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The potential role of irrigation of cereals as a response to climate change is under debate. Especially under temperate continental conditions empirical evidence of crop yield response to irrigation in interaction with nitrogen fertilizer supply is rare. Besides mean yield effects, irrigation reduces yield variance, which may be an incentive for farmers to use irrigation. This paper investigates the risk-efficiency of irrigation in cereal production in a temperate continental climate, based on data from a long term field experiment on a sandy soil. Irrigation and no irrigation of winter rye (Secale cereale) and winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) were investigated in three different nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels. Crop yield response data (1995–2010) to irrigation and N fertilizer were used to calculate net returns, certainty equivalents (CE) for different levels of risk aversion and the conditional value at risk (CVaR) as a downside risk indicator in two price scenarios. The scenarios were calculated with a total cost and a partial budget approach. Irrigation was found to be profit-maximizing in all partial budget calculations, which sometimes required higher N input to be profit-maximizing. Irrigation and N fertilizer reduction were identified as risk mitigation strategies, even though their impact was limited. Irrigation reduced the downside risk only in the partial budget calculations. The analysis based on the CE did not show improved risk efficiency with irrigated management options. In contrast, reduced fertilizer input proved to be risk efficient at specific levels of risk aversion. The price expectations of winter rye and winter barley had a much higher impact on the ranking of the management options than risk aversion based on the crop yield variances. At low crop prices for all levels of risk aversion, irrigation of winter barley and winter rye was only economically justified if fixed costs for irrigation were not taken into account. At high crop prices, irrigation of winter barley was also justified based on the total cost calculation. However, this advantage was only given at a very low level of risk aversion. With increasing levels of risk aversion irrigation was not efficient based on the CE in the total cost accounting scenario. In conclusion, irrigation of cereals can contribute to downside risk mitigation and increased profits, if fixed costs for irrigation are covered. However, this conclusion holds only when irrigation is combined with an increased N intensity. If total costs need to be accounted for, irrigation in cereals is not an appropriate risk reduction strategy and a reduction of N input is more effective.

Environmental measures in an agricultural context often lead to extra constraints in current farming. This suggests trade-offs between the environmental objectives and profitability. Whether trade-offs exist, or may be turned into win-win, depends on creative farm options to comply new constraints. This paper concentrates on Ecological Focus Areas as a new EU Common Agricultural Policy greening requirement, and investigates profitability changes of two greening options with permanent woody elements, hedgerows and alley cropping. We predicted discounted gross margins for a hedgerow and alley cropping greening option and four market scenarios on a representative arable farm in Flanders (Belgium). Starting from the tree row, over a distance of 1.64 times the tree height, relative crop yield is 70% as compared to a treeless situation. Between 1.64 and 9.52 times the tree height, relative yield is 107%. Beyond that point, the effect is considered negligible. Discounted gross margins are calculated to account for the time horizon. Relative discounted gross margins at farm level, compared to the business as usual option, vary between 91% and 108%, depending on market conditions and policy support. The calculations show that fulfilment of the 5% ecological focus area greening requirement on arable farms with hedgerows and alley cropping only becomes economically competitive to the traditional cropping systems with extra financial stimuli (e.g. greening payments). We also show and discuss how the calculations can be fine-tuned and used in policy making, e.g. by i) getting better insights in the tree-crop interactions, ii) including the effect of e.g. crop type, tree species, tree line space and tree line orientation in the meta-information, iii) evaluating this conditional competitiveness and suggesting a better linking between subsidy level and ecological value and ecosystem services and iv) exploring novel valorization channels for wood products.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) has become the most important oil crop throughout the world. The growing palm oil production was mainly based on the expansion of cultivated area into forest areas, causing serious environmental and social concerns. Increasing yields on existing plantations is a potential pathway to reduce the undesired ecological impacts of oil palm agriculture while enhancing its social benefits. Although oil palm production is still dominated by large private estates, smallholder farmers are increasingly engaging in its cultivation. While there is some evidence that smallholders' palm oil yields show large variations and are often far below plantation standards, empirical studies on their agronomic performance are scarce. Based on crop modeling analysis and farm household survey data from Sumatra, Indonesia, this paper quantifies smallholder yield gaps relative to exploitable yield levels and analyses smallholders' production constraints. Results show that oil palm smallholdings offer a tremendous potential for future yield increases, because they obtain, on average, only around 50% of the cumulative exploitable yield over a 20 year plantation life cycle. In particular, we find yield gaps to be largest during the most productive phase of oil palm. Our results indicate that farmers do not adapt their labor and fertilizer inputs to the higher resource demand of the palm. In general, significant determinants of yield gaps are management practices such as fertilizer dosage, length of harvesting intervals and plant mortality. Supported smallholders perform relatively better compared to independent farmers. In summary, our study shows that there is large potential to increase productivity of smallholder oil palm systems in Sumatra. In order to exploit this opportunity, farmers' awareness about the changing management requirements of oil palm over the plantation life cycle needs to be enhanced.

Natural peatlands are the world's most area-effective carbon sinks. However, over 90% of German, 40% of European and 10–20% of global peatlands have been degraded and converted into carbon sources, primarily because of agricultural drainage. Against this background, rewetting and more sensible uses of peat soils for agriculture are internationally recognized as effective potential options to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents estimates of the GHG mitigation potential and abatement costs of different peatland management options by using the example of farm models that represent typical farm types in an intensive grassland-use peatland region in southern Germany. Therefore, an optimization model at the farm level that includes the emissions from all relevant sources in the production process is used. The current net GHG emissions of the farm models range from 10 to 12.9 tCO 2 e ha − 1 a − 1 , of which the peat soil-borne emissions make up a noticeable share. The rewetting and conversion of medium-drained grassland into wet grassland lead to considerable reductions of GHG emissions. However, in intensively managed dairy farms, the full emission mitigation potential of these peatland management options is not realized, because necessary adaptations increase emissions from other sources. Because of its low GHG mitigation potential, the conversion of arable land into medium drained intensive grassland leads to high abatement costs of up to 92 €/tCO 2 e, while the abatement costs of the rewetting and conversion into wet grassland range from 5 to 57 €/tCO 2 e. The results vary by farm type, intensity of agricultural peatland use to date and the share of peatland area on a farm. This stresses the need for individual farm approaches and impact analyses for planned peatland renaturations. The findings also show that the overall costs to compensate farmer income loss from planned peatland renaturations will be as high as they are for more intensively managed dairy farms, which will be located in and affected in the respective area. The modelling approach presented has the potential to be adapted to the needs of peatland farm systems in other countries of the temperate zone.

