978-1-60805-699-6
978-1-60805-263-9
Page: i-i (1) Author: Trevor Young DOI: 10.2174/97816080526391120301000i
Page: ii-iii (2) Author: Anthony N. Rezitis DOI: 10.2174/9781608052639112030100ii
Page: iv-vi (3) Author: Anthony N. Rezitis DOI: 10.2174/9781608052639112030100iv
Full text available.
Page: 3-11 (9) Author: Atsalakis S. George, Parasyri G. Maria and Zopounidis D. Constantinos DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010003 PDF Price: $15
Many fields are increasingly applying Neuro-fuzzy techniques such as in model identification and forecasting of linear and non-linear systems. This chapter presents a neuro-fuzzy model for forecasting milk production of two producers. The model utilizes a time series of daily data. The milk forecasting model is based on Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). ANFIS uses a hybrid learning technique that combines the least-squares method and the back propagation gradient descent method to estimate the optimal milk forecast parameters. The results indicate the superiority of ANFIS model when compared with two conventional models: an Autoregressive (AR) and an Autoregressive Moving Average model (ARMA).
Page: 12-22 (11) Author: Davide Viaggi and Giacomo Zanni DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010012 PDF Price: $15
The economics of contracts has undergone major developments in the recent decades. At the same time, the issue of co-ordination among actors in the same product chain through contractual instruments has attracted significant attention. In addition, the recent volatility of agricultural prices has made the role of contracts in risk allocation more important across different stages of the production chain. The paper explores the role of production contracts in the co-ordination of agri-food chain, considering evidence from the particular case of the durum wheat chain in Italy. After a review of the literature and brief examination of the sector and institutional context of Italian wheat production, the paper considers the present and potential role of production contracts, through a Delphi exercise. Based on this, proposals for action priorities (policy) are discussed along with an agenda for future research. The outcome of the Delphi exercise confirms the perceived need of improving the use of contracts in the Italian wheat sector. It also confirms the difficulties in addressing this issue. Solutions and needs for further research are identified at two main levels: a) detailed contract design; and b) wider chain governance.
Page: 23-46 (24) Author: Anthony N. Rezitis, Kostas Tsiboukas and Stavros Tsoukalas DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010023 PDF Price: $15
This study examines technical efficiency and productivity growth of Greek farms participating in the 1994 European Union Farm Credit Programs (1994-EU-FCP), i.e. regulation 2328/91. In this paper, two farm-level economic data sets are used, i.e. the crop and the livestock data set, where each one consists of two different groups of farms: one group contains farms participating in the 1994-EU-FCP while the other one contains non-participating farms. The data sets are observed over the 1993 and 1997 years. The paper uses the approach developed by Simar and Wilson (1998a, b) to bootstrapping both DEA efficiency measures and Malmquist productivity indices. Furthermore, the present paper uses the Malmquist index decomposition proposed by Simar and Wilson (1998b) and Zofio and Lovell (1997) to investigate the sources of productivity change. The technical efficiency score results indicate that, in terms of the crop oriented farms, the program failed to increase the efficiency of the participated farms even though the most efficient farms entered the 1994-EU-FCP. In contrast, in terms of the livestock oriented farms, the program managed to increase the efficiency of the participated farms though less efficient farms entered the program. The total factor productivity growth results, in terms of crop-oriented farms, show statistically significant decline of productivity for the group of program farms but a statistically significant increase for the group of non-program farms. The total factor productivity growth results, in terms of livestock oriented farms, show a statistically significant increase of productivity for the group of program farms but no change for the group of non-program farms.
Page: 47-56 (10) Author: Melania Salazar-Ordóñez and Gabriel Pérez-Alcalá DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010047 PDF Price: $15
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has been highly political and social controversy, within the EU as well as at international level. However, the reforms on the institutional structure have not been frequently analysed. This paper, based on the Institutional Innovation Theory, examines the role of different exogenous and endogenous factors which have been boosted or slowed down, the five CAP reforms. According to these factors we analyse three key issues in the EU general political system, two topics in the EU domestic-economic system and the external pressures. Later, these factors are considered on a theoretical approach applying investment theory and expected utility maximization by means of the net present value model and dependency relations. The main results show that role played by the EU institutional structure is fundamental as a limited factor, and the external pressures and citizen’s acceptance of this policy are an important boost factor.
Page: 57-69 (13) Author: Isabelle Piot-Lepetit DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010057 PDF Price: $15
The aim of this paper is firstly to show how the measures introduced by the European regulation on manure management are incorporated into the theoretical analysis framework for studying the issue of nonpoint externality and especially, agricultural runoff. The model is extended because only some of the polluting emissions at the origin of diffuse pollution are regulated by the Nitrates Directive. More specifically, the model represents the standard that limits the spreading of organic manure to 170 kg/ha as a production right assigned to each farm. Secondly, this paper proposes an empirical model in which the theoretical assumption that productive abilities are fully exploited is relaxed. In order to describe the disparity that exists between individual situations, an empirical model represents the production technology by means of a directional distance function. Finally, the aggregation properties of the directional distance function are used to simulate the practice of looking for off-farm lands as a means of complying with the standard. We look at how land can be allocated among producers in such a way as to combine the disposal of manure in accordance with the limit of the Nitrates Directive with an improvement in the productive and environmental efficiency of all farms. Using a sample of French pig farms, results indicate only a low potential for a reduction in nitrogen pollution based on the reduction in productive inefficiencies and the allocation of spreading lands among farmers in a same area.
