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The application of hydrogen plasma on corroded steel and excavated iron artefacts has been studied. Transformations of the corrosion layer due to the plasma effect were investigated by means of X‐ray diffraction analysis. The reduction of iron oxides to the stable iron oxide, magnetite, was observed for all the samples. In the case of excavated objects, the reduction to magnetite did not occur throughout the whole of the bulk of the oxides, as it does (for example) in the case of steel corroded in the laboratory. Nevertheless, excavated objects, in which a metallic core remained, were stabilised against subsequent corrosion. However, objects that are completely oxidised must be treated carefully, because treatment may result in the formation of a brittle outer layer, and there is a risk of disintegration of such items, if treated using the plasma conditioning and restoration procedure.

Adoption rates of commodity futures contracts among farmers are rather low in Europe despite their political support. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) can contribute to the understanding of farmers’ intention to use commodity futures contracts. Here, the authors explicitly distinguish between usage motives for price risk reduction and speculation.

The study is based on an online survey with 134 German farmers using partial least squares structural equation modeling to estimate the TAM.

The intention to use commodity futures contracts is mostly driven by farmers’ motivation for speculation rather than price risk reduction. Assuming risk averse farmers, this result could explain low adoption rates. Furthermore, perceived ease of use has a positive effect on the intention to use commodity futures contracts.

Handling of price hedging instruments should be facilitated to increase farmers’ adoption. Effective marketing trainings, which can demonstrate the ability of commodity futures contracts to reduce price risk, could increase farmers’ motivation to use them for their risk management instead of speculation.

This study analyzes path relationships between constructs expected to influence the intention to use commodity futures contracts which are allowed to be estimated by the TAM in one model. Here, the authors explicitly distinguish between usage motives for price risk reduction and speculation. This is the first study applying the TAM to price risk management tools.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential relationship between farm income variability and off-farm employment decisions in the short and medium term for the case of Irish farm operators.

Panel probit models of off-farm labour supply are estimated using Teagasc National Farm Survey data for Irish farms. The framework is based largely on standard expected utility but includes a constraint for recent employment history.

The analyses identifies some evidence of a positive association between farm income variability and off-farm employment in the medium term but no significant relationship in the short term. This suggests that off-farm employment is part of a wider portfolio decision but is not a strong solution to short-term farm income shocks.

European farmers increasingly face high income variability but financial risk management tools are not sufficiently developed or widely accessible to assist farmers in managing the associated risk. This deficiency can have negative implications for household economic welfare and future farm investments and hence the future farm income. Off-farm employment can form part of a wider medium-term portfolio strategy but more effective tools are also required for risk management particularly in dealing with short-term volatility and where off-farm employment is not a realistic endeavour given time constraints and/or demographics.

The estimation of farm income variability includes a detrending method thus reducing the likelihood of overestimating farm income variability for farms in deliberate expansion or decline. While previous research has typically focused on the short-term response of farmers to historical farm income variability, this research has distinguished between the short and medium term.

The study analyses the preference for forestry insurance amongst tree growers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Specifically, the authors examine the factors influencing the amount of forestry insurance and the choice for forestry insurance types.

A total of one hundred and seventy (170) tree growers were sampled for the study. The tobit model, multi-nomial regression and Kendall's tau were employed to analyse the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance, the choice for forestry insurance types and the perils to forest quality, respectively.

The results of the study indicate that the incidence of bush fire and theft were the key perils that affect forest quality. In total, 52.94% of respondents preferred forest plantation fire insurance as named-peril insurance whereas 70.59% preferred a combination of forest plantation fire, windstorm and consequential loss insurance as multi-peril insurance. The majority (89.4%) of the respondents were willing to pay an amount between Ghc 10.00–49.00 (US$ 2–8) per stand. On the one hand, results of the tobit model reveal age, income, experience in forest management, land ownership and the previous occurrence of fire as the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance. On the other hand, the multi-nomial results indicate the previous occurrence of fire, gender, forest size, income and risk aversion significantly influenced the choice for forestry insurance types, namely named peril and multi-peril.

Several studies exist for forestry insurance in the developed countries. However, in West Africa specifically, Ghana, studies on forestry insurance appear to be non-existent. Above and beyond, this study, therefore, adds to the paucity of research on forestry insurance in Ghana and serves as a framework for agricultural insurance institutions such as the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) and World cover and other agricultural insurance institutions globally.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between potential affecting factors and the local communities’ willingness to pay (WTP) for housing earthquake insurance (HEI) in the context of ethnic minority communities.

A literature review was done to identify possible factors affecting WTP for HEI. Fieldwork was conducted in 2017 in Dali Minority Autonomous Prefecture, where the first Chinese HEI was launched in 2015. Interviews were done in two earthquake-prone counties, as the main ethnic minority communities in the area. A total of 536 questionnaires were collected and used as empirical data for testing the impacts mechanism.

Respondents’ risk perception, risk exposure, self-prevention behaviors, government aid, insurance experience and sociodemographic characteristics were hypothesized as theoretical indicators correlated to WTP for HEI. Empirical analysis results predict that WTP for HEI is significantly influenced by risk perception, insurance experience, government aid, and age and out-migrating labors. It is evident that higher risk perception and more insurance experience lead to stronger desire for HEI coverage. However, dependency on government aid negatively affects WTP for HEI. Moreover, WTP for HEI is negative in relation to age and out-migrating labors. Surprisingly, ethnic-culture factors were not statistically significant to WTP for HEI.

This paper is an attempt to identify and verify factors affecting WTP for HEI, bridging the gap of inadequate research on WTP for HEI in ethnic minority communities.