Agricultural Jobs Research Articles

Agricultura, população e dinâmica macroeconômica de municípios rurais: um estudo em Lagoa dos Três Cantos (RS)

Os municípios com menos de 20.000 habitantes do Rio Grande do Sul abrigam mais de um terço da população total do estado. A partir da hipótese de que a distribuição de renda, a população e a dinâmica da agricultura podem desempenhar um papel importante no desenvolvimento desses municípios, foi elaborado um modelo macroeconômico que permitisse analisar a influência desses fatores sobre economias locais. Simulações efetuadas com esse modelo, aplicado a um pequeno município agrícola do norte do estado (Lagoa dos Três Cantos), indicaram que uma distribuição de renda mais equânime associada a uma diversificação da produção provocariam um aumento significativo da demanda de bens e serviços destinados ao consumo interno, com efeitos benéficos sobre o desenvolvimento econômico local, enquanto que o aumento da produção agrícola destinada às exportações teria um impacto reduzido sobre a economia local. As simulações apontaram ainda que a diminuição da população, como a que ocorreu no município entre 1990 e 2002, traz efeitos altamente negativos sobre a demanda agregada. Assim, concluiu-se que políticas de apoio à manutenção do emprego na agricultura e que estimulem as atividades não-agrícolas podem desempenhar um importante papel no desenvolvimento desse tipo de município.

Partisan Politics Turned Upside Down: Tertiary Education As Social Protection Against De-Industrialization

De-industrialization constitutes one of the main structural transformations of Western economies since the end of World War II. It has been argued that de-industrialization leads to expanding welfare programs as a means to generate social protection against the risk of skills redundancy when jobs in agriculture and industry dwindle. It is also held that all partisan governments will respond in more or less the same manner when de-industrialization increases in order to capture the median voters. The paper asks whether partisan variations are hidden underneath the aggregated response. The paper specifically addresses the actions of right-wing governments eager to meet the pro-spending preferences of the median voters. It posits that right-wing governments will expand tertiary education as a means both to provide social protection via re-skilling and to do so in the least redistributive manner possible. The argument is supported in a time-series cross-section regression analysis of public spending in 18 Western nations.

Time Use and Food Consumption

People are getting fat. The rise in obesity rate has been particularly pronounced in the United States since the middle of the 1970s, but has by now extended into many other areas of the world. Several sources of technological change have been singled out as potential explanations for why people have been gaining so much weight. Increased productivity in agriculture has lowered the relative price of food (Darius Lakdwalla, Tomas Philipson, and Jayanta Bhattacharya 2005) while innovations in food processing have reduced the time cost of preparing food (David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser, and Jesse M. Shapiro 2003). Technological change has also affected how people spend their time, in a way that may systematically have reduced calories expended. First, physically less demanding jobs in the service sector have replaced physically more demanding jobs in agriculture and manu facturing. Second, the allocation of time across different activities has changed dramatically over the last few decades: people are spending less time working (decline in labor market work for men, decline in home production work for women) and more time in mainly sedentary forms of leisure, such as watching TV (Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst 2007). While the focus so far has been on the rela tionship between how people spend their time and how many calories they expend, we argue in this piece that there might also be an inter esting relationship between how people spend their time and how many calories they consume. Motivating this question is a (at first glance) rather counterintuitive finding from the time use surveys: the fact that people, in the United States

ANKARA-POLATLI ÖRNEĞİNDE SOSYAL DIŞLANMA AÇISINDAN MEVSİMLİK TARIM İŞÇİLİĞİ

“Social exclusion”, a significant term in recent sociological studies, forms the focus of this study. It aims to investigate through a case-study of a population of Ankara-Polatli agricultural workers the living conditions and contributing factors to the social exclusion of seasonal agricultural workers in Turkey. The group of workers are predominantly Kurdish speakers and most of them migrated from South East Anatolia to find seasonal agricultural jobs in Polatli. In total, 170 interviews were conducted with heads of the household, women, and children from every tent. To gain a close and intimate familiarity with the group and to understand and measure the impact of social exclusion, participant-observation is employed as a research strategy. During the informal survey the workers were questioned to evaluate the level of social exclusion on the basis of income, education level, social security, living conditions, ethnic identity, destitution and pysicological situations. In conclusion, the extremely harsh and isolationing conditions that Ankara-Polatli seasonal agricultural workers live in sustains their economic and social exclusion from recent social and economic politics of employers, farmers, nationalist groups, and the state.