Page: 70-93 (24) Author: Rita Robles and Luigi Vannini DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010070 PDF Price: $15
Over the last few years, a number of events have produced deep change in Spanish agriculture. The agreements ensuring from the negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO), the new exigencies of the demand for reducing the surpluses of certain food and feed crops (cereals, oil-seeds, sugar beet…) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) expenses, the reform of CAP and the different Common Markets Organizations (CMO’s), along with the vocation to produce (greatly influenced by geo-climatic factors), have led to a deep and long-lasting crisis of the sector in many important agricultural regions in Spain, as is the case in Castile and Leon. This crisis implies depopulation and alteration of the population structure and the rural environment, with subsequent environmental, socio-cultural and territorial consequences. Within this framework, energy crops are one of the scarce local productive orientations which could allow Castile and Leon farmers to produce an output demanded by the markets. This paper examines the current situation and the possibilities of development for this sector, using the Rural Rapid Appraisal (RRA) and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) methods, in order to identify and assess the profitability of the main energy crops as well as the technical, socio-cultural, political and economic barriers for introducing these crops in the local productive farming sector. The study also provides an evaluation of the last energy and CAP measures and an outlook for future market developments and policy recommendations.
Page: 94-129 (36) Author: Hrabrin Bachev DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010094 PDF Price: $15
This paper incorporates interdisciplinary New Institutional and Transaction Costs Economics and analyzes the governance of agro-ecosystem services in Bulgaria. Firstly, it presents a comprehensive framework of analyses of environmental governance including: definition of agroecosystem services and governance; specification of governance needs and spectrum of governing modes (formal and informal institutions, market, private, public and hybrid forms); assessment of efficiency of different modes of governance in terms of their potential to protect diverse eco-rights and investments, assure a socially desirable level of agro-ecosystem services, minimize overall costs, coordinate and stimulate eco-activities, meet individual and social preferences and reconcile conflicts of related agents etc. Secondly, it identifies and assesses the governance of agro-ecosystem services in Bulgaria. It proves that post-communist transition and EU integration brought about significant changes in the state and the governance of agro-ecosystems services. Newly evolved market, private and public governance has led to a significant improvement of the part of agro-ecosystems services introducing modern eco-standards and public support, enhancing environmental stewardship, disintensifying production, recovering landscape and traditional productions, diversifying quality, products and services. At the same time, the novel governance is associated with new challenges such as unsustainable exploitation, lost biodiversity, land degradation, water and air contamination etc. Moreover, it demonstrates that implementation of the EU common policies would have no desired impact on agro-ecosystem services unless special measures are taken to improve management of public programs, extend public support to dominating small-scale and subsistence farms.
Page: 130-144 (15) Author: Joshua Anyangah DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010130 PDF Price: $15
When included as part of a larger emissions rights trading system, carbon offset projects can automatically achieve a given reduction of emissions in a cost-effective manner. One major concern with this system, however, is the risk of emissions reversal-the deliberate or accidental release of carbon back to the atmosphere long after carbon credits have changed hands. This downside risk may adversely affect the market value of offset credits and undermine the integrity of the carbon trading system. To address this weakness, at least two financial responsibility rules have been proposed. One calls for the imposition of liability, ex post, upon project developers. The other alternative, an ex ante measure, requires that project developers have adequate liability insurance coverage prior to undertaking any offset projects. Taking the view that project developers can control the severity of financial losses arising from reversal and assuming a negligence rule of liability for harm, this paper employs the methods of mechanism design to examine the impact of ex-post liability rules and ex ante liability insurance requirements on incentives to reduce risk. We find that the relative ranking of these two rules crucially depends on the extent of uncertainty regarding the legal standard under liability rules: if uncertainty regarding the legal standard is sufficiently large, then incentives are more pronounced under insurance rules than under liability rules; if the uncertainty regarding the legal standard is sufficiently small, however, then the converse is true.
Page: 145-155 (11) Author: Phoebe Koundouri, Yiannis Kountouris and Mavra Stithou DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010145 PDF Price: $15
This paper presents the results of a Choice Experiment (CE) conducted to estimate the values derived from a highway construction project in Greece. To account for preference heterogeneity conditional logit with interactions and random parameter logit models are estimated. The results indicate that individuals have significant values for travel time savings, percentage decrease in traffic accidents, percentage decrease in traffic related emissions and landscape modifications. Models where the attributes are interacted with socioeconomic variables perform better and produce lower welfare estimates compared to models without interactions with important implications for cost benefit analysis.