Farmers' cultivation choices affect the natural cycles of crops and impact their production. By assessing the farming activities, as influenced by crop types, land suitability and cultivation choices, the effectiveness of agricultural practices in terms of environmental impact can be evaluated. The study of the relationships between agriculture, environment and economic performance should be deepened, by considering the connection between agricultural activities and the use of natural resources beyond the economic issues, which are often taken as the unique or, at least, the main goal of human activities. The aim of this paper is to assess and to analyse in a comparative way the environmental and economic results of a crop production system at farm level. The methodology for the evaluation of environmental performance is based on a modified version of the Ecological Footprint account, used to measure the demand for natural resources linked to the farm's operations, which is compared with the Biocapacity of the crop system itself. The economic performances are assessed by means of crops' analytical budgets. The results provided by the case study analysis show that the considered farm cropping system reports an overall positive ecological balance (+ 2.4 gha) together with an acceptable gross margin (16,200 €). It emerges that crops with negative environmental performances sustain farm income, while the crops with a positive ecological balance bring a very limited contribution to economic profitability. Such results lead to some considerations about the importance of carefully considering the trade-off between economic and environmental consequences of farming activities in order to drive farmers towards a more sustainable behaviour.

There are significant challenges in managing the trade-offs between the production of pastures and grazing livestock for profit in the short term, and the persistence of the pasture resource in the longer term under stochastic climatic conditions. The profitability of using technologies such as grazing management, fertiliser inputs and the renovation of pastures are all influenced by complex inter-temporal relations that need to be considered to provide suitable information for managers to enhance tactical and strategic decision making. In this study pasture is viewed as an exploitable renewable resource with its state defined by total pasture quantity and the proportion of desirable species in the sward. The decision problem was formulated as a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model where the decision variables are seasonal stocking rate and pasture re-sowing and the objective is to maximise the present value of future economic returns. The solution defines the optimal seasonal decisions for all intervening states of the system as uncertainty unfolds. The model was applied to a representative farm in the high rainfall temperate pasture zone of Australia and the pasture states under which tactical grazing rest, low stocking rates and pasture re-sowing are optimal were identified. Results provide useful general insights as well as specific prescriptions for the case study farm. The framework developed in this paper provides a means of identifying optimal tactical and strategic decisions that achieve maximum sustainable economic yields from grazing systems.

High-input agriculture in China has successfully increased crop productivity in the past decades, but at a significant environmental cost. It is essential to improve management strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental costs, while maintaining grain yields. However, there is a lack of studies to evaluate mitigation strategies under long-term climate variability. This paper combines field experimental data and soil–plant systems modeling to investigate the potential for improving water and nitrogen management of a wheat–maize double cropping system in North China Plain. The APSIM model was calibrated against the data and then applied to simulate crop yield and N2O emissions from soil in response to irrigation and nitrogen inputs. Our results show that the N fertilizer rate and irrigation amount under the local farmer practice could be reduced by 28% and 14% without sacrificing crop yield. This in turn led to a reduction in GHG emissions by 31%, mainly attributed to the decrease in emissions from the production and transportation of N fertilizer and direct N2O emissions from soil. Additionally, the results indicate that the direct N2O emissions from soil was positively correlated with N inputs, implying an increasing emission factor (N2O produced per unit of N input) with N application rates. It is concluded that potential exists to optimize N fertilizer rate and irrigation amount to reduce GHG emissions while still maintaining crop yield in the agro-ecosystems in North China Plain.

This paper analyses the diversity of goals and values amongst 26 Brazilian commercial-scale beef farmers previously identified as exhibiting progressive technology adoption behaviours, and considers the implications for the agricultural innovation system (AIS). Following the Q-methodology guidelines, four main sets of goals and values were identified and labelled: the Professional Farmer (PF), the Committed Environmentalist (CE), the Profit Maximiser (PM) and the Aspirant Top Farmer (ATF). All farmer types believed in operating the farm as a business and agreed with the notion that cattle production and nature conservation are compatible. The PF aimed to run the farm professionally, based on sound technical and managerial practices. The CE put a particularly strong emphasis on the long-term sustainability of the farming system. The PM focused on technical issues to pursue economic returns and efficiency, thereby also creating space for lifestyle objectives. The ATF sought physical farm and livestock excellence, was growth oriented, and sought recognition by peers. These four typologies have implications for the farmers' technology adoption and its promotion, e.g. they are likely to influence the uptake of particular types of innovations, and reinforce the importance of considering AIS within a social systems framework. This is the first Q-methodology study to demonstrate considerable diversity of values and goals within a subset of technology-adopting progressive farmers, with implications within agricultural innovation systems for the integration of goal diversity and adoption theory.

Dehesas (rangelands typically located in the Southwest of Spain) are agro-silvo-pastoral systems traditionally used in agriculture and livestock farming, where livestock uses large pasturelands in wooded regions. These systems stand out for their high environmental and socio-economic value, where livestock farming plays an essential role in their maintenance and conservation. The dehesa is located in the SW quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula, occupying a total area of 5.8 million hectares in Spain and 0.5 million hectares in Portugal. Within this context, this paper analyses the potential these systems have to switch from the traditional model to organic production, in particular in the case of beef, as cows are the main livestock being reared in dehesas . For this purpose, we have used a Delphi analysis with a panel of experts in organic livestock production on dehesas . A total of 47 experts were selected from public institutions, farming, research bodies, agricultural organisations and companies in the industry. After a two-round study, some of the most relevant aspects for the future of organic beef production in dehesas were analysed: the evolution of its productive system, the marketing of the produce and the positive or negative effects—either as a stimulus or a deterrent—that the EU Common Agricultural Policy its agri-environmental measures would have. The experts highlighted some relevant aspects that hinder the implementation and/or the transition from a traditional farm to an organic model, i.e. sales of the final product becoming stagnant, the lack of self-sufficiency in organic feed and the difficulty of access to organic certified slaughterhouses. In this sense, the implementation of specific lines of subsidised funding that encourage the production of organic beef in dehesas would be desirable. These support schemes, together with marketing improvements and the increase of market prices, would guarantee the continuity of the holdings in this production segment. It has also been agreed that the transition from traditional farms to organic production systems will result in a reduction in the use of non-renewable resources, thus decreasing stocking rates and finally increasing the environmental externalities of the dehesas , which would therefore enhance their conservation.

