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Abstract Agricultural endeavors, especially in developing nations, entail inherent risks. Amidst challenges related to capital and agricultural marketing, contract farming emerges as a highly effective strategy. It not only facilitates capital accumulation but also ensures consistent product sales, establishes fair pricing, and contributes to the overall balanced development of the agricultural sector. This concern has been a longstanding global consideration, with Iran now addressing it. Recognizing the paramount importance of implementing contemporary agricultural methodologies, including contract farming, this research systematically investigates factors influencing farmers’ intentions in Iran. A survey methodology is employed for systematic information collection from a statistical population of 98,777 farmers in rural Markazi Province, Iran. Using the Karjesi and Morgan table for sample size determination, a representative subset of 383 farmers is selected through stratified random sampling, ensuring proportional assignment within strata. A researcher-made questionnaire, validated by expert panels and confirmed for reliability through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, serves as the research instrument. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 27, and structural equation modeling was performed with SmartPLS4. The findings reveal that trust (0.528), awareness (0.332), and attitude (0.168), exert the most substantial causal influence on farmers’ intention to embrace contract farming. Consequently, the research findings offer practical recommendations for the adoption of contract farming, providing valuable insights to policymakers and stakeholders for implementing targeted interventions aimed at boosting farmers’ willingness to participate in contractual agreements.

Abstract Despite advancements in meeting various human needs, energy supply remains a top priority for all countries worldwide. The escalating energy consumption in the agricultural sector underscores the necessity to scrutinize its energy usage. Presently, there exists an absence of a precise tool for accurately measuring this consumption. Hence, this study aims to identify indicators for measuring energy security in agriculture, conducted in three phases: content analysis, indicator validation, and field investigation. In the content analysis phase, energy security indicators were extracted and grouped into four categories: accessibility, availability, utilization, and sustainability. Following this, a two-stage validation process led to the identification of 18 indicators for assessing energy security in agriculture. In the field phase, a tailored questionnaire was distributed to 160 randomly selected farmers. The findings revealed that the availability component held the highest rank in establishing energy security, with an average score of 3.31. However, the current status of the access component indicates a more unfavorable situation compared to other dimensions. Consequently, to achieve energy security in agriculture, particular emphasis should be placed on enhancing energy access. Key areas to address include reducing transportation costs and minimizing the use of chemical pesticides. This indicates a necessity for focused interventions aimed at improving both energy access and sustainability within the agricultural sector. These efforts would contribute to enhancing economic efficiency and promoting environmental conservation.

Climate change is global threat and the world is now facing its outcomes more than the last decades. Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of flooding among other extreme weather events. The execution of knowledge management in different phases of disaster management can be effective in mitigating damages caused by floods to natural and human environments. The present study identified effective actions to implement the five stages of knowledge management in the stages before, during and after the flood event. For this purpose, a systematic review of sources and qualitative content analysis have been applied to evaluate the published research in four stages of items collection, descriptive analysis, selection and classification, and assessment. According to the findings, the pre-crisis stage requires 13 actions in knowledge creation, 20 actions in knowledge acquisition, 7 actions in knowledge organization and storage, 23 actions in knowledge sharing, and 20 actions in knowledge use and development. The crisis phase requires 12 actions in knowledge sharing and 10 actions in knowledge use. In the post-crisis stage, 5 actions in the knowledge sharing, 11 actions in the knowledge use, and 12 actions in the knowledge evaluation phases have been identified. To prevent and manage the flood crisis, knowledge improvement and management is an effective and necessary aspect that should be considered among the organizations and communities involved in emergency management.