Page: 156-157 (2) Author: Anthony N. Rezitis DOI: 10.2174/978160805263911203010156
The aim of this e-book series is to publish high quality economic research in agricultural and applied economics. It particularly fosters quantitative studies which make original contribution on important economic issues, the results of which help to understand and solve real economic problems. This volume contains research papers focusing on the areas of agricultural policy, agricultural price volatility, agricultural finance and cooperatives, consumption economics, firm production and organization, human capital convergence, international economics and multinational business, investment decisions in organic agriculture, market structure and industry studies. The research papers of this volume make use of recent methodological approaches and provide conclusions which are useful to both private sector participants and policy-makers.
Current Pharmacogenomics
Current Signal Transduction Therapy
Recent Patents on Biotechnology
Recent Advances in Food, Nutrition & Agriculture
Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine
Current Enzyme Inhibition
Current Gene Therapy
Current Genomics
Current Molecular Medicine
Industrial Applications of Soil Microbes
Biomarkers in Medicine
Biopolymers Towards Green and Sustainable Development
Algal Biotechnology for Fuel Applications
The Wax Moth: A Problem or a Solution?
Taurine and the Mitochondrion: Applications in the Pharmacotherapy of Human Diseases
An Introduction to Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids
Bioremediation for Environmental Pollutants
Chapter: introduction, introduction.
Charles M. Benbrook
These proceedings are based on a workshop that brought together scientists, farmer-innovators, policymakers, and interested members of the public for a progress report on sustainable agriculture research and education efforts across the United States. The workshop, which was held on April 3 and 4, 1990, in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the Office of Science and Education of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Board on Agriculture of the National Research Council. The encouraging new science discussed there should convince nearly everyone of two facts.
First, the natural resource, economic, and food safety problems facing U.S. agriculture are diverse, dynamic, and often complex. Second, a common set of biological and ecological principles—when systematically embodied in cropping and livestock management systems—can bring improved economic and environmental performance within the reach of innovative farmers. Some people contend that this result is not a realistic expectation for U.S. agriculture. The evidence presented here does not support such a pessimistic assessment.
The report of the Board on Agriculture entitled Alternative Agriculture (National Research Council, 1989a) challenged everyone to rethink key components of conventional wisdom and contemporary scientific dogma. That report has provided encouragement and direction to those individuals and organizations striving toward more sustainable production systems, and it has provoked skeptics to articulate why they feel U.S. agriculture cannot—some even say should not—seriously contemplate the need for such change. The debate has been spirited and generally constructive.
Scholars, activists, professional critics, and analysts have participated in
this debate by writing papers and books, conducting research, and offering opinions about alternative and sustainable agriculture for over 10 years. Over the past decade, many terms and concepts have come and gone. Most people—and unfortunately, many farmers—have not gone very far beyond the confusion, frustration, and occasional demagoguery that swirls around the different definitions of alternative, low-input, organic, and sustainable agriculture.
Fortunately, though, beginning in late 1989, a broad cross-section of people has grown comfortable with the term sustainable agriculture. The May 21, 1990, issue of Time magazine, in an article on sustainable agriculture entitled “It's Ugly, But It Works” includes the following passage:
[A] growing corps of experts [are] urging farmers to adopt a new approach called sustainable agriculture. Once the term was synonymous with the dreaded O word—a farm-belt euphemism for trendy organic farming that uses no synthetic chemicals. But sustainable agriculture has blossomed into an effort to curb erosion by modifying plowing techniques and to protect water supplies by minimizing, if not eliminating, artificial fertilizers and pest controls.
Concern and ridicule in farm publications and during agribusiness meetings over the philosophical roots of low-input, sustainable, or organic farming have given way to more thoughtful appraisals of the ecological and biological foundations of practical, profitable, and sustainable farming systems. While consensus clearly does not yet exist on how to “fix” agriculture's contemporary problems, a constructive dialogue is now under way among a broad cross-section of individuals, both practitioners and technicians involved in a wide variety of specialties.
This new dialogue is powerful because of the people and ideas it is connecting. Change will come slowly, however. Critical comments in some farm magazines will persist, and research and on-farm experimentation will not always lead to the hoped for insights or breakthroughs. Some systems that now appear to be sustainable will encounter unexpected production problems. Nonetheless, progress will be made.
The Board on Agriculture believes that over the next several decades significant progress can and will be made toward more profitable, resource-conserving, and environmentally prudent farming systems. Rural areas of the United States could become safer, more diverse, and aesthetically pleasing places to live. Farming could, as a result, become a more rewarding profession, both economically and through stewardship of the nation's soil and water resources. Change will be made possible; and it will be driven by new scientific knowledge, novel on-farm management tools and approaches, and economic necessity. The policy reforms adopted in the 1990 farm bill, and ongoing efforts to incorporate environmental objectives
into farm policy, may also in time make a significant difference in reshaping the economic environment in which on-farm management decisions are made.
This volume presents an array of new knowledge and insight about the functioning of agricultural systems that will provide the managerial and technological foundations for improved farming practices and systems. Examples of the research projects under way around the country are described. Through exploration of the practical experiences, recent findings, and insights of these researchers, the papers and discussions presented in this volume should demonstrate the value of field- and farm-level systems-based research that is designed and conducted with ongoing input from farmer-innovators.
