scholarly journals Status quo of adoption of precision agriculture enabling technologies in Swiss plant production

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1327-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Groher ◽  
Katja Heitkämper ◽  
Achim Walter ◽  
Frank Liebisch ◽  
Christina Umstätter
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
The State ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Physical Workload ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Electronic Measuring ◽  
Adoption Rate ◽  
Novel Technologies

Abstract This paper presents the state of application of Precision Agricultural enabling Technology (PAT) in Swiss farms as an example for small-scale, highly mechanised Central European agriculture. Furthermore, correlations between farm and farmers’ characteristics and technology adoption were evaluated. Being part of a comprehensive and representative study assessing the state of mechanisation and automation in Swiss agriculture, this paper focuses on the adoption of Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) and activities in which Electronic Measuring Systems (EMS) are used. The adoption rate of DAS was markedly higher compared to EMS in all agricultural enterprises. The adoption rate was highest for high-value enterprise vegetables and surprisingly low for the high-value enterprise grapes. The results of a binary logistic regression showed that farmers located in the mountain zone were less likely to adopt PAT compared to farmers in the valley. Small farm size correlated with low adoption rates and vice versa showing adoption happens country-specific in the upper farm size distribution. The results show the potential for novel technologies to be adopted by farmers of high-value products. Furthermore, technologies have been partially used to reduce physical workload but not yet to evaluate crop or management performance to support decisions. However, automatic collection and forwarding of data is a fundamental step towards Smart Farming realizing its full potential in the future.

scholarly journals Farmers Characteristics in Relation to Soil and Water Conservation: The Case of Yongdeng County, China

2020 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Samuel Adingo ◽  
Xiaodan Li ◽  
Liu Xue-Lu ◽  
Frederick Kwame Yeboah
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Gansu Province ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Soil And Water

Many soil and water conservation technologies have been promoted and spread to encourage the sustainable use of resources by small-scale farmers, but soil degradation continues intensively. The objective of this study therefore, was to identify the measures of Soil and Water Conservation, the factors that inform the adoption and use Soil and Water Conservation measures and evaluate the limitations to realize and maintain of these conservation practices. This study was done in Yongdeng County which falls under the governance of the city-level prefecture of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province. One hundred farmers were randomly selected. Primary data was obtained through interviews and group discussion with farmers, and agricultural extension workers and field survey. The results revealed that the level of education and farm size did not affect the use of SWC measures. Unlike formal education, membership of the group of farmers was significant and had positive correlation with SWC measures. SWC education and training was significant and had a positive impact on the use of SWC measures. The study found that SWC structures commonly used by farmers in the study area include terraces (30%), contour ploughing (20%) and the use of drains. The agronomic practices commonly used are agroforestry, crop rotation and the use of grass strips. Farmers identified poverty, ignorance and lack of technical advice as the main obstacles to realizing the full potential of soil and water conservation in the area. Poorly laid out soil conservation structures were also accelerating soil erosion. These results show that, in order to ensure adequate soil and water conservation, particular attention must be paid to institutional and economic factors. Also, to encourage farmers’ participation in education and extension training on SWC, it is vital to strengthen the relationship between extension workers and farmers.

scholarly journals Economics of autonomous equipment for arable farms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Lowenberg-DeBoer ◽  
Kit Franklin ◽  
Karl Behrendt ◽  
Richard Godwin
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Crop Agriculture

AbstractBy collecting more data at a higher resolution and by creating the capacity to implement detailed crop management, autonomous crop equipment has the potential to revolutionise precision agriculture (PA), but unless farmers find autonomous equipment profitable it is unlikely to be widely adopted. The objective of this study was to identify the potential economic implications of autonomous crop equipment for arable agriculture using a grain-oilseed farm in the United Kingdom as an example. The study is possible because the Hands Free Hectare (HFH) demonstration project at Harper Adams University has produced grain with autonomous equipment since 2017. That practical experience showed the technical feasibility of autonomous grain production and provides parameters for farm-level linear programming (LP) to estimate farm management opportunities when autonomous equipment is available. The study shows that arable crop production with autonomous equipment is technically and economically feasible, allowing medium size farms to approach minimum per unit production cost levels. The ability to achieve minimum production costs at relatively modest farm size means that the pressure to “get big or get out” will diminish. Costs of production that are internationally competitive will mean reduced need for government subsidies and greater independence for farmers. The ability of autonomous equipment to achieve minimum production costs even on small, irregularly shaped fields will improve environmental performance of crop agriculture by reducing pressure to remove hedges, fell infield trees and enlarge fields.

