scholarly journals Innovation and technology uptake on farm

2013 ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.J. Lissaman ◽  
M. Casey ◽  
J.S. Rowarth
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
New Production ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
On Farm

The belief that the average farmer in New Zealand is too old to adopt new technologies overlooks the evidence, and the overseas literature aligning adoption with education experience and financial security. It also overlooks the fact that many innovations are developed on farm by people experienced in what they are doing. This paper reviews the literature from a wide source of perspectives synthesising information and allowing examination of critical success factors (e.g., age, education, financial background, experience). New Zealand examples of innovation on farm are described. The research suggests that farmers adopt technologies when they can see the outcome in terms of the bottom line for their farming system. Education, experience and financial security are all part of the mix that allows the benefits to be evaluated against the risks. These farmers have the background to adapt new technologies to their farming systems, and to develop innovative approaches to meet new production challenges, whether environmental, economic or regulatory. Key words: Adoption, adaptation, end-user, extension

scholarly journals Critical success factors when going global: New Zealand farming systems in South America

2013 ◽  
pp. 49-54
Author(s):  
S.C. Wilson ◽  
J.S. Rowarth
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
South America ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Critical Success Factors ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Investment Opportunities ◽  
New Zealanders

New Zealanders are being encouraged to find offshore investment opportunities where using a New Zealand farming system will give a competitive advantage. This analysis investigated three pasture-based dairying operations in South America. A comparison of the three cases against a framework for dairying success identified in the literature enabled critical success factors to be identified. These included infrastructure, human and animal capital, and an understanding of culture. Keywords: Capital, culture, infrastructure, labour

Pathways ahead for New Zealand hill country farming

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.G. Scrimgeour
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hill Farming ◽  
The Hill

This paper provides a stocktake of the status of hill country farming in New Zealand and addresses the challenges which will determine its future state and performance. It arises out of the Hill Country Symposium, held in Rotorua, New Zealand, 12-13 April 2016. This paper surveys people, policy, business and change, farming systems for hill country, soil nutrients and the environment, plants for hill country, animals, animal feeding and productivity, and strategies for achieving sustainable outcomes in the hill country. This paper concludes by identifying approaches to: support current and future hill country farmers and service providers, to effectively and efficiently deal with change; link hill farming businesses to effective value chains and new markets to achieve sufficient and stable profitability; reward farmers for the careful management of natural resources on their farm; ensure that new technologies which improve the efficient use of input resources are developed; and strategies to achieve vibrant rural communities which strengthen hill country farming businesses and their service providers. Keywords: farming systems, hill country, people, policy, productivity, profitability, sustainability

Development of more effective conservation farming systems through participatory on-farm research

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 98-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.B. Wuest ◽  
D.K. McCool ◽  
B.C. Miller ◽  
R.J. Veseth
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Research ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Conservation Farming ◽  
Working Together ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Current Emphasis

AbstractResearch aimed at advancing conservation farming practices is typically performed using traditional scientific approaches, which have been highly successful in increasing agricultural output and efficiency. With the current emphasis on environmental and economic sustainability of agriculture, there is a need for a more integrated approach to applied agricultural research. Participatory research helps to bring scientific methods and the integrated production needs of farmers together to develop practical, effective, and carefully tested farming methods. The strength of participatory research is in the synergism of scientists and farmers working together to design, implement, and evaluate research. The development of new technologies for farming systems large or small, conventional or organic, can be greatly enhanced through more extensive use of participatory research.

scholarly journals Adoption of forage technologies

2013 ◽  
pp. 39-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Caradus ◽  
Simon Lovatt ◽  
Bruce Belgrave
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
White Clover ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Current Management ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Farmer Management ◽  
On Farm

Pastoral farmers seek to continue to increase on-farm productivity, and to do this they need new forage options that they can adopt into their current management strategies. Four case studies show that New Zealand farmers have rapidly adopted new technologies that include forage herbs, white clovers with improved stolon growing point densities, and novel endophyte technologies. The less disruptive these technologies are to accepted farmer management strategies the greater the likelihood of adoption. Keywords: Forage technologies, adoption, chicory, white clover, endophytes

