Sample records for agricultural crops livestock

  1. Direct and indirect impacts of crop-livestock organization on mixed crop-livestock systems sustainability: a model-based study.

    PubMed

    Sneessens, I; Veysset, P; Benoit, M; Lamadon, A; Brunschwig, G

    2016-11-01

    Crop-livestock production is claimed more sustainable than specialized production systems. However, the presence of controversial studies suggests that there must be conditions of mixing crop and livestock productions to allow for higher sustainable performances. Whereas previous studies focused on the impact of crop-livestock interactions on performances, we posit here that crop-livestock organization is a key determinant of farming system sustainability. Crop-livestock organization refers to the percentage of the agricultural area that is dedicated to each production. Our objective is to investigate if crop-livestock organization has both a direct and an indirect impact on mixed crop-livestock (MC-L) sustainability. In that objective, we build a whole-farm model parametrized on representative French sheep and crop farming systems in plain areas (Vienne, France). This model permits simulating contrasted MC-L systems and their subsequent sustainability through the following indicators of performance: farm income, production, N balance, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (/kg product) and MJ consumption (/kg product). Two MC-L systems were simulated with contrasted crop-livestock organizations (MC20-L80: 20% of crops; MC80-L20: 80% of crops). A first scenario - constraining no crop-livestock interactions in both MC-L systems - permits highlighting that crop-livestock organization has a significant direct impact on performances that implies trade-offs between objectives of sustainability. Indeed, the MC80-L20 system is showing higher performances for farm income (+44%), livestock production (+18%) and crop GHG emissions (-14%) whereas the MC20-L80 system has a better N balance (-53%) and a lower livestock MJ consumption (-9%). A second scenario - allowing for crop-livestock interactions in both MC20-L80 and MC80-L20 systems - stated that crop-livestock organization has a significant indirect impact on performances. Indeed, even if crop-livestock interactions permit

  2. Crop and livestock enterprise integration: Livestock impacts on forage, stover, and grain production

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Enterprise diversity is the key to ensure productive and sustainable agriculture for the future. Integration of crops and livestock enterprises is one way to improve agricultural sustainability, and take advantage of beneficial enterprise synergistic effects. Our objectives were to develop cropping ...

  3. Integrated crop-livestock systems and cover crop grazing in the Northern Great Plains

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Integrating crops and livestock has been identified as an approach to sustainably intensify agricultural systems, increasing production while reducing the need for external inputs, building soil health, and increasing economic returns. Cover crops and grazing these cover crops are a natural fit with...

  4. Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural straw use: The case of livestock farmers

    PubMed Central

    Wilson, P.; Glithero, N.J.; Ramsden, S.J.

    2014-01-01

    Second generation biofuels utilising agricultural by-products (e.g. straw), or dedicated energy crops (DECs) produced on ‘marginal’ land, have been called for. A structured telephone survey of 263 livestock farmers, predominantly located in the west or ‘marginal’ upland areas of England captured data on attitudes towards straw use and DECs. Combined with farm physical and business data, the survey results show that 7.2% and 6.3% of farmers would respectively consider growing SRC and miscanthus, producing respective maximum potential English crop areas of 54,603 ha and 43,859 ha. If higher market prices for straw occurred, most livestock farmers would continue to buy straw. Reasons for not being willing to consider growing DECs include concerns over land quality, committing land for a long time period, lack of appropriate machinery, profitability, and time to financial return; a range of moral, land quality, production conflict and lack of crop knowledge factors were also cited. Results demonstrate limited potential for the production of DECs on livestock farms in England. Changes in policy support to address farmer concerns with respect to DECs will be required to incentivise farmers to increase energy crop production. Policy support for DEC production must be cognisant of farm-level economic, tenancy and personal objectives. PMID:25844008

  5. Mixed crop-livestock systems: an economic and environmental-friendly way of farming?

    PubMed

    Ryschawy, J; Choisis, N; Choisis, J P; Joannon, A; Gibon, A

    2012-10-01

    Intensification and specialisation of agriculture in developed countries enabled productivity to be improved but had detrimental impacts on the environment and threatened the economic viability of a huge number of farms. The combination of livestock and crops, which was very common in the past, is assumed to be a viable alternative to specialised livestock or cropping systems. Mixed crop-livestock systems can improve nutrient cycling while reducing chemical inputs and generate economies of scope at farm level. Most assumptions underlying these views are based on theoretical and experimental evidence. Very few assessments of their environmental and economic advantages have nevertheless been undertaken in real-world farming conditions. In this paper, we present a comparative assessment of the environmental and economic performances of mixed crop-livestock farms v. specialised farms among the farm population of the French 'Coteaux de Gascogne'. In this hilly region, half of the farms currently use a mixed crop-livestock system including beef cattle and cash crops, the remaining farms being specialised in either crops or cattle. Data were collected through an exhaustive survey of farms located in our study area. The economic performances of farming systems were assessed on 48 farms on the basis of (i) overall gross margin, (ii) production costs and (iii) analysis of the sensitivity of gross margins to fluctuations in the price of inputs and outputs. The environmental dimension was analysed through (i) characterisation of farmers' crop management practices, (ii) analysis of farm land use diversity and (iii) nitrogen farm-gate balance. Local mixed crop-livestock farms did not have significantly higher overall gross margins than specialised farms but were less sensitive than dairy and crop farms to fluctuations in the price of inputs and outputs considered. Mixed crop-livestock farms had lower costs than crop farms, while beef farms had the lowest costs as they are grass

  6. Adapting to climate change in the mixed crop and livestock farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thornton, Philip K.; Herrero, Mario

    2015-09-01

    Mixed crop-livestock systems are the backbone of African agriculture, providing food security and livelihood options for hundreds of millions of people. Much is known about the impacts of climate change on the crop enterprises in the mixed systems, and some, although less, on the livestock enterprises. The interactions between crops and livestock can be managed to contribute to environmentally sustainable intensification, diversification and risk management. There is relatively little information on how these interactions may be affected by changes in climate and climate variability. This is a serious gap, because these interactions may offer some buffering capacity to help smallholders adapt to climate change.

  7. Linking Soil Microbial Ecology to Ecosystem Functioning in Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Enhanced soil stability, nutrient cycling and C sequestration potential are important ecosystem functions driven by soil microbial processes and are directly influenced by agricultural management. Integrated crop-livestock agroecosystems (ICL) can enhance these functions via high-residue returning c...

  8. Soil phosphorus compounds in integrated crop-livestock systems of subtropical Brazil

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Soil phosphorus (P) utilization and loss mechanisms may be affected by agricultural complexity, in particular when combining annual and perennial crops and livestock grazing on the same land area and at overlapping time periods. Our objectives were to (i) qualify and quantify soil organic and inorga...

  9. Sustainable development of smallholder crop-livestock farming in developing countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ates, S.; Cicek, H.; Bell, L. W.; Norman, H. C.; Mayberry, D. E.; Kassam, S.; Hannaway, D. B.; Louhaichi, M.

    2018-03-01

    Meeting the growing demand for animal-sourced food, prompted by population growth and increases in average per-capita income in low-income countries, is a major challenge. Yet, it also presents significant potential for agricultural growth, economic development, and reduction of poverty in rural areas. The main constraints to livestock producers taking advantage of growing markets include; lack of forage and feed gaps, communal land tenure, limited access to land and water resources, weak institutions, poor infrastructure and environmental degradation. To improve rural livelihood and food security in smallholder crop-livestock farming systems, concurrent work is required to address issues regarding efficiency of production, risk within systems and development of whole value chain systems. This paper provides a review of several forage based-studies in tropical and non-tropical dry areas of the developing countries. A central tenet of this paper is that forages have an essential role in agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability and livestock nutrition in smallholder mixed farming systems.

  10. Crop and cattle production responses to tillage and cover crop management in an integrated crop-livestock system in the southeastern USA

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Integrated crop-livestock systems can help achieve greater environmental quality from disparate crop and livestock systems by recycling nutrients and taking advantage of synergies between systems. We investigated crop and animal production responses in integrated crop-livestock systems with two typ...

  11. Vocational Agriculture Education: Agricultural Livestock Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pierce, Greg

    Ten units of instruction are provided in this curriculum guide on agricultural livestock skills. Unit topics are as follow: (1) restraining, (2) vaccination, (3) livestock castration, (4) dehorning, (5) docking, (6) growth stimulants, (7) identification, (8) shearing, (9) hoof trimming, and (10) birth assistance. Each instructional unit generally…

  12. Ruminant Grazing of Cover Crops: Effects on Soil Properties and Agricultural Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poffenbarger, Hanna

    2010-01-01

    Integrating livestock into a cropping system by allowing ruminant animals to graze cover crops may yield economic and environmental benefits. The effects of grazing on soil physical properties, soil organic matter, nitrogen cycling and agricultural production are presented in this literature review. The review found that grazing cover crops…

  13. Livestock and feed water productivity in the mixed crop-livestock system.

    PubMed

    Bekele, M; Mengistu, A; Tamir, B

    2017-10-01

    Recently with limited information from intensified grain-based farming systems in developed countries, livestock production is challenged as being huge consumer of freshwater. The smallholder mixed crop-livestock (MCL) system which is predominant in developing countries like Ethiopia, is maintained with considerable contributions of crop residues (CR) to livestock feeding. Inclusion of CR is expected to reduce the water requirement for feed production resulting improvement in livestock water productivity (LWP). This study was conducted to determine feed water productivity (FWP) and LWP in the MCL system. A multistage sampling procedure was followed to select farmers from different wealth status. Wealth status dictated by ownership of key farm resources such as size of cropland and livestock influenced the magnitude of livestock outputs, FWP and LWP. Significant difference in feed collected, freshwater evapotranspired, livestock outputs and water productivity (WP) were observed between wealth groups, where wealthier are relatively more advantaged. Water productivity of CR and grazing land (GL) analyzed separately showed contrasting differences where better-off gained more on CR, whereas vice versa on GL. These counterbalancing of variations may justify the non-significant difference in total FWP between wealth groups. Despite observed differences, low WP on GL indicates the need of interventions at all levels. The variation in WP of CR is attributed to availability of production factors which restrained the capacity of poor farmers most. A linear relationship between the proportion of CR in livestock feed and FWP was evident, but the relationship with LWP was not likely linear. As CR are inherently low in digestibility and nutritive values which have an effect on feed conversion into valuable livestock products and services, increasing share of CR beyond an optimum level is not a viable option to bring improvements in livestock productivity as expressed in terms of

  14. Energy and emergy analysis of mixed crop-livestock farming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuczuk, Anna; Pospolita, Janusz; Wacław, Stefan

    2017-10-01

    This paper contains substance and energy balances of mixed crop-livestock farming. The analysis involves the period between 2012 and 2015. The structure of the presentation in the paper includes: crops and their structure, details of the use of plants with a beneficial effect on soil and stocking density per 1ha of agricultural land. Cumulative energy intensity of agricultural animal and plant production was determined, which is coupled the discussion of the energy input in the production of a grain unit obtained from plant and animal production. This data was compared with the data from the literature containing examples derived from intensive and organic production systems. The environmental impact of a farm was performed on the basis of emergy analysis. Emergy fluxes were determined on the basis of renewable and non-renewable sources. As a consequence, several performance indicators were established: Emergy Yield Ratio EYR, Environmental Loading Ratio ELR and ratio of emergy from renewable sources R! . Their values were compared with the parameters characterizing other production patterns followed in agricultural production. As a consequence, conclusions were derived, in particular the ones concerning environmental sustainability of production systems in the analyzed farm.

  15. Crop and livestock enterprise integration: Effects of annual crops used for fall forage production on livestock productivity

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Diversification of farm enterprises is important to maintain sustainable production systems. Systems that integrate crops and livestock may prove beneficial to each enterprise. Our objectives were to determine the effects of annual crops grazed in the fall and early-winter period on cow and calf gro...

  16. Integrated crop-livestock system effects on soil N, P, and pH in a semiarid region

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) represent a potential means to sustainably intensify agriculture. Developing ICLS that concurrently achieve production and environmental goals is contingent upon efficiently managing plant nutrients in time and space. In this study, we sought to quantify re...

  17. Integrated crop/livestock systems reduce late-fall livestock feeding costs

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Feed costs during the late-fall and winter periods represent the greatest cost to cow-calf production in the northern Great Plains. Integration of crop and livestock enterprises may improve sustainability through synergisms among enterprises reducing waste and improving productivity, and providing b...

  18. Agriculture. Dairy Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Coll. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Inst.

    This task-based curriculum guide for agricultural production, specifically for dairy livestock, is intended to help the teacher develop a classroom management system where students learn by doing. Introductory materials include a Dictionary of Occupational Titles job code and title sheet, a task sheet for developing leadership skills, and a task…

  19. Agriculture. Beef Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Coll. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Inst.

    This task-based curriculum guide for agricultural production, specifically for beef livestock, is intended to help the teacher develop a classroom management system where students learn by doing. Introductory materials include a Dictionary of Occupational Titles job code and title sheet, a task sheet for developing leadership skills, and a task…

  20. 36 CFR 1002.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 1002.60 Section 1002.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The running-at-large, herding, driving...

  1. 36 CFR 1002.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 1002.60 Section 1002.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The running-at-large, herding, driving...

  2. 36 CFR 2.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 2.60 Section 2.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The...

  3. 36 CFR 2.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 2.60 Section 2.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The...

  4. 36 CFR 2.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 2.60 Section 2.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The...

  5. 36 CFR 2.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 2.60 Section 2.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The...

  6. 36 CFR 1002.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 1002.60 Section 1002.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The running-at-large, herding, driving...

  7. 36 CFR 1002.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 1002.60 Section 1002.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The running-at-large, herding, driving...

  8. 36 CFR 2.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Livestock use and agriculture. 2.60 Section 2.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The...

  9. Grassland-Cropping Rotations: An Avenue for Agricultural Diversification to Reconcile High Production with Environmental Quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lemaire, Gilles; Gastal, François; Franzluebbers, Alan; Chabbi, Abad

    2015-11-01

    A need to increase agricultural production across the world to ensure continued food security appears to be at odds with the urgency to reduce the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. Around the world, intensification has been associated with massive simplification and uniformity at all levels of organization, i.e., field, farm, landscape, and region. Therefore, we postulate that negative environmental impacts of modern agriculture are due more to production simplification than to inherent characteristics of agricultural productivity. Thus by enhancing diversity within agricultural systems, it should be possible to reconcile high quantity and quality of food production with environmental quality. Intensification of livestock and cropping systems separately within different specialized regions inevitably leads to unacceptable environmental impacts because of the overly uniform land use system in intensive cereal areas and excessive N-P loads in intensive animal areas. The capacity of grassland ecosystems to couple C and N cycles through microbial-soil-plant interactions as a way for mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive arable cropping system was analyzed in different management options: grazing, cutting, and ley duration, in order to minimize trade-offs between production and the environment. We suggest that integrated crop-livestock systems are an appropriate strategy to enhance diversity. Sod-based rotations can temporally and spatially capture the benefits of leys for minimizing environmental impacts, while still maintaining periods and areas of intensive cropping. Long-term experimental results illustrate the potential of such systems to sequester C in soil and to reduce and control N emissions to the atmosphere and hydrosphere.

  10. Grassland-Cropping Rotations: An Avenue for Agricultural Diversification to Reconcile High Production with Environmental Quality.

    PubMed

    Lemaire, Gilles; Gastal, François; Franzluebbers, Alan; Chabbi, Abad

    2015-11-01

    A need to increase agricultural production across the world to ensure continued food security appears to be at odds with the urgency to reduce the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. Around the world, intensification has been associated with massive simplification and uniformity at all levels of organization, i.e., field, farm, landscape, and region. Therefore, we postulate that negative environmental impacts of modern agriculture are due more to production simplification than to inherent characteristics of agricultural productivity. Thus by enhancing diversity within agricultural systems, it should be possible to reconcile high quantity and quality of food production with environmental quality. Intensification of livestock and cropping systems separately within different specialized regions inevitably leads to unacceptable environmental impacts because of the overly uniform land use system in intensive cereal areas and excessive N-P loads in intensive animal areas. The capacity of grassland ecosystems to couple C and N cycles through microbial-soil-plant interactions as a way for mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive arable cropping system was analyzed in different management options: grazing, cutting, and ley duration, in order to minimize trade-offs between production and the environment. We suggest that integrated crop-livestock systems are an appropriate strategy to enhance diversity. Sod-based rotations can temporally and spatially capture the benefits of leys for minimizing environmental impacts, while still maintaining periods and areas of intensive cropping. Long-term experimental results illustrate the potential of such systems to sequester C in soil and to reduce and control N emissions to the atmosphere and hydrosphere.

  11. Senior Research Connects Students with a Living Laboratory As Part of an Integrated Crop and Livestock System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Senturklu, Songul; Landblom, Douglas; Brevik, Eric C.

    2015-04-01

    highest expenses in beef cattle production. Senior research investigating the impact of livestock integration and multi-species cover crop grown within the crop rotation is studying changes in soil attributes resulting from the crop-animal integration by measuring bulk density and in-season soil fertility in the crop rotation. These responses are further contrasted with results from within the crop rotation and responses from perennial native range. Students that become engaged in the research represent a broad cross section of the consuming public and include high school junior and senior students, college undergraduate students that conduct research projects, postdoctoral research scientists engaged in senior level research, agricultural extension educators, and finally, farmer and rancher businessmen. The integrated nature of the research provides a wealth of learning opportunities for these various groups. For the high school students, visits to the living laboratory increase awareness and introduces students to a potential career path in agriculture, natural resource fields, and the many allied vocational fields that support agriculture. When college undergraduate students visit the living laboratory, they seek to address a researchable question or a problem in agriculture, while fulfilling requirements for graduation by conducting a research project. Because postdoctoral students want to be actively engaged in research and advanced learning, they are interested in conducting research in the living laboratory that can be published in peer reviewed journals. Agricultural extension educators, who advise farmers and ranchers, are looking for research results from the living laboratory that can be convey to their constituents. Farmers and ranchers participate in workshop events that give them face-to-face learning opportunities that they can use to effect change in their farm and ranch businesses. Each of these demographic groups are unique in their interest in the

  12. Exploring global changes in nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in agriculture induced by livestock production over the 1900-2050 period.

    PubMed

    Bouwman, Lex; Goldewijk, Kees Klein; Van Der Hoek, Klaas W; Beusen, Arthur H W; Van Vuuren, Detlef P; Willems, Jaap; Rufino, Mariana C; Stehfest, Elke

    2013-12-24

    Crop-livestock production systems are the largest cause of human alteration of the global nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles. Our comprehensive spatially explicit inventory of N and P budgets in livestock and crop production systems shows that in the beginning of the 20th century, nutrient budgets were either balanced or surpluses were small; between 1900 and 1950, global soil N surplus almost doubled to 36 trillion grams (Tg) · y(-1) and P surplus increased by a factor of 8 to 2 Tg · y(-1). Between 1950 and 2000, the global surplus increased to 138 Tg · y(-1) of N and 11 Tg · y(-1) of P. Most surplus N is an environmental loss; surplus P is lost by runoff or accumulates as residual soil P. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development scenario portrays a world with a further increasing global crop (+82% for 2000-2050) and livestock production (+115%); despite rapidly increasing recovery in crop (+35% N recovery and +6% P recovery) and livestock (+35% N and P recovery) production, global nutrient surpluses continue to increase (+23% N and +54% P), and in this period, surpluses also increase in Africa (+49% N and +236% P) and Latin America (+75% N and +120% P). Alternative management of livestock production systems shows that combinations of intensification, better integration of animal manure in crop production, and matching N and P supply to livestock requirements can effectively reduce nutrient flows. A shift in human diets, with poultry or pork replacing beef, can reduce nutrient flows in countries with intensive ruminant production.

  13. The spatiotemporal variation analysis of virtual water for agriculture and livestock husbandry: A study for Jilin Province in China.

    PubMed

    Ma, Xiaolei; Ma, Yanji

    2017-05-15

    With the rapid development of economic, water crisis is becoming more and more serious and would be an important obstacle to the sustainable development of society. Virtual water theory and its applications in agriculture can provide important strategies for realizing the reasonable utilization and sustainable development of water resources. Using the Penman-Monteith model and Theil index combining the CROPWAT software, this work takes Jilin Province as study area quantifying the virtual water content of agriculture and livestock husbandry and giving a comprehensive evaluation of their spatiotemporal structure evolution. This study aims to help make clear the water consumption of agriculture and livestock husbandry, and offer advice on rational water utilization and agricultural structure adjustment. The results show that the total virtual water (TVW) proportion of agriculture presents a gradual growth trend while that of livestock husbandry reduces during the study period. In space, central Jilin shows the highest virtual water content of agriculture as well as livestock husbandry, the TVW in central Jilin is about 35.8billionm 3 . The TVW of maize is highest among six studied crops, and the cattle shows the highest TVW in the four kinds of animals. The distribution of TVW calculated by us and the distribution of actual water resources have remarkable difference, which leads to the increase of water consumption and cost of agricultural production. Finally, we discuss the driving force of the spatiotemporal variation of the TVW for agriculture and livestock husbandry, and also give some advises for the planting structural adjustment. This work is helpful for the sustainable development of agricultural and livestock husbandry and realizing efficient utilization of water resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Livestock Skills Performance Levels Reported by Agricultural Production Teachers in Ohio.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osborne, Edward W.; Miller, Larry E.

    1985-01-01

    A study was conducted to determine the livestock skills possessed by agricultural production teachers in Ohio and to examine the extent to which livestock skills were taught in high school vocational agriculture classes. Questions concerned teacher knowledge of livestock skills, teacher confidence, teaching methods, and relationship between…

  15. Exploring global changes in nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in agriculture induced by livestock production over the 1900–2050 period

    PubMed Central

    Bouwman, Lex; Goldewijk, Kees Klein; Van Der Hoek, Klaas W.; Beusen, Arthur H. W.; Van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Willems, Jaap; Rufino, Mariana C.; Stehfest, Elke

    2013-01-01

    Crop-livestock production systems are the largest cause of human alteration of the global nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles. Our comprehensive spatially explicit inventory of N and P budgets in livestock and crop production systems shows that in the beginning of the 20th century, nutrient budgets were either balanced or surpluses were small; between 1900 and 1950, global soil N surplus almost doubled to 36 trillion grams (Tg)·y−1 and P surplus increased by a factor of 8 to 2 Tg·y−1. Between 1950 and 2000, the global surplus increased to 138 Tg·y−1 of N and 11 Tg·y−1 of P. Most surplus N is an environmental loss; surplus P is lost by runoff or accumulates as residual soil P. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development scenario portrays a world with a further increasing global crop (+82% for 2000–2050) and livestock production (+115%); despite rapidly increasing recovery in crop (+35% N recovery and +6% P recovery) and livestock (+35% N and P recovery) production, global nutrient surpluses continue to increase (+23% N and +54% P), and in this period, surpluses also increase in Africa (+49% N and +236% P) and Latin America (+75% N and +120% P). Alternative management of livestock production systems shows that combinations of intensification, better integration of animal manure in crop production, and matching N and P supply to livestock requirements can effectively reduce nutrient flows. A shift in human diets, with poultry or pork replacing beef, can reduce nutrient flows in countries with intensive ruminant production. PMID:21576477

  16. 36 CFR § 1002.60 - Livestock use and agriculture.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true Livestock use and agriculture. § 1002.60 Section § 1002.60 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.60 Livestock use and agriculture. (a) The running-at-large, herding...

  17. Livestock Judging. A Unit for Teachers of Vocational Agriculture. Production Agriculture Curriculum Materials Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Anthony

    Designed to provide instructional materials for use by vocational agriculture teachers, this unit on livestock judging contains materials based on five competencies needed to be a livestock producer. The following competencies are covered: general preparation for livestock judging, selection, and evaluation; judging, selection, and evaluation of…

  18. Smart investments in sustainable food production: revisiting mixed crop-livestock systems.

    PubMed

    Herrero, M; Thornton, P K; Notenbaert, A M; Wood, S; Msangi, S; Freeman, H A; Bossio, D; Dixon, J; Peters, M; van de Steeg, J; Lynam, J; Parthasarathy Rao, P; Macmillan, S; Gerard, B; McDermott, J; Seré, C; Rosegrant, M

    2010-02-12

    Farmers in mixed crop-livestock systems produce about half of the world's food. In small holdings around the world, livestock are reared mostly on grass, browse, and nonfood biomass from maize, millet, rice, and sorghum crops and in their turn supply manure and traction for future crops. Animals act as insurance against hard times and supply farmers with a source of regular income from sales of milk, eggs, and other products. Thus, faced with population growth and climate change, small-holder farmers should be the first target for policies to intensify production by carefully managed inputs of fertilizer, water, and feed to minimize waste and environmental impact, supported by improved access to markets, new varieties, and technologies.

  19. [Effects of agricultural activities and transgenic crops on agricultural biodiversity].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xi-Tao; Luo, Hong-Bing; Li, Jun-Sheng; Huang, Hai; Liu, Yong-Bo

    2014-09-01

    Agricultural biodiversity is a key part of the ecosystem biodiversity, but it receives little concern. The monoculture, environmental pollution and habitat fragmentation caused by agricultural activities have threatened agricultural biodiversity over the past 50 years. To optimize agricultural management measures for crop production and environmental protection, we reviewed the effects of agricultural activities, including cultivation patterns, plastic mulching, chemical additions and the cultivation of transgenic crops, on agricultural biodiversity. The results showed that chemical pesticides and fertilizers had the most serious influence and the effects of transgenic crops varied with other factors like the specific transgene inserted in crops. The environmental risk of transgenic crops should be assessed widely through case-by-case methods, particularly its potential impacts on agricultural biodiversity. It is important to consider the protection of agricultural biodiversity before taking certain agricultural practices, which could improve agricultural production and simultaneously reduce the environmental impacts.

  20. Agricultural Development Workers Training Manual. Volume IV. Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bacon, Neil; And Others

    This training manual, the last volume in a four-volume series for use in training Peace Corps workers, deals with livestock. The first chapter provides suggested guidelines for setting up and carrying out the livestock component of the agricultural development worker training course. Included in the second chapter are lesson plans covering the…

  1. Crop damage and livestock depredation by wildlife: a case study from Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India.

    PubMed

    Rao, K S; Maikhuri, R K; Nautiyal, S; Saxena, K G

    2002-11-01

    The success of conserving biological resources in any Biosphere Reserve or protected area depends on the extent of support and positive attitudes and perceptions of local people have towards such establishments. Ignoring the dependence of the local people for their subsistence needs on resources of such areas leads to conflicts between protected area managers and the local inhabitants. Crop yield losses and livestock depredation were serious problems observed in most buffer zone villages of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. In the present study 10 villages situated in the buffer zone of Nanada Devi Biosphere Reserve (1612 km2 area) in Chamoli district of Uttaranchal, India were studied during 1996-97 using a questionnaire survey of each household (419 = households; 2253 = total population in 1991; 273 ha = cultivated area). Estimates of crop yield losses were made using paired plots technique in four representative villages for each crop species. The magnitude of crop yield losses varied significantly with the distance of agricultural field from forest boundary. The total crop yield losses were high for wheat and potato in all the villages. The spatial distribution of total crop yield losses in any village indicated that they were highest in the area near to forest and least in the area near to village for all crops. Losses from areas near to forest contributed to more than 50% of total losses for each crop in all villages. However, in Lata, Peng and Tolma villages, the losses are high for kidney bean and chemmi (local variety of kidney bean) which varied between 18.5% to 30% of total losses in those villages. Potato alone represents 43.6% of total crop yield loss due to wildlife in Dronagiri village in monetary terms. Among the crops, the monetary value of yield losses are least for amaranth and highest for kidney bean. The projected total value of crop yield losses due to wildlife damage for buffer zone villages located in Garhwal Himalaya is about Rs. 538,620 (US

  2. Water requirements for livestock production: a global perspective.

    PubMed

    Schlink, A C; Nguyen, M L; Viljoen, G J

    2010-12-01

    Water is a vital but poorly studied component of livestock production. It is estimated that livestock industries consume 8% of the global water supply, with most of that water being used for intensive, feed-based production. This study takes a broad perspective of livestock production as a component of the human food chain, and considers the efficiency of its water use. Global models are in the early stages of development and do not distinguish between developing and developed countries, or the production systems within them. However, preliminary indications are that, when protein production is adjusted for biological value in the human diet, no plant protein is significantly more efficient at using water than protein produced from eggs, and only soybean is more water efficient than milk and goat and chicken meat. In some regions, especially developing countries, animals are not used solely for food production but also provide draught power, fibre and fertiliser for crops. In addition, animals make use of crop by-products that would otherwise go to waste. The livestock sector is the fastest-growing agricultural sector, which has led to increasing industrialisation and, in some cases, reduced environmental constraints. In emerging economies, increasing involvement in livestock is related to improving rural wealth and increasing consumption of animal protein. Water usage for livestock production should be considered an integral part of agricultural water resource management, taking into account the type of production system (e.g. grain-fed or mixed crop-livestock) and scale (intensive or extensive), the species and breeds of livestock, and the social and cultural aspects of livestock farming in various countries.

  3. Ammonia Volatilization Loss from Surface Applied Livestock Manure

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Ammonia (NH3) emission from livestock manures used in agriculture reduces N uptake by crops and negatively impacts air quality. This laboratory study was conducted to evaluate NH3 emission from different livestock manures applied to two soils: Candler fins sand (CFS; light-textured soil, pH 6.8 and...

  4. Integrating diverse forage sources reduces feed gaps on mixed crop-livestock farms.

    PubMed

    Bell, L W; Moore, A D; Thomas, D T

    2017-12-04

    Highly variable climates induce large variability in the supply of forage for livestock and so farmers must manage their livestock systems to reduce the risk of feed gaps (i.e. periods when livestock feed demand exceeds forage supply). However, mixed crop-livestock farmers can utilise a range of feed sources on their farms to help mitigate these risks. This paper reports on the development and application of a simple whole-farm feed-energy balance calculator which is used to evaluate the frequency and magnitude of feed gaps. The calculator matches long-term simulations of variation in forage and metabolisable energy supply from diverse sources against energy demand for different livestock enterprises. Scenarios of increasing the diversity of forage sources in livestock systems is investigated for six locations selected to span Australia's crop-livestock zone. We found that systems relying on only one feed source were prone to higher risk of feed gaps, and hence, would often have to reduce stocking rates to mitigate these risks or use supplementary feed. At all sites, by adding more feed sources to the farm feedbase the continuity of supply of both fresh and carry-over forage was improved, reducing the frequency and magnitude of feed deficits. However, there were diminishing returns from making the feedbase more complex, with combinations of two to three feed sources typically achieving the maximum benefits in terms of reducing the risk of feed gaps. Higher stocking rates could be maintained while limiting risk when combinations of other feed sources were introduced into the feedbase. For the same level of risk, a feedbase relying on a diversity of forage sources could support stocking rates 1.4 to 3 times higher than if they were using a single pasture source. This suggests that there is significant capacity to mitigate both risk of feed gaps at the same time as increasing 'safe' stocking rates through better integration of feed sources on mixed crop-livestock

  5. Feeding Livestock. A Unit for Teachers of Vocational Agriculture. Production Agriculture Curriculum Materials Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Boyd C.

    Designed to provide instructional materials for use by vocational agriculture teachers, this unit on feeding livestock contains nine lessons based upon competencies needed to be a livestock producer. The lessons in this unit cover the importance of good feeding practices, the identification of nutritional needs and the composition of feeds for…

  6. Vocational Agriculture Computer Handbook.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kentucky State Dept. of Education, Frankfort.

    This document is a catalog of reviews of computer software suitable for use in vocational agriculture programs. The reviews were made by vocational agriculture teachers in Kentucky. The reviews cover software on the following topics: farm management, crop production, livestock production, horticulture, agricultural mechanics, general agriculture,…

  7. Agricultural Biodiversity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Postance, Jim

    1998-01-01

    The extinction of farm animals and crops is rarely brought up during discussions of endangered species and biodiversity; however, the loss of diversity in crops and livestock threatens the sustainability of agriculture. Presents three activities: (1) "The Colors of Diversity"; (2) "Biodiversity among Animals"; and (3) "Heirloom Plants." Discusses…

  8. Agricultural Chartbook 1988. Agriculture Handbook No. 673.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.

    These charts present an overview of the current economic health of American agriculture. The charts move from the national and international arenas to farm economic health measures and crop and livestock trends. A small amount of descriptive narrative accompanies most of the charts. Charts depicting the economic picture of U.S. agriculture include…

  9. Agricultural trade and the global phosphorus cycle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schipanski, M.; Bennett, E.; Riskin, S.; Porder, S.

    2012-12-01

    Trends of increasing agricultural trade, increased concentration of livestock production systems, and increased human consumption of livestock products influence the distribution of nutrients across the global landscape. Phosphorus (P) represents a unique management challenge as we are rapidly depleting mineable reserves of this essential and non-renewable resource. At the same time, its overuse can lead to pollution of aquatic ecosystems. We analyzed the relative contributions of food crop, feed crop, and livestock product trade to P flows through agricultural soils for twelve countries from 1961 to 2007. We then used case studies of P fertilizer use in the world's three major soybean export regions: Iowa (USA), Mato Grosso (Brazil), and Buenos Aires (Argentina) to examine the influence of historical P management and soil types on agriculture's environmental consequences. Due to the intensification of agricultural production, average soil surface P balances more than tripled from 6 to 21 kg P per ha between 1961 and 2007 for the twelve study countries. Consequently, countries that are primarily agricultural exporters carried increased risks for water pollution or, for Argentina, reduced soil fertility due to soil P mining to support exports. In 2007, nations imported food and feed from regions with higher apparent P fertilizer use efficiencies than if those crops were produced domestically. However, this was largely because imports were sourced from regions depleting soil P resources to support export crop production. In addition, the pattern of regional specialization and intensification of production systems also reduced the potential to recycle P resources, with greater implications for livestock production than crop production. In a globalizing world, it will be increasingly important to integrate biophysical constraints of our natural resources and environmental impacts of agricultural systems into trade policy and agreements and to develop mechanisms that

  10. Plants & Crops | National Agricultural Library

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to main content Home National Agricultural Library United States Department of Agriculture Ag , tables, graphs), Agricultural Products html Useful to Usable: Developing usable climate science for climatology, crop modeling, agronomy, cyber-technology, agricultural economics, sociology, Extension and

  11. Soil-profile distribution of inorganic N during 6 years of integrated crop-livestock management

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Excessive accumulation of soil nitrate-N can threaten water and air quality. How integrated crop-livestock systems might influence soil-profile nitrate-N accumulation has not been investigated. Therefore, we determined soil nitrate-N accumulation during 6 years of evaluation of diverse cropping sy...

  12. Sustainable Agriculture: Cover Cropping

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webster, Megan

    2018-01-01

    Sustainable agriculture practices are increasingly being used by farmers to maintain soil quality, increase biodiversity, and promote production of food that is environmentally safe. There are several types of sustainable agriculture practices such as organic farming, crop rotation, and aquaculture. This lesson plan focuses on the sustainable…

  13. Agricultural Production: Task Analysis for Livestock Production. Competency-Based Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henrico County Public Schools, Glen Allen, VA. Virginia Vocational Curriculum Center.

    This task analysis guide is intended to help teachers and administrators develop instructional materials and implement competency-based education in the agricultural production program. Section 1 contains a validated task inventory for the livestock production portion of agricultural production IV and V. Tasks are divided into six duty areas:…

  14. High-density livestock operations, crop field application of manure, and risk of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, Pennsylvania, USA

    PubMed Central

    Casey, Joan A.; Curriero, Frank C.; Cosgrove, Sara E.; Nachman, Keeve E.; Schwartz, Brian S.

    2015-01-01

    Context Nearly 80% of antibiotics in the United States are sold for use in livestock feeds. The manure produced by these livestock contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resistance genes, and antibiotics, and is subsequently applied to crop fields where it may put community members at risk for antibiotic-resistant infections. Objective To assess the association between individual exposure to swine and dairy/veal industrial agriculture and risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. Design, Setting, and Participants A population-based, nested case-control study of Geisinger primary care patients in Pennsylvania from 2005–2010. Incident MRSA cases were identified using electronic health records, classified as community-associated or healthcare-associated, and frequency-matched to randomly selected controls and patients with skin and soft tissue infection. Nutrient management plans were used to create two exposure variables: seasonal crop field manure application and number of livestock at the operation. In a sub-study we collected 200 isolates from patients stratified by location of diagnosis and proximity to livestock operations. Main outcome measures Community-associated MRSA, healthcare associated-MRSA, and skin and soft tissue infection status (with no history of MRSA) compared to controls. Results From 446,480 patients, 1539 community-associated MRSA, 1335 healthcare-associated MRSA, 2895 skin and soft tissue infection cases, and 2914 controls were included. After adjustment for MRSA risk factors, the highest quartile of swine crop field exposure was significantly associated with community-associated MRSA, healthcare-associated MRSA, and skin and soft tissue infection case status (adjusted odds ratio, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.13–1.69], 1.30 [95% CI, 1.05–1.61], and 1.37 [95% CI, 1.18–1.60], respectively); and there was a trend of increasing odds across quartiles for each outcome (all P for trend ≤0.01). There were similar but weaker

  15. Climate impacts on agricultural land use in the USA: the role of socio-economic scenarios

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mu, Jianhong E.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Antle, John M.

    2017-01-01

    We examine the impacts of climate on net returns from crop and livestock production and the resulting impact on land-use change across the contiguous USA. We first estimate an econometric model to project effects of weather fluctuations on crop and livestock net returns and then use a semi-reduced form land-use share model to study agricultural land-use changes under future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Estimation results show that crop net returns are more sensitive to thermal and less sensitive to moisture variability than livestock net returns; other agricultural land uses substitute cropland use when 30-year averaged degree-days or precipitation are not beneficial for crop production. Under future climate and socio-economic scenarios, we project that crop and livestock net returns are both increasing, but with crop net returns increasing at a higher rate; cropland increases with declines of marginal and pastureland by the end of the twenty-first century. Projections also show that impacts of future climate on agricultural land uses are substantially different and a larger variation of land-use change is evident when socio-economic scenarios are incorporated into the climate impact analysis.

  16. Virtual water and water self-sufficiency in agricultural and livestock products in Brazil.

    PubMed

    da Silva, Vicente de Paulo R; de Oliveira, Sonaly D; Braga, Célia C; Brito, José Ivaldo B; de Sousa, Francisco de Assis S; de Holanda, Romildo M; Campos, João Hugo B C; de Souza, Enio P; Braga, Armando César R; Rodrigues Almeida, Rafaela S; de Araújo, Lincoln E

    2016-12-15

    Virtual water trade is often considered a solution for restricted water availability in many regions of the world. Brazil is the world leader in the production and export of various agricultural and livestock products. The country is either a strong net importer or a strong net exporter of these products. The objective of this study is to determine the volume of virtual water contained in agricultural and livestock products imported/exported by Brazil from 1997 to 2012, and to define the water self-sufficiency index of agricultural and livestock products in Brazil. The indexes of water scarcity (WSI), water dependency (WDI) and water self-sufficiency (WSSI) were calculated for each Brazilian state. These indexes and the virtual water balance were calculated following the methodology developed by Chapagain and Hoekstra (2008) and Hoekstra and Hung (2005). The total water exports and imports embedded in agricultural and livestock products were 5.28 × 10 10 and 1.22 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 , respectively, which results in positive virtual water balance of 4.05 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 . Brazil is either a strong net importer or a strong net exporter of agricultural and livestock products among the Mercosur countries. Brazil has a positive virtual water balance of 1.85 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 . The indexes used in this study reveal that Brazil is self-sufficient in food production, except for a few products such as wheat and rice. Horticultural products (tomato, onion, potato, cassava and garlic) make up a unique product group with negative virtual water balance in Brazil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. How Does Recycling of Livestock Manure in Agroecosystems Affect Crop Productivity, Reactive Nitrogen Losses, and Soil Carbon Balance?

    PubMed

    Xia, Longlong; Lam, Shu Kee; Yan, Xiaoyuan; Chen, Deli

    2017-07-05

    Recycling of livestock manure in agroecosystems to partially substitute synthetic fertilizer nitrogen (N) input is recommended to alleviate the environmental degradation associated with synthetic N fertilization, which may also affect food security and soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, how substituting livestock manure for synthetic N fertilizer affects crop productivity (crop yield; crop N uptake; N use efficiency), reactive N (Nr) losses (ammonia (NH 3 ) emission, N leaching and runoff), GHG (methane, CH 4 ; and nitrous oxide, N 2 O; carbon dioxide) emissions and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in agroecosystems is not well understood. We conducted a global meta-analysis of 141 studies and found that substituting livestock manure for synthetic N fertilizer (with equivalent N rate) significantly increased crop yield by 4.4% and significantly decreased Nr losses via NH 3 emission by 26.8%, N leaching by 28.9% and N runoff by 26.2%. Moreover, annual SOC sequestration was significantly increased by 699.6 and 401.4 kg C ha -1 yr -1 in upland and paddy fields, respectively; CH 4 emission from paddy field was significantly increased by 41.2%, but no significant change of that was observed from upland field; N 2 O emission was not significantly affected by manure substitution in upland or paddy fields. In terms of net soil carbon balance, substituting manure for fertilizer increased carbon sink in upland field, but increased carbon source in paddy field. These results suggest that recycling of livestock manure in agroecosystems improves crop productivity, reduces Nr pollution and increases SOC storage. To attenuate the enhanced carbon source in paddy field, appropriate livestock manure management practices should be adopted.

  18. Crop modeling applications in agricultural water management

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kisekka, Isaya; DeJonge, Kendall C.; Ma, Liwang; Paz, Joel; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R.

    2017-01-01

    This article introduces the fourteen articles that comprise the “Crop Modeling and Decision Support for Optimizing Use of Limited Water” collection. This collection was developed from a special session on crop modeling applications in agricultural water management held at the 2016 ASABE Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Orlando, Florida. In addition, other authors who were not able to attend the 2016 ASABE AIM were also invited to submit papers. The articles summarized in this introductory article demonstrate a wide array of applications in which crop models can be used to optimize agricultural water management. The following section titles indicate the topics covered in this collection: (1) evapotranspiration modeling (one article), (2) model development and parameterization (two articles), (3) application of crop models for irrigation scheduling (five articles), (4) coordinated water and nutrient management (one article), (5) soil water management (two articles), (6) risk assessment of water-limited irrigation management (one article), and (7) regional assessments of climate impact (two articles). Changing weather and climate, increasing population, and groundwater depletion will continue to stimulate innovations in agricultural water management, and crop models will play an important role in helping to optimize water use in agriculture.

  19. Hmong women, opium cultivation and livestock production in Lao PDR.

    PubMed

    Oparaocha, S

    1998-01-01

    This article analyzes the effects on Hmong women of a Laotian government policy to replace production of opium by upland farmers with other cash crops by the year 2000. In 1996, 15% of the population relied on opium as a cash crop. This project aimed to include Hmong women in small livestock production in 2 villages: Ban Kampanien and Ban Pha Ven in Nong Het district, Xieng Khouang province, near the Vietnamese border. Interviews were conducted among 33 families using the Harvard Gender Analytical Tools (1991) to determine gender roles in livestock production. Participatory assessment relied on matrix ranking, resource maps, and trend charts. In Nong Het, White Hmong dominate. Average family size is 7 persons. Polygamy is allowed, but declining. The birthrate is high. Swidden agriculture is practiced. Agricultural production meets demand. Patriarchal authority dominates; men and women have separate public and private spheres. Education favors boys. Women are involved in all aspects of agricultural production. The author describes women's role in small livestock production and gender roles in feed management. Women exercise autonomy only through raising livestock and poultry. Women's production is constrained by limited access to extension services, feed resources, labor saving technology, and credit. In order to offset the loss of income from opium, Hmong women need to increase their income by increasing the product output per animal using selective breeding, and decreasing time spent on preparing and processing food. Assistance should be provided to improve women's resources and knowledge.

  20. Global gridded crop specific agricultural areas from 1961-2014

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Konar, M.; Jackson, N. D.

    2017-12-01

    Current global cropland datasets are limited in crop specificity and temporal resolution. Time series maps of crop specific agricultural areas would enable us to better understand the global agricultural geography of the 20th century. To this end, we develop a global gridded dataset of crop specific agricultural areas from 1961-2014. To do this, we downscale national cropland information using a probabilistic approach. Our method relies upon gridded Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) maps, the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE), and crop calendars from Sacks et al. (2010). We estimate crop-specific agricultural areas for a 0.25 degree spatial grid and annual time scale for all major crops. We validate our global estimates for the year 2000 with Monfreda et al. (2008) and our time series estimates within the United States using government data. This database will contribute to our understanding of global agricultural change of the past century.

  1. Nutrient-derived environmental impacts in Chinese agriculture during 1978-2015.

    PubMed

    Wu, Huijun; Wang, Shun; Gao, Liangmin; Zhang, Ling; Yuan, Zengwei; Fan, Tingyu; Wei, Kaiping; Huang, Li

    2018-07-01

    Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) play a critical role in agricultural production and cause many environmental disturbances. By combing life cycle assessment (LCA) method with the mass balance principle of substance flow analysis (SFA), this study establishes a nutrient-derived environmental impact assessment (NEIA) model to analyze the environmental impacts caused by nutrient-containing substances of agricultural production in China during 1978-2015. The agricultural production system is composed of crop farming and livestock breeding, and the environmental impacts include energy consumption, global warming, acidification, and eutrophication. The results show all these environmental impacts had increased to 8.22*10 9  GJ, 5.01*10 8  t CO 2 -eq, 2.41*10 7  t SO 2 -eq, and 7.18*10 7  t PO 4 3- -eq, respectively. It is noted the energy consumption and the climate change caused by the crop farming were always higher than those from livestock breeding, which were average 60 and two times, respectively. While the acidification and the eutrophication were opposite after 1995 and 2000, even they were similar. This was mainly due to the high N application including synthetic N fertilizer (from 1.33*10 9  GJ to 2.08*10 9  GJ), applied manure (from 4.94*10 8  GJ to 5.65*10 8  GJ) and applied crop residue (from 2.94*10 8  GJ to 5.30*10 9  GJ), while the synthetic N fertilizer was controlled and the livestock expanded rapidly after 1995. Among the sub-categories, the three staple crops (rice, wheat, and maize) contributed greater environmental impacts, which were about two to 10 times as other crops and livestock, due to their high fertilizer uses, sown areas and harvests. While the oil crops and fruit consumed the least energies because of their much lower fertilizer-use intensities. Pig and poultry especially pig also caused obvious effects on environment (even 20 times as other livestock) because of their large quantities and excretions, which emitted much

  2. Data Cubes Integration in Spatial OLAP for Agricultural Commodities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Putri, A. I.; Sitanggang, I. S.

    2017-03-01

    Ministry of Agriculture Indonesia collects data of agricultural commodities in Indonesia in the annual period. Agricultural commodities data include food crops, horticulture, plantations, and livestock. The data are available in the spreadsheet format. This study developed data cubes for food crops, plantations, and livestock using the galaxy schema of data warehouse and integrated the data cubes into the SOLAP Horticulture using SpagoBI. SOLAP is useful for data analysis and data visualization. The application displays agricultural commodities data in form of crosstab and chart. This study also developed the location intelligence module that visualizes agricultural commodities data on the map. The system was tested using the black box approach. The result showed that main functions including roll up, drill down, slice, dice, and pivot work properly. This application is expected to enable users to easily obtain data summaries of agricultural commodities.

  3. Agricultural damages and losses from ARkStorm scenario flooding in California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wein, Anne; David Mitchell,; Peters, Jeff; John Rowden,; Johnny Tran,; Alessandra Corsi,; Dinitz, Laura B.

    2016-01-01

    Scientists designed the ARkStorm scenario to challenge the preparedness of California communities for widespread flooding with a historical precedence and increased likelihood under climate change. California is an important provider of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other agricultural products to the nation. This study analyzes the agricultural damages and losses pertaining to annual crops, perennial crops, and livestock in California exposed to ARkStorm flooding. Statewide, flood damage is incurred on approximately 23% of annual crop acreage, 5% of perennial crop acreage, and 5% of livestock, e.g., dairy, feedlot, and poultry, acreage. The sum of field repair costs, forgone income, and product replacement costs span $3.7 and $7.1 billion (2009) for a range of inundation durations. Perennial crop loss estimates dominate, and the vulnerability of orchards and vineyards has likely increased with recent expansion. Crop reestablishment delays from levee repair and dewatering more than double annual crop losses in the delta islands, assuming the fragile system does not remain permanently flooded. The exposure of almost 200,000 dairy cows to ARkStorm flooding poses livestock evacuation challenges. Read More: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29NH.1527-6996.0000174

  4. Lesson Plans for Teaching Basic Vocational Agriculture. Section II. Introduction to Livestock Production.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCully, James S., Jr., Comp.

    This volume, the second in a series of five publications for use in teaching basic vocational agriculture in Mississippi secondary schools, consists of the final eight lessons in a 15-lesson introduction to livestock production. Covered in the individual lessons included in this volume are the following topics: types of livestock production…

  5. Micronutrients in Soils, Crops, and Livestock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, Umesh C.; Wu, Kening; Liang, Siyuan

    in forages, which are sufficient for optimum crop yields, are not adequate to meet the needs of livestock. Selenium is a trace mineral, which is not required by plants, and maximum forage yields can be obtained on soils with very low amounts of soil Se. However, if animals are fed feed crops and forages with low Se, they could suffer from serious muscular disorders and other diseases. White muscle disease caused by Se deficiency is the most common disorder and is found in calves and lambs. Sufficiency levels of micronutrients for crops have been discussed in relation to the animal requirement.

  6. Transgenic Crops: Implications for Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garcia, Maria Alice; Altieri, Miguel A.

    2005-01-01

    The potential for genetically modified (GM) crops to threaten biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture is substantial. Megadiverse countries and centers of origin and/or diversity of crop species are particularly vulnerable regions. The future of sustainable agriculture may be irreversibly jeopardized by contamination of in situ…

  7. Germany wide seasonal flood risk analysis for agricultural crops

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klaus, Stefan; Kreibich, Heidi; Kuhlmann, Bernd; Merz, Bruno; Schröter, Kai

    2016-04-01

    In recent years, large-scale flood risk analysis and mapping has gained attention. Regional to national risk assessments are needed, for example, for national risk policy developments, for large-scale disaster management planning and in the (re-)insurance industry. Despite increasing requests for comprehensive risk assessments some sectors have not received much scientific attention, one of these is the agricultural sector. In contrast to other sectors, agricultural crop losses depend strongly on the season. Also flood probability shows seasonal variation. Thus, the temporal superposition of high flood susceptibility of crops and high flood probability plays an important role for agricultural flood risk. To investigate this interrelation and provide a large-scale overview of agricultural flood risk in Germany, an agricultural crop loss model is used for crop susceptibility analyses and Germany wide seasonal flood-frequency analyses are undertaken to derive seasonal flood patterns. As a result, a Germany wide map of agricultural flood risk is shown as well as the crop type most at risk in a specific region. The risk maps may provide guidance for federal state-wide coordinated designation of retention areas.

  8. Integrating pasture-based livestock production with annual crop production on the Great Plains to reduce loss of grassland wildlife

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Tallgrass prairie has been replaced by corn and soybeans and mixed-grass prairie is being replaced by various annual crops. Annual crop fields support vegetarian diets but not much wildlife. Alternatively, integrating pastured livestock farming with annual crops can provide wildlife habitat. For ...

  9. Study Guide for TCT in Agriculture.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sailors, Robert A.

    This study guide was specifically designed for individuals preparing to take the Georgia Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in agriculture. The agriculture test was developed by the National Evaluation Systems, Inc. and educators in Georgia. The test covers 13 subareas: (1) plant science; (2) crop management; (3) animal science; (4) livestock and…

  10. Agricultural Development Workers Training Manual. Volume III. Crops.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leonard, David; And Others

    This training manual, the third volume in a four-volume series of curriculum guides for use in training Peace Corps agricultural development workers, deals with crops. The first chapter provides suggested guidelines for setting up and carrying out the crops component of the agricultural development worker training series. Included in the second…

  11. Impacts of an integrated crop-livestock system on soil properties to enhance precipitation capture

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Cropping/Livestock systems alter soil properties that are important in enhancing capture of precipitation by developing and maintaining water infiltration and storage. In this paper we will relate soil hydraulic conductivity and other physical properties on managed Old World Bluestem grassland, whea...

  12. Agricultural productivity and greenhouse gas emissions: trade-offs or synergies between mitigation and food security?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valin, H.; Havlík, P.; Mosnier, A.; Herrero, M.; Schmid, E.; Obersteiner, M.

    2013-09-01

    In this letter, we investigate the effects of crop yield and livestock feed efficiency scenarios on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and land use change in developing countries. We analyze mitigation associated with different productivity pathways using the global partial equilibrium model GLOBIOM. Our results confirm that yield increase could mitigate some agriculture-related emissions growth over the next decades. Closing yield gaps by 50% for crops and 25% for livestock by 2050 would decrease agriculture and land use change emissions by 8% overall, and by 12% per calorie produced. However, the outcome is sensitive to the technological path and which factor benefits from productivity gains: sustainable land intensification would increase GHG savings by one-third when compared with a fertilizer intensive pathway. Reaching higher yield through total factor productivity gains would be more efficient on the food supply side but halve emissions savings due to a strong rebound effect on the demand side. Improvement in the crop or livestock sector would have different implications: crop yield increase would bring the largest food provision benefits, whereas livestock productivity gains would allow the greatest reductions in GHG emission. Combining productivity increases in the two sectors appears to be the most efficient way to exploit mitigation and food security co-benefits.

  13. Identifying Decision Support Tools to Bridge Climate and Agricultural Needs in the Midwest

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hall, B. L.; Kluck, D. R.; Hatfield, J.; Black, C.; Kellner, O.; Woloszyn, M.; Timlin, M. S.

    2015-12-01

    Climate monitoring tools designed to help stakeholders reduce climate impacts have been developed for the primary Midwest field crops of corn and soybean. However, the region also produces vital livestock and specialty crops that currently lack similar climate monitoring and projection tools. In autumn 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC) partnered with the US Department of Agriculture's Midwest Climate Hub to convene agriculture stakeholders, climate scientists, and climate service specialists to discuss climate impacts and needs for these two, often under-represented, sectors. The goals of this workshop were to (1) identify climate impacts that specialty crops and livestock producers face within the Midwest, (2) develop an understanding of the types of climate and weather information and tools currently available in the Midwest that could be applied to decision making, and (3) discover the types of climate and weather information and tools needed to address concerns of specialty crop and livestock commodities across the Midwest. This presentation will discuss the workshop and provide highlights of the outcomes that developed into strategic plans for the future to better serve these sectors of agriculture in the Midwest.

  14. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in China's agriculture: from farm production to food consumption

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yue, Qian; Cheng, Kun; Pan, Genxing

    2016-04-01

    Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture could be mitigated from both supple side and demand side. Assessing carbon footprint (CF) of agricultural production and food consumption could provide insights into the contribution of agriculture to climate change and help to identify possible GHG mitigation options. In the present study, CF of China's agricultural production was firstly assessed from site scale to national scale, and from crop production to livestock production. Data for the crop and livestock production were collected from field survey and national statistical archive, and both life cycle assessment and input-output method were employed in the estimations. In general, CF of crop production was lower than that of livestock production on average. Rice production ranked the highest CF in crop production, and the highest CFs of livestock production were observed in mutton and beef production. Methane emissions from rice paddy, emissions from fertilizer application and water irrigation exerted the largest contribution of more than 50% for CF of crop production; however, emissions from forage feeding, enteric fermentation and manure treatment made the most proportion of more than 90 % for CF of livestock production. In China, carbon efficiency was shown in a decreasing trend in recent years. According to the present study, overuse of nitrogen fertilizer caused no yield effect but significant emissions in some sites and regions of China, and aggregated farms lowered the CFs of crop production and livestock production by 3% to 25% and 6% to 60% respectively compared to household farms. Given these, improving farming management efficiency and farm intensive development is the key strategy to mitigate climate change from supply side. However, changes in food consumption may reduce GHG emissions in the production chain through a switch to the consumption of food with higher GHG emissions in the production process to food with lower GHG emissions. Thus, CFs

  15. Agriculture--Livestock Management. Kit No. 61. Instructor's Manual [and] Student Learning Activity Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gamble, William

    An instructor's manual and student activity guide on livestock management are provided in this set of prevocational education materials which focuses on the vocational area of agriculture. (This set of materials is one of ninety-two prevocational education sets arranged around a cluster of seven vocational offerings: agriculture, home economics,…

  16. Agricultural land use change in the Northeast

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The USDA Census of Agriculture (http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/) provides county-level estimates of farm numbers, land use area and livestock and crop production every five years. In 2007, only eight of the 299 counties that make up the twelve Northeastern states had no agricultural land use. About 20...

  17. Organic livestock production in Uganda: potentials, challenges and prospects.

    PubMed

    Nalubwama, Sylvia Muwanga; Mugisha, Anthony; Vaarst, Mette

    2011-04-01

    Development in organic farming has been stimulated by farmers and consumers becoming interested in healthy food products and sustainable environment. Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which is based on the principles of health, ecology, care, and fairness. Organic development in Uganda has focused more on the crop sector than livestock sector and has primarily involved the private sector, like organic products export companies and non-governmental organizations. Agriculture in Uganda and many African countries is predominantly traditional, less mechanized, and is usually associated with minimum use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and drugs. This low external input agriculture also referred to as "organic by default" can create basis for organic farming where agroecological methods are introduced and present an alternative in terms of intensification to the current low-input/low-output systems. Traditional farming should not be confused with organic farming because in some cases, the existing traditional practices have consequences like overstocking and less attention to soil improvement as well as to animal health and welfare, which is contrary to organic principles of ecology, fairness, health, and care. Challenges of implementing sustainable organic practices in the Ugandan livestock sector threaten its future development, such as vectors and vector-borne diseases, organic feed insufficiency, limited education, research, and support to organic livestock production. The prospects of organic livestock development in Uganda can be enhanced with more scientific research in organic livestock production under local conditions and strengthening institutional support.

  18. Potential for biological nitrification inhibition to reduce nitrification and N2O emissions in pasture crop-livestock systems.