Some discussion of the basic concepts that guide sustainable agriculture research and education activities may be useful. Definitions of key terms, such as sustainable agriculture, alternative agriculture, and low-input sustainable agriculture, are drawn from Alternative Agriculture and a recent paper (Benbrook and Cook, 1990).
Basic concepts.
Sustainable agriculture, which is a goal rather than a distinct set of practices, is a system of food and fiber production that
improves the underlying productivity of natural resources and cropping systems so that farmers can meet increasing levels of demand in concert with population and economic growth;
produces food that is safe, wholesome, and nutritious and that promotes human well-being;
ensures an adequate net farm income to support an acceptable standard of living for farmers while also underwriting the annual investments needed to improve progressively the productivity of soil, water, and other resources; and
complies with community norms and meets social expectations.
Other similar definitions could be cited, but there is now a general consensus regarding the essential elements of sustainable agriculture. Various definitions place differing degrees of emphasis on certain aspects, but a common set of core features is now found in nearly all definitions.
While sustainable agriculture is an inherently dynamic concept, alternative agriculture is the process of on-farm innovation that strives toward the goal of sustainable agriculture. Alternative agriculture encompasses efforts by farmers to develop more efficient production systems, as well as
efforts by researchers to explore the biological and ecological foundations of agricultural productivity.
The challenges inherent in striving toward sustainability are clearly dynamic. The production of adequate food on a sustainable basis will become more difficult if demographers are correct in their estimates that the global population will not stabilize before it reaches 11 billion or 12 billion in the middle of the twenty-first century. The sustainability challenge and what must be done to meet it range in nature from a single farm field, to the scale of an individual farm as an enterprise, to the food and fiber needs of a region or country, and finally to the world as a whole.
A comprehensive definition of sustainability must include physical, biological, and socioeconomic components. The continued viability of a farming system can be threatened by problems that arise within any one of these components. Farmers are often confronted with choices and sacrifices because of seemingly unavoidable trade-offs—an investment in a conservation system may improve soil and water quality but may sacrifice near-term economic performance. Diversification may increase the efficiency of resource use and bring within reach certain biological benefits, yet it may require additional machinery and a more stable and versatile labor supply. Indeed, agricultural researchers and those who design and administer farm policy must seek ways to alleviate seemingly unwelcome trade-offs by developing new knowledge and technology and, when warranted, new policies.
Sustainable agriculture is the production of food and fiber using a system that increases the inherent productive capacity of natural and biological resources in step with demand. At the same time, it must allow farmers to earn adequate profits, provide consumers with wholesome, safe food, and minimize adverse impacts on the environment.
As defined in our report, alternative agriculture is any system of food or fiber production that systematically pursues the following goals (National Research Council, 1989a):
more thorough incorporation of natural processes such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, and beneficial pest-predator relationships into the agricultural production process;
reduction in the use of off-farm inputs with the greatest potential to harm the environment or the health of farmers and consumers;
productive use of the biological and genetic potential of plant and animal species;
improvement in the match between cropping patterns and the productive potential and physical limitations of agricultural lands; and
profitable and efficient production with emphasis on improved farm management, prevention of animal disease, optimal integration of livestock and cropping enterprises, and conservation of soil, water, energy, and biological resources.
Conventional agriculture is the predominant farming practices, methods, and systems used in a region. Conventional agriculture varies over time and according to soil, climatic, and other environmental factors. Moreover, many conventional practices and methods are fully sustainable when pursued or applied properly and will continue to play integral roles in future farming systems.
Low-input sustainable agriculture (LISA) systems strive to achieve sustainability by incorporating biologically based practices that indirectly result in lessened reliance on purchased agrichemical inputs. The goal of LISA systems is improved profitability and environmental performance through systems that reduce pest pressure, efficiently manage nutrients, and comprehensively conserve resources.
Successful LISA systems are founded on practices that enhance the efficiency of resource use and limit pest pressures in a sustainable way. The operational goal of LISA should not, as a matter of first principles, be viewed as a reduction in the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Higher yields, lower per unit production costs, and lessened reliance on agrichemicals in intensive agricultural systems are, however, often among the positive outcomes of the successful adoption of LISA systems. But in much of the Third World an increased level of certain agrichemical and fertilizer inputs will be very helpful if not essential to achieve sustainability. For example, the phosphorous-starved pastures in the humid tropics will continue to suffer severe erosion and degradation in soil physical properties until soil fertility levels are restored and more vigorous plant growth provides protection from rain and sun.
Farmers are continuously modifying farming systems whenever opportunities arise for increasing productivity or profits. Management decisions are not made just in the context of one goal or concern but in the context of the overall performance of the farm and take into account many variables: prices, policy, available resources, climatic conditions, and implications for risk and uncertainty.
