pots these are few in number and not yet in widespread use. Most models are not genetic-based, which is one reason that calibration of models using field data is widely practiced to obtain genotype-specific parameters. Some modeling platforms while utilizing crop and soil components such as shown in Fig. 2, have focused more strongly on “agricultural system” features, with capabilities of instantiation that facilitates the simulation of systems features such as multiple paddocks, intercropping, weeds, tree – crop interactions, livestock operations and even non-biological features of farms such as water storage structures.

APSIM is the best known example of this farming systems “platform”. It sits at the interface of the crop-soil systems models typified by Fig. 2 and the whole farm optimization models discussed elsewhere in this paper. Holzworth et al. outlines in full these “agricultural systems” features of the APSIM approach .Grasslands are usually mixed stands comprised of a variety of grasses and forbs, including legumes and sometimes woody species . Unlike croplands, the diversity of species generally precludes use of a single-species parameterization, since species vary in their ability to compete for space, water, nutrients , and light. Grassland models generally represent plant behavior and competition among herbaceous plants using one of: a set of species, each independently parameterized; amalgamations of plants into parameters for plant functional types ; or community-averaged parameterizations . While requiring more effort for parameterization, these amalgamated approaches enable representation of changes in plant community composition over time, for example in response to climate change, competition among plant populations, and mortality. Trees are dynamic components of the world’s native grazing lands and can have significant impacts on ecosystem function . Representing tree/grass competition is challenging because trees respond differently to various drivers and depend on plant population characteristics . Shifts in plant community composition can be self-reinforcing due to co-occurring population and biophysical changes . Dynamic vegetation modeling approaches are used to represent competition among herbaceous and woody types for water, nitrogen, light, and space. Dynamic rangeland vegetation models and state-and-transition models identify a set of plant communities that tend to resist change due to disturbance, but also describe drivers that lead to a transition to another quasi-stable plant community . Expansion of woody species and increases in woody cover are widespread phenomena that under many but not all environmental conditions lead to the transition of early successional communities dominated by grasses and forbs to forests . Studying woody encroachment and understanding the importance of competing drivers has been challenging, in part because of the slow rates of the processes driving changes . These slow changes are reflected in the drivers of transitions in state-and-transition models and contribute to uncertainty in our ability to represent longer-term changes in the tree-grass balance. Ecological succession has been studied by plant ecologists since pioneering work before 1945. More interactions among agricultural and ecological modelers are likely to be mutually beneficial. Grazing animals of all kinds have an impact on plant productivity by removing photosynthesizing tissues, altering light transmission through the canopy, influencing nutrient cycling and affecting plant allocation patterns and differentially influencing species mortality and recruitment rates in grasslands . Such changes to groups of plants can drive changes in the competitive balance and thus plant community composition. Whereas grassland models incorporating species or plant functional types can represent grazing-induced changes in the competitive balance, such models that represent plants with a set of community-wide parameters usually rely on some combination of LAI -driven reduction in production potential along with grazing response curves. Ingrasslands/rangelands, grazing removes some plant productive capacity, and thus models cannot rely upon deterministic growth curves, but must be able to forecast growth for plants with an amount of biomass or leaf area that varies independent of the time of year or climate. There can also be significant differences in growth rates among and even within species after a grazing event .

Emerging research suggests that decolonizing the international view of seal products and shifting the ontology around the definitio of sustainability would be a step toward increasing food security and correspondingly, food sovereignty for the Inuit . The Nyéléni Declaration and La Vía Campesina imply, but fall short of, explicitly advocating for local control and resource ownership. This is likely because the movements inclusively advocate on behalf of tenant farmers, landless people, and other marginalized populations. However, local governance and ownership over resources and supply chains, including processing and distribution channels, are critical to upholding the right to food and to ensuring that future agricultural production is sustainable over time . Local control over resources, including the supply chain, facilitates local harvesting and access to fresh food that might otherwise be viewed as valuable export commodities. In North America, the gradual transition of returning land and resources to Indigenous populations is expected to gain momentum in years to come. There is opportunity to “relearn” the cycles of nature that have sustained Indigenous civilization over time. However, there is also growing awareness that boreal environments are dynamic; climate change presents uncertain impacts on future food harvesting practices. Moreover, resource transitions and co-governance with Indigenous communities has not necessarily been particularly smooth, as the Atlantic lobster fishery and building of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam have shown.Food sovereignty is often interpreted to entail necessary conditions of local food consumption and distribution. Practices of and returns on trade directly would support food sovereign practices through commodity supply chains that closely connect farms and consumers, reducing the involvement of third-party intermediaries,flood tray particularly when profits are not locally reinvested. Food sovereignty advocates for small farms to hold providence over all aspects of their crop production, distribution and consumption.

