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In light of recent global crises, including climate change, species extinction, the COVID-19 pandemic, social upheavals and energy supply challenges, this Special Issue of Biomimetics, entitled "Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Biomimetic Design, Constructions and Devices in Times of Change", aims to explore innovative solutions through biomimetics. This collection features research on various biomimetic applications, such as the peptide-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, ergonomic improvements for prolonged sitting, biomimicry industry trends, prosthetic foot functionality and agricultural machinery efficiency. The methods employed include peptide synthesis for diagnostics, simulation software for ergonomic designs, patent analysis for biomimicry trends and engineering discrete element methods for agricultural applications. The findings highlight significant advancements in health diagnostics, ergonomic safety, technological development, prosthetics and sustainable agriculture. The research underscores the potential of biomimetic approaches to address contemporary challenges by leveraging nature-inspired designs and processes. These insights contribute to a broader understanding of how biomimetic principles can lead to adaptive and sustainable solutions in times of change, promoting resilience and innovation across various fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tower sprayers play a vital role in agriculture, being designed to apply pesticides and fertilizers effectively. The dynamics of this equipment, especially the vibration of the tower, play a crucial role in the success of agricultural operations. Analyzing and understanding this vibration is critical to ensuring application accuracy while minimizing variations in chemical distribution. This understanding directly contributes to uniform plant coverage, improving spraying efficiency and reducing input losses. In addition, practical vibration analysis extends the life of tower components, optimizes operational safety, and promotes energy efficiency by reducing fuel consumption. Tower stability becomes crucial to prevent spills and ensure efficient use of available resources. In short, dynamics and vibration analysis in tower sprayers are critical elements for the precise, efficient, and safe application of agricultural inputs. This approach promotes sustainable practices and contributes significantly to the success of farming operations. As a result of this study, a 23.68% reduction in trailer vibration amplitude was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify practical challenges, best practices, and solutions used during the deployment of agricultural machinery depending on the size of the farm Design/methodology/approach: The method of observation and risk analysis was utilized in the operation of agricultural machinery using the FMEA method to identify potential threats and develop strategies for their mitigation. Findings: Research conducted on farms has revealed significant issues such as improper maintenance, lack of safety guards, and outdated equipment. To enhance farm safety, it is recommended to adhere to maintenance schedules, replace old machinery with newer models, and use Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to identify and mitigate potential hazards. Research limitations/implications: Further large-scale research is needed to develop effective strategies for improving farm safety. Implementing structured safety management systems like FMEA is recommended to systematically assess and minimize risks in both individual and large-scale farms. Practical implications: Implementing recommended measures such as regular inspections and maintenance, replacing or modernizing outdated machinery, using appropriate safety guards, and participating in training sessions will help reduce the risk of machinery failures and the number of accidents. Originality/value: This article presents new research findings on agricultural machinery safety in individual and large-scale farms, identifying significant issues and proposing specific improvement measures for farmers and agricultural safety experts. These insights help farmers understand risks better and implement safety enhancements when operating machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This piece of work evaluates the choices and opportunities opened up in rural labour market through institutional reforms and developmental policies fostering agricultural growth and efficiency in developing countries, with a focus on India. It finds that policy reforms on property rights, involving legal approvals of land ownership or partial possession with rental contracts, strengthen bargaining capacity among marginalized groups. Furthermore, an inclusive development policy encompassing the rural sector shapes labour freedom by stabilization of market at desirable wage and employment rates. Considering a case example from an advanced agricultural region in India, this study reveals a positive and significant relationship between intensity of labour freedom and land‐based status of peasant households. The analysis of primary data suggests that labour market reforms, particularly those focused on wage contracts and minimum wage laws, off‐farm jobs and intra‐migration employment opportunities before labourers, are crucial indicators for enhancing labour freedom in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The world population is expected to rise by two billion in a few decades, boosting demand for soybean (Glycine max L.). Brazil has the world’s largest tropical agricultural area, accounting for 40 % of the world’s soybean output. This study was conducted to understand the potential and limitations of tropical soybean yield, estimate the amounts of main inputs (water and nutrients), and assess management to reach the crop yield potential (YP). We used CROPGRO-Soybean model, based on well-conducted experiments in different locations in Brazil. We generated estimates of YP and water-limited crop yield potential (YP-W), and explored long-term scenarios to evaluate the impact of sustainable practices on water management. Yield gap (YG) and agricultural efficiency (EA) were computed based on simulations and actual yield. The total water and nutrients required to achieve the YP in Brazil were also calculated. According to our simulations, YP ranged from 3,952 to 6,084 kg ha–1; YP-W from 3,133 to 5,186 kg ha–1, and YG from 589 to 4,401 kg ha–1. On average, drought stress negatively affected 14 % of YP, while 42 % of YP was lost due to management failures. Irrigation was needed in 26 % of the soybean-planted areas in Brazil to mitigate the risks associated to seasonal rainfall variations. Our findings revealed that it was possible to save around 20 % of the water through conservative soil practices and 25.0 106 Mg of macronutrients (N = 356 kg ha–1, P = 31 kg ha–1, K = 104 kg ha–1) annually is required to reach the exploitable soybean yield.