scholarly journals UAS Identify and Monitor Unusual Small-Scale Rhythmic Features in the Bay of Cádiz (Spain)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1188
Author(s):  
Lara Talavera ◽  
Javier Benavente ◽  
Laura Del Río
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Circulation Pattern ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Bay Of Cadiz ◽  
Bay Of Cádiz

Unusual shore-normal and barred-like rhythmic features were found in Camposoto Beach (Bay of Cádiz, SW Spain) during a monitoring program using unmanned aerial systems (UAS). They appeared in the backshore and persisted for 6 months (October 2017–March 2018). Their characteristics and possible formation mechanism were investigated analyzing: (1) UAS-derived high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs), (2) hydrodynamic conditions, and (3) sediment samples. The results revealed that the features did not migrate spatially, that their wavelength was well predicted by the edge wave theory, and that they shared characteristics with both small-scale low-energy finger bars (e.g., geometry/appearance and amplitude) and swash cusps (e.g., wavelength, seaward circulation pattern, and finer and better sorted material in the runnels with respect to the crests). Our findings pinpoint to highly organized swash able to reach the backshore during spring tides under low-energy and accretionary conditions as well as backwash enhanced by conditions of water-saturated sediment. This study demonstrates that rhythmic features can appear under different modalities and beach locations than the ones observed up to date, and that their unusual nature may be attributed to the low spatiotemporal resolution of the traditional coastal surveying methods in comparison with novel technologies such as UAS.

scholarly journals Farm Size, Risk Aversion and Overuse of Fertilizer: The Heterogeneity of Large-Scale and Small-Scale Wheat Farmers in Northern China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Haixia Wu ◽  
Hantao Hao ◽  
Hongzhen Lei ◽  
Yan Ge ◽  
Hengtong Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Deviation Degree ◽  
Small Scale Farmers

The excessive use of fertilizer has resulted in serious environmental degradation and a high health cost in China. Understanding the reasons for the overuse of fertilizer is critical to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture, and large-scale operation is considered as one of the measures to deal with the excessive fertilizer use. Under the premise of fully considering the resource endowment and heterogeneity of large-scale farmers and small-scale farmers in production and management, different production decision-making frameworks were constructed. Based on the 300 large-scale farmers and 480 small-scale farmers in eight provinces of northern China wheat region, we analyzed the optimal fertilizer use amount and its deviation as well as the influencing factors of small-scale and large-scale farmers, then further clarified whether the development of scale management could solve the problem of excessive fertilizer use. The empirical results show that: (1) both small-scale farmers and large-scale farmers deviated from the optimal fertilizer application amount, where the deviation degree of optimal fertilizer application of small-scale farmers is significantly higher than that of large-scale farmers, with a deviation degree of 35.43% and 23.69% for small and large scale farmers, respectively; (2) not all wheat growers in North China had the problem of excessive use of chemical fertilizer, as the optimal level of chemical fertilizer application in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia are 346.5 kgha−1 and 335.25 kgha−1, while the actual fertilizer use amount was 337.2 kgha−1 and 324.6 kgha−1, respectively; and (3) the higher the risk aversion level, farmers tended to apply more fertilizer to ensure grain output. Therefore, increasing farm size should be integrated into actions such as improving technological innovation and providing better information transfer to achieve the goal of zero-increase in Chinese fertilizer use.

The State Policy towards the Homeless in Moldova between the ‘Left Hand’ and the ‘Right Hand’. The Case of Chișinău Shelter

Südosteuropa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-195
Author(s):  
Petru Negură
Keyword(s):  
Homeless People ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Right Hand ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract The Centre for the Homeless in Chișinău embodies on a small scale the recent evolution of state policies towards the homeless in Moldova (a post-Soviet state). This institution applies the binary approach of the state, namely the ‘left hand’ and the ‘right hand’, towards marginalised people. On the one hand, the institution provides accommodation, food, and primary social, legal assistance and medical care. On the other hand, the Shelter personnel impose a series of disciplinary constraints over the users. The Shelter also operates a differentiation of the users according to two categories: the ‘recoverable’ and those deemed ‘irrecoverable’ (persons with severe disabilities, people with addictions). The personnel representing the ‘left hand’ (or ‘soft-line’) regularly negotiate with the employees representing the ‘right hand’ (‘hard-line’) of the institution to promote a milder and a more humanistic approach towards the users. This article relies on multi-method research including descriptive statistical analysis with biographical records of 810 subjects, a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with homeless people (N = 65), people at risk of homelessness (N = 5), professionals (N = 20) and one ethnography of the Shelter.