Clear degradable mulch film (CDMF), when installed over a newly sown crop, fundamentally alters the growing environment through the entrapment of heat and CO2, the attenuation of incident solar radiation and, the capture and return of evapotranspiration losses back to the soil. These changes can be harnessed by farmers in a variety of ways to increase crop production through, for example, earlier sowing and more rapid crop establishment, reduced frost risk, geographical expansion of a crop into new areas otherwise unsuited to that crop, and soil water conservation in low rainfall areas. Conversely, when used at the wrong time of year, the temperatures under the film can reach levels that result in plant heat stress. This paper reports on an investigation conducted in southeast Tasmania into how key headspace climate variables (daily maximum and minimum temperatures, relative humidity, total daily radiation and atmospheric CO2 concentration) under CDMF respond to changing ambient climatic conditions and underlying soil characteristics. The film fundamentally altered the growing environment with incident solar radiation reduced by up to 34%, daily maximum temperatures reaching a peak of ~ 60 °C, daily minimum temperatures up to 20 °C above ambient levels in summer and, atmospheric CO2 concentrations up to 100 times ambient levels. The magnitude of these responses was all sensitive to soil type. Simple models were derived for predicting daily headspace solar radiation, maximum temperature and minimum temperature from readily available ambient data. These models can be used to identify site-specific, operational limits for film application and, when integrated into farm system models, enable the prediction of wider production and environmental impacts under film.

Sustainably meeting future food demand requires increases in food production and reductions in the amount of food that is lost and wasted. This paper examines inequality in postharvest losses to reveal patterns and opportunities for intervention. We present a measure that provides information on the distribution of postharvest losses in a single graph, the postharvest loss inequality curve, or an index number, the postharvest loss inequality index. Inequality measurement can help direct policy measures to units generating the greatest postharvest losses and thereby support more favorable policy outcomes and cost/benefit relationships. Concepts and methods introduced here are empirically analyzed based on the African Postharvest Losses Information System data for maize losses in Sub-Saharan Africa. Empirical results indicate the presence of a great deal of variability and inequality in postharvest losses as measured by the postharvest loss inequality index. In the data analyzed, the postharvest loss inequality index better captures anomalies in data distribution such as outliers, skewness and kurtosis than the more direct measure of postharvest losses as a share of total maize production.

Food insecurity and the weak position of smallholders in food value chains are key challenges in many low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to increase food security and make agricultural value chains more inclusive, donors, governments and researchers increasingly stimulate partnerships between multiple actors, in which knowledge exchange, joint learning and knowledge co-creation play a central role in reducing the time lag between research findings and their translation into practical outcomes. Yet, despite the growing body of literature on multi-actor and cross-sector learning in these partnerships, an overview of existing literature and a strong evidence base of results of knowledge co-creation in these platforms is missing. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper documents existing evidence of knowledge co-creation processes in multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) in sub-Saharan Africa. Findings reveal, first, many examples of positive results, including increased yields and income for farmers; policy, regime and institutional changes; and changes in environmental sustainability. Second, there are several limitations to what MSPs can achieve, including limited attention for scaling up and a lack of sustainability due to dependency on donor funding. Third, there are limitations related to the evidence base: there is a tendency to report less on failures and available findings on the effectiveness of MSPs are mixed. Considering the evidence base, we conclude that there is a need to systematically document, report and assess MSPs and not take their effectiveness for granted. A systematic literature review thereby has an important added value because the critical assessment of methodological rigour increases the credibility of results documented in the included studies.

International audience; This paper assesses the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions and economic performances for a sample of dairy farms Protected Designation of Origin dairy farms in France. Investigating caeteris paribus drivers of performance, we conclude that synergies are rare. Investing in farming equipment, optimizing fuel use or suppressing manure composting can however improve environmental performance by 5 to 13% without impairing profits. In parallel, increasing labor productivity and reducing the share of protein in the diet enhances the economic performance by 7 to 21% without increasing GHG emissions. On the debated merit of intensiveness, our analysis leans towards a negative influence of concentrates, especially protein-rich ones such as soybean cakes, both on economic and environmental performances. This result, consistent with previous studies on extensive systems, could be conditioned by a good know-how and management of grass.; Ce document évalue les moteurs des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et les performances économiques d'un échantillon de fermes laitières à appellation d'origine protégée en France. En étudiant les moteurs de performance caeteris paribus, nous concluons que les synergies sont rares. L'investissement dans le matériel agricole, l'optimisation de l'utilisation des combustibles ou la suppression du compostage du fumier peuvent cependant améliorer les performances environnementales de 5 à 13 % sans nuire aux bénéfices. Parallèlement, l'augmentation de la productivité du travail et la réduction de la part des protéines dans l'alimentation améliorent les performances économiques de 7 à 21 % sans augmenter les émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Sur le mérite débattu de l'intensification, notre analyse penche vers une influence négative des concentrés, notamment ceux riches en protéines comme les tourteaux de soja, à la fois sur les performances économiques et environnementales. Ce résultat, cohérent avec les études précédentes sur les systèmes extensifs, pourrait être conditionné par un bon savoir-faire et une bonne gestion de l'herbe.

Many recent studies on soil and crop management practices have demonstrated their possibility in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from cropland. The response of GHG emissions to management practices can be quantitatively simulated using biophysics-based agricultural system models. However, the economic feasibilities of such management adoption are yet to be evaluated, especially when the producers have to adopt only one profitable management plan. This paper presents a field-scale economic analysis software that is capable of estimating the net benefits under various greenhouse gas mitigating management practices. The calculated net benefits are based on the benefit-cost analysis (BCA), where GHG emissions are converted to the CO2 equivalent and priced using the information from the current carbon trade market. GHG emissions and crop yield are simulated using the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2), an agricultural system model coupled with the BCA software. A case study for a cornfield at the Saint Emmanuel site near Montreal, Canada, from 2012 to 2015 under two water table management practices, i.e., free-drainage (FD) and controlled drainage (CD), results showed that FD was more profitable than CD. Although fewer greenhouse gases were emitted under CD than under FD, the potential benefit under current carbon credit payment from GHG reduction under CD was far less than the additional cost from installing new instruments and excessive maintenance fees. This study suggests that the government subsidy is needed to provide further incentives for producers to adopt new greenhouse gas emission mitigating management practices.

There is a complex relationship between land-use, the environment, food production and quality. Regulatory and non-regulatory interventions, such as application of biosolids to agricultural land, are often undertaken at a field- or farm- level and the aggregated effects across farms and regions are difficult to understand, predict, and communicate to others both spatially and temporally. The aim of this paper was to introduce Waste to Land (W2L). W2L is a novel, holistic tool that combines spatial data analysis methods, multi-criteria analysis, and numerical models to detect areas for optimum biosolids application and to predict the spatial effect of applying biosolids to land. A robust framework was developed first to chart the effects of applied biosolids on the environment and, potentially, on the human food chain. Selecting cadmium as a prototype contaminant, a conceptual model was designed as the basis to define the workflow for the tool. Using the open-source, statistical language R and freely available data, the operation and outputs from the tool were demonstrated at a national scale in Scotland, UK. The results provided fresh intelligence on the ability of the Scottish Landbank to receive biosolids and on the spatial effect of landspreading biosolids, to facilitate the exchange of information between stakeholders, and to enable decision-making in a context of spreading biosolids on farmland.