Agricultural insurance plays a crucial role in managing and mitigating damages from natural disasters, while also providing support to farmers through equitable risk distribution. This study focuses on identifying vulnerabilities of the Agricultural Insurance Fund (AIF) in Iran during natural disasters and proposing solutions for maintaining preparedness and adapting to new circumstances. Utilizing a qualitative approach, the research involved a three-stage classic Delphi technique with 24 experts in agricultural insurance which purposefully selected using snowball sampling. Three open-ended questions on AIF vulnerabilities in facing natural disasters, AIF's adaptive capacity, and forecasting strategic measures for the future, were provided in the first research round. After refining in subsequent rounds, a consensus was reached on 19 vulnerability points, 7 adaptive capacity factors, and 20 strategic actions. Key indicator of vulnerabilities includes the “weak financial capacity of the insurance fund”. “Designing an integrated agricultural insurance system” was the most crucial factor in enhancing AIF's adaptive capacity. Finally, the study proposes strategies like ''strengthening financial capacity and ensuring sustainable credit resources,'' ''developing capacities of the insurance system with location-based technologies,'' and ''differentiating catastrophic damages in the insurance tariffing system'' to address vulnerabilities and enhance agricultural insurance resilience.

Abstract The present study was developed to comprehensively analyze experts' views and content of documents focusing on goals and criteria of sustainable waste management system in Tehran, Iran. To this end, the suitable goals for sustainable waste management system in Tehran city were adopted from domestic, national and international documents. For this purpose, 27 national and international documents and 2 domestic documents related to waste management were selected and analyzed by using content analysis according to Gall, 1994. Further, in order to formulate goals in case of bottlenecks and challenges of waste management in Tehran, the focus group technique was used based on Stewart and Shamdasani, 2014. At this stage, 24 key experts in the field of waste management were interviewed in the form of 4 focus groups. Data collection were performed via audio recording and word-for-word implementation of conversations, taking notes and writing field notes. The data collection continued until reaching theoretical saturation. Next, content analysis and coding methods were used to analyze the data. Finally, the goals of waste management were divided into five general categories including: institutional (with emphasis on the integration and inclusion of the key elements of the urban waste management system), technical and infrastructural (with emphasis on the optimization of existing processes in the use of urban waste management technologies), environmental (with emphasis on minimizing the adverse health and environmental effects of the urban waste management system, economic (with emphasis on the economic and financial sustainability of the urban waste management system), and cultural-social (with emphasis on attracting the maximum participation of citizens and service recipients). The results clearly showed that sustainable waste management measures in Tehran should follow these five components in order to reduce the problems caused by unrealistic waste management and make sustainable use of basic, natural, financial and human resources.

Abstract Pluriactivity is a livelihood strategy in line with rural resilience. It is a phenomenon of farming in conjunction with other gainful activities. In pluriactivity, the desire and motivation of setting up an extra business and taking necessary actions are crucial. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to identify the underlying components of pluriactive paddy farmers’ motivation and also the factors affecting them. The study was implemented based on the quantitative data obtained from 182 pluriactive paddy farmers. The results of the exploratory factor analysis accentuated that there are three components in each of the pull and push typologies. The components related to pull motivation included personal aspirations and pursuit (C1), proper conditions and facilities (C2) and growth and service markets (C3). Likewise, the components related to push motivation included financial status and job creation improvement (C4), uncertainty and risk mitigation (C5) and paddy farming economic enhancement (C6). Also, it was revealed that two motivational components of personal aspirations and pursuits (C1) and financial status and job creation improvement (C4) are attributed to paddy farmer’s age of the pluriactivity initiation and also the farm size variables. It is imperative to consider both pull and push strategies in directing paddy farmers towards extension and development of pluriactivity in rural areas to enable farmers achieve sustainable livelihood in line with rural resilience.

