scholarly journals The role and limitations of the unmanned aerial vihicle in the precision small and middle-size crop production

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Ádám Lászlop
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Precision Farming ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Eu Directives ◽  
Available Technology ◽  
On Farm

Internet of Things (IoT) could prove significantly potential in precision farming, facilitating the acquisition of real-time crop’s, soil, and environmental data through the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with their capabilities to capture high spatial and temporal resolution imagery. The effective deployment of such vehicles and linking them with on-farm sensors can transform agriculture that would allow it to move into the next era of agriculture. The Precise data collection can enable small and middle-size growers to make planting decisions well ahead of time and follow the cultural practices based on the model extracted from the data collected for the multiple factors from their farm locations. This data can significantly help farmers while making quick decisions, reducing agricultural inputs costs such as seeds, insecticides, and fertilizers, and can boost agricultural production. We will also look into different roles that UAVs can perform in precision farming and their limitations in line with recent EU Directives (EU) 2019/947 and (EU) 2019/945 on the rules and procedures for the operation of Unmanned Aircraft in the European Union air space. We will also review the entire range of precision farming practices that can help farmers taking full advantage of the available technology for automating farming practices that save their time and money with accuracy, effectively.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Effectiveness of Rhizobium Inoculants and Micronutrients as Technologies for Nepalese Common Bean Smallholder Farmers in the Real-World Context of Highly Variable Hillside Environments and Indigenous Farming Practices

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malinda Thilakarathna ◽  
Tejendra Chapagain ◽  
Bhawana Ghimire ◽  
Roshan Pudasaini ◽  
Bir Tamang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Agronomic Traits ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Crop Rotations ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Yield Losses ◽  
Vegetative Biomass ◽  
On Farm

Studies have shown the potential of rhizobia and associated micronutrients to enhance symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes. Tens of millions of smallholder farmers, however, farm on mountain hillsides in highly variable soil and microenvironments, with different crop rotations, inputs and cultural practices. Here, on the terraces of the Nepalese Himalayas, we evaluated rhizobium inoculants (local, exotic), micronutrients (molybdenum, boron) and their combinations as technologies for smallholder farmers under highly variable microenvironments and traditional practices. The study was conducted as a series of participatory on-farm trials with 39 terrace farmers in two mid-hill districts of Nepal (Dhading, Kaski) from 2015 to 2017. Plots were measured for relevant agronomic traits. As expected, when comparing treatment plots with adjacent control plots within each farm, the results demonstrated tremendous farm-to-farm variability for nodulation, vegetative biomass, shoot nitrogen content, grain yield, and grain N content. Despite the variation observed, the data showed that the number of farms that showed yield increases from the rhizobium interventions, compared to those that suffered yield losses, was generally 2:1. We discuss potential experimental and socio-agronomic reasons for the variable results, including rainfall, which appeared critical. The results demonstrate the promise of rhizobium interventions for hillside smallholder farmers, even in a highly variable context.

scholarly journals Integrating Unmanned Aerial Systems Into the Crop Production System Through On-Farm Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Kevin Allan Adkins ◽  
Christen C. Bailey ◽  
Aspen E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Sustainable Operation ◽  
Aerial Systems ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Reflectance Data

Precision agriculture strives to manage variations in the field in order to increase yield while adapting input factors to preserve resources and decrease production costs. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are advancing precision agriculture by allowing for nondestructive and convenient, as well as cost and time efficient mapping of spatial variation in fields with higher spatial resolution than previous methods. However, while there is much anticipation regarding the potential role for UAS in precision agriculture, their role still requires additional application-based testing. The objective of this work was to explore how growers best integrate the UAS product into their farm workflow. Two on-farm investigations were undertaken with vegetable growers for the duration of a growing season. Combinations of two unique unmanned aircraft (UA) platforms fitted with two different multispectral sensors were used to gather spectral reflectance data. The investigations found that the UAS product enabled the growers to optimize their field management practices, while overcoming a labor shortage, and create a more sustainable operation.