Economic Impact of Milk Production in the State of New Mexico

The goal of this study was to quantify the economic role of dairy farming in New Mexico and to identify its linkages with allied industries in terms of income, value added, and employment impacts. An input-output model was used to estimate the direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the dairy farm industry on the economy of New Mexico. The results showed that in 2005, New Mexico's dairy farm industry had a total economic impact of $1.98 billion and accounted for 14,313 jobs. Therefore, dairy farming in New Mexico had an output multiplier (income) of 1.92, a labor income multiplier of $248 thousand/$ million of gross sales, and an employment multiplier of 13.91 jobs/$ million of gross sales. Furthermore, the New Mexico dairy farms accounted for 13.1% of the total agricultural outputs, 20.5% of the agricultural jobs, 1.5% of total state economic activity, and $80million in tax revenue. With the exception of Lea, Eddy, and Bernalillo counties, which are diversified, the dairy farms accounted for more than two-thirds of the agricultural outputs and for more than two-fifths of the agricultural employment in counties where dairy farms are concentrated.

Gender Based Violence: Correlates of Physical and Sexual Wife Abuse in Kenya

This study explored factors associated with physical and sexual wife abuse on a sample of 4,876 married women aged 15–49 years in the 2003 Kenya Demographic Health Survey. Results indicate that 40% of married women reported at least one type of violence; 36% were physical and 13% were sexual. Multivariate analysis showed that living in poorer households, being Christian, being in a polygamous marriage, having a husband who drinks alcohol, and being in sales, agricultural, or unskilled jobs significantly increased the wife’s risk of physical and sexual abuse. Wife’s education had significant effect on both physical and sexual abuse, but the relationships were not linear. Wife’s age and number of children were significantly associated only with physical abuse; husband’s education had a marginal but significant effect only on sexual abuse. Research implications are discussed.

The Economics of SEZs in India: Ground Realities and Key Considerations

SEZs have occupied a center stage in the national consciousness for the past few months due to the events unfolding in Singur and subsequently the occurrences in Nandigram (a proposed SEZ). Many economies including India have used the concept of SEZ in one or the other form to promote exports and boost economic growth. The Indian experiment began in 1965, complemented by new policies regarding exports, FDI etc to attract investments and boost exports. Since the implementation of these reforms began there has been a spate of criticisms from a number of quarters on different aspects of the SEZ policy. Some of the economic issues raised about the SEZ policy have been improper usage of arable land, food security, loss of low skilled jobs in agriculture, forestry, and small scale industries. Despite the opposition the government is determined to go ahead with rapid creation of new SEZs. At the same time the government also claims to follow a policy of economic growth that enhances both equity and efficiency. In light of these issues, this paper tries to analyse some economic facts related to the creation and working of the SEZs in order to arrive at the ground realities which would help in effective decision making about SEZs.

Agricultural Jobs in the Eyes of College Students

There is now a renewed interest in agriculture. The Malaysian government wants to revitalize the agriculture sector to become the third engine of growth after the services and manufacturing sectors. For that matter, a total of RM11.7 billions is allocated under the 9th. Malaysian Plan (9MP) to transform agriculture sector into a modern, dynamic and competitive sector. With the emphasis given by the government, Malaysia has to have her younger generation who are willing to venture into agricultural industries. But, is Malaysian younger generation willing to venture into agriculture? The study aimed at determining the young generation’s (students) interest in agriculture related jobs and their perceptions about occupations in agriculture. The findings indicated that students were moderately interested in agriculture related jobs (M = 2.68; SD =.86). Their perceptions about jobs in agriculture were moderate (M=3.41, SD. = .97). Based on the study actions have to be taken to ensure that young people would want to venture into agricultural careers. Even though they were interested in agriculture but their moderately positive perceptions about agriculture will hinder their movement into agricultural industries.