    PubMed

    Subbarao, G V; Rao, I M; Nakahara, K; Sahrawat, K L; Ando, Y; Kawashima, T

    2013-06-01

    Agriculture and livestock production systems are two major emitters of greenhouse gases. Methane with a GWP (global warming potential) of 21, and nitrous oxide (N2O) with a GWP of 300, are largely emitted from animal production agriculture, where livestock production is based on pasture and feed grains. The principal biological processes involved in N2O emissions are nitrification and denitrification. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) is the natural ability of certain plant species to release nitrification inhibitors from their roots that suppress nitrifier activity, thus reducing soil nitrification and N2O emission. Recent methodological developments (e.g. bioluminescence assay to detect BNIs in plant root systems) have led to significant advances in our ability to quantify and characterize the BNI function. Synthesis and release of BNIs from plants is a highly regulated process triggered by the presence of NH4 + in the rhizosphere, which results in the inhibitor being released precisely where the majority of the soil-nitrifier population resides. Among the tropical pasture grasses, the BNI function is strongest (i.e. BNI capacity) in Brachiaria sp. Some feed-grain crops such as sorghum also have significant BNI capacity present in their root systems. The chemical identity of some of these BNIs has now been established, and their mode of inhibitory action on Nitrosomonas has been characterized. The ability of the BNI function in Brachiaria pastures to suppress N2O emissions and soil nitrification potential has been demonstrated; however, its potential role in controlling N2O emissions in agro-pastoral systems is under investigation. Here we present the current status of our understanding on how the BNI functions in Brachiaria pastures and feed-grain crops such as sorghum can be exploited both genetically and, from a production system's perspective, to develop low-nitrifying and low N2O-emitting production systems that would be economically profitable and

  19. Prevalence and impacts of genetically engineered feedstuffs on livestock populations.

    PubMed

    Van Eenennaam, A L; Young, A E

    2014-10-01

    Globally, food-producing animals consume 70 to 90% of genetically engineered (GE) crop biomass. This review briefly summarizes the scientific literature on performance and health of animals consuming feed containing GE ingredients and composition of products derived from them. It also discusses the field experience of feeding GE feed sources to commercial livestock populations and summarizes the suppliers of GE and non-GE animal feed in global trade. Numerous experimental studies have consistently revealed that the performance and health of GE-fed animals are comparable with those fed isogenic non-GE crop lines. United States animal agriculture produces over 9 billion food-producing animals annually, and more than 95% of these animals consume feed containing GE ingredients. Data on livestock productivity and health were collated from publicly available sources from 1983, before the introduction of GE crops in 1996, and subsequently through 2011, a period with high levels of predominately GE animal feed. These field data sets, representing over 100 billion animals following the introduction of GE crops, did not reveal unfavorable or perturbed trends in livestock health and productivity. No study has revealed any differences in the nutritional profile of animal products derived from GE-fed animals. Because DNA and protein are normal components of the diet that are digested, there are no detectable or reliably quantifiable traces of GE components in milk, meat, and eggs following consumption of GE feed. Globally, countries that are cultivating GE corn and soy are the major livestock feed exporters. Asynchronous regulatory approvals (i.e., cultivation approvals of GE varieties in exporting countries occurring before food and feed approvals in importing countries) have resulted in trade disruptions. This is likely to be increasingly problematic in the future as there are a large number of "second generation" GE crops with altered output traits for improved livestock

  20. Assessment of future crop yield and agricultural sustainable water use in north china plain using multiple crop models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, G.

    2016-12-01

    Currently, studying crop-water response mechanism has become an important part in the development of new irrigation technology and optimal water allocation in water-scarce regions, which is of great significance to crop growth guidance, sustainable utilization of agricultural water, as well as the sustainable development of regional agriculture. Using multiple crop models(AquaCrop,SWAP,DNDC), this paper presents the results of simulating crop growth and agricultural water consumption of the winter-wheat and maize cropping system in north china plain. These areas are short of water resources, but generates about 23% of grain production for China. By analyzing the crop yields and the water consumption of the traditional flooding irrigation, the paper demonstrates quantitative evaluation of the potential amount of water use that can be reduced by using high-efficient irrigation approaches, such as drip irrigation. To maintain food supply and conserve water resources, the research concludes sustainable irrigation methods for the three provinces for sustainable utilization of agricultural water.

  1. Current issues connected with usage of genetically modified crops in production of feed and livestock feeding.

    PubMed

    Kwiatek, K; Mazur, M; Sieradzki, Z

    2008-01-01

    Progress, which is brought by new advances in modern molecular biology, allowed interference in the genome of live organisms and gene manipulation. Introducing new genes to the recipient organism enables to give them new features, absent before. Continuous increase in the area of the biotech crops triggers continuous discussion about safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, including food and feed derived from them. Important issue connected with cultivation of genetically modified crops is a horizontal gene transfer and a bacterial antibiotic resistance. Discussion about safety of GM crops concerns also food allergies caused by eating genetically modified food. The problem of genetic modifications of GM crops used for livestock feeding is widely discussed, taking into account Polish feed law.

  2. Integrating sheep grazing into cereal-based crop rotations: spring wheat yields and weed communities

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Crop diversification and integration of livestock into cropping systems may improve the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. However, few studies have examined the integration of these practices in the semiarid areas of the Northern Great Plains (NGP). A 3-yr experiment...

  3. Fodder Resource Uses and Assessment of Nitrogen Flows on Livestock Farming with Crop Production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shirahase, Kyoko; Kobayashi, Hisashi

    With understanding the livestock farming on cattle breeding practiced increasing of self-production of fodders by the farmland's operation as “Livestock Farming with crop production”, we investigated the utilizations of actual fodder resources and farmland for two selected different types of livestock farming systems: “Multiple Type” which practices cattle raising with fodder cultivation, and “Grazing Type” which practices grazing and fodder cultivation with similar feed self-sufficiency rates. We also prepared and compared material and nitrogen flow of both livestock farming systems. The amount of nitrogen flow is clearly different between the two types though feed self-sufficiency rates are at similar level. Moreover, we defined “Internal Nitrogen Rate (INR)” which indicates the rate of internal nitrogen use to total nitrogen use in cattle raising, “Internal Nitrogen Circulation Rate (NCR)” which indicates the ratio of nitrogen amount in internal circulation to the nitrogen amount introduced from outside, and Nitrogen Outflow Potential (Op), which is the balance of nitrogen amount between input to farmlands and uptake by plants, and analyzed the balance of the amounts of nitrogen flows in both livestock farming type. It is suggested that “Grazing type”, which had the values of relatively high NCR and absolutely low Op, was the livestock farming type with high rates of nitrogen procurement from the interregional farming and low risk of nitrogen outflow.

  4. 7 CFR 201.18 - Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds). 201.18 Section 201.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) FEDERAL SEED ACT FEDERAL SEED ACT REGULATIONS Labeling...

  5. 7 CFR 201.18 - Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds). 201.18 Section 201.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) FEDERAL SEED ACT FEDERAL SEED ACT REGULATIONS Labeling...

  6. 7 CFR 201.18 - Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds). 201.18 Section 201.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) FEDERAL SEED ACT FEDERAL SEED ACT REGULATIONS Labeling...

  7. 7 CFR 201.18 - Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds). 201.18 Section 201.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) FEDERAL SEED ACT FEDERAL SEED ACT REGULATIONS Labeling...

  8. 7 CFR 201.18 - Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Other agricultural seeds (crop seeds). 201.18 Section 201.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) FEDERAL SEED ACT FEDERAL SEED ACT REGULATIONS Labeling...

  9. Topography Mediates the Influence of Cover Crops on Soil Nitrate Levels in Row Crop Agricultural Systems

    PubMed Central

    Ladoni, Moslem; Kravchenko, Alexandra N.; Robertson, G. Phillip

    2015-01-01

    Supplying adequate amounts of soil N for plant growth during the growing season and across large agricultural fields is a challenge for conservational agricultural systems with cover crops. Knowledge about cover crop effects on N comes mostly from small, flat research plots and performance of cover crops across topographically diverse agricultural land is poorly understood. Our objective was to assess effects of both leguminous (red clover) and non-leguminous (winter rye) cover crops on potentially mineralizable N (PMN) and NO3--N levels across a topographically diverse landscape. We studied conventional, low-input, and organic managements in corn-soybean-wheat rotation. The rotations of low-input and organic managements included rye and red clover cover crops. The managements were implemented in twenty large undulating fields in Southwest Michigan starting from 2006. The data collection and analysis were conducted during three growing seasons of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Observational micro-plots with and without cover crops were laid within each field on three contrasting topographical positions of depression, slope and summit. Soil samples were collected 4–5 times during each growing season and analyzed for NO3--N and PMN. The results showed that all three managements were similar in their temporal and spatial distributions of NO3 —N. Red clover cover crop increased NO3--N by 35% on depression, 20% on slope and 32% on summit positions. Rye cover crop had a significant 15% negative effect on NO3--N in topographical depressions but not in slope and summit positions. The magnitude of the cover crop effects on soil mineral nitrogen across topographically diverse fields was associated with the amount of cover crop growth and residue production. The results emphasize the potential environmental and economic benefits that can be generated by implementing site-specific topography-driven cover crop management in row-crop agricultural systems. PMID:26600462

  10. Topography Mediates the Influence of Cover Crops on Soil Nitrate Levels in Row Crop Agricultural Systems.

    PubMed

    Ladoni, Moslem; Kravchenko, Alexandra N; Robertson, G Phillip

    2015-01-01

    Supplying adequate amounts of soil N for plant growth during the growing season and across large agricultural fields is a challenge for conservational agricultural systems with cover crops. Knowledge about cover crop effects on N comes mostly from small, flat research plots and performance of cover crops across topographically diverse agricultural land is poorly understood. Our objective was to assess effects of both leguminous (red clover) and non-leguminous (winter rye) cover crops on potentially mineralizable N (PMN) and [Formula: see text] levels across a topographically diverse landscape. We studied conventional, low-input, and organic managements in corn-soybean-wheat rotation. The rotations of low-input and organic managements included rye and red clover cover crops. The managements were implemented in twenty large undulating fields in Southwest Michigan starting from 2006. The data collection and analysis were conducted during three growing seasons of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Observational micro-plots with and without cover crops were laid within each field on three contrasting topographical positions of depression, slope and summit. Soil samples were collected 4-5 times during each growing season and analyzed for [Formula: see text] and PMN. The results showed that all three managements were similar in their temporal and spatial distributions of NO3-N. Red clover cover crop increased [Formula: see text] by 35% on depression, 20% on slope and 32% on summit positions. Rye cover crop had a significant 15% negative effect on [Formula: see text] in topographical depressions but not in slope and summit positions. The magnitude of the cover crop effects on soil mineral nitrogen across topographically diverse fields was associated with the amount of cover crop growth and residue production. The results emphasize the potential environmental and economic benefits that can be generated by implementing site-specific topography-driven cover crop management in row-crop

  11. Volatile Organic Compound Emissions by Agricultural Crops

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ormeno, E.; Farres, S.; Gentner, D.; Park, J.; McKay, M.; Karlik, J.; Goldstein, A.

    2008-12-01

    Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) participate in ozone and aerosol formation, and comprise a substantial fraction of reactive VOC emission inventories. In the agriculturally intensive Central Valley of California, emissions from crops may substantially influence regional air quality, but emission potentials have not been extensively studied with advanced instrumentation for many important crops. Because crop emissions may vary according to the species, and California emission inventories are constructed via a bottom-up approach, a better knowledge of the emission rate at the species-specific level is critical for reducing uncertainties in emission inventories and evaluating emission model performance. In the present study we identified and quantified the BVOCs released by dominant agricultural crops in California. A screening study to investigate both volatile and semivolatile BVOC fractions (oxygenated VOCs, isoprene, monoterepenes, sesquiterpenes, etc.) was performed for 25 crop species (at least 3 replicates plants each), including branch enclosures of woody species (e.g. peach, mandarin, grape, pistachio) and whole plant enclosures for herbaceous species (e.g. onion, alfalfa, carrot), through a dynamic cuvette system with detection by PTRMS, in-situ GCMS/FID, and collection on carbon-based adsorbents followed by extraction and GCMS analysis. Emission data obtained in this study will allow inclusion of these crops in BVOC emission inventories and air quality simulations.

  12. Ammonia Emissions from Agriculture in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Y.; Zhang, L.; Zhao, Y.; Huang, B.

    2016-12-01

    Ammonia (NH3) is an important alkaline pollutant in the atmosphere and it has various environmental and climatic effects. We will present an improved bottom-up estimate of ammonia emissions from agriculture in China at 0.5°×0.5° horizontal resolution and monthly variability. Ammonia emissions from fertilizer use are derived using data of crop planting area, fertilizer application time and rate for 18 main crops. Ammonia emission factors from fertilizer use are estimated as a function of soil properties such as soil pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and agricultural activity information such as crop type, fertilizer type, and application mode. We further consider ambient temperature and wind speed to account for the meteorological influences on ammonia emission factors of fertilizer use. We also estimate the ammonia emission from livestock over China using the mass-flow methodology. The derived ammonia emissions in China for the year 2005 are 4.55 Tg NH3 from fertilizer use and 6.96 Tg from livestock. Henan and Jiangsu provinces are the two largest emitting areas for ammonia from fertilizer use (470 Gg NH3 and 365 Gg NH3). Henan (621 Gg NH3) and Shandong (533 Gg NH3) have the largest ammonia emissions from livestock. Both ammonia emissions from fertilizer use and livestock have distinct seasonal variations; peaking in June for fertilizer use (822 Gg NH3) and in July for livestock (1244 Gg NH3), and are both lowest in January (80 Gg and 241 Gg, respectively). Combining with other ammonia source (eg. human waste and transport) estimates from the REAS v2.1 emission inventory, we show that total ammonia emissions in China for the year 2005 are 14.0 Tg NH3 a-1. Comparisons with satellite measurements of ammonia columns will also be presented.

  13. Does agricultural ecosystem cause environmental pollution in Pakistan? Promise and menace.

    PubMed

    Ullah, Arif; Khan, Dilawar; Khan, Imran; Zheng, Shaofeng

    2018-05-01

    The increasing trend of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is the main cause of harmful anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which may result in environmental pollution, global warming, and climate change. These issues are expected to adversely affect the agricultural ecosystem and well-being of the society. In order to minimize food insecurity and prevent hunger, a timely adaptation is desirable to reduce potential losses and to seek alternatives for promoting a global knowledge system for agricultural sustainability. This paper examines the causal relationship between agricultural ecosystem and CO 2 emissions as an environmental pollution indicator in Pakistan from the period 1972 to 2014 by employing Johansen cointegration, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, and Granger causality approach. The Johansen cointegration results show that there is a significant long-run relationship between the agricultural ecosystem and the CO 2 emissions. The long-run relationship shows that a 1% increase in biomass burned crop residues, emissions of CO 2 equivalent of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from synthetic fertilizers, stock of livestock, agricultural machinery, cereal production, and other crop productions will increase CO 2 emissions by 1.29, 0.05, 0.45, 0.05, 0.03, and 0.65%, respectively. Further, our finding detects that there is a bidirectional causality of CO 2 emissions with rice area paddy harvested, cereal production, and other crop productions. The impulse response function analysis displays that biomass-burned crop residues, stock of livestock, agriculture machinery, cereal production, and other crop productions are significantly contributing to CO 2 emissions in Pakistan.

  14. Priorities for worldwide remote sensing of agricultural crops

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bowker, D. E.

    1985-01-01

    The world's crops are ranked according to total harvested area, and comparisons are made among major world regions of differences in crops produced. The eight leading world crops are wheat, rice, corn, barley, millet, soybeans, sorghum, and cotton. Regionally, millet and sorghum are most important in Africa, wheat is the most extensively grown crop in north-central America, Europe, USSR, and Oceania; corn is the dominant crop in South America; and rice is the most extensively grown crop in Asia. Agriculture in the USA is considered in more detail to show the national economic impact of variations in value per hectare among crops. On the world scene, the cereals are the most important crops, but locally, such crops as tobacco can play a dominant role.

  15. Introducing perennial biomass crops into agricultural landscapes to address water quality challenges and provide other environmental services: Integrating perennial bioenergy crops into agricultural landscapes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cacho, J. F.; Negri, M. C.; Zumpf, C. R.

    The world is faced with a difficult multiple challenge of meeting nutritional, energy, and other basic needs, under a limited land and water budget, of between 9 and 10 billion people in the next three decades, mitigating impacts of climate change, and making agricultural production resilient. More productivity is expected from agricultural lands, but intensification of production could further impact the integrity of our finite surface water and groundwater resources. Integrating perennial bioenergy crops in agricultural lands could provide biomass for biofuel and potential improvements on the sustainability of commodity crop production. This article provides an overview of ways inmore » which research has shown that perennial bioenergy grasses and short rotation woody crops can be incorporated into agricultural production systems with reduced indirect land use change, while increasing water quality benefits. Current challenges and opportunities as well as future directions are also highlighted.« less

  16. Crop Farm Employee. Agricultural Cooperative Training. Vocational Agriculture. Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyd, Chester; And Others

    Designed for students enrolled in the Vocational Agricultural Cooperative Part-Time Training Program, this course of study contains 13 units for crop farm employees. Units include (examples of unit topics in parentheses): introduction (opportunities in farming, farming as a science, and farming in the United States), farm records (keeping farm…

  17. Strategies for improving water use efficiency of livestock production in rain-fed systems.

    PubMed

    Kebebe, E G; Oosting, S J; Haileslassie, A; Duncan, A J; de Boer, I J M

    2015-05-01

    Livestock production is a major consumer of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on global fresh water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. Increasing water use efficiency of livestock production, therefore, can contribute to the overall water use efficiency of agriculture. Previous studies have reported significant variation in livestock water productivity (LWP) within and among farming systems. Underlying causes of this variation in LWP require further investigation. The objective of this paper was to identify the factors that explain the variation in LWP within and among farming systems in Ethiopia. We quantified LWP for various farms in mixed-crop livestock systems and explored the effect of household demographic characteristics and farm assets on LWP using ANOVA and multilevel mixed-effect linear regression. We focused on water used to cultivate feeds on privately owned agricultural lands. There was a difference in LWP among farming systems and wealth categories. Better-off households followed by medium households had the highest LWP, whereas poor households had the lowest LWP. The variation in LWP among wealth categories could be explained by the differences in the ownership of livestock and availability of family labor. Regression results showed that the age of the household head, the size of the livestock holding and availability of family labor affected LWP positively. The results suggest that water use efficiency could be improved by alleviating resource constraints such as access to farm labor and livestock assets, oxen in particular.

  18. Rice crop risk map in Babahoyo canton (Ecuador)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valverde Arias, Omar; Tarquis, Ana; Garrido, Alberto

    2016-04-01

    It is widely known that extreme climatic phenomena occur with more intensity and frequency. This fact has put more pressure over farming, making agricultural and livestock production riskier. In order to reduce hazards and economic loses that could jeopardize farmer's incomes and even its business continuity, it is very important to implement agriculture risk management plans by governments and institutions. One of the main strategies is transfer risk by agriculture insurance. Agriculture insurance based in indexes has a significant growth in the last decade. And consist in a comparison between measured index values with a defined threshold that triggers damage losses. However, based index insurance could not be based on an isolated measurement. It is necessary to be integrated in a complete monitoring system that uses many sources of information and tools. For example, index influence areas, crop production risk maps, crop yields, claim statistics, and so on. Crop production risk is related with yield variation of crops and livestock, due to weather, pests, diseases, and other factors that affect both the quantity and quality of commodities produced. This is the risk which farmers invest more time managing, and it is completely under their control. The aim of this study is generate a crop risk map of rice that can provide risk manager important information about the status of crop facing production risks. Then, based on this information, it will be possible to make best decisions to deal with production risk. The rice crop risk map was generated qualifying a 1:25000 scale soil and climatic map of Babahoyo canton, which is located in coast region of Ecuador, where rice is one of the main crops. The methodology to obtain crop risk map starts by establishing rice crop requirements and indentifying the risks associated with this crop. A second step is to evaluate soil and climatic conditions of the study area related to optimal crop requirements. Based on it, we can

  19. Livestock metabolomics and the livestock metabolome: A systematic review

    PubMed Central

    Guo, An Chi; Sajed, Tanvir; Steele, Michael A.; Plastow, Graham S.; Wishart, David S.

    2017-01-01

    Metabolomics uses advanced analytical chemistry techniques to comprehensively measure large numbers of small molecule metabolites in cells, tissues and biofluids. The ability to rapidly detect and quantify hundreds or even thousands of metabolites within a single sample is helping scientists paint a far more complete picture of system-wide metabolism and biology. Metabolomics is also allowing researchers to focus on measuring the end-products of complex, hard-to-decipher genetic, epigenetic and environmental interactions. As a result, metabolomics has become an increasingly popular “omics” approach to assist with the robust phenotypic characterization of humans, crop plants and model organisms. Indeed, metabolomics is now routinely used in biomedical, nutritional and crop research. It is also being increasingly used in livestock research and livestock monitoring. The purpose of this systematic review is to quantitatively and objectively summarize the current status of livestock metabolomics and to identify emerging trends, preferred technologies and important gaps in the field. In conducting this review we also critically assessed the applications of livestock metabolomics in key areas such as animal health assessment, disease diagnosis, bioproduct characterization and biomarker discovery for highly desirable economic traits (i.e., feed efficiency, growth potential and milk production). A secondary goal of this critical review was to compile data on the known composition of the livestock metabolome (for 5 of the most common livestock species namely cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pigs). These data have been made available through an open access, comprehensive livestock metabolome database (LMDB, available at http://www.lmdb.ca). The LMDB should enable livestock researchers and producers to conduct more targeted metabolomic studies and to identify where further metabolome coverage is needed. PMID:28531195

  20. Livestock metabolomics and the livestock metabolome: A systematic review.

    PubMed

    Goldansaz, Seyed Ali; Guo, An Chi; Sajed, Tanvir; Steele, Michael A; Plastow, Graham S; Wishart, David S

    2017-01-01

    Metabolomics uses advanced analytical chemistry techniques to comprehensively measure large numbers of small molecule metabolites in cells, tissues and biofluids. The ability to rapidly detect and quantify hundreds or even thousands of metabolites within a single sample is helping scientists paint a far more complete picture of system-wide metabolism and biology. Metabolomics is also allowing researchers to focus on measuring the end-products of complex, hard-to-decipher genetic, epigenetic and environmental interactions. As a result, metabolomics has become an increasingly popular "omics" approach to assist with the robust phenotypic characterization of humans, crop plants and model organisms. Indeed, metabolomics is now routinely used in biomedical, nutritional and crop research. It is also being increasingly used in livestock research and livestock monitoring. The purpose of this systematic review is to quantitatively and objectively summarize the current status of livestock metabolomics and to identify emerging trends, preferred technologies and important gaps in the field. In conducting this review we also critically assessed the applications of livestock metabolomics in key areas such as animal health assessment, disease diagnosis, bioproduct characterization and biomarker discovery for highly desirable economic traits (i.e., feed efficiency, growth potential and milk production). A secondary goal of this critical review was to compile data on the known composition of the livestock metabolome (for 5 of the most common livestock species namely cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pigs). These data have been made available through an open access, comprehensive livestock metabolome database (LMDB, available at http://www.lmdb.ca). The LMDB should enable livestock researchers and producers to conduct more targeted metabolomic studies and to identify where further metabolome coverage is needed.

  1. Implications of climate change damage for agriculture: sectoral evidence from Pakistan.

    PubMed

    Ahmed, Adeel; Devadason, Evelyn S; Al-Amin, Abul Quasem

    2016-10-01

    This paper gives a projection of the possible damage of climate change on the agriculture sector of Pakistan for the period 2012-2037, based on a dynamic approach, using an environment-related applied computable general equilibrium model (CGE). Climate damage projections depict an upward trend for the period of review and are found to be higher than the global average. Further, the damage to the agricultural sector exceeds that for the overall economy. By sector, climatic damage disproportionately affects the major and minor crops, livestock and fisheries. The largest losses following climate change, relative to the other agricultural sectors, are expected for livestock. The reason for this is the orthodox system of production for livestock, with a low adaptability to negative shocks of climate change. Overall, the findings reveal the high exposure of the agriculture sector to climate damage. In this regard, policymakers in Pakistan should take seriously the effects of climate change on agriculture and consider suitable technology to mitigate those damages.

  2. WEBGIS based CropWatch online agriculture monitoring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, X.; Wu, B.; Zeng, H.; Zhang, M.; Yan, N.

    2015-12-01

    CropWatch, which was developed by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has achieved breakthrough results in the integration of methods, independence of the assessments and support to emergency response by periodically releasing global agricultural information. Taking advantages of the multi-source remote sensing data and the openness of the data sharing policies, CropWatch group reported their monitoring results by publishing four bulletins one year. In order to better analysis and generate the bulletin and provide an alternative way to access agricultural monitoring indicators and results in CropWatch, The CropWatch online system based on the WEBGIS techniques has been developed. Figure 1 shows the CropWatch online system structure and the system UI in Clustering mode. Data visualization is sorted into three different modes: Vector mode, Raster mode and Clustering mode. Vector mode provides the statistic value for all the indicators over each monitoring units which allows users to compare current situation with historical values (average, maximum, etc.). Users can compare the profiles of each indicator over the current growing season with the historical data in a chart by selecting the region of interest (ROI). Raster mode provides pixel based anomaly of CropWatch indicators globally. In this mode, users are able to zoom in to the regions where the notable anomaly was identified from statistic values in vector mode. Data from remote sensing image series at high temporal and low spatial resolution provide key information in agriculture monitoring. Clustering mode provides integrated information on different classes in maps, the corresponding profiles for each class and the percentage of area of each class to the total area of all classes. The time series data is categorized into limited types by the ISODATA algorithm. For each clustering type, pixels on the map, profiles, and percentage legend are all linked

  3. Preparing Youths for Careers in Agriculture through State Crop Scouting Competitions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freije, Anna N.; Sisson, Adam; VanDeWalle, Brandy; Gerber, Corey; Mueller, Daren; Wise, Kiersten A.

    2017-01-01

    State crop scouting competitions (CSCs) promote agriculture by introducing youths in Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska to various agricultural disciplines while focusing on integrated pest management (IPM). High school students compete as teams to address crop management issues at various stations. Each station is led by university representatives. Two…

  4. Hyperspectral imagery for mapping crop yield for precision agriculture

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Crop yield is perhaps the most important piece of information for crop management in precision agriculture. It integrates the effects of various spatial variables such as soil properties, topographic attributes, tillage, plant population, fertilization, irrigation, and pest infestations. A yield map...

  5. Investigate the Capabilities of Remotely Sensed Crop Indicators for Agricultural Drought Monitoring in Kansas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, J.; Becker-Reshef, I.; Justice, C. O.

    2013-12-01

    Although agricultural production has been rising in the past years, drought remains the primary cause of crop failure, leading to food price instability and threatening food security. The recent 'Global Food Crisis' in 2008, 2011 and 2012 has put drought and its impact on crop production at the forefront, highlighting the need for effective agricultural drought monitoring. Satellite observations have proven a practical, cost-effective and dynamic tool for drought monitoring. However, most satellite based methods are not specially developed for agriculture and their performances for agricultural drought monitoring still need further development. Wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world, and the recent droughts highlight the importance of drought monitoring in major wheat producing areas. As the largest wheat producing state in the US, Kansas plays an important role in both global and domestic wheat markets. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the capabilities of remotely sensed crop indicators for effective agricultural drought monitoring in Kansas wheat-grown regions using MODIS data and crop yield statistics. First, crop indicators such as NDVI, anomaly and cumulative metrics were calculated. Second, the varying impacts of agricultural drought at different stages were explored by examining the relationship between the derived indicators and yields. Also, the starting date of effective agricultural drought early detection and the key agricultural drought alert period were identified. Finally, the thresholds of these indicators for agricultural drought early warning were derived and the implications of these indicators for agricultural drought monitoring were discussed. The preliminary results indicate that drought shows significant impacts from the mid-growing-season (after Mid-April); NDVI anomaly shows effective drought early detection from Late-April, and Late-April to Early-June can be used as the key alert period for agricultural

  6. [Wildlife damage mitigation in agricultural crops in a Bolivian montane forest].

    PubMed

    Perez, Eddy; Pacheco, Luis F

    2014-12-01

    Wildlife is often blamed for causing damage to human activities, including agricultural practices and the result may be a conflict between human interests and species conservation. A formal assessment of the magnitude of damage is necessary to adequately conduct management practices and an assessment of the efficiency of different management practices is necessary to enable managers to mitigate the conflict with rural people. This study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural management practices and controlled hunting in reducing damage to subsistence annual crops at the Cotapata National Park and Natural Area of Integrated Management. The design included seven fields with modified agricultural practices, four fields subjected to control hunting, and five fields held as controls. We registered cultivar type, density, frequency of visiting species to the field, crops lost to wildlife, species responsible for damage, and crop biomass. Most frequent species in the fields were Dasyprocta punctata and Dasypus novemcinctus. Hunted plots were visited 1.6 times more frequently than agriculturally managed plots. Crop lost to wildlife averaged 7.28% at agriculturally managed plots, 4.59% in plots subjected to hunting, and 27.61% in control plots. Species mainly responsible for damage were Pecari tajacu, D. punctata, and Sapajus apella. We concluded that both management strategies were effective to reduce damage by >50% as compared to unmanaged crop plots.

  7. Handbook of energy utilization in agriculture. [Collection of available data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pimentel, D.

    1980-01-01

    Available data, published and unpublished, on energy use in agriculture and forestry production are presented. The data specifically focus on the energy-input aspects of crop, livestock, and forest production. Energy values for various agricultural inputs are discussed in the following: Energy Inputs for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potash Fertilizers; Energy Used in the US for Agricultural Liming Materials; Assessing the Fossil Energy Costs of Propagating Agricultural Crops; Energy Requirements for Irrigation; Energy Inputs for the Production, Formulation, Packaging, and Transport of Various Pesticides; Energy Requirements for Various Methods of Crop Drying; Energy Used for Transporting Supplies to the Farm; and Unitmore » Energy Cost of Farm Buildings. Energy inputs and outputs for field crop systems are discussed for barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, wheat, soybeans, dry beans, snap beans, peas, safflower, sugarcane in Louisiana, sugar beet, alfalfa, hay, and corn silage. Energy inputs for vegetables are discussed for cabbage, Florida celery, lettuce, potato, pickling cucumbers, cantaloupes, watermelon, peppers, and spinach. Energy inputs and outputs for fruits and tree crops discussed are: Eastern US apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, plums and prunes, grapes in the US, US citrus, banana in selected areas, strawberries in the US, red raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, pecans, walnuts, almonds, and maple production in Vermont. Energy inputs and outputs for livestock production are determined for dairy products, poultry, swine, beef, sheep, and aquaculture. Energy requirments for inshore and offshore fishing crafts (the case of the Northeast fishery) and energy production and consumption in wood harvest are presented.« less

  8. Agricultural field reclamation utilizing native grass crop production

    Treesearch

    J. Cure

    2013-01-01

    Developing a method of agricultural field reclamation to native grasses in the Lower San Pedro Watershed could prove to be a valuable tool for educational and practical purposes. Agricultural field reclamation utilizing native grass crop production will address water table depletion, soil degradation and the economic viability of the communities within the watershed....

  9. Agriculture sows pests: how crop domestication, host shifts, and agricultural intensification can create insect pests from herbivores.

    PubMed

    Bernal, Julio S; Medina, Raul F

    2018-04-01

    We argue that agriculture as practiced creates pests. We use three examples (Corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis; Western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus) to illustrate: firstly, how since its origins, agriculture has proven conducive to transforming selected herbivores into pests, particularly through crop domestication and spread, and agricultural intensification, and; secondly, that the herbivores that became pests were among those hosted by crop wild relatives or associates, and were pre-adapted either as whole species or component subpopulations. Two of our examples, Corn leafhopper and Western corn rootworm, illustrate how following a host shift to a domesticated host, emergent pests 'hopped' onto crops and rode expansion waves to spread far beyond the geographic ranges of their wild hosts. Western corn rootworm exemplifies how an herbivore-tolerant crop was left vulnerable when it was bred for yield and protected with insecticides. Cotton fleahopper illustrates how removing preferred wild host plants from landscapes and replacing them with crops, allows herbivores with flexible host preferences to reach pest-level populations. We conclude by arguing that in the new geological epoch we face, the Anthropocene, we can improve agriculture by looking to our past to identify and avoid missteps of early and recent farmers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Managing Livestock Species under Climate Change in Australia

    PubMed Central

    Seo, S. Niggol; McCarl, Bruce

    2011-01-01

    Simple Summary World communities are concerned about the impacts of a hotter and drier climate on future agriculture. By examining Australian regional livestock data on sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and pigs, the authors find that livestock production will expand under such conditions. Livestock revenue per farm is expected to increase by more than 47% by 2060 under the UKMO, the GISS, and a high degree of warming CSIRO scenario. The existence of a threshold temperature for these species is not evident. Abstract This paper examines the vulnerabilities of major livestock species raised in Australia to climate change using the regional livestock profile of Australia of around 1,400 regions. The number of each species owned, the number of each species sold, and the aggregate livestock revenue across all species are examined. The four major species analyzed are sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and pigs. The analysis also includes livestock products such as wool and milk. These livestock production statistics are regressed against climate, geophysical, market and household characteristics. In contrast to crop studies, the analysis finds that livestock species are resilient to a hotter and more arid climate. Under the CSIRO climate scenario in which temperature increases by 3.4 °C, livestock revenue per farm increases significantly while the number of each species owned increases by large percentages except for dairy cattle. The precipitation reduction by about 8% in 2060 also increases the numbers of livestock species per farm household. Under both UKMO and GISS scenarios, livestock revenue is expected to increase by around 47% while the livestock population increases by large percentage. Livestock management may play a key role in adapting to a hot and arid climate in Australia. However, critical values of the climatic variables for the species analyzed in this paper are not obvious from the regional data. PMID:26486620

  11. Proximity to crops and residential to agricultural herbicides in Iowa

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ward, M.H.; Lubin, J.; Giglierano, J.; Colt, J.S.; Wolter, C.; Bekiroglu, N.; Camann, D.; Hartge, P.; Nuckols, J.R.

    2006-01-01

    Rural residents can be exposed to agricultural pesticides through the proximity of their homes to crop fields. Previously, we developed a method to create historical crop maps using a geographic information system. The aim of the present study was to determine whether crop maps are useful for predicting levels of crop herbicides in carpet dust samples from residences. From homes of participants in a case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Iowa (1998-2000), we collected vacuum cleaner dust and measured 14 herbicides with high use on corn and soybeans in Iowa. Of 112 homes, 58% of residences had crops within 500 m of their home, an intermediate distance for primary drift from aerial and ground applications. Detection rates for herbicides ranged from 0% for metribuzin and cyanazine to 95% for 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Six herbicides used almost exclusively in agriculture were detected in 28% of homes. Detections and concentrations were highest in homes with an active farmer. Increasing acreage of corn and soybean fields within 750 m of homes was associated with significantly elevated odds of detecting agricultural herbicides compared with homes with no crops within 750 m (adjusted odds ratio per 10 acres = 1.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.11). Herbicide concentrations also increased significantly with increasing acreage within 750 m. We evaluated the distance of crop fields from the home at < 100, 101-250, 251-500, and 501-750 m. Including the crop buffer distance parameters in the model did not significantly improve the fit compared with a model with total acres within 750 m. Our results indicate that crop maps may be a useful method for estimating levels of herbicides in homes from nearby crop fields.

  12. Severe situation of rural nonpoint source pollution and efficient utilization of agricultural wastes in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Tong; Ni, Jiupai; Xie, Deti

    2015-11-01

    Rural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution caused by agricultural wastes has become increasingly serious in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA), significantly affecting the reservoir water quality. The grim situation of rural NPS pollution in the TGRA indicated that agrochemicals (chemical fertilizer and pesticide) were currently the highest contributor of rural NPS pollution (50.38%). The harmless disposal rates of livestock excrement, crop straws, rural domestic refuse, and sewage also cause severe water pollution. More importantly, the backward agricultural economy and the poor environmental awareness of farmers in the hinterland of the TGRA contribute to high levels of rural NPS pollution. Over the past decade, researchers and the local people have carried out various successful studies and practices to realize the effective control of rural NPS pollution by efficiently utilizing agricultural wastes in the TGRA, including agricultural waste biogas-oriented utilization, crop straw gasification, decentralized land treatment of livestock excrement technology, and crop straw modification. These technologies have greatly increased the renewable resource utilization of agricultural wastes and improved water quality and ecological environment in the TGRA.

  13. The role of algae in agriculture: a mathematical study.

    PubMed

    Tiwari, P K; Misra, A K; Venturino, Ezio

    2017-06-01

    Synthetic fertilizers and livestock manure are nowadays widely used in agriculture to improve crop yield but nitrogen and phosphorous runoff resulting from their use compromises water quality and contributes to eutrophication phenomena in waterbeds within the countryside and ultimately in the ocean. Alternatively, algae could play an important role in agriculture where they can be used as biofertilizers and soil stabilizers. To examine the possible reuse of the detritus generated by dead algae as fertilizer for crops, we develop three mathematical models building upon each other. A system is proposed in which algae recover waste nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) for reuse in agricultural production. The results of our study show that in so doing, the crop yield may be increased and simultaneously the density of algae in the lake may be reduced. This could be a way to mitigate and possibly solve the environmental and economic issues nowadays facing agriculture.

  14. Separability of agricultural crops with airborne scatterometry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mehta, N. C.

    1983-01-01

    Backscattering measurements were acquired with airborne scatterometers over a site in Cass County, North Dakota on four days in the 1981 crop growing season. Data were acquired at three frequencies (L-, C- and Ku-bands), two polarizations (like and cross) and ten incidence angles (5 degrees to 50 degrees in 5 degree steps). Crop separability is studied in an hierarchical fashion. A two-class separability measure is defined, which compares within-class to between-class variability, to determine crop separability. The scatterometer channels with the best potential for crop separability are determined, based on this separability measure. Higher frequencies are more useful for discriminating small grains, while lower frequencies tend to separate non-small grains better. Some crops are more separable when row direction is taken into account. The effect of pixel purity is to increase the separability between all crops while not changing the order of useful scatterometer channels. Crude estimates of separability errors are calculated based on these analyses. These results are useful in selecting the parameters of active microwave systems in agricultural remote sensing.

  15. Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, and Agricultural Development: Global Limits of Adaptation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schneider, U. A.; Rasche, L.; Schmid, E.; Habel, J. C.

    2017-12-01

    Terrestrial ecosystems are threatened by climate and land management change. These changes result from complex and heterogeneous interactions of human activities and natural processes. Here, we study the potential change in pristine area in 33 global biodiversity hotspots within this century under four climate projections (representative concentration pathways) and associated population and income developments (shared socio-economic pathways). A coupled modelling framework computes the regional net expansion of crop and pasture lands as result of changes in food production and consumption. We use a biophysical crop simulation model to quantify climate change impacts on agricultural productivity, water, and nutrient emissions for alternative crop management systems in more than 100 thousand agricultural land polygons (homogeneous response units) and for each climate projection. The crop simulation model depicts detailed soil, weather, and management information and operates with a daily time step. We use time series of livestock statistics to link livestock production to feed and pasture requirements. On the food consumption side, we estimate national demand shifts in all countries by processing population and income growth projections through econometrically estimated Engel curves. Finally, we use a global agricultural sector optimization model to quantify the net change in pristine area in all biodiversity hotspots under different adaptation options. These options include full-scale global implementation of i) crop yield maximizing management without additional irrigation, ii) crop yield maximizing management with additional irrigation, iii) food yield maximizing crop mix adjustments, iv) food supply maximizing trade flow adjustments, v) healthy diets, and vi) combinations of the individual options above. Results quantify the regional potentials and limits of major agricultural producer and consumer adaptation options for the preservation of pristine areas in

  16. Checklist for the crop weeds of Paraguay

    PubMed Central

    De Egea, Juana; Mereles, Fátima; Peña-Chocarro, María del Carmen; Céspedes, Gloria

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Paraguay, a country whose economy is based mainly on agriculture and livestock for export, has experienced a major expansion in mechanized crops during the last few decades. Despite being heavily dependent on agriculture, Paraguay has very limited research on crop weeds, in spite of these having a high economic impact on production. This work aims to update and enhance the knowledgebase on the most common weeds affecting productive fields throughout the different ecoregions of Paraguay. We present here the first checklist of crop weeds for the country, which includes a total of 256 taxa (189 species, 10 subspecies, 54 varieties and 3 forms), with the most species-rich families being Poaceae and Asteraceae followed by Malvaceae, Amaranthaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae. The list includes three new records for the country. Synonyms, distribution details within Paraguay, habit and a voucher specimen are provided for each taxon. PMID:27872557

  17. Sources and Uses of Weather Information for Agricultural Decision Makers.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McNew, Kevin P.; Mapp, Harry P.; Duchon, Claude E.; Merritt, Earl S.

    1991-04-01

    Numerous studies have examined the importance of weather information to farmers and ranchers across the U.S. This study is focused on the kinds of weather information received by farmers and ranchers, the sources of that information, and its use in production and marketing decisions. Our results are based on a survey of 292 producers from the principal agricultural areas of Oklahoma. Producers were classified into five categories related to their source of income from crop and livestock sales.Among temperature, precipitation, relative humility, and wind speed, temperature information was most widely received. Forecast lengths of highest interest were 24-h and 5-day forecasts. Precipitation information was used by many respondents for planting and harvesting decisions. Weather data and forecasts seem to be of greater value to diversified crop and livestock operators than specialized crop and livestock, perhaps due to more frequent timing decisions. Relative humility and wind information appear to be important especially during specific times of the growing season, for example, at harvest time and time of pesticide application. Television is the primary source of weather information for more than 60% of the producers.It appears that there may be a role for both public and private entities in transforming weather data and forecasts into recommendations to crop and livestock producers. Further research is needed to determine the potential value of weather information for alternative production, marketing and livestock decisions, different categories of producers, and different geographic regions.

  18. An overview of crop growing condition monitoring in China agriculture remote sensing monitoring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Qing; Zhou, Qing-bo; Zhang, Li

    2009-07-01

    China is a large agricultural country. To understand the agricultural production condition timely and accurately is related to government decision-making, agricultural production management and the general public concern. China Agriculture Remote Sensing Monitoring System (CHARMS) can monitor crop acreage changes, crop growing condition, agriculture disaster (drought, floods, frost damage, pest etc.) and predict crop yield etc. quickly and timely. The basic principles, methods and regular operation of crop growing condition monitoring in CHARMS are introduced in detail in the paper. CHARMS can monitor crop growing condition of wheat, corn, cotton, soybean and paddy rice with MODIS data. An improved NDVI difference model was used in crop growing condition monitoring in CHARMS. Firstly, MODIS data of every day were received and processed, and the max NDVI values of every fifteen days of main crop were generated, then, in order to assessment a certain crop growing condition in certain period (every fifteen days, mostly), the system compare the remote sensing index data (NDVI) of a certain period with the data of the period in the history (last five year, mostly), the difference between NDVI can indicate the spatial difference of crop growing condition at a certain period. Moreover, Meteorological data of temperature, precipitation and sunshine etc. as well as the field investigation data of 200 network counties were used to modify the models parameters. Last, crop growing condition was assessment at four different scales of counties, provinces, main producing areas and nation and spatial distribution maps of crop growing condition were also created.

  19. Agriculture and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa in a 4°C+ world.

    PubMed

    Thornton, Philip K; Jones, Peter G; Ericksen, Polly J; Challinor, Andrew J

    2011-01-13

    Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa faces daunting challenges, which climate change and increasing climate variability will compound in vulnerable areas. The impacts of a changing climate on agricultural production in a world that warms by 4°C or more are likely to be severe in places. The livelihoods of many croppers and livestock keepers in Africa are associated with diversity of options. The changes in crop and livestock production that are likely to result in a 4°C+ world will diminish the options available to most smallholders. In such a world, current crop and livestock varieties and agricultural practices will often be inadequate, and food security will be more difficult to achieve because of commodity price increases and local production shortfalls. While adaptation strategies exist, considerable institutional and policy support will be needed to implement them successfully on the scale required. Even in the 2°C+ world that appears inevitable, planning for and implementing successful adaptation strategies are critical if agricultural growth in the region is to occur, food security be achieved and household livelihoods be enhanced. As part of this effort, better understanding of the critical thresholds in global and African food systems requires urgent research.

  20. 7 CFR 53.15 - Accessibility to livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Accessibility to livestock. 53.15 Section 53.15... AGRICULTURAL MARKETING ACT OF 1946 AND THE EGG PRODUCTS INSPECTION ACT (CONTINUED) LIVESTOCK (GRADING, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) Regulations Service § 53.15 Accessibility to livestock. (a) The applicant shall...

  1. Development and application of modern agricultural biotechnology in Botswana: The potentials, opportunities and challenges

    PubMed Central

    Batlang, Utlwang; Tsurupe, Gorata; Segwagwe, Amogelang; Obopile, Motshwari

    2014-01-01

    In Botswana, approximately 40% of the population live in rural areas and derive most of their livelihood from agriculture by keeping livestock and practising arable farming. Due to the nature of their farming practises livestock and crops are exposed to diseases and environmental stresses. These challenges offer opportunities for application of biotechnology to develop adaptable materials to the country's environment. On the other hand, the perceived risk of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has dimmed the promise of the technology for its application in agriculture. This calls for a holistic approach to the application of biotechnology to address issues of biosafety of GMOs. We have therefore assessed the potentials, challenges and opportunities to apply biotechnology with specific emphasis on agriculture, taking cognisance of requirement for its research, development and application in research and teaching institutions. In order to achieve this, resource availability, infrastructure, human and laboratory requirements were analyzed. The analysis revealed that the country has the capacity to carry out research in biotechnology in the development and production of genetically modified crops for food and fodder crops. These will include gene discovery, genetic transformation and development of systems to comply with the world regulatory framework on biosafety. In view of the challenges facing the country in agriculture, first generation biotech crops could be released for production. Novel GM products for development may include disease diagnosis kits, animal disease vaccines, and nutrient use efficiency, drought, and pest and disease resistant food and fodder crops. PMID:25437237

  2. Development and application of modern agricultural biotechnology in Botswana: the potentials, opportunities and challenges.

    PubMed

    Batlang, Utlwang; Tsurupe, Gorata; Segwagwe, Amogelang; Obopile, Motshwari

    2014-07-03

    In Botswana, approximately 40% of the population live in rural areas and derive most of their livelihood from agriculture by keeping livestock and practising arable farming. Due to the nature of their farming practises livestock and crops are exposed to diseases and environmental stresses. These challenges offer opportunities for application of biotechnology to develop adaptable materials to the country's environment. On the other hand, the perceived risk of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has dimmed the promise of the technology for its application in agriculture. This calls for a holistic approach to the application of biotechnology to address issues of biosafety of GMOs. We have therefore assessed the potentials, challenges and opportunities to apply biotechnology with specific emphasis on agriculture, taking cognisance of requirement for its research, development and application in research and teaching institutions. In order to achieve this, resource availability, infrastructure, human and laboratory requirements were analyzed. The analysis revealed that the country has the capacity to carry out research in biotechnology in the development and production of genetically modified crops for food and fodder crops. These will include gene discovery, genetic transformation and development of systems to comply with the world regulatory framework on biosafety. In view of the challenges facing the country in agriculture, first generation biotech crops could be released for production. Novel GM products for development may include disease diagnosis kits, animal disease vaccines, and nutrient use efficiency, drought, and pest and disease resistant food and fodder crops.

  3. A process-based agricultural model for the irrigated agriculture sector in Alberta, Canada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ammar, M. E.; Davies, E. G.

    2015-12-01

    livestock production systems and agricultural production economics will be integrated to the agricultural model to make the systems tool. It will capture feedback loops, time delays, and the nonlinearities of the system. Moreover, the model is designed for quick reconfiguration to different regions given parametrized crop data.

  4. Invited review: A position on the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM).

    PubMed

    MacLeod, M J; Vellinga, T; Opio, C; Falcucci, A; Tempio, G; Henderson, B; Makkar, H; Mottet, A; Robinson, T; Steinfeld, H; Gerber, P J

    2018-02-01

    The livestock sector is one of the fastest growing subsectors of the agricultural economy and, while it makes a major contribution to global food supply and economic development, it also consumes significant amounts of natural resources and alters the environment. In order to improve our understanding of the global environmental impact of livestock supply chains, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has developed the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM). The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of GLEAM. Specifically, it explains the model architecture, methods and functionality, that is the types of analysis that the model can perform. The model focuses primarily on the quantification of greenhouse gases emissions arising from the production of the 11 main livestock commodities. The model inputs and outputs are managed and produced as raster data sets, with spatial resolution of 0.05 decimal degrees. The Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model v1.0 consists of five distinct modules: (a) the Herd Module; (b) the Manure Module; (c) the Feed Module; (d) the System Module; (e) the Allocation Module. In terms of the modelling approach, GLEAM has several advantages. For example spatial information on livestock distributions and crops yields enables rations to be derived that reflect the local availability of feed resources in developing countries. The Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model also contains a herd model that enables livestock statistics to be disaggregated and variation in livestock performance and management to be captured. Priorities for future development of GLEAM include: improving data quality and the methods used to perform emissions calculations; extending the scope of the model to include selected additional environmental impacts and to enable predictive modelling; and improving the utility of GLEAM output.

  5. Attitudes of Agricultural Experts Toward Genetically Modified Crops: A Case Study in Southwest Iran.

    PubMed

    Ghanian, Mansour; Ghoochani, Omid M; Kitterlin, Miranda; Jahangiry, Sheida; Zarafshani, Kiumars; Van Passel, Steven; Azadi, Hossein

    2016-04-01

    The production of genetically modified (GM) crops is growing around the world, and with it possible opportunities to combat food insecurity and hunger, as well as solutions to current problems facing conventional agriculture. In this regard the use of GMOs in food and agricultural applications has increased greatly over the past decade. However, the development of GM crops has been a matter of considerable interest and worldwide public controversy. This, in addition to skepticism, has stifled the use of this practice on a large scale in many areas, including Iran. It stands to reason that a greater understanding of this practice could be formed after a review of the existing expert opinions surrounding GM crops. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the predictors that influence agricultural experts' attitudes toward the development of and policies related to GM crops. Using a descriptive correlational research method, questionnaire data was collected from 65 experts from the Agricultural Organization in the Gotvand district in Southwest Iran. Results indicated that agricultural experts were aware of the environmental benefits and possible risks associated with GM crops. The majority of participants agreed that GM crops could improve food security and accelerate rural development, and were proponents of labeling practices for GM crops. Finally, there was a positive correlation between the perception of benefits and attitudes towards GM crops.

  6. USSR Report, Agriculture.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-10-03

    ZHIZN, 8 Aug 86) . . 8 LIVESTOCK Oblast, Rayon Indicators for Milk Production, Meat Sales in Belorussian Kolkhozes, Sovkhozes, 1 July 1986...affecting the growth and development of the vegetable crops. The cucumbers are blossoming in all areas and flesh- colored ripeness has been observed in...husbandry serves as a leading branch of agricultural production, D^iv?f ij ?£ t5eir P,UnS f°r Sellin8 milk and meat to th* state. The productivity

  7. The economics of optimal health and productivity in smallholder livestock systems in developing countries.

    PubMed

    McDermott, J J; Randolph, T F; Staal, S J

    1999-08-01

    Livestock kept or produced in smallholder farming systems are an important component of the agricultural economy in the developing world. The role of livestock on smallholder farms varies widely, providing draught power for crop production or as a production activity for subsistence needs or market sale under systems ranging from extensive pastoralist to intensive, peri-urban feeder and dairy systems. A set of unique conditions and features characterise smallholder systems, and these need to be appreciated when assessing the strategies that have evolved for managing animal health in smallholder systems, and evaluating opportunities for improving disease control strategies. To provide a framework for discussing animal health issues and analytical methodogies, a typology of smallholder livestock and crop/livestock systems is developed. The typology considers livestock systems both in terms of the degree of intensification, as measured by market orientation and intensity of factor use, and in terms of importance within the household economy, as measured by contribution to household income. A number of characteristics are identified that distinguish smallholder systems from the commercialised systems of developed countries, including the multiple functions livestock serve, the integrated nature of livestock activities, multiple objectives of producers and lower capacity to bear risk at the household level, as well as poor infrastructure, markets, and access to information at the community level. Three representative smallholder livestock systems from Africa are described in detail, highlighting the relevant characteristics and the implications for analysing disease control strategies. Smallholder dairy systems in Kenya demonstrate the role of individual producer decision-making for animal health management in intensive, market-oriented systems, placing emphasis on farm-level risk and production management aspects of disease control. In extensive pastoralist systems

  8. Biogenic carbon fluxes from global agricultural production and consumption

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wolf, Julie; West, Tristram O.; Le Page, Yannick; Kyle, G. Page; Zhang, Xuesong; Collatz, G. James; Imhoff, Marc L.

    2015-10-01

    Quantification of biogenic carbon fluxes from agricultural lands is needed to generate comprehensive bottom-up estimates of net carbon exchange for global and regional carbon monitoring. We estimated global agricultural carbon fluxes associated with annual crop net primary production (NPP), harvested biomass, and consumption of biomass by humans and livestock. These estimates were combined for a single estimate of net carbon exchange and spatially distributed to 0.05° resolution using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite land cover data. Global crop NPP in 2011 was estimated at 5.25 ± 0.46 Pg C yr-1, of which 2.05 ± 0.05 Pg C yr-1 was harvested and 0.54 Pg C yr-1 was collected from crop residues for livestock fodder. Total livestock feed intake in 2011 was 2.42 ± 0.21 Pg C yr-1, of which 2.31 ± 0.21 Pg C yr-1 was emitted as CO2, 0.07 ± 0.01 Pg C yr-1 was emitted as CH4, and 0.04 Pg C yr-1 was contained within milk and egg production. Livestock grazed an estimated 1.27 Pg C yr-1 in 2011, which constituted 52.4% of total feed intake. Global human food intake was 0.57 ± 0.03 Pg C yr-1 in 2011, the majority of which was respired as CO2. Completed global cropland carbon budgets accounted for the ultimate use of approximately 80% of harvested biomass. The spatial distribution of these fluxes may be used for global carbon monitoring, estimation of regional uncertainty, and for use as input to Earth system models.

  9. Agricultural Management Practices Explain Variation in Global Yield Gaps of Major Crops

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mueller, N. D.; Gerber, J. S.; Ray, D. K.; Ramankutty, N.; Foley, J. A.

    2010-12-01

    The continued expansion and intensification of agriculture are key drivers of global environmental change. Meeting a doubling of food demand in the next half-century will further induce environmental change, requiring either large cropland expansion into carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical forests or increasing yields on existing croplands. Closing the “yield gaps” between the most and least productive farmers on current agricultural lands is a necessary and major step towards preserving natural ecosystems and meeting future food demand. Here we use global climate, soils, and cropland datasets to quantify yield gaps for major crops using equal-area climate analogs. Consistent with previous studies, we find large yield gaps for many crops in Eastern Europe, tropical Africa, and parts of Mexico. To analyze the drivers of yield gaps, we collected sub-national agricultural management data and built a global dataset of fertilizer application rates for over 160 crops. We constructed empirical crop yield models for each climate analog using the global management information for 17 major crops. We find that our climate-specific models explain a substantial amount of the global variation in yields. These models could be widely applied to identify management changes needed to close yield gaps, analyze the environmental impacts of agricultural intensification, and identify climate change adaptation techniques.

  10. Farming the Desert: agriculture in the World War II-era Japanese-American relocation centers.

    PubMed

    Lillquist, Karl

    2010-01-01

    In 1942 over 110,000 Japanese Americans were evacuated from the West Coast to ten inland, barbed wire-enclosed relocation centers in the name of national security. Agriculture was a key component of the eight arid to semi-arid centers located in the western United States. Each center's agricultural program included produce for human consumption, feed crops, and livestock. Some centers also grew seed, ornamental, and war crops. Evacuees raised and consumed five types of livestock and sixty-one produce varieties, including many traditional foods. Seasonal surpluses were preserved, shipped to other centers, or sold on the open market. Short growing seasons, poor soils, initially undeveloped lands, pests, equipment shortages, and labor issues hampered operations. However, imprisoned evacuee farmers proved that diverse agricultural programs could succeed in the harsh settings primarily because of labor-intensive farming methods, ingenuity, and the large markets provided by the centers. These agricultural programs played major roles in feeding, providing meaningful employment, and preparing evacuees for life outside the centers, and readied lands for post-war "homesteaders."

  11. Causal relationship between agricultural production and carbon dioxide emissions in selected emerging economies.

    PubMed

    Appiah, Kingsley; Du, Jianguo; Poku, John

    2018-06-20

    Continuous threat posed by climate change caused by carbon dioxide emission has reignited global advocacy to confront its negative ramification with the greatest possible firmness. Global food security and agriculture face major challenges under climate change as a result of the potential negative effect of production and implementation of sectoral action to limit global warming. Overall, agricultural greenhouse emissions continue to rise and the analysis of superior data on emissions from farming, livestock, and fisheries can help countries identify opportunities to contemporaneously reduce emissions and address their food security. This study seeks to contribute to the recent literature by examining the causal relationship between agriculture production and carbon dioxide emissions in selected emerging economies for the period 1971 to 2013. The study, therefore, disaggregated agriculture production into crop production index and livestock production index to explicate the distinct and to find individual variable contribution to carbon dioxide emissions. By using FMOLS and DOLS, empirical results indicate that 1% increase in economic growth, crop production index, and livestock production index will cause a proportional increase in carbon dioxide emission by 17%, 28%, and 28% correspondingly, while 1% increase in energy consumption and population improves the environment of emerging economies. The direction of causality among the variables was, accordingly, examined using PMG estimator. Potentially, for emerging countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring zero hunger for their citizenry requires the need to alter their farming production techniques and also adopt agricultural technology method, which is more environmentally friendly.

  12. Tracing crop-specific sediment sources in agricultural catchments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blake, William H.; Ficken, Katherine J.; Taylor, Philip; Russell, Mark A.; Walling, Desmond E.

    2012-02-01

    A Compound Specific Stable Isotope (CSSI) sediment tracing approach is evaluated for the first time in an agricultural catchment setting against established geochemical fingerprinting techniques. The work demonstrates that novel CSSI techniques have the potential to provide important support for soil resource management policies and inform sediment risk assessment for the protection of aquatic habitats and water resources. Analysis of soil material from a range of crop covers in a mixed land-use agricultural catchment shows that the carbon CSSI signatures of particle-reactive fatty acids label surface agricultural soil with distinct crop-specific signatures, thus permitting sediment eroded from each land-cover to be tracked downstream. High resolution sediment sampling during a storm event and analysis for CSSI and conventional geochemical fingerprints elucidated temporal patterns of sediment mobilisation under different crop regimes and the specific contribution that each crop type makes to downstream sediment load. Pasture sources (65% of the catchment area) dominated the sediment load but areal yield (0.13 ± 0.02 t ha - 1 ) was considerably less than that for winter wheat (0.44 ± 0.15 t ha - 1 ). While temporal patterns in crop response matched runoff and erosion response predictions based on plot-scale rainfall simulation experiments, comparison of biomarker and geochemical fingerprinting data indicated that the latter overestimated cultivated land inputs to catchment sediment yield due to inability to discriminate temporary pasture (in rotation) from cultivated land. This discrepancy, however, presents an opportunity since combination of the two datasets revealed the extremely localised nature of erosion from permanent pasture fields in this system (estimated at up to 0.5 t ha - 1 ). The novel use of CSSI and geochemical tracers in tandem provided unique insights into sediment source dynamics that could not have been derived from each method alone. Research

  13. Genome editing and genetic engineering in livestock for advancing agricultural and biomedical applications.

    PubMed

    Telugu, Bhanu P; Park, Ki-Eun; Park, Chi-Hun

    2017-08-01

    Genetic modification of livestock has a longstanding and successful history, starting with domestication several thousand years ago. Modern animal breeding strategies predominantly based on marker-assisted and genomic selection, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer have led to significant improvement in the performance of domestic animals, and are the basis for regular supply of high quality animal derived food. However, the current strategy of breeding animals over multiple generations to introduce novel traits is not realistic in responding to the unprecedented challenges such as changing climate, pandemic diseases, and feeding an anticipated 3 billion increase in global population in the next three decades. Consequently, sophisticated genetic modifications that allow for seamless introgression of novel alleles or traits and introduction of precise modifications without affecting the overall genetic merit of the animal are required for addressing these pressing challenges. The requirement for precise modifications is especially important in the context of modeling human diseases for the development of therapeutic interventions. The animal science community envisions the genome editors as essential tools in addressing these critical priorities in agriculture and biomedicine, and for advancing livestock genetic engineering for agriculture, biomedical as well as "dual purpose" applications.