Efficient use of subsidies in the financing of water and wastewater investments

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 197-207
Author(s):  
A.J. Almagro
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Economic Justification ◽  
Economic Rationale ◽  
Eu Directives ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Investment Subsidy

Compliance with the European Union (EU) standards in the provision of water supply and wastewater services, as set forth in the relevant EU Directives, may require a significant investment effort for some countries and more specifically the new Member States. In order to ease this effort, these countries have the possibility of receiving subsidies from the European Commission to finance their investments. Using as a reference the standard methodology applied by the European Commission to define its intervention rate in a project, this paper focuses on the economic rationale and risks behind the investment subsidies in the sector. The questions asked are (a) what is the economic justification of this kind of investment subsidy and who are the target beneficiaries; (b) what factors may cause these subsidies to reach other economic agents; and (c) what measures would prevent those unexpected transfers of taxpayer resources. The results of the analysis indicate that, although the underlying methodology is economically sound, there is a significant risk that part of the subsidies may end up benefiting economic agents other than those originally targeted. However, this risk can be easily mitigated with some basic checks and balances during the calculation of the intervention rate. The views expressed in this paper are strictly personal.

scholarly journals On-farm trees are a safety net for the poorest households rather than a major contributor to food security in Rwanda

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Ndoli ◽  
Athanase Mukuralinda ◽  
Antonius G. T. Schut ◽  
Miyuki Iiyama ◽  
Jean Damascene Ndayambaje ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Agroforestry Practice ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Agroforestry Practices

AbstractThe world is challenged to meet the food demand of a growing population, especially in developing countries. Given the ambitious plans to scale up agroforestry in Africa, an improved understanding of the effect of agroforestry practices on the already challenged food security of rural households is crucial. The present study was undertaken to assess how on-farm trees impacted food security in addition to other household income sources in Rwanda. In each of the six agroecologies of Rwanda, a stratified sampling procedure was used where two administrative cells (4th formal administrative level) were selected in which households were randomly selected for interviews. A survey including 399 farmers was conducted and farmers were grouped in three types of agroforestry practice (i) low practitioners (LAP) represented by the first tertile, (ii) medium practitioners (MAP) represented by the second tertile and (iii) high practitioners (HAP) represented by the third tertile of households in terms of tree number. Asset values, household income sources, crop production, farm size, crop yield, and food security (food energy needs) were quantified among the types of agroforestry practice. A larger proportion of HAP households had access to adequate quantity and diversity of food when compared with MAP and LAP households. Food security probability was higher for households with more resources, including land, trees and livestock, coinciding with an increased crop and livestock income. We found no difference in asset endowment among types of agroforestry practices, while farmers in agroecologies with smaller farms (0.42 ha to 0.66 ha) had more on-farm trees (212 to 358 trees per household) than farms in agroecologies with larger farms (0.96 ha to 1.23 ha) which had 49 to 129 trees per household, probably due to differences in biophysical conditions. A positive association between tree density and food security was found in two out of six agroecologies. The proportion of income that came from tree products was high (> 20%) for a small fraction of farmers (12%), with the more food insecure households relying more on income from tree products than households with better food security status. Thus, tree income can be percieved as a “safety net” for the poorest households.

scholarly journals A Place-Based Approach to Agricultural Nonmaterial Intangible Cultural Ecosystem Service Values

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy R. Petway ◽  
Yu-Pin Lin ◽  
Rainer F. Wunderlich
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Service ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Landscape Biodiversity

