Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding 9, Geroyiv Stalingradu Avenue, Mykolayiv Ukraine

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1 THE ADVANCED SCIENCE JOURNAL ECONOMICS RECEIVED ACCEPTED PUBLISHED DOI: /ASJ THE WAYS OF IMPROVING THE AGRICULTURE S FOREIGN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF SOUTHERN UKRAINE A. Salitra Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding 9, Geroyiv Stalingradu Avenue, Mykolayiv Ukraine hanna.ua@mail.ru Abstract: The article reveals the concept of "foreign trade" and its role within the situation in Ukraine today. It analyzed the statistics of foreign trade of the food industry in the Southern of the country during years. The paper calculated and analyzed for each of the segments site performance dynamics, efficiency and intensity of foreign economic relations of enterprises engaged in agricultural activities. It discovered the advantages and disadvantages of economic activity of al enterprises engaged in the food industry and suggested ways of improving the efficiency of foreign economic activity of Southern Ukraine, according to territorial characteristics and climatic conditions of each segment of the selected area. Key words: foreign economic activity, export, import, foreign trade, import-export ratio, export for capita, import for capita, dynamic, index of the net trade, economic relations, turnover. Introduction Today Ukraine s economy is undergoing a period of market relations improvement, which have important tasks like preservation industry and its restructuring, increasing production and scientific potential of the s, and improving the efficiency of the state and private enterprises research activities in the territory. The fundamental solution of these problems will contribute to the creation and use of equipment and technology at a higher level, accelerating the growth of the country's competitiveness in foreign markets. Unfortunately, the economic activities of the state have a period of destabilization, and despite the tendency to increase production capacity, enterprise, without the necessary strategies for managing their activities, reducing all their chances of sufficient competitiveness both in the domestic and foreign markets. The issue of foreign economic activity s management studied in foreign and domestic scientific literature. A significant contribution to the study of the problem made the following scientists: Grebelnik, O. with his book Osnovi zovnishnoeconimichnoi diyalnosti (2008), in which author describes the main legislation governing foreign relations, addresses a number of issues related to foreign trade and foreign trade activities in Ukraine (the causes and background of foreign trade, the system of regulation of this activity, characterization instruments regulating relations in the field of foreign trade, etc.); Irtyscheva, I. and Hrosytska, O. scientific work Strategichni perspectivi konkurentospromojnosti harchovoi promislovosti v umovah globalizacii (2013), which addressed the theoretical paradigm concept of "competitiveness" and conducted a comprehensive study of the current state of the food industry in Ukraine; Article of Babets, E. and Shalatskyy, W. (2010) Upravlinnya zovnishnoeconimichnou diyalnostu z pozicii funkcii menedzmentu, which is considered an effective model of international management and analysis of its main components and conducted a systematic analysis of all management functions and the features of their application; Scientific work of Kiseleva, O and Bilych, Yu Problemi zovnishnoeconimichnoi diyalnosti Ukraini ta shlyahi ih virishennya, where authors consider in-depth study of the causes and factors that contribute to the invention of optimal solutions aimed at improvement of foreign policy, the protection of the economic interests and accelerate economic development. But, the unexplored issues are features of the mechanisms and factors that affect the implementation of more effective foreign economic activity s management based on territorial characteristics, s specialization and the current state of the industries that produce goods and provide services to foreign companies. VOLUME 2015 ISSUE 2 15