Evaluating rates of technology adoption and milking practices on New Zealand dairy farms

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 702 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Edwards ◽  
B. T. Dela Rue ◽  
J. G. Jago
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Technology Adoption ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Attitudes Towards Technology ◽  
On Farm

This study assessed technology use and evaluated rates of technology adoption and milking practices on New Zealand dairy farms. Industry surveys were conducted in 2008 and 2013, when farmers were asked a series of questions relating to their physical farm details, their role in the business, their attitudes towards technology, the technologies they had on-farm and their levels of satisfaction. In total, 532 and 500 respondents were questioned in the two surveys, respectively, with a similar representation of rotary and herringbone dairies. Questions relating to attitudes towards new technologies were subjected to a cluster analysis using the 2013 dataset. Farmers were classified into two categories, ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ adopters. Fast adopters are more likely to have a rotary, with a larger farm and more cows. The most common technology in herringbone dairies is automatic vat washing and in rotary dairies automatic cluster removers (ACR). Rotary dairies equipped with ACR, automatic drafting and automatic teat spraying achieve greater labour utilisation (cows/labour unit). Around half of farmers with herringbone dairies sometimes or always wait for slow-milking cows to milk out and 85% of farmers do not know the their ACR settings, highlighting significant potential to improve milking efficiency. Overall, technology is associated with greater labour utilisation. However, the benefits of each technology should be scrutinised to ensure appropriate investment decisions are made by farmers.

Application of circular economy principles to New Zealand pastoral farming systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
Vicki T. Burggraaf ◽  
Gina M. Lucci ◽  
Stewart F. Ledgard ◽  
Diogenes L. Antille ◽  
Val O. Snow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Beef Industry ◽  
Waste Products ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Supplementary Feed ◽  
On Farm

Global food production is under pressure to produce more from limited resources, with further expectations to reduce waste and pollution and improve social outcomes. Circular economy principles aim to design out waste and pollution, minimise the use of nonrenewable external inputs and increase the lifespan of products and  materials. Waste sources on New Zealand farms and options to reduce waste and improve circularity were reviewed. Waste reduction should begin with systems design, while recycling should be at the bottom of the hierarchy. On-farm resource use efficiency has been widely studied, but there are also opportunities to  repurpose waste and integrate systems. The use of organic waste products as fertiliser and supplementary feed occurs to some extent, as does use of excess dairy calves in the beef industry, but they present both  opportunities and challenges. More farm waste recycling opportunities are becoming available, with new products available from waste processing, such as plastic fence posts. Circular strategies in New Zealand agriculture require more analysis to determine economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes.

scholarly journals Over the fence: understanding what people do and how they might change

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
A.P. Rhodes ◽  
M.J. Casey ◽  
T.A. Payne ◽  
M. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
Complex Ecosystem ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Environmental Demands ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

Landholders in New Zealand hill country are being challenged in the future to provide the resource for increasing agricultural productivity while balancing social and environmental demands. This will lead to an increasingly complex ecosystem which challenges simple approaches to achieving change on farm. This paper discusses principles such as degree of complexity, systems thinking in farming systems, knowledge, and barriers to decision making and adoption in relation to agricultural production systems. These concepts are often little considered or understood where there is an expectation of uptake of new technologies or an increased rate of practice change. Better understanding and consideration of these concepts could help in the development and design of more effective extension programmes. Keywords: behaviour change, adoption, extension, farming systems, complexity, barriers, knowledge

Diversification pathways and farming systems: Insights from the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Rivaroli ◽  
Rino Ghelfi ◽  
Aldo Bertazzoli ◽  
Annette Piorr
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Farm Diversification ◽  
Multinomial Logit Models ◽  
Diversification Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Census ◽  
Emilia Romagna Region ◽  
Strategic Support ◽  
On Farm

The study analyzes and explains on-farm diversification in Emilia-Romagna, a productive and agriculturally intensified region in Italy. The purpose was to contribute to knowledge gaps on the adoption of different diversification strategies in relation to farming system. Based on farm-level census data gathered by the Italian National Institute of Statistics during the sixth general agricultural census, two on-farm diversification pathways were investigated: deepening and broadening. The farmer’s decision to diversify activities and the identification of diversification pathways were analyzed using logit and multinomial logit models. The results show that arable farms adopt broadening strategies, intensive farms opt for deepening ones, and specialized adopters of quality schemes combine both strategies. Furthermore, in contrast to the existing research, the study highlights that intensive farms are more likely than arable farms to diversify. Finally, the findings provide insights to improve analyses in the context of policy and regional strategic support.

