The ornamental horticultural industry continues to be one of the most rapidly expanding sectors in agriculture. This study examined a decision model for landscape plant production based on portfolio analysis. A quadratic programming model was developed to generate an optimal crop portfolio for a selected southeastern nursery. Empirical results indicate opportunities exist for modest diversification to offset income variability in landscape plant production and marketing.

This study applies portfolio theory to rice varietal selection decisions to find profit maximizing and risk minimizing outcomes. Results based on data from six counties in the Arkansas Delta for the period 1999-2006 suggest that sowing a portfolio of rice varieties could have increased profits from 3 to 26% (depending on the location) for rice producers in the Arkansas Delta. The major implication of this research is that data and statistical tools are available for rice producers to improve the choice of rice varieties to plant each year in specific locations. Specifically, there are large potential gains from combining varieties that are characterized by inverse yield responses to growing conditions such as drought, pest infestation, or the presence of a specific disease.

Environmental exposures have a significant influence on the chronic health conditions plaguing children and adults. Although the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm historically has focused on nutrition, an expanding body of research specifically communicates the effects of chemical exposures on early-life development and the propagation of non-communicable disease across the lifespan. This paper provides an overview of 20 years of research efforts aimed at identifying critical windows of susceptibility to environmental exposures and the signaling changes and epigenetic influences associated with disease progression. DOHaD grants funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in 1991, 2001 and 2011 are identified by grant-analysis software, and each portfolio is analyzed for exposures, disease endpoints, windows of exposure, study design and impact on the field based on publication data. Results show that the 1991 and 2001 portfolios comprised metals, PCBs and air pollutants; however, by 2011, the portfolio has evolved to include or expand the variety of endocrine disruptors, pesticides/persistent organic pollutants and metals. An assortment of brain-health endpoints is most targeted across the portfolios, whereas reproduction and cancer increase steadily over the same time period, and new endpoints like obesity are introduced by 2011. With mounting evidence connecting early-life exposures to later-life disease, we conclude that it is critical to expand the original DOHaD concept to include environmental chemical exposures, and to continue a research agenda that emphasizes defining sensitive windows of exposure and the mechanisms that cause disease.