Journal Article

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3 Pillars of a Food Revolution
(2010) Lappé, Anna
"As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question of values."
Accessing Nature: Agrarian Change, Forest Laws and their Impact on an Adivasi Economy in Colonial India
(2009) Das Gupta, Sanjukta
"This article discusses how changing access to nature impacted an adivasi people, the Hos of Singhbhum. Without romanticizing the pre-British past, it may be argued that for the Hos of the time there had been dependence both on the forest and on cultivation, which had ensured them a minimum livelihood. This paper explores how their access to nature gradually diminished under colonial rule through the twin governmental policies of expansion of the agrarian frontier and restriction of the forests to the indigenous population. This led to the sedentarisation of the adivasis, further contributing towards agrarian expansion in India. However, this article argues that the extension of cultivation did not, however, benefit the Hos. Instead, the nature of the increase in acreage in Singhbhum, led to new agricultural practices, which, together with the restrictive forest laws and lack of new irrigation facilities, led to an agrarian crisis in the region, forcing the Hos to leave their lands and seek their fortunes elsewhere."
Agri-Silviculture in Uganda: A Case for Kachung Forest
(1980) Chaudhry, Mohammed Azfal; Silim, Salim
"Agri-silviculture is a production technique which combines the growing of agricultural crops with simultaneously raised and protected forest crops. This practice, called agri-forestry, has been in existence in various primitive forms since man learned to clear forests and cultivate land, and has different names in different parts of the world. In western and central Africa, the age-old habit of swidden agriculture, or 'shifting cultivation,' involving continued destruction of forest areas by cutting and burning and then raising the agricultural crops on the ashes of the destroyed forest, seems to be the beginning, however crude, of this practice."
Agricultura en Amazonia: Crecimiento con Abundancia de Recursos Naturales en una Region Perifirica
(1990) Cunha, Aercio S.; Kyle, Steve C.
"This paper shows how lack of competitiveness for commercial agriculture in Amazonia makes difficult the attraction or retention of mobile factors (capital and labor) generating a state of continuous scarcity for these factors. It is also shown that policies attempting to regain equilibrium in factor proportions like capital subsidies or colonization programs are ineffective. Finally, it is shown that attempts to maximize the return on scarce factors lead to overutilization of natural resource and environmental degradation. Although global price incentives policies can help, technical progress is the important variable for the long run sustainability of agriculture in Amazonia."
Agricultural Abandonment, Suburban Growth, and Forest Expansion in Puerto Rico between 1991 and 2000
(2008) Pares-Ramos, Isabel K.; Gould, William A.; Aide, Mitchell
"The response of local economies to the globalization process can have a large effect on population and land-use dynamics. In countries with a high population density and relatively high levels of education, the globalization process has resulted in a shift in the local economy from agriculture to manufacturing, technology, and service sectors. This shift in the economy has impacted land-use dynamics by decreasing agricultural lands, increasing urban growth, and in some cases, increasing forest cover. This process of economic and forest transition has been well documented in Puerto Rico for the period 1950 to 1990, but some authors predicted that poor planning and continued urban growth would eliminate the gains in forest cover. To investigate the impacts of recent economic changes, we evaluated demographic and land-use changes for 880 barrios (i.e., neighborhoods), the smallest administrative unit, in Puerto Rico using government census data from 1990 and 2000 and land-cover classifications from 1991 and 2000. During this period, the population increased by 284 127 people (8.2%). Most of the growth was in the suburban barrios, whereas urban barrios lost population. This shift was reflected by the construction of more than 100 000 housing units in suburban barrios. Although urban sprawl is perceived as the major land-cover change, urban cover only increased from 10% to 11% between 1990 and 2000, whereas the increase in forest cover was much greater (28% to 40%). Grasslands and shrublands were the major sources of new urban and forest areas in 2000. Although these results are encouraging in terms of increasing forest cover, most of the new development has been concentrated in the coastal plains, which are the location of most of the remaining agricultural areas, a few protected areas, and threatened ecosystems (e.g., mangroves)."
Agricultural Indigenous and Farmers Traditional Knowledge: Rescue, Sistematization and Incorporation to the IEAS
(2006) Gomez Espinoza, Jose Antonio; González, Gerardo Gómez
"Under environmental breakdown context, and the low consideration that in indigenous and farmers communities, the Traditional Agricultural Knowledge (SAT) with low environmental impact are preserved under 'milpa' system and this production is almost the half of national production of this cereal, in this work is suggested to carry the SAT into of Agricultural Superior Institution (IEAS) curricula like a social and ecological pertinent answer of Agricultural Superior Education, this thesis is, a proposed conceptual framework for SAT study, the recovery, systematization, interpretation, identification of Sciences-SAT correspondences and instrumentation under context of apprenticeship education models; to carry them to the academic space under a study program."
Agriculture Wrapped with Social Networks, Data Mining and Mobile Computing to Boost up Crop Productivity
(2010) Akkanini, Haritha; Junapudi, Vasavi
"'The backbone of Indian economy' –agriculture which is known for its multifunctional success in generating employment, livelihood, food, nutritional and ecological security is facing several problems in improving the crop productivity. As we had good expertise in the field of agriculture the crucial information is not reaching the farmer community in a timely manner. In this paper we made an effort to find a way out to bridge the gap in the broadcast of information so that timely decisions can be taken for a better farming. We are trying to propose a system which provides advisory services as a decision support to farmers on crop related issues using the mobile services. In addition to these, the effort is being made to familiarize this information through a social network where a human being is a resource to influence others instead of mass media. Initially the proposed system is designed to collect the climatic data and it will be passed to the mobiles of all farmers through messages. There is a coordinator for each region to provide suggestions periodically. At the end of cropping, the coordinator will collect the information like• Had the farmer utilized the climatic information• Type of soils• Type of seeds• Pesticides used• Yield information, etcwill be maintained in a database. Applying data mining techniques the results are analyzed. In each location identifying a person, who utilized the services and achieved the higher productivity. He will act as a motivator/educator to other farmers. Through him we will educate/motivate other farmers about to consider and follow the climate alert message information as valuable as mass media."
Alley Farming in Thailand
(2010) Ogunlana, Elizabeth Adebola; Noomhorm, Athapol; Silakul, Teerapol
"Poverty alleviation and environmental preservation are very important issues to many governments. Alley farming is beneficial to the environment because it conserves soil and sustains yields over time. Specifically, alley farming reduces soil erosion, which is a major problem in Thailand. Alley farming was conducted on a farmer’s field at Khaokwan Thong, a village in Uthaithani Province, Northern Thailand. We did a two-by-two factorial with and without alley farming, and with and without fertilizer. From this study, we observed that the two species used, Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia auriculiformis, grow well in Thailand, and that alley farming is suitable for Thailand. Few Thai farmers have heard about alley farming. However, it is nevertheless useful to know that there is potential for alley farming in Thailand using the two species. These plants, based upon the diameter and height measurements provided, grew well."
Analysis of Profitability and Risk in New Agriculture Using Dynamic Non-Linear Programming Model
(2010) Sharma, Rakesh Kumar; Sankhayan, Prem Lall; Singh, Ranveer
"Cropping pattern in the Himalayan region of India has undergone a significant change in the recent past. Introduction of horticultural crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers has led to more intensive agriculture. Such a change, resulting in higher incomes and improvements of the overall living conditions has, however, been accompanied with increased income risk. This emphasizes the need for proper analysis of the cropping pattern, at an appropriate scale, such as a micro watershed. This was achieved by constructing a dynamic non-linear programming model incorporating appropriate objective function, constraints and crop and livestock activity budgets along with risk component present in the gross returns. The model was then solved under alternate policy scenarios by using General Algebraic Modeling Systems (GAMS) for the next 20 years. The optimum cropping plans were then compared with each other and with the existing plan. Tomato and carnation are the preferred crops, if the sole objective is profit maximization. Optimum plan with risk consideration was also assessed by fixing the variance in gross returns at the current level. It reduced the area under tomato in rainy season by growing capsicum and beans. Similarly, peas replaced tomato in winter season and chrysanthemum replaced carnation. By comparing it with the existing plan, it can be inferred that the people are more concerned to risk than the profits. The profits and risks from floriculture are relatively very high as compared to other crops. By removing constraints in credit availability, irrigation facilities, transportation and market yards, large scale production of vegetables and flowers can help in raising the income level."
Analysis of Surface Soil Moisture Patterns in Agricultural Landscapes Using Empirical Orthogonal Functions
(2009) Korres, W.; Koyama, C. N.; Fiener, P.; Schneider, K.