This creates paradoxical tension with gains from comparative advantage and international trade, where the value of maintaining sovereignty typically isn’t reflected in food prices. Reconciliating food sovereignty and agricultural trade, especially at an international scale, is a difficult endeavor . As Edelman writes, “‘food sovereignty’ advocates rarely consider what sort of regulatory apparatus would be needed to manage questions of firm and farm size, product and technology mixes, and long-distance and international trade.” As discussed throughout this article, local food system disruptions accentuate differences between those who “have” and “have not.” In order to shift to a system that supports food sovereignty, the right to food, and local supply chains, regulatory support will be necessary. Regulation may be necessary to ensure that food from locally owned food processing and distribution centers remains available to local communities . One suggestion is to foster community-level ownership and regulatory mechanisms that involve equity and joint ownership. Returning to the Newfoundland and Labrador study region, in 1967 the Fogo Island Co-operative and Shorefast Foundation embraced these principles to “rebuild” the local fishing and harvesting processes into a community-owned enterprise, in a manner that has been dubbed the “Fogo Process” . The Fogo Island Co-op was initially established as an alternative to federal and provincial initiatives to relocate residents to the mainland. Rather than relocate to mainland, like most communities, local inshore fishers and processing plant workers instead took control over the fisheries and supply chain. It provides the quintessential and perhaps most renowned example of food sovereignty stemming from the residents’ awareness of the need to maintain local control over resources. Providing each citizen with a universal basic income has gained appeal as a policy tool for addressing food insecurity . As the economic impacts of universal income supports are being evaluated, it’s worth evaluating whether a universal income might provide much needed income to cultivate local agricultural supply chains. In sum, the scales required to attain food sovereignty may initially seem daunting. However, if agricultural production is introduced in a stepwise manner, there is opportunity to slowly foster supply chains at small scales or in pilot programs that can eventually be replicated. My research team and I conducted a scoping review on food sovereignty and international trade to demonstrate that the vast majority of literature focuses on either food as a basic human right, or food production models, but that there is little intersectionality between the two.

Research in this area is necessary in order to identify models of success, and policies, that can be replicated elsewhere. To investigate the co-occurrence between research on food sovereignty and international trade and gaps in the literature, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and MetaAnalyses guidelines were used as a methodological and analytical framework . The Binimelis et al. framework was used to guide the scoping review. The framework consists of five axes or evaluative categories delineated from the Nyéléni Declaration: access to resources, production model, transformation and commercialization, food consumption and right to food, and agricultural policy and civil and social organizations. A stepwise search covered all journals indexed by OVID journal databases, accessed through the University of Toronto’s Gerstein Library research portal. The stepwise search of the terms [“international trade” and “food sovereignty”] yielded 213 net results. A second search was conducted via the ProQuest portal of the 3,236 publications indexed by the Social Sciences Combined Databases using the search terms [“trade” or “import” and “food sovereignty”] for a total of 645 results, and a combined total of 858 articles. After sorting for duplicates and other criteria, 34 articles were retained from the first literature search and 29 articles from the second search, yielding 63 articles for further semantic analysis of paragraphs. Nearly all of 63 articles on food sovereignty focused on either the production model, or the right to food model, but there was little co-occurrence between the two categories. This builds upon observations made by Edelman and others that food sovereignty remains an elusive term that is aspirational in principle, but difficult to implement. This scoping review fortifies the observation that two aspects of the food sovereignty movement, the “right to food” and “international trade” involve a tricky balance, which will be challenging inregions where imports and exports have been a legacy and a necessity. In summary, upholding the basic right to food, a central tenant of the food sovereignty movement, provides promise for regions of the world whose food systems have paradoxically been full of abundance and scarcity. Freshwater scarcity is a global problem with local solutions.

The connections between water supply, demand, and quality must be carefully examined at a local scale to understand and respond to water shortages. Balanced solutions that require the cooperation of water managers and users can address deficits that threaten households, major economies, and endangered ecosystems. The culminating effects of global climate change and variability, such as changes in precipitation, drought persistence, and shrinking rivers, impact both surface and groundwater systems . Furthermore, population growth, urbanization, economic development, and the industrialization of food production have intensified water management challenges worldwide . These challenges are well illustrated in California, where the water landscape has been manipulated to meet human demand; wetlands were drained, land use was modified, rivers were re-engineered, and entire ecosystems were endangered . The complex network of water reservoirs, aqueducts, and transfers have allowed for the state’s expansive growth of the industry, agriculture, and population . California’s water demand continues to grow due to the agriculture’s expansion and shift from annual to perennial crops, although supply has become less reliable, in quantity and quality, due to climate change, droughts, and environmental demands. At the same time, there is a new focus on the state’s natural river systems, and in stream flow requirements are being established to protect and restore riparian ecosystems. While less water enters the hydrologic system as snow and precipitation, and a larger amount of water is allocated to environmental flows, irrigated agriculture continues to expand . Insufficient surface water supplies have led to the exploitation of groundwater throughout the state to meet urban and agricultural demands.This industry produces half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, including many high-value crops, and accounts for the largest source of freshwater demand . Currently, over 400 crops grow on almost 4 million ha of mostly irrigated cropland . This industry was able to flourish in arid parts of the state due to skillfully engineered water transfers from the north and unregulated groundwater pumping statewide.Groundwater is valued highly for irrigation because of its superior quality,ebb and flow tray ease of accessibility, and reliability. However, sustainable and continual reliance on groundwater depends on management activities and local practices.Demand for high quality groundwater was exacerbated by the most recent multiyear drought that depleted surface water supplies throughout the state. As farmers in California increase their reliance on groundwater, the natural infiltration of rainfall, stream flow, and percolation of irrigation water can become insufficient to maintain supplies. Furthermore, groundwater basins are being stressed as a result of disproportionate water withdrawal. This ongoing imbalance has severe consequences, namely basin depletion, which can cause loss of storage or seawater intrusion on the coast, both of which produce an unreliable water supply . The culmination of climate change increased demands, and mostly unregulated groundwater use has led to severe water shortages in California. The state legislature addressed these concerns with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014. SGMA mandates the implementation of sustainable groundwater management plans in critically over drafted basins by 2020, defined by the California Department of Water Resources .