  14. Developing Livestock Facility Type Information from USDA Agricultural Census Data for Use in Epidemiological and Economic Models

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Melius, C; Robertson, A; Hullinger, P

    2006-10-24

    The epidemiological and economic modeling of livestock diseases requires knowing the size, location, and operational type of each livestock facility within the US. At the present time, the only national database of livestock facilities that is available to the general public is the USDA's 2002 Agricultural Census data, published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, herein referred to as the 'NASS data.' The NASS data provides facility data at the county level for various livestock types (i.e., beef cows, milk cows, cattle on feed, other cattle, total hogs and pigs, sheep and lambs, milk goats, and angora goats). However, themore » number and sizes of facilities for the various livestock types are not independent since some facilities have more than one type of livestock, and some livestock are of more than one type (e.g., 'other cattle' that are being fed for slaughter are also 'cattle on feed'). In addition, any data tabulated by NASS that could identify numbers of animals or other data reported by an individual respondent is suppressed by NASS and coded with a 'D.'. To be useful for epidemiological and economic modeling, the NASS data must be converted into a unique set of facility types (farms having similar operational characteristics). The unique set must not double count facilities or animals. At the same time, it must account for all the animals, including those for which the data has been suppressed. Therefore, several data processing steps are required to work back from the published NASS data to obtain a consistent database for individual livestock operations. This technical report documents data processing steps that were used to convert the NASS data into a national livestock facility database with twenty-eight facility types. The process involves two major steps. The first step defines the rules used to estimate the data that is suppressed within the NASS database. The second step converts the NASS livestock types into the operational

  15. Large-scale alcohol production from corn, grain sorghum, and crop residues

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Turhollow, A.F. Jr.

    1982-01-01

    The potential impacts that large-scale alcohol production from corn, grain sorghum, and crop residues may have on US agriculture in the year 2000 are investigated. A one-land-group interregional linear-programming model is used. The objective function is to minimize the cost of production in the agricultural sector, given specified crop demands and constrained resources. The impacts that levels of alcohol production, ranging from zero to 12 billion gallons, have at two projected levels of crop demands, two grain-to-alcohol conversion and two milling methods, wet and dry, rates are considered. The impacts that large-scale fuel alcohol production has on US agriculture aremore » small. The major impacts that occur are the substitution of milling by-products, DDG, gluten feed, and gluten meal, for soybean meal in livestock feed rations. Production of 12 billion gallons of alcohol is estimated to be equivalent to an 18 percent increase in crop exports. Improving the grain-to-alcohol conversion rate from 2.6 to 3.0 gallons per bushels reduces the overall cost of agricultural production by $989 billion when 12 billion gallons of alcohol are produced.« less

  16. Agricultural Issues of Significance to Iowa Crop Producers and Their Educational Implications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Licht, Melea A. R.; Martin, Robert A.

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the agricultural information preferences of crop producers in Iowa and the implications for agricultural extension education. The objective was to identify agricultural information issues producers perceive as significant to their businesses. The results will help agricultural extension educators and…

  17. Modeling technical change in climate analysis: evidence from agricultural crop damages.

    PubMed

    Ahmed, Adeel; Devadason, Evelyn S; Al-Amin, Abul Quasem

    2017-05-01

    This study accounts for the Hicks neutral technical change in a calibrated model of climate analysis, to identify the optimum level of technical change for addressing climate changes. It demonstrates the reduction to crop damages, the costs to technical change, and the net gains for the adoption of technical change for a climate-sensitive Pakistan economy. The calibrated model assesses the net gains of technical change for the overall economy and at the agriculture-specific level. The study finds that the gains of technical change are overwhelmingly higher than the costs across the agriculture subsectors. The gains and costs following technical change differ substantially for different crops. More importantly, the study finds a cost-effective optimal level of technical change that potentially reduces crop damages to a minimum possible level. The study therefore contends that the climate policy for Pakistan should consider the role of technical change in addressing climate impacts on the agriculture sector.

  18. E-precision agriculture for small scale cash crops in Tobasa regency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Putra Simanjuntak, Panca; Tiurniari Napitupulu, Pangeran; Pratama Silalahi, Soni; Kisno; Pasaribu, Norlina; Valešová, Libuše

    2017-09-01

    Cash crop is a promising sector in Tobasa regency; however, the trend showed a negative change of the cash crop production in. This research aims to develop an application which is based on Arduino for watering and fertilizing corn land. The result of using e-precision agriculture based on embedded system is 100% higher than the conventional one and the risk of harvesting failure using the embedded system decreased to 50%. Embedded system in this study acquired critical environment measurements which at last affected the yield raising and risk reduction. As the result, the use of e-precision agriculture provided a framework to be used by different stakeholders to implement e-agriculture platform that supports marketing of agricultural production since the system is proven to save the material and time which finally reduces the risk of harvesting failure and increases the yield. In other words, the system is able to economize the use of water and fertilizer on a small corn land. The system will be developed for more efficiency in material loss and the mobile-based application development to reach sustainable rural development particularly for cash-crop farmers.

  19. Technical Guidelines and References: Crops Training Component. From: Agricultural Development Workers Training Manual. Volume III: Crops.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peace Corps, Washington, DC. Information Collection and Exchange Div.

    This reference manual for training Peace Corps agricultural development workers deals with crops. The document begins with common units of area, length, weight, volume, and conversions between them. A practice problem is worked and other conversion problems are given. The second section is intended to show agricultural field workers how to survey…

  20. Why we need GMO crops in agriculture

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The fact that in a very short period of 35 years the global population will reach an estimated 9 billion people presents a massive challenge to agriculture: how do we feed all of these people with nutritious food in a sustainable way? At the present time the yields of most of our major crops are sta...

  1. Embodied crop calories in animal products

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pradhan, Prajal; Lüdeke, Matthias K. B.; Reusser, Dominik E.; Kropp, Jürgen P.

    2013-12-01

    Increases in animal products consumption and the associated environmental consequences have been a matter of scientific debate for decades. Consequences of such increases include rises in greenhouse gas emissions, growth of consumptive water use, and perturbation of global nutrients cycles. These consequences vary spatially depending on livestock types, their densities and their production system. In this letter, we investigate the spatial distribution of embodied crop calories in animal products. On a global scale, about 40% of the global crop calories are used as livestock feed (we refer to this ratio as crop balance for livestock) and about 4 kcal of crop products are used to generate 1 kcal of animal products (embodied crop calories of around 4). However, these values vary greatly around the world. In some regions, more than 100% of the crops produced is required to feed livestock requiring national or international trade to meet the deficit in livestock feed. Embodied crop calories vary between less than 1 for 20% of the livestock raising areas worldwide and greater than 10 for another 20% of the regions. Low values of embodied crop calories are related to production systems for ruminants based on fodder and forage, while large values are usually associated with production systems for non-ruminants fed on crop products. Additionally, we project the future feed demand considering three scenarios: (a) population growth, (b) population growth and changes in human dietary patterns and (c) changes in population, dietary patterns and feed conversion efficiency. When considering dietary changes, we project the global feed demand to be almost doubled (1.8-2.3 times) by 2050 compared to 2000, which would force us to produce almost equal or even more crops to raise our livestock than to directly nourish ourselves in the future. Feed demand is expected to increase over proportionally in Africa, South-Eastern Asia and Southern Asia, putting additional stress on these

  2. Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States.

    PubMed

    Kniss, Andrew R; Savage, Steven D; Jabbour, Randa

    2016-01-01

    Land area devoted to organic agriculture has increased steadily over the last 20 years in the United States, and elsewhere around the world. A primary criticism of organic agriculture is lower yield compared to non-organic systems. Previous analyses documenting the yield deficiency in organic production have relied mostly on data generated under experimental conditions, but these studies do not necessarily reflect the full range of innovation or practical limitations that are part of commercial agriculture. The analysis we present here offers a new perspective, based on organic yield data collected from over 10,000 organic farmers representing nearly 800,000 hectares of organic farmland. We used publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture to estimate yield differences between organic and conventional production methods for the 2014 production year. Similar to previous work, organic crop yields in our analysis were lower than conventional crop yields for most crops. Averaged across all crops, organic yield averaged 67% of conventional yield [corrected]. However, several crops had no significant difference in yields between organic and conventional production, and organic yields surpassed conventional yields for some hay crops. The organic to conventional yield ratio varied widely among crops, and in some cases, among locations within a crop. For soybean (Glycine max) and potato (Solanum tuberosum), organic yield was more similar to conventional yield in states where conventional yield was greatest. The opposite trend was observed for barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum aestevum), and hay crops, however, suggesting the geographical yield potential has an inconsistent effect on the organic yield gap.

  3. Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Savage, Steven D.; Jabbour, Randa

    2016-01-01

    Land area devoted to organic agriculture has increased steadily over the last 20 years in the United States, and elsewhere around the world. A primary criticism of organic agriculture is lower yield compared to non-organic systems. Previous analyses documenting the yield deficiency in organic production have relied mostly on data generated under experimental conditions, but these studies do not necessarily reflect the full range of innovation or practical limitations that are part of commercial agriculture. The analysis we present here offers a new perspective, based on organic yield data collected from over 10,000 organic farmers representing nearly 800,000 hectares of organic farmland. We used publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture to estimate yield differences between organic and conventional production methods for the 2014 production year. Similar to previous work, organic crop yields in our analysis were lower than conventional crop yields for most crops. Averaged across all crops, organic yield averaged 80% of conventional yield. However, several crops had no significant difference in yields between organic and conventional production, and organic yields surpassed conventional yields for some hay crops. The organic to conventional yield ratio varied widely among crops, and in some cases, among locations within a crop. For soybean (Glycine max) and potato (Solanum tuberosum), organic yield was more similar to conventional yield in states where conventional yield was greatest. The opposite trend was observed for barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum aestevum), and hay crops, however, suggesting the geographical yield potential has an inconsistent effect on the organic yield gap. PMID:27552217

  4. Seasonal Soil Nitrogen Mineralization within an Integrated Crop and Livestock System in Western North Dakota, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Landblom, Douglas; Senturklu, Songul; Cihacek, Larry; Pfenning, Lauren; Brevik, Eric C.

    2015-04-01

    Protecting natural resources while maintaining or maximizing crop yield potential is of utmost importance for sustainable crop and livestock production systems. Since soil organic matter and its decomposition by soil organisms is at the very foundation of healthy productive soils, systems research at the North Dakota State University Dickinson Research Extension Center is evaluating seasonal soil nitrogen fertility within an integrated crop and livestock production system. The 5-year diverse crop rotation is: sunflower (SF) - hard red spring wheat (HRSW) - fall seeded winter triticale-hairy vetch (THV; spring harvested for hay)/spring seeded 7-species cover crop (CC) - Corn (C) (85-90 day var.) - field pea-barley intercrop (PBY). The HRSW and SF are harvested as cash crops and the PBY, C, and CC are harvested by grazing cattle. In the system, yearling beef steers graze the PBY and C before feedlot entry and after weaning, gestating beef cows graze the CC. Since rotation establishment, four crop years have been harvested from the crop rotation. All crops have been seeded using a JD 1590 no-till drill except C and SF. Corn and SF were planted using a JD 7000 no-till planter. The HRSW, PBY, and CC were seeded at a soil depth of 3.8 cm and a row width of 19.1 cm. Seed placement for the C and SF crops was at a soil depth of 5.1 cm and the row spacing was 0.762 m. The plant population goal/ha for C, SF, and wheat was 7,689, 50,587, and 7,244 p/ha, respectively. During the 3rd cropping year, soil bulk density was measured and during the 4th cropping year, seasonal nitrogen fertility was monitored throughout the growing season from June to October. Seasonal nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), total season mineral nitrogen (NO3-N + NH4-N), cropping system NO3-N, and bulk density were measured in 3 replicated non-fertilized field plot areas within each 10.6 ha triple replicated crop fields. Within each plot area, 6 - 20.3 cm x 0.61 m aluminum irrigation

  5. A spectrum fractal feature classification algorithm for agriculture crops with hyper spectrum image

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Junying

    2011-11-01

    A fractal dimension feature analysis method in spectrum domain for hyper spectrum image is proposed for agriculture crops classification. Firstly, a fractal dimension calculation algorithm in spectrum domain is presented together with the fast fractal dimension value calculation algorithm using the step measurement method. Secondly, the hyper spectrum image classification algorithm and flowchart is presented based on fractal dimension feature analysis in spectrum domain. Finally, the experiment result of the agricultural crops classification with FCL1 hyper spectrum image set with the proposed method and SAM (spectral angle mapper). The experiment results show it can obtain better classification result than the traditional SAM feature analysis which can fulfill use the spectrum information of hyper spectrum image to realize precision agricultural crops classification.

  6. Developing methodologies for estimation of manure across livestock systems using agricultural census data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khalil, Mohammad I.; Muldowney, John; Osborne, Bruce

    2017-04-01

    Livestock production and management-induced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), comprising 18% of total global anthropogenic emissions together with air pollutants, have major atmospheric and ecosystem-related impacts. Identification of categorical/sub-categorical hotspots associated with these emissions and the estimation of emissions factors (EFs), including the use of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defaults (Tier 1), are key objectives in the preparation of reasonable, and transparent national reporting inventories (Tier 2). They also provide a basis for assessment of technological/management approaches for emissions reduction. For this, data on manure (solid/FYM and slurry/liquid) production across livestock categories, housing types and periods, storage types and application methodologies are required. However, relevant agricultural activity data are not sufficient to quantify the proportion and timing of the amounts of manure applied to major land use types and for different seasons. We have used the recent Census of Agriculture survey data 2010, collected by the Central Statistics Office, Ireland. Based on the compiled datasheets, several steps have been taken to generate missing information (e.g., number of individual livestock categories/subcategories) and to develop methodologies for calculating the proportion of slurry and manure production and application across farm categories. Among livestock categories, the proportion (%) of slurry over solids was higher for pigs (99:1) than the proportion derived from cattle (61:39). Solid manure production from other livestock systems derived mostly from loose-bedded houses. There were large differences between the proportions estimated using the number of farms and the livestock population. A major proportion of the slurry was applied to grassland (97 vs. 73) and the amounts applied in spring and summer were similar (40-42 vs. 36-39), but significantly higher than the autumn application (18 vs. 24

  7. Food, Feed, or Fuel? Phosphorus Flows Embodied in US Agricultural Production and Trade

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MacDonald, G.; Bennett, E.; Carpenter, S.

    2012-12-01

    Agricultural phosphorus (P) use is integral to sustainable food production and water quality regulation. Globalization of agricultural systems, changing diets, and increasing biofuel production pose new challenges for managing non-renewable P reserves, particularly in key agricultural producing regions such as the US. We used a detailed model of the US agricultural system to assess the quantity of mineral P fertilizers used to produce food crops, livestock, and biofuels relative to the P ultimately consumed in domestic diets. We also quantified linkages in fertilizer use between the US and its trading partners globally via agricultural trade. Feed and livestock production drove by far the largest demand for P fertilizers in the US (56% of all P use for domestic and imported products). Of the total mineral P inputs to US domestic agriculture in 2007 (1905 Gg P), 28% were retained in agricultural soils as surplus P, 40% were lost through processing and waste prior to consumption in human diets, while 10% were diverted directly to biofuel production. One quarter of P fertilizer in the US was required to produce exports, particularly major food and feed crops (corn, soybean, and wheat) that drove a large net P flux out of the country (338 Gg P) with strongly crop-specific effects on soil P imbalances nationally. However, US meat consumption involved considerable reliance on P fertilizer use in other countries to produce red meat imports linked primarily to soil P surpluses abroad. We show that changes in domestic farm management and consumer waste could together reduce the P fertilizer needed to produce food consumed in the US by half, which is comparable to the P fertilizer reduction attainable by cutting domestic meat consumption (44%). More effective distribution of P use for major crops nationally and greater recycling of all agricultural wastes is critical to using US phosphate rock reserves as efficiently as possible while maintaining export-oriented agriculture.

  8. Engineering crop nutrient efficiency for sustainable agriculture.

    PubMed

    Chen, Liyu; Liao, Hong

    2017-10-01

    Increasing crop yields can provide food, animal feed, bioenergy feedstocks and biomaterials to meet increasing global demand; however, the methods used to increase yield can negatively affect sustainability. For example, application of excess fertilizer can generate and maintain high yields but also increases input costs and contributes to environmental damage through eutrophication, soil acidification and air pollution. Improving crop nutrient efficiency can improve agricultural sustainability by increasing yield while decreasing input costs and harmful environmental effects. Here, we review the mechanisms of nutrient efficiency (primarily for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron) and breeding strategies for improving this trait, along with the role of regulation of gene expression in enhancing crop nutrient efficiency to increase yields. We focus on the importance of root system architecture to improve nutrient acquisition efficiency, as well as the contributions of mineral translocation, remobilization and metabolic efficiency to nutrient utilization efficiency. © 2017 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  9. Livestock grazing impact on soil wettability and erosion risk in post-fire agricultural lands.

    PubMed

    Stavi, Ilan; Barkai, Daniel; Knoll, Yaakov M; Zaady, Eli

    2016-12-15

    Fires in agricultural areas are common, modifying the functioning of agro-ecosystems. Such fires have been extensively studied, and reported to considerably affect soil properties. Yet, understanding of the impact of livestock grazing, or more precisely, trampling, in fire-affected lands is limited. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of low- to moderate-fire severity and livestock trampling (hoof action) on the solid soil's wettability and related properties, and on soil detachment, in burnt vs. non-burnt croplands. The study was implemented by allowing livestock to access plots under high, medium, and low stocking rates in (unintentionally) burnt and non-burnt lands. Also, livestock exclusion plots were assigned as a control treatment. Results showed that fire slightly decreased the soil wettability. At the same time, water drop penetration time (WDPT) was negatively related to the stocking rate, and critical surface tension (CST) was ~13% smaller in the control plots than in the livestock-presence treatments. Also, the results showed that following burning, the resistance of soil to shear decreased by ~70%. Mass of detached material was similar in the control plots of the burnt and non-burnt plots. At the same time, it was three-, eight-, and nine-fold greater in the plots of the burnt×low, burnt×medium, and burnt×high stocking rates, respectively, than in the corresponding non-burnt ones. This study shows that livestock trampling in low- to moderate-intensity fire-affected lands increased the shearing of the ground surface layer. On the one hand, this slightly increased soil wettability. On the other hand, this impact considerably increased risks of soil erosion and land degradation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. 9 CFR 309.7 - Livestock affected with anthrax; cleaning and disinfection of infected livestock pens and driveways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND TERMINOLOGY... livestock remains in the lot. (c) Apparently healthy livestock (other than hogs) from a lot in which anthrax is detected, and any apparently healthy livestock which have been treated with anthrax biologicals...

  11. 9 CFR 309.7 - Livestock affected with anthrax; cleaning and disinfection of infected livestock pens and driveways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND TERMINOLOGY... livestock remains in the lot. (c) Apparently healthy livestock (other than hogs) from a lot in which anthrax is detected, and any apparently healthy livestock which have been treated with anthrax biologicals...

  12. EnviroAtlas - Manure application to agricultural lands from confined animal feeding operations by 12-digit HUC for the Conterminous United States, 2006

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This EnviroAtlas dataset contains data on the mean livestock manure application to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands by 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC) in 2006. Livestock manure inputs to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands were estimated using county-level estimates of recoverable animal manure from confined feeding operations compiled for 2007. Recoverable manure is defined as manure that is collected, stored, and available for land application from confined feeding operations. County-scale data on livestock populations -- needed to calculate manure inputs -- were only available for the year 2007 from the USDA Census of Agriculture (http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/index.php). We acquired county-level data describing total farm-level inputs (kg N/yr) of recoverable manure to individual counties in 2007 from the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) Nutrient Geographic Information System (NuGIS; http://www.ipni.net/nugis). These data were converted to per area rates (kg N/ha/yr) of manure N inputs by dividing the total N input by the land area (ha) of combined cultivated crop and hay/pasture (agricultural) lands within a county as determined from county-level summarization of the 2006 NLCD. We distributed county-specific, per area N inputs rates to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands (30 x 30 m pixels) within the corresponding county. Manure data described here represent an average input to a typical agricultural land type within a county, i.e., the

  13. Global bioenergy potentials from agricultural land in 2050: Sensitivity to climate change, diets and yields

    PubMed Central

    Haberl, Helmut; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Krausmann, Fridolin; Bondeau, Alberte; Lauk, Christian; Müller, Christoph; Plutzar, Christoph; Steinberger, Julia K.

    2011-01-01

    There is a growing recognition that the interrelations between agriculture, food, bioenergy, and climate change have to be better understood in order to derive more realistic estimates of future bioenergy potentials. This article estimates global bioenergy potentials in the year 2050, following a “food first” approach. It presents integrated food, livestock, agriculture, and bioenergy scenarios for the year 2050 based on a consistent representation of FAO projections of future agricultural development in a global biomass balance model. The model discerns 11 regions, 10 crop aggregates, 2 livestock aggregates, and 10 food aggregates. It incorporates detailed accounts of land use, global net primary production (NPP) and its human appropriation as well as socioeconomic biomass flow balances for the year 2000 that are modified according to a set of scenario assumptions to derive the biomass potential for 2050. We calculate the amount of biomass required to feed humans and livestock, considering losses between biomass supply and provision of final products. Based on this biomass balance as well as on global land-use data, we evaluate the potential to grow bioenergy crops and estimate the residue potentials from cropland (forestry is outside the scope of this study). We assess the sensitivity of the biomass potential to assumptions on diets, agricultural yields, cropland expansion and climate change. We use the dynamic global vegetation model LPJmL to evaluate possible impacts of changes in temperature, precipitation, and elevated CO2 on agricultural yields. We find that the gross (primary) bioenergy potential ranges from 64 to 161 EJ y−1, depending on climate impact, yields and diet, while the dependency on cropland expansion is weak. We conclude that food requirements for a growing world population, in particular feed required for livestock, strongly influence bioenergy potentials, and that integrated approaches are needed to optimize food and bioenergy supply

  14. Using a Decision Support System to Optimize Production of Agricultural Crop Residue Biofeedstock

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reed L. Hoskinson; Ronald C. Rope; Raymond K. Fink

    2007-04-01

    For several years the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been developing a Decision Support System for Agriculture (DSS4Ag) which determines the economically optimum recipe of various fertilizers to apply at each site in a field to produce a crop, based on the existing soil fertility at each site, as well as historic production information and current prices of fertilizers and the forecast market price of the crop at harvest, for growing a crop such as wheat, potatoes, corn, or cotton. In support of the growing interest in agricultural crop residues as a bioenergy feedstock, we have extended the capability ofmore » the DSS4Ag to develop a variable-rate fertilizer recipe for the simultaneous economically optimum production of both grain and straw, and have been conducting field research to test this new DSS4Ag. In this paper we report the results of two years of field research testing and enhancing the DSS4Ag’s ability to economically optimize the fertilization for the simultaneous production of both grain and its straw, where the straw is an agricultural crop residue that can be used as a biofeedstock.« less

  15. The biospeckle method for the investigation of agricultural crops: A review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zdunek, Artur; Adamiak, Anna; Pieczywek, Piotr M.; Kurenda, Andrzej

    2014-01-01

    Biospeckle is a nondestructive method for the evaluation of living objects. It has been applied to medicine, agriculture and microbiology for monitoring processes related to the movement of material particles. Recently, this method is extensively used for evaluation of quality of agricultural crops. In the case of botanical materials, the sources of apparent biospeckle activity are the Brownian motions and biological processes such as cyclosis, growth, transport, etc. Several different applications have been shown to monitor aging and maturation of samples, organ development and the detection and development of defects and diseases. This review will focus on three aspects: on the image analysis and mathematical methods for biospeckle activity evaluation, on published applications to botanical samples, with special attention to agricultural crops, and on interpretation of the phenomena from a biological point of view.

  16. A DESCRIPTION AND SOURCE LISTING OF PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION, 1963-64.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    SLEDGE, GEORGE W.; AND OTHERS

    BRIEF ANNOTATIONS ARE GIVEN FOR MANY OF THE 107 REFERENCES LISTED UNDER THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES -- (1) ADULT EDUCATION, (2) AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, (3) ANIMAL SCIENCE, (4) CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND CURRICULUM IN CROPS, ENTOMOLOGY, FARM MANAGEMENT, FARM MECHANICS, AND LIVESTOCK, (5) FARM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING, (6) FORESTRY, (7)…

  17. 9 CFR 309.11 - Vaccine livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Vaccine livestock. 309.11 Section 309.11 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY... CERTIFICATION ANTE-MORTEM INSPECTION § 309.11 Vaccine livestock. Vaccine livestock with unhealed lesions of...

  18. 9 CFR 309.11 - Vaccine livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Vaccine livestock. 309.11 Section 309.11 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY... CERTIFICATION ANTE-MORTEM INSPECTION § 309.11 Vaccine livestock. Vaccine livestock with unhealed lesions of...

  19. 9 CFR 309.11 - Vaccine livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Vaccine livestock. 309.11 Section 309.11 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY... CERTIFICATION ANTE-MORTEM INSPECTION § 309.11 Vaccine livestock. Vaccine livestock with unhealed lesions of...

  20. 9 CFR 309.11 - Vaccine livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Vaccine livestock. 309.11 Section 309.11 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY... CERTIFICATION ANTE-MORTEM INSPECTION § 309.11 Vaccine livestock. Vaccine livestock with unhealed lesions of...

  1. 9 CFR 309.11 - Vaccine livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Vaccine livestock. 309.11 Section 309.11 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGENCY... CERTIFICATION ANTE-MORTEM INSPECTION § 309.11 Vaccine livestock. Vaccine livestock with unhealed lesions of...

  2. Daily monitoring of 30 m crop condition over complex agricultural landscapes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, L.; Gao, F.; Xie, D.; Anderson, M. C.; Yang, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Crop progress provides information necessary for efficient irrigation, scheduling fertilization and harvesting operations at optimal times for achieving higher yields. In the United States, crop progress reports are released online weekly by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) - National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). However, the ground data collection is time consuming and subjective, and these reports are provided at either district (multiple counties) or state level. Remote sensing technologies have been widely used to map crop conditions, to extract crop phenology, and to predict crop yield. However, for current satellite-based sensors, it is difficult to acquire both high spatial resolution and frequent coverage. For example, Landsat satellites are capable to capture 30 m resolution images, while the long revisit cycles, cloud contamination further limited their use in detecting rapid surface changes. On the other hand, MODIS can provide daily observations, but with coarse spatial resolutions range from 250 to 1000 m. In recent years, multi-satellite data fusion technology such as the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM) has been used to combine the spatial resolution of Landsat with the temporal frequency of MODIS. It has been found that this synthetic dataset could provide more valuable information compared to the images acquired from only one single sensor. However, accuracy of STARFM depends on heterogeneity of landscape and available clear image pairs of MODIS and Landsat. In this study, a new fusion method was developed using the crop vegetation index (VI) timeseries extracted from "pure" MODIS pixels and Landsat overpass images to generate daily 30 m VI for crops. The fusion accuracy was validated by comparing to the original Landsat images. Results show that the relative error in non-rapid growing period is around 3-5% and in rapid growing period is around 6-8% . The accuracy is much better than that of STARFM which

  3. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service overview for operational monitoring of current crop conditions and production forecasts.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Crutchfield, J.

    2016-12-01

    The presentation will discuss the current status of the International Production Assessment Division of the USDA ForeignAgricultural Service for operational monitoring and forecasting of current crop conditions, and anticipated productionchanges to produce monthly, multi-source consensus reports on global crop conditions including the use of Earthobservations (EO) from satellite and in situ sources.United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) International Production AssessmentDivision (IPAD) deals exclusively with global crop production forecasting and agricultural analysis in support of the USDAWorld Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) lockup process and contributions to the World Agricultural Supply DemandEstimates (WASE) report. Analysts are responsible for discrete regions or countries and conduct in-depth long-termresearch into national agricultural statistics, farming systems, climatic, environmental, and economic factors affectingcrop production. IPAD analysts become highly valued cross-commodity specialists over time, and are routinely soughtout for specialized analyses to support governmental studies. IPAD is responsible for grain, oilseed, and cotton analysison a global basis. IPAD is unique in the tools it uses to analyze crop conditions around the world, including customweather analysis software and databases, satellite imagery and value-added image interpretation products. It alsoincorporates all traditional agricultural intelligence resources into its forecasting program, to make the fullest use ofavailable information in its operational commodity forecasts and analysis. International travel and training play animportant role in learning about foreign agricultural production systems and in developing analyst knowledge andcapabilities.

  4. Agroterrorism, Biological Crimes, and Biological Warfare Targeting Animal Agriculture

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wilson, Terry M.; Logan-Henfrey, Linda; Weller, Richard E.

    2000-04-12

    There is a rising level of concern that agriculture might be targeted for economic sabotage by terrorists. Knowledge gathered about the Soviet Union biological weapons program and Iraq following the Gulf War, confirmed that animals and agricultural crops were targets of bioweapon development. These revelations are particularly disturbing in light of the fact that both countries are States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention that entered into force in 1975. The potential for misusing biotechnology to create more virulent pathogens and the lack of international means to detect unethical uses of new technologies to create destructive bioweapons ismore » of increasing concern. Disease outbreaks, whether naturally occurring or intentionally, involving agricultural pathogens that destroy livestock and crops would have a profound impact on a country's infrastructure, economy and export markets. This chapter deals with the history of agroterrorism, biological crimes and biological warfare directed toward animal agriculture, specifically, horses, cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and poultry.« less

  5. Biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts from sustainable agricultural and forest crops: proceedings of the short rotation crops international conference

    Treesearch

    Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny; Rob Mitchell; Jim, eds. Richardson

    2008-01-01

    The goal of this conference was to initiate and provide opportunities for an international forum on the science and application of producing both agricultural and forest crops for biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts. There is a substantial global need for development of such systems and technologies that can economically and sustainably produce short rotation crops...

  6. Genetically Engineered Crops and Certified Organic Agriculture for Improving Nutrition Security in Africa and South Asia.

    PubMed

    Pray, Carl; Ledermann, Samuel

    2016-01-01

    In Africa and South Asia, where nutrition insecurity is severe, two of the most prominent production technologies are genetically modified (GM) crops and certified organic agriculture. We analyze the potential impact pathways from agricultural production to nutrition. Our review of data and the literature reveals increasing farm-level income from cash crop production as the main pathway by which organic agriculture and GM agriculture improve nutrition. Potential secondary pathways include reduced prices of important food crops like maize due to GM maize production and increased food production using organic technology. Potential tertiary pathways are improvements in health due to reduced insecticide use. Challenges to the technologies achieving their impact include the politics of GM agriculture and the certification costs of organic agriculture. Given the importance of agricultural production in addressing nutrition security, accentuated by the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, the chapter concludes by stressing the importance of private and public sector research in improving the productivity and adoption of both GM and organic crops. In addition, the chapter reminds readers that increased farm income and productivity require complementary investments in health, education, food access and women's empowerment to actually improve nutrition security. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  7. Effects of agricultural practices of three crops on the soil communities under Mediterranean conditions: field evaluation.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leitão, Sara; José Cerejeira, Maria; Abreu, Manuela; Sousa, José Paulo

    2014-05-01

    Sustainable agricultural production relies on soil communities as the main actors in key soil processes necessary to maintain sustainable soil functioning. Soil biodiversity influences soil physical and chemical characteristics and thus the sustainability of crop and agro-ecosystems functioning. Agricultural practices (e.g.: soil tillage, pesticides and fertilizer applications, irrigation) may affects negatively or positively soil biodiversity and abundances by modifying the relationships between organisms in the soil ecosystem. The present study aimed to study the influence of agricultural practices of three crops (potato, onion and maize) under Mediterranean climate conditions on soil macro- and mesofauna during their entire crop cycles. Effects on soil communities were assessed at a higher tier of environmental risk assessment comprising field testing of indigenous edaphic communities in a selected study-site located in a major agriculture region of Central Portugal, Ribatejo e Oeste, neighbouring protected wetlands. A reference site near the agricultural field site was selected as a Control site to compare the terrestrial communities' composition and variation along the crop cycle. The field soil and Control site soil are sandy loam soils. Crops irrigation was performed by center-pivot (automated sprinkler that rotates in a half a circle area) and by sprinklers. Soil macro- and mesofauna were collected at both sites (field and Control) using two methodologies through pitfall trapping and soil sampling. The community of soil macro- and mesofauna of the three crops field varied versus control site along the crops cycles. Main differences were due to arachnids, coleopterans, ants and adult Diptera presence and abundance. The feeding activity of soil fauna between control site and crop areas varied only for potato and onion crops vs. control site but not among crops. Concentration of pesticides residues in soil did not cause apparent negative effects on the soil

  8. GEOGLAM Crop Assessment Tool: Adapting from global agricultural monitoring to food security monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Humber, M. L.; Becker-Reshef, I.; Nordling, J.; Barker, B.; McGaughey, K.

    2014-12-01

    The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor's Crop Assessment Tool was released in August 2013 in support of the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor's objective to develop transparent, timely crop condition assessments in primary agricultural production areas, highlighting potential hotspots of stress/bumper crops. The Crop Assessment Tool allows users to view satellite derived products, best available crop masks, and crop calendars (created in collaboration with GEOGLAM Crop Monitor partners), then in turn submit crop assessment entries detailing the crop's condition, drivers, impacts, trends, and other information. Although the Crop Assessment Tool was originally intended to collect data on major crop production at the global scale, the types of data collected are also relevant to the food security and rangelands monitoring communities. In line with the GEOGLAM Countries at Risk philosophy of "foster[ing] the coordination of product delivery and capacity building efforts for national and regional organizations, and the development of harmonized methods and tools", a modified version of the Crop Assessment Tool is being developed for the USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). As a member of the Countries at Risk component of GEOGLAM, FEWS NET provides agricultural monitoring, timely food security assessments, and early warnings of potential significant food shortages focusing specifically on countries at risk of food security emergencies. While the FEWS NET adaptation of the Crop Assessment Tool focuses on crop production in the context of food security rather than large scale production, the data collected is nearly identical to the data collected by the Crop Monitor. If combined, the countries monitored by FEWS NET and GEOGLAM Crop Monitor would encompass over 90 countries representing the most important regions for crop production and food security.

  9. Paxton Revisited: The Essence of the Lived Experiences of Urban Agricultural Education Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Nicholas R.; Roberts, Richie; Whiddon, Ashley S.; Goossen, Carmelita E.; Kacal, Amanda

    2015-01-01

    The rapidly growing world population and need for more food and agricultural knowledge has inspired city dwellers to explore urban cultivation practices such as vertical farming and community gardening. Ultra-modern approaches to growing crops and livestock in urban high-rise buildings has sparked the imagination of scientists, agriculturists, and…

  10. Livestock and human use of land: Productivity trends and dietary choices as drivers of future land and carbon dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weindl, Isabelle; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Rolinski, Susanne; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Biewald, Anne; Humpenöder, Florian; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Stevanović, Miodrag

    2017-12-01

    Land use change has been the primary driving force of human alteration of terrestrial ecosystems. With 80% of agricultural land dedicated to livestock production, the sector is an important lever to attenuate land requirements for food production and carbon emissions from land use change. In this study, we quantify impacts of changing human diets and livestock productivity on land dynamics and depletion of carbon stored in vegetation, litter and soils. Across all investigated productivity pathways, lower consumption of livestock products can substantially reduce deforestation (47-55%) and cumulative carbon losses (34-57%). On the supply side, already minor productivity growth in extensive livestock production systems leads to substantial CO2 emission abatement, but the emission saving potential of productivity gains in intensive systems is limited, also involving trade-offs with soil carbon stocks. If accounting for uncertainties related to future trade restrictions, crop yields and pasture productivity, the range of projected carbon savings from changing diets increases to 23-78%. Highest abatement of carbon emissions (63-78%) can be achieved if reduced consumption of animal-based products is combined with sustained investments into productivity increases in plant production. Our analysis emphasizes the importance to integrate demand- and supply-side oriented mitigation strategies and to combine efforts in the crop and livestock sector to enable synergies for climate protection.

  11. Life-cycle phosphorus management of the crop production-consumption system in China, 1980-2012.

    PubMed

    Wu, Huijun; Yuan, Zengwei; Gao, Liangmin; Zhang, Ling; Zhang, Yongliang

    2015-01-01

    Phosphorus (P) is an essential resource for agriculture and also a pollutant capable of causing eutrophication. The possibility of a future P scarcity and the requirement to improve the environment quality necessitate P management to increase the efficiency of P use. This study applied a substance flow analysis (SFA) to implement a P management procedure in a crop production-consumption (PMCPC) system model. This model determined the life-cycle P use efficiency (PUE) of the crop production-consumption system in China during 1980-2012. The system includes six subsystems: fertilizer manufacturing, crop cultivation, crop processing, livestock breeding, rural consumption, and urban consumption. Based on this model, the P flows and PUEs of the subsystems were identified and quantified using data from official statistical databases, published literature, questionnaires, and interviews. The results showed that the total PUE of the crop production-consumption system in China was low, notably from 1980 to 2005, and increased from 7.23% in 1980 to 20.13% in 2012. Except for fertilizer manufacturing, the PUEs of the six subsystems were also low. The PUEs in the urban consumption subsystem and the crop cultivation subsystem were less than 40%. The PUEs of other subsystems, such as the rural consumption subsystem and the livestock breeding subsystem, were also low and even decreased during these years. Measures aimed to improve P management practices in China have been proposed such as balancing fertilization, disposing livestock excrement, adjusting livestock feed, changing the diet of residents, and raising the waste disposal level, etc. This study also discussed several limitations related with the model and data. Conducting additional related studies on other regions and combining the analysis of risks with opportunities may be necessary to develop effective management strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Agricultural pesticide emissions associated with common crops in the United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Benjey, W.G.

    Annual emissions for the year 1987 from the application of agricultural pesticides have been estimated by crop type by county for the United States using a geographic information system. The emissions estimates are based upon computed volatilization rates accounting for the properties of each pesticide, evaporation rates, mode of application (surface or soil incorporation) and percent of interception by leaves. Key pesticide properties include the Henry's Law constant, half-life in soil and the organic carbon partitioning coefficient. The volatilization rates are multiplied by the amount of pesticide applied by crop acreage in each county as determined from agricultural census andmore » pesticide sales data. The geographic distribution of the dominant emissions, such as atrazine and diazinon, etc. are presented by crop type and state. For a given pesticide, the geographic variability is controlled principally by amount applied and water availability as reflected in evaporation rates.« less

  13. Agricultural sectoral demand and crop productivity response across the world

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johnston, M.; Ray, D. K.; Cassidy, E. S.; Foley, J. A.

    2013-12-01

    With an increasing and increasingly affluent population, humans will need to roughly double agricultural production by 2050. Continued yield growth forms the foundation of all future strategies aiming to increase agricultural production while slowing or eliminating cropland expansion. However, a recent analysis by one of our co-authors has shown that yield trends in many important maize, wheat and rice growing regions have begun stagnating or declining from the highs seen during the green revolution (Ray et al. 2013). Additional research by our group has shown that nearly 50% of new agricultural production since the 1960s has gone not to direct human consumption, but instead to animal feed and other industrial uses. Our analysis for GLP looks at the convergence of these two trends by examining time series utilization data for 16 of the biggest crops to determine how demand from different sectors has shaped our land-use and intensification strategies around the world. Before rushing headlong into the next agricultural doubling, it would be prudent to first consult our recent agricultural history to better understand what was driving past changes in production. Using newly developed time series dataset - a fusion of cropland maps with historic agricultural census data gathered from around the world - we can examine yield and harvested area trends over the last half century for 16 top crops. We combine this data with utilization rates from the FAO Food Balance Sheet to see how demand from different sectors - food, feed, and other - has influenced long-term growth trends from the green revolution forward. We will show how intensification trends over time and across regions have grown or contracted depending on what is driving the change in production capacity. Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66428. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066428

  14. 29 CFR 780.617 - Adjunct livestock auction operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Adjunct livestock auction operations. 780.617 Section 780... Employment in Agriculture and Livestock Auction Operations Under the Section 13(b)(13) Exemption Requirements for Exemption § 780.617 Adjunct livestock auction operations. The livestock auction operations...

  15. Improving livestock for agriculture - technological progress from random transgenesis to precision genome editing heralds a new era.

    PubMed

    Laible, Götz; Wei, Jingwei; Wagner, Stefan

    2015-01-01

    Humans have a long history in shaping the genetic makeup of livestock to optimize production and meet growing human demands for food and other animal products. Until recently, this has only been possible through traditional breeding and selection, which is a painstakingly slow process of accumulating incremental gains over a long period. The development of transgenic livestock technology offers a more direct approach with the possibility for making genetic improvements with greater impact and within a single generation. However, initially the technology was hampered by technical difficulties and limitations, which have now largely been overcome by progressive improvements over the past 30 years. Particularly, the advent of genome editing in combination with homologous recombination has added a new level of efficiency and precision that holds much promise for the genetic improvement of livestock using the increasing knowledge of the phenotypic impact of genetic sequence variants. So far not a single line of transgenic livestock has gained approval for commercialization. The step change to genome-edited livestock with precise sequence changes may accelerate the path to market, provided applications of this new technology for agriculture can deliver, in addition to economic incentives for producers, also compelling benefits for animals, consumers, and the environment. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Landscape configurational heterogeneity by small-scale agriculture, not crop diversity, maintains pollinators and plant reproduction in western Europe.

    PubMed

    Hass, Annika L; Kormann, Urs G; Tscharntke, Teja; Clough, Yann; Baillod, Aliette Bosem; Sirami, Clélia; Fahrig, Lenore; Martin, Jean-Louis; Baudry, Jacques; Bertrand, Colette; Bosch, Jordi; Brotons, Lluís; Burel, Françoise; Georges, Romain; Giralt, David; Marcos-García, María Á; Ricarte, Antonio; Siriwardena, Gavin; Batáry, Péter

    2018-02-14

    Agricultural intensification is one of the main causes for the current biodiversity crisis. While reversing habitat loss on agricultural land is challenging, increasing the farmland configurational heterogeneity (higher field border density) and farmland compositional heterogeneity (higher crop diversity) has been proposed to counteract some habitat loss. Here, we tested whether increased farmland configurational and compositional heterogeneity promote wild pollinators and plant reproduction in 229 landscapes located in four major western European agricultural regions. High-field border density consistently increased wild bee abundance and seed set of radish ( Raphanus sativus ), probably through enhanced connectivity. In particular, we demonstrate the importance of crop-crop borders for pollinator movement as an additional experiment showed higher transfer of a pollen analogue along crop-crop borders than across fields or along semi-natural crop borders. By contrast, high crop diversity reduced bee abundance, probably due to an increase of crop types with particularly intensive management. This highlights the importance of crop identity when higher crop diversity is promoted. Our results show that small-scale agricultural systems can boost pollinators and plant reproduction. Agri-environmental policies should therefore aim to halt and reverse the current trend of increasing field sizes and to reduce the amount of crop types with particularly intensive management. © 2018 The Author(s).

  17. 7 CFR 205.604 - Nonsynthetic substances prohibited for use in organic livestock production.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Nonsynthetic substances prohibited for use in organic livestock production. 205.604 Section 205.604 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... organic livestock production. The following nonsynthetic substances may not be used in organic livestock...

  18. Embodied phosphorus and the global connections of United States agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MacDonald, Graham K.; Bennett, Elena M.; Carpenter, Stephen R.

    2012-12-01

    Agricultural phosphorus (P) use is intricately linked to food security and water quality. Globalization of agricultural systems and changing diets clearly alter these relationships, yet their specific influence on non-renewable P reserves is less certain. We assessed P fertilizer used for production of food crops, livestock and biofuels in the US agricultural system, explicitly comparing the domestic P use required for US food consumption to the P use embodied in the production of US food imports and exports. By far the largest demand for P fertilizer throughout the US agricultural system was for feed and livestock production (56% of total P fertilizer use, including that for traded commodities). As little as 8% of the total mineral P inputs to US domestic agriculture in 2007 (1905 Gg P) was consumed in US diets in the same year, while larger fractions may have been retained in agricultural soils (28%), associated with different post-harvest losses (40%) or with biofuel refining (10%). One quarter of all P fertilizer used in the US was linked to export production, primarily crops, driving a large net P flux out of the country (338 Gg P). However, US meat consumption relied considerably on P fertilizer use in other countries to produce red meat imports. Changes in domestic farm management and consumer waste could together reduce the P fertilizer required for US food consumption by half, which is comparable to the P fertilizer reduction attainable by cutting domestic meat consumption (44%). US export-oriented agriculture, domestic post-harvest P losses and global demand for meat may ultimately have an important influence on the lifespan of US phosphate rock reserves.

  19. A Modernized System for Agricultural Monitoring for Food Security in Tanzania

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dempewolf, J.; Nakalembe, C. L.; Becker-Reshef, I.; Justice, C. J.; Tumbo, S.; Mbilinyi, B.; Maurice, S.; Mtalo, M.

    2016-12-01

    Accurate and timely information on agriculture, particularly in many countries dominated by complex smallholder, subsistence agricultural systems is often difficult to obtain or not available. This includes up-to-date information during the growing season on crop type, crop area and crop condition such as developmental stage, damage from pests and diseases, drought or flooding. These data are critical for government decision making on production forecasts, planning for commodity market transactions, food aid delivery, responding to disease outbreaks and for implementing agricultural extension and development efforts. In Tanzania we have been working closely with the National Food Security Division (NFSD) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) on designing and implementing an advanced agricultural monitoring system, utilizing satellite remote sensing, smart phone and internet technologies. Together with our local implementing partner, the Sokoine University of Agriculture we trained a large number of agricultural extension agents in different regions of Tanzania to deliver field data in near-realtime. Using our collaborative internet portal (Crop Monitor) the team of analysts compiles pertinent information on current crop and weather conditions from throughout the country in a standardized, consistent manner. Using the portal traditionally collected data are combined with electronically collected field data and MODIS satellite image time series from GLAM East-Africa (Global Agricultural Monitoring System, customized for stakeholders in East Africa). The main outcome of this work has been the compilation of the National Food Security Bulletin for Tanzania with plans for a public release and the intention for it to become the main avenue to dispense current updates and analysis on agriculture in the country. The same information is also a potential contribution to the international Early Warning Crop Monitor, which currently covers Tanzania

  20. Designing bioenergy crop buffers to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions and water quality impacts from agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gopalakrishnan, G.; Negri, C. M.

    2010-12-01

    There is a strong societal need to evaluate and understand the environmental aspects of bioenergy production, especially due to the significant increases in production mandated by many countries, including the United States. Bioenergy is a land-based renewable resource and increases in production are likely to result in large-scale conversion of land from current uses to bioenergy crop production; potentially causing increases in the prices of food, land and agricultural commodities as well as disruption of ecosystems. Current research on the environmental sustainability of bioenergy has largely focused on the potential of bioenergy crops to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and possible impacts on water quality and quantity. A key assumption in these studies is that bioenergy crops will be grown in a manner similar to current agricultural crops such as corn and hence would affect the environment similarly. This study presents a systems approach where the agricultural, energy and environmental sectors are considered as components of a single system, and bioenergy crops are used to design multi-functional agricultural landscapes that meet society’s requirements for food, energy and environmental protection. We evaluate the production of bioenergy crop buffers on marginal land and using degraded water and discuss the potential for growing cellulosic bioenergy crops such as miscanthus and switchgrass in optimized systems such that (1) marginal land is brought into productive use; (2) impaired water is used to boost yields (3); clean freshwater is left for other uses that require higher water quality; and (4) feedstock diversification is achieved that helps ecological sustainability, biodiversity, and economic opportunities for farmers. The process-based biogeochemical model DNDC was used to simulate crop yield, nitrous oxide production and nitrate concentrations in groundwater when bioenergy crops were grown in buffer strips adjacent to

  1. Watershed-Scale Cover Crops Reduce Nutrient Export From Agricultural Landscapes.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tank, J. L.; Hanrahan, B.; Christopher, S. F.; Trentman, M. T.; Royer, T. V.; Prior, K.

    2016-12-01

    The Midwestern US has undergone extensive land use change as forest, wetlands, and prairies have been converted to agroecosystems. Today, excess fertilizer nutrients from farm fields enter Midwestern agricultural streams, which degrades both local and downstream water quality, resulting in algal blooms and subsequent hypoxic "dead zones" far from the nutrient source. We are quantifying the benefits of watershed-scale conservation practices that may reduce nutrient runoff from adjacent farm fields. Specifically, research is lacking on whether the planting of winter cover crops in watersheds currently dominated by row-crop agriculture can significantly reduce nutrient inputs to adjacent streams. Since 2013, farmers have planted cover crops on 70% of croppable acres in the Shatto Ditch Watershed (IN), and "saturation level" implementation of this conservation practice has been sustained for 3 years. Every 14 days, we have quantified nutrient loss from fields by sampling nutrient fluxes from multiple subsurface tile drains and longitudinally along the stream channel throughout the watershed. Cover crops improved stream water quality by reducing dissolved inorganic nutrients exported downstream; nitrate-N and DRP concentrations and fluxes were significantly lower in tiles draining fields with cover crops compared to those without. Annual watershed nutrient export also decreased, and reductions in N and P loss ( 30-40%) exceeded what we expected based on only a 6-10% reduction in runoff due to increased watershed water holding capacity. We are also exploring the processes responsible for increased nutrient retention, where they are occurring (terrestrial vs. aquatic) and when (baseflow vs. storms). For example, whole-stream metabolism also responded to cover crop planting, showing reduced variation in primary production and respiration in years after watershed-scale planting of cover crops. In summary, widespread land cover change, through cover crop planting, can

  2. 7 CFR 701.53 - Debris removal and water for livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Debris removal and water for livestock. 701.53 Section 701.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FARM SERVICE AGENCY... RELATED PROGRAMS PREVIOUSLY ADMINISTERED UNDER THIS PART § 701.53 Debris removal and water for livestock...

  3. 7 CFR 701.153 - Debris removal and water for livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 7 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Debris removal and water for livestock. 701.153 Section 701.153 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FARM SERVICE AGENCY... Conservation Program § 701.153 Debris removal and water for livestock. Subject to the other eligibility...

  4. Can farmers mitigate environmental impacts through combined production of food, fuel and feed? A consequential life cycle assessment of integrated mixed crop-livestock system with a green biorefinery.

    PubMed

    Parajuli, Ranjan; Dalgaard, Tommy; Birkved, Morten

    2018-04-01

    This study evaluates environmental impacts of an integrated mixed crop-livestock system with a green biorefinery (GBR). System integration included production of feed crops and green biomasses (Sys-I) to meet the demand of a livestock system (Sys-III) and to process green biomasses in a GBR system (Sys-II). Processing of grass-clover to produce feed protein was considered in Sys-II, particularly to substitute the imported soybean meal. Waste generated from the livestock and GBR systems were considered for the conversion to biomethane (Sys-IV). Digestate produced therefrom was assumed to be recirculated back to the farmers' field (Sys-I). A consequential approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a combined production of suckler cow calves (SCC) and Pigs, calculated in terms of their live weight (LW). The functional unit (FU) was a basket of two products "1kg LW -SCC+1kg LW -Pigs", produced at the farm gate. Results obtained per FU were: 19.6kg CO 2 eq for carbon footprint; 0.11kg PO 4 eq for eutrophication potential, -129MJ eq for non-renewable energy use and -3.9 comparative toxicity units (CTU e ) for potential freshwater ecotoxicity. Environmental impact, e.g. greenhouse gas (GHG) emission was primarily due to (i) N 2 O emission and diesel consumption within Sys-I, (ii) energy input to Sys-II, III and IV, and (iii) methane emission from Sys-III and Sys-IV. Specifically, integrating GBR with the mixed crop-livestock system contributed 4% of the GHG emissions, whilst its products credited 7% of the total impact. Synergies among the different sub-systems showed positive environmental gains for the selected main products. The main effects of the system integration were in the reductions of GHG emissions, fossil fuel consumption, eutrophication potential and freshwater ecotoxicity, compared to a conventional mixed crop-livestock system, without the biogas conversion facility and the GBR. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier

  5. Drought Effects on Agricultural Yield: Comparison Across Regions and Crop Types

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Daryanto, S.; Wang, L.; Jacinthe, P. A.

    2014-12-01

    Global agricultural production is dominated by rainfed agriculture, and is therefore prone to disruption from climate extreme weathers. These uncertainties become more problematic when considering the projection of increased drought frequency suggested by several climate models for various world regions. Curiously, few regional analyses of drought impact of food production have been attempted. We collated and analyzed data from the last 25 years to disentangle the effects of drought (i.e. timing, intensity and duration) on agricultural production in different eco-regions and with varying crop types. Our preliminary results suggested greater yield reduction in annual (-21.5%) than perennial plants (-16%), in C4 (-21%) compared to C3 crops (-17%), and when drought occurred during generative (i.e. flowering until maturity; -16.5%) than vegetative stage (-15.5%). Although drought caused similar amounts of yield reduction in both tropical and subtropical regions (i.e. -17%), it carries a greater food security risk in the tropics due to inherently low productivity (i.e. less than half than in the subtropical regions). Consequently, cultivating drought-resistant C3 perennial plants (e.g. sweet potato and cassava) in the tropics could prove a viable adaptive strategy to mitigate the effects of climate variability. In addition, these crops have limited input requirements, are well adapted to nutrient-poor Oxisols and Ultisols of the tropics, and generally outyield cereal crops in the region. Our analysis is ongoing and needs to take into account agronomic traits (e.g. water requirement), as well as the energy and nutritional values (e.g. protein, minerals) of alternative crops. Our results could inform the selection and development of new cultivars for the drought-prone regions of the world.

  6. Potential impacts of agricultural drought on crop yield variability under a changing climate in Texas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, K.; Leng, G.; Huang, M.; Sheffield, J.; Zhao, G.; Gao, H.

    2017-12-01

    Texas has the largest farm area in the U.S, and its revenue from crop production ranks third overall. With the changing climate, hydrological extremes such as droughts are becoming more frequent and intensified, causing significant yield reduction in rainfed agricultural systems. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential impacts of agricultural drought on crop yields (corn, sorghum, and wheat) under a changing climate in Texas. The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, which is calibrated and validated over 10 major Texas river basins during the historical period, is employed in this study.The model is forced by a set of statistically downscaled climate projections from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) model ensembles at a spatial resolution of 1/8°. The CMIP5 projections contain four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) that represent different greenhouse gas concentration (4.5 and 8.5 w/m2 are selected in this study). To carry out the analysis, VIC simulations from 1950 to 2099 are first analyzed to investigate how the frequency and severity of agricultural droughts will be altered in Texas (under a changing climate). Second, future crop yields are projected using a statistical crop model. Third, the effects of agricultural drought on crop yields are quantitatively analyzed. The results are expected to contribute to future water resources planning, with a goal of mitigating the negative impacts of future droughts on agricultural production in Texas.

  7. Changing pollutants to green biogases for the crop food cycle chain.

    PubMed

    Zong, B Y; Xu, F J; Zong, B D; Zhang, Z G

    2012-09-01

    When fossil fuels on the Earth are used up, which kind of green energy can be used to replace them? Do every bioenergy generation or crop food chain results in environmental pollution? These questions are major concerns in a world facing restricted supplies of energy and food as well as environmental pollutions. To alleviate these issues, option biogases are explored in this paper. Two types of biogas generators were used for modifying the traditional crop food chain [viz. from atmospheric CO(2) photosynthesis to crops, crop stem/husk biowastes (burnt in cropland or as home fuels), to livestock droppings (dumping away), pork and people foods, then to CO(2)], via turning the biowaste pollutants into green bioenergies. By analyzing the traditional food chain via observation method, the drawbacks of by-product biowastes were revealed. Also, the whole cycle chain was further analyzed to assess its "greenness," using experimental data and other information, such as the material balance (e.g., the absorbed CO(2), investment versus generated food, energy, and wastes). The data show that by using the two types of biogas generators, clean renewable bioenergy, crop food, and livestock meat could be continuously produced without creating any waste to the world. The modification chain largely reduced CO(2) greenhouse gas and had a low-cost investment. The raw materials for the gas generators were only the wastes of crop stems and livestock droppings. Thus, the recommended CO(2) bioenergy cycle chain via the modification also greatly solved the environmental biowaste pollutions in the world. The described two type biogases effectively addressed the issues on energy, food, and environmental pollution. The green renewable bioenergy from the food cycle chain may be one of suitable alternatives to fossil and tree fuels for agricultural countries.

  8. The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project: Phase I Activities by a Global Community of Science. Chapter 1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosenzweig, Cynthia E.; Jones, James W.; Hatfield, Jerry L.; Antle, John M.; Ruane, Alexander C.; Mutter, Carolyn Z.

    2015-01-01

    The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) was founded in 2010. Its mission is to improve substantially the characterization of world food security as affected by climate variability and change, and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries. The objectives of AgMIP are to: Incorporate state-of-the-art climate, crop/livestock, and agricultural economic model improvements into coordinated multi-model regional and global assessments of future climate impacts and adaptation and other key aspects of the food system. Utilize multiple models, scenarios, locations, crops/livestock, and participants to explore uncertainty and the impact of data and methodological choices. Collaborate with regional experts in agronomy, animal sciences, economics, and climate to build a strong basis for model applications, addressing key climate related questions and sustainable intensification farming systems. Improve scientific and adaptive capacity in modeling for major agricultural regions in the developing and developed world, with a focus on vulnerable regions. Improve agricultural data and enhance data-sharing based on their intercomparison and evaluation using best scientific practices. Develop modeling frameworks to identify and evaluate promising adaptation technologies and policies and to prioritize strategies.

  9. A Greenhouse Gas and Soil Carbon Model for Estimating the Carbon Footprint of Livestock Production in Canada

    PubMed Central

    Vergé, Xavier P.C.; Dyer, James A.; Worth, Devon E.; Smith, Ward N.; Desjardins, Raymond L.; McConkey, Brian G.