"Soil moisture is one of the fundamental variables in hydrology, meteorology and agriculture. Nevertheless, its spatio-temporal patterns in agriculturally used landscapes affected by multiple natural (rainfall, soil, topography etc.) and agronomic (fertilisation, soil management etc.) factors are often not well known. The aim of this study is to determine the dominant factors governing the spatio-temporal patterns of surface soil moisture in a grassland and an arable land test site within the Rur catchment in Western Germany. Surface soil moisture (0–6 cm) has been measured in an approx. 50×50 m grid at 14 and 17 dates (May 2007 to November 2008) in both test sites. To analyse spatio-temporal patterns of surface soil moisture, an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis was applied and the results were correlated with parameters derived from topography, soil, vegetation and land management to connect the pattern to related factors and processes. For the grassland test site, the analysis results in one significant spatial structure (first EOF), which explains about 57.5% of the spatial variability connected to soil properties and topography. The weight of the first spatial EOF is stronger on wet days. The highest temporal variability can be found in locations with a high percentage of soil organic carbon (SOC). For the arable land test site, the analysis yields two significant spatial structures, the first EOF, explaining 38.4% of the spatial variability, shows a highly significant correlation to soil properties, namely soil texture. The second EOF, explaining 28.3% of the spatial variability, is connected to differences in land management. The soil moisture in the arable land test site varies more during dry and wet periods on locations with low porosity."
Analysis of Virtual Water Flows Associated With the Trade of Maize in the SADC Region: Importance of Scale
(2009) Dabrowski, J. M.; Masekoameng, E.; Ashton, P. J.
"The concept of virtual water encourages a country to view agricultural crops in terms of the amount of water required to produce those crops, with a view to implementing trading policies that promote the saving of scarce water resources. Recently, increased attention has focussed on partitioning the virtual water content of crops into green and blue water (derived from rainfall and irrigation, respectively) as the latter has higher opportunity costs associated with its use and therefore impacts directly on scarcity. Maize is the most important crop traded within the SADC region. South Africa is the largest producer and exporter of maize, with the majority of its exports destined for other SADC countries. In comparison to other SADC countries, South Africa produces maize relatively efficiently, with a low virtual water content and a high green (868 m3 t−1 ) to blue (117 m3 t−1 ) water ratio. The blue water content is however higher than for maize produced in all other SADC countries, with the exception of Namibia (211 m3 t−1 ). Current trade patterns therefore result in a net expenditure of blue water (66×106 m3 ), almost all of which is exported by South Africa (65×106 m3 ). South Africa is one of the most water scarce countries in the region and analysis of virtual water flows indicates that current SADC maize trading patterns are influenced by national productivity as opposed to water scarcity. The virtual water content of maize was estimated for each of South Africa’s nineteen Water Management Area’s (WMA) and used as a proxy to represent water use efficiency for maize production. The virtual water content varied widely across all of the WMAs, ranging from 360 m3 t−1 in the Ustutu Mhlatuze to 1000 m3 t−1 in the Limpopo. A comparison of the virtual water content and production of maize (expressed as a percentage of the total national production) identified those WMAs where maize production is highly water inefficient(e.g. Lower Orange and Limpopo WMAs). Results suggest that, while a national estimate of the virtual water content of a crop may indicate a relatively efficient use of water, an analysis of the virtual water content at smaller scales can reveal inefficient use of water for the same crop. Therefore, analysis of the virtual water content of crops and trading of agricultural products at different spatial scales (i.e. regional, national and WMA) could be an important consideration within the context of water allocation, water use efficiency and alleviation of water scarcity."
Application of Vegetation Indices for Agricultural Crop Yield Prediction Using Neural Network Techniques
(2010) Panda, Sudhanshu Sekhar; Ames, Daniel P.; Panigrahi, Suranjan
"Spatial variability in a crop field creates a need for precision agriculture. Economical and rapid means of identifying spatial variability is obtained through the use of geotechnology (remotely sensed images of the crop field, image processing, GIS modeling approach, and GPS usage) and data mining techniques for model development. Higher-end image processing techniques are followed to establish more precision. The goal of this paper was to investigate the strength of key spectral vegetation indices for agricultural crop yield prediction using neural network techniques. Four widely used spectral indices were investigated in a study of irrigated corn crop yields in the Oakes Irrigation Test Area research site of North Dakota, USA. These indices were: (a) red and near-infrared (NIR) based normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), (b) green and NIR based green vegetation index (GVI), (c) red and NIR based soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), and (d) red and NIR based perpendicular vegetation index (PVI). These four indices were investigated for corn yield during 3 years (1998, 1999, and 2001) and for the pooled data of these 3 years. Initially, Back-propagation Neural Network (BPNN) models were developed, including 16 models (4 indices * 4 years including the data from the pooled years) to test for the efficiency determination of those four vegetation indices in corn crop yield prediction. The corn yield was best predicted using BPNN models that used the means and standard deviations of PVI grid images. In all three years, it provided higher prediction accuracies, coefficient of determination (r2), and lower standard error of prediction than the models involving GVI, NDVI, and SAVI image information. The GVI, NDVI, and SAVI models for all three years provided average testing prediction accuracies of 24.26% to 94.85%, 19.36% to 95.04%, and 19.24% to 95.04%, respectively while the PVI models for all three years provided average testing prediction accuracies of 83.50% to 96.04%. The PVI pool model provided better average testing prediction accuracy of 94% with respect to other vegetation models, for which it ranged from 89–93%. Similarly, the PVI pool model provided coefficient of determination (r2) value of 0.45 as compared to 0.31–0.37 for other index models. Log10 data transformation technique was used to enhance the prediction ability of the PVI models of years 1998, 1999, and 2001 as it was chosen as the preferred index. Another model (Transformed PVI (Pool)) was developed using the log10 transformed PVI image information to show its global application. The transformed PVI models provided average corn yield prediction accuracies of 90%, 97%, and 98% for years 1998, 1999, and 2001, respectively. The pool PVI transformed model provided as average testing accuracy of 93% along with r2 value of 0.72 and standard error of prediction of 0.05 t/ha."
Aquaculture vis-a-vis Agriculture
(2000) Khan, S. A.; Lyla, P.; Veerappan, N.; Rajagopal, S.
"The effect of aquaculture, especially shrimp farming, on agriculture has caused heated debate among aquaculturists, agriculturists, and non-governmental organizations. As data on the negative impact of shrimp farming on adjacent rice fields are not available, a study was undertaken in rice fields skirting three shrimp farms: a semi-intensive farm; an extensive farm; and a semi-intensive farm with a buffer zone. The buffer zone was found to be helpful in preventing salinization of the adjacent agricultural fields and the Electrical Conductivity (EC) values (less than 1) reported were found to be harmless to the rice crop. Thus, aquaculture and agriculture can coexist in coastal areas if there are buffer zones in between."
Are Local People Conservationists? Analysis of Transition Dynamics from Agroforests to Monoculture Plantations in Indonesia
(2010) Feintrenie, Laurène; Schwarze, Stefan; Levang, Patrice
"Cash crops are developing in the once forested areas of Indonesia in parallel with market and economic improvements. Perennial crops such as coffee, cocoa, and rubber were first planted in estates by private or public companies. Local people then integrated these crops into their farming systems, often through the planting of agroforests, that is, intercropping the new cash crop with upland rice and food crops. The crop was generally mixed with fruit trees, timber, and other useful plants. A geographic specialization occurred, driven by biophysical constraints and market opportunities, with expansion of cocoa in Sulawesi, coffee in Lampung, and natural rubber in eastern Sumatra. However, during the past three decades, these agroforests have increasingly been converted into more productive monoculture plantations. A common trajectory can be observed in agricultural landscapes dominated by a perennial cash crop: from ladang to agroforests, and then to monoculture plantations. This process combines agricultural expansion at the expense of natural forests and specialization of the land cover at the expense of biodiversity and wildlife habitats. We determined the main drivers of agricultural expansion and intensification in three regions of Indonesia based on perception surveys and land use profitability analysis. When the national and international contexts clearly influence farmers’ decisions, local people appear very responsive to economic opportunities. They do not hesitate to change their livelihood system if it can increase their income. Their cultural or sentimental attachment to the forest is not sufficient to prevent forest conversion."