2 ISSN X EISSN Therefore, the purpose of the article is the analysis of economic activities the food industry s enterprises, calculating the dynamics of foreign trade and the development of measures to improve the management of foreign economic relations in Southern Ukraine. Method During the writing of the article I used data of foreign economic activity and the volume of sales in agriculture, based on statistical information for each of the elements of the Southern Ukraine. Also, I have used a number of indicators that characterize the dynamics of the intensity and efficiency of foreign economic relations of the Southern of Ukraine during years for the analysis and synthesis of the economic situation in the territory. Results Foreign relations of Ukraine in modern conditions become a powerful means of accelerating scientific and technological development and intensification of the economy. Currently acquire the latest achievements of science and technology without intensive exchange of research, various goods and services means irrational use their own resources to waste time and pace of development. Keep in mind that economic activity in each country varied as it has a number of industries (ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, food industry, chemical industry and so on. D). Therefore, you should develop and improve a number of systems and measures for each of the branches whose activity is directed not only at the domestic but also foreign markets sales (Grebelnik, 2008). As we know, Ukraine is a major agricultural state, because its food industry is one of the systems forming elements of the national economy, taking one of the leading places in the economy, as the share of this sector in the total industrial production is second only to the steel industry and reaches 18-20%. But not having a strategy of international management, the share of imports of all goods and services provided to the country steadily increased and amounted to 51.98% on average for (Irtyscheva and Hrosytska, 2013). Speaking specifically about South of Ukraine, the situation of foreign trade activities in agriculture was ambiguous nature. As we can see from Table 1, during the settlement period the trade balance and its elements in the segment s were as follows: In , the share of exports that was implemented in the territory of Crimea, was 68.13% and 52.17% respectively, while the share of imports accounted for 31.87% and 47.83% in the total trade balance, resulting in balance amounted to 39118,00 thousand US $ in 2009 and 4451,40 thousand US $ in However, during the number of export sales significantly reduced and equaled thousand US $, thousand US $ and 65385,20 thousand US $ (or 44.71%, 48.06% and 39.04%) respectively, while the number of import sales increased by setting 56321,10 thousand US $, 82232,80 thousand US $ ,90 thousand and US $ (or 55.29%, 51.94% and 60.96%) in the field of foreign trade balance. The balance of accounted for ,80 thousand US $, -6445,50 thousand US $ and ,70 thousand US $; During the years Odessa always had a negative trade balance, which was ,80 thousand US $, ,10 thousand US $, ,30 thousand US $ and ,90 thousand US $, respectively. Also, the share of exports in the structure of foreign trade balance did not exceed the mark of 44.00% during the settlement period, setting 39.79% in 2010, 42.87% in 2011, 43.99% in 2012 and 40.80% in 2013, and the share of imports was lower by 56.00% ( %, %, %, %); The trade balance of Mykolaiv was positive throughout the period: thousand US $ in 2009, ,40 thousand US $ in 2010, ,90 thousand US $ in 2011, ,80 thousand US $ 1,072, in 2012 and thousand US $ in Also, the share of exports in foreign trade balance was greater than 85% during (the lowest rate was in 2009 and amounted to 85.61%) and the share of imports does not exceed 15% over the same period (it was the largest in 2009 and equaled 14.39%); Kherson also always has a positive balance of foreign trade activities during the settlement period: thousand US $, thousand US $, thousand US $, thousand US $ thousand US $ and in accordance with In addition, the share of imports in the field of foreign trade balance does not exceed 19.0% for the entire period of time (the smallest margin rate achieved in 2011 and amounted 16 ADVANCEDSCIENCE.ORG

3 THE ADVANCED SCIENCE JOURNAL to 18.10%), reaching an average of 12.42% and the share of exports was less by 81% over the same period (the lowest figure was in 2011 and amounted to 81.90%), setting an average of 87.58%. I calculated performance dynamics, strength and effectiveness of foreign economic relations of South Ukraine, which based on data on foreign economic activity of the and segment statistics from GRP and the number of people living in this area: Table 1 The foreign economic activities of the agriculture of Southern Ukraine s segments The segment of Southern Ukraine ARC Odessa Mykolaiv Region Kherson Period Foreign trade of the food industry, thousand of US $ The structure of foreign trade, % Export Import Balance Export Import The foreign trade, thousand of US $ , , ,00 68,13% 31,87% , , , ,40 52,17% 47,83% , , , ,80 44,71% 55,29% , , , ,50 48,06% 