    2012-01-01

    Simple Summary We developed a model to estimate the carbon footprint of Canadian livestock production. To include long term soil carbon storage and loss potential we introduced a payback period concept. The model was tested by reallocating 10% only of the protein production from a ruminant to a non ruminant source to minimize the risk of including rangeland or marginal lands. This displacement generated residual land which was found to play a major role in the potential mitigation of GHG emissions. The model will allow land use policies aimed at reducing the agricultural GHG emissions to be assessed. Abstract To assess tradeoffs between environmental sustainability and changes in food production on agricultural land in Canada the Unified Livestock Industry and Crop Emissions Estimation System (ULICEES) was developed. It incorporates four livestock specific GHG assessments in a single model. To demonstrate the application of ULICEES, 10% of beef cattle protein production was assumed to be displaced with an equivalent amount of pork protein. Without accounting for the loss of soil carbon, this 10% shift reduced GHG emissions by 2.5 TgCO2e y−1. The payback period was defined as the number of years required for a GHG reduction to equal soil carbon lost from the associated land use shift. A payback period that is shorter than 40 years represents a net long term decrease in GHG emissions. Displacing beef cattle with hogs resulted in a surplus area of forage. When this residual land was left in ungrazed perennial forage, the payback periods were less than 4 years and when it was reseeded to annual crops, they were equal to or less than 40 years. They were generally greater than 40 years when this land was used to raise cattle. Agricultural GHG mitigation policies will inevitably involve a trade-off between production, land use and GHG emission reduction. ULICEES is a model that can objectively assess these trade-offs for Canadian agriculture. PMID:26487032

  10. Hydrological Responses of Weather Conditions and Crop Change of Agricultural Area in the Rincon Valley, New Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahn, S.; Sheng, Z.; Abudu, S.

    2017-12-01

    Hydrologic cycle of agricultural area has been changing due to the impacts of climate and land use changes (crop coverage changes) in an arid region of Rincon Valley, New Mexico. This study is to evaluate the impacts of weather condition and crop coverage change on hydrologic behavior of agricultural area in Rincon Valley (2,466km2) for agricultural watershed management using a watershed-scale hydrologic model, SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The SWAT model was developed to incorporate irrigation of different crops using auto irrigation function. For the weather condition and crop coverage change evaluation, three spatial crop coverages including a normal (2008), wet (2009), and dry (2011) years were prepared using USDA crop data layer (CDL) for fourteen different crops. The SWAT model was calibrated for the period of 2001-2003 and validated for the period of 2004-2006 using daily-observed streamflow data. Scenario analysis was performed for wet and dry years based on the unique combinations of crop coverages and releases from Caballo Reservoir. The SWAT model simulated the present vertical water budget and horizontal water transfer considering irrigation practices in the Rincon Valley. Simulation results indicated the temporal and spatial variability for irrigation and non-irrigation seasons of hydrologic cycle in agricultural area in terms of surface runoff, evapotranspiration, infiltration, percolation, baseflow, soil moisture, and groundwater recharge. The water supply of the dry year could not fully cover whole irrigation period due to dry weather conditions, resulting in reduction of crop acreage. For extreme weather conditions, the temporal variation of water budget became robust, which requires careful irrigation management of the agricultural area. The results could provide guidelines for farmers to decide crop patterns in response to different weather conditions and water availability.

  11. An integrated model for assessing both crop productivity and agricultural water resources at a large scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Okada, M.; Sakurai, G.; Iizumi, T.; Yokozawa, M.

    2012-12-01

    Agricultural production utilizes regional resources (e.g. river water and ground water) as well as local resources (e.g. temperature, rainfall, solar energy). Future climate changes and increasing demand due to population increases and economic developments would intensively affect the availability of water resources for agricultural production. While many studies assessed the impacts of climate change on agriculture, there are few studies that dynamically account for changes in water resources and crop production. This study proposes an integrated model for assessing both crop productivity and agricultural water resources at a large scale. Also, the irrigation management to subseasonal variability in weather and crop response varies for each region and each crop. To deal with such variations, we used the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique to quantify regional-specific parameters associated with crop growth and irrigation water estimations. We coupled a large-scale crop model (Sakurai et al. 2012), with a global water resources model, H08 (Hanasaki et al. 2008). The integrated model was consisting of five sub-models for the following processes: land surface, crop growth, river routing, reservoir operation, and anthropogenic water withdrawal. The land surface sub-model was based on a watershed hydrology model, SWAT (Neitsch et al. 2009). Surface and subsurface runoffs simulated by the land surface sub-model were input to the river routing sub-model of the H08 model. A part of regional water resources available for agriculture, simulated by the H08 model, was input as irrigation water to the land surface sub-model. The timing and amount of irrigation water was simulated at a daily step. The integrated model reproduced the observed streamflow in an individual watershed. Additionally, the model accurately reproduced the trends and interannual variations of crop yields. To demonstrate the usefulness of the integrated model, we compared two types of impact assessment of

  12. Alternative scenarios of bioenergy crop production in an agricultural landscape and implications for bird communities.

    PubMed

    Blank, Peter J; Williams, Carol L; Sample, David W; Meehan, Timothy D; Turner, Monica G

    2016-01-01

    Increased demand and government mandates for bioenergy crops in the United States could require a large allocation of agricultural land to bioenergy feedstock production and substantially alter current landscape patterns. Incorporating bioenergy landscape design into land-use decision making could help maximize benefits and minimize trade-offs among alternative land uses. We developed spatially explicit landscape scenarios of increased bioenergy crop production in an 80-km radius agricultural landscape centered on a potential biomass-processing energy facility and evaluated the consequences of each scenario for bird communities. Our scenarios included conversion of existing annual row crops to perennial bioenergy grasslands and conversion of existing grasslands to annual bioenergy row crops. The scenarios explored combinations of four biomass crop types (three potential grassland crops along a gradient of plant diversity and one annual row crop [corn]), three land conversion percentages to bioenergy crops (10%, 20%, or 30% of row crops or grasslands), and three spatial configurations of biomass crop fields (random, clustered near similar field types, or centered on the processing plant), yielding 36 scenarios. For each scenario, we predicted the impact on four bird community metrics: species richness, total bird density, species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) density, and SGCN hotspots (SGCN birds/ha ≥ 2). Bird community metrics consistently increased with conversion of row crops to bioenergy grasslands and consistently decreased with conversion of grasslands to bioenergy row crops. Spatial arrangement of bioenergy fields had strong effects on the bird community and in some cases was more influential than the amount converted to bioenergy crops. Clustering grasslands had a stronger positive influence on the bird community than locating grasslands near the central plant or at random. Expansion of bioenergy grasslands onto marginal agricultural lands will

  13. 4% Yield Increase (HH4), All Energy Crops scenario of the 2016 Billion Ton Report

    DOE Data Explorer

    Davis, Maggie R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181319328); Hellwinkel, Chad [University of Tennessee] (ORCID:0000000173085058); Eaton, Laurence [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312709626); Langholtz, Matthew H [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000281537154); Turhollow, Anthony [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000228159350); Brandt, Craig [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000214707379); Myers, Aaron [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000320373827)

    2016-07-13

    Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as an alternate high-yield scenario for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios to compare these projections of potential biomass supplies against a reference case (agricultural baseline 10.11578/1337885). The simulation runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used but not reported. Date the data set was last modified: 02/02/2016. How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: This exogenous price simulations (also referred to as “specified-price” simulations) introduces a farmgate price, and POLYSYS solves for biomass supplies that may be brought to market in response to these prices. In specified-price scenarios, a specified farmgate price is offered constantly in all counties over all years of the simulation. This simulation begins in 2015 with an offered farmgate price for primary crop residues only between 2015 and 2018 and long-term contracts for dedicated crops beginning in 2019. Expected mature energy crop yield grows at a compounding rate of 4% beginning in 2016. The yield growth assumptions are fixed after crops are planted such that yield gains do not apply. Instruments used: Policy Analysis System –POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B), an agricultural policy modeling system of U.S. agriculture (crops and livestock), supplied by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.

  14. 7 CFR 205.239 - Livestock living conditions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Livestock living conditions. 205.239 Section 205.239 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT...

  15. Base-Case 1% Yield Increase (BC1), All Energy Crops scenario of the 2016 Billion Ton Report

    DOE Data Explorer

    Davis, Maggie R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181319328); Hellwinkel, Chad [University of Tennessee] (ORCID:0000000173085058); Eaton, Laurence [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312709626); Langholtz, Matthew H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000281537154); Turhollow, Anthony [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000228159350); Brandt, Craig [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000214707379); Myers, Aaron (ORCID:0000000320373827)

    2016-07-13

    Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as the base-case scenario for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios to compare these projections of potential biomass supplies against a reference case (agricultural baseline 10.11578/1337885). The simulation runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used but not reported. How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: This exogenous price simulations (also referred to as “specified-price” simulations) introduces a farmgate price, and POLYSYS solves for biomass supplies that may be brought to market in response to these prices. In specified-price scenarios, a specified farmgate price is offered constantly in all counties over all years of the simulation. This simulation begins in 2015 with an offered farmgate price for primary crop residues only between 2015 and 2018 and long-term contracts for dedicated crops beginning in 2019. Expected mature energy crop yield grows at a compounding rate of 1% beginning in 2016. The yield growth assumptions are fixed after crops are planted such that yield gains do not apply to crops already planted, but new plantings do take advantage of the gains in expected yield growth. Instruments used: Policy Analysis System –POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B), an agricultural policy modeling system of U.S. agriculture (crops and livestock), supplied by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.

  16. 3% Yield Increase (HH3), All Energy Crops scenario of the 2016 Billion Ton Report

    DOE Data Explorer

    Davis, Maggie R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181319328); Hellwinkel, Chad [University of Tennessee] (ORCID:0000000173085058); Eaton, Laurence [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312709626); Langholtz, Matthew H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000281537154); Turhollow, Anthony [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000228159350); Brandt, Craig [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000214707379); Myers, Aaron (ORCID:0000000320373827)

    2016-07-13

    Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as an alternate high-yield scenario for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios to compare these projections of potential biomass supplies against a reference case (agricultural baseline 10.11578/1337885). The simulation runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used but not reported. Date the data set was last modified: 02/02/2016 How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: This exogenous price simulations (also referred to as “specified-price” simulations) introduces a farmgate price, and POLYSYS solves for biomass supplies that may be brought to market in response to these prices. In specified-price scenarios, a specified farmgate price is offered constantly in all counties over all years of the simulation. This simulation begins in 2015 with an offered farmgate price for primary crop residues only between 2015 and 2018 and long-term contracts for dedicated crops beginning in 2019. Expected mature energy crop yield grows at a compounding rate of 3% beginning in 2016. The yield growth assumptions are fixed after crops are planted such that yield gains do not apply to crops already planted, but new plantings do take advantage of the gains in expected yield growth. Instruments used: Policy Analysis System –POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B), an agricultural policy modeling system of U.S. agriculture (crops and livestock), supplied by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.

  17. 2% Yield Increase (HH2), All Energy Crops scenario of the 2016 Billion Ton Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Davis, Maggie R.; Hellwinkel, Chad; Eaton, Laurence

    Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as an alternate high-yield scenario for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios to compare these projections of potential biomass supplies against a reference case (agricultural baseline 10.11578/1337885). The simulation runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used but not reported. Date the data set was last modified: 02/02/2016 How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: This exogenous price simulations (also referred to as “specified-price” simulations) introduces a farmgate price, and POLYSYS solves for biomass supplies that may be brought tomore » market in response to these prices. In specified-price scenarios, a specified farmgate price is offered constantly in all counties over all years of the simulation. This simulation begins in 2015 with an offered farmgate price for primary crop residues only between 2015 and 2018 and long-term contracts for dedicated crops beginning in 2019. Expected mature energy crop yield grows at a compounding rate of 2% beginning in 2016. The yield growth assumptions are fixed after crops are planted such that yield gains do not apply to crops already planted, but new plantings do take advantage of the gains in expected yield growth. Instruments used: Policy Analysis System –POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B), an agricultural policy modeling system of U.S. agriculture (crops and livestock), supplied by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center.« less

  18. Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture

    PubMed Central

    Shen, Yan-Jun; Ji, Xiang-Yun; Wu, Xiang-Wen; Zheng, Xiang-Rong; Cheng, Wei; Li, Jun; Jiang, Yao-Pei; Chen, Xin; Weiner, Jacob; Nie, Ming; Ju, Rui-Ting; Yuan, Tao; Tang, Jian-Jun; Tian, Wei-Dong; Zhang, Hao

    2018-01-01

    Urban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 community farms in mega-urban Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2015, and show that the presence of a border crop of soybeans and neighboring crops (maize, eggplant and Chinese cabbage), both without weed control, increased invertebrate predator abundance, decreased the abundance of pests and dependence on insecticides, and increased grain yield and economic profits. Two 2 year randomized experiments with the low and high diversity practices in the same locations confirmed these results. Our study shows that diversifying farming practices can make an important contribution to ecological intensification and the sustainable use of associated ecosystem services in an urban ecosystem. PMID:29792597

  19. Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture.

    PubMed

    Wan, Nian-Feng; Cai, You-Ming; Shen, Yan-Jun; Ji, Xiang-Yun; Wu, Xiang-Wen; Zheng, Xiang-Rong; Cheng, Wei; Li, Jun; Jiang, Yao-Pei; Chen, Xin; Weiner, Jacob; Jiang, Jie-Xian; Nie, Ming; Ju, Rui-Ting; Yuan, Tao; Tang, Jian-Jun; Tian, Wei-Dong; Zhang, Hao; Li, Bo

    2018-05-24

    Urban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 community farms in mega-urban Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2015, and show that the presence of a border crop of soybeans and neighboring crops (maize, eggplant and Chinese cabbage), both without weed control, increased invertebrate predator abundance, decreased the abundance of pests and dependence on insecticides, and increased grain yield and economic profits. Two 2 year randomized experiments with the low and high diversity practices in the same locations confirmed these results. Our study shows that diversifying farming practices can make an important contribution to ecological intensification and the sustainable use of associated ecosystem services in an urban ecosystem. © 2018, Wan et al.

  20. Growth and Development Symposium: promoting healthier humans through healthier livestock: animal agriculture enters the metagenomics era.

    PubMed

    Frank, D N

    2011-03-01

    The priorities of public health and agricultural sciences intersect through a shared objective to foster better human health. Enhancements in food quality and reductions in the environmental effects of modern agriculture represent 2 distinct paths through which animal sciences can contribute to the cause of public health. Recent developments in the study of human-associated microbial communities (microbiotas), notably in association with disease, indicate that better understanding of the microbial ecology of livestock can contribute to achieving the goals of better foods and a cleaner environment. Culture-independent microbiological technologies now permit comprehensive study of complex microbial communities in their natural environments. Microbiotas associated with both humans and animals provide myriad beneficial services to their hosts that, if lost or diminished, could compromise host health. Dysfunctional microbial communities have been noted in several human conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Examination of the mechanisms by which the human microbiota influences health and disease susceptibility can inform similar studies of host-microbe function in the animal sciences. Insights gained from human studies indicate strategies to raise not only healthier livestock, through selective manipulation of microbial communities, but also healthier humans.

  1. Agronomic characterization of the Argentina Indicator Region. [U.S. corn belt and Argentine pampas

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hicks, D. R. (Principal Investigator)

    1982-01-01

    An overview of the Argentina indicator region including information on topography, climate, soils and vegetation is presented followed by a regionalization of crop livestock land use. Corn/soybean production and exports as well as agricultural practices are discussed. Similarities and differences in the physical agronomic scene, crop livestock land use and agricultural practices between the U.S. corn belt and the Argentine pampa are considered. The Argentine agricultural economy is described. Crop calendars for the Argentina indicator region, an accompanying description, notes on crop-livestock zones, wheat production, field size, and agricultural problems and practices are included.

  2. Estimation of nitrogen and phosphorus flows in livestock production in Dianchi Lake basin, China.

    PubMed

    Anzai, Hiroki; Wang, Lin; Oishi, Kazato; Irbis, Chagan; Li, Kunzhi; Kumagai, Hajime; Inamura, Tatsuya; Hirooka, Hiroyuki

    2016-01-01

    We assessed the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows in intensified livestock production systems by investigating nutrient budgets and cycling in the basin of Dianchi Lake, one of the most eutrophic lakes in China. We conducted field surveys based on feed samplings and interviews of livestock farmers. The N and P in local and external feeds, animal body retentions, animal products and excretions were calculated at the individual level for dairy cattle, fattening pigs, breeding sows, broilers and laying hens. The N and P flows in the total livestock production system in the area were estimated by multiplying the individual N and P budgets by the number of animals. For the dairy and fattening pig productions, N and P supplied from local crops or by-products accounted for large parts of the inputs. For the other livestock categories, most of the N and P inputs depended on external resources. The N and P outputs through animal manure into the cropland were 287 and 66 kg/ha/year, respectively, which were higher than the N and P inputs into the livestock production systems from the cropland. The N and P loads from manure should be reduced for the establishment of sustainable agricultural production systems. © 2015 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

  3. Assessing the agricultural costs of climate change: Combining results from crop and economic models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Howitt, R. E.

    2016-12-01

    Any perturbation to a resource system used by humans elicits both technical and behavioral changes. For agricultural production, economic criteria and their associated models are usually good predictors of human behavior in agricultural production. Estimation of the agricultural costs of climate change requires careful downscaling of global climate models to the level of agricultural regions. Plant growth models for the dominant crops are required to accurately show the full range of trade-offs and adaptation mechanisms needed to minimize the cost of climate change. Faced with the shifts in the fundamental resource base of agriculture, human behavior can either exacerbate or offset the impact of climate change on agriculture. In addition, agriculture can be an important source of increased carbon sequestration. However the effectiveness and timing of this sequestration depends on agricultural practices and farmer behavior. Plant growth models and economic models have been shown to interact in two broad fashions. First there is the direct embedding of a parametric representation plant growth simulations in the economic model production function. A second and more general approach is to have plant growth and crop process models interact with economic models as they are simulated. The development of more general wrapper programs that transfer information between models rapidly and efficiently will encourage this approach. However, this method does introduce complications in terms of matching up disparate scales both in time and space between models. Another characteristic behavioral response of agricultural production is the distinction between the intensive margin which considers the quantity of resource, for example fertilizer, used for a given crop, and the extensive margin of adjustment that measures how farmers will adjust their crop proportions in response to climate change. Ideally economic models will measure the response to both these margins of adjustment

  4. 29 CFR 780.616 - Operations included in raising livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Operations included in raising livestock. 780.616 Section... Employment in Agriculture and Livestock Auction Operations Under the Section 13(b)(13) Exemption Requirements for Exemption § 780.616 Operations included in raising livestock. Raising livestock includes such...

  5. Agriculture: About EPA's National Agriculture Center

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA's National Agriculture Center (Ag Center), with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture, serves growers, livestock producers, other agribusinesses, and agricultural information/education providers.

  6. Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery for the Detection of Agricultural Crop Stress

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cassady, Philip E.; Perry, Eileen M.; Gardner, Margaret E.; Roberts, Dar A.

    2001-01-01

    Multispectral digital imagery from aircraft or satellite is presently being used to derive basic assessments of crop health for growers and others involved in the agricultural industry. Research indicates that narrow band stress indices derived from hyperspectral imagery should have improved sensitivity to provide more specific information on the type and cause of crop stress, Under funding from the NASA Earth Observation Commercial Applications Program (EOCAP) we are identifying and evaluating scientific and commercial applications of hyperspectral imagery for the remote characterization of agricultural crop stress. During the summer of 1999 a field experiment was conducted with varying nitrogen treatments on a production corn-field in eastern Nebraska. The AVIRIS (Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) hyperspectral imager was flown at two critical dates during crop development, at two different altitudes, providing images with approximately 18m pixels and 3m pixels. Simultaneous supporting soil and crop characterization included spectral reflectance measurements above the canopy, biomass characterization, soil sampling, and aerial photography. In this paper we describe the experiment and results, and examine the following three issues relative to the utility of hyperspectral imagery for scientific study and commercial crop stress products: (1) Accuracy of reflectance derived stress indices relative to conventional measures of stress. We compare reflectance-derived indices (both field radiometer and AVIRIS) with applied nitrogen and with leaf level measurement of nitrogen availability and chlorophyll concentrations over the experimental plots (4 replications of 5 different nitrogen levels); (2) Ability of the hyperspectral sensors to detect sub-pixel areas under crop stress. We applied the stress indices to both the 3m and 18m AVIRIS imagery for the entire production corn field using several sub-pixel areas within the field to compare the relative

  7. Sustainable Agriculture - Enhancing environmental benefits, food nutritional quality and building crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Feeding nutrition-dense food to future world populations presents agriculture with enormous challenges as estimates indicate that crop production must as much as double. Crop production cannot be increased to meet this challenge simply by increasing land acreage or using past agricultural intensific...

  8. 7 CFR 205.238 - Livestock health care practice standard.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Livestock health care practice standard. 205.238... Requirements § 205.238 Livestock health care practice standard. (a) The producer must establish and maintain preventive livestock health care practices, including: (1) Selection of species and types of livestock with...

  9. 7 CFR 205.238 - Livestock health care practice standard.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Livestock health care practice standard. 205.238... Requirements § 205.238 Livestock health care practice standard. (a) The producer must establish and maintain preventive livestock health care practices, including: (1) Selection of species and types of livestock with...

  10. 7 CFR 205.238 - Livestock health care practice standard.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Livestock health care practice standard. 205.238... Requirements § 205.238 Livestock health care practice standard. (a) The producer must establish and maintain preventive livestock health care practices, including: (1) Selection of species and types of livestock with...

  11. Future market scenarios for pulpwood supply from agricultural short-rotation woody crops

    Treesearch

    Alexander N. Moiseyev; Daniel G. de la Torre Ugarte; Peter J. Ince

    2000-01-01

    The North American Pulp And Paper (NAPAP) model and USDA POLYSYS agricultural policy analysis model were linked to project future market scenarios for pulpwood supply from agricultural short-rotation woody crops in the United States. Results suggest that pulpwood supply from fast- growing hybrid poplars and cottonwoods will become marginally economical but fairly...

  12. 7 CFR 205.236 - Origin of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT... livestock under continuous organic management from the last third of gestation or hatching: Except, That: (1...

  13. Estimating crop yields and crop evapotranspiration distributions from remote sensing and geospatial agricultural data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, T.; McLaughlin, D.

    2017-12-01

    Growing more crops to provide a secure food supply to an increasing global population will further stress land and water resources that have already been significantly altered by agriculture. The connection between production and resource use depends on crop yields and unit evapotranspiration (UET) rates that vary greatly, over both time and space. For regional and global analyses of food security it is appropriate to treat yield and UET as uncertain variables conditioned on climatic and soil properties. This study describes how probability distributions of these variables can be estimated by combining remotely sensed land use and evapotranspiration data with in situ agronomic and soils data, all available at different resolutions and coverages. The results reveal the influence of water and temperature stress on crop yield at large spatial scales. They also provide a basis for stochastic modeling and optimization procedures that explicitly account for uncertainty in the environmental factors that affect food production.

  14. Less water: How will agriculture in Southern Mountain states adapt?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frisvold, George B.; Konyar, Kazim

    2012-05-01

    This study examined how agriculture in six southwestern states might adapt to large reductions in water supplies, using the U.S. Agricultural Resource Model (USARM), a multiregion, multicommodity agricultural sector model. In the simulation, irrigation water supplies were reduced 25% in five Southern Mountain (SM) states and by 5% in California. USARM results were compared to those from a "rationing" model, which assumes no input substitution or changes in water use intensity, relying on land fallowing as the only means of adapting to water scarcity. The rationing model also ignores changes in output prices. Results quantify the importance of economic adjustment mechanisms and changes in output prices. Under the rationing model, SM irrigators lose 65 in net income. Compared to this price exogenous, "land-fallowing only" response, allowing irrigators to change cropping patterns, practice deficit irrigation, and adjust use of other inputs reduced irrigator costs of water shortages to 22 million. Allowing irrigators to pass on price increases to purchasers reduced income losses further, to 15 million. Higher crop prices from reduced production imposed direct losses of 130 million on first purchasers of crops, which include livestock and dairy producers, and cotton gins. SM agriculture, as a whole, was resilient to the water supply shock, with production of high value specialty crops along the Lower Colorado River little affected. Particular crops were vulnerable however. Cotton production and net returns fell substantially, while reductions in water devoted to alfalfa accounted for 57% of regional water reduction.

  15. 75 FR 7153 - National Organic Program; Access to Pasture (Livestock)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-17

    ...This final rule amends livestock and related provisions of the NOP regulations. Under the NOP, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) oversees national standards for the production and handling of organically produced agricultural products. AMS has taken this action to ensure that NOP livestock production regulations have sufficient specificity and clarity to enable AMS and accredited certifying agents to efficiently administer the NOP and to facilitate and improve compliance and enforcement. This action is also intended to satisfy consumer expectations that ruminant livestock animals graze on pastures during the grazing season. This action provides clarification and specificity to the livestock feed and living conditions provisions and establishes a pasture practice standard for ruminant animals. In doing so, producers are required to: provide year-round access for all animals to the outdoors, recognize pasture as a crop, establish a functioning management plan for pasture, incorporate the pasture management plan into their organic system plan (OSP), provide ruminants with pasture throughout the grazing season for their geographical location, and ensure ruminants derive not less than an average of 30 percent of their dry matter intake (DMI) requirement from pasture grazed over the course of the grazing season. The proposed requirements for fencing of water bodies and providing water at all times, indoors and outdoors, and the requirement for a sacrificial pasture have been deleted in this final rule. In addition, the proposed amendment to the origin of livestock section has been deleted in this final rule as issues pertaining to that topic will be reviewed and evaluated separately from this action. This final rule requires that producers maintain ruminant slaughter stock on pasture for each day that the finishing period corresponds with the grazing season for the geographical location. However, this rule exempts ruminant slaughter stock from the 30 percent

  16. Genetically modified crops: Brazilian law and overview.

    PubMed

    Marinho, C D; Martins, F J O; Amaral Júnior, A T; Gonçalves, L S A; dos Santos, O J A P; Alves, D P; Brasileiro, B P; Peternelli, L A

    2014-07-07

    In Brazil, the first genetically modified (GM) crop was released in 1998, and it is estimated that 84, 78, and 50% of crop areas containing soybean, corn, and cotton, respectively, were transgenic in 2012. This intense and rapid adoption rate confirms that the choice to use technology has been the main factor in developing national agriculture. Thus, this review focuses on understanding these dynamics in the context of farmers, trade relations, and legislation. To accomplish this goal, a survey was conducted using the database of the National Cultivar Registry and the National Service for Plant Variety Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply [Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA)] between 1998 and October 13, 2013. To date, 36 events have been released: five for soybeans, 18 for corn, 12 for cotton, and one for beans. From these events, 1395 cultivars have been developed and registered: 582 for soybean, 783 for corn and 30 for cotton. Monsanto owns 73.05% of the technologies used to develop these cultivars, while the Dow AgroScience - DuPont partnership and Syngenta have 16.34 and 4.37% ownership, respectively. Thus, the provision of transgenic seeds by these companies is an oligopoly supported by legislation. Moreover, there has been a rapid replacement of conventional crops by GM crops, whose technologies belong almost exclusively to four multinational companies, with the major ownership by Monsanto. These results reflect a warning to the government of the increased dependence on multinational corporations for key agricultural commodities.

  17. Climate Variability and Yields of Major Staple Food Crops in Northern Ghana

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amikuzuno, J.

    2012-12-01

    Climate variability, the short-term fluctuations in average weather conditions, and agriculture affect each other. Climate variability affects the agroecological and growing conditions of crops and livestock, and is recently believed to be the greatest impediment to the realisation of the first Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty and food insecurity in arid and semi-arid regions of developing countries. Conversely, agriculture is a major contributor to climate variability and change by emitting greenhouse gases and reducing the agroecology's potential for carbon sequestration. What however, is the empirical evidence of this inter-dependence of climate variability and agriculture in Sub-Sahara Africa? In this paper, we provide some insight into the long run relationship between inter-annual variations in temperature and rainfall, and annual yields of the most important staple food crops in Northern Ghana. Applying pooled panel data of rainfall, temperature and yields of the selected crops from 1976 to 2010 to cointegration and Granger causality models, there is cogent evidence of cointegration between seasonal, total rainfall and crop yields; and causality from rainfall to crop yields in the Sudano-Guinea Savannah and Guinea Savannah zones of Northern Ghana. This suggests that inter-annual yields of the crops have been influenced by the total mounts of rainfall in the planting season. Temperature variability over the study period is however stationary, and is suspected to have minimal effect if any on crop yields. Overall, the results confirm the appropriateness of our attempt in modelling long-term relationships between the climate and crop yield variables.

  18. Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herrero, Mario; Henderson, Benjamin; Havlík, Petr; Thornton, Philip K.; Conant, Richard T.; Smith, Pete; Wirsenius, Stefan; Hristov, Alexander N.; Gerber, Pierre; Gill, Margaret; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Valin, Hugo; Garnett, Tara; Stehfest, Elke

    2016-05-01

    The livestock sector supports about 1.3 billion producers and retailers, and contributes 40-50% of agricultural GDP. We estimated that between 1995 and 2005, the livestock sector was responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of 5.6-7.5 GtCO2e yr-1. Livestock accounts for up to half of the technical mitigation potential of the agriculture, forestry and land-use sectors, through management options that sustainably intensify livestock production, promote carbon sequestration in rangelands and reduce emissions from manures, and through reductions in the demand for livestock products. The economic potential of these management alternatives is less than 10% of what is technically possible because of adoption constraints, costs and numerous trade-offs. The mitigation potential of reductions in livestock product consumption is large, but their economic potential is unknown at present. More research and investment are needed to increase the affordability and adoption of mitigation practices, to moderate consumption of livestock products where appropriate, and to avoid negative impacts on livelihoods, economic activities and the environment.

  19. "Development of an interactive crop growth web service architecture to review and forecast agricultural sustainability"

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seamon, E.; Gessler, P. E.; Flathers, E.; Walden, V. P.

    2014-12-01

    As climate change and weather variability raise issues regarding agricultural production, agricultural sustainability has become an increasingly important component for farmland management (Fisher, 2005, Akinci, 2013). Yet with changes in soil quality, agricultural practices, weather, topography, land use, and hydrology - accurately modeling such agricultural outcomes has proven difficult (Gassman et al, 2007, Williams et al, 1995). This study examined agricultural sustainability and soil health over a heterogeneous multi-watershed area within the Inland Pacific Northwest of the United States (IPNW) - as part of a five year, USDA funded effort to explore the sustainability of cereal production systems (Regional Approaches to Climate Change for Pacific Northwest Agriculture - award #2011-68002-30191). In particular, crop growth and soil erosion were simulated across a spectrum of variables and time periods - using the CropSyst crop growth model (Stockle et al, 2002) and the Water Erosion Protection Project Model (WEPP - Flanagan and Livingston, 1995), respectively. A preliminary range of historical scenarios were run, using a high-resolution, 4km gridded dataset of surface meteorological variables from 1979-2010 (Abatzoglou, 2012). In addition, Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) global climate model (GCM) outputs were used as input to run crop growth model and erosion future scenarios (Abatzoglou and Brown, 2011). To facilitate our integrated data analysis efforts, an agricultural sustainability web service architecture (THREDDS/Java/Python based) is under development, to allow for the programmatic uploading, sharing and processing of variable input data, running model simulations, as well as downloading and visualizing output results. The results of this study will assist in better understanding agricultural sustainability and erosion relationships in the IPNW, as well as provide a tangible server-based tool for use by researchers and farmers - for both

  20. The impact of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in modern agriculture: A review.

    PubMed

    Raman, Ruchir

    2017-10-02

    Genetic modification in plants was first recorded 10,000 years ago in Southwest Asia where humans first bred plants through artificial selection and selective breeding. Since then, advancements in agriculture science and technology have brought about the current GM crop revolution. GM crops are promising to mitigate current and future problems in commercial agriculture, with proven case studies in Indian cotton and Australian canola. However, controversial studies such as the Monarch Butterfly study (1999) and the Séralini affair (2012) along with current problems linked to insect resistance and potential health risks have jeopardised its standing with the public and policymakers, even leading to full and partial bans in certain countries. Nevertheless, the current growth rate of the GM seed market at 9.83-10% CAGR along with promising research avenues in biofortification, precise DNA integration and stress tolerance have forecast it to bring productivity and prosperity to commercial agriculture.

  1. Climate vulnerabilities in the southern plains

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The value of agricultural production in the Southern Plains exceeded $59 bil (2012 Agricultural Census) with livestock accounting for 58% of total agricultural sales. Crop and livestock commodities exceeding $1 bil include wheat, corn, horticultural crops, cotton, hay and forages, sorghum, soybean, ...

  2. Could Crop Height Impact the Wind Resource at Agriculturally Productive Wind Farm Sites?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vanderwende, B. J.; Lundquist, J. K.

    2013-12-01

    The agriculture-intensive United States Midwest and Great Plains regions feature some of the best wind resources in the nation. Collocation of cropland and wind turbines introduces complex meteorological interactions that could affect both agriculture and wind power production. Crop management practices may modify the wind resource through alterations of land-surface properties. In this study, we used the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to estimate the impact of crop height variations on the wind resource in the presence of a large turbine array. We parameterized a hypothetical array of 121 1.8 MW turbines at the site of the 2011 Crop/Wind-energy Experiment field campaign using the WRF wind farm parameterization. We estimated the impact of crop choices on power production by altering the aerodynamic roughness length in a region approximately 65 times larger than that occupied by the turbine array. Roughness lengths of 10 cm and 25 cm represent a mature soy crop and a mature corn crop respectively. Results suggest that the presence of the mature corn crop reduces hub-height wind speeds and increases rotor-layer wind shear, even in the presence of a large wind farm which itself modifies the flow. During the night, the influence of the surface was dependent on the boundary layer stability, with strong stability inhibiting the surface drag from modifying the wind resource aloft. Further investigation is required to determine the optimal size, shape, and crop height of the roughness modification to maximize the economic benefit and minimize the cost of such crop management practices.

  3. Virtual water flows and water-footprint of agricultural crop production, import and export: A case study for Israel.

    PubMed

    Shtull-Trauring, E; Bernstein, N

    2018-05-01

    Agriculture is the largest global consumer of freshwater. As the volume of international trade continues to rise, so does the understanding that trade of water-intensive crops from areas with high precipitation, to arid regions can help mitigate water scarcity, highlighting the importance of crop water accounting. Virtual-Water, or Water-Footprint [WF] of agricultural crops, is a powerful indicator for assessing the extent of water use by plants, contamination of water bodies by agricultural practices and trade between countries, which underlies any international trade of crops. Most available studies of virtual-water flows by import/export of agricultural commodities were based on global databases, which are considered to be of limited accuracy. The present study analyzes the WF of crop production, import, and export on a country level, using Israel as a case study, comparing data from two high-resolution local databases and two global datasets. Results for local datasets demonstrate a WF of ~1200Million Cubic Meters [MCM]/year) for total crop production, ~1000MCM/year for import and ~250MCM/year for export. Fruits and vegetables comprise ~80% of Export WF (~200MCM/year), ~50% of crop production and only ~20% of the imports. Economic Water Productivity [EWP] ($/m 3 ) for fruits and vegetables is 1.5 higher compared to other crops. Moreover, the results based on local and global datasets varied significantly, demonstrating the importance of developing high-resolution local datasets based on local crop coefficients. Performing high resolution WF analysis can help in developing agricultural policies that include support for low WF/high EWP and limit high WF/low EWP crop export, where water availability is limited. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. The Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) Initiative: Developing methods and best practices for global agricultural monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Champagne, C.; Jarvis, I.; Defourny, P.; Davidson, A.

    2014-12-01

    Agricultural systems differ significantly throughout the world, making a 'one size fits all' approach to remote sensing and monitoring of agricultural landscapes problematic. The Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) was established in 2009 to bring together the global scientific community to work towards a set of best practices and recommendations for using earth observation data to map, monitor and report on agricultural productivity globally across an array of diverse agricultural systems. These methods form the research and development component of the Group on Earth Observation Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) initiative to harmonize global monitoring efforts and increase market transparency. The JECAM initiative brings together researchers from a large number of globally distributed, well monitored agricultural test sites that cover a range of crop types, cropping systems and climate regimes. Each test site works independently as well as together across multiple sites to test methods, sensors and field data collection techniques to derive key agricultural parameters, including crop type, crop condition, crop yield and soil moisture. The outcome of this project will be a set of best practices that cover the range of remote sensing monitoring and reporting needs, including satellite data acquisition, pre-processing techniques, information retrieval and ground data validation. These outcomes provide the research and development foundation for GEOGLAM and will help to inform the development of the GEOGLAM "system of systems" for global agricultural monitoring. The outcomes of the 2014 JECAM science meeting will be discussed as well as examples of methods being developed by JECAM scientists.

  5. Animals & Livestock | National Agricultural Library

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to main content Home National Agricultural Library United States Department of Agriculture Ag (maps, tables, graphs), Agricultural Products html National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) Feed | Agricultural Research Service | Plain Language | FOIA | Accessibility Statement | Information Quality | Privacy

  6. Life Cycle Assessment | National Agricultural Library

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to main content Home National Agricultural Library United States Department of Agriculture Ag ; Livestock (3) Apply Animals & Livestock filter Agricultural Products (1) Apply Agricultural Products filter agricultural equipment (1) Apply agricultural equipment filter agricultural machinery (1) Apply

  7. Fabrication Of Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles Using Agricultural Crop Plant Leaf Extracts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rajani, P.; SriSindhura, K.; Prasad, T. N. V. K. V.; Hussain, O. M.; Sudhakar, P.; Latha, P.; Balakrishna, M.; Kambala, V.; Reddy, K. Raja

    2010-10-01

    Nanoparticles are being viewed as fundamental building blocks of nanotechnology. Biosynthesis of nanoparticles by plant extracts is currently under exploitation. Use of agricultural crop plant extracts for synthesis of metal nanoparticles would add a new dimension to the agricultural sector in the utilization of crop waste. Silver has long been recognized as having an inhibitory effect towards many bacterial strains and microorganisms commonly present in medical and industrial processes. Four pulse crop plants and three cereal crop plants (Vigna radiata, Arachis hypogaea, Cyamopsis tetragonolobus, Zea mays, Pennisetum glaucum, Sorghum vulgare) were used and compared for their extra cellular synthesis of metallic silver nanoparticles. Stable silver nanoparticles were formed by treating aqueous solution of AgNO3 with the plant leaf extracts as reducing agent at temperatures 50 °C-95 °C. UV-Visible spectroscopy was utilized to monitor the formation of silver nanoparticles. XRD analysis of formed silver nanoparticles revealed face centered cubic structure with (111), (200), (220) and (311) planes. SEM and EDAX analysis confirm the size of the formed silver nanoparticles to be in the range of 50-200 nm. Our proposed work offers a enviro-friendly method for biogenic silver nanoparticles production. This could provide a faster synthesis rate comparable to those of chemical methods and potentially be used in areas such as cosmetics, food and medical applications.

  8. 7 CFR 205.239 - Livestock living conditions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling Requirements § 205.239 Livestock living conditions. (a) The producer of an organic livestock operation must establish and maintain year-round...

  9. 7 CFR 205.239 - Livestock living conditions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling Requirements § 205.239 Livestock living conditions. (a) The producer of an organic livestock operation must establish and maintain year-round...

  10. 7 CFR 205.239 - Livestock living conditions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling Requirements § 205.239 Livestock living conditions. (a) The producer of an organic livestock operation must establish and maintain year-round...

  11. AquaCrop-OS: A tool for resilient management of land and water resources in agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Foster, Timothy; Brozovic, Nicholas; Butler, Adrian P.; Neale, Christopher M. U.; Raes, Dirk; Steduto, Pasquale; Fereres, Elias; Hsiao, Theodore C.

    2017-04-01

    Water managers, researchers, and other decision makers worldwide are faced with the challenge of increasing food production under population growth, drought, and rising water scarcity. Crop simulation models are valuable tools in this effort, and, importantly, provide a means of quantifying rapidly crop yield response to water, climate, and field management practices. Here, we introduce a new open-source crop modelling tool called AquaCrop-OS (Foster et al., 2017), which extends the functionality of the globally used FAO AquaCrop model. Through case studies focused on groundwater-fed irrigation in the High Plains and Central Valley of California in the United States, we demonstrate how AquaCrop-OS can be used to understand the local biophysical, behavioural, and institutional drivers of water risks in agricultural production. Furthermore, we also illustrate how AquaCrop-OS can be combined effectively with hydrologic and economic models to support drought risk mitigation and decision-making around water resource management at a range of spatial and temporal scales, and highlight future plans for model development and training. T. Foster, et al. (2017) AquaCrop-OS: An open source version of FAO's crop water productivity model. Agricultural Water Management. 181: 18-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2016.11.015.

  12. Portuguese agriculture and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions-can vegetables control livestock emissions?

    PubMed

    Mourao, Paulo Reis; Domingues Martinho, Vítor

    2017-07-01

    One of the most serious externalities of agricultural activity relates to greenhouse gas emissions. This work tests this relationship for the Portuguese case by examining data compiled since 1961. Employing cointegration techniques and vector error correction models (VECMs), we conclude that the evolution of the most representative vegetables and fruits in Portuguese production are associated with higher controls on the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions. Reversely, the evolution of the output levels of livestock and the most representative animal production have significantly increased the level of CO 2 (carbon dioxide) reported in Portugal. We also analyze the cycle length of the long-term relationship between agricultural activity and greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, we highlight the case of synthetic fertilizers, whose values of CO 2 have quickly risen due to changes in Portuguese vegetables, fruit, and animal production levels.

  13. 7 CFR 205.603 - Synthetic substances allowed for use in organic livestock production.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... livestock production. 205.603 Section 205.603 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Administrative The... organic livestock production. In accordance with restrictions specified in this section the following...

  14. 7 CFR 205.306 - Labeling of livestock feed.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Labeling of livestock feed. 205.306 Section 205.306 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT...

  15. Development of an agricultural biotechnology crop product: testing from discovery to commercialization.

    PubMed

    Privalle, Laura S; Chen, Jingwen; Clapper, Gina; Hunst, Penny; Spiegelhalter, Frank; Zhong, Cathy X

    2012-10-17

    "Genetically modified" (GM) or "biotech" crops have been the most rapidly adopted agricultural technology in recent years. The development of a GM crop encompasses trait identification, gene isolation, plant cell transformation, plant regeneration, efficacy evaluation, commercial event identification, safety evaluation, and finally commercial authorization. This is a lengthy, complex, and resource-intensive process. Crops produced through biotechnology are the most highly studied food or food component consumed. Before commercialization, these products are shown to be as safe as conventional crops with respect to feed, food, and the environment. This paper describes this global process and the various analytical tests that must accompany the product during the course of development, throughout its market life, and beyond.

  16. Biochemical production of bioenergy from agricultural crops and residue in Iran.

    PubMed

    Karimi Alavijeh, Masih; Yaghmaei, Soheila

    2016-06-01

    The present study assessed the potential for biochemical conversion of energy stored in agricultural waste and residue in Iran. The current status of agricultural residue as a source of bioenergy globally and in Iran was investigated. The total number of publications in this field from 2000 to 2014 was about 4294. Iran ranked 21st with approximately 54 published studies. A total of 87 projects have been devised globally to produce second-generation biofuel through biochemical pathways. There are currently no second-generation biorefineries in Iran and agricultural residue has no significant application. The present study determined the amount and types of sustainable agricultural residue and oil-rich crops and their provincial distribution. Wheat, barley, rice, corn, potatoes, alfalfa, sugarcane, sugar beets, apples, grapes, dates, cotton, soybeans, rapeseed, sesame seeds, olives, sunflowers, safflowers, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts have the greatest potential as agronomic and horticultural crops to produce bioenergy in Iran. A total of 11.33million tonnes (Mt) of agricultural biomass could be collected for production of bioethanol (3.84gigaliters (Gl)), biobutanol (1.07Gl), biogas (3.15billion cubic meters (BCM)), and biohydrogen (0.90BCM). Additionally, about 0.35Gl of biodiesel could be obtained using only 35% of total Iranian oilseed. The potential production capacity of conventional biofuel blends in Iran, environmental and socio-economic impacts including well-to-wheel greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the social cost of carbon dioxide reduction are discussed. The cost of emissions could decrease up to 55.83% by utilizing E85 instead of gasoline. The possible application of gaseous biofuel in Iran to produce valuable chemicals and provide required energy for crop cultivation is also studied. The energy recovered from biogas produced by wheat residue could provide energy input for 115.62 and 393.12 thousand hectares of irrigated and rain-fed wheat

  17. Interaction of turbine-generated turbulence with agricultural crops: Conceptual framework and preliminary results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takle, E. S.; Rajewski, D. A.; Segal, M.; Elmore, R.; Hatfield, J.; Prueger, J. H.; Taylor, S. E.

    2009-12-01

    The US Midwest is a unique location for wind power production because wind farms in this region, unlike any other, are co-located within major agricultural production systems that are among the most highly productive in the world. Iowa has over 3,000 MW of installed power in wind farms typically consisting of 75-120 turbines positioned within agricultural fields with irregular spacing but inter-turbine distances in some cases less than 300 m. Wind turbines extract energy from the ambient flow and change mean and turbulent characteristics of wind flow over and within the crop canopy. Turbulent exchange of air from within the crop canopy regulates vertical fluxes of heat, moisture, momentum, and CO2. Changes in wind speed and turbulence structure by wind farms and isolated wind turbines will influence crop growth, productivity, and seed quality in unknown ways. For instance, enhanced vertical fluxes of heat and moisture may help cool the crop on hot summer days (beneficial) but may enhance loss of soil moisture (detrimental). Faster drying of dew from the crop in the morning reduces leaf wetness, which is a condition favoring growth of fungus, mold and toxins. Corn and soybeans typically draw down ambient CO2 levels by 15-20% during the day in the peak growing season, providing an opportunity to enhance downward fluxes of CO2 into the crop canopy by turbine-induced turbulence. Reduction of high winds and resulting leaf shredding and stalk lodging are documented positive effects of agricultural shelterbelts and may be benefits of turbines as well. Enhanced surface evaporation during fall dry-down would improve seed readiness for storage and reduce artificial drying costs. Modification of surface wind convergence/divergence patterns may enhance convection and change rainfall patterns and modify snow deposition, melting, and soil-moisture-recharge in winter. Wind machines are widely used in orchards and vineyards for avoiding killing freezes, but turbine benefits for

  18. Ammonia Emissions from the Agriculture Sector of Argentina in a Context of Changing Technologies and Practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dawidowski, L. E.

    2015-12-01

    Agriculture is a key sector of the Argentinean economy, accounting for 6 to 8 5% of the GDP in the last ten years. Argentina switched in the 90´s from an articulated co-evolution between extensive livestock and crop farming, with annual rotation of crops and livestock, to intensive decoupled practices. Under these new production schemes, ecosystems were supplied with more nutrients, generating increasing levels of wastes. Other changes have also occurred, associated with the shift of the agricultural frontier and the consequent reduction in the cattle stock. In addition, changes related to climate through the strong increase in rainfall in the 80s and 90s in the west Pampas, helped to boost agricultural development. The agriculture sector accounts for practically all NH3 emissions in Argentina, however no inventory has been thus far available. To bridge this gap and particularly to have accurate input information to run coupled atmospheric chemistry models for secondary inorganic aerosols, we estimated 2000-2012 NH3 emissions, both at national and spatially disaggregated levels. Of particular interest for us was also temporal disaggregation as crops growing and temperature exhibit strong seasonal variability. As no NH3 inventory was available we also estimated related N2O emissions to verify our estimates with those of national GHG emission inventory (NEI). National NH3 emissions in 2012 amounted to 309.9 Gg, use of fertilizers accounted for 43.6%, manure management 18,9%, manure in pasture 36,0% and agricultural waste burning 1.5%. Our N2O estimates are in good agreement with the GHG-NEI. NH3 estimates in the EDGAR database for 2008 are 84.0% higher than ours for this year, and exhibit more significant differences per category, namely 113,6% higher for use of fertilizers and about 500% higher for agricultural waste burning. Urea dominates national NH3 emissions, accounting for 32,8% of the total and its use for wheat and corn crops dominates the trend.

  19. Contribution of insect pollinators to crop yield and quality varies with agricultural intensification

    PubMed Central

    Potts, Simon G.; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Vaissière, Bernard E.; Woyciechowski, Michal; Krewenka, Kristin M.; Tscheulin, Thomas; Roberts, Stuart P.M.; Szentgyörgyi, Hajnalka; Westphal, Catrin; Bommarco, Riccardo

    2014-01-01

    Background. Up to 75% of crop species benefit at least to some degree from animal pollination for fruit or seed set and yield. However, basic information on the level of pollinator dependence and pollinator contribution to yield is lacking for many crops. Even less is known about how insect pollination affects crop quality. Given that habitat loss and agricultural intensification are known to decrease pollinator richness and abundance, there is a need to assess the consequences for different components of crop production. Methods. We used pollination exclusion on flowers or inflorescences on a whole plant basis to assess the contribution of insect pollination to crop yield and quality in four flowering crops (spring oilseed rape, field bean, strawberry, and buckwheat) located in four regions of Europe. For each crop, we recorded abundance and species richness of flower visiting insects in ten fields located along a gradient from simple to heterogeneous landscapes. Results. Insect pollination enhanced average crop yield between 18 and 71% depending on the crop. Yield quality was also enhanced in most crops. For instance, oilseed rape had higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents when adequately pollinated, the proportion of empty seeds decreased in buckwheat, and strawberries’ commercial grade improved; however, we did not find higher nitrogen content in open pollinated field beans. Complex landscapes had a higher overall species richness of wild pollinators across crops, but visitation rates were only higher in complex landscapes for some crops. On the contrary, the overall yield was consistently enhanced by higher visitation rates, but not by higher pollinator richness. Discussion. For the four crops in this study, there is clear benefit delivered by pollinators on yield quantity and/or quality, but it is not maximized under current agricultural intensification. Honeybees, the most abundant pollinator, might partially compensate the loss of wild pollinators in

  20. Contribution of insect pollinators to crop yield and quality varies with agricultural intensification.

    PubMed

    Bartomeus, Ignasi; Potts, Simon G; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Vaissière, Bernard E; Woyciechowski, Michal; Krewenka, Kristin M; Tscheulin, Thomas; Roberts, Stuart P M; Szentgyörgyi, Hajnalka; Westphal, Catrin; Bommarco, Riccardo

    2014-01-01

    Background. Up to 75% of crop species benefit at least to some degree from animal pollination for fruit or seed set and yield. However, basic information on the level of pollinator dependence and pollinator contribution to yield is lacking for many crops. Even less is known about how insect pollination affects crop quality. Given that habitat loss and agricultural intensification are known to decrease pollinator richness and abundance, there is a need to assess the consequences for different components of crop production. Methods. We used pollination exclusion on flowers or inflorescences on a whole plant basis to assess the contribution of insect pollination to crop yield and quality in four flowering crops (spring oilseed rape, field bean, strawberry, and buckwheat) located in four regions of Europe. For each crop, we recorded abundance and species richness of flower visiting insects in ten fields located along a gradient from simple to heterogeneous landscapes. Results. Insect pollination enhanced average crop yield between 18 and 71% depending on the crop. Yield quality was also enhanced in most crops. For instance, oilseed rape had higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents when adequately pollinated, the proportion of empty seeds decreased in buckwheat, and strawberries' commercial grade improved; however, we did not find higher nitrogen content in open pollinated field beans. Complex landscapes had a higher overall species richness of wild pollinators across crops, but visitation rates were only higher in complex landscapes for some crops. On the contrary, the overall yield was consistently enhanced by higher visitation rates, but not by higher pollinator richness. Discussion. For the four crops in this study, there is clear benefit delivered by pollinators on yield quantity and/or quality, but it is not maximized under current agricultural intensification. Honeybees, the most abundant pollinator, might partially compensate the loss of wild pollinators in

  1. Impact of nowcasting on the production and processing of agricultural crops. [in the US

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dancer, W. S.; Tibbitts, T. W.

    1973-01-01

    The value was studied of improved weather information and weather forecasting to farmers, growers, and agricultural processing industries in the United States. The study was undertaken to identify the production and processing operations that could be improved with accurate and timely information on changing weather patterns. Estimates were then made of the potential savings that could be realized with accurate information about the prevailing weather and short term forecasts for up to 12 hours. This weather information has been termed nowcasting. The growing, marketing, and processing operations of the twenty most valuable crops in the United States were studied to determine those operations that are sensitive to short-term weather forecasting. Agricultural extension specialists, research scientists, growers, and representatives of processing industries were consulted and interviewed. The value of the crops included in this survey and their production levels are given. The total value for crops surveyed exceeds 24 billion dollars and represents more than 92 percent of total U.S. crop value.

  2. Sustainability of Italian Agriculture: A Methodological Approach for Assessing Crop Water Footprint at Local Scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Altobelli, F.; Dalla Marta, A.; Cimino, O.; Orlandini, S.; Natali, F.

    2014-12-01

    In a world where population is rapidly growing and where several planetary boundaries (i.e. climate change, biodiversity loss and nitrogen cycle) have already been crossed, agriculture is called to respond to the needs of food security through a sustainable use of natural resources. In particular, water is one of the main elements of fertility so the agricultural activity, and the whole agro-food chain, is one of the productive sectors more dependent on water resource and it is able to affect, at regional level, its availability for all the other sectors. In this study, we proposed a methodology for assessing the green and blue water footprint of the main Italian crops typical of the different geographical areas (northwest, northeast, center, and south) based on data extracted from Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). FADN is an instrument for evaluating the income of agricultural holdings and the impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy. Crops were selected based on incidence of cultivated area on the total arable land of FADN farms net. Among others, the database contains data on irrigation management (irrigated surface, length of irrigation season, volumes of water, etc.), and crop production. Meteorological data series were obtained by a combination of local weather stations and ECAD E-obs spatialized database. Crop water footprints were evaluated against water availability and risk of desertification maps of Italy. Further, we compared the crop water footprints obtained with our methodology with already existing data from similar studies in order to highlight the effects of spatial scale and level of detail of available data.

  3. Development of livestock production in the tropics: farm and farmers' perspectives.

    PubMed

    Oosting, S J; Udo, H M J; Viets, T C

    2014-08-01

    Because of an increasing demand for animal-source foods, an increasing desire to reduce poverty and an increasing need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production, tropical farming systems with livestock must increase their productivity. An important share of the global human and livestock populations are found within smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems, which should, therefore, contribute significantly towards this increase in livestock production. The present paper argues that increased livestock production in smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems faces many constraints at the level of the farm and the value chain. The present paper aims to describe and explain the impact of increased production from the farm and farmers' perspective, in order to understand the constraints for increased livestock production. A framework is presented that links farming systems to livestock value chains. It is concluded that farming systems that pass from subsistence to commercial livestock production will: (1) shift from rural to urban markets; (2) become part of a different value chain (with lower prices, higher demands for product quality and increased competition from peri-urban producers and imports); and (3) have to face changes in within-farm mechanisms and crop-livestock relationships. A model study showed that feed limitation, which is common in tropical farming systems with livestock, implies that maximum herd output is achieved with small herd sizes, leaving low-quality feeds unutilised. Maximal herd output is not achieved at maximal individual animal output. Having more animals than required for optimal production - which is often the case as a larger herd size supports non-production functions of livestock, such as manure production, draught, traction and capital storage - goes at the expense of animal-source food output. Improving low-quality feeds by treatment allows keeping more animals while maintaining the same level of production. Ruminant

  4. 77 FR 19682 - Proposed Information Collection; Wolf Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-02

    ...-FF09E30000] Proposed Information Collection; Wolf Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program AGENCY: Fish... Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a Wolf Livestock Demonstration Project Grant Program... of livestock loss due to predation by wolves; and Compensate livestock producers for livestock losses...

  5. Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the US Great Plains, 1870-2000.

    PubMed

    Parton, William J; Gutmann, Myron P; Merchant, Emily R; Hartman, Melannie D; Adler, Paul R; McNeal, Frederick M; Lutz, Susan M

    2015-08-25

    The Great Plains region of the United States is an agricultural production center for the global market and, as such, an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This article uses historical agricultural census data and ecosystem models to estimate the magnitude of annual GHG fluxes from all agricultural sources (e.g., cropping, livestock raising, irrigation, fertilizer production, tractor use) in the Great Plains from 1870 to 2000. Here, we show that carbon (C) released during the plow-out of native grasslands was the largest source of GHG emissions before 1930, whereas livestock production, direct energy use, and soil nitrous oxide emissions are currently the largest sources. Climatic factors mediate these emissions, with cool and wet weather promoting C sequestration and hot and dry weather increasing GHG release. This analysis demonstrates the long-term ecosystem consequences of both historical and current agricultural activities, but also indicates that adoption of available alternative management practices could substantially mitigate agricultural GHG fluxes, ranging from a 34% reduction with a 25% adoption rate to as much as complete elimination with possible net sequestration of C when a greater proportion of farmers adopt new agricultural practices.

  6. 7 CFR 205.236 - Origin of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT... livestock. (a) Livestock products that are to be sold, labeled, or represented as organic must be from...) Poultry. Poultry or edible poultry products must be from poultry that has been under continuous organic...

  7. Development of an unmanned agricultural robotics system for measuring crop conditions for precision aerial application

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    An Unmanned Agricultural Robotics System (UARS) is acquired, rebuilt with desired hardware, and operated in both classrooms and field. The UARS includes crop height sensor, crop canopy analyzer, normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) sensor, multispectral camera, and hyperspectral radiometer...

  8. Agricultural Census 2012: Publishing Mashable GIS Big Data Services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mueller, R.

    2014-12-01

    The 2012 Agricultural Census was released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 2nd 2014; published on a quinquennial basis covering all facets of American production agriculture. The Agricultural Census is a comprehensive source of uniform published agricultural data for every state and county in the US. This is the first Agricultural Census that is disseminated with web mapping services using REST APIs. USDA developed an open GIS mashable web portal that depicts over 250 maps on Crops and Plants, Economics, Farms, Livestock and Animals, and Operators. These mapping services written in JavaScript replace the traditional static maps published as the Ag Atlas. Web users can now visualize, interact, query, and download the Agricultural Census data in a means not previously discoverable. Stakeholders will now be able to leverage this data for activities such as community planning, agribusiness location suitability analytics, availability of loans/funds, service center locations and staffing, and farm programs and policies. Additional sites serving compatible mashable USDA Big Data web services are as follows: The Food Environment Atlas, The Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America, The Farm Program Atlas, SNAP Data System, CropScape, and VegScape. All portals use a similar data organization scheme of "Categories" and "Maps" providing interactive mashable web services for agricultural stakeholders to exploit.

  9. Applications of UAVs in row-crop agriculture: advantages and limitations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Basso, B.; Putnam, G.; Price, R.; Zhang, J.

    2016-12-01

    The application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to monitor agricultural fields has increased over the last few years due to advances in the technology, sensors, post-processing software for image analysis, along with more favorable regulations that allowed UAVs to be flown for commercial use. UAV have several capabilities depending on the type of sensors that are mounted onboard. The most widely used application remains crop scouting to identify areas within fields where the crops underperform for various reasons (nutritional status and water stress, presence of weeds, poor stands etc). In this talk, we present the preliminary results of UAVs field based research to better understand spatial and temporal variability of crop yield. Their advantage in providing timely information is critical, but adaptive management requires a system approach to account for the interactions occurring between genetics, environment and management.