Evaluation provides effective feedback for development plans and programs. In this respect, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the outputs of agricultural extension and education projects are compatible with the ones expected. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate agricultural extension model sites approach from actors’ perspectives and to analyze their gaps via the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) evaluation model. The study was quantitative, applied, survey-based, and causal-comparative in terms of nature, purpose, methodology, and type of research, respectively. The samples included 150 main and follower farmers from a total number of 40 model sites and 37 subject-matter experts selected using the random and purposive sampling methods, respectively. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose reliability was confirmed through computing Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.75 ≤ α ≤ 0.90) and its validity was established by a panel of experts. The data were further analyzed using the SPSS24 and comparative statistical tests. The comparison results demonstrated that the mean values of the experts’ views towards all items at different evaluation stages (i.e., context, input, process, product, output, and re-engineering) were higher compared with those of the farmers. Moreover, the farmers’ perspectives at the context and the input evaluation stages were not the same as those of the experts, and their satisfaction with the project had boosted as they had approached the output evaluation stage. The results of the gap analysis similarly indicated that the largest negative gap between the views of the experts and the farmers was associated with the input evaluation stage and the smallest gap was related to the site re-engineering. Accordingly, much more attention should be paid to building and maintaining the trust of farmers during the early stages of planning for and implementation of agricultural extension model sites.

IntroductionThe transfer of sustainability training means applying the skills, attitudes, and knowledge acquired from training to the workplace to help sustainability and environmental protection. This study aimed to conduct a behavioral analysis of sustainability training transfer among farmers that had attended extension-training courses on the Land and Conservation Agriculture Project (LCAP) in Iran.MethodsThis research is quantitative and applied research that was carried out via a standardized survey. The research population was composed of all farmers who attended LCAP extension training courses in the three provinces of Golestan, Fars, and Khouzestanin, Iran (N=1204). 291 farmers were selected through stratified random sampling. A panel of experts established the content and face validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to check the reliability by calculating Cronbach's alpha.Results and discussionFindings indicated that most farmers had sustainability training transfer at a high level. The analysis with a structural equation model revealed that perceived content validity, transfer design, opportunity to use, supervisor support, trainer characteristics, peer support, motivation to transfer, transfer effort -performance expectations, performance coaching, and personal capacity for transfer influenced farmers' intention to transfer sustainability training significantly and positively. Furthermore, farmers' intentions had a significant effect on their transfer of sustainability training. It can be concluded that a sustainability training transfer system is applicable to a training context related to sustainable agriculture and can provide a useful instrument for agricultural education organizations when investing in farmers' training.

Given the role of the agricultural sector in consuming critical resources like water and energy, a balance should be achieved between the harvest and exploitation of these resources and the amount of agricultural produce by their proper management. Security measurement indicators are a criterion for managerial evaluating of farmers regarding water, food, and energy security nexus. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a tool for managerial evaluating of farmers as the best local facilitators regarding the water, food, and energy security nexus in two phases. The geographical scope of the research is Iran. The first phase was related to reviewing the previous literature and extracting indicators for measuring water, food, and energy security, and the second phase focused on validation. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were conducted quantitatively and qualitatively by surveying subject matter experts and calculating CVR and CVI. The results identified 85 indicators for the managerial evaluation of farmers in three areas of water security (30 indicators), food security (37 indicators), and energy security (18 indicators). The use of soil moisture control, pressurized irrigation (access dimension), groundwater resources (availability dimension), and salinity-resistant cultivars (stability dimension) were significantly valid in measuring water security. Achieving product direct sale marketing (access dimension), using early yielding cultivars (availability dimension), and producing organic products in farms and orchards and attention to the calendar and planting time in the production process (dimension of stability) were the highly valid indicators in food safety assessment. Moreover, the most valid indicators in the field of energy security measurement were energy consumed to produce and transport the product (accessibility dimension), use of geothermal energy resources (availability dimension), and bioenergy production rate (stability dimension). Challenges to achieving water, food, and energy security at the farm level can be minimized using the extracted indicators and correct management principles obtained from reviewing the indicators. Therefore, researchers, planners, decision-makers, and executives in agriculture and horticulture are recommended to use these indicators approved by subject matter experts.