A necessary step in carrying out comparative assessments of conventional and alternative farming systems is to understand the differences between farming practices, farming methods, and farming systems. It is somewhat easier, then, to determine what a conventional practice, method, or system is and how an alternative or sustainable practice, method, or system might or should differ from a conventional one. The following definitions are drawn from the Glossary of Alternative Agriculture (National Research Council, 1989a).
A farming practice is a way of carrying out a discrete farming task such as a tillage operation, particular pesticide application technology, or single conservation practice. Most important farming operations—preparing a seedbed, controlling weeds and erosion, or maintaining soil fertility, for example—require a combination of practices, or a method. Most farming operations can be carried out by different methods, each of which can be accomplished by several unique combinations of different practices. The manner in which a practice is carried out—the speed and depth of a tillage operation, for example—can markedly alter its consequences.
A farming method is a systematic way to accomplish a specific farming objective by integrating a number of practices. A discrete method is needed for each essential farming task, such as preparing a seedbed and planting a crop, sustaining soil fertility, managing irrigation, collecting and disposing of manure, controlling pests, and preventing animal diseases.
A farming system is the overall approach used in crop or livestock production, often derived from a farmer's goals, values, knowledge, available technologies, and economic opportunities. A farming system influences, and is in turn defined by, the choice of methods and practices used to produce a crop or care for animals.
In practice, farmers are constantly adjusting cropping systems in an effort to improve a farm's performance. Changes in management practices generally lead to a complex set of results—some positive, others negative—all of which occur over different time scales.
The transition to more sustainable agriculture systems may, for many farmers, require some short-term sacrifices in economic performance in order to prepare the physical resource and biological ecosystem base needed for long-term improvement in both economic and environmental performance. As a result, some say that practices essential to progress toward sustainable agriculture are not economically viable and are unlikely to take hold on the farm (Marten, 1989). Their contention may prove correct, given current farm policies and the contemporary inclination to accept contemporary, short-term economic challenges as inviolate. Nonetheless, one question lingers: What is the alternative to sustainable agriculture?
Farmers, conservationists, consumers, and political leaders share an intense interest in the sustainability of agricultural production systems. This interest is heightened by growing recognition of the successes achieved by innovative farmers across the country who are discovering alternative agriculture practices and methods that improve a farm's economic and environmental performance. Ongoing experimental efforts on the farm, by no
means universally successful, are being subjected to rigorous scientific investigation. New insights should help farmers become even more effective stewards of natural resources and produce food that is consistently free of man-made or natural contaminants that may pose health risks.
The major challenge for U.S. agriculture in the 1990s will be to strike a balance between near-term economic performance and long-term ecological and food safety imperatives. As recommended in Alternative Agriculture (National Research Council, 1989a), public policies in the 1990s should, at a minimum, no longer penalize farmers who are committed to resource protection or those who are trying to make progress toward sustainability. Sustainability will always remain a goal to strive toward, and alternative agriculture systems will continuously evolve as a means to this end. Policy can and must play an integral role in this process.
If sustainability emerges as a principal farm and environmental policy goal, the design and assessment of agricultural policies will become more complex. Trade-offs, and hence choices, will become more explicit between near-term economic performance and enhancement of the long-term biological and physical factors that can contribute to soil and water resource productivity.
Drawing on expertise in several disciplines, policy analysts will be compelled to assess more insightfully the complex interactions that link a farm's economic, ecological, and environmental performance. It is hoped that political leaders will, as a result, recognize the importance of unraveling conflicts among policy goals and more aggressively seizing opportunities to advance the productivity and sustainability of U.S. agriculture.
A few examples may help clarify how adopting the concept of sustainability as a policy goal complicates the identification of cause-and-effect relationships and, hence, the design of remedial policies.
When a farmer is pushed toward bankruptcy by falling crop prices, a farm operation can become financially unsustainable. When crop losses mount because of pest pressure or a lack of soil nutrients, however, the farming system still becomes unsustainable financially, but for a different reason. In the former example, economic forces beyond any individual farmer's control are the clear cause; in the latter case the underlying cause is rooted in the biological management and performance of the farming system.
The biological and economic performance of a farming system can, in turn, unravel for several different reasons. Consider an example involving a particular farm that is enrolled each year in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's commodity price support programs. To maintain eligibility for government subsidies on a continuing basis, the farmer understands the importance of growing a certain minimum (base) acreage of the same crop each year. Hence, the cropping pattern on this farm is likely to lead to a
buildup in soilborne pathogens that attack plant roots and reduce yields. As a result, the farmer might resort to the use of a fumigant to control the pathogens, but the pesticide might become ineffective because of steadily worsening microbial degradation of the fumigant, or a pesticide-resistant pathogen may emerge.
A solution to these new problems might be to speed up the registration of another pesticide that could be used, or relax regulatory standards so more new products can get registered, or both. Consider another possibility. A regulatory agency may cancel use of a fumigant a farmer has been relying upon because of food safety, water quality, or concerns about it effect on wildlife. The farmer might then seek a change in grading standards or an increase in commodity prices or program benefits if alternative pesticides are more costly.