  10. Agricultural biotechnology for crop improvement in a variable climate: hope or hype?

    PubMed

    Varshney, Rajeev K; Bansal, Kailash C; Aggarwal, Pramod K; Datta, Swapan K; Craufurd, Peter Q

    2011-07-01

    Developing crops that are better adapted to abiotic stresses is important for food production in many parts of the world today. Anticipated changes in climate and its variability, particularly extreme temperatures and changes in rainfall, are expected to make crop improvement even more crucial for food production. Here, we review two key biotechnology approaches, molecular breeding and genetic engineering, and their integration with conventional breeding to develop crops that are more tolerant of abiotic stresses. In addition to a multidisciplinary approach, we also examine some constraints that need to be overcome to realize the full potential of agricultural biotechnology for sustainable crop production to meet the demands of a projected world population of nine billion in 2050. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Biotech crops: imperative for achieving the millenium development goals and sustainability of agriculture in the climate change era.

    PubMed

    Husaini, Amjad M; Tuteja, Narendra

    2013-01-01

    Biotechnological intervention in the development of crops has opened new vistas in agriculture. Central to the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), biotech-agriculture is essential in meeting these targets. Biotech crops have already made modest contributions toward ensuring food and nutrition security by reducing losses and increasing productivity, with less pesticide input. These crops could help address some of the major challenges in agriculture-based economies created by climate change. Projections of global climate change expect the concentration of greenhouse gases to increase, aridization of the environment to increase, temperature fluctuations to occur sharply and frequently, and spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall to be disturbed-all of which will increase abiotic stress-related challenges to crops. Countering these challenges and to meet the food requirement of the ever-increasing world population (expected to reach 9 billion by 2030) we need to (1) develop and use biotech crops for mitigating adverse climatic changes; (2) develop biotech crops resilient to adverse environmental conditions; and (3) address the issues/non-issues raised by NGO's and educate the masses about the benefits of biotech crops.

  12. The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Town Hall

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ruane, Alex; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Kyle, Page; Basso, Bruno; Winter, Jonathan; Asseng, Senthold

    2015-01-01

    AgMIP (www.agmip.org) is an international community of climate, crop, livestock, economics, and IT experts working to further the development and application of multi-model, multi-scale, multi-disciplinary agricultural models that can inform policy and decision makers around the world. This meeting will engage the AGU community by providing a brief overview of AgMIP, in particular its new plans for a Coordinated Global and Regional Assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture and food security for AR6. This Town Hall will help identify opportunities for participants to become involved in AgMIP and its 30+ activities.

  13. A study on agricultural drought vulnerability at disaggregated level in a highly irrigated and intensely cropped state of India.

    PubMed

    Murthy, C S; Yadav, Manoj; Mohammed Ahamed, J; Laxman, B; Prawasi, R; Sesha Sai, M V R; Hooda, R S

    2015-03-01

    Drought is an important global hazard, challenging the sustainable agriculture and food security of nations. Measuring agricultural drought vulnerability is a prerequisite for targeting interventions to improve and sustain the agricultural performance of both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture. In this study, crop-generic agricultural drought vulnerability status is empirically measured through a composite index approach. The study area is Haryana state, India, a prime agriculture state of the country, characterised with low rainfall, high irrigation support and stable cropping pattern. By analysing the multiyear rainfall and crop condition data of kharif crop season (June-October) derived from satellite data and soil water holding capacity and groundwater quality, nine contributing indicators were generated for 120 blocks (sub-district administrative units). Composite indices for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity components were generated after assigning variance-based weightages to the respective input indicators. Agricultural Drought Vulnerability Index (ADVI) was developed through a linear combination of the three component indices. ADVI-based vulnerability categorisation revealed that 51 blocks are with vulnerable to very highly vulnerable status. These blocks are located in the southern and western parts of the state, where groundwater quality is saline and water holding capacity of soils is less. The ADVI map has effectively captured the spatial pattern of agricultural drought vulnerability in the state. Districts with large number of vulnerable blocks showed considerably larger variability of de-trended crop yields. Correlation analysis reveals that crop condition variability, groundwater quality and soil factors are closely associated with ADVI. The vulnerability index is useful to prioritise the blocks for implementation of long-term drought management plans. There is scope for improving the methodology by adding/fine-tuning the indicators and

  14. The food and environmental safety of Bt crops.

    PubMed

    Koch, Michael S; Ward, Jason M; Levine, Steven L; Baum, James A; Vicini, John L; Hammond, Bruce G

    2015-01-01

    Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) microbial pesticides have a 50-year history of safety in agriculture. Cry proteins are among the active insecticidal ingredients in these pesticides, and genes coding for Cry proteins have been introduced into agricultural crops using modern biotechnology. The Cry gene sequences are often modified to enable effective expression in planta and several Cry proteins have been modified to increase biological activity against the target pest(s). Additionally, the domains of different but structurally conserved Cry proteins can be combined to produce chimeric proteins with enhanced insecticidal properties. Environmental studies are performed and include invertebrates, mammals, and avian species. Mammalian studies used to support the food and feed safety assessment are also used to support the wild mammal assessment. In addition to the NTO assessment, the environmental assessment includes a comparative assessment between the Bt crop and the appropriate conventional control that is genetically similar but lacks the introduced trait to address unintended effects. Specific phenotypic, agronomic, and ecological characteristics are measured in the Bt crop and the conventional control to evaluate whether the introduction of the insect resistance has resulted in any changes that might cause ecological harm in terms of altered weed characteristics, susceptibility to pests, or adverse environmental impact. Additionally, environmental interaction data are collected in field experiments for Bt crop to evaluate potential adverse effects. Further to the agronomic and phenotypic evaluation, potential movement of transgenes from a genetically modified crop plants into wild relatives is assessed for a new pest resistance gene in a new crop. This review summarizes the evidence for safety of crops containing Cry proteins for humans, livestock, and other non-target organisms.

  15. The food and environmental safety of Bt crops

    PubMed Central

    Koch, Michael S.; Ward, Jason M.; Levine, Steven L.; Baum, James A.; Vicini, John L.; Hammond, Bruce G.

    2015-01-01

    Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) microbial pesticides have a 50-year history of safety in agriculture. Cry proteins are among the active insecticidal ingredients in these pesticides, and genes coding for Cry proteins have been introduced into agricultural crops using modern biotechnology. The Cry gene sequences are often modified to enable effective expression in planta and several Cry proteins have been modified to increase biological activity against the target pest(s). Additionally, the domains of different but structurally conserved Cry proteins can be combined to produce chimeric proteins with enhanced insecticidal properties. Environmental studies are performed and include invertebrates, mammals, and avian species. Mammalian studies used to support the food and feed safety assessment are also used to support the wild mammal assessment. In addition to the NTO assessment, the environmental assessment includes a comparative assessment between the Bt crop and the appropriate conventional control that is genetically similar but lacks the introduced trait to address unintended effects. Specific phenotypic, agronomic, and ecological characteristics are measured in the Bt crop and the conventional control to evaluate whether the introduction of the insect resistance has resulted in any changes that might cause ecological harm in terms of altered weed characteristics, susceptibility to pests, or adverse environmental impact. Additionally, environmental interaction data are collected in field experiments for Bt crop to evaluate potential adverse effects. Further to the agronomic and phenotypic evaluation, potential movement of transgenes from a genetically modified crop plants into wild relatives is assessed for a new pest resistance gene in a new crop. This review summarizes the evidence for safety of crops containing Cry proteins for humans, livestock, and other non-target organisms. PMID:25972882

  16. Amounts of calcium and magnesium cycled and its release kinetics in a long-term no-till integrated crop-livestock system with varying grazing intensities in subtropical region

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Under an integrated crop-livestock production system, plant and animal residues become an important nutrient stock. Grazing management could affect both plant and animal residue amount and quality, thereby influencing nutrient dynamics through modifications in nutrient release rates. The objective o...

  17. Not all GMOs are crop plants: non-plant GMO applications in agriculture.

    PubMed

    Hokanson, K E; Dawson, W O; Handler, A M; Schetelig, M F; St Leger, R J

    2014-12-01

    Since tools of modern biotechnology have become available, the most commonly applied and often discussed genetically modified organisms are genetically modified crop plants, although genetic engineering is also being used successfully in organisms other than plants, including bacteria, fungi, insects, and viruses. Many of these organisms, as with crop plants, are being engineered for applications in agriculture, to control plant insect pests or diseases. This paper reviews the genetically modified non-plant organisms that have been the subject of permit approvals for environmental release by the United States Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service since the US began regulating genetically modified organisms. This is an indication of the breadth and progress of research in the area of non-plant genetically modified organisms. This review includes three examples of promising research on non-plant genetically modified organisms for application in agriculture: (1) insects for insect pest control using improved vector systems; (2) fungal pathogens of insects to control insect pests; and (3) virus for use as transient-expression vectors for disease control in plants.

  18. Livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and rangeland values

    Treesearch

    Paul R. Krausman; David E. Naugle; Michael R. Frisina; Rick Northrup; Vernon C. Bleich; William M. Block; Mark C. Wallace; Jeffrey D. Wright

    2009-01-01

    Livestock managers make and implement grazing management decisions to achieve a variety of objectives including livestock production, sustainable grazing, and wildlife habitat enhancement. Assessed values of grazing lands and ranches are often based on aesthetics and wildlife habitat or recreational values, which can exceed agricultural values, thus providing...

  19. Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the US Great Plains, 1870–2000

    PubMed Central

    Parton, William J.; Gutmann, Myron P.; Merchant, Emily R.; Hartman, Melannie D.; Adler, Paul R.; McNeal, Frederick M.; Lutz, Susan M.

    2015-01-01

    The Great Plains region of the United States is an agricultural production center for the global market and, as such, an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This article uses historical agricultural census data and ecosystem models to estimate the magnitude of annual GHG fluxes from all agricultural sources (e.g., cropping, livestock raising, irrigation, fertilizer production, tractor use) in the Great Plains from 1870 to 2000. Here, we show that carbon (C) released during the plow-out of native grasslands was the largest source of GHG emissions before 1930, whereas livestock production, direct energy use, and soil nitrous oxide emissions are currently the largest sources. Climatic factors mediate these emissions, with cool and wet weather promoting C sequestration and hot and dry weather increasing GHG release. This analysis demonstrates the long-term ecosystem consequences of both historical and current agricultural activities, but also indicates that adoption of available alternative management practices could substantially mitigate agricultural GHG fluxes, ranging from a 34% reduction with a 25% adoption rate to as much as complete elimination with possible net sequestration of C when a greater proportion of farmers adopt new agricultural practices. PMID:26240366

  20. Identifying potential recommendation domains for conservation agriculture in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi.

    PubMed

    Tesfaye, Kindie; Jaleta, Moti; Jena, Pradyot; Mutenje, Munyaradzi

    2015-02-01

    Conservation agriculture (CA) is being promoted as an option for reducing soil degradation, conserving water, enhancing crop productivity, and maintaining yield stability. However, CA is a knowledge- and technology-intensive practice, and may not be feasible or may not perform better than conventional agriculture under all conditions and farming systems. Using high resolution (≈1 km(2)) biophysical and socioeconomic geospatial data, this study identified potential recommendation domains (RDs) for CA in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. The biophysical variables used were soil texture, surface slope, and rainfall while the socioeconomic variables were market access and human and livestock population densities. Based on feasibility and comparative performance of CA over conventional agriculture, the biophysical and socioeconomic factors were first used to classify cultivated areas into three biophysical and three socioeconomic potential domains, respectively. Combinations of biophysical and socioeconomic domains were then used to develop potential RDs for CA based on adoption potential within the cultivated areas. About 39, 12, and 5% of the cultivated areas showed high biophysical and socioeconomic potential while 50, 39, and 21% of the cultivated areas showed high biophysical and medium socioeconomic potential for CA in Malawi, Kenya, and Ethiopia, respectively. The results indicate considerable acreages of land with high CA adoption potential in the mixed crop-livestock systems of the studied countries. However, there are large differences among countries depending on biophysical and socio-economic conditions. The information generated in this study could be used for targeting CA and prioritizing CA-related agricultural research and investment priorities in the three countries.

  1. Identifying Potential Recommendation Domains for Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tesfaye, Kindie; Jaleta, Moti; Jena, Pradyot; Mutenje, Munyaradzi

    2015-02-01

    Conservation agriculture (CA) is being promoted as an option for reducing soil degradation, conserving water, enhancing crop productivity, and maintaining yield stability. However, CA is a knowledge- and technology-intensive practice, and may not be feasible or may not perform better than conventional agriculture under all conditions and farming systems. Using high resolution (≈1 km2) biophysical and socioeconomic geospatial data, this study identified potential recommendation domains (RDs) for CA in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. The biophysical variables used were soil texture, surface slope, and rainfall while the socioeconomic variables were market access and human and livestock population densities. Based on feasibility and comparative performance of CA over conventional agriculture, the biophysical and socioeconomic factors were first used to classify cultivated areas into three biophysical and three socioeconomic potential domains, respectively. Combinations of biophysical and socioeconomic domains were then used to develop potential RDs for CA based on adoption potential within the cultivated areas. About 39, 12, and 5 % of the cultivated areas showed high biophysical and socioeconomic potential while 50, 39, and 21 % of the cultivated areas showed high biophysical and medium socioeconomic potential for CA in Malawi, Kenya, and Ethiopia, respectively. The results indicate considerable acreages of land with high CA adoption potential in the mixed crop-livestock systems of the studied countries. However, there are large differences among countries depending on biophysical and socio-economic conditions. The information generated in this study could be used for targeting CA and prioritizing CA-related agricultural research and investment priorities in the three countries.

  2. The value of seasonal forecasting and crop mix adaptation to climate variability for agriculture under climate change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Choi, H. S.; Schneider, U.; Schmid, E.; Held, H.

    2012-04-01

    Changes to climate variability and frequency of extreme weather events are expected to impose damages to the agricultural sector. Seasonal forecasting and long range prediction skills have received attention as an option to adapt to climate change because seasonal climate and yield predictions could improve farmers' management decisions. The value of seasonal forecasting skill is assessed with a crop mix adaptation option in Spain where drought conditions are prevalent. Yield impacts of climate are simulated for six crops (wheat, barely, cotton, potato, corn and rice) with the EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) model. Daily weather data over the period 1961 to 1990 are used and are generated by the regional climate model REMO as reference period for climate projection. Climate information and its consequent yield variability information are given to the stochastic agricultural sector model to calculate the value of climate information in the agricultural market. Expected consumers' market surplus and producers' revenue is compared with and without employing climate forecast information. We find that seasonal forecasting benefits not only consumers but also producers if the latter adopt a strategic crop mix. This mix differs from historical crop mixes by having higher shares of crops which fare relatively well under climate change. The corresponding value of information is highly sensitive to farmers' crop mix choices.

  3. Agricultural ponds support amphibian populations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Knutson, M.G.; Richardson, W.B.; Reineke, D.M.; Gray, B.R.; Parmelee, J.R.; Weick, S.E.

    2004-01-01

    In some agricultural regions, natural wetlands are scarce, and constructed agricultural ponds may represent important alternative breeding habitats for amphibians. Properly managed, these agricultural ponds may effectively increase the total amount of breeding habitat and help to sustain populations. We studied small, constructed agricultural ponds in southeastern Minnesota to assess their value as amphibian breeding sites. Our study examined habitat factors associated with amphibian reproduction at two spatial scales: the pond and the landscape surrounding the pond. We found that small agricultural ponds in southeastern Minnesota provided breeding habitat for at least 10 species of amphibians. Species richness and multispecies reproductive success were more closely associated with characteristics of the pond (water quality, vegetation, and predators) compared with characteristics of the surrounding landscape, but individual species were associated with both pond and landscape variables. Ponds surrounded by row crops had similar species richness and reproductive success compared with natural wetlands and ponds surrounded by nongrazed pasture. Ponds used for watering livestock had elevated concentrations of phosphorus, higher turbidity, and a trend toward reduced amphibian reproductive success. Species richness was highest in small ponds, ponds with lower total nitrogen concentrations, tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) present, and lacking fish. Multispecies reproductive success was best in ponds with lower total nitrogen concentrations, less emergent vegetation, and lacking fish. Habitat factors associated with higher reproductive success varied among individual species. We conclude that small, constructed farm ponds, properly managed, may help sustain amphibian populations in landscapes where natural wetland habitat is rare. We recommend management actions such as limiting livestock access to the pond to improve water quality, reducing nitrogen input, and

  4. High-Density Livestock Production and Molecularly Characterized MRSA Infections in Pennsylvania

    PubMed Central

    Casey, Joan A.; Shopsin, Bo; Cosgrove, Sara E.; Nachman, Keeve E.; Curriero, Frank C.; Rose, Hannah R.

    2014-01-01

    Background: European studies suggest that living near high-density livestock production increases the risk of sequence type (ST) 398 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization. To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated associations between livestock production and human infection by other strain types. Objectives: We evaluated associations between MRSA molecular subgroups and high-density livestock production. Methods: We conducted a yearlong 2012 prospective study on a stratified random sample of patients with culture-confirmed MRSA infection; we oversampled patients from the Geisinger Health System with exposure to high-density livestock production in Pennsylvania. Isolates were characterized using S. aureus protein A (spa) typing and detection of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and scn genes. We compared patients with one of two specific MRSA strains with patients with all other strains of MRSA isolates, using logistic regression that accounted for the sampling design, for two different exposure models: one based on the location of the animals (livestock model) and the other on crop field application of manure (crop field model). Results: Of 196 MRSA isolates, we identified 30 spa types, 47 PVL-negative and 15 scn-negative isolates, and no ST398 MRSA. Compared with quartiles 1–3 combined, the highest quartiles of swine livestock and dairy/veal crop field exposures were positively associated with community-onset-PVL-negative MRSA (CO-PVL-negative MRSA vs. all other MRSA), with adjusted odds ratios of 4.24 (95% CI: 1.60, 11.25) and 4.88 (95% CI: 1.40, 17.00), respectively. The association with CO-PVL-negative MRSA infection increased across quartiles of dairy/veal livestock exposure (trend p = 0.05). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that other MRSA strains, beyond ST398, may be involved in livestock-associated MRSA infection in the United States. Citation: Casey JA, Shopsin B, Cosgrove SE, Nachman KE, Curriero FC, Rose HR, Schwartz BS

  5. Sustainable livestock production on rangelands: Emerging trends in the USA

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    A recent review of statistics published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showed that global livestock numbers have increased steadily over the past 30 years. By 2030, livestock numbers in the developing world are expected to reach record highs that will surpass livestock popu...

  6. An Analysis of the Impact of Heat Waves in Labor and Crop Productivity in the Agricultural Sector in California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Castillo, F.; Wehner, M. F.; Gilless, J. K.

    2017-12-01

    California agriculture is an important economic activity for the state. California leads the nation in farms sales since 1950. In addition, agricultural employment in California reached approximately 410,000. Production of many fruits and vegetables is labor intensive and labor costs represent anywhere from 20% to 40% of total production costs. In additon, agricutlural production growth has been the highest for labor intensive crops such as berries (all types) and nuts. Given the importance of the agricultural sector and the labor component whithin it, the analysis of the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector of California becomes imperative. Heat waves are a weather related extreme that impact labor productivity, specially outdoor labor producitivity. We use crop production function analysis that incorporates socio economic variables such as crop prices, total acreage, production levels and harvest timiline with climate related variables such as an estimated Heat Index (HI) to analize the impact of heat waves on crop production via an impact on labor productivity for selected crops in the Central and Imperial Valleys in California. The analysis finds that the impact of heat waves varies by the degree of labor intensity of the crop and the relative intensity of the heat wave.

  7. Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability.

    PubMed

    Erb, Karl-Heinz; Haberl, Helmut; Plutzar, Christoph

    2012-08-01

    The future bioenergy crop potential depends on (1) changes in the food system (food demand, agricultural technology), (2) political stability and investment security, (3) biodiversity conservation, (4) avoidance of long carbon payback times from deforestation, and (5) energy crop yields. Using a biophysical biomass-balance model, we analyze how these factors affect global primary bioenergy potentials in 2050. The model calculates biomass supply and demand balances for eleven world regions, eleven food categories, seven food crop types and two livestock categories, integrating agricultural forecasts and scenarios with a consistent global land use and NPP database. The TREND scenario results in a global primary bioenergy potential of 77 EJ/yr, alternative assumptions on food-system changes result in a range of 26-141 EJ/yr. Exclusion of areas for biodiversity conservation and inaccessible land in failed states reduces the bioenergy potential by up to 45%. Optimistic assumptions on future energy crop yields increase the potential by up to 48%, while pessimistic assumptions lower the potential by 26%. We conclude that the design of sustainable bioenergy crop production policies needs to resolve difficult trade-offs such as food vs. energy supply, renewable energy vs. biodiversity conservation or yield growth vs. reduction of environmental problems of intensive agriculture.

  8. Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability

    PubMed Central

    Erb, Karl-Heinz; Haberl, Helmut; Plutzar, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    The future bioenergy crop potential depends on (1) changes in the food system (food demand, agricultural technology), (2) political stability and investment security, (3) biodiversity conservation, (4) avoidance of long carbon payback times from deforestation, and (5) energy crop yields. Using a biophysical biomass-balance model, we analyze how these factors affect global primary bioenergy potentials in 2050. The model calculates biomass supply and demand balances for eleven world regions, eleven food categories, seven food crop types and two livestock categories, integrating agricultural forecasts and scenarios with a consistent global land use and NPP database. The TREND scenario results in a global primary bioenergy potential of 77 EJ/yr, alternative assumptions on food-system changes result in a range of 26–141 EJ/yr. Exclusion of areas for biodiversity conservation and inaccessible land in failed states reduces the bioenergy potential by up to 45%. Optimistic assumptions on future energy crop yields increase the potential by up to 48%, while pessimistic assumptions lower the potential by 26%. We conclude that the design of sustainable bioenergy crop production policies needs to resolve difficult trade-offs such as food vs. energy supply, renewable energy vs. biodiversity conservation or yield growth vs. reduction of environmental problems of intensive agriculture. PMID:23576836

  9. Aspects of agricultural land use in Ireland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, J.

    1986-02-01

    Ireland's soil regions consist largely of Luvisols, Cambisols, and Gleysols. Approximately 60% of Ireland's land area is subject to varying degrees of soil limitations. Twenty-five percent of the land area comprises wet lowland mineral soils. Ninety percent of Ireland's agricultural area comprises pasture, hay, and silage. Approximately 30% of the agricultural area is devoted to dairying, and 55% to cattle production. is devoted to dairying, and 55% to cattle production. Trends in agricultural land use indicate that tillage declined substantially while livestock showed a substantial increase particularly in the decade 1965 1975. Research concludes that over 2.8 million ha has a capacity to carry at least 100 LU/40 ha (100 acres). Levels of fertilizer use in Ireland are below EEC levels. The highest fertilizer use levels are associated with the eastern and southern areas of Ireland. Tillage crops occupy only 10% of the agricultural area, while they account for 26% of tertilizer and lime use.

  10. Response to issues on GM agriculture in Africa: Are transgenic crops safe?

    PubMed

    Adenle, Ademola A

    2011-10-08

    The controversies surrounding transgenic crops, often called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), call for a need to raise the level of public awareness of Genetic Modification (GM) technology in Africa. This should be accomplished by educating the public about the potential benefits and risks that may be associated with this new technology. In the last 15 years, GM crop producing countries have benefited from adoption of this new technology in the form of improved crop productivity, food security, and quality of life. The increased income to resource-poor farmers is a key benefit at the individual level especially as most countries using this technology are in the developing world, including three African countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt). Despite clear benefits to countries and farmers who grow GMOs, many people are concerned about suspected potential risks associated with GMOs. This sparks debate as to whether GM technology should be adopted or not. Given the concerns regarding the safety of GMO products, thorough scientific investigation of safe application of GMOs is required. The objective of this paper is to respond to the issues of GM agriculture in Africa and some of the issues surrounding the adoption of GM crops between developed and developing countries. In this article, I analyse relevant papers relating to the adoption of GM technology particularly in developing countries including the few African countries that have adopted GM crops. The issues discussed span a wide range including: safety; potential benefits and risks; disputes between the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) over adoption of GM crops with a focus on Africa continent. This article is concluded by summarising the issues raised and how GM technology can be adopted for agricultural development in Africa.

  11. Response to issues on GM agriculture in Africa: Are transgenic crops safe?

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    The controversies surrounding transgenic crops, often called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), call for a need to raise the level of public awareness of Genetic Modification (GM) technology in Africa. This should be accomplished by educating the public about the potential benefits and risks that may be associated with this new technology. In the last 15 years, GM crop producing countries have benefited from adoption of this new technology in the form of improved crop productivity, food security, and quality of life. The increased income to resource-poor farmers is a key benefit at the individual level especially as most countries using this technology are in the developing world, including three African countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt). Despite clear benefits to countries and farmers who grow GMOs, many people are concerned about suspected potential risks associated with GMOs. This sparks debate as to whether GM technology should be adopted or not. Given the concerns regarding the safety of GMO products, thorough scientific investigation of safe application of GMOs is required. The objective of this paper is to respond to the issues of GM agriculture in Africa and some of the issues surrounding the adoption of GM crops between developed and developing countries. In this article, I analyse relevant papers relating to the adoption of GM technology particularly in developing countries including the few African countries that have adopted GM crops. The issues discussed span a wide range including: safety; potential benefits and risks; disputes between the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) over adoption of GM crops with a focus on Africa continent. This article is concluded by summarising the issues raised and how GM technology can be adopted for agricultural development in Africa. PMID:21981823

  12. Chapter 2: Livestock and Grazed Lands Emissions

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    A total of 342 MMT CO2 eq. of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) were emitted from livestock, managed livestock waste, and grazed land in 2013. This represents about 66% of total emissions from the agricultural sector, which totaled 516 MMT CO2 eq. Compared to the base line year (1990), emissions from livesto...

  13. Implications of climate change scenarios for agriculture in alpine regions--a case study in the Swiss Rhone catchment.

    PubMed

    Fuhrer, J; Smith, P; Gobiet, A

    2014-09-15

    Coping with climate change in agriculture requires knowledge of trends in agro-climatic conditions with a focus at the smaller scales where decisions are taken. As part of the EU FP7 ACQWA project, the situation was analyzed for agriculture in the case of the Swiss Rhone catchment (Valais) where cultivation of permanent crops (orchards and vineyards) and livestock production are the most important agro-economic activities. The aim of this study was to use daily data from four downscaled and bias corrected transient climate change scenarios to analyze changes in water and temperature related indices over the period 1951-2050 for three locations (Aigle, Sion, Montana) that are representative of different production zones in the catchment. The results indicate that most relevant implications are caused by projected changes in temperature and not in precipitation. They indicate an extension of the thermal growing season with potentially positive effects on pasture and livestock production, most pronounced at the mountain site (Montana), but a trend towards increasing risks of frost in permanent crops and in heat stress for livestock at the valley bottom (Aigle, Sion). The increase in water requirement for irrigation in 2021-2050 relative to 1981-2009 is moderate (4-16%, depending on location). However, in years with low amounts of snow and rain, in small catchments with a nival regime, reduced water supply by rivers could restrict the surface area of grassland that can be irrigated, particularly during springtime. It is concluded that coping with heat-related risks may be most needed at the lower cropland and pasture sites while water-related issues would become more relevant in more elevated locations where pasture-based livestock production is the dominant type of agricultural land use. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Radio/antenna mounting system for wireless networking under row-crop agriculture conditions

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Interest in and deployment of wireless monitoring systems is increasing in many diverse environments, including row-crop agricultural fields. While many studies have been undertaken to evaluate various aspects of wireless monitoring and networking, such as electronic hardware components, data-colle...

  15. Biotechnology and the American agricultural industry. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association.

    PubMed

    1991-03-20

    To meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and minimize the toxic influences of traditional farming practices on the environment, the American agricultural industry has applied molecular technology to the development of food crops and livestock. By placing genes specific for highly desirable phenotypes into the DNA of plants, animals, and bacteria, farmers have increased crop and livestock survival, enhanced the nutritional quality of foods, increased industry productivity, and reduced the need for toxic pesticides and herbicides. However, introduction of genetically modified foods into the marketplace has raised a spectrum of public health issues. Physicians, as the most proximal scientific resource for most individuals, are uniquely positioned to address patient concerns regarding the safety of genetically altered foods. This report provides an overview of the inherent risks and benefits of "agrogenetics" and offers a series of recommendations designed to promote the education of the medical community and dispel public misconception regarding genetic manipulation.

  16. Livestock Judges Training Provides Hands-On Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nash, Scott; Harrison, Steve; Packham, Joel; Sanchez, Dawn; Jensen, Jim; Kaysen, Brett; King, Marc

    2016-01-01

    The judging of a market animal at a fair is the highlight of a youth-owned livestock project. Livestock judges are hired to evaluate youth projects at fairs. They are critical ambassadors for agriculture and influence countless youths and adults. Judges must be knowledgeable about current animal evaluation methods that support youth development.…

  17. Agriculture. Sheep Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Coll. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Inst.

    This task-based curriculum guide for agricultural production, specifically for sheep, is intended to help the teacher develop a classroom management system where students learn by doing. Introductory materials include a Dictionary of Occupational Titles job code and title sheet, a task sheet for developing leadership skills, and a task list. Each…

  18. Agriculture. Swine Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Coll. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Inst.

    This task-based curriculum guide for agricultural production, specifically for swine, is intended to help the teacher develop a classroom management system where students learn by doing. Introductory materials include a Dictionary of Occupational Titles job code and title sheet, a task sheet for developing leadership skills, and a task list. Each…

  19. Agriculture. Poultry Livestock.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Coll. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Inst.

    This task-based curriculum guide for agricultural production, specifically for poultry, is intended to help the teacher develop a classroom management system where students learn by doing. Introductory materials include a Dictionary of Occupational Titles job code and title sheet, a task sheet for developing leadership skills, and a task list.…

  20. [Regional differences and development tendency of livestock manure pollution in China].

    PubMed

    Qiu, Huan-Guang; Liao, Shao-Pan; Jing, Yue; Luan, Jiang

    2013-07-01

    The rapid development of livestock production in China has brought livestock manure pollution as a serious environment problem, even threatens China's agriculture sustainable development. On the basis of public statistical data and field research data, this paper analyzed the magnitude of livestock manure excretion and pollution of China and different provinces in 2010, and predicted development tendencies of livestock manure excretion and pollution in 2020 through the Decision Support System for China's Agricultural Sustainable Development (CHINAGRO). The result shows that total livestock manure excretion of China in 2010 is 1 900 million tons, and livestock manure pollution is 227 million tons, while per hectare arable land of livestock manure pollution is 1.86 tons. Provinces in the southeast China, such as Guangdong and Fujian, are areas with high pressure of livestock manure pollution. Model simulation shows that China's total amount of livestock manure pollution will increase to 298 million tons in 2020 without government intervention. The pressure of livestock manure pollution will become higher in most regions of China, especially in east and south regions. The situation in central and western region is better than that in east regions although the pollution pressure will also increase in those areas. Policy intervention such as taxes and subsidies should be adopted to reduce the discharge of livestock manure pollution, and encourage livestock production transfer from eastern areas to the central and western regions.

  1. Livestock feed resources utilization practices in Tanqua-Abergelle district of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.

    PubMed

    Gebremariam, Tikabo; Belay, Shumuye

    2016-08-01

    A study was carried out with the objective to assess the utilization practices of local feed resources. It was implemented in Tanqua-Abergelle district of the Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia. Lemlem and Gera peasant associations (PAs) were selected purposively based on their potentiality in livestock resources and road access for household (HH) interview purpose. Likewise, Sheka-Tekli and Hadinet PAs were chosen for the purpose of focus group discussion (FGD). A total of 60 HHs (30 from each PA) were selected randomly for interview using semi-structured questionnaire. About 16 % of the respondents were female HHs. Two FGDs were held with key informants. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (2013, version 21) statistical software procedures. The study area is characterized by mixed crop-livestock farming system with high interaction between crop and livestock. Livestock are the mainstay for the farm community with many benefits as sources of draught, meat, milk, income, and manures. Cattle are kept primarily for the purpose of draught power with meat and milk as secondary products, whereas shoats are kept mainly for cash income, manure, meat, and milk. The land holding size per HH was 1.44 ha while the herd size was 4.93 tropical livestock unit (TLU). Almost all the land holding (97 %) is allocated for crop cultivation with lesser for forage production (<1 %) indicating poor attention for fodder harvesting. The cattle herd is composed of local breeds (99 %) with less exotic/crossbred (1 %), indicating that the livestock rearing is practiced using local breed. Crop residues, natural pastures, stubble grazing, hay, and browsing are the main feed resources for animals. The availability and contribution of each feed vary with season and areas. Sorghum stover is the main feed source in the area and followed by maize stover, Eragrostis tef straw, and pulse straws. Crop residues are fed as basal diet with no or less supplementation using local concentrates

  2. Hybridization of powdery mildew strains gives rise to pathogens on novel agricultural crop species.

    PubMed

    Menardo, Fabrizio; Praz, Coraline R; Wyder, Stefan; Ben-David, Roi; Bourras, Salim; Matsumae, Hiromi; McNally, Kaitlin E; Parlange, Francis; Riba, Andrea; Roffler, Stefan; Schaefer, Luisa K; Shimizu, Kentaro K; Valenti, Luca; Zbinden, Helen; Wicker, Thomas; Keller, Beat

    2016-02-01

    Throughout the history of agriculture, many new crop species (polyploids or artificial hybrids) have been introduced to diversify products or to increase yield. However, little is known about how these new crops influence the evolution of new pathogens and diseases. Triticale is an artificial hybrid of wheat and rye, and it was resistant to the fungal pathogen powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) until 2001 (refs. 1,2,3). We sequenced and compared the genomes of 46 powdery mildew isolates covering several formae speciales. We found that B. graminis f. sp. triticale, which grows on triticale and wheat, is a hybrid between wheat powdery mildew (B. graminis f. sp. tritici) and mildew specialized on rye (B. graminis f. sp. secalis). Our data show that the hybrid of the two mildews specialized on two different hosts can infect the hybrid plant species originating from those two hosts. We conclude that hybridization between mildews specialized on different species is a mechanism of adaptation to new crops introduced by agriculture.

  3. Computer-aided boundary delineation of agricultural lands

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cheng, Thomas D.; Angelici, Gary L.; Slye, Robert E.; Ma, Matt

    1989-01-01

    The National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) presently uses labor-intensive aerial photographic interpretation techniques to divide large geographical areas into manageable-sized units for estimating domestic crop and livestock production. Prototype software, the computer-aided stratification (CAS) system, was developed to automate the procedure, and currently runs on a Sun-based image processing system. With a background display of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper and United States Geological Survey Digital Line Graph data, the operator uses a cursor to delineate agricultural areas, called sampling units, which are assigned to strata of land-use and land-cover types. The resultant stratified sampling units are used as input into subsequent USDA sampling procedures. As a test, three counties in Missouri were chosen for application of the CAS procedures. Subsequent analysis indicates that CAS was five times faster in creating sampling units than the manual techniques were.

  4. Agricultural Intensification in the Amazon: Tracking Nitrogen Fertilizer from Soy-Maize Double Cropping to Streams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cabrera, V. D.; Jankowski, K.; Neill, C.; Macedo, M.; Deegan, L.; Brando, P. M.; Nascimento, S.; Nascimento, E.; Rocha, S.; Coe, M. T.; Nunes, D.

    2015-12-01

    Globalization and the increasing demand for food create pressure to both expand and intensify agriculture. These changes have potentially large consequences for the solute concentrations and functioning of streams. In the Brazilian Amazon, crop agriculture expanded greatly during the last 20 years. More recently, farmers have intensified production on existing cropland by double cropping of soy and maize during the same year. Maize, a novel crop for the region, requires much higher applications of nitrogen (N) fertilizer than soybeans. To determine whether this novel land use and associated N addition influenced N concentrations in groundwater and stream water, we measured N concentrations in groundwater wells and streams from small headwater watersheds across three land uses (soy-maize, soy, and tropical forest) in the Upper Xingu Basin, a region of rapid cropland intensification in the southern Amazon. Each watershed contained six groundwater wells arranged in a transect reaching cropland field edge on either side of the stream. Total inorganic N concentrations were higher in wells adjacent to fields where double cropping occurred, while stream concentrations did not differ overall among land uses. This suggests the riparian zones are critical in the removal of N, but as the intensification of agriculture continues the ability of the riparian zone to prevent N from traveling to streams is unknown. Their protection is critical to the functioning of tropical watersheds.

  5. Economic potential of short-rotation woody crops on agricultural land for pulp fiber production in the United States.

    Treesearch

    Ralph J. Alig; Darius M. Adams; Bruce A. McCarl; Peter J. Ince

    2000-01-01

    A model of the U.S. forestry and agricultural sectors is used to simulate the consequences of growing short-rotation woody crops on agricultural lands as a fiber source for pulp and paper production. Hybrid poplar, a short-rotation woody crop, annually produces 4 to 7 dry tons per acre of hardwood pulpwood over a 6- to 10-year rotation. When harvested, the material...

  6. Future Climate Impacts on Crop Water Demand and Groundwater Longevity in Agricultural Regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Russo, T. A.; Sahoo, S.; Elliott, J. W.; Foster, I.

    2016-12-01

    Improving groundwater management practices under future drought conditions in agricultural regions requires three steps: 1) estimating the impacts of climate and drought on crop water demand, 2) projecting groundwater availability given climate and demand forcing, and 3) using this information to develop climate-smart policy and water use practices. We present an innovative combination of models to address the first two steps, and inform the third. Crop water demand was simulated using biophysical crop models forced by multiple climate models and climate scenarios, with one case simulating climate adaptation (e.g. modify planting or harvest time) and another without adaptation. These scenarios were intended to represent a range of drought projections and farm management responses. Nexty, we used projected climate conditions and simulated water demand across the United States as inputs to a novel machine learning-based groundwater model. The model was applied to major agricultural regions relying on the High Plains and Mississippi Alluvial aquifer systems in the US. The groundwater model integrates input data preprocessed using single spectrum analysis, mutual information, and a genetic algorithm, with an artificial neural network model. Model calibration and test results indicate low errors over the 33 year model run, and strong correlations to groundwater levels in hundreds of wells across each aquifer. Model results include a range of projected groundwater level changes from the present to 2050, and in some regions, identification and timeframe of aquifer depletion. These results quantify aquifer longevity under climate and crop scenarios, and provide decision makers with the data needed to compare scenarios of crop water demand, crop yield, and groundwater response, as they aim to balance water sustainability with food security.

  7. The development, evaluation, and application of O3 flux and flux-response models for additional agricultural crops

    Treesearch

    L. D. Emberson; W. J. Massman; P. Buker; G. Soja; I. Van De Sand; G. Mills; C. Jacobs

    2006-01-01

    Currently, stomatal O3 flux and flux-response models only exist for wheat and potato (LRTAP Convention, 2004), as such there is a need to extend these models to include additional crop types. The possibility of establishing robust stomatal flux models for five agricultural crops (tomato, grapevine, sugar beet, maize and sunflower) was investigated. These crops were...

  8. Regional-scale fluxes of zinc, copper, and nickel into and out of the agricultural soils of the Kermanshah province in western Iran.

    PubMed

    Ahmadi Doabi, Shahab; Karami, Mahin; Afyuni, Majid

    2016-04-01

    It is important to study the status and trend of soil contamination with trace elements to make sustainable management strategies for agricultural soils. This study was conducted in order to model zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and nickel (Ni) accumulation rates in agricultural soils of Kermanshah province using input and output fluxes mass balance and to evaluate the associated uncertainties. The input and output fluxes of Zn, Cu, and Ni into (from) the agricultural soils of Kermanshah province via livestock manure, mineral fertilizers, municipal waste compost, pesticides, atmospheric deposition, and crop removal were assessed for the period 2000-2014. The data were collected to compute the fluxes at both township and regional scales from available databases such as regional agricultural statistics. The basic units of the balance were 9 townships of Kermanshah province. Averaged over the entire study region, the estimated net fluxes of Zn, Cu, and Ni into agricultural soils were 341, 84, and131 g ha year(-1), with a range of 211 to 1621, 61 to 463, and 114 to 679 among the townships. The livestock manure was responsible for 55, 56, and 67 % of the total Zn, Cu, and Ni inputs at regional scale, while municipal waste compost and mineral fertilizers accounted for approximately 19, 38, and 15 % and 24, 4, and 14 % of the total Zn, Cu, and Ni inputs, respectively. Atmospheric deposition was a considerable source only for Ni and at township scale (7-29 % of total Ni input). For Zn, Cu, and Ni, the input-to-output ratio of the fluxes ranged from 1.8 to 48.9, 2 to 48.2, and 4 to 303 among townships and averaged 2.8, 3, and 9 for the entire study area, respectively. Considering that outputs other than with crop harvests are minor, this means that Zn, Cu, and Ni (in particular Ni) stocks are rapidly building up in soils of some parts of the study region. Uncertainties in the livestock manure and crop removal data were the main sources of estimation uncertainty in this study

  9. Livestock models in translational medicine.

    PubMed

    Roth, James A; Tuggle, Christopher K

    2015-01-01

    This issue of the ILAR Journal focuses on livestock models in translational medicine. Livestock models of selected human diseases present important advantages as compared with rodent models for translating fundamental breakthroughs in biology to useful preventatives and therapeutics for humans. Livestock reflect the complexity of applying medical advances in an outbred species. In many cases, the pathogenesis of infectious, metabolic, genetic, and neoplastic diseases in livestock species more closely resembles that in humans than does the pathogenesis of rodent models. Livestock models also provide the advantage of similar organ size and function and the ability to serially sample an animal throughout the study period. Research using livestock models for human disease often benefits not only human health but animal health and food production as well. This issue of the ILAR Journal presents information on translational research using livestock models in two broad areas: microbiology and infectious disease (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, mycobacterial infections, influenza A virus infection, vaccine development and testing, the human microbiota) and metabolic, neoplastic, and genetic disorders (stem cell therapy, male germ line cell biology, pulmonary adenocarcinoma, muscular dystrophy, wound healing). In addition, there is a manuscript devoted to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees' responsibilities for reviewing research using livestock models. Conducting translational research using livestock models requires special facilities and researchers with expertise in livestock. There are many institutions in the world with experienced researchers and facilities designed for livestock research; primarily associated with colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine or government laboratories. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research. All rights reserved. For permissions

  10. Spatial and temporal dynamics of agricultural residue resources in the last 30 years in China.

    PubMed

    Yang, Yanli; Zhang, Peidong; Yang, Xutong; Xu, Xiaoning

    2016-12-01

    The availability and distribution of biomass resources are important for the development of the bioenergy industry in a region. Biomass resources are abundant in China; however, the raw material is severely deficient, which makes the Chinese bioenergy industry an embarrassment and a contradiction. Unclear reserves and distribution and changing trends of biomass resources are the reason for this situation. A collection coefficient model of Chinese agricultural residue resources was established and the spatial and temporal pattern dynamics of agricultural residue resources in the last 30 years were analyzed. The results show that agricultural residue resources increased in stages from 1978 to 2011, including a rapid increase from 1978 to 1999, a significant fall from 2000 to 2004, and a slow increase from 2004 to 2011. Crops straw and livestock manure are the main ingredients of agricultural residue resources with proportions of 53-59% and 31-38%, respectively. However, the former has gradually decreased, while the latter is increasing. This mainly resulted from the strategic reorganization of the Chinese agriculture structure and the rapid development of large-scale livestock breeding and agricultural mechanization. Large regional differences existed in Chinese agricultural residue resources, and three distribution types formed, including resource-rich areas in North China, Northeast and Inner Mongolia, resource-limited areas in Central and Southwest China, and resource-poor areas along Northwest and Southeast coasts. This pattern is a reverse of the distributions of climatic conditions, water resources, economic development, human resources, and technological levels. Finally, it can be predicted that livestock manure and biomass conversion technology at low temperature will play increasingly significant roles in bioenergy industry development. © The Author(s) 2016.

  11. Even the Smallest Non-Crop Habitat Islands Could Be Beneficial: Distribution of Carabid Beetles and Spiders in Agricultural Landscape

    PubMed Central

    Knapp, Michal; Řezáč, Milan

    2015-01-01

    Carabid beetles and ground-dwelling spiders inhabiting agroecosystems are beneficial organisms with a potential to control pest species. Intensification of agricultural management and reduction of areas covered by non-crop vegetation during recent decades in some areas has led to many potentially serious environmental problems including a decline in the diversity and abundance of beneficial arthropods in agricultural landscapes. This study investigated carabid beetle and spider assemblages in non-crop habitat islands of various sizes (50 to 18,000 square metres) within one large field, as well as the arable land within the field, using pitfall traps in two consecutive sampling periods (spring to early summer and peak summer). The non-crop habitat islands situated inside arable land hosted many unique ground-dwelling arthropod species that were not present within the surrounding arable land. Even the smallest non-crop habitat islands with areas of tens of square metres were inhabited by assemblages substantially different from these inhabiting arable land and thus enhanced the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes. The non-crop habitat area substantially affected the activity density, recorded species richness and recorded species composition of carabid and ground-dwelling spider assemblages; however, the effects were weakened when species specialised to non-crop habitats species were analysed separately. Interestingly, recorded species richness of spiders increased with non-crop habitat area, whereas recorded species richness of carabid beetles exhibited an opposite trend. There was substantial temporal variation in the spatial distribution of ground-dwelling arthropods, and contrasting patterns were observed for particular taxa (carabid beetles and spiders). In general, local environmental conditions (i.e., non-crop habitat island tree cover, shrub cover, grass cover and litter depth) were better determinants of arthropod assemblages than non-crop habitat island

  12. Even the smallest non-crop habitat islands could be beneficial: distribution of carabid beetles and spiders in agricultural landscape.

    PubMed

    Knapp, Michal; Řezáč, Milan

    2015-01-01

    Carabid beetles and ground-dwelling spiders inhabiting agroecosystems are beneficial organisms with a potential to control pest species. Intensification of agricultural management and reduction of areas covered by non-crop vegetation during recent decades in some areas has led to many potentially serious environmental problems including a decline in the diversity and abundance of beneficial arthropods in agricultural landscapes. This study investigated carabid beetle and spider assemblages in non-crop habitat islands of various sizes (50 to 18,000 square metres) within one large field, as well as the arable land within the field, using pitfall traps in two consecutive sampling periods (spring to early summer and peak summer). The non-crop habitat islands situated inside arable land hosted many unique ground-dwelling arthropod species that were not present within the surrounding arable land. Even the smallest non-crop habitat islands with areas of tens of square metres were inhabited by assemblages substantially different from these inhabiting arable land and thus enhanced the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes. The non-crop habitat area substantially affected the activity density, recorded species richness and recorded species composition of carabid and ground-dwelling spider assemblages; however, the effects were weakened when species specialised to non-crop habitats species were analysed separately. Interestingly, recorded species richness of spiders increased with non-crop habitat area, whereas recorded species richness of carabid beetles exhibited an opposite trend. There was substantial temporal variation in the spatial distribution of ground-dwelling arthropods, and contrasting patterns were observed for particular taxa (carabid beetles and spiders). In general, local environmental conditions (i.e., non-crop habitat island tree cover, shrub cover, grass cover and litter depth) were better determinants of arthropod assemblages than non-crop habitat island

  13. Impact of livestock Scale on Rice Production in Battambang of Cambodia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siek, D.; Xu, S. W.; Wyu; Ahmed, A.-G.

    2017-10-01

    Increasing the awareness of environmental protection especially in the rural regions is important as most the farmers reside in that region. Crop-livestock proudciton has proven in many ways to encourage environmental protection. This study analyzes among other factors the impacto of livestock scale on rice production. Two regressions: Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and stepwise regression was applied to investigate these interrelationship. The result stress of three factors encouraging livestock production namely size of farmland, scale of livestock and income acquired from other jobs. The study further provides recommends to the government based on the findings of the study.

  14. Differential Impacts of Climate Change on Crops and Agricultural Regions in India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, A. N.

    2015-12-01

    As India's farmers and policymakers consider potential adaptation strategies to climate change, some questions loom large: - Which climate variables best explain the variability of crop yields? - How does the vulnerability of crop yields to climate vary regionally? - How are these risks likely to change in the future? While process-based crop modelling has started to answer many of these questions, we believe statistical approaches can complement these in improving our understanding of climate vulnerabilities and appropriate responses. We use yield data collected over three decades for more than ten food crops grown in India along with a variety of statistical approaches to answer the above questions. The ability of climate variables to explain yield variation varies greatly by crop and season, which is expected. Equally important, the ability of models to predict crop yields as well as their coefficients varies greatly by district even for districts which are relatively close to each other and similar in their agricultural practices. We believe these results encourage caution and nuance when making projections about climate impacts on crop yields in the future. Most studies about climate impacts on crop yields focus on a handful of major food crops. By extending our analysis to all the crops with long-term district level data in India as well as two growing seasons we gain a more comprehensive picture. Our results indicate that there is a great deal of variability even at relatively small scales, and that this must be taken into account if projections are to be made useful to policymakers.

  15. Strengthening Agricultural Decisions in Countries at Risk of Food Insecurity: The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for Early Warning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Becker-Reshef, I.; Barker, B.; McGaughey, K.; Humber, M. L.; Sanchez, A.; Justice, C. O.; Rembold, F.; Verdin, J. P.

    2016-12-01

    Timely, reliable information on crop conditions, and prospects at the subnational scale, is critical for making informed policy and agricultural decisions for ensuring food security, particularly for the most vulnerable countries. However, such information is often incomplete or lacking. As such, the Crop Monitor for Early Warning (CM for EW) was developed with the goal to reduce uncertainty and strengthen decision support by providing actionable information on a monthly basis to national, regional and global food security agencies through timely consensus assessments of crop conditions. This information is especially critical in recent years, given the extreme weather conditions impacting food supplies including the most recent El Nino event. This initiative brings together the main international food security monitoring agencies and organizations to develop monthly crop assessments based on satellite observations, meteorological information, field observations and ground reports, which reflect an international consensus. This activity grew out of the successful Crop Monitor for the G20 Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), which provides operational monthly crop assessments of the main producing countries of the world. The CM for EW was launched in February 2016 and has already become a trusted source of information internationally and regionally. Its assessments have been featured in a large number of news articles, reports, and press releases, including a joint statement by the USAID's FEWS NET, UN World Food Program, European Commission Joint Research Center, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organziation, on the devastating impacts of the southern African drought due to El Nino. One of the main priorities for this activity going forward is to expand its partnership with regional and national monitoring agencies, and strengthen capacity for national crop condition assessments.

  16. Poultry and Livestock Exposure and Cancer Risk among Farmers in the Agricultural Health Study

    PubMed Central

    Beane Freeman, Laura E.; DeRoos, Anneclaire J.; Koutros, Stella; Blair, Aaron; Ward, Mary H.; Alavanja, Michael; Hoppin, Jane A.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate cancer risk associated with raising animals as commodities, which is associated with a variety of exposures, such as infectious agents and endotoxins. Methods Information was available for 49,884 male farmers in the Agricultural Health Study, who reported livestock and poultry production at enrollment (1993–1997). Cancer incidence data were obtained through annual linkage to state registries. Using Poisson regression analyses, we evaluated whether the number and type of animals raised on the farm impacted cancer risk. Results Overall, 31,848 (63.8%) male farmers reported raising any animals. Lung cancer risk decreased with increasing number of livestock on the farm (p-trend=0.04) and with raising poultry (Relative Risk (RR)= 0.6; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.4–0.97). Raising poultry was associated with an increased risk of colon cancer (RR=1.4; 95% CI: 0.99–2.0) with further increased with larger flocks (p-trend=0.02). Risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was also elevated in those who raised poultry (RR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.0–2.4), but there was no evidence of increased risk with larger flocks (p-trend=0.5). Raising sheep was associated with a significantly increased risk of multiple myeloma (RR=4.9; 95% CI: 2.4–12.0). Performing veterinary services increased the risk of Hodgkin lymphoma (RR=12.2; 95% CI: 1.6–96.3). Conclusions We observed an inverse association between raising poultry and livestock and lung cancer risk and some evidence of increased risk of specific lymphohematopoietic malignancies with specific types of animals and performing veterinary services. Further research into associations between raising animals and cancer risk should focus on identification of etiologic agents. PMID:22407136

  17. GEOGLAM Crop Monitor Assessment Tool: Developing Monthly Crop Condition Assessments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGaughey, K.; Becker Reshef, I.; Barker, B.; Humber, M. L.; Nordling, J.; Justice, C. O.; Deshayes, M.

    2014-12-01

    The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) developed the Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM) to improve existing agricultural information through a network of international partnerships, data sharing, and operational research. This presentation will discuss the Crop Monitor component of GEOGLAM, which provides the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) with an international, multi-source, and transparent consensus assessment of crop growing conditions, status, and agro-climatic conditions likely to impact global production. This activity covers the four primary crop types (wheat, maize, rice, and soybean) within the main agricultural producing regions of the AMIS countries. These assessments have been produced operationally since September 2013 and are published in the AMIS Market Monitor Bulletin. The Crop Monitor reports provide cartographic and textual summaries of crop conditions as of the 28th of each month, according to crop type. This presentation will focus on the building of international networks, data collection, and data dissemination.

  18. Biodiversity management of organic farming enhances agricultural sustainability

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Haitao; Meng, Jie; Bo, Wenjing; Cheng, Da; Li, Yong; Guo, Liyue; Li, Caihong; Zheng, Yanhai; Liu, Meizhen; Ning, Tangyuan; Wu, Guanglei; Yu, Xiaofan; Feng, Sufei; Wuyun, Tana; Li, Jing; Li, Lijun; Zeng, Yan; Liu, Shi V.; Jiang, Gaoming

    2016-01-01

    Organic farming (OF) has been believed to be capable of curtailing some hazardous effects associated with chemical farming (CF). However, debates also exist on whether OF can feed a world with increasing human population. We hypothesized that some improvements on OF may produce adequate crops and reduce environmental pollutions from CF. This paper makes comparative analysis of crop yield, soil organic matter and economic benefits within the practice on Biodiversity Management of Organic Farming (BMOF) at Hongyi Organic Farm (HOF) over eight years and between BMOF and CF. Linking crop production with livestock to maximal uses of by-products from each production and avoid xenobiotic chemicals, we have achieved beneficial improvement in soil properties, effective pest and weed control, and increased crop yields. After eight years experiment, we have obtained a gradual but stable increase in crop yields with a 9.6-fold increase of net income. The net income of HOF was 258,827 dollars and 24,423 dollars in 2014 and 2007 respectively. Thus, BMOF can not only feed more population, but also increase adaptive capacity of agriculture ecosystems and gain much higher economic benefits. PMID:27032369

  19. Biodiversity management of organic farming enhances agricultural sustainability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Haitao; Meng, Jie; Bo, Wenjing; Cheng, Da; Li, Yong; Guo, Liyue; Li, Caihong; Zheng, Yanhai; Liu, Meizhen; Ning, Tangyuan; Wu, Guanglei; Yu, Xiaofan; Feng, Sufei; Wuyun, Tana; Li, Jing; Li, Lijun; Zeng, Yan; Liu, Shi V.; Jiang, Gaoming

    2016-04-01

    Organic farming (OF) has been believed to be capable of curtailing some hazardous effects associated with chemical farming (CF). However, debates also exist on whether OF can feed a world with increasing human population. We hypothesized that some improvements on OF may produce adequate crops and reduce environmental pollutions from CF. This paper makes comparative analysis of crop yield, soil organic matter and economic benefits within the practice on Biodiversity Management of Organic Farming (BMOF) at Hongyi Organic Farm (HOF) over eight years and between BMOF and CF. Linking crop production with livestock to maximal uses of by-products from each production and avoid xenobiotic chemicals, we have achieved beneficial improvement in soil properties, effective pest and weed control, and increased crop yields. After eight years experiment, we have obtained a gradual but stable increase in crop yields with a 9.6-fold increase of net income. The net income of HOF was 258,827 dollars and 24,423 dollars in 2014 and 2007 respectively. Thus, BMOF can not only feed more population, but also increase adaptive capacity of agriculture ecosystems and gain much higher economic benefits.

  20. Soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from smallholder crop-livestock systems in Central Kenya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ortiz Gonzalo, Daniel; Vaast, Philippe; de Neergaard, Andreas; Oelofse, Myles; Albrecht, Alain; Rosenstock, Todd S.

    2017-04-01

    Few studies measured empirically greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically, there is no experimental data on GHG emissions from coffee systems in East Africa and estimations with GHG calculators have shown some limitations. The objectives of our study are to: 1) Quantify soil GHG fluxes in smallholder coffee-dairy farms in Central Kenya and; 2) Compare results with the GHG emissions estimated with GHG calculators. The study area is situated in Murang'a County at 1700 m.a.s.l. on the Eastern slopes of the Aberdares Range, where coffee (Coffee arabica) is cultivated within integrated crop-livestock-agroforestry systems. We carried out GHG measurements along two cropping seasons using non-flow through non-steady static chambers. Sixty rectangular frames (0.355m x 0.255m) were installed at two representative farms, including the three main cropping systems found in the area: 1) Coffee (Coffee arabica); 2) Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum); 3) Maize intercropped with beans (Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris). We used the gas pooling technique to overcome spatial variability and obtain a composite sample from the two treatment chambers: fertilized and non-fertilized. The sampling was performed twice per week during the rainy season and once per week during the dry season. Fertilizer and manure applications were followed by daily measurements during seven days after application. Annual fluxes (cumulative) in coffee plots ranged from 0.8 to 2.1 kg N2O-N ha-1, 6.3 to 8.2 Mg CO2-C ha-1 and -1.3 to -0.8 kg CH4-C ha-1, with higher fluxes during the rainy seasons. Emissions of N2O and CO2 from coffee plots were 20 to 80% higher than those in maize and napier grass. We found significant higher emissions in fertilized hot-spots (45 -190 % higher around coffee bushes perimeter, within maize rows and in napier holes) than in non-fertilized locations (between trees, between rows and between holes). Though this aspect is crucial for upscaling the

  1. Estimating Hydrologic Fluxes, Crop Water Use, and Agricultural Land Area in China using Data Assimilation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, Tiziana; McLaughlin, Dennis B.; Hoisungwan, Piyatida

    2016-04-01

    Crop production has significantly altered the terrestrial environment by changing land use and by altering the water cycle through both co-opted rainfall and surface water withdrawals. As the world's population continues to grow and individual diets become more resource-intensive, the demand for food - and the land and water necessary to produce it - will continue to increase. High-resolution quantitative data about water availability, water use, and agricultural land use are needed to develop sustainable water and agricultural planning and policies. However, existing data covering large areas with high resolution are susceptible to errors and can be physically inconsistent. China is an example of a large area where food demand is expected to increase and a lack of data clouds the resource management dialogue. Some assert that China will have insufficient land and water resources to feed itself, posing a threat to global food security if they seek to increase food imports. Others believe resources are plentiful. Without quantitative data, it is difficult to discern if these concerns are realistic or overly dramatized. This research presents a quantitative approach using data assimilation techniques to characterize hydrologic fluxes, crop water use (defined as crop evapotranspiration), and agricultural land use at 0.5 by 0.5 degree resolution and applies the methodology in China using data from around the year 2000. The approach uses the principles of water balance and of crop water requirements to assimilate existing data with a least-squares estimation technique, producing new estimates of water and land use variables that are physically consistent while minimizing differences from measured data. We argue that this technique for estimating water fluxes and agricultural land use can provide a useful basis for resource management modeling and policy, both in China and around the world.

