Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Agriculturally marginal land'

The marginal fringe region of Canada is an agricultural area which is near the environmental and economic limits for commercial agricultural production. Combinations of physical factors and social and economic influences result in an area that experiences dramatic shifts in land use and agricultural development. Government policy is, however, a potentially significant controlling and stabilizing factor in the region's development. It is therefore fundamentally important that government plan its diverse functions and responsibilities in the marginal fringe to ensure an effective, equitable and efficient allocation of society's scarce resources. This thesis analyses existing planning programs for the development of agriculture on Crown land in Canada's marginal fringe region. It seeks to determine whether these programs have the potential to ensure the efficient and equitable development of agricultural land. This thesis also addresses the problem of how we should effectively develop our shrinking supply of undeveloped arable land and whether existing planning programs adequately address the major issues in the development process. The methods of investigation include a series of three case studies: St. John's, Newfoundland; Fort Nelson, British Columbia and; Fort Vermilion, Alberta. The case studies are analysed using a framework based on an idealized planning process developed in-the first chapter. This framework is applied to representative planning exercises in each case in order to illustrate the overall planning program's strengths and weaknesses. Based on this broad analysis, I present, in conclusion, the most crucial questions for developing effective planning programs in the marginal fringe and apply these questions to the cases studied. Official reports and surveys, detailed correspondence, personal and telephone interviews, and first-hand experience form the basis for analysis in the case studies. A literature review is the basis for the contextual elements developed in Part I of this thesis. The results of this study raise a number of concerns about existing planning programs for the agricultural development of Crown land in the marginal fringe, particularly in British Columbia and Newfoundland. The crucial issues for developing effective planning programs in the marginal fringe include the need for a clearly articulated, stable yet flexible, program focussing on the marginal fringe region. The agricultural lead agency's involvement is crucial for these programs. Further questions consider how well environmental factors are inventoried, evaluated and communicated to decision-makers; whether adequate socio-economic assessments are permitted; if alternative resource development options to agriculture are considered; whether government programs related to agricultural development are effective or whether they are inconsistent with planning program objectives, and whether the public understand and support the planning program. Planning the agricultural development of Crown land in the marginal fringe is in its infancy. Sudden changes to programs, as in British Columbia, and funding deadlines, as in Newfoundland, are harmful to the efficient and effective development of frontier resources and they erode government credibility. Some jurisdictions, such as Alberta, are making rapid strides in applying many of the traditional planning techniques, although social and economic assessment is very weak or absent altogether in each of the programs studied. Usually, decisions are based on a narrow assessment of environmental factors and there are often significant gaps in essential data, especially climate. Alternative resource development options to agriculture are seriously considered only in British Columbia. Only in Alberta has the vital element of public support begun to be appreciated. Elsewhere, public involvement is, more or less, neglected or mishandled. In conclusion, this thesis raises a number of issues requiring future research, related mainly to socio-economic assessment and planning program development. Also a series-of more detailed normative principles are offered for the improvement of planning programs for the agricultural development of Crown land in the marginal fringe.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
Graduate

