Evaluating the impact of farm scale innovation at catchment scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Breda, Phelia; De Clercq, Willem; Vlok, Pieter; Querner, Erik

2014-05-01

Hydrological modelling lends itself to other disciplines very well, normally as a process based system that acts as a catalogue of events taking place. These hydrological models are spatial-temporal in their design and are generally well suited for what-if situations in other disciplines. Scaling should therefore be a function of the purpose of the modelling. Process is always linked with scale or support but the temporal resolution can affect the results if the spatial scale is not suitable. The use of hydrological response units tends to lump area around physical features but disregards farm boundaries. Farm boundaries are often the more crucial uppermost resolution needed to gain more value from hydrological modelling. In the Letaba Catchment of South Africa, we find a generous portion of landuses, different models of ownership, different farming systems ranging from large commercial farms to small subsistence farming. All of these have the same basic right to water but water distribution in the catchment is somewhat of a problem. Since water quantity is also a problem, the water supply systems need to take into account that valuable production areas not be left without water. Clearly hydrological modelling should therefore be sensitive to specific landuse. As a measure of productivity, a system of small farmer production evaluation was designed. This activity presents a dynamic system outside hydrological modelling that is generally not being considered inside hydrological modelling but depends on hydrological modelling. For sustainable development, a number of important concepts needed to be aligned with activities in this region, and the regulatory actions also need to be adhered to. This study aimed at aligning the activities in a region to the vision and objectives of the regulatory authorities. South Africa's system of socio-economic development planning is complex and mostly ineffective. There are many regulatory authorities involved, often with unclear responsibilities and inadequate procedures of implementing objectives. Planning for development in South Africa needs to take various factors into account. Economic and green economic growth is pursued, while social imbalances are addressed and the environment is protected against unreasonable exploitation. The term Sustainable Development is a neutral concept in the vision of many of the regulating authorities; however, the implementation of sustainability is difficult. This study considers an approach which aligns activities in a specified region to the vision and objectives of the applicable regulatory authorities, as an alternative to achieving objectives strictly through enforcing regulations. It was determined whether objectives of development planning were realistic in terms of water availability. It was established that the position of a farm in the landscape is a determining factor of the impact it has on the catchment area's water supply. For this purpose, hydrological modelling (SWAT and SIMGRO) was done for the Letaba catchment of the Limpopo Province, on two scales to also accommodate small-scale farming communities more accurately. Parallel to the modelling, the National Development Plan (NDP), the National Framework for Sustainable Development (NFSD), the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS) and the principles of Water Allocation Reform (WAR) were regarded. For regional categorisation, the relevant municipal Integrated Development Plan (IDP), Spatial Development Framework (SDF), Local Economic Development (LED) plan and the applicable Catchment Management Strategy (CMS) were considered. The developed Integrated Evaluation Model combined all the visions and objectives of the mentioned strategic documents to specifically assess the contribution a small-scale farm makes. The evaluation results provided insight into the alignment of activities to the ideals of a region and can be useful when formulating actions to reach a common vision. Small-scale farms are well-aligned to the objectives of WAR, the CMS and ISRDS. The farms have a limited contribution to the ideals of the NDP and NFSD and results against the IDP, the SDF and the LED differ considerably for each farm. Furthermore, the results of the farms' alignment with regional objectives do not correspond to the hydrologically ideal locations. Therefore, the development of small-scale farming should take hydrological information into consideration. The Integrated Evaluation Model proves to be valuable, understandable and applicable to evaluate the alignment of small-scale farms to the visions of regulatory authorities. It is also foreseen that the Evaluation model be linked to the hydrological model. The work was also kindly supported and executed in the framework of the EU project EAU4Food.

Living at the farm, innovative nursing home care for people with dementia - study protocol of an observational longitudinal study.

PubMed

de Boer, B; Hamers, J P H; Beerens, H C; Zwakhalen, S M G; Tan, F E S; Verbeek, H

2015-11-02

In nursing home care, new care environments directed towards small-scale and homelike environments are developing. The green care farm, which provides 24-h nursing home care for people with dementia, is one such new care environment. Knowledge is needed on the relation between environmental features of green care farms such as nature, domesticity and offering care in small groups and the influence on the daily lives of residents. The aim of this study is to explore (1) the daily lives of residents, (2) the quality of care and (3) the experiences of caregivers on green care farms compared with other nursing home care environments. An observational longitudinal study including a baseline and a six-month follow-up measurement is carried out. Four types of nursing home care environments are included: (1) large scale nursing home ward, (2) small scale living facility on the terrain of a larger nursing home (3) stand-alone small scale living facility and (4) green care farm. Quality of care is examined through structure, process and outcome indicators. The primary outcome measure is the daily life of residents, assessed by ecological momentary assessments. Aspects of daily life include (1) activity (activity performed by the resident, the engagement in this activity and the degree of physical effort); (2) physical environment (the location of the resident and the interaction with the physical environment); (3) social environment (the level and type of social interaction, and with whom this social interaction took place) and (4) psychological well-being (mood and agitation). In addition, social engagement, quality of life, behavioral symptoms and agitation are evaluated through questionnaires. Furthermore, demographics, cognitive impairment, functional dependence and the severity of dementia are assessed. Semi-structured interviews are performed with caregivers regarding their experiences with the different nursing home care environments. This is the first study investigating green care farms providing 24-h nursing home care for people with dementia. The study provides valuable insight into the daily lives of residents, the quality of care, and the experiences of caregivers at green care farms in comparison with other nursing home care environments including small-scale care environments and large scale nursing home wards.

Reindeer habitat use in relation to two small wind farms, during preconstruction, construction, and operation.

PubMed

Skarin, Anna; Alam, Moudud

2017-06-01

Worldwide there is a rush toward wind power development and its associated infrastructure. In Fennoscandia, large-scale wind farms comprising several hundred windmills are currently built in important grazing ranges used for Sámi reindeer husbandry. In this study, reindeer habitat use was assessed using reindeer fecal pellet group counts in relation to two relatively small wind farms, with 8 and 10 turbines, respectively. In 2009, 1,315 15-m 2 plots were established and pellet groups were counted and cleaned from the plots. This was repeated once a year in May, during preconstruction, construction, and operation of the wind farms, covering 6 years (2009-2014) of reindeer habitat use in the area. We modeled the presence/absence of any pellets in a plot at both the local (wind farm site) and regional (reindeer calving to autumn range) scale with a hierarchical logistic regression, where spatial correlation was accounted for via random effects, using vegetation type, and the interaction between distance to wind turbine and time period as predictor variables. Our results revealed an absolute reduction in pellet groups by 66% and 86% around each wind farm, respectively, at local scale and by 61% at regional scale during the operation phase compared to the preconstruction phase. At the regional, scale habitat use declined close to the turbines in the same comparison. However, at the local scale, we observed increased habitat use close to the wind turbines at one of the wind farms during the operation phase. This may be explained by continued use of an important migration route close to the wind farm. The reduced use at the regional scale nevertheless suggests that there may be an overall avoidance of both wind farms during operation, but further studies of reindeer movement and behavior are needed to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this suggested avoidance.

Seropositivity and risk factors for Brucella in dairy cows in urban and peri-urban small-scale farming in Tajikistan.

PubMed

Lindahl, Elisabeth; Sattorov, Nosirjon; Boqvist, Sofia; Sattori, Izzatullo; Magnusson, Ulf

2014-03-01

In this cross-sectional study, we assessed and mapped the seroprevalence of brucellosis in small-scale dairy farming in an urban and peri-urban area of Tajikistan and investigated factors associated with seropositivity. As urban and peri-urban farming is both an opportunity to improve the livelihood for small-scale farmers and a potential public health hazard, studies are warranted to reveal possible peculiarities in the epidemiology of brucellosis in this type of dairy farming. In total, 904 cows of breeding age belonging to 443 herds in 32 villages were serologically tested with indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and positive samples confirmed with competitive ELISA. Two logistic regression models were used to investigate an association between seropositivity and risk factors at herd and individual level. The herd and individual seroprevalences were 4.1 and 2.0 %, respectively. Herds with a history of abortions were found to be associated with seropositivity [odds ratio (OR) = 5.3; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.3-21.3]. Large herds with more than eight cattle were more likely to be seropositive compared to smaller herds with one to two cattle (OR = 13.9; 95 % CI, 1.6-119). The number of calves produced per cow (indicating age) was found to be associated with seropositivity. Younger cows with one to two produced calves were less likely to be seropositive compared to older cows with more than six produced calves (OR = 0.24; 95 % CI, 0.06-1.0). Neither introduction of new cattle to the herd nor communal grazing was associated with seropositivity. This study shows that infection with Brucella (1) is present in small-scale urban and peri-urban dairy farming in Tajikistan and (2) has significant negative effects on reproductive performance in this farming system and (3) that some previously known risk factors for seropositivity in rural farming system were absent here.

Comparison of bulk-tank standard plate count and somatic cell count for Wisconsin dairy farms in three size categories.

PubMed

Ingham, S C; Hu, Y; Ané, C

2011-08-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate possible claims by advocates of small-scale dairy farming that milk from smaller Wisconsin farms is of higher quality than milk from larger Wisconsin farms. Reported bulk tank standard plate count (SPC) and somatic cell count (SCC) test results for Wisconsin dairy farms were obtained for February to December, 2008. Farms were sorted into 3 size categories using available size-tracking criteria: small (≤118 cows; 12,866 farms), large (119-713 cattle; 1,565 farms), and confined animal feeding operations (≥714 cattle; 160 farms). Group means were calculated (group=farm size category) for the farms' minimum, median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC. Statistical analysis showed that group means for median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC were almost always significantly higher for the small farm category than for the large farm and confined animal feeding operations farm categories. With SPC and SCC as quality criteria and the 3 farm size categories of ≤118, 119 to 713, and ≥714 cattle, the claim of Wisconsin smaller farms producing higher quality milk than Wisconsin larger farms cannot be supported. Copyright © 2011 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimal management of on-farm resources in small-scale dairy systems of Central Mexico: model development and evaluation.

PubMed

Castelán-Ortega, Octavio Alonso; Martínez-García, Carlos Galdino; Mould, Fergus L; Dorward, Peter; Rehman, Tahir; Rayas-Amor, Adolfo Armando

2016-06-01

This study evaluates the available on-farm resources of five case studies typified as small-scale dairy systems in central Mexico. A comprehensive mixed-integer linear programming model was developed and applied to two case studies. The optimal plan suggested the following: (1) instruction and utilization of maize silage, (2) alfalfa hay making that added US$140/ha/cut to the total net income, (3) allocation of land to cultivated pastures in a ratio of 27:41(cultivated pastures/maize crop) rather than at the current 14:69, and dairy cattle should graze 12 h/day, (4) to avoid grazing of communal pastures because this activity represented an opportunity cost of family labor that reduced the farm net income, and (5) that the highest farm net income was obtained when liquid milk and yogurt sales were included in the optimal plan. In the context of small-scale dairy systems of central Mexico, the optimal plan would need to be implemented gradually to enable farmers to develop required skills and to change management strategies from reliance on forage and purchased concentrate to pasture-based and conserved forage systems.

Antibiotic Resistance in Animal and Environmental Samples Associated with Small-Scale Poultry Farming in Northwestern Ecuador.

PubMed

Braykov, Nikolay P; Eisenberg, Joseph N S; Grossman, Marissa; Zhang, Lixin; Vasco, Karla; Cevallos, William; Muñoz, Diana; Acevedo, Andrés; Moser, Kara A; Marrs, Carl F; Foxman, Betsy; Trostle, James; Trueba, Gabriel; Levy, Karen

2016-01-01

The effects of animal agriculture on the spread of antibiotic resistance (AR) are cross-cutting and thus require a multidisciplinary perspective. Here we use ecological, epidemiological, and ethnographic methods to examine populations of Escherichia coli circulating in the production poultry farming environment versus the domestic environment in rural Ecuador, where small-scale poultry production employing nontherapeutic antibiotics is increasingly common. We sampled 262 "production birds" (commercially raised broiler chickens and laying hens) and 455 "household birds" (raised for domestic use) and household and coop environmental samples from 17 villages between 2010 and 2013. We analyzed data on zones of inhibition from Kirby-Bauer tests, rather than established clinical breakpoints for AR, to distinguish between populations of organisms. We saw significantly higher levels of AR in bacteria from production versus household birds; resistance to either amoxicillin-clavulanate, cephalothin, cefotaxime, and gentamicin was found in 52.8% of production bird isolates and 16% of household ones. A strain jointly resistant to the 4 drugs was exclusive to a subset of isolates from production birds (7.6%) and coop surfaces (6.5%) and was associated with a particular purchase site. The prevalence of AR in production birds declined with bird age (P < 0.01 for all antibiotics tested except tetracycline, sulfisoxazole, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole). Farming status did not impact AR in domestic environments at the household or village level. Our results suggest that AR associated with small-scale poultry farming is present in the immediate production environment and likely originates from sources outside the study area. These outside sources might be a better place to target control efforts than local management practices. IMPORTANCE In developing countries, small-scale poultry farming employing antibiotics as growth promoters is being advanced as an inexpensive source of protein and income. Here, we present the results of a large ecoepidemiological study examining patterns of antibiotic resistance (AR) in E. coli isolates from small-scale poultry production environments versus domestic environments in rural Ecuador, where such backyard poultry operations have become established over the past decade. Our previous research in the region suggests that introduction of AR bacteria through travel and commerce may be an important source of AR in villages of this region. This report extends the prior analysis by examining small-scale production chicken farming as a potential source of resistant strains. Our results suggest that AR strains associated with poultry production likely originate from sources outside the study area and that these outside sources might be a better place to target control efforts than local management practices.

Intensive grazing and maize silage to enhance the sustainability of small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Mexico.

PubMed

Prospero-Bernal, Fernando; Martínez-García, Carlos Galdino; Olea-Pérez, Rafael; López-González, Felipe; Arriaga-Jordán, Carlos Manuel

2017-10-01

The effects of two innovative feeding strategies-intensive grazing (GR) and maize silage (MS)-on the sustainability of small-scale dairy systems (SSDS) were assessed in the highlands of central Mexico. On a total of 24 farms, four innovations were adopted between 2011 and 2014. Five farms continued their conventional feeding strategy (CC) of cut-and-carry pasture supplemented with commercial concentrate and ground corn grain, as well as straws (maize, oat, and wheat) in the dry season of feed scarcity; six farms implemented MS in the dry season; six farms GR of pastures; and seven farms implemented both GR and MS. Assessment in 2015 showed that farms which implemented both GR and MS had a higher local diversity score (P ≤ 0.001), higher scores for ethics and human development, and a higher score in economic independence (P ≤ 0.05) than farms that implemented only one of the innovations. The overall sustainability score (with range 0-100) was 46 for CC, 47 for MS, 52 for GR, and 55 for GR + MS. The innovations reduced feeding costs and enhanced sustainability, particularly when GR + MS were both implemented.

Assessment of gastrointestinal nematode infection, anthelmintic usage and husbandry practices on two small-scale goat farms in Malaysia.

PubMed

Wong, Flora; Sargison, Neil

2018-03-01

Haemonchosis is a common problem on goat farms in tropical countries such as Malaysia. Prevention of production losses generally depends on the use of anthelmintic drugs, but is threatened by the emergence of anthelmintic resistance. This study investigates anthelmintic efficacy on small-scale Malaysian goat farms and describes putative risk factors. Adult goats had moderate to high pre-treatment faecal trichostrongyle egg counts, despite being housed on slatted floors and fed on cut-and-carry forage, raising questions about the source of nematode infection. Our results show multiple resistance to benzimidazole and macrocyclic lactone anthelmintic drugs and allow us to discuss the genetic origins of resistance with reference to farm husbandry and management. We conclude that improvement in Malaysian goat production efficiency will require the development of sustainable helminth control strategies, underpinned by a better understanding of the origins and population genetics of anthelmintic resistance.

Agricultural Incentives: Implications for Small-Scale and Subsistence Farming in the US Caribbean Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvarez-Berrios, N.; Parés-Ramos, I.; Gould, W. A.

2017-12-01

The effects of climate change threaten the world's most sensitive agroecosystems and our potential to reach agricultural productivity levels needed to feed a projected global population of 9.7 billion people by 2050. The US Caribbean agriculture is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, due to the region's frequent exposure to extreme weather events, its geographic and economic scale, shortage of labor force, and rapid urban expansion. Currently, agriculture contributes less than 1% of the island's GDP, and over 80% of the food consumed in the region is imported. Despite low production levels, there is widespread interest in reinvigorating the agricultural sector's contribution to the economy. Local and federal institutions play a major role strengthening the agricultural sector by providing access to incentives, loans, and education for best management practices. However, many of these efforts conform to agricultural systems of larger scale of production and temperate environments. In this study, we explore agricultural incentives programs and their implication for highly diverse, small-scale, and subsistence operations that characterize agricultural systems in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. We analyze records and maps from the USDA Farm Service Agency, to typify participating farms, and to track changes in land cover, farm size, crop diversity, practices, and production levels resulting from their enrollment in such programs. Preliminary results indicate that many incentives programs are not tailored to agricultural tropical systems and prescribe alternatives that exclude traditional farming methods employed in small-scale and subsistence farms (e.g. crop insurance that benefit monoculture over intercropped systems). Moreover, many of the incentives are contradictory in their recommendations (e.g., crop insurance benefit sun-grown coffee production, while best agricultural practices recommend agroforestry with shade-grown coffee). Understanding the characteristics that underlie the resilience of traditional agriculture is an urgent matter, as they can serve as the basis for the design of agricultural systems that mitigate projected climate changes.

A socio-hydrologic model of coupled water-agriculture dynamics with emphasis on farm size.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brugger, D. R.; Maneta, M. P.

2015-12-01

Agricultural land cover dynamics in the U.S. are dominated by two trends: 1) total agricultural land is decreasing and 2) average farm size is increasing. These trends have important implications for the future of water resources because 1) growing more food on less land is due in large part to increased groundwater withdrawal and 2) larger farms can better afford both more efficient irrigation and more groundwater access. However, these large-scale trends are due to individual farm operators responding to many factors including climate, economics, and policy. It is therefore difficult to incorporate the trends into watershed-scale hydrologic models. Traditional scenario-based approaches are valuable for many applications, but there is typically no feedback between the hydrologic model and the agricultural dynamics and so limited insight is gained into the how agriculture co-evolves with water resources. We present a socio-hydrologic model that couples simplified hydrologic and agricultural economic dynamics, accounting for many factors that depend on farm size such as irrigation efficiency and returns to scale. We introduce an "economic memory" (EM) state variable that is driven by agricultural revenue and affects whether farms are sold when land market values exceed expected returns from agriculture. The model uses a Generalized Mixture Model of Gaussians to approximate the distribution of farm sizes in a study area, effectively lumping farms into "small," "medium," and "large" groups that have independent parameterizations. We apply the model in a semi-arid watershed in the upper Columbia River Basin, calibrating to data on streamflow, total agricultural land cover, and farm size distribution. The model is used to investigate the sensitivity of the coupled system to various hydrologic and economic scenarios such as increasing market value of land, reduced surface water availability, and increased irrigation efficiency in small farms.

Soil quality and soil degradation in agricultural loess soils in Central Europe - impacts of traditional small-scale and modernized large-scale agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Christian

2017-04-01

The study analyzes the impact of different farming systems on soil quality and soil degradation in European loess landscapes. The analyses are based on geo-chemical soil properties, landscape metrics and geomorphological indicators. The German Middle Saxonian Loess Region represents loess landscapes whose ecological functions were shaped by land consolidation measures resulting in large-scale high-input farming systems. The Polish Proszowice Plateau is still characterized by a traditional small-scale peasant agriculture. The research areas were analyzed on different scale levels combining GIS, field, and laboratory methods. A digital terrain classification was used to identify representative catchment basins for detailed pedological studies which were focused on soil properties that responded to soil management within several years, like pH-value, total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), inorganic carbon (IC), soil organic carbon (TOC=TC-IC), hot-water extractable carbon (HWC), hot-water extractable nitrogen (HWN), total phosphorus, plant-available phosphorus (P), plant-available potassium (K) and the potential cation exchange capacity (CEC). The study has shown that significant differences in major soil properties can be observed because of different fertilizer inputs and partly because of different cultivation techniques. Also the traditional system increases soil heterogeneity. Contrary to expectations the study has shown that the small-scale peasant farming system resulted in similar mean soil organic carbon and phosphorus contents like the industrialized high-input farming system. A further study could include investigations of the effects of soil amendments like herbicides and pesticide on soil degradation.

Are large farms more efficient? Tenure security, farm size and farm efficiency: evidence from northeast China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yuepeng; Ma, Xianlei; Shi, Xiaoping

2017-04-01

How to increase production efficiency, guarantee grain security, and increase farmers' income using the limited farmland is a great challenge that China is facing. Although theory predicts that secure property rights and moderate scale management of farmland can increase land productivity, reduce farm-related costs, and raise farmer's income, empirical studies on the size and magnitude of these effects are scarce. A number of studies have examined the impacts of land tenure or farm size on productivity or efficiency, respectively. There are also a few studies linking farm size, land tenure and efficiency together. However, to our best knowledge, there are no studies considering tenure security and farm efficiency together for different farm scales in China. In addition, there is little study analyzing the profit frontier. In this study, we particularly focus on the impacts of land tenure security and farm size on farm profit efficiency, using farm level data collected from 23 villages, 811 households in Liaoning in 2015. 7 different farm scales have been identified to further represent small farms, median farms, moderate-scale farms, and large farms. Technical efficiency is analyzed with stochastic frontier production function. The profit efficiency is regressed on a set of explanatory variables which includes farm size dummies, land tenure security indexes, and household characteristics. We found that: 1) The technical efficiency scores for production efficiency (average score = 0.998) indicate that it is already very close to the production frontier, and thus there is little room to improve production efficiency. However, there is larger space to raise profit efficiency (average score = 0.768) by investing more on farm size expansion, seed, hired labor, pesticide, and irrigation. 2) Farms between 50-80 mu are most efficient from the viewpoint of profit efficiency. The so-called moderate-scale farms (100-150 mu) according to the governmental guideline show no advantage in efficiency. 3) Formal land certificates and farmer's participation in land rental market are found to be important determinants of the profit efficiency across different scale of farms. 4) Fertilizer use has been excessive in Liaoning and could lead to the decline of crop profit.

High Bee and Wasp Diversity in a Heterogeneous Tropical Farming System Compared to Protected Forest

PubMed Central

Schüepp, Christof; Rittiner, Sarah; Entling, Martin H.

2012-01-01

It is a globally important challenge to meet increasing demands for resources and, at the same time, protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Farming is usually regarded as a major threat to biodiversity due to its expansion into natural areas. We compared biodiversity of bees and wasps between heterogeneous small-scale farming areas and protected forest in northern coastal Belize, Central America. Malaise traps operated for three months during the transition from wet to dry season. Farming areas consisted of a mosaic of mixed crop types, open habitat, secondary forest, and agroforestry. Mean species richness per site (alpha diversity), as well as spatial and temporal community variation (beta diversity) of bees and wasps were equal or higher in farming areas compared to protected forest. The higher species richness and community variation in farmland was due to additional species that did not occur in the forest, whereas most species trapped in forest were also found in farming areas. The overall regional species richness (gamma diversity) increased by 70% with the inclusion of farming areas. Our results suggest that small-scale farming systems adjacent to protected forest may not only conserve, but even favour, biodiversity of some taxonomic groups. We can, however, not exclude possible declines of bee and wasp diversity in more intensified farmland or in landscapes completely covered by heterogeneous farming systems. PMID:23300598

Factors associated with farm-level infection of porcine epidemic diarrhea during the early phase of the epidemic in Japan in 2013 and 2014.

PubMed

Toyomaki, Haruya; Sekiguchi, Satoshi; Sasaki, Yosuke; Sueyoshi, Masuo; Makita, Kohei

2018-02-01

The objective of this study was to investigate factors that caused rapid spread during the early phase of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) epidemic in Japan in 2013 and 2014. Anonymized datasets from all pig farms were provided by Kagoshima (709 farms) and Miyazaki Prefectures (506 farms). Semi-parametric survival analysis was conducted using the first 180 days from the first case on December 3, 2013 in Kagoshima Prefecture. To compare the hazard between different farm management types, univariable survival analysis was conducted. As farm sizes varied among different farm types, bivariable survival analysis was conducted for farm size categories and farm density per km 2 for each management type. A case-control study using a postal questionnaire survey was conducted in September 2014, and risk factor analysis was performed using generalized linear models with binomial errors. The hazard was significantly higher in farrow-to-finish farms than fattening farms [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.6, p < 0.01], but was not significantly different between reproduction and fattening farms (HR = 1.3, p = 0.16). In separate bivariable survival analyses for each farm type, large- and middle-scale farms had higher hazard than small-scale farms in fattening (HR = 5.8 and 2.6, respectively, both p < 0.01) and reproduction farms (HR = 4.0 and 3.6, respectively, both p < 0.01). In farrow-to-finish farms, large-scale farms had higher hazard than small-scale farms (HR = 2.8, p < 0.01), and higher farm density per km 2 was also a risk factor (HR = 7.6, p < 0.01). In the case-control study, questionnaires were returned from 78 PED virus-infected and 91 non-infected farms. The overall response rate was 34%. Risk factors of the final model were occurrence of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in the past 5 years [odds ratio (OR) = 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97-4.00, p = 0.054], use of a common compost station (OR = 2.51, 95%CI: 1.08-5.83, p = 0.03), and use of a pig excrement disposal service (OR = 2.64, 95%CI: 1.05-6.63, p = 0.04). High hazard in farrow-to-finish farms suggested transmission from slaughterhouses to susceptible suckling piglets. Hazard associated with large-scale farms and high density might be due to frequent vehicle entrance and transmission by roads. Improvement of farm hygiene management and avoidance of risky practices associated with contact with pig excrement were keys in preventing invasion of PED virus to a farm. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Small-scale pig farmers' behavior, silent release of African swine fever virus and consequences for disease spread.

PubMed

Costard, Solenne; Zagmutt, Francisco J; Porphyre, Thibaud; Pfeiffer, Dirk Udo

2015-11-27

The expanding distribution of African swine fever (ASF) is threatening the pig industry worldwide. Most outbreaks occur in backyard and small-scale herds, where poor farmers often attempt to limit the disease's economic consequences by the emergency sale of their pigs. The risk of African swine fever virus (ASFV) release via this emergency sale was investigated. Simulation modeling was used to study ASFV transmission in backyard and small-scale farms as well as the emergency sale of pigs, and the potential impact of improving farmers and traders' clinical diagnosis ability-its timeliness and/or accuracy-was assessed. The risk of ASFV release was shown to be high, and improving farmers' clinical diagnosis ability does not appear sufficient to effectively reduce this risk. Estimates obtained also showed that the distribution of herd size within the backyard and small-scale sectors influences the relative contribution of these farms to the risk of release of infected pigs. These findings can inform surveillance and control programs.

Extension Strategies for Poverty Alleviation: Lessons from China and India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, Burton E.

2006-01-01

This paper discusses the transition from a national focus on food security during the last half of the 20th century to an emerging strategy on helping small-scale farm households increase farm income to reduce rural poverty. The basic proposition is that if extension is going to help increase farm incomes and rural employment, then it must shift…

Antibiotic Resistance in Animal and Environmental Samples Associated with Small-Scale Poultry Farming in Northwestern Ecuador

PubMed Central

Braykov, Nikolay P.; Eisenberg, Joseph N. S.; Grossman, Marissa; Zhang, Lixin; Vasco, Karla; Cevallos, William; Muñoz, Diana; Acevedo, Andrés; Moser, Kara A.; Marrs, Carl F.; Trostle, James; Trueba, Gabriel

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT The effects of animal agriculture on the spread of antibiotic resistance (AR) are cross-cutting and thus require a multidisciplinary perspective. Here we use ecological, epidemiological, and ethnographic methods to examine populations of Escherichia coli circulating in the production poultry farming environment versus the domestic environment in rural Ecuador, where small-scale poultry production employing nontherapeutic antibiotics is increasingly common. We sampled 262 “production birds” (commercially raised broiler chickens and laying hens) and 455 “household birds” (raised for domestic use) and household and coop environmental samples from 17 villages between 2010 and 2013. We analyzed data on zones of inhibition from Kirby-Bauer tests, rather than established clinical breakpoints for AR, to distinguish between populations of organisms. We saw significantly higher levels of AR in bacteria from production versus household birds; resistance to either amoxicillin-clavulanate, cephalothin, cefotaxime, and gentamicin was found in 52.8% of production bird isolates and 16% of household ones. A strain jointly resistant to the 4 drugs was exclusive to a subset of isolates from production birds (7.6%) and coop surfaces (6.5%) and was associated with a particular purchase site. The prevalence of AR in production birds declined with bird age (P < 0.01 for all antibiotics tested except tetracycline, sulfisoxazole, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole). Farming status did not impact AR in domestic environments at the household or village level. Our results suggest that AR associated with small-scale poultry farming is present in the immediate production environment and likely originates from sources outside the study area. These outside sources might be a better place to target control efforts than local management practices. IMPORTANCE In developing countries, small-scale poultry farming employing antibiotics as growth promoters is being advanced as an inexpensive source of protein and income. Here, we present the results of a large ecoepidemiological study examining patterns of antibiotic resistance (AR) in E. coli isolates from small-scale poultry production environments versus domestic environments in rural Ecuador, where such backyard poultry operations have become established over the past decade. Our previous research in the region suggests that introduction of AR bacteria through travel and commerce may be an important source of AR in villages of this region. This report extends the prior analysis by examining small-scale production chicken farming as a potential source of resistant strains. Our results suggest that AR strains associated with poultry production likely originate from sources outside the study area and that these outside sources might be a better place to target control efforts than local management practices. PMID:27303705

Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths and anthelmintic resistance on small-scale farms in Gauteng Province, South Africa.

PubMed

Tsotetsi, Ana Mbokeleng; Njiro, Stephen; Katsande, Tendai Charles; Moyo, Gugulethu; Baloyi, Faculty; Mpofu, Jaison

2013-03-01

The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and distribution of gastrointestinal helminths, to detect the presence of anthelmintic resistance in livestock from small-scale farms and to determine the level of helminthosis awareness among small-scale farmers in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Blood and faecal samples were collected from cattle (n = 314), sheep (n = 256) and goats (n = 311). Faecal egg counts and cultures were done, helminth genera identified and packed cell volume was assessed to detect anaemia. A faecal egg count reduction test was used to determine anthelmintic resistance against albendazole (7.5 mg/kg), levamisole (5 mg/kg) and ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg) on five small ruminant farms. A high prevalence of both nematodes and trematodes was observed; however, only 1 % of cattle had high nematode egg counts compared to goats (30 %) and sheep (32 %). Only 5 % of the animals were anaemic. Haemonchus and Calicophoron were the most dominant helminth genera in the studied ruminants. Anthelmintic resistance was detected against the three tested drugs on all the screened farms, except against albendazole and levamisole in sheep from Hammanskraal and Nigel, respectively. About 88 % of interviewed farmers were aware of veterinary helminthosis, 67 % treated against helminths and 83 % provided their livestock with nutritional supplements. This study showed that a high prevalence of helminthosis and anthelmintic resistance does occur in the study area, thus relevant strategic interventions are recommended.

Influence of grazing and land use on stream-channel characteristics among small dairy farms in the Eastern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brand, Genevieve; Vondracek, Bruce C.; Jordan, Nicholas R.

2015-01-01

Rotational grazing (RG) is a livestock management practice that rotates grazing cattle on a scale of hours to days among small pastures termed paddocks. It may beneficially affect stream channels, relative to other livestock management practices. Such effects and other beneficial effects on hydrology are important to RG's potential to provide a highly multifunctional mode of livestock farming. Previous comparisons of effects of RG and confinement dairy (CD) on adjoining streams have been restricted in scale and scope. We examined 11 stream-channel characteristics on a representative sample of 37 small dairy farms that used either RG or CD production methods. Our objectives were: (1) to compare channel characteristics on RG and CD farms, as these production methods are implemented in practice, in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, USA; and (2) to examine land use on these farms that may affect stream-channel characteristics. To help interpret channel characteristic findings, we examined on-farm land use in riparian areas 50 m in width along both sides of stream reaches and whole-farm land use. In all states, stream-channel characteristics on RG and CD farms did not differ. Whole-farm land use differed significantly between farm types; CD farms allocated more land to annual row crops, whereas RG farms allocated more land to pasture and grassland. However, land cover in 50 m riparian areas was not different between farm types within states; in particular, many RG and CD farms had continuously grazed pastures in riparian areas, typically occupied by juvenile and non-lactating cows, which may have contributed sediment and nutrients to streams. This similarity in riparian management practices may explain the observed similarity of farm types with respect to stream-channel characteristics. To realize the potential benefits of RG on streams, best management practices that affect stream-channel characteristics, such as protection of riparian areas, may improve aggregate effects of RG on stream quality and also enhance other environment, economic and social benefits of RG.

Opportunities of energy supply of farm holdings on the basis of small-scale renewable energy sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Efendiev, A. M.; Nikolaev, Yu. E.; Evstaf'ev, D. P.

2016-02-01

One of the major national economic problems of Russia is raising of agricultural production, which will provide strategic security and sustainable supply of the population with provisions. Creation of subsidiary small holdings, farm holdings, and peasant farm holdings will require addressing issues of energy supply. At considerable distance of small farms from centralized energy systems (by fuel, electricity and thermal energy) it is proposed to create a system of local energy networks on the basis of low-powered power plants using renewable energy sources (RES). There is economic unreasonableness of use of imported components of small power plants. Creation of new combined small power plants on renewable energy sources produced by domestic manufacturers is recommended. Schemes of arrangements of small power plants based on renewable energy sources are proposed, variants and characteristics of a basic source are provided—biogas plants developed by the authors. Calculations revealed that heat and power supply of self-contained farms distant from small power plants based on renewable energy sources is 2.5-2.6 times cheaper than from centralized networks. Production of biogas through anaerobic fermentation of organic waste of cattle complexes is considered as the basis. The analysis of biowaste output in various cattle farms is carried out, and the volume of biogas is determined to meet the requirements of these farms in electrical and thermal energy. The objective of the present article is to study the possibility of creating small combined power plants in Russia based on renewable sources of energy for independent consumers.

Estimation of the Use of Antibiotics in the Small Ruminant Industry in the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012

PubMed Central

Santman-Berends, Inge; Luttikholt, Saskia; den Brom, René Van; Schaik, Gerdien Van; Gonggrijp, Maaike; Hage, Han; Vellema, Piet

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the quantity of antibiotics and classes of antibiotics used in the small ruminant industry in the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012. Twelve large veterinary practices, located throughout the Netherlands were selected for this study. All small ruminant farms associated with these practices that had complete records on the quantity of antibiotics prescribed were included. The veterinary practices provided data on all antibiotics prescribed, and the estimated animal used daily dose of antibiotics per year (AUDD/Y) was calculated for each farm. The median AUDD/Y in small ruminant farms was zero in both years (mean 0.60 in 2011, and 0.62 in 2012). The largest quantity of antibiotic use was observed in the professional goat industry (herds of ≥32 goats) with a median AUDD/Y of 1.22 in 2011 and 0.73 in 2012. In the professional sheep industry (flocks of ≥32 sheep), the median AUDD/Y was 0 in 2011 and 0.10 in 2012. In the small scale industry (flocks or herds of <32 sheep or goats), the median AUDD/Y never exceeded 0. The most frequently prescribed antibiotics in the small scale industry and professional sheep farms belonged to the penicillin class. In professional goat farms, antibiotics of the aminoglycoside class were most frequently prescribed. This study provides the first assessment on the quantity of antibiotic use in the small ruminant industry. Given a comparable attitude towards antibiotic use, these results might be valid for small ruminant populations in other north-western European countries as well. The antibiotic use in the small ruminant industry appeared to be low, and is expected to play a minor role in the development of antibiotic resistance. Nevertheless, several major zoonotic bacterial pathogens are associated with the small ruminant industry, and it remains important that antibiotics are used in a prudent way. PMID:25115998

Strategies for implementing Climate Smart Agriculture and creating marketable Greenhouse emission reduction credits, for small scale rice farmers in Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahuja, R.; Kritee, K.; Rudek, J.; Van Sanh, N.; Thu Ha, T.

2014-12-01

Industrial agriculture systems, mostly in developed and some emerging economies, are far different from the small holder farms that dot the landscapes in Asia and Africa. At Environmental Defense Fund, along with our partners from non-governmental, corporate, academic and government sectors and farmers, we have worked actively in India and Vietnam for the last four years to better understand how small scale farmers working on rice paddy (and other upland crops) cultivation can best deal with climate change. Some of the questions we have tried to answer are: What types of implementable best practices, both old and new, on small farm systems lend themselves to improved yields, farm incomes, climate resilience and mitigation? Can these practices be replicated everywhere or is the change more landscape and people driven? What are the institutional, cultural, financial and risk-perception related barriers that prevent scaling up of these practices? How do we innovate and overcome these barriers? The research community needs to work more closely together and leverage multiple scientific, economic and policy disciplines to fully answer these questions. In the case of small farm systems, we find that it helps to follow certain steps if the climate-smart (or low carbon) farming programs are to succeed and the greenhouse credits generated are to be marketed: Demographic data collection and plot demarcation Farmer networks and diaries Rigorous baseline determination via surveys Alternative practice determination via consultation with local universities/experts Measurements on representative plots for 3-4 years (including GHG emissions, yields, inputs, economic and environmental savings) to help calibrate biogeochemical models and/or calculate regional emission factors. Propagation of alternative practices across the landscape via local NGOs/governments Recording of parameters necessary to extrapolate representative plot GHG emission reductions to all farmers in a given landscape under several existing and new carbon offset methodologies. In this presentation, we will discuss our initial encouraging results on the basis of which our wider team now seeks to identify and recommend policies that the local governments to be able to scale up climate smart agriculture to larger jurisdictional levels.

Cold chain food distribution from the Driftless Area : keys to attaining self-reliance in the circle city.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-05-01

In recent years, small- to mid-scale farms have increasingly emphasized the importance of branding and establishing : the appropriate identity to enter the value-added market. Farms in the Driftless Area (mostly Southwest Wisconsin) are : slowly deve...

"An Equal Interest in the Soil": Creek Small-Scale Farming and the Work of Nationhood, 1866-1889

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, David A.

2009-01-01

After the war in 1866, slaves became the owners of the lands they once farmed for their masters. The land they farmed became their own because of the nature of Creek citizenship and land tenure. The 1866 treaty of peace between the United States federal government and the Creek Nation (also known as the Muskogee Nation) declared that freed slaves…

Greenhouse gas balance of mountain dairy farms as affected by grassland carbon sequestration.

PubMed

Salvador, Sara; Corazzin, Mirco; Romanzin, Alberto; Bovolenta, Stefano

2017-07-01

Recent studies on milk production have often focused on environmental impacts analysed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. In grassland-based livestock systems, soil carbon sequestration might be a potential sink to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) balance. Nevertheless, there is no commonly shared methodology. In this work, the GHG emissions of small-scale mountain dairy farms were assessed using the LCA approach. Two functional units, kg of Fat and Protein Corrected Milk (FPCM) and Utilizable Agricultural Land (UAL), and two different emissions allocations methods, no allocation and physical allocation, which accounts for the co-product beef, were considered. Two groups of small-scale dairy farms were identified based on the Livestock Units (LU) reared: <30 LU (LLU) and >30 LU (HLU). Before considering soil carbon sequestration in LCA, performing no allocation methods, LLU farms tended to have higher GHG emission than HLU farms per kg of FPCM (1.94 vs. 1.59 kg CO 2 -eq/kg FPCM, P ≤ 0.10), whereas the situation was reversed upon considering the m 2 of UAL as a functional unit (0.29 vs. 0.89 kg CO 2 -eq/m 2 , P ≤ 0.05). Conversely, considering physical allocation, the difference between the two groups became less noticeable. When the contribution from soil carbon sequestration was included in the LCA and no allocation method was performed, LLU farms registered higher values of GHG emission per kg of FPCM than HLU farms (1.38 vs. 1.10 kg CO 2 -eq/kg FPCM, P ≤ 0.05), and the situation was likewise reversed in this case upon considering the m 2 of UAL as a functional unit (0.22 vs. 0.73 kg CO 2 -eq/m 2 , P ≤ 0.05). To highlight how the presence of grasslands is crucial for the carbon footprint of small-scale farms, this study also applied a simulation for increasing the forage self-sufficiency of farms to 100%. In this case, an average reduction of GHG emission per kg of FPCM of farms was estimated both with no allocation and with physical allocation, reaching 27.0% and 28.8%, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Review of problems in the small-scale farm production of ethanol

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

White, H.M.

1983-07-01

This report reviews the current status of small, farmer-operated ethanol production facilities. The characteristics and operating problems associated with present plants are reviewed with respect to technical, economic, and institutional issues. Information was obtained from recent publications and numerous telephone calls to state and federal officials and the producers themselves. It is concluded that, in most parts of the country, small-scale alcohol production has been reduced to relatively few farm plants, due primarily to several unfavorable economic factors. While both large and small facilities have been squeezed by rising feedstock costs and lower alcohol selling prices, the farmer-producer is burdenedmore » by additional constraints because of the small scale of his operations. It is not usually profitable for him to recover all the valuable by-products from the feedstock, such as gluten, corn oil, and carbon dioxide from corn conversion. He may not be able to use or market the wet alcohol and stillage he produces. Other difficulties often include high fuel costs, lack of financial and technical assistance, and excessive labor requirements.« less

The Technical Efficiency of Specialised Milk Farms: A Regional View

PubMed Central

Špička, Jindřich; Smutka, Luboš

2014-01-01

The aim of the article is to evaluate production efficiency and its determinants of specialised dairy farming among the EU regions. In the most of European regions, there is a relatively high significance of small specialised farms including dairy farms. The DEAVRS method (data envelopment analysis with variable returns to scale) reveals efficient and inefficient regions including the scale efficiency. In the next step, the two-sample t-test determines differences of economic and structural indicators between efficient and inefficient regions. The research reveals that substitution of labour by capital/contract work explains the variability of the farm net value added per AWU (annual work unit) income indicator by more than 30%. The significant economic determinants of production efficiency in specialised dairy farming are farm size, herd size, crop output per hectare, productivity of energy, and capital (at α = 0.01). Specialised dairy farms in efficient regions have significantly higher farm net value added per AWU than inefficient regions. Agricultural enterprises in inefficient regions have a more extensive structure and produce more noncommodity output (public goods). Specialised dairy farms in efficient regions have a slightly higher milk yield, specific livestock costs of feed, bedding, and veterinary services per livestock unit. PMID:25050408

Optimal feeding systems for small-scale dairy herds in the North West Province, South Africa.

PubMed

Manzana, N Patience; McCrindle, Cheryl M E; Sebei, P Julius; Prozesky, Leon

2014-07-09

Land redistribution was legislated in 1994; it was designed to resolve historical imbalances inland ownership in South Africa. Between 2002 and 2006, a longitudinal observational studywas conducted with 15 purposively selected small-scale dairy farmers in a land redistributionproject in Central North West Province. Four farmers left the project over the period. For thepurposes of this study, a small-scale dairy farm was defined as a farm that produces less than500 L of milk a day, irrespective of the number of cows or size of the farm. The study wasconducted in three phases. In the first phase, situational analysis using participatory ruralappraisal (PRA) and observation was used to outline the extent of the constraints and designappropriate interventions. Feeds that were used were tested and evaluated. In the secondphase, three different feeding systems were designed from the data obtained from PRA. Thesewere: (1) A semi-intensive farm-based ration using available crops, pastures and crop residueswith minimal rations purchased. (2) An intensive, zero-grazing dairy system using a totalmixed ration. (3) A traditional, extensive or dual-purpose system, where the calf drank fromthe cow until weaning and milking was done only once a day. In the third phase, adoptionwas monitored. By July 2006, all remaining farmers had changed to commercially formulatedrations or licks and the body condition score of the cows had improved. It was concluded thatveterinary extension based on PRA and a holistic systems approach was a good option forsuch complex problems. Mentoring by commercial dairy farmers, veterinary and extensionservices appeared to be viable. Further research should be done to optimise the traditionalmodel of dairy farming, as this was relatively profitable, had a lower risk and was less labourintensive.

The Use of Rainfall Forecasts as a Decision Guide for Small-Scale Farming in Limpopo Province, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moeletsi, M. E.; Mellaart, E. A. R.; Mpandeli, N. S.; Hamandawana, H.

2013-01-01

Purpose: New innovative ways of communicating agrometeorological information are needed to help farmers, especially subsistence/small-scale farmers, to cope with the high climate variability experienced in most parts of southern Africa. Design/methodology/approach: The article introduces an early warning system for farmers. It utilizes short…

On-farm characteristics and biosecurity protocols for small-scale swine producers in eastern Australia.

PubMed

Schembri, N; Hernandez-Jover, M; Toribio, J-A L M L; Holyoake, P K

2015-01-01

Pigs are considered high risk for the introduction and spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Australia. Facilities where animals from different origins are commingled, such as saleyards, pose a high risk for disease spread. Sound on-farm management practices and biosecurity protocols are the first line of defence against a potential on-farm disease outbreak. This study evaluated the practices of 104 producers (vendors who sold pigs and purchasers of live pigs for grow-out) who traded pigs at 6 peri-urban and rural saleyards in eastern Australia. Specifically, management and on-farm biosecurity practices were assessed using an in-depth questionnaire. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to investigate (1) producer associations: producer type, State, motivation to keep pigs, farm type, gender, years having owned pigs, and the acquisition of formal livestock qualifications; and (2) pig associations: herd size, housing, management (husbandry and feeding) practices and biosecurity (including pig movement) practices. Backyard operations (<20 sows) were undertaken by 60.6% of participants, followed by small-scale pig operations (28.8%; 21-100 sows). Few producers (16.3%) reported residing in close proximity (<5 km) to commercial operations; however, less rural producers had neighbouring hobby pig operations within 5 km of their property (P=0.033). Motivation for keeping pigs was significantly associated with a number of biosecurity practices. Producers who kept pigs for primary income were more likely to provide footwear precautions (P=0.007) and ask visitors about prior pig contacts (P=0.004). Approximately 40% of backyard and small-scale producers reported not having any quarantine practices in place for incoming pigs, compared to only 9.1% among larger producers. The main reasons cited for not adopting on-farm biosecurity practices in this study included having no need on their property (43.1%) and a lack of information and support (by the industry and/or authorities; 18.5%). Up to three-quarters of all producers maintained an open breeding herd, regularly introducing new pigs to the main herd. Saleyards are an important source of income for backyard and small-scale producers as well as an important risk factor for the introduction and dissemination of endemic and emerging animal diseases. Differing management and biosecurity practices as well as the motivations of these producers keeping pigs in small numbers and trading pigs at saleyards need to be taken into account in the development of successful biosecurity extension programmes for this sector of the Australian pork industry. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green Care Farms as Innovative Nursing Homes, Promoting Activities and Social Interaction for People With Dementia.

PubMed

de Boer, Bram; Hamers, Jan P H; Zwakhalen, Sandra M G; Tan, Frans E S; Beerens, Hanneke C; Verbeek, Hilde

2017-01-01

Innovative care environments are developed for people with dementia to encourage person-centered care. This study aims to investigate whether residents of green care farms that provide 24-hour nursing care participate more in (physical) activities and social interaction compared with residents of other nursing homes. Longitudinal observation study. Nursing homes in the Netherlands (green care farms, traditional nursing homes, and regular small-scale living facilities). A total of 115 nursing home residents at baseline, 100 at follow-up. Ecological momentary assessments (n = 16,860) were conducted using the Maastricht Electronic Daily Life Observation Tool. Residents living at green care farms were compared with residents living in traditional nursing homes and regular small-scale living facilities. The following aspects were collected for this study: the activity performed by the participant or occurring in his or her vicinity, the engagement in the activity, the level of physical activity during the activity, the physical environment (location where the activity occurred), and the level of social interaction during the activity. In total, 9660 baseline observations and 7200 follow-up observations were conducted. Analyses showed that residents of green care farms significantly more often participated in domestic activities (P = .004, SE = 1.6) and outdoor/nature-related activities (P = .003, SE = 0.9), and significantly less often engaged in passive/purposeless activities (P < .001, SE = 1.7) compared with residents of traditional nursing homes. Furthermore, residents of green care farms had significantly more active engagement (P = .014, SE = 0.9), more social interaction (P = .006, SE = 1.1), and came outside significantly more (P = .010, SE = 1.1) than residents of traditional nursing homes. Residents of green care farms were significantly more physically active (P = .013, SE = 0.8) than were residents of regular small-scale living facilities. No other significant differences were found. Green care farms can be a valuable alternative to traditional nursing homes. They provide an attractive, homelike environment and activities that positively influence engagement and social interaction. Research is needed to study how successful elements of green care farms can be implemented in existing nursing homes. Copyright © 2016 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A small-scale land-sparing approach to conserving biological diversity in tropical agricultural landscapes.