In this paper, we empirically evaluate the effect of climate change on agricultural technical efficiency, considering the moderating effect of mitigation efforts based on emission reduction in China. In particular, we directly measure the intensity of mitigation efforts using the climate change mitigation index. We then apply the two-stage double bootstrap DEA method to build up the empirical model, effectively avoiding biased estimation using the traditional two-stage DEA method. Our results show that the intensity of mitigation measures moderates the impacts of global warming on efficiency and mild mitigation measures are better than drastic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aridity of the arid and semiarid region of Rajasthan, India is considered as a great challenge for the growth of the crops due to lack of precipitation and high range of temperature. The present study focused on evaluating agricultural dynamics of the arid and semi-arid region of Rajasthan for the period of 2008-09 and 2021-22. The study comprised seven districts of Rajasthan: Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. Indices like crop combinations, crop diversity and agricultural efficiency of crops were taken into consideration. Hanumangarh showed 8 crop combinations to 4 from past to recent years viz. Bajra (Pennisetum glaucum), Guar seed (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), Kharif pulses (Without Arhar) and Moth (Vigna aconitifolia), while in Jaisalmer, it was 3 crop combinations in the past while it is 6 in the recent years viz. Bajra, Guar seed, Moth, Mustard (Brassica), Mung (Vigna radiata) and Groundnut(Arachis hypogaea). A small percentage of Seasamum (Sesamum indicum) and Cotton (LINT)(Gossypium) was in the past previous years, but now, it is almost negligible. Wheat (Triticum) was observed in a lower to moderate percentage share throughout the period. There was no change in the dominant crops except in Ganganagar and Churu district. All the districts had higher crop diversification in recent years except Barmer. The result of agricultural efficiency showed that Ganganagar, Jodhpur, Hanumangarh had higher agricultural efficiency (> 100), while Barmer had the least value (< 50). Agricultural Indices efficiently visualized temporal agriculture trends in arid and semiarid regions of Rajasthan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this empirical analysis is to assess the economic efficiency of Italian farms across provinces, to determine whether production efficiency is correlated with gender differences in farm ownership and the level of European agricultural subsidies received. This study uses a bootstrap-Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to analyse data collected from the Farm Accountancy Data Network. The data show that male-led farms are dominant throughout Italy and are generally more efficient than female-led farms. However, northern region farms are relatively more productive than southern region farms, despite male-led farms being less dominant in the north than in the south. Further, while male-led farms were more predominant in the south, and receive the greatest share of European agricultural assistance per province, they are relatively less efficient. These results imply that refocusing entrepreneurial and financial assistance to northern region farms, with a relatively higher ratio of female-led farming operations, can promote overall Italian agricultural efficiency while also decreasing the gender gap in agricultural efficiency that exists between male-led and female-led Italian farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Smart Farming has been adopted by utilizing microcontrollers, sensor devices, and actuators to regulate plant conditions. However, the communication methods with farmers, such as text messaging applications, are considered ineffective due to their limited features, and farmers cannot control monitoring devices. To address this issue, we developed a web-view-based application named Prospherine Smart Farming using PHP, Java, and MongoDB. The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology was employed to ensure the proper functioning of the application. This application has comprehensive features that enable farmers to control monitoring devices, even remotely, and provide continuous information about farming conditions. Testing was conducted to ensure that all features functioned properly, and feedback was obtained from farmers. The research results indicate that using the Prospherine Smart Farming Application positively impacts farming activities. With this application, farmers can monitor their farming conditions in real-time and take necessary actions to enhance crop yields. The Prospherine Smart Farming Application can potentially improve agricultural efficiency and assist farmers in tackling challenges in the digital era.