Though agricultural landscape biodiversity and ecosystem service (ES) conservation is crucial to sustainability, agricultural land is often underrepresented in ES studies, while cultural ES associated with agricultural land is often limited to aesthetic and tourism recreation value only. This study mapped 7 nonmaterial-intangible cultural ES (NICE) valuations of 34 rural farmers in western Taiwan using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) methodology, to show the effect of farming practices on NICE valuations. However, rather than a direct causal relationship between the environmental characteristics that underpin ES, and respondents’ ES valuations, we found that environmental data is not explanatory enough for causality within a socio-ecological production landscape where one type of land cover type (a micro mosaic of agricultural land cover) predominates. To compensate, we used a place-based approach with Google Maps data to create context-specific data to inform our assessment of NICE valuations. Based on 338 mapped points of 7 NICE valuations distributed among 6 areas within the landscape, we compared 2 groups of farmers and found that farmers’ valuations about their landscape were better understood when accounting for both the landscape’s cultural places and environmental characteristics, rather than environmental characteristics alone. Further, farmers’ experience and knowledge influenced their NICE valuations such that farm areas were found to be sources of multiple NICE benefits demonstrating that farming practices may influence ES valuation in general.

scholarly journals Effects on Crop Development, Yields and Chemical Composition of Celeriac (Apium graveolens L. var. rapaceum) Cultivated Underneath an Agrivoltaic System

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 733
Author(s):  
Axel Weselek ◽  
Andrea Bauerle ◽  
Sabine Zikeli ◽  
Iris Lewandowski ◽  
Petra Högy
Keyword(s):  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
Apium Graveolens ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Common Root ◽  
Crop Development ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Organically Managed

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems increase land productivity through the combined production of renewable energy and food. Although several studies have addressed their impact on crop production, many aspects remain unexplored. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of AV on the cultivation of celeriac, a common root vegetable in Central Europe. Celeriac was cultivated in 2017 and 2018 as part of an organically managed on-farm experiment, both underneath an AV system and in full-sun conditions. Under AV, photosynthetic active radiation was reduced by about 30%. Monitoring of crop development showed that in both years, plant height increased significantly under AV. Fresh bulb yield decreased by about 19% in 2017 and increased by about 12% in 2018 in AV, but the changes were not significant. Aboveground biomass increased in both years under AV, but only increased significantly in 2018. As aboveground biomass is a determinant of root biomass at harvest in root vegetables, bulb yields may be further increased by a prolonged vegetation period under AV. Compound analysis of celeriac bulbs did not show any clear effects from treatment. As harvestable yields were not significantly reduced, we concluded that celeriac can be considered a suitable crop for cultivation under AV.

scholarly journals Prediction of bulk milk fatty acid composition based on farming practices collected through on-farm surveys

2013 ◽  
Vol 96 (7) ◽  
pp. 4197-4211 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Coppa ◽  
A. Ferlay ◽  
C. Chassaing ◽  
C. Agabriel ◽  
F. Glasser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid Composition ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Milk Fatty Acid ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Bulk Milk ◽  
On Farm

On-Farm Evaluations of Reduced Input Fungicide Programs in Peanut Fields with Low, Moderate, or High Levels of Disease Risk

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Woodward ◽  
T. B. Brenneman ◽  
R. C. Kemerait ◽  
A. K. Culbreath ◽  
N. B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Spot ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Sclerotium Rolfsii ◽  
Stem Rot ◽  
Cercospora Arachidicola ◽  
Production Region ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
Peanut Production ◽  
On Farm

ABSTRACT In 2003, 2004, and 2005 standard and reduced input fungicide programs were evaluated throughout the peanut production region of Georgia for control of early leaf spot (Cercospora arachidicola), late leaf spot (Cercosporidium personatum), and southern stem rot (Sclerotium rolfsii). Disease risk was determined for each field based on the cultural practices implemented and ranged from low to high. Six to eight fungicide applications were made in the standard programs, versus three to six applications in reduced programs. Leaf spot ratings were higher for the reduced programs in five of the fourteen trials with substantial defoliation occurring in one trial. Overall, southern stem rot control for the reduced programs was equal to or better than that for the standard program, which could be attributed to the differences in fungicide selection or timing. Pod yields for the reduced programs were equal to or greater than the standard programs in all but one trial. Net returns were higher for the reduced programs in half of the trials; however, the reduced program resulted in lower net returns in one trial in 2004. Our results indicate that reduced input fungicide programs can be used to adequately manage fungal diseases of peanut without compromising yield or profitability, and that the use of cultivars with moderate levels of disease resistance may enhance disease control.

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