Each of these problems is distinctive when viewed in isolation and could be attacked through a number of changes in policy. The most cost-effective solution, however, will prove elusive unless the biology of the whole system is perceptively evaluated. For this reason, in the policy arena, just as on the farm, it is critical to know what the problem is that warrants intervention and what the root causes of the problem really are.
In thinking through agricultural research priorities, it should be acknowledged that the crossroads where the sciences of agriculture and ecology meet remain largely undefined, yet clearly promising. There is too little information to specify in detail the features of a truly sustainable agriculture system, yet there is enough information to recognize the merit in striving toward sustainability in a more systematic way.
The capacity of current research programs and institutions to carry out such work is suspect (see Investing in Research [National Research Council, 1989b]). It also remains uncertain whether current policies and programs that were designed in the 1930s or earlier to serve a different set of farmer needs can effectively bring about the types of changes needed to improve ecological management on the modern farm.
In the 1980s, the research community reached consensus on the diagnosis of many of agriculture's contemporary ills; it may take most of the 1990s to agree on cures, and it will take at least another decade to get them into place. Those who are eager for a quick fix or who are just impatient are bound to be chronically frustrated by the slow rate of change.
Another important caution deserves emphasis. The “silver bullet” approach to solving agricultural production problems offers little promise for providing an understanding of the ecological and biological bases of sustainable agriculture. The one-on-one syndrome seeks to discover a new
pesticide for each pest, a new plant variety when a new strain of rust evolves, or a new nitrogen management method when nitrate contamination of drinking water becomes a pressing social concern. This reductionist approach reflects the inclination in the past to focus scientific and technological attention on products and outcomes rather than processes and on overcoming symptoms rather than eliminating causes. This must be changed if research aimed at making agriculture more sustainable is to move ahead at the rate possible given the new tools available to agricultural scientists.
One area of research in particular—biotechnology—will benefit from a shift in focus toward understanding the biology and ecology underlying agricultural systems. Biotechnology research tools make possible powerful new approaches in unraveling biological interactions and other natural processes at the molecular and cellular levels, thus shedding vital new light on ecological interactions with a degree of precision previously unimagined in the biological sciences. However, rather than using these new tools to advance knowledge about the functioning of systems as a first order of priority, emphasis is increasingly placed on discovering products to solve specific production problems or elucidating the mode of action of specific products.
This is regrettable for several reasons. A chance to decipher the physiological basis of sustainable agriculture systems is being put off. The payoff from focusing on products is also likely to be disappointing. The current widespread pattern of failure and consolidation within the agricultural biotechnology industry suggests that biotechnology is not yet mature enough as a science to reliably discover, refine, and commercialize product-based technologies. Products from biotechnology are inevitable, but a necessary first step must be to generate more in-depth understanding of biological processes, cycles, and interactions.
Perhaps the greatest potential of biotechnology lies in the design and on-farm application of more efficient, stable, and profitable cropping and livestock management systems. For farmers to use such systems successfully, they will need access to a range of new information and diagnostic and analytical techniques that can be used on a real-time basis to make agronomic and animal husbandry judgments about how to optimize the efficiencies of the processes and interactions that underlie plant and animal growth.
Knowledge, in combination with both conventional and novel inputs, will be deployed much more systematically to avoid soil nutrient or animal nutrition-related limits on growth; to ensure that diseases and pests do not become serious enough to warrant the excessive use of costly or hazardous pesticides; to increase the realistically attainable annual level of energy flows independent of purchased inputs within agroecosystems; and to maximize a range of functional symbiotic relationships between soil micro-
and macrofauna, plants, and animals. Discrete goals will include pathogen-suppressive soils, enhanced rotation effects, pest suppression by populations of plant-associated microorganisms, nutrient cycling and renewal, the optimization of general resistance mechanisms in plants by cultural practices, and much more effective soil and water conservation systems that benefit from changes in the stability of soil aggregates and the capacity of soils to absorb and hold moisture.
Because of the profound changes needed to create and instill this new knowledge and skills on the farm, the recommendations in Alternative Agriculture (National Research Council, 1989a) emphasize the need to expand systems-based applied research, on-farm experimentation utilizing farmers as research collaborators, and novel extension education strategies—the very goals of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's LISA program.
Future research efforts—and not just those funded through LISA—should place a premium on the application of ecological principles in the multidisciplinary study of farming system performance. A diversity of approaches in researching and designing innovative farming systems will ensure broad-based progress, particularly if farmers are actively engaged in the research enterprise.
Benbrook, C., and J. Cook. 1990. Striving toward sustainability: A framework to guide on-farm innovation, research, and policy analysis. Speech presented at the 1990 Pacific Northwest Symposium on Sustainable Agriculture, March 2.
Marten, J. 1989. Commentary: Will low-input rotations sustain your income? Farm Journal, Dec. 6.
National Research Council. 1989a. Alternative Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
National Research Council. 1989b. Investing in Research: A Proposal to Strengthen the Agricultural, Food, and Environmental System. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Interest is growing in sustainable agriculture, which involves the use of productive and profitable farming practices that take advantage of natural biological processes to conserve resources, reduce inputs, protect the environment, and enhance public health. Continuing research is helping to demonstrate the ways that many factors—economics, biology, policy, and tradition—interact in sustainable agriculture systems.