PubMed

Chandler, Richard B; King, David I; Raudales, Raul; Trubey, Richard; Chandler, Carlin; Chávez, Víctor Julio Arce

2013-08-01

Two contrasting strategies have been proposed for conserving biological diversity while meeting the increasing demand for agricultural products: land sparing and land sharing production systems. Land sparing involves increasing yield to reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture, whereas land-sharing agricultural practices incorporate elements of native ecosystems into the production system itself. Although the conservation value of these systems has been extensively debated, empirical studies are lacking. We compared bird communities in shade coffee, a widely practiced land-sharing system in which shade trees are maintained within the coffee plantation, with bird communities in a novel, small-scale, land-sparing coffee-production system (integrated open canopy or IOC coffee) in which farmers obtain higher yields under little or no shade while conserving an area of forest equal to the area under cultivation. Species richness and diversity of forest-dependent birds were higher in the IOC coffee farms than in the shade coffee farms, and community composition was more similar between IOC coffee and primary forest than between shade coffee and primary forest. Our study represents the first empirical comparison of well-defined land sparing and land sharing production systems. Because IOC coffee farms can be established by allowing forest to regenerate on degraded land, widespread adoption of this system could lead to substantial increases in forest cover and carbon sequestration without compromising agricultural yield or threatening the livelihoods of traditional small farmers. However, we studied small farms (<5 ha); thus, our results may not generalize to large-scale land-sharing systems. Furthermore, rather than concluding that land sparing is generally superior to land sharing, we suggest that the optimal approach depends on the crop, local climate, and existing land-use patterns. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Quality of care and quality of life of people with dementia living at green care farms: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

de Boer, Bram; Hamers, Jan P H; Zwakhalen, Sandra M G; Tan, Frans E S; Verbeek, Hilde

2017-07-19

Many countries are introducing smaller, more home-like care facilities that represent a radically new approach to nursing home care for people with dementia. The green care farm is a new type of nursing home developed in the Netherlands. The goal of this study was to compare quality of care, quality of life and related outcomes in green care farms, regular small-scale living facilities and traditional nursing homes for people with dementia. A cross-sectional design was used. Three types of nursing homes were included: (1) green care farms; (2) regular small-scale living facilities; (3) traditional nursing homes. All participating nursing homes were non-profit, collectively funded nursing homes in the south of the Netherlands. One hundred and fifteen residents with a formal diagnosis of dementia were included in the study. Data on quality of care was gathered and consisted of outcome indicators (e.g. falling incidents, pressure ulcers), structure indicators (e.g. hours per resident per day), and process indicators (e.g. presence, accessibility and content of protocols on care delivery). Furthermore, questionnaires on cognition, dependence in activities of daily living, quality of life, social engagement, neuropsychiatric symptoms, agitation, and depression were used. Data showed that quality of care was comparable across settings. No large differences were found on clinical outcome measures, hours per resident per day, or process indicators. Higher quality of life scores were reported for residents of green care farms in comparison with residents of traditional nursing homes. They scored significantly higher on the Quality of Life - Alzheimer's disease Scale (p < 0.05, ES = 0.8) indicating a better quality of life. In addition, residents of green care farms scored higher on three quality of life domains of the Qualidem: positive affect, social relations and having something to do (p < 0.05, ES > 0.7). No differences with regular small-scale living facilities were found. Green care farms seem to be a valuable alternative to existing nursing homes. This is important as people with dementia are a heterogeneous group with varying needs. In order to provide tailored care there also is a need for a variety of living environments.

Application of a small-scale equipment system for biomass harvesting

Treesearch

Aihua Yu; Tom Gallagher; Dana Mitchell; Brandon O' Neal

2016-01-01

The small-scale harvesting equipment system has been and continues to grow in use in forestry operations in some regions in the world. This harvest system can include a range of equipment types, such as feller-bunchers or chainsaws, skidders or farm tractors, and chippers. These machines are generally smaller, lower cost and less productive than larger, more advanced...

Determining the economic liability of implementing irrigation on small-scale farming systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Small, limited resource farmers are often the primary providers of fresh foods for rural communities. However, they face often insurmountable economic challenges to staying in business. The small and limited resource farmer has declined at an alarming rate. The reasons for the decline or disappearan...

Evaluation of the sustainability of contrasted pig farming systems: breeding programmes.

PubMed

Rydhmer, L; Gourdine, J L; de Greef, K; Bonneau, M

2014-12-01

The sustainability of breeding activities in 15 pig farming systems in five European countries was evaluated. One conventional and two differentiated systems per country were studied. The Conventional systems were the standard systems in their countries. The differentiated systems were of three categories: Adapted Conventional with focus on animal welfare, meat quality or environment (five systems); Traditional with local breeds in small-scale production (three systems) and Organic (two systems). Data were collected with a questionnaire from nine breeding organisations providing animals and semen to the studied farming systems and from, on average, five farmers per farming system. The sustainability assessment of breeding activities was performed in four dimensions. The first dimension described whether the market for the product was well defined, and whether the breeding goal reflected the farming system and the farmers' demands. The second dimension described recording and selection procedures, together with genetic change in traits that were important in the system. The third dimension described genetic variation, both within and between pig breeds. The fourth dimension described the management of the breeding organisation, including communication, transparency, and technical and human resources. The results show substantial differences in the sustainability of breeding activities, both between farming systems within the same category and between different categories of farming systems. The breeding activities are assessed to be more sustainable for conventional systems than for differentiated systems in three of the four dimensions. In most differentiated farming systems, breeding goals are not related to the system, as these systems use the same genetic material as conventional systems. The breeds used in Traditional farming systems are important for genetic biodiversity, but the small scale of these systems renders them vulnerable. It is hoped that, by reflecting on different aspects of sustainability, this study will encourage sustainable developments in pig production.

A questionnaire survey on diseases and problems affecting sheep and goats in communal farming regions of the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.

PubMed

Bath, Gareth F; Penrith, Mary-Louise; Leask, Rhoda

2016-08-31

A questionnaire of 15 questions was completed by four categories of respondents with the aim of establishing the experience and opinions of these groups on the constraints including animal health problems for communal, small-scale sheep and goat farming in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The questionnaires were completed independently and categories were representative of the areas investigated. Analysis of responses was done by means, ranges, votes and clusters of responses. Comparisons between the responses of the four categories were made to identify similarities or contrasts. The results revealed that of non-veterinary concerns, stock theft was the major problem for these farms. Nutrition was a further major constraint. A third area of significant concern was the provision or availability of facilities like fences, water troughs, dips and sheds. Lack of marketing and business skills were also seen as important deficiencies to be rectified so as to promote profitable farming. Of the most important veterinary problems identified, the provision, availability, cost and care of drugs and vaccines were seen as major stumbling blocks to effective disease control, as well as lack of access to veterinary services. The most important diseases that constrain small-ruminant livestock farming in the farming systems investigated were sheep scab and other ectoparasites, heart water, enterotoxaemia, internal parasites and bluetongue. A lack of knowledge in key areas of small-stock farming was revealed and should be rectified by an effective training and support programme to improve the contribution of small-ruminant farming to livelihoods in these communities.

Economic and financial viability of small-scale dairy systems in central Mexico: economic scenario 2010-2018.

PubMed

Posadas-Domínguez, R R; Callejas-Juárez, N; Arriaga-Jordán, C M; Martínez-Castañeda, F E

2016-12-01

A simulation Monte Carlo model was used to assess the economic and financial viability of 130 small-scale dairy farms in central Mexico, through a Representative Small-Scale Dairy Farm. Net yields were calculated for a 9-year planning horizon by means of simulated values for the distribution of input and product prices taking 2010 as base year and considering four scenarios which were compared against the scenario of actual production. The other scenarios were (1) total hiring in of needed labour; (2) external purchase of 100 % of inputs and (3) withdrawal of subsidies to production. A stochastic modelling approach was followed to determine the scenario with the highest economic and financial viability. Results show a viable economic and financial situation for the real production scenario, as well as the scenarios for total hiring of labour and of withdrawal of subsidies, but the scenario when 100 % of feed inputs for the herd are bought-in was not viable.

Participatory approach: from problem identification to setting strategies for increased productivity and sustainability in small scale irrigated agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habtu, Solomon; Ludi, Eva; Jamin, Jean Yves; Oates, Naomi; Fissahaye Yohannes, Degol

2014-05-01

Practicing various innovations pertinent to irrigated farming at local field scale is instrumental to increase productivity and yield for small holder farmers in Africa. However the translation of innovations from local scale to the scale of a jointly operated irrigation scheme is far from trivial. It requires insight on the drivers for adoption of local innovations within the wider farmer communities. Participatory methods are expected to improve not only the acceptance of locally developed innovations within the wider farmer communities, but to allow also an estimation to which extend changes will occur within the entire irrigation scheme. On such a base, more realistic scenarios of future water productivity within an irrigation scheme, which is operated by small holder farmers, can be estimated. Initial participatory problem and innovation appraisal was conducted in Gumselassa small scale irrigation scheme, Ethiopia, from Feb 27 to March 3, 2012 as part of the EAU4FOOD project funded by EC. The objective was to identify and appraise problems which hinder sustainable water management to enhance production and productivity and to identify future research strategies. Workshops were conducted both at local (Community of Practices) and regional (Learning Practice Alliance) level. At local levels, intensive collaboration with farmers using participatory methods produced problem trees and a "Photo Safari" documented a range of problems that negatively impact on productive irrigated farming. A range of participatory methods were also used to identify local innovations. At regional level a Learning Platform was established that includes a wide range of stakeholders (technical experts from various government ministries, policy makers, farmers, extension agents, researchers). This stakeholder group did a range of exercise as well to identify major problems related to irrigated smallholder farming and already identified innovations. Both groups identified similar problems to productive smallholder irrigation: soil nutrient depletion, salinization, disease and pest resulting from inefficient irrigation practices, infrastructure problems leading to a reduction of the size of the command area and decrease in reservoir volume. The major causes have been poor irrigation infrastructure, poor on-farm soil and water management, prevalence of various crop pests and diseases, lack of inputs and reservoir siltation. On-farm participatory research focusing on soil, crop and water management issues, including technical, institutional and managerial aspects, to identify best performing innovations while taking care of the environment was recommended. Currently, a range of interlinked activities are implemented a multiple scales, combining participatory and scientific approaches towards innovation development and up-scaling of promising technologies and institutional and managerial approaches from local to regional scales. ____________________________ Key words: Irrigation scheme, productivity, innovation, participatory method, Gumselassa, Ethiopia

The productivity of small animal species in small-scale mixed farming systems in subtropical Bolivia.

PubMed

Paterson, R T; Joaquín, N; Chamón, K; Palomino, E

2001-02-01

The productivity of the scavenging, small animal species (chickens, ducks, pigs, hair sheep and guinea-pigs) commonly found on small-scale farms at the forest margin in subtropical Bolivia was monitored over a full year. Chickens and guinea-pigs were kept mainly for home consumption, while ducks and pigs were kept mainly for sale. Sheep served both purposes, depending upon the family requirements. In the absence of veterinary treatment, the productivity varied greatly between farms. Pigs gave the greatest gross return, but received the largest amount of supplementary feed. Under the existing system, chickens, ducks and sheep all gave similar gross returns per breeding female, although chickens produced good returns and made a large contribution to the family diet where the reproductive efficiency was high and the chick mortality was low. Mortality resulting from disease was a major problem in poultry, while internal parasites appeared to be important limiting factors in pigs and sheep. Guinea-pigs showed no major problems apart from theft, and were an important dietary component for immigrant families from the highlands of the country. Small animal species have largely been ignored by agricultural research and development activities in Bolivia and elsewhere. They currently make significant contributions to the livelihoods of poor people in terms of both income and food security, and this could be greatly increased by simple improvements in animal husbandry.

Fine-scale mapping of vector habitats using very high resolution satellite imagery: a liver fluke case-study.

PubMed

De Roeck, Els; Van Coillie, Frieke; De Wulf, Robert; Soenen, Karen; Charlier, Johannes; Vercruysse, Jozef; Hantson, Wouter; Ducheyne, Els; Hendrickx, Guy

2014-12-01

The visualization of vector occurrence in space and time is an important aspect of studying vector-borne diseases. Detailed maps of possible vector habitats provide valuable information for the prediction of infection risk zones but are currently lacking for most parts of the world. Nonetheless, monitoring vector habitats from the finest scales up to farm level is of key importance to refine currently existing broad-scale infection risk models. Using Fasciola hepatica, a parasite liver fluke, as a case in point, this study illustrates the potential of very high resolution (VHR) optical satellite imagery to efficiently and semi-automatically detect detailed vector habitats. A WorldView2 satellite image capable of <5m resolution was acquired in the spring of 2013 for the area around Bruges, Belgium, a region where dairy farms suffer from liver fluke infections transmitted by freshwater snails. The vector thrives in small water bodies (SWBs), such as ponds, ditches and other humid areas consisting of open water, aquatic vegetation and/or inundated grass. These water bodies can be as small as a few m2 and are most often not present on existing land cover maps because of their small size. We present a classification procedure based on object-based image analysis (OBIA) that proved valuable to detect SWBs at a fine scale in an operational and semi-automated way. The classification results were compared to field and other reference data such as existing broad-scale maps and expert knowledge. Overall, the SWB detection accuracy reached up to 87%. The resulting fine-scale SWB map can be used as input for spatial distribution modelling of the liver fluke snail vector to enable development of improved infection risk mapping and management advice adapted to specific, local farm situations.

Dissemination of parasites by animal movements in small ruminant farms.

PubMed

Vasileiou, N G C; Fthenakis, G C; Papadopoulos, E

2015-09-30

The present paper discusses the spread of parasites by animal movements in small ruminant farms; it focuses in dissemination of parasitic forms that would lead to subsequent infection of sheep or goats. Systems of small ruminant production involve a component of animal movement (e.g., grazing) as part of routine husbandry, which favors spread of parasitic forms; that refers mainly to parasites of the digestive system (nematodes, trematodes, cestodes, protozoa), as well as helminthes of the respiratory system, although dissemination of the various parasitic forms in the environment would not always result to subsequent infection; external parasites may also be disseminated during movements, e.g., to inhabit wooden poles used in fencing. New livestock into a farm constitutes a biosecurity hazard and the most common means to introducing new parasitic pathogens into a farm; in contemporary small ruminant health management, this contributes in dissemination of anthelmintic resistant parasitic strains; other parasitic disease agents (e.g., mange mites, ticks) may also be spread into a farm that way. Often, especially in small scale farming, visits of rams or bucks take place from one farm to another during the mating season; in such cases, ectoparasites (e.g., mange mites) can be disseminated through direct contact of animals, as well other pathogens (e.g., Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum) via the semen. During transportation of sheep/goats, parasitic forms can also spread, as well as during movement of sheep or goats to slaughterhouses, in which case dogs present in these places would contribute to their dissemination. Spread of life forms of various parasites can also occur from animal species present in the environment of sheep or goats; these include animals present within a farm, stray dogs roaming around a farm (e.g., for spread of Multiceps multiceps, Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia hydatigena, N. caninum), cats commanding the environment of a farm (e.g., for spread of T. gondii), cats or rats responsible for dissemination of fleas, which may also be spread by humans as well, and, finally, wildlife animals. Finally, life forms of parasites of small ruminants may be also spread indirectly, by material associated with sheep or goats (e.g., materials of humans visiting farms, animal feeds) that had been contaminated by faecal material of animals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Turbulent flow and scalar transport in a large wind farm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Porte-Agel, F.; Markfort, C. D.; Zhang, W.

2012-12-01

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy world-wide, and it is expected that many more large-scale wind farms will be built and cover a significant portion of land and ocean surfaces. By extracting kinetic energy from the atmospheric boundary layer and converting it to electricity, wind farms may affect the transport of momentum, heat, moisture and trace gases (e.g. CO_2) between the atmosphere and the land surface locally and globally. Understanding wind farm-atmosphere interaction is complicated by the effects of turbine array configuration, wind farm size, land-surface characteristics, and atmospheric thermal stability. A wind farm of finite length may be modeled as an added roughness or as a canopy in large-scale weather and climate models. However, it is not clear which analogy is physically more appropriate. Also, surface scalar flux is affected by wind farms and needs to be properly parameterized in meso-scale and/or high-resolution numerical models. Experiments involving model wind farms, with perfectly aligned and staggered configurations, having the same turbine distribution density, were conducted in a thermally-controlled boundary-layer wind tunnel. A neutrally stratified turbulent boundary layer was developed with a surface heat source. Measurements of the turbulent flow and fluxes over and through the wind farm were made using a custom x-wire/cold-wire anemometer; and surface scalar flux was measured with an array of surface-mounted heat flux sensors far within the quasi-developed region of the wind-farm. The turbulence statistics exhibit similar properties to those of canopy-type flows, but retain some characteristics of surface-layer flows in a limited region above the wind farms as well. The flow equilibrates faster and the overall momentum absorption is higher for the staggered compared to the aligned farm, which is consistent with canopy scaling and leads to a larger effective roughness. Although the overall surface heat flux change produced by the wind farms is found to be small, with a net reduction of 4% for the staggered wind farm and nearly zero change for the aligned wind farm, the highly heterogeneous spatial distribution of the surface heat flux, dependent on wind farm layout, is significant. This comprehensive first wind-tunnel dataset on turbulent flow and scalar transport in wind farms will be further used to develop and validate new parameterizations of surface fluxes in numerical models.

How do large-scale agricultural investments affect land use and the environment on the western slopes of Mount Kenya? Empirical evidence based on small-scale farmers' perceptions and remote sensing.

PubMed

Zaehringer, Julie G; Wambugu, Grace; Kiteme, Boniface; Eckert, Sandra

2018-05-01

Africa has been heavily targeted by large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) throughout the last decade, with scarcely known impacts on local social-ecological systems. In Kenya, a large number of LAIs were made in the region northwest of Mount Kenya. These large-scale farms produce vegetables and flowers mainly for European markets. However, land use in the region remains dominated by small-scale crop and livestock farms with less than 1 ha of land each, who produce both for their own subsistence and for the local markets. We interviewed 100 small-scale farmers living near five different LAIs to elicit their perceptions of the impacts that these LAIs have on their land use and the overall environment. Furthermore, we analyzed remotely sensed land cover and land use data to assess land use change in the vicinity of the five LAIs. While land use change did not follow a clear trend, a number of small-scale farmers did adapt their crop management to environmental changes such as a reduced river water flows and increased pests, which they attributed to the presence of LAIs. Despite the high number of open conflicts between small-scale land users and LAIs around the issue of river water abstraction, the main environmental impact, felt by almost half of the interviewed land users, was air pollution with agrochemicals sprayed on the LAIs' land. Even though only a low percentage of local land users and their household members were directly involved with LAIs, a large majority of respondents favored the presence of LAIs nearby, as they are believed to contribute to the region's overall economic development. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental potentials of policy instruments to mitigate nutrient emissions in Chinese livestock production.

PubMed

Zheng, Chaohui; Liu, Yi; Bluemling, Bettina; Mol, Arthur P J; Chen, Jining

2015-01-01

To minimize negative environmental impact of livestock production, policy-makers face a challenge to design and implement more effective policy instruments for livestock farmers at different scales. This research builds an assessment framework on the basis of an agent-based model, named ANEM, to explore nutrient mitigation potentials of five policy instruments, using pig production in Zhongjiang county, southwest China, as the empirical filling. The effects of different policy scenarios are simulated and compared using four indicators and differentiating between small, medium and large scale pig farms. Technology standards, biogas subsidies and information provisioning prove to be the most effective policies, while pollution fees and manure markets fail to environmentally improve manure management in pig livestock farming. Medium-scale farms are the more relevant scale category for a more environmentally sound development of Chinese livestock production. A number of policy recommendations are formulated as conclusion, as well as some limitations and prospects of the simulations are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Spectrum of Wind Power Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandi, Mahesh

2016-11-01

Wind is a variable energy source whose fluctuations threaten electrical grid stability and complicate dynamical load balancing. The power generated by a wind turbine fluctuates due to the variable wind speed that blows past the turbine. Indeed, the spectrum of wind power fluctuations is widely believed to reflect the Kolmogorov spectrum; both vary with frequency f as f - 5 / 3. This variability decreases when aggregate power fluctuations from geographically distributed wind farms are averaged at the grid via a mechanism known as geographic smoothing. Neither the f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum nor the mechanism of geographic smoothing are understood. In this work, we explain the wind power fluctuation spectrum from the turbine through grid scales. The f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum results from the largest length scales of atmospheric turbulence of order 200 km influencing the small scales where individual turbines operate. This long-range influence spatially couples geographically distributed wind farms and synchronizes farm outputs over a range of frequencies and decreases with increasing inter-farm distance. Consequently, aggregate grid-scale power fluctuations remain correlated, and are smoothed until they reach a limiting f - 7 / 3 spectrum. This work was funded by the Collective Interactions Unit, OIST Graduate University, Japan.

Use of Bayesian networks in predicting contamination of drinking water with E. coli in rural Vietnam.

PubMed

Hall, David C; Le, Quynh B

2017-06-01

More than 70 million Vietnamese rely on small-scale farming for some form of household income. Water on many of those farms is contaminated with waste, including animal manure, partly due to non-sustainable waste management. This increases the risk of water-related zoonotic disease transmission. The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of various demographic and management factors on the likelihood of finding Escherichia coli in drinking water sourced from wells and rainwater on farms in Vietnam. A Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) was designed to describe association between various deterministic and probabilistic variables gathered from 600 small-scale integrated (SSI) farmers in Vietnam. The variables relate to E. coli content of their drinking water sourced on-farm from wells and rainwater, and stored in on-farm large vessels, including concrete water tanks. The BBN was developed using the Netica software tool; the model was calibrated and goodness of fit examined using concordance of predictability. Sensitivity analysis of the model revealed that choice variables, including engagement in mitigation of water contamination and livestock management activities, were particularly likely to influence endpoint values, reflecting the highly variable and impactful nature of preferences, attitudes and beliefs relating to mitigation strategies. Quantitative variables including numbers of livestock (particularly chickens) and income also had a high impact. The highest concordance (62%) was achieved with the BBN reported in this paper. This BBN model of SSI farming in Vietnam is helpful in understanding the complexity of small-scale agriculture and how various factors work in concert to influence contamination of on-farm drinking water as indicated by the presence of E. coli. The model will also be useful for identifying and estimating the impact of policy options such as improved delivery of clean water management training for rural areas, particularly where such analysis is combined with other analytical and policy tools. With appropriate knowledge translation, the model results will be particularly useful in helping SSI farmers understand their options for engaging in public health mitigation strategies addressing clean water that do not significantly disrupt their agriculture-based livelihoods. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Assessment of biosecurity level in small-scale broiler farms in the Western highlands of Cameroon (Central Africa).

PubMed

Kouam, Marc K; Jacouba, Manjeli; Nsangou, Inouss N; Teguia, Alexis

2018-04-23

The recent outbreak of avian influenza in the poultry sector of Cameroon has raised a concern about the level of implementation of biosecurity measures (BM) on poultry farms. Therefore, a study using a questionnaire on 102 randomly selected poultry farms was undertaken. Some measures with high adoption levels (> 90%) included "protection of airing openings of poultry barns by a wire mesh," "no external animal allowed to enter the farm," "respect of all-in all-out principle," "functional footbath," "rodent control," and "feedstuff protection from access to rodents." The least implemented measures (less than 20%) were "wearing of dedicated clothing (clean coveralls and boots) by workers," "disinfection of visitors," and "presence of storage room for dead animals." Only for "isolation" component of biosecurity, compliance with biosecurity measures was good, with more than 50% of farms having an adoption rate greater than 75%. The mean biosecurity score for the assessed farms was 19.29 ± 1.89 for a maximum score of 38 points. The score was significantly and positively correlated (p < 0.05) with the number of chicken and the geographic location of farms. The other results showed that the mean number of broiler per cycle was 550.82 ± 76 for a stocking density of 27.20 ± 6.64 birds per m 2 . In conclusion, broiler production in the Western highland is dominated by small-scale units with low level of biosecurity practices positively and significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by some production characteristics. To improve biosecurity practices in the area, efforts must focus on measures concerning "sanitation" and "traffic control" components of biosecurity.

Life cycle environmental and economic tradeoffs of using fast pyrolysis products for power generation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bio-oils produced from small-scale pyrolysis technology may have economic and environmental benefits for both densifying agricultural biomass and supplying local bio-energy markets (e.g., Renewable Portfolio Standards). This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a farm-scale bio-oil produ...

Pollen-mediated gene flow and seed exchange in small-scale Zambian maize farming, implications for biosafety assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bøhn, Thomas; Aheto, Denis W.; Mwangala, Felix S.; Fischer, Klara; Bones, Inger Louise; Simoloka, Christopher; Mbeule, Ireen; Schmidt, Gunther; Breckling, Broder

2016-10-01

Gene flow in agricultural crops is important for risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops, particularly in countries with a large informal agricultural sector of subsistence cultivation. We present a pollen flow model for maize (Zea mays), a major staple crop in Africa. We use spatial properties of fields (size, position) in three small-scale maize farming communities in Zambia and estimate rates of cross-fertilisation between fields sown with different maize varieties (e.g. conventional and transgene). As an additional factor contributing to gene flow, we present data on seed saving and sharing among farmers that live in the same communities. Our results show that: i) maize fields were small and located in immediate vicinity of neighboring fields; ii) a majority of farmers saved and shared seed; iii) modeled rates of pollen-mediated gene flow showed extensive mixing of germplasm between fields and farms and iv) as a result, segregation of GM and non-GM varieties is not likely to be an option in these systems. We conclude that the overall genetic composition of maize, in this and similar agricultural contexts, will be strongly influenced both by self-organised ecological factors (pollen flow), and by socially mediated intervention (seed recycling and sharing).

Pollen-mediated gene flow and seed exchange in small-scale Zambian maize farming, implications for biosafety assessment

PubMed Central

Bøhn, Thomas; Aheto, Denis W.; Mwangala, Felix S.; Fischer, Klara; Bones, Inger Louise; Simoloka, Christopher; Mbeule, Ireen; Schmidt, Gunther; Breckling, Broder

2016-01-01

Gene flow in agricultural crops is important for risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops, particularly in countries with a large informal agricultural sector of subsistence cultivation. We present a pollen flow model for maize (Zea mays), a major staple crop in Africa. We use spatial properties of fields (size, position) in three small-scale maize farming communities in Zambia and estimate rates of cross-fertilisation between fields sown with different maize varieties (e.g. conventional and transgene). As an additional factor contributing to gene flow, we present data on seed saving and sharing among farmers that live in the same communities. Our results show that: i) maize fields were small and located in immediate vicinity of neighboring fields; ii) a majority of farmers saved and shared seed; iii) modeled rates of pollen-mediated gene flow showed extensive mixing of germplasm between fields and farms and iv) as a result, segregation of GM and non-GM varieties is not likely to be an option in these systems. We conclude that the overall genetic composition of maize, in this and similar agricultural contexts, will be strongly influenced both by self-organised ecological factors (pollen flow), and by socially mediated intervention (seed recycling and sharing). PMID:27694819

Pollen-mediated gene flow and seed exchange in small-scale Zambian maize farming, implications for biosafety assessment.

PubMed

Bøhn, Thomas; Aheto, Denis W; Mwangala, Felix S; Fischer, Klara; Bones, Inger Louise; Simoloka, Christopher; Mbeule, Ireen; Schmidt, Gunther; Breckling, Broder

2016-10-03

Gene flow in agricultural crops is important for risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops, particularly in countries with a large informal agricultural sector of subsistence cultivation. We present a pollen flow model for maize (Zea mays), a major staple crop in Africa. We use spatial properties of fields (size, position) in three small-scale maize farming communities in Zambia and estimate rates of cross-fertilisation between fields sown with different maize varieties (e.g. conventional and transgene). As an additional factor contributing to gene flow, we present data on seed saving and sharing among farmers that live in the same communities. Our results show that: i) maize fields were small and located in immediate vicinity of neighboring fields; ii) a majority of farmers saved and shared seed; iii) modeled rates of pollen-mediated gene flow showed extensive mixing of germplasm between fields and farms and iv) as a result, segregation of GM and non-GM varieties is not likely to be an option in these systems. We conclude that the overall genetic composition of maize, in this and similar agricultural contexts, will be strongly influenced both by self-organised ecological factors (pollen flow), and by socially mediated intervention (seed recycling and sharing).

Insecticide-Treated Rodent Baits for Sand Fly Control

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-28

Agricul- tural Research Institute study area (KARI; lat 0.47, long 36.00) was comprised of land used for small-scale farming and for forage by goats ...study area. The sites at the KARI and Bogoria study areas had large numbers of a variety of non-reservoir ani- mals, including other small mammals, goats

Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST9 in pigs and related personnel in Taiwan.

PubMed

Fang, Hsin-Wei; Chiang, Po-Hsing; Huang, Yhu-Chering

2014-01-01

A livestock-associated (LA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain sequence type 398 (ST398) is found related to animals and humans in Europe and North America. To evaluate the nasal carriage of MRSA among pigs and related workers in Taiwan, we conducted this study. From June 25 to October 1 2012, a total of 641 and 100 nasal swabs were obtained from pigs and related workers, respectively, from 22 pig farms nationwide and 2 pig auction markets in Taiwan. All MRSA isolates were molecularly characterized. Overall, the nasal carriage rate of MRSA was 14.4% for pigs and 13% for humans. The carriage rate for pigs younger than 3 months was significantly higher than those older than 3 months (25.4% vs. 5.8%, p<.001). Percentage of MRSA-positive pig farms was 59.1% (13/22). The carriage rate for pigs in large-scale herds (≥ 10000 pigs) was significantly higher than that in small-scale (34.3% vs. 7.0%, p<.001) and that in auction markets (3.8%). The carriage rate was 19.2% (10/52) for pig farm workers, and the rate in large-scale farms was significantly higher than that in small-scale (36.8% vs. 9.1%, p = .014). Except for 3 isolates from humans, the other 99 isolates belonged to sequence type (ST) 9. 83 of 89 isolates from pigs shared a common pulsotype, which was also shared by 6 isolates from humans. More than 10% of pigs and related workers in Taiwan carried LA-MRSA ST9 in nares and cross-species transmission of LA-MRSA was documented by molecular methods.

Designing Agricultural Development Projects for the Small Scale Farmers: Some Lessons from the World Bank Assistance Small Holder Oil Palm Development Scheme in Nigeria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orewa, S. I.

The study was carried out to investigate farmers reasons for intercropping their oil palm farms with food and other cash crops rather than the sole oil palm planting arrangement specified for participation in the World Bank Assistance Smallholder Oil Palm development project financed during the 1975-83 period. The study was conducted at the Ekuku-Agbor Tree Crop Unit Zone (to the East) and Mosogar Tree Crop Unit Zone (to the Southwest) of the old Bendel State of Nigeria. A total of 35 oil palm farmers were randomly selected from each zone for the study. The study tried to identify the size of oil palm cultivated, types of food and cash crops planted and the proportion consumed and sold and the sufficiency of labour for various farm activities. The study showed that the average oil palm farm size at Ekuku-Agbor zone was smaller (about 1.57 ha) and more fragmented while for Mosogar zone it was 2.28 ha. However a greater percentage (over 65%) of the farms at both locations were within 0.01-2.00 ha farm size range which could be said to be relatively small. The study revealed that among other factors the farmers desire to ensure adequate family food needs which equates to food security and some cash to meet regular family financial needs necessitated their intercropping of the oil palm farms. Others include the need to maximize the returns from the use of labour which they considered a major limiting factor in farm maintenance and to take advantage of the relative high unit price of cassava and its products that prevailed then by cultivating on any available land space including the palm plantations and thereby increasing their farm income.

Let's put this in perspective: using dynamic simulation modelling to assess the impacts of farm-scale land management change on catchment-scale water quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivers, Mark; Clarendon, Simon; Coles, Neil

2013-04-01

Natural Resource Management and Agri-industry development groups in Australia have invested considerable resources into the investigation of the economic, social and, particularly, environmental impacts of varying farming activities in a "catchment context". This research has resulted in the development of a much-improved understanding of the likely impacts of changed management practices at the farm-scale as well as the development of a number of conceptual models which place farming within this broader catchment context. The project discussed in this paper transformed a conceptual model of dairy farm phosphorus (P) management and transport processes into a more temporally and spatially dynamic model. This was then loaded with catchment-specific data and used as a "policy support tool" to allow the Australian dairy industry to examine the potential farm and catchment-scale impacts of varying dairy farm management practices within some key dairy farming regions. Models were developed, validated and calibrated using "STELLA©" dynamic modelling software for three catchments in which dairy is perceived as a significant land use. The models describe P movement and cycling within and through dairy farms in great detail and also estimate P transport through major source, sink and flow sectors of the catchments. A series of scenarios were executed for all three catchments which examined three main "groups" of tests: changes to farm P input rates; implementation of perceived environmental "Best Management Practices" (BMPs), and; changes to land use mosaics. Modifications to actual P input rates into dairy farms (not surprisingly) had a major effect on nutrient transport within and from the farms with a significant rise in nutrient loss rates at all scales with increasing fertiliser use. More surprisingly, however, even extensive environmental BMP implementation did not have marked effects on off-farm nutrient loss rates. On and off-farm riparian management implemented over entire catchments, for example, only reduced P losses by approximately 20%. Most importantly, changes to land use mosaics within the catchments provided great insight into the relative roles within the catchment P system of the various land uses. While dairying uses large amounts of P, the effects that dairy farm management can have at the catchment scale when these farms represent only a small proportion of the landscape are limited. The most important conclusions from the research are that: • While State and regional environmental management and regulatory agencies continue to set optimistic goals for water quality protection, this research shows that these targets are not achievable within current landscape paradigms even after broadscale BMP implementation, and that either these targets must be re-considered or that significant land use change (rather than simply improved management within current systems) must occur to meet the targets. • Catchment-scale effects of P losses at the farm scale are a complex function of P-use efficiency, landscape position and landscape footprint. Simply targetting those landuses perceived to have high nutrient loss rates does not adequately address the problem. • Catchment P management must be considered in a more inclusive and holistic way, and these assessments should be used to inform future planning policies and development plans if environmental goals as well as community expectations about the productive use of agricultural land are to be met.

Experimental study of the impact of large-scale wind farms on land-atmosphere exchanges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, wei; Markfort, Corey; Porté-Agel, Fernando

2013-04-01

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy world-wide, and it is expected that many more large-scale wind farms will be built and cover a significant portion of land and ocean surfaces. By extracting kinetic energy from the atmospheric boundary layer and converting it to electricity, wind farms may affect the transport of momentum, heat, moisture and trace gases (e.g. CO2) between the atmosphere and the land surface locally and globally. Understanding wind farm-atmosphere interactions and subsequent environmental impacts are complicated by the effects of turbine array configuration, wind farm size, land-surface characteristics and atmospheric thermal stability. In particular, surface scalar flux is influenced by wind farms and needs to be appropriately parameterized in meso-scale and/or high-resolution numerical models. Wind-tunnel experiments of model wind farms with perfectly aligned and staggered configurations, having the same turbine distribution density, were conducted in a neutral turbulent boundary layer with a surface heat source. Turbulent flow and fluxes over and through the wind farm were measured using a custom x-wire/cold-wire anemometer; and surface scalar flux was measured with an array of surface-mounted heat flux sensors within the quasi-developed flow regime. Although the overall surface heat flux change produced by the wind farms was found to be small, with a net reduction of 4% for the staggered wind farm and nearly zero for the aligned wind farm, the highly heterogeneous spatial distribution of the surface heat flux, dependent on wind farm layout, is significant. The difference between the minimum and maximum surface heat fluxes could be up to 12% and 7% in aligned and staggered wind farms, respectively. This finding is important for planning intensive agriculture practices and optimizing agricultural land use with regard to wind energy project development. The well-controlled wind-tunnel experiments presented here also provide a first comprehensive dataset on turbulent flow and scalar transport in wind farms, which can be further used to develop and validate new parameterizations for surface scalar fluxes in numerical models.

A Feasibility Study of a Field-specific Weather Service for Small-scale Farms in a Topographically Complex Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, S. O.; Shim, K. M.; Shin, Y. S.; Yun, J. I.

2015-12-01

Adequate downscaling of synoptic forecasts is a prerequisite for improved agrometeorological service to rural areas in South Korea where complex terrain and small farms are common. Geospatial schemes based on topoclimatology were used to scale down the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) temperature forecasts to the local scale (~30 m) across a rural catchment. Local temperatures were estimated at 14 validation sites at 0600 and 1500 LST in 2013/2014 using these schemes and were compared with observations. A substantial reduction in the estimation error was found for both 0600 and 1500 temperatures compared with uncorrected KMA products. Improvement was most remarkable at low lying locations for the 0600 temperature and at the locations on west- and south-facing slopes for the 1500 temperature. Using the downscaled real-time temperature data, a pilot service has started to provide field-specific weather information tailored to meet the requirements of small-scale farms. For example, the service system makes a daily outlook on the phenology of crop species grown in a given field using the field-specific temperature data. When the temperature forecast is given for tomorrow morning, a frost risk index is calculated according to a known phenology-frost injury relationship. If the calculated index is higher than a pre-defined threshold, a warning is issued and delivered to the grower's cellular phone with relevant countermeasures to help protect crops against frost damage. The system was implemented for a topographically complex catchment of 350km2with diverse agricultural activities, and more than 400 volunteer farmers are participating in this pilot service to access user-specific weather information.

Measurement of unsteady loading and power output variability in a micro wind farm model in a wind tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bossuyt, Juliaan; Howland, Michael F.; Meneveau, Charles; Meyers, Johan

2017-01-01

Unsteady loading and spatiotemporal characteristics of power output are measured in a wind tunnel experiment of a microscale wind farm model with 100 porous disk models. The model wind farm is placed in a scaled turbulent boundary layer, and six different layouts, varied from aligned to staggered, are considered. The measurements are done by making use of a specially designed small-scale porous disk model, instrumented with strain gages. The frequency response of the measurements goes up to the natural frequency of the model, which corresponds to a reduced frequency of 0.6 when normalized by the diameter and the mean hub height velocity. The equivalent range of timescales, scaled to field-scale values, is 15 s and longer. The accuracy and limitations of the acquisition technique are documented and verified with hot-wire measurements. The spatiotemporal measurement capabilities of the experimental setup are used to study the cross-correlation in the power output of various porous disk models of wind turbines. A significant correlation is confirmed between streamwise aligned models, while staggered models show an anti-correlation.

Status and Prospects of Small Farmers in the South.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Ray; Thompson, Allen

The large scale displacement of small farmers in the South is an important concern to all persons interested in the problems of low-income people. Despite a decline in the numerical significance of farming, a large part of the South remains rural, and agriculture continues to significantly influence the rural economy and rural labor markets. The…

Analysis of factors associated with hesitation to restart farming after depopulation of animals due to 2010 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Japan.

PubMed

Kadowaki, Hazumu; Kayano, Taishi; Tobinaga, Takaharu; Tsutsumi, Atsuro; Watari, Michiko; Makita, Kohei

2016-09-01

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, in 2010. This epidemic was controlled with culling and vaccination, and resulted in the death of nearly 290,000 animals. This paper describes the factors associated with hesitation to restart farming after the epidemic. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the mental health of farmers one year after the end of the FMD epidemic in affected areas, and univariate and multivariable analyses were performed. Of 773 farms which had answered the question about restart farming, 55.4% (428/773) had resumed or were planning to resume operation. The farms hesitated restarting were characterized by small scale (P=0.06) and having multiple sources of income (P<0.01). Personal attributes associated with hesitation to restart were advanced age of the owner (P<0.01), with someone with bad physical conditions (P=0.04) and small family size (P<0.01). Factors related to disease control during the epidemic that were associated with hesitation to restart were vaccination of animals (P<0.01), not assisting with culling on other farms (P<0.01), and higher satisfaction with information provided by the government (P=0.02). We found that farmers hesitated to resume farming because they had a limited labor force, had an alternative business or were mentally distressed during disease control.

A Comparative Assessment of the Risks of Introduction and Spread of Foot-and-Mouth Disease among Different Pig Sectors in Australia

PubMed Central

Hernández-Jover, Marta; Schembri, Nicole; Holyoake, Patricia K.; Toribio, Jenny-Ann L. M. L.; Martin, Peter Anthony Julian

2016-01-01

Small-scale pig producers are believed to pose higher biosecurity risks for the introduction and spread of exotic diseases than commercial pig producers. However, the magnitude of these risks is poorly understood. This study is a comparative assessment of the risk of introduction and spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) through different sectors of the pig industry: (1) large-scale pig producers; (2) small-scale producers (<100 sows) selling at saleyards and abattoirs; and (3) small-scale producers selling through informal means. An exposure and consequence assessments were conducted using the World Organization for Animal Health methodology for risk analysis, assuming FMD virus was introduced into Australia through illegal importation of infected meat. A quantitative assessment, using scenario trees and Monte Carlo stochastic simulation, was used to calculate the probabilities of exposure and spread. Input data for these assessments were obtained from a series of data gathering exercises among pig producers, industry statistics, and literature. Findings of this study suggest there is an Extremely low probability of exposure (8.69 × 10−6 to 3.81 × 10−5) for the three sectors of the pig industry, with exposure through direct swill feeding being 10–100 times more likely to occur than through contact with infected feral pigs. Spread of FMD from the index farm is most likely to occur through movement of contaminated fomites, pigs, and ruminants. The virus is more likely to spread from small-scale piggeries selling at saleyards and abattoirs than from other piggeries. The most influential factors on the spread of FMD from the index farm is the ability of the farmer to detect FMD, the probability of FMD spread through contaminated fomites and the presence of ruminants on the farm. Although small-scale producers selling informally move animals less frequently and do not use external staff, movement of pigs to non-commercial pathways could jeopardize animal traceability in the event of a disease outbreak. This study suggests that producers’ awareness on and engagement with legislative and industry requirements in relation to biosecurity and emergency animal disease management needs to be improved. Results from this study could be used by decision-makers to prioritize resource allocation for improving animal biosecurity in the pig industry. PMID:27713881

Sustainable Agriculture as a Recruitment Tool for Geoscience Majors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enright, K. P.; Gilbert, L. A.; McGillis, A.

2014-12-01

Small-scale agriculture has exploded with popularity in recent years, as teenagers and college students gain interest in local food sources. Outdoor experiences, including gardening and farming, are often among the motivations for students to take their first geoscience courses in college. The methods and theories of small agriculture translate well into geologic research questions, especially in the unique setting of college campus farms and gardens. We propose an activity or assignment to engage student-farmers in thinking about geosciences, and connect them with geoscience departments as a gateway to the major and career field. Furthermore, the activity will encourage a new generation of passionate young farmers to integrate the principles of earth science into their design and implementation of more sustainable food systems. The activity includes mapping, soil sampling, and interviewing professionals in agriculture and geology, and results in the students writing a series of recommendations for their campus or other farm. The activity includes assessment tools for instructors and can be used to give credit for a summer farming internship or as part of a regular course. We believe reaching out to students interested in farming could be an important recruitment tool for geosciences and helps build interdisciplinary and community partnerships.

Safety and Health Hazard Observations in Hmong Farming Operations

PubMed Central

Neitzel, R. L.; Krenz, J.; de Castro, A. B.

2014-01-01

Agricultural workers have a high risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. However, there are very few standardized tools available to assess safety and health in agricultural operations. Additionally, there are a number of groups of agricultural workers, including Hmong refugees and immigrants, for which virtually no information on safety and health conditions is available. This study developed an observation-based methodology for systematically evaluating occupational health and safety hazards in agriculture, and pilot-tested this on several small-scale Hmong farming operations. Each observation assessed of range of safety and health hazards (e.g., musculoskeletal hazards, dust and pollen, noise, and mechanical hazards), as well as on factors such as type of work area, presence of personal protective equipment, and weather conditions. Thirty-six observations were collected on nine farms. The most common hazards observed were bending at the back and lifting <50 pounds. Use of sharp tools without adequate guarding mechanisms, awkward postures, repetitive hand motions, and lifting >50 pounds were also common. The farming activities observed involved almost no power equipment, and no pesticide or chemical handling was observed. The use of personal protective equipment was uncommon. The results of this assessment agreed well with a parallel study of perceived safety and health hazards among Hmong agricultural workers. This study suggests that small-scale Hmong farming operations involve a variety of hazards, and that occupational health interventions may be warranted in this community. The study also demonstrates the utility of standardized assessment tools and mixed-method approaches to hazard evaluation. PMID:24911689

Dispersive stresses in wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segalini, Antonio; Braunbehrens, Robert; Hyvarinen, Ann

2017-11-01

One of the most famous models of wind farms is provided by the assumption that the farm can be approximated as a horizontally-homogeneous forest canopy with vertically-varying force intensity. By means of this approximation, the flow-motion equations become drastically simpler, as many of the three-dimensional effects are gone. However, the application of the horizontal average operator to the RANS equations leads to the appearance of new transport terms (called dispersive stresses) originating from the horizontal (small-scale) variation of the mean velocity field. Since these terms are related to the individual turbine signature, they are expected to vanish outside the roughness sublayer, providing a definition for the latter. In the present work, an assessment of the dispersive stresses is performed by means of a wake-model approach and through the linearised code ORFEUS developed at KTH. Both approaches are very fast and enable the characterization of a large number of wind-farm layouts. The dispersive stress tensor and its effect on the turbulence closure models are investigated, providing guidelines for those simulations where it is impossible to resolve the farm at a turbine scale due to grid requirements (as, for instance, mesoscale simulations).

Potential for using indigenous pigs in subsistence-oriented and market-oriented small-scale farming systems of Southern Africa.

PubMed

Madzimure, James; Chimonyo, Michael; Zander, Kerstin K; Dzama, Kennedy

2013-01-01

Indigenous pigs in South Africa are a source of food and economic autonomy for people in rural small-scale farming systems. The objective of the study was to assess the potential of indigenous pigs for improving communal farmer's livelihoods and to inform policy-makers about the conservation of indigenous pigs. Data were collected from 186 small-scale subsistence-oriented households and 102 small-scale market-oriented households using interviews and direct observations. Ninety-three percent of subsistence-oriented and 82 % of market-oriented households kept indigenous pigs such as Windsnyer, Kolbroek and non-descript crosses with exotic pigs mainly for selling, consumption and investment. Farmers in both production systems named diseases and parasites, followed by feed shortages, inbreeding and abortions as major constraints for pig production. Diseases and parasites were more likely to be a constraint to pig production in subsistence-oriented systems, for households where the head was not staying at home and for older farmers. Market-oriented farmers ranked productive traits such as fast growth rate, good meat quality and decent litter size as most important selection criteria for pig breeding stock, while subsistence-oriented farmers ranked good meat quality first, followed by decent growth rate and by low feed costs. We conclude that there is high potential for using indigenous pigs in subsistence-oriented production systems and for crossbreeding of indigenous pigs with imported breeds in market-oriented systems.

Farms, Families, and Markets: New Evidence on Completeness of Markets in Agricultural Settings

PubMed Central

LaFave, Daniel; Thomas, Duncan

2016-01-01

The farm household model has played a central role in improving the understanding of small-scale agricultural households and non-farm enterprises. Under the assumptions that all current and future markets exist and that farmers treat all prices as given, the model simplifies households’ simultaneous production and consumption decisions into a recursive form in which production can be treated as independent of preferences of household members. These assumptions, which are the foundation of a large literature in labor and development, have been tested and not rejected in several important studies including Benjamin (1992). Using multiple waves of longitudinal survey data from Central Java, Indonesia, this paper tests a key prediction of the recursive model: demand for farm labor is unrelated to the demographic composition of the farm household. The prediction is unambiguously rejected. The rejection cannot be explained by contamination due to unobserved heterogeneity that is fixed at the farm level, local area shocks or farm-specific shocks that affect changes in household composition and farm labor demand. We conclude that the recursive form of the farm household model is not consistent with the data. Developing empirically tractable models of farm households when markets are incomplete remains an important challenge. PMID:27688430

Poultry Farm Vulnerability and Risk of Avian Influenza Re-Emergence in Thailand

PubMed Central

Souris, Marc; Selenic, Dubravka; Khaklang, Supaluk; Ninphanomchai, Suwannapa; Minet, Guy; Gonzalez, Jean-Paul; Kittayapong, Pattamaporn

2014-01-01

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) remains of concern as a major potential global threat. This article evaluates and discusses the level of vulnerability of medium and small-scale commercial poultry production systems in Thailand related to avian influenza virus re-emergence. We developed a survey on 173 farms in Nakhon Pathom province to identify the global level of vulnerability of farms, and to determine which type of farms appears to be more vulnerable. We used official regulations (the Good Agricultural Practices and Livestock Farm Standards regulations) as a reference to check whether these regulations are respected. The results show that numerous vulnerability factors subsist and could represent, in case of HPAI re-emergence, a significant risk for a large spread of the disease. Bio-security, farm management and agro-commercial practices are particularly significant on that matter: results show that these practices still need a thorough improvement on a majority of farms. Farms producing eggs (especially duck eggs) are more vulnerable than farms producing meat. Those results are consistent with the type of farms that were mostly affected during the 2004–2008 outbreaks in Thailand. PMID:24413705

GC13I-0857: Designing a Frost Forecasting Service for Small Scale Tea Farmers in East Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Emily C.; Wanjohi, James Nyaga; Ellenburg, Walter Lee; Limaye, Ashutosh S.; Mugo, Robinson M.; Flores Cordova, Africa Ixmucane; Irwin, Daniel; Case, Jonathan; Malaso, Susan; Sedah, Absae

2017-01-01

Kenya is the third largest tea exporter in the world, producing 10% of the world's black tea. Sixty percent of this production occurs largely by small scale tea holders, with an average farm size of 1.04 acres, and an annual net income of $1,075. According to a recent evaluation, a typical frost event in the tea growing region causes about $200 dollars in losses which can be catastrophic for a small holder farm. A 72-hour frost forecast would provide these small-scale tea farmers with enough notice to reduce losses by approximately 80 USD annually. With this knowledge, SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations for improved decision making in developing countries, sought to design a frost monitoring and forecasting service that would provide farmers with enough lead time to react to and protect against a forecasted frost occurrence on their farm. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa, through its implementing partner, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), designed a service that included multiple stakeholder engagement events whereby stakeholders from the tea industry value chain were invited to share their experiences so that the exact needs and flow of information could be identified. This unique event allowed enabled the design of a service that fit the specifications of the stakeholders. The monitoring service component uses the MODIS Land Surface Temperature product to identify frost occurrences in near-real time. The prediction component, currently under testing, uses the 2-m air temperature, relative humidity, and 10-m wind speed from a series of high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model runs over eastern Kenya as inputs into a frost prediction algorithm. Accuracy and sensitivity of the algorithm is being assessed with observations collected from the farmers using a smart phone app developed specifically to report frost occurrences, and from data shared through our partner network developed at the stakeholder engagement meeting. This presentation will illustrate the efficacy of our frost forecasting algorithm, and a way forward for incorporating these forecasts in a meaningful way to the key decision makers - the small-scale farmers of East Africa.