  2. Genetic mitigation strategies to tackle agricultural GHG emissions: The case for biological nitrification inhibition technology.

    PubMed

    Subbarao, G V; Arango, J; Masahiro, K; Hooper, A M; Yoshihashi, T; Ando, Y; Nakahara, K; Deshpande, S; Ortiz-Monasterio, I; Ishitani, M; Peters, M; Chirinda, N; Wollenberg, L; Lata, J C; Gerard, B; Tobita, S; Rao, I M; Braun, H J; Kommerell, V; Tohme, J; Iwanaga, M

    2017-09-01

    Accelerated soil-nitrifier activity and rapid nitrification are the cause of declining nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) and enhanced nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from farming. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) is the ability of certain plant roots to suppress soil-nitrifier activity, through production and release of nitrification inhibitors. The power of phytochemicals with BNI-function needs to be harnessed to control soil-nitrifier activity and improve nitrogen-cycling in agricultural systems. Transformative biological technologies designed for genetic mitigation are needed, so that BNI-enabled crop-livestock and cropping systems can rein in soil-nitrifier activity, to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and globally make farming nitrogen efficient and less harmful to environment. This will reinforce the adaptation or mitigation impact of other climate-smart agriculture technologies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service research on managing insect resistance to insecticides.

    PubMed

    Elzen, Gary W; Hardee, Dick D

    2003-01-01

    Insecticide resistance has developed within many classes of pesticide, and over 500 species of insects and mites are resistant to one or more insecticides. Insecticide resistance and the consequent losses of food and fiber caused by failure to control insect and mite pests causes economic losses of several billion dollars worldwide each year. It is the goal of insect resistance management (IRM) to preserve useful pesticides by slowing, preventing or reversing development of resistance in pests. Important aspects of this goal are understanding the development of resistance and monitoring to determine ways to prevent its development. We describe programs specific to missions of the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, which are designed to characterize insecticide resistance in insects and mites with the goal of managing pests in an ecologically acceptable manner. Resistance management of cotton, potatoes, vegetables, melons, ornamentals, greenhouse crops, corn, stored grains, livestock, honeybees and mites, as well as management of transgenic crops are evaluated. We conclude that IRM is a vital part of stewardship of any pest management product and must be a combined effort of manufacturers, growers, consultants, extension services and grower organizations, working closely with regulators, to achieve logistically and economically feasible systems that prolong the effectiveness of all pest-control products.

  4. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock agriculture in 16 local administrative districts of Korea.

    PubMed

    Ji, Eun Sook; Park, Kyu-Hyun

    2012-12-01

    This study was conducted to evaluate methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from livestock agriculture in 16 local administrative districts of Korea from 1990 to 2030. National Inventory Report used 3 yr averaged livestock population but this study used 1 yr livestock population to find yearly emission fluctuations. Extrapolation of the livestock population from 1990 to 2009 was used to forecast future livestock population from 2010 to 2030. Past (yr 1990 to 2009) and forecasted (yr 2010 to 2030) averaged enteric CH4 emissions and CH4 and N2O emissions from manure treatment were estimated. In the section of enteric fermentation, forecasted average CH4 emissions from 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 4%-114% compared to that of the past except for Daejeon (-63%), Seoul (-36%) and Gyeonggi (-7%). As for manure treatment, forecasted average CH4 emissions from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 3%-124% compared to past average except for Daejeon (-77%), Busan (-60%), Gwangju (-48%) and Seoul (-8%). For manure treatment, forecasted average N2O emissions from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 10%-153% compared to past average CH4 emissions except for Daejeon (-60%), Seoul (-4.0%), and Gwangju (-0.2%). With the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2-Eq), forecasted average CO2-Eq from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 31%-120% compared to past average CH4 emissions except Daejeon (-65%), Seoul (-24%), Busan (-18%), Gwangju (-8%) and Gyeonggi (-1%). The decreased CO2-Eq from 5 local administrative districts was only 34 kt, which was insignificantly small compared to increase of 2,809 kt from other 11 local administrative districts. Annual growth rates of enteric CH4 emissions, CH4 and N2O emissions from manure management in Korea from 1990 to 2009 were 1.7%, 2.6%, and 3.2%, respectively. The annual growth rate of total CO2-Eq was 2

  5. Cover crops support ecological intensification of arable cropping systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wittwer, Raphaël A.; Dorn, Brigitte; Jossi, Werner; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.

    2017-02-01

    A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity with minimum impact on the environment. Several studies indicate that cover crops could replace anthropogenic inputs and enhance crop productivity. However, so far, it is unclear if cover crop effects vary between different cropping systems, and direct comparisons among major arable production systems are rare. Here we compared the short-term effects of various cover crops on crop yield, nitrogen uptake, and weed infestation in four arable production systems (conventional cropping with intensive tillage and no-tillage; organic cropping with intensive tillage and reduced tillage). We hypothesized that cover cropping effects increase with decreasing management intensity. Our study demonstrated that cover crop effects on crop yield were highest in the organic system with reduced tillage (+24%), intermediate in the organic system with tillage (+13%) and in the conventional system with no tillage (+8%) and lowest in the conventional system with tillage (+2%). Our results indicate that cover crops are essential to maintaining a certain yield level when soil tillage intensity is reduced (e.g. under conservation agriculture), or when production is converted to organic agriculture. Thus, the inclusion of cover crops provides additional opportunities to increase the yield of lower intensity production systems and contribute to ecological intensification.

  6. Agricultural water demand, water quality and crop suitability in Souk-Alkhamis Al-Khums, Libya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abunnour, Mohamed Ali; Hashim, Noorazuan Bin Md.; Jaafar, Mokhtar Bin

    2016-06-01

    Water scarcity, unequal population distribution and agricultural activities increased in the coastal plains, and the probability of seawater intrusion with ground water. According to this, the quantitative and qualitative deterioration of underground water quality has become a potential for the occurrence, in addition to the decline in agricultural production in the study area. This paper aims to discover the use of ground water for irrigation in agriculture and their suitability and compatibility for agricultural. On the other hand, the quality is determines by the cultivated crops. 16 random samples of regular groundwater are collected and analyzed chemically. Questionnaires are also distributed randomly on regular basis to farmers.

  7. Correlation of water with carbon/energy footprints for effective agricultural and livestock products classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Borsato, Eros; Marinello, Francesco; Tarolli, Paolo

    2017-04-01

    World population is increasing and human diet is becoming of considerable concern for human welfare. Natural resources are overexploited and governments need policies for a good management of the environment. Sustainable agriculture can provide some solutions, as it minimizes inputs, wastes or pollution. The aim of the present study is to provide a combined analysis of different footprints approaches in order to allow comparison of different agricultural and livestock products in terms of efficiency of resource exploitation. Time is the real important variable that influences the footprint. Water use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions and energy indexes are included in this study. The study takes advantage of indexes collected from a wide bibliography focused on different fresh agricultural products: the target is the definition of a time table of footprints for agricultural products. Starting from a top-down prospective, an analysis of the environmental footprint for different products is an approach to understand which products can be more sustainable for human diet. This study distinguishes different clusters in different sub-cluster of vegetable products and animal products. The classification is based on a comparison of water consumption in relation to yield, greenhouse gas emissions equivalent and energy for a given product quantity. Additionally time is considered, which affects sustainability, in terms of inputs caught for a period. The footprint is spread out in time, thus changing its relevance with respect to the exploitation of a resource. Ultimately, this works wants to propose a new original basis for sustainability metrics, allowing an effective quantitative comparison of food products for a more conscious human diet.

  8. Agricultural Production.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lehigh County Area Vocational-Technical School, Schnecksville, PA.

    This brochure describes the philosophy and scope of a secondary-level course in agricultural production. Addressed in the individual units of the course are the following topics: careers in agriculture and agribusiness, animal science and livestock production, agronomy, agricultural mechanics, supervised occupational experience programs, and the…

  9. Farmer's Incentives for Adoption of Recommended Farm Practices in Wheat Crop in Aligarh Intensive Agricultural District, India.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vidyarthy, Gopal Saran

    This study was undertaken to identify farmer incentives that led them to adopt wheat crop practices in Aligarh Intensive Agricultural District Program: the association between the farmer's characteristics and adoption groups; the incentives that lead the farmers to adopt recommended wheat crop practices; relationship between identified incentives…

  10. Review of anthraquinone applications for pest management and agricultural crop protection.

    PubMed

    DeLiberto, Shelagh T; Werner, Scott J

    2016-10-01

    We have reviewed published anthraquinone applications for international pest management and agricultural crop protection from 1943 to 2016. Anthraquinone (AQ) is commonly found in dyes, pigments and many plants and organisms. Avian repellent research with AQ began in the 1940s. In the context of pest management, AQ is currently used as a chemical repellent, perch deterrent, insecticide and feeding deterrent in many wild birds, and in some mammals, insects and fishes. Criteria for evaluation of effective chemical repellents include efficacy, potential for wildlife hazards, phytotoxicity and environmental persistence. As a biopesticide, AQ often meets these criteria of efficacy for the non-lethal management of agricultural depredation caused by wildlife. We summarize published applications of AQ for the protection of newly planted and maturing crops from pest birds. Conventional applications of AQ-based repellents include preplant seed treatments [e.g. corn (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), wheat (Triticum spp.), millet (Panicum spp.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), pelletized feed and forest tree species] and foliar applications for rice, sunflower, lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), turf, sugar beets (Beta vulgaris L.), soybean (Glycine max L.), sweet corn and nursery, fruit and nut crops. In addition to agricultural repellent applications, AQ has also been used to treat toxicants for the protection of non-target birds. Few studies have demonstrated AQ repellency in mammals, including wild boar (Sus scrofa, L.), thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus, Mitchill), black-tailed prairie dogs (Cyomys ludovicainus, Ord.), common voles (Microtus arvalis, Pallas), house mice (Mus musculus, L.), Tristram's jirds (Meriones tristrami, Thomas) and black rats (Rattus rattus L.). Natural sources of AQ and its derivatives have also been identified as insecticides and insect repellents. As a natural or synthetic biopesticide, AQ

  11. 29 CFR 780.619 - Work “in connection with” livestock auction operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Work âin connection withâ livestock auction operations. 780... FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Employment in Agriculture and Livestock Auction Operations Under the Section 13(b)(13) Exemption Requirements for Exemption § 780.619 Work “in connection with” livestock auction...

  12. Agriculture: Soils

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Productive soils, a favorable climate, and clean and abundant water resources are essential for growing crops, raising livestock, and for ecosystems to continue to provide the critical provisioning services that humans need.

  13. Crop insurance: a tool to stabilize Spanish agricultural income

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Calatayud Piñero, E.; Escribano Pintor, S.

    2009-04-01

    Agricultural insurance was born as a need for farmers, opposite to the erratic behavior of the climatology, natural disaster, which strangles the farmer during the cycle of his crops and harvest, reverberating negatively in the economy of the farmer. Before this situation, it became necessary to determine, inside the agricultural policies, a specific regulation of the agricultural insurance across a participation of the State by means of contributions to the agricultural insurance which result was, in Spain, the current Law 87/1978, of December 28 of Agricultural Insurance. The benefits of the existence of a good system of agricultural insurance not only are to level of the farmer but also to regional level and top areas, since to the regional production turns diminished, it reverberates in the economic productivity and in the rest of economic sectors, with the consequent tensions and imbalances, and the probability of being translated in a decrease of the quality of life of the rural way. But the analysis of the importance of his situation, not only must be carried out from a theoretical perspective, where already there exist numerous studies that treat the relation and importance of the agricultural insurance with regard to the traditional agriculture characterized by his limited capacity of innovation. For it, in this paper, we will proceed to realize an empirical analysis, inside our country, across the principal agrarian information statistics, as faithful reflection of the economic dimension of the sector, for across his evolution as well as that of the indemnifications paid for the agricultural insurance, to be able to show the importance of the same one in his contribution to the maintenance and improvement of the agriculture, avoiding the uncertainty of the farmer By means of the utilization of mobile averages, which eliminate the erratic behavior in the annual series, first we will realize a national analysis for the set of the lines of agricultural

  14. Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa.

    PubMed

    Waha, Katharina; van Wijk, Mark T; Fritz, Steffen; See, Linda; Thornton, Philip K; Wichern, Jannike; Herrero, Mario

    2018-03-31

    Farmers in Africa have long adapted to climatic and other risks by diversifying their farming activities. Using a multi-scale approach, we explore the relationship between farming diversity and food security and the diversification potential of African agriculture and its limits on the household and continental scale. On the household scale, we use agricultural surveys from more than 28,000 households located in 18 African countries. In a next step, we use the relationship between rainfall, rainfall variability, and farming diversity to determine the available diversification options for farmers on the continental scale. On the household scale, we show that households with greater farming diversity are more successful in meeting their consumption needs, but only up to a certain level of diversity per ha cropland and more often if food can be purchased from off-farm income or income from farm sales. More diverse farming systems can contribute to household food security; however, the relationship is influenced by other factors, for example, the market orientation of a household, livestock ownership, nonagricultural employment opportunities, and available land resources. On the continental scale, the greatest opportunities for diversification of food crops, cash crops, and livestock are located in areas with 500-1,000 mm annual rainfall and 17%-22% rainfall variability. Forty-three percent of the African cropland lacks these opportunities at present which may hamper the ability of agricultural systems to respond to climate change. While sustainable intensification practices that increase yields have received most attention to date, our study suggests that a shift in the research and policy paradigm toward agricultural diversification options may be necessary. © 2018 The Authors Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Evolution of farm and manure management and their influence on ammonia emissions from agriculture in Switzerland between 1990 and 2010

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kupper, Thomas; Bonjour, Cyrill; Menzi, Harald

    2015-02-01

    The evolution of farm and manure management and their influence on ammonia (NH3) emissions from agriculture in Switzerland between 1990 and 2010 was modeled. In 2010, total agricultural NH3 emissions were 48,290 t N. Livestock contributed 90% (43,480 t N), with the remaining 10% (4760 t N) coming from arable and fodder crops. The emission stages of grazing, housing/exercise yard, manure storage and application produced 3%, 34%, 17% and 46%, respectively, of livestock emissions. Cattle, pigs, poultry, small ruminants, horses and other equids accounted for 78%, 15%, 3%, 2% and 2%, respectively, of the emissions from livestock and manure management. Compared to 1990, total NH3 emissions from agriculture and from livestock decreased by 16% and 14%, respectively. This was mainly due to declining livestock numbers, since the emissions per animal became bigger for most livestock categories between 1990 and 2010. The production volume for milk and meat remained constant or increased slightly. Other factors contributing to the emission mitigation were increased grazing for cattle, the growing importance of low-emission slurry application techniques and a significant reduction in the use of mineral fertilizer. However, production parameters enhancing emissions such as animal-friendly housing systems providing more surface area per animal and total volume of slurry stores increased during this time period. That such developments may counteract emission mitigation illustrates the challenge for regulators to balance the various aims in the striving toward sustainable livestock production. A sensitivity analysis identified parameters related to the excretion of total ammoniacal nitrogen from dairy cows and slurry application as being the most sensitive technical parameters influencing emissions. Further improvements to emission models should therefore focus on these parameters.

  16. Carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural soils amended with livestock-derived organic materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pezzolla, D.; Said-Pullicino, D.; Gigliotti, G.

    2009-04-01

    Carbon dioxide gas xchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, as well as the carbon sink strength of various arable land ecosystems, is of primary interest for global change research. Measures for increasing soil C inputs include the preferential use of livestock-derived organic materials (e.g. animal manure and slurries, digestate from biogas production plants and compost). The application of such materials to agricultural soils returns essential nutrients for plant growth and organic matter to maintain long-term fertility. Whether or not such practices ultimately result in sustained C sequestration at the ecosystem level will depend on their mineralization rates. This work presents preliminary results from a laboratory incubation trial to evaluate carbon dioxide fluxes from two agricultural soils (a calcareous silt loam and a silty clay loam) amended with agricultural doses of (i) pig slurry (PSL), (ii) the digestate from the anaerobic fermentation of pig slurries (AAS) and (ii) a compost from the aerobic stabilisation of the digestate (LDC). These subsequent steps of slurry stabilisation resulted in a decrease in the content of labile organic matter which was reflected in a reduction in maximum carbon dioxide emission rates from amended soils. Measurements have shown that peak emissions from soils occur immediately after application of these organic materials (within 5 days) and decrease in the order PSL > AAS > LDC. Moreover, mean cumulative emissions over the first 40 days showed that a higher percentage (about 44%) of the C added with PSL was mineralised respect to C added with AAS (39%) and LDC (25%). Although it was hypothesised that apart from the quantity and stability of the added organic materials, even soil characteristics could influence C mineralisation rates, no significant differences were observed between emission fluxes for similarly treated soils. Mean cumulative emission fluxes after 40 days from treatment were of 114, 103 and

  17. Examining the Resilience of Crop Production, Livestock Carrying Capacity, and Woodland Density in a Rural Zimbabwean Socio-Ecological System Using Agent-Based Models Representing Human Management Decisions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eitzel Solera, M. V.; Neves, K.; Veski, A.; Solera, J.; Omoju, O. E.; Mawere Ndlovu, A.; Wilson, K.

    2016-12-01

    As climate change increases the pressures on arid ecosystems by changing timing and amount of rainfall, understanding the ways in which human management choices affect the resilience of these systems becomes key to their sustainability. On marginal farmland in Mazvihwa, Midlands Province, the historical carrying capacity of livestock has been consistently surprisingly high. We explore this phenomenon by building an agent-based model in NetLogo from a wealth of long-term data generated by the community-based participatory research team of The Muonde Trust, a Zimbabwean non-governmental organization. We combine the accumulated results of 35 years of indigenous and local knowledge with national datasets such as rainfall records. What factors keep the carrying capacity high? What management choices can maintain crops, livestock, and woodland at levels necessary for the community's survival? How do these choices affect long-term sustainability, and does increasing resilience at one scale reduce resilience at another scale? We use our agent-based model to explore the feedbacks between crops, livestock, and woodland and the impacts of various human choices as well as temporal and spatial ecological variation. By testing different scenarios, we disentangle the complex interactions between these components. We find that some factors out of the community's control can strongly affect the sustainability of the system through times of drought, and that supplementary feed may maintain livestock potentially at the expense of other resources. The challenges to resilience encountered by the farmers in Mazvihwa are not unique - many indigenous and rural people face drought and the legacies of colonialism, which contribute to lowered resilience to external challenges such as climate change, epidemics, and political instability. Using the agent-based model as a tool for synthesis and exploration initiates discussion about resilience-enhancing management choices for Mazvihwa's farmer-researchers.

  18. Ammonia volatilization loss from surface applied livestock manure.

    PubMed

    Paramasivam, S; Jayaraman, K; Wilson, Takela C; Alva, Ashok K; Kelson, Luma; Jones, Leandra B

    2009-03-01

    Ammonia (NH(3)) emission from livestock manures used in agriculture reduces N uptake by crops and negatively impacts air quality. This laboratory study was conducted to evaluate NH(3)emission from different livestock manures applied to two soils: Candler fins sand (CFS; light-textured soil, pH 6.8 and field capacity soil water content of 70 g kg(-1)) from Lake Alfred, Florida and Ogeechee loamy sand (OLS; medium-textured soil, pH 5.2 and field capacity soil water content of 140 g kg(-1)) from Savannah, Georgia. Poultry litter (PL) collected from a poultry farm near Douglas, Georgia, and fresh solid separate of swine manure (SM) collected from a farm near Clinton, North Carolina were used. Each of the soil was weighed in 100 g sub samples and amended with either PL or SM at rates equivalent to either 0, 2.24, 5.60, 11.20, or 22.40 Mg ha(-1) in 1L Mason jars and incubated in the laboratory at field capacity soil water content for 19 days to monitor NH(3) volatilization. Results indicated a greater NH(3) loss from soils amended with SM compared to that with PL. The cumulative NH(3)volatilization loss over 19 days ranged from 4 to 27% and 14 to 32% of total N applied as PL and SM, respectively. Volatilization of NH(3) was greater from light-textured CFS than that from medium-textured OLS. Volatilization loss increased with increasing rates of manure application. Ammonia volatilization was lower at night time than that during the day time. Differences in major factors such as soil water content, temperature, soil type and live stock manure type influenced the diurnal variation in volatilization loss of NH(3) from soils. A significant portion (> 50%) of cumulative NH(3) emission over 19 d occurred during the first 5-7 d following the application of livestock manures. Results of this study demonstrate that application of low rates of livestock manure (< or = 5.60 Mg ha(-1)) is recommended to minimize NH(3) emissions.

  19. Time to Redefine Organic Agriculture: Can’t GM Crops Be Certified as Organics?

    PubMed Central

    Husaini, Amjad M.; Sohail, Muhammad

    2018-01-01

    The challenges of sustainable food production without damaging the environment for a growing human population have increased considerably. The current agricultural practices involving chemical fertilizers and even organic farming are not sustainable in the long run and can have deleterious effects on the environment. Thus, new, innovative solutions need to be identified and propagated for tackling this. Among such innovations, that can complement conventional as well as organic farming methods, are genetic modification (GM) and aquaculture. Yet, GM technologies often face resistance from civil groups owing to an ‘unknown’ fear, akin to Frankenstein’s monster. How real is this fear? Our discussion rests on basic questions like, why can’t ‘organics’ include GM crops that do not require chemical inputs for cultivation, and can GM crops like Golden rice qualify to be ‘organic’ if cultivated through organic practices? Do we need to rethink organic agriculture in the context of the present and future challenges of 21st century? PMID:29692789

  20. Time to Redefine Organic Agriculture: Can't GM Crops Be Certified as Organics?

    PubMed

    Husaini, Amjad M; Sohail, Muhammad

    2018-01-01

    The challenges of sustainable food production without damaging the environment for a growing human population have increased considerably. The current agricultural practices involving chemical fertilizers and even organic farming are not sustainable in the long run and can have deleterious effects on the environment. Thus, new, innovative solutions need to be identified and propagated for tackling this. Among such innovations, that can complement conventional as well as organic farming methods, are genetic modification (GM) and aquaculture. Yet, GM technologies often face resistance from civil groups owing to an 'unknown' fear, akin to Frankenstein's monster. How real is this fear? Our discussion rests on basic questions like, why can't 'organics' include GM crops that do not require chemical inputs for cultivation, and can GM crops like Golden rice qualify to be 'organic' if cultivated through organic practices? Do we need to rethink organic agriculture in the context of the present and future challenges of 21st century?

  1. The use of body condition and haematology to detect widespread threatening processes in sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) in two agricultural environments.

    PubMed

    Smyth, Anita K; Smee, Elizabeth; Godfrey, Stephanie S; Crowther, Mathew; Phalen, David

    2014-12-01

    Agricultural practices, including habitat alteration and application of agricultural chemicals, can impact wildlife resulting in their decline. Determining which of these practices are contributing to declines is essential if the declines are to be reversed. In this study, the health of two geographically separated sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) populations was compared between a rangeland environment and cropping environment using linear body size index (LBSI) and haematology. Animals in the cropping site were smaller, suggesting genetic differences as the result of geographical isolation. The animals in the cropping site had a lower LBSI and many were experiencing a regenerative anaemia. The anaemia was postulated to be the cause of the low LBSI. The anaemia appeared to be the result of haemolysis and was likely to be caused by exposure to agricultural chemicals applied in the cropping site but not the rangeland site. Elevated white blood cell counts in lizards in the rangeland site suggested that they were experiencing an inflammatory disease of possible ecological significance. Together, these results demonstrate the value of combining physical and haematological parameters when studying the impact of agricultural practices on wildlife. They also show that reptiles may be useful as sentinel species for livestock and humans.

  2. Understanding the Reach of Agricultural Impacts from Climate Extremes in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruane, A. C.

    2016-12-01

    The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) has been working since 2010 to build a modeling framework capable of representing the complexities of agriculture, its dependence on climate, and the many elements of society that depend on food systems. AgMIP's 30+ activities explore the interconnected nature of climate, crop, livestock, economics, food security, and nutrition, using common protocols to systematically evaluate the components of agricultural assessment and allow multi-model, multi-scale, and multi-method analysis of intertwining changes in socioeconomic development, environmental change, and technological adaptation. AgMIP is now launching Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments (CGRA) with a particular focus on unforeseen consequences of development strategies, interactions between global and local systems, and the resilience of agricultural systems to extreme climate events. Climate extremes shock the agricultural system through local, direct impacts (e.g., droughts, heat waves, floods, severe storms) and also through teleconnections propagated through international trade. As the climate changes, the nature of climate extremes affecting agriculture is also likely to change, leading to shifting intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extents of extremes. AgMIP researchers are developing new scenario methodologies to represent near-term extreme droughts in a probabilistic manner, field experiments that impose heat wave conditions on crops, increased resolution to differentiate sub-national drought impacts, new behavioral functions that mimic the response of market actors faced with production shortfalls, analysis of impacts from simultaneous failures of multiple breadbasket regions, and more detailed mapping of food and socioeconomic indicators into food security and nutrition metrics that describe the human impact in diverse populations. Agricultural models illustrate the challenges facing agriculture, allowing

  3. Sustainable rangeland-based livestock production: A perspective on USA and global emerging trends

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    A recent review of statistics published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showed that global livestock numbers have increased steadily over the past 30 years. By 2030, livestock numbers in the developing world are expected to reach record highs that will surpass livestock popul...

  4. Modeling the impact of conservation agriculture on crop production and soil properties in Mediterranean climate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moussadek, Rachid; Mrabet, Rachid; Dahan, Rachid; Laghrour, Malika; Lembiad, Ibtissam; ElMourid, Mohamed

    2015-04-01

    In Morocco, rainfed agriculture is practiced in the majority of agricultural land. However, the intensive land use coupled to the irregular rainfall constitutes a serious threat that affect country's food security. Conservation agriculture (CA) represents a promising alternative to produce more and sustainably. In fact, the direct seeding showed high yield in arid regions of Morocco but its extending to other more humid agro-ecological zones (rainfall > 350mm) remains scarce. In order to promote CA in Morocco, differents trials have been installed in central plateau of Morocco, to compare CA to conventional tillage (CT). The yields of the main practiced crops (wheat, lentil and checkpea) under CA and CT were analyzed and compared in the 3 soils types (Vertisol, Cambisol and Calcisol). Also, we studied the effect of CA on soil organic matter (SOM) and soil losses (SL) in the 3 different sites. The APSIM model was used to model the long term impact of CA compared to CT. The results obtained in this research have shown favorable effects of CA on crop production, SOM and soil erosion. Key words: Conservation agriculture, yield, soil properties, modeling, APSIM, Morocco.

  5. Antibiotic use in livestock production

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Antibiotic usage is a useful and commonly implemented practice in livestock and production agriculture that has progressively gained attention in recent years from consumers of animal products due to concerns about human and environmental health. Sub-therapeutic usage of antibiotics has led to a con...

  6. Developing a Mobile Extension Course for Youth Livestock Producers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weitzenkamp, Deborah; Dam, Karna; Chichester, Lindsay

    2015-01-01

    The 4-H Livestock Quality Assurance course is a mobile Extension course for youth and youth leaders. In 3 years of implementation, over 6,600 participants from 16 states have learned about good production practices for animal agriculture through the innovative online Nebraska Livestock Quality Assurance course. By evaluating the needs of our youth…

  7. A regionally-adapted implementation of conservation agriculture delivers rapid improvements to soil properties associated with crop yield stability.

    PubMed

    Williams, Alwyn; Jordan, Nicholas R; Smith, Richard G; Hunter, Mitchell C; Kammerer, Melanie; Kane, Daniel A; Koide, Roger T; Davis, Adam S

    2018-05-31

    Climate models predict increasing weather variability, with negative consequences for crop production. Conservation agriculture (CA) may enhance climate resilience by generating certain soil improvements. However, the rate at which these improvements accrue is unclear, and some evidence suggests CA can lower yields relative to conventional systems unless all three CA elements are implemented: reduced tillage, sustained soil cover, and crop rotational diversity. These cost-benefit issues are important considerations for potential adopters of CA. Given that CA can be implemented across a wide variety of regions and cropping systems, more detailed and mechanistic understanding is required on whether and how regionally-adapted CA can improve soil properties while minimizing potential negative crop yield impacts. Across four US states, we assessed short-term impacts of regionally-adapted CA systems on soil properties and explored linkages with maize and soybean yield stability. Structural equation modeling revealed increases in soil organic matter generated by cover cropping increased soil cation exchange capacity, which improved soybean yield stability. Cover cropping also enhanced maize minimum yield potential. Our results demonstrate individual CA elements can deliver rapid improvements in soil properties associated with crop yield stability, suggesting that regionally-adapted CA may play an important role in developing high-yielding, climate-resilient agricultural systems.

  8. Impacts of Watershed Characteristics and Crop Rotations on Winter Cover Crop Nitrate-Nitrogen Uptake Capacity within Agricultural Watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region.

    PubMed

    Lee, Sangchul; Yeo, In-Young; Sadeghi, Ali M; McCarty, Gregory W; Hively, W Dean; Lang, Megan W

    2016-01-01

    The adoption rate of winter cover crops (WCCs) as an effective conservation management practice to help reduce agricultural nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) is increasing. However, the WCC potential for water quality improvement has not been fully realized at the watershed scale. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term impact of WCCs on hydrology and NO3-N loads in two adjacent watersheds and to identify key management factors that affect the effectiveness of WCCs using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and statistical methods. Simulation results indicated that WCCs are effective for reducing NO3-N loads and their performance varied based on planting date, species, soil characteristics, and crop rotations. Early-planted WCCs outperformed late-planted WCCs on the reduction of NO3-N loads and early-planted rye (RE) reduced NO3-N loads by ~49.3% compared to the baseline (no WCC). The WCCs were more effective in a watershed dominated by well-drained soils with increased reductions in NO3-N fluxes of ~2.5 kg N·ha-1 delivered to streams and ~10.1 kg N·ha-1 leached into groundwater compared to poorly-drained soils. Well-drained agricultural lands had higher transport of NO3-N in the soil profile and groundwater due to increased N leaching. Poorly-drained agricultural lands had lower NO3-N due to extensive drainage ditches and anaerobic soil conditions promoting denitrification. The performance of WCCs varied by crop rotations (i.e., continuous corn and corn-soybean), with increased N uptake following soybean crops due to the increased soil mineral N availability by mineralization of soybean residue compared to corn residue. The WCCs can reduce N leaching where baseline NO3-N loads are high in well-drained soils and/or when residual and mineralized N availability is high due to the cropping practices. The findings suggested that WCC implementation plans should be established in watersheds according to local edaphic and agronomic

  9. Impacts of Watershed Characteristics and Crop Rotations on Winter Cover Crop Nitrate-Nitrogen Uptake Capacity within Agricultural Watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Sangchul; Yeo, In-Young; Sadeghi, Ali M.; McCarty, Gregory W.; Hively, W. Dean; Lang, Megan W.

    2016-01-01

    The adoption rate of winter cover crops (WCCs) as an effective conservation management practice to help reduce agricultural nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) is increasing. However, the WCC potential for water quality improvement has not been fully realized at the watershed scale. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term impact of WCCs on hydrology and NO3-N loads in two adjacent watersheds and to identify key management factors that affect the effectiveness of WCCs using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and statistical methods. Simulation results indicated that WCCs are effective for reducing NO3-N loads and their performance varied based on planting date, species, soil characteristics, and crop rotations. Early-planted WCCs outperformed late-planted WCCs on the reduction of NO3-N loads and early-planted rye (RE) reduced NO3-N loads by ~49.3% compared to the baseline (no WCC). The WCCs were more effective in a watershed dominated by well-drained soils with increased reductions in NO3-N fluxes of ~2.5 kg N·ha-1 delivered to streams and ~10.1 kg N·ha-1 leached into groundwater compared to poorly-drained soils. Well-drained agricultural lands had higher transport of NO3-N in the soil profile and groundwater due to increased N leaching. Poorly-drained agricultural lands had lower NO3-N due to extensive drainage ditches and anaerobic soil conditions promoting denitrification. The performance of WCCs varied by crop rotations (i.e., continuous corn and corn-soybean), with increased N uptake following soybean crops due to the increased soil mineral N availability by mineralization of soybean residue compared to corn residue. The WCCs can reduce N leaching where baseline NO3-N loads are high in well-drained soils and/or when residual and mineralized N availability is high due to the cropping practices. The findings suggested that WCC implementation plans should be established in watersheds according to local edaphic and agronomic

  10. Conducting Summer School in Agriculture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lloyd, Melvin

    1976-01-01

    Course objectives, student competencies, and class session schedules are outlined for two high school vocational agriculture summer courses: Livestock and Livestock Products Evaluation and Agribusiness Leadership Seminar. (MS)

  11. CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) for weather impact assessment on global agriculture.

    PubMed

    Gommes, René; Wu, Bingfang; Zhang, Ning; Feng, Xueliang; Zeng, Hongwei; Li, Zhongyuan; Chen, Bo

    2017-02-01

    CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) are a monitoring tool developed by the CropWatch global crop monitoring system in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; www.cropwatch.com.cn , Wu et al Int J Digital Earth 7(2):113-137, 2014, Wu et al Remote Sens 7:3907-3933, 2015). Contrary to most other environmental and agroclimatic indicators, they are "agronomic value-added", i.e. they are spatial values averaged over agricultural areas only and they include a weighting that enhances the contribution of the areas with the largest production potential. CWAIs can be computed for any time interval (starting from dekads) and yield one synthetic value per variable over a specific area and time interval, for instance a national annual value. Therefore, they are very compatible with socio-economic and other variables that are usually reported at regular time intervals over administrative units, such as national environmental or agricultural statistics. Two of the CWAIs are satellite-based (RAIN and Photosynthetically Active radiation, PAR) while the third is ground based (TEMP, air temperature); capitals are used when specifically referring to CWAIs rather than the climate variables in general. The paper first provides an overview of some common agroclimatic indicators, describing their procedural, systemic and normative features in subsequent sections, following the terminology of Binder et al Environ Impact Assess Rev 30:71-81 (2010). The discussion focuses on the systemic and normative aspects: the CWAIs are assessed in terms of their coherent description of the agroclimatic crop environment, at different spatial scales (systemic). The final section shows that the CWAIs retain key statistical properties of the underlying climate variables and that they can be compared to a reference value and used as monitoring and early warning variables (normative).

  12. CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) for weather impact assessment on global agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gommes, René; Wu, Bingfang; Zhang, Ning; Feng, Xueliang; Zeng, Hongwei; Li, Zhongyuan; Chen, Bo

    2017-02-01

    CropWatch agroclimatic indicators (CWAIs) are a monitoring tool developed by the CropWatch global crop monitoring system in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; http://www.cropwatch.com.cn, Wu et al Int J Digital Earth 7(2):113-137, 2014, Wu et al Remote Sens 7:3907-3933, 2015). Contrary to most other environmental and agroclimatic indicators, they are "agronomic value-added", i.e. they are spatial values averaged over agricultural areas only and they include a weighting that enhances the contribution of the areas with the largest production potential. CWAIs can be computed for any time interval (starting from dekads) and yield one synthetic value per variable over a specific area and time interval, for instance a national annual value. Therefore, they are very compatible with socio-economic and other variables that are usually reported at regular time intervals over administrative units, such as national environmental or agricultural statistics. Two of the CWAIs are satellite-based (RAIN and Photosynthetically Active radiation, PAR) while the third is ground based (TEMP, air temperature); capitals are used when specifically referring to CWAIs rather than the climate variables in general. The paper first provides an overview of some common agroclimatic indicators, describing their procedural, systemic and normative features in subsequent sections, following the terminology of Binder et al Environ Impact Assess Rev 30:71-81 (2010). The discussion focuses on the systemic and normative aspects: the CWAIs are assessed in terms of their coherent description of the agroclimatic crop environment, at different spatial scales (systemic). The final section shows that the CWAIs retain key statistical properties of the underlying climate variables and that they can be compared to a reference value and used as monitoring and early warning variables (normative).

  13. Standing crops and ecology of aquatic invertebrates in agricultural drainwater ponds in California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Euliss, N.H.; Jarvis, R.L.; Gilmer, D.S.

    1991-01-01

    We examined standing crops and ecology of aquatic invertebrates in agricultural drainwater evaporation ponds in California from October 1982 to March 1983 and September 1983 to March 1984. Evaporation ponds supported low diversities but high standing crops of aquatic invertebrates. A water boatman (Trichocorixa reticulata) and a midge (Tanypus grodhausi) were the most abundant invertebrates, constituting 44.9% and 51.4% of total macroinvertebrate biomass. Regression models indicated that of 6 environmental variables measured, only electrical conductivity (EC) and Julian date affected biomass and density of water boatmen. EC was the only significant correlate of midge biomass in evaporation ponds.

  14. Crop monoculture rather than agriculture reduces the spatial turnover of soil bacterial communities at a regional scale.

    PubMed

    Figuerola, Eva L M; Guerrero, Leandro D; Türkowsky, Dominique; Wall, Luis G; Erijman, Leonardo

    2015-03-01

    The goal of this study was to investigate the spatial turnover of soil bacterial communities in response to environmental changes introduced by the practices of soybean monoculture or crop rotations, relative to grassland soils. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was used to analyse bacterial diversity in producer fields through three successive cropping cycles within one and a half years, across a regional scale of the Argentinean Pampas. Unlike local diversity, which was not significantly affected by land use type, agricultural management had a strong influence on β-diversity patterns. Distributions of pairwise distances between all soils samples under soybean monoculture had significantly lower β-diversity and narrower breadth compared with distributions of pairwise distances between soils managed with crop rotation. Interestingly, good agricultural practices had similar degree of β-diversity as natural grasslands. The higher phylogenetic relatedness of bacterial communities in soils under monoculture across the region was likely determined by the observed loss of endemic species, and affected mostly to phyla with low regional diversity, such as Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and the candidates phyla SPAM and WS3. These results suggest that the implementation of good agricultural practices, including crop rotation, may be critical for the long-term conservation of soil biodiversity. © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Improving Farm Scale Agricultural Water Management in Agriculture at a Farm Scale. A case study for field crops in the California's Central Valley

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Medellin-Azuara, J.; Morande, J. A.; Jin, Y.; Chen, Y.; Paw U, K. T.; Viers, J. H.

    2016-12-01

    Traditional methods for estimating consumptive water use as evapotranspiration (ET) for agriculture in areas with water limitations such as California have always been a challenge for farmers, water managers, researchers and government agencies. Direct measurement of evapotranspiration (ET) and crop water stress in agriculture can be a cumbersome and costly task. Furthermore, spatial variability of applied water and irrigation and stress level in crops, due to inherent heterogeneity in soil conditions, topography, management practices, and lack of uniformity in water applications may affect estimates water use efficiency and water balances. This situation difficult long-term management of agroecosystems. This paper presents a case study for various areas in California's Central Valley using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for a late portion of the 2016 irrigation season These estimates are compared those obtained by direct measurement (from previously deployed stations), and energy balance approaches with remotely sensed data in a selection of field crop parcels. This research improves information on water use and site conditions in agriculture by enhancing remote sensing-based estimations through the use of higher resolution multi-spectral and thermal imagery captured by UAV. We assess whether more frequent information at higher spatial resolution from UAVs can improve estimations of overall ET through energy balance and imagery. Stress levels and ET are characterized spatially to examine irrigation practices and their performance to improve water use in the agroecosystem. Ground based data such as air and crop temperature and stem water potential is collected to validate UAV aerial measurements. Preliminary results show the potential of UAV technology to improve timing, resolution and accuracy in the ET estimation and assessment of crop stress at a farm scales. Side to side comparison with ground level stations employing surface renewal, eddy covariance and

  16. Application of agricultural biotechnology to improve food nutrition and healthcare products.

    PubMed

    Sun, Samuel S M

    2008-01-01

    Crop plants provide essential food nutrients to humans and livestock, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals and vitamins, directly or indirectly. The level and composition of food nutrients vary significantly in different food crops. As a result, plant foods are often deficient in certain nutrient components. Relying on a single food crop as source of nutrients thus will not achieve a balanced diet and results in malnutrition and deficiency diseases, especially in the developing countries, due mainly to poverty. The development and application of biotechnology offers opportunities and novel possibilities to enhance the nutritional quality of crops, particularly when the necessary genetic variability is not available. While initial emphasis of agricultural biotechnology has been placed on input traits of crops such as herbicide tolerance, insect resistance and virus resistance, increasing effort and promising proof-of-concept products have been made in output traits including enhancing the nutritional quality of crops since 1990s. Advancements in plant transformation and transgene expression also allow the use of plants as bioreactors to produce a variety of bio-products at large scale and low cost. Many proof-of-concept plant-derived healthcare products have been generated and several commercialized.

  17. Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clark, Michael; Tilman, David

    2017-06-01

    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.

  18. Agricultural sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence.

    PubMed

    Pretty, Jules

    2008-02-12

    Concerns about sustainability in agricultural systems centre on the need to develop technologies and practices that do not have adverse effects on environmental goods and services, are accessible to and effective for farmers, and lead to improvements in food productivity. Despite great progress in agricultural productivity in the past half-century, with crop and livestock productivity strongly driven by increased use of fertilizers, irrigation water, agricultural machinery, pesticides and land, it would be over-optimistic to assume that these relationships will remain linear in the future. New approaches are needed that will integrate biological and ecological processes into food production, minimize the use of those non-renewable inputs that cause harm to the environment or to the health of farmers and consumers, make productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers, so substituting human capital for costly external inputs, and make productive use of people's collective capacities to work together to solve common agricultural and natural resource problems, such as for pest, watershed, irrigation, forest and credit management. These principles help to build important capital assets for agricultural systems: natural; social; human; physical; and financial capital. Improving natural capital is a central aim, and dividends can come from making the best use of the genotypes of crops and animals and the ecological conditions under which they are grown or raised. Agricultural sustainability suggests a focus on both genotype improvements through the full range of modern biological approaches and improved understanding of the benefits of ecological and agronomic management, manipulation and redesign. The ecological management of agroecosystems that addresses energy flows, nutrient cycling, population-regulating mechanisms and system resilience can lead to the redesign of agriculture at a landscape scale. Sustainable agriculture outcomes can be positive for food

  19. Promoting healthy diets and tackling obesity and diet-related chronic diseases: what are the agricultural policy levers?

    PubMed

    Hawkes, Corinna

    2007-06-01

    Diet-related chronic diseases are now a serious global public health problem. Public health groups are calling for the agricultural sector to play a greater role in tackling the threat. To identify potential points of policy intervention in the agricultural sector that could be leveraged to promote healthy diets and tackle obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. A review of the literature on the dietary implications of agriculture, a conceptual analysis of the issues, and the identification of relevant examples. There are two main potential points of intervention in the agricultural sector that could be leveraged to promote healthy diets: agricultural policies and agricultural production practices. Agricultural policies and practices affect diet through their influence on food availability, price, and nutrient quality, which in turn affects food choices available to consumers. Agricultural policies amenable to intervention include input, production, and trade policies; agricultural production practices amenable to intervention include crop breeding, crop fertilization practices, livestock-feeding practices, and crop systems diversity. It is well-known that agricultural policies and production practices influence what farmers choose to grow. Agricultural policies and production practices could also play a role in influencing what consumers choose to eat. To identify how agricultural policies and practices can usefully contribute toward promoting healthy diets and tackling obesity and diet-related chronic diseases, health policymakers need to examine whether current agricultural policies and production practices are contributing to-or detracting from-efforts to attain dietary goals; where and how could agricultural intervention help achieve dietary goals; and whether there are trade-offs between these interventions and other important concerns, such as undernutrition and the livelihoods of agricultural producers. Given the potential of agriculture to contribute to

  20. Monitoring Agricultural Cropping Patterns in the Great Lakes Basin Using MODIS-NDVI Time Series Data

    EPA Science Inventory

    This research examined changes in agricultural cropping patterns across the Great Lakes Basin (GLB) using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. Specific research objectives were to characterize the distribut...

  1. 7 CFR 1221.6 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Crop year. 1221.6 Section 1221.6 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS... INFORMATION ORDER Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Order Definitions § 1221.6 Crop year. Crop year...

  2. 7 CFR 1221.6 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Crop year. 1221.6 Section 1221.6 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS... INFORMATION ORDER Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Order Definitions § 1221.6 Crop year. Crop year...

  3. Responses of tropical root crops to climate change: implications for Pacific food security

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gleadow, R.; Webber, B.; Macness, N.; Lisson, S.; Nauluvula, P.; Hargraves, J.; Crimp, S. J.

    2013-12-01

    Cassava and taro are an important source of calories in many parts of the developing world and hold much promise for meeting the need for food security in equatorial regions. Communities in the Pacific Island countries reliant on agriculture-based livelihood systems have been identified as particularly at risk from climate change, due to likely increases in crop failure, new patterns of pests and diseases, lack of appropriate seed and plant material, loss of livestock and potential loss of arable land. Recent shortfalls in agricultural production resulting from changing export markets, commodity prices, climatic variation, and population growth and urbanisation, have contributed further to regional food insecurity concerns. Cassava and taro contain herbivore defense chemicals that are detrimental to human health (cyanogenic glucosides and calcium oxalate). Unprocessed cassava can cause acute cyanide intoxication, paralysis and even death, especially during droughts. A number of activities are already underway in the Pacific region to identify ways to ameliorate existing climate risk and enhance current agricultural production. Whilst these activities are important to ensure long-term agricultural sustainability, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty as to how effective these strategies may be in the face of a changing and increasingly variable future climate. We present our current understanding of the impact of climate change on key Pacific production systems - specifically those based on the staple root crops, taro and cassava. This includes (1) Our understanding of the responses of cassava and taro crops to existing environmental drivers (climate, soil and nutrient interactions); (2) The responses of cassava and taro crops to enhanced CO2 conditions; and (3) Efforts to model productivity responses (within the APSIM framework) and results for locations in the Pacific.

  4. Modeled Changes in Potential Grassland Productivity and in Grass-Fed Ruminant Livestock Density in Europe over 1961-2010.

    PubMed

    Chang, Jinfeng; Viovy, Nicolas; Vuichard, Nicolas; Ciais, Philippe; Campioli, Matteo; Klumpp, Katja; Martin, Raphaël; Leip, Adrian; Soussana, Jean-François

    2015-01-01

    About 25% of European livestock intake is based on permanent and sown grasslands. To fulfill rising demand for animal products, an intensification of livestock production may lead to an increased consumption of crop and compound feeds. In order to preserve an economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture, a more forage based livestock alimentation may be an advantage. However, besides management, grassland productivity is highly vulnerable to climate (i.e., temperature, precipitation, CO2 concentration), and spatial information about European grassland productivity in response to climate change is scarce. The process-based vegetation model ORCHIDEE-GM, containing an explicit representation of grassland management (i.e., herbage mowing and grazing), is used here to estimate changes in potential productivity and potential grass-fed ruminant livestock density across European grasslands over the period 1961-2010. Here "potential grass-fed ruminant livestock density" denotes the maximum density of livestock that can be supported by grassland productivity in each 25 km × 25 km grid cell. In reality, livestock density could be higher than potential (e.g., if additional feed is supplied to animals) or lower (e.g., in response to economic factors, pedo-climatic and biotic conditions ignored by the model, or policy decisions that can for instance reduce livestock numbers). When compared to agricultural statistics (Eurostat and FAOstat), ORCHIDEE-GM gave a good reproduction of the regional gradients of annual grassland productivity and ruminant livestock density. The model however tends to systematically overestimate the absolute values of productivity in most regions, suggesting that most grid cells remain below their potential grassland productivity due to possible nutrient and biotic limitations on plant growth. When ORCHIDEE-GM was run for the period 1961-2010 with variable climate and rising CO2, an increase of potential annual production (over 3%) per decade

  5. The potential of agricultural practices to increase C storage in cropped soils: an assessment for France

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chenu, Claire; Angers, Denis; Métay, Aurélie; Colnenne, Caroline; Klumpp, Katja; Bamière, Laure; Pardon, Lenaic; Pellerin, Sylvain

    2014-05-01

    Though large progress has been achieved in the last decades, net GHG emissions from the agricultural sector are still more poorly quantified than in other sectors. In this study, we examined i) technical mitigation options likely to store carbon in agricultural soils, ii) their potential of additional C storage per unit surface area and iii) applicable areas in mainland France. We considered only agricultural practices being technically feasible by farmers and involving no major change in either production systems or production levels. Moreover, only currently available techniques with validated efficiencies and presenting no major negative environmental impacts were taken into account. Four measures were expected to store additional C in agricultural soils: - Reducing tillage: either a switch to continuous direct seeding, direct seeding with occasional tillage once every five years, or continuous superficial (<15 cm) tillage. - Introducing cover crops in cropping systems: sown between two cash crops on arable farms, in orchards and vineyards (permanent or temporary cover cropping) . - Expanding agroforestry systems; planting of tree lines in cultivated fields and grasslands, and hedges around the field edges. - Increasing the life time of temporary sown grasslands: increase of life time to 5 years. The recent literature was reviewed in order to determine long term (>20yrs) C storage rates (MgC ha-1 y-1,) of cropping systems with and without the proposed practice. Then we analysed the conditions for potential application, in terms of feasibility, acceptance, limitation of yield losses and of other GHG emissions. According to the literature, additional C storage rates were 0.15 (0-0.3) MgC ha-1 y-1 for continuous direct seeding, 0.10 (0-0.2) MgC ha-1 y-1for occasional tillage one year in five, and 0.0 MgC ha-1 y-1 for superficial tillage. Cover crops were estimated to store 0.24 (0.13-0.37) MgC ha-1 y-1 between cash crops and 0.49 (0.23-0.72) MgC ha-1 y-1 when

  6. 7 CFR 987.6 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Crop year. 987.6 Section 987.6 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and... RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Order Regulating Handling Definitions § 987.6 Crop year. Crop year means the 12...

  7. 7 CFR 987.6 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 8 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Crop year. 987.6 Section 987.6 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and... RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Order Regulating Handling Definitions § 987.6 Crop year. Crop year means the 12...

  8. Agricultural technologies and carbon emissions: evidence from Jordanian economy.

    PubMed

    Ismael, Mohanad; Srouji, Fathi; Boutabba, Mohamed Amine

    2018-04-01

    Theoretically, agriculture can be the victim and the cause of climate change. Using annual data for the period of 1970-2014, this study examines the interaction between agriculture technology factors and the environment in terms of carbon emissions in Jordan. The results provide evidence for unidirectional causality running from machinery, subsidies, and other transfers, rural access to an improved water source and fertilizers to carbon emissions. The results also reveal the existence of bidirectional causality between the real income and carbon emissions. The variance error decompositions highlight the importance of subsidies and machinery in explaining carbon emissions. They also show that fertilizers, the crop and livestock production, the land under cereal production, the water access, the agricultural value added, and the real income have an increasing effect on carbon emissions over the forecast period. These results are important so that policy-makers can build up strategies and take in considerations the indicators in order to reduce carbon emissions in Jordan.

  9. Sensitivity of soil microbial processes to livestock antimicrobials

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Strong public concern that the overuse of livestock antimicrobials produce greater antibiotic resistance and pose a risk for human health have led to new regulations on the use of antimicrobials. Manure runoff containing trace levels of antimicrobials is usually applied to crop fields, but their im...

  10. Corn residue utilization by livestock in the USA

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Corn (Zea mays L.) residue grazing or harvest provides a simple and economical practice to integrate crops and livestock. Limited information is available on how widespread corn residue utilization is practiced by US producers. In 2010, the USDA-ERS surveyed producers from 19 states on corn grain ...

  11. Salt tolerant green crop species for sodium management in space agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamashita, Masamichi; Hashimoto, Hirofumi; Tomita-Yokotani, Kaori; Shimoda, Toshifumi; Nose, Akihiro; Space Agriculture Task Force, J.

    Ecological system and materials recycling loop of space agriculture are quite tight compared to natural ecological system on Earth. Sodium management will be a keen issue for space agricul-ture. Human nutritional requirements include sodium salt. Since sodium at high concentration is toxic for most of plant growth, excreted sodium of human waste should be removed from compost fertilizer. Use of marine algae is promising for harvesting potassium and other min-erals required for plant growth and returning remained sodium to satisfy human need of its intake. Farming salt tolerant green crop species is another approach to manage sodium problem in both space and terrestrial agriculture. We chose ice plant and New Zealand spinach. These two plant species are widely accepted green vegetable with many recipe. Ice plant can grow at the salinity level of sea water, and contain sodium salt up to 30% of its dry mass. Sodium distributes mainly in its bladder cells. New Zealand spinach is a plant species found in the front zone of sea shore, and tolerant against high salinity as well. Plant body size of both species at harvest is quite large, and easy to farm. Capability of bio-remediation of high saline soil is examined with ice plant and New Zealand spinach. Incubation medium was chosen to contain high concentration of sodium and potassium at the Na/K ratio of human excreta. In case Na/K ratio of plant body grown by this medium is greatly higher than that of incubation medium or soil, these halophytes are effective to remediate soil for farming less tolerant plant crop. Experimental results was less positive in this context.

  12. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) detects fine roots of agricultural crops in the field

    Treesearch

    Xiuwei Liu; Xuejun Dong; Qingwu Xue; Daniel I. Leskovar; John Jifon; John R. Butnor; Thomas Marek

    2018-01-01

    Aim Ground penetrating radar (GPR) as a non-invasive technique is widely used in coarse root detection. However, the applicability of the technique to detect fine roots of agricultural crops is unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of utilizing GPR to detect fine roots in the field.

  13. Agricultural water use, crop water footprints and irrigation strategies in the seasonally dry Guanacaste region in Costa Rica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morillas, Laura; Johnson, Mark S.; Hund, Silja V.; Steyn, Douw G.

    2017-04-01

    Agriculture is the main productive sector and a major water-consuming sector in the seasonally-dry Guanacaste region of north-western Costa Rica. Agriculture in the region is intensifying at the same time that seasonal water scarcity is increasing. The climate of this region is characterized by a prolonged dry season from December to March, followed by a bimodal wet season from April to November. The wet season has historically experienced periodic oscillations in rainfall timing and amounts resulting from variations of several large-scale climatic features (El Niño Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation). However, global circulation models now project more recurrent variations in total annual rainfall, changes in rainfall temporal distribution, and increased temperatures in this region. This may result in a lengthening of the dry season and an increase in water scarcity and water-related conflicts as water resources are already limited and disputed in this area. In fact, this region has just undergone a four-year drought over the 2012-2015 period, which has intensified water related conflicts and put agricultural production at risk. In turn, the recent drought has also increased awareness of the local communities regarding the regional threat of water scarcity and the need of a regional water planning. The overall goal of this research is to generate data to characterize water use by the agricultural sector in this region and asses its sustainability in the regional context. Towards this goal, eddy-covariance flux towers were deployed on two extensive farms growing regionally-representative crops (melon/rice rotation and sugarcane) to evaluate, monitor and quantify water use in large-scale farms. The two identically instrumented stations provide continuous measurements of evapotranspiration and CO2 fluxes, and are equipped with additional instrumentation to monitor

  14. Perennial Forages as Second Generation Bioenergy Crops

    PubMed Central

    Sanderson, Matt A.; Adler, Paul R.

    2008-01-01

    The lignocellulose in forage crops represents a second generation of biomass feedstock for conversion into energy-related end products. Some of the most extensively studied species for cellulosic feedstock production include forages such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). An advantage of using forages as bioenergy crops is that farmers are familiar with their management and already have the capacity to grow, harvest, store, and transport them. Forage crops offer additional flexibility in management because they can be used for biomass or forage and the land can be returned to other uses or put into crop rotation. Estimates indicate about 22.3 million ha of cropland, idle cropland, and cropland pasture will be needed for biomass production in 2030. Converting these lands to large scale cellulosic energy farming could push the traditional forage-livestock industry to ever more marginal lands. Furthermore, encouraging bioenergy production from marginal lands could directly compete with forage-livestock production. PMID:19325783

  15. Comparison of soil microbial respiration and carbon turnover under perennial and annual biofuel crops in two agricultural soils

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szymanski, L. M.; Marin-Spiotta, E.; Sanford, G. R.; Jackson, R. D.; Heckman, K. A.

    2015-12-01

    Bioenergy crops have the potential to provide a low carbon-intensive alternative to fossil fuels. More than a century of agricultural research has shown that conventional cropping systems can reduce soil organic matter (SOM) reservoirs, which cause long-term soil nutrient loss and C release to the atmosphere. In the face of climate change and other human disruptions to biogeochemical cycles, identifying biofuel crops that can maintain or enhance soil resources is desirable for the sustainable production of bioenergy. The objective of our study was to compare the effects of four biofuel crop treatments on SOM dynamics in two agricultural soils: Mollisols at Arlington Agricultural Research Station in Wisconsin and Alfisols at Kellogg Biological Station in Michigan, USA. We used fresh soils collected in 2013 and archived soils from 2008 to measure the effects of five years of crop management. Using a one-year long laboratory soil incubation coupled with a regression model and radiocarbon measurements, we separated soils into three SOM pools and their corresponding C turnover times. We found that the active pool, or biologically available C, was more sensitive to management and is an earlier indicator of changes to soil C dynamics than bulk soil C measurements. There was no effect of treatment on the active pool size at either site; however, the percent C in the active pool decreased, regardless of crop type, in surface soils with high clay content. At depth, the response of the slow pool differed between annual and perennial cropping systems. The distribution of C among SOM fractions varied between the two soil types, with greater C content associated with the active fraction in the coarser textured-soil and greater C content associated with the slow-cycling fraction in the soils with high clay content. These results suggest that the effects of bioenergy crops on soil resources will vary geographically, with implications for the carbon-cost of biocrop production.

