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Return on investment (ROI) is a commonly used metric for organizations concerned with demonstrating the value of their investments; it can be used to determine whether funds spent providing professional development programs for Extension professionals are good investments. This article presents a method for calculating ROI for an onboarding program on the basis of the changes in competency levels from before to after program participation. Although limitations to the method exist, the data generated can be used for engaging in meaningful discussions about the value of investing in professional development in Extension organizations.

In 2019, the US ornamental horticulture industry had a farm gate crop value of roughly $17 billion, contributed $348 billion in total output to the nation's economy, and created 2.32 million employment opportunities. However, as the industry matures and reaches a slow‐growing stage, interfirm rivalry may appear among grower firms for marketing channels and sales opportunities. Independent garden centers and retailers report facing increased competition from mass merchandisers. Market channel choices, as part of the competitive strategy, are alternative ways for ornamental production to reach consumers. However, marketing practices of this industry have not received adequate attention from researchers despite the economic significance of the industry. Combining four waves of the National Green Industry Survey from 2004 to 2019, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of factors influencing firms' market participation and market channel choices. Over the survey period, traditional wholesale market channels such as landscape services companies, rewholesalers, and single‐location garden centers have remained mainstream channels. The direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) channel showed the potential to gain significant market share. Thirty percent of the firms participated in DTC channel in 2018, and their sales represent about 22% of total sales by all survey firms. Our empirical results show firms' wholesale market participation and choices of market channels are largely influenced by plant types and firm perceptions (variables potentially affecting firms' assessment of the "size" of their market) and variables approximating the market size such as regional dummies and housing price index, confirming the impact of market size on entry decision. [EconLit Citations: C50, M31, L14]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing and potential market for Recycled Organic Products (ROP) in Florida, a real issue and challenge that the organics recycling industry is faced with that was explored is presented. The issues of concern and the attitudes of those who already use compost as well as noncompost users in Florida are explored.

The prediction that the effect of geographic distance as a barrier for trade will decrease over time and eventually be eliminated as a result of technological developments has been proposed for decades. However, empirical evidence suggests the negative effect of geographic distance persists in both international and domestic trade. This study uses data from a national survey of nursery and greenhouse growers in the United States to investigate the effect of geographic distance on trade. We model trades as a two‐step process in which selling firms and buyers were matched first, and then a positive trade flow occurs conditional on the match. This process leads to a simple zero‐inflated estimation strategy and provides a meaningful interpretation of the zero‐trades. We demonstrate that this approach predicts the overall trade flow better than the Poisson or Gamma Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PML) approach, due to its ability to predict zero trade flows more accurately. The empirical results indicate the effect of distance on trade volume is large and statistically significant. In addition, firms trade almost exclusively with partners in the home state or in states with branch offices. We find that social media and website advertising is much less effective in increasing the trade flow than traditional advertising channels. [EconLit Citations: Q17, Q13]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Florida's Food and Resource Economics Department attended four compost producing facilities in the state to determine cost-benefit economic data of applied compost. Costs were broken down into compost cost, transportation cost and application cost. The benefits of compost application included yield increase, quality improvement, fertilizer, irrigation and pesticide/herbicide savings.

The testing of scale model propulsors is an essential part of any marine propulsion design process. The fluctuating force module (FFM) is a self contained, instrumented propulsor drive system designed to be an integral part of a scaled propulsor test facility. The paper describes a novel electromagnetic test facility which provides a static axial thrust of 0-1 kN and triaxial dynamic forces of 0.3-3 Nrms, at frequencies of 80-800 Hz, to an equivalent propulsor mass rotating at speeds of 0-900 rpm, in order to calibrate the FFM force measurement systems. Index Terms--Permanent magnet actuators, propulsor calibration facility, static and dynamic force actuators, surface acoustic f wave force measurement.

A survey of 247 landscaping, golf course, nursery and citrus businesses in Florida revealed that most base their decision to use compost on the quality of the product, price, availability, and ease of application. Recommendations for increasing compost usage are also discussed, and include incentives such as cost-benefit analyses and free delivery.