Plasma Cholinesterase Levels and Health Symptoms in Peruvian Farm Workers Exposed to Organophosphate Pesticides

The purpose of this study was to examine plasma cholinesterase (PChE) changes and the adverse health effects associated with chronic low-dose exposure to organophosphates (OPs) in a Peruvian agricultural population. A cross-sectional study with a clinical interview and blood tests was performed among 213 farm workers from two subtropical valleys in Peru. The control group consisted of 78 nonexposed workers from the same areas. PChE levels from the two exposed subgroups (pesticide applicators and other agricultural jobs) were significantly lower than those of controls (1554 +/- 315 U/l, 1532 +/- 340 U/l, and 1787 +/- 275 U/l, respectively). Fifteen percent of the exposed population reported a past poisoning by pesticides, all of them needing medical evaluation and treatment. They had significantly lower PChE levels as compared to those without this antecedent. Approximately 61% of the exposed workers reported pesticide-related symptoms, but no significant difference was found in their PChE as compared to workers without symptoms. On the other hand, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) was significantly associated with higher PChE levels and with a lower risk of reporting pesticide-related symptoms, which supports the benefit from using appropriate protective measures. In conclusion, data indicate that farm workers exposed to OPs in developing countries need to be monitored by means of PChE and an examination of their clinical status, which would allow identification of farm workers most at risk from pesticide toxicity. The use of correct PPE is highly recommended.

The use of moral dilemmas for teaching agricultural engineers

Agricultural engineers' jobs are especially related to sustainability and earth life issues. They usually work with plants or animals, and the aim of their work is often linked to producing food to allow people to improve their quality of life. Taking into account this dual function, the moral requirements of their day-to-day professional practice are arguably greater than those of other professions. Agricultural engineers can develop their ability to live up to this professional responsibility by receiving ethical training during their university studies, not only by taking courses specifically devoted to ethics, but also by having to deal with moral questions that are integrated into their technical courses through a program of Ethics Across the Curriculum (EAC). The authors feel that a suitable pedagogical technique for achieving this goal is the use of moral dilemmas, following Kohlberg's theory of levels of morality (1981), with the final objective of attaining a post-conventional level. This paper examines the possibilities and limitations of using moral dilemmas as a pedagogical technique for training agricultural engineers. The cases, discussions, and evaluation used in the Agricultural Engineering Department of the Technical University of Valencia (Spain) are also presented.

The Global Health Watch: A global health report with a difference

With impressive advances in science and technology, the unprecedented wealth generated over the past century, and the widespread ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, health professionals and advocates should feel embarrassed that so many people live in a state of poor health. Last year, a new global initiative was launched to help clarify the causes of this situation and offer alternatives: Global Health Watch 2005–2006: An Alternative World Health Report [1]. What makes this publication ‘‘alternative’’? First, it has an equity orientation, and one that looks at disparities and interrelationships between the poor, powerless, and unhealthy, and the wealthy, powerful, and healthy. Second, the report is explicitly political in its analysis, highlighting the socially constructed barriers to better and fairer health outcomes. Third, the report acknowledges the importance of a multi-sectoral approach to health, with chapters on climate change, food security, conflict and the arms trade, and access to water, a perspective sadly underemphasized in current health discourse and policy. Finally, the Global Health Watch is alternative in the sense that it tries to draw together civil society’s perspective on health as a counterpoint to the views put out by the international institutions whose decisions affect people’s health and livelihoods around the world, and who are themselves the subject of scrutiny in the report. Many of these themes are brought together in the opening chapter of the Watch, which describes the effects on health of the current process of globalization. It questions the success story painted by uncritical proponents of this process, pointing to increases in poverty in Africa, Eastern Europe, central Asia, and Latin America, and a rise in income inequalities in many countries (including wealthy ones) in recent years. These trends are underpinned by a profoundly unfair global trading system. For example, in Mexico, the liberalization of the corn sector under the North American Free Trade Agreement led to a flood of imports from the United States, where agribusiness is massively subsidized. Mexican corn production stagnated whilst prices declined. Small farmers became poorer and 700,000 agricultural jobs disappeared. Rural poverty rates rose to over 70%, the minimum wage lost over 75% of its purchasing power, and infant mortality rates amongst the poor increased [2,3]. Such damage highlights the need for sophisticated national management of global economic change – a daunting challenge for developing countries with run-down or underdeveloped public sectors. Furthermore, whilst many – especially richer – economies have social contracts, progressive taxation systems, and laws and regulations to manage the human consequences of market failures at the national level, there is no ‘global social contract’ to manage the failures of globalization for the world’s majority poor. Those global mechanisms that do exist often reinforce unequal power relations or aggravate problems. World Trade Organization agreements that liberalize trade in goods and services are biased towards protecting and promoting the interests of multinational corporations, whilst decreasing the space for governments and health agencies to