Abstract: Background and Aims: Agriculture is the most important and essential part of providing human needs. The imagination of developed world is not possible without agriculture. Agriculture is one of the main sources of employment and income generation in many countries, especially in developing countries and in this regard is responsible for providing food security and safety as a national target. But, in order to achieve this goal, farmers must be healthy. Thatchr('39')s while agriculture is known as a high-risk sector all around the world and farmers are exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards by doing hard work. Agricultural injuries are reported from all around the world. Of a total of 335,000 work-related incidents worldwide about 170,000 deaths happen among agricultural workers per year. Occupational disease is particularly relevant to agriculture and has an incidence rate similar to that of other sectors. In Iran, in spite of the importance of agricultural areas and the agricultural workforce, there are not enough statistics about injuries and work-related accidents in this sector and limited epidemiologic research has evaluated the health status and potential occupational hazards among farm workers and most of farmers are not covered by occupational health. So farmers are faced with many challenges in relation to agricultural occupational health. Among the many factors that cause accidents and injuries, behavior has been identified as one of the most important factors. In other mean, Behavior has been identified as the most important factor that cause accidents and injuries and which, in turn, has an important role in reducing exposure to work-related damage. So, considering the importance of behaviors in accidents and work-related injuries, to prevent and reduce accidents and injuries, the focus on individual behaviors is necessary. Because preventive activities before hurt and injuries have the greatest ability to reduce them. Strategies for promoting behavior is one of the preventive activities. Investigated show that, so far, no study has been done about improving the occupational health behaviors among Iranian farmers. So the purpose of this research is to identify and rank approaches for promoting farmers’ occupational health behaviors. Methods: The study was conducted based on a mixed method (qualitative-quantitative) approach. It was conducted between July 2016 to November 2018. In qualitative section content analysis method was used. The study population in this part included faculty members of agricultural science and occupational health of medical science, agriculture experts, occupational health experts, and the farmers. This study used purposive and snowball sampling methods to select the sample. At the beginning of the sampling, a number of experts were selected purposefully and then they were asked to introduce other people who had enough information in this field to participate in interview. The data from the interview reached saturation through in-depth individual interviews with 47 participants. All the participants of the study were interviewed by a trained researcher who conducted the interviews on their farms or in their residences in Kermanshah province in western Iran. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews, observations and group discussion. Unstructured interviews were performed with follow-up questions with group discussion until “reaching saturation”. Also, Coding technique was used for analyzing the data. To this end, the transcribed interviews were studied and analyzed after each interview session. Then, data coding procedure was performed. To have open coding, texts relevant to each interview were carefully studied line by line and elements containing a point related to the main research question were identified and labeled with the same theme. The output was extracted themes related to the subject of the study. Then, the resulting themes were carefully examined and compared in terms of similarities and differences. After that, themes of the same nature or with relevant meaning were classified as categories. After identifying the categories, their features and aspects were specified to thoroughly distinguish them from each other and to determine their exact nature. In the next step, the main categories and sub-categories were linked. In order to ensure reliability and validity in quantitative research, prolonged contact with the participants was used for gathering and analyzing data. Also, multiple methods were used for gathering data. The coded interviews were reviewed. After coding the interviews, part of it was returned to participants to ensure implementation of the codes with their experiences. In this research, intended to do the sampling with the greatest diversity. To ensure consistency in the process of analyzing data, some colleagues were asked to review and revise the codes. The text of interviews, codes and categories gathered were sent to people familiar with qualitative research for investigation and their opinions about the validity of the analysis and interpretations were obtained. Also, when coding each interview, we investigated previous coded data. To increase generalizability, the researchers tried detailed descriptions and meaningful research process to provide follow-up research process to others. The quantitative research section of this study, in order to select the best strategies and determine the importance and weight of each of the strategies, and finally rank them, among the methods (coefficient of variation, Mean Rank, Friedman test, Hierarchical analysis, etc.) are used for ranking, Analytical Hierarchy process was selected. Hierarchical analysis is the most suitable method for comparing paired ratings. This method helps decision makers to combine group memberschr('39') decisions with each other so that optimal decision-making involves the opinions of all members. The study population included experts in field of agricultural occupational health. Purposeful and theoretical sampling method were used to select samples. At the beginning of the purposeful sampling, referred to several experts, then they were asked to provide other people with sufficient information in this field to complete the questionnaire, a total of 14 people were identified and examined. The data were collected through questionnaire that was designed according to the extracted categories related to the qualitative part of this research. In order to evaluate the content and face validity of the questionnaire, four experts were asked to study the questionnaire and express their opinions. After collecting the assessment of experts, the necessary changes were implemented in the tool. In order to verify the reliability of the questionnaire, an inconsistency rate was used. This is a common method of measuring reliability in hierarchical analysis. The incompatibility rate of judgments in paired rankings is up to 0.1, which is 0.02 for the questionnaire. SPSS version 16, Expert Choice11 and appropriate statistical tests were used to analyze the data. Results: According to the findings, the factors such as educational, safety requirements of agricultural machinery and inputs manufacturers, supporting and entities, information and media, interactions and organizational communication and also monitoring and evaluation were extracted as approaches for promotion of farmerchr('39')s occupational health behavior. From the specialists’ perspective educational factors and information and media were in the first and last ranks, respectively. Conclusion: The results of the research indicate that there are several strategies for promoting the occupational behavior of agricultural industry which should be considered at macro level and in the medium and long term planning. Also, all the institutions and organizations that are in some way associated with the farming industry or with farmers, should consider themselves to be promoting occupational health behaviors among farmers, because promoting occupational health requires multiple approaches and partnerships. Considering the extent and distribution of agricultural farms and the number and variety of employed farmers, the unit of Agricultural Extension and Education or Occupational Health cannot lonely promote the farmers’ occupational health behavior. Achieving to this important goal requires the interaction and collaboration of the producers of agricultural equipment and the relevant organizations and institutions. Considering the educational strategy as the first way to promote farmers’ occupational health behavior from the perspective of participants, agricultural occupational health and safety education should be put in formal and informal training. In formal education planning at relevant faculties and departments, occupational safety and health, as in other developed countries, should have a definite position in which students who will somehow be associated with farmers in the future can play a role in promoting farmers’ safety and occupational health. In informal training, by making the needs assessment and designing various training programs we can attract farmerschr('39') attention to educational programs. The last rank of media and information strategy, means the less media activities in promoting agricultural occupational health behavior. But given the availability of appropriate infrastructure and by using of these potentials, media can play a tangible role in this regard.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has created a great deal of fear and uncertainty about health, economy, and social life. Therefore, the health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19 are of great importance. In prone rural communities, tourism industry can contribute to the sustainable economy and social development of the villagers, and as a dynamic economic sector, cause economic, social, cultural, and environmental changes. In this regard, the purpose of this inquiry was to develop tourism during the coronavirus pandemic using the social exchange theory (SET). The present study is a descriptive, correlational and causal inquiry that is conducted using survey technique. The statistical population included tourists visiting Sistan region around Hamoun Wetland in eastern Iran (N = 850). In the sampling process, 266 tourists were selected as a sample using random sampling strategy. The study instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by a panel of subjectivists and its reliability was approved by a pilot study and Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.87≥ α ≥ 0.71). Based on SET, the proposed causal model was able to explain about 56% (RAdj2 = 0.562) of the variance changes in tourism development during the COVID-19 epidemic.