Designing a Frost Forecasting Service for Small Scale Tea Farmers in East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, E. C.; Nyaga, J. W.; Ellenburg, W. L.; Limaye, A. S.; Mugo, R. M.; Flores Cordova, A. I.; Irwin, D.; Case, J.; Malaso, S.; Sedah, A.

2017-12-01

Kenya is the third largest tea exporter in the world, producing 10% of the world's black tea. Sixty percent of this production occurs largely by small scale tea holders, with an average farm size of 1.04 acres, and an annual net income of 1,075. According to a recent evaluation, a typical frost event in the tea growing region causes about 200 dollars in losses which can be catastrophic for a small holder farm. A 72-hour frost forecast would provide these small-scale tea farmers with enough notice to reduce losses by approximately $80 annually. With this knowledge, SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations for improved decision making in developing countries, sought to design a frost monitoring and forecasting service that would provide farmers with enough lead time to react to and protect against a forecasted frost occurrence on their farm. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa, through its implementing partner, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), designed a service that included multiple stakeholder engagement events whereby stakeholders from the tea industry value chain were invited to share their experiences so that the exact needs and flow of information could be identified. This unique event allowed enabled the design of a service that fit the specifications of the stakeholders. The monitoring service component uses the MODIS Land Surface Temperature product to identify frost occurrences in near-real time. The prediction component, currently under testing, uses the 2-m air temperature, relative humidity, and 10-m wind speed from a series of high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model runs over eastern Kenya as inputs into a frost prediction algorithm. Accuracy and sensitivity of the algorithm is being assessed with observations collected from the farmers using a smart phone app developed specifically to report frost occurrences, and from data shared through our partner network developed at the stakeholder engagement meeting. This presentation will illustrate the efficacy of our frost forecasting algorithm, and a way forward for incorporating these forecasts in a meaningful way to the key decision makers - the small-scale farmers of East Africa.

Rural culture and the conservation of Mackinders eagle owls (Bubo capensis mackinderi) in Kenya.

PubMed

Ogada, Darcy L

2008-06-01

The author describes her fieldwork studying a population of Mackinders eagle owls that live adjacent to small-scale farms in rural Kenya. Her study investigated the effects of farming practices on the diet and breeding ecology of the owls. She documented local people's attitudes toward owls since owls are taboo throughout Africa. She describes a typical day in the field, the community aspect of her project, her unique experiences studying owls in Kenya, and promotion of owl tourism.

A Preliminary Assessment of HTST Processing on Donkey Milk

PubMed Central

Antoniazzi, Sara; Gariglio, Gian Marco; Coscia, Alessandra; Bertino, Enrico; Cavallarin, Laura

2017-01-01

Due to increasing attention from consumers on non-bovine milk types, and to the increase in the number of small dairy donkey farms in Italy, farmers require more advanced and reliable processing devices, in order to guarantee a safe product of high quality. To this aim, a new small-scale High-Temperature Short-Time (HTST) pasteurizer (72 °C for 15 s), prototyped by the authors, was tested on donkey milk. The efficacy of the HTST device was tested on raw donkey milk microflora by enumeration of total aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus cereus. The biochemical quality was assessed by determining the protein profile by monodimensional electrophoresis and by measuring lysozyme activity. The HTST apparatus was able to reduce the total bacteria count, and to completely eradicate Enterobacteriaceae. Bacillus cereus, when present, was decreased with low efficiency. Changes in the protein profile were observed in milk pasteurized in accordance with both processes, although HTST seemed to limit casein degradation. Lysozyme activity was not substantially affected in comparison to raw donkey milk. In conclusion, a tailored small-volume HTST device could be safely applied to pasteurize donkey milk in on-farm pasteurization processes on small dairy donkey farms. PMID:29056708

A Preliminary Assessment of HTST Processing on Donkey Milk.

PubMed

Giribaldi, Marzia; Antoniazzi, Sara; Gariglio, Gian Marco; Coscia, Alessandra; Bertino, Enrico; Cavallarin, Laura

2017-10-09

Due to increasing attention from consumers on non-bovine milk types, and to the increase in the number of small dairy donkey farms in Italy, farmers require more advanced and reliable processing devices, in order to guarantee a safe product of high quality. To this aim, a new small-scale High-Temperature Short-Time (HTST) pasteurizer (72 °C for 15 s), prototyped by the authors, was tested on donkey milk. The efficacy of the HTST device was tested on raw donkey milk microflora by enumeration of total aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus cereus. The biochemical quality was assessed by determining the protein profile by monodimensional electrophoresis and by measuring lysozyme activity. The HTST apparatus was able to reduce the total bacteria count, and to completely eradicate Enterobacteriaceae. Bacillus cereus, when present, was decreased with low efficiency. Changes in the protein profile were observed in milk pasteurized in accordance with both processes, although HTST seemed to limit casein degradation. Lysozyme activity was not substantially affected in comparison to raw donkey milk. In conclusion, a tailored small-volume HTST device could be safely applied to pasteurize donkey milk in on-farm pasteurization processes on small dairy donkey farms.

Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: Field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform at the farm...

Modeling velocity space-time correlations in wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukassen, Laura J.; Stevens, Richard J. A. M.; Meneveau, Charles; Wilczek, Michael

2016-11-01

Turbulent fluctuations of wind velocities cause power-output fluctuations in wind farms. The statistics of velocity fluctuations can be described by velocity space-time correlations in the atmospheric boundary layer. In this context, it is important to derive simple physics-based models. The so-called Tennekes-Kraichnan random sweeping hypothesis states that small-scale velocity fluctuations are passively advected by large-scale velocity perturbations in a random fashion. In the present work, this hypothesis is used with an additional mean wind velocity to derive a model for the spatial and temporal decorrelation of velocities in wind farms. It turns out that in the framework of this model, space-time correlations are a convolution of the spatial correlation function with a temporal decorrelation kernel. In this presentation, first results on the comparison to large eddy simulations will be presented and the potential of the approach to characterize power output fluctuations of wind farms will be discussed. Acknowledgements: 'Fellowships for Young Energy Scientists' (YES!) of FOM, the US National Science Foundation Grant IIA 1243482, and support by the Max Planck Society.

Farm Safety Practices and Farm Size in New South Wales.

PubMed

Bailey, Jannine; Dutton, Tegan; Payne, Kristy; Wilson, Ross; Brew, Bronwyn K

2017-01-01

There is some evidence to suggest that safety on small-area farms may not be high priority due to economic constraints and lack of knowledge. This has important ramifications for injury and economic burden. The objective of this research was to conduct a pilot study to investigate whether small- to medium-area farms implement fewer safety practices than large-area farms. Farmers were recruited from farm safety training days, field days, and produce stores in rural New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Small- and medium-area farms less than 500 ha (1235 acres) in size were aggregated for analysis and compared with large-area farms (≥500 ha) for survey items, including safety equipment owned and used, safety practices protecting children, barriers to improving safety, and causes of injury. Overall, small/medium-area farms were found to own less safety equipment and to employ less safety practices than large-area farms. In particular, fewer tractors were fitted with rollover protection structures, there was less signage, less hearing protection, and fewer machinery guides. Injury rates were slightly less for small/medium-area farms, particularly involving vehicles. Small- and medium-area farmers were more likely to report lack of skills as barriers to making safety improvements. This pilot study found some evidence that small/medium-area farms implement fewer safety practices than large-area farms. A larger study is warranted to investigate this further, with particular focus on barriers and ways to overcome them. This could have important ramifications for government policies supporting struggling farmers on small/medium-area farms.

Small Farmers Weathered 1980's Financial Stress Better than Large Farmers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson, Gregory D.; Jinkins, John E.

1991-01-01

In 1987-88 large farms (annual sales over $40,000) had loan default and insolvency rates 2.5-3 times greater than small farms. Small farm solvency was related to income stability associated with off-farm employment, and decreased in areas with fewer off-farm employment opportunities. (SV)

Classification of wetlands vegetation using small scale color infrared imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williamson, F. S. L.

1975-01-01

A classification system for Chesapeake Bay wetlands was derived from the correlation of film density classes and actual vegetation classes. The data processing programs used were developed by the Laboratory for the Applications of Remote Sensing. These programs were tested for their value in classifying natural vegetation, using digitized data from small scale aerial photography. Existing imagery and the vegetation map of Farm Creek Marsh were used to determine the optimal number of classes, and to aid in determining if the computer maps were a believable product.

A longitudinal survey of African swine fever in Uganda reveals high apparent disease incidence rates in domestic pigs, but absence of detectable persistent virus infections in blood and serum.

PubMed

Muhangi, Denis; Masembe, Charles; Emanuelson, Ulf; Boqvist, Sofia; Mayega, Lawrence; Ademun, Rose Okurut; Bishop, Richard P; Ocaido, Michael; Berg, Mikael; Ståhl, Karl

2015-05-13

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal, haemorrhagic disease of domestic pigs, that poses a serious threat to pig farmers and is currently endemic in domestic pigs in most of sub-Saharan Africa. To obtain insight into the factors related to ASF outbreaks at the farm-level, a longitudinal study was performed in one of the major pig producing areas in central Uganda. Potential risk factors associated with outbreaks of ASF were investigated including the possible presence of apparently healthy ASF-virus (ASFV) infected pigs, which could act as long-term carriers of the virus. Blood and serum were sampled from 715 pigs (241 farms) and 649 pigs (233 farms) to investigate presence of ASFV and antibodies, during the periods of June-October 2010 and March-June 2011, respectively. To determine the potential contribution of different risks to ASF spread, a questionnaire-based survey was administered to farmers to assess the association between ASF outbreaks during the study period and the risk factors. Fifty-one (21 %) and 13 (5.6 %) farms reported an ASF outbreak on their farms in the previous one to two years and during the study period, respectively. The incidence rate for ASF prior to the study period was estimated at 14.1 per 100 pig farm-years and 5.6 per 100 pig farm-years during the study. Three pigs tested positive for ASFV using real-time PCR, but none tested positive for ASFV specific antibodies using two different commercial ELISA tests. There was no evidence for existence of pigs that were long-term carriers for the virus based on the analysis of blood and serum as there were no seropositive pigs and the only three ASFV DNA positive pigs were acutely infected and were linked to outbreaks reported by farmers during the study. Potential ASF risk factors were present on both small and medium-scale pig farms, although small scale farms exhibited a higher proportion with multiple potential risk factors (like borrowing boars for sows mating, buying replacement from neighboring farms without ascertaining health status, etc) and did not implement any biosecurity measures. However, no risk factors were significantly associated with ASF reports during the study.

Analysis of factors associated with hesitation to restart farming after depopulation of animals due to 2010 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Japan

PubMed Central

KADOWAKI, Hazumu; KAYANO, Taishi; TOBINAGA, Takaharu; TSUTSUMI, Atsuro; WATARI, Michiko; MAKITA, Kohei

2016-01-01

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, in 2010. This epidemic was controlled with culling and vaccination, and resulted in the death of nearly 290,000 animals. This paper describes the factors associated with hesitation to restart farming after the epidemic. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the mental health of farmers one year after the end of the FMD epidemic in affected areas, and univariate and multivariable analyses were performed. Of 773 farms which had answered the question about restart farming, 55.4% (428/773) had resumed or were planning to resume operation. The farms hesitated restarting were characterized by small scale (P=0.06) and having multiple sources of income (P<0.01). Personal attributes associated with hesitation to restart were advanced age of the owner (P<0.01), with someone with bad physical conditions (P=0.04) and small family size (P<0.01). Factors related to disease control during the epidemic that were associated with hesitation to restart were vaccination of animals (P<0.01), not assisting with culling on other farms (P<0.01), and higher satisfaction with information provided by the government (P=0.02). We found that farmers hesitated to resume farming because they had a limited labor force, had an alternative business or were mentally distressed during disease control. PMID:27149890

12 CFR 563e.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... activities by considering a savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community... savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the... savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, based...

12 CFR 563e.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... activities by considering a savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community... savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the... savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, based...

Improving nitrogen management via a regional management plan for Chinese rice production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Liang; Chen, Xinping; Cui, Zhenling; Wang, Guiliang; Zhang, Weifeng

2015-09-01

A lack of basic information on optimal nitrogen (N) management often results in over- or under-application of N fertilizer in small-scale intensive rice farming. Here, we present a new database of N input from a survey of 6611 small-scale rice farmers and rice yield in response to added N in 1177 experimental on-farm tests across eight agroecological subregions of China. This database enables us to evaluate N management by farmers and develop an optimal approach to regional N management. We also investigated grain yield, N application rate, and estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in comparison to N application and farming practices. Across all farmers, the average N application rate, weighted by the area of rice production in each subregion, was 210 kg ha-1 and ranged from 30 to 744 kg ha-1 across fields and from 131 to 316 kg ha-1 across regions. The regionally optimal N rate (RONR) determined from the experiments averaged 167 kg ha-1 and varied from 114 to 224 kg N ha-1 for the different regions. If these RONR were widely adopted in China, approximately 56% of farms would reduce their use of N fertilizer, and approximately 33% would increase their use of N fertilizer. As a result, grain yield would increase by 7.4% from 7.14 to 7.67 Mg ha-1, and the estimated GHG emissions would be reduced by 11.1% from 1390 to 1236 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) eq Mg-1 grain. These results suggest that to achieve the goals of improvement in regional yield and sustainable environmental development, regional N use should be optimized among N-poor and N-rich farms and regions in China.

Wind Power Innovation Enables Shift to Utility-Scale - Continuum Magazine

Science.gov Websites

the 1930s, a farmer in South Dakota built a small wind turbine on his farm, generating enough enough electricity to power thousands of homes. Aerial photo of large wind turbine with mountains in the background. Aerial view of the Siemens utility-scale wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center

12 CFR 195.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... activities by considering a savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community... business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the savings association's assessment area(s..., small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, based on the loan location, including: (i...

12 CFR 195.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... activities by considering a savings association's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community... business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the savings association's assessment area(s..., small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, based on the loan location, including: (i...

A Method for Semi-quantitative Assessment of Exposure to Pesticides of Applicators and Re-entry Workers: An Application in Three Farming Systems in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Negatu, Beyene; Vermeulen, Roel; Mekonnen, Yalemtshay; Kromhout, Hans

2016-07-01

To develop an inexpensive and easily adaptable semi-quantitative exposure assessment method to characterize exposure to pesticide in applicators and re-entry farmers and farm workers in Ethiopia. Two specific semi-quantitative exposure algorithms for pesticides applicators and re-entry workers were developed and applied to 601 farm workers employed in 3 distinctly different farming systems [small-scale irrigated, large-scale greenhouses (LSGH), and large-scale open (LSO)] in Ethiopia. The algorithm for applicators was based on exposure-modifying factors including application methods, farm layout (open or closed), pesticide mixing conditions, cleaning of spraying equipment, intensity of pesticide application per day, utilization of personal protective equipment (PPE), personal hygienic behavior, annual frequency of application, and duration of employment at the farm. The algorithm for re-entry work was based on an expert-based re-entry exposure intensity score, utilization of PPE, personal hygienic behavior, annual frequency of re-entry work, and duration of employment at the farm. The algorithms allowed estimation of daily, annual and cumulative lifetime exposure for applicators, and re-entry workers by farming system, by gender, and by age group. For all metrics, highest exposures occurred in LSGH for both applicators and female re-entry workers. For male re-entry workers, highest cumulative exposure occurred in LSO farms. Female re-entry workers appeared to be higher exposed on a daily or annual basis than male re-entry workers, but their cumulative exposures were similar due to the fact that on average males had longer tenure. Factors related to intensity of exposure (like application method and farm layout) were indicated as the main driving factors for estimated potential exposure. Use of personal protection, hygienic behavior, and duration of employment in surveyed farm workers contributed less to the contrast in exposure estimates. This study indicated that farmers' and farm workers' exposure to pesticides can be inexpensively characterized, ranked, and classified. Our method could be extended to assess exposure to specific active ingredients provided that detailed information on pesticides used is available. The resulting exposure estimates will consequently be used in occupational epidemiology studies in Ethiopia and other similar countries with few resources. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

Applying Customized Climate Advisory Information to Translate Extreme Rainfall Events into Farming Options in the Sudan-Sahel of West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salack, S.; Worou, N. O.; Sanfo, S.; Nikiema, M. P.; Boubacar, I.; Paturel, J. E.; Tondoh, E. J.

2017-12-01

In West Africa, the risk of food insecurity linked to the low productivity of small holder farming increases as a result of rainfall extremes. In its recent evolution, the rainy season in the Sudan-Sahel zone presents mixed patterns of extreme climatic events. In addition to intense rain events, the distribution of events is associated with pockets of intra-seasonal long dry spells. The negative consequences of these mixed patterns are obvious on the farm: soil water logging, erosion of arable land, dwartness and dessication of crops, and loss in production. The capacity of local farming communities to respond accordingly to rainfall extreme events is often constrained by lack of access to climate information and advisory on smart crop management practices that can help translate extreme rainfall events into farming options. The objective of this work is to expose the framework and the pre-liminary results of a scheme that customizes climate-advisory information package delivery to subsistence farmers in Bakel (Senegal), Ouahigouya & Dano (Burkina Faso) and Bolgatanga (Ghana) for sustainable family agriculture. The package is based on the provision of timely climate information (48-hours, dekadal & seasonal) embedded with smart crop management practices to explore and exploite the potential advantage of intense rainfall and extreme dry spells in millet, maize, sorghum and cowpea farming communities. It is sent via mobile phones and used on selected farms (i.e agro-climatic farm schools) on which some small on-farm infrastructure were built to alleviate negative impacts of weather. Results provide prominent insight on how co-production of weather/climate information, customized access and guidiance on its use can induce fast learning (capacity building of actors), motivation for adaptation, sustainability, potential changes in cropping system, yields and family income in the face of a rainfall extremes at local scales of Sudan-Sahel of West Africa. Keywords: Climate Information, Smart Practices, Farming Options, Agro-Climatic Farm Schools, Sudan-Sahel

Emergence of highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (HP-PRRS) in medium-scale swine farms in southeastern Cambodia.

PubMed

Tornimbene, B; Frossard, J-P; Chhim, V; Sorn, S; Guitian, J; Drew, T W

2015-01-01

Since 2006, reports from China and Viet Nam have alerted of an emergent highly pathogenic variant of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HP-PRRSV) in that region. The frequent occurrence of outbreaks in these countries puts Cambodian pig farms at high risk of infection, but no study had been conducted to investigate the presence of HP-PRRS in Cambodian farms. We investigated the presence of HP-PRRS in medium-scale (semi-commercial) swine farms in the Cambodian southeastern region. Specifically, one province bordering Viet Nam (Takeo) was selected due to the concentration of most semi-commercial farms in that province. A cross-sectional study was carried out, between July and September 2010 to assess whether the prevalence of infection in these farms was indicative of recent spread of PPRSV and to identify risk factors for infection. The number of farms to be sampled was established using methods for Lot Quality Assurance Surveys (LQAS), in order to achieve a pre-established ability to discriminate between two different prevalence settings. The target population comprised all semi-commercial farms in Takeo province from which a random sample of 35 farms was selected. Selected farms were visited and questionnaires administered to gather information on farm characteristics and husbandry practices. Blood samples from individual pigs were collected in each of the study farms and tested for PRRSV, along with a number of other swine respiratory pathogens in order to investigate potential interactions. Our results showed that the virus was already present in Takeo semi-commercial pig population (LQAS herd prevalence ≥85%) at the time of sampling. The presence of sows in the farm and farm density were significantly associated (P<0.05) with the introduction and the presence of PRRS - but this was an unadjusted association as small sample size precluded multivariate analysis. Spatiotemporal description of the supposed pattern of infection revealed that the 1st farms infected were closely located to major national and provincial roads, connecting the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to Viet Nam. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cotton Chopping to Administrative Chairperson: The Changing Role of Women on Small Farms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Joyce L.; Jenkins, Quentin A. L.

The objectives of this case study are to determine the personal, family, and community interactions of women on small farms, to determine how women on small farms are affected by social and cultural change, and to determine the influence of significant and generalized others on the behavior of women on small farms. The theoretical framework…

Obituary: Louise May Russell, 1905-2009

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This tribute is presented in recognition of a truly remarkable woman scientist– Miss Louise May Russell. She transformed herself from a farm girl in a small town in upstate New York to a world renowned entomologist who studied aphids, psyllids, scale insects, and whiteflies. She started her scient...

12 CFR 195.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the savings association originated or purchased a small business or small farm loan, the aggregate number and amount of... each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the savings association: (1) A unique...

12 CFR 195.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the savings association originated or purchased a small business or small farm loan, the aggregate number and amount of... each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the savings association: (1) A unique...

12 CFR 228.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique... for the prior calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or purchased a small business or small farm loan, the aggregate number and amount...

12 CFR 195.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the savings association originated or purchased a small business or small farm loan, the aggregate number and amount of... each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the savings association: (1) A unique...

12 CFR 228.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique... for the prior calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or purchased a small business or small farm loan, the aggregate number and amount...

Drivers and risk factors for circulating African swine fever virus in Uganda, 2012-2013.

PubMed

Kabuuka, T; Kasaija, P D; Mulindwa, H; Shittu, A; Bastos, A D S; Fasina, F O

2014-10-01

We explored observed risk factors and drivers of infection possibly associated with African swine fever (ASF) epidemiology in Uganda. Representative sub-populations of pig farms and statistics were used in a case-control model. Indiscriminate disposal of pig viscera and waste materials after slaughter, including on open refuse dumps, farm-gate buyers collecting pigs and pig products from within a farm, and retention of survivor pigs were plausible risk factors. Wire mesh-protected windows in pig houses were found to be protective against ASF infection. Sighting engorged ticks on pigs, the presence of a lock for each pig pen and/or a gate at the farm entrance were significantly associated with infection/non-infection; possible explanations were offered. Strict adherence to planned within-farm and community-based biosecurity, and avoidance of identified risk factors is recommended to reduce infection. Training for small-scale and emerging farmers should involve multidimensional and multidisciplinary approaches to reduce human-related risky behaviours driving infection. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An economic analysis of communal goat production.

PubMed

Sebel, P J; McCrindle, C M E; Webb, E C

2004-03-01

The economic impact of different extension messages used was calculated using enterprise budgeting (gross margin analysis). Input data were gleaned from the literature, from participatory appraisals, as well as a field study, spanning 12 months, of small-scale communal goat farming systems in Jericho in the Odi District of North West Province. The number of offspring weaned per annum, as a proportion of does owned, was selected as the desired output for analysis. This study has shown that small-scale communal goat farmers are not adopting or implementing extension messages to improve production capacity. In South Africa the majority of goats are slaughtered in the informal sector. If the informal sector is to be persuaded to market goats commercially through formal channels, then knowledge of the economics of goat farming on communal lands should be provided. The economic aspects of extension messages are probably an important factor in determining acceptance and sustainability yet appear to be seldom investigated. The probable reason for lack of adoption of standard extension messages, which promote improved nutrition, parasite control, vaccination and treatment of goats, was economic. In other words, the so-called 'poor management practices' used by communal farmers appeared to be economically more profitable than the 'good management practices' suggested to increase production. The price of communal goats was not related to their mass. A higher level of inputs would probably have resulted in a heavier kid, however it was established that this would not have influenced the price received as a majority of the goats were slaughtered for ritual purposes where age, colour and sex were more important to the purchaser than body mass. It is standard practice in commercial farming systems to evaluate the economic benefits of all management practices before they are implemented. Production animal veterinarians use veterinary economics to compare different scenarios to control diseases or select management practices in commercial herds. It is suggested that the inputs and outputs of small-scale farming systems should be carefully analysed and that veterinary economics should also be used to evaluate the probable impact of extension messages formulated by veterinarians and animal health technicians.

Antimicrobials in small-scale urban pig farming in a lower middle-income country - arbitrary use and high resistance levels.

PubMed

Ström, G; Boqvist, S; Albihn, A; Fernström, L-L; Andersson Djurfeldt, A; Sokerya, S; Sothyra, T; Magnusson, U

2018-01-01

Administration of antimicrobials to food-producing animals is regarded as a major contributor to the overall emergence of resistance in bacteria worldwide. However, few data are available on global antimicrobial use and resistance (AMR) in livestock, especially from low- and middle-income countries. We conducted a structured survey of 91 small-scale pig farms in the urban and peri-urban areas of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to assess the farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices related to antimicrobial use in their pig production. Commensal Escherichia coli was isolated from three healthy pigs from each farm ( n  = 261) and susceptibility testing was performed against 14 antimicrobials, using broth microdilution. Univariable logistic regression and generalized linear mixed models were used to investigate potential associations between farm characteristics, management factors and resistance to different types of antimicrobials. We found a widespread and arbitrary use of antimicrobials, often based on the farmer's own judgment. Around 66% of the farmers reported frequently self-adjusting treatment duration and dosage, and 45% had not heard about the term 'antimicrobial resistance'. The antimicrobials most commonly mentioned or kept by the farmers were amoxicillin, tylosin, gentamicin and colistin. Around 37% used a feed concentrate that contained antimicrobials, while antimicrobials for humans were used as a last-line treatment by 10% of the farmers. Commensal E. coli exhibited high prevalence of resistance to several antimicrobials considered to be of critical importance for human medicine, including ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and colistin, and multidrug-resistance was found in 79% of the samples. Higher prevalence of resistance was observed on farms that administered prophylactic antimicrobials and on farms that treated the entire group or herd in the event of disease. The widespread and arbitrary use of antimicrobials in pig farming in Cambodia is highly worrisome. Overall, farmers had a low awareness of the risks and consequences related to antimicrobial use and AMR. The results presented in this study confirm the hypothesis that non-rational use of antimicrobials results in higher prevalence of AMR and highlight the need for professional animal health systems that involve medically rational use of antimicrobials in emerging economies such as Cambodia.

Real-time measurement of dust in the workplace using video exposure monitoring: Farming to pharmaceuticals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, P. T.; Forth, A. R.; Clark, R. D. R.; Dowker, K. P.; Thorpe, A.

2009-02-01

Real-time, photometric, portable dust monitors have been employed for video exposure monitoring (VEM) to measure and highlight dust levels generated by work activities, illustrate dust control techniques, and demonstrate good practice. Two workplaces, presenting different challenges for measurement, were used to illustrate the capabilities of VEM: (a) poultry farming activities and (b) powder transfer operations in a pharmaceutical company. For the poultry farm work, the real-time monitors were calibrated with respect to the respirable and inhalable dust concentrations using cyclone and IOM reference samplers respectively. Different rankings of exposure for typical activities were found on the small farm studied here compared to previous exposure measurements at larger poultry farms: these were mainly attributed to the different scales of operation. Large variations in the ratios of respirable, inhalable and real-time monitor TWA concentrations of poultry farm dust for various activities were found. This has implications for the calibration of light-scattering dust monitors with respect to inhalable dust concentration. In the pharmaceutical application, the effectiveness of a curtain barrier for dust control when dispensing powder in a downflow booth was rapidly demonstrated.

Modeling the fate and transport of bacteria in agricultural and pasture lands using APEX

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is a whole farm to small watershed scale continuous simulation model developed for evaluating various land management strategies. The current version, APEX0806, does not have the modeling capacity for fecal indicator bacteria fate and trans...

Meeting Stakeholder Energy Technology Education Needs Using a Mobile Demonstration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Koff, Jason P.; Ricketts, John C.; Robbins, Chris; Illukpitiya, Prabodh; Wade, Alvin

2017-01-01

Understanding the impact of workshops that include mobile demonstrations for describing technical applications can be useful when planning an Extension program on new energy technologies. We used a mobile demonstration in a workshop that provided information on small-scale on-farm biodiesel production. Evaluation of the workshop outcomes…

Field scale lysimeters to assess nutrient management impacts on runoff

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Most empirical studies on the impact of field management on runoff water quality rely on edge-of-field monitoring, which is generally unreplicated and prone to high variances, or small plots, which constrain the use of conventional farm equipment and can hinder insight into landscape processes drivi...

12 CFR 32.7 - Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans (“Supplemental Lending...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans (âSupplemental Lending Limits Programâ). 32.7 Section 32.7 Banks and Banking..., small business loans, and small farm loans (“Supplemental Lending Limits Program”). (a) Residential real...

12 CFR 32.7 - Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans (“Supplemental Lending...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans (âSupplemental Lending Limits Programâ). 32.7 Section 32.7 Banks and Banking..., small business loans, and small farm loans (“Supplemental Lending Limits Program”). (a) Residential real...

Medium fidelity modelling of loads in wind farms under non-neutral ABL stability conditions - a full-scale validation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, G. C.; Larsen, T. J.; Chougule, A.

2017-05-01

The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate the capability of medium fidelity modelling of wind turbine component fatigue loading, when the wind turbines are subjected to wake affected non-stationary flow fields under non-neutral atmospheric stability conditions. To accomplish this we combine the classical Dynamic Wake Meandering model with a fundamental conjecture stating: Atmospheric boundary layer stability affects primary wake meandering dynamics driven by large turbulent scales, whereas wake expansion in the meandering frame of reference is hardly affected. Inclusion of stability (i.e. buoyancy) in description of both large- and small scale atmospheric boundary layer turbulence is facilitated by a generalization of the classical Mann spectral tensor, which consistently includes buoyancy effects. With non-stationary wind turbine inflow fields modelled as described above, fatigue loads are obtained using the state-of-the art aeroelastic model HAWC2. The Lillgrund offshore wind farm (WF) constitute an interesting case study for wind farm model validation, because the WT interspacing is small, which in turn means that wake effects are significant. A huge data set, comprising 5 years of blade and tower load recordings, is available for model validation. For a multitude of wake situations this data set displays a considerable scatter, which to a large degree seems to be caused by atmospheric boundary layer stability effects. Notable is also that rotating wind turbine components predominantly experience high fatigue loading for stable stratification with significant shear, whereas high fatigue loading of non-rotating wind turbine components are associated with unstable atmospheric boundary layer stratification.

Assessment of the costs, risks and benefits of selected integrated policy options to adapt to flood and drought in the water and agricultural sectors of the Warta River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sendzimir, Jan; Dubel, Anna; Linnerooth-Bayer, Joanne; Damurski, Jakub; Schroeter, Dagmar

2014-05-01

Historically large reservoirs have been the dominant strategy to counter flood and drought risk in Europe. However, a number of smaller-scale approaches have emerged as alternative strategies. To compare the cost effectiveness of reservoirs and these alternatives, we calculated the Investment & maintenance costs in terms of (euros) /m3 water stored or annual runoff reduced for five different strategies: large reservoirs (1.68 euros), large on-farm ponds (5.88 euros), small on-farm ponds (558.00 euros), shelterbelts (6.86 euros), switching to conservation tillage (-9.20 euros). The most cost effective measure for reducing runoff is switching to conservation tillage practices because this switch reduces machinery and labor costs in addition to reducing water runoff. Although shelterbelts that reduce annual runoff cannot be directly compared to ponds and reservoirs that store water, our estimates show that they likely compare favorably as a natural water retention measure, especially when taking account of their co-benefits in terms of erosion control, biodiversity and pollination. Another useful result is our demonstration of the economies of scale among reservoirs and ponds for storing water. Small ponds are two orders of magnitude more costly to construct and maintain as a flood and drought prevention measure than large reservoirs. Here, again, there are large co-benefits that should be factored into the cost-benefit equation, including especially the value of small ponds in promoting corridors for migration. This analysis shows the importance of carrying out more extensive cost-benefit estimates across on-farm and off-farm measures for tackling drought and flood risk in the context of a changing climate. While concrete recommendations for supporting water retention measures will depend on a more detailed investigation of their costs and benefits, this research highlights the potential of natural water retention measures as a complement to conventional investments in large reservoirs.

A systems approach to assess farm-scale nutrient and trace element dynamics: a case study at the Ojebyn dairy farm.

PubMed

Oborn, Ingrid; Modin-Edman, Anna-Karin; Bengtsson, Helena; Gustafson, Gunnela M; Salomon, Eva; Nilsson, S Ingvar; Holmqvist, Johan; Jonsson, Simon; Sverdrup, Harald

2005-06-01

A systems analysis approach was used to assess farmscale nutrient and trace element sustainability by combining full-scale field experiments with specific studies of nutrient release from mineral weathering and trace-element cycling. At the Ojebyn dairy farm in northern Sweden, a farm-scale case study including phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn) was run to compare organic and conventional agricultural management practices. By combining different element-balance approaches (at farmgate, barn, and field scales) and further adapting these to the FARMFLOW model, we were able to combine mass flows and pools within the subsystems and establish links between subsystems in order to make farm-scale predictions. It was found that internal element flows on the farm are large and that there are farm internal sources (Zn) and loss terms (K). The approaches developed and tested at the Ojebyn farm are promising and considered generally adaptable to any farm.

Banana production systems: identification of alternative systems for more sustainable production.

PubMed

Bellamy, Angelina Sanderson

2013-04-01

Large-scale, monoculture production systems dependent on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, increase yields, but are costly and have deleterious impacts on human health and the environment. This research investigates variations in banana production practices in Costa Rica, to identify alternative systems that combine high productivity and profitability, with reduced reliance on agrochemicals. Farm workers were observed during daily production activities; 39 banana producers and 8 extension workers/researchers were interviewed; and a review of field experiments conducted by the National Banana Corporation between 1997 and 2002 was made. Correspondence analysis showed that there is no structured variation in large-scale banana producers' practices, but two other banana production systems were identified: a small-scale organic system and a small-scale conventional coffee-banana intercropped system. Field-scale research may reveal ways that these practices can be scaled up to achieve a productive and profitable system producing high-quality export bananas with fewer or no pesticides.

Economic impacts of avian influenza outbreaks in Kerala, India.

PubMed

Govindaraj, G; Sridevi, R; Nandakumar, S N; Vineet, R; Rajeev, P; Binu, M K; Balamurugan, V; Rahman, H

2018-04-01

This study assessed the short-run impact to poultry farmers, duck hatcheries, control costs, compensation paid to stakeholders (transfer payments) and market reactions on own and substitute product prices and backwater tourism (boat operators) due to avian influenza (AI) outbreaks in Kuttanad region of Kerala, India, during 2014. The primary data from 91 poultry farms (duck farms, broiler chicken and backyard poultry), four hatcheries and 90 backwater boat owners were collected through pre-tested schedules. The secondary data on transfer payments and expenditure incurred to control AI were collected from developmental departments and were analysed. The estimated loss (culling live birds, eggs and feed destruction) per duck farm was USD 9,181, USD 3,889 and USD 156 in case of commercial farms reared for meat, dual-purpose and backyard farms, respectively. The loss incurred by small-scale broiler and backyard poultry farms was USD 453 and USD 40, respectively. The loss incurred by large and small duck hatcheries was USD 11,963 and USD 5,790, respectively, due to culling of hatchlings, young birds and destroying eggs. The government invested USD 744,890 to contain the disease spread through massive culling, surveillance and monitoring of poultry and humans due to zoonotic nature of the disease. A sharp market reaction on own and substitute product prices and eight weeks' time lag in price recovery was observed. The consequential impact on tourism especially for the backwater boat operators amounted to a loss of USD 2,280/boat due to fall in tourist inflow. Since, control measures are post-incidence, it is necessary to adopt appropriate preventive bio-security measures at the farm level besides periodical screening of domestic birds in migratory birds' flyway locations like Kuttanad to reduce the AI burden on various stakeholders including government. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Gender, Generation, and Off-Farm Employment on the Mexican "Ejido."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katz, Elizabeth

Chapter 7 of "The Economics of Gender in Mexico" discusses how Mexico's "ejido" system, a semicollective form of land tenure, has been undergoing a process of privatization in which parcels are being converted into privately held land. Simultaneously, small-scale producers have been hurt by the lifting of price and credit…

Roots and Research in Urban School Gardens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaylie, Veronica

2011-01-01

This book explores the urban school garden as a bridge between environmental action and thought. As a small-scale response to global issues around access to food and land, urban school gardens promote practical knowledge of farming as well as help renew cultural ideals of shared space and mutual support for the organic, built environment. Through…

Description and typology of intensive Chios dairy sheep farms in Greece.

PubMed

Gelasakis, A I; Valergakis, G E; Arsenos, G; Banos, G

2012-06-01

The aim was to assess the intensified dairy sheep farming systems of the Chios breed in Greece, establishing a typology that may properly describe and characterize them. The study included the total of the 66 farms of the Chios sheep breeders' cooperative Macedonia. Data were collected using a structured direct questionnaire for in-depth interviews, including questions properly selected to obtain a general description of farm characteristics and overall management practices. A multivariate statistical analysis was used on the data to obtain the most appropriate typology. Initially, principal component analysis was used to produce uncorrelated variables (principal components), which would be used for the consecutive cluster analysis. The number of clusters was decided using hierarchical cluster analysis, whereas, the farms were allocated in 4 clusters using k-means cluster analysis. The identified clusters were described and afterward compared using one-way ANOVA or a chi-squared test. The main differences were evident on land availability and use, facility and equipment availability and type, expansion rates, and application of preventive flock health programs. In general, cluster 1 included newly established, intensive, well-equipped, specialized farms and cluster 2 included well-established farms with balanced sheep and feed/crop production. In cluster 3 were assigned small flock farms focusing more on arable crops than on sheep farming with a tendency to evolve toward cluster 2, whereas cluster 4 included farms representing a rather conservative form of Chios sheep breeding with low/intermediate inputs and choosing not to focus on feed/crop production. In the studied set of farms, 4 different farmer attitudes were evident: 1) farming disrupts sheep breeding; feed should be purchased and economies of scale will decrease costs (mainly cluster 1), 2) only exercise/pasture land is necessary; at least part of the feed (pasture) must be home-grown to decrease costs (clusters 1 and 4), 3) providing pasture to sheep is essential; on-farm feed production decreases costs (mainly cluster 3), and 4) large-scale farming (feed production and cash crops) does not disrupt sheep breeding; all feed must be produced on-farm to decrease costs (mainly cluster 3). Conducting a profitability analysis among different clusters, exploring and discovering the most beneficial levels of intensified management and capital investment should now be considered. Copyright © 2012 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantifying Human Appropriated Net Primary Productivity (HANPP) in a Ghanaian Cocoa System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morel, A.; Adu-Bredu, S.; Adu Sasu, M.; Ashley Asare, R.; Boyd, E.; Hirons, M. A.; Malhi, Y.; Mason, J.; Norris, K.; Robinson, E. J. Z.; McDermott, C. L.

2015-12-01

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa (Theobroma cacoa), exporting approximately 18 percent of global volumes. These cocoa farms are predominantly small-scale, ranging in size from 2-4 hectares (ha). Traditionally, the model of cocoa expansion in Ghana relied on clearing new areas of forest and establishing a farm under remnant forest trees. This is increasingly less practical due to few unprotected forest areas remaining and management practices favoring close to full sun cocoa to maximize short-term yields. This study is part of a larger project, ECOLMITS, which is an interdisciplinary, ESPA-funded[1] initiative exploring the ecological limits of ecosystem system services (ESS) for alleviating poverty in small-scale agroforestry systems. The ecological study plots are situated within and around the Kakum National Forest, a well-protected, moist-evergreen forest of the Lower Guinea Forest region. Net primary productivity (NPP) is a measure of the rate at which carbon dioxide (CO2) is incorporated into plant tissues (e.g. canopy, stem and root). For this study, NPP was monitored in situ using methods developed by the Global Environmental Monitoring Network (GEM, http://gem.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk/). By comparing NPP measured in intact forest and farms, the human appropriated NPP (HANPP) of this system can be estimated. The forest measures provide the "potential" NPP of the region, and then the reduction in NPP for farm plots is calculated for both land-cover change (HANPPLUC) and cocoa harvesting (HANPPHARV). The results presented are of the first year of NPP measurements across the cocoa landscape, including measurements from intact forest, logged forest and cocoa farms across a shade gradient and located at varying distances from the forest edge (e.g. 100 m, 500 m, 1 km and 5 km). These measures will have implications for carbon sequestration potential over the region and long-term sustainability of the Ghanaian cocoa sector. [1] Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation grant program, http://www.espa.ac.uk/

Assessing manure management strategies through small-plot research and whole-farm modeling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garcia, A.M.; Veith, T.L.; Kleinman, P.J.A.; Rotz, C.A.; Saporito, L.S.

2008-01-01

Plot-scale experimentation can provide valuable insight into the effects of manure management practices on phosphorus (P) runoff, but whole-farm evaluation is needed for complete assessment of potential trade offs. Artificially-applied rainfall experimentation on small field plots and event-based and long-term simulation modeling were used to compare P loss in runoff related to two dairy manure application methods (surface application with and without incorporation by tillage) on contrasting Pennsylvania soils previously under no-till management. Results of single-event rainfall experiments indicated that average dissolved reactive P losses in runoff from manured plots decreased by up to 90% with manure incorporation while total P losses did not change significantly. Longer-term whole farm simulation modeling indicated that average dissolved reactive P losses would decrease by 8% with manure incorporation while total P losses would increase by 77% due to greater erosion from fields previously under no-till. Differences in the two methods of inference point to the need for caution in extrapolating research findings. Single-event rainfall experiments conducted shortly after manure application simulate incidental transfers of dissolved P in manure to runoff, resulting in greater losses of dissolved reactive P. However, the transfer of dissolved P in applied manure diminishes with time. Over the annual time frame simulated by whole farm modeling, erosion processes become more important to runoff P losses. Results of this study highlight the need to consider the potential for increased erosion and total P losses caused by soil disturbance during incorporation. This study emphasizes the ability of modeling to estimate management practice effectiveness at the larger scales when experimental data is not available.

Genetic Diversity and Antibiotic Resistance of Escherichia coli Isolates from Different Leafy Green Production Systems.

PubMed

Jongman, Mosimanegape; Korsten, Lise

2016-11-01

Foodborne disease outbreaks linked to contaminated irrigation water and fresh produce are a public health concern. The presence of Escherichia coli isolates from irrigation water and leafy green vegetables in different food production systems (large commercial farms, small-scale farms, and homestead gardens) was investigated. The prevalence of antibiotic resistance and virulence in these isolates was further assessed, and links between water source and irrigated crops were identified using antimicrobial and genotypic analyses. Presumptive E. coli isolates were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy, and identities were confirmed by PCR using the uidA gene. Antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated with the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion test; the presence of virulence genes was determined with enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR assays. Of the 130 E. coli isolates from water (n =60) and leafy green vegetables (n =70), 19 (14.6%) were resistant to one antibiotic (tetracycline) and 92 (70.7%) were resistant to various antibiotics (including ampicillin, cefoxitin, and nalidixic acid). All E. coli isolates were susceptible to ceftriaxone and gentamicin. The virulence gene stx 2 was detected in E. coli isolates from irrigation water (8 [13.3%] of 60 isolates) and cabbages (3 [7.5%] of 40), but the virulence genes eae and stx 1 were not detected in any tested isolates from irrigation water and fresh produce samples. The prevalence of multidrug-resistant E. coli was lower in isolates from GLOBALG.A.P.-certified farms than in isolates from noncertified commercial and small-scale farms and homestead gardens. A link between the E. coli isolates from irrigation water sources and leafy green vegetables was established with phenotypic (antimicrobial) and genotypic (DNA fingerprinting) analyses. However, a link between virulence genes and the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance could not be established.

Neurobehavioural symptoms and acute pesticide poisoning: a cross-sectional study among male pesticide applicators selected from three commercial farming systems in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Negatu, Beyene; Vermeulen, Roel; Mekonnen, Yalemtshay; Kromhout, Hans

2018-04-01

To estimate prevalence of acute pesticide poisoning (APP) and its association with neurobehavioural symptoms in Ethiopian pesticide applicators. We performed a cross-sectional survey among 256 pesticide applicators from small-scale irrigated farms, a large-scale open farm and large-scale greenhouses. APP was ascertained using a modified WHO case definition, and neurobehavioural symptoms were collected with a standardised questionnaire (Q16). Exposure to pesticides was estimated using detailed exposure algorithms specifically developed for Ethiopian farms. Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate risk of APP and its association with neurobehavioural symptoms. Overall APP prevalence was 16%. Working as an applicator in greenhouses was strongly associated with APP (OR 3.00, 95% CI 1.38 to 6.54). Estimated annual pesticide exposure was also associated with APP (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.20). Longer duration of employment appeared to be negatively associated with APP. Having had an APP was strongly associated with reporting more neurobehavioural symptoms (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.01 to 4.58) independent of cumulative pesticide exposure. Cumulative exposure to pesticides appeared to be associated with neurobehavioural symptoms among applicators without and with APP. We showed a substantial prevalence of APP that differed between farming systems and was strongly associated with neurobehavioural symptoms. Intensity of exposure was also clearly associated with these symptoms. Reduction and control of occupational exposure to pesticides is urgently needed in Ethiopia. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Differential Response of Fish Assemblages to Coral Reef-Based Seaweed Farming

PubMed Central

Hehre, E. James; Meeuwig, J. J.

2015-01-01

As the global demand for seaweed-derived products drives the expansion of seaweed farming onto shallow coral ecosystems, the effects of farms on fish assemblages remain largely unexplored. Shallow coral reefs provide food and shelter for highly diverse fish assemblages but are increasingly modified by anthropogenic activities. We hypothesized that the introduction of seaweed farms into degraded shallow coral reefs had potential to generate ecological benefits for fish by adding structural complexity and a possible food source. We conducted 210 transects at 14 locations, with sampling stratified across seaweed farms and sites adjacent to and distant from farms. At a seascape scale, locations were classified by their level of exposure to human disturbance. We compared sites where (1) marine protected areas (MPAs) were established, (2) neither MPAs nor blast fishing was present (hence “unprotected”), and (3) blast fishing occurred. We observed 80,186 fish representing 148 species from 38 families. The negative effects of seaweed farms on fish assemblages appeared stronger in the absence of blast fishing and were strongest when MPAs were present, likely reflecting the positive influence of the MPAs on fish within them. Species differentiating fish assemblages with respect to seaweed farming and disturbance were typically small but also included two key target species. The propensity for seaweed farms to increase fish diversity, abundance, and biomass is limited and may reduce MPA benefits. We suggest that careful consideration be given to the placement of seaweed farms relative to MPAs. PMID:25822342

Differential response of fish assemblages to coral reef-based seaweed farming.

PubMed

Hehre, E James; Meeuwig, J J

2015-01-01

As the global demand for seaweed-derived products drives the expansion of seaweed farming onto shallow coral ecosystems, the effects of farms on fish assemblages remain largely unexplored. Shallow coral reefs provide food and shelter for highly diverse fish assemblages but are increasingly modified by anthropogenic activities. We hypothesized that the introduction of seaweed farms into degraded shallow coral reefs had potential to generate ecological benefits for fish by adding structural complexity and a possible food source. We conducted 210 transects at 14 locations, with sampling stratified across seaweed farms and sites adjacent to and distant from farms. At a seascape scale, locations were classified by their level of exposure to human disturbance. We compared sites where (1) marine protected areas (MPAs) were established, (2) neither MPAs nor blast fishing was present (hence "unprotected"), and (3) blast fishing occurred. We observed 80,186 fish representing 148 species from 38 families. The negative effects of seaweed farms on fish assemblages appeared stronger in the absence of blast fishing and were strongest when MPAs were present, likely reflecting the positive influence of the MPAs on fish within them. Species differentiating fish assemblages with respect to seaweed farming and disturbance were typically small but also included two key target species. The propensity for seaweed farms to increase fish diversity, abundance, and biomass is limited and may reduce MPA benefits. We suggest that careful consideration be given to the placement of seaweed farms relative to MPAs.

The effect of governance mechanisms on food safety in the supply chain: Evidence from the Lebanese dairy sector.