The study concerns the effects on the course of agricultural land-use change of the local domination of land occupancy by sub-full-time farms; in particular the effect of non-agricultural occupations on the land-use of individual farm operators is central. Land-use changes in the West Highlands of Scotland (1947-79) were charted for 66 Parishes, which were subjected to a hierarchical fusion of 'similar experience' of change. Resultant clusters were compared in terms of structural attributes. Differentiation was found at two levels: between areas of high viz low percentages of part-time holdings and within the sub-full-time fractions, related to relative proportions of holdings of 40-135, and 135-270 Standard Man Days. 'Insignificant' holdings (<40 SMDs) were found not to be of a characteristic land-use 'type' but instead operated enterprises of similar form to larger units. In three areas of crofting townships land-use and enterprise characteristics were found not to be a sole function of size of holdings or labour availability, (estimated from household demographic and employment criteria). Non-farm occupational characteristics (full-time; part-time; seasonal etc) related to the scale of enterprise but less so to the type of enterprise. Occupants with off-farm work did not specialise per se in low-labour demanding activities. Linear programming was used to estimate optimal land-use intensity from land capability and labour data. Occupational factors related to sub-optimal land-use intensity as did occupants' age. A method derived from Point Score Analysis of decision-making factors showed that certain factors serve as 'constraints' on choices of specific groups of individuals. Off-farm work was found to be the most important such constraint.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Joshua B. Nickelson, for the Masters of Science degree in Forestry, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: EVALUATING THE SUCCESS OF OAK AFFORESTATION ON FORMER AGRICULTURAL FIELDS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Major Professor: Dr. Eric Holzmueller The establishment of oak (Quercus spp.) plantations has increased over the past two to three decades to reduce fragmentation and promote wildlife habitat throughout the Midwestern United States. However, influences such as competing vegetation, previous land cover, plantation size, and site preparation techniques may have varying outcomes on restorative successes. We established 219 plots (.02 ha) in 29 oak plantations located within Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (Williamson County, Illinois) 15-18 years after mechanical planting. Sampling data for all trees over breast height included species, diameter, and lianas existence on the main bole of the tree. Additionally, free-to-grow status was recorded for all oak saplings and estimated cover of the exotic invasive shrub Elaeagnus umbellata and vine Lonicera japonica were documented. Results show significantly higher numbers of total oaks and free-to-grow oaks in plantings previously cropped in clover and soybeans when compared to the fallow sites host to brush species that received treatment (mowing and or herbicidal application). Significantly less oaks in the soybean and clover categories possessed a vine on the main bole of the tree when compared to the treated brush sites. Brush sites showed a significantly less number of total trees compared to clover and soybean covers and a higher percent of autumn olive cover (%) compared to soybeans. No significance was found in the percent of oaks with a vine, the percent of oaks overtopped, E. umbellata density or L. japonica cover (%) across the four previous vegetation categories. One treatment of pre-planting mowing and herbicidal application is not effective on fallow sites that are host to early successional species and money should not be invested on Quercus trees or mowing and herbicidal treatments in these scenarios. The results suggest that it is best to plant Quercus species immediately following clover or soybean harvest on abandoned agricultural lands before early successional species become established.

Wild bees provide essential pollination service to both agricultural crops and wild flowering plant species. The decline of wild bee species has been associated with a number of different threats, primarily the loss of natural habitat. The Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust (DF&WT), a non-profit conservation organization, incentivizes farmers to plant hedgerows consisting of native shrubs and trees on the edge of their production fields, mainly to create habitat for wildlife in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) of Delta, British Columbia. In this study, the value of DF&WT’s planted hedgerows was evaluated as foraging habitat for wild bees at both the farm and landscape-scale. During the summers of 2015 and 2016, I surveyed bees and flowers in planted hedgerows, as well as the two other most dominant field margin habitats, remnant hedgerows and grass margins. The relationship between floral resources and bees, as well as bee-flower visitations was analyzed and compared among these three habitat types. These empirical data were then used to parameterize the Conefor model, to evaluate the network of field margin patches within the agricultural landscape for their relative importance in landscape connectivity for wild bees. Overall, wild bees collected from flowers and pan traps were significantly more abundant, species rich and diverse in grass margins compared to planted and remnant hedgerows. While the strongest relationship was found between floral abundance and bee abundance, it did not explain the differences between habitat types alone. Bee-flower visitation records revealed a preference for herbaceous species mostly found in grass margins while only few recommended plant species for hedgerow plantings were visited. The results indicate that grass margins could be a valuable alternative conservation approach or addition to woody hedgerows if properly planned and managed. Connectivity indices generated by Conefor identified four grass margin patches that most contributed to overall landscape connectivity for bees with different dispersal abilities. These results can be used to help improve field edge management and the spatial targeting of activities by the DF&WT to improve the conservation of wild bee species.
Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
Graduate