International audience; Innovation is central to the strategic orientations of many agronomic research institutes. Little attention has been paid, however, to the links between knowledge production and design processes, defined as processes resulting in the creation of new objects in pursuit of specific goals. Our aim was to analyze the conditions and specificities of the production of scientific knowledge on agro-ecosystems through design processes. Drawing on design theory, we carried out a cross-analysis of nine research projects that included design processes and produced innovative objects (for example blending rules for variety mixtures in low-input crop management routes). These projects were managed by researchers from a range of disciplines (agronomists, geneticists, crop physiologists, and ecologists), and varied in their duration (from three to 15 years) and scale (from plot to landscape). We combined semi-structured interviews with these researchers and the analysis of various documents (scientific papers, PhD theses, technical publications, and research projects or reports). Our findings show that in all case studies, original and general scientific knowledge on agro-ecosystem functioning was produced at various stages throughout the design processes. The originality of this knowledge lies with the new representations that emerged, either of the agro-ecosystem processes at stake, or of farmers' practices. We show that these representations were formed gradually, through successive iterations of both refined formulations of the design target and new knowledge produced, required for its design. Finally, our results highlight the role of confrontation with real-life situations (particularly through agronomic diagnosis or experiments) in the evolution of these representations. Engaging in design processes can thus be seen as a research practice that leads to the production of original knowledge, allowing for a greater diversity of actors' ways of knowing to be taken into account.

At least 25% of lambs born in Australia die before marking. Research across southern Australia has demonstrated that reducing mob size at lambing by 100 ewes will, on average, increase the survival of single-born lambs by 0.8% and twin-born lambs by 2.2%. In this paper we assessed the economic value of lambing ewes in smaller mobs to improve lamb survival. The analysis considered scenarios for Merino and non-Merino flocks where producers subdivided lambing paddocks using temporary or permanent fencing, or where ewes were reallocated within existing paddocks based on ewe pregnancy status. Optimum mob sizes were most sensitive to the type of fencing used for subdivision, whether ewes were single- or twin-bearing, whether the effect of paddock size on potential stocking rate was included and the target return on investment. Breed, ewe stocking rate, scanning percentage and lamb price also impacted optimum mob size but had a smaller effect. The optimum mob size for twin-bearing Merino and non-Merino ewes was between 34% and 60% that of single-bearing ewes and this was similar for scenarios where paddocks were subdivided or ewes were reallocated within existing paddocks. Permanent subdivision of paddocks also presents an opportunity to increase stocking rate by capitalising on the benefits of improved pasture utilisation in smaller paddocks. The relationship between paddock size and pasture utilisation is not well quantified but it has an important effect on optimum mob and paddock size. The value of reallocating ewes within existing paddocks was greatest at a scanning percentage of 150% as this presents the greatest opportunity to alter mob sizes for single- and twin-bearing ewes. The economic return from adjusting the relative mob size of twin-bearing ewes from 100% to 50% that of single-bearing ewes was up to $0.27/Merino ewe/yr and $0.44/non-Merino ewe/yr with lamb at $6/kg carcass weight. Overall, these analyses demonstrate that reducing mob size at lambing can be a profitable strategy for improving lamb survival depending on the current size of lambing mobs. However, it is difficult to provide generic recommendations to producers for the optimum mob size of ewes and value of paddock subdivision because these are dependent on enterprise-specific factors.

Under the fifth strategic development plan of Iran, the government is necessitated to trigger the agro-ecological initiatives like conservation agriculture (CA) by stimulating farmers to become involved in the schemes as efficiently as possible, along the lines of global policies to enhance environmentally-friendly development. This study, as being the case, calls for the knowledge gap of motivation-intention-behavior, investigating the association of diverse motivations of 382 farmers in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, with the soil conservation behavior (SCB), also inclusive of the contribution of CA features, including relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and testability, as the farmers were stratified to low and high SCB. The theoretical framework consists of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and motivational model (MM), the former is commonly used and the latter has the potential to be given much attention, conceptualized by well-being, identity, hedonistic, and idealistic concepts. The study provides evidence that 70.42% of farmers adhere to and carry out SCB at a low rate; whereas, 29.58% of the rest has a high adoption rate. The results also illustrate that attitude towards CA contributes to influencing SCB, as well as the significant and positive impact of PBC on behavioral intention and SCB. While well-being motivation has a negative impact on attitude towards CA, behavioral intention, and SCB, identity and hedonistic motivations have a significant and positive impact on attitude and SCB that are mediated by behavioral intention. The paper concludes that (1) the agricultural extension needs to change farmers' attitudes by making farmers aware of the relative advantage, compatibility, and testability of CA, (2) farmers should receive technical, financial, and educational support to increase their volitional control on CA, (3) it is strongly suggested addressing the primary obstacles to SCB, which are facilitated by delivering the subsidized agricultural inputs (e.g., fertilizer, fuel, and livelihoods) to farmers with well-being motivations, (4) the agricultural extension is also recommended recognizing farmers with identity and hedonistic incentives, they are as a reference group and are imitated by non-adopter or slowly adopter farmers.

Fragmentation, as one of the most distinct characteristics of agricultural landscapes worldwide, has resulted in a diversity of ecological consequences. It remains as a gap in the literature on how provisioning service changes in association with agricultural fragmentation and land use management. Addressing such a gap at a national level should provide essential insights for policymakers. This paper identifies the essential metrics from a set of landscape metrics for describing agricultural fragmentation and further develops an integrated fragmentation index (IFI). Using the IFI, spatiotemporal dynamics of agricultural fragmentation across Chinese cities from 2010 to 2017 are captured. In particular, an increasing trend of fragmentation is identified and southern China is characterized by more fragmented agricultural landscapes than the other parts. Spatial regression, with the Cobb-Douglas Production Function as the theoretical basis, is employed to quantify the relationships among provisioning service, agricultural fragmentation, and land use management. It is discovered that landscape fragmentation would impair the supply of the provisioning service and sustainable land use management regulates the provisioning service in a positive way. We argue that alleviating the landscape fragmentation issue would not be achieved with simple measurement. Cooperation of a series of administrative acts, such as land reclamation, land use transfer, household registration system reform and improvement of employment and welfare system, should be fundamental and practical approaches. The present study demonstrates a novel methodological framework to unravel the effect of agricultural fragmentation on provisioning services, which should be useful for understanding the complex human-ecosystem interactions.