PubMed

Abebe, Gumataw K; Chalak, Ali; Abiad, Mohamad G

2017-07-01

Food safety is a key public health issue worldwide. This study aims to characterise existing governance mechanisms - governance structures (GSs) and food safety management systems (FSMSs) - and analyse the alignment thereof in detecting food safety hazards, based on empirical evidence from Lebanon. Firm-to-firm and public baseline are the dominant FSMSs applied in a large-scale, while chain-wide FSMSs are observed only in a small-scale. Most transactions involving farmers are relational and market-based in contrast to (large-scale) processors, which opt for hierarchical GSs. Large-scale processors use a combination of FSMSs and GSs to minimise food safety hazards albeit potential increase in coordination costs; this is an important feature of modern food supply chains. The econometric analysis reveals contract period, on-farm inspection and experience having significant effects in minimising food safety hazards. However, the potential to implement farm-level FSMS is influenced by formality of the contract, herd size, trading partner choice, and experience. Public baseline FSMSs appear effective in controlling food safety hazards; however, this may not be viable due to the scarcity of public resources. We suggest public policies to focus on long-lasting governance mechanisms by introducing incentive schemes and farm-level FSMSs by providing loans and education to farmers. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

The impact of peasant and industrialized agricultural systems on high productive loess soils in Central Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Christian; Heinrich, Jürgen

2017-04-01

The study analyzes the impact of a peasant and an industrialized agricultural land use system on soil degradation in two loess landscapes. The comparative method aims to test the hypothesis that different agricultural systems cause distinct differences in soil properties that can be documented by geo-chemical soil analysis. The two loess landscapes under investigation show great similarities in natural geo-ecological properties. Nevertheless, the land use system makes a significant difference in both research areas. The Polish Proszowice Plateau is characterized by traditional small-scale peasant agriculture. Small plots and fragmented ownership make it difficult to conjointly manage soil erosion. However, the Middle Saxonian Loess Region in Germany represents loess landscapes whose ecological functions were shaped by land consolidation measures resulting in the large-scale, high-input farming system. To identify representative small catchments for soil sampling relief heterogeneity analyses and a cluster analysis were performed to bridge scales between the landscape and the sub-catchment level. Geo-physical and geo-chemical laboratory techniques were used to analyze major soil properties. A total number of 346 sites were sampled and analyzed for geo-ecological, geomorphological, and pedological features. The results show distinct differences in soil properties between the two loess landscapes strongly influenced by agricultural use. However, despite big differences in agricultural management great similarities can also be found especially for mean soil organic carbon contents and plant nutrient values. At the same time, the greater variability of the soil mosaic is depicted by a higher variance of almost all soil properties common to traditional land use systems. Topsoils on arable land at the Proszowice Plateau also show a wider C/N ratio. Therefore, the soils there are less prone to degradation through mineralization of humic substances. The wider ratio is mainly caused by lower inputs of N-fertilizers, at least since 1990. At the same time, soil cultivation techniques and atmospheric deposits are not likely to make a significant difference. The topsoil horizons on arable lands at the Proszowice Plateau do not show significant differences in plant available nutrients like phosphorus, despite much lower P-inputs through mineral fertilizers since 1990. This is because of the high P-sorption capacity of the loess soils. Therefore, a long legacy effect of previous comparatively high mineral P-inputs between the 1960s and 80s can be observed. A similar effect occurs in the Middle Saxonian Loess Region. In contrast to the assumption of many scholars small-scale farming at the Proszowice Plateau has not lead to an under-supply of plant nutrients. The study has shown that significant differences in major soil properties can be observed because of different fertilizer inputs and partly because of different cultivation techniques. Also the traditional system increases soil heterogeneity. Contrary to expectations the study has shown that the small-scale peasant farming system resulted in similar mean soil organic carbon and phosphorus contents like the industrialized high-input farming system. A further study could include investigations of the effects of soil amendments like herbicides and pesticide on soil degradation.

Appraisal of Hygiene Indicators and Farming Practices in the Production of Leafy Vegetables by Organic Small-Scale Farmers in uMbumbulu (Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

PubMed Central

Mdluli, Fezile; Thamaga-Chitja, Joyce; Schmidt, Stefan

2013-01-01

During October, November and December 2011 (when highest sales of Agri-Hub fresh produce are observed), irrigation water, compost, lettuce and spinach sampled from four different farmer cooperatives supplying the local Agri-Hub in uMbumbulu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) were analyzed monthly for the presence of total and fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli using the most probable number (MPN) technique. The pH values for all irrigation water samples analyzed were within the acceptable range of 6.5–8.5 for agricultural use. Fecal coliform levels were <1,000 MPN per 100 mL irrigation water and <1,000 MPN per g of compost. The vegetables produced by Agri-Hub small-scale farmers met the requirements for total coliforms of <200/g set by the South African Department of Health at the time of sampling. E. coli MPN values for irrigation water and vegetables were below the limit of detection. In addition, the farming practices of 73 farmers were assessed via a survey. The results revealed that more than 40% of farmers used microbiologically safe tap water for irrigation and that trained farmers have a significantly better understanding of the importance of production hygiene than untrained farmers. These results reiterate the importance of interventions that build capacity in the area of food safety and hygiene of small-scale farmers for market access of formal value chains. PMID:24065036

Appraisal of hygiene indicators and farming practices in the production of leafy vegetables by organic small-scale farmers in uMbumbulu (Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa).

PubMed

Mdluli, Fezile; Thamaga-Chitja, Joyce; Schmidt, Stefan

2013-09-13

During October, November and December 2011 (when highest sales of Agri-Hub fresh produce are observed), irrigation water, compost, lettuce and spinach sampled from four different farmer cooperatives supplying the local Agri-Hub in uMbumbulu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) were analyzed monthly for the presence of total and fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli using the most probable number (MPN) technique. The pH values for all irrigation water samples analyzed were within the acceptable range of 6.5-8.5 for agricultural use. Fecal coliform levels were <1,000 MPN per 100 mL irrigation water and <1,000 MPN per g of compost. The vegetables produced by Agri-Hub small-scale farmers met the requirements for total coliforms of <200/g set by the South African Department of Health at the time of sampling. E. coli MPN values for irrigation water and vegetables were below the limit of detection. In addition, the farming practices of 73 farmers were assessed via a survey. The results revealed that more than 40% of farmers used microbiologically safe tap water for irrigation and that trained farmers have a significantly better understanding of the importance of production hygiene than untrained farmers. These results reiterate the importance of interventions that build capacity in the area of food safety and hygiene of small-scale farmers for market access of formal value chains.

Wind tunnel measurements of the power output variability and unsteady loading in a micro wind farm model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bossuyt, Juliaan; Howland, Michael; Meneveau, Charles; Meyers, Johan

2015-11-01

To optimize wind farm layouts for a maximum power output and wind turbine lifetime, mean power output measurements in wind tunnel studies are not sufficient. Instead, detailed temporal information about the power output and unsteady loading from every single wind turbine in the wind farm is needed. A very small porous disc model with a realistic thrust coefficient of 0.75 - 0.85, was designed. The model is instrumented with a strain gage, allowing measurements of the thrust force, incoming velocity and power output with a frequency response up to the natural frequency of the model. This is shown by reproducing the -5/3 spectrum from the incoming flow. Thanks to its small size and compact instrumentation, the model allows wind tunnel studies of large wind turbine arrays with detailed temporal information from every wind turbine. Translating to field conditions with a length-scale ratio of 1:3,000 the frequencies studied from the data reach from 10-4 Hz up to about 6 .10-2 Hz. The model's capabilities are demonstrated with a large wind farm measurement consisting of close to 100 instrumented models. A high correlation is found between the power outputs of stream wise aligned wind turbines, which is in good agreement with results from prior LES simulations. Work supported by ERC (ActiveWindFarms, grant no. 306471) and by NSF (grants CBET-113380 and IIA-1243482, the WINDINSPIRE project).

Missouri Small Farm Family Program. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enlow, George; And Others

Records maintained by rural extension designees on the Missouri Small Farm Family Program, (initiated in 1972 by the cooperative extension service to help low income farm families learn to use available resources to improve their quality of life) provided data re: family characteristics, farm improvement progress, and improvement in the quality of…

The Condition of Farmworkers and Small Farmer in 1974. Report to the National Board of the National Sharecroppers Fund/Rural Advancement Fund.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, James M.

The number of farms in rural America continued to decline. In 1974, 23,420 farms went out of business. Farm subsidy payments, originally designed to assist small farmers, contributed little to the survival of the small farmer. The 1974 increased costs in fuel and fertilizer alone reduced net farm income by $5 billion--approximately a $2,500…

Mycobacteria in Terrestrial Small Mammals on Cattle Farms in Tanzania

PubMed Central

Durnez, Lies; Katakweba, Abdul; Sadiki, Harrison; Katholi, Charles R.; Kazwala, Rudovick R.; Machang'u, Robert R.; Portaels, Françoise; Leirs, Herwig

2011-01-01

The control of bovine tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterioses in cattle in developing countries is important but difficult because of the existence of wildlife reservoirs. In cattle farms in Tanzania, mycobacteria were detected in 7.3% of 645 small mammals and in cow's milk. The cattle farms were divided into “reacting” and “nonreacting” farms, based on tuberculin tests, and more mycobacteria were present in insectivores collected in reacting farms as compared to nonreacting farms. More mycobacteria were also present in insectivores as compared to rodents. All mycobacteria detected by culture and PCR in the small mammals were atypical mycobacteria. Analysis of the presence of mycobacteria in relation to the reactor status of the cattle farms does not exclude transmission between small mammals and cattle but indicates that transmission to cattle from another source of infection is more likely. However, because of the high prevalence of mycobacteria in some small mammal species, these infected animals can pose a risk to humans, especially in areas with a high HIV-prevalence as is the case in Tanzania. PMID:21785686

Fork2Farmer: Enabling Success of Small Farms through Partnerships with Well-Known Chefs and the Tourism Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morais, Duarte; Jakes, Susan; Bowen, Becky; Lelekacs, Joanna Massey

2017-01-01

A team of economic development, local foods, and tourism specialists from North Carolina Cooperative Extension is pursuing an initiative titled Fork2Farmer. The goal is to increase visits to local farms and diversify farm income by leveraging the high visibility of well-known farm-to-table chefs who support local small farms. To do this, those…

Planting the Seeds of a New Agriculture: Living with the Land in Central America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adriance, Jim

1995-01-01

Central America's macroeconomics, land tenure patterns, and population growth are forcing small-scale farmers to alternatives based on farmer-to-farmer teaching and farming in concert with the environment. Discusses major schools of thought that have fueled this phenomenon, and how extension services and isolated groups are joining to form a…

Small-Scale Farming in Semi-Arid Areas: Livelihood Dynamics between 1997 and 2010 in Laikipia, Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulrich, Anne; Speranza, Chinwe Ifejika; Roden, Paul; Kiteme, Boniface; Wiesmann, Urs; Nusser, Marcus

2012-01-01

The rural population of semi-arid lands in Kenya face multiple challenges that result from population growth, poor markets, land use and climatic changes. In particular, subsistence oriented farmers face various risks and opportunities in their attempt to secure their livelihoods. This paper presents an analysis on how livelihood assets and…

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to pathogen infection in wild small mammals in intensive milk cattle and swine production systems.

PubMed

Lovera, Rosario; Fernández, María Soledad; Jacob, Jens; Lucero, Nidia; Morici, Gabriel; Brihuega, Bibiana; Farace, María Isabel; Caracostantogolo, Jorge; Cavia, Regino

2017-06-01

Understanding the ecological processes that are involved in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens by small mammals may aid adequate and effective management measures. Few attempts have been made to analyze the ecological aspects that influence pathogen infection in small mammals in livestock production systems. We describe the infection of small mammals with Leptospira spp., Brucella spp., Trichinella spp. and Cysticercus fasciolaris and assess the related intrinsic and extrinsic factors in livestock production systems in central Argentina at the small mammal community, population and individual levels. Ten pig farms and eight dairy farms were studied by removal trapping of small mammals from 2008 to 2011. Each farm was sampled seasonally over the course of one year with cage and Sherman live traps. The 505 small mammals captured (14,359 trap-nights) included three introduced murine rodents, four native rodents and two opossums. Leptospira spp., anti-Brucella spp. antibodies and Trichinella spp. were found in the three murine rodents and both opossums. Rattus norvegicus was also infected with C. fasciolaris; Akodon azarae and Oligoryzomys flavescens with Leptospira spp.; anti-Brucella spp. antibodies were found in A. azarae. Two or more pathogens occurred simultaneously on 89% of the farms, and each pathogen was found on at least 50% of the farms. Pathogen infections increased with host abundance. Infection by Leptospira spp. also increased with precipitation and during warm seasons. The occurrence of anti-Brucella spp. antibodies was higher on dairy farms and during the winter and summer. The host abundances limit values, from which farms are expected to be free of the studied pathogens, are reported. Murine rodents maintain pathogens within farms, whereas other native species are likely dispersing pathogens among farms. Hence, we recommend preventing and controlling murines in farm dwellings and isolating farms from their surroundings to avoid contact with other wild mammals.

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to pathogen infection in wild small mammals in intensive milk cattle and swine production systems

PubMed Central

Lovera, Rosario; Fernández, María Soledad; Jacob, Jens; Caracostantogolo, Jorge

2017-01-01

Background Understanding the ecological processes that are involved in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens by small mammals may aid adequate and effective management measures. Few attempts have been made to analyze the ecological aspects that influence pathogen infection in small mammals in livestock production systems. We describe the infection of small mammals with Leptospira spp., Brucella spp., Trichinella spp. and Cysticercus fasciolaris and assess the related intrinsic and extrinsic factors in livestock production systems in central Argentina at the small mammal community, population and individual levels. Methodology/Principal findings Ten pig farms and eight dairy farms were studied by removal trapping of small mammals from 2008 to 2011. Each farm was sampled seasonally over the course of one year with cage and Sherman live traps. The 505 small mammals captured (14,359 trap-nights) included three introduced murine rodents, four native rodents and two opossums. Leptospira spp., anti-Brucella spp. antibodies and Trichinella spp. were found in the three murine rodents and both opossums. Rattus norvegicus was also infected with C. fasciolaris; Akodon azarae and Oligoryzomys flavescens with Leptospira spp.; anti-Brucella spp. antibodies were found in A. azarae. Two or more pathogens occurred simultaneously on 89% of the farms, and each pathogen was found on at least 50% of the farms. Pathogen infections increased with host abundance. Infection by Leptospira spp. also increased with precipitation and during warm seasons. The occurrence of anti-Brucella spp. antibodies was higher on dairy farms and during the winter and summer. The host abundances limit values, from which farms are expected to be free of the studied pathogens, are reported. Conclusions/Significance Murine rodents maintain pathogens within farms, whereas other native species are likely dispersing pathogens among farms. Hence, we recommend preventing and controlling murines in farm dwellings and isolating farms from their surroundings to avoid contact with other wild mammals. PMID:28665952

Assessing eco-efficiency and the determinants of horticultural family-farming in southeast Spain.

PubMed

Godoy-Durán, Ángeles; Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio; Pérez-Mesa, Juan C; Piedra-Muñoz, Laura

2017-12-15

Eco-efficiency is currently receiving ever increasing interest as an indicator of sustainability, as it links environmental and economic performances in productive activities. In agriculture these indicators and their determinants prove relevant due to the close ties in this activity between the use of often limited natural resources and the provision of basic goods for society. The present paper analyzes eco-efficiency at micro-level, focusing on small-scale family farms as the principal decision-making units (DMUs) of horticulture in southeast Spain, which represents over 30% of fresh vegetables produced in the country. To this end, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework is applied, computing several combinations of environmental pressures (water usage, phytosanitary contamination, waste management, etc.) and economic value added. In a second stage we analyze the influence of family farms' socio-economic and environmental features on eco-efficiency indicators, as endogenous variables, by using truncated regression and bootstrapping techniques. The results show major inefficiency in aspects such as waste management, among others, while there is relatively minor inefficiency in water usage and nitrogen balance. On the other hand, features such as product specialization, adoption of quality certifications, and belonging to a cooperative all have a positive influence on eco-efficiency. These results are deemed to be of interest to agri-food systems structured on small-scale producers, and they may prove useful to policy-makers as regards managing public environmental programs in agriculture. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 62806 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-11

.... Reporting Requirements, assessment area delineation, 2 hours; small business and small farm loan data, 8.... Reporting Requirements, assessment area delineation, 72; small business and small farm loan data, 72... 62807

Security region-based small signal stability analysis of power systems with FSIG based wind farm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Chao; Zeng, Yuan; Yang, Yang; Cui, Xiaodan; Xu, Xialing; Li, Yong

2018-02-01

Based on the Security Region approach, the impact of fixed-speed induction generator based wind farm on the small signal stability of power systems is analyzed. Firstly, the key factors of wind farm on the small signal stability of power systems are analyzed and the parameter space for small signal stability region is formed. Secondly, the small signal stability region of power systems with wind power is established. Thirdly, the corresponding relation between the boundary of SSSR and the dominant oscillation mode is further studied. Results show that the integration of fixed-speed induction generator based wind farm will cause the low frequency oscillation stability of the power system deteriorate. When the output of wind power is high, the oscillation stability of the power system is mainly concerned with the inter-area oscillation mode caused by the integration of the wind farm. Both the active power output and the capacity of reactive power compensation of the wind farm have a significant influence on the SSSR. To improve the oscillation stability of power systems with wind power, it is suggested to reasonably set the reactive power compensation capacity for the wind farm through SSSR.

Genetic diversity of Brazilian natural populations of Anthonomus grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), the major cotton pest in the New World.

PubMed

Martins, W F S; Ayres, C F J; Lucena, W A

2007-01-27

Twenty-five RAPD loci and 6 isozyme loci were studied to characterize the genetic variability of natural populations of Anthonomus grandis from two agroecosystems of Brazil. The random-amplified polymorphic DNA data disclosed a polymorphism that varied from 52 to 84% and a heterozygosity of 0.189 to 0.347. The index of genetic differentiation (GST) among the six populations was 0.258. The analysis of isozymes showed a polymorphism and a heterozygosity ranging from 25 to 100% and 0.174 to 0.277, respectively. The genetic differentiation (FST) among the populations obtained by isozyme data was 0.544. It was possible to observe rare alleles in the populations from the Northeast region. The markers examined allowed us to distinguish populations from large-scale, intensive farming region (cotton belts) versus populations from areas of small-scale farming

Farm-level feasibility of bioenergy depends on variations across multiple sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myhre, Mitchell; Barford, Carol

2013-03-01

The potential supply of bioenergy from farm-grown biomass is uncertain due to several poorly understood or volatile factors, including land availability, yield variability, and energy prices. Although biomass production for liquid fuel has received more attention, here we present a case study of biomass production for renewable heat and power in the state of Wisconsin (US), where heating constitutes at least 30% of total energy demand. Using three bioenergy systems (50 kW, 8.8 MW and 50 MW) and Wisconsin farm-level data, we determined the net farm income effect of producing switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a feedstock, either for on-farm use (50 kW system) or for sale to an off-farm energy system operator (8.8 and 50 MW systems). In southern counties, where switchgrass yields approach 10 Mg ha-1 yr-1, the main determinants of economic feasibility were the available land area per farm, the ability to utilize bioheat, and opportunity cost assumptions. Switchgrass yield temporal variability was less important. For the state median farm size and switchgrass yield, at least 25% (50 kW system) or 50% (8.8 MW system) bioheat utilization was required to economically offset propane or natural gas heat, respectively, and purchased electricity. Offsetting electricity only (50 MW system) did not generate enough revenue to meet switchgrass production expenses. Although the opportunity cost of small-scale (50 kW) on-farm bioenergy generation was higher, it also held greater opportunity for increasing farm net income, especially by replacing propane-based heat.

12 CFR 345.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community development... following criteria: (1) Lending activity. The number and amount of the bank's home mortgage, small business... distribution. The geographic distribution of the bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer...

12 CFR 345.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and community development... following criteria: (1) Lending activity. The number and amount of the bank's home mortgage, small business... distribution. The geographic distribution of the bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer...

Monitoring of biogenic amines in cheeses manufactured at small-scale farms and in fermented dairy products in the Czech Republic.

PubMed

Buňková, Leona; Adamcová, Gabriela; Hudcová, Kateřina; Velichová, Helena; Pachlová, Vendula; Lorencová, Eva; Buňka, František

2013-11-01

The aim of the study was the monitoring of six biogenic amines (histamine, tyramine, phenylethylamine, tryptamine, putrescine, and cadaverine) and two polyamines (spermidine and spermine) in 112 samples of dairy products purchased in the Czech Republic, namely in 55 cheeses made in small-scale farms and in 57 fermented dairy products. The products were tested at the end of their shelf-life period. Neither tryptamine nor phenylethylamine was detected in the monitored samples; histamine was found only in four cheese samples containing up to 25mg/kg. The contents of spermine and spermidine were low and did not exceed the values of 35 mg/kg. Significant amounts of tyramine, putrescine, and cadaverine occurred especially in cheeses produced from ewe's milk or in long-term ripened cheeses. In about 10% of the tested cheeses, the total concentration of all the monitored biogenic amines and polyamines exceeded the level of 200mg/kg, which can be considered toxicologically significant. In fermented dairy products, the tested biogenic amines occurred in relatively low amounts (generally up to 30 mg/kg) that are regarded safe for the consumer's health. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seasonal and Spatial Dynamics of the Primary Vector of Plasmodium knowlesi within a Major Transmission Focus in Sabah, Malaysia

PubMed Central

Wong, Meng L.; Chua, Tock H.; Leong, Cherng S.; Khaw, Loke T.; Fornace, Kimberly; Wan-Sulaiman, Wan-Yusoff; William, Timothy; Drakeley, Chris; Ferguson, Heather M.; Vythilingam, Indra

2015-01-01

Background The simian malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi is emerging as a public health problem in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysian Borneo where it now accounts for the greatest burden of malaria cases and deaths. Control is hindered by limited understanding of the ecology of potential vector species. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a one year longitudinal study of P. knowlesi vectors in three sites within an endemic area of Sabah, Malaysia. All mosquitoes were captured using human landing catch. Anopheles mosquitoes were dissected to determine, oocyst, sporozoites and parous rate. Anopheles balabacensis is confirmed as the primary vector of. P. knowlesi (using nested PCR) in Sabah for the first time. Vector densities were significantly higher and more seasonally variable in the village than forest or small scale farming site. However An. balabacensis survival and P. knowlesi infection rates were highest in forest and small scale farm sites. Anopheles balabacensis mostly bites humans outdoors in the early evening between 1800 to 2000hrs. Conclusions/Significance This study indicates transmission is unlikely to be prevented by bednets. This combined with its high vectorial capacity poses a threat to malaria elimination programmes within the region. PMID:26448052

House and stable fly (Diptera: Muscidae) seasonal abundance, larval development substrates, and natural parasitism on small equine farms in Florida

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This 1-year study was designed to determine adult fly population levels and development substrates on four small equine farms. Results showed that pest flies were present year-round, but differences existed in population levels among farms and seasons. Fly larvae were not found on two of the farms, ...

Initiative for Future Agricultural Food Systems (IFAFS) From Farm to School: Improving Small Farm Viability and School Meals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kish, Stacy

2008-01-01

Improving the nutritional value of school meals is a growing priority among school systems across the United States. To assist in this effort, the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) funded a coalition, which developed a new program called "From Farm to School: Improving Small Farm Viability and School…

The Uplands after Neoliberalism?--The Role of the Small Farm in Rural Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shucksmith, Mark; Ronningen, Katrina

2011-01-01

The modernist project foresaw no role for small farms, but this can no longer be regarded as axiomatic as neoliberalism enters what Peck et al. call its "zombie phase". This paper asks what contribution small farms in the uplands can make to societies' goals, what role they might play in the sustainability of rural communities in such…

Transforming ex-small scale mining land as farming areas for sustainable development and poverty alleviation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nampa, I. W.; Markus, J. E. R.; Mudita, I. W.; Natonis, R. L.; Bunga, W.; Kaho, N. R.

2018-03-01

When the price of manganese ores in 2012, mining activities declined or even terminated. Ex-miners lose an important source of income, but they did not have any other alternative except going back to slash and burn cultivation, producing enough only for their own food. Their hope for a better live was gone and at the same time they faced stigmatisation as causing environmental degradation from the rest of the community. We carried out this case study to followex-miners in the Tubuhue village who organised themselves to do post-mining rehabilitation by turning the former mining site into an area of productive farming. In-depth interview, field observation and focus group discussion were conducted from 2015 to 2017. We found that during the period of mining boom, slash and burn cultivation decrease significantly but began to increase after no mining activities. Various social transformations took place along with this land use change, but the most important was the miners’ decision to do mining as an organised activity. A strong leader of this organization played a pivotal role in turning the former mining site into an area of productive sedentary farming. This was carried out by organizing the ex-miners into farmers groups and together, constructing drip and sprinkler irrigation networks to water their crops using rain water collected in the mining holes that they had turned into small check-dams. The leader expected that this farming could provide an alternative for ex-miners to obtain cash income to limit them going back doing swidden farming.

12 CFR 228.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... assessment area(s) through its lending activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business... and amount of the bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable... bank's home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, based on the loan...

Foraging and farming as niche construction: stable and unstable adaptations

PubMed Central

Rowley-Conwy, Peter; Layton, Robert

2011-01-01

All forager (or hunter–gatherer) societies construct niches, many of them actively by the concentration of wild plants into useful stands, small-scale cultivation, burning of natural vegetation to encourage useful species, and various forms of hunting, collectively termed ‘low-level food production’. Many such niches are stable and can continue indefinitely, because forager populations are usually stable. Some are unstable, but these usually transform into other foraging niches, not geographically expansive farming niches. The Epipalaeolithic (final hunter–gatherer) niche in the Near East was complex but stable, with a relatively high population density, until destabilized by an abrupt climatic change. The niche was unintentionally transformed into an agricultural one, due to chance genetic and behavioural attributes of some wild plant and animal species. The agricultural niche could be exported with modifications over much of the Old World. This was driven by massive population increase and had huge impacts on local people, animals and plants wherever the farming niche was carried. Farming niches in some areas may temporarily come close to stability, but the history of the last 11 000 years does not suggest that agriculture is an effective strategy for achieving demographic and political stability in the world's farming populations. PMID:21320899

Is the Production of Embryos in Small-Scale Farming an Economically Feasible Enterprise?

PubMed

Sánchez, Z; Lammoglia, M A; Alarcón, M A; Romero, J J; Galina, C S

2015-08-01

The present assay attempts to evaluate the feasibility of using embryo transfer in small community farmers by in vivo study and by modelling the results obtained. From the total of 59 donor cows, 62.7% responded to treatment, with a significant difference (p = 0.002) in the percentage of the response between breeds, being 90.5% (19/21) in Holstein and 47.4% (18/38) in Brahman. A total of 283 embryos were graded as transferable, while 141 as non-transferable, without difference in the percentage of transferable embryo by breed (p = 0.18). The mean of transferable embryos graded as class I and II was not different between Holstein and Brahman (p = 0.96 and p = 0.92, respectively); besides, no differences were observed in the other grades (non-transferable). The highest difference in costs, regardless of its quality by breed, was seen in the lower levels of probable fertility of the embryo transferred, even reaching several hundred dollars. When modelling the expected costs for embryo produced and transferred, values can reach nearly $2000.00 when the probable fertility is only 10%. However, when the probable fertility was 60%, embryo cost was close to $300.00. This technology seems to be viable on average or high-scale systems, having a superovulatory response between 60 and 80% with 4-6 transferrable embryos. Yet, in small-scale farming, due to the reduced number of donors and/or recipients, the costs surpass the economical feasibility of the technique. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Supporting local diversity of habitats and species on farmland: a comparison of three wildlife-friendly schemes.

PubMed

Hardman, Chloe J; Harrison, Dominic P G; Shaw, Pete J; Nevard, Tim D; Hughes, Brin; Potts, Simon G; Norris, Ken

2016-02-01

Restoration and maintenance of habitat diversity have been suggested as conservation priorities in farmed landscapes, but how this should be achieved and at what scale are unclear. This study makes a novel comparison of the effectiveness of three wildlife-friendly farming schemes for supporting local habitat diversity and species richness on 12 farms in England.The schemes were: (i) Conservation Grade (Conservation Grade: a prescriptive, non-organic, biodiversity-focused scheme), (ii) organic agriculture and (iii) a baseline of Entry Level Stewardship (Entry Level Stewardship: a flexible widespread government scheme). Conservation Grade farms supported a quarter higher habitat diversity at the 100-m radius scale compared to Entry Level Stewardship farms. Conservation Grade and organic farms both supported a fifth higher habitat diversity at the 250-m radius scale compared to Entry Level Stewardship farms. Habitat diversity at the 100-m and 250-m scales significantly predicted species richness of butterflies and plants. Habitat diversity at the 100-m scale also significantly predicted species richness of birds in winter and solitary bees. There were no significant relationships between habitat diversity and species richness for bumblebees or birds in summer.Butterfly species richness was significantly higher on organic farms (50% higher) and marginally higher on Conservation Grade farms (20% higher), compared with farms in Entry Level Stewardship. Organic farms supported significantly more plant species than Entry Level Stewardship farms (70% higher) but Conservation Grade farms did not (10% higher). There were no significant differences between the three schemes for species richness of bumblebees, solitary bees or birds. Policy implications . The wildlife-friendly farming schemes which included compulsory changes in management, Conservation Grade and organic, were more effective at increasing local habitat diversity and species richness compared with the less prescriptive Entry Level Stewardship scheme. We recommend that wildlife-friendly farming schemes should aim to enhance and maintain high local habitat diversity, through mechanisms such as option packages, where farmers are required to deliver a combination of several habitats.

Risk factors for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome outbreaks in Vietnamese small stock farms.

PubMed

Truong, V M; Gummow, B

2014-07-01

To examine risk factors that could have played a role in the 2010 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) outbreak in Yenhung district, Quangninh province, North-Vietnam, with the purpose of establishing why existing control measures implemented after previous outbreaks had failed to prevent further outbreaks. A case-control study was carried out in Yenhung district. Data were obtained by an interview-based questionnaire survey. The sampling unit was households, which equated to small-scale pig farms. A total of 150 case and 150 control households were selected at communes affected by the 2010 PRRS epidemic during April to June. Risk factors were analysed using binary logistic regression and unconditional multiple logistic regression. Households infected with PRRS were significantly associated with multiple variables belonging to three main groups: (1) location of the farms: i.e. farms positioned <1,000 m from a pig abattoir or within 500 m of local markets or 100 m of main roads; (2) farm management: i.e. where there was non-application of weekly farm disinfection, feeding uncooked swill, new introduction of purchased pigs without isolation, or usage of water from irrigation systems for raising pigs; (3) people and animal contact: i.e. where households kept animals with either no confinement or partial confinement, had visits by family members to other affected farms or had frequent visits by neighbours. The use of water from irrigation systems was found to be the risk factor most strongly associated with infected households in the 2010 outbreak (OR=22; 95% CI=12-42). The results show that the epidemiology of PRRS in Quangninh province was linked to sociological and cultural practices, and that effective PRRS control needs an integrated approach coupled with behavioural changes in the pig raising practices of the general public. Failure to recognise this could explain why further outbreaks have occurred.

Wake characteristics of wind turbines in utility-scale wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xiaolei; Foti, Daniel; Sotiropoulos, Fotis

2017-11-01

The dynamics of turbine wakes is affected by turbine operating conditions, ambient atmospheric turbulent flows, and wakes from upwind turbines. Investigations of the wake from a single turbine have been extensively carried out in the literature. Studies on the wake dynamics in utility-scale wind farms are relatively limited. In this work, we employ large-eddy simulation with an actuator surface or actuator line model for turbine blades to investigate the wake dynamics in utility-scale wind farms. Simulations of three wind farms, i.e., the Horns Rev wind farm in Denmark, Pleasant Valley wind farm in Minnesota, and the Vantage wind farm in Washington are carried out. The computed power shows a good agreement with measurements. Analysis of the wake dynamics in the three wind farms is underway and will be presented in the conference. This work was support by Xcel Energy (RD4-13). The computational resources were provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Enterobacteriaceae in Shell Eggs from Small-Scale Poultry Farms and Farmers' Markets.

PubMed

Kilonzo-Nthenge, A; Nahashon, S N; Godwin, S; Liu, S; Long, D

2016-12-01

Public health concerns over the emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria have increased recently. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant Enterobacteriaceae in shell eggs purchased from small poultry farms and farmers' markets. A total of 504 eggs were pooled to make 252 composite samples, consisting of 2 eggs per composite. The microbial quality of shell eggs was determined by standard quantitative, biochemical, and PCR techniques. Susceptibility to 13 antimicrobial agents was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion technique, and results were interpreted based on Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute values. Shell eggs and egg contents were positive for Escherichia coli (11.9 and 5.2%, respectively), Enterobacter (9.1 and 7.9%), and Serratia (11.5 and 4.8%). Salmonella was isolated from 3.6% of egg shells but not from egg contents. Mean (±SD) Enterobacteriaceae levels (4.4 ± 2.0 log CFU per eggshell) on shell eggs from poultry farms was significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than that on shell eggs from farmers' markets (2.1 ± 1.3 log CFU per eggshell). Of the 134 isolates recovered, resistance among isolates from farm and market shell eggs to erythromycin was most common (48.5 and 32.8%, respectively) followed by ampicillin (44.8 and 17.2%), and tetracycline (29.9 and 17.2%). The multiple antibiotic resistance index value for E. coli and Pantoea was 0.62, and that for Salmonella and Klebsiella terrigena was 0.08, indicating that Enterobacteriaceae in shell eggs can be resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents. These data reveal that shell eggs from small poultry farms and farmers' markets can harbor antimicrobial resistant pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Thus, failure to properly handle shell eggs poses a potential health hazard to consumers.

Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Azadi, Hossein; Samiee, Atry; Mahmoudi, Hossein; Jouzi, Zeynab; Khachak, Parisa Rafiaani; De Maeyer, Philippe; Witlox, Frank

2016-01-01

Although some important features of genetically modified (GM) crops such as insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, and drought tolerance might seem to be beneficial for small-scale farmers, the adoption of GM technology by smallholders is still slight. Identifying pros and cons of using this technology is important to understand the impacts of GM crops on these farmers. This article reviews the main opportunities and challenges of GM crops for small-scale farmers in developing countries. The most significant advantages of GM crops include being independent to farm size, environment protection, improvement of occupational health issues, and the potential of bio-fortified crops to reduce malnutrition. Challenges faced by small-scale farmers for adoption of GM crops comprise availability and accessibility of GM crop seeds, seed dissemination and price, and the lack of adequate information. In addition, R&D and production costs in using GM crops make it difficult for these farmers to adopt the use of these crops. Moreover, intellectual property right regulations may deprive resource poor farmers from the advantages of GM technology. Finally, concerns on socio-economic and environment safety issues are also addressed in this paper.

Computational examination of utility scale wind turbine wake interactions

DOE PAGES

Okosun, Tyamo; Zhou, Chenn Q.

2015-07-14

We performed numerical simulations of small, utility scale wind turbine groupings to determine how wakes generated by upstream turbines affect the performance of the small turbine group as a whole. Specifically, various wind turbine arrangements were simulated to better understand how turbine location influences small group wake interactions. The minimization of power losses due to wake interactions certainly plays a significant role in the optimization of wind farms. Since wind turbines extract kinetic energy from the wind, the air passing through a wind turbine decreases in velocity, and turbines downstream of the initial turbine experience flows of lower energy, resultingmore » in reduced power output. Our study proposes two arrangements of turbines that could generate more power by exploiting the momentum of the wind to increase velocity at downstream turbines, while maintaining low wake interactions at the same time. Furthermore, simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics are used to obtain results much more quickly than methods requiring wind tunnel models or a large scale experimental test.« less

Economic benefit of crop pollination by bees: a case of Kakamega small-holder farming in western Kenya.

PubMed

Kasina, J M; Mburu, J; Kraemer, M; Holm-Mueller, K

2009-04-01

In most developing countries, crop production is by small scale farmers, who mainly produce for their own consumption and the extra for market. Pollination in such systems is unmanaged and is usually incidental, supported by nearby ecosystems. One of the reasons of not managing pollination is the lack of understanding of its economic value. The "public-good" nature of pollination in these systems also discourages individual initiatives intended to conserve pollinators. We evaluate the economic returns from bee pollination in small-holder farming systems. To do this we apply the factor of production method, a form of revealed preferences methods available for valuing ecosystem services. Our analyses show that bee pollination enhances the yield of most crops grown in the farmland and improves immensely the quality of produce. Almost 40% of the annual value of crops under consideration represented the net returns derived from bee pollination. More than 99% of this benefit is attributed to pollination by feral bees. We provide in-depth valuation of pollination service and discuss applicability and limitations of the factor of production method in developing countries.

The Effectiveness of Videotape Programs as a Communication Tool in the Small-Scale Livestock for Rural Farming Women Project, Honduras.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson-Dean, Lynn

This study examines economic development in Third World countries and the use of portable video systems in development projects. The study, conducted in 1985, attempts to measure the level of effectiveness of videotape programs as a communication tool for training rural subsistence women in Honduras in technical aspects of pig-keeping. Classical…

The Problem of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries--Direct and Indirect Causes and Recommendations for Reducing It to a Sustainable Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Middlebrook, Cathy H.; Goode, Pamela M.

1992-01-01

Presents direct and indirect causes of erosion in developing countries. Identifies soil conservation developments ranging from major international policy reforms to small-scale, local farming programs. Suggests that strategies at all levels, and the political will to implement them, are needed if erosion is to be reduced to a sustainable rate. (23…

Development of web-based GIS services for sustainable soil resource management at farm level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadopoulos, Antonis; Kolovos, Chronis; Troyanos, Yerasimos; Doula, Maria

2017-09-01

Modern farms situated in urban or suburban areas, include various and in most cases diverse land covers. Land uses in such farms may serve residential, structured, aesthetic and agricultural purposes, usually delimited inside the boundaries of a single property. The environmental conditions across a farm, especially if it is situated on an irregular terrain, can be highly differentiated. Managing soil resources in a small scale diverse farm environment in a holistic and sustainable way should have spatial and temporal reference and take advantage of cut-edge geospatial technologies. In present study, an 8 hectare farm with various land uses in the southern suburbs of Attica Prefecture, Greece was systematically monitored regarding its soil, water and plant resources. Almost 80% of the farm's area is covered with trees, shrubs and low vegetation planted in a mosaic of parterres. Farm data collected concerned soil and water physicochemical characteristics, plant species, topographical features, irrigation network, valves and infrastructure. All data were imported and developed in a GIS geodatabase. Furthermore, web GIS services and a mobile GIS app were developed in order to monitor, update and synchronize present status and future changes performed in the farm. Through the web services and using the mobile GIS app, the user has access to all data stored in the geodatabase and according to access rights he can view or edit the spatial entities. The user can easily make query to specific features, combine their properties with other overlaying spatial data and reach accurate decisions. The app can be downloaded and implemented in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for extending its functionality. As proven in this study, web GIS services and mobile GIS apps constitute an attractive suite of methodologies for effective and user friendly management of natural resources at farm level.

12 CFR Appendix A to Part 563e - Ratings

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in its assessment area(s); (B) A... area(s), of loans among individuals of different income levels and businesses (including farms) of... individuals, or businesses (including farms) with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less, consistent with...

Predicting carbon benefits from climate-smart agriculture: High-resolution carbon mapping and uncertainty assessment in El Salvador.

PubMed

Kearney, Sean Patrick; Coops, Nicholas C; Chan, Kai M A; Fonte, Steven J; Siles, Pablo; Smukler, Sean M

2017-11-01

Agroforestry management in smallholder agriculture can provide climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits and has been promoted as 'climate-smart agriculture' (CSA), yet has generally been left out of international and voluntary carbon (C) mitigation agreements. A key reason for this omission is the cost and uncertainty of monitoring C at the farm scale in heterogeneous smallholder landscapes. A largely overlooked alternative is to monitor C at more aggregated scales and develop C contracts with groups of land owners, community organizations or C aggregators working across entire landscapes (e.g., watersheds, communities, municipalities, etc.). In this study we use a 100-km 2 agricultural area in El Salvador to demonstrate how high-spatial resolution optical satellite imagery can be used to map aboveground woody biomass (AGWB) C at the landscape scale with very low uncertainty (95% probability of a deviation of less than 1%). Uncertainty of AGWB-C estimates remained low (<5%) for areas as small as 250 ha, despite high uncertainties at the farm and plot scale (34-99%). We estimate that CSA adoption could more than double AGWB-C stocks on agricultural lands in the study area, and that utilizing AGWB-C maps to target denuded areas could increase C gains per unit area by 46%. The potential value of C credits under a plausible adoption scenario would range from $38,270 to $354,000 yr -1 for the study area, or about $13 to $124 ha -1  yr -1 , depending on C prices. Considering farm sizes in smallholder landscapes rarely exceed 1-2 ha, relying solely on direct C payments to farmers may not lead to widespread CSA adoption, especially if farm-scale monitoring is required. Instead, landscape-scale approaches to C contracting, supported by satellite-based monitoring methods such as ours, could be a key strategy to reduce costs and uncertainty of C monitoring in heterogeneous smallholder landscapes, thereby incentivizing more widespread CSA adoption. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Developing index maps of water-harvest potential in Africa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Senay, G.B.; Verdin, J.P.

2004-01-01

The food security problem in Africa is tied to the small farmer, whose subsistence farming relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture. A dry spell lasting two to three weeks can cause a significant yield reduction. A small-scale irrigation scheme from small-capacity ponds can alleviate this problem. This solution would require a water harvest mechanism at a farm level. In this study, we looked at the feasibility of implementing such a water harvest mechanism in drought prone parts of Africa. A water balance study was conducted at different watershed levels. Runoff (watershed yield) was estimated using the SCS curve number technique and satellite derived rainfall estimates (RFE). Watersheds were delineated from the Africa-wide HYDRO-1K digital elevation model (DEM) data set in a GIS environment. Annual runoff volumes that can potentially be stored in a pond during storm events were estimated as the product of the watershed area and runoff excess estimated from the SCS Curve Number method. Estimates were made for seepage and net evaporation losses. A series of water harvest index maps were developed based on a combination of factors that took into account the availability of runoff, evaporation losses, population density, and the required watershed size needed to fill a small storage reservoir that can be used to alleviate water stress during a crop growing season. This study presents Africa-wide water-harvest index maps that could be used for conducting feasibility studies at a regional scale in assessing the relative differences in runoff potential between regions for the possibility of using ponds as a water management tool. ?? 2004 American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

Meat Quality Characteristics of Small East African Goats and Norwegian Crosses Finished under Small Scale Farming Conditions.

PubMed

Hozza, W A; Mtenga, L A; Kifaro, G C; Shija, D S N; Mushi, D E; Safari, J G; Shirima, E J M

2014-12-01

The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of feeding system on meat quality characteristics of Small East African (SEA) goats and their crosses with Norwegian (SEA×N) goats finished under small scale farming conditions. Twenty four castrated goats at the age of 18 months with live body weight of 16.7±0.54 kg from each breed (SEA and SEA×N) were distributed in a completely randomized design in a 2×3 factorial arrangement (two breed, and three dietary treatments). The dietary treatments were; no access to concentrate (T0), 66% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance (T66) and 100% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance with 20% refusal (T100) and the experimental period was for 84 days. In addition, all goats were allowed to graze for 2 hours daily and later fed grass hay on ad libitum basis. Daily feed intakes were recorded for all 84-days of experiment after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/d, which was 183 g/d higher than that of T66 group. Supplemented goats had significantly (p<0.05) better feed conversion efficiency. The SEA had higher (p<0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs 7.9 kg), true dressing percentage (54.5 vs 53.3) and commercial dressing percentage (43.3 vs 41.6) compared to SEA×N. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) for dressing percentage and carcass conformation among supplemented goats except fatness score, total fat depots and carcass fat which increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrate levels in the diet. Increasing level of concentrate on offer increased meat dry matter with subsequent increase of fat in the meat. Muscle pH of goats fed concentrate declined rapidly and reached below 6 at 6 h post-mortem but temperature remained at 28°C. Cooking loss and meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) and thawing loss increased (p<0.05) with ageing period. Similarly, meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) with concentrate supplementation. Shear force of muscles varied from 36 to 66, the high values been associated with Semimembranosus and Gluteobiceps muscles. The present study demonstrates that there are differences in meat quality characteristics of meat from SEA goats and their crosses with Norwegian breeds finished under small scale farming conditions in rural areas. Therefore, concentrate supplementation of goats of both breeds improves meat quality attributes.

Meat Quality Characteristics of Small East African Goats and Norwegian Crosses Finished under Small Scale Farming Conditions

PubMed Central

Hozza, W. A.; Mtenga, L. A.; Kifaro, G. C.; Shija, D. S. N.; Mushi, D. E.; Safari, J. G.; Shirima, E. J. M.

2014-01-01

The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of feeding system on meat quality characteristics of Small East African (SEA) goats and their crosses with Norwegian (SEA×N) goats finished under small scale farming conditions. Twenty four castrated goats at the age of 18 months with live body weight of 16.7±0.54 kg from each breed (SEA and SEA×N) were distributed in a completely randomized design in a 2×3 factorial arrangement (two breed, and three dietary treatments). The dietary treatments were; no access to concentrate (T0), 66% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance (T66) and 100% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance with 20% refusal (T100) and the experimental period was for 84 days. In addition, all goats were allowed to graze for 2 hours daily and later fed grass hay on ad libitum basis. Daily feed intakes were recorded for all 84-days of experiment after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/d, which was 183 g/d higher than that of T66 group. Supplemented goats had significantly (p<0.05) better feed conversion efficiency. The SEA had higher (p<0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs 7.9 kg), true dressing percentage (54.5 vs 53.3) and commercial dressing percentage (43.3 vs 41.6) compared to SEA×N. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) for dressing percentage and carcass conformation among supplemented goats except fatness score, total fat depots and carcass fat which increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrate levels in the diet. Increasing level of concentrate on offer increased meat dry matter with subsequent increase of fat in the meat. Muscle pH of goats fed concentrate declined rapidly and reached below 6 at 6 h post-mortem but temperature remained at 28°C. Cooking loss and meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) and thawing loss increased (p<0.05) with ageing period. Similarly, meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) with concentrate supplementation. Shear force of muscles varied from 36 to 66, the high values been associated with Semimembranosus and Gluteobiceps muscles. The present study demonstrates that there are differences in meat quality characteristics of meat from SEA goats and their crosses with Norwegian breeds finished under small scale farming conditions in rural areas. Therefore, concentrate supplementation of goats of both breeds improves meat quality attributes. PMID:25358372

12 CFR 32.7 - Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans. 32.7 Section 32.7 Banks and Banking COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY LENDING LIMITS § 32.7 Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small...

12 CFR 32.7 - Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small farm loans. 32.7 Section 32.7 Banks and Banking COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY LENDING LIMITS § 32.7 Residential real estate loans, small business loans, and small...

Demonstrating a new framework for the comparison of environmental impacts from small- and large-scale hydropower and wind power projects.

PubMed

Bakken, Tor Haakon; Aase, Anne Guri; Hagen, Dagmar; Sundt, Håkon; Barton, David N; Lujala, Päivi

2014-07-01

Climate change and the needed reductions in the use of fossil fuels call for the development of renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy production, such as hydropower (both small- and large-scale) and wind power have adverse impacts on the local environment by causing reductions in biodiversity and loss of habitats and species. This paper compares the environmental impacts of many small-scale hydropower plants with a few large-scale hydropower projects and one wind power farm, based on the same set of environmental parameters; land occupation, reduction in wilderness areas (INON), visibility and impacts on red-listed species. Our basis for comparison was similar energy volumes produced, without considering the quality of the energy services provided. The results show that small-scale hydropower performs less favourably in all parameters except land occupation. The land occupation of large hydropower and wind power is in the range of 45-50 m(2)/MWh, which is more than two times larger than the small-scale hydropower, where the large land occupation for large hydropower is explained by the extent of the reservoirs. On all the three other parameters small-scale hydropower performs more than two times worse than both large hydropower and wind power. Wind power compares similarly to large-scale hydropower regarding land occupation, much better on the reduction in INON areas, and in the same range regarding red-listed species. Our results demonstrate that the selected four parameters provide a basis for further development of a fair and consistent comparison of impacts between the analysed renewable technologies. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Socio-economic impacts of avian influenza outbreaks on small-scale producers in Indonesia.

PubMed

Basuno, E; Yusdja, Y; Ilham, N

2010-04-01

Since its first introduction in 2003 until January 2009 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was reported in 31 of 33 provinces of Indonesia. In addition, 115 fatal human cases have been reported in the same period and about 11 million chickens had died or been culled. In 2005 alone, about 60% of farms stopped their operations. The objective of this paper is to describe the socio-economic impact of HPAI on small producers in Indonesia. Simultaneous surveys were conducted in three provinces representing low, medium and high incidence areas, with total respondents of 720 farms. Socio-economic information before, during and after the HPAI outbreak were collected. Results indicated that poultry-raising decreased due to HPAI by 25-80% for broiler, 7-93% for layer and 48% for ducks. Overall, the number of farms stopping operations was 30% and in the high incidence area nearly 70%. The proportion of income from poultry for daily household expenditure decreased from 75-91% before to 38-82% after the HPAI outbreak. We observed more loan requests and less saving in the HPAI-infected farms. Direct impact of HPAI was also seen by decrease in expenditures for education and daily consumption in particular in the high incidence farms. The high proportion of income in pre-HPAI infection indicated the poultry enterprise as the main source of income. HPAI caused significant losses in all study areas through high mortality, lower production and lower demand for poultry products. However, levels of social relationship, social networking, social trust, social organization and decision making remained unchanged. To re-establish the poultry enterprise, the best target are low incidence areas that are less densely populated with humans and poultry.