La Syrie centrale connaît au début de la période byzantine, et en particulier au Ve et au VIe siècle, un fort mouvement d’expansion des sédentaires vers l’est, qui coïncide avec une importante mise en valeur de ces nouveaux territoires. Comme pour d’autres régions de Syrie et du Proche-Orient à la même époque, un optimum climatique – pourtant déclinant – semble avoir permis la conquête et l’exploitation agricole de nouveaux terroirs dans une zone marginale qui n’avait jusqu’alors connu qu’une occupation sédentaire ponctuelle. La Syrie centrale est caractérisée par des milieux aux potentiels agronomiques très différents, souvent imbriqués. Le peuplement et la mise en valeur y sont soumis à la double contrainte de l’aridité climatique et édaphique, qui s’exerce avec une prégnance croissante vers le sud et l’est. Ces conditions, qui s’améliorent localement à la faveur de niches écologiques, ont permis à des politiques de mise en valeur et à des économies distinctes, souvent complémentaires, de voir le jour.Dans une région où les cités paraissent en grande partie absentes, l’économie repose d’abord sur les villages et sur quelques bourgs qui possédaient manifestement une orientation commerciale spécifique. Aux côtés des agglomérations, et souvent d’autant plus nombreux que les conditions d’implantation sont délicates, des fermes et des monastères s’affirment comme des acteurs économiques apparemment indépendants et souvent prospères. Des entités géographiques relativement homogènes ont donné lieu à une répartition des différentes formes de peuplement et à des économies microrégionales spécifiques. Si l’agriculture vivrière reste la règle, il semble bien cependant qu’on observe une spécialisation locale des productions : culture du blé et accessoirement plantations à l’ouest, oléiculture et peut-être viticulture dans les plateaux basaltiques du nord-ouest et vraisemblablement un élevage spéculatif, qu’on doit probablement attribuer à des populations sédentaires, dans les secteurs sud et est
In Late Antiquity, especially between the 5th and 6th centuries, Central Syria witnessed a strong expansion of sedentary settlements eastward, which coincided with a significant agricultural development of these new territories. As for other areas in Syria and Near-East at the same period, a waning climatic optimum seems to have allowed byzantine population to settle down in marginal areas which barely experienced hitherto sedentary occupation and farm nearly unbroken lands.Central Syria is made up of various landscapes, sometimes deeply nested, with contrasted agricultural potential. Settlements and agricultural exploitation are affected by an increasingly significant climatic and edaphic aridity eastward and southward. These conditions, which may locally improve thanks to ecological niches, enabled specific and often complementary substance strategies to develop.In a country whence cities are virtually absent, villages and a few market towns seem to be at the very root of the regional economy. Along with agglomerations, scattered habitats – namely farmsteads and monasteries –, more numerous under heavy bioclimatic constraints, would appear as independent and apparently prosperous economic players.Homogeneous geographic areas led to specific settlement patterns and different economic orientations. Food-producing agriculture remains the rule, but a local productive specialization may be noticed: mainly wheat production and incidentally plantations westward, olive-growing and maybe wine-growing as well in the north-west basaltic plateaus and presumably speculative livestock exploitation eastward and southward, probably mostly due to sedentary populations

Climate change has been one of the major global environmental concerns to date. Its seriousness supported by many scientists around the world prompted the vast majority of countries to sign the Kyoto Agreement on climate change. In this document Canada committed to a six percent reduction below 1990 level of carbon dioxide emissions by the 2008-2012 commitment period. Canada has expressed its intention to use its extensive land base as a carbon sink by planting trees. However, no data are available on precisely how much of the land can be converted to trees and at what cost. This thesis uses a survey of farmers in the grain-belt region of Canada to investigate the costs of planting trees on marginal agricultural land and estimate the amount of land available for tree planting. The survey proposes a random bid to each farmer for accepting a particular tree-planting contract. Farmers' answers are analyzed using a bivariate probit model that provides an estimate of the mean willingness to accept for each farmer. Regressing the number of acres made available at this bid on the difference between the bid and the mean willingness to accept results in a supply type of schedule that provides a general estimate of the potential for tree planting in Canada for climate change mitigation purposes. The thesis concludes that Canada can rely on offsetting its emissions of carbon dioxide by means of biological mitigation only to a limited extent due to the high cost of compensation to landowners for their land.

Master's thesis deals with the micro-region Klánovice's forest and its surroundings on the eastern edge of the City Prague. This area has not been given comprehensive attention yet. The findings are based on a critical review of the humble written and archaeological sources relating to the concerned area. In addition, was made, analysis of archaeological excavation, which was carried out on the deserted village Hol and also geophysical survey from the same site. Based on the lessons learned to better classify and discuss the role of this area in the hinterland of high medieval Prague. Keywords: deserted village, Klánovice forest, Hol, geophysical survey, ceramics, agricultural margins land, high middle ages