Susceptibility of Foxes to Clostridium Botulinum Type C and E Toxins

Investigations were performed to determine the exact susceptibility of foxes to Clostridium botulinum type C and E toxins.Doses of 5 mill. MLD type C toxin mixed with the feed did not cause symptoms of botulism in either cubs or adult foxes. Subcutaneous injections of 300,100(0 MLD or more were fatal to cubs, while 750,000 MLD caused the death of all adults.Regarding type E toxin, doses of 1 mill. MLD affected neither cubs nor adults on oral administration. Subcutaneously injected doses of 5,000 MLD or more killed all cubs, while 10,000 MLD was required to produce lethal effect on adult animals.The conclusion made is that foxes are highly resistant to both type C and E Clostridium botulinum toxins following oral application. It is further revealed that foxes are 60–70 times more susceptible to type E than to type C toxin when injected subcutaneously.     

Risk and economic sustainability of crop farming systems

In economic terms, resilience in farming has to do with the capacity of a farm business to survive various risks and other shocks. Despite its importance, resilience has seldom been directly considered in evaluations of economic sustainability. A whole-farm stochastic simulation model over a 6-year planning horizon was used to analyse organic and conventional cropping systems using a model of a representative farm in Eastern Norway. The relative economic sustainability of alternative systems under changing assumptions about future technology and price regimes was examined in terms of financial survival to the end of the planning period. The same alternatives were also compared in terms of stochastic efficiency. To model the risk of business failure adequately there is a need to deal with the risk of bankruptcy, and a modification of traditional analysis was used for that purpose. The organic farming system was found to be somewhat less economically sustainable than the conventional system, especially if the organic price premiums and the organic area payments were to be phased out. The results illustrate possible conflicts between pursuit of risk efficiency and economic sustainability. The model developed could be used to support farmers’ choices between farming systems as well as to help policy makers develop more sharply targeted policies.     

Organic dairy farming in Norway under the 100% organically produced feed requirement

The derogation to use a percentage of cheaper non-organic feeds in organic livestock diets for herbivores expired from January 2008. (In Norway, a maximum of 15% conventional feedstuffs per year was allowed until 24 August 2005, 5% in the interim.) This study aimed to assess changes in resource use and financial impacts for organic dairy herds of the 100% organic feeding rule (compared with 85% organic feeds) using a two-stage stochastic programming modelling framework. In this study, the objective function was to maximise expected net income. Two organic dairy farms in the lowlands of southern Norway, both having a milk quota of 100,000 l but with varying farmland availability (37 ha vs. 20 ha), were examined. Furthermore, situations with and without possibilities to buy organic silage were studied. Milk production per cow was highest on the farm with the most strict land constraint. For farmers that fully utilise the non-organic feed allowance, the more expensive organic feeds determine the marginal feed cost. Hence, a removal of the non-organic feed allowance will not influence optimal farm practice (provided that marginal milk production is still profitable). A switch from conventional to organic concentrates as the only adjustment was found on the 37 ha farm and also on the 20 ha farm if there was no possibility to buy some organic silage. On the 20 ha farm with possibilities to buy organic silage, it turned out to be unprofitable to keep all the cows. Fewer cows resulted in several other changes in the model solution such as a lower milk yield per cow, less milk produced in total and more work off-farm. The financial gain from carrying out the optimal management changes was, however, very small. In all cases studied, the introduction of 100% organic feeds resulted in an economic loss of NOK 19,200–23,600 (or 7–12% of the expected net income with 85% organic feeds). The economic losses were due to the price premium of organic concentrates.     

Technical efficiency in timber production and effects of other income sources

In Norway, as in many other European countries, income from forestry has become marginal to owners’ household economies and most employment of forest-owner households is now undertaken off the property. Also, many forest owners have focused increasingly on other revenue-earning activities on their properties, such as providing recreational services. It is a challenge in all kinds of production to find the optimal way of converting inputs into outputs, i.e., to be technically efficient. Extent of financial dependency on income from forestry differs between part-time and full-time forest owners. Since the two groups have different livelihood strategies, it is plausible that full-time forest owners have more professional forest management practices. Data for a cross-section of 3,249 active (i.e., harvesting) forest owners were extracted from the 2004 Sample Survey of Agriculture and Forestry representing the year 2003. A stochastic production frontier analysis was applied to evaluate forest management efficiency impacts of important factors including property and owner characteristics, outfield-related and agricultural activities, off-property income and geographical location in central or remote areas. It was found that many forest owners are technically inefficient, and there exist opportunities for improved performance. Off-property income was found to have an estimated negative impact on technical efficiency, the inefficiency arising (weakly) with increasing share of household incomes from outfield activities, and properties in urban centred areas are less efficient than those in remote areas. One policy implication of the study is that a potentially substantial efficiency increase might be achieved from allowing small inefficient woodlots to merge into larger units of forestry production. Also, providing support for forest management plans may improve efficiency.