This book contains the proceedings of a workshop on the findings of a broad range of research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The areas of study, such as integrated pest management, alternative cropping and tillage systems, and comparisons with more conventional approaches, are essential to developing and adopting profitable and sustainable farming systems.
READ FREE ONLINE
You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.
Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?
Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.
...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.
Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.
Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.
To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .
Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.
View our suggested citation for this chapter.
Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.
Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.
Supporting the agriculture and agri-tech sector in devon.
Title: Devon Agri-Tech Accelerator (DATA) Funder and duration: Community Renewal Fund (CRF), 2021-2022 Lead partner: Devon County Council Partners: University of Plymouth, Duchy College, West Devon Business Information Point University of Plymouth staff: Professor Shaofeng Liu (PI), Dr Lise Hunter (Research Lead), Ms Yve Metcalfe-Tyrrell (co-PI), Dr Jiang Pan , Mr Jake Shaw-Sutton , Dr Huilan Chen , Miss Nicki Egginton
Led by Devon County Council, the Devon Agri-Tech Accelerator (DATA) project provided research and support for regional farms and agri-tech businesses looking to make the most of future opportunities to build a sustainable farming community. DATA was funded by the UK government under The Community Renewal Fund scheme, and partners included the University of Plymouth, Duchy College and West Devon Business Information Point. The project aimed to support the booming agri-tech sector whilst at the same time mapping opportunities and current activities in Devon, and subsequently developed into a partnership that will act in the sector’s interest – the Devon Agri-Tech Alliance .
The farming sector has been facing serious challenges over the past two decades. Technology acceptance and adoption in farm businesses has been slow due to many factors, including rising costs, a declining labour force, and cheaper food imports straining operating margins... More recent events, such as the energy crisis and the rise of inflation, are forcing a re-think among agri-tech stakeholders, particularly in Devon, and bring an urgency to the need to design innovative approaches to unleash the potential of Devon farming. Devon Agri-Tech Accelerator: Sector Research and Mapping Report, 2022
The University of Plymouth team, led by Plymouth Business School in collaboration with the Sustainable Earth Institute, produced a comprehensive report based on their detailed agri-tech sector research and mapping exercise. Following a multi-perspective, multi-method approach, desk research combined with primary research in the form of surveys and in-depth interviews provided a contextual analysis of Devon agriculture, a review of emerging agricultural technologies, and data on technology adoption from the perspectives of farmers, agri-tech developers and farm business experts. Read the Sector Research and Mapping report
Findings from the report The research element of the DATA project aimed to understand the current landscape, highlight opportunities for collaboration and markets, and understand the specific gaps, barriers and challenges in adopting agricultural technologies in Devon. Our team focused on emerging technologies (rather than traditional agriculture machineries) that can change the agricultural landscape in the years ahead. Findings from the report showed that there are a wide range of emerging technologies readily available to farming, from drones, robots and satellite photography, to IoT-based networks, controlled environments and soil technology. Additionally, both farmers and agri-tech developers are largely positive about the potential benefits in all three pillars (economic, environmental and social) of using emerging technologies.
Challenges and opportunities Key challenges faced by farm businesses when adopting new technologies mostly relate to employees’ skills, knowledge and access to training. Perceived ease-of-use is another significant concern for farmers. It is hoped that these gaps can be bridged by knowledge sharing, technology demonstration, on-farm training and peer learning. Despite the challenges, our research participants saw a range of opportunities for new agri-tech, such as in sustainable farming, attracting young farmers, land management and biodiversity, and organic farming. View model (PDF)
One of the main recommendations of our work was to create an integrated knowledge sharing platform that can bring together all groups of stakeholders in the sector. The Devon Agri-Tech Alliance was created as a legacy of the DATA project and will continue to facilitate a community of research organisations, tech developers, farmers and other agricultural businesses so that those working on the ground can help shape future research and collaborate with developers to ensure that research and agri-tech solutions are practical and relevant. It also aims to facilitate collaborations and provide spaces for discussion and knowledge transfer. Find out more about the Devon Agri-Tech Alliance
Professor of operations management and decision making.
Lecturer in operations & supply chain management.
Sei project manager.
Knowledge exchange manager.
Lecturer in business strategy and operations.
Project and ke officer.
IMAGES
COMMENTS
Agriculture-Led Food Crops and Cash Crops in Tanzania. This paper aims to explore the contributions of the agriculture sector in Tanzania to the country's industrialization process by using recent data about its food and cash crops. The Impact of Pesticides' Use on Agriculture.
See our list of agriculture research paper topics. The development of agriculture—the raising of crops and animals for food—has been fundamental to the development of civilization. Farming brought about the settlement of farm communities, which grew into towns and city-states. Farming also made possible sedentary (settled) lifestyles, which ...
Explore 45 Research Project Ideas in Agriculture for Sustainable Farming. Evaluating the effectiveness of natural pest control methods in agriculture. Investigating the effects of climate change on crop yields and food security. Studying the impact of soil quality on plant growth and crop yields. Analyzing the potential of precision agriculture ...