Asian Summer Monsoon and its Associated Rainfall Variability in Thailand
(2010) Limsakul, Atsamon; Limjirakan, Sangchan; Suttamanuswong, Boonchob
"The Asian monsoon is an important component of the Earth’s climate. Its associated rainfall variability is a crucial factor for Thailand’s socio-economic development, water resources and agricultural management. An analysis shows that the Thailand rainfall annual cycle is in phase with the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the western North Pacific summer monsoon (WNPSM). On the basis of the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis, the dominant spatial-temporal interannual variability in summer monsoon rainfall (Jun.–Sep.) during 1975-2006 could be explained by the first two EOF modes, accounting for 34% of the total variance. The EOF1 was spatially dominated by strong positive signals in the central and east, whereas the EOF2 exhibited dipole variability. The coefficient time series of EOF1 significantly correlated positively with ISM index, but negatively with WNPSM index. The results suggest that summer monsoon rainfall in Thailand is higher (lower) than normal during the strengthening (weakening) of ISM. In contrast, rainfall in the north-east (central) is surplus (deficit) during the strengthening (weakening) of WNPSM. These findings imply that, on an interannual time scale, ISM and WNPSM exert their influence to a different extent on summer monsoon rainfall in Thailand. A clear picture of linking mechanisms and interactions with another climate mode in the Indo-Pacific sector needs to be understood. This knowledge is essential for effectively adapting to climate-related hazards and rainfall extremes and for better management of water resource and agriculture in Thailand, especially under current/future warming conditions."
Assessing Current and Potential Rainfed Maize Suitability Under Climate Change Scenarios in México
(2010) Monterroso Rivas, A. I.; Alvarez, C. Conde; Dorantes, G. Rosales; Gomez Diaz, J. D.; Garcia, C. Gay
"We conducted an assessment on the capacity to grow maize under rainfed conditions as well as under simulations of climate change scenarios in México. The selected method took into account the most limiting factor from different variables that maize requires to grow. These factors were compared, resulting in potential areas for maize distribution, classified in four different suitability levels: suitable, moderately suitable, limited suitability and not suitable. The emissions scenarios of climate change selected were A2 and B2 by 2050, including the GFDL-CM2.0, UKHADGEM1 and ECHAM5/MPI models. The results indicated that in base scenario, 63.1% of the national surface presents some degree of maize growing suitability. Specifically, 6.2% of the national surface indicated suitable conditions, while 25.1 and 31.6% had moderated and limited conditions, respectively. According to the climate change models, we were able to determine the full suitability level is also the most vulnerable one and as a consequence, this will also be the most aggravated one by decreasing its surface 3% according with UKHadley B2 and up to 4.3% in accordance with ECHAM5/MPI A2. This will make the limited suitability classification the one with the largest national territory, as much as 33.4%, according to ECHAM5/MPI A2 and up to 43.8% reflected by the GFDL-CM2.0 A2 model. The ECHAM5/MPI model indicates the most adverse conditions for maize growth, while GFDL model represents the less aggravating. All this clearly reflects that the natural conditions given for maize growing will become more restrictive, making it critical to implement environmental adapting measures."
Assessing the Impact of Integrated Natural Resource Management: Challenges and Experiences
(2002) Gottret, Maria Veronica; White, Douglas C.
"Assessing the impact of integrated natural resource management (INRM) research poses a challenge to scientists. The complexity of INRM interventions requires a more holistic approach to impact assessment, beyond the plot and farm levels and beyond traditional analysis of economic returns. Impact assessment for INRM combines the traditional 'what' and 'where' factors of economic and environmental priorities with newer 'who' and 'how' aspects of social actors and institutions. This paper presents an analytical framework and methodology for assessing the impact of INRM. A key feature of the proposed methodology is that it starts with a detailed planning process that develops a well-defined, shared, and holistic strategy to achieve development impact. This methodology, which is known as the 'paths of development impact' methodology, includes the mapping of research outputs, intermediate outcomes, and development impacts. A central challenge is to find a balance between the use of generalizable measures that facilitate cross-site comparison and slower participatory process methods that empower local stakeholders. Sufficient funding for impact assessment and distinct stakeholder interests are also challenges. Two hillside sites in Central America and one forest margin site in Peru serve as case studies."
An Assessment of Tree Plantation Activity Among Smallholders in the District of Ranau, Sabah
(2010) Lintangah, Walter; Russel Mojiol, Andy; Kodoh, Julius; Solimun, Majhinus
"The study was conducted to assess the tree plantation activity among smallholders in the District of Ranau,Sabah. There were six range areas involved, namely Kundasang, Randagong, Nalapak, Lohan-Bongkud, Timbua and Perancangan. The objectives of the study have been to identify the type of tree species planted, the distribution of tree plantation areas, the planting practiced, and the perception of small holders towards tree plantation activity. Data were gathered by direct observation, interviews, questionnaire, as well as secondary data, which were collected from related agencies such as the Agricultural Department and the Rubber Industrial Board in Ranau. There were 47 observations of plantation areas recorded, and the farmers involved were interviewed. The study has identified that Hevea brasiliensis and Durio zibethinus of the agriculture crops' tree were the most types planted by the small holders. Species planted under the category of other selected plantation trees were Acacia sp. (40 %), Tectona grandis (29 %), Pinus sp. (18 %), Azadirachta excels, Neolamarckia cadamba, Octomeles sumatrana and Eucalyptus sp.(13 %). The species of Acacia sp., Tectona grandis, Octomeles sumatrana and Eucalyptus sp. were found at Randagong, Lohan-Bongkud, Timbua and Perancangan while Pinus sp. was mainly found at Kundasang. Azadirachta excelsa, Neolamarckia cadamba and Octomeles sumatrana were only found at Timbua, Lohan and Nalapak. The study has also revealed that the tree plantations among the small holders in Ranau were influenced by land areas owned by the farmer, and the willingness to wait for the long term outcome of the investment. Integrated planting among trees and various crops was applied in order to maximize the usage of the available land. The tree plantation under the category of agriculture crops was mainly for the purpose of economic income, while other selected plantation trees were cultivated for landscaping, long term investment and also for soil protection."
Balancing Ecosystem Services and Disservices: Smallholder Farmers’ Use and Management of Forest and Trees in an Agricultural Landscape in Southwestern Ethiopia
(2014) Ango, Tola Gemechu; Börjeson, Lowe; Senbeta, Feyera; Hylander, Kristoffer
"Farmers’ practices in the management of agricultural landscapes influence biodiversity with implications for livelihoods, ecosystem service provision, and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we examined how smallholding farmers in an agriculture-forest mosaic landscape in southwestern Ethiopia manage trees and forests with regard to a few selected ecosystem services and disservices that they highlighted as 'beneficial' or 'problematic.' Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from six villages, located both near and far from forest, using participatory field mapping and semistructured interviews, tree species inventory, focus group discussions, and observation. The study showed that farmers’ management practices, i.e., the planting of trees on field boundaries amid their removal from inside arable fields, preservation of trees in semimanaged forest coffee, maintenance of patches of shade coffee fields in the agricultural landscape, and establishment of woodlots with exotic trees result in a restructuring of the forest-agriculture mosaic. In addition, the strategies farmers employed to mitigate crop damage by wild mammals such as baboons and bush pigs, e.g., migration and allocation of migrants on lands along forests, have contributed to a reduction in forest and tree cover in the agricultural landscape. Because farmers’ management practices were overall geared toward mitigating the negative impact of disservices and to augment positive services, we conclude that it is important to operationalize ecosystem processes as both services and disservices in studies related to agricultural landscapes."
Barriers and Opportunities for Sustainable Food Systems in Northeastern Kansas
(2010) Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa; Selfa, Theresa; Jank, Rhonda
"Survey responses of producers and institutional buyers in northeastern Kansas (United States) were analyzed to understand barriers and opportunities for sustainable food systems in the region where their emergence has been limited. Producers and buyers identified barriers previously noted regarding mismatches of available quantities and prices. Producers’ enthusiasm to supply locally exceeded buyers’ interest to source locally. Transportation was identified as one of the major concerns by producers, and their responses to choice tasks revealed producers’ preferences to sell locally while pricing their products to secure sales revenue and to cover their logistics expenses at least partially."