Hazelnut is an emerging tree crop in the global market and current production levels are unable to sustain the demand for fruits. Research efforts are needed to support private and public stakeholders with knowledge that can help improving the management of the agricultural systems, by enhancing yield levels and safeguarding environmental sustainability. This paper extends the application of a process-based hazelnut simulation model from the single orchard where it was initially calibrated to four orchards located in Italy, Chile and Georgia, using three-year experimental datasets (2015–2017). The model sensitivity to parameter changes was assessed twice (screening and quantitative analysis) to identify the most relevant parameters affecting the prediction of leaf area index, fruit yield and soil moisture. These parameters were automatically calibrated to maximize the model accuracy in predicting field data, by comparing model performances with original parameterization. According to current model structure, canopy expansion and plant dimensions accounted for most of the variability in leaf area index simulation. Photosynthesis and root water uptake played a prominent role in affecting the model predictions of yield and soil moisture, respectively. The automatic calibration increased the accuracy in predicting leaf area index (average RRMSE = 19.3%), fruit yield (average RRMSE = 16.3%) and soil moisture (average RRMSE = 12.5%). This study provides quantitative information to support calibration activities and insights for collection of new experimental data in the short-term, while laying the groundwork for the use of the model for yield forecasting activities as the medium goal.

Smallholder farmers attempt to adapt their farmland management through multiple strategies in order to secure their livelihood against external stress factors. Cultivating different species and genotypes of crops is one of the strategies implemented by smallholder farmers to maintain their livelihood. In the Kilimanjaro highlands, the Chagga people run small-scale farming. Traditionally, they cultivate diverse varieties of banana and coffee in home gardens in high-altitude areas and maize in low-altitude foothill farms. However, this type of farmland management had to be altered gradually in response to changes in external factors. This paper examines the role of cropping practice and diverse banana genotypes in the livelihood of the Chagga people, to understand how they altered their farmland management strategy to adapt to the current socio-economic circumstances, based on interviews, observations, and genetic analysis of banana. Our results showed that the Chagga people had altered their farmland management strategy by increasing banana and maize cultivation and decreasing coffee cultivation in the home garden based on the significance of each crop in their livelihood. The importance of banana cultivation for the livelihood of Chagga people has been recently recognized as an income source in addition to a staple food because of its increasing demand in neighboring big cities. Maize cultivation in home gardens has expanded because of the steady increase in the household demand of maize over the last 40 years and the decrease in size and ownership of foothill farms. Conversely, coffee cultivation as a household income has declined because of a reduction in coffee prices in the world market and increasing challenges in its cultivation. Additionally, the Chagga people accurately distinguish and use 11 types of bananas in their daily diet and cultural use. Maintaining diverse genotypes of bananas in home gardens is one of the adaptation strategies that bring stable food supply and income, and consequently enable them to maintain their livelihood under changing socio-economic circumstances.

This paper draws on a decadal dataset of 250 farms in south-western Australia. These farms, when categorised according to their type of farming system and business strategy, faced different trends in their terms of trade. Profitability measures of these farms for the period 2002/3 to 2011/12 were compared. Most farms, other than some highly crop dominant ones, applied a strategy of maintaining or increasing their cropping intensity and farm size over the decade. The strategy of a greater commitment to cropping was supported by cropping technologies and beneficial change in agronomic practices. Increased cropping was universally profitable among all types of farming systems, providing a statistically significant increase in operating surpluses. By contrast, irrespective of their underpinning farming system, farms which did not strategically increase their intensity of cropping generated statistically significant less returns to their business equity. By maintaining rather than increasing their cropping intensity these businesses failed to capture the operating surplus upside available from increased cropping. Overall, the results show that management of farming systems is not solely about tactics and flexibility. Strategic management can additionally influence the nature and profitability of farming systems.

Digitalisation is widely regarded as having the potential to provide productivity and sustainability gains for the agricultural sector. However, there are likely to be broader implications arising from the digitalisation of agricultural innovation systems. Agricultural knowledge and advice networks are important components of agricultural innovation systems that have the potential to be digitally disrupted. In this paper, we review trends within agricultural knowledge and advice networks both internationally and in Australia, to anticipate and prepare for potential transformations in these networks. Through a combined structured and traditional review of relevant literature, we come to three key conclusions regarding the state-of-the-art. First, the connectivity of humans and technologies in agricultural knowledge and advice networks and value chains will likely continue to increase. Second, transparency of agricultural practices and informational interaction between farmers, advisors, agri-businesses, consumers and regulators will drive and be driven by growing connectivity. Finally, there are likely to be challenges balancing the priorities of various agricultural stakeholders as agricultural innovation systems digitalise. These findings have implications for the oversight of international agri-food sectors.

Mixed crop-livestock farming systems provide food for over half of the global population. However, some important food exporting countries, like Australia, are predicted to be vulnerable to climate change and may require transformative adaptations if they are to continue their role in food exportation. This paper assesses the potential impacts of projected climate change by 2030 (0.4–1.6° increase in mean temperature) on Australian mixed crop-livestock systems and examines the consequences of shifts in land allocations to cropping and grazing, in these systems, as an adaptation option. Farm bio-economic simulation models were developed for these mixed enterprise systems in several regions of Australia. These models were based on biophysically coupled crop, pasture, and livestock simulation models that in turn drew on site-based downscaled climate projection datasets. The farm models calculated farm profitability and risk measures. A range of land use changes was investigated. At drier locations facing adverse climate change, results showed a transition towards a greater emphasis on livestock production could be beneficial when assessed against multiple criteria of farm profit, downside financial risk, and environmental damage. We highlight some industry and government actions and policies that could facilitate these preferred adaptation strategies at such locations.

The impact of climate change on agricultural systems has become a reality that currently threatens food security in numerous regions worldwide. However, concrete consequences of climate change on agricultural yields still remain unknown in many countries around the world, including Romania. This study conducts a first-ever analysis of the impact of climate change on maize productivity in Romania, the European Union's leader in maize harvested production, which holds almost 30% of the European maize production. The paper explores complex statistical relationships between the climatic water balance (CWB)/its constituting parameters precipitation (P) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and maize yields (Zea mays L.) recorded nationally from 1990 to 2013, a key-period in Romania in terms of climate and socio-political changes. The analysis of various agro-climatic data, based on well-established methods (linear regression and bootstrapping), showed that the countrywide dependence of maize yields variability to changes in the analyzed climatic variables was considerable and reached peak values of roughly 60% for the CWB-yield relationship and around 50% for the P-yield and ETo-yield relationships. At the same time, a significant sensitivity of maize yield dynamics was found in response to a 1-unit climate change, which, on average, was quantified at 5 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm variation of the CWB, and at 19 kg/ha/yr and 11 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm change in P and ETo, respectively. In addition to this agricultural impact, our findings regarding the economic impact associated to concrete climatic trends (CWB decreases and ETo increases over the 24 years, consistent with an overall increase of the humidity deficit, and P increases, consistent with humidity surplus) indicate total costs of approximately 53 mil € (or almost 1% of the national agricultural gross domestic product) for the CWB-yield relationship, and of ~200 mil € (~3%) for ETo-yield. It was found that the separate influence of P in maize dynamics was positive, with net financial gains of up to ~130 mil € (~2%). However, our findings show that only the economic costs associated with the impact of ETo on maize productivity are highly statistically reliable. Our results issue a warning about the urgent measures to fight climate change effects on agriculture in Romania, which are necessary especially in the counties located in the Extra-Carpathian regions, highly vulnerable to climate dynamics.