51,94% , , , ,70 39,04% 60,96% , , , ,80 39,79% 60,21% , , , ,10 42,87% 57,13% , , , ,30 43,99% 56,01% , , , ,90 40,80% 59,20% , , , ,30 85,61% 14,39% , , , ,40 87,55% 12,45% , , , ,90 90,22% 9,78% , , , ,80 99,21% 0,79% , , , ,00 90,27% 9,73% , , , ,90 90,02% 9,98% , , , ,20 88,79% 11,21% , , , ,80 81,90% 18,10% , , , ,80 89,66% 10,34% , , , ,20 87,55% 12,45% ,00 Based on the data from Table 2, I can say that the dynamics and the figures of the intensity and efficiency of the food industry s foreign economic relations of Southern Ukraine had an irregularity throughout the period: The growth rate of ARC s export relations during constantly increased, setting 0.73 and 0.85 respectively, and import relations decreased from 1.43 to This led to an increase in the rate of growth of foreign trade turnover (or FTT) from 0.95 to In 2012, the growth rate of imports and exports increased to 1.46 and 1.67, respectively, and the growth rate increased to 1.56 FTT. But at the end of 2013 the accretion rate of export relations decreased by 0.21 (the growth rate amounted to 0.86 during this period), which led to a reduction in growth FTT at 0.50, and its growth rate to 1.06; Odessa had a similar situation. In the accretion rate of exports relations amounted to 0.22 (growth rate increased from 1.00 to 1.22), and the dynamics of FTT increased to 1.19 (although during this period of growth of imports was 0.28). But in the growth rate of exports declined by 0.19, and increase imports fell by only 0.01, which led to a reduction of the dynamics of FTT to 1.11; Mykolaiv twice had the lowest growth rate of export ties - in 2011 and 2013, when the figure was only 0.88, and the highest growth rate of imports among all segments of the Southern of Ukraine VOLUME 2015 ISSUE 2 17

4 ISSN X EISSN in 2013 (figure was 11.84). This led to a reduction in the accretion rate of FTT at 0.30 in 2011 and 0.72 in 2013 (the rate of growth of foreign trade turnover amounted to 0.85 and 0.96). But with the decline in the growth rate of imports to 0.14 and increasing the accretion rate of exports to 0.96 in 2012, the growth rate of FTT equaled 1.68; In the end of 2011 the growth rate of imports relations of Kherson increased from 1.09 to 1.98, but the growth rate of exports relations also increased from 0.95 to 1.13 which caused the accretion rate of FTT rose to 0.90 (the growth rate of FTT equaled 1.23). The similar situation was during 2013, when the accretion rate of exports and imports rose to 0.07 and 0.79 appropriately, and the growth rate of foreign trade turnover increased from 0.91 to But in 2010, when the growth rate of exports decreased to 0.95 and the growth rate of imports increased to 1.09, and in 2012, when the growth rate of exports was 0.99 (even at lower the accretion rate of imports by 1.46), the growth rate of FTT reduced to 0.97 and 0.91 respectively. Table 2 The dynamics of the food industry s foreign economic relations of Southern Ukraine s segments The segment of Southern Ukraine ARC Odessa Mykolaiv Kherson Period The growth rate of foreign economic relations of: The accretion rate of foreign economic relations of: Export Import FTT Export Import FTT 2010/2009 0,73 1,43 0, /2010 0,85 1,15 0,99 0,12-0,28 0, /2011 1,67 1,46 1,56 0,82 0,31 0, /2012 0,86 1,24 1,06-0,81-0,21-0, /2010 1,00 0,88 0, /2011 1,22 1,17 1,19 0,22 0,28 0, /2012 1,03 1,18 1,11-0,19 0,01-0, /2009 1,17 0,99 1, /2010 0,88 0,67 0,85-0,29-0,32-0, /2011 1,84 0,14 1,68 0,96-0,54 0, /2012 0,88 11,84 0,96-0,97 11,70-0, /2009 0,95 1,09 0, /2010 1,13 1,98 1,23 0,18 0,90 0, /2011 0,99 0,52 0,91-0,14-1,46-0, /2012 1,06 1,31 1,09 0,07 0,79 0,18 Table 3 The figures of the intensity and efficiency of economic relations in the Southern Ukraine s agriculture The figures of the intensity and efficiency of economic relations Foreign trade Index Export per Import per Period Importexport capita, turnover per Import of the Export capita, capita, quota net quota thousand of thousand of ratio thousand of trade US $ US $ US $ ,52 0,04-0,22 170,68 26,17 118, ,57 0,20 0,75 0,32 242,72 154,28 397, ,67 0,16 1,04 0,26 230,32 138,19 368, ,37 0,16 2,18 0,37 348,33 147,28 495, ,70 0,67 326,64 192,39 519,03 18 ADVANCEDSCIENCE.ORG