Unstructured grid modelling of offshore wind farm impacts on seasonally stratified shelf seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cazenave, Pierre William; Torres, Ricardo; Allen, J. Icarus

2016-06-01

Shelf seas comprise approximately 7% of the world's oceans and host enormous economic activity. Development of energy installations (e.g. Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs), tidal turbines) in response to increased demand for renewable energy requires a careful analysis of potential impacts. Recent remote sensing observations have identified kilometre-scale impacts from OWFs. Existing modelling evaluating monopile impacts has fallen into two camps: small-scale models with individually resolved turbines looking at local effects; and large-scale analyses but with sub-grid scale turbine parameterisations. This work straddles both scales through a 3D unstructured grid model (FVCOM): wind turbine monopiles in the eastern Irish Sea are explicitly described in the grid whilst the overall grid domain covers the south-western UK shelf. Localised regions of decreased velocity extend up to 250 times the monopile diameter away from the monopile. Shelf-wide, the amplitude of the M2 tidal constituent increases by up to 7%. The turbines enhance localised vertical mixing which decreases seasonal stratification. The spatial extent of this extends well beyond the turbines into the surrounding seas. With significant expansion of OWFs on continental shelves, this work highlights the importance of how OWFs may impact coastal (e.g. increased flooding risk) and offshore (e.g. stratification and nutrient cycling) areas.

The Implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Strength of the Sustainable Agriculture Movement.

PubMed

Wiseman, Samuel R

2015-01-01

In the wake of growing public concerns over salmonella outbreaks and other highly publicized food safety issues, Congress passed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011, which placed more stringent standards on food growing and packaging operations. In negotiations preceding the Act's passage, farmers of local, sustainable food argued that these rules would unduly burden local agricultural operations or, at the extreme, drive them out of business by creating overly burdensome rules. These objections culminated in the addition of the Tester-Hagan Amendment to the Food Safety Modernization Act, which created certain exemptions for small farms. Proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules to implement the Act threatened to weaken this victory for small farm groups, however, prompting a loud response from small farmers and local food proponents. The FDA's second set of proposed rules, issued in September 2014 in response to these and other complaints, were, perhaps surprisingly, responsive to small farmers' concerns. Using comments submitted to the FDA, this article explores the responses of the agriculture industry and public health organizations, as well as small farm groups, consumers of local food, and sustainable agriculture interests (which, for simplicity, I alternately describe as comprising the "sustainable agriculture" or "small farm" movement), to three aspects of the FDA's proposed rules--involving manure application, on-farm packing activities, and exemptions for very small farms--to assess the strength of the sustainable agriculture movement. The rules involving manure application and on-farm packing, it turns out, reveal little about the independent political strength of the local food movement, as large industry groups also objected to these provisions. But for the third issue discussed here--exemptions for very small farms--the interests of sustainable agriculture groups were directly opposed to both industry and public health organizations, and yet prevailed. This suggests that the high salience of locavore and "slow food" issues might have allowed relatively small, dispersed interests to overcome traditional obstacles to political organization, and that the sustainable agriculture movement has indeed become an effective political force.

Spatial modeling of personalized exposure dynamics: the case of pesticide use in small-scale agricultural production landscapes of the developing world.

PubMed

Leyk, Stefan; Binder, Claudia R; Nuckols, John R

2009-03-30

Pesticide poisoning is a global health issue with the largest impacts in the developing countries where residential and small-scale agricultural areas are often integrated and pesticides sprayed manually. To reduce health risks from pesticide exposure approaches for personalized exposure assessment (PEA) are needed. We present a conceptual framework to develop a spatial individual-based model (IBM) prototype for assessing potential exposure of farm-workers conducting small-scale agricultural production, which accounts for a considerable portion of global food crop production. Our approach accounts for dynamics in the contaminant distributions in the environment, as well as patterns of movement and activities performed on an individual level under different safety scenarios. We demonstrate a first prototype using data from a study area in a rural part of Colombia, South America. Different safety scenarios of PEA were run by including weighting schemes for activities performed under different safety conditions. We examined the sensitivity of individual exposure estimates to varying patterns of pesticide application and varying individual patterns of movement. This resulted in a considerable variation in estimates of magnitude, frequency and duration of exposure over the model runs for each individual as well as between individuals. These findings indicate the influence of patterns of pesticide application, individual spatial patterns of movement as well as safety conditions on personalized exposure in the agricultural production landscape that is the focus of our research. This approach represents a conceptual framework for developing individual based models to carry out PEA in small-scale agricultural settings in the developing world based on individual patterns of movement, safety conditions, and dynamic contaminant distributions. The results of our analysis indicate our prototype model is sufficiently sensitive to differentiate and quantify the influence of individual patterns of movement and decision-based pesticide management activities on potential exposure. This approach represents a framework for further understanding the contribution of agricultural pesticide use to exposure in the small-scale agricultural production landscape of many developing countries, and could be useful to evaluate public health intervention strategies to reduce risks to farm-workers and their families. Further research is needed to fully develop an operational version of the model.

Contribution of family labour to the profitability and competitiveness of small-scale dairy production systems in central Mexico.

PubMed

Posadas-Domínguez, Rodolfo Rogelio; Arriaga-Jordán, Carlos Manuel; Martínez-Castañeda, Francisco Ernesto

2014-01-01

The objective of this work was to determine the effect of family labour on the profitability and competitiveness of small-scale dairy farms in the highlands of Central Mexico. Economic data from 37 farms were analysed from a stratified statistical sampling with a Neyman assignment. Three strata were defined taking herd size as criterion. Stratum 1: herds from 3 to 9 cows plus replacements, Stratum 2: herds from 10 to 19 cows and Stratum 3: herds from 20 to 30 cows. The policy analysis matrix was used as the method to determine profitability and competitiveness. The coefficient of private profitability (CPP) when the economic cost of family labour is included in the cost structure was 8.0 %, 31.0 % and 46.0 %. When the economic cost of family labour is not included, CPP increase to 47.0 %, 57.0 % and 66.0 % for each strata, respectively. The private cost ratio (PCR) when family labour is included was 0.79, 0.51 and 0.42 for strata 1, 2 and 3, respectively. When family labour is not included, the PCR was 0.07, 0.25 and 0.26. Net profit per litre of milk including family labour was US$0.03 l(-1) for Stratum 1, US$0.09 for Stratum 2 and US$0.12 l(-1) for Stratum 3; but increased to $0.12, 0.14 and 0.15, respectively, when the economic cost of family labour is not included. It is concluded that family labour is a crucial factor in the profitability and competitiveness of small-scale dairy production.

Mediating and moderating effects of work-home interference upon farm stresses and psychological distress.

PubMed

McShane, Connar Jo; Quirk, Frances

2009-10-01

This study investigated whether work-home (WHI) or home-work interference (HWI) explained or affected the strength of the relationship between farmers' stresses and reported psychological distress. Distribution of questionnaire package; included Work-Home Conflict Scale, Farm Stress Survey, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Participants recruited via advertising in newsletters and newspapers, and distribution through businesses and meetings. The majority of farmers (N = 51, male = 45, female = 5) were recruited from the one district. Farmers were individuals who identified their occupation as a farm owner, farm manager, or farm hand. It was predicted farmers would report higher levels of WHI than HWI; time, a determinant of interference, would mediate the relationship between farmers' stresses and psychological distress; WHI and HWI would moderate farmers' stresses and their psychological distress; overall reported level of psychological distress would be in normal to mild range because of positive general economic conditions. Farmers reported significantly higher levels of WHI than HWI (M = 3.21, M = 2.76, P < 0.001 respectively). WHI and time-based WHI mediated farmers' stresses and psychological distress, particularly anxiety. WHI, time and strain, determinants of WHI mediated personal finances and subcomponents of psychological distress (stress, anxiety, depression). Time-based HWI mediated personal finances and stress. No moderating effects were found for WHI (r = -0.02, P = 0.882) or HWI (r = 0.15, P = 0.306). Farmers of this specific sample presented a unique work-home interface. Limitations include the small sample size, recruitment methods, and culturally irrelevant measures as well as only assessing work-related stresses. Future research should aim to develop measures appropriate for farmers of Australia.

Varying Land-Use Has an Influence on Wattled and Grey Crowned Cranes' Abundance and Distribution in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area, Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Fakarayi, Togarasei; Mashapa, Clayton; Gandiwa, Edson; Kativu, Shakkie

2016-01-01

Three species of cranes are distributed widely throughout southern Africa, but little is known about how they respond to the changes in land-use that have occurred in this region. This study assessed habitat preference of the two crane species across land-use categories of the self contained small scale commercial farms of 30 to 40 ha per household (A1), large scale commercial agriculture farms of > 50 ha per household (A2) and Old Resettlement, farms of < 5 ha per household with communal grazing land in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area (IBA), Zimbabwe. The study further explored how selected explanatory (environmental) habitat variables influence crane species abundance. Crane bird counts and data on influencing environmental variables were collected between June and August 2012. Our results show that varying land-use categories had an influence on the abundance and distribution of the Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) and the Grey Crowned Crane (Belearica regulorum) across Driefontein Grasslands IBA. The Wattled Crane was widely distributed in the relatively undisturbed A2 farms while the Grey Crowned Crane was associated with the more disturbed land of A1 farms, Old Resettlement and its communal grazing land. Cyperus esculentus and percent (%) bare ground were strong environmental variables best explaining the observed patterns in Wattled Crane abundance across land-use categories. The pattern in Grey Crowned Crane abundance was best explained by soil penetrability, moisture and grass height variables. A holistic sustainable land-use management that takes into account conservation of essential habitats in Driefontein Grasslands IBA is desirable for crane populations and other wetland dependent species that include water birds.

Varying Land-Use Has an Influence on Wattled and Grey Crowned Cranes’ Abundance and Distribution in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area, Zimbabwe

PubMed Central

Fakarayi, Togarasei; Mashapa, Clayton; Gandiwa, Edson; Kativu, Shakkie

2016-01-01

Three species of cranes are distributed widely throughout southern Africa, but little is known about how they respond to the changes in land-use that have occurred in this region. This study assessed habitat preference of the two crane species across land-use categories of the self contained small scale commercial farms of 30 to 40 ha per household (A1), large scale commercial agriculture farms of > 50 ha per household (A2) and Old Resettlement, farms of < 5 ha per household with communal grazing land in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area (IBA), Zimbabwe. The study further explored how selected explanatory (environmental) habitat variables influence crane species abundance. Crane bird counts and data on influencing environmental variables were collected between June and August 2012. Our results show that varying land-use categories had an influence on the abundance and distribution of the Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) and the Grey Crowned Crane (Belearica regulorum) across Driefontein Grasslands IBA. The Wattled Crane was widely distributed in the relatively undisturbed A2 farms while the Grey Crowned Crane was associated with the more disturbed land of A1 farms, Old Resettlement and its communal grazing land. Cyperus esculentus and percent (%) bare ground were strong environmental variables best explaining the observed patterns in Wattled Crane abundance across land-use categories. The pattern in Grey Crowned Crane abundance was best explained by soil penetrability, moisture and grass height variables. A holistic sustainable land-use management that takes into account conservation of essential habitats in Driefontein Grasslands IBA is desirable for crane populations and other wetland dependent species that include water birds. PMID:27875552

Hurricane Impacts on Small Island Communities: Case study of Hurricane Matthew on Great Exuma, The Bahamas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan Sealey, Kathleen; Bowleg, John

2017-04-01

Great Exuma has been a UNESCO Eco-hydrology Project Site with a focus on coastal restoration and flood management. Great Exuma and its largest settlement, George Town, support a population of just over 8.000 people on an island dominated by extensive coastal wetlands. The Victoria Pond Eco-Hydrology project restored flow and drainage to highly-altered coastal wetlands to reduce flooding of the built environment as well as regain ecological function. The project was designed to show the value of a protected wetland and coastal environment within a populated settlement; demonstrating that people can live alongside mangroves and value "green" infrastructure for flood protection. The restoration project was initiated after severe storm flooding in 2007 with Tropical Storm Noel. In 2016, the passing of Hurricane Matthew had unprecedented impacts on the coastal communities of Great Exuma, challenging past practices in restoration and flood prevention. This talk reviews the loss of natural capital (for example, fish populations, mangroves, salt water inundation) from Hurricane Matthew based on a rapid response survey of Great Exuma. The surprisingly find was the impact of storm surge on low-lying areas used primarily for personal farms and small-scale agriculture. Although women made up the overwhelming majority of people who attended Coastal Restoration workshops, women were most adversely impacted by the recent hurricane flooding with the loss of their small low-lying farms and gardens. Although increasing culverts in mangrove creeks in two areas did reduce building flood damage, the low-lying areas adjacent to mangroves, mostly ephemeral freshwater wetlands, were inundated with saltwater, and seasonal crops in these areas were destroyed. These ephemeral wetlands were designed as part of the wetland flooding system, it was not known how important these small areas were to artisanal farming on Great Exuma. The size and scope of Hurricane Matthew passing through the entire country presents a unique opportunity use a rapid response method to document coastal impacts to better understand how to plan coastal restoration. Small farms managed primarily by women accounted for about 35% of the fresh produce eaten by local Bahamians (not tourists), and the loss of local production may be permanent.

12 CFR 345.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... by the FDIC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 228.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... prescribed by the Board) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 25.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or... prescribed by the OCC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 228.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... prescribed by the Board) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 25.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or... prescribed by the OCC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 25.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or... prescribed by the OCC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 25.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated or... prescribed by the OCC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 345.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... by the FDIC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 345.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... by the FDIC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

12 CFR 345.42 - Data collection, reporting, and disclosure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... calendar year: (1) Small business and small farm loan data. For each geography in which the bank originated... by the FDIC) until the completion of its next CRA examination, the following data for each small business or small farm loan originated or purchased by the bank: (1) A unique number or alpha-numeric...

White meat-Green farm: case study of Brinson Farms

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Comprehensive on-farm resource utilization and renewable energy generation at the farm scale are not new concepts. However, truly encompassing implementation of these ideals is lacking. Brinson Farms operates 10 commercial broiler houses. The farm generates heat for its houses using biomass boile...

Characteristics of Nitrogen Balances of Large-scale Stock Farms and Reduction of Environmental Nitrogen Loads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hattori, Toshihiro; Takamatsu, Rieko

We calculated nitrogen balances on farm gate and soil surface on large-scale stock farms and discussed methods for reducing environmental nitrogen loads. Four different types of public stock farms (organic beef, calf supply and daily cows) were surveyed in Aomori Prefecture. (1) Farm gate and soil surface nitrogen inflows were both larger than the respective outflows on all types of farms. Farm gate nitrogen balance for beef farms were worse than that for dairy farms. (2) Soil surface nitrogen outflows and soil nitrogen retention were in proportion to soil surface nitrogen inflows. (3) Reductions in soil surface nitrogen retention were influenced by soil surface nitrogen inflows. (4) In order to reduce farm gate nitrogen retention, inflows of formula feed and chemical fertilizer need to be reduced. (5) In order to reduce soil surface nitrogen retention, inflows of fertilizer need to be reduced and nitrogen balance needs to be controlled.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Community-Scale Solar Feasibility Study

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

Rapp, Jim; Knight, Tawnie

2014-01-30

Parametrix Inc. conducted a feasibility study for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe to determine whether or not a community-scale solar farm would be feasible for the community. The important part of the study was to find where the best fit for the solar farm could be. In the end, a 3MW community-scale solar farm was found best fit with the location of two hayfield sites.

Assessment of the sustainability of dual-purpose farms by the IDEA method in the subtropical area of central Mexico.

PubMed

Salas-Reyes, Isela Guadalupe; Arriaga-Jordán, Carlos Manuel; Rebollar-Rebollar, Samuel; García-Martínez, Anastacio; Albarrán-Portillo, Benito

2015-08-01

The objective of this study was to assess the sustainability of 10 dual-purpose cattle farms in a subtropical area of central Mexico. The IDEA method (Indicateurs de Durabilité des Exploitations Agricoles) was applied, which includes the agroecological, socio-territorial and economic scales (scores from 0 to 100 points per scale). A sample of 47 farms from a total of 91 registered in the local livestock growers association was analysed with principal component analysis and cluster analysis. From results, 10 farms were selected for the in-depth study herein reported, being the selection criterion continuous milk production throughout the year. Farms had a score of 88 and 86 points for the agroecological scale in the rainy and dry seasons. In the socio-territorial scale, scores were 73 points for both seasons, being the component of employment and services the strongest. Scores for the economic scale were 64 and 56 points for the rainy and dry seasons, respectively, when no economic cost for family labour is charged, which decreases to 59 and 45 points when an opportunity cost for family labour is considered. Dual-purpose farms in the subtropical area of central Mexico have a medium sustainability, with the economic scale being the limiting factor, and an area of opportunity.

Detection of quinolones in commercial eggs obtained from farms in the Espaíllat Province in the Dominican Republic.

PubMed

Moscoso, S; de los Santos, F Solís; Andino, A G; Diaz-Sanchez, Sandra; Hanning, I

2015-01-01

Previously, we reported the use of quinolones in broiler chickens resulted in residues in retail poultry meat obtained from nine districts in the Santiago Province of the Dominican Republic. Residues in poultry products are a concern due to consumer allergies and the potential to develop antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Given the use of quinolones in poultry production and our previous findings in poultry meat, the objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of quinolone residues in eggs. Samples were collected from 48 different farms located in three of the four municipalities (Moca, Cayetano Germosén, and Jamao) of the Espaíllat Province. Each farm was sampled three times between July and September for a total of 144 samples. Samples were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively for quinolone residues using the Equinox test. Operation systems (cage or floor), seasonality, and location were considered along with egg-producer sizes that were defined as small scale, <30,000 eggs per day; medium scale, 30,000 to 60,000 eggs per day; or large scale, >60,000 eggs per day. From small-, medium-, and large-scale producers, 69, 50, and 40% of samples were positive for quinolone residues, respectively. A greater number of samples were positive (61%) in floor-laying hen producers compared with those using cages (40%). In the Jamao municipality, 67% of the samples were positive compared with Moca and Cayetano Germosén, where 56 and 25% of samples were positive, respectively. Sampling time had an effect on percent positives: samples collected in July, August, and September were 71, 19, and 63% positive, respectively. Overall, 51% of the samples obtained from eggs produced in the province of Espaíllat were positive for quinolone residues at levels higher than the maximum limits for edible tissue established by the regulatory agencies, including the European Union and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The results obtained from this research confirmed the presence of quinolone residue in eggs, which may present a health risk to some consumers.

Adaptive strategies to climate change in Southern Malawi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chidanti-Malunga, J.

Climate change poses a big challenge to rural livelihoods in the Shire Valley area of Southern Malawi, where communities have depended almost entirely on rain-fed agriculture for generations. The Shire Valley area comprises of low-altitude dambo areas and uplands which have been the main agricultural areas. Since early to mid 1980s, the uplands have experienced prolonged droughts and poor rainfall distribution, while the dambos have experienced recurrent seasonal floods. This study assessed some of the adaptive strategies exercised by small-scale rural farmers in response to climate change in the Shire Valley. The methodology used in collecting information includes group discussions, household surveys in the area, secondary data, and field observations. The results show that small-scale rural farmers exercise a number of adaptive strategies in response to climate change. These adaptive strategies include: increased use of water resources for small-scale irrigation or wetland farming, mostly using simple delivery techniques; increased management of residual moisture; and increased alternative sources of income such as fishing and crop diversity. It was also observed that government promoted the use of portable motorized pumps for small-scale irrigation in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, these external interventions were not fully adopted; instead the farmers preferred local interventions which mostly had indigenous elements.

Missouri Agricultural Energy Saving Team-A Revolutionary Opportunity (MAESTRO)

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

McIntosh, Jane; Schumacher, Leon

The Missouri Agricultural Energy Saving Team-A Revolutionary Opportunity (MAESTRO) program brought together a team of representatives from government, academia, and private industry to enhance the availability of energy efficiency services for small livestock producers in the State of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) managed the project via a subcontract with the University of Missouri (MU), College of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources, MU Extension, the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences, the MU College of Engineering, and the Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA). MU teamed with EnSave, Inc, a nationally-recognized expert in agricultural energy efficiencymore » to assist with marketing, outreach, provision of farm energy audits and customer service. MU also teamed with independent home contractors to facilitate energy audits of the farm buildings and homes of these livestock producers. The goals of the project were to: (1) improve the environment by reducing fossil fuel emissions and reducing the total energy used on small animal farms; (2) stimulate the economy of local and regional communities by creating or retaining jobs; and (3) improve the profitability of Missouri livestock producers by reducing their energy expenditures. Historically, Missouri scientists/engineers conducted programs on energy use in agriculture, such as in equipment, grain handling and tillage practices. The MAESTRO program was the first to focus strictly on energy efficiency associated with livestock production systems in Missouri and to investigate the applicability and potential of addressing energy efficiency in animal production from a building efficiency perspective. A. Project Objectives The goal of the MAESTRO program was to strengthen the financial viability and environmental soundness of Missouri's small animal farms by helping them implement energy efficient technologies for the production facility, farm buildings, and the homes on these farms. The expected measurable outcomes of the project were to improve the environment and stimulate the economy by: • Reducing annual fossil fuel emissions by 1,942 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, reducing the total annual energy use on at least 323 small animal farms and 100 farm homes by at least 8,000 kWh and 2,343 therms per farm. • Stimulating the economy by creating or retaining at least 69 jobs, and saving small animal farmers an average of $2,071 per farm in annual energy expenditures. B. Project Scope The MAESTRO team chose the target population of small farms because while all agriculture is traditionally underserved in energy efficiency programs, small farms were particularly underserved because they lack the financial resources and access to energy efficiency technologies that larger farms deploy. The MAESTRO team reasoned that energy conservation, financial and educational programs developed while serving the agricultural community could serve as a national model for other states and their agricultural sectors. The target population was approximately 2,365 small animal farm operations in Missouri, specifically those farms that were not by definition a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). The program was designed to create jobs by training Missouri contractors and Missouri University Extension staff how to conduct farm audits. The local economy would be stimulated by an increase in construction activity and an increasing demand for energy efficient farm equipment. Additionally, the energy savings were deemed critical in keeping Missouri farms in business. This project leveraged funds using a combination of funds from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Missouri Energy Center and its Soil and Water Conservation Program, from the state's Linked Deposits, MASBDA's agricultural loan guarantee programs, and through the in-kind contribution of faculty and staff time to the project from these agencies and MU. Several hundred Missouri livestock producers were contacted during the MAESTRO project. Of the livestock producers, 254 invited the team to conduct a farm energy assessment which complied with ASABE 612. A total of 147 livestock farm upgrades were implemented, representing 57.5 percent of the farms for which a farm energy assessment was completed. This represented a statewide average annual savings of 1,088,324 kWh and 75,516 therms. The team also reviewed the condition of the livestock producer’s home(s). A total of 106 home energy assessments were completed and 48 individual homes implemented their recommended upgrades, representing 45 percent of the farm homes for which an energy assessment was completed. This represented a statewide average annual savings of 323,029 kWh, and 769.4 therms. More of these farmers likely would have updated their homes but the funding to incentivize them fell short. In spite of the shortfall in incentive funds, some farmers still updated their homes as they saw the value in making these changes to their home.« less

Joint Offshore Wind Field Monitoring with Spaceborne SAR and Platform-Based Doppler LIDAR Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobsen, S.; Lehner, S.; Hieronimus, J.; Schneemann, J.; Kuhn, M.

2015-04-01

The increasing demand for renewable energy resources has promoted the construction of offshore wind farms e.g. in the North Sea. While the wind farm layout consists of an array of large turbines, the interrelation of wind turbine wakes with the remaining array is of substantial interest. The downstream spatial evolution of turbulent wind turbine wakes is very complex and depends on manifold parameters such as wind speed, wind direction and ambient atmospheric stability conditions. To complement and validate existing numerical models, corresponding observations are needed. While in-situ measurements with e.g. anemometers provide a time-series at the given location, the merits of ground-based and space- or airborne remote sensing techniques are indisputable in terms of spatial coverage. Active microwave devices, such as Scatterometer and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), have proven their capabilities of providing sea surface wind measurements and particularly SAR images reveal wind variations at a high spatial resolution while retaining the large coverage area. Platform-based Doppler LiDAR can resolve wind fields with a high spatial coverage and repetition rates of seconds to minutes. In order to study the capabilities of both methods for the investigation of small scale wind field structures, we present a direct comparison of observations obtained by high resolution TerraSAR-X (TS-X) X-band SAR data and platform-based LiDAR devices at the North Sea wind farm alpha ventus. We furthermore compare the results with meteorological data from the COSMO-DE model run by the German Weather Service DWD. Our study indicates that the overall agreement between SAR and LiDAR wind fields is good and that under appropriate conditions small scale wind field variations compare significantly well.

Assessment of farm soil, biochar, compost and weathered pine mulch to mitigate methane emissions.

PubMed

Syed, Rashad; Saggar, Surinder; Tate, Kevin; Rehm, Bernd H A

2016-11-01

Previous studies have demonstrated the effective utility of volcanic pumice soil to mitigate both high and low levels of methane (CH 4 ) emissions through the activity of both γ-proteobacterial (type I) and α-proteobacterial (type II) aerobic methanotrophs. However, the limited availability of volcanic pumice soil necessitates the assessment of other farm soils and potentially suitable, economical and widely available biofilter materials. The potential biofilter materials, viz. farm soil (isolated from a dairy farm effluent pond bank area), pine biochar, garden waste compost and weathered pine bark mulch, were inoculated with a small amount of volcanic pumice soil. Simultaneously, a similar set-up of potential biofilter materials without inoculum was studied to understand the effect of the inoculum on the ability of these materials to oxidise CH 4 and their effect on methanotroph growth and activity. These materials were incubated at 25 °C with periodic feeding of CH 4 , and flasks were aerated with air (O 2 ) to support methanotroph growth and activity by maintaining aerobic conditions. The efficiency of CH 4 removal was monitored over 6 months. All materials supported the growth and activity of methanotrophs. However, the efficiency of CH 4 removal by all the materials tested fluctuated between no or low removal (0-40 %) and high removal phases (>90 %), indicating biological disturbances rather than physico-chemical changes. Among all the treatments, CH 4 removal was consistently high (>80 %) in the inoculated farm soil and inoculated biochar, and these were more resilient to changes in the methanotroph community. The CH 4 removal from inoculated farm soil and inoculated biochar was further enhanced (up to 99 %) by the addition of a nutrient solution. Our results showed that (i) farm soil and biochar can be used as a biofilter material by inoculating with an active methanotroph community, (ii) an abundant population of α-proteobacterial methanotrophs is essential for effective and stable CH 4 removal and (iii) addition of nutrients enhances the growth and activity of methanotrophs in the biofilter materials. Further studies are underway to assess the feasibility of these materials at small plot and field scales.

Life Cycle Cost of Solar Biomass Hybrid Dryer Systems for Cashew Drying of Nuts in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhanushkodi, Saravanan; Wilson, Vincent H.; Sudhakar, Kumarasamy

2015-12-01

Cashew nut farming in India is mostly carried out in small and marginal holdings. Energy consumption in the small scale cashew nut processing industry is very high and is mainly due to the high energy consumption of the drying process. The drying operation provides a lot of scope for energy saving and substitutions of other renewable energy sources. Renewable energy-based drying systems with loading capacity of 40 kg were proposed for application in small scale cashew nut processing industries. The main objective of this work is to perform economic feasibility of substituting solar, biomass and hybrid dryer in place of conventional steam drying for cashew drying. Four economic indicators were used to assess the feasibility of three renewable based drying technologies. The payback time was 1.58 yr. for solar, 1.32 for biomass and 1.99 for the hybrid drying system, whereas as the cost-benefit estimates were 5.23 for solar, 4.15 for biomass and 3.32 for the hybrid system. It was found that it is of paramount importance to develop solar biomass hybrid dryer for small scale processing industries.

Economic opportunity survey of small scale dairy farms of the north west province of Cameroon.

PubMed

Bayemi, P H; Webb, E C; Manjeli, Y; Naoussi, P

2007-12-01

An Economic Opportunity Survey was conducted on dairy farms in the North West Province of Cameroon. Results showed that median (range) number of cows in milk per farm was zero point six (0-4) and six (3-12) in the zero grazing and transhumance systems, respectively. Medians (range) of three (0-24) and four (3-10) litres of milk were sold per farm per day, corresponding to 30% and 60% of milk produced. 24% and 13% of total cattle per herd were milking cows in the zero grazing and transhumance systems respectively. Median milk production per cow on one day was two (0-25) and two (1-3) litres. Median calf production interval was 14.5 (12-25) and. 21.5 (14-29) months. More milk produced per day represented the best economic opportunity in both systems while reduced age at first calving and longer lactation length were the next in both. Wastage of milk through spoilage from poor hygiene and lack of cooling was a major problem. Holstein cows, which were in the zero grazing system, had unexpectedly short lactations. Constraints identified led to the setting up of interventions of training and advice for farmers and of better nutrition.

Fracture trauma in a medieval British farming village.

PubMed

Judd, M A; Roberts, C A

1999-06-01

Farming is among the three most hazardous occupations in modern society and perhaps also held a similar position during the medieval period. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in frequencies and patterns of longbone fracture trauma observed between rural and urban activity bases that distinguish farming as a particularly dangerous occupation during the medieval period. The longbones of 170 individuals excavated from Raunds, a rural medieval British site (10th-12th centuries AD) were examined for fractures and compared to data collected from four contemporary British medieval sites, one rural and three urban. The fracture frequency for the Raunds individuals (19.4%) was significantly different from the urban sites (4.7-5.5%). Female fractures were characterized by injury to the forearm, while the males were predisposed to diverse fracture locations. Clinical research provided a source of documented farm-related trauma from North America and Europe where the crops and animals raised, the manual chores performed, and the equipment used in traditional or small-scale farms have changed little in form or function since the medieval period. Nonmechanized causes of injury contribute to approximately 40% of all modern farm-related injuries and are attributed to falls from lofts and ladders, animal assaults and bites, and falls from moving vehicles. These hazardous situations were also present in the medieval period and may explain some of the fracture trauma from the rural sites. A high fracture frequency for both medieval males and females is significantly associated with farming subsistence when compared to craft-orientated urban dwellers.

77 FR 31549 - Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation; Child Labor Violations-Civil...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-29

... perform on a farm and thereby limit their opportunity to learn about farming through hands-on experience and discourage them from entering the field of farming. The Department also received comments from... small family-owned farms and farming traditions, the Department stated that ``[t]he Obama administration...

Linking Roles of Education Assistants in the Missouri Small Farm Family Program at the University Resource Subsystem Client Social System Interface.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lionberger, Herbert F.; Wong, Tso Sang

Growing concern that the Cooperative Extension Service was failing to adequately reach small farmers with education materials through regular extension channels led to the implementation of Missouri's Small Farm Family Program. In this program, education assistants, many of whom are small farmers themselves, link the educational resources of the…

Farm, household, and farmer characteristics associated with changes in management practices and technology adoption among dairy smallholders.

PubMed

Martínez-García, Carlos Galdino; Ugoretz, Sarah Janes; Arriaga-Jordán, Carlos Manuel; Wattiaux, Michel André

2015-02-01

This study explored whether technology adoption and changes in management practices were associated with farm structure, household, and farmer characteristics and to identify processes that may foster productivity and sustainability of small-scale dairy farming in the central highlands of Mexico. Factor analysis of survey data from 44 smallholders identified three factors-related to farm size, farmer's engagement, and household structure-that explained 70 % of cumulative variance. The subsequent hierarchical cluster analysis yielded three clusters. Cluster 1 included the most senior farmers with fewest years of education but greatest years of experience. Cluster 2 included farmers who reported access to extension, cooperative services, and more management changes. Cluster 2 obtained 25 and 35 % more milk than farmers in clusters 1 and 3, respectively. Cluster 3 included the youngest farmers, with most years of education and greatest availability of family labor. Access to a network and membership in a community of peers appeared as important contributors to success. Smallholders gravitated towards easy to implement technologies that have immediate benefits. Nonusers of high investment technologies found them unaffordable because of cost, insufficient farm size, and lack of knowledge or reliable electricity. Multivariate analysis may be a useful tool in planning extension activities and organizing channels of communication to effectively target farmers with varying needs, constraints, and motivations for change and in identifying farmers who may exemplify models of change for others who manage farms that are structurally similar but performing at a lower level.

Attitudes of farm consultants in the South Island of New Zealand towards the role of veterinarians in farm businesses.

PubMed

Bates, A J; Wapenaar, W; Campbell, A C; Eggleton, R G

2016-09-01

To assess the attitude of dairy farm consultants to the role of veterinarians on dairy farms and whether they viewed veterinary advice as impartial, free from commercial bias and central to farm productivity and profitability. A telephone survey was commissioned in September 2014 of 36 full-time farm consultants in the Canterbury and Otago region of New Zealand using a pre-prepared questionnaire to explore their attitudes towards the veterinary profession. Of those approached, 25 completed the survey. The consultants surveyed agreed or strongly agreed (21/23) that they were the custodians of animal health expenditure on farms, which was seen as an expense to be controlled (19/25 agreed or strongly agreed). This view was held more strongly (9/9 agreed or strongly agreed) by consultants with >5 years' professional experience, compared to 10/16 consultants with ≤5 years' experience. Most consultants (24/25) disagreed that they did not respect veterinary advice, but agreed (24/25) that veterinarians almost always had a vested interest in the advice that they gave. The role of veterinarians was seen by respondents to be mainly treatment of sick animals (22/25) and provision of animal health products (24/25), but not in maximising farm profitability (selected by 8/25 respondents). Consultants viewed their own roles as providing advice on the influence of animal health on farm profitability (21/25), nutrition (22/25) and reproduction (20/25). Most respondents (21/25) stated that reducing disease and animal health issues was important, but they (21/25) also identified a reduction in farm animal health expenditure as a measure of success. Only 7/25 consultants felt that they should work in partnership with veterinarians. This was a small scale study from one region of New Zealand but it indicates that consultants are ambivalent about the role and value of working more closely with veterinarians, and about the benefit that veterinary intervention may bring to a farm's profitability. More successful veterinary involvement on dairy farms will follow from a better understanding of how other rural professionals are involved in the farm's management and in meeting the individual farmer's goals and motivations.

Integrated watershed- and farm-scale modeling framework for targeting critical source areas while maintaining farm economic viability.

PubMed

Ghebremichael, Lula T; Veith, Tamie L; Hamlett, James M

2013-01-15

Quantitative risk assessments of pollution and data related to the effectiveness of mitigating best management practices (BMPs) are important aspects of nonpoint source pollution control efforts, particularly those driven by specific water quality objectives and by measurable improvement goals, such as the total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements. Targeting critical source areas (CSAs) that generate disproportionately high pollutant loads within a watershed is a crucial step in successfully controlling nonpoint source pollution. The importance of watershed simulation models in assisting with the quantitative assessments of CSAs of pollution (relative to their magnitudes and extents) and of the effectiveness of associated BMPs has been well recognized. However, due to the distinct disconnect between the hydrological scale in which these models conduct their evaluation and the farm scale at which feasible BMPs are actually selected and implemented, and due to the difficulty and uncertainty involved in transferring watershed model data to farm fields, there are limited practical applications of these tools in the current nonpoint source pollution control efforts by conservation specialists for delineating CSAs and planning targeting measures. There are also limited approaches developed that can assess impacts of CSA-targeted BMPs on farm productivity and profitability together with the assessment of water quality improvements expected from applying these measures. This study developed a modeling framework that integrates farm economics and environmental aspects (such as identification and mitigation of CSAs) through joint use of watershed- and farm-scale models in a closed feedback loop. The integration of models in a closed feedback loop provides a way for environmental changes to be evaluated with regard to the impact on the practical aspects of farm management and economics, adjusted or reformulated as necessary, and revaluated with respect to effectiveness of environmental mitigation at the farm- and watershed-levels. This paper also outlines steps needed to extract important CSA-related information from a watershed model to help inform targeting decisions at the farm scale. The modeling framework is demonstrated with two unique case studies in the northeastern United States (New York and Vermont), with supporting data from numerous published, location-specific studies at both the watershed and farm scales. Using the integrated modeling framework, it can be possible to compare the costs (in terms of changes required in farm system components or financial compensations for retiring crop lands) and benefits (in terms of measurable water quality improvement goals) of implementing targeted BMPs. This multi-scale modeling approach can be used in the multi-objective task of mitigating CSAs of pollution to meet water quality goals while maintaining farm-level economic viability. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The U.S. Farm Sector in the Mid-1980's. Agricultural Economic Report Number 548.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reimund, Donn A.; And Others

This report compares several farm characteristics of the mid-1980s with those of a decade earlier to document the real amount of change in the farm sector. Farms are stratified into five groups based on their farm income: rural residence, small family, family, large family, and very large. Sources and levels of farm operator income and wealth are…

Attitudes of Small Farmers As 1995 Farm Bill Stakeholders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockett, Benny L.

To design public issues education programs to meet the needs of small farmers, the Cooperative Extension programs at Prairie View A&M University (Texas) and nine other 1890 land grant institutions surveyed small farmers' opinions concerning the 1995 farm bill. Responses were received from 644 farmers in the states in which these institutions…

Paratuberculosis on small ruminant dairy farms in Ontario, Canada: A survey of management practices.

PubMed

Bauman, Cathy A; Jones-Bitton, Andria; Menzies, Paula; Jansen, Jocelyn; Kelton, David

2016-05-01

A cross-sectional study was undertaken (October 2010 to August 2011) to determine the risk factors for dairy goat herds and dairy sheep flocks testing positive for paratuberculosis (PTB) in Ontario, Canada. A questionnaire was administered to 50 producers during a farm visit in which concurrently, 20 randomly selected, lactating animals over the age of 2 years underwent sampling for paratuberculosis testing. Only 1 of 50 farms (2.0%) was closed to animal movement, whereas 96.6% of dairy goat farms and 94.1% of sheep farms purchased livestock from other producers. Only 10.3% of dairy goat, and no dairy sheep farms used artificial insemination. Manure was spread on grazing pastures by 65.5% and 70.6% of dairy goat and dairy sheep farms, respectively. Because of the high true-prevalence of paratuberculosis infection detected, no risk factor analysis could be performed. This study demonstrates that biosecurity practices conducive to transmission of PTB are highly prevalent in Ontario small ruminant dairy farms.

Paratuberculosis on small ruminant dairy farms in Ontario, Canada: A survey of management practices

PubMed Central

Bauman, Cathy A.; Jones-Bitton, Andria; Menzies, Paula; Jansen, Jocelyn; Kelton, David

2016-01-01

A cross-sectional study was undertaken (October 2010 to August 2011) to determine the risk factors for dairy goat herds and dairy sheep flocks testing positive for paratuberculosis (PTB) in Ontario, Canada. A questionnaire was administered to 50 producers during a farm visit in which concurrently, 20 randomly selected, lactating animals over the age of 2 years underwent sampling for paratuberculosis testing. Only 1 of 50 farms (2.0%) was closed to animal movement, whereas 96.6% of dairy goat farms and 94.1% of sheep farms purchased livestock from other producers. Only 10.3% of dairy goat, and no dairy sheep farms used artificial insemination. Manure was spread on grazing pastures by 65.5% and 70.6% of dairy goat and dairy sheep farms, respectively. Because of the high true-prevalence of paratuberculosis infection detected, no risk factor analysis could be performed. This study demonstrates that biosecurity practices conducive to transmission of PTB are highly prevalent in Ontario small ruminant dairy farms. PMID:27152042

Assessment of interbreeding and introgression of farm genes into a small Scottish Atlantic salmon Salmo salar stock: ad hoc samples - ad hoc results?

PubMed

Verspoor, E; Knox, D; Marshall, S

2016-12-01

An eclectic set of tissues and existing data, including purposely collected samples, spanning 1997-2006, was used in an ad hoc assessment of hybridization and introgression of farmed wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in the small Loch na Thull (LnT) catchment in north-west Scotland. The catchment is in an area of marine farm production and contains freshwater smolt rearing cages. The LnT S. salar stock was found to be genetically distinctive from stocks in neighbouring rivers and, despite regular reports of feral farm S. salar, there was no evidence of physical or genetic mixing. This cannot be completely ruled out, however, and low level mixing with other local wild stocks has been suggested. The LnT population appeared underpinned by relatively smaller effective number of breeders (N eb ) and showed relatively low levels of genetic diversity, consistent with a small effective population size. Small sample sizes, an incomplete farm baseline and the use of non-diagnostic molecular markers, constrain the power of the analysis but the findings strongly support the LnT catchment having a genetically distinct wild S. salar population little affected by interbreeding with feral farm escapes. © 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Studies of Sub-Synchronous Oscillations in Large-Scale Wind Farm Integrated System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Liu; Hang, Mend

2018-01-01

With the rapid development and construction of large-scale wind farms and grid-connected operation, the series compensation wind power AC transmission is gradually becoming the main way of power usage and improvement of wind power availability and grid stability, but the integration of wind farm will change the SSO (Sub-Synchronous oscillation) damping characteristics of synchronous generator system. Regarding the above SSO problem caused by integration of large-scale wind farms, this paper focusing on doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind farms, aim to summarize the SSO mechanism in large-scale wind power integrated system with series compensation, which can be classified as three types: sub-synchronous control interaction (SSCI), sub-synchronous torsional interaction (SSTI), sub-synchronous resonance (SSR). Then, SSO modelling and analysis methods are categorized and compared by its applicable areas. Furthermore, this paper summarizes the suppression measures of actual SSO projects based on different control objectives. Finally, the research prospect on this field is explored.

Antimicrobial resistance in generic Escherichia coli isolates from wild small mammals living in swine farm, residential, landfill, and natural environments in southern Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Allen, Samantha E; Boerlin, Patrick; Janecko, Nicol; Lumsden, John S; Barker, Ian K; Pearl, David L; Reid-Smith, Richard J; Jardine, Claire

2011-02-01

To assess the impacts of different types of human activity on the development of resistant bacteria in the feces of wild small mammals, we compared the prevalences and patterns of antimicrobial resistance and resistance genes in generic Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica isolates from fecal samples collected from wild small mammals living in four environments: swine farms, residential areas, landfills, and natural habitats. Resistance to antimicrobials was observed in E. coli isolates from animals in all environments: 25/52 (48%) animals trapped at swine farms, 6/69 (9%) animals trapped in residential areas, 3/20 (15%) animals trapped at landfills, and 1/22 (5%) animals trapped in natural habitats. Animals trapped on farms were significantly more likely to carry E. coli isolates with resistance to tetracycline, ampicillin, sulfisoxazole, and streptomycin than animals trapped in residential areas. The resistance genes sul2, aadA, and tet(A) were significantly more likely to be detected in E. coli isolates from animals trapped on farms than from those trapped in residential areas. Three S. enterica serotypes (Give, Typhimurium, and Newport) were recovered from the feces of 4/302 (1%) wild small mammals. All Salmonella isolates were pansusceptible. Our results show that swine farm origin is significantly associated with the presence of resistant bacteria and resistance genes in wild small mammals in southern Ontario, Canada. However, resistant fecal bacteria were found in small mammals living in all environments studied, indicating that environmental exposure to antimicrobials, antimicrobial residues, resistant bacteria, or resistance genes is widespread.

The Characteristic and Impact of the Change in Consumption of Roughage for China in Recent Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, R.

2016-12-01

Food security is of great importance to national economy and the people's livelihood, and the method to ensure which has always been an issue paid close attention to by both Chinese government and people. Among all the fodders, the change in consumption of roughage is highly relative to the amount and growing status of the livestock including pig, goat, cattle and dairy cattle which makes it a vital factor of food security and worth studying. Apart from reading considerable amount of both domestic and international materials and conducting data selection, this research focuses on the change in roughage consumption of domestic livestock industry and the impact of intensive farming raise on the consumption. And we came up with two conclusions. First, in recent years, roughage consumption has been experiencing a dramatic decrease caused mainly by the decrease of roughage consumption of pigs. Second, with the increasing trend of pig intensive farming, its main fodder has transformed from roughage to concentrated feed and inevitably leads to roughage as well as total fodder consumption decline and concentrated feed consumption increase. And the profit of intensive farming raise outweighs that of extensive farming and small-scale farming. The study firstly calculates the roughage consumption of domestic livestock industry. It also states the important role roughage plays in the development of livestock industry from the perspective of food security.

An ecohealth assessment of poultry production clusters (PPCs) for the livelihood and biosecurity improvement of small poultry producers in Asia.

PubMed

Wang, Libin; Basuno, Edi; Nguyen, Tuan; Aengwanich, Worapol; Ilham, Nyak; Li, Xiaoyun

2015-01-01

Poultry production cluster (PPC) programs are key strategies in many Asian countries to engage small commercial poultry producers in high-value production chains and to control infectious poultry diseases. This study assessed the multiple impacts of PPCs through a transdisciplinary ecohealth approach in four Asian countries, and drew the implications for small producers to improve their livelihoods and reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases in the poultry sector. The data collection combined both quantitative and qualitative methods. It comprised: formal structured household survey questionnaires, measuring the biosecurity level of poultry farms with a biosecurity score card; and key informant interviews. Descriptive statistics were used to process the quantitative data and a content analysis was used to process the qualitative data. This research found that poultry farms in clusters do not necessarily have better economic performance than those outside PPCs. Many farmers in PPCs only consider them to be an advantage for expanding the scale of their poultry operations and improving household incomes, and they are less concerned about-and have limited capacities to-enhancing biosecurity and environmental management. We measured the biosecurity level of farms in PPCs through a 14-item checklist and found that biosecurity is generally very low across all sample sites. The increased flies, mosquitoes, rats, and smells in and around PPCs not only pollute the environment, but also cause social conflicts with the surrounding communities. This research concluded that a poultry cluster, mainly driven by economic objectives, is not necessarily a superior model for the control of infectious diseases. The level of biosecurity in PPCs was found to be low. Given the intensity of poultry operations in PPCs (farms are densely packed into clusters), and the close proximity to residential areas of some PPCs, the risk of spreading infectious diseases, in fact, increases. Good management and collective action for implementing biosecurity measures are key for small producers in PPCs to address common challenges and pursue health-based animal production practices.

Hammer Down: The Battle for the Watapur Valley, 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

opportunities available to the locals with subsistence farming and small scale goat herding remaining the most common occupations into the 21st century. The...fire. Stetzel’s team heard more than saw the insurgents but returned fire and forced the enemy to withdraw back down a goat trail. Captain Kerins...of cover and concealment as did Stetzel’s. An initial volley of RPG rounds suppressed the Americans as fighters moved along a goat trail that snaked

Real time fish pond monitoring and automation using Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harun, Z.; Reda, E.; Hashim, H.

2018-03-01

Investment and operating costs are the biggest obstacles in modernizing fish ponds in an otherwise very lucrative industry i.e. food production, in this region. Small-scale farmers running on small ponds could not afford to hire workers to man daily operations which usually consists of monitoring water levels, temperature and feeding fish. Bigger scale enterprises usually have some kinds of automation for water monitoring and replacement. These entities have to consider employing pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors to ensure the health and growth of fish, sooner or later as their farms grow. This project identifies one of the sites, located in Malacca. In this project, water, temperature, pH and DO levels are measured and integrated with aerating and water supply pumps using Arduino. User could receive information at predetermined intervals on preferred communication or display gadgets as long as they have internet. Since integrating devices are comparatively not expensive; it usually consists of Arduino board, internet and relay frames and display system, farmer could source these components easily. A sample of two days measurements of temperature, pH and DO levels show that this farm has a high-quality water. Oxygen levels increases in the day as sunshine supports photosynthesis in the pond. With this integration system, farmer need not hire worker at their site, consequently drive down operating costs and improve efficiency.

Multiscale effects of management, environmental conditions, and land use on nitrate leaching in dairy farms.

PubMed

Oenema, Jouke; Burgers, Saskia; Verloop, Koos; Hooijboer, Arno; Boumans, Leo; ten Berge, Hein

2010-01-01

Nitrate leaching in intensive grassland- and silage maize-based dairy farming systems on sandy soil is a main environmental concern. Here, statistical relationships are presented between management practices and environmental conditions and nitrate concentration in shallow groundwater (0.8 m depth) at farm, field, and point scales in The Netherlands, based on data collected in a participatory approach over a 7-yr period at one experimental and eight pilot commercial dairy farms on sandy soil. Farm milk production ranged from 10 to 24 Mg ha(-1). Soil and hydrological characteristics were derived from surveys and weather conditions from meteorological stations. Statistical analyses were performed with multiple regression models. Mean nitrate concentration at farm scale decreased from 79 mg L(-1) in 1999 to 63 in 2006, with average nitrate concentration in groundwater decreasing under grassland but increasing under maize land over the monitoring period. The effects of management practices on nitrate concentration varied with spatial scale. At farm scale, nitrogen surplus, grazing intensity, and the relative areas of grassland and maize land significantly contributed to explaining the variance in nitrate concentration in groundwater. Mean nitrate concentration was negatively correlated to the concentration of dissolved organic carbon in the shallow groundwater. At field scale, management practices and soil, hydrological, and climatic conditions significantly contributed to explaining the variance in nitrate concentration in groundwater under grassland and maize land. We conclude that, on these intensive dairy farms, additional measures are needed to comply with the European Union water quality standard in groundwater of 50 mg nitrate L(-1). The most promising measures are omitting fertilization of catch crops and reducing fertilization levels of first-year maize in the rotation.

Work Ability Index (WAI) and its health-related determinants among Iranian farmers working in small farm enterprises.