SOIL COVER STRUCTURE AND CROPS CULTIVATION TECHNOLOGIES

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
V. P. Belobrov ◽  
S. А. Yudin ◽  
N. R. Ermolaev ◽  
А. L. Ivanov ◽  
V. K. Dridiger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Soil Cover ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Soil Cover Structure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Direct Sowing

The variability of morphometric indicators of typical chernozems is considered based on long-term field experiment in a grain 4-field crop rotation (winter wheat, corn, barley, peas) to assess the impact of plowing as a traditional farming system that uses soil treatment and no-till, in which plowing is not used. On the example of four experimental fields (each with an area of 2.4 hectares), the variation of indicators associated with the features of the soil cover structure and the applied farming systems was revealed. The tillage leads to an increase in the thickness of the soil profile leached from carbonates, and direct sowing leads to its decrease. The highest variability degree is found in the boiling depth of soil. It is shown that the tillage leads to the homogenization of the soils surface layer and the transformation of the soil cover structure, as a kind of ”insurance system " against weather risks reducing its effectiveness. The direct sowing usage leads to the restoration of degraded properties and natural of soils heterogeneity in the soil cover structures, which can be considered as a process aimed at ecological improvement of both specifiс soil sites and the soil cover structures. The mutual influence of the soil cover structure and agricultural systems can be traced in time and space. The soil structure and the cultivated crops yield related to the sustainability of agrosystems to adverse climatic conditions and other risk. For these it is necessary monitoring soil as the basis for the qualitative assessment of soil and selection of the most optimal directions of agriculture development, a new technologies development in the production of agricultural products.

scholarly journals Improving Water use Efficiency of Annual Crops in the Rainfed Farming Systems of West Asia and North Africa

1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. M. Cooper ◽  
P. J. Gregory ◽  
D. Tully ◽  
H. C. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Crop Growth ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
On Farm

SummaryFarming systems in west Asia and north Africa have evolved to cope with the problems of highly variable and, frequently, chronically deficient rainfall. Cereals (mainly wheat and barley) are the dominant arable crops with food legumes (chickpea, lentil and faba bean) occupying only 5 to 10% of the area planted to cereals. Livestock is closely integrated into the farming system and crop production practices often reflect the importance of animals as a major source of income, particularly on the smaller farms. Soils of the region are predominantly calcareous, frequently phosphate deficient, and their depth and texture are important in determining the maximum amount of water that can be stored which, in turn, may determine the effective length of the growing season.Rain falls mainly during the winter months so that crops must often rely on stored soil moisture when they are growing most rapidly. Analysis of equations relating crop growth and water use shows that there are three ways in which the ‘water use efficiency’ of dry matter production can be increased. First, the amount of dry matter produced per unit of water transpired might be increased; second, if the water supply is limited, the amount of water transpired might be increased relative to evaporation from the soil surface; and third, the total amount of water used might be increased to produce extra growth provided that this results in increased transpiration rather than simply increasing evaporation from the soil surface.These three possible routes to increased crop growth are reviewed in relation to possible improvements in water management and crop genotypes in the Mediterranean environment. Scope for improving transpiration efficiency is limited although genotypic differences exist and may be useful in the future. More immediately, changes in crop management, such as applications of fertilizer, improved tillage and better weed control, will all increase the amount of water transpired. Application of mulches will also reduce evaporation from the soil surface but crop residues are usually eaten by livestock and are, therefore, often unavailable.The barley/livestock farming system of west Asia is used as a case study to illustrate how the Fanning Systems Programme of ICARDA has developed on-farm research programmes of direct relevance to current farming systems. Research on experimental sites directed at improving water use efficiency has been developed into on-farm trials and into collaborative trials with the Syrian Soils Directorate.

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