The challenges of estimating the value of growing and using extra pasture to the farm business often necessitates using complex systems modelling of individual farms. In this paper, a straightforward market value method is outlined, where technical substitutes for which there is a defined market price are used as proxies to estimate an equivalent value for extra pasture used in a farm system. The method can be useful for all grazed livestock production systems where substitutes for pasture are purchased and sold. The two-price approach presented advances on previous applications of using market values by accounting for differences in the value of extra pasture DM used on farm in different seasons. The value per extra kg DM harvested in seasons when pasture typically limits livestock production, for example during summer/autumn in temperate environments, and used on farm equates to the market price of the replacement cost as purchased supplementary feed. This is the maximum the extra pasture DM could be worth when used in the farm system. Conversely, the value per extra kg DM harvested in spring when extra pasture is likely to be in surplus of livestock requirements, equates to its market price if sold, as standing hay for example, termed the salvage value. This two-price approach was applied to value the previously published seasonal DM yield differences of 19 perennial ryegrass cultivars, compared to an industry standard cultivar, grown in three regions of Victoria, Australia. Results were then compared to the value of extra pasture DM previously estimated using system simulation analyses of three farms and applied to the same perennial ryegrass data set. The difference in the value of extra pasture DM estimated using the two methods ranged from $0.01/kg DM to $0.24/kg DM. Overall, the two-price method estimated an extra $24 to $200/ha.year benefit over the industry standard cultivar for the 19 cultivars across the three regions, similar to the extra $0 to ∼ $180/ha.year estimated by the previous system simulation analysis. The two-price market value method can be an efficient way to estimate the value of extra seasonal DM yield of pasture, with results easily generalised across a range of farming systems.

There has been an increasing demand for livestock products with credence attributes (CAs), such as environmental sustainability and high animal welfare standards. Although most livestock product CAs are strongly related to farm-level production processes, rarely have studies explored the issue from an on-farm perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to explore whether consumers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) a price premium could incentivise dairy farmers to deliver products with CAs in New Zealand. We first employed a meta-regression analysis to estimate WTP for CAs of dairy products, and then incorporated the WTP estimates into farm system models to estimate the economic and environmental (nitrogen and GHG losses) impacts for the farms. Data for the meta-regression models were sourced from a literature survey yielding 32 studies estimating WTP for CAs of dairy products. The results showed that price premium ranged from 5.3% to 47.5% for environmentally-friendly dairy products. Farm system (FARMAX), farm environmental (OVERSEER) and life cycle assessment (LCA) models were used to model the farm system changes required to deliver ‘green’ dairy by using data for the average Waikato dairy farm. The results showed that the economic and environmental outcomes varied over the predicted range in WTP as well as for different farm system scenarios. Findings of the study could help inform NZ farmers as to how to adjust their farm systems in response to market signals and thereby potentially gain a price premium.

Agriculture is a vital economic sector, providing food, fibre, and energy to a growing human population. Livestock are an important part of this sector, however the evidence and understanding of how a changing climate may affect livestock production systems, or how they may adapt to the changes, is a neglected area compared to the research into crop production. In this paper, we focus on livestock in the United Kingdom (UK), as an example of a temperate region likely to experience at least moderate changes in climate that will require changes to the way agricultural systems operate. We summarise the projected climate changes in this region, identify the main impacts likely to affect livestock agriculture, and discuss potential adaptation options at the farm level. We also categorise the adaptation options by the types of costs they incur, emphasising that many of these options involve management changes rather than investment and therefore no financial cost. Finally, we discuss the need for longer term planning to prepare for changes that have not yet been observed.

This paper presents an overview of the nature and application of a simple quantitative framework for livestock development planning. This, hopefully, provides a useful tool for use in one typical planning situation—the estimation of resource requirements, the evaluation of resource constraints and the tracing of the implications of alternative development programmes in the achievement of specified production targets. Subsequent papers will present detailed descriptions of various components of the framework and a case study of its application.

In agriculture the systems approach has almost become orthodoxy. It is widely accepted as an intellectual framework for implementing change. This paper argues that current systems thinking, in seeking to define the sociological underpinnings of the systems movement, fails to address adequately unequal power in human organizations. This paper is concerned with power. It begins by emphasizing the multiplier effect of technology in bringing about change. It then argues that technology is not neutral since changes in practices brought by technological innovations also result in social changes. The theme is developed that the direction and implementation of technological change must confront the politics of power. A perspective for action in the social world is proposed based on an analysis of power in organizations in terms of authority and influence and on the resolution of conflict between interest groups and coalitions by negotiation, using the power-dependence theory. This leads to a framework for implementing change which employs the systems approach in the analysis of natural world systems and a power perspective for action in the social world.

This paper is based on the premise that before animal production systems can be improved, existing systems of production must be fully defined and understood. The purpose of this paper is to classify and describe small-scale dairy production systems in the high potential area of Kenya, with the objective of linking such classification and descriptions to the formation of priorities for improvement, more particularly improvement by way of research, and more particularly by way of research in the area of pasture and fodder production. Examples of the various types of implication that arise from such descriptions are given and a number of problems that have appeared in attempting to classify and describe animal production systems are discussed.

It is generally accepted that farmers operating in traditional agricultural systems are highly efficient, given the resources and technology available to them. This has led to farm policies in third world countries which place a high emphasis on capital investments. This paper uses a frontier production function analysis to generate firm specific efficiency indices for traditional farms in three different areas in northern Nigeria. Computed indices are then employed in identifying both inter- and intra-area efficiency differentials. The relationships between technical efficiency and commonly used farm performance measures are also examined. The results indicate that efficiency scores range between 0·67 and 1·00. This implies that least efficient farmers could have obtained gross value of output 24–36% above their actual output. Thus, the results reported in this paper are not in total support of the conventional belief that no increase in traditional agricultural output is possible by a more efficient use of factors at the disposal of farmers. One implication of these findings is that extension programmes based on the experience of more successful farmers, even with traditional practice, can yield modest dividends.

