Designing an Algorithm to Support Optimized Crop Selection by Farmers

Agricultural land-use change is a dynamic process that varies as a function of social, economic and environmental factors spanning from the local to the global scale. The cumulative regional impacts of these factors on land use adoption decisions by farmers are neither well accounted for nor reflected in agricultural land use planning. We present an innovative spatially explicit agent-based modelling approach (Crop GIS-ABM) that accounts for factors involved in farmer decision making on new irrigation adoption to enable land-use predictions and exploration. The model was designed using a participatory approach, capturing stakeholder insights in a conceptual model of farmer decisions. We demonstrate a case study of the factors influencing the uptake of new irrigation infrastructure and land use in Tasmania, Australia. The model demonstrates how irrigated land-use expansion promotes the diffusion of alternative crops in the region, as well as how coupled social, biophysical and environmental conditions play an important role in crop selection. Our study shows that agricultural land use reflected the evolution of multiple simultaneous interacting biophysical and socio-economic drivers, including soil and climate type, crop and commodity prices, and the accumulated effects of interactive decisions of farmers.

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Accounting for interannual variability in agricultural intensification: The potential of crop selection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Agricultural Systems ◽

10.1016/j.agsy.2016.07.012 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 148 ◽

pp. 159-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

P. Bodin ◽

S. Olin ◽

T.A.M. Pugh ◽

A. Arneth

Keyword(s):

Interannual Variability ◽

Agricultural Intensification ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Crop Selection ◽

Sub Saharan

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Development of a decision support tool: preliminary analysis to improve field data collection in Kathiraveli Village, Sri Lanka

Journal of Humanitarian Engineering ◽

10.36479/jhe.v3i1.24 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tom Joseph Le Cerf

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Field Data ◽

Irrigation System ◽

Decision Support Tool ◽

Balance Model ◽

Water Tank ◽

Support Tool ◽

Crop Selection ◽

Crop Area ◽

Irrigation Tank

This paper focuses specifically on the development of a water balance model that will support agricultural decision making for the irrigation field and water supply tanks. The study based on an irrigation system within Kathiraveli, an isolated war affected village in north-eastern Sri Lanka. The irrigation system is used to deliver water to approximately 100 farmers. Estimates or measurements of water availability at the start of the cultivation period are able to be combined with estimates of likely future inflows based on previous rainfall to determine optimum crop selection and crop area allocation. The model consists of three modules: a crop water requirement calculator, a water tank balance model, and a model which simulates the storage in the permanent wetland attached to the irrigation tank. Due to limited budgets and timeframes to obtain input data, a careful balance between accuracy, complexity and cost needed to be reached to ensure that the model can be accurate for its intended use. To do this the model was ran initially under baseline conditions. A sensitivity analysis was then performed to assess the importance of major variables; the outcomes of this study was used to prioritise the collection of field data.

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«Lighting price» of cucumber yield in the winter-spring turnover of greenhouses

VEGETABLE CROPS OF RUSSIA ◽

10.18619/2072-9146-2021-2-34-38 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 34-38

Author(s):

A. V. Kurepin ◽

A. F. Pershin ◽

V. N. Shevkunov

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Light Energy ◽

F1 Hybrids ◽

Total Solar Radiation ◽

Artificial Lighting ◽

Crop Selection ◽

Breeding Center ◽

Testing Site ◽

Cucumber Yield ◽

Incoming Light

Relevance. Among the main factors that determine the productivity of vegetable yields in protected ground, the main one is light. For the formation of 1 kg/m2 of cucumber fruits with a length of 18-22 cm, on average about 3500-4000 J/cm2 of solar radiation is required. In the winter-spring cycle, in the absence of artificial lighting in greenhouses, there is an unevenness of scattered solar radiation and a general shortage of incoming light energy. At the same time, the amount of total solar radiation required for the formation of a 1 kg of fruit ("lighting price") is not the same for different hybrids. To increase the profitability of production in the winter-spring turnover in greenhouses that are not equipped with artificial lighting, it is necessary to choose hybrids with the lowest "lighting price" of the crop, that is, hybrids that use less light energy to form a 1 kg of fruit.The purpose of the study: evaluation of F1 hybrids of cucumber on the basis of resistance to lack of lighting by comparing their "lighting price" of the crop: how much energy is spent on the formation of 1 kg of marketable products.Methods. The research was carried out at the variety testing site in the Crimean breeding Center of the Scientific Research Institute of Vegetable Crop Selection "Gavrish", in the conditions of winter-spring turnover, in greenhouses not equipped with artificial lighting. We tested seven medium-fruited (18-22 cm) spined-fruited cucumber hybrids recommended for growing in winter-spring turnover.Results. The analysis of the data on the input of solar radiation and the formation of a standard yield showed that there is a direct relationship between the amount of incoming light and the level of productivity. The period of conversion of the received solar energy into the fruit harvest varied during the growing season from 14 to 8 days, depending on the degree of plant development. The "lighting price" of the crop was not the same for different hybrids: the hybrids tested in the experiment spent an average of 2900 J/cm2 per 1 kg of product, which is 18% more efficient than for standard greenhouse cucumbers.

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