PubMed

Rostamabadi, Akbar; Mazloumi, Adel; Rahimi Foroushani, Abbas

2014-01-01

This study aimed to determine the Work Ability Index (WAI) and examine the influence of health dimensions and demographic variables on the work ability of Iranian farmers working in small farm enterprises. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 294 male farmers. The WAI and SF-36 questionnaires were used to determine work ability and health status. The effect of demographics variables on the work ability index was investigated with the independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA. Also, multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the association between the mean WAI score and the SF-36 scales. The mean WAI score was 35.1 (SD=10.6). One-way ANOVA revealed a significant relationship between the mean WAI and age. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that work ability was more influenced by physical scales of the health dimensions, such as physical function, role-physical, and general health, whereas a lower association was found for mental scales such as mental health. The average WAI was at a moderate work ability level for the sample population of farmers in this study. Based on the WAI guidelines, improvement of work ability and identification of factors affecting it should be considered a priority in interventional programs. Given the influence of health dimensions on WAI, any intervention program for preservation and promotion of work ability among the studied farmers should be based on balancing and optimizing the physical and psychosocial work environments, with a special focus on reducing physical work load.(J Occup Health 2014; 56: 478-484).

Fine-scale ecological and economic assessment of climate change on olive in the Mediterranean Basin reveals winners and losers

PubMed Central

Ponti, Luigi; Gutierrez, Andrew Paul; Ruti, Paolo Michele; Dell’Aquila, Alessandro

2014-01-01

The Mediterranean Basin is a climate and biodiversity hot spot, and climate change threatens agro-ecosystems such as olive, an ancient drought-tolerant crop of considerable ecological and socioeconomic importance. Climate change will impact the interactions of olive and the obligate olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae), and alter the economics of olive culture across the Basin. We estimate the effects of climate change on the dynamics and interaction of olive and the fly using physiologically based demographic models in a geographic information system context as driven by daily climate change scenario weather. A regional climate model that includes fine-scale representation of the effects of topography and the influence of the Mediterranean Sea on regional climate was used to scale the global climate data. The system model for olive/olive fly was used as the production function in our economic analysis, replacing the commonly used production-damage control function. Climate warming will affect olive yield and fly infestation levels across the Basin, resulting in economic winners and losers at the local and regional scales. At the local scale, profitability of small olive farms in many marginal areas of Europe and elsewhere in the Basin will decrease, leading to increased abandonment. These marginal farms are critical to conserving soil, maintaining biodiversity, and reducing fire risk in these areas. Our fine-scale bioeconomic approach provides a realistic prototype for assessing climate change impacts in other Mediterranean agro-ecosystems facing extant and new invasive pests. PMID:24706833

Fine-scale ecological and economic assessment of climate change on olive in the Mediterranean Basin reveals winners and losers.

PubMed

Ponti, Luigi; Gutierrez, Andrew Paul; Ruti, Paolo Michele; Dell'Aquila, Alessandro

2014-04-15

The Mediterranean Basin is a climate and biodiversity hot spot, and climate change threatens agro-ecosystems such as olive, an ancient drought-tolerant crop of considerable ecological and socioeconomic importance. Climate change will impact the interactions of olive and the obligate olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae), and alter the economics of olive culture across the Basin. We estimate the effects of climate change on the dynamics and interaction of olive and the fly using physiologically based demographic models in a geographic information system context as driven by daily climate change scenario weather. A regional climate model that includes fine-scale representation of the effects of topography and the influence of the Mediterranean Sea on regional climate was used to scale the global climate data. The system model for olive/olive fly was used as the production function in our economic analysis, replacing the commonly used production-damage control function. Climate warming will affect olive yield and fly infestation levels across the Basin, resulting in economic winners and losers at the local and regional scales. At the local scale, profitability of small olive farms in many marginal areas of Europe and elsewhere in the Basin will decrease, leading to increased abandonment. These marginal farms are critical to conserving soil, maintaining biodiversity, and reducing fire risk in these areas. Our fine-scale bioeconomic approach provides a realistic prototype for assessing climate change impacts in other Mediterranean agro-ecosystems facing extant and new invasive pests.

Silvopasture: Small ruminants for establishment, management and usage

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Small farm pastures, hayfields, and woodlots are very productive in terms of forage, animal and wood products. Inherent livestock production capability can be improved through better herbage and animal management. Woodlot management can increase economic return, species diversity, and farm aesthetic...

The animal-human interface and infectious disease in industrial food animal production: rethinking biosecurity and biocontainment.

PubMed

Graham, Jay P; Leibler, Jessica H; Price, Lance B; Otte, Joachim M; Pfeiffer, Dirk U; Tiensin, T; Silbergeld, Ellen K

2008-01-01

Understanding interactions between animals and humans is critical in preventing outbreaks of zoonotic disease. This is particularly important for avian influenza. Food animal production has been transformed since the 1918 influenza pandemic. Poultry and swine production have changed from small-scale methods to industrial-scale operations. There is substantial evidence of pathogen movement between and among these industrial facilities, release to the external environment, and exposure to farm workers, which challenges the assumption that modern poultry production is more biosecure and biocontained as compared with backyard or small holder operations in preventing introduction and release of pathogens. An analysis of data from the Thai government investigation in 2004 indicates that the odds of H5N1 outbreaks and infections were significantly higher in large-scale commercial poultry operations as compared with backyard flocks. These data suggest that successful strategies to prevent or mitigate the emergence of pandemic avian influenza must consider risk factors specific to modern industrialized food animal production.

Oranges or "lemons"? Family farming and product quality in the Spanish orange industry, 1870-1960.

PubMed

Garrido, Samuel

2010-01-01

In the early twentieth century California became a big exporter of some agricultural products that, until then, had only been grown on a large scale in the mediterranean basin. As a result, exports of those products diminished or stagnated in Mediterranean countries, with important repercussions on their economies. The Spanish orange industry, however, continued to expand, despite the fact that a substantial percentage of Spanish oranges came from farms owned by (often illiterate) small peasants who, in comparison to the California growers, used a great deal of labor, small amounts of capital, and little science. This paper shows that Spanish farmers were in fact capable of growing high-quality oranges at prices that were more competitive than those in California, although interested they often preferred to satisfy the strong demand for middling fruit from Great Britain because it was a more profitable business. This, combined with a deficient use of brand names, gave the Spanish citrus industry serious reputation problems by the 1930s, from which, however, it recovered quickly.

Pest Control and Pollination Cost-Benefit Analysis of Hedgerow Restoration in a Simplified Agricultural Landscape.

PubMed

Morandin, L A; Long, R F; Kremen, C

2016-05-11

Field edge habitat in homogeneous agricultural landscapes can serve multiple purposes including enhanced biodiversity, water quality protection, and habitat for beneficial insects, such as native bees and natural enemies. Despite this ecosystem service value, adoption of field border plantings, such as hedgerows, on large-scale mono-cropped farms is minimal. With profits primarily driving agricultural production, a major challenge affecting hedgerow plantings is linked to establishment costs and the lack of clear economic benefits on the restoration investment. Our study documented that hedgerows are economically viable to growers by enhancing beneficial insects and natural pest control and pollination on farms. With pest control alone, our model shows that it would take 16 yr to break even from insecticide savings on the US$4,000 cost of a typical 300-m hedgerow field edge planting. By adding in pollination benefits by native bees, where honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) may be limiting, the return time is reduced to 7 yr. USDA cost share programs allow for a quicker return on a hedgerow investment. Our study shows that over time, small-scale restoration can be profitable, helping to overcome the barrier of cost associated with field edge habitat restoration on farms. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2016. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the United States.

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.

Awareness and Perceptions of Food Safety Risks and Risk Management in Poultry Production and Slaughter: A Qualitative Study of Direct-Market Poultry Producers in Maryland.

PubMed

Baron, Patrick; Frattaroli, Shannon

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to document and understand the perceptions and opinions of small-scale poultry producers who market directly to consumers about microbial food safety risks in the poultry supply chain. Between January and November 2014, we conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 16 owner-operators of Maryland direct-market commercial poultry farms. Three overarching thematic categories emerged from these interviews that describe: 1) characteristics of Maryland direct-market poultry production and processing; 2) microbial food safety risk awareness and risk management in small-scale poultry production, slaughter and processing; and 3) motivations for prioritizing food safety in the statewide direct-market poultry supply chain. Key informants provided valuable insights on many topics relevant to evaluating microbial food safety in the Maryland direct-market poultry supply chain, including: direct-market poultry production and processing practices and models, perspectives on issues related to food safety risk management, perspectives on direct-market agriculture economics and marketing strategies, and ideas for how to enhance food safety at the direct-market level of the Maryland poultry supply chain. The findings have policy implications and provide insights into food safety in small-scale commercial poultry production, processing, distribution and retail. In addition, the findings will inform future food safety research on the small-scale US poultry supply chain.

Life cycle energy use, costs, and greenhouse gas emission of broiler farms in different production systems in Iran-a case study of Alborz province.

PubMed

Pishgar-Komleh, Seyyed Hassan; Akram, Asadollah; Keyhani, Alireza; van Zelm, Rosalie

2017-07-01

In order to achieve sustainable development in agriculture, it is necessary to quantify and compare the energy, economic, and environmental aspects of products. This paper studied the energy, economic, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission patterns in broiler chicken farms in the Alborz province of Iran. We studied the effect of the broiler farm size as different production systems on the energy, economic, and environmental indices. Energy use efficiency (EUE) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) were 0.16 and 1.11, respectively. Diesel fuel and feed contributed the most in total energy inputs, while feed and chicks were the most important inputs in economic analysis. GHG emission calculations showed that production of 1000 birds produces 19.13 t CO 2-eq and feed had the highest share in total GHG emission. Total GHG emissions based on different functional units were 8.5 t CO 2-eq per t of carcass and 6.83 kg CO 2-eq per kg live weight. Results of farm size effect on EUE revealed that large farms had better energy management. For BCR, there was no significant difference between farms. Lower total GHG emissions were reported for large farms, caused by better management of inputs and fewer bird losses. Large farms with more investment had more efficient equipment, resulting in a decrease of the input consumption. In view of our study, it is recommended to support the small-scale broiler industry by providing subsidies to promote the use of high-efficiency equipment. To decrease the amount of energy usage and GHG emissions, replacing heaters (which use diesel fuel) with natural gas heaters can be considered. In addition to the above recommendations, the use of energy saving light bulbs may reduce broiler farm electricity consumption.

Assessing conservation opportunity on private land: socio-economic, behavioral, and spatial dimensions.

PubMed

Raymond, Christopher M; Brown, Gregory

2011-10-01

This study presents a method for assessing conservation opportunity on private land based on landholders' socio-economic, behavioral, and farm characteristics. These characteristics include age, gender, education, level of off-farm income, farm size, proportion of remnant native vegetation on-farm, and ecological value of native vegetation on-farm. A sample of landholders who own greater than 2 ha of land in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin region were sent a mail-based survey about their values and preferences for environmental management (N = 659, 52% response). Cross-tabulations and ANOVA statistical analysis techniques were used to compare the socio-economic attributes across three landholder classes: disengaged, moderately engaged, and highly engaged in native vegetation planting. Results indicate that highly engaged landholders were more likely to be female, formally educated, hobby farmers who managed small parcels of land and have high off-farm incomes, whereas disengaged landholders held significantly stronger farming connections (more farming experience, family have lived on the farm for more generations). Spatial analysis revealed area-specific differences in conservation opportunity and conservation priority. In some areas, properties of high ecological value were managed by highly engaged landholders, but nearby properties of high value were managed by moderately engaged or disengaged landholders. Environmental managers therefore cannot assume areas of high conservation priority will be areas of high conservation opportunity. At the regional scale, the potential for revegetation seems most promising within the moderately engaged landholder group considering the vast amount of land managed by this group in areas of high ecological value, particularly within the less represented Mallee and Coorong and Rangelands sub-regions. We suggest that incentive schemes which purchase conservation need to be targeted at disengaged landholders; mentoring schemes led by commercial farmers highly engaged in native vegetation planting should be directed at moderately engaged landholders, and; awards programs which acknowledge conservation successes should be targeted at highly engaged landholders. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A global synthesis of the effects of diversified farming systems on arthropod diversity within fields and across agricultural landscapes.

PubMed

Lichtenberg, Elinor M; Kennedy, Christina M; Kremen, Claire; Batáry, Péter; Berendse, Frank; Bommarco, Riccardo; Bosque-Pérez, Nilsa A; Carvalheiro, Luísa G; Snyder, William E; Williams, Neal M; Winfree, Rachael; Klatt, Björn K; Åström, Sandra; Benjamin, Faye; Brittain, Claire; Chaplin-Kramer, Rebecca; Clough, Yann; Danforth, Bryan; Diekötter, Tim; Eigenbrode, Sanford D; Ekroos, Johan; Elle, Elizabeth; Freitas, Breno M; Fukuda, Yuki; Gaines-Day, Hannah R; Grab, Heather; Gratton, Claudio; Holzschuh, Andrea; Isaacs, Rufus; Isaia, Marco; Jha, Shalene; Jonason, Dennis; Jones, Vincent P; Klein, Alexandra-Maria; Krauss, Jochen; Letourneau, Deborah K; Macfadyen, Sarina; Mallinger, Rachel E; Martin, Emily A; Martinez, Eliana; Memmott, Jane; Morandin, Lora; Neame, Lisa; Otieno, Mark; Park, Mia G; Pfiffner, Lukas; Pocock, Michael J O; Ponce, Carlos; Potts, Simon G; Poveda, Katja; Ramos, Mariangie; Rosenheim, Jay A; Rundlöf, Maj; Sardiñas, Hillary; Saunders, Manu E; Schon, Nicole L; Sciligo, Amber R; Sidhu, C Sheena; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Tscharntke, Teja; Veselý, Milan; Weisser, Wolfgang W; Wilson, Julianna K; Crowder, David W

2017-11-01

Agricultural intensification is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss, which can reduce the provisioning of ecosystem services in managed ecosystems. Organic farming and plant diversification are farm management schemes that may mitigate potential ecological harm by increasing species richness and boosting related ecosystem services to agroecosystems. What remains unclear is the extent to which farm management schemes affect biodiversity components other than species richness, and whether impacts differ across spatial scales and landscape contexts. Using a global metadataset, we quantified the effects of organic farming and plant diversification on abundance, local diversity (communities within fields), and regional diversity (communities across fields) of arthropod pollinators, predators, herbivores, and detritivores. Both organic farming and higher in-field plant diversity enhanced arthropod abundance, particularly for rare taxa. This resulted in increased richness but decreased evenness. While these responses were stronger at local relative to regional scales, richness and abundance increased at both scales, and richness on farms embedded in complex relative to simple landscapes. Overall, both organic farming and in-field plant diversification exerted the strongest effects on pollinators and predators, suggesting these management schemes can facilitate ecosystem service providers without augmenting herbivore (pest) populations. Our results suggest that organic farming and plant diversification promote diverse arthropod metacommunities that may provide temporal and spatial stability of ecosystem service provisioning. Conserving diverse plant and arthropod communities in farming systems therefore requires sustainable practices that operate both within fields and across landscapes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prevalence and Characterization of Motile Salmonella in Commercial Layer Poultry Farms in Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Barua, Himel; Biswas, Paritosh K.; Olsen, Katharina E. P.; Christensen, Jens P.

2012-01-01

Salmonella is a globally widespread food-borne pathogen having major impact on public health. All motile serovars of Salmonella enterica of poultry origin are zoonotic, and contaminated meat and raw eggs are an important source to human infections. Information on the prevalence of Salmonella at farm/holding level, and the zoonotic serovars circulating in layer poultry in the South and South-East Asian countries including Bangladesh, where small-scale commercial farms are predominant, is limited. To investigate the prevalence of Salmonella at layer farm level, and to identify the prevalent serovars we conducted a cross-sectional survey by randomly selecting 500 commercial layer poultry farms in Bangladesh. Faecal samples from the selected farms were collected following standard procedure, and examined for the presence of Salmonella using conventional bacteriological procedures. Thirty isolates were randomly selected, from the ninety obtained from the survey, for serotyping and characterized further by plasmid profiling and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results of the survey showed that the prevalence of motile Salmonella at layer farm level was 18% (95% confidence interval 15–21%), and Salmonella Kentucky was identified to be the only serovar circulating in the study population. Plasmid analysis of the S. Kentucky and non-serotyped isolates revealed two distinct profiles with a variation of two different sizes (2.7 and 4.8 kb). PFGE of the 30 S. Kentucky and 30 non-serotyped isolates showed that all of them were clonally related because only one genotype and three subtypes were determined based on the variation in two or three bands. This is also the first report on the presence of any specific serovar of Salmonella enterica in poultry in Bangladesh. PMID:22558269

Prevalence and characterization of motile Salmonella in commercial layer poultry farms in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Barua, Himel; Biswas, Paritosh K; Olsen, Katharina E P; Christensen, Jens P

2012-01-01

Salmonella is a globally widespread food-borne pathogen having major impact on public health. All motile serovars of Salmonella enterica of poultry origin are zoonotic, and contaminated meat and raw eggs are an important source to human infections. Information on the prevalence of Salmonella at farm/holding level, and the zoonotic serovars circulating in layer poultry in the South and South-East Asian countries including Bangladesh, where small-scale commercial farms are predominant, is limited. To investigate the prevalence of Salmonella at layer farm level, and to identify the prevalent serovars we conducted a cross-sectional survey by randomly selecting 500 commercial layer poultry farms in Bangladesh. Faecal samples from the selected farms were collected following standard procedure, and examined for the presence of Salmonella using conventional bacteriological procedures. Thirty isolates were randomly selected, from the ninety obtained from the survey, for serotyping and characterized further by plasmid profiling and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results of the survey showed that the prevalence of motile Salmonella at layer farm level was 18% (95% confidence interval 15-21%), and Salmonella Kentucky was identified to be the only serovar circulating in the study population. Plasmid analysis of the S. Kentucky and non-serotyped isolates revealed two distinct profiles with a variation of two different sizes (2.7 and 4.8 kb). PFGE of the 30 S. Kentucky and 30 non-serotyped isolates showed that all of them were clonally related because only one genotype and three subtypes were determined based on the variation in two or three bands. This is also the first report on the presence of any specific serovar of Salmonella enterica in poultry in Bangladesh.

Integrating gene flow, crop biology, and farm management in on-farm conservation of avocado (Persea americana, Lauraceae).

PubMed

Birnbaum, Kenneth; Desalle, Rob; Peters, Charles M; Benfey, Philip N

2003-11-01

Maintaining crop diversity on farms where cultivars can evolve is a conservation goal, but few tools are available to assess the long-term maintenance of genetic diversity on farms. One important issue for on-farm conservation is gene flow from crops with a narrow genetic base into related populations that are genetically diverse. In a case study of avocado (Persea americana var. americana) in one of its centers of diversity (San Jerónimo, Costa Rica), we used 10 DNA microsatellite markers in a parentage analysis to estimate gene flow from commercialized varieties into a traditional crop population. Five commercialized genotypes comprised nearly 40% of orchard trees, but they contributed only about 14.5% of the gametes to the youngest cohort of trees. Although commercialized varieties and the diverse population were often planted on the same farm, planting patterns appeared to keep the two types of trees separated on small scales, possibly explaining the limited gene flow. In a simulation that combined gene flow estimates, crop biology, and graft tree management, loss of allelic diversity was less than 10% over 150 yr, and selection was effective in retaining desirable alleles in the diverse subpopulation. Simulations also showed that, in addition to gene flow, managing the genetic makeup and life history traits of the invasive commercialized varieties could have a significant impact on genetic diversity in the target population. The results support the feasibility of on-farm crop conservation, but simulations also showed that higher levels of gene flow could lead to severe losses of genetic diversity even if farmers continue to plant diverse varieties.

Network analysis of swine shipments in Ontario, Canada, to support disease spread modelling and risk-based disease management.

PubMed

Dorjee, S; Revie, C W; Poljak, Z; McNab, W B; Sanchez, J

2013-10-01

Understanding contact networks are important for modelling and managing the spread and control of communicable diseases in populations. This study characterizes the swine shipment network of a multi-site production system in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Data were extracted from a company's database listing swine shipments among 251 swine farms, including 20 sow, 69 nursery and 162 finishing farms, for the 2-year period of 2006 to 2007. Several network metrics were generated. The number of shipments per week between pairs of farms ranged from 1 to 6. The medians (and ranges) of out-degree were: sow 6 (1-21), nursery 8 (0-25), and finishing 0 (0-4), over the entire 2-year study period. Corresponding estimates for in-degree of nursery and finishing farms were 3 (0-9) and 3 (0-12) respectively. Outgoing and incoming infection chains (OIC and IIC), were also measured. The medians (ranges) of the monthly OIC and IIC were 0 (0-8) and 0 (0-6), respectively, with very similar measures observed for 2-week intervals. Nursery farms exhibited high measures of centrality. This indicates that they pose greater risks of disease spread in the network. Therefore, they should be given a high priority for disease prevention and control measures affecting all age groups alike. The network demonstrated scale-free and small-world topologies as observed in other livestock shipment studies. This heterogeneity in contacts among farm types and network topologies should be incorporated in simulation models to improve their validity. In conclusion, this study provided useful epidemiological information and parameters for the control and modelling of disease spread among swine farms, for the first time from Ontario, Canada. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Altitude effects on technology and productivity of small bovine farms (milk meat) in Veracruz (Gulf of Mexico).

PubMed

Ruíz-Guevara, C; De León-González, F; Soriano-Robles, R; Pérez-Carrera, A L; García-Hernández, L A

2018-03-01

The dual-purpose bovine system represents 98.4% of the bovine livestock of Veracruz, the main cattle-producing state of Mexico. This system supplies calves to meat companies, a sector in which Veracruz has been the national leader in the last decade. The objective of the present study was to analyze the effect of the altitudinal zonation of farms on livestock technology and productivity in a microbasin of the Gulf of Mexico where small farms predominate. Structured interviews were applied to producers located in three altitudinal zones (at average altitudes of 50, 140, and 450 m, respectively, for lower, middle, and upper zones). Sample size was 135 farms having similar land surface (within a range of 15-22 ha). The results indicated multiple differences among farms located in the three zones. Farms in the middle and lower zones presented higher productive indicators than those in the upper zone. Differences in herd structure and management resulted in important differences in productivity, income, and profits in milk and calf production. We concluded from this study that altitudinal zonation in Veracruz had a clear effect on the differentiation of small farms, which are representative of dual-purpose cattle. The upper zone performs cattle activity under conditions with greater disadvantages in the analyzed region.

Impact of changes in labor resources and transfers of land use rights on agricultural non-point source pollution in Jiangsu Province, China.

PubMed

Lu, Hua; Xie, Hualin

2018-02-01

This study systematically explores the likely mechanisms driving the effect of the transfer of agricultural land use rights (ALURs) on agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) in the context of changing agricultural labor resources. It quantitatively estimates the direction and degree of this influence from a microeconomic perspective using data from rural households. The results reveal that economies of scale caused by ALURs transfers contribute to reducing both the ANSP and marginal costs of inputs. Changes in agricultural labor resources lead to reductions in agricultural labor supply and negatively impact on ANSP. Encouraging farmers to participate in ALURs transfers, therefore, helps to reduce ANSP. The government and related departments should implement policies that support farmers who decide to rent an entire village's land or the adjacent land to achieve economies of scale. Accelerating the development of small farm machinery that is suitable for smaller farm plots and the elderly can serve to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and promote green production and sustainable agricultural development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applications of remote-sensing data in Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, J. M. (Principal Investigator)

1977-01-01

Public and private agencies were introduced to the use of remotely sensed data obtained by both satellite and aircraft, and benefitted from facilities for data processing enhancement and interpretation as well as from the institute's data library. Cooperative ventures involving the performance of operational activities included assistance to the Bureau of Land Management in the suppression of wildfires; the selection of sites for power line right-of-way; the mapping of leads in sea ice; determination of portions of public lands to be allocated for small scale farming; the identification of areas for large scale farming of barley; the observation of coastal processes and sediment transport near Prudhoe Bay; the establishment of a colar infrared file of the entire state; and photomapping for geological surveys. Monitoring of the outer continental shelf environment and reindeer herds was also conducted. Institutional constraints to full utilization of satellite remote sensing in the state are explored and plans for future activites include the generation of awareness by government agencies, the training of state personnel, and improving coordination and communication with users.

Contribution of large scale coherence to wind turbine power: A large eddy simulation study in periodic wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, Tanmoy; Peet, Yulia T.

2018-03-01

Length scales of eddies involved in the power generation of infinite wind farms are studied by analyzing the spectra of the turbulent flux of mean kinetic energy (MKE) from large eddy simulations (LES). Large-scale structures with an order of magnitude bigger than the turbine rotor diameter (D ) are shown to have substantial contribution to wind power. Varying dynamics in the intermediate scales (D -10 D ) are also observed from a parametric study involving interturbine distances and hub height of the turbines. Further insight about the eddies responsible for the power generation have been provided from the scaling analysis of two-dimensional premultiplied spectra of MKE flux. The LES code is developed in a high Reynolds number near-wall modeling framework, using an open-source spectral element code Nek5000, and the wind turbines have been modelled using a state-of-the-art actuator line model. The LES of infinite wind farms have been validated against the statistical results from the previous literature. The study is expected to improve our understanding of the complex multiscale dynamics in the domain of large wind farms and identify the length scales that contribute to the power. This information can be useful for design of wind farm layout and turbine placement that take advantage of the large-scale structures contributing to wind turbine power.

Longitudinal study on the temporal and micro-spatial distribution of Galba truncatula in four farms in Belgium as a base for small-scale risk mapping of Fasciola hepatica.

PubMed

Charlier, Johannes; Soenen, Karen; De Roeck, Els; Hantson, Wouter; Ducheyne, Els; Van Coillie, Frieke; De Wulf, Robert; Hendrickx, Guy; Vercruysse, Jozef

2014-11-26

The trematode parasite Fasciola hepatica causes important economic losses in ruminants worldwide. Current spatial distribution models do not provide sufficient detail to support farm-specific control strategies. A technology to reliably assess the spatial distribution of intermediate host snail habitats on farms would be a major step forward to this respect. The aim of this study was to conduct a longitudinal field survey in Flanders (Belgium) to (i) characterise suitable small water bodies (SWB) for Galba truncatula and (ii) describe the population dynamics of G. truncatula. Four F. hepatica-infected farms from two distinct agricultural regions were examined for the abundance of G. truncatula from the beginning (April 2012) until the end (November 2012) of the grazing season. Per farm, 12 to 18 SWB were selected for monthly examination, using a 10 m transect analysis. Observations on G. truncatula abundance were coupled with meteorological and (micro-)environmental factors and the within-herd prevalence of F. hepatica using simple comparison or negative binomial regression models. A total of 54 examined SWB were classified as a pond, ditch, trench, furrow or moist area. G. truncatula abundance was significantly associated with SWB-type, region and total monthly precipitation, but not with monthly temperature. The clear differences in G. truncatula abundance between the 2 studied regions did not result in comparable differences in F. hepatica prevalence in the cattle. Exploration of the relationship of G. truncatula abundance with (micro)-environmental variables revealed a positive association with soil and water pH and the occurrence of Ranunculus sp. and a negative association with mowed pastures, water temperature and presence of reed-like plant species. Farm-level predictions of G. truncatula risk and subsequent risk for F. hepatica occurrence would require a rainfall, soil type (representing the agricultural region) and SWB layer in a geographic information system. While rainfall and soil type information is easily accessible, the recent advances in very high spatial resolution cameras carried on board of satellites, planes or drones should allow the delineation of SWBs in the future.

[Prediction and spatial distribution of recruitment trees of natural secondary forest based on geographically weighted Poisson model].

PubMed

Zhang, Ling Yu; Liu, Zhao Gang

2017-12-01

Based on the data collected from 108 permanent plots of the forest resources survey in Maoershan Experimental Forest Farm during 2004-2016, this study investigated the spatial distribution of recruitment trees in natural secondary forest by global Poisson regression and geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) with four bandwidths of 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 km. The simulation effects of the 5 regressions and the factors influencing the recruitment trees in stands were analyzed, a description was given to the spatial autocorrelation of the regression residuals on global and local levels using Moran's I. The results showed that the spatial distribution of the number of natural secondary forest recruitment was significantly influenced by stands and topographic factors, especially average DBH. The GWPR model with small scale (2.5 km) had high accuracy of model fitting, a large range of model parameter estimates was generated, and the localized spatial distribution effect of the model parameters was obtained. The GWPR model at small scale (2.5 and 5 km) had produced a small range of model residuals, and the stability of the model was improved. The global spatial auto-correlation of the GWPR model residual at the small scale (2.5 km) was the lowe-st, and the local spatial auto-correlation was significantly reduced, in which an ideal spatial distribution pattern of small clusters with different observations was formed. The local model at small scale (2.5 km) was much better than the global model in the simulation effect on the spatial distribution of recruitment tree number.

Status and determinants of small farming households' food security and role of market access in enhancing food security in rural Pakistan

PubMed Central

Ying, Liu; Bashir, Muhammad Khalid; Abid, Muhammad; Zulfiqar, Farhad

2017-01-01

In most of the developing countries, lack of resources and little market accessibility are among the major factors that affect small farming household food security. This study aims to investigate the status of small farming households’ food security, and its determinants including the role of market accessibility factors in enhancing food security at household level. In addition, this study also determines the households’ perception about different kinds of livelihoods risks. This study is based on a household survey of 576 households conducted through face-to-face interviews using structured interviews in Punjab, Pakistan. Food security status is calculated using dietary intake method. The study findings show that one-fourth of the households are food insecure. The study findings reveal that farm households perceive increase in food prices, crop diseases, lack of irrigation water and increase in health expenses as major livelihood risks. Further, the results of logistic regression show that family size, monthly income, food prices, health expenses and debt are main factors influencing the food security status of rural households. Furthermore, the market accessibility factors (road distance and transportation cost) do significantly affect the small farming household food security. The results suggest that local food security can be enhanced by creating off-farm employment opportunities, improved transportation facilities and road infrastructure. PMID:29077719

Status and determinants of small farming households' food security and role of market access in enhancing food security in rural Pakistan.

PubMed

Ahmed, Umar Ijaz; Ying, Liu; Bashir, Muhammad Khalid; Abid, Muhammad; Zulfiqar, Farhad

2017-01-01

In most of the developing countries, lack of resources and little market accessibility are among the major factors that affect small farming household food security. This study aims to investigate the status of small farming households' food security, and its determinants including the role of market accessibility factors in enhancing food security at household level. In addition, this study also determines the households' perception about different kinds of livelihoods risks. This study is based on a household survey of 576 households conducted through face-to-face interviews using structured interviews in Punjab, Pakistan. Food security status is calculated using dietary intake method. The study findings show that one-fourth of the households are food insecure. The study findings reveal that farm households perceive increase in food prices, crop diseases, lack of irrigation water and increase in health expenses as major livelihood risks. Further, the results of logistic regression show that family size, monthly income, food prices, health expenses and debt are main factors influencing the food security status of rural households. Furthermore, the market accessibility factors (road distance and transportation cost) do significantly affect the small farming household food security. The results suggest that local food security can be enhanced by creating off-farm employment opportunities, improved transportation facilities and road infrastructure.

Is a 10-sow unit economically sustainable? A profitability assessment of productivity amongst small-holder pig farmers, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

PubMed

Munzhelele, Priscilla; Oguttu, James W; Fasina, Folorunso O

2016-05-12

The majority of small-holder pig farmers in Mpumalanga had between 1- and 10-sow herds. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the current government agricultural intervention (supply of 10 sows and a boar) in terms of technical and economic feasibilities and ascertain whether the small-scale pig value chain system alleviates poverty. Data were obtained from 220 randomly selected small-holder pig farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results showed that 58% farrowed ≤ 10 piglets/born/sow/litter, 44.2% practiced no weaning method and many fed swill and leftovers alone (41.6%). Pair-wise association revealed that the feeding of commercial feeds had a relationship with pigs in relatively good to very good body condition. Pigs in poor body condition were positively correlated with the feeding of swill alone. The economic models for the 10-sow unit proved that pig farming is unprofitable if the current management and feeding systems that operate in the commercial industry are utilised. However, only through a combination of cooperative systems, benefits of economies of scale, reduction of preweaning mortalities and structured government inputs can pig production be profitable at this scale of production.

Long-term studies of land degradation in the Sneeuberg uplands, eastern Karoo, South Africa: A synthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boardman, J.; Foster, I. D. L.; Rowntree, K. M.; Favis-Mortlock, D. T.; Mol, L.; Suich, H.; Gaynor, D.

2017-05-01

For the past 15 yr, the Sneeuberg uplands in the eastern Karoo, South Africa, have been a focus for research on land degradation by the above authors and other colleagues. Earlier work in the Karoo emphasised vegetation change whereas we concentrate on physical changes to the landscape at the small catchment scale, e.g., bare, degraded areas (badlands) and gully (donga) systems. Analysis of sedimentation in farm dams allows for reconstruction of environmental histories using 210Pb, 137Cs, geochemical and mineral magnetic properties of the sediments. Erosion rates on badlands are monitored using arrays of erosion pins. Sediment source tracing within small catchments points to the importance of hillslope sources and the relative erosional inactivity of gully systems in recent decades. Sediment supply from hillslope and colluvial sources is maintained by high rates of weathering on mudstones and sandstones. Current degradation should be viewed in the context of a c. 200 yr history of overgrazing by European-style stock farming and limited areas of former cultivation in the valleys. Grazing pressures are now much reduced but the loss of soils and vegetation suggests that landscape recovery will require several decades. Additional drivers of past degradation are likely to have been periods of drought and fire (natural and managed) and a gradual increase in both rainfall intensity and the frequency of extreme rainfall events. The future of the degraded Sneeuberg landscape will depend on future farming practices. Desirable options include more sustainable livestock practices, adoption of wildlife farming and other more benign regimes involving mixes of agriculture, tourism, and wildlife protection together with landscape rehabilitation measures.

The influence of wind farm development on the hydrochemistry and ecology of an upland stream.

PubMed

Millidine, K J; Malcolm, I A; McCartney, A; Laughton, R; Gibbins, C N; Fryer, R J

2015-08-01

Despite perceptions of pristine condition, upland environments are increasingly subject to a range of anthropogenic pressures including air pollution, climate change, land-use change and evolving land management strategies. Although they have received little attention to date, the large-scale development of upland wind farms also has the potential to disturb vegetation and soils, alter hydrology and water quality and, thus, impact freshwater ecosystems. This paper presents the findings of a 5-year study of the impacts of wind farm construction on the freshwater environment. Data on water quality, invertebrate and fish populations were collected for 2 years before construction and for the following 3 years covering the construction period and the initial period of the farm's operation. In contrast to previous studies, the impacts of the wind farm development were assessed for a suite of potentially affected hydrochemical variables using a before-after-control-impact (BACI) analysis that allowed separation of construction effects from spatial and temporal variability in hydroclimatological conditions, thereby providing an improved, more robust evidence base. There was a small but significant negative effect of construction on pH, alkalinity (Alk) and acid neutralising capacity (ANC) in the upper part of the treatment catchment, which was where the wind farm was situated. The effects were more marked under higher flow conditions. It is hypothesised that this reflects changes in hydrological processes with increased near-surface runoff or organic acid mobilisation. There was no indication that either invertebrate community structure or fish densities were impacted by construction and the resulting effects on water quality.

75 FR 56914 - Removal of the List of Ports of Embarkation and Export Inspection Facilities from the Regulations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-17

... farming operations, dairy cattle and milk production operations, hog and pig farming operations, sheep and goat farming operations, and cattle feedlots. The Small Business Administration has established...

Examining Adaptations to Water Stress Among Farming Households in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, N. E.; Carrico, A.

2016-12-01

Climate change is increasing water scarcity in Sri Lanka's primary rice-farming zone. Whether these changes will undermine the national-level food security that Sri Lanka has worked to develop since their independence depends upon the ability of the small-scale farmers that dominate rice production and the institutions that support them to overcome the challenges presented by changing water availability. Using household survey data collected in 13 rice farming communities throughout Sri Lanka, this research explores how water stressed farmers are working to adapt to changing conditions and how the strategies they employ impact rice yields. Our analyses reveal that farmers' abilities to access irrigation infrastructure is the most important factor shaping the rice yields of water stressed Sri Lanka farmers. Notably, however, our research also identified farmers' use of hybrid, 'short duration' seed varietals to be the only climate adaptation strategy being promoted by agricultural extension services to have a significant positive impact on farmers' yields. These findings provide encouraging evidence for policies that promote plant breeding and distribution in Sri Lanka as a means to buffer the food system to climate change.

Evaluation of new farming technologies in Ethiopia using the Integrated Decision Support System (IDSS).

PubMed

Clarke, Neville; Bizimana, Jean-Claude; Dile, Yihun; Worqlul, Abeyou; Osorio, Javier; Herbst, Brian; Richardson, James W; Srinivasan, Raghavan; Gerik, Thomas J; Williams, Jimmy; Jones, Charles A; Jeong, Jaehak

2017-01-31

This study investigates multi-dimensional impacts of adopting new technology in agriculture at the farm/village and watershed scale in sub-Saharan Africa using the Integrated Decision Support System (IDSS). Application of IDSS as an integrated modeling tool helps solve complex issues in agricultural systems by simultaneously assessing production, environmental, economic, and nutritional consequences of adopting agricultural technologies for sustainable increases in food production and use of scarce natural resources. The IDSS approach was applied to the Amhara region of Ethiopia, where the scarcity of resources and agro-environmental consequences are critical to agricultural productivity of small farm, to analyze the impacts of alternative agricultural technology interventions. Results show significant improvements in family income and nutrition, achieved through the adoption of irrigation technologies, proper use of fertilizer, and improved seed varieties while preserving environmental indicators in terms of soil erosion and sediment loadings. These pilot studies demonstrate the usefulness of the IDSS approach as a tool that can be used to predict and evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of adopting new agricultural technologies that aim to improve the livelihoods of subsistence farmers.

Observations of Near-Surface Relative Humidity in a Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer Using an Instrumented Unmanned Aerial System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adkins, K. A.; Sescu, A.

2016-12-01

Simulation and modeling have shown that wind farms have an impact on the near-surface atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) as turbulent wakes generated by the turbines enhance vertical mixing. These changes alter downstream atmospheric properties. With a large portion of wind farms hosted within an agricultural context, changes to the environment can potentially have secondary impacts such as to the productivity of crops. With the exception of a few observational data sets that focus on the impact to near-surface temperature, little to no observational evidence exists. These few studies also lack high spatial resolution due to their use of a limited number of meteorological towers or remote sensing techniques. This study utilizes an instrumented small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) to gather in-situ field measurements from two Midwest wind farms, focusing on the impact that large utility-scale wind turbines have on relative humidity. Wind turbines are found to differentially alter the relative humidity in the downstream, spanwise and vertical directions under a variety of atmospheric stability conditions.

Changes in human skull morphology across the agricultural transition are consistent with softer diets in preindustrial farming groups.

PubMed

Katz, David C; Grote, Mark N; Weaver, Timothy D

2017-08-22

Agricultural foods and technologies are thought to have eased the mechanical demands of diet-how often or how hard one had to chew-in human populations worldwide. Some evidence suggests correspondingly worldwide changes in skull shape and form across the agricultural transition, although these changes have proved difficult to characterize at a global scale. Here, adapting a quantitative genetics mixed model for complex phenotypes, we quantify the influence of diet on global human skull shape and form. We detect modest directional differences between foragers and farmers. The effects are consistent with softer diets in preindustrial farming groups and are most pronounced and reliably directional when the farming class is limited to dairying populations. Diet effect magnitudes are relatively small, affirming the primary role of neutral evolutionary processes-genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow structured by population history and migrations-in shaping diversity in the human skull. The results also bring an additional perspective to the paradox of why Homo sapiens , particularly agriculturalists, appear to be relatively well suited to efficient (high-leverage) chewing.

Economics of on-farm production and use of vegetable oils for fuel

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

McIntosh, C.S.; Withers, R.V.; Smith, S.M.

1982-01-01

The technology of oilseed processing, on a small scale, is much simpler than that for ethanol production. This, coupled with the fact that most energy intensive farm operations use diesel powered equipment, has created substantial interest in vegetable oils as an alternative source of liquid fuel for agriculture. The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact on gross margins resulting from vegetable oil production and utilization in two case study areas, Latah and Power Counties, in Iadho. The results indicate that winter rape oil became a feasible alternative to diesel when the price of diesel reached $0.84 permore » liter in the Latah County model. A diesel price of $0.85 per liter was required in the Power County model before it became feasible to produce sunflower oil for fuel. 5 tables.« less

Field tests demonstrating reduced activity of ivermectin and moxidectin against small strongyles in horses on 14 farms in Central Kentucky in 2007-2009.

PubMed

Lyons, Eugene T; Tolliver, Sharon C; Collins, Sandra S; Ionita, Mariana; Kuzmina, Tetiana A; Rossano, Mary

2011-02-01

Efficacy of ivermectin (IVM) and moxidectin (MOX) against small strongyles was evaluated in horses (n=363) in field tests on 14 farms in Central Kentucky between 2007 and 2009. Most of the horses were yearlings but a few were weanlings and mares. The number of horses treated with IVM was 255 and those treated with MOX was 108. Horses on six farms were allotted into two groups. One group was treated with each of the two drugs, whereas horses on the other eight farms were treated with only one of the two drugs--IVM on six farms and MOX on two farms. Strongyle eggs per gram of feces (EPGs) compared to initial use of IVM and MOX returned almost twice as quickly after treatment of horses on all of the farms. IVM has been used much more extensively in this geographical area than MOX. Reduced activity of MOX was evident even on farms with rare or no apparent previous use of MOX but with probable extensive use of IVM.

Broad-scale impacts of salmon farms on temperate macroalgal assemblages on rocky reefs.

PubMed

Oh, E S; Edgar, G J; Kirkpatrick, J B; Stuart-Smith, R D; Barrett, N S

2015-09-15

Intensive fish culture in open sea pens delivers large amounts of nutrients to coastal environments. Relative to particulate waste impacts, the ecological impacts of dissolved wastes are poorly known despite their potential to substantially affect nutrient-assimilating components of surrounding ecosystems. Broad-scale enrichment effects of salmonid farms on Tasmanian reef communities were assessed by comparing macroalgal cover at four fixed distances from active fish farm leases across 44 sites. Macroalgal assemblages differed significantly between sites immediately adjacent (100m) to fish farms and reference sites at 5km distance, while sites at 400m and 1km exhibited intermediate characteristics. Epiphyte cover varied consistently with fish farm impacts in both sheltered and exposed locations. The green algae Chaetomorpha spp. predominated near fish farms at swell-exposed sites, whereas filamentous green algae showed elevated densities near sheltered farms. Cover of canopy-forming perennial algae appeared unaffected by fish farm impacts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and validation of a work stressor scale for Australian farming families.

PubMed

McShane, Connar J; Quirk, Frances; Swinbourne, Anne

2016-08-01

The aim of this research was to gain insight into the key stressors for Australian farming families. It is well established that the farming work environment consists of a number of unique stressors which arise from dependency on factors beyond an individual's control (e.g. climate conditions) as well as the overlap between work and family environments. Despite this, limited research has included family factors in the assessment of stress felt by farmers and their families. This research sought to develop a scale of stressors for farming families in an Australian sample. A survey design was used for validity and reliability studies. The validity study involved assessment of factor structure, concurrent validity and discriminant validity. The reliability study used a test-retest reliability design. Participants were recruited from across Australia (38% Queensland; 30% New South Wales) and multiple industries (43% beef; 27% broadacre cropping; 26% horticulture). The validity study involved 278 participants and the reliability study involved 53 participants. Development of a Farming Family Stressor scale. The generated Farming Family Stressor scale presented satisfactory levels of concurrent validity (e.g. r = .73 against the Farm Stress Survey total score), discriminant validity (e.g. r = -.42 to r = .53 against the Satisfaction with Life and Kessler-10 total scores, respectively), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >.90) and test-retest reliability (rho > .66). This research lends insight into the complexity of stressors for farming families and has implications for occupational health and mental health programs that seek to reduce stress and improve health outcomes for that group. © 2015 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

Trading off natural resources and rural livelihoods. A framework for sustainability assessment of small-scale food production in water-limited regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Recanati, Francesca; Castelletti, Andrea; Dotelli, Giovanni; Melià, Paco

2017-12-01

Enhancing local production is key to promoting food security, especially in rural households of low-income countries, but may conflict with limited natural resources and ecosystems preservation. We propose a framework integrating the water-food nexus and a sustainable livelihoods perspective to assess small-scale food production in water-poor regions. We demonstrate it by assessing alternative production scenarios in the Gaza Strip at different spatial scales. At the scale of a single farm, there is a clear conflict among objectives: while cash crops ensure good incomes but contribute scarcely to domestic protein supply, crops performing well from the nutritional and environmental viewpoint are among the worst from the economic one. At the regional scale, domestic production might cover an important fraction of nutritional needs while contributing to household income, but water scarcity impairs the satisfaction of food demand by domestic production alone. Pursuing food security under multiple constraints thus requires a holistic perspective: we discuss how a multidimensional approach can promote the engagement of different stakeholders and allow the exploration of trade-offs between food security, sustainable exploitation of natural resources and economic viability.

Farming systems and sanitary problems in mountain cattle farms.

PubMed

Bernúes, A; Manrique, E; Maza, M T

1994-01-01

On the basis of concepts established by ecopathology and the systems theory, certain aspects of the 'Ecosanitary System', which forms part of the 'Farming System', were studied. Multivariant statistical methods were used to analyze and classify 69 mountain cattle farms into different types and to establish relationships between variables relating to pathological problems and others relating to aspects of production and farm structure. Stable mastitis characterized farms with a higher milk production, more intensive farming and greater hygiene measures. The pattern of diarrhoea in the calves was similar. Problems relating to reproduction and calving were more characteristic of traditional, small farms.

A regional assessment of the cost and effectiveness of mitigation measures for reducing nutrient losses to water and greenhouse gas emissions to air from pastoral farms.

PubMed

Vibart, Ronaldo; Vogeler, Iris; Dennis, Samuel; Kaye-Blake, William; Monaghan, Ross; Burggraaf, Vicki; Beautrais, Josef; Mackay, Alec

2015-06-01

Using a novel approach that links geospatial land resource information with individual farm-scale simulation, we conducted a regional assessment of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) losses to water and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to air from the predominant mix of pastoral industries in Southland, New Zealand. An evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of several nutrient loss mitigation strategies applied at the farm-scale, set primarily for reducing N and P losses and grouped by capital cost and potential ease of adoption, followed an initial baseline assessment. Grouped nutrient loss mitigation strategies were applied on an additive basis on the assumption of full adoption, and were broadly identified as 'improved nutrient management' (M1), 'improved animal productivity' (M2), and 'restricted grazing' (M3). Estimated annual nitrate-N leaching losses occurring under representative baseline sheep and beef (cattle) farms, and representative baseline dairy farms for the region were 10 ± 2 and 32 ± 6 kg N/ha (mean ± standard deviation), respectively. Both sheep and beef and dairy farms were responsive to N leaching loss mitigation strategies in M1, at a low cost per kg N-loss mitigated. Only dairy farms were responsive to N leaching loss abatement from adopting M2, at no additional cost per kg N-loss mitigated. Dairy farms were also responsive to N leaching loss abatement from adopting M3, but this reduction came at a greater cost per kg N-loss mitigated. Only dairy farms were responsive to P-loss mitigation strategies, in particular by adopting M1. Only dairy farms were responsive to GHG abatement; greater abatement was achieved by the most intensified dairy farm system simulated. Overall, M1 provided for high levels of regional scale N- and P-loss abatement at a low cost per farm without affecting overall farm production, M2 provided additional N-loss abatement but only marginal P-loss abatement, whereas M3 provided the greatest N-loss abatement, but delivered no additional P abatement, and came at a large financial cost to farmers, sheep and beef farmers in particular. The modelling approach provides a farm-scale framework that can be extended to other regions to accommodate different farm production systems and performances, capturing the interactions between farm types, land use capabilities and production levels, as these influence nutrient losses and GHG emissions, and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of Commercial Mosquito Traps in Capturing Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Egypt

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

forDiseaseControl andPrevention (CDC) light trap for efÞcacy in collecting phlebotomine sand ßies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a small farming village in the...Prevention (CDC) light trap for ef?acy in collecting phlebotomine sand ?es (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a small farming village in the Nile River Valley 10 km...Testing was conducted in June, August, and September 2007, in Bahrif village, a farming com- munity of 500 people 10 km north of Aswan on the east

Multifractal Analysis of the Small Time-Scale Boundary-Layer Characteristics of the Wind: the Anisotropy and Extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitton, G. F.; Tchiguirinskaia, I.; Schertzer, D. J.; Lovejoy, S.