Ideas are the hard currency of change in agriculture. While agriculture has a long history of research in both generating and disseminating ideas it has not formulated a cosmology for putting ideas into practice. Professionals in agriculture work from a science world-view. In the recent systems literature in agriculture there is an emphasis on systems analysis and on modeling the behavior of production systems. Behind this there seems to have been an acceptance of a hard systems ideology for action, for putting ideas into practice, an ideology which has its roots in traditional engineering methods. This apparently uncritical acceptance is a cause for concern. This paper presents an alternative cosmology for putting ideas into practice. A model is formulated which describes that process in five stages: getting the idea, judging whether to go ahead, planning to give form to the idea, designing a scheme to incorporate the idea and finally implementing that scheme. The intellectual support for this five stage process is provided by three distinct system paradigms: appreciative systems, soft systems and hard systems. These paradigms are fundamental to success in the process; they condition both the mental frameworks and methodologies applied at the various stages. The systems movement is already important in agricultural thinking. This paper is concerned with broadening the appreciation of what further contributions systems thinking can make.

The development of management control techniques for the dairy derd is discussed in this paper in relation to the rationale behind the construction of a detailed model of milk production in the individual cow. The movement towards a more flexible and individualised basis for predicting yield, which does not depend on historical records or standard energy systems, is highlighted. The overall concept and approach of the model are set out and the control aspects and structural framework of the program explained. Subsequent papers in the series will deal in more detail with the major sections of the program in order to illustrate how the mechanisms of the model actually operate and to provide results and an account of the validation procedure.

Amare Getahun's (1978) paper on agricultural systems in Ethiopia is one of the few attempts to classify agricultural systems in Ethiopia into (a) the highland mixed farming system, (b) low plateaux and valley mixed agriculture, (c) pastoral livestock production of the arid and semi-arid zones and (d) commercial agriculture, and to describe the main characteristics of each system. However, it is not clear what criteria have been used to classify the different agricultural regions into the four general categories developed by Amare Getahun. This review paper discusses agricultural systems by applying the ecological systems approach to agricultural development within the framework of a political economy analysis as a means of evaluating agricultural development strategies.

This paper describes the CALEX system, a microcomputer based integrated expert decision support system for agricultural management. The program, which is implemented in conjunction with domain specific modules, consists of three separate subprograms: an executive, a scheduler, and an expert system shell. The executive serves as the primary interface to the user, to models, and to the disk. The scheduler generates a sequence of management activities by repeatedly activating the expert system. The expert system makes the actual management decisions. The CALEX package is domain independent and can be used with any commodity. Initial development of the program has focused on the development of a package of modules for California cotton and another package for peaches. This paper describes the architecture of the basic CALEX program. The features of the CALEX package are illustrated with brief descriptions of some of the commodity specific implementations. Full descriptions of commodity specific implementations will be given elsewhere.

Model building is as much an art as a science. We attempt in this paper to define modelling terminology and discuss major steps in model building, analysis and synthesis and the sequence in which they are commonly undertaken in agricultural simulation projects. Model building tends to be an iterative process, meaning that at any point in the sequence the model builder may return to a previous step. This illustrates one of the important steps of a successful simulation—the earlier steps are always subject to revision as additional information is obtained. For example, a review of data often causes some reformulation of the problem. This reformulation may involve only a change in problem emphasis, or it may result in complete restructuring. In dealing with complex systems, analysts sometimes find that the first definition of the problem needs later revisions because it included too many (or sometimes too few) factors to represent adequately the alternatives and, therefore, a return to design. Availability of data is always an important consideration and is part of the problem formulation step of model building. Model constants and parameters, as well as initial values for all variables, are derived from these data. In addition, model assumptions are based on available data, giving model predictions some level of credibility. Finally, data must be available for model validation studies. Therefore, as pointed out in this paper, data sources should be located and their adequacy evaluated early in the model building sequence. The programmer or analyst programming the model should size up the task as an initial step. The result is serious if the size or complexity of the job is underestimated and the model will probably never function as economically or as efficiently as it should. Programming language choices and computing systems available are a part of this task. Consideration of model results may not be the end product of the modelling effort. We stress in this paper that the model building process should be an inter-disciplinary effort, so that when the team considers model results, each member has some realisation of their derivation. It is entirely possible at this point that the team decides more detailed or different results are necessary and that the model building process returns to the beginning with new objectives in mind. We attempt to give a detailed and thorough discussion of the model building process as discussed above. However, we hope the process discussed in this paper will be taken only as a philosophical view and should not be treated as a method that automatically produces the creative thinking required to translate a complicated real-world agricultural system into a more compact and usable simulation model.

Inter-annual climatic variations pose serious problems for animal breeding farms and it is important to try to reduce the effects of these variations. An investigation of how this can be done is presented here with particular reference to the Pyrenees mountains. In this case the overwintering period is particularly difficult, but the situation during this period depends on the climate throughout the year. In a previous paper, a model of the constitution and utilisation of hay-stocks was described. The model calculated an index of winter severity. In this paper various strategies aimed at reducing the variance in this index are tested. First, strategies involving changes in farm structure (harvest process, etc.) or different fixed management strategies (e.g. different lambing periods) are considered. Then, strategies involving modifications of management (fertilisation, etc.) in response to current conditions are considered. The simulation results indicate that strategies of this latter type are the more effective in reducing the variability in the index of winter severity.

Droughts are a frequent phenomenon on the Great Plains of North America. Since the great drought of 1936–1937, policy-makers have been concerned about the economic impacts of a drought and they have searched for policies that would mitigate these impacts. This paper describes the process of developing an agricultural drought impact evaluation model (ADIEM) for the prairie region of Saskatchewan. It is the first in a series of three papers. Farm and aggregate impact analysis models are described in the second paper. In the third paper, an example of a drought mitigating policy is tested using the ADIEM. The ADIEM is an integrated systems model that contains four components: a yield-hydrology simulation model, farm business simulation models, a regional input-output model, and an employment model. The models are internally consistent and hierarchical, i.e., the output of one model becomes input for subsequent models. The ADIEM can be used in several ways including the evaluation of drought impacts on various types and sizes of farms, and on the regional and provincial economies. Various drought mitigative practices or public programs can also be evaluated in terms of their mitigative effects on farmers and the economy as a whole.

Despite numerous empirical studies on the determinants of diffusion of chemical technologies among farmers in Nigeria, a reappraisal of the issue is undertaken in this paper. The need arises because previous studies assume that all potential adopters have equal opportunity to adopt an innovation and focus, therefore, upon individual characteristics to explain differences in the level of adoption over time. This paper assumes that the opportunity to adopt an innovation is unequal; hence, factors related to the supply of the innovation are considered alongside with the ‘demand’ factors. Evidence in this paper indicates that the ‘demand’ factors, such as farm size, product prices, degree of farm enterprise diversification, experience, total number of previous adopters and chemical cost, are statistically significant and have the expected sign. Furthermore, the ‘supply’ factors, such as the quantity of chemical available for sale, number of chemical distribution stations, frequency of extension contact and advertisement expenditure, are also statistically significant and have the expected sign. It is, therefore, suggested that, to enhance the diffusion of cocoa-spraying chemicals among Nigerian cocoa farmers, there is need for a policy which will emphasise adequate and prompt supply of chemicals to them as well as the provision of adequate information about the technology to farmers using all available media.