Background. Begomoviruses are circular single-stranded DNA plant viruses that cause economic losses worldwide. Weeds have been pointed out as reservoirs for many begomoviruses species, especially from members of the Sida and Malvastrum genera. These weeds have the ability to host multiple begomoviruses species simultaneously, which can lead to the emergence of new viral species that can spread to commercial crops. Additionally, begomoviruses have a natural tendency to recombine, resulting in the emergence of new variants and species. Methods. To explore the begomoviruses biodiversity in weeds from genera Sida and Malvastrum in Colima, México, we collected symptomatic plants from these genera throughout the state. To identify BGVs infecting weeds, we performed circular DNA genomics (circomics) using the Illumina platform. Contig annotation was conducted with the BLASTn tool using the GenBank nucleotide ``nr' database. We corroborated by PCR the presence of begomoviruses in weeds samples and isolated and sequenced the complete genome of a probable new species of begomovirus using the Sanger method. The demarcation process for new species determination followed the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses criteria. Phylogenetic and recombination analyses were implemented to infer the evolutionary relationship of the new virus. Results.Weidentified a new begomovirus species from sida and malvastrum plants that has the ability to infect Cucumis sativus L. According to our findings, the novel species Sida chlorotic leaf virus is the result of a recombination event between one member of the group known as the Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) clade and another from the Abutilon mosaic virus (AbMV) clade. Additionally, we isolated three previously identified begomoviruses species, two of which infected commercial crops: okra (Okra yellow mosaic Mexico virus) and cucumber (Cucumber chlorotic leaf virus). Conclusion. These findings support the idea that weeds act as begomovirus reservoirs and play essential roles in begomovirus biodiversity. Therefore, controlling their populations near commercial crops must be considered in order to avoid the harmful effects of these phytopathogens and thus increase agricultural efficiency, ensuring food and nutritional security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Begomoviruses are circular single-stranded DNA plant viruses that cause economic losses worldwide. Weeds have been pointed out as reservoirs for many begomoviruses species, especially from members of the Sida and Malvastrum genera. These weeds have the ability to host multiple begomoviruses species simultaneously, which can lead to the emergence of new viral species that can spread to commercial crops. Additionally, begomoviruses have a natural tendency to recombine, resulting in the emergence of new variants and species. Methods To explore the begomoviruses biodiversity in weeds from genera Sida and Malvastrum in Colima, México, we collected symptomatic plants from these genera throughout the state. To identify BGVs infecting weeds, we performed circular DNA genomics (circomics) using the Illumina platform. Contig annotation was conducted with the BLASTn tool using the GenBank nucleotide “nr” database. We corroborated by PCR the presence of begomoviruses in weeds samples and isolated and sequenced the complete genome of a probable new species of begomovirus using the Sanger method. The demarcation process for new species determination followed the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses criteria. Phylogenetic and recombination analyses were implemented to infer the evolutionary relationship of the new virus. Results We identified a new begomovirus species from sida and malvastrum plants that has the ability to infect Cucumis sativus L. According to our findings, the novel species Sida chlorotic leaf virus is the result of a recombination event between one member of the group known as the Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) clade and another from the Abutilon mosaic virus (AbMV) clade. Additionally, we isolated three previously identified begomoviruses species, two of which infected commercial crops: okra (Okra yellow mosaic Mexico virus) and cucumber (Cucumber chlorotic leaf virus). Conclusion These findings support the idea that weeds act as begomovirus reservoirs and play essential roles in begomovirus biodiversity. Therefore, controlling their populations near commercial crops must be considered in order to avoid the harmful effects of these phytopathogens and thus increase agricultural efficiency, ensuring food and nutritional security.

Measuring efficiency in the presence of undesirable outputs could be difficult depending on how to treat these outputs; thus, undesirable outputs modelling has been an exciting subject of several studies in the Data envelopment analysis (DEA) literature in the last two decades. The present study aims to illustrate a thorough overlook of studies in which DEA has applied for measuring efficiency with undesirable outputs. Fifty-eight articles were published from 2000 to 2020 have been systematically reviewed through PRISMA protocol. The results indicated that "Journal of Cleaner Production" ranked first with six published articles, and Chinese scholars have the most contributions to this field, with twenty-third articles. Also, almost a quarter of the published articles' scope was related to agricultural pollution, and thirteen articles were published in 2016, the highest number of published articles annually. Taken together, the theoretical and empirical implications of research in the field of Green Productivity are discussed, and some policies were recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using annual time-series data from 1970 to 2016, this study attempts to examine the effects of environmental degradation on agricultural efficiency in India. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), fully modified OLS (FMOLS) models are used to explore the long-run influence of environmental degradation and other control variables such as labor force, metabolic energy, fertilizer usage, and farm machinery on agricultural efficiency. Also, dynamic OLS (DOLS) and canonical cointegration regression (CCR) methods are used to validate the robustness of the estimated ARDL and FMOLS results. The Granger causality approach is used to examine causation among variables. According to ARDL and FMOLS estimates, fertiliser use, farm machinery, and metabolic energy improve India's agricultural efficiency. Agricultural methane emissions, on the other hand, reduce agricultural production. Furthermore, the DOLS and CCR approaches validate the estimated ARDL and FMOLS outcomes, indicating that the results are robust and consistent. The study suggest that the government should modernize agricultural research and seed systems and market and input diversification to help farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining stable linkages between farmers and APS service providers is conducive to cutting transaction costs, increasing service organizations' willingness to invest in the long term and motivation to innovate on their own, improving agricultural production and resource use efficiency, and safeguarding farmers' welfare and national food security. The willingness of farmers to renew their contracts is a key factor in long-term APS partnerships. Based on research data from the Northeast region in 2018, this study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to construct a two-stage decision-making framework for the contracting-renewal and to determine how the process influences the formation of willingness. The Heckman two-stage model is applied. The results indicate that the mechanism of farmers' willingness to renew APS is formed in accordance with TPB's conceptual analysis framework with the dual logic of "stimulus" and "constraint". In the first stage, individual and family characteristics have a significant influence on farmers' contracting behavior. In the second stage, three exogenous latent variables, behavioral attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms, have a better explanatory role in the formation of farmers' willingness to renew APS. The stronger the perceived control that is generated by farmers during the decision-making process, the more pronounced the behavioral attitudes were, and the stronger the inducement of willingness to renew the service. The findings suggest that governments should strengthen APS outreach and improve the regional economy and natural environment. Overall, this study helps to uncover the farmer's TPB mechanism and provide an empirical basis for how to promote APS development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research was to measure the efficiency of agricultural activities in European Union countries with the use of various measures of efficiency. The analysis covered the years 2009-2019. The calculated efficiency was relative and the starting material for its estimation were aggregated Färe-Primont productivity indices. Based on the maximum possible level of productivity in a given period, the level of relative efficiency of TFPE was estimated. The analysed countries were grouped, on the basis of this efficiency, into four groups differentiated in terms of level. Then, the TFPE index was decomposed into several separate measures of efficiency, which were further analysed. The analysis showed that there are differences in the level of efficiency between individual countries. It has been shown that agriculture in European Union countries can be considered technically efficient. The efficiency of scale is also high. The greatest variation between countries is in the case of residual efficiency.

The paper analyzes the concept of labour freedom in the agricultural sector empowering with the ownership rights, legal approvals and autonomy of choices involving policy changes in the rural development thereby giving more opportunities and choices to the rural labour. Institutional reform redistributes the ownership rights of landholding among the small, marginal and landless labourer. The reform has provided partial possession rights to tenants’ and amended land rental agreements improving the bargaining capacity of the renters and made them capable to extract the lease while making contracts with the landlords. The paper focuses on the requisites of rural development policy to explore the farm-jobs and off-farm job opportunities thereby enhances labour freedom, rural wages and employment rate affecting the labour mobility. In the developing countries, rural development programme has responded to implement employment policy increasing rural employment with off-farm jobs to jobless workers in the local rural area. Labour freedom in the agricultural sector has implications on the economic development perspective as the concept of freedom is grounded upon the principle of equity and efficiency, subsequent to that institutional reform has provided equal freedom and opportunities to the rural labourer that has boosted up the growth and efficiency of the agricultural sector. The paper has suggests the policy makers to emphasize more on the rural development to reduce migration of labour for job, family education, health and better infrastructure. The provision of labour freedom establishes to build up capabilities among the rural labourer, farmers and migrant workers thereby raises living standards through reducing the rural poverty level and leading to the transforming of the rural sector.