Agriculture is a central point of discussion on how to improve groundwater management because of its future hinges on sustainable groundwater management, which requires mitigation of overdraft. Agricultural water management research is necessary to address the needs of current and future farmers and water users. The goal of this case study is to identify the sustainable carrying capacity of a single groundwater basin in California that maximizes the agricultural profit in the region to address both environmental and social sustainability. For this study, sustainable carrying capacity refers to the land use that will result in the maximum amount of water that can be withdrawn without over drafting the aquifer. First, a groundwater box model was built and calibrated, in comparison to results of the simulation model used by water managers in the Pajaro Valley to represent hydrology, water use, and groundwater storage . Second, an optimization model was built to determine crop acreages that maximized agricultural profit given water and land use constraints. Third, results from the optimization model were used as inputs into the groundwater box model to calculate the aquifer storage and assess the sustainable carrying capacity of the Pajaro Valley groundwater basin. Even though the location of the case of study is in California, this methodology can be applied to any ground water dependent agricultural region. This study shows a practical and innovative approach for the sustainable management of agricultural groundwater basins that emphasizes the interdependence of water and land use planning.Pajaro Valley is located within the central coast region of California and comprises southern Santa Cruz, northern Monterey, and a small part of San Benito counties. Watsonville is the principal city where residential, industrial, and commercial land uses predominate. The Pajaro Valley groundwater basin is bounded to the San Andreas Fault to the east and connected to Monterey Bay in the west, covering a surface area of 311 km2 and with a total storage capacity of 9,584 million m3 . The basin recharges through rainfall, irrigation water, and stream flow seepage from Pajaro River and its tributaries, and it includes unconfined and confined aquifers and semi-confined transition zones. This region is an ideal case study location because of its unique and threatened water supply, historical use of water management strategies, and the lucrative agricultural industry. Water supplies for the area include 2,700 groundwater wells, recycled water supplied by the Central Distribution System , and in a small portion, water from Pajaro River. Over 90% of agricultural and municipal water demands are met with groundwater resources because surface water supplies are insufficient and the area is not connected to the federal or state water projects. Reliance on groundwater has repercussions, including the lowering of the groundwater levels that has caused saltwater intrusion from the adjacent Monterey Bay since the 1950s .

All previous studies consistently show that research-led technological change is the main engine of agricultural growth . Technology produced by China’s agricultural research system accounts for most of the rise in the cropping sector’s total factor productivity between 1980 and the late-1990s . Despite this past record, China faces considerable challenges. Although as a publicly funded agricultural research system, it functioned well and addressed many important problems, its expenditures have been tied to public budgets. Falling fiscal support has taken its toll. Currently, there is much concern that agriculture research investment intensity has declined since the early 1980s and reached a dangerously low level, only 0.44 in 1999 . At the same time, the increasing evidence of overlapping, inefficiency, over-staffing, and inappropriate technology make fundamental reform of the current research system an essential task.Price and market reforms were key components of China’s policy shifts from a socialist to a market-oriented economy. The reforms associated with China’s policy reforms, however, began slowly and have proceeded gradually. Market liberalization began with non-strategic commodities such as vegetables, fruit, fish, livestock, and oil and sugar crops. Little effort was made on the major crops. And, although the aims of the early reforms were to raise farm level prices and gradually deregulate the market, most of the significant early reforms were done by administrative measures . However, as the rights to private trading were expanded in the early 1980s, and official allowed traders the to buy and sell the surplus output of almost all categories of agricultural products,mobile grow rack the foundations of the state marketing system began to be undermined.

Since the mid-1980s, market reforms have continued though only in a stop and start way. For example, after record growth in agricultural production in 1984 and 1985, a second stage of price and market reforms was announced in 1985 aimed at radically limiting the scope of government price and market interventions and further enlarging the role of market allocation. Because of the sharp drop in the growth of agricultural production and food price inflation in the late 1980s, however, implementation of the new policy stalled. Mandatory procurement of grains, oil crops, and cotton continued. After agricultural production and prices stabilized in 1990-92, another attempt was made in early 1993 to abolish the grain compulsory quota system and the sale at low prices to consumers. The state distribution and procurement systems were substantially liberalized, but the policy was reversed when food price inflation reappeared in 1994: government grain procurement once again became compulsory. As well, a provincial governors’ grain responsibility system was introduced in 1994-95, aimed at encouraging greater grain self-sufficiency at the provincial level. Further retrenchments followed; in 1998 the central government initiated a controversial policy change prohibiting individuals and private companies from procuring grain from farmers . Grain quota procurement prices were set more than 20% higher than market prices, which meant a transfer in favor of those farmers able to sell at that price . Not surprisingly, stocks started to accumulate and procurement and market prices had to come down relative to international prices in 2000. Despite these periodic cycles in the reform process, markets have gradually emerged in rural China.According to Lardy , the share for agriculture was just 6% in 1978 but had risen to 40% by 1985, 79% by 1995 and 83% by 1999. Moreover, the state’s intervention was unable to halt the flow of grain across provincial boundaries.

