On-farm soil health evaluations: Challenges and opportunities

Two issues prompted this paper. The first was the measured soil organic carbon decline in fertile northern Australian soils under continual cropping using traditional management practices. We wanted to see whether it was theoretically possible to maintain or improve soil organic carbon concentrations with modern management recommendations. The second was the debate about use of sustainability indicators for on-farm management, so we looked at soil organic carbon as a potential indicator of soil health and investigated whether it was useful in making on-farm crop decisions. The analytical results indicated first that theoretically the observed decline in soil organic carbon concentrations in some northern cracking clay soils can be halted and reversed under continuous cropping sequences by using best practice management. Second, the results and associated discussion give some support to the use of soil organic carbon as a sustainability indicator for soil health. There was a consistent correlation between crop input decisions (fertilisation, stubble management, tillage), outputs (yield and profits) and outcomes (change in soil organic carbon content) in the short and longer term. And this relationship depended to some extent on whether the existing soil organic carbon status was low, medium or high. A stock dynamics relationship is one where the change in a stock (such as soil organic carbon) through time is related not only to the management decisions made and other random influences (such as climatic effects), but also to the concentration or level of the stock itself in a previous time period. Against such a requirement, soil organic carbon was found to be a reasonable measure. However, the inaccuracy in measuring soil organic carbon in the paddock mitigates the potential benefit shown in this analysis of using soil organic carbon as a sustainability indicator.These results are based on a simulation model (APSIM) calibrated for a cracking clay (Vertosol) soil typical of much of the intensively-cropped slopes and plains region of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, and need to be interpreted in this light. There are large areas of such soils in north-western New South Wales; however, many of these experience lower rainfalls and plant-available soil water capacities than in this case, and the importance of these characteristics must also be considered.

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EXAMINING THE DRIVERS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTATION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN MALAWI

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479716000673 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 45-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

MICHELE HOCKETT ◽

ROBERT B. RICHARDSON

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Development ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Soil Health ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Development Project ◽

New Crops ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

And Gender ◽

On Farm ◽

Depth Interviews

SUMMARYSmallholder farmers in Malawi are faced with the challenge of managing complex and dynamic farming systems while also adapting to change within volatile agroecological conditions. Moreover, management decisions are influenced by a combination of local knowledge, expert recommendations and on-farm experimentation. Although many smallholder farmers actively experiment with new crops and technologies, little is known about the prevalence of experimentation or the types of experiments farmers conduct. This study examined the decision-making processes of experimenting farmers to explore the drivers of on-farm experimentation. Using a mixed-methods design that incorporated field observations, survey data and in-depth interviews, we identified numerous examples of experiments with new crops, varieties and techniques that had been executed either independently or through participation in an agricultural development project. Results of quantitative and qualitative analysis reveal that smallholder farmers in Malawi across a range of socioeconomic characteristics are inclined to experiment, and gender roles in agricultural experimentation vary widely. While experimental methods differ between farmers, there are commonalities in the drivers of experimentation, including adapting to climate change, improving soil health, improving nutrition and generating income. Smallholders have a great capacity for experimentation, and their knowledge, experience, preferences and priorities – if properly understood and incorporated – could ultimately benefit both future agricultural development projects and their participants.

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How Do Farmers Think about Climate Risk? A Study of On-Farm Decision Making in an Era of Climate Change

10.32747/2017.6956535.ch ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Rachel Schattman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Climate Risk ◽

Weather Patterns ◽

Climate Forecasts ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

On Farm

climate forecasts suggest farmers in the northeast will be faced with both challenges and opportunities as the climate changes. currently farmers and other land stewards manage the risks created by changing weather patterns in many different ways.

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Developing soil health indicators for improved soil management on farm

Advances in measuring soil health - Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science ◽

10.19103/as.2020.0079.22 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 289-328

Author(s):

Elizabeth Stockdale ◽

◽

Paul Hargreaves ◽

Anne Bhogal ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Health ◽

Water Storage ◽

Soil Management ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Traffic Light ◽

Essential Step ◽

The World ◽

On Farm ◽

Water Catchment ◽

Structure Water

A range of chemical, physical and biological processes are important for sustained productivity and environmental quality in agricultural systems. Farmers and scientists share a concern with soil health, and this leads to questions for both measurement and management. An essential step is to define the context and the key functions required of a soil at the scale of interest (e.g. farm, drinking water catchment, region). Only then can appropriate indicator measurements be selected. Current soil health frameworks across the world commonly use organic matter (carbon), pH, extractable phosphorus, and various indicators of soil structure/water storage. A framework of interpretation shows whether the measured values are acceptable or whether one or more soil functions are constrained. A number of the soil health frameworks in practical use present the soil health indicators in a scorecard using traffic light coding to direct users towards guidance for improved soil management on-farm.

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Challenges and Opportunities in Applying Genomic Selection to Ruminants Owned by Smallholder Farmers

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11111172 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 1172

Author(s):

Heather M. Burrow ◽

Raphael Mrode ◽

A. Okeyo Mwai ◽

Mike P. Coffey ◽

Ben J. Hayes

Keyword(s):

Genomic Selection ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Value Chains ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Advanced Economies ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Barriers To Implementation ◽

On Farm

Genomic selection has transformed animal and plant breeding in advanced economies globally, resulting in economic, social and environmental benefits worth billions of dollars annually. Although genomic selection offers great potential in low- to middle-income countries because detailed pedigrees are not required to estimate breeding values with useful accuracy, the difficulty of effective phenotype recording, complex funding arrangements for a limited number of essential reference populations in only a handful of countries, questions around the sustainability of those livestock-resource populations, lack of on-farm, laboratory and computing infrastructure and lack of human capacity remain barriers to implementation. This paper examines those challenges and explores opportunities to mitigate or reduce the problems, with the aim of enabling smallholder livestock-keepers and their associated value chains in low- to middle-income countries to also benefit directly from genomic selection.

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