Various components of the Agricultural Drought Impact Evaluation Model are described in this paper, which is a second paper in a series of three. Various components describe methodology to estimate yields of various cereal grain and forage crops under drought conditions; to simulate the effects of the drought on economic and financial performance of the farm firm; to aggregate micro level results into regional (or provincial) level entities; to estimate secondary impacts of the drought both on economic activity and employment levels.

The optimum locational and size decisions of a food-processing plant in continuous space have been thoroughly studied in the literature but always as separate decisions. This paper contends, however, that location and size decisions are like the head and tail of a coin, making up a whole system. Within this framework, this paper presents an operative model capable of simultaneously determining the optimum location and size of a processing plant in continuous space under assumptions which are not too restrictive.

This paper contends that the conventional linear programming paradigm commonly used for livestock ration formulation suffers from several inherent weaknesses. One such weakness is the mathematical rigidity that must be respected to meet the minimum nutritional requirements specified in the model, thus making the paradigm inflexible and unrealistic under many situations. Goal programming techniques, on the other hand, do not impose such rigid conditions and also allow consideration of several decision criteria. This paper represents a departure from the traditional LP approach by formulating the diet formulation problem as a GP model incorporating penalty functions that make the specification of minimum levels of nutrients more flexible and realistic.

The management of production and marketing of short season, short shelf-life crops presents some special difficulties due to the limited time the product can be marketed. This paper analyses the mango industry in Australia as typical of crops with these characteristics. It develops a methodology for the analysis of current and future production and marketing potential. The seasonal production from each mango-growing district can be described by a normal curve. The timing and length of the season for each district is determined primarily by climate (heat units). Based on these features, a production model is constructed which forecasts mango outputs for all districts in tonnes per week with inputs of tree numbers, tree age and yield per tree. The three markets for mangoes are domestic fresh fruit, domestic processing and export. Current fresh fruit throughputs and prices have been quantified for the main metropolitan markets. For the Brisbane market, typical of others, a price-throughput-time model is generated showing that the expected negative relationship between price and supply is amplified as the season progresses. A substantially constant price range is superimposed on this price-supply relationship, reflecting consumer assessments of quality. The markets for processing and export are also explored. The paper provides a valuable aid to decision making in the mango industry based on modelling both production and marketing trends.

The sudden increase in the price of oil in 1973/1974 drew attention to the fact that energy resources are not inexhaustible. Since then fossil fuel consumption has risen and is currently close to the 1973 peak level. While agriculture has become technologically more efficient, it has become less efficient in its use of energy during the last few decades. Agricultural production up to the farm gate utilises less than 4% of national power energy consumption while it provides over 55% of the nation's unprocessed food. However, when the total food processing part of this cycle is taken into account nearly 16% of total national energy consumption is used in the overall production and preparation of food. When the biological and industrial energetics are considered, it is apparent that intensive agricultural production has both a low biological efficiency and a comparatively high usage of energy, apart from ruminant meat production under natural grazing conditions. What is needed is a planned use of resources coupled with a reduction in energy inputs without significantly depressing the high current levels of agricultural productivity. The possibility of achieving this objective is discussed. Reference is made to an earlier review by the same authors in which three potentially different sources of energy—straw, livestock wastes for use as fertilisers and livestock wastes for the production of methane—were examined. This paper discusses in detail glasshouse heating, power station waste heat utilisation and the possible exploitation of wind power. The paper concludes that the future for energy usage in agriculture is full of interesting possibilities requiring continuing R&D inputs. Nevertheless, investment in new energy forms must come from government sources, because of the high capital costs and attendant risks.

In a competitive agricultural commodity market, a parity can be expected between the prices of the raw materials and the prices of the final products. This paper attempts to show that such a parity does not exist between the price of liquid milk and the prices of milk fat and SNF in the forms in which they are produced in India, because the traditional milk producers do not have access to a technology that enables them to convert the SNF contained in their milk into products which have ready markets. This fact has given the modern dairy co-operatives of the rural milk producers a significant economic advantage in their competition with the traditional producers, since they have been able to give their members access to such a technology. This paper argues that the new, developing dairy co-operatives should devise their long-term strategies with a view to exploiting this economic advantage while it exists; for, in the long run, this advantage must disappear as competition among the dairy co-operatives in the markets for liquid milk and milk products increases.

This paper focuses on the food marketing system in three selected markets in the Kwara State of Nigeria as it affects the new agricultural development programme known as the Green Revolution. Analysis shows that, on average, transportation costs alone make up 54·5% of the total marketing costs. Seasonality is a problem in the food marketing industry in the area of study and in Nigeria in general. Analysis also indicates that there is no formal system of providing information. Most information is transmitted by informal sources. The paper therefore suggests ways of reforming these services if Nigerians are to benefit from the success of the Green Revolution.

Forming systems research and development is a new approach aimed at meeting the needs of farmers with limited resources in the less developed countries. The cost-effectiveness of the approach rests with identifying enough farmers operating under similar conditions who will adopt the proposed technological improvements. An important way of doing so is through stratification of environmental and farmers' conditions to develop what is called a recommendation domain. This paper reports on current stratification efforts, involving (1) descriptive schemes (classification of farming systems, agricultural growth stages, and an ecological systems approach), (2) stratification by components (agroclimatic zones, soil and land classifications, cropping and biological environments, farmers' cultural practices, and economic and socio-cultural conditions), and (3) stratification strategies used by four major research centers. The paper closes by asserting the need for further methodological work and offers some suggestions.

Institutional innovation is now the major source of technological change in agriculture. Agricultural research and extension organizations are called on to fulfil multiple roles involving servicing, diffusion, innovation and obsolescence. Using the Queensland Department of Primary Industries as a case study, this paper analyses the multiple roles of officers of the Department in three current projects, sheep and wool husbandry practices, feasibility studies of an irradiation plant for horticultural products and restructuring of the sugar industry. It defines the degree of change in these projects in terms of system level (complexity). It relates system level of change to the various phases of the technology life cycle and suggests appropriate system methodologies for these phases. A model is proposed which shows the interaction between system level and system intervention methodology. The paper concludes that hierarchial organizations are suited to low system level changes while matrix type organizations provide the needed flexibility to promote high level system changes.

This paper describes a basic study preceding the establishment of location-allocation models for a government-controlled agricultural industry. The need to develop an efficient and low cost production system for the Nigerian oil palm industry is established. The peculiar handling techniques of oil palm produce are outlined and the requirement of location-allocation models for this industry is discussed. Data were collected in Nigeria and the relevant cost and distance functions were developed for the models. It is necessary to emphasise that this paper contains the pre-requisites for the establishment of location-allocation models. The techniques for establishing these models have been discussed by the author elsewhere.