2012-12-01

Under various physical conditions (mean temperature and velocity gradients, stratification and rotation) atmospheric turbulent flows remain intrinsically anisotropic. The immediate vicinity of physical boundaries rises to a greater complexity of the anisotropy effects. In this paper we address the issue of the scaling anisotropy of the wind velocity fields within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Under the universal multifractal (UM) framework we compare the small time-scale (0.1 to 1,000 seconds) boundary-layer characteristics of the wind for two different case studies. The first case study consisted of a single mast located within a wind farm in Corsica, France. Three sonic anemometers were installed on the mast at 22, 23 and 43m, measuring three-dimensional wind velocity data at 10Hz. Wakes, complex terrain and buoyancy forces influenced the measurements. The second case study (GROWIAN experiment in Germany) consisted of an array of propeller anemometers measuring wind speed inflow data at 2.5Hz over flat terrain. The propeller anemometers were positioned vertically at 10, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150m with four horizontal measurements taken at 75, 100 and 125m. The spatial distribution allowed us to calculate the horizontal and vertical shear structure functions of the horizontal wind. Both case studies are within a kilometre from the sea. For the first case study (10Hz measurements in a wind farm test site) the high temporal resolution of the data meant we observed Kolmogorov scaling from 0.2 seconds (with intermittency correction) right up to 1,000 seconds at which point a scaling break occurred. After the break we observed a scaling power law of approximately 2, which is in agreement with Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling theory with intermittency correction. However, for the second case study (2.5Hz on flat terrain) we only observed Kolmogorov scaling from 6.4 seconds (also with intermittency correction). The spectra of horizontal velocity components remain anisotropic over high frequencies, where u1 most scales as Bolgiano-Obukhov and u2 scales as Kolmogorov. The scaling law of the vertical shears of the horizontal wind in the array varied from Kolmogorov to Bolgiano-Obukhov with height depending on the condition of stability. We interpret the results with the UM anisotropic model that greatly enhances our understanding of the ABL structure. Comparing the two case studies we found in both cases the multifractality parameter of about 1.6, which remains close to the estimates obtained for the free atmosphere. From the UM parameters, the exponent of the power law of the distribution of the extremes can be predicted. Over small scales, this exponent is of about 7.5 for the wind velocity, which is a crucial result for applications within the field of wind energy.

Turbulence and entrainment length scales in large wind farms.

PubMed

Andersen, Søren J; Sørensen, Jens N; Mikkelsen, Robert F

2017-04-13

A number of large wind farms are modelled using large eddy simulations to elucidate the entrainment process. A reference simulation without turbines and three farm simulations with different degrees of imposed atmospheric turbulence are presented. The entrainment process is assessed using proper orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant length scales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex terrains'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Turbulence and entrainment length scales in large wind farms

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

A number of large wind farms are modelled using large eddy simulations to elucidate the entrainment process. A reference simulation without turbines and three farm simulations with different degrees of imposed atmospheric turbulence are presented. The entrainment process is assessed using proper orthogonal decomposition, which is employed to detect the largest and most energetic coherent turbulent structures. The dominant length scales responsible for the entrainment process are shown to grow further into the wind farm, but to be limited in extent by the streamwise turbine spacing, which could be taken into account when developing farm layouts. The self-organized motion or large coherent structures also yield high correlations between the power productions of consecutive turbines, which can be exploited through dynamic farm control. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wind energy in complex terrains’. PMID:28265028

Exploring the role of small-scale livestock keepers for national biosecurity-The pig case.

PubMed

Correia-Gomes, Carla; Henry, Madeleine K; Auty, Harriet K; Gunn, George J

2017-09-15

Small-scale keepers are less likely to engage with production organisations and may therefore be less aware of legislation, rules and biosecurity practices which are implemented in the livestock sector. Their role in the transmission of endemic and exotic diseases is not well studied, but is believed to be important. The authors use small-scale pig keepers in Scotland as an example of how important small-scale livestock keepers might be for national biosecurity. In Scotland more than two thirds of pig producers report that they keep less than 10 pigs, meaning that biosecurity practices and pig health status on a substantial number of holdings are largely unknown; it is considered important to fill this knowledge gap. A questionnaire was designed and implemented in order to gather some of this information. The questionnaire comprised a total of 37 questions divided into seven sections (location of the enterprise, interest in pigs, details about the pig enterprise, marketing of pigs, transport of pigs, pig husbandry, and pig health/biosecurity). Over 610 questionnaires were sent through the post and the questionnaire was also available online. The questionnaire was implemented from June to October 2013 and 135 questionnaires were returned by target respondents. The responses for each question are discussed in detail in this paper. Overall, our results suggest that the level of disease identified by small-scale pig keepers is low but the majority of the small-scale pig keepers are mixed farms, with associated increased risk for disease transmission between species. Almost all respondents implemented at least one biosecurity measure, although the measures taken were not comprehensive in the majority of cases. Overall as interaction between small-scale keepers and commercial producers exists in Scotland the former can pose a risk for commercial production. This investigation fills gaps in knowledge which will allow industry stakeholders and policy makers to adapt their current disease programmes and contingency plans to the reality of small-scale pig-keeping enterprises' health and biosecurity status. We predict that some conclusions from this work will be relevant to countries with similar pig production systems and importantly some of these findings will relate to small-scale producers in other livestock sectors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

29 CFR 780.136 - Employment in practices on a farm.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... activity (§§ 780.104 through 780.144). Even though an employee may work on several farms during a workweek... an employee occurs off the farm will not affect this conclusion. Thus, an employee may spend a small amount of time within the workweek in transporting necessary equipment for work to be done on farms...

Mercury Levels in Human Hair and Farmed Fish near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin, Peru

PubMed Central

Langeland, Aubrey L.; Hardin, Rebecca D.; Neitzel, Richard L.

2017-01-01

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has been an important source of income for communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin in Peru for hundreds of years. However, in recent decades, the scale of ASGM activities in the region has increased dramatically, and exposures to a variety of occupational and environmental hazards related to ASGM, including mercury, are becoming more widespread. The aims of our study were to: (1) examine patterns in the total hair mercury level of human participants in several communities in the region and compare these results to the 2.2 µg/g total hair mercury level equivalent to the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee of Food Additives (JECFA)’s Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI); and (2), to measure the mercury levels of paco (Piaractus brachypomus) fish raised in local aquaculture ponds, in order to compare these levels to the EPA Fish Tissue Residue Criterion of 0.3 µg Hg/g fish (wet weight). We collected hair samples from 80 participants in four communities (one control and three where ASGM activities occurred) in the region, and collected 111 samples from fish raised in 24 local aquaculture farms. We then analyzed the samples for total mercury. Total mercury levels in hair were statistically significantly higher in the mining communities than in the control community, and increased with increasing geodesic distance from the Madre de Dios headwaters, did not differ by sex, and frequently exceeded the reference level. Regression analyses indicated that higher hair mercury levels were associated with residence in ASGM communities. The analysis of paco fish samples found no samples that exceeded the EPA tissue residue criterion. Collectively, these results align with other recent studies showing that ASGM activities are associated with elevated human mercury exposure. The fish farmed through the relatively new process of aquaculture in ASGM areas appeared to have little potential to contribute to human mercury exposure. More research is needed on human health risks associated with ASGM to discern occupational, residential, and nutritional exposure, especially through tracking temporal changes in mercury levels as fish ponds age, and assessing levels in different farmed fish species. Additionally, research is needed to definitively determine that elevated mercury levels in humans and fish result from the elemental mercury from mining, rather than from a different source, such as the mercury released from soil erosion during deforestation events from mining or other activities. PMID:28335439

Mercury Levels in Human Hair and Farmed Fish near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin, Peru.

PubMed

Langeland, Aubrey L; Hardin, Rebecca D; Neitzel, Richard L

2017-03-14

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has been an important source of income for communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin in Peru for hundreds of years. However, in recent decades, the scale of ASGM activities in the region has increased dramatically, and exposures to a variety of occupational and environmental hazards related to ASGM, including mercury, are becoming more widespread. The aims of our study were to: (1) examine patterns in the total hair mercury level of human participants in several communities in the region and compare these results to the 2.2 µg/g total hair mercury level equivalent to the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee of Food Additives (JECFA)'s Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI); and (2), to measure the mercury levels of paco ( Piaractus brachypomus ) fish raised in local aquaculture ponds, in order to compare these levels to the EPA Fish Tissue Residue Criterion of 0.3 µg Hg/g fish (wet weight). We collected hair samples from 80 participants in four communities (one control and three where ASGM activities occurred) in the region, and collected 111 samples from fish raised in 24 local aquaculture farms. We then analyzed the samples for total mercury. Total mercury levels in hair were statistically significantly higher in the mining communities than in the control community, and increased with increasing geodesic distance from the Madre de Dios headwaters, did not differ by sex, and frequently exceeded the reference level. Regression analyses indicated that higher hair mercury levels were associated with residence in ASGM communities. The analysis of paco fish samples found no samples that exceeded the EPA tissue residue criterion. Collectively, these results align with other recent studies showing that ASGM activities are associated with elevated human mercury exposure. The fish farmed through the relatively new process of aquaculture in ASGM areas appeared to have little potential to contribute to human mercury exposure. More research is needed on human health risks associated with ASGM to discern occupational, residential, and nutritional exposure, especially through tracking temporal changes in mercury levels as fish ponds age, and assessing levels in different farmed fish species. Additionally, research is needed to definitively determine that elevated mercury levels in humans and fish result from the elemental mercury from mining, rather than from a different source, such as the mercury released from soil erosion during deforestation events from mining or other activities.

12 CFR Appendix A to Part 228 - Ratings

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... number and amount of home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in its..., particularly in its assessment area(s), of loans among individuals of different income levels and businesses... individuals, or businesses (including farms) with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less, consistent with...

12 CFR Appendix A to Part 345 - Ratings

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... number and amount of home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in its..., particularly in its assessment area(s), of loans among individuals of different income levels and businesses... individuals, or businesses (including farms) with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less, consistent with...

12 CFR Appendix A to Part 25 - Ratings

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... number and amount of home mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in its..., particularly in its assessment area(s), of loans among individuals of different income levels and businesses... individuals, or businesses (including farms) with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less, consistent with...

Seven-year results in managing a small woodlot in southern Maryland

Treesearch

Richard H. Fenton; Ralph P. Broomall

1963-01-01

In the five Maryland counties south of Baltimore, there are 825,000 acres of commercial forest land. About half of this area is estimated to be in true farm woodlands; that is, in small tracts of 40 acres or so that are part of working farms.

Differential recovery of habitat use by birds after wind farm installation: A multi-year comparison

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

Farfán, M.A., E-mail: mafarfanaguilar@hotmail.com; Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071, Málaga; Duarte, J., E-mail: jddofitecma@gmail.com

Onshore wind farms remain one of the most widely used technologies for the production of renewable energy. These are known to affect birds through disturbance or collision. Most research focus on the impact of wind farms on raptors or other large bird species, especially those of conservation concern. However, limited information exists on the effect of wind farms on small birds. Recovery of large versus small bird populations impacted by wind farms is also largely unstudied. A reason for this is the lack of long-term datasets based on standardized, systematic assessments. We monitored birds in the vicinity of a windmore » farm in an upland habitat in southern Spain (Malaga province), immediately after installation and 6.5 years post-construction. During both study periods, we observed 11 raptor and 38 non-raptor species (including 30 passerines). We found differences in recovery rates between raptors and non-raptors. Raptors showed an upturn in numbers but non-raptor abundance fell significantly. Greater attention should be paid to the recovery of wildlife after initial impact assessments than at present. This study confirms that regulatory authorities and developers should consider the likely impacts of wind farms on small bird populations. Mitigation measures focused particularly on non-raptor species should be considered and implemented as a means to reduce these negative effects.« less

Negative long term effects on harbour porpoises from a large scale offshore wind farm in the Baltic—evidence of slow recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teilmann, Jonas; Carstensen, Jacob

2012-12-01

Offshore wind farms constitute a new and fast growing industry all over the world. This study investigates the long term impact on harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena, for more than 10 years (2001-12) from the first large scale offshore wind farm in the world, Nysted Offshore Wind Farm, in the Danish western Baltic Sea (72 × 2.3 MW turbines). The wind farm was brought into full operation in December 2003. At six stations, acoustic porpoise detectors (T-PODs) were placed inside the wind farm area and at a reference area 10 km to the east, to monitor porpoise echolocation activity as a proxy of porpoise presence. A modified statistical BACI design was applied to detect changes in porpoise presence before, during and after construction of the wind farm. The results show that the echolocation activity has significantly declined inside Nysted Offshore Wind Farm since the baseline in 2001-2 and has not fully recovered yet. The echolocation activity inside the wind farm has been gradually increasing (from 11% to 29% of the baseline level) since the construction of the wind farm, possibly due to habituation of the porpoises to the wind farm or enrichment of the environment due to reduced fishing and to artificial reef effects.

A simulation study demonstrating the importance of large-scale trailing vortices in wake steering

DOE PAGES

Fleming, Paul; Annoni, Jennifer; Churchfield, Matthew; ...

2018-05-14

In this article, we investigate the role of flow structures generated in wind farm control through yaw misalignment. A pair of counter-rotating vortices are shown to be important in deforming the shape of the wake and in explaining the asymmetry of wake steering in oppositely signed yaw angles. We motivate the development of new physics for control-oriented engineering models of wind farm control, which include the effects of these large-scale flow structures. Such a new model would improve the predictability of control-oriented models. Results presented in this paper indicate that wind farm control strategies, based on new control-oriented models withmore » new physics, that target total flow control over wake redirection may be different, and perhaps more effective, than current approaches. We propose that wind farm control and wake steering should be thought of as the generation of large-scale flow structures, which will aid in the improved performance of wind farms.« less

A simulation study demonstrating the importance of large-scale trailing vortices in wake steering

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

Fleming, Paul; Annoni, Jennifer; Churchfield, Matthew

In this article, we investigate the role of flow structures generated in wind farm control through yaw misalignment. A pair of counter-rotating vortices are shown to be important in deforming the shape of the wake and in explaining the asymmetry of wake steering in oppositely signed yaw angles. We motivate the development of new physics for control-oriented engineering models of wind farm control, which include the effects of these large-scale flow structures. Such a new model would improve the predictability of control-oriented models. Results presented in this paper indicate that wind farm control strategies, based on new control-oriented models withmore » new physics, that target total flow control over wake redirection may be different, and perhaps more effective, than current approaches. We propose that wind farm control and wake steering should be thought of as the generation of large-scale flow structures, which will aid in the improved performance of wind farms.« less

Stress assessment in small ruminants kept on city farms in southern Germany.

PubMed

Schilling, Anna-Katarina; Reese, Sven; Palme, Rupert; Erhard, Michael; Wöhr, Anna-Caroline

2015-01-01

Sheep and goats are frequently used in nonhuman animal-assisted activities on city farms. There are few data available on this type of usage of small ruminants. Health evaluations, behavioral observations (feeding, resting, comfort, explorative and social behaviors), behavioral tests (human approach tests and touch test), and measurements of fecal cortisol metabolites and heart rate were performed to assess stress levels in 25 sheep and 32 goats on 7 city farms and 2 activity playgrounds in Germany. No evidence was found that the animals suffered from major distress. Health evaluations, behavioral observations, and behavioral tests proved to be the methods of stress assessment most suitable for routine on-farm checks in these settings.

Simulating the Distribution of Individual Livestock Farms and Their Populations in the United States: An Example Using Domestic Swine (Sus scrofa domesticus) Farms

PubMed Central

Garza, Sarah J.; Miller, Ryan S.

2015-01-01

Livestock distribution in the United States (U.S.) can only be mapped at a county-level or worse resolution. We developed a spatial microsimulation model called the Farm Location and Agricultural Production Simulator (FLAPS) that simulated the distribution and populations of individual livestock farms throughout the conterminous U.S. Using domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) as an example species, we customized iterative proportional-fitting algorithms for the hierarchical structure of the U.S. Census of Agriculture and imputed unpublished state- or county-level livestock population totals that were redacted to ensure confidentiality. We used a weighted sampling design to collect data on the presence and absence of farms and used them to develop a national-scale distribution model that predicted the distribution of individual farms at a 100 m resolution. We implemented microsimulation algorithms that simulated the populations and locations of individual farms using output from our imputed Census of Agriculture dataset and distribution model. Approximately 19% of county-level pig population totals were unpublished in the 2012 Census of Agriculture and needed to be imputed. Using aerial photography, we confirmed the presence or absence of livestock farms at 10,238 locations and found livestock farms were correlated with open areas, cropland, and roads, and also areas with cooler temperatures and gentler topography. The distribution of swine farms was highly variable, but cross-validation of our distribution model produced an area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve value of 0.78, which indicated good predictive performance. Verification analyses showed FLAPS accurately imputed and simulated Census of Agriculture data based on absolute percent difference values of < 0.01% at the state-to-national scale, 3.26% for the county-to-state scale, and 0.03% for the individual farm-to-county scale. Our output data have many applications for risk management of agricultural systems including epidemiological studies, food safety, biosecurity issues, emergency-response planning, and conflicts between livestock and other natural resources. PMID:26571497

Simulating the Distribution of Individual Livestock Farms and Their Populations in the United States: An Example Using Domestic Swine (Sus scrofa domesticus) Farms.

PubMed

Burdett, Christopher L; Kraus, Brian R; Garza, Sarah J; Miller, Ryan S; Bjork, Kathe E

2015-01-01

Livestock distribution in the United States (U.S.) can only be mapped at a county-level or worse resolution. We developed a spatial microsimulation model called the Farm Location and Agricultural Production Simulator (FLAPS) that simulated the distribution and populations of individual livestock farms throughout the conterminous U.S. Using domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) as an example species, we customized iterative proportional-fitting algorithms for the hierarchical structure of the U.S. Census of Agriculture and imputed unpublished state- or county-level livestock population totals that were redacted to ensure confidentiality. We used a weighted sampling design to collect data on the presence and absence of farms and used them to develop a national-scale distribution model that predicted the distribution of individual farms at a 100 m resolution. We implemented microsimulation algorithms that simulated the populations and locations of individual farms using output from our imputed Census of Agriculture dataset and distribution model. Approximately 19% of county-level pig population totals were unpublished in the 2012 Census of Agriculture and needed to be imputed. Using aerial photography, we confirmed the presence or absence of livestock farms at 10,238 locations and found livestock farms were correlated with open areas, cropland, and roads, and also areas with cooler temperatures and gentler topography. The distribution of swine farms was highly variable, but cross-validation of our distribution model produced an area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve value of 0.78, which indicated good predictive performance. Verification analyses showed FLAPS accurately imputed and simulated Census of Agriculture data based on absolute percent difference values of < 0.01% at the state-to-national scale, 3.26% for the county-to-state scale, and 0.03% for the individual farm-to-county scale. Our output data have many applications for risk management of agricultural systems including epidemiological studies, food safety, biosecurity issues, emergency-response planning, and conflicts between livestock and other natural resources.

Antimicrobials usage assessments in commercial poultry and local birds in North-central Nigeria: Associated pathways and factors for resistance emergence and spread.

PubMed

Alhaji, N B; Haruna, A E; Muhammad, B; Lawan, M K; Isola, T O

2018-06-01

The World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) recommended monitoring of antimicrobial use (AMU) through surveillance and research to help mitigate AMR. This survey was aimed at assessing poultry owners' knowledge/awareness and practices regarding AMU, identified pathways for AMR emergence and spread in small-scale commercial poultry farms and free-range local bird flocks in North-central Nigeria. An interview questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted on commercial poultry farmers and local bird flock keepers in 2017. Also, a Traffic Light system model was used assess risk status of AMU in farms and flocks. All the 384 recruited poultry farmers/keepers participated in the survey. Female respondents were the majority (67.2%). Low proportion of poultry farmers (46.4%, 89/192) and very low proportion of bird keepers (6.8%, 13/192) knew antimicrobials misuse to be when administered under dose. About 48% (93/192) of farmers and 93% (179/192) of keepers arbitrary determined antimicrobial dosage before administration. Respondents used antimicrobials for therapeutic, prophylactic, and growth promotion in birds. Also, participants significantly identified contaminated poultry products, infected poultry or contaminated formites, and discharged contaminated faeces into environment as pathways for transmission of antimicrobial resistant pathogens to humans. Traffic Light system model revealed 88.5% of small-scale commercial poultry farms to frequently used antimicrobials without veterinarians' consultations thereby attaining Class 1 (Red risk) status. The model showed that 92.1% of free-range local bird flocks rarely used antimicrobials thereby attaining Class 3 (Green risk) status. Improper antimicrobial dosage in poultry (OR: 7.23; 95% CI: 2.74, 19.21), non-enforcement of AMU regulating laws in poultry (OR: 4.12; 95% CI: 2.39, 7.10), weak financial status of poultry owners (OR: 3.00; 95% CI: 2.39, 7.10), and management system (OR: 8.94; 95% CI: 5.62, 14.24) were more likely to satisfactorily influenced antimicrobials misuse in poultry farms and local bird flocks. The survey revealed low knowledge level regarding AMU in the poultry. Antimicrobials were rarely used in local bird flocks, making them likely organic and safe from AMR. It is imperative to educate farmers on judicious AMU, enforce existing veterinary legislation on antimicrobials, establish antimicrobials surveillance system, and sensitize farmers on adequate biosecurity measures and routine vaccination of farms, so as to assure food safety, food security, and public health. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Survival of Salmonella spp. and fecal indicator bacteria in Vietnamese biogas digesters receiving pig slurry.

PubMed

Huong, Luu Quynh; Forslund, Anita; Madsen, Henry; Dalsgaard, Anders

2014-09-01

Small-scale biogas digesters are widely promoted worldwide as a sustainable technology to manage livestock manure. In Vietnam, pig slurry is commonly applied to biogas digesters for production of gas for electricity and cooking with the effluent being used to fertilize field crops, vegetables and fish ponds. Slurry may contain a variety of zoonotic pathogens, e.g. Salmonella spp., which are able to cause disease in humans either through direct contact with slurry or by fecal contamination of water and foods. The objective of this study was to evaluate the survival of Salmonella spp. and the fecal indicator bacteria, enterococci, E. coli, and spores of Clostridium perfringens in biogas digesters operated by small-scale Vietnamese pig farmers. The serovar and antimicrobial susceptibility of the Salmonella spp. isolated were also established. The study was conducted in 12 farms (6 farms with and 6 farms without toilet connected) located in Hanam province, Vietnam. Sampling of pig slurry and biogas effluent was done during two seasons. Results showed that the concentration of enterococci, E. coli, and Clostridium perfringens spores was overall reduced by only 1-2 log10-units in the biogas digesters when comparing raw slurry and biogas effluent. Salmonella spp. was found in both raw slurry and biogas effluent. A total of 19 Salmonella serovars were identified, with the main serovars being Salmonella Typhimurium (55/138), Salmonella enterica serovar 4,[5],12:i:- (19/138), Salmonella Weltevreden (9/138) and Salmonella Rissen (9/138). The Salmonella serovars showed similar antimicrobial resistance patterns to those previously reported from Vietnam. When promoting biogas, farmers should be made aware that effluent should only be used as fertilizer for crops not consumed raw and that indiscriminate discharge of effluent are likely to contaminate water recipients, e.g. drinking water sources, with pathogens. Relevant authorities should promote safe animal manure management practices to farmers and regulations be updated to ensure food safety and public health. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

On-Farm Forest Income in the United States, 2003-2012: Thoughts for Extension Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConnell, T. Eric

2016-01-01

Forest-based production on U.S. farms totaled $653.2 million in 2012, admittedly a small portion of total farm wealth. However, despite the effects of the recent economic downturn, on-farm forest product revenues still approached the gate value of North Carolina timber in 2012, which was $730.6 million. Providing the research-based information,…

Value-Added Dairy Products from Grass-Based Dairy Farms: A Case Study in Vermont

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qingbin; Parsons, Robert; Colby, Jennifer; Castle, Jeffrey

2016-01-01

On-farm processing of value-added dairy products can be a way for small dairy farms to diversify production and increase revenue. This article examines characteristics of three groups of Vermont farmers who have grass-based dairy farms--those producing value-added dairy products, those interested in such products, and those not interested in such…

Centimeter-scale surface deformation caused by the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake sequence at the Carter farm site—Subsidiary structures with a quaternary history

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harrison, Richard W.; Schindler, J. Stephen; Pavich, Milan J.; Horton, J. Wright; Carter, Mark W.

2016-08-25

Centimeter-scale ground-surface deformation was produced by the August 23, 2011, magnitude (M) 5.8 earthquake that occurred in Mineral, Virginia. Ground-surface deformation also resulted from the earthquake aftershock sequence. This deformation occurred along a linear northeast-trend near Pendleton, Virginia. It is approximately 10 kilometers (km) northeast of the M5.8 epicenter and near the northeastern periphery of the epicentral area as defined by aftershocks. The ground-surface deformation extends over a distance of approximately 1.4 km and consists of parallel, small-scale (a few centimeters (cm) in amplitude) linear ridges and swales. Individual ridge and swale features are discontinuous and vary in length across a zone that ranges from about 20 meters (m) to less than 5 m in width. At one location, three fence posts and adjoining rails were vertically misaligned. Approximately 5 cm of uplift on one post provides a maximum estimate of vertical change from pre-earthquake conditions along the ridge and swale features. There was no change in the alignment of fence posts, indicating that deformation was entirely vertical. A broad monoclinal flexure with approximately 1 m of relief was identified by transit survey across surface deformation at the Carter farm site. There, surface deformation overlies the Carter farm fault, which is a zone of brittle faulting and fracturing along quartz veins, striking N40°E and dipping approximately 75°SE. Brecciation and shearing along this fault is interpreted as Quaternary in age because it disrupts the modern B-soil horizon. However, deformation is confined to saprolitized schist of the Ordovician Quantico Formation and the lowermost portion of overlying residuum, and is absent in the uppermost residuum and colluvial layer at the ground surface. Because there is a lack of surface shearing and very low relief, landslide processes were not a causative mechanism for the surface deformation. Two possible tectonic models and one non-tectonic model are considered: (1) tectonic, monoclinal flexuring along the Carter farm fault, probably aseismic, (2) tectonic, monoclinal flexuring related to a shallow (1–3 km) cluster of aftershocks (M2 to M3) that occurred approximately 1 to 1.5 km to the east of Carter farm, and (3) non-tectonic, differential response to seismic shaking between more-rigid quartz veins and soft residuum-saprolite under vertical motions that were created by Rayleigh surface waves radiating away from the August 23, 2011, hypocenter and propagating along strike of the Carter farm fault. These processes are not considered mutually exclusive, and all three support brittle deformation on the Carter farm fault during the Quaternary. In addition, abandoned stream valleys and active stream piracy are consistent with long-term uplift in vicinity of the Carter farm fault.

Simulating forage crop production in a northern climate with the Integrated Farm System Model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Whole-farm simulation models are useful tools for evaluating the effect of management practices and climate variability on the agro-environmental and economic performance of farms. A few process-based farm-scale models have been developed, but none have been evaluated in a northern region with a sho...

Research on large-scale wind farm modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Longfei; Zhang, Baoqun; Gong, Cheng; Jiao, Ran; Shi, Rui; Chi, Zhongjun; Ding, Yifeng

2017-01-01

Due to intermittent and adulatory properties of wind energy, when large-scale wind farm connected to the grid, it will have much impact on the power system, which is different from traditional power plants. Therefore it is necessary to establish an effective wind farm model to simulate and analyze the influence wind farms have on the grid as well as the transient characteristics of the wind turbines when the grid is at fault. However we must first establish an effective WTGs model. As the doubly-fed VSCF wind turbine has become the mainstream wind turbine model currently, this article first investigates the research progress of doubly-fed VSCF wind turbine, and then describes the detailed building process of the model. After that investigating the common wind farm modeling methods and pointing out the problems encountered. As WAMS is widely used in the power system, which makes online parameter identification of the wind farm model based on off-output characteristics of wind farm be possible, with a focus on interpretation of the new idea of identification-based modeling of large wind farms, which can be realized by two concrete methods.

Awareness and Perceptions of Food Safety Risks and Risk Management in Poultry Production and Slaughter: A Qualitative Study of Direct-Market Poultry Producers in Maryland

PubMed Central

Baron, Patrick; Frattaroli, Shannon

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to document and understand the perceptions and opinions of small-scale poultry producers who market directly to consumers about microbial food safety risks in the poultry supply chain. Between January and November 2014, we conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 16 owner-operators of Maryland direct-market commercial poultry farms. Three overarching thematic categories emerged from these interviews that describe: 1) characteristics of Maryland direct-market poultry production and processing; 2) microbial food safety risk awareness and risk management in small-scale poultry production, slaughter and processing; and 3) motivations for prioritizing food safety in the statewide direct-market poultry supply chain. Key informants provided valuable insights on many topics relevant to evaluating microbial food safety in the Maryland direct-market poultry supply chain, including: direct-market poultry production and processing practices and models, perspectives on issues related to food safety risk management, perspectives on direct-market agriculture economics and marketing strategies, and ideas for how to enhance food safety at the direct-market level of the Maryland poultry supply chain. The findings have policy implications and provide insights into food safety in small-scale commercial poultry production, processing, distribution and retail. In addition, the findings will inform future food safety research on the small-scale US poultry supply chain. PMID:27341034

Estimating landscape-scale impacts of agricultural management on soil carbon using measurements and models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schipanski, M.; Rosenzweig, S. T.; Robertson, A. D.; Sherrod, L. A.; Ghimire, R.; McMaster, G. S.

2017-12-01

Agriculture covers 40% of Earth's ice-free land area and has broad impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. While some agricultural management changes are small in scale or impact, others have the potential to shift biogeochemical cycles at landscape and larger scales if widely adopted. Understanding which management practices have the potential to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation while maintaining productivity requires scaling up estimates spatially and temporally. We used on-farm, long-term, and landscape scale datasets to estimate how crop rotations impact soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation rates under current and future climate scenarios across the semi-arid Central and Southern Great Plains. We used a stratified, landscape-scale soil sampling approach across 96 farm fields to evaluate crop rotation intensity effects on SOC pools and pesticide inputs. Replacing traditional wheat-fallow rotations with more diverse, continuously cropped rotations increased SOC by 17% and 12% in 0-10 cm and 0-20 cm depths, respectively, and reduced herbicide use by 50%. Using USDA Cropland Data Layer, we estimated soil C accumulation and pesticide reduction potentials of shifting to more intensive rotations. We also used a 30-year cropping systems experiment to calibrate and validate the Daycent model to evaluate rotation intensify effects under future climate change scenarios. The model estimated greater SOC accumulation rates under continuously cropped rotations, but SOC stocks peaked and then declined for all cropping systems beyond 2050 under future climate scenarios. Perennial grasslands were the only system estimated to maintain SOC levels in the future. In the Southern High Plains, soil C declined despite increasing input intensity under current weather while modest gains were simulated under future climate for sorghum-based cropping systems. Our findings highlight the potential vulnerability of semi-arid regions to climate change, which will be compounded by declining groundwater levels along the western edge of the High Plains Aquifer that increase reliance on dryland farming systems. Understanding these challenges provides opportunities to develop future transition and adaptation strategies in partnership with producers, policy makers, and rural communities.

Phosphorus in agricultural soils: drivers of its distribution at the global scale

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

Ringeval, Bruno; Augusto, Laurent; Monod, Herve

Phosphorus (P) availability in soils limits crop yields in many regions of the world, while excess of soil P triggers aquatic eutrophication in other regions. Numerous processes drive the global spatial distribution of P in agricultural soils, but their relative roles remain unclear. Here, we combined several global datasets describing these drivers with a soil P dynamics model to simulate the distribution of P in agricultural soils and to assess the contributions of the different drivers at the global scale. We analyzed both the labile inorganic P (P ILAB), a proxy of the pool involved in plant nutrition and themore » total soil P (P TOT). We found that the soil biogeochemical background (BIOG) and farming practices (FARM) were the main drivers of the spatial variability in cropland soil P content but that their contribution varied between P TOT vs P ILAB. Indeed, 97% of the P TOT spatial variability could be explained by BIOG, while BIOG and FARM explained 41% and 58% of P ILAB spatial variability, respectively. Other drivers such as climate, soil erosion, atmospheric P deposition and soil buffering capacity made only very small contribution. Lastly, our study is a promising approach to investigate the potential effect of P as a limiting factor for agricultural ecosystems and for global food production. Additionally, we quantified the anthropogenic perturbation of P cycle and demonstrated how the different drivers are combined to explain the global distribution of agricultural soil P.« less

Evaluating expansion strategies for startup European Union dairy farm businesses.

PubMed

McDonald, R; Shalloo, L; Pierce, K M; Horan, B

2013-06-01

A stochastic whole-farm simulation model was used to examine alternative strategies for new entrant dairy farmers to grow and develop dairy farm businesses in the context of European Union (EU) milk quota abolition in 2015. Six alternative strategies were compared: remain static, natural growth expansion, waiting until after EU milk quota abolition to expand, a full-scale expansion strategy without milk quotas and not incurring super levy penalties, a full-scale expansion strategy with milk quotas and incurring super levy penalties, and once-a-day milking until EU milk quota abolition, followed by full-scale expansion. Each discrete whole farm investment strategy was evaluated over a 15-yr period (2013-2027) using multiple financial stability and risk indicators, including overall discounted farm business profitability, net worth change, return on investment, and financial risk. The results of this study indicate that, although associated with increased risk, dairy farm expansion will ensure the future profitability of the farm business. Within the context of EU milk quotas until 2015, the most attractive expansion strategy is to increase cow numbers while avoiding super levy fines using once-a-day milking techniques, increasing to the full capacity of the dairy farm once milk quotas are removed. In contrast, the results also indicate that dairy farms that remain static will experience a significant reduction in farm profitability in the coming year due to production cost inflation. Cash flow deficits were observed during the initial year of expansion and, therefore, rapidly expanding dairy farm businesses require a significant cash reserve to alleviate business risk during the initial year of expansion. The results of this analysis also indicate that dairy farm businesses that expand using lower cost capital investments and avoid milk quota super levy fines significantly reduce the financial risks associated with expansion. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards a deeper understanding of parenting on farms: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Elliot, Valerie; Cammer, Allison; Pickett, William; Marlenga, Barbara; Lawson, Joshua; Dosman, James; Hagel, Louise; Koehncke, Niels; Trask, Catherine

2018-01-01

Children living on farms experience exceptionally high risks for traumatic injury. There is a large body of epidemiological research documenting this phenomenon, yet few complementary studies that have explored the deep underlying reasons for such trends. Fundamental to this is understanding the decision-making processes of parents surrounding their choice to bring children, or not, into the farm worksite. To (1) document farm parent views of the risks and benefits of raising children on a family farm, and, (2) understand more deeply why children are brought into the farm worksite. Interviews were conducted as part of a larger cohort study, The Saskatchewan Farm Injury Cohort. Subsequent to an initial mail-out question focused on parental decision-making, 11 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural Saskatchewan farm parents. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, then thematically analyzed using interpretive description methodology. This parental decision-making process on farms fundamentally involves weighing the risks vs. benefits of bringing children into the worksite, as if on a balance scale. One side of this scale holds potential risks such as exposure to physical and chemical farm hazards, in the absence of full supervision. The other side holds potential benefits such as meeting family needs for childcare, labour, and family time; building work ethic and pride; and the positive impacts of involvement and responsibility. Decision-making 'tips the scales', in part dependent upon parental perceptions of the risk-benefit trade-off. This 'perceptual lens' is influenced by factors such as: the agricultural way of life, parents' prior knowledge and past experience, characteristics of children, and safety norms. This novel qualitative study provides deep insight into how Saskatchewan farm parents approach a fundamental decision-making process associated with their parenting. The proposed model provides insight into the etiology of pediatric farm injuries as well as their prevention.

Towards a deeper understanding of parenting on farms: A qualitative study

PubMed Central

Elliot, Valerie; Cammer, Allison; Pickett, William; Marlenga, Barbara; Lawson, Joshua; Dosman, James; Hagel, Louise; Koehncke, Niels

2018-01-01

Background Children living on farms experience exceptionally high risks for traumatic injury. There is a large body of epidemiological research documenting this phenomenon, yet few complementary studies that have explored the deep underlying reasons for such trends. Fundamental to this is understanding the decision-making processes of parents surrounding their choice to bring children, or not, into the farm worksite. Objectives To (1) document farm parent views of the risks and benefits of raising children on a family farm, and, (2) understand more deeply why children are brought into the farm worksite. Methods Interviews were conducted as part of a larger cohort study, The Saskatchewan Farm Injury Cohort. Subsequent to an initial mail-out question focused on parental decision-making, 11 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural Saskatchewan farm parents. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, then thematically analyzed using interpretive description methodology. Findings This parental decision-making process on farms fundamentally involves weighing the risks vs. benefits of bringing children into the worksite, as if on a balance scale. One side of this scale holds potential risks such as exposure to physical and chemical farm hazards, in the absence of full supervision. The other side holds potential benefits such as meeting family needs for childcare, labour, and family time; building work ethic and pride; and the positive impacts of involvement and responsibility. Decision-making 'tips the scales', in part dependent upon parental perceptions of the risk-benefit trade-off. This 'perceptual lens' is influenced by factors such as: the agricultural way of life, parents' prior knowledge and past experience, characteristics of children, and safety norms. Conclusions This novel qualitative study provides deep insight into how Saskatchewan farm parents approach a fundamental decision-making process associated with their parenting. The proposed model provides insight into the etiology of pediatric farm injuries as well as their prevention. PMID:29897960

The Political Economy of Biofuels and Farming: The Case of Smallholders in Tanzania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winters, Kristen

Following decades of neoliberal policies promoting commodity driven export production, the small scale farming sector in many developing countries has suffered from declining market share, lessening productivity and deepening poverty. In recent years, biofuels have been promoted within developing countries to foster rural development and provide new markets for the smallholders. Using Tanzania as a case study, this thesis evaluates the extent to which the emerging biofuel sector provides opportunities for smallholders to gain beneficial access to markets -- or whether the sector is following the trajectory of other export-oriented commodity projects of the past and resulting in the marginalisation of smallholders. This thesis asserts that the biofuel sector in Tanzania presents more threats than benefits for smallholders; a pattern can be witnessed that favours foreign investors and dispossesses farmers of existing land, while providing few opportunities at a local level for income generation and employment.

Changes in fish communities on a small spatial scale, an effect of increased habitat complexity by an offshore wind farm.

PubMed

van Hal, R; Griffioen, A B; van Keeken, O A

2017-05-01

The number of offshore wind farms (OWF) is increasing to meet the demands for renewable energy. The piles and hard substrate surrounding these piles creates new habitat for species with preference to hard substrates. We studied the impact of this hard substrate on the fish community in a Dutch OWF in the sandy southern North Sea, which had been in operation for five years. Multi-mesh gillnets were placed near the OWF structures on the hard substrate protection revetments and on the sandy bottom in the middle of the farm. The catches indicated attraction of cod, pouting, bullrout and edible and velvet crab, while attraction to the sandy habitat was shown for flatfish and whiting. Further, two species previously not caught in this area, goldsinny wrasse and grey trigger fish, were caught on the hard substrate. In addition a Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON) was used to record transects through the farm to observe individual fish in the water column throughout the farm and very near the OWF structures. High abundances of fish near the structure were observed during some days, while during other days equal distribution of fish in the area was observed. The area around the structures is thus only used temporarily for shelter or feeding. The DIDSON also allowed looking at the aggregation level of the fish. Seasonally the aggregation level differed most likely due to different species occurring in the area. In April, most fish were aggregated in schools, while in summer most observations were individual fish or loose aggregations. The wind farm structures had limited effect on the aggregation level compared to season or weather conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety and Quality Assessment of Smallholder Farmers' Maize in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

PubMed

Mendoza, José Rodrigo; Rodas, Ana; Oliva, Ana; Sabillón, Luis; Colmenares, Ana; Clarke, Jennifer; Hallen-Adams, Heather E; Campabadal, Carlos; Bianchini, Andréia

2018-05-01

Maize ( Zea mays) is a staple in many developing countries but is known to be prone to pest (insects, birds, and rodents) and fungal infestation. In Guatemala, mycotoxin contamination of cultivated products may occur owing to such factors as environmental conditions and the use of traditional agriculture operations. To assess the current maize conditions in Guatemala, a small-scale study was performed. Mold and insect counts and mycotoxin (aflatoxin and fumonisin) concentrations were determined on 25 farms in two townships (Chiantla and Todos Santos) of the Huehuetenango Department. Total fungal counts were 3.6 to 6.83 log CFU/g with no significant differences ( P > 0.05) across farms at different altitudes. Farms where maize was not produced but was purchased were at higher risk of fumonisin contamination, whereas local producers were mostly affected by aflatoxins. Aflatoxin was present in maize from 100% of farms at 1.0 to 85.3 ppb, and fumonisin was detected on 52% of farms at 0.4 to 31.0 ppm. Average mycotoxin consumption amounts were above the recommended maximum intake for aflatoxin in both produced and purchased maize and above the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake for fumonisin in purchased maize. Estimated daily intake was 0.01 to 0.85 μg/kg of body weight per day for aflatoxin and 2.9 to 310.0 μg/kg of body weight per day for fumonisin. An entomological analysis revealed overall 32% prevalence of Ephestia kuehniella (flour moth), 16% prevalence of Sitophilus zeamais (maize weevil), and 8% prevalence of Tribolium sp. (flour beetle) on the analyzed farms. This study highlighted poor agricultural practices used in the highlands of Guatemala. Current practices should be revised for the production of maize that is safe for consumption by the population in this region.

Food safety issues associated with products from aquaculture. Report of a Joint FAO/NACA/WHO Study Group.

PubMed

1999-01-01

The past decade has seen rapid expansion in aquaculture production. In the fisheries sector, as in animal production, farming is replacing hunting as the primary food production strategy. In future, farmed fish will be an even more important source of protein foods than they are today, and the safety for human consumption of products from aquaculture is of public health significance. This is the report of a Study Group that considered food safety issues associated with farmed finfish and crustaceans. The principal conclusion was that an integrated approach--involving close collaboration between the aquaculture, agriculture, food safety, health and education sectors--is needed to identify and control hazards associated with products from aquaculture. Food safety assurance should be included in fish farm management and form an integral part of the farm-to-table food safety continuum. Where appropriate, measures should be based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) methods; however, difficulties in applying HACCP principles to small-scale farming systems were recognized. Food safety hazards associated with products from aquaculture differ according to region, habitat and environmental conditions, as well as methods of production and management. Lack of awareness of hazards can hinder risk assessment and the application of risk management strategies to aquaculture production, and education is therefore needed. Chemical and biological hazards that should to be taken into account in public health policies concerning products from aquaculture are discussed in this report, which should be of use to policy-makers and public health officials. The report will also assist fish farmers to identify hazards and develop appropriate hazard-control strategies.

What We're about Out Here: The Resilience and Relevance of School Farms in Rural Tasmania

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbett, Michael; Brett, Peter; Hawkins, Cherie-Lynn

2017-01-01

School farms were established in Tasmania in the 1930s following a visit of an Australian eduation official to the United States and the United Kingdom. There are still more than 30 school farm operations functioning in some capacity throughout the state, unlike in the rest of Australia where similar small school farms are not common. In this…

Identifying, monitoring and implementing "sustainable" agricultural practices for smallholder farmers over large geographic areas in India and Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kritee, K.; Ahuja, R.; Nair, D.; Esteves, T.; Rudek, J.; Thu Ha, T.

2015-12-01

Industrial agriculture systems, mostly in developed and some emerging economies, are far different from the small-holder farms (size <1 acre) in Asia and Africa. Along with our partners from non-governmental, corporate, academic and government sectors and tens of thousands of farming families, we have worked actively in five states in India and two provinces in Vietnam for the last five years to understand how sustainable and climate smart farming practices can be monitored at small-holder farms. Here, any approach to monitor farming must begin by accounting for the tremendous management variability from farm to farm and also the current inability to ground-truth remote sensing data due to lack of relaible basic parameters (e.g., yields, N use, farm boundaries) which are necessary for calibrating empirical/biogeochemical models. While we continue to learn from new research, we have found that it is crucial to follow some steps if sustainable farming programs are to succeed at small-holder farms Demographic data collection and GPS plot demarcation to establish farm size and ownership Baseline nutrient, water & energy use and crop yield determination via surveys and self-reporting which are verifiable through farmer networks given the importance of peer to peer learning in the dissemination of new techniques in such landscapes "Sustainable" practice determination in consultation with local universities/NGO experts Measurements on representative plots for 3-4 years to help calibrate biogeochemical models and/or empirical equations and establish which practices are truly "sustainable" (e.g., GHG emission reduction varies from 0-7 tCO2e/acre for different sustainable practices). Propagation of sustainable practices across the landscape via local NGOs/governments after analyzing the replicability of identified farming practices in the light of local financial, cultural or socio-political barriers. We will present results from representative plots (including soil and weather parameters, GHG emissions, yields, inputs, economic and environmental savings), farmer surveys and diary data; and discuss our key conclusions based on our approach and the analysis of the collected data which was enabled by use of a commercially available comprehensive agricultural data collection software.

Farm simulation: a tool for evaluating the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and the adaptation of dairy production to climate change

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Process-level modeling at the farm scale provides a tool for evaluating both strategies for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and strategies for adapting to climate change. The Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) simulates representative crop, beef or dairy farms over many years of weather to pred...

Multi-scale Food Energy and Water Dynamics in the Blue Nile Highlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaitchik, B. F.; Simane, B.; Block, P. J.; Foltz, J.; Mueller-Mahn, D.; Gilioli, G.; Sciarretta, A.

2017-12-01

The Ethiopian highlands are often called the "water tower of Africa," giving rise to major transboundary rivers. Rapid hydropower development is quickly transforming these highlands into the "power plant of Africa" as well. For local people, however, they are first and foremost a land of small farms, devoted primarily to subsistence agriculture. Under changing climate, rapid national economic growth, and steadily increasing population and land pressures, these mountains and their inhabitants have become the focal point of a multi-scale food-energy-water nexus with significant implications across East Africa. Here we examine coupled natural-human system dynamics that emerge when basin and nation scale resource development strategies are superimposed on a local economy that is largely subsistence based. Sensitivity to local and remote climate shocks are considered, as is the role of Earth Observation in understanding and informing management of food-energy-water resources across scales.

Wind turbine wake interactions at field scale: An LES study of the SWiFT facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xiaolei; Boomsma, Aaron; Barone, Matthew; Sotiropoulos, Fotis

2014-06-01

The University of Minnesota Virtual Wind Simulator (VWiS) code is employed to simulate turbine/atmosphere interactions in the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility developed by Sandia National Laboratories in Lubbock, TX, USA. The facility presently consists of three turbines and the simulations consider the case of wind blowing from South such that two turbines are in the free stream and the third turbine in the direct wake of one upstream turbine with separation of 5 rotor diameters. Large-eddy simulation (LES) on two successively finer grids is carried out to examine the sensitivity of the computed solutions to grid refinement. It is found that the details of the break-up of the tip vortices into small-scale turbulence structures can only be resolved on the finer grid. It is also shown that the power coefficient CP of the downwind turbine predicted on the coarse grid is somewhat higher than that obtained on the fine mesh. On the other hand, the rms (root-mean-square) of the CP fluctuations are nearly the same on both grids, although more small-scale turbulence structures are resolved upwind of the downwind turbine on the finer grid.

Simulation-optimization of large agro-hydrosystems using a decomposition approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuetze, Niels; Grundmann, Jens

2014-05-01

In this contribution a stochastic simulation-optimization framework for decision support for optimal planning and operation of water supply of large agro-hydrosystems is presented. It is based on a decomposition solution strategy which allows for (i) the usage of numerical process models together with efficient Monte Carlo simulations for a reliable estimation of higher quantiles of the minimum agricultural water demand for full and deficit irrigation strategies at small scale (farm level), and (ii) the utilization of the optimization results at small scale for solving water resources management problems at regional scale. As a secondary result of several simulation-optimization runs at the smaller scale stochastic crop-water production functions (SCWPF) for different crops are derived which can be used as a basic tool for assessing the impact of climate variability on risk for potential yield. In addition, microeconomic impacts of climate change and the vulnerability of the agro-ecological systems are evaluated. The developed methodology is demonstrated through its application on a real-world case study for the South Al-Batinah region in the Sultanate of Oman where a coastal aquifer is affected by saltwater intrusion due to excessive groundwater withdrawal for irrigated agriculture.

The Vulnerability of U.S. Agriculture to Foot and Mouth Disease

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

farms present vulnerable centers of gravity. At these locations, the entry of FMD would cause heavy stress to the U.S. agricultural industry. We...each. The operation that grows or raises the organism is a farm. The farm can be a small family farm that keeps fewer than one hundred milking cows ...or a huge corporation that keeps over five thousand milking cows .27 The USDA defines a farm as any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural

Measuring wind turbine wakes and unsteady loading in a micro wind farm model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bossuyt, Juliaan; Meneveau, Charles; Meyers, Johan

2014-11-01

Very large wind farms, approximating the ``infinite'' asymptotic limit, are often studied with LES using periodic boundary conditions. In order to create an experimental realization of such large wind-turbine arrays in a wind tunnel experiment including over 100 turbines, a very small-scale turbine model based on a 3 cm diameter porous disk is designed. The porous disc matches a realistic thrust coefficient between 0.75--0.85, and the far wake flow characteristics of a rotating wind turbine. As a first step, we characterize the properties of a single model turbine. Hot-wire measurements are performed for uniform inflow conditions with different background turbulence intensity levels. Strain gage measurements are used to measure the mean value and power spectra of the thrust force, power output and wind velocity in front of the turbine. The dynamics of the wind turbine are modeled making it possible to measure force spectra at least up to the natural frequency of the model. This is shown by reproducing the -5/3 spectrum from the incoming flow and the vortex shedding signatures of an upstream obstruction. An array with a large number of these instrumented model turbines is placed in JHU's Corrsin wind tunnel, to study effects of farm layout on total power output and turbine loading. Work supported by ERC (ActiveWindFarms, Grant No: 306471), and by NSF (CBET-113380 and IIA-1243482).

An Inventory and Use Analysis of Information Systems on Small Farms in Pennsylvania

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Jean S.