This research investigated the effectiveness of IPM/FFS project from economic, technical, social-communicative, environmental and psychological aspects in a descriptive-correlational design based on the survey method. The research population consisted of 70 greenhouse producers that had implemented IPM/FFS project in Tehran and Alborz provinces, Iran. Using Krejcie and Morgan (1970)'s sample size table and stratified random sampling method, 55 greenhouse producers were selected as the research sample. A questionnaire was the main tool for data collection. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of agricultural extension and education experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.77≤a≤0.86). The results showed that the IPM/FFS project has affected social-communicative, psychological, environmental, technical and economic factors, respectively. There were positive and significant relationships between effectiveness of the IPM/FFS project and education, the duration of IPM implementation, satisfaction with governmental support and the characteristics of IPM/FFS learning sites whilst the effectiveness of IPM/FFS project was negatively and significantly related to age and greenhouse area under IPM project. According to multiple regression analysis, the characteristics of IPM/FFS learning sites, education and satisfaction with governmental supports could account for 66 percent of variance of the effectiveness of IPM/FFS project. Finally, as implementation cost of integrated pest management is usually beyond greenhouse producers’ financial ability, it is suggested that the government provide greenhouse producers with more economic supports (e.g. granting loan and special facilities and guaranteed purchase of organic products).