Between Arguments, Interests and Expertise: The Institutional Development of the Dutch Water Boards, 1953-Present
(2016) Mostert, Erik
"The Dutch water boards perform essential tasks for the Netherlands and generally effectively, yet they have often been called old-fashioned, ineffective and expensive. This paper describes and analyses the discussions on the water boards since 1953 in order to increase insight in the factors that influence institutional change in water management. In this period the water boards have changed a lot: their number has been reduced from 2670 to 24, they got new tasks, and more groups are now represented and contribute financially. But they have also successfully resisted proposals to abolish them or cancel the reserved seats for specific groups. Change occurred when groups with a vested interest in the water boards, such as agriculture, saw the change as strengthening the boards, and when these groups were relatively weak and could be overruled. In other cases there was continuity. One of the factors influencing the strength of these groups was their influence on public discourse via, for instance, the many advisory bodies with water board experts on them."
Biodiversidad de Semillas Comunes e Inseparables de su Comunalidad
(2022) Castro-Colina, Libertad
"La diversidad de semillas, su comunalidad (campesinos) y sus prácticas locales (milpa y ejido) son comunes que pueden ser influidos por contextos no locales (ciencia y regulación). A través de un análisis basado en los ocho principios de diseño de instituciones comunes de Elinor Ostrom, este estudio concluyó que la ciencia con perspectivas agroecológicas apoya a la sabiduría milenaria de la milpa, mientras que la ciencia con un enfoque alineado a la Revolución Verde no. Además, la mayor parte de la legislación analizada es considerada como un obstáculo para la estabilidad del común."
Biodiversity, Urban Areas, and Agriculture: Locating Priority Ecoregions for Conservation
(2003) Ricketts, Taylor; Imhoff, Marc
"Urbanization and agriculture are two of the most important threats to biodiversity worldwide. The intensities of these land-use phenomena, however, as well as levels of biodiversity itself, differ widely among regions. Thus, there is a need to develop a quick but rigorous method of identifying where high levels of human threats and biodiversity coincide. These areas are clear priorities for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we combine distribution data for eight major plant and animal taxa (comprising over 20,000 species) with remotely sensed measures of urban and agricultural land use to assess conservation priorities among 76 terrestrial ecoregions in North America. We combine the species data into overall indices of richness and endemism. We then plot each of these indices against the percent cover of urban and agricultural land in each ecoregion, resulting in four separate comparisons. For each comparison, ecoregions that fall above the 66th quantile on both axes are identified as priorities for conservation. These analyses yield four 'priority sets' of 6-16 ecoregions (8-21% of the total number) where high levels of biodiversity and human land use coincide. These ecoregions tend to be concentrated in the southeastern United States, California, and, to a lesser extent, the Atlantic coast, southern Texas, and the U.S. Midwest. Importantly, several ecoregions are members of more than one priority set and two ecoregions are members of all four sets. Across all 76 ecoregions, urban cover is positively correlated with both species richness and endemism. Conservation efforts in densely populated areas therefore may be equally important (if not more so) as preserving remote parks in relatively pristine regions."
Biophysical and Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Forest Transitions at Multiple Spatial and Temporal Scales
(2011) Yackulic, Charles B.; Fagan, Matthew; Jain, Meha; Jina, Amir; Lim, Yili; Marlier, Miriam; Muscarella, Robert; Adame, Patricia; DeFries, Ruth; Uriarte, Maria
"Forest transitions (FT) occur when socioeconomic development leads to a shift from net deforestation to reforestation; these dynamics have been observed in multiple countries across the globe, including the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Starting in the 1950s, Puerto Rico transitioned from an agrarian to a manufacturing and service economy reliant on food imports, leading to extensive reforestation. In recent years, however, net reforestation has leveled off. Here we examine the drivers of forest transition in Puerto Rico from 1977 to 2000 at two subnational, nested spatial scales (municipality and barrio) and over two time periods (1977-1991 and 1991-2000). This study builds on previous work by considering the social and biophysical factors that influence both reforestation and deforestation at multiple spatial and temporal scales. By doing so within one analysis, this study offers a comprehensive understanding of the relative importance of various social and biophysical factors for forest transitions and the scales at which they are manifest. Biophysical factors considered in these analyses included slope, soil quality, and land-cover in the surrounding landscape. We also considered per capita income, population density, and the extent of protected areas as potential factors associated with forest change. Our results show that, in the 1977-1991 period, biophysical factors that exhibit variation at municipality scales (~100 km²) were more important predictors of forest change than socioeconomic factors. In this period, forest dynamics were driven primarily by abandonment of less productive, steep agricultural land in the western, central part of the island. These factors had less predictive power at the smaller barrio scale (~10 km²) relative to the larger municipality scale during this time period. The relative importance of socioeconomic variables for deforestation, however, increased over time as development pressures on available land increased. From 1991-2000, changes in forest cover reflected influences from multiple factors, including increasing population densities, land development pressure from suburbanization, and the presence of protected areas. In contrast to the 1977-1991 period, drivers of deforestation and reforestation over this second interval were similar for the two spatial scales of analyses. Generally, our results suggest that although broader socioeconomic changes in a given region may drive the demand for land, biophysical factors ultimately mediate where development occurs. Although economic development may initially result in reforestation due to rural to urban migration and the abandonment of agricultural lands, increased economic development may lead to deforestation through increased suburbanization pressures."
Cash Income Diversification in Rural Small Holder Cassava Producing Households of Nigeria
(2008) Enete, A.A.; Achike, Anthonia I.
"The issue of poverty alleviation for the people of less developed nations of the world has currently assumed the status of a recurring decimal. This is particularly critical for sub-Saharan Africa, because, the region contains a growing share of the world’s absolute poor, with most of these found among rural farm households. High variability in crop yield and thus income variability arising from the vagaries of weather makes income diversification important for these households in order to improve their economic status. This paper, based on primary data collected as part of the Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa, identified factors that drive cash income diversification decisions among rural farm households of Nigeria. Using Heckman’s two-stage model, it separates the first discrete decision of whether or not to engage in non-crop income activities from the continuous decision of how much non-crop income is needed by the household. While the level of formal education of the household head, good market access conditions and availability of initial liquidity stimulate the first decision to start non-crop income activities, only household characteristics (also including the level of formal education of the household head) drive the extent of non-crop cash income earned by the household. These observations further underscore the need for investing in people – education, and in infrastructure – improving market access, as potent tools for economic empowerment."
A Catalyst toward Sustainability? Exploring Social Learning and Social Differentiation Approaches with the Agricultural Poor
(2014) Shaw, Alison; Kristjanson, Patti
"Emerging sustainability challenges, such as food security, livelihood development and climate change, require innovative and experimental ways of linking science, policy and practice at all scales. This requires the development of processes that integrate diverse knowledge to generate adaptive development strategies into the future. Social learning is emerging as a promising way to make these linkages. If and how social learning approaches are being applied in practice among smallholder farming families--the bulk of the worlds food producers, requires specific attention. In this paper we use a case study approach to explore social learning among the agricultural poor. Five key evaluative factors: context assessment, inclusive design and management, facilitating learning, mobilizing knowledge and assessing outcomes, are used to analyze nine projects and programs in (or affiliated with) the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). We explore three main questions: (1) in what contexts and in what ways are socially differentiated and marginalized groups enrolled in the learning process? (2) what, if any, are the additional benefits to social learning when explicitly using strategies to include socially differentiated groups? and (3) what are the benefits and trade-offs of applying these approaches for development outcomes? The findings suggest that, in the agricultural development context, social learning projects that include socially differentiated groups and create conditions for substantive two-way learning enhance the relevance and legitimacy of knowledge and governance outcomes, increasing the potential for accelerating sustainable development outcomes."
Challenges for Crop Production Research in Improving Land Use, Productivity and Sustainability
(2013) Spiertz, Huub
"The demand for food, feed, and feedstocks for bioenergy and biofactory plants will increase proportionally due to population growth, prosperity, and bioeconomic growth. Securing food supply and meeting demand for biomass will involve many biological and agro-ecological aspects such as genetic plant improvement, sustainable land use, water-saving irrigation, and integrated nutrient management as well as control of pests, diseases and weeds. It will be necessary to raise biomass production and economic yield per unit of land--not only under optimum growing conditions, but even more under conditions constrained by climate, water availability, and soil quality. Most of the advanced agronomic research by national and international research institutes is dedicated to the major food crops: maize, rice, wheat, and potato. However, research on crops grown as feedstock, for bio-energy and industrial use under conditions with biophysical constraints, is lagging behind. Global and regional assessments of the potential for growing crops are mostly based on model and explorative studies under optimum conditions, or with either water or nitrogen deficiencies. More investments in combined experimental and modeling research are needed to develop and evaluate new crops and cropping systems under a wide range of agro-ecological conditions. An integral assessment of the biophysical production capacity and the impact on resource use, biodiversity and socio-economic factors should be carried out before launching large-scale crop production systems in marginal environments."
