College of Agriculture & Technology at Cobleskill

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https://hdl.handle.net/1951/67378

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    Male-out Migration and the “Left-Behind:” Agriculture and Food Security Policy Supports and the Woman Smallholder Farmer in Ghana
    (2016) McConnell, Paula A.
    Migration has a deep effect on families, and small-holder family farms. When men migrate for economic opportunities, the “left-behind” women family members, already burdened with time poverty, often fill the gap to manage the farm without the resources, knowledge, or farm inputs required to succeed. Using the agricultural policy of Ghana as an example, this paper addresses the need for better agricultural policy to address the challenges that these invisible women farmers face is necessary to ensure global food security.
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    Rapid Bioassesment of Cobleskill Creek Prior to Stream Restoration Efforts: Establishing a Reference Reach to Monitor the Recovery of the Stream Biotic Integrity
    (2016) Pambianchi, Giovanni; LaRochelle, Robin; Greenwood, Carmen, Dr.; Gascho Landis, Andrew, Dr.
    In early fall 2011 Cobleskill Creek and its associated tributaries were severely impacted by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, causing record levels of flooding across New York State. A 500-meter section of Cobleskill Creek adjacent to the SUNY Cobleskill campus, in Scoharie Co. experienced widening of the channel caused by floodwaters, resulting in elimination of the riparian buffers and eroding banks creating the potential for nutrient run off. With funding from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a channelization project is slated to begin in the spring of 2016. This project will establish a central channel in this 500m section of the stream and provide for the implementation of riparian buffers. Rapid Bioassessment was conducted at 2 locations; upstream and downstream of the restoration site on Cobleskill Creek. We measured a 100-meter stretch at both locations and characterized the physical parameters of each site such as stream flow, velocity, and width. Macroinvertebrates were sampled from the upstream and downstream sites, on five different dates, using Surber sampler technique prescribed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Rapid Bioassessment technique protocol. A 100-individual sub sample was taken at the end of each sampling event. Subsamples were identified to the family level, enumerated and analyzed. Indices of diversity and biotic integrity were applied to samples from both sites for comparison. Student's t-tests concluded that there were no differences between the upstream and downstream sites in Shannon's diversity index (P-value 0.26 α=0.05), Simpsons diversity index (P-value 0.54, α=0.05) or evenness (Modified Hill's Ratio) (P-value 0.22, α=0.05). Lastly the Hillsenhoffs biotic index showed no significant difference between the two sites (P-value 0.65, α=0.05). The similarity between the upstream and downstream sites indicates that the upstream site will serve as a viable reference reach to monitor the recovery of the biotic integrity of Cobleskill Creek following the ecological restoration event.
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    The Fall of the Roman Empire
    (2016) Baird, Zachary Donald; Loveland, Fred, Dr.
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    Diet Selectivity of Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Buttermilk Brook Warren County, NY
    (2016) Watkins, Lyndon M.; Greenwood, Carmen; Greenwood, Carmen
    Diet Selectivity of Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Buttermilk Brook, Warren County, NY By Lyndon Watkins Abstract Buttermilk Brook, located within Warrensburg Warren County, NY is a first order high gradient Stream which flows directly into the Hudson River. Buttermilk Brook is a unique steppe pool stream consisting of a granite base and large areas devoid of substrate. Brook trout populations within Buttermilk Brook are unpressured by people and their abundance is high. As opportunistic insectivores they feed on both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. In order to better understand foraging behaviors in small stream brook trout populations, macroinvertebrate community composition within the stream was compared to gut contents of brook trout inhabiting the stream. Coupled with the uniqueness of Buttermilk brook's steppe pools and large shallow expanses with no substrate (only one riffle occurred within the 500m sample area) makes this brook an ideal sample area. Three points along a 30 meter stretch were sampled to obtain gradient, water quality and stream velocity. Fish (n=90) were captured by angling (October - December of 2015) and stomach contents were collected with gastric lavage. Four samples of macroinvertebrates were collected from the same reach with a Surber sampler inserted 15 cm into the substrate. All macroinvertebrate samples were identified in the lab to family. Using Ivlev's Electivity Index, which ranks diet preference in proportion to what is present in the habitat on a scale of -1 to 1, it was shown that brook trout selected for terrestrial invertebrates with indices of 1. Aquatic invertebrates varied with midge larvae (Chironomidae) (.89), Predatory caddisflies (Hydrobiosidae) (.85), and Net spinning caddisflies (Hydropsychidae) (.80) as the most selected. Habitat samples showed that Caddisflies were few in number within the stream and that Stoneflies were the most abundant. Brook trout readily sought out caddisflies and other aquatic invertebrates while ignoring others. stoneflies and annelids. though abundant in the habitat samples were barely present or nonexistent within the stomach samples. This study suggests that Brook Trout eat everything that fall into the water similar to other studies that also show perfect indices of 1. The Data suggest that brook trout exhibit adaptability when foraging for food in a challenging environment.
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    Coby’s Marketing Plan
    (2016) Van Valen, Ethan; Martin, Nathanial; Chaudhary, Kartik; Mann, Kevin; Pearl, Katrina
    Coby's Cafe - located on 549 Main St, Cobleskill, NY - operated by Jay Woods and funded by Cobleskill Auxiliary Services (CAS), is a failing business that specializes in breakfast, lunch, and dinner event services for SUNY Cobleskill students and members in the community. Every year since the opening of Coby's they have yielded negative sales. With cost cutting and other changes Coby's was able to reduce their net loss from $124,540 in 2014 to $103,205 in 2015. Without being operated by CAS and being funded through the school Coby's would most likely not be open for business any longer. CAS is mainly operated on the SUNY campus and through CAS Coby's has access to an unlimited amount of resources. Some of these resources give Coby's access to communicate directly with thousands of SUNY Cobleskill students and faculty members. Our team feels that we can help Coby's recover if they realize the opportunities they have access to and turn them into strengths. Our marketing plan is designed to strive towards maximizing Coby's audience and presence, and supplying quality and unique services. While striving towards those goals, our qualitative and quantitative objectives will be satisfied. These objectives include lowering the total net losses, raising total sales, reducing advertising by half, and growing social media outreach massively. Our strategy will be to separate the customer base of Coby's into two markets so we can market to them exclusively and we can satisfy and even exceed their needs. Although Coby's has many successful services and products, we feel they can still do more. We feel that they need to analyze their successes and modify them to create new successes. The goal would be that the successes would be recognition to the services or products that were overlooked and build them up as well. Moving beyond 2016 the goal is that this marketing plan will be able to be carried into the following year with only minor adjustments.