Different countries face diverse challenges for Conservation Agriculture (CA) development. The main purpose of this study was to examine the challenges of applying CA in Iran from the perspective of experts and farmers. A focus group method was used to investigate the challenges. The research sample consisting of farmers and experts of CA in different provinces includes those 19 experts and 15 farmers. Inductive content analysis and coding (open, axial, and selective coding) were employed to analyze the farmers’ and experts’ discussions. The findings showed that the challenges of applying CA in the studied provinces could be divided into 6 general categories: institutional-infrastructure (7 concepts), economic (5 concepts), training-research (2 concepts), environmental (4 concepts), mechanization (2 concepts), and cognitive (2 concepts) challenges. The economic and institutional-infrastructure challenges were the most frequent related to applying CA. It can be concluded that to solve the challenges of applying CA, it is necessary to link various sectors of government (the Ministry of Agriculture), education and research (Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization), and industry together. But farmers themselves are also a major contributor to meet the challenges of CA development through participation in planning CA project and training-extension programs. Therefore, farmers’ communities should also pave the way for a transition from conventional agriculture to CA with their participation.

This study aimed to determine the sustainability criteria of the beekeeping industry in Iran, which was performed using three-stage classical Delphi technique. The participants were 32 experts in beekeeping industry who were purposefully selected using the snowball sampling method. The criteria identified, after three Delphi stages, consisted of 70 items, which were categorized into 13 general criteria and into four economic, environmental, social, and institutional dimensions. The general criteria were presented in the form of a conceptual model, including: farmers’ environmental behavior quality, beekeepers' environmental behavior quality, the quality of marketing and sales of beekeeping productions, productivity and performance improvement, amount of monetization from pollinations' right, the amount of monetization of byproducts and value added, employment rate and job stability, the level of social development of stakeholders, the quality of the role-playing of non-governmental stakeholders, the quality of extension and education new sciences and technologies to stakeholders, comprehensiveness of laws and programs, quality of role-playing of stakeholder non-governmental organizations, and the quality of the roleplaying of governmental institutions stakeholder. Using them, a comprehensive perception of the necessary criteria for the sustainability of Iran's beekeeping industry can be obtained and a comprehensive program can be designed for its implementation.

Agricultural higher education is one of the important context in which students may be face with educational burnout during their studies due to their conditions, such as the nature of the field of study, lack of graduates' employment, and reduction in motivation. This research aimed to investigate the factors underpinning the student's academic burnout of Iranian agricultural higher education system. The research was a kind of descriptive-correlational that has done through a survey. The statistical population composed of all students at all educational levels in agricultural faculties of the Iranian state-run universities (N = 236,973). Accordingly, 386 people were selected using the Krejcie and Morgan's tables and stratified random sampling method with proportional to size. A researcher-made questionnaire with 104 questions arranged in six parts used for data collection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha, average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). According to the results, the variables of high workload and achievement motivation were the most influential factors on academic burnout, respectively. This study's results can be a useful step for policymakers and planners in the agricultural higher education system to prevent student's academic burnout and remove obstacles to dynamic academic achievement.

Access to water has always been a source of tension and has been and continues to be a conflict among stakeholders. In the meantime, villagers and farmers have a major stake in analyzing water conflicts. Water conflicts investigation is possible from different perspectives, one of the most important being the human ecological angle. This research aimed to study the human ecological analysis of water conflict in Iran’s rural areas. For this purpose, ethical approach and VBN theory were used to measure water conflict behavior (WCB). This study is a descriptive-correlational, ex-post facto and causal relationship that was conducted using a survey. The statistical population was rural people in Zarrineh River watershed basin, Kurdistan province, Iran (N = 14910) which 380 of them were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was determined using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The findings showed that most of the villagers were at open water conflict level and their dominant environmental attitude was egoistic and WCB was significantly higher in them. Based on VBN theory the causal chain model of environmental value attitudes (EVA), beliefs and norms affecting WCB was presented and tested. The results indicate a crisis in water resources management, especially from the point of view of human ecology, which further reveals the need for fundamental changes to create and establish appropriate environmental insights in water stakeholders. Keywords: Water management, Conflict behavior, VBN theory, Rural people