The Changing Effects of Agro-Climate on Cereal Crop Yields during the Green Revolution in India, 1972 to 2002
(2013) Tsusaka, Takuji W.; Otsuka, Keijiro
"Conventionally, agricultural technologies associated with the Asian Green Revolution (GR) have been regarded as a resource-demanding type of technologies which achieve higher crop yields by intensive use of inputs including water, but are therefore sensitive to harsh agro-ecological conditions such as droughts. This study uniquely explores the changes over time in the impacts of climatic conditions and irrigation on cereal crop yields in India during the 31-year period from 1972 to 2002. A district-level panel data set is assembled from several sources, and the yield equations for five major crops (wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet) are estimated by combining two-way fixed effect and sample selection models. It is found that climate dependence of crop yields decreased over time, particularly at the later stage of the GR, indicating that GR technologies for these cereal crops have mitigated, rather than aggravated, the adverse effects of climatic conditions on crop yields. Moreover, it is also found that the adoption of irrigation leads not only to directly enhancing crop yields but also to alleviating the negative influences of temperature and rainfall. The results suggest that recent agricultural technologies developed in Asia can be conducive to overcoming harsh production environments in less-favored regions of the world, if proper institutions are in place."
Classification of Collaborative Management Methods
(2000) Blumenthal, Dana M.; Jannink, Jean-Luc
"Collaboration among multiple stakeholders can be crucial to the success of natural resource management. In recent years, a wide variety of methods have been developed to facilitate such collaboration. Because these methods are relatively new and come from different disciplines, little attention has been paid to drawing comparisons among them. Thus, it is very difficult for potential users to sort through the increasingly large literature regarding such methods. We suggest the use of a consistent framework for comparing collaborative management methods, and develop such a framework based on five criteria: participation, institutional analysis, simplification of the natural resource, spatial scale, and stages in the process of natural resource management. We then apply this framework to six of the more commonly cited methods: soft systems analysis, adaptive management, ecosystem management, agroecosystem analysis, rapid rural appraisal and participatory rural appraisal. Important differences among methods were found in prescriptions for stakeholder participation, institutional analysis, and simplification of complex natural resources. Despite such differences, the methods are surprisingly similar overall. All methods are applicable at the scale of a watershed. Most of the methods include techniques for understanding complex natural resources, but not complex social institutions, and most include monitoring and assessment as well as planning. Our comparisons suggest that, although much work has been done to improve collaborative management of natural resources, both in the development of collaborative methods and in related social science disciplines, the results have not been shared among disciplines. Further organization and classification of this work is therefore necessary to make it more accessible to both practitioners and students of collaborative management."
Climate Change and its Effect on Agriculture, Water Resources and Human Health Sectors in Poland
(2010) Szwed, M.; Karg, G.; Pinskwar, I.; Radziejewski, M.; Graczyk, D.; Kedziora, A.; Kundzewicz, Z. W.
"Multi-model ensemble climate projections in the ENSEMBLES Project of the EU allowed the authors to quantify selected extreme-weather indices for Poland, of importance to climate impacts on systems and sectors. Among indices were: number of days in a year with high value of the heat index; with high maximum and minimum temperatures; length of vegetation period; and number of consecutive dry days. Agricultural, hydrological, and human health indices were applied to evaluate the changing risk of weather extremes in Poland in three sectors. To achieve this, model-based simulations were compared for two time horizons, a century apart, i.e., 1961–1990 and 2061–2090. Climate changes, and in particular increases in temperature and changes in rainfall, have strong impacts on agriculture via weather extremes – droughts and heat waves. The crop yield depends particularly on water availability in the plant development phase. To estimate the changes in present and future yield of two crops important for Polish agriculture i.e., potatoes and wheat, some simple empirical models were used. For these crops, decrease of yield is projected for most of the country, with national means of yield change being: −2.175 t/ha for potatoes and –0.539 t/ha for wheat. Already now, in most of Poland, evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation during summer, hence the water storage (in surface water bodies, soil and ground) decreases."
Common and Privatized: Conditions for Wise Management of Matsutake Mushrooms in Northwest Yunnan Province, China
(2009) Yang, Xuefei; Wilkes, Andreas; Yang, Yongping; Xu, Jianchu; Geslani, Cheryl S.; Yang, Xueqing; Gao, Feng; Yang, Jiankun; Robinson, Brian
"Since Hardin’s (1968) paper on the 'Tragedy of the Commons,' property rights of commonpool resources have been a central concern for natural resource management scholars. Matsutake, a common-pool resource, is an economically important mushroom in several locations around the world. Driven by growing international demand over the last few decades, matsutake management is a relatively new practice both for local communities and government agencies. In Northwest Yunnan, China, one of the most productive areas for matsutake globally, numerous local practices and systems have emerged in the last two to three decades. In this study, we investigate the differences between management systems in eight communities and the factors associated with them. The methods used for field research included key-informant interviews, household surveys, and questionnaires. Three main management patterns were identified through use of statistical clustering based on indicators such as physical environment, resource characteristics, tenure arrangements, regulations and implementation, harvesting behavior, income, and market regulation. It was found that private access—the principal characteristic of which is the exclusive use of resources—results in more income at lower labor cost per household than either of the other openaccess management patterns. Even though under the context of ongoing Second Forest Tenure Reform in China—in which collective forest privatization is the key task—application of private-access regimes is limited because of site conditions including physical, institutional, and market environments. Commonaccess management systems have advantages in terms of managing conflict and balancing equity needs. No matter the type of access right, the key issue for wise matsutake management is institutional. Locally rooted innovative strategies should be encouraged, and institutional capacity building should be carried out to support innovations in matsutake management."
Comparative Assessment of Soil Contamination by Lead and Heavy Metals in Riparian and Agricultural Areas (Southern Québec, Canada)
(2010) Saint-Laurent, Diane; Hähni, Marlies; St-Laurent, Julien; Baril, Francis
"Soils contaminated with hydrocarbons (C10–C50), PAHS, lead and other heavy metals were recently found in the banks of two major rivers in southern Québec. Alluvial soils are contaminated over a distance of 100 kilometers. Eight sampling sites, including some located in agriculture areas (farm woodlots) have been selected to compare air pollution (aerosol fallout and rainout) and river pollution values. The concentrations detected in soil profiles for As, Cd and Pb vary between 3.01 to 37.88 mg kg−1 (As), 0.11 to 0.81 mg kg−1 (Cd) 12.32 to 149.13 mg kg−1 (Pb). These metallic elements are considered highly toxic and can harm wildlife and human health at high levels. The maximum concentration of Pb (149.13 mg kg−1) in soils of the riparian zone is twelve times higher than the average Pb concentration found in a natural state evaluated at 15.3 mg kg−1 (SD 17.5). Pb concentrations in soils of agricultural areas (woodland control sites) range between 12 and 22 mg kg−1, and given that these values are recorded in surrounding cultivated land, the issue of the quality of agricultural products (crops and forage) to feed livestock or destined for human consumption must be further addressed in detail."
Comparison of the Different Land Use on the Emission of Greenhouse Gases
(2010) Mahdipuor; Landi
"An increase in the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from the soil surface to the atmosphere has been of worldwide concern over the last several decades. Carbon dioxide is recognized as a significant contributor to global warming and climatic change, accounting for 60% of total greenhouse effect. The aim of this research was to determinate the emission of greenhouse gases from different land under agricultural uses. Four types of agricultural land farm, including wheat field, canola field, citrus garden and fallow land were selected to investigate the fate of CO2 in these fields. Gas chromatography technique and close chamber method were used to analyze soil gas samples. Total carbon losses from soil in form of greenhouse gases was 4.47, 3.72, 3.38 and 1.89 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 for wheat field, canola field, citrus garden and fallow land, respectively. Total additional carbon to soil from biomass for wheat field and canola field was 4.1 and 4.6 Mg C ha-1 yr-1, respectively. ECB (ecosystem carbon budget) = ∑ C input - ∑ C output. For wheat field and canola field ECB was -0.37 and +0.88, respectively. This indicated that in wheat field carbon was lost and in canola field carbon was sequestrated. Under citrus garden due to changes in soil organic carbon form previous year has showed that carbon was sequestrated."
Competing Claims on Natural Resources: What Role for Science?