Huang and Rozelle find that agricultural prices for all major commodities, including rice, wheat, and especially for maize and soybeans have moved together across far reaching localities within China. Continuing the trends found in Park et al. , China’s markets are becoming more integrated and efficient, and increasingly resemble those in more market-oriented economies. What have these policies meant for nominal rates of agricultural protection in China? Tables 3 and 4 show recent estimates based on quota and negotiated procurement prices and on wholesale market prices since 1985 for selected agricultural commodities. The requirement that farmers submit a mandatory delivery quota at below market prices has represented a lump-sum tax on farmers and lump sum subsidy to the urban consumers who were able to get access to sales at below-market value . Between 1990 and 1997 the average price farmers received for compulsorily delivered grains and soybean was between one-eighth and one-third below the border price. In the late 1990s, however, those prices were above the border price. Although all of China’s major crops were affected, wheat and cotton, the nation’s main imported farm commodities, received relatively favorable treatment relative to rice. That is true not only in each price category , but also in that a higher proportion of rice production is procured at the low quota procurement price. Meat producers, by contrast, still appear to receive less they would if they could sell their output at international prices. More-recent estimates by Huang and Rozelle , however, take quality differences into account more carefully. Their estimates suggest there is less protection in place than Table 3 implies. In particular, wheat wholesale prices may be no higher and possibly even lower than import prices of similar-quality grain. Recent structural shifts in soybean markets have made it so domestic soybean prices are only 15%, not 40%, above border prices. In sum, despite substantial efforts to liberalize the price and market structure of China’s agricultural sector, producers of major agricultural commodities continue to be penalized by commodity-specific policies of procurement. Despite that migration of farm workers to rural industrial and service activities, the average farm size and the share of farm household income from farming have fallen steadily since the late 1970s . When the impact of the recent re-appreciation of the domestic currency is also taken into account, the situation is even worse . It is therefore not surprising that many farm families have invested their surplus funds and labor in non-farm activities rather than back into agriculture. Much of that investment has gone to REs and family-owned businesses. Employment, output and exports in these sectors have increased rapidly. The share of non-farm income reached 50% in 2000 , and the per capita income differences between eastern, central and western provinces have persisted and even expanded.

In its most basic terms, the commitments in agricultural sector can be classified into 3 major categories: market access, domestic support, and export subsidies . The commitments on market accession will lower tariffs of all agricultural products, increase access to China’s markets by foreign producers of some commodities through tariff rate quotas , and removes quantitative restrictions on others. In return, China is supposed to gain better access to foreign markets for its agricultural products, as well as a number of other indirect benefits. Domestic support and export subsidies are the other two critical issues that arose during the course of negotiations. Together with a number of other market-access commitments make China’s WTO accession unique among all other developing countries that have been admitted to the WTO’s new environment. The import market access commitments that China has made to WTO members appear to be substantial. Overall agricultural import tariffs declines from about 21% in 2001 to 17% by 2004. The simple average agricultural import tariff reduced from 42.2% in 1992 to 23.6% in 1998 . Although important, when taken in the context of the discussion in the previous section about China’s external economy reforms of the last two decades, one would have to conclude that the commitments are merely an extension of China’s past changes. WTO in this way can be thought of as just another step on China’s road to opening up its economy. With a few exceptions , most of agricultural products will become part of a tariff-only regime. According to this part of the agreement, all non-tariff barriers and licensing and quota processes will be eliminated. For most commodities in this group, effective protection will fall substantially by January 2002 and fall even further by 2004 . To the extent that tariffs are binding for some of these commodities, the reductions in tariff rates should stimulate new imports. It is important to note, however, that although published tariff rates will fall on all of these commodities,ebb and flow table imports will not necessarily grow summarily. Indeed, for many products, China has comparative advantages in many commodities presented in Table 5. For example, lower tariffs on horticultural and meats might impact only a small portion of domestic market. Although tariffs fall for all products, since China produces and exports many commodities at below world market prices, the decreases will not affect producers or traders. Hence, the real challenge for agricultural products with tariff-only protection will be for crops such as barley, wine, and dairy products. In order to attempt to understand what may happen for some of these crops, it is instructive to examine the case of soybeans.

In this case, producers in China clearly did not have a comparative advantage. Before 2000, the import tariff for soybeans was as high as 114%, importers required licenses, and China’ farmers grew most of the nation’s soybeans. However, in anticipation of the China’s WTO accession, tariffs were lowered to 3% in 2000. After this lowering, officials also phased out import quotas. Consequently, imports surged from 4.32 million metric tons in 1999 to 10.42 mmt in 2000. In 2001, most observers believe soybean imports exceeded 14 mmt. Prices also fell and the nominal protection rates of soybean declined from 44% in the early 2000 to less than 15% in October 2001 . From this case it is possible to see that when the protection rates are high and there is high demand for a commodity, imports can move up sharply. Such movements, however, can be limited for a class of commodities called “national strategic products.” China’s WTO agreement allows officials to manage trade of rice, wheat, maize, edible oils, sugar, cotton and wool with tariff rate quotas . These commodities are covered under a special set of institutions. As shown in Table 6, except for sugar and edible oils , the in-quota tariff is only 1% for rice, wheat, maize, and wool. However, the amount brought in at these tariff levels is strictly restricted. For example, in 2002, the first 8.45 mmt of wheat will come in at a tariff rate of 1%. The in-quota volumes, however, are to grow over a three year period at annual rates ranging from 4% to 19%. For example,maize TRQ volumes increase from 5.70 mmt tons in 2002 to 7.20 mmt in 2004. China does not have to bring in this quantity, but provisions are in place that there is supposed to be competition in the import market so if there is demand inside China for the national strategic products at international prices, traders will be able to bring in the commodity up to the TRQ level. At the same time, there are still ways theoretically to import these commodities after the TRQ is filled. Most poignantly, tariffs on out-of-quota sales will drop substantially in the first year of accession and fall further between 2002 and 2005. If the international price of maize were to fall more than 65% below China’s price after 2004, any trader is allowed to import maize. But, during the transition period, most people believe such rates are so high that in the coming years they will not bind.After the first 4 to 5 years of accession, a number of other changes will take place. For example, after 2006, China agreed to phased out its TRQ for edible oils. State trading monopolies also will be phased out for wools after 2004 and gradually disappear for most of other agricultural products . Although China National Cereals Oil and Foodstuffs Import & Export Co. will continue to play an important role in rice, wheat and maize, there will be an increasing degree of competition from private firms in the importing and exporting of the grains in the future. In its commitments to WTO accession, China also agreed to a number of other items, some of which are special to the case of China. First, China must phase out all export subsidies and not to introduce any these subsidies on agricultural products in the future.

They estimated that the number of undocumented immigrants rose monotonically from only 3.5 million in 1990 until it peaked at 12.2 million in 2007. However, the number of immigrants fell to 11.3 million by 2009 during the Great Recession. In contrast, they found that the supply of immigrant labor rose during relatively mild 2001 recession.These results are consistent with U.S. border patrol reports from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics. Apprehensions by the U.S. border patrols dropped from 876,803 in 2007 to 556,032 in 2009. Because immigrants often send money home, we can use remittances from the United States to Mexico to infer whether the number of immigrants changed substantially during a recession. Figure 2 shows quarterly remittances to Mexico in millions of U.S. dollars as reported by Banco de México . The figure shows that remittances increased during the relatively mild 2001 recession but decreased substantially during the 2008–2009 Great Recession. These data again support the view that the number of Mexican immigrants to the United States fell during the Great Recession but not during the previous, milder recession. Moreover, Warren and Warren estimated that the net change of undocumented immigrants was negative during the Great Recession, which was related to a sharp decrease of new undocumented immigrants. The United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service estimated number of full- and part-time agricultural workers fell from 1.032 million in 2007 to 1.003 million in 2008 and 1.020 million in 2009, before rising to 1.053 million in 2010.5 That is,vertical grow tables the number of workers in 2008 was 3% to 5% lower than in the years before and after the Great Recession. Presumably the share of workers dropped by even more in seasonal agriculture, which employs most of the undocumented workers.

Our agricultural workers data comes from the National Agricultural Workers Survey. The NAWS is a national, random sample of hired seasonal agricultural employees, who work primarily in seasonal crops.The NAWS is an employer-based survey. That is, it samples worksites rather than residences to overcome the difficulty of reaching migrant farm workers in unconventional living quarters. These employers are chosen randomly within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 12 agricultural regions .Surveyors randomly select 2,500 employees of these growers to obtain a nationally representative sample of crop workers. Surveyors interview the more than 2,500 crop workers outside of work hours at their homes or at other locations selected by the respondent. The NAWS has a long, visible history within farming communities, and the survey design incorporates questions aimed at data validation about legal status. Respondents receive a pledge of confidentiality and a nominal financial incentive for participation. As a result, only one to two percent of workers in the overall sample refuse to answer the legal status questions. The NAWS contains extensive information about a worker’s compensation, hours worked, and demographic characteristics such as legal status, education, family size and composition, and workers’ migration decisions. We dropped workers from the sample who were missing any relevant variable, 23% of the original survey sample. The NAWS is conducted in three cycles each year year to match the seasonal fluctuations in the agricultural workforce. Unfortunately, the public-use data, which we use, suppresses information about the cycle and aggregates the 12 regions into 6 regions. As a result, our data set consists of repeated annual cross sections of workers from 1989 through 2012. Column 1 of Table 1 presents national summary statistics for the variables used in our empirical analysis. Columns 2 and 3 provide data for California and for the rest of the country, because 37% of the sample works in California.

Compared to workers in the rest of the country, Californian workers tend to have less education; have more farm experience; are more likely to be non-native, Hispanics; and are more likely to work in fruit and nut crops and less likely to work in horticulture. After analyzing the effects of recessions on agricultural workers, we replicate the analysis for workers in construction, hotels, and restaurants, which also employ many immigrants. The data for workers in these sectors come from the March Current Population Survey . In March of each year, workers in the basic CPS sample are administered a supplemental questionnaire in which they are asked to report their income such as hourly wage rate and additional labor force activity such as hours worked in the previous week.Because information on immigration is available only since 1994, our sample period is 1994–2013. We include all workers who are 18 years and older.Three recessions occurred during our 1989–2012 sample period . The economy recovered quickly from the first of these recessions in 1990–1991. The second, 2001 recession was also relatively mild. However, the third recession, the 2008–2009 Great Recession, was much more severe and had longer-lasting economic and labor market effects than the first two. We analyze the effects of recessions on hourly earnings, the probability of receiving a bonus, and weekly hours of work of employed workers. For workers paid by time, hourly earnings are a worker’s hourly wage. For piece-rate workers, we use the workers’ reported average hourly earnings. The bonus dummy equals one for workers who receive a money bonus from an employer in addition to the wage, and zero otherwise. Weekly hours of work are the number of hours interviewees reported work at their current farm job in the previous week. The explanatory variables in all these equations are the same. The explanatory variables include all the usual demographic variables: age, years of education, years of farm experience, job tenure , gender, whether the workers is Hispanic, whether the worker was born in the United States, and whether the worker speaks English.

The specification uses a legal status variable to capture the bifurcated labor markets for documented and undocumented workers. It also includes crop and regional dummies. We have seven main explanatory variables: dummies for each of the three recessions, the recession dummies interacted with the legal status dummy , and regional unemployment rates for workers in all sectors of the economy. We use separate dummies for each recession to allow for differential effects across the recession . The interaction terms capture whether employers treat undocumented workers differently than legal workers during a recession. We include the unemployment rate because it peaks after the end of each recession . We do not report the unemployment rate interacted with the undocumented dummy because we cannot reject that its coefficient is zero in any equation. We treat all these variables as exogenous to the compensation and weekly hours of individual agricultural workers. We start by examining the effects of recessions on NAWS workers’ hourly earnings. Column 1 of Table 2 presents regression estimates for the ln hourly earnings equation. The coefficients on the demographic variables have the expected signs and are generally statistically significantly different from zero at the 5% level. Undocumented workers’ hourly earnings are 2.1% less than those of documented workers. Females earn 6.4% less than males. Hispanics earn 4.9% less than nonHispanics. Unlike most previous studies, we find a statistically significant effect of education. English speakers earn 3.9% more than non-English speakers. The coefficients on the recession dummies reflect the effect of the recession on documented workers. Documented workers’ hourly earnings rose 1.8% during the 1990–1991 recession, 4.2% during the 2001 recession, and 6.9% during the Great Recession. We draw two conclusions about the effects of recessions on documented workers. First, the hourly earning effect of the Great Recession was larger than that of the relatively minor recessions, which is consistent with literature on business cycles and the farm labor market in the 1970s . Second, in all recessions, documented workers’ wages rose, which suggests that recessions cause the hired-agricultural-worker supply curve to shift leftward relatively more than did the demand curve. The sum of the coefficients on the recession dummy and its interaction with the undocumented dummy captures the effect of a recession on undocumented workers. The 1990–1991 recession did not have a statistically significant effect on undocumented workers. Hourly earnings for undocumented workers rose by 3.4% during the 2001 recession and 1.9% during the Great Recession. In contrast to the pattern for documented workers,flower pot the undocumented workers’ earnings rose by less during the Great Recession than during the 2001 recession. Thus, not only do undocumented workers earn less than documented workers do in general, but their hourly earnings rise less during recession than do the earnings of documented workers. That is, the wage gap between documented and undocumented workers widens during recessions. In addition to hourly earnings, 28% of the workers in our sample receive bonus payments , which supplement relatively low wage payments. These deferred payments play a similar function to that of efficiency wages in other sectors .

We use a binary indicator equal to one if a worker receives a money bonus. Column 2 of Table 2 shows the results of a regression using a linear probability model . For documented workers, the probability of receiving a bonus did not rise during the two relatively minor recessions but increased by 5.8 percentage points during the Great Recession. Thus, the Great Recession not only raised documented workers’ hourly earnings, but it raised the probability that they received a bonus substantially. For undocumented workers, the probability of receiving a bonus fell by 2.9 percentage points during the 1990–1991 recession and rose by 9 percentage points during the Great Recession. Again, this result is consistent with the theory that the Great Recession caused a large supply side shock. Thus, for both documented and undocumented workers, the Great Recession had a larger, positive effect on the probability of receiving a bonus than did earlier recessions. The unemployment rate has a statistically significant effect on the probability of receiving a bonus payment. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate raised the probability of receiving a bonus by 0.9 percentage points.Because our data set includes information about only employed workers, we cannot directly observe the effect of a recession on total employment. However, we can examine the effect on workers’ weekly hours. When employers have difficulty recruiting workers, they have employees work more hours per week to compensate for an unusually small workforce. For documented workers, weekly hours fell by 2.2 hours during the 1990–1991 recession, but rose by 1.1 hours during the 2001 recession, and 2.3 hours during the Great Recession. For undocumented workers, weekly hours were not statistically significantly affected during the two relatively minor recessions, but rose by 2.6 hours during the Great Recession—more than for documented workers. An increase in the overall unemployment rate by 1 percentage point lowered the weekly hours by 0.3 hours. Thus, an increase in the overall unemployment rate lowered weekly hours, but weekly hours rose during relatively large recessions.We conducted five robustness checks. First, we estimated all three equations separately for documented and undocumented workers. That is, we allowed all the coefficients to vary between these two groups instead of only the recession dummies. The coefficients on our seven key recession variables were virtually unchanged . Second, we estimated all three regressions eliminating all newcomers , about 3,300 people or 7.5% of the sample, to see if compositional changes in the workforce during recessions are driving our results. However, the coefficients were virtually unchanged . Third, we estimated all three regressions leaving out the unemployment rate.Fourth, we excluded the crop dummies, in case they are endogenous. The recession variable coefficients were unaffected .Fifth, to check for regional differences, we estimated separate regressions for California and for the rest of the United States . With the exceptions of the coefficients on bonus pay for the 2001 recession and the coefficients on log hourly wage for the regional unemployment rate , the seven key coefficients have the same sign in each pair of regressions. Do recessions have different effects in agriculture than in other sectors of the economy that employ many undocumented immigrants, such as construction, hotels, and restaurants? To answer this question, we constructed a comparable data set based on the March Current Population Survey for 1994–2013.

These ailments, diseases and disorders, were part and parcel of life in the tropics, a life that brought out “man’s most lascivious and debased urges.” Yet, contrary thought posited that “the white race was inherently aggressive and migratory [and] Caucasians could survive in the tropics, but only as a master race.”Those colonists who embraced hard, physical labor, tailored their diet to the new, debilitating tropical climate, and “took special sanitary precautions…had a reasonable chance of adaptation to the climatic conditions.” Josef Rosen was a firm believer that physical activity was a key to adaptation for the Jewish refugees who were, in the main, an urbanized lot. Indeed, in his optimistic opinion, “the key to success was for settlers to remain active.”Sosúa had attracted malcontents despite the fairly rigorous pre-screening of settlers. Recall that both Rosenberg and Rosen had warned DORSA recruiters such as Trone, to be aware of “problem cases” that were likely to be among the potential recruits. In spite of the efforts to keep the colony free from unproductive or ‘lazy’ charity cases, some had fallen through the cracks. Known to DORSA as “non-settlers,” they never “had any intention of becoming farmers,” which created a “combustible combination that had a pernicious effect on morale.”Division among the members, and inherent differences of opinion, were an inevitable consequence of life at the colony. The life of the Jewish refugee at Sosúa was by no means an idyll. The hard work of the farmer began in earnest after a short period of adjustment that allowed the newly arrived to acclimate to the tropical climate. Indeed, the settlers were given “all of three days to get accustomed to their new surroundings.” Well noted that “For the great majority,stacking flower pot tower enervating manual labor was the norm during the first year.” This included “clearing land with tractors, building and repairing roads and constructing houses.” Building houses right away meant that the settlers could leave the group barracks and move “onto homesteads as soon as possible.”

The newly arrived rookies were given a brief tour of the settlement and then provided with basic supplies such as quinine pills for malaria, some work clothing, mosquito netting and bedding. According to Rosen all arrivals had to abruptly alter their habits, “particularly eating and drinking.” Yet it was the tropical climate that most concerned Rosen. The refugees were coming from the temperate climates of European countries and would inevitably suffer from the debilitating climate which was ‘fiercely hot’ during the day. The ability of Jewish people from the cool, seasonal climate of Europe to adapt to the tropical climate of the Dominican Republic was put to the test at Sosúa and, for the most part, the settlers did adapt despite some initial difficulties. A radical alteration to the European diet was also an inevitable hurdle that would have to be overcome. Gone, at least for a while, was the bread and meat diet of the European, substituted by the ubiquitous Latin American staples: rice and beans.Recall that the settlement’s water supply, from both the Sosúa River and wells on the property, were already polluted to the extreme.The first settlers to come to Sosúa, a small group of about ten ‘Pioneers’ were already in the capital city, Ciudad Trujillo, and were relocated to the opposite end of the island on March 16, 1940. DORSA had found them in the city “living among other new refugees eking out a living,” and transported them across the island to Sosúa.The families of Jakob Weinberg, accountant, and Max Sichel, civil servant, began life as the first European Sosuaners. They were joined in April by Marec Morsél, merchant, all of whom “would serve as an unofficial welcoming committee for the first group from Europe.”It is significant that all were professionals, as both DORSA and Trujillo wanted people with some degree of agricultural experience. Later that year on the 8th of May, some 37 “hapless” refugees arrived at Sosúa to begin life anew as tropical farmers. They were at first housed in barracks and divided into groups that were given names such as the ‘Swiss Group’ or the ‘Drucker Group’ that identified either their leader or their original locale. Symanski and Burley note that the land allotment was proportional to the size of the group and the “average amount was approximately 30 hectares for each family or unmarried male within a group.”

The groups were part of “communal units who were expected to grow crops sharing the work and profits equally.”Individual families were given an additional two hectares that were for the exclusive use of the family. These plots which, invariably, grew crops that were familiar to the European diet such as spinach, eggplant and beets. In addition each family was given barn animals, livestock farming implements, some cash and a line of credit at the colony store. Symanski and Burley note that “a horse and mule, a number of dairy cattle, other small livestock,” were given to each family.Farm implements and tools given to the settlers included the basic hoe and shovel, yet as time went by and the colony matured, machines such as the farm tractor were introduced. It should be recalled that the use of farm machinery- superior U.S. technology, was part of Rosen’s three part plan to ensure success of the colony as an agricultural concern. However, many of the novice farmers shied away from the labor necessary to get Sosúa up and running and “seem to have an inborn fear and mistrust of tools, and certainly lack all too often a pride in owning and using them.”Thus the beginning of the settlement at Sosúa was indeed, a slow, steady, trial-and-error process, and a baptism by fire for those fortunate few who now called it home. DORSA sought solutions to the problems that arose, experimenting with “crops and agricultural innovations and also encouraged a mixture of projects such as animal husbandry, banana cultivation, intensive truck and garden farming, tomato crops and cash crops.” Yet all efforts to establish a profitable crop-based economy failed almost from the beginning,” with construction of houses for the homesteaders, barns, schools, irrigation systems, road building and repair, continuing as the colony grew in size and importance.In less than two-year’s time the colony was a functioning entity that could “boast some notable accomplishments: 60 houses, 9 dormitories, 12 shops and warehouses, a small clinic, and a schoolhouse had been constructed.” Plots of land were ready for planting and pasturage.

Expansion of the colony necessitated additional infrastructure that Sosúa lacked, although one should recall the reasons that Rosen chose Sosúa over other, more suitable tracts, was because it had some infrastructure already in place such as electricity and running water. The only obstacles to building new and modern infrastructure were sufficient capital and a workforce. Rosenberg in New York would press wealthy donors who were also ‘shrewd business leaders,’ for additional funding. These efforts were, for the most part, successful, considering that the donors had other equally worthy causes to support.The able and willing workforce was in the main staffed by local Dominicans. Indeed, many refugees disdained physical labor. Dominicans worked all jobs at Sosúa, particularly as domestics and farmhands, but also as builders of roads and structures. This ran counter to an agreement that each prospective settler signed before leaving Europe. The “Rules for the Establishment of the Settlement” strictly limited the employ of native workers to “cases of emergency or when the additional labor is needed during harvest time.” DORSA however, caved in to the demands of the settlers, so that whenever one needed labor he could hire local Dominicans without any repercussions from DORSA. According to Wells the local workforce was an ‘elastic and inexpensive’ source which was immediately available for hire. Certainly, there were upwards of several hundred Dominicans who worked at Sosúa at any given moment.Relations between the natives and the refugees were at first congenial, but this friendly posture changed into a strained tolerance as time progressed. Wells noted that the divide between the two groups was sufficient to warrant one settler to write to Rosenberg complaining that “Our settlers do not behave very civilly to the working population. They consider themselves a higher race. They consider the natives peons.” In fact, “some colonists were arrogant, and believed los muchachos, as they referred to them, inferior.”Symanski and Burley further stated that “The Jewish view of the Dominican was that he was lazy,ebb and flow had little sense of investment or hard work, and multiplied much too quickly.”The insularity of the colony, compounded with the language barrier, ‘perpetuated misunderstanding’ between the two. Most settlers spoke German, a few Hebrew, Yiddish and English and all had yet to learn Spanish. Aside from everything else that DORSA provided the settlers: food, lodging, and tools, was instruction in the Spanish language.Entertainment at the colony took the form of the occasional movie shown in a barracks ‘theater’ at the ‘urban center’ known as El Batey. El Batey was the hub of social life at the settlement and was also home to the general store known as El Colmado. One would travel by horseback, burro or buggy to El Batey “to go to a dance, sponsor an occasional Dominican concert, or dine with friends.” Residents would catch up on the news, both international and national, through the colony’s bi-lingual newspaper, The Voice of Sosúa which, over time, was printed under several other banners. The Voice was a source for poetry in German and also a source for free Spanish language lessons. Settlers could check out a book at the small library which was subsidized by DORSA.Communal Sunday beach outings were where the settlers could frolic and enjoy sunbathing, diving, swimming and other ocean sports.

Despite its rural and isolated location, Sosúa offered plenty of diversion for those who knew how to take advantage of what was immediately at hand. The education of children took place at Sosúa’s elementary school, at first located in a barrack and later moved to its own two room building in El Batey. The aptly named Christopher Columbus School included a kindergarten and a primary school that served both the settler and Dominican children, who “benefited from the extraordinary qualifications of their teachers.” Many of the settlers were professionals, some of whom served as faculty. The children were taught math and science by a former surgeon, Dr. Bruck, and liberal arts instruction was done under a former professor of languages at the Sorbonne, Mr. Ferran. Religious instruction consisted of lessons in Jewish History and the Hebrew language. The polyglot settler and instructor of language for DORSA, Luis Hess, also taught language and served as the principal for 33 years. Instruction in the fine arts and music was provided by the Viennese trained Felix Bauer, who was later to become a professor in the U.S. These notable talents were among the “six full and part-time teachers employed by the school, five settlers and one Dominican.”In 1943 there were 30 children at the school, and by 1945 there were 60, with 40 of them in kindergarten. Again, Bruman has given some figures culled from the 1950 Report of Mr. Rosenzweig that pegged the attendance of the elementary school at 50: 33 children of settlers and 17 Dominicans. The Rosenzweig Report pointed out that a “Deficiency is felt in the lack of educational films, as well as in material and equipment for experiments in physics and chemistry.”Health care in the colony was of high standards and quality given its rural location and distance from any sizeable city. Sosúa had its own hospital which treated both Dominicans and settlers. DORSA paid the salaries of most medical personnel that included Dominican doctors acting as consultants. The Dominican physicians were experts in tropical diseases, many of which the settlers had never heard of. In what Kaplan termed DORSA’s ‘small social welfare state,’ medical treatment was free to both settlers and local residents.The hospital clinic treated major tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever, but also “established a VD clinic, prenatal services, and a baby clinic.”However, those who needed “x-rays or other special treatment were sent to Ciudad Trujillo or Santiago.”Religious life at Sosúa revolved around the colony’s small synagogue which held semi-regular Friday evening services.