Delphi is a powerful technique used to seek answers to appropriate questions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Delphi technique as a research method. This paper discusses the scientific merit of the Delphi technique by investigating on 41 studies of Journal of Agricultural Education from 1981 to 2013, and 2 studies of Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. The results showed that there is no general agreement on using indexes in different rounds of Delphi technique; however, according to the frequencies of using indexes in different studies, the following suggestions are presented. The favourable number of panel of experts is between 10 to 20. Purposive sampling method is used for selecting the panel members. Usually a three rounds of Delphi method is used. One question is designed in round one. Mean and standard deviation indexes are used for passing from round two to round three and agreement level of 70 present is used for achieving expert's consensus in round three.

This study aimed to determine the challenges of DCPBR (Distribution of Cooperatives Provision Business Requirements). The research has been implemented in two steps. In the first step, the research conceptual framework were extracted by reviewing of the relevant documents. In the second step, by using Delphi technique the challenges of DCPBR were extracted. The respondents of this part were the managing directors of successful DCPBR and experts in the country who were selected by purposive sampling method. The output of the second step were 38 challenges that were categorized under "cooperation and coordination", "governmental supports", "policy- making", "rules and regulations", "competition", "participation", "performance appraisal and reward", "technology", "public making culture", "marketing", "the ability of the management team" and" research and development”. Finally, with paying attention to the extracted challenges some solutions were presented for removing these challenges.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting grape producer's information seeking behavior in the Zanjan province. The research was a descriptive and correlational study that was conducted by using a survey method. The statistical population consisted of all grape producers in 2014 cropping seasons (N =32871) in the Zanjan province. Using Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) sample-size Tale, 379 grape producers were selected as the sample population (n =379). The samples were selected through convenience sampling method. Data were collected by using a questionnaire, which was validated by a panel of agricultural extension and education and horticulture experts and the reliability was gained through a pilot test with Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.73 and 0.86. The data were analyzed by using the SPSS software. The results of the research showed that about 80 percent of farmers had weak to moderate information seeking behavior. Among the cities, Khoramdeh had the highest percentage of grape producers in the moderate seeking behavior cluster and the other cities had the highest percentage of grape producers in the low seeking behavior clusters. Although the grape producers in different clusters had a high level of access to the agricultural management experts, this information source was not one of the highly usable sources. In contrast, family members and other farmers play an important role in meeting their information needs. Grape producers in different clusters of information seeking behavior had different individual, professional and management characteristics

The present study was conducted to examine the development and validation ofsustainable indicatorsrelated to aquaculture as a social-ecological system. By reviewing the literature, it was found about 148 indicators related to sustainable aquaculture in economic (market-oriented and responsive aquaculture, capability of risk assessment and crisis management, and financial management in aquaculture), social (participation in food security and healthy food, the role of producer and non-governmental organizations, improving the image of aquaculture, and social responsibility), environment (minimizing the impacts of aquaculture at the national level, minimizing the impacts on the environmental conditions, and biodiversity), and institutional (local development and participation in decision-making) components. The extracted components were used in the form of a questionnaire with a five-point Likert type scale according to six criteria. Questionnaires were distributed among aquaculture experts in Alborz Dam Basin in Mazandaran Province, where 32 questionnaires were returned. Research results include ranking indicators based on a total of six criteria mentioned in methodology, and ranking components, as well as their associated indicators related to sustainable aquaculture using AHP. The findings further suggested that economic and environmental aspects also were placed as the first and second ranks among 10 sustainable aquaculture indicators. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that the agencies related to the country's aquaculture development paid attention to these identified dimensions and used them in their planning