(2008) Giller, Ken E.; Leeuwis, Cees; Andersson, Jens A.; Andriesse, Wim; Brouwer, Arie; Frost, Peter; Hebinck, Paul; Heitkonig, Ignas; Van Ittersum, Martin K.; Koning, Niek; Ruben, Ruerd; Slingerland, Maja; Udo, Henk; Veldkamp, Tom; Van De Vijver, Claudius; Van Wijk, Mark T.; Windmeijer, Peter
"Competing claims on natural resources become increasingly acute, with the poor being most vulnerable to adverse outcomes of such competition. A major challenge for science and policy is to progress from facilitating univocal use to guiding stakeholders in dealing with potentially conflicting uses of natural resources. The development of novel, more equitable, management options that reduce rural poverty is key to achieving sustainable use of natural resources and the resolution of conflicts over them. Here, we describe an interdisciplinary and interactive approach for: (i) the understanding of competing claims and stakeholder objectives; (ii) the identification of alternative resource use options, and (iii) the scientific support to negotiation processes between stakeholders. Central to the outlined approach is a shifted perspective on the role of scientific knowledge in society. Understanding scientific knowledge as entering societal arenas and as fundamentally negotiated, the role of the scientist becomes a more modest one, a contributor to ongoing negotiation processes among stakeholders. Scientists can, therefore, not merely describe and explain resource-use dynamics and competing claims, but in doing so, they should actively contribute to negotiation processes between stakeholders operating at different scales (local, national, regional, and global). Together with stakeholders, they explore alternatives that can contribute to more sustainable and equitable use of natural resources and, where possible, design new technical options and institutional arrangements."
Comprometimento, Características da Cooperativa e Desempenho Financeiro: Uma Análise em Painel com as Cooperativas Agrícolas Paulistas
(2013) Cauê Serigati, Felippe; Furquim de Azevedo, Paulo
"A importância de um elevado nível de comprometimento entre os cooperados e sua cooperativa é consenso na literatura, o que vem impulsionando a pesquisa empírica sobre o tema. Este artigo insere-se nessa corrente e avalia empiricamente os condicionantes de um maior grau de comprometimento e sua influência sobre o desempenho financeiro de uma cooperativa. Duas são suas principais contribuições: diferentemente de parte relevante da literatura, que tem por foco características dos associados, neste trabalho investiga-se a relação entre as características das cooperativas e o nível de comprometimento, o que resulta em diferentes implicações de política; no artigo faz-se uso de dados em painel não balanceado sobre as cooperativas agrícolas paulistas, o PDICOOP, base de dados ainda pouco explorada e que permite maior representatividade e menor sujeição a problemas econométricos de viés de seleção. Os resultados são consistentes com hipóteses da literatura sobre custos e benefícios da ação coletiva, estando o comprometimento positivamente correlacionado com o tamanho da cooperativa (benefícios da ação coletiva) e negativamente correlacionado com o número de cooperados e seu grau de heterogeneidade -- proxies para os custos de coordenação. A relação entre comprometimento e desempenho financeiro é, contudo, inconclusiva, devido à falta de boas variáveis instrumentais para o controle de endogeneidade."
Comunidades y Mercados: Editorial
(2004) Gijsbers, Wim
Issue entitled Gobiernos de Bienes Comunes (en Una Era de Globalizacion)
Conflict in the Landscape: The Enclosure Movement in England, 1220-1349
(2007) Dyer, Christopher
"Between 1220 and 1349 groups of people destroyed enclosure banks, hedges and fences in defense of their common rights. Many law suits were provoked by encroachments on common pastures. This reflected the importance of an enclosure movement which had its main impact in wooded, upland or wetland landscapes. It led to large areas being taken out of common use, and a growing proportion of land being controlled by individuals. The beneficiaries of enclosure included the lords of manors, but also landholders below the gentry. The opponents of the movement had some success in preserving areas of common pasture."
Conflicting Concepts: Contested Land Relations in North-Western Vietnam
(2004) Sikor, Thomas
"In villages of north-western Vietnam land allocation provided a window in which different conceptions of land relations came to light. Villagers resisted the implementation of key elements of the new land legislation, though the new law purported to extend peoples control. Their resistance manifested a fundamental disjuncture between the exclusive and territorial concept of land rights promoted in the new land law and peoples lived land relations. They refused to give up the substance of land relations that had proven useful before collectivisation, under collective agriculture and again in the initial years of decollectivisation. Peoples reactions highlight how post-socialist land reforms provoke their own forms of resistance. Villagers negotiate the reforms in conflicts over resources and authority as well as over the very concept of landed property. This article examines the nature of these conflicts, explores their linkages with socialist and post-socialist land legislation, and relates them to the larger literature on post-socialist property relations."
Considerations Regarding Investments Efficiency in Agriculture
(2010) Claudiu, Reader; Pirlogea, Corina
"In the present days, we consider that it will be very interesting and useful to do some research on the agricultural sector (distinct from the industrial and other sectors of economic activity), although the process of globalization in modern economies determine trends converged approach and integrated development of rural and urban areas. In this paper we will try do some considerations regarding the problems of agricultural production and some characteristic ways of addressing the economic efficiency of investments held within it."
Considering Structural, Individual and Social Network Explanations for Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture: An Example Drawn from Washington State Wheat Growers
(2009) Jussaume, Raymond A.; Glenna, Leland
"As acceptance of the concept of agricultural sustainability has grown, it has become increasingly recognized that notions of sustainability and how to promote it will necessarily vary depending on the commodity in question. It thus becomes important to investigate how movements towards sustainability are emerging for different commodities. The objective of our paper is to present the results of an analysis of Washington wheat producers that investigates the degree to which interest in sustainability exists amongst those farmers and whether structural factors and farmer personal characteristics are more or less significant than social network factors in explaining farmers’ views of possible sustainable methods. Our findings indicate that a measure indicating use of local social networks to gain information is associated with a higher degree of interest in new production methods aimed at improving agricultural sustainability."
The Contribution of Wildlife to Sustainable Natural Resource Utilization in Namibia: A Review
(2010) Van Schalkwyk, Diana L.; McMillin, Kenneth W.; Witthuhn, R. Corli; Hoffman, Louw C.
"Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, but well known for its richness in species and sustainable natural resource utilization. The Namibian farming sector consists mainly of extensive farming systems. Cattle production contributes 54% of the livestock sector’s production output, followed by sheep and goats (25%), hides and skins (9%), and other forms of agricultural production (12%). Namibia’s freehold farmers have obtained ownership rights over land and livestock since the early 1900s; commercial rights over wildlife and plants were given to freehold farmers in 1967 and to communal farmers in 1996. Natural resource-based production systems then overtook agricultural production systems and exceeded it by a factor of at least two. The shift from practicing conservation to sustainable utilization of natural resources contributed to the rapid growth of wildlife utilization. The wildlife industry in Namibia is currently the only animal production system that is expanding. There are in total at least two million head of different wildlife species. The broader impact of the utilization of wildlife on the economy is estimated to be around N$ 1.3 billion. Tourism, live sales and trophy hunting, cannot sustain further growth. Wildlife farming could offer better opportunities for ensuring long-term sustainability. As the game meat trade in Namibia is not formalized, harvesting wildlife to satisfy the demand for game meat in export markets is still in its infancy.Sustainable harvesting of wildlife for meat production, however, has the potential to increase earnings to the beneficiaries in the wildlife sector."
Creating an 'Undeveloped Lands Protection Act' for Farmlands, Forests, and Natural Areas
(2006) Centner, Terence J.
"The farm community and agribusiness firms have long championed right-to-farm legislation to preclude nuisance lawsuits from adversely affecting their activities and businesses. Agriculture was recognized as different from other business activities and deserving of special dispensation.The protection in many early right-to-farm laws was to cover the growing and harvesting of crops, the feeding, breeding, and management of livestock, and other agricultural and horticultural uses.Some laws sought to preserve farmland from urban sprawl.Over the subsequent decades, right-to-farm laws were amended to expand protection to business and service activities including marketing operations and processors."
Crop Sequence Influences on Sustainable Spring Wheat Production in the Northern Great Plains
(2010) Tanaka, Donald L.