Published: Jan 27, 2024. Inside This Article. 114 Agriculture Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. Agriculture plays a vital role in the development and sustainability of societies around the world. From crop cultivation to animal husbandry, agriculture encompasses a wide range of practices that affect our food production, environment, and economy.
The Agriculture, Energy, and Transportation Infrastructure: Main Threats. Thus, the purpose of the work is to analyze the food/agricultural, energy, and transport sectors of critical infrastructure in terms of physical, cyber, or natural disaster threats. The Impact of Acetamiprid on Agriculture.
Agriculture is the cultivation of plants, animals, and some other organisms, such as fungi, for the production of food, fibre, fuel, and medicines used by society. Inadequate information in ...
1. Introduction. Research has multiple impacts on society. In the light of the international discourse on grand societal challenges and sustainable development, the debate is reinforced about the role of research on economic growth, societal well-being, and environmental integrity ().Research impact assessment (RIA) is a key instrument to exploring this role ().
Definition. Agricultural research can be broadly defined as any research activity aimed at improving productivity and quality of crops by their genetic improvement, better plant protection, irrigation, storage methods, farm mechanization, efficient marketing, and a better management of resources (Loebenstein and Thottappilly 2007 ).
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Improve Tolerance to Water Deficit in Indian Pennywort ( Centella asiatica) by Promoting Physio-morphological and Biochemical Adaptations. Agricultural Research is a multi-disciplinary journal covering all disciplines of agricultural sciences to promote global research.
Agricultural Research is a multi-disciplinary journal covering all disciplines of agricultural sciences to promote global research. The official publication of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India. Focuses on new and emerging fields and concepts in agricultural sciences. Provides a forum for Agricultural Scientists to ...
The goal of this special edition Research Topic is to shed light on the progress made in the past decade in the agricultural economics field, and on its future challenges to provide a thorough overview of the field. This article collection will inspire, inform and provide direction and guidance to researchers in the field.
Measurements and Modelling of Methane Emissions from Agricultural Cropping Systems. This exciting journal investigates how agronomy will develop in the 21st century as we address climate change, focus on food systems and find ways to produce enough, waste less, and recycle more.
The issue of environmental sustainability comes up due to the emerging ways of farming like the great shift of the farmers to the use of organic methods of farming. The analysis of farming in the country shows that the added revenue to crop production because of the pollinators' activity is about $18 billion.
Changes in agriculture and food production are essential in a transition towards sustainable food systems. The challenge is to ensure sufficient, healthy and sustainable nutrition for the growing ...
This database collects, indexes, and electronically distributes full text copies of scholarly research in the broadly defined field of agricultural and applied economics. Content includes conference presentations, working papers, journal articles, government documents, and theses and dissertations. SciFinder-n.
Thesis Title; Smith, Effie: MS: ... Ground for Change: Assessing the Efficacy of Participatory Research and Development of Agricultural Innovations: Raboanarielina, Cara: PHD: 08/2011: Community Perspectives on Conservation, Forest Livelihoods, and Social Well-being in Zahamena National Park, Madagascar:
Recent Thesis Titles The EEFE program was approved as new Penn State degree granting program in 2017. The degree builds on prior degrees in Agricultural Environmental and Regional Economics (AEREC) offered by the College of Agricultural Sciences, and Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME Energy Policy Option) offered by the College of Earth and ...
New research on agribusiness from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including government regulation, international trade, and crop economies. Page 1 of 7 Results ... Assistant Professor Shon R. Hiatt finds unexpected influencers on the US Department of Agriculture. Key concepts include: "Regulatory capture" describes the phenomenon ...
Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture. This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Volume Title: Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture. Volume Authors/Editors: Petra Moser, editor. Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press.
Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture. This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Volume Title: Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture. Volume Authors/Editors: Petra Moser, editor. Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press.
You can search for a research project by looking for a keyword in the title, approach, objective, or all of those fields. You can also search by project number. As well, you can explore research projects by subject of investigation. You can browse international research projects by country. Or you can browse research project annual reports.
This volume contains research papers focusing on the areas of agricultural policy, agricultural price volatility, agricultural finance and cooperatives, consumption economics, firm production and organization, human capital convergence, international economics and multinational business, investment decisions in organic agriculture, market ...
This must be changed if research aimed at making agriculture more sustainable is to move ahead at the rate possible given the new tools available to agricultural scientists. One area of research in particular—biotechnology—will benefit from a shift in focus toward understanding the biology and ecology underlying agricultural systems.
Following a multi-perspective, multi-method approach, desk research combined with primary research in the form of surveys and in-depth interviews provided a contextual analysis of Devon agriculture, a review of emerging agricultural technologies, and data on technology adoption from the perspectives of farmers, agri-tech developers and farm ...
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture exists to ensure a vibrant economy, a successful future for Pennsylvania agriculture, and to safeguard the public through: Targeted investments to grow opportunities and remove barriers; Protecting human, animal, environmental, and plant health through regulatory oversight;