In India, increasing scarcity of agricultural land is a major problem. The same result also has found in West Bengal, an agriculture leading state of eastern India. In 2000–01 total Net Cropped Area (NCA) was 5417.38 thousand hectares and in 2014–15 it declined to 5238.39 thousand hectares in this state. On the other hand, between 2001 and 2011 census year, the total population of the state increased at 13.84 percent growth rate. It means population and NCA are moving towards the opposite direction in the national level as a whole and particularly in this state. In this situation, it is necessary to increase the agricultural output per unit area to feed all. Regional identification of dominant crops applying crop concentration method and measurement of the agricultural performance through agricultural efficiency index would be the first step to overcome this situation. From this perspective, the study mainly focused on the spatio-temporal changes of crop concentration and agricultural efficiency in West Bengal between 2000–01 and 2014–15 agricultural years using Bhatia's (Econ Geogr 41:39–56, 1965 and Econ Geogr 43:244–260, 1967) formula. In addition, the study aimed to find the suitable crop combination for each of the districts using Weaver's (Geogr Rev 44:175–200, 1954) formula. Result of the study indicating the presence of wide spatio-temporal variation of crop concentration and agricultural efficiency in both the agricultural period among the districts of the state. Significant negative as well as positive temporal changes have accounted within the gap of fifteen agricultural years. Regional variation of crop combination over time also came in light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of global environmental problems, low-carbon agriculture has gained increasing importance both in developed and developing countries. Hence, there is a need to find ways to develop more efficient agricultural systems. The purpose of this article is to identify the drivers of low-carbon agriculture on farms in the Wielkopolska region (in Poland). We aimed to take an original approach to investigate low-carbon agriculture with a unique set of different economic and environmental variables and contribute to the literature, which is not very extensive in terms of microeconomic research, including research on farmers in the Wielkopolska region. Therefore, we employed a multiple-factor measurement model for structural equation modeling (SEM) of data collected individually from 120 farms in 2020. As a result, we formulated the following conclusions: the increasing productivity of factors (land, labor, and capital) have a positive effect on low-carbon farming, just as increasing fertilizer and energy efficiency. Moreover, thermal insulation is also important for low-carbon agriculture, with efficiency of fertilizer use being the most important factor. We believe that the issues of farm use of fertilizers and thermal insulation of buildings should be more broadly included in energy policy, both at the national and the European Union (EU) levels. Some of these factors however are already present in the common agricultural policy (CAP) for 2021–2027. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effects of sustainable development of agricultural IoT are being investigated in 13 cities of Anhui province in China by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and drivers-pressures-state-impact-response (DPSIR) models. The relevant theories are combined with agricultural IoT research, and an effective evaluation system is proposed. The main goals of this study are to recognize the essential parameters in the study of agricultural IoT; investigate the effects of the technological and economic environment of agricultural IoT. The sustainable development model and evaluation index system are combined with the driving force-state-response framework. The PCA algorithm is used for index value assignment. The scores of sustainable developments of agricultural IoT in each city of province A are calculated. In the balance ranking of sustainable development of agricultural IoT, city A ranks first with the driving force score of 0.233, the state score of 0.2, and the response score of 0.281. The results provided the data support for the investigation of supportable expansion of emerging industries in the economic globalization field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Microbial inoculation plays a significant role in promoting the efficiency of biowaste conversion. This study investigates the function of Streptomyces-Bacillus Inoculants (SBI) on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) conversion, and microbial dynamics, during cow manure (10% and 20% addition) and corn straw co-composting. Compared to inoculant-free controls, inoculant application accelerated the compost's thermophilic stage (8 vs 15 days), and significantly increased compost total N contents (+47%) and N-reductase activities (nitrate reductase: +60%; nitrite reductase: +219%). Both bacterial and fungal community succession were significantly affected by DOC, urease, and NH 4 +-N, while the fungal community was also significantly affected by cellulase. The contribution rate of Cupriavidus to the physicochemical factors of compost was as high as 83.40%, but by contrast there were no significantly different contributions (∼60%) among the top 20 fungal genera. Application of SBI induced significant correlations between bacteria, compost C/N ratio, and catalase enzymes, indicative of compost maturation. We recommend SBI as a promising bio-composting additive to accelerate C and N turnover and high-quality biowaste maturation. SBI boosts organic cycling by transforming biowastes into bio-fertilizers efficiently. This highlights the potential for SBI application to improve plant growth and soil quality in multiple contexts. [Display omitted] • The addition of SBI shortens the composting process and maturation period. • SBI increased N-reductase activity (+140%) and TN (+47%) content in composts. • SBI stimulated the abundance of cellulose-degrading bacteria. • SBI accelerated the succession of C and N cycling microbial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining stable linkages between farmers and APS service providers is conducive to cutting transaction costs, increasing service organizations’ willingness to invest in the long term and motivation to innovate on their own, improving agricultural production and resource use efficiency, and safeguarding farmers’ welfare and national food security. The willingness of farmers to renew their contracts is a key factor in long-term APS partnerships. Based on research data from the Northeast region in 2018, this study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to construct a two-stage decision-making framework for the contracting-renewal and to determine how the process influences the formation of willingness. The Heckman two-stage model is applied. The results indicate that the mechanism of farmers’ willingness to renew APS is formed in accordance with TPB’s conceptual analysis framework with the dual logic of “stimulus” and “constraint”. In the first stage, individual and family characteristics have a significant influence on farmers’ contracting behavior. In the second stage, three exogenous latent variables, behavioral attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms, have a better explanatory role in the formation of farmers’ willingness to renew APS. The stronger the perceived control that is generated by farmers during the decision-making process, the more pronounced the behavioral attitudes were, and the stronger the inducement of willingness to renew the service. The findings suggest that governments should strengthen APS outreach and improve the regional economy and natural environment. Overall, this study helps to uncover the farmer’s TPB mechanism and provide an empirical basis for how to promote APS development.