"Cropping systems in American agriculture are highly successful since World War II, but have become highly specialized, standardized, and simplified to meet the demands of an industrialized food system. Minimal attention has been given to the efficient exploitation of crop diversity and the synergistic and/or antagonistic relationships of crops in crop sequences. Objectives of our research were to determine if previous crop sequences have long-term benefits and/or drawbacks on spring wheat seed yield, seed N concentration, and seed precipitation-use efficiency in the semiarid northern Great Plains, USA. Research was conducted 6 km southwest of Mandan, ND using a 10 × 10 crop matrix technique as a research tool to evaluate multiple crop sequence effects on spring wheat (triticum aestivum L.) production in 2004 and 2005. Spring wheat production risks can be mitigated when second year crop residue was dry pea (Pisium sativum L.) averaged over all first year crop residues. When compared to spring wheat as second year crop residue in the dry year of 2004, dry pea as the second year residue crop resulted in a 30% spring wheat seed yield increase. Sustainable cropping systems need to use precipitation efficiently for crop production, especially during below average precipitation years like 2004. Precipitation use efficiency average over all treatments, during the below average precipitation year was 23% greater than the above average precipitation year of 2005. Diversifying crops in cropping systems improves production efficiencies and resilience of agricultural systems."
Cropping Systems and Water Management of Different Lowland Rice Genotypes Yield, Roraima State, Brazil
(2010) Cordeiro, Antonio Carlos Centeno; Suhre, Elias; De Medeiros, Roberto Dantas; Vilarinho, Aloisio Alcantara
"This study had the objective of assessing test lines and rice cultivars, in relation to grain yield and other agronomic traits, under different cropping and irrigation management systems, in the Rio Branco lowlands, municipality of Cantá, Roraima State, Brazil. A randomized complete block design was used, with four replications. Nineteen test lines and six cultivars were assessed. Significant differences for most of the evaluated traits were observed. The highest grain yield was obtained under a cropping system with continuous flooding irrigation and row sowing (8,684 kg ha-1) and the lowest ones were obtained under cropping systems with intermittent irrigation, independently of sowing method. The control cultivars IRGA 417, BRS Jaçanã, BRS Jaburu, and Roraima presented a good performance, under different cropping systems. The test lines BRA 051250, BRA 051126, CNA 10900, BRA 051135, and CNA 110114 are promising for future cultivar releases to the local production systems."
The Cross-Scale Interplay between Social and Biophysical Context and the Vulnerability of Irrigation-dependent Societies: Archaeology’s Long-term Perspective
(2010) Nelson, Margaret C.; Kintigh, Keith; Abbott, David R.; Anderies, John M.
"What relationships can be understood between resilience and vulnerability in social-ecological systems? In particular, what vulnerabilities are exacerbated or ameliorated by different sets of social practices associated with water management? These questions have been examined primarily through the study of contemporary or recent historic cases. Archaeology extends scientific observation beyond all social memory and can thus illuminate interactions occurring over centuries or millennia. We examined trade-offs of resilience and vulnerability in the changing social, technological, and environmental contexts of three long-term, pre-Hispanic sequences in the U.S. Southwest: the Mimbres area in southwestern New Mexico (AD 650–1450), the Zuni area in northern New Mexico (AD 850–1540), and the Hohokam area in central Arizona (AD 700–1450). In all three arid landscapes, people relied on agricultural systems that depended on physical and social infrastructure that diverted adequate water to agricultural soils. However, investments in infrastructure varied across the cases, as did local environmental conditions. Zuni farming employed a variety of small-scale water control strategies, including centuries of reliance on small runoff agricultural systems; Mimbres fields were primarily watered by small-scale canals feeding floodplain fields; and the Hohokam area had the largest canal system in pre-Hispanic North America. The cases also vary in their historical trajectories: at Zuni, population and resource use remained comparatively stable over centuries, extending into the historic period; in the Mimbres and Hohokam areas, there were major demographic and environmental transformations. Comparisons across these cases thus allow an understanding of factors that promote vulnerability and influence resilience in specific contexts."
Cultural Foundations for Ecological Restoration on the White Mountain Apache Reservation
(2003) Long, Jonathan; Tecle, Aregai; Burnette, Benrita
"Myths, metaphors, and social norms that facilitate collective action and understanding of restoration dynamics serve as foundations for ecological restoration. The experience of the White Mountain Apache Tribe demonstrates how such cultural foundations can permeate and motivate ecological restoration efforts. Through interviews with tribal cultural advisors and restoration practitioners, we examined how various traditions inform their understanding of restoration processes. Creation stories reveal the time-honored importance and functions of water bodies within the landscape, while place names yield insights into their historical and present conditions. Traditional healing principles and agricultural traditions help guide modern restoration techniques. A metaphor of stability illustrates how restoration practitioners see links among ecological, social, and personal dimensions of health. These views inspire reciprocal relationships focused on caretaking of sites, learning from elders, and passing knowledge on to youths. Woven together, these cultural traditions uphold a system of adaptive management that has withstood the imposition of non-indigenous management schemes in the 20th century, and now provides hope for restoring health and productivity of ecosystems through individual and collective efforts. Although these traditions are adapted to the particular ecosystems of the Tribe, they demonstrate the value of understanding and promoting the diverse cultural foundations of restoration."
Deficit Irrigation and Split N Fertilization on Wheat and Barley Yields in a Semi-Arid Mediterranean Area
(2008) Abourached, C.G.; Yau, S.K.; Nimah, M.N.; Bashour, I.I.
"This study investigated the interactive effects of different rates of deficit irrigation and timings of N application on wheat and barley yields since there was no report on this important subject. Field experiments in strip-plot designs using sprinkler line sources were conducted for two years at a semi-arid Mediterranean site. The experiments consisted of 4 and 7 irrigation levels with 3 and 6 N treatments in 4 replicates in 2002-03 and 2003-04, respectively. In both years, there was a significant irrigation-by-N interaction on wheat grain yield but not on barley. In 2003-04, N application at stem elongation and heading produced the highest wheat grain yield at the four higher irrigation levels, but highest yield was obtained when N was applied at sowing and tillering at the two lowest irrigation levels. Nitrogen application at stem elongation and heading also gave the highest grain N content. The existence of interaction due to irrigation-by-timing of N application in wheat but not in barley could be because wheat has a higher N uptake after anthesis but lower nitrogen remobilization efficiency than barley. Results suggested that wheat farmers better apply N at stem elongation and heading for a higher yield and grain N content unless they are not irrigating or irrigate with minimum amount of water."
Deforestation Drivers in Southwest Amazonia: Comparing Smallholder Farmers in Iñapari, Peru, and Assis Brasil, Brazil
(2010) Zambrano, Angelica M. Almeyda; Broadbent, Eben N.; Schmink, Marianne; Perz, Stephen; Asner, Gregory P.
"Broad interpretation of land use and forest cover studies has been limited by the biophysical and socio-economic uniqueness of the landscapes in which they are carried out and by the multiple temporal and spatial scales of the underlying processes. We coupled a land cover change approach with a political ecology framework to interpret trends in multi-temporal remote sensing of forest cover change and socio-economic surveys with smallholders in the towns of Iñapari, Peru and Assis Brasil, Brazil in southwest Amazonia. These adjacent towns have similar biogeophysical conditions, but have undergone differing development approaches, and are both presently undergoing infrastructure development for the new Interoceanic highway. Results show that forest cover patterns observed in these two towns cannot be accounted for using single land use drivers. Rather, deforestation patterns result from interactions of national and regional policies affecting financial credit and road infrastructure, along with local processes of market integration and household resources. Based on our results we develop recommendations to minimise deforestation in the study area. Our findings are relevant for the sustainability of land use in the Amazon, in particular for regions undergoing large-scale infrastructure development projects."
Destitution Through Development : A Case Study of the Laka Laka Project in Cochabamba, Bolivia
(2010) Shriar, Avrum J.
"This study examined environmental and socioeconomic outcomes of a water project in rural Bolivia, and sought insights on how and why its planning was so flawed. The project destroyed an ancient, sustainable irrigation system, and replaced it with one that provides insufficient and diminishing quantities of water to many fewer people, appears to be causing land degradation and groundwater depletion, and has fueled conflicts. The study shows that even relatively small, NGO-led projects can generate significant negative impacts, and raises questions about the pressures on development agencies to charge ahead with projects, despite obvious potential for such impacts."
The Determinants of Firm-Level Export Intensity in New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry
(2010) Iyer, Kris
"This paper investigates the determinants of firm level export intensity in New Zealand’s agriculture and forestry over the period 2000-06. Applying a random effects model, it is uncovered that export intensity is driven by firm productivity and export market diversification. Firm size is found to have a negative effect on export intensity. Sector characteristics do not have an empirically discernible influence."