  16. Cowpea and Groundnut Haulms Fodder Trading and Its Lessons for Multidimensional Cowpea Improvement for Mixed Crop Livestock Systems in West Africa

    PubMed Central

    Samireddypalle, Anandan; Boukar, Ousmane; Grings, Elaine; Fatokun, Christian A.; Kodukula, Prasad; Devulapalli, Ravi; Okike, Iheanacho; Blümmel, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Cowpea is an important legume crop in Africa, valued highly for its grain and also haulms, which are a tradable commodity in fodder markets. Fodder market surveys in Northern Nigeria showed that groundnut haulms were priced higher than cowpea haulms, probably because of their superior nutritive value. The economic value of haulms has prompted cowpea breeders and livestock nutritionists to explore haulm fodder traits as additional selection and breeding criteria. Fifty cowpea genotypes cultivated across five locations in Nigeria in 2013 and 2014 were evaluated for food fodder traits. Significant (P < 0.05) genotypic dependent variations were observed in yields (kg/ha) of grains (537–1082) and haulms (1173–3368), though significant (P < 0.05) effects of location and year were observed. Grain and fodder yield had a tendency to be positively correlated (r = 0.26, P = 0.07). Haulms were analyzed for nitrogen (N), fiber fractions, in vitro digestibility, and metabolizable energy content. Highly significant variations were observed in all genotypic and livestock nutrition traits, although location and year had significant effects. Trade-offs between grain yield and haulm fodder quality traits were largely absent and haulm acid detergent lignin and grain yield were even inversely correlated (r = -0.28, P = 0.05), that is high grain yielders had decreased haulm lignin. However, haulm N and grain yield also tended to be negatively associated (r = -0.26, P = 0.07). Haulm fodder quality traits and haulm yield were mostly positively correlated (P < 0.05). Broad sense heritabilities for grain and fodder yield were 0.50 and 0.29, respectively, while heritability for haulm fodder quality traits ranged from 0.61 to 0.67, providing opportunities for concomitant increase in grain yield and haulm fodder quality traits. Selection of the 10 highest ranking genotypes for grain yield, haulm yield, haulm N, and haulm in vitro organic matter digestibility showed selection groups

  17. Could Crop Height Affect the Wind Resource at Agriculturally Productive Wind Farm Sites?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vanderwende, Brian; Lundquist, Julie K.

    2016-03-01

    The collocation of cropland and wind turbines in the US Midwest region introduces complex meteorological interactions that could influence both agriculture and wind-power production. Crop management practices may affect the wind resource through alterations of land-surface properties. We use the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model to estimate the impact of crop height variations on the wind resource in the presence of a large turbine array. A hypothetical wind farm consisting of 121 1.8-MW turbines is represented using the WRF model wind-farm parametrization. We represent the impact of selecting soybeans rather than maize by altering the aerodynamic roughness length in a region approximately 65 times larger than that occupied by the turbine array. Roughness lengths of 0.1 and 0.25 m represent the mature soy crop and a mature maize crop, respectively. In all but the most stable atmospheric conditions, statistically significant hub-height wind-speed increases and rotor-layer wind-shear reductions result from switching from maize to soybeans. Based on simulations for the entire month of August 2013, wind-farm energy output increases by 14 %, which would yield a significant monetary gain. Further investigation is required to determine the optimal size, shape, and crop height of the roughness modification to maximize the economic benefit and minimize the cost of such crop-management practices. These considerations must be balanced by other influences on crop choice such as soil requirements and commodity prices.

  18. Could crop height affect the wind resource at agriculturally productive wind farm sites?

    DOE PAGES

    Vanderwende, Brian; Lundquist, Julie K.

    2015-11-07

    The collocation of cropland and wind turbines in the US Midwest region introduces complex meteorological interactions that could influence both agriculture and wind-power production. Crop management practices may affect the wind resource through alterations of land-surface properties. We use the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model to estimate the impact of crop height variations on the wind resource in the presence of a large turbine array. A hypothetical wind farm consisting of 121 1.8-MW turbines is represented using the WRF model wind-farm parametrization. We represent the impact of selecting soybeans rather than maize by altering the aerodynamic roughness length inmore » a region approximately 65 times larger than that occupied by the turbine array. Roughness lengths of 0.1 and 0.25 m represent the mature soy crop and a mature maize crop, respectively. In all but the most stable atmospheric conditions, statistically significant hub-height wind-speed increases and rotor-layer wind-shear reductions result from switching from maize to soybeans. Based on simulations for the entire month of August 2013, wind-farm energy output increases by 14 %, which would yield a significant monetary gain. Further investigation is required to determine the optimal size, shape, and crop height of the roughness modification to maximize the economic benefit and minimize the cost of such crop-management practices. As a result, these considerations must be balanced by other influences on crop choice such as soil requirements and commodity prices.« less

  19. Could crop height affect the wind resource at agriculturally productive wind farm sites?

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Vanderwende, Brian; Lundquist, Julie K.

    The collocation of cropland and wind turbines in the US Midwest region introduces complex meteorological interactions that could influence both agriculture and wind-power production. Crop management practices may affect the wind resource through alterations of land-surface properties. We use the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model to estimate the impact of crop height variations on the wind resource in the presence of a large turbine array. A hypothetical wind farm consisting of 121 1.8-MW turbines is represented using the WRF model wind-farm parametrization. We represent the impact of selecting soybeans rather than maize by altering the aerodynamic roughness length inmore » a region approximately 65 times larger than that occupied by the turbine array. Roughness lengths of 0.1 and 0.25 m represent the mature soy crop and a mature maize crop, respectively. In all but the most stable atmospheric conditions, statistically significant hub-height wind-speed increases and rotor-layer wind-shear reductions result from switching from maize to soybeans. Based on simulations for the entire month of August 2013, wind-farm energy output increases by 14 %, which would yield a significant monetary gain. Further investigation is required to determine the optimal size, shape, and crop height of the roughness modification to maximize the economic benefit and minimize the cost of such crop-management practices. As a result, these considerations must be balanced by other influences on crop choice such as soil requirements and commodity prices.« less

  20. Drugs and natural products: From plants and livestock to human therapeutics

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Plants toxic to livestock species have a significantly negative impact on agriculture but can be an important source of bioactive molecules for use in medicine. The initial research on plant toxicity is focused on the response to the poisoning and the specific livestock species impacted by the toxic...

  1. Matching Livestock Production Systems and Environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Becchetti, T.; Stackhouse, J.; Snell, L.; Lile, D.; George, H.; Harper, J. M.; Larson, S.; Mashiri, F.; Doran, M.; Barry, S.

    2015-12-01

    Livestock production systems vary greatly over the world. Producers try to match the resources they have with the demands of production, this can vary by species, class of animal, number of animals, and production goals, etc. Using California's diversity in production systems as an example, we explored how livestock producers best utilize the forage and feed found in different ecosystems and available in different parts of the state. Livestock grazing, the predominant land use in California and in much of the world, makes efficient use of the natural vegetation produced without additional water (irrigation), minimal inputs such as fertilizer while often supporting a variety of conservation objectives including vegetation management, fire fuels management, and habitat and open space conservation. The numerous by-products produced by other sectors of California's agriculture as well as food industries, such as brewer's grain, cottonseeds, and almond hulls are utilized as a feed source for livestock. These by-products are not only an important feed source especially in drought years but are diverted from our waste stream when utilized by livestock. The concept of matching available resources to livestock needs throughout the world is often overlooked and production systems are often over simplified in projects conducting a life cycle analysis or developing carbon foot prints for livestock production systems. This paper provides details on the various production systems found in California, the ecosystem they have adapted to, and how the producers use science and ecological knowledge to match the biological requirements of the livestock and conservation objectives to feed and forage resources.

  2. Cover Crops and Fertilization Alter Nitrogen Loss in Organic and Conventional Conservation Agriculture Systems

    PubMed Central

    Shelton, Rebecca E.; Jacobsen, Krista L.; McCulley, Rebecca L.

    2018-01-01

    Agroecosystem nitrogen (N) loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems in Kentucky, USA. Three systems were evaluated: (1) an unfertilized, organic system with cover crops hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), or a mix of the two (bi-culture); (2) an organic system with a hairy vetch cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (0 N, organic N, or a fertilizer N-credit approach); and (3) a conventional system with a winter wheat cover crop and three fertilization schemes (0 N, urea N, or organic N). In the unfertilized organic system, cover crop species affected NO3-N leaching (vetch > bi-culture > wheat) and N2O-N emissions and yield during corn growth (vetch, bi-culture > wheat). Fertilization increased soil inorganic N, gaseous N loss, N leaching, and yield in the organic vetch and conventional wheat systems. Fertilizer scheme affected the magnitude of growing season N2O-N loss in the organic vetch system (organic N > fertilizer N-credit) and the timing of loss (organic N delayed N2O-N loss vs. urea) and NO3-N leaching (urea >> organic N) in the conventional wheat system, but had no effect on yield. Cover crop selection and N fertilization techniques can reduce N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing yield, thereby enhancing N conservation in both organic and conventional conservation agriculture systems. PMID:29403512

  3. Spatial and temporal contrasts in the distribution of crops and pastures across Amazonia: A new agricultural land use data set from census data since 1950.

    PubMed

    Imbach, P; Manrow, M; Barona, E; Barretto, A; Hyman, G; Ciais, P

    2015-06-01

    Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the difficulty of acquiring consistent data across countries. We present here an agricultural statistics database of the entire Amazonia region, with a harmonized description of crops and pastures in geospatial format, based on administrative boundary data at the municipality level. The spatial coverage includes countries within Amazonia and spans censuses and surveys from 1950 to 2012. Harmonized crop and pasture types are explored by grouping annual and perennial cropping systems, C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways, planted and natural pastures, and main crops. Our analysis examined the spatial pattern of ratios between classes of the groups and their correlation with the agricultural extent of crops and pastures within administrative units of the Amazon, by country, and census/survey dates. Significant correlations were found between all ratios and the fraction of agricultural lands of each administrative unit, with the exception of planted to natural pastures ratio and pasture lands extent. Brazil and Peru in most cases have significant correlations for all ratios analyzed even for specific census and survey dates. Results suggested improvements, and potential applications of the database for carbon, water, climate, and land use change studies are discussed. The database presented here provides an Amazon-wide improved data set on agricultural dynamics with expanded temporal and spatial coverage. Agricultural census database covers Amazon basin municipalities from 1950 to 2012Harmonized database groups crops and pastures by cropping system, C3/C4, and main cropsWe explored

  4. 7 CFR 457.133 - Prune crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prune crop insurance provisions. 457.133 Section 457.133 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.133 Prune crop insurance...

  5. 7 CFR 457.132 - Cranberry crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Cranberry crop insurance provisions. 457.132 Section 457.132 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.132 Cranberry crop insurance...

  6. 7 CFR 457.159 - Stonefruit crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Stonefruit crop insurance provisions. 457.159 Section 457.159 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.159 Stonefruit crop insurance...

  7. 7 CFR 457.141 - Rice crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rice crop insurance provisions. 457.141 Section 457.141 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.141 Rice crop insurance...

  8. 7 CFR 457.138 - Grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Grape crop insurance provisions. 457.138 Section 457.138 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.138 Grape crop insurance...

  9. 7 CFR 457.158 - Apple crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Apple crop insurance provisions. 457.158 Section 457.158 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.158 Apple crop insurance...

  10. 7 CFR 457.157 - Plum crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Plum crop insurance provisions. 457.157 Section 457.157 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.157 Plum crop insurance...

  11. 7 CFR 457.135 - Onion crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Onion crop insurance provisions. 457.135 Section 457.135 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.135 Onion crop insurance...

  12. 7 CFR 457.136 - Tobacco crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Tobacco crop insurance provisions. 457.136 Section 457.136 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.136 Tobacco crop insurance...

  13. 7 CFR 457.134 - Peanut crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Peanut crop insurance provisions. 457.134 Section 457.134 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.134 Peanut crop insurance...

  14. 7 CFR 457.153 - Peach crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Peach crop insurance provisions. 457.153 Section 457.153 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.153 Peach crop insurance...

  15. Optimization based trade-off analysis of biodiesel crop production for managing a German agricultural catchment

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    In agricultural production, the existence of multiple trade-offs among several conflicting objectives, such as food production, water quantity, water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem services, is well known. However, quantification of the trade-offs among objectives in bioenergy crop production i...

  16. Ammonia emissions from the agriculture sector in Argentina; 2000-2012

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Castesana, Paula S.; Dawidowski, Laura E.; Finster, Laura; Gómez, Darío R.; Taboada, Miguel A.

    2018-04-01

    Agriculture is one of the key economic sectors in Argentina and, in the last decades, the increase in prices and competitiveness of some grains has imposed important changes. In this process, crop cultivation occupied significant extensions of land areas previously dedicated to livestock farming, which in turn have experienced intensification in terms of production through an increasing share of feedlot systems. The agriculture sector is the main NH3 emitter in Argentina, however no inventory developed locally has been thus far available. We estimated the time series 2000-2012 of NH3 emissions, both at national and spatially disaggregated levels. National NH3 emissions in 2012 amounted to 0.31 ± 0.08 Tg, with the use of mineral fertilizers accounting for 43.0%, manure in pasture 32.5%, manure management 23.0% and agricultural waste burning 1.5%. Urea use was the major source of NH3 emissions and its application on wheat and corn crops dominated the trend. Emissions from open biomass burning were estimated but not included in the national totals because of the difficulties in differentiating between agricultural (i.e., prescribed burning of savannas) and non-agricultural emission sources. Compared to this work, NH3 emissions reported by EDGAR were 83% higher than our estimates. The time series of spatially distributed NH3 emission estimates clearly showed the effect of the expansion of cropland, the displacement of planted areas of N-fertilizes crops by competing soybean cultivation and the relocation and intensification of beef cattle production. This new inventory constitutes a tool for policies concerning the impact of agricultural activities on air quality and contributes with more accurate and updated information useful for atmospheric chemical transport modeling. The accuracy and applicability of the inventory may be improved by local studies aimed at refining the spatial disaggregation by focusing in specific areas of fertilizer application, reflecting

  17. Selected examples of dispersal of arthropods associated with agricultural crop and animal production

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Henneberry, T. J.

    1979-01-01

    The economic importance of arthropods in agricultural production systems and the possibilities of using dispersal behavior to develop and manipulate control are examined. Examples of long and short distance dispersal of economic insect pests and beneficial species from cool season host reservoirs and overwintering sites are presented. Significant dispersal of these species often occurring during crop and animal production is discussed.

  18. Extreme temperature trends in major cropping systems and their relation to agricultural land use change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mueller, N. D.; Butler, E. E.; McKinnon, K. A.; Rhines, A. N.; Tingley, M.; Siebert, S.; Holbrook, N. M.; Huybers, P. J.

    2015-12-01

    High temperature extremes during the growing season can reduce agricultural production. At the same time, agricultural practices can modify temperatures by altering the surface energy budget. Here we investigate growing season climate trends in major cropping systems and their relationship with agricultural land use change. In the US Midwest, 100-year trends exhibit a transition towards more favorable conditions, with cooler summer temperature extremes and increased precipitation. Statistically significant correspondence is found between the cooling pattern and trends in cropland intensification, as well as with trends towards greater irrigated land over a small subset of the domain. Land conversion to cropland, often considered an important influence on historical temperatures, is not significantly associated with cooling. We suggest that cooling is primarily associated with agricultural intensification increasing the potential for evapotranspiration, consistent with our finding that cooling trends are greatest for the highest temperature percentiles, and that increased evapotranspiration generally leads to greater precipitation. Temperatures over rainfed croplands show no cooling trend during drought conditions, consistent with evapotranspiration requiring adequate soil moisture, and implying that modern drought events feature greater warming as baseline cooler temperatures revert to historically high extremes. Preliminary results indicate these relationships between temperature extremes, irrigation, and intensification are also observed in other major summer cropping systems, including northeast China, Argentina, and the Canadian Prairies.

  19. GIS based evaluation of crop suitability for agricultural sustainability around Kolaghat thermal power plant, India.

    PubMed

    Adak, Subhas; Adhikari, Kalyan; Brahmachari, Koushik

    2016-09-01

    Fly ash exhaust from Kolaghat thermal power plant, West Bengal, India,?? affects the areas within the radius of 3 - 4 km. Land information system indicated that surface texture within 4 km was silty loam and clay content increased with increase of distance. Soil pH was alkaline (7.58-8.01) in affected circles, whereas soil was acidic (5.95-6.41) in rest of block. Organic carbon (OC) is roving from 0.36 to 0.64% in the nearer circles which is lesser from others. The present Crop suitability analysis revealed that 96.98 % area was suitable (S1) for maize, sesame, jute, whereas these were cultivated in less than 1% of land. Flowers are the best suitable (S1) in 88.9 % but it was grown in 6.02 % area.? The present rice area within 4 km of KTPP is showing moderately suitable (S2) and S1 for the rest. Wheat is moderately suitable (S2) in the almost all the circles.? Cultivation of vegetable crops is limited in the affected circles while the highly suitable (S1) comprises 67.49 % for the remaining areas though it covered only 6.01 % of the block.? This evaluation precisely improves more than 300% from the earlier cropping intensity of 177.95 %. Suitability based land use allocation serves as stepping stone to promote agricultural sustainability. Geographic information system (GIS) model has been developed to assess site specific crop suitability for sustainable agricultural planning.

  20. Energy crop mapping with enhanced TM/MODIS time series in the BCAP agricultural lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Cuizhen; Fan, Qian; Li, Qingting; SooHoo, William M.; Lu, Linlin

    2017-02-01

    Since the mid-2000s, agricultural lands in the United States have been undergoing rapid change to meet the increasing bioenergy demand. In 2009 the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) was established. In its Project Area 1, land owners are financially supported to grow perennial prairie grasses (switchgrass) in their row-crop lands. To promote the program, this study tested the feasibility of biomass crop mapping based on unique timings of crop development. With a previously published data fusion algorithm - the Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (ESTARFM), a 10-day normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series in 2007 was established by fusing MODIS reflectance into TM image series. Two critical dates - peak growing (PG) and peak drying (PD) - were extracted and a unique "PG-0-PD" timing sequence was defined for each crop. With a knowledge-based decision tree approach, the classification of enhanced TM/MODIS time series reached an overall accuracy of 76% against the USDA Crop Data layer (CDL). Especially, our results showed that winter wheat single cropping and wheat-soybean double cropping were much better classified, which may provide additional information for the CDL product. More importantly, this study extracted the first spatial layer of warm-season prairie grasses that have not been published in any national land cover products, which could serve as a base map for decision making of bioenergy land use in BCAP land.

  1. Assessing Climate Risk on Agricultural Production: Insights Using Retrospective Analysis of Crop Insurance and Climatic Trends

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reyes, J. J.; Elias, E.; Eischens, A.; Shilts, M.; Rango, A.; Steele, R.

    2017-12-01

    The collaborative synthesis of existing datasets, such as long-term climate observations and farmers' crop insurance payments, can increase their overall collective value and societal application. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Climate Hubs were created to develop and deliver science-based information and technologies to agricultural and natural resource managers to enable climate-informed decision-making. As part of this mission, Hubs work across USDA and other climate service agencies to synthesize existing information. The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) is responsible for overseeing the Federal crop insurance program which currently insures over $100 billion in crops annually. RMA hosts data describing the cause for loss (e.g. drought, wind, irrigation failure) and indemnity amount (i.e. total cost of loss) at multiple spatio-temporal scales (i.e. state, county, year, month). The objective of this paper is to link climate information with indemnities, and their associated cause of loss, to assess climate risk on agricultural production and provide regionally-relevant information to stakeholders to promote resilient working landscapes. We performed a retrospective trend analysis at the state-level for the American Southwest (SW). First, we assessed indemnity-only trends by cause of loss and crop type at varying temporal scales. Historical monthly weather data (i.e. precipitation and temperature) and long-term drought indices (e.g. Palmer Drought Severity Index) were then linked with indemnities and grouped by different causes of loss. Climatological ranks were used to integrate historical comparative intensity of acute and long-term climatic events. Heat and drought as causes of loss were most correlated with temperature and drought indicators, respectively. Across all SW states increasing indemnities were correlated with warmer conditions. Multiple statistical trend analyses suggest a framework is necessary to appropriately measure the biophysical

  2. A farm platform approach to optimizing temperate grazing-livestock systems: metrics for trade-off assessments and future innovations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harris, Paul; Takahashi, Taro; Blackwell, Martin; Cardenas, Laura; Collins, Adrian; Dungait, Jennifer; Eisler, Mark; Hawkins, Jane; Misselbrook, Tom; Mcauliffe, Graham; Mcfadzean, Jamie; Murray, Phil; Orr, Robert; Jordana Rivero, M.; Wu, Lianhai; Lee, Michael

    2017-04-01

    Global agriculture is at a critical juncture when competing requirements for maximal production and minimal pollution have led to the concept of sustainable intensification. Livestock production, especially ruminant livestock is central to this debate. Ruminants make an important contribution to global food security by converting feed that is unsuitable for human consumption to high value protein, demand for which is currently increasing at an unprecedented rate. Sustainable intensification of ruminant livestock production may be applied to pastoral grazing, mixed-cropping, feedlot and housed production systems. All these systems have associated environmental risks such as water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and soil degradation, as well as issues affecting production efficiency, product quality and consumer acceptability, such as reduced animal fertility, health and welfare, reflected in the development of agricultural sustainability policies. Further, in many societies livestock represent a resource far greater than just food, e.g. fibre, draught, fertiliser, fuel, bank and social. These challenges necessitate multidisciplinary solutions that can only be properly researched, implemented and tested in real-world production systems which are suited to their geographical and climatic production practice, e.g. temperate grassland. The North Wyke Farm Platform (http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/farmplatform) was established during 2010 as a UK national capability for collaborative research, training and knowledge exchange in agro-environmental sciences. Its remit is to research agricultural productivity and ecosystem responses to different management practices for beef and sheep production in lowland temperate grasslands. Following construction, a typical beef and sheep system based on permanent pasture receiving chemical fertilisers on first grade pasture (>60% perennial ryegrass) was implemented across the 67.2 ha farm platform in order to obtain baseline

  3. Climate-Agriculture-Modeling and Decision Tool for Disease (CAMDT-Disease) for seasonal climate forecast-based crop disease risk management in agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, K. H.; Lee, S.; Han, E.; Ines, A. V. M.

    2017-12-01

    Climate-Agriculture-Modeling and Decision Tool (CAMDT) is a decision support system (DSS) tool that aims to facilitate translations of probabilistic seasonal climate forecasts (SCF) to crop responses such as yield and water stress. Since CAMDT is a software framework connecting different models and algorithms with SCF information, it can be easily customized for different types of agriculture models. In this study, we replaced the DSSAT-CSM-Rice model originally incorporated in CAMDT with a generic epidemiological model, EPIRICE, to generate a seasonal pest outlook. The resulting CAMDT-Disease generates potential risks for selected fungal, viral, and bacterial diseases of rice over the next months by translating SCFs into agriculturally-relevant risk information. The integrated modeling procedure of CAMDT-Disease first disaggregates a given SCF using temporal downscaling methods (predictWTD or FResampler1), runs EPIRICE with the downscaled weather inputs, and finally visualizes the EPIRICE outputs as disease risk compared to that of the previous year and the 30-year-climatological average. In addition, the easy-to-use graphical user interface adopted from CAMDT allows users to simulate "what-if" scenarios of disease risks over different planting dates with given SCFs. Our future work includes the simulation of the effect of crop disease on yields through the disease simulation models with the DSSAT-CSM-Rice model, as disease remains one of the most critical yield-reducing factors in the field.

  4. Midwestern US Farmers Perceive Crop Advisers as Conduits of Information on Agricultural Conservation Practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eanes, Francis R.; Singh, Ajay S.; Bulla, Brian R.; Ranjan, Pranay; Prokopy, Linda S.; Fales, Mary; Wickerham, Benjamin; Doran, Patrick J.

    2017-11-01

    Nonpoint source pollution from agricultural land uses continues to pose one of the most significant threats to water quality in the US, with measurable impacts across local, regional, and national scales. The impact and the influence of targeted conservation efforts are directly related to the degree to which farmers are familiar with and trust the entities providing the information and/or outreach. Recent research suggests that farmers consistently rank independent and retail-affiliated crop advisers as among the most trusted and influential sources for agronomic information, but little is understood about whether farmers are willing to receive advice from crop advisers on the use of practices that conserve soil and water, and, if so, whether crop advisers will be perceived as influential. We present survey data from farmers ( n = 1461) in Michigan's Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) watershed to explore these questions. Results suggest that farmers view crop advisers as trustworthy sources of information about conservation, and influential on management practices that have large conservation implications. We discuss these results, along with perceived barriers and opportunities to crop advisers partnering with traditional conservation agencies to enhance the impact of voluntary conservation programs.

  5. Midwestern US Farmers Perceive Crop Advisers as Conduits of Information on Agricultural Conservation Practices.

    PubMed

    Eanes, Francis R; Singh, Ajay S; Bulla, Brian R; Ranjan, Pranay; Prokopy, Linda S; Fales, Mary; Wickerham, Benjamin; Doran, Patrick J

    2017-11-01

    Nonpoint source pollution from agricultural land uses continues to pose one of the most significant threats to water quality in the US, with measurable impacts across local, regional, and national scales. The impact and the influence of targeted conservation efforts are directly related to the degree to which farmers are familiar with and trust the entities providing the information and/or outreach. Recent research suggests that farmers consistently rank independent and retail-affiliated crop advisers as among the most trusted and influential sources for agronomic information, but little is understood about whether farmers are willing to receive advice from crop advisers on the use of practices that conserve soil and water, and, if so, whether crop advisers will be perceived as influential. We present survey data from farmers (n = 1461) in Michigan's Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) watershed to explore these questions. Results suggest that farmers view crop advisers as trustworthy sources of information about conservation, and influential on management practices that have large conservation implications. We discuss these results, along with perceived barriers and opportunities to crop advisers partnering with traditional conservation agencies to enhance the impact of voluntary conservation programs.

  6. Agricultural policy and sustainable livestock development.

    PubMed

    Schillhorn van Veen, T W

    1999-01-01

    Future agricultural and rural development is, to a large extent, influenced by the projected food needs of 2.5 billion people expected to swell the world population by 2020. This increase will require more food in general and, in view of recent experience in East Asia, more animal products. To achieve this increase will require judicious use of resources, and trade, especially in those countries where natural resources are insufficient to support food production. Achieving food sufficiency in a sustainable manner is a major challenge for farmers, agro-industries, researchers and governments. The latter play an important role as many of the farmers' choices are, to a large extent, directed by government or supra-government, often through macro- and micro-economic policy. In many countries the economic, environmental, trade and agricultural policies have not been conducive to an agricultural development that is risk-free with respect to the environment, animal welfare or public health. The recent decline of government support in agriculture forced farmers in Western countries to think about more risk adverse agricultural practices and more efficient production systems. On the other hand, many countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as other developing countries, are still going through a painful process of adjustment to new market conditions. International banks and development agencies have a mandate to help developing countries, but are somewhat restricted both by needing to work directly with governments and by their perceived dogmatic approach to development. Changing policies do, now and in the future, also affect the development of animal disease control programmes, including the control of parasitic diseases. On the one hand there is an increasing interest in risk-free control practices, and on the other hand a demand for greater regulatory control over the production process. As parasitic diseases of animals are closely linked to the

  7. Assessing the impacts of livestock production on biodiversity in rangeland ecosystems

    PubMed Central

    Alkemade, Rob; Reid, Robin S.; van den Berg, Maurits; de Leeuw, Jan; Jeuken, Michel

    2013-01-01

    Biodiversity in rangelands is decreasing, due to intense utilization for livestock production and conversion of rangeland into cropland; yet the outlook of rangeland biodiversity has not been considered in view of future global demand for food. Here we assess the impact of future livestock production on the global rangelands area and their biodiversity. First we formalized existing knowledge about livestock grazing impacts on biodiversity, expressed in mean species abundance (MSA) of the original rangeland native species assemblages, through metaanalysis of peer-reviewed literature. MSA values, ranging from 1 in natural rangelands to 0.3 in man-made grasslands, were entered in the IMAGE-GLOBIO model. This model was used to assess the impact of change in food demand and livestock production on future rangeland biodiversity. The model revealed remarkable regional variation in impact on rangeland area and MSA between two agricultural production scenarios. The area of used rangelands slightly increases globally between 2000 and 2050 in the baseline scenario and reduces under a scenario of enhanced uptake of resource-efficient production technologies increasing production [high levels of agricultural knowledge, science, and technology (high-AKST)], particularly in Africa. Both scenarios suggest a global decrease in MSA for rangelands until 2050. The contribution of livestock grazing to MSA loss is, however, expected to diminish after 2030, in particular in Africa under the high-AKST scenario. Policies fostering agricultural intensification can reduce the overall pressure on rangeland biodiversity, but additional measures, addressing factors such as climate change and infrastructural development, are necessary to totally halt biodiversity loss. PMID:22308313

  8. Assessing the impacts of livestock production on biodiversity in rangeland ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Alkemade, Rob; Reid, Robin S; van den Berg, Maurits; de Leeuw, Jan; Jeuken, Michel

    2013-12-24

    Biodiversity in rangelands is decreasing, due to intense utilization for livestock production and conversion of rangeland into cropland; yet the outlook of rangeland biodiversity has not been considered in view of future global demand for food. Here we assess the impact of future livestock production on the global rangelands area and their biodiversity. First we formalized existing knowledge about livestock grazing impacts on biodiversity, expressed in mean species abundance (MSA) of the original rangeland native species assemblages, through metaanalysis of peer-reviewed literature. MSA values, ranging from 1 in natural rangelands to 0.3 in man-made grasslands, were entered in the IMAGE-GLOBIO model. This model was used to assess the impact of change in food demand and livestock production on future rangeland biodiversity. The model revealed remarkable regional variation in impact on rangeland area and MSA between two agricultural production scenarios. The area of used rangelands slightly increases globally between 2000 and 2050 in the baseline scenario and reduces under a scenario of enhanced uptake of resource-efficient production technologies increasing production [high levels of agricultural knowledge, science, and technology (high-AKST)], particularly in Africa. Both scenarios suggest a global decrease in MSA for rangelands until 2050. The contribution of livestock grazing to MSA loss is, however, expected to diminish after 2030, in particular in Africa under the high-AKST scenario. Policies fostering agricultural intensification can reduce the overall pressure on rangeland biodiversity, but additional measures, addressing factors such as climate change and infrastructural development, are necessary to totally halt biodiversity loss.

  9. Development of the Land-use and Agricultural Management Practice web-Service (LAMPS) for generating crop rotations in space and time

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Agroecosystem models and conservation planning tools require spatially and temporally explicit input data about agricultural management operations. The Land-use and Agricultural Management Practices web-Service (LAMPS) provides crop rotation and management information for user-specified areas within...

  10. Crop residues for advanced biofuels workshop: A synposis

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Crop residues are being harvested for a variety of purposes including their use as livestock feed and to produce advanced biofuels. Crop residue harvesting, by definition, reduces the potential annual carbon input to the soil from aboveground biomass but does not affect input from plant roots. The m...

  11. Agrobiodiversity and in situ conservation in ethnic minority communities of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.

    PubMed

    Shen, Shicai; Xu, Gaofeng; Li, Diyu; Clements, David Roy; Zhang, Fudou; Jin, Guimei; Wu, Jianyong; Wei, Pingfang; Lin, Song; Xue, Dayuan

    2017-05-15

    Xishuangbanna of Yunnan Province, southwest of China belongs to a global biodiversity and cultural hotspot. Agrobiodiversity plays an essential role in local livelihoods and traditional culture in the region. However, preliminary studies suggest that diversity of crop plants and livestock species is declining. We hypothesized that agrobiodiversity and traditional means of preserving agrobiodiversity are threatened because of changes in government policy in favor of commercial plantations, land use change and changes in traditional agricultural practices. We investigated whether or not agrobiodiversity was declining, the specific causes, and signs of active biodiversity conservation practices in ethnic minority communities of Xishuangbanna which could form the basis for extensive in situ conservation programmes. A series of field studies to document trends in agrobiodiversity were conducted in different ethnic minority communities in Menghai County, Mengla County and Jinghong City of Xishuangbanna of Yunnan Province, southwest of China between July 2015 and February 2016. Data was obtained through the use of semi-structured questionnaires, field observation and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools. A total of 360 ethnic households provided information on current status, functions, characteristics, changes, and threatened factors of farming crop and livestock resources. Some measures for in situ conservation of agricultural biological resources were also researched using PRA methods. Two hundred twenty-six crop varieties belonging to 31 families, 71 genera and 101 species were identified in Xishuangbanna, which included 83 vegetable crops, 77 food crops, 24 spice crops, 22 fruit crops, 13 cash crops, 6 oil crops, and 1 cloth crop, respectively. There were 15 livestock varieties, belonging to 6 major species: cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, and geese. Different crop and livestock resources had their own characteristics, functions and threatened factors

  12. Climate smart agriculture, farm household typologies and food security: An ex-ante assessment from Eastern India.

    PubMed

    Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago; Frelat, Romain; van Wijk, Mark T; Valbuena, Diego; Krupnik, Timothy J; Jat, M L

    2018-01-01

    One of the great challenges in agricultural development and sustainable intensification is the assurance of social equity in food security oriented interventions. Development practitioners, researchers, and policy makers alike could benefit from prior insight into what interventions or environmental shocks might differentially affect farmers' food security status, in order to move towards more informed and equitable development. We examined the food security status and livelihood activities of 269 smallholder farm households (HHs) in Bihar, India. Proceeding with a four-step analysis, we first applied a multivariate statistical methodology to differentiate five primary farming system types. We next applied an indicator of food security in the form of HH potential food availability (PFA), and examined the contribution of crop, livestock, and on- and off-farm income generation to PFA within each farm HH type. Lastly, we applied scenario analysis to examine the potential impact of the adoption of 'climate smart' agricultural (CSA) practices in the form of conservation agriculture (CA) and improved livestock husbandry, and environmental shocks on HH PFA. Our results indicate that compared to livestock interventions, CA may hold considerable potential to boost HH PFA, though primarily for wealthier and medium-scale cereal farmers. These farm HH types were however considerably more vulnerable to food insecurity risks resulting from simulated drought, while part-time farmers and resource-poor agricultural laborers generating income from off-farm pursuits were comparatively less vulnerable, due in part to their more diversified income sources and potential to migrate in search of work. Our results underscore the importance of prior planning for development initiatives aimed at increasing smallholder food security while maintaining social equity, while providing a robust methodology to vet the implications of agricultural interventions on an ex ante basis.

  13. A methodological approach for deriving regional crop rotations as basis for the assessment of the impact of agricultural strategies using soil erosion as example.

    PubMed

    Lorenz, Marco; Fürst, Christine; Thiel, Enrico

    2013-09-01

    Regarding increasing pressures by global societal and climate change, the assessment of the impact of land use and land management practices on land degradation and the related decrease in sustainable provision of ecosystem services gains increasing interest. Existing approaches to assess agricultural practices focus on the assessment of single crops or statistical data because spatially explicit information on practically applied crop rotations is mostly not available. This provokes considerable uncertainties in crop production models as regional specifics have to be neglected or cannot be considered in an appropriate way. In a case study in Saxony, we developed an approach to (i) derive representative regional crop rotations by combining different data sources and expert knowledge. This includes the integration of innovative crop sequences related to bio-energy production or organic farming and different soil tillage, soil management and soil protection techniques. Furthermore, (ii) we developed a regionalization approach for transferring crop rotations and related soil management strategies on the basis of statistical data and spatially explicit data taken from so called field blocks. These field blocks are the smallest spatial entity for which agricultural practices must be reported to apply for agricultural funding within the frame of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) program. The information was finally integrated into the spatial decision support tool GISCAME to assess and visualize in spatially explicit manner the impact of alternative agricultural land use strategies on soil erosion risk and ecosystem services provision. Objective of this paper is to present the approach how to create spatially explicit information on agricultural management practices for a study area around Dresden, the capital of the German Federal State Saxony. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. ADJUSTMENT, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR OF CROP HARVESTING MACHINERY. AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY--SERVICE OCCUPATIONS, MODULE NUMBER 11.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ohio State Univ., Columbus. Center for Vocational and Technical Education.

    ONE OF A SERIES DESIGNED FOR HELPING TEACHERS PREPARE POSTSECONDARY-LEVEL STUDENTS FOR AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY SERVICE OCCUPATIONS AS PARTS MEN, MECHANICS, MECHANIC'S HELPERS, AND SERVICE SUPERVISORS, THIS GUIDE AIMS TO DEVELOP STUDENT COMPETENCY IN ADJUSTING, REPAIRING, AND MAINTAINING CROP HARVESTING MACHINERY. SUGGESTIONS FOR INTRODUCTION OF THE…

  15. Spatial and temporal contrasts in the distribution of crops and pastures across Amazonia: A new agricultural land use data set from census data since 1950

    PubMed Central

    Imbach, P; Manrow, M; Barona, E; Barretto, A; Hyman, G; Ciais, P

    2015-01-01

    Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the difficulty of acquiring consistent data across countries. We present here an agricultural statistics database of the entire Amazonia region, with a harmonized description of crops and pastures in geospatial format, based on administrative boundary data at the municipality level. The spatial coverage includes countries within Amazonia and spans censuses and surveys from 1950 to 2012. Harmonized crop and pasture types are explored by grouping annual and perennial cropping systems, C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways, planted and natural pastures, and main crops. Our analysis examined the spatial pattern of ratios between classes of the groups and their correlation with the agricultural extent of crops and pastures within administrative units of the Amazon, by country, and census/survey dates. Significant correlations were found between all ratios and the fraction of agricultural lands of each administrative unit, with the exception of planted to natural pastures ratio and pasture lands extent. Brazil and Peru in most cases have significant correlations for all ratios analyzed even for specific census and survey dates. Results suggested improvements, and potential applications of the database for carbon, water, climate, and land use change studies are discussed. The database presented here provides an Amazon-wide improved data set on agricultural dynamics with expanded temporal and spatial coverage. Key Points Agricultural census database covers Amazon basin municipalities from 1950 to 2012Harmonized database groups crops and pastures by cropping system, C3/C4, and main crops

  16. 7 CFR 457.140 - Dry pea crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Dry pea crop insurance provisions. 457.140 Section 457.140 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.140 Dry pea crop insurance...

  17. 7 CFR 457.149 - Table grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Table grape crop insurance provisions. 457.149 Section 457.149 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.149 Table grape crop insurance...

  18. 7 CFR 457.137 - Green pea crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Green pea crop insurance provisions. 457.137 Section 457.137 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.137 Green pea crop insurance...

  19. 7 CFR 457.150 - Dry bean crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Dry bean crop insurance provisions. 457.150 Section 457.150 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.150 Dry bean crop insurance...

  20. 7 CFR 457.2 - Availability of Federal crop insurance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Availability of Federal crop insurance. 457.2 Section 457.2 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.2 Availability of Federal crop...

  1. Vulnerability of Agriculture to Climate Change as Revealed by Relationships between Simulated Crop Yield and Climate Change Indices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    King, A. W.; Absar, S. M.; Nair, S.; Preston, B. L.

    2012-12-01

    The vulnerability of agriculture is among the leading concerns surrounding climate change. Agricultural production is influenced by drought and other extremes in weather and climate. In regions of subsistence farming, worst case reductions in yield lead to malnutrition and famine. Reduced surplus contributes to poverty in agrarian economies. In more economically diverse and industrialized regions, variations in agricultural yield can influence the regional economy through market mechanisms. The latter grows in importance as agriculture increasingly services the energy market in addition to markets for food and fiber. Agriculture is historically a highly adaptive enterprise and will respond to future changes in climate with a variety of adaptive mechanisms. Nonetheless, the risk, if not expectation, of increases in climate extremes and hazards exceeding historical experience motivates scientifically based anticipatory assessment of the vulnerability of agriculture to climate change. We investigate the sensitivity component of that vulnerability using EPIC, a well established field-scale model of cropping systems that includes the simulation of economic yield. The core of our analysis is the relationship between simulated yield and various indices of climate change, including the CCI/CLIVAR/JCOM ETCCDI indices, calculated from weather inputs to the model. We complement this core with analysis using the DSSAT cropping system model and exploration of relationships between historical yield statistics and climate indices calculated from weather records. Our analyses are for sites in the Southeast/Gulf Coast region of the United States. We do find "tight" monotonic relationships between annual yield and climate for some indices, especially those associated with available water. More commonly, however, we find an increase in the variability of yield as the index value becomes more extreme. Our findings contribute to understanding the sensitivity of crop yield as part of

  2. CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES ON FIBROUS FEEDSTUFFS DENSIFICATION AND ITS INTERACTION WITH LIQUID INGREDIENTS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pordesimo, Lester O.; Tumuluru, Jaya Shankar

    2015-10-01

    There has been continuing interest and support in using herbaceous biomass, mostly agricultural crop residues, in the U.S. as feedstocks for producing bioenergy, liquid transportation fuels, and industrial chemicals/materials. With the potential of greater collection of agricultural crop residues for the foregoing industrial applications there will be a commensurate greater availability of crop residues for utilization in agricultural production. Agricultural crop residues are typically used in agricultural production as roughage or bedding for cattle. Use of herbaceous biomass, corn stover of greatest interest at the present time, and processing coproducts thereof, as a feed ingredient presents an opportunity to reducemore » ration costs and improve livestock enterprise profitability by replacing an amount of corn and other feed grains in livestock diets with proper formulation. The obvious advantage of utilizing corn stover is its wide availability and low cost.« less

  3. Biofertilizers function as key player in sustainable agriculture by improving soil fertility, plant tolerance and crop productivity

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Current soil management strategies are mainly dependent on inorganic chemical-based fertilizers, which caused a serious threat to human health and environment. The exploitation of beneficial microbes as a biofertilizer has become paramount importance in agriculture sector for their potential role in food safety and sustainable crop production. The eco-friendly approaches inspire a wide range of application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs), endo- and ectomycorrhizal fungi, cyanobacteria and many other useful microscopic organisms led to improved nutrient uptake, plant growth and plant tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress. The present review highlighted biofertilizers mediated crops functional traits such as plant growth and productivity, nutrient profile, plant defense and protection with special emphasis to its function to trigger various growth- and defense-related genes in signaling network of cellular pathways to cause cellular response and thereby crop improvement. The knowledge gained from the literature appraised herein will help us to understand the physiological bases of biofertlizers towards sustainable agriculture in reducing problems associated with the use of chemicals fertilizers. PMID:24885352

  4. Food crop production, nutrient availability, and nutrient intakes in Bangladesh: exploring the agriculture-nutrition nexus with the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey.

    PubMed

    Fiedler, John L

    2014-12-01

    Systematic collection of national agricultural data has been neglected in many low- and middle-income countries for the past 20 years. Commonly conducted nationally representative household surveys collect substantial quantities of highly underutilized food crop production data. To demonstrate the potential usefulness of commonly available household survey databases for analyzing the agriculture-nutrition nexus. Using household data from the 2010 Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the role and significance of crop selection, area planted, yield, nutrient production, and the disposition of 34 food crops in affecting the adequacy of farming households' nutrient availability and nutrient intake status are explored. The adequacy of each farming household's available energy, vitamin A, calcium, iron, and zinc and households' apparent intakes and intake adequacies are estimated. Each household's total apparent nutrient intake adequacies are estimated, taking into account the amount of each crop that households consume from their own production, together with food purchased or obtained from other sources. Even though rice contains relatively small amounts of micronutrients, has relatively low nutrient density, and is a relatively poor source of nutrients compared with what other crops can produce on a given tract of land, because so much rice is produced in Bangladesh, it is the source of 90% of the total available energy, 85% of the zinc, 67% of the calcium, and 55% of the iron produced by the agricultural sector. The domination of agriculture and diet by rice is a major constraint to improving nutrition in Bangladesh. Simple examples of how minor changes in the five most common cropping patterns could improve farming households' nutritional status are provided. Household surveys' agricultural modules can provide a useful tool for better understanding national nutrient production realities and possibilities.

  5. Cover crop biomass harvest for bioenergy: implications for crop productivity

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Winter cover crops, such as rye (Secale cereale), are usually used in conservation agriculture systems in the Southeast. Typically, the cover crop is terminated two to three weeks before planting the summer crop, with the cover biomass left on the soil surface as a mulch. However, these cover crops ...

  6. Enhancing agricultural productivity and rural incomes through sustainable use of natural resources in the semi arid tropics.

    PubMed

    Wani, Suhas P; Dixin, Yin; Li, Zhong; Dar, William D; Chander, Girish

    2012-03-30

    A participatory watershed management approach is one of the tested, sustainable and eco-friendly options to upgrade rain-fed agriculture to meet growing food demand along with additional multiple benefits in terms of improving livelihoods, addressing equity issues and biodiversity concerns. Watershed interventions at study sites in Thailand (Tad Fa and Wang Chai) and India (Kothapally) effectively reduced runoff and the associated soil loss. Such interventions at Xiaoxincun (China) and Wang Chai improved groundwater recharging and availability. Enhanced productive transpiration increased rainwater use efficiency for crop production by 13-29% at Xiaoxincun; 13-160% at Lucheba (China), 32-37% at Tad Fa and 23-46% at Wang Chai and by two to five times at Kothapally. Watershed interventions increased significantly the additional net returns from crop production as compared with the pre-watershed intervention period. Increased water availability opened up options for crop diversification with high-value crops, including increased forage production and boosted livestock-based livelihoods. In dryland tropics, integrated watershed management approach enabled farmers to diversify the systems along with increasing agricultural productivity through increased water availability, while conserving the natural resource base. Household incomes increased substantially, leading to improved living and building the resilience of the community and natural resources. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

  7. Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural food production to supply Indian diets: Implications for climate change mitigation.

    PubMed

    Vetter, Sylvia H; Sapkota, Tek B; Hillier, Jon; Stirling, Clare M; Macdiarmid, Jennie I; Aleksandrowicz, Lukasz; Green, Rosemary; Joy, Edward J M; Dangour, Alan D; Smith, Pete

    2017-01-16

    Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. The growing global population is putting pressure on agricultural production systems that aim to secure food production while minimising GHG emissions. In this study, the GHG emissions associated with the production of major food commodities in India are calculated using the Cool Farm Tool. GHG emissions, based on farm management for major crops (including cereals like wheat and rice, pulses, potatoes, fruits and vegetables) and livestock-based products (milk, eggs, chicken and mutton meat), are quantified and compared. Livestock and rice production were found to be the main sources of GHG emissions in Indian agriculture with a country average of 5.65 kg CO 2 eq kg -1 rice, 45.54 kg CO 2 eq kg -1 mutton meat and 2.4 kg CO 2 eq kg -1 milk. Production of cereals (except rice), fruits and vegetables in India emits comparatively less GHGs with <1 kg CO 2 eq kg -1 product. These findings suggest that a shift towards dietary patterns with greater consumption of animal source foods could greatly increase GHG emissions from Indian agriculture. A range of mitigation options are available that could reduce emissions from current levels and may be compatible with increased future food production and consumption demands in India.

  8. A comparison between urban livestock production strategies in Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria in West Africa.

    PubMed

    Amadou, Hamadoun; Dossa, Luc Hippolyte; Lompo, Désiré Jean-Pascal; Abdulkadir, Aisha; Schlecht, Eva

    2012-10-01

    We undertook a comparative analysis of (peri-)urban livestock production strategies across three West African cities. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, livestock-keeping households (HH) were interviewed in Kano/Nigeria (84 HH), Bobo Dioulasso/Burkina Faso (63 HH) and Sikasso/Mali (63 HH). Questions covered livestock species kept, herd sizes and structure, feeds used, manure management, livestock marketing and production constraints. Sheep and goats dominated (p < 0.001) in Kano (76 and 75 % of HH) compared to Bobo Dioulasso (48 and 40 %) and Sikasso (28 and 40 %), while cattle and poultry were more frequent (p < 0.001) in Bobo Dioulasso (82 and 69 % of HH) and Sikasso (65 and 79 %) than in Kano (29 and 20 %). Across cities, ruminant feeding relied on grazing and homestead supplementation with fresh grasses, crop residues, cereal brans and cottonseed cake; cereal grains and brans were major ingredients of poultry feeds. Cattle and sheep fetched highest prices in Kano, unit prices for goats and chicken were highest in Sikasso. Across cities there was little association of gardens and livestock, whereas field cropping and livestock were integrated. There was no relation between the education of the HH head and the adoption of improved management practices (p > 0.05), but the proportion of HH heads with a long-term experience in UPA activities was higher in Kano and in Bobo Dioulasso than in Sikasso (p < 0.001). We therefore postulate that the high illiteracy rate among (peri-)urban livestock keepers in West Africa does not threaten the acceptance of improved technologies and innovations supporting the sustainability of their livestock production.

  9. Core I Materials for Rural Agricultural Programs. Units D-E.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ethridge, Jim; And Others

    These units of instructional materials and teaching aids are part of a series of eight designed for use in rural agriculture programs for students in grades 9 and 10. Covered in the unit on livestock science are understanding the livestock industry, identifying breeds of livestock and poultry, selecting livestock, and feeding livestock.…

  10. Towards a Quantitative Use of Satellite Remote Sensing in Crop Growth Models for Large Scale Agricultural Production Estimate (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Defourny, P.

    2013-12-01

    The development of better agricultural monitoring capabilities is clearly considered as a critical step for strengthening food production information and market transparency thanks to timely information about crop status, crop area and yield forecasts. The documentation of global production will contribute to tackle price volatility by allowing local, national and international operators to make decisions and anticipate market trends with reduced uncertainty. Several operational agricultural monitoring systems are currently operating at national and international scales. Most are based on the methods derived from the pioneering experiences completed some decades ago, and use remote sensing to qualitatively compare one year to the others to estimate the risks of deviation from a normal year. The GEO Agricultural Monitoring Community of Practice described the current monitoring capabilities at the national and global levels. An overall diagram summarized the diverse relationships between satellite EO and agriculture information. There is now a large gap between the current operational large scale systems and the scientific state of the art in crop remote sensing, probably because the latter mainly focused on local studies. The poor availability of suitable in-situ and satellite data over extended areas hampers large scale demonstrations preventing the much needed up scaling research effort. For the cropland extent, this paper reports a recent research achievement using the full ENVISAT MERIS 300 m archive in the context of the ESA Climate Change Initiative. A flexible combination of classification methods depending to the region of the world allows mapping the land cover as well as the global croplands at 300 m for the period 2008 2012. This wall to wall product is then compared with regards to the FP 7-Geoland 2 results obtained using as Landsat-based sampling strategy over the IGADD countries. On the other hand, the vegetation indices and the biophysical variables

  11. Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender simulation of three adjacent row-crop watersheds in the claypan region

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX) model can simulate crop yields, and pollutant loadings in whole farms or small watersheds with variety of management practices. The study objectives were to identify sensitive parameters and parameterize, calibrate and validate the APEX model fo...

  12. SACRA - global data sets of satellite-derived crop calendars for agricultural simulations: an estimation of a high-resolution crop calendar using satellite-sensed NDVI

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kotsuki, S.; Tanaka, K.

    2015-01-01

    To date, many studies have performed numerical estimations of food production and agricultural water demand to understand the present and future supply-demand relationship. A crop calendar (CC) is an essential input datum to estimate food production and agricultural water demand accurately with the numerical estimations. CC defines the date or month when farmers plant and harvest in cropland. This study aims to develop a new global data set of a satellite-derived crop calendar for agricultural simulations (SACRA) and reveal advantages and disadvantages of the satellite-derived CC compared to other global products. We estimate global CC at a spatial resolution of 5 min (≈10 km) using the satellite-sensed NDVI data, which corresponds well to vegetation growth and death on the land surface. We first demonstrate that SACRA shows similar spatial pattern in planting date compared to a census-based product. Moreover, SACRA reflects a variety of CC in the same administrative unit, since it uses high-resolution satellite data. However, a disadvantage is that the mixture of several crops in a grid is not considered in SACRA. We also address that the cultivation period of SACRA clearly corresponds to the time series of NDVI. Therefore, accuracy of SACRA depends on the accuracy of NDVI used for the CC estimation. Although SACRA shows different CC from a census-based product in some regions, multiple usages of the two products are useful to take into consideration the uncertainty of the CC. An advantage of SACRA compared to the census-based products is that SACRA provides not only planting/harvesting dates but also a peak date from the time series of NDVI data.

  13. Modeled Changes in Potential Grassland Productivity and in Grass-Fed Ruminant Livestock Density in Europe over 1961–2010

    PubMed Central

    Chang, Jinfeng; Viovy, Nicolas; Vuichard, Nicolas; Ciais, Philippe; Campioli, Matteo; Klumpp, Katja; Martin, Raphaël; Leip, Adrian; Soussana, Jean-François

    2015-01-01

    About 25% of European livestock intake is based on permanent and sown grasslands. To fulfill rising demand for animal products, an intensification of livestock production may lead to an increased consumption of crop and compound feeds. In order to preserve an economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture, a more forage based livestock alimentation may be an advantage. However, besides management, grassland productivity is highly vulnerable to climate (i.e., temperature, precipitation, CO2 concentration), and spatial information about European grassland productivity in response to climate change is scarce. The process-based vegetation model ORCHIDEE-GM, containing an explicit representation of grassland management (i.e., herbage mowing and grazing), is used here to estimate changes in potential productivity and potential grass-fed ruminant livestock density across European grasslands over the period 1961–2010. Here “potential grass-fed ruminant livestock density” denotes the maximum density of livestock that can be supported by grassland productivity in each 25 km × 25 km grid cell. In reality, livestock density could be higher than potential (e.g., if additional feed is supplied to animals) or lower (e.g., in response to economic factors, pedo-climatic and biotic conditions ignored by the model, or policy decisions that can for instance reduce livestock numbers). When compared to agricultural statistics (Eurostat and FAOstat), ORCHIDEE-GM gave a good reproduction of the regional gradients of annual grassland productivity and ruminant livestock density. The model however tends to systematically overestimate the absolute values of productivity in most regions, suggesting that most grid cells remain below their potential grassland productivity due to possible nutrient and biotic limitations on plant growth. When ORCHIDEE-GM was run for the period 1961–2010 with variable climate and rising CO2, an increase of potential annual production (over 3

  14. Seasonality constraints to livestock grazing intensity.

    PubMed

    Fetzel, Tamara; Havlik, Petr; Herrero, Mario; Erb, Karl-Heinz

    2017-04-01

    Increasing food production is essential to meet the future food demand of a growing world population. In light of pressing sustainability challenges such as climate change and the importance of the global livestock system for food security as well as GHG emissions, finding ways to increasing food production sustainably and without increasing competition for food crops is essential. Yet, many unknowns relate to livestock grazing, in particular grazing intensity, an essential variable to assess the sustainability of livestock systems. Here, we explore ecological limits to grazing intensity (GI; i.e. the fraction of net primary production consumed by grazing animals) by analysing the role of seasonality in natural grasslands. We estimate seasonal limitations to GI by combining monthly net primary production data and a map of global livestock distribution with assumptions on the length of nonfavourable periods that can be bridged by livestock (e.g. by browsing dead standing biomass, storage systems or biomass conservation). This allows us to derive a seasonality-limited potential GI, which we compare with the GI prevailing in 2000. We find that GI in 2000 lies below its potential on 39% of the total global natural grasslands, which has a potential for increasing biomass extraction of up to 181 MtC/yr. In contrast, on 61% of the area GI exceeds the potential, made possible by management. Mobilizing this potential could increase milk production by 5%, meat production by 4% or contribute to free up to 2.8 Mio km² of grassland area at the global scale if the numerous socio-ecological constraints can be overcome. We discuss socio-ecological trade-offs, which may reduce the estimated potential considerably and require the establishment of sound monitoring systems and an improved understanding of livestock system's role in the Earth system. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Changing techniques in crop plant classification: molecularization at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany during the 1980s.

    PubMed

    Holmes, Matthew

    2017-04-01

    Modern methods of analysing biological materials, including protein and DNA sequencing, are increasingly the objects of historical study. Yet twentieth-century taxonomic techniques have been overlooked in one of their most important contexts: agricultural botany. This paper addresses this omission by harnessing unexamined archival material from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), a British plant science organization. During the 1980s the NIAB carried out three overlapping research programmes in crop identification and analysis: electrophoresis, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and machine vision systems. For each of these three programmes, contemporary economic, statutory and scientific factors behind their uptake by the NIAB are discussed. This approach reveals significant links between taxonomic practice at the NIAB and historical questions around agricultural research, intellectual property and scientific values. Such links are of further importance given that the techniques developed by researchers at the NIAB during the 1980s remain part of crop classification guidelines issued by international bodies today.

  16. Estimating riparian and agricultural evapotranspiration by reference crop evapotranspiration and MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nagler, Pamela L.; Glenn, Edward P.; Nguyen, Uyen; Scott, Russell; Doody, Tania

    2013-01-01

    Dryland river basins frequently support both irrigated agriculture and riparian vegetation and remote sensing methods are needed to monitor water use by both crops and natural vegetation in irrigation districts. We developed an algorithm for estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa) based on the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) sensor on the EOS-1 Terra satellite and locally-derived measurements of reference crop ET (ETo). The algorithm was calibrated with five years of ETa data from three eddy covariance flux towers set in riparian plant associations on the upper San Pedro River, Arizona, supplemented with ETa data for alfalfa and cotton from the literature. The algorithm was based on an equation of the form ETa = ETo [a(1 − e−bEVI) − c], where the term (1 − e−bEVI) is derived from the Beer-Lambert Law to express light absorption by a canopy, with EVI replacing leaf area index as an estimate of the density of light-absorbing units. The resulting algorithm capably predicted ETa across riparian plants and crops (r2 = 0.73). It was then tested against water balance data for five irrigation districts and flux tower data for two riparian zones for which season-long or multi-year ETa data were available. Predictions were within 10% of measured results in each case, with a non-significant (P = 0.89) difference between mean measured and modeled ETa of 5.4% over all validation sites. Validation and calibration data sets were combined to present a final predictive equation for application across crops and riparian plant associations for monitoring individual irrigation districts or for conducting global water use assessments of mixed agricultural and riparian biomes.

  17. Reusable Software and Open Data Incorporate Ecological Understanding To Optimize Agriculture and Improveme Crops.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    LeBauer, D.

    2015-12-01

    Humans need a secure and sustainable food supply, and science can help. We have an opportunity to transform agriculture by combining knowledge of organisms and ecosystems to engineer ecosystems that sustainably produce food, fuel, and other services. The challenge is that the information we have. Measurements, theories, and laws found in publications, notebooks, measurements, software, and human brains are difficult to combine. We homogenize, encode, and automate the synthesis of data and mechanistic understanding in a way that links understanding at different scales and across domains. This allows extrapolation, prediction, and assessment. Reusable components allow automated construction of new knowledge that can be used to assess, predict, and optimize agro-ecosystems. Developing reusable software and open-access databases is hard, and examples will illustrate how we use the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn, pecanproject.org), the Biofuel Ecophysiological Traits and Yields database (BETYdb, betydb.org), and ecophysiological crop models to predict crop yield, decide which crops to plant, and which traits can be selected for the next generation of data driven crop improvement. A next step is to automate the use of sensors mounted on robots, drones, and tractors to assess plants in the field. The TERRA Reference Phenotyping Platform (TERRA-Ref, terraref.github.io) will provide an open access database and computing platform on which researchers can use and develop tools that use sensor data to assess and manage agricultural and other terrestrial ecosystems. TERRA-Ref will adopt existing standards and develop modular software components and common interfaces, in collaboration with researchers from iPlant, NEON, AgMIP, USDA, rOpenSci, ARPA-E, many scientists and industry partners. Our goal is to advance science by enabling efficient use, reuse, exchange, and creation of knowledge.

  18. Nitrogen food-print: N use and N cascade from livestock systems in relation to pork, beef and milk supply to Paris

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chatzimpiros, P.; Barles, S.

    2012-02-01

    A bottom-up approach is constructed to determine N losses from livestock farming systems and to relate these losses to the supply of fresh milk, pig and beef to Paris. First, the three products are expressed in terms of their nitrogen content; then, their fodder equivalent is determined by modelling feed formulas for swine, beef and dairy cows to meet their energy and protein requirements. Fodder deficits in livestock farms are determined by comparing the nutrient requirements of the livestock with the fodder production on the livestock farms. This allowed determining the geography of the livestock systems according to the imports of fodder to the livestock farms from external crop farms. Then we assessed the "farm-gate" N budgets in all crop and livestock farms of the entire livestock systems using data on total N fertilization, atmospheric deposition and manure management practices to finally derive N losses in relation to fodder cultivation and to manure management. Measured in N, the supply of milk, beef and pig to Paris sum 1.85 kg N/cap and the corresponding N losses from the farming systems total 8.9 kg N/cap. N losses per unit of product differ among the three livestock systems according to where and how the fodder is grown and to what densities the livestock is reared.

  19. LivestockPlus: Forages, sustainable intensification, and food security in the tropics.

    PubMed

    Rudel, Thomas K; Paul, Birthe; White, Douglas; Rao, I M; Van Der Hoek, Rein; Castro, Aracely; Boval, Maryline; Lerner, Amy; Schneider, Laura; Peters, Michael

    2015-11-01

    The increased use of grain-based feed for livestock during the last two decades has contributed, along with other factors, to a rise in grain prices that has reduced human food security. This circumstance argues for feeding more forages to livestock, particularly in the tropics where many livestock are reared on small farms. Efforts to accomplish this end, referred to as the 'LivestockPlus' approach, intensify in sustainable ways the management of grasses, shrubs, trees, and animals. By decoupling the human food and livestock feed systems, these efforts would increase the resilience of the global food system. Effective LivestockPlus approaches take one of two forms: (1) simple improvements such as new forage varieties and animal management practices that spread from farmer to farmer by word of mouth, or (2) complex sets of new practices that integrate forage production more closely into farms' other agricultural activities and agro-ecologies.

  20. Analysis of community income on suren (Toona sureni (Blume) Merr.) and cacao crops (Theobroma cacao L.) in Simalungun, North Sumatera-Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Latifah, S.; Afifuddin, Y.; Widya, S.

    2018-02-01

    Agroforestry is the management and integration of trees, crops and/or livestock on the same plot of land and can be an integral component of productive agriculture. It may include existing native forests and forests established by landholders. The study was conducted in Mekar Sari Raya village, Panei sub, Simalungun regency, North Sumatera. This study aims to gain the ability to use agroforestry in suren crops and cocoa that provides benefits to farmers and the feasibility of the model farm. The study site has Net Present Value (NPV) is 2,670,306,905 ( IDR) for 15 of year, Gross B/C Ratio (BCR) is 2.3; Internal Rate of Return ( IRR) is 28 %; and Payback Period (PP) for 5 years 4 months 24 days. Agroforestry using commodities cacao and suren crops are financially feasible to be cultivated and developed.

  1. Anatomy of a local-scale drought: Application of assimilated remote sensing products, crop model, and statistical methods to an agricultural drought study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mishra, Ashok K.; Ines, Amor V. M.; Das, Narendra N.; Prakash Khedun, C.; Singh, Vijay P.; Sivakumar, Bellie; Hansen, James W.

    2015-07-01

    Drought is of global concern for society but it originates as a local problem. It has a significant impact on water quantity and quality and influences food, water, and energy security. The consequences of drought vary in space and time, from the local scale (e.g. county level) to regional scale (e.g. state or country level) to global scale. Within the regional scale, there are multiple socio-economic impacts (i.e., agriculture, drinking water supply, and stream health) occurring individually or in combination at local scales, either in clusters or scattered. Even though the application of aggregated drought information at the regional level has been useful in drought management, the latter can be further improved by evaluating the structure and evolution of a drought at the local scale. This study addresses a local-scale agricultural drought anatomy in Story County in Iowa, USA. This complex problem was evaluated using assimilated AMSR-E soil moisture and MODIS-LAI data into a crop model to generate surface and sub-surface drought indices to explore the anatomy of an agricultural drought. Quantification of moisture supply in the root zone remains a gray area in research community, this challenge can be partly overcome by incorporating assimilation of soil moisture and leaf area index into crop modeling framework for agricultural drought quantification, as it performs better in simulating crop yield. It was noted that the persistence of subsurface droughts is in general higher than surface droughts, which can potentially improve forecast accuracy. It was found that both surface and subsurface droughts have an impact on crop yields, albeit with different magnitudes, however, the total water available in the soil profile seemed to have a greater impact on the yield. Further, agricultural drought should not be treated equal for all crops, and it should be calculated based on the root zone depth rather than a fixed soil layer depth. We envisaged that the results of

  2. From Concept to Commerce: Developing a Successful Fungal Endophyte Inoculant for Agricultural Crops

    PubMed Central

    Doohan, Fiona M.; Hodkinson, Trevor R.

    2018-01-01

    The development of endophyte inoculants for agricultural crops has been bedevilled by the twin problems of a lack of reliability and consistency, with a consequent lack of belief among end users in the efficacy of such treatments. We have developed a successful research pipeline for the production of a reliable, consistent and environmentally targeted fungal endophyte seed-delivered inoculant for barley cultivars. Our approach was developed de novo from an initial concept to source candidate endophyte inoculants from a wild relative of barley, Hordeum murinum (wall barley). A careful screening and selection procedure and extensive controlled environment testing of fungal endophyte strains, followed by multi-year field trials has resulted in the validation of an endophyte consortium suitable for barley crops grown on relatively dry sites. Our approach can be adapted for any crop or environment, provided that the set of first principles we have developed is followed. Here, we report how we developed the successful pipeline for the production of an economically viable fungal endophyte inoculant for barley cultivars. PMID:29439471

  3. From Concept to Commerce: Developing a Successful Fungal Endophyte Inoculant for Agricultural Crops.

    PubMed

    Murphy, Brian R; Doohan, Fiona M; Hodkinson, Trevor R

    2018-02-11

    The development of endophyte inoculants for agricultural crops has been bedevilled by the twin problems of a lack of reliability and consistency, with a consequent lack of belief among end users in the efficacy of such treatments. We have developed a successful research pipeline for the production of a reliable, consistent and environmentally targeted fungal endophyte seed-delivered inoculant for barley cultivars. Our approach was developed de novo from an initial concept to source candidate endophyte inoculants from a wild relative of barley, Hordeum murinum (wall barley). A careful screening and selection procedure and extensive controlled environment testing of fungal endophyte strains, followed by multi-year field trials has resulted in the validation of an endophyte consortium suitable for barley crops grown on relatively dry sites. Our approach can be adapted for any crop or environment, provided that the set of first principles we have developed is followed. Here, we report how we developed the successful pipeline for the production of an economically viable fungal endophyte inoculant for barley cultivars.

  4. 7 CFR 760.816 - Value loss crops.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Value loss crops. 760.816 Section 760.816 Agriculture... SPECIAL PROGRAMS INDEMNITY PAYMENT PROGRAMS 2005-2007 Crop Disaster Program § 760.816 Value loss crops. (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this part, this section applies to value loss crops and tropical crops...

  5. 7 CFR 457.145 - Potato crop insurance-certified seed endorsement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Potato crop insurance-certified seed endorsement. 457.145 Section 457.145 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.145 Potato crop...

  6. Mapping Crop Patterns in Central US Agricultural Systems from 2000 to 2014 Based on Landsat Data: To What Degree Does Fusing MODIS Data Improve Classification Accuracies?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, L.; Radeloff, V.; Ives, A. R.; Barton, B.

    2015-12-01

    Deriving crop pattern with high accuracy is of great importance for characterizing landscape diversity, which affects the resilience of food webs in agricultural systems in the face of climatic and land cover changes. Landsat sensors were originally designed to monitor agricultural areas, and both radiometric and spatial resolution are optimized for monitoring large agricultural fields. Unfortunately, few clear Landsat images per year are available, which has limited the use of Landsat for making crop classification, and this situation is worse in cloudy areas of the Earth. Meanwhile, the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data has better temporal resolution but cannot capture fine spatial heterogeneity of agricultural systems. Our question was to what extent fusing imagery from both sensors could improve crop classifications. We utilized the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM) algorithm to simulate Landsat-like images at MODIS temporal resolution. Based on Random Forests (RF) classifier, we tested whether and by what degree crop maps from 2000 to 2014 of the Arlington Agricultural Research Station (Wisconsin, USA) were improved by integrating available clear Landsat images each year with synthetic images. We predicted that the degree to which classification accuracy can be improved by incorporating synthetic imagery depends on the number and acquisition time of clear Landsat images. Moreover, multi-season data are essential for mapping crop types by capturing their phenological dynamics, and STARFM-simulated images can be used to compensate for missing Landsat observations. Our study is helpful for eliminating the limits of the use of Landsat data in mapping crop patterns, and can provide a benchmark of accuracy when choosing STARFM-simulated images to make crop classification at broader scales.

  7. Implementation of Wireless Sensor Networks Based Pig Farm Integrated Management System in Ubiquitous Agricultural Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hwang, Jeonghwan; Lee, Jiwoong; Lee, Hochul; Yoe, Hyun

    The wireless sensor networks (WSN) technology based on low power consumption is one of the important technologies in the realization of ubiquitous society. When the technology would be applied to the agricultural field, it can give big change in the existing agricultural environment such as livestock growth environment, cultivation and harvest of agricultural crops. This research paper proposes the 'Pig Farm Integrated Management System' based on WSN technology, which will establish the ubiquitous agricultural environment and improve the productivity of pig-raising farmers. The proposed system has WSN environmental sensors and CCTV at inside/outside of pig farm. These devices collect the growth-environment related information of pigs, such as luminosity, temperature, humidity and CO2 status. The system collects and monitors the environmental information and video information of pig farm. In addition to the remote-control and monitoring of the pig farm facilities, this system realizes the most optimum pig-raising environment based on the growth environmental data accumulated for a long time.

  8. A preliminary study of the statistical analyses and sampling strategies associated with the integration of remote sensing capabilities into the current agricultural crop forecasting system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sand, F.; Christie, R.

    1975-01-01

    Extending the crop survey application of remote sensing from small experimental regions to state and national levels requires that a sample of agricultural fields be chosen for remote sensing of crop acreage, and that a statistical estimate be formulated with measurable characteristics. The critical requirements for the success of the application are reviewed in this report. The problem of sampling in the presence of cloud cover is discussed. Integration of remotely sensed information about crops into current agricultural crop forecasting systems is treated on the basis of the USDA multiple frame survey concepts, with an assumed addition of a new frame derived from remote sensing. Evolution of a crop forecasting system which utilizes LANDSAT and future remote sensing systems is projected for the 1975-1990 time frame.

  9. An integrated landscape designed for commodity and bioenergy crops for a tile-drained agricultural watershed

    DOE PAGES

    Ssegane, Herbert; Negri, M. Cristina

    2016-09-16

    Here, locating bioenergy crops on strategically selected subfield areas of marginal interest for commodity agriculture can increase environmental sustainability. Location and choice of bioenergy crops should improve environmental benefits with minimal disruption of current food production systems. We identified subfield soils of a tile-drained agricultural watershed as marginal if they had areas of low crop productivity index (CPI), were susceptible to nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3–N) leaching, or were susceptible to at least two other forms of environmental degradation (marginal areas). In the test watershed (Indian Creek watershed, IL) with annual precipitation of 852 mm, 3% of soils were CPI areas andmore » 22% were marginal areas. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to forecast the impact of growing switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.), willow ( Salix spp.), and big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardi Vitman) in these subfield areas on annual grain yields, NO 3–N and sediment exports, and water yield. Simulated conversion of CPI areas from current land use to bioenergy crops had no significant (p ≤ 0.05) impact on grain production and reduced NO 3–N and sediment exports by 5.0 to 6.0% and 3.0%, respectively. Conversion of marginal areas from current land use to switchgrass forecasted the production of 34,000 t of biomass and reductions in NO 3–N (26.0%) and sediment (33.0%) exports. Alternatively, conversion of marginal areas from current land use to willow forecasted similar reductions as switchgrass for sediment but significantly (p ≤ 0.01) lower reductions in annual NO 3–N export (18.0 vs. 26.0%).« less

  10. An integrated landscape designed for commodity and bioenergy crops for a tile-drained agricultural watershed

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ssegane, Herbert; Negri, M. Cristina

    Here, locating bioenergy crops on strategically selected subfield areas of marginal interest for commodity agriculture can increase environmental sustainability. Location and choice of bioenergy crops should improve environmental benefits with minimal disruption of current food production systems. We identified subfield soils of a tile-drained agricultural watershed as marginal if they had areas of low crop productivity index (CPI), were susceptible to nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3–N) leaching, or were susceptible to at least two other forms of environmental degradation (marginal areas). In the test watershed (Indian Creek watershed, IL) with annual precipitation of 852 mm, 3% of soils were CPI areas andmore » 22% were marginal areas. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to forecast the impact of growing switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.), willow ( Salix spp.), and big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardi Vitman) in these subfield areas on annual grain yields, NO 3–N and sediment exports, and water yield. Simulated conversion of CPI areas from current land use to bioenergy crops had no significant (p ≤ 0.05) impact on grain production and reduced NO 3–N and sediment exports by 5.0 to 6.0% and 3.0%, respectively. Conversion of marginal areas from current land use to switchgrass forecasted the production of 34,000 t of biomass and reductions in NO 3–N (26.0%) and sediment (33.0%) exports. Alternatively, conversion of marginal areas from current land use to willow forecasted similar reductions as switchgrass for sediment but significantly (p ≤ 0.01) lower reductions in annual NO 3–N export (18.0 vs. 26.0%).« less

  11. Spatial Optimization of Cropping Pattern in an Agricultural Watershed for Food and Biofuel Production with Minimum Downstream Pollution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pv, F.; Sudheer, K.; Chaubey, I.; RAJ, C.; Her, Y.

    2013-05-01

    Biofuel is considered to be a viable alternative to meet the increasing fuel demand, and therefore many countries are promoting agricultural activities that help increase production of raw material for biofuel production. Mostly, the biofuel is produced from grain based crops such as Corn, and it apparently create a shortage in food grains. Consequently, there have been regulations to limit the ethanol production from grains, and to use cellulosic crops as raw material for biofuel production. However, cultivation of such cellulosic crops may have different effects on water quality in the watershed. Corn stover, one of the potential cellulosic materials, when removed from the agricultural field for biofuel production, causes a decrease in the organic nutrients in the field. This results in increased use of pesticides and fertilizers which in turn affect the downstream water quality due to leaching of the chemicals. On the contrary, planting less fertilizer-intensive cellulosic crops, like Switch Grass and Miscanthus, is expected to reduce the pollutant loadings from the watershed. Therefore, an ecologically viable land use scenario would be a mixed cropping of grain crops and cellulosic crops, that meet the demand for food and biofuel without compromising on the downstream water quality. Such cropping pattern can be arrived through a simulation-optimization framework. Mathematical models can be employed to evaluate various management scenarios related to crop production and to assess its impact on water quality. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is one of the most widely used models in this context. SWAT can simulate the water and nutrient cycles, and also quantify the long-term impacts of land management practices, in a watershed. This model can therefore help take decisions regarding the type of cropping and management practices to be adopted in the watershed such that the water quality in the rivers is maintained at acceptable level. In this study, it

  12. 7 CFR 457.151 - Forage seeding crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Forage seeding crop insurance provisions. 457.151 Section 457.151 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.151 Forage seeding...

  13. 7 CFR 457.142 - Northern potato crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Northern potato crop insurance provisions. 457.142 Section 457.142 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.142 Northern potato...

  14. 7 CFR 457.131 - Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. 457.131 Section 457.131 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.131 Macadamia nut...

  15. 7 CFR 457.130 - Macadamia tree crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Macadamia tree crop insurance provisions. 457.130 Section 457.130 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.130 Macadamia tree...

  16. 7 CFR 457.155 - Processing bean crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Processing bean crop insurance provisions. 457.155 Section 457.155 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.155 Processing bean...

  17. Comparison of production-phase environmental impact metrics derived at the farm- and national-scale for United States agricultural commodities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Costello, Christine; Xue, Xiaobo; Howarth, Robert W.

    2015-11-01

    Agricultural production is critical for human survival and simultaneously contributes to ecosystem degradation. There is a need for transparent, rapid methods for evaluating the environmental impacts of agricultural production at the system-level in order to develop sustainable food supplies. We have developed a method for estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG), land use and reactive nitrogen inputs associated with the agricultural production phase of major crop and livestock commodities produced in the United States (US). Materials flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques were applied to national inventory datasets. The net anthropogenic nitrogen inputs (NANI) toolbox served as the primary accounting tool for LCA and MFA. NANI was updated to create links between nitrogen fertilizer and nitrogen fixation associated with feed crops and animal food commodities. Results for the functional units kilogram (kg) of product and kg of protein for 2002 data fall within ranges of published LCA results from farm-scale studies across most metrics. Exceptions include eutrophication potential for milk and GHGs for chicken and eggs, these exceptions arise due to differing methods and boundary assumptions; suggestions for increasing agreement are identified. Land use for livestock commodities are generally higher than reported by other LCA studies due to the inclusion of all land identified as pasture or grazing land in the US in this study and given that most of the estimates from other LCAs were completed in Europe where land is less abundant. The method provides a view of the entire US agricultural system and could be applied to any year using publically available data. Additionally, utilizing a top-down approach reduces data collection and processing time making it possible to develop environmental inventory metrics rapidly for system-level decision-making.

  18. 7 CFR 205.306 - Labeling of livestock feed.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT... processed organic ingredients used in the finished product, Provided, That, such seals or marks are not... salt included as ingredients cannot be identified as organic. (b) Livestock feed products described in...

  19. 7 CFR 457.166 - Blueberry crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Blueberry crop insurance provisions. 457.166 Section... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.166 Blueberry crop insurance provisions. The Blueberry Crop Insurance Provisions for the 2005 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  20. 7 CFR 457.166 - Blueberry crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Blueberry crop insurance provisions. 457.166 Section... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.166 Blueberry crop insurance provisions. The Blueberry Crop Insurance Provisions for the 2005 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  1. 7 CFR 457.166 - Blueberry crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Blueberry crop insurance provisions. 457.166 Section... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.166 Blueberry crop insurance provisions. The Blueberry Crop Insurance Provisions for the 2005 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  2. Revised spatially distributed global livestock emissions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asrar, G.; Wolf, J.; West, T. O.

    2015-12-01

    Livestock play an important role in agricultural carbon cycling through consumption of biomass and emissions of methane. Quantification and spatial distribution of methane and carbon dioxide produced by livestock is needed to develop bottom-up estimates for carbon monitoring. These estimates serve as stand-alone international emissions estimates, as input to global emissions modeling, and as comparisons or constraints to flux estimates from atmospheric inversion models. Recent results for the US suggest that the 2006 IPCC default coefficients may underestimate livestock methane emissions. In this project, revised coefficients were calculated for cattle and swine in all global regions, based on reported changes in body mass, quality and quantity of feed, milk production, and management of living animals and manure for these regions. New estimates of livestock methane and carbon dioxide emissions were calculated using the revised coefficients and global livestock population data. Spatial distribution of population data and associated fluxes was conducted using the MODIS Land Cover Type 5, version 5.1 (i.e. MCD12Q1 data product), and a previously published downscaling algorithm for reconciling inventory and satellite-based land cover data at 0.05 degree resolution. Preliminary results for 2013 indicate greater emissions than those calculated using the IPCC 2006 coefficients. Global total enteric fermentation methane increased by 6%, while manure management methane increased by 38%, with variation among species and regions resulting in improved spatial distributions of livestock emissions. These new estimates of total livestock methane are comparable to other recently reported studies for the entire US and the State of California. These new regional/global estimates will improve the ability to reconcile top-down and bottom-up estimates of methane production as well as provide updated global estimates for use in development and evaluation of Earth system models.

  3. 29 CFR 780.328 - Meaning of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Agriculture That Is Exempted From the Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay Requirements Under Section 13(a)(6... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Meaning of livestock. 780.328 Section 780.328 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENTS OF GENERAL...

  4. 29 CFR 780.327 - Production of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Agriculture That Is Exempted From the Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay Requirements Under Section 13(a)(6... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Production of livestock. 780.327 Section 780.327 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENTS OF GENERAL...

  5. 7 CFR 993.20 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Order Regulating Handling Definitions § 993.20 Crop year. Crop year means the 12-month period beginning August 1 of any year and ending July 31 of the following year. ... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Crop year. 993.20 Section 993.20 Agriculture...

  6. Assessing the probability of infection by Salmonella due to sewage sludge use in agriculture under several exposure scenarios for crops and soil ingestion.

    PubMed

    Krzyzanowski, Flávio; de Souza Lauretto, Marcelo; Nardocci, Adelaide Cássia; Sato, Maria Inês Zanoli; Razzolini, Maria Tereza Pepe

    2016-10-15

    A deeper understanding about the risks involved in sewage sludge practice in agriculture is required. The aims of the present study were to determine the annual risk of infection of consuming lettuce, carrots and tomatoes cultivated in soil amended with sewage sludge. The risk to agricultural workers of accidental ingestion of sludge or amended soil was also investigated. A Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment was conducted based on Salmonella concentrations from five WWTPs were used to estimate the probability of annual infection associated with crops and soil ingestion. The risk of infection was estimated for nine exposure scenarios considering concentration of the pathogen, sewage sludge dilution in soil, variation of Salmonella concentration in soil, soil attachment to crops, seasonal average temperatures, hours of post-harvesting exposure, Salmonella regrowth in lettuce and tomatoes, Salmonella inhibition factor in carrots, crop ingestion and frequency of exposure, sludge/soil ingestion by agricultural workers and frequency of exposure. Annual risks values varied across the scenarios evaluated. Highest values of annual risk were found for scenarios in which the variation in the concentration of Salmonella spp. in both soil and crops (scenario 1) and without variation in the concentration of Salmonella spp. in soil and variation in crops (scenario 3) ranging from 10(-3) to 10(-2) for all groups considered. For agricultural workers, the highest annual risks of infection were found when workers applied sewage sludge to agricultural soils (2.26×10(-2)). Sensitivity analysis suggests that the main drivers for the estimated risks are Salmonella concentration and ingestion rate. These risk values resulted from conservative scenarios since some assumptions were derived from local or general studies. Although these scenarios can be considered conservative, the sensitivity analysis yielded the drivers of the risks, which can be useful for managing risks from the

  7. The Use of Cover Crops as Climate-Smart Management in Midwest Cropping Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Basche, A.; Miguez, F.; Archontoulis, S.; Kaspar, T.

    2014-12-01

    The observed trends in the Midwestern United States of increasing rainfall variability will likely continue into the future. Events such as individual days of heavy rain as well as seasons of floods and droughts have large impacts on agricultural productivity and the natural resource base that underpins it. Such events lead to increased soil erosion, decreased water quality and reduced corn and soybean yields. Winter cover crops offer the potential to buffer many of these impacts because they essentially double the time for a living plant to protect and improve the soil. However, at present, cover crops are infrequently utilized in the Midwest (representing 1-2% of row cropped land cover) in particular due to producer concerns over higher costs and management, limited time and winter growing conditions as well as the potential harm to corn yields. In order to expand their use, there is a need to quantify how cover crops impact Midwest cropping systems in the long term and namely to understand how to optimize the benefits of cover crops while minimizing their impacts on cash crops. We are working with APSIM, a cropping systems platform, to specifically quantify the long term future impacts of cover crop incorporation in corn-based cropping systems. In general, our regional analysis showed only minor changes to corn and soybean yields (<1% differences) when a cover crop was or was not included in the simulation. Further, a "bad spring" scenario (where every third year had an abnormally wet/cold spring and cover crop termination and planting cash crop were within one day) did not result in any major changes to cash crop yields. Through simulations we estimate an average increase of 4-9% organic matter improvement in the topsoil and an average decrease in soil erosion of 14-32% depending on cover crop planting date and growth. Our work is part of the Climate and Corn-based Cropping Systems Coordinated Agriculture Project (CSCAP), a collaboration of eleven Midwestern

  8. 7 CFR 457.126 - Popcorn crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Popcorn crop insurance provisions. 457.126 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.126 Popcorn crop insurance provisions. The Popcorn Crop Insurance Provisions for the 1999 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  9. 7 CFR 457.126 - Popcorn crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Popcorn crop insurance provisions. 457.126 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.126 Popcorn crop insurance provisions. The Popcorn Crop Insurance Provisions for the 1999 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  10. 7 CFR 457.126 - Popcorn crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Popcorn crop insurance provisions. 457.126 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.126 Popcorn crop insurance provisions. The Popcorn Crop Insurance Provisions for the 1999 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  11. 7 CFR 457.158 - Apple crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Apple crop insurance provisions. 457.158 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.158 Apple crop insurance provisions. The apple crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  12. 7 CFR 457.158 - Apple crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Apple crop insurance provisions. 457.158 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.158 Apple crop insurance provisions. The apple crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  13. 7 CFR 457.158 - Apple crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Apple crop insurance provisions. 457.158 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.158 Apple crop insurance provisions. The apple crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  14. 7 CFR 457.158 - Apple crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Apple crop insurance provisions. 457.158 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.158 Apple crop insurance provisions. The apple crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  15. 7 CFR 457.138 - Grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Grape crop insurance provisions. 457.138 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.138 Grape crop insurance provisions. The grape crop insurance provisions for the 2010 and succeeding crop years are as follows: United...

  16. 7 CFR 457.138 - Grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Grape crop insurance provisions. 457.138 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.138 Grape crop insurance provisions. The grape crop insurance provisions for the 2010 and succeeding crop years are as follows: United...

  17. 7 CFR 457.138 - Grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Grape crop insurance provisions. 457.138 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.138 Grape crop insurance provisions. The grape crop insurance provisions for the 2010 and succeeding crop years are as follows: United...

  18. 7 CFR 457.138 - Grape crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Grape crop insurance provisions. 457.138 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.138 Grape crop insurance provisions. The grape crop insurance provisions for the 2010 and succeeding crop years are as follows: United...

  19. 7 CFR 457.104 - Cotton crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Cotton crop insurance provisions. 457.104 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.104 Cotton crop insurance provisions. The cotton crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  20. 7 CFR 457.104 - Cotton crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Cotton crop insurance provisions. 457.104 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.104 Cotton crop insurance provisions. The cotton crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  1. 7 CFR 457.104 - Cotton crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Cotton crop insurance provisions. 457.104 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.104 Cotton crop insurance provisions. The cotton crop insurance provisions for the 2011 and succeeding crop years are as follows...

  2. 7 CFR 457.123 - Almond crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Almond crop insurance provisions. 457.123 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.123 Almond crop insurance provisions. The Almond Crop Insurance Provisions for the 2008 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  3. 7 CFR 457.123 - Almond crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Almond crop insurance provisions. 457.123 Section 457... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.123 Almond crop insurance provisions. The Almond Crop Insurance Provisions for the 2008 and succeeding crop years are as follows: FCIC...

  4. Livestock policy and trade issues in SADC.

    PubMed

    Hulman, B

    2009-03-01

    As from 2001, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has embarked on a course to deepen regional integration through restructuring. Under the new structure SADC has centralised the coordination of its activities to the Secretariat in Gaborone. The former Sector Coordinating Units have been merged into four directorates, one of which is the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate, which comprises, amongst others, the Livestock Development Unit (LDU). The LDU, under the aegis of the FANR, formulates policies for regional livestock development in order to respond to the objectives of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), and which are mainly to: Contribute to improved food security, Promote wealth creation, Enhance rural livelihood, Enhance livestock as a tradable and consumable commodity. Following the launch of the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, the eight SADC EPA member states identified sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade to be major trade barriers for access to international markets, especially the EU market where standards are normally set beyond international standards. SADC has already brought some of the issues related to beef exports to the OIE Regional Commission for Africa as SADC member states feel that a few of the present requirements do not have a scientific basis. The paper discusses the process that the LDU follows in the formulation of policies and strategies in regional livestock development with the objective of bolstering intra and extra regional trade in livestock and livestock products.

  5. Simulated crop yield in response to changes in climate and agricultural practices: results from a simple process based model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caldararu, S.; Smith, M. J.; Purves, D.; Emmott, S.

    2013-12-01

    Global agriculture will, in the future, be faced with two main challenges: climate change and an increase in global food demand driven by an increase in population and changes in consumption habits. To be able to predict both the impacts of changes in climate on crop yields and the changes in agricultural practices necessary to respond to such impacts we currently need to improve our understanding of crop responses to climate and the predictive capability of our models. Ideally, what we would have at our disposal is a modelling tool which, given certain climatic conditions and agricultural practices, can predict the growth pattern and final yield of any of the major crops across the globe. We present a simple, process-based crop growth model based on the assumption that plants allocate above- and below-ground biomass to maintain overall carbon optimality and that, to maintain this optimality, the reproductive stage begins at peak nitrogen uptake. The model includes responses to available light, water, temperature and carbon dioxide concentration as well as nitrogen fertilisation and irrigation. The model is data constrained at two sites, the Yaqui Valley, Mexico for wheat and the Southern Great Plains flux site for maize and soybean, using a robust combination of space-based vegetation data (including data from the MODIS and Landsat TM and ETM+ instruments), as well as ground-based biomass and yield measurements. We show a number of climate response scenarios, including increases in temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations as well as responses to irrigation and fertiliser application.

  6. Chemical usage in production agriculture: do crop insurance and off-farm work play a part?

    PubMed

    Chang, Hung-Hao; Mishra, Ashok K

    2012-08-30

    In recent years a growing body of literature in the agricultural policy arena has examined the association between crop insurance and off-farm employment. However, little is known about the extent to which these two activities may be related to environmental quality, in particular their impacts on fertilizer/chemical use of the farm. To fill this gap, this paper examines the effect of crop insurance and off-farm work on fertilizer/chemical expenses within the farm household framework. Quantile regression results from a national representative farm-level data show that off-farm work by the farm operator tends to decrease fertilizer/chemical expenses, and the effect is more pronounced at the higher percentiles of the distribution of fertilizer/chemical expense. In contrast, a positive effect of crop insurance on fertilizer/chemical expenses is evident, and the effect is robust across the entire distribution. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Environmental factors that influence the location of crop agriculture in the conterminous United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Baker, Nancy T.; Capel, Paul D.

    2011-01-01

    Most crops are grown on land with shallow slope where the temperature, precipitation, and soils are favorable. In areas that are too steep, wet, or dry, landscapes have been modified to allow cultivation. Some of the limitations of the environmental factors that determine the location of agriculture can be overcome through modifications, but others cannot. On a larger-than-field scale, agricultural modifications commonly influence water availability through irrigation and (or) drainage and soil fertility and (or) organic-matter content through amendments such as manure, commercial fertilizer and lime. In general, it is not feasible to modify the other environmental factors, soil texture, soil depth, soil mineralogy, temperature, and terrain at large scales.

  8. Livestock Nutrition and Feeding. Student Manual. Second Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ridenour, Harlan E.

    This manual is designed to help agricultural education students and teachers to apply scientific facts and principles to problem-solving procedures in determining nutritious and economical livestock feeding programs. The manual provides applied scientific activities in biological science and chemistry, mathematics, and communication skills. It…

  9. Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions.

    PubMed

    Havlík, Petr; Valin, Hugo; Herrero, Mario; Obersteiner, Michael; Schmid, Erwin; Rufino, Mariana C; Mosnier, Aline; Thornton, Philip K; Böttcher, Hannes; Conant, Richard T; Frank, Stefan; Fritz, Steffen; Fuss, Sabine; Kraxner, Florian; Notenbaert, An

    2014-03-11

    Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge. Here, we provide results from an economic model using a detailed and high-resolution representation of livestock production systems. We project that by 2030 autonomous transitions toward more efficient systems would decrease emissions by 736 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO2e⋅y(-1)), mainly through avoided emissions from the conversion of 162 Mha of natural land. A moderate mitigation policy targeting emissions from both the agricultural and land-use change sectors with a carbon price of US$10 per tCO2e could lead to an abatement of 3,223 MtCO2e⋅y(-1). Livestock system transitions would contribute 21% of the total abatement, intra- and interregional relocation of livestock production another 40%, and all other mechanisms would add 39%. A comparable abatement of 3,068 MtCO2e⋅y(-1) could be achieved also with a policy targeting only emissions from land-use change. Stringent climate policies might lead to reductions in food availability of up to 200 kcal per capita per day globally. We find that mitigation policies targeting emissions from land-use change are 5 to 10 times more efficient--measured in "total abatement calorie cost"--than policies targeting emissions from livestock only. Thus, fostering transitions toward more productive livestock production systems in combination with climate policies targeting the land-use change appears to be the most efficient lever to deliver desirable climate and food availability outcomes.

  10. Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions

    PubMed Central

    Havlík, Petr; Valin, Hugo; Herrero, Mario; Obersteiner, Michael; Schmid, Erwin; Rufino, Mariana C.; Mosnier, Aline; Thornton, Philip K.; Böttcher, Hannes; Conant, Richard T.; Frank, Stefan; Fritz, Steffen; Fuss, Sabine; Kraxner, Florian; Notenbaert, An

    2014-01-01

    Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge. Here, we provide results from an economic model using a detailed and high-resolution representation of livestock production systems. We project that by 2030 autonomous transitions toward more efficient systems would decrease emissions by 736 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO2e⋅y−1), mainly through avoided emissions from the conversion of 162 Mha of natural land. A moderate mitigation policy targeting emissions from both the agricultural and land-use change sectors with a carbon price of US$10 per tCO2e could lead to an abatement of 3,223 MtCO2e⋅y−1. Livestock system transitions would contribute 21% of the total abatement, intra- and interregional relocation of livestock production another 40%, and all other mechanisms would add 39%. A comparable abatement of 3,068 MtCO2e⋅y−1 could be achieved also with a policy targeting only emissions from land-use change. Stringent climate policies might lead to reductions in food availability of up to 200 kcal per capita per day globally. We find that mitigation policies targeting emissions from land-use change are 5 to 10 times more efficient—measured in “total abatement calorie cost”—than policies targeting emissions from livestock only. Thus, fostering transitions toward more productive livestock production systems in combination with climate policies targeting the land-use change appears to be the most efficient lever to deliver desirable climate and food availability outcomes. PMID:24567375

  11. The nitrogen cascade from agricultural soils to the sea: modelling nitrogen transfers at regional watershed and global scales

    PubMed Central

    Billen, Gilles; Garnier, Josette; Lassaletta, Luis

    2013-01-01

    The nitrogen cycle of pre-industrial ecosystems has long been remarkably closed, in spite of the high mobility of this element in the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Inter-regional and international commercial exchanges of agricultural goods, which considerably increased after the generalization of the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, introduced an additional type of nitrogen mobility, which nowadays rivals the atmospheric and hydrological fluxes in intensity, and causes their enhancement at the local, regional and global scales. Eighty-five per cent of the net anthropogenic input of reactive nitrogen occurs on only 43 per cent of the land area. Modern agriculture based on the use of synthetic fertilizers and the decoupling of crop and animal production is responsible for the largest part of anthropogenic losses of reactive nitrogen to the environment. In terms of levers for better managing the nitrogen cascade, beyond technical improvement of agricultural practices tending to increase nitrogen use efficiency, or environmental engineering management measures to increase nitrogen sinks in the landscape, the need to better localize crop production and livestock breeding, on the one hand, and agriculture and food demand on the other hand, is put forward as a condition to being able to supply food to human populations while preserving environmental resources. PMID:23713121

  12. Brief History of Agricultural Systems Modeling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, James W.; Antle, John M.; Basso, Bruno O.; Boote, Kenneth J.; Conant, Richard T.; Foster, Ian; Godfray, H. Charles J.; Herrrero, Mario; Howitt, Richard E.; Janssen, Sandor; hide

    2016-01-01

    Agricultural systems science generates knowledge that allows researchers to consider complex problems or take informed agricultural decisions. The rich history of this science exemplifies the diversity of systems and scales over which they operate and have been studied. Modeling, an essential tool in agricultural systems science, has been accomplished by scientists from a wide range of disciplines, who have contributed concepts and tools over more than six decades. As agricultural scientists now consider the next generation models, data, and knowledge products needed to meet the increasingly complex systems problems faced by society, it is important to take stock of this history and its lessons to ensure that we avoid re-invention and strive to consider all dimensions of associated challenges. To this end, we summarize here the history of agricultural systems modeling and identify lessons learned that can help guide the design and development of next generation of agricultural system tools and methods. A number of past events combined with overall technological progress in other fields have strongly contributed to the evolution of agricultural system modeling, including development of process-based bio-physical models of crops and livestock, statistical models based on historical observations, and economic optimization and simulation models at household and regional to global scales. Characteristics of agricultural systems models have varied widely depending on the systems involved, their scales, and the wide range of purposes that motivated their development and use by researchers in different disciplines. Recent trends in broader collaboration across institutions, across disciplines, and between the public and private sectors suggest that the stage is set for the major advances in agricultural systems science that are needed for the next generation of models, databases, knowledge products and decision support systems. The lessons from history should be considered

  13. Brief history of agricultural systems modeling.

    PubMed

    Jones, James W; Antle, John M; Basso, Bruno; Boote, Kenneth J; Conant, Richard T; Foster, Ian; Godfray, H Charles J; Herrero, Mario; Howitt, Richard E; Janssen, Sander; Keating, Brian A; Munoz-Carpena, Rafael; Porter, Cheryl H; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Wheeler, Tim R

    2017-07-01

    Agricultural systems science generates knowledge that allows researchers to consider complex problems or take informed agricultural decisions. The rich history of this science exemplifies the diversity of systems and scales over which they operate and have been studied. Modeling, an essential tool in agricultural systems science, has been accomplished by scientists from a wide range of disciplines, who have contributed concepts and tools over more than six decades. As agricultural scientists now consider the "next generation" models, data, and knowledge products needed to meet the increasingly complex systems problems faced by society, it is important to take stock of this history and its lessons to ensure that we avoid re-invention and strive to consider all dimensions of associated challenges. To this end, we summarize here the history of agricultural systems modeling and identify lessons learned that can help guide the design and development of next generation of agricultural system tools and methods. A number of past events combined with overall technological progress in other fields have strongly contributed to the evolution of agricultural system modeling, including development of process-based bio-physical models of crops and livestock, statistical models based on historical observations, and economic optimization and simulation models at household and regional to global scales. Characteristics of agricultural systems models have varied widely depending on the systems involved, their scales, and the wide range of purposes that motivated their development and use by researchers in different disciplines. Recent trends in broader collaboration across institutions, across disciplines, and between the public and private sectors suggest that the stage is set for the major advances in agricultural systems science that are needed for the next generation of models, databases, knowledge products and decision support systems. The lessons from history should be

  14. Amazon river flow regime and flood recessional agriculture: Flood stage reversals and risk of annual crop loss

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coomes, Oliver T.; Lapointe, Michel; Templeton, Michael; List, Geneva

    2016-08-01

    The annual flood cycle is an important driver of ecosystem structure and function in large tropical rivers such as the Amazon. Riparian peasant communities rely on river fishing and annual floodplain agriculture, closely adapted to the recession phase of the flood pulse. This article reports on a poorly documented but important challenge facing farmers practicing flood recessional agriculture along the Amazon river: frequent, unpredictable stage reversals (repiquetes) which threaten to ruin crops growing on channel bars. We assess the severity of stage reversals for rice production on exposed river mud bars (barreales) near Iquitos, Peru. Crop loss risk is estimated based on a quantitative analysis of 45 years of daily Amazon stage data and field data from floodplain communities nearby in the Muyuy archipelago, upstream of Iquitos. Rice varieties selected, elevations of silt rich bars where rice is sown, as well as planting and harvest dates are analyzed in the light of the timing, frequencies and amplitudes of observed stage reversals that have the potential to destroy growing rice. We find that unpredictable stage reversals can produce substantial crop losses and shorten significantly the length of average growing seasons on lower elevation river bars. The data reveal that local famers extend planting down to lower bar elevations where the mean probabilities of re-submergence before rice maturity (due to reversals) approach 50%, below which they implicitly consider that the risk of crop loss outweighs the potential reward of planting.

  15. Does the use of tubular digesters to treat livestock waste lower the risk of infection from Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia?

    PubMed

    Kinyua, Maureen N; Wald, Ileana; Camacho-Céspedes, Fabricio; Izurieta, Ricardo; Haas, Charles N; Ergas, Sarina J

    2016-10-01

    Worldwide, high incidences of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis are attributed to livestock waste. Quantitative microbial risk assessment can be used to estimate the risk of livestock related infections from Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia. The objective of this paper was to assess the occupational and public health risks associated with management of raw and anaerobically digested livestock waste in two rural communities in Costa Rica based on fomite, soil and crop contamination and livestock waste management exposure pathways. Risks related to cattle waste were greater than swine waste due to cattle shedding more (oo)cysts. Cryptosporidium parvum also posed a greater risk than Giardia lamblia in all exposure pathways due to livestock shedding high loads of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts and oocysts' lower inactivation rates during anaerobic digestion compared with Giardia lamblia cysts. The risk of infection from exposure to contaminated soil and crops was significantly lower for a community using tubular anaerobic digesters to treat livestock waste compared to a community where the untreated waste was applied to soil. The results indicate that treatment of livestock waste in small-scale tubular anaerobic digesters has the potential to significantly decrease the risk of infection below the World Health Organization's acceptable individual annual risk of infection (10 -4 ).

  16. Could Crop Roughness Impact the Wind Resource at Agriculturally Productive Wind Farm Sites?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vanderwende, B. J.; Lundquist, J. K.

    2014-12-01

    The high concentration of both large-scale agriculture and wind power production in the United States Midwest region raises new questions concerning the interaction of the two activities. For instance, it is known from internal boundary layer theory that changes in the roughness of the land-surface resulting from crop choices could modify the momentum field aloft. Upward propagation of such an effect might impact the properties of the winds encountered by modern turbines, which typically span a layer from about 40 to 120 meters above the surface. As direct observation of such interaction would require impractical interference in the planting schedules of farmers, we use numerical modeling to quantify the magnitude of crop-roughness effects. To simulate a collocated farm and turbine array, we use version 3.4.1 of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The hypothetical farm is inserted near the real location of the 2013 Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX). Reanalyses provide representative initial and boundary conditions. A month-long period spanning August 2013 is used to evaluate the differences in flows above corn (maize) and soybean crops at the mature, reproductive stage. Simulations are performed comparing the flow above each surface regime, both in the absence and presence of a wind farm, which consists of a parameterized 11x11 array of 1.8 MW Vestas V90 turbines. Appreciable differences in rotor-layer wind speeds emerge. The use of soybeans results in an increase in wind speeds and a corresponding reduction in rotor-layer shear when compared to corn. Despite the turbulent nature of flow within a wind farm, high stability reduces the impact of crop roughness on the flow aloft, particularly in the upper portion of the rotor disk. We use these results to estimate the economic impact of crop selection on wind power producers.

  17. 7 CFR 457.143 - Northern potato crop insurance-quality endorsement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Northern potato crop insurance-quality endorsement. 457.143 Section 457.143 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.143...

  18. 9 CFR 309.17 - Livestock used for research.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Livestock used for research. 309.17 Section 309.17 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... used in any research investigation involving an experimental biological product, drug, or chemical...

  19. Prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of Salmonella serovars in integrated crop-livestock farms and their products sold in local markets.

    PubMed

    Peng, Mengfei; Salaheen, Serajus; Almario, Jose Alejandro; Tesfaye, Bezait; Buchanan, Robert; Biswas, Debabrata

    2016-05-01

    Major concern in the Mixed Crop-Livestock (MCL) farms, in which livestock and vegetables grown closely in the same facility, is cross-contamination of zoonotic bacterial pathogens especially Salmonella. To investigate the distribution of Salmonella serovars in MCL and their products, a total of 1287 pre-harvest samples from various farms and 1377 post-harvest samples from retail supermarkets in Maryland and Washington D.C. areas were collected and analysed. A total of 315 Salmonella isolates were recovered, with 17.44% and 5.88%, from MCL and conventional farms samples (P < 0.001). At post-harvest level, the prevalence of Salmonella was 30.95%, 19.83%, and 8.38% in chicken meat (P < 0.001) from farmers, organic, and conventional retail markets respectively, and 16.81% and 6.06% in produce products (P < 0.001) from farmers and organic retail markets, but none from conventional retail markets. From the isolated Salmonella, 34.50% was confirmed S. Typhimurium, followed by S. Heidelberg (10.86%) and S. Enteritidis (9.90%). The overall multi-antibiotic resistance in recovered Salmonella was 23.81% versus 4.55% in conventional and MCL farms (P = 0.004) and 66.67% versus 7.76% in conventional and farmers markets (P < 0.001). Overall the data reveals higher Salmonella risks in MCL farms' environment and their products sold in farmers markets and warrants taking necessary measures to limit Salmonella transmission. © 2016 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Wildfire: It's Economic Impact on Grazing Livestock in Northern Nevada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Honeycutt, S.

    2015-12-01

    As the climate changes and Nevada experiences long severe drought, a key understanding of the economic impacts of wildfire on grazing livestock is essential in the assurance of livestock production in future management of Nevada's rangeland. The focus of this research is to determine the economic impact in the reduction of rangeland available for livestock grazing due to wildfires. The datasets utilized in this research are from 2007 & 2012 and include Bureau of Land Management wildfire, grazing allotments and herd management area geospatial data along with USDA Census of Agriculture, Inventory & Sales Information for cattle & calves, sheep & lambs, and goats. Presented in the results will be the direct, indirect, and induced economic effects of wildfires on rangeland production.

  1. 7 CFR 457.152 - Hybrid seed corn crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Hybrid seed corn crop insurance provisions. 457.152 Section 457.152 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.152 Hybrid seed...

  2. 7 CFR 457.148 - Fresh market pepper crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fresh market pepper crop insurance provisions. 457.148 Section 457.148 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.148 Fresh market...

  3. 7 CFR 457.154 - Processing sweet corn crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Processing sweet corn crop insurance provisions. 457.154 Section 457.154 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.154 Processing...

  4. Crops and food security--experiences and perspectives from Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Huang, Chen-Te; Fu, Tzu-Yu Richard; Chang, Su-San

    2009-01-01

    Food security is an important issue that is of concern for all countries around the world. There are many factors which may cause food insecurity including increasing demand, shortage of supply, trade condition, another countries' food policy, lack of money, high food and oil prices, decelerating productivity, speculation, etc. The food self-sufficiency ratio of Taiwan is only 30.6% weighted by energy in 2007. Total agriculture imports and cereals have increased significantly due to the expansion of livestock and fishery industries and improve living standard. The agriculture sector of Taiwan is facing many challenges, such as: low level of food self-sufficiency, aging farmers, large acreage of set-aside farmlands, small scale farming, soaring price of fertilizers, natural disasters accelerated by climate change, and rapid changes in the world food economy. To cope with these challenges, the present agricultural policy is based on three guidelines: "Healthfulness, Efficiency, and Sustainability." A program entitled "Turning Small Landlords into Large Tenants" was launched to make effective use of idle lands. Facing globalization and the food crisis, Taiwan will secure stable food supply through revitalization of its set-aside farmlands and international markets, and provide technical assistance to developing countries, in particular for staple food crops.

  5. Understanding the Long Run Determinants of Land Use in Global Crop Production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baldos, U. C.; Hertel, T. W.

    2011-12-01

    Cropland cover is expected to increase in the future given the projected growth on global demand for crops. Over the past century, crop demand has largely been driven by food demands, which were, in turn driven by a combination of rising population growth and increased per capita incomes, with the former dominating. However, with population growth slowing, and incomes rising more strongly in the developing world - where dietary upgrading is a significant factor - income growth has emerged as a relatively more significant driver of total food demand. At the same time, renewable energy policies across the world have introduced a new, dynamic element to the industrial demand for cropland. However, the drivers of long run cropland use are not limited to those directly related to crop demand. New trends suggest that crop yield growth may be slowing in critical breadbaskets around the world. In addition, some agricultural lands have been lost to urbanization and soil degradation. There is also a growing interest in setting aside land for biodiversity. Finally, there is considerable interest in terrestrial carbon sequestration which could place important new demands on the world's croplands. The co-existence of so many competing factors poses a challenge for properly assessing the long-run global supply and demand for croplands in 2050. In this paper, we quantify the contributions of each of these key drivers to the long-run global cropland use using a partial equilibrium model of global agriculture. To implement the model, we also construct a global database for key land use, agricultural and socio-economic variables from several sources. Our analysis starts with validation of the model over an historical period from 2001 up to 2007-05 (5 years). The model's prediction regarding cropland use is slightly lower than the observed change (+5.8% vs. +8.3%). Decomposition of the drivers of land use change shows that income growth (+3.9%) has a larger impact than population

  6. A review on soil carbon accumulation due to the management change of major Brazilian agricultural activities.

    PubMed

    La Scala, N; De Figueiredo, E B; Panosso, A R

    2012-08-01

    Agricultural areas deal with enormous CO2 intake fluxes offering an opportunity for greenhouse effect mitigation. In this work we studied the potential of soil carbon sequestration due to the management conversion in major agricultural activities in Brazil. Data from several studies indicate that in soybean/maize, and related rotation systems, a significant soil carbon sequestration was observed over the year of conversion from conventional to no-till practices, with a mean rate of 0.41 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1). The same effect was observed in sugarcane fields, but with a much higher accumulation of carbon in soil stocks, when sugarcane fields are converted from burned to mechanised based harvest, where large amounts of sugarcane residues remain on the soil surface (1.8 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1)). The higher sequestration potential of sugarcane crops, when compared to the others, has a direct relation to the primary production of this crop. Nevertheless, much of this mitigation potential of soil carbon accumulation in sugarcane fields is lost once areas are reformed, or intensive tillage is applied. Pasture lands have shown soil carbon depletion once natural areas are converted to livestock use, while integration of those areas with agriculture use has shown an improvement in soil carbon stocks. Those works have shown that the main crop systems of Brazil have a huge mitigation potential, especially in soil carbon form, being an opportunity for future mitigation strategies.

  7. Genome edited animals: Learning from GM crops?

    PubMed

    Bruce, Ann

    2017-06-01

    Genome editing of livestock is poised to become commercial reality, yet questions remain as to appropriate regulation, potential impact on the industry sector and public acceptability of products. This paper looks at how genome editing of livestock has attempted to learn some of the lessons from commercialisation of GM crops, and takes a systemic approach to explore some of the complexity and ambiguity in incorporating genome edited animals in a food production system. Current applications of genome editing are considered, viewed from the perspective of past technological applications. The question of what is genome editing, and can it be considered natural is examined. The implications of regulation on development of different sectors of livestock production systems are studied, with a particular focus on the veterinary sector. From an EU perspective, regulation of genome edited animals, although not necessarily the same as for GM crops, is advocated from a number of different perspectives. This paper aims to open up new avenues of research on genome edited animals, extending from the current primary focus on science and regulation, to engage with a wider-range of food system actors.

  8. 7 CFR 996.3 - Crop year.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... DOMESTIC AND IMPORTED PEANUTS MARKETED IN THE UNITED STATES Definitions § 996.3 Crop year. Crop year means the 12-month period beginning with July 1 of any year and ending with June 30 of the following year... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Crop year. 996.3 Section 996.3 Agriculture Regulations...

  9. 29 CFR 516.13 - Livestock auction employees exempt from overtime pay requirements under section 13(b)(13) of the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Livestock auction employees exempt from overtime pay....13 Livestock auction employees exempt from overtime pay requirements under section 13(b)(13) of the... employee is employed both in agriculture and in connection with livestock auction operations: (a) The total...

  10. Policies for agricultural nitrogen management—trends, challenges and prospects for improved efficiency in Denmark

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dalgaard, Tommy; Hansen, Birgitte; Hasler, Berit; Hertel, Ole; Hutchings, Nicholas J.; Jacobsen, Brian H.; Stoumann Jensen, Lars; Kronvang, Brian; Olesen, Jørgen E.; Schjørring, Jan K.; Sillebak Kristensen, Ib; Graversgaard, Morten; Termansen, Mette; Vejre, Henrik

    2014-11-01

    With more than 60% of the land farmed, with vulnerable freshwater and marine environments, and with one of the most intensive, export-oriented livestock sectors in the world, the nitrogen (N) pollution pressure from Danish agriculture is severe. Consequently, a series of policy action plans have been implemented since the mid 1980s with significant effects on the surplus, efficiency and environmental loadings of N. This paper reviews the policies and actions taken and their ability to mitigate effects of reactive N (Nr) while maintaining agricultural production. In summary, the average N-surplus has been reduced from approximately 170 kg N ha-1 yr-1 to below 100 kg N ha-1 yr-1 during the past 30 yrs, while the overall N-efficiency for the agricultural sector (crop + livestock farming) has increased from around 20-30% to 40-45%, the N-leaching from the field root zone has been halved, and N losses to the aquatic and atmospheric environment have been significantly reduced. This has been achieved through a combination of approaches and measures (ranging from command and control legislation, over market-based regulation and governmental expenditure to information and voluntary action), with specific measures addressing the whole N cascade, in order to improve the quality of ground- and surface waters, and to reduce the deposition to terrestrial natural ecosystems. However, there is still a major challenge in complying with the EU Water Framework and Habitats Directives, calling for new approaches, measures and technologies to mitigate agricultural N losses and control N flows.

  11. Dual-Use Bioenergy-Livestock Feed Potential of Giant Miscanthus, Giant Reed, and Miscane

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    High yielding perennial grasses could integrate bioenergy-livestock operations, thereby, offsetting diversions of cropland to lignocellulosic crops, but research is needed to determine chemical composition and digestibility of leaf and stem fractions that might affect downstream uses. The objective...

  12. Classification of crops across heterogeneous agricultural landscape in Kenya using AisaEAGLE imaging spectroscopy data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piiroinen, Rami; Heiskanen, Janne; Mõttus, Matti; Pellikka, Petri

    2015-07-01

    Land use practices are changing at a fast pace in the tropics. In sub-Saharan Africa forests, woodlands and bushlands are being transformed for agricultural use to produce food for the rapidly growing population. The objective of this study was to assess the prospects of mapping the common agricultural crops in highly heterogeneous study area in south-eastern Kenya using high spatial and spectral resolution AisaEAGLE imaging spectroscopy data. Minimum noise fraction transformation was used to pack the coherent information in smaller set of bands and the data was classified with support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. A total of 35 plant species were mapped in the field and seven most dominant ones were used as classification targets. Five of the targets were agricultural crops. The overall accuracy (OA) for the classification was 90.8%. To assess the possibility of excluding the remaining 28 plant species from the classification results, 10 different probability thresholds (PT) were tried with SVM. The impact of PT was assessed with validation polygons of all 35 mapped plant species. The results showed that while PT was increased more pixels were excluded from non-target polygons than from the polygons of the seven classification targets. This increased the OA and reduced salt-and-pepper effects in the classification results. Very high spatial resolution imagery and pixel-based classification approach worked well with small targets such as maize while there was mixing of classes on the sides of the tree crowns.

  13. 7 CFR 457.131 - Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. 457.131... INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.131 Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. The macadamia nut crop insurance provisions for the 2012 and succeeding crop...

  14. 7 CFR 457.131 - Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. 457.131... INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.131 Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. The macadamia nut crop insurance provisions for the 2012 and succeeding crop...

  15. 7 CFR 457.131 - Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. 457.131... INSURANCE CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COMMON CROP INSURANCE REGULATIONS § 457.131 Macadamia nut crop insurance provisions. The macadamia nut crop insurance provisions for the 2012 and succeeding crop...

  16. Climate change vulnerability in the food, energy, and water nexus: concerns for agricultural production in Arizona and its urban export supply

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berardy, Andrew; Chester, Mikhail V.

    2017-03-01

    Interdependent systems providing water and energy services are necessary for agriculture. Climate change and increased resource demands are expected to cause frequent and severe strains on these systems. Arizona is especially vulnerable to such strains due to its hot and arid climate. However, its climate enables year-round agricultural production, allowing Arizona to supply most of the country’s winter lettuce and vegetables. In addition to Phoenix and Tucson, cities including El Paso, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego rely on Arizona for several types of agricultural products such as animal feed and livestock, meaning that disruptions to Arizona’s agriculture also disrupt food supply chains to at least six major cities. Arizona’s predominately irrigated agriculture relies on water imported through an energy intensive process from water-stressed regions. Most irrigation in Arizona is electricity powered, so failures in energy or water systems can cascade to the food system, creating a food-energy-water (FEW) nexus of vulnerability. We construct a dynamic simulation model of the FEW nexus in Arizona to assess the potential impacts of increasing temperatures and disruptions to energy and water supplies on crop irrigation requirements, on-farm energy use, and yield. We use this model to identify critical points of intersection between energy, water, and agricultural systems and quantify expected increases in resource use and yield loss. Our model is based on threshold temperatures of crops, USDA and US Geological Survey data, Arizona crop budgets, and region-specific literature. We predict that temperature increase above the baseline could decrease yields by up to 12.2% per 1 °C for major Arizona crops and require increased irrigation of about 2.6% per 1 °C. Response to drought varies widely based on crop and phenophase, so we estimate irrigation interruption effects through scenario analysis. We provide an overview of potential adaptation measures

  17. Nitrous oxide emissions from intensive agricultural systems: Variations between crops and seasons, key driving variables, and mean emission factors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dobbie, K. E.; McTaggart, I. P.; Smith, K. A.

    1999-11-01

    Emissions of nitrous oxide from intensively managed agricultural fields were measured over 3 years. Exponential increases in flux occurred with increasing soil water- filled pore space (WFPS) and temperature; increases in soil mineral N content due to fertilizer application also stimulated emissions. Fluxes were low when any of these variables was below a critical value. The largest fluxes occurred when WFPS values were very high (70-90%), indicating that denitrification was the major process responsible. The relationships with the driving variables showed strong similarities to those reported for very different environments: irrigated sugar cane crops, pastures, and forest in the tropics. Annual emissions varied widely (0.3-18.4 kg N2O-N ha-1). These variations were principally due to the degree of coincidence of fertilizer application and major rainfall events. It is concluded therefore that several years' data are required from any agricultural ecosystem in a variable climate to obtain a robust estimate of mean N2O fluxes. The emissions from small-grain cereals (winter wheat and spring barley) were consistently lower (0.2-0.7 kg N2O-N per 100 kg N applied) than from cut grassland (0.3-5.8 kg N2O- N per 100 kg N). Crops such as broccoli and potatoes gave emissions of the same order as those from the grassland. Although these differences between crop types are not apparent in general data comparisons, there may well be distinct regional differences in the relative and absolute emissions from different crops, due to local factors relating to soil type, weather patterns, and agricultural management practices. This will only be determined by more detailed comparative studies.

  18. 9 CFR 85.4 - Interstate movement of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Interstate movement of livestock. 85.4 Section 85.4 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS PSEUDORABIES § 85.4...

  19. 9 CFR 85.4 - Interstate movement of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Interstate movement of livestock. 85.4 Section 85.4 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS PSEUDORABIES § 85.4...

  20. 9 CFR 85.4 - Interstate movement of livestock.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Interstate movement of livestock. 85.4 Section 85.4 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS PSEUDORABIES § 85.4...