Previous studies have shown that the quality of property rights, farm size and market imperfections significantly affect agricultural efficiency. This article investigates the interaction between the quality of property rights and size when the countries are heterogeneous in degree of market imperfection, using a multilevel statistical approach for a sample of 84 developing countries. The results show a positive relation between technical efficiency and quality of property rights and a negative relation between farm size and quality of property rights. Furthermore, the results reject the regularly stated inverse relation between farm size and technical efficiency. In addition, the results show that market imperfections significantly affect the relations between technical efficiency and the explanatory variables. According to the results, increasing the farm size in countries with well‐defined property rights reduces agricultural efficiency. On the other hand, in the majority of developing countries with low quality of property rights, the relation between farm size and technical efficiency is statistically significant and positive. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the relations between governance and agricultural performance of countries. Data Envelopment Analysis was used to find out agricultural performance of 81 countries at first stage. Panel data regression was employed in the second stage to assess the relations between performance levels of countries and their governance. Six governance indicators namely; voice and accountability, control of corruption, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and political stability and violence were analyzed in this stage. Findings show that firstly, governance indicators are highly correlated with each other. Secondly, developed countries are more efficient and have better governance than developing and undeveloped countries. Finally, a quadratic form of regression was the fitting model that is the marginal effects of good governance on performance are increasing in high values of governance.

After World War II, the European Union launched the Common Agricultural Policy. Since then, this programme has been adapting to the new economic and social realities that the European agricultural sector has been going through. Currently, a large part of this programme has been financed with the European Agricultural Guarantee Funds and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Two packages of funds have been approved in recent decades: one for the 2007–2013 and another for the 2014–2020 periods. This research has had as its main objective to determine whether the Spanish regions maintain homogeneous levels of efficiency in the use of these resources in the management of agricultural programmes from a growth and employment perspective. A methodology that is frequently used by researchers in the efficiency analyses has been chosen: data envelopment analysis. Among the main conclusions obtained are that the efficiency in the management of agricultural funds is very uneven among the studied Spanish regions. Furthermore, these differences are maintained throughout the analysed periods. This study suggests changes and proposes criteria for the allocation of European resources to finance the projects presented by the Spanish regions.

Globally, agriculture is a dominant form of human use of land with agro-ecosystems covering about 40% of the terrestrial surface of the Earth. In this context, the European Union considers agriculture a key sector of the economy, recognizing, however, the related environmental implications. The aim of this paper is to examine the agricultural efficiency of EU countries, through a bootstrap-Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, an effective nonparametric method for evaluating the relative efficiency of the decision-making units. European datasets, suitable for policies and focused on the integration between agricultural productivity and ecosystem services (ESs) conservation, have been used to support planners and managers. Data related to five inputs (labor, land, capital, fertilizers, and irrigation area) and to one output connected to the economic value of agricultural production were collected from 1993 to 2013. The results show that the majority of EU countries have been experiencing increasing or decreasing returns to scale, highlighting their potential to increase their production efficiency by modifying their input use. Both for the output-oriented approach and the input-oriented approach, the majority of EU countries could better rationalize their input use obtaining more outputs and achieving production efficiency. DEA, a non-parametric methodology has been applied, using the concept of a reference group of efficient decision-making units that produce a similar output (peer group). Input-oriented and output-oriented DEA results and comparison indicate that most of the oldest EU countries have a more efficient and optimized crop production process in terms of resource savings and output maximization. This is probably due to the application of the Common Agricultural Policy. Therefore, in policy planning but also in management decisions, attention should always be paid not only to the maximization of agricultural production, but also to the environmental resource overexploitation. In this sense, best agricultural practices could represent a model to follow because they can maintain ESs without depressing production by using practices like conservation tillage, crop diversification, legume intensification and biological control perform giving the same results as intensive, high-input systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) in Malawi was introduced in the 2005/2006 season against a background of bad weather affecting production and prolonged food shortages. Vouchers are distributed empowering eligible farmers to exchange them for fixed quantities of inputs at subsidized prices. Since its inception, there has been a debate at national level about whether the FISP’s potential has been fully exploited, with policy makers exploring options to improve the programme. Proposals include targeting efficient and productive farmers to maximize returns. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of these proposed changes to the existing FISP design by utilizing two waves of the LSMS-ISA survey merged with climatic data. We estimate how the national demand for agricultural inputs varies according to a variation in the targeting criteria by means of a two-stage demand system. Then, we identify more efficient farmers by means of a stochastic frontier approach. We observe a mismatch between voucher recipients and efficiency, with approximately 60% of vouchers being allocated to the three bottom quintiles of efficiency. This mismatch is observed also at the spatial level with more vouchers going to districts characterized by less efficient production. While concerns on the distributional impacts of the new criteria are discussed together with some suggestions for spatially diversifying the structuring of the policy and incentivizing crop diversification, our results highlight a high substitutability of commercial with subsidized inputs by new eligible farmers. Consequently, simulating the targeting policy variation we obtain an outcome that would lead only to a limited increases in predicted food expenditure ranging from 0.27% to 0.8% and maize production from 0.2% to 1.3. Scope for analysing different adjustments in the functioning of FISP are, thus, proposed to policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment of the Rural Development Offices (EDR) is execution of activities related to regional plans and municipal rural development. The objective of work was to analyze the agricultural efficiency thirteen municipalities belonging to EDR of Andradina/SP, by multivariate statistics and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The analyzes allowed conclude that most units working inefficiently, with Valparaíso and Bento de Abreu highlight municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of an aqueous suspension of basic cobalt carbonate CoCO·4Co(OH)·3HO with equimolar amount or two-fold excess of 1-hydroxyethylydenediphosphonic acid (HL) has yielded crystalline CoHL and amorphous Co(HL) products, respectively. The interaction of poorly soluble CoHL complex with 2-aminoethanol has resulted in the formation of amorphous water-soluble CoHL·HNCHCHOH·6НО complex; the latter loses 5 water molecules at heating and is converted into CoHL·HNCHCHOH·НО. The study of agrochemical effects of Co(HL) and CoHL·HNCHCHOH·6НО has revealed their advantage over the conventional salt form (cobalt sulfate) reflected in the reduced phytotoxicity of the element. The prepared compound containing 2-aminoethanol (solubility promotor) has revealed better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions from industrial production affect agricultural production, and forests have the benefit of being carbon neutral. Therefore, this study adopts the dynamic network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, takes carbon emissions as the link between industry and agriculture, and explores the production efficiency of industry and agriculture. It further incorporates forest area as a carry-over for evaluation and discusses 27 EU members' dynamic overall efficiency and productivity changes in 2014–2018. The empirical results are as follows. 1) The EU countries' industrial stage efficiency is better than their agriculture efficiency, with Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, and the Netherlands exhibiting the best efficiency performance. 2) The overall efficiencies of the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Croatia are the worst, because their misallocation of resources and excessive energy input cannot improve their output value. 3) The agricultural productivity of EU countries is better than that of industry productivity. 4) The EU has made great efforts at planting forests. 5) As energy consumption and carbon emissions are still rising, the EU still needs to do more to achieve the carbon reduction goals of the Paris Agreement and the Eu's 2030 zero carbon emissions. • A dynamic network model assesses industrial and agricultural efficiencies in the EU. • Forests in the EU have grown slightly over time. • It is difficult for high-income economies to cut and reduce carbon emissions. • The EU members still need to do more to achieve their carbon reduction goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce an extension of the Malmquist total factor productivity index, which utilizes the Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis approach. This enables variable-specific analysis of productivity change as well as its components (efficiency change and technical change). The new approach is illustrated and compared to the conventional Data Envelopment Analysis Malmquist approach by considering a empirical data set on Lithuanian family farms. The results highlight that important differences in variable-specific performance of the farms can be hidden when using the conventional (radial) Data Envelopment Analysis-based Malmquist index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyze the implementation of CAP 2014-2020 on development of agriculture in SR. Based on the findings we can evaluate that the CAP 2014-2020 measures implemented changes mainly in I. pillar. The most significant changes include reassessment of direct payments, greening, a new tool in I. Pillar, which is intended to pay for environmental services. Greening can be understood as a suitable tool for Slovak farmers to increase the possibilities for additional payments. As other positive measure for Slovak farmers is the payment for young farmers, which is being applied in SR for the first time. For young farmers in Slovakia (0,02% share on total EU young farmers) is supposed to be such a measure crucial for reaching competitiveness for their farms and even to increase the number of young farmers. As a negative impact of CAP reform for Slovak agriculture is the expiration of milk quota, which may negatively impact the livestock production. The II. Pillar remains unchanged and allows SR to focus on its specific priorities in rural development with new measure to realize flood control measures. According the evaluation of main economic indicators of Slovak agricultural farms we can state still negative economic development. Implementation of CAP and realization of EU financial support for agriculture in Slovakia represents main financial support and the support of Slovak government and national funding needs to be revised and increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global agricultural feeds over 7 billion people, but is also a leading cause of environmental degradation. Understanding how alternative agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice drive environmental degradation is necessary for reducing agriculture’s environmental impacts. A meta-analysis of life cycle assessments that includes 742 agricultural systems and over 90 unique foods produced primarily in high-input systems shows that, per unit of food, organic systems require more land, cause more eutrophication, use less energy, but emit similar greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) as conventional systems; that grass-fed beef requires more land and emits similar GHG emissions as grain-feed beef; and that low-input aquaculture and non-trawling fisheries have much lower GHG emissions than trawling fisheries. In addition, our analyses show that increasing agricultural input efficiency (the amount of food produced per input of fertilizer or feed) would have environmental benefits for both crop and livestock systems. Further, for all environmental indicators and nutritional units examined, plant-based foods have the lowest environmental impacts; eggs, dairy, pork, poultry, non-trawling fisheries, and non-recirculating aquaculture have intermediate impacts; and ruminant meat has impacts ∼100 times those of plant-based foods. Our analyses show that dietary shifts towards low-impact foods and increases in agricultural input use efficiency would offer larger environmental benefits than would switches from conventional agricultural systems to alternatives such as organic agriculture or grass-fed beef.