Developing Participatory Models of Watershed Management in the Sugar Creek Watershed (Ohio, USA)
(2009) Parker, Jason Shaw; Moore, Richard; Weaver, Mark
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has historically used an expert‐driven approach to water and watershed management. In an effort to create regulatory limits for pollution‐loading to streams in the USA, the USEPA is establishing limits to the daily loading of nutrients specific to each watershed, which will affect many communities in America. As a part of this process, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ranked the Sugar Creek Watershed as the second 'most‐impaired' watershed in the State of Ohio. This article addresses an alternative approach to watershed management and that emphasises a partnership of farmers and researchers,using community participation in the Sugar Creek to establish a time‐frame with goals for water quality remediation. Of interest are the collaborative efforts of a team of farmers, researchers, and agents from multiple levels of government who established this participatory, rather than expert‐driven, programme. This new approach created an innovative and adaptive model of non‐point source pollution remediation, incorporating strategies to address farmer needs and household decision making, while accounting for local and regional farm structures. In addition, this model has been adapted for point source pollution remediation that creates collaboration among local farmers and a discharge‐permitted business that involves nutrient trading."
A Different Kind of Ownership Society
(2010) Kelly, Marjorie; Ratner, Shanna
"Innovative strategies for cooperative local ownership make it possible for prosperity to be shared as well as sustainable."
'A Disgrace to A Farmer': Conservation and Agriculture on a Nature Reserve in Islay, Scotland
(2009) Whitehouse, Andrew
"This article is an investigation into contestations about the landscape of Loch Gruinart, a nature reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) on the Scottish island of Islay. Farmers argued that the low-lying areas of the reserve should have been farmed more intensively to support higher numbers of geese, which farmers disliked because they caused damage to their own grass crops. Instead, the RSPB managed the land to support wetland species through less intensive agricultural practices and by flooding fields. The article takes a symbolic approach that focuses on the ambiguity of Loch Gruinart as both a farm and nature reserve. It is argued that this enables the reserve to be used as a metaphor of relations between conservation and farming. The article demonstrates how farmers used the reserve both to situate themselves and to claim that the reserve was not a real farm. In response, RSPB staff argued for the logic of their management and advocated education and community involvement as a means to help farmers understand their aims. Such controversies, it is argued, are a consequence of conservationists’ attempts to bring non-humans into the political arena and can thus be seen as essential to the integration of conservation into Islay rather than inimical to it."
Diversity, Flexibility, and the Resilience Effect: Lessons from a Social-Ecological Case Study of Diversified Farming in the Northern Great Plains, USA
(2014) Carlisle, Liz
"Social-ecological systems are considered resilient when they are capable of recovering from externally forced shocks. Thus, whether a given system is identified as resilient depends on a number of contested definitions: what constitutes a shock, what constitutes a discrete system, and what constitutes acceptable performance. Here, I present a case study in which outcomes apparent to both the researcher and the study subjects demonstrated resilience in effect: a group of farmers in the northern Great Plains in the north-central United States realized economically sufficient production during a low rainfall year when many others in the region did not. However, the researcher's attempt to model this case as a resilient system was continually challenged by qualitative findings, suggesting that these farmers did not experience the officially decreed 'drought' year as a shock. Moreover, the social and ecological processes that produced a 'resilience effect' functioned as open systems, and were not readily bounded, even in analytical terms. This is not to suggest that resilience is not an operationalizable concept. Rather, the series of processes which produce a resilience effect may be best understood within a broad framework attentive to diversity, flexibility, and relationships at multiple scales—instead of quantitative models focused on discrete moments of disturbance and adaptation."
Do Scale Frames Matter? Scale Frame Mismatches in the Decision Making Process of a 'Mega Farm' in a Small Dutch Village
(2011) van Lieshout, Maartje; Dewulf, Art; Aarts, Noelle; Termeer, Catrien
"Scale issues are an increasingly important feature of complex sustainability issues, but they are mostly taken for granted in policy processes. However, the scale at which a problem is defined as well as the scale at which it should be solved are potentially contentious issues. The framing of a problem as a local, regional, or global problem is not without consequences and influences processes of inclusion and exclusion. Little is known about the ways actors frame scales and the effect of different scale frames on decision making processes. This paper addresses the questions that different scale frames actors use and what the implications of scale frames are for policy processes. It does so by analyzing the scale frames deployed by different actors on the establishment of a so-called new mixed company or mega farm and the related decision making process in a Dutch municipality. We find that actors deploy different and conflicting scale frames, leading to scale frame mismatches. We conclude that scale frame mismatches play an important role in the stagnation of the decision making process."
Drought, Sustainability and the Law
(2010) Alder, Robert W.
"Researchers and responsible officials have made considerable progress in recent years in efforts to anticipate, plan for, and respond to drought. Some of those efforts are beginning to shift from purely reactive, relief-oriented measures to programs designed to prevent or to mitigate drought impacts. Considerably less attention has been given to laws that may affect practices and policies that either increase or decrease drought vulnerability. Water law regimes, drought response and relief legislation, and laws governing broader but related issues of economic policy—especially agricultural policy—should be evaluated more comprehensively to enhance incentives for more 'water sustainable' practices in agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Those changes will be increasingly important if current climate change models are correct in their prediction that many parts of the world can expect more frequent and more severe conditions of meteorological drought in the ensuing decades."
The Dynamics of Social Capital in Influencing Use of Soil Management Options in the Chinyanja Triangle of Southern Africa
(2008) Njuki, Jemimah; Mapila, Mariam T.; Zingore, Shamie; Delve, Robert
"Social capital has become a critical issue in agricultural development as it plays an important role in collective action, such as, management of common resources and collective marketing. Whilst literature exists on the role of social capital in the use and adoption of improved agricultural technology, such literature is fraught with issues of the measurement of social capital beyond membership of farmers in groups. We hypothesized that different types of social capital influence the adoption of soil management options differently. This study looked at the measurement of social capital, differentiating between the main types of social capital and employed factor analysis to aggregate indicators of social capital into bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. Using logit analysis, the role of these types of capitals on influencing use of different soil management options was analyzed. The study found that bonding, bridging, and linking social capital all influence the adoption and use of different soil management options differently, a trend that might be similar for other agricultural technologies as well. The study recommends more research investments in understanding the differentiated outcomes of these forms of social capital on use and adoption of technologies to further guide agricultural interventions."
Economic Benefits of Sustainable Agricultural Production: The Case of Integrated Pest Management in Cabbage Production
(2010) Shamsudin, Mad Nasir; Amir, Hairuddin Mohd; Radam, Alias
"Environmental protection is a basic element of sustainable agricultural development. Agricultural production practices,however, can cause negative externalities. One main concern of the externality is the negative effects of pesticide use. This has motivated the application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. This study attempts to evaluate the economic benefits of IPM to address the widespread misuse of pesticides in cabbage production. IPM application in cabbage production includes initiatives on the optimal use of pesticides, complementary weed control strategies, and alternative cultural and biological controls. Results of this study showed that the programme would generate economic benefits which include improvements in water quality, food safety, pesticide application safety, and long term sustainability of pest management systems. Thus there is justification for public investment of resources in training and educational programs to increase awareness about IPM and promote IPM adoption."
Economic Development and the Need for Environmental Management in the Island of Mauritius
(2002) Sobhee, Sanjeev K.
"The economy of Mauritius has already shown signs of environmental stress in resources pertaining to water, the fisheries and forestry. This paper essentially identifies key socio-economic areas, which could possibly account for environmental degradation and subsequently the depletion of natural resources. Such areas warrant careful attention and investigation since they largely determine the sustainability of future exploitation of natural resources and economic growth. We address the issue linking economic development with environmental stress by analysing exclusively, the business community, the household sector and the government, which are all stakeholders in the exploitation of the island’s resources. In fact, it is found that there are several areas, which will require significant government intervention and collaboration of the private sector to harmonize the prudent utilization of resources while making a better Mauritius."
Economic Estimation of Realization of Technical Potential of the Oryol Region Agriculture
(2012) Lisjutchenko, N.; Polukhin, A.
"In the scientific literature often there is an opinion on sharp decrease in technical potential of agriculture. At the same time the market offers technics with qualitative characteristics, is considerable different from technics of the previous generation. In the present article the analysis of technical equipment of agriculture of the Oryol region is presented. Authors spend an estimation of tendencies of updating of park of agricultural machinery, its age structure is analysed. Competitive advantages of various kinds of technics are considered. The economic estimation of realisation of technical potential of agriculture of the Oryol region is given."

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