This paper outlines the main source of risks and the main risk management strategies to dairy farmers in China. Dairy is an industry with big potential in China, both consumption and production increase dramatically in recent years and now China is the third biggest milk producer in the world, right after USA and India (Food Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) (2008) FAOSTAT Agriculture Database, accessed November 2008, available at <http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx>). As a way to increase farmers' income and improve people's diet structure, the Chinese government encourages farmers to raise cows and produce milk. However, risks in both food and agriculture including food contamination by chemical, animal diseases and price variability in China may cause big damage for both dairy farmers and consumers. To understand farmers' perception and response to risk is important to policy makers as well as economists. And helping farmers to manage different kind of risk is a way to reduce farmers' losses. In this study, dairy farmers' risk perception and risk management strategies are mainly examined. Farmers' risk perception and risk management strategies were studied by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The survey was carried out in Hebei Province and Inner Mongolia in April and June, 2010. 168 samples are available for this study. According to the results, we found that price and animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease post large threats to dairy farmers. In addition, producing at the lowest cost and preventing livestock disease are the most useful risk management strategies for dairy farmers. Farmer corporation association and agricultural insurance becomes a way to help farmers to manage risk in many crops and some other animal products, but such acts are not so popular to dairy farmers in China yet. To improve these strategies is useful for dairy farmers as well and might help them to avoid many risks and reduce losses.

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Analysis of bibliographic data and query logs in the Japanese Agricultural Sciences Index showed that keywords in user queries did not generate hits for all relevant documents by synonyms for query terms. Both the notation system (kanji, katakana, and hiragana) used to write crop names and the Japanese terms used to name proteins differed among papers published by different academic societies. For example, 63% of users selected only one Japanese name for sweet potato as a query term, potentially missing documents that used other Japanese names for it or getting documents irrelevant to their need. Our findings suggest that the provision of synonyms for query terms and of the number of scientific papers which include each synonym will help users to maximize coverage and get documents relevant to their need.

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The discoloration of rice kernels by the salivary secretions of stinkbugs causes "pecky rice", which is rated low on taste and quality. Despite the urgent need to develop measures for preventing such damage, many stinkbug species are difficult for non-experts to identify in the field. So when accurate identification is necessary, it is common practice for farmers to submit samples or photos to entomologists. However, this process is time-consuming and places demands on the entomologists, particularly when there are many specimens relative to the number of experts available. We evaluated the potential of automated digital image analysis to identify stinkbugs. We captured digital images of samples and assessed how to discriminate among the species on the basis of five fundamental morphological characteristics. We then used genetic programming methods to generate a novel algorithm to identify species by these five characteristics. Our results demonstrate the potential for using digital image analysis for automated identification of the stinkbugs responsible for pecky rice.

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Major earthquakes have occurred every 100 to 150 years in the Tōkai region of Japan. In anticipation of the next one, authorities recommend the stockpiling of food at home. Many households have not done so, however. To understand why, we surveyed households in Shizuoka City in 2011. A lack of understanding and difficulties in implementing plans explain why many households have not started. Difficulties in managing stockpiles and in making room for storage explain why other households have stopped. Further, food quality affects the costs and benefits of stockpiling food. To reduce disincentives and improve compliance, government, private industry, and NGOs must disseminate advice on how to stockpile and manage food. Improving emergency measures and explaining them to households is an effective way to improve food stockpiling.

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