Brazilian agriculture has achieved high production levels in recent years. In contrast, agricultural production in Africa is low, but it shows great potential. This paper discusses the agricultural profiles of the main regions of Africa as well as the agribusiness partnership established between Africa and Brazil. This research is based on descriptive analysis of data collected in official agencies, such as FAO, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Africa-Brazil Institute. This study points collaborative projects currently active in the agribusiness partnership between Africa and Brazil. Several active collaborative projects are located in Western and Eastern Africa, which are problematic and unstable regions. We argue that Brazil can help African development through a sharp focus on both elementary and emancipatory projects. Thus, attention to Middle Africa should focus on political and conflict instabilities, since these problems might prevent a collaborative partnership with the Brazilian agribusiness sector. The main limitation of this study is that it is based on vague data obtained in official agencies. Another limitation is the absence of details about the active projects. This paper is an important contribution to the literature regarding food security, political instability, and economic development in Africa. It suggests the need for a better alignment between political and private efforts focused on the alleviation of urgent problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifold enhancement of solubility in water of Fe(III) and Mn(II) complexes with (1-hydroxyethylidene) diphosphonic acid has been achieved by their transformation into the corresponding salts via interaction of aqueous suspensions of the poorly soluble complexes with 2-aminoethanol and 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol. Molecular structure of tris(2-hydroxyethanaminium)(1-hydroxyethylidene)-diphosphonate has been determined. Potential agricultural efficiency of the prepared iron and manganese derivatives as well as zinc and copper complexes with (1-hydroxyethylidene)diphosphonic acid as a microfertilizer has been estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bu çal ışmada DSI taraf ı ndan in şa edilen ve işletilen I.Bölge sulama şebekelerinin 1984-1994 y ı llar ı na ilişkin su kullan ı m, tarı msal ve ekonomik etkinlik göstergeleri hesaplanm ış ve sulama sistem performans ı değerlendirilmilştir.Su kullan ı m etkinliğ i göstergesi olarak ayl ı k net ve toplam su temini oran ı ele al ı nm ıştı r.Ayl ı k su temini oran ı PenmanMonteith ve Blaney-Criddle yöntemleri için sulaman ı n en yoğ'un olduğ u May ı s, Haziran, Temrr ı uz, Ağ ustos, Eylül aylar ı için hesaplanm ışt ı rAyl ı k ortalama su temini oranlar ı Penman-Monteith yöntemiyle hesaplanan toplam sulama suyu ihtiyac ı na göre May ı s ay ı için 3.9, Haziran ay ı için 0.7, Temmuz ay ı için 0.8, A'ğ ustos ay ı için 0.8, Eylül ay ı için 1,0; net sulama suyu ihtiyacı na göre ise s ı ras ı yla 3.9, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 ve 1.8 bulunmu ştur. Blaney-Criddle yöntemiyle hesaplanan toplam sulama suyu ihtiyac ı na göre ayl ı k ortalama su temin oran ı May ı s ay ı için 5.0, Haziran ay ı için 0.7, Temmuz ay ı için 0.9, Ağ ustos ay ı için 0.8, Eylül ay ı için 1.4;net sulama suyu ihtiyac ı na göre ise su ı ras ı yla 9.6, 1.4, 1.6, 1.6 ve 2.6 bulunmuştur. I.Bölge sulama şebekelerinde, net ve toplam su temini oranlar ı ortalama olarak, s ı ras ı yla 1.7 ve 0.9, tar ı msal etkinlik göstergesi olan sulama oran ı %60 ve ekonomik etkinlik göstergesi olan tahsilat oran ı ise %80'dir.Di ğer taraftan ülke ortalama değerleri ise s ı ras ı yla 2.0, 1.04, %66 ve %36'd ı r. Buna göre, I.Bölge sulama şebekeleri için hesaplanan ilk üç değer ülke ortalama değerlerine yak ı n, tahsilat oran ı ise yüksektir.