Farmer’s reducer

There are dozens of published formulas claiming to be Farmer s Reducer. The actual makeup is flexible, with the two main ingredients being potassium ferricyanide and sodium thiosulfate (hypo). The quantity of ferricyanide used determines the strength of the solution, so the amount of hypo is flexible. 

This dilution is for correcting slight overexposure or overdevelopment of fine-grain negatives and overall print reduction (bleaching). For print reduction follow the instructions given under Print Reducers, Farmer s Reducer. 

Farmer s reducer can cause a brownish stain with some papers. This problem can often be avoided by adding a small quantity of potassium iodide to the final print fixing bath. If the brownish residual stain still persists, a non-staining reducer should be used instead of Farmer s. 

I recommend not intensifying with silver beyond 10 minutes, even though Kodak claims it can be used up to 25 minutes. If you do over intensify use two-solution Farmer s Reducer R-4b to reduce or eliminate the silver. 

Economic considerations are often very important in the adoption of conservation or reduced-input practices. Noneconomic factors can also be important in farmers decisions to reduce agrichemical use. Also, concern about environmental pollution is consistently positively correlated with farmer s willingness to adopt pesticide use reduction practices however, economic factors often take precedence over such concerns. Farmers perceptions of the economic outcome of reduced pesticide use are critical to its adoption (Nazarko et al. 2003). 

Proportional reducers decrease the image density throughout the film in proportion to the amount of silver already deposited. The effect is similar to giving the film less development. Kodak R-4b Farmer s Proportional Reducer for Overdeveloped Negative is most commonly used. 

Cutting and proportional reducers are the most common types used. While there are about a dozen or so formulas available, the most widely used is Howard Farmer s formula, which dates to 1883. The ingredients are easy to obtain in almost any part of the world, the process is almost foolproof from the chemical angle, and the results are permanent. 

In China, Bt cotton scientists have developed and commercialised their own lines of Bt cotton and cotton with stacked genes (Bt and cowpea trypsin inhibitor) besides Monsanto s approved Bt cotton. Chinese farmers in the Shandong and Hebei provinces of mainland China, who cultivated Bt cotton, used less pesticides than farmers cultivating non Bt cotton (10.3 and 57.8 kg/ha, respectively). Concomitantly, farmers often reduced the number of pesticide sprays from twelve to three or four sprays [17]. In addition, it has been observed that in these provinces in 1999, Bt cotton adoption led to approximately 10% higher yields. This yield effect was geographically dependent, because in other regions the observed benefit was not equally high [18]. 

Recently, a farmer s sheep were treated with a dewormer, fenbendazole, to destroy gastrointestinal worms. Lance detects small amounts of fenbendazole in the soil. He advises the farmer to decrease the dosage he administers to his sheep in order to reduce the amounts of the dewormer currently in the soil. Lance then indicates he will be back in a month to retest the soil and water. 

Important preconditions for the successful development and implementation of farm-specific mastitis management plans are that (i) the farmer realises that there is a problem and is committed to reducing both mastitis prevalence and antibiotic use and (ii) that the farm s veterinarian is involved and committed to the improvement plan. Once these preconditions are met, development and implementation of plans then involves four stages. 

We conclude that discovery of reduced risk pesticides has significantly facilitated the transition by many farmers away from high-risk pesticides. This transition has clearly helped reduce risks in some key children s foods. EPA policies put in place to expedite registration of reduced risk products should be strengthened. 

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