Small change: individual farm work and collective life in a western Nigerian savanna town, 1969–88

Africa ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane I. Guyer
Keyword(s):  
Farming System ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
Farm Work ◽  
Small Change ◽  
Returns To Labour ◽  
Individual Farm ◽  
Ceremonial Life ◽  
Nigerian Savanna

AbstractA comparison of data collected in western Nigeria (the Yoruba area) in 1968-69 and 1988 suggests that small-scale male farmers' patterns of work remained quite similar in the total amount of work they did and in the amount by task. This finding seemed surprising, since the study area lies in the food supply hinterland of the rapidly growing cities of Ibadan, Lagos and Abeokuta. The farming system has changed in several ways in response to increased urban demand and improved transport, including an increase in farm size on the part of male farmers. Changed cropping patterns, the increased use of hired labour and somewhat increased returns to labour seem only partly to account for the persistence. Analysis of the work data in terms of its timing, rather than in terms of time, suggests that farmers are tending to work at the same task in longer stretches ofconsecutive days, and this, in turn, is related to the marked rescheduling of traditional ceremonial life and the intensified politico-associational life moved to the weekend.

Local Communities as a Tool for the Development of Municipal Democracy: German Experience and Lessons for Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Larichev ◽  
Emil Markwart
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The State ◽  
Household Waste ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Issue Management ◽  
State Management ◽  
Municipal Level

Local government as a political, legal and social institution finds itself in a very difficult period of development in Russia. The long-established tendency of its subordination to the state has intensified today in connection with the newly adopted constitutional amendments. At the same time, it seems obvious that further “embedding” of local government into the state management vertical, in the absence of any positive effect in terms of solving socio-economic and infrastructural problems, will inevitably lead to other hard to reverse, negative results both for local government institutions and the system of public authority as a whole. The normal functioning of local government requires, however, not only the presence of its sufficient institutional and functional autonomy from the state, but also an adequate territorial and social base for its implementation. To ensure the formation of viable territorial collectives, especially in urban areas, it seems appropriate to promote the development of self-government based on local groups at the intra-municipal level. Such local groups can independently manage issues of local importance on a small scale (landscaping, social volunteering, and neighborly mutual assistance), and provide, within the boundaries of a local territory, due civil control over the maintenance by municipal authorities of more complex and large-scale local issues (repair and development of infrastructure, removal of solid household waste and more). At the same time, the development of local communities can by no means be a self-sufficient and substitutional mechanism, whose introduction would end the need for democracy in the full scope of municipal structures overall. In this regard, the experience of local communities’ development in Germany, a state with legal traditions similar to Russian ones, with a centuries-old history of the development of territorial communities and a difficult path to building democracy and forming civil society, seems to be very interesting. Here, the progressive development of local forms of democracy and the participation of residents in local issue management are combined with stable mechanisms of municipal government, and the interaction of municipalities with the state does not torpedo the existing citizen forms of self-government. At the same time, the experience of Germany shows that the decentralization of public issue management which involves the local population can only be effective in a situation where, in addition to maintaining a full-fledged self-government mechanism at the general municipal level, relevant local communities are endowed with real competence and resources to influence local issue decision-making. The role of formalized local communities in urban areas, as the German experience shows, can not only facilitate the decentralization of solving public problems, but can also help in timely elimination of triggers for mobilizing citywide supercollectives with negative agendas. This experience seems useful and applicable in the Russian context.

scholarly journals Poultry farmer response to disease outbreaks in smallholder farming systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Delabouglise ◽  
Nguyen Thi Le Thanh ◽  
Huynh Thi Ai Xuyen ◽  
Benjamin Nguyen-Van-Yen ◽  
Phung Ngoc Tuyet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avian Influenza ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Flock Size ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Southern Vietnam ◽  
Poultry Farms ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAvian influenza outbreaks have been occurring on smallholder poultry farms in Asia for two decades. Farmer responses to these outbreaks can slow down or accelerate virus transmission. We used a longitudinal survey of 53 small-scale chicken farms in southern Vietnam to investigate the impact of outbreaks with disease-induced mortality on harvest rate, vaccination, and disinfection behaviors. We found that in small broiler flocks (≤16 birds/flock) the estimated probability of harvest was 56% higher when an outbreak occurred, and 214% higher if an outbreak with sudden deaths occurred in the same month. Vaccination and disinfection were strongly positively correlated with flock size and farm size, respectively. Small-scale farmers – the overwhelming majority of poultry producers in low-income countries – tend to rely on rapid sale of birds to mitigate losses from diseases. As depopulated birds are sent to markets or trading networks, this reactive behavior has the potential to enhance onward transmission.One sentence summaryA cohort study of fifty three small-scale poultry farms in southern Vietnam reveals that when outbreaks occur with symptoms similar to highly pathogenic avian influenza, farmers respond by sending their chickens to market early, potentially exacerbating the effects of the outbreak.

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