The mottos of scholars of environmental protection movement have turned to ''think globally, act locally''. For this reason, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) that have received significant attention in all societies are operational approaches towards protecting the environment and realizing sustainable development. Analysis of the nature of ENGOs' activities reveals that the main function of ENGOs is ''participatory, voluntary and supportive''. This function can be facilitated through the development of communication of these organizations with governments for the exchange of ideas in order to improve the implementation of developmental projects and approve new environmental laws. Given the fact that ENGOs act as civil societies in the public domain, it can be said that the operational environment for ENGOs is a special political space that should be provided through governments' assistance and support. That is why the present study investigates the relationship between Iranian ENGOs and government agencies. To this end, in-depth interviews are conducted with environmental experts in environmental protection organization and forests, range and watershed management organization in Iran and members and managers of Iranian ENGOs. Also, a questioner is designed and then, completed by managers of Iranian ENGOs. It is found that there is too little communication between Iranian ENGOs and governmental agencies. ENGOs don't discuss various environmental issues with government as advocators. Finally, the principles governing the relationship between NGOs and government is also discussed.Research findings indicate that the type of regime and maturity of NGOs affect the relationship between ENGOs and government agencies.

The purpose of this research survey and descriptive study was to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of dry-bed rice seeding development in Khuzestan province, and provide strategies to develop dry-bed rice seeding cultivation. The statistical populations were all farmers of Ahwaz and Mahshahr township, which were engaged in dry-bed rice cultivation. From them 180 farmers were selected as sample using Cochran’s formula and stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and to provide strategies to develop dry-bed rice the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) matrix was used. Based on the results, reducing in time in dry-bed rice seeding cultivation, reducing in need for labor and low water consumption were important strengths; increasing in weeds growing was the important weakness; The development of culture in favorable soil was the important opportunity and roughness of the farming land and There are environmental threats were important threat of dry-bed rice seeding cultivation.By analyzing the strategic factors, based on common rules in the analysis of SWOT If the average of the weaknesses and threats is less than average strengths, opportunities (WT < SO), Strategy that can be proposed offensive and If the total average of the Weaknesses, opportunities is less than average Strengths and threats (WO

Purpose: This study attempts to determine a set of characteristics for each educational component in the competence-based agricultural education system. Design: This study reviewed 95 articles published in four relevant scientific journals to determine the characteristics of a competence-based higher agricultural education system. These characteristics were determined based on competence-based education principles. Findings: The results of this review indicated that, based on the CBE principles, the competencies for agricultural educational components identified in the reviewed articles could be summarized in 22 categories. Practical implications: The main practical implication is that the universities can consider the results of this study as a set of guidelines in the admission of qualified learners and educators, revising curriculum and organizing dynamic learning environment in line with the CBE characteristics. Theoretical implications: The results of this study could take CBE principles one step further in that, determining characteristics of a competence-based higher agricultural education system can be a guideline on how these principles could be implemented in an education system. Originality/value: This study is original because it tries to bring CBE principles as a valuable theory into practice by the agricultural education systems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanisms effect on entrepreneurial behavior of employees in Jihad-e Keshavarzi management of Jahrom County, Shiraz, Iran. The research method was descriptive- correlation and survey method was used. The statistical population consisted of all expert staff in the Jihad-e- Keshavarzi management of Jahrom County (N=102) which were studied using census method. Finally, 92 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Data were collected using questionnaire, which was validated by a panel of experts in the department of Agricultural Extension and Education of Tarbiat Modares University and Jihad-e- Keshvarzi management of Jahrom County. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated for different parts of the questionnaire in pilot test stage ranging from 0.71 to 0.89. The research results indicated that there are positive and significant relationships between Perceived Organizational Support (POS), Networking Behavior (NB) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) with the employee’s entrepreneurial behavior. In addition, based on regression analysis, three variable including POS, NB and EI, explained 47.9 percent (R2=0.479) of the variance of entrepreneurial behavior.