2007-01-01

Across the United States, today's farm operators face continuing challenges from global competition, increasing production costs, changing technology, increased regulations, scarce resources, and lower profit margins. To face these challenges, farm operators need to gather and utilize information allowing them to make informed decisions. Several…

Healing and Building Soil on Prairie Birthday Farm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Native tallgrass prairie was restored as an integral part of a small, food-producing farm called Prairie Birthday Farm in Clay County, Missouri. Reconstruction of native prairie was essential to the farm’s goal of producing high quality food for the family, area residents and restaurant chefs. Impro...

DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE PRACTICES IN TABASCO, MEXICO USING NOVEL RIAA TECHNOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

We anticipate that several of the indigenous farmers will adopt fish farming in the context of their small irrigated farms. Fish farming is a non-consumptive use of water and irrigation will transfer the wastes from the fish into the fertilizers needed for crop production. W...

Entrepreneurial Checklist Tool for Beginning Farm and Home-Based Businesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rafie, A. R.; Nartea, Theresa

2012-01-01

Extension educators entertain frequent questions on beginning a farm or starting a home-based business. Retired, unemployed, and displaced workers consider starting a small farm or home-based business. Determining educational needs or individual business aptitude is time consuming. Lengthy and comprehensive skill-based checklists exist for…

Farms, pastures and woodlands: the fine-scale distribution of Palearctic Culicoides spp. biting midges along an agro-ecological gradient.

PubMed

Rigot, T; Drubbel, M Vercauteren; Delécolle, J-C; Gilbert, M

2013-03-01

The spatial epidemiology of Bluetongue virus (BTV) at the landscape level relates to the fine-scale distribution and dispersal capacities of its vectors, midges belonging to the genus Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Although many previous researches have carried out Culicoides sampling on farms, little is known of the fine-scale distribution of Culicoides in the landscape immediately surrounding farms. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Culicoides populations at increasing distances from typical dairy farms in north-west Europe, through the use of eight Onderstepoort-type black-light traps positioned along linear transects departing from farms, going through pastures and entering woodlands. A total of 16 902 Culicoides were collected in autumn 2008 and spring 2009. The majority were females, of which more than 97% were recognized as potential vectors. In pastures, we found decreasing numbers of female Culicoides as a function of the distance to the farm. This pattern was modelled by leptokurtic models, with parameters depending on season and species. By contrast, the low number of male Culicoides caught were homogeneously distributed along the transects. When transects entered woodlands, we found a higher abundance of Culicoides than expected considering the distance of the sampling sites to the farm, although this varied according to species. © 2012 The Authors. Medical and Veterinary Entomology © 2012 The Royal Entomological Society.

EFFECTS OF LARGE-SCALE POULTRY FARMS ON AQUATIC MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES: A MOLECULAR INVESTIGATION.

EPA Science Inventory

The effects of large-scale poultry production operations on water quality and human health are largely unknown. Poultry litter is frequently applied as fertilizer to agricultural lands adjacent to large poultry farms. Run-off from the land introduces a variety of stressors into t...

The Design and Evolution of Jefferson Lab's Jasmine Mass Storage System

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

Bryan Hess; M. Andrew Kowalski; Michael Haddox-Schatz

We describe the Jasmine mass storage system, in operation since 2001. Jasmine has scaled to meet the challenges of grid applications, petabyte class storage, and hundreds of MB/sec throughput using commodity hardware, Java technologies, and a small but focused development team. The evolution of the integrated disk cache system, which provides a managed online subset of the tape contents, is examined in detail. We describe how the storage system has grown to meet the special needs of the batch farm, grid clients, and new performance demands.

Towards uncovering the structure of power fluctuations of wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Huiwen; Jin, Yaqing; Tobin, Nicolas; Chamorro, Leonardo P.

2017-12-01

The structure of the turbulence-driven power fluctuations in a wind farm is fundamentally described from basic concepts. A derived tuning-free model, supported with experiments, reveals the underlying spectral content of the power fluctuations of a wind farm. It contains two power-law trends and oscillations in the relatively low- and high-frequency ranges. The former is mostly due to the turbulent interaction between the flow and the turbine properties, whereas the latter is due to the advection between turbine pairs. The spectral wind-farm scale power fluctuations ΦP exhibit a power-law decay proportional to f-5 /3 -2 in the region corresponding to the turbulence inertial subrange and at relatively large scales, ΦP˜f-2 . Due to the advection and turbulent diffusion of large-scale structures, a spectral oscillation exists with the product of a sinusoidal behavior and an exponential decay in the frequency domain.

Towards uncovering the structure of power fluctuations of wind farms.

PubMed

Liu, Huiwen; Jin, Yaqing; Tobin, Nicolas; Chamorro, Leonardo P

2017-12-01

The structure of the turbulence-driven power fluctuations in a wind farm is fundamentally described from basic concepts. A derived tuning-free model, supported with experiments, reveals the underlying spectral content of the power fluctuations of a wind farm. It contains two power-law trends and oscillations in the relatively low- and high-frequency ranges. The former is mostly due to the turbulent interaction between the flow and the turbine properties, whereas the latter is due to the advection between turbine pairs. The spectral wind-farm scale power fluctuations Φ_{P} exhibit a power-law decay proportional to f^{-5/3-2} in the region corresponding to the turbulence inertial subrange and at relatively large scales, Φ_{P}∼f^{-2}. Due to the advection and turbulent diffusion of large-scale structures, a spectral oscillation exists with the product of a sinusoidal behavior and an exponential decay in the frequency domain.

The Interactive Effect of Diversification and Farming Scale on Productivity of Family Farm:Taking Rice Cultivation as An Example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Zhou

2017-05-01

Based on the diversification and cultivation scale, the rice cropping data of rural fixed observation points in 2011 were selected and the effect of diversification degree on rice productivity was analyzed by the Tobit model. The empirical results of the model show that diversification of sample farm will lead to loss of rice production efficiency. With the increase of rice planting scale, the loss of rice production efficiency will need to be further increased by diversification. Thus, we should stick to the family farm of specialized production operation. The transfer of land, the price and quantity of leasing, respecting the law of the market; the raising of funds can be considered non-subsidized capital market financing to help, while maintaining a certain degree of diversification, to avoid idle assets, low resource efficiency loss.

Modelling turbulent boundary layer flow over fractal-like multiscale terrain using large-eddy simulations and analytical tools.

PubMed

Yang, X I A; Meneveau, C

2017-04-13

In recent years, there has been growing interest in large-eddy simulation (LES) modelling of atmospheric boundary layers interacting with arrays of wind turbines on complex terrain. However, such terrain typically contains geometric features and roughness elements reaching down to small scales that typically cannot be resolved numerically. Thus subgrid-scale models for the unresolved features of the bottom roughness are needed for LES. Such knowledge is also required to model the effects of the ground surface 'underneath' a wind farm. Here we adapt a dynamic approach to determine subgrid-scale roughness parametrizations and apply it for the case of rough surfaces composed of cuboidal elements with broad size distributions, containing many scales. We first investigate the flow response to ground roughness of a few scales. LES with the dynamic roughness model which accounts for the drag of unresolved roughness is shown to provide resolution-independent results for the mean velocity distribution. Moreover, we develop an analytical roughness model that accounts for the sheltering effects of large-scale on small-scale roughness elements. Taking into account the shading effect, constraints from fundamental conservation laws, and assumptions of geometric self-similarity, the analytical roughness model is shown to provide analytical predictions that agree well with roughness parameters determined from LES.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex terrains'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Factors associated with small-scale agricultural machinery adoption in Bangladesh: Census findings.

PubMed

Mottaleb, Khondoker Abdul; Krupnik, Timothy J; Erenstein, Olaf

2016-08-01

There is strong advocacy for agricultural machinery appropriate for smallholder farmers in South Asia. Such 'scale-appropriate' machinery can increase returns to land and labour, although the still substantial capital investment required can preclude smallholder ownership. Increasing machinery demand has resulted in relatively well-developed markets for rental services for tillage, irrigation, and post-harvest operations. Many smallholders thereby access agricultural machinery that may have otherwise been cost prohibitive to purchase through fee-for-service arrangements, though opportunity for expansion remains. To more effectively facilitate the development and investment in scale-appropriate machinery, there is a need to better understand the factors associated with agricultural machinery purchases and service provision. This paper first reviews Bangladesh's historical policy environment that facilitated the development of agricultural machinery markets. It then uses recent Bangladesh census data from 814,058 farm households to identify variables associated with the adoption of the most common smallholder agricultural machinery - irrigation pumps, threshers, and power tillers (mainly driven by two-wheel tractors). Multinomial probit model results indicate that machinery ownership is positively associated with household assets, credit availability, electrification, and road density. These findings suggest that donors and policy makers should focus not only on short-term projects to boost machinery adoption. Rather, sustained emphasis on improving physical and civil infrastructure and services, as well as assuring credit availability, is also necessary to create an enabling environment in which the adoption of scale-appropriate farm machinery is most likely.

Analysis of near-surface relative humidity in a wind turbine array boundary layer using an instrumented unmanned aerial system and large-eddy simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adkins, Kevin; Elfajri, Oumnia; Sescu, Adrian

2016-11-01

Simulation and modeling have shown that wind farms have an impact on the near-surface atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) as turbulent wakes generated by the turbines enhance vertical mixing. These changes alter downstream atmospheric properties. With a large portion of wind farms hosted within an agricultural context, changes to the environment can potentially have secondary impacts such as to the productivity of crops. With the exception of a few observational data sets that focus on the impact to near-surface temperature, little to no observational evidence exists. These few studies also lack high spatial resolution due to their use of a limited number of meteorological towers or remote sensing techniques. This study utilizes an instrumented small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) to gather in-situ field measurements from two Midwest wind farms, focusing on the impact that large utility-scale wind turbines have on relative humidity. Results are also compared to numerical experiments conducted using large eddy simulation (LES). Wind turbines are found to differentially alter the relative humidity in the downstream, spanwise and vertical directions under a variety of atmospheric stability conditions.

Environmentally sustainable production of food, feed and fuel from natural resources in the tropics.

PubMed

Preston, T Reg

2009-08-01

Responding to the challenges posed by global warming, peak oil and biofuels will require a paradigm shift in the practice of agriculture and in the role of live stock within the farming system. Farming systems should aim at maximizing plant biomass production from locally available diversified resources, processing of the biomass on farm to provide food, feed and energy and recycling of all waste materials. The approach that is the subject of this paper is that the generation of electricity can be a by-product of food/feed production. The concept is the fractionation of biomass into inedible cell wall material that can be converted to an inflammable gas by gasification, the gas in turn being the source of fuel for internal combustion engines driving electrical generators. The cell contents and related structures such as tree leaves are used as human food or animal feed. As well as providing food and feed the model is highly appropriate for decentralized small scale production of electricity in rural areas. It also offers opportunities for sequestration of carbon in the form of biochar the solid residue remaining after gasification of the biomass.

The role of veterinarians and feed-store vendors in the prescription and use of antibiotics on small dairy farms in rural Peru

PubMed Central

Redding, L. E.; Barg, F. K.; Smith, G.; Galligan, D. T.; Levy, M. Z.; Hennessy, S.

2014-01-01

This study aimed to describe and compare the role of veterinarians and feed-store vendors in the use of antibiotics on small dairy farms in Cajamarca, Peru, a major dairy-producing center characterized by small, rural farms with poor, mostly uneducated farmers. We used a purposive sampling strategy to recruit 12 veterinarians into 2 focus group discussions and supplemented these data with 8 semi-structured interviews with feed-store vendors. Participants reported that inappropriate antibiotic usage was widespread among their clients, which may prevent the efficient use of drugs on farms where animal disease can be devastating to the livelihood of the farmer. Participants also identified many barriers to appropriate prescribing and use, including availability of drugs, competition from other prescribers, economic constraints and habits of farmers, and limited farmer knowledge of drugs and disease. Veterinarians expressed mistrust toward nonprofessional prescribers, whereas feed-store vendors felt that veterinarians were important partners in promoting the health of their clients’ animals. PMID:24054290

Use of the North American guidelines for children's agricultural tasks with Hmong farm families.

PubMed

Rasmussen, R C; Schermann, M A; Shutske, J M; Olson, D K

2003-11-01

This literature review synthesizes available studies on Hmong agricultural practices, patterns of childhood growth and development of Hmong children in the context of injury prevention, and potential application or adaptation of the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (Lee and Marlenga, 1999) for Hmong children working in the U.S. Data from qualitative interviews, focus groups, case studies, and surveys were collected, categories were determined, and themes were identified. Field tools and practices, gender roles, and reasons for farming were examined, as well as physical and cognitive development of Hmong children and Hmong parenting techniques to describe factors related to farm task assignment of children. Current agricultural practices of Hmong in the U.S. can be described as generally small-scale operations that use mainly hand tools, manual labor, and local direct-marketing techniques. Specific practices include thinning, weeding, and hoeing; carrying tools, buckets, or baskets; setting plant supports; and watering. Hmong children appear to be given greater amounts of responsibility at earlier ages than North American children. Hmong parenting practices, as would be used in task assignment, are somewhat more authoritarian-based and lead to psychosocial skills that are more group-oriented than individual-oriented. Hmong children were found to be shorter than children in the U.S. of the same ages. This review suggests that the NAGCAT cannot be literally translated and disseminated to Hmong farming families as an injury prevention intervention. Further information is needed about what farm tasks Hmong children do and how Hmong parents assign those tasks to children.

Changes in leptospirosis etiology in animals and humans.

PubMed

Vasylieva, Natalia; Andreychyn, Mykhaylo; Kravchuk, Yulia; Chervinska, Оlena; Iosyk, Iaryna

2017-12-23

Leptospirosis is endemic in Ternopil region. In Ukraine, the disease is registered in almost all regions, including the Ternopil region. The aim of the research is to study the regularities of epidemic and epizootic processes of leptospirosis, and the circulation of its pathogens among different sources (small mammals, animals) and humans. Etiologic spectrum of leptospirosis registered in Ternopil region in 1972-2016 among small mammals, farm animals and sick people was studied. Due to the analysis of pathogens circulation among different sources (small mammals, animals), as well as the annual morbidity in humans, it was proved that new leptospira serovars are endemic and brought into the regions mostly by farm animals. Farm animals introduce the infection to humans through the environment, sometimes within 3-5-years. The spread was observed of pathogen serovars, which are new in certain areas, among all types of mouse-like small mammals and rats. It was established that livestock and small mammals are parallel reservoirs. In the regions with endemic species, the structural modification in the etiology of leptospirosis in humans is caused by additional reservoirs among animals, as well as the circulation of other pathogen serovars that were absent in the main natural reservoir, i.e. mouse-like small mammals and rats. The constant monitoring of the population, contamination and carrier state of mouse-like small mammals, rats and farm animals, is required In order to predict the future epidemiological situation on leptospirosis among the population and to improve leptospirosis diagnosis.

Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data.

PubMed

Gonzalez-Mejia, Alejandra; Styles, David; Wilson, Paul; Gibbons, James

2018-01-01

Evaluation of agricultural intensification requires comprehensive analysis of trends in farm performance across physical and socio-economic aspects, which may diverge across farm types. Typical reporting of economic indicators at sectorial or the "average farm" level does not represent farm diversity and provides limited insight into the sustainability of specific intensification pathways. Using farm business data from a total of 7281 farm survey observations of English and Welsh dairy farms over a 14-year period we calculate a time series of 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to farm structure, environmental and socio-economic aspects of sustainability. We then apply principle component analysis and model-based clustering analysis to identify statistically the number of distinct dairy farm typologies for each year of study, and link these clusters through time using multidimensional scaling. Between 2001 and 2014, dairy farms have largely consolidated and specialized into two distinct clusters: more extensive farms relying predominantly on grass, with lower milk yields but higher labour intensity, and more intensive farms producing more milk per cow with more concentrate and more maize, but lower labour intensity. There is some indication that these clusters are converging as the extensive cluster is intensifying slightly faster than the intensive cluster, in terms of milk yield per cow and use of concentrate feed. In 2014, annual milk yields were 6,835 and 7,500 l/cow for extensive and intensive farm types, respectively, whilst annual concentrate feed use was 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per cow. For several KPIs such as milk yield the mean trend across all farms differed substantially from the extensive and intensive typologies mean. The indicators and analysis methodology developed allows identification of distinct farm types and industry trends using readily available survey data. The identified groups allow the accurate evaluation of the consequences of the reduction in dairy farm numbers and intensification at national and international scales.

Turbulent kinetics of a large wind farm and their impact in the neutral boundary layer

DOE PAGES

Na, Ji Sung; Koo, Eunmo; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; ...

2015-12-28

High-resolution large-eddy simulation of the flow over a large wind farm (64 wind turbines) is performed using the HIGRAD/FIRETEC-WindBlade model, which is a high-performance computing wind turbine–atmosphere interaction model that uses the Lagrangian actuator line method to represent rotating turbine blades. These high-resolution large-eddy simulation results are used to parameterize the thrust and power coefficients that contain information about turbine interference effects within the wind farm. Those coefficients are then incorporated into the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model in order to evaluate interference effects in larger-scale models. In the high-resolution WindBlade wind farm simulation, insufficient distance between turbines createsmore » the interference between turbines, including significant vertical variations in momentum and turbulent intensity. The characteristics of the wake are further investigated by analyzing the distribution of the vorticity and turbulent intensity. Quadrant analysis in the turbine and post-turbine areas reveals that the ejection motion induced by the presence of the wind turbines is dominant compared to that in the other quadrants, indicating that the sweep motion is increased at the location where strong wake recovery occurs. Regional-scale WRF simulations reveal that although the turbulent mixing induced by the wind farm is partly diffused to the upper region, there is no significant change in the boundary layer depth. The velocity deficit does not appear to be very sensitive to the local distribution of turbine coefficients. However, differences of about 5% on parameterized turbulent kinetic energy were found depending on the turbine coefficient distribution. Furthermore, turbine coefficients that consider interference in the wind farm should be used in wind farm parameterization for larger-scale models to better describe sub-grid scale turbulent processes.« less

Characterization and typification of small ruminant farms providing fuelbreak grazing services for wildfire prevention in Andalusia (Spain).

PubMed

Mena, Y; Ruiz-Mirazo, J; Ruiz, F A; Castel, J M

2016-02-15

Several wildfire prevention programs in Spain are using grazing livestock to maintain fuelbreaks with low levels of biomass. Even though shepherds are remunerated for these services, many of their farms are hardly viable in the current socio-economic context. By analyzing 54 small ruminant farms participating in the Grazed Fuelbreak Network in Andalusia (southern Spain), this research aimed to identify the main types and characteristics of such farms and, considering the challenges they are facing, propose strategies to improve both their economic viability and their effectiveness in fuelbreak grazing. Based on data collected through a survey on key farm management aspects, a multivariate analysis was performed and four main types of farm were identified: two clusters of dairy goat farms and two composed mostly of meat-purpose sheep farms. Farms in all clusters could benefit from improvements in the feeding and reproductive management of livestock, either to enhance their productivity or to make better use of the pasture resources available. Dairy goat farms remain more dependent on external animal feed to ensure a better lactation, therefore they should either diminish their workforce costs per animal or sell transformed products directly to consumers to improve their economic viability. Best fuelbreak grazing results were related to larger flocks combining sheep and goats, lower ratios of fuelbreak surface area per animal, and longer (year-long) grazing periods on fuelbreaks. Therefore, such farm features and adjusted fuelbreak assignments should be favored in wildfire prevention programs using grazing services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How do farm models compare when estimating greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cattle production?

PubMed

Hutchings, N J; Özkan Gülzari, Ş; de Haan, M; Sandars, D

2018-01-09

The European Union Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) will require a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 from the sectors not included in the European Emissions Trading Scheme, including agriculture. This will require the estimation of current and future emissions from agriculture, including dairy cattle production systems. Using a farm-scale model as part of a Tier 3 method for farm to national scales provides a more holistic and informative approach than IPCC (2006) Tier 2 but requires independent quality control. Comparing the results of using models to simulate a range of scenarios that explore an appropriate range of biophysical and management situations can support this process by providing a framework for placing model results in context. To assess the variation between models and the process of understanding differences, estimates of GHG emissions from four farm-scale models (DairyWise, FarmAC, HolosNor and SFARMMOD) were calculated for eight dairy farming scenarios within a factorial design consisting of two climates (cool/dry and warm/wet)×two soil types (sandy and clayey)×two feeding systems (grass only and grass/maize). The milk yield per cow, follower:cow ratio, manure management system, nitrogen (N) fertilisation and land area were standardised for all scenarios in order to associate the differences in the results with the model structure and function. Potential yield and application of available N in fertiliser and manure were specified separately for grass and maize. Significant differences between models were found in GHG emissions at the farm-scale and for most contributory sources, although there was no difference in the ranking of source magnitudes. The farm-scale GHG emissions, averaged over the four models, was 10.6 t carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e)/ha per year, with a range of 1.9 t CO2e/ha per year. Even though key production characteristics were specified in the scenarios, there were still significant differences between models in the annual milk production per ha and the amounts of N fertiliser and concentrate feed imported. This was because the models differed in their description of biophysical responses and feedback mechanisms, and in the extent to which management functions were internalised. We conclude that comparing the results of different farm-scale models when applied to a range of scenarios would build confidence in their use in achieving ESR targets, justifying further investment in the development of a wider range of scenarios and software tools.

The Navajo Agricultural Projects Industry: Subsistence Farming to Corporate Agribusiness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barry, Tom

1979-01-01

Originally designed to create small farms for individual Navajos, the irrigation project has grown into a single 110,000-acre corporate agribusiness, the land's management has fallen out of the grasp of individual Navajos, and the idea of subsistence farming has been plowed under for the planting of major money-making crops. (NQ)

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Salad Tag: A Farmer Goes to School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Summers, William

2013-01-01

Will Summers has been farming since 2007 when he interned for a small community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm in Austin, Texas. His agricultural experience since then has primarily been with nonprofit organizations where he has cultivated vegetables, kept chickens, milked goats, and introduced young people to the wonders of farming and…

A Need for Education in Water Sustainability in the Agricultural Realm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krajewski, J.

2015-12-01

This study draws upon the definition of water sustainability from the National Water Research Institute as the continual supply of clean water for human uses and for other living beings without compromising the water welfare of future generations. Currently, the greatest consumer of water resources worldwide is irrigation. The move from small-scale, family farms towards corporately owned and market driven, mass scale operations have drastically increased corn production and large-scale factory hog farming in the American Midwest—and the water quality related costs associated with this shift are well-documented. In the heart of the corn belt, the state of Iowa has dealt with issues over the past two decades ranging from flooding of historic proportions, to yield destroying droughts. Most recently, the state's water quality is intensely scrutinized due to nutrient levels higher than almost anywhere else in the world. While the changed agricultural landscape is ultimately responsible for these environmental costs, they can be mitigated if the farmers adopt practices that support water sustainability. However, many Iowa farmers have yet to embrace these necessary practices because of a lack of proper education in this context. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how water sustainability is being conceptualized within the agricultural realm, and ultimately, how the issues are being communicated and understood within various subgroups in Iowa, such as the farmers, the college students, and the general public.

Assessing Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security Worldwide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenzweig, Cynthia E.; Antle, John; Elliott, Joshua

2015-01-01

The combination of a warming Earth and an increasing population will likely strain the world's food systems in the coming decades. Experts involved with the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) focus on quantifying the changes through time. AgMIP, a program begun in 2010, involves about 800 climate scientists, economists, nutritionists, information technology specialists, and crop and livestock experts. In mid-September 2015, the Aspen Global Change Institute convened an AgMIP workshop to draft plans and protocols for assessing global- and regional-scale modeling of crops, livestock, economics, and nutrition across major agricultural regions worldwide. The goal of this Coordinated Global and Regional Integrated Assessments (CGRA) project is to characterize climate effects on large- and small-scale farming systems.

Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data

PubMed Central

Gonzalez-Mejia, Alejandra; Styles, David; Wilson, Paul

2018-01-01

Evaluation of agricultural intensification requires comprehensive analysis of trends in farm performance across physical and socio-economic aspects, which may diverge across farm types. Typical reporting of economic indicators at sectorial or the “average farm” level does not represent farm diversity and provides limited insight into the sustainability of specific intensification pathways. Using farm business data from a total of 7281 farm survey observations of English and Welsh dairy farms over a 14-year period we calculate a time series of 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to farm structure, environmental and socio-economic aspects of sustainability. We then apply principle component analysis and model-based clustering analysis to identify statistically the number of distinct dairy farm typologies for each year of study, and link these clusters through time using multidimensional scaling. Between 2001 and 2014, dairy farms have largely consolidated and specialized into two distinct clusters: more extensive farms relying predominantly on grass, with lower milk yields but higher labour intensity, and more intensive farms producing more milk per cow with more concentrate and more maize, but lower labour intensity. There is some indication that these clusters are converging as the extensive cluster is intensifying slightly faster than the intensive cluster, in terms of milk yield per cow and use of concentrate feed. In 2014, annual milk yields were 6,835 and 7,500 l/cow for extensive and intensive farm types, respectively, whilst annual concentrate feed use was 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per cow. For several KPIs such as milk yield the mean trend across all farms differed substantially from the extensive and intensive typologies mean. The indicators and analysis methodology developed allows identification of distinct farm types and industry trends using readily available survey data. The identified groups allow the accurate evaluation of the consequences of the reduction in dairy farm numbers and intensification at national and international scales. PMID:29742166

Small Scale SOFC Demonstration Using Bio-Based and Fossil Fuels

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

Petrik, Michael; Ruhl, Robert

2012-05-01

Technology Management, Inc. (TMI) of Cleveland, Ohio, has completed the project entitled Small Scale SOFC Demonstration using Bio-based and Fossil Fuels. Under this program, two 1-kW systems were engineered as technology demonstrators of an advanced technology that can operate on either traditional hydrocarbon fuels or renewable biofuels. The systems were demonstrated at Patterson's Fruit Farm of Chesterland, OH and were open to the public during the first quarter of 2012. As a result of the demonstration, TMI received quantitative feedback on operation of the systems as well as qualitative assessments from customers. Based on the test results, TMI believes thatmore » > 30% net electrical efficiency at 1 kW on both traditional and renewable fuels with a reasonable entry price is obtainable. The demonstration and analysis provide the confidence that a 1 kW entry-level system offers a viable value proposition, but additional modifications are warranted to reduce sound and increase reliability before full commercial acceptance.« less

Building an alliance for a green revolution in Africa.

PubMed

Toenniessen, Gary; Adesina, Akinwumi; DeVries, Joseph

2008-01-01

Most of Africa's people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. These predominantly small-scale farmers face many challenges, including food insecurity, rising poverty, and natural resource degradation. To increase the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of their farms, they need greater access to affordable yield-enhancing inputs, including well-adapted seeds and new methods for integrated soil fertility management, as well as to output markets where they can convert surplus production into cash. To address these needs, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). AGRA is now African led and is working within the context of the comprehensive agricultural development program established by Africa's leaders. From offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, Ghana, AGRA will support work across all key aspects of the African agricultural value chain to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

Energy balance in olive oil farms: comparison of organic and conventional farming systems.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno, Marta M.; Meco, Ramón; Moreno, Carmen

2013-04-01

The viability of an agricultural production system not only depends on the crop yields, but especially on the efficient use of available resources. However, the current agricultural systems depend heavily on non-renewable energy consumption in the form of fertilizers, fossil fuels, pesticides and machinery. In developed countries, the economic profitability of different productive systems is dependent on the granting of subsidies of diverse origin that affect both production factors (or inputs) and the final product (or output). Leaving such external aids, energy balance analysis reveals the real and most efficient form of management for each agroclimatic region, and is also directly related to the economic activity and the environmental state. In this work we compare the energy balance resulting from organic and conventional olive oil farms under the semi-arid conditions of Central Spain. The results indicate that the mean energy supplied to the organic farms was sensitively lower (about 30%) in comparison with the conventional management, and these differences were more pronounced for the biggest farms (> 15 ha). Mean energy outputs were about 20% lower in the organic system, although organic small farms (< 15 ha) resulted more productive than the conventional small ones. However, these lower outputs were compensated by the major market value obtained from the organic products. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides reached about 60% of the total energy inputs in conventional farming; in the organic farms, however, this ratio scarcely reached 25%. Human labor item only represented a very small amount of the total energy input in both cases (less than 1%). As conclusions, both management systems were efficient from an energy point of view. The value of the organic production should be focused on the environmental benefits it provides, which are not usually considered in the conventional management on not valuing the damage it produces to the environment. Organic farming would improve the energy efficiency in these environmental conditions, offering a sustainable production with minimal inputs.

From Wake Steering to Flow Control

DOE PAGES

Fleming, Paul A.; Annoni, Jennifer; Churchfield, Matthew J.; ...

2017-11-22

In this article, we investigate the role of flow structures generated in wind farm control through yaw misalignment. A pair of counter-rotating vortices are shown to be important in deforming the shape of the wake and in explaining the asymmetry of wake steering in oppositely signed yaw angles. We motivate the development of new physics for control-oriented engineering models of wind farm control, which include the effects of these large-scale flow structures. Such a new model would improve the predictability of control-oriented models. Results presented in this paper indicate that wind farm control strategies, based on new control-oriented models withmore » new physics, that target total flow control over wake redirection may be different, and perhaps more effective, than current approaches. We propose that wind farm control and wake steering should be thought of as the generation of large-scale flow structures, which will aid in the improved performance of wind farms.« less

What conservationists need to know about farming

PubMed Central

Balmford, Andrew; Green, Rhys; Phalan, Ben

2012-01-01

Farming is the basis of our civilization yet is more damaging to wild nature than any other sector of human activity. Here, we propose that in order to limit its impact into the future, conservation researchers and practitioners need to address several big topics—about the scale of future demand, about which crops and livestock to study, about whether low-yield or high-yield farming has the potential to be least harmful to nature, about the environmental performance of new and existing farming methods, and about the measures needed to enable promising approaches and techniques to deliver on their potential. Tackling these issues requires conservationists to explore the many consequences that decisions about agriculture have beyond the farm, to think broadly and imaginatively about the scale and scope of what is required to halt biodiversity loss, and to be brave enough to test and when necessary support counterintuitive measures. PMID:22535780

Understanding sources of sea lice for salmon farms in Chile.

PubMed

Kristoffersen, A B; Rees, E E; Stryhn, H; Ibarra, R; Campisto, J-L; Revie, C W; St-Hilaire, S

2013-08-01

The decline of fisheries over recent decades and a growing human population has coincided with an increase in aquaculture production. As farmed fish densities increase, so have their rates of infectious diseases, as predicted by the theory of density-dependent disease transmission. One of the pathogen that has increased with the growth of salmon farming is sea lice. Effective management of this pathogen requires an understanding of the spatial scale of transmission. We used a two-part multi-scale model to account for the zero-inflated data observed in weekly sea lice abundance levels on rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon farms in Chile, and to assess internal (farm) and external (regional) sources of sea lice infection. We observed that the level of juvenile sea lice was higher on farms that were closer to processing plants with fish holding facilities. Further, evidence for sea lice exposure from the surrounding area was supported by a strong positive correlation between the level of juvenile sea lice on a farm and the number of gravid females on neighboring farms within 30 km two weeks prior. The relationship between external sources of sea lice from neighboring farms and juvenile sea lice on a farm was one of the strongest detected in our multivariable model. Our findings suggest that the management of sea lice should be coordinated between farms and should include all farms and processing plants with holding facilities within a relatively large geographic area. Understanding the contribution of pathogens on a farm from different sources is an important step in developing effective control strategies. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Performance of small-scale dairy farms in the highlands of central Mexico during the dry season under traditional feeding strategies.

PubMed

Martínez-García, Carlos Galdino; Rayas-Amor, Adolfo Armando; Anaya-Ortega, Juan Pablo; Martínez-Castañeda, Francisco Ernesto; Espinoza-Ortega, Angélica; Prospero-Bernal, Fernando; Arriaga-Jordán, Carlos Manuel

2015-02-01

In Mexico, small-scale dairy systems (SSDS) represent over 78 % of dairy farms and contribute with 37 % of national milk production; however, they face high feeding costs. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of SSDS during the dry season in terms of milk yields, milk composition and feeding costs under traditional feeding strategies, to identify areas of opportunity for improving their profitability. The information was collected from 22 SSDS every month during dry season. Feeds were classified in quality forages (QF), supplements (SU) and straws (ST). Two factors were identified: factor 1-a positive relationship among QF, SU, milk yield and ration cost and factor 2-represented straw usage. Four feeding strategies were identified: (1) low-cost feeding strategy; (2) home-grown feeding strategy; (3) high-cost feeding strategy; and (4) straw-based feeding strategy. There were differences (P < 0.001) among feeding strategies for QF, SU, ST, total dry matter offered (TDMO), ration cost (RC), external inputs, home-grown inputs and milk yield. There were no significant (P > 0.05) differences among feeding strategies for fat and protein contents in milk. It is concluded that to improve performance and profitability and enhance sustainability in SSDS, farmers should base feeding strategies on home-grown quality forages, as it was the case in group 2 which showed lower feeding cost and better milk yield. It is also recommended to increase the inclusion of quality forages like grazing pastures and maize silages during the dry season and to avoid the inclusion of straws.

Using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling to Analyze Bee Visitation in East Tennessee Crops as an Indicator of Pollination Services Provided by Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) and Native Bees.

PubMed

Wilson, Michael E; Skinner, John A; Wszelaki, Annette L; Drummond, Frank

2016-04-01

This study investigated bee visitation on 10 agricultural crops grown on diverse small farms in Tennessee to determine the abundance of native bees and honey bees and the partitioning of visitation among crops. Summaries for each crop are used to generate mean proportions of bee visitation by categories of bees. This shows that native bee visits often occur as frequently, or in greater proportions than non-native honey bee visits. Visitation across multiple crops is then analyzed together with nonmetric multidimensional scaling to show how communities of bees that provide crop pollination change depending on the crop. Within squash and pumpkin plantings, continuous and discrete factors, such as "time of day" and "organic practices," further explain shifts in the community composition of flower visitors. Results from this study show that native bees frequently visit flowers on various crops, indicating that they are likely contributing to pollination services in addition to honey bees. Furthermore, the community of bees visiting flowers changes based on crop type, phenology, and spatial-temporal factors. Results suggest that developing pollinator conservation for farms that grow a wide variety of crops will likely require multiple conservation strategies. Farms that concentrate on a single crop may be able to tailor conservation practices toward the most important bees in their system and geographic locale. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Managing farmed closed depressional areas using blind inlets to minimize phosphorus and nitrogen losses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Through watershed scale research in the St. Joseph River watershed in the United States, farmed potholes have been identified as contributing to nutrient loading of streams. Most farmed potholes are drained with tile risers, which are direct conduits for runoff water and associated contaminants dire...

Evaluating the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation in dairy production.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Process-level modeling at the farm scale provides a tool for evaluating strategies for both mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. The Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) simulates representative crop, beef or dairy farms over many years of weather to predict performance...

Economic and phosphorus-related effects of precision feeding and forage management at a farm scale

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A system-level redesign of farm management is needed to maintain economic viability of the farm while addressing phosphorous imbalance problems caused by many current practices. One innovative strategy, precision feed management (PFM), reduces soil-phosphorus build-up by limiting feed and fertilizer...

Ten Years of Plant Pathology Research at the Cook Agronomy Farm: What Have We Learned?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Cook Agronomy Farm has provided important information for understanding root diseases under directseeded conditions in the higher rainfall annual cropping zones of the Palouse, at a landscape scale. This farm has served as an important outdoor laboratory to test disease management techniques suc...

Zoonotic Agents in Small Ruminants Kept on City Farms in Southern Germany

PubMed Central

Schilling, Anna-Katarina; Hotzel, Helmut; Methner, Ulrich; Sprague, Lisa D.; Schmoock, Gernot; El-Adawy, Hosny; Ehricht, Ralf; Wöhr, Anna-Caroline; Erhard, Michael

2012-01-01

Sheep and goats are popular examples of livestock kept on city farms. In these settings, close contacts between humans and animals frequently occur. Although it is widely accepted that small ruminants can carry numerous zoonotic agents, it is unknown which of these agents actually occur in sheep and goats on city farms in Germany. We sampled feces and nasal liquid of 48 animals (28 goats, 20 sheep) distributed in 7 city farms and on one activity playground in southern Germany. We found that 100% of the sampled sheep and 89.3% of the goats carried Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The presence of Staphylococcus spp. in 75% of both sheep and goats could be demonstrated. Campylobacter spp. were detected in 25% and 14.3% of the sheep and goats, respectively. Neither Salmonella spp. nor Coxiella burnetii was found. On the basis of these data, we propose a reasonable hygiene scheme to prevent transmission of zoonotic agents during city farm visits. PMID:22447607

The Condition of Farm Workers and Small Farmers in 1970. Report to the National Board of National Sharecroppers Fund.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, James M.

In 1970, many Americans are examining anew the costs of achieving efficiency in agriculture through bigness. The exodus of small farmers continues--more than 2.7 million farmers have abandoned farming or sold out to bigger competitors since 1950--while Government agricultural policy remains attuned to the interests of large farmers. All small…

Exit, voice, and disappointment: mountain decline and EU compensatory rural policy in Spain.

PubMed

Collantes, Fernando

2010-01-01

The article analyses the Spanish experience of EU compensatory rural policy in order to contribute to broader debates on the effectiveness of this kind of policy and the role of agriculture in the definition of European rural policies. In the case of Spain, compensatory allowances to mainly mountain farmers had little effect on economic trajectories or social cohesion because of the small sums involved, the exclusion of those with very small farms, and the decreasing role of agriculture in the rural economy. Other, more structural, instruments of rural policy focused on small-scale promotion of business growth but were ill-equipped to challenge some of the territorially defined items of living standard gaps. A historically grounded analysis suggests that the main changes in the social trajectory of Spain's mountain areas in the last decades have little to do with compensatory policy and are related to ordinary economic dynamics.

Plot-, farm-, and watershed-scale effects of coffee cultivation in runoff and sediment production in western Puerto Rico.

PubMed

Ramos-Scharrón, Carlos E; Figueroa-Sánchez, Yasiel

2017-11-01

The combination of a topographically abrupt wet-tropical setting with the high level of soil exposure that typifies many sun-grown coffee farms represents optimal conditions for high erosion rates. Although traditionally considered as a main cause for water resource degradation, limited empirical evidence has existed to document its true contribution. This study relies on plot-scale experimental results conducted in western Puerto Rico to assess the impact of cultivated surfaces and farm access roads on runoff and sediment production from the plot to the farm and watershed scales. Results show that unsurfaced and graveled road surfaces produce one- to two-orders of magnitude more per unit area runoff than cultivated lands. Similarly, erosion rates from unsurfaced roads are about 102 g m -2 per cm of rainfall and these are two-orders of magnitude greater than from actively cultivated surfaces. Mitigation practices such as uncompacting road surfaces by ripping and gravel application reduce onsite erosion rates to 0.6% and 8% of unsurfaced conditions, respectively. At the farm scale, coffee farms are estimated to produce sediment at a rate of 12-18 Mg ha -1 yr -1 , and roads are undoubtedly the dominant sediment source responsible for 59-95% of the total sediment produced. The costs associated to ameliorating erosion problems through road graveling are high. Therefore, a combined approach that treats road erosion onsite with one that traps sediment before it reaches river networks is the viable solution to this problem. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparative study on carbon footprint of rice production between household and aggregated farms from Jiangxi, China.

PubMed

Yan, Ming; Luo, Ting; Bian, Rongjun; Cheng, Kun; Pan, Genxing; Rees, Robert

2015-06-01

Quantifying the carbon footprint (CF) for crop production can help identify key options to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture. In the present study, both household and aggregated farm scales were surveyed to obtain the data of rice production and farming management practices in a typical rice cultivation area of Northern Jiangxi, China. The CFs of the different rice systems including early rice, late rice, and single rice under household and aggregated farm scale were calculated. In general, early rice had the lower CF in terms of land use and grain production being 4.54 ± 0.44 t CO2-eq./ha and 0.62 ± 0.1 t CO2-eq./t grain than single rice (6.84 ± 0.79 t CO2-eq./ha and 0.80 ± 0.13 t CO2-eq./t grain) and late rice (8.72 ± 0.54 t CO2-eq./ha and 1.1 ± 0.17 t CO2-eq./t grain). The emissions from nitrogen fertilizer use accounted for 33 % of the total CF on average and the direct CH4 emissions for 57 %. The results indicated that the CF of double rice cropping under aggregated farm being 0.86 ± 0.11 t CO2-eq./t grain was lower by 25 % than that being 1.14 ± 0.25 t CO2-eq./t grain under household farm, mainly due to high nitrogen use efficiency and low methane emissions. Therefore, developing the aggregated farm scale with efficient use of agro-chemicals and farming operation for greater profitability could offer a strategy for reducing GHG emissions in China's agriculture.

Whole farm quantification of GHG emissions within smallholder farms in developing countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seebauer, Matthias

2014-03-01

The IPCC has compiled the best available scientific methods into published guidelines for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and emission removals from the land-use sector. In order to evaluate existing GHG quantification tools to comprehensively quantify GHG emissions and removals in smallholder conditions, farm scale quantification was tested with farm data from Western Kenya. After conducting a cluster analysis to identify different farm typologies GHG quantification was exercised using the VCS SALM methodology complemented with IPCC livestock emission factors and the cool farm tool. The emission profiles of four farm clusters representing the baseline conditions in the year 2009 are compared with 2011 where farmers adopted sustainable land management practices (SALM). The results demonstrate the variation in both the magnitude of the estimated GHG emissions per ha between different smallholder farm typologies and the emissions estimated by applying two different accounting tools. The farm scale quantification further shows that the adoption of SALM has a significant impact on emission reduction and removals and the mitigation benefits range between 4 and 6.5 tCO2 ha-1 yr-1 with significantly different mitigation benefits depending on typologies of the crop-livestock systems, their different agricultural practices, as well as adoption rates of improved practices. However, the inherent uncertainty related to the emission factors applied by accounting tools has substantial implications for reported agricultural emissions. With regard to uncertainty related to activity data, the assessment confirms the high variability within different farm types as well as between different parameters surveyed to comprehensively quantify GHG emissions within smallholder farms.

Beta diversity at different spatial scales: plant communities in organic and conventional agriculture.

PubMed

Gabriel, Doreen; Roschewitz, Indra; Tscharntke, Teja; Thies, Carsten

2006-10-01

Biodiversity studies that guide agricultural subsidy policy have generally compared farming systems at a single spatial scale: the field. However, diversity patterns vary across spatial scales. Here, we examined the effects of farming system (organic vs. conventional) and position in the field (edge vs. center) on plant species richness in wheat fields at three spatial scales. We quantified alpha-, beta-, and gamma-diversity at the microscale in 800 plots, at the mesoscale in 40 fields, and at the macroscale in three regions using the additive partitioning approach, and evaluated the relative contribution of beta-diversity at each spatial scale to total observed species richness. We found that alpha-, beta-, and gamma-diversity were higher in organic than conventional fields and higher at the field edge than in the field center at all spatial scales. In both farming systems, beta-diversity at the meso- and macroscale explained most of the overall species richness (up to 37% and 25%, respectively), indicating considerable differences in community composition among fields and regions due to environmental heterogeneity. The spatial scale at which beta-diversity contributed the most to overall species richness differed between rare and common species. Total richness of rare species (present in < or = 5% of total samples) was mainly explained by differences in community composition at the meso- and macroscale (up to 27% and 48%, respectively), but only in organic fields. Total richness of common species (present in > or = 25% of total samples) was explained by differences in community composition at the micro- and mesoscale (up to 29% and 47%, respectively), i.e., among plots and fields, independent of farming system. Our results show that organic farming made the greatest contribution to total species richness at the meso (among fields) and macro (among regions) scale due to environmental heterogeneity. Hence, agri-environment schemes should exploit this large-scale contribution of beta-diversity by tailoring schemes at regional scales to maximize dissimilarity between conservation areas using geographic information systems rather than focusing entirely at the classical local-field scale, which is the current practice.

Greenhouse gas emissions from rice, peanut and millet farms in peninsular India: Effects of water and nitrogen management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kritee, K.; Tiwari, R.; Nair, D.; Loecke, T. D.; Adhya, T. K.; Rudek, J.; Ahuja, R.; Hamburg, S.

2013-12-01

At Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), we recognize that any intervention to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should meet the interests of small scale farmers and low-carbon farming (LCF) is an integral component of our work on international climate. As a part of our Emissions Measurement and Methodology Development (EMD) Project, a joint undertaking with Indian NGO partners of the Fair Climate Network (FCN), five GHG measurement laboratories were set up across three states in peninsular (south) India. These labs represent different agro-ecological zones within the dryland agriculture belt in South India for which no reliable datasets on GHG emission have been available. Our approach for collecting gas samples was based on the Gracenet protocol. Sampling for nitrous oxide and methane emissions were made on approximately 50% of the total number of days in a growing season and once a week during fallow periods. In order to capture the peak emissions of nitrous oxide, samples were collected for 3-4 consecutive days after critical events like tillage, weeding, fertilization, and rainfall/irrigation. The research team collected field data at the time of sampling (temperature of the soil, water and air; and water levels). We also recorded parameters (e.g. water, fertilizer, labor and energy use; and yields) which were necessary for calculating farm profitability. Our data from 2012-2013 suggest that, for peninsular India, low-carbon rice cultivation techniques offer very large emission reduction potential (2-5 metric tons CO2e per acre per year), with smaller reductions from peanut and millet (0.15-0.5 metric ton CO2e per acre per season). The Tier 1 IPCC emissions factors 1) grossly underestimate both the amount of nitrous oxide emission from conventional rice cultivation practices, and the extent to which it can be reduced through better fertilizer management and 2) overestimate the methane emission reduction possible due to water management for rice paddies by a small but significant amount. It is crucial to customize fertilizer and water management to each agro-ecological zone such that net GHG emission reduction is maximized. Further comprehensive measurements over next 2-3 growing seasons will make Indian GHG emissions calculations from peninsular region more accurate. Even more importantly, these measurements will enable the region to more effectively reduce emissions from rice cultivation. Our preliminary assessments also show that LCF practices also have the potential to decrease water use by 10-30%, reduce total nitrogen loading in local water bodies by 20-40%, and improve long term soil health by optimizing organic matter and increasing water-holding capacity. Thus, we demonstrate immediate benefits of LCF practices in reducing input costs as well as lay the path for methodology development for better quantification of GHG emission reductions. Monetization of these reductions can provide an additional income stream to small scale farms, thereby helping incentivize adoption of LCF practices. The central payoff is a 'triple win' for society: increased long-term food security (including through enhanced yields), rural economic development (through improved farm profitability and adaptation to climate change), and lower environmental impacts (including lower GHG emissions).

The role of veterinarians and feed-store vendors in the prescription and use of antibiotics on small dairy farms in rural Peru.

PubMed

Redding, L E; Barg, F K; Smith, G; Galligan, D T; Levy, M Z; Hennessy, S

2013-01-01

This study aimed to describe and compare the role of veterinarians and feed-store vendors in the use of antibiotics on small dairy farms in Cajamarca, Peru, a major dairy-producing center characterized by small, rural farms with poor, mostly uneducated farmers. We used a purposive sampling strategy to recruit 12 veterinarians into 2 focus group discussions and supplemented these data with 8 semi-structured interviews with feed-store vendors. Participants reported that inappropriate antibiotic usage was widespread among their clients, which may prevent the efficient use of drugs on farms where animal disease can be devastating to the livelihood of the farmer. Participants also identified many barriers to appropriate prescribing and use, including availability of drugs, competition from other prescribers, economic constraints and habits of farmers, and limited farmer knowledge of drugs and disease. Veterinarians expressed mistrust toward nonprofessional prescribers, whereas feed-store vendors felt that veterinarians were important partners in promoting the health of their clients' animals. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wind-tunnel experiments of scalar transport in aligned and staggered wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, W.; Markfort, C. D.; Porté-Agel, F.

2012-04-01

Wind energy is the fastest growing renewable energy worldwide, and it is expected that many more large-scale wind farms will be built and will cover a significant portion of land and ocean surfaces. By extracting kinetic energy from the atmospheric boundary layer, wind farms may affect the exchange/transport of momentum, heat and moisture between the atmosphere and land surface. To ensure the long-term sustainability of wind energy, it is important to understand the influence of large-scale wind farms on land-atmosphere interaction. Knowledge of this impact will also be useful to improve parameterizations of wind farms in numerical prediction tools, such as large-scale weather models and large-eddy simulation. Here, we present wind-tunnel measurements of the surface scalar (heat) flux from model wind farms, consisting of more than 10 rows of wind turbines, in a turbulent boundary layer with a surface heat source. Spatially distributed surface heat flux was obtained in idealized aligned and staggered wind farm layouts, having the same turbine distribution density. Measurements, using surface-mounted heat flux sensors, were taken at the 11th out of 12 rows of wind turbines, where the mean flow achieves a quasi-equilibrium state. In the aligned farm, there exist two distinct regions of increased and decreased surface heat flux on either side of turbine columns. The regions are correlated with coherent wake rotation in the turbine-array. On the upwelling side there is decreased flux, while on the downwelling side cool air moves towards the surface causing increased flux. For the staggered farm, the surface heat flux exhibits a relatively uniform distribution and an overall reduction with respect to the boundary layer flow, except in the vicinity of the turbine tower. This observation is also supported by near-surface temperature and turbulent heat flux measured using a customized x-wire/cold-wire. The overall surface heat flux, relative to that of the