Work routinization and implications for ergonomic exposure assessment

Jobs in many modern settings, including manufacturing, service, agriculture and construction, are variable in their content and timing. This prompts the need for exposure assessment methods that do not assume regular work cycles. A scheme is presented for classifying levels of routinization to inform development of an appropriate exposure assessment strategy for a given occupational setting. Five levels of routinization have been defined based on the tasks of which the job is composed: 1) a single scheduled task with a regular work cycle; 2) multiple cyclical tasks; 3) a mix of cyclical and non-cyclical tasks; 4) one non-cyclical task; 5) multiple non-cyclical tasks. This classification, based primarily on job observation, is illustrated through data from a study of automobile manufacturing workers (n = 1200), from which self-assessed exposures to physical and psychosocial stressors were also obtained. In this cohort, decision latitude was greater with higher routinization level (p < 0.0001), and the least routinized jobs showed the lowest self-reported exposure to physical ergonomic stressors. The job analysis checklist developed for non-routinized jobs is presented, and limitations of the task analysis method utilized in the study are discussed. A work sampling approach to job analysis is recommended as the most efficient way to obtain a comparable unbiased exposure estimate across all routinization levels.

The perspectives of use of high oleic sunflower for oleochemistry and energy raws

SUMMARY The high oleic sunflower has a high potential for industrials use (oleochemistry and biodiesel). A sustainable development of agriculture can be achieved through the production of high oleic sunflower oil for use in green chemistry. In such a way will it be possible to create secure jobs in agriculture as well as in new industries, especially in rural communities. RESUMEN El girasol con el alto contenido oleico tiene grandes potenciales para el uso industrial (industria de aceite y biodiesel). El desarrollo sostenible de la agricultura, puede lograrse por medio de la producción de girasol de alto contenido oleico, para el uso en la industria química, que guarda el medio ambiente ( 'green chemistry' ). De esta manera se van a crear los puestos de trabajo seguros en la agricultura, tanto como en las nuevas ramas industriales, sobre todo en las creadas en las zonas rurales. RÉSUMÉ Le tournesol à haute teneur oléique représente un grand potentiel pour les besoins de l’industrie (oléochimie et biodiesel). Le développement durable de l’agriculture peut être réalisé par la production d’huile de tournesol à haute teneur oléique destinée à la «chimie verte». De cette façon, il sera possible de créer des emplois sûrs en agriculture aussi bien que dans les nouvelles industries, particulièrement dans les communautés rurales.

A test of recent subcultural explanations of White violence in the United States

Recent subcultural theories suggest that real and perceived status loss among some White males as a result of social change during the last four decades–such as increasing gender and racial equity and agricultural job loss–added to the traditional patriarchal and masculine characteristics of this group to create cultural adaptations that led to higher levels of violence. One would thus expect higher homicide rates in areas where these traits are more fully developed and/or where status threats are more strongly felt. To test the efficacy of these claims, this study used OLS regression, and (1) employed census 2000 data and both homicide victimization and arrest data to update and replicate a common model of social structure and homicide, and then (2) added several variables to this baseline model that represented the subcultural traits, conditions, and behaviors outlined by these theories. The analyses yielded little support for these ideas. Thus while they might be appropriate for explaining the variation of the strength of specific subcultures and types of violence (e.g., Far Right wing paramilitary groups and political violence), an extension of these theories to more general interpersonal violence did not appear warranted.

The immigration model of Sardinia, an island and a border region

With its small numbers of foreign immigrants, originating from both EU and non-EU countries, Sardinia seems to remain a rather distinct and lonely destination compared to the major immigration flows in the Italian peninsula and the other major Italian island, Sicily. High unemployment, especially among the young, which has resulted in persistent labour emigration, is of course the main reason why this region attracts few immigrants, even if they occupy jobs refused by the natives. Moreover, turnover of the foreign population is high with major inflows of seasonal workers employed in the tourist trade. There are also few jobs in agriculture, a sector which by contrast attracts large numbers of foreign workers in southern Italy. Therefore, among the reasons declared in their applications for temporary residence, work ranks lower than in the rest of Italy, family and residence rating higher. A distinctive feature in Sardinia is the large number of foreign workers in the pedlar trade of non-food goods. On the whole, the island does not exhibit the characteristics of a border region, in spite of its connections by boat with two foreign countries (direct with Corsica and indirect with Tunisia, via Trapani) and of its extension towards Africa, but it looks more as it were both a second destination region for people coming from the mainland and a first destination following the common immigration chains. It is undeniably a transit region, soon to be abandoned for more promising lands.

Rural Canada in the OECD Context

Rural policy issues are receiving renewed attention. Understanding commonalities and differences is the first step in the policy debate on the future of rural peoples. There is a wide range across OECD member countries in the proportion of the population that is rural. This suggests that different countries have different capacities to invest in rural development. Agriculture is not the major source of employment in the predominantly rural regions of OECD countries. As machinery is substituted for labor, regions that are dependent on agricultural jobs will need to find something new to export in order to maintain their employment base. However, the industrial structure of predominantly rural regions is not a major factor in their employment performance. Other factors, such as adjacent metropolitan areas, scenic vistas, an entrepreneurial culture, and the presence of educational institutions, make the difference.

A study on life support and agricultural job for elderly people by application of PC

A study on life support and agricultural job for elderly people by application of PC

On the farm front: the Women's Land Army in World War II

Rosie the Riveter has become an icon for working women's contributions to World War II, but more than three million women also labored on America's agricultural front. The Women's Land Army - consisting largely of urban homemakers, office and industrial workers, and students - put women to work caring for livestock; laboring in dairies and canneries; and planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Accounting for the majority of wartime farm labor, these remarkable women helped to ensure both Freedom from Want at home and victory abroad. In 1943 the government formed the Women's Land Army as part of the Emergency Farm Labor Program, placing its workers in areas where American farmers urgently needed assistance. Many farmers in even the most desperate areas, however, initially opposed women working their land. Rural administrators in the Midwest and the South yielded to necessity and employed several hundred thousand women as farm laborers by the end of the war, but those in the Great Plains and eastern Rocky Mountains remained hesitant, suffering serious agricultural and financial losses as a consequence. Placing agricultural work in the larger context of twentieth-century women's labor history, Carpenter shows how the WLA changed the national view of farming. By accepting all available women as agricultural workers, farmers abandoned traditional labor and stereotypical social practices. When the WLA officially disbanded in 1945, many members remained in their agricultural jobs rather than return to a full-time home life or their prewar employment. Shedding new light on women who responded to the call of their country, On the Farm Front for the first time illuminates the Women's Land Army's unique contribution to prosperity and victory, and to changing women's role in American society.

The dialectics of immigrant ‘integration’ and marginality in industrialising America and post-industrial Europe

Immigration policies in Italy and Spain — even the restrictive policies put in place over the last several years — emphasise the importance of immigrant ‘integration'. At the same time, immigrants are welcome largely on the grounds that they fill important niches in the labour market, such as low-end jobs in construction, agriculture, and domestic service, that locals shun. This article explores the relationship between immigrants’ economic function in this southern flank of the European fortress, and their ability to integrate into the host society. Specifically, it argues that it is immigrants’ ‘otherness’ that is their calling card — their passport — in these new countries of immigration, and that their full integration into Spanish and Italian societies presumably would spell an end to their utility as ‘others'. Further, it documents the difficulties of integrating those who are legally and economically marginalised and for whom that marginality is seen as their chief virtue. The author makes comparisons with ‘Americanisation’ programmes in industrialising America and suggests that in both cases, the contradiction between the cheap labour of immigrants and the need to integrate them helps explain both the motivation for integration efforts and their complications.

Neurodegenerative diseases and exposure to pesticides in the elderly.

The authors investigated the hypothesis that exposure to pesticides could be related to central nervous system disorders in a prospective cohort study of 1,507 French elderly (1992-1998). Lower cognitive performance was observed in subjects who had been occupationally exposed to pesticides. In men, the relative risks of developing Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease for occupational exposure assessed by a job exposure matrix were 5.63 (95% confidence interval: 1.47, 21.58) and 2.39 (95% confidence interval: 1.02, 5.63), respectively, after confounding factors were taken into account. No association was found with having a primary job in agriculture or with environmental pesticide exposure, nor was an association found in women. These results suggest the presence of neurologic impairments in elderly persons who were exposed occupationally to pesticides.