5 THE ADVANCED SCIENCE JOURNAL As we can see from Table 3, the import-export ratio of Southern Ukraine during increased steadily and reached 1.57, 1.67 and But in 2013 ratio was reduced to 0.67 and 1.70 equal. It was highest in 2009, setting a mark in Table 4 The structure of the agricultural products sales of Southern Ukraine The structu re, %: The segment of Southern Ukraine/period Mykolaiv Odessa Plant: Cereal s 40,50 36,52 41,90 30,69 40,04 42,99 36,93 45,10 36,92 43,89 Sugar beets 0,09 0,12 0,13 0,32 0,51 0,01 0,02 0,00 0,05 0,00 Sunflo wer 21,51 25,77 23,52 34,38 29,15 8,98 11,57 15,82 22,24 20,37 seeds Potato 5,81 5,84 7,64 2,68 4,29 6,66 18,85 11,0 7,87 10,37 Veggie s 5,49 4,86 4,11 4,58 3,75 9,00 7,31 6,52 6,33 4,86 Fruits and berries 1,12 1,36 1,55 1,34 1,54 4,33 4,38 3,14 2,59 2,20 2. Stockbreeding: Meat 7,49 6,54 5,86 8,33 5,93 9,49 5,74 5,55 7,83 5,75 Milk 14,07 15,15 12,05 13,13 12,92 14,56 12,4 11,37 13,21 10,73 Eggs 3,93 3,83 3,25 4,55 1,88 3,98 2,79 1,50 2,96 1,83 The Kherson ARC structu re, %: Plant: Cereal s 33,34 27,56 38,97 27,92 27,25 21,56 18,86 27,26 18,92 14,15 Sugar beets 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 Sunflo wer 9,85 17,90 16,16 16,73 13,08 0,47 1,29 1,84 3,25 3,97 seeds Potato 8,27 9,06 7,03 7,49 7,79 9,74 9,46 9,64 5,57 12,31 Veggie s 15,66 16,02 12,98 15,72 19,36 18,22 19,89 15,0 13,32 20,13 Fruits and berries 2,76 2,87 4,35 3,64 3,34 3,61 3,69 4,38 5,25 5,75 2. Stockbreeding: Meat 11,77 7,64 6,07 9,60 7,09 30,07 28,16 25,56 35,82 28,16 Milk 14,53 15,46 11,39 13,44 12,84 11,97 13,78 11,91 12,33 12,15 Eggs 3,81 3,49 3,04 5,45 9,25 4,38 4,86 4,42 5,54 3,37 Import and export quotas during the settlement period is also constantly changing: in 2010, these figures increased from 0.04 to 0.20 and from 0.22 to 0.32, respectively, but in 2011 again declined (import VOLUME 2015 ISSUE 2 19

6 ISSN X EISSN quota equal to 0, 16, and the export quota was 0.26). Thus, at the end of 2012 import quota remained unchanged, and the export quota increased to Index of net trade during increased steadily and was 0.75, 1.04 and 2.18 respectively. But in 2013 this figure dropped to 3.25 times and amounted to As a result, in 2013 exports per capita decreased from thousand of US $ to thousand of US $, while imports per capita increased from thousand of US $ to thousand of US $. Foreign trade turnover per capita at the end of 2010 and 2013 increased by 3.35 and 1.05 times, respectively, setting thousand of US $ and thousand of US $, but in 2011 tended to decrease by 7 % and amounted to thousand of US $. Finally, I made the structure of sales of agricultural products in South Ukraine for , in order to have full information about the economic activities of the by segments. According to data obtained in Table 4, I can say the following: ARC during the calculation period ranked first for the production of animal products, which share in the total volume of sales on average 46.49% (29.55% of it was the average selling of meat). In the structure of plant products in the area for a specified period of highest occupied grains (20.15% and average) and vegetables (average value equaled to 17.31%) and the lowest - fruits and berries (maximum value was 5, 75% in 2013) and sunflower seeds (3,97% in 2013). The overall proportion of plant products in the structure of agricultural output amounted to 53.51% on average in ; The main share in the structure of production in the Odessa area occupied plant (78.06% on average for the period), while the share of the stockbreeding products amounted to 21.94% on average for the period (12.45% of them - production dairy products). However, the main focus in crop production were cereals, sunflower seeds and potatoes, whose share in the total volume of sales on average for the period was 41.17%, 15.18% and 10.95% respectively. The lowest share in the average for the years were vegetables (6.80%) and fruits and berries (3.33%); In Mykolaiv area during the share of plant products in the structure amounted to an average of 76.22% and included 37.93% and 26.87% of grains and sunflower seeds respectively. The lowest part throughout the period amounted to crop fruits and berries and sugar beet (average 1.38% and 0.23% respectively). Also, during the share of animal products in the structure of production volumes amounted to an average of 23.78%, of which 13.46% were dairy products; Kherson area in agricultural activities, like the previous two territories, specialized more on plant products (73.03% on average) than in stockbreeding (26.97%). Thus, among crop production accounted for the largest portion of grains (31.01%), vegetables (15.95%) and sunflower seeds (14.75%) and the smallest part - the volume of potatoes (7.93%) and fruit and berries (3.39%). In animal most part during the settlement period occupied produce dairy products (13.53%). Discussion Based on the results obtained during the analyzed statistical data, I can say that the South of Ukraine in years was the exporter of agricultural products and had a sufficient level of production capacity and competitiveness, as confirmed by the reduction of import quotas, export quotas and increase capacity provide necessary production of its territory and population of high volumes of sales abroad (as import-export ratio). But South periodically Ukraine lost its position in foreign markets and had sales decline in production capacity, as evidenced by the reduction of the index of the net trade relations in late If we consider the for its segment, it can be argued partial loss of their positions in foreign markets and increase sales depending on the from foreign manufacturers. This is evidenced by the presence of two segments of importing agricultural products - Crimea and Odessa areas in which the share of imports in total trade balance significantly higher than that of exports, and from 2011 to 2010, respectively, as a result, we can see negative growth value of the trade balance and reduce the accretions rate of the exports relations and foreign trade turnover. One can assume that the two data segments are not used its production capacity at a sufficient level or used it inefficiently. However, the South of Ukraine had two segments that were constantly exporters - Mykolaiv and Kherson s, where agricultural exports during the billing period consistently exceeded imports, which made it possible to always have a positive balance of trade value, saying the high level of capacity utilization 20 ADVANCEDSCIENCE.ORG

7 THE ADVANCED SCIENCE JOURNAL segments of the and a sufficient level of demand for the products they produce. But, due to the lack of flexible strategy of international management in enterprises Mykolaiv and Odessa areas had slower growth of export economic ties and increase the growth rate of imports, leading to a reduction in the growth rate of foreign trade balance of the two segments. However, during my calculation parameters and further processing of statistical data analysis results were deviations due to the existence of deficits following information: The foreign economic activities of the agriculture of Odessa in 2009, and, as the result, its the growth rate of foreign economic relations during and the accretion rate of foreign economic relations during ; The lack of data on gross al product by 2013, which is used in the calculation of import quotas and export quotas, which makes the collected data to approximate; Unstable exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine, through which I made UAH gross al product of Ukrainian hryvnia in US dollars. At the time of the Feb. 10, 2015: 1USD = 24.95UAH. Thus, the following methods of improving foreign relations south Ukraine enterprises engaged in agricultural activities, apply only to the results. Therefore, Southern Ukraine without a system of measures to improve the efficiency of international management at the level of each of the s and the effective and flexible policy management administrative apparatus of the state had destabilizing foreign economic relations and reduced the intensity of their accumulation. This means that for the effective management of foreign trade activities in enterprises is essential that strategies that will be used to improve and stabilize foreign trade, carried out at least at two levels: Regulation of foreign policy throughout the all country; Improvement of foreign economic relations at the level of each state economic area. So, the government's economic policy of Ukraine has focused more on the domestic market, making the implementation of strategies in the foreign market is not effective enough. Increased export potential is a priority of foreign economic activity. It involves lifting the entire national economy to a higher level, creating a competitive economy. Also, an important factor and a means of government regulation is a system of economic incentives, contributing to the development of foreign economic relations and expanding exports. It greatly affects the capacity of production and exports attract foreign investment, advanced science and technology, streamlining commodity and geographical structure of exports and imports. Significant improvement requires tax policy and customs and tariff regulation in Ukraine, because now they do not perform their function (Vasurenko, 2011). Nevertheless, to date, there are two important ways to stabilize International Business at the state level a decentralization of budget and a stabilization of the currency. The decentralization of a budget will allow 70-80% of all funds received from the economic activity of enterprises retain al budgets, and about 20-30% of the funds transferred to the treasury of the state. For administrative staff this will allow to create reserve funds and funds of which is invested in enterprises innovative activity of the area that will allow not only to stabilize economic activity areas (if the economic crisis in the country or the world in general), but also to provide them with the necessary investments to develop and implementation of new or improved projects in a given area. Also, the stabilization of the currency in the foreign exchange market will help reduce the financial risks of transactions purchasing products or services from foreign companies, as well as reduce the amount of losses carried out economic transactions. Speaking of strategy for regulation of foreign trade enterprises at an economic area, this process, as Pshik-Kovalska (2012) said, will include the following steps: Setting goals and objectives of foreign economic activity; Selection and justification of the type of foreign economic activity; Information support for assessment and analysis of factors that influence the foreign economic activity; Analysis of factors affecting the foreign economic activity; Prediction modalities and results of a particular type of foreign economic activity; VOLUME 2015 ISSUE 2 21

8 ISSN X EISSN Selection and justification of methods of planning of foreign economic activity; Formation planning model of foreign economic activity. However, we must remember that the establishment and implementation stages of the strategy, like the strategy should depend on the specific economic of the state and, in particular, on climatic conditions and economic segments of development of the area. This means that either strategy will be more, or it will be combined and universal. Speaking directly about the South of Ukraine, we see that the ARC, which should realize the majority of animal products and wine due to climate conditions, Odessa, which is suitable for growing fruits and berries, and Mykolaiv and Kherson areas, which should use their land, mainly for the production of cereals and vegetables (Ishuk, 2006). But according to our data, we know that these segments of the irrational use existing resources in choosing strategies that do not meet the current situation. For example, ARC and Odessa areas use a strategy of diversification, which is not typical for these segments of the, as a disadvantage of this strategy is reducing the target market of the company. So for these territories a more suitable strategy concentration, which is aimed at companies focus on one (or a little amount) products to increase its sales volumes and declining share of production costs for winning in price competition. In other words, the implementation of this strategy in the Crimea and Odessa area will be able to produce products that are most suited specifically to those territories, thus increasing the volume of products that will be implemented in Ukraine and abroad. At the same time, Mykolaiv and Kherson areas had chosen concentrated marketing strategy, which is relevant for economic activity. However, as we have seen, their economic activity was in a state of destabilization, which can lead to loss of competitiveness in the domestic and international markets. Therefore, the main task is to preserve areas of existing positions or improving product quality by changing the technology of processing and storage, or by reducing the financial and economic risks during its implementation outside the state. Therefore, these areas could use the the strategy of differentiation or the strategy of risk management. References Grebelnik, O. (2008) Osnovi zovnishnoeconimichnoi diyalnosti. Kyiv: The Center Textbooks. Irtyscheva, I. and Hrosytska, O. (2013) Strategichni perspectivi konkurentospromojnosti harchovoi promislovosti v umovah globalizacii. Mykolaiv: Design and Printing. Ishuk, S. (2006) Rozmishennya productivnih sil s alna ekonomika. Kyiv: Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University. Pshik-Kovalska, O. (2012) Process planuvannya zovnishnoeconimichnoi diyalnosti pidpriemstva. Lviv: Polytichnik National University. Vasurenko, V. (2011) Teoretichni zasadi sutnosti ta zmistu finansovogo regulyuvannya zovnishnoeconimichnoi diyalnosti v suchasnih umovah. Bulletin of the University of Banking of the National Ukrainian Bank, (10), pp The official site of State Statistics Service of Ukraine (2015) [Online] Available from: [Accessed 05/02/15]. The official website of the Main Statistical Office in Crimea (2015) [Online] Available from: [Accessed 06/02/15]. The official website of the Main Statistical Office in Kherson (2015) [Online] Available from: [Accessed 03/02/15]. The official website of the Main Statistical Office in Mykolaiv (2015) [Online] Available from: [Accessed 03/02/15]. The official website of the Main Statistical Office in Odessa (2015) [Online] Available from: [Accessed 03/02/15]. 22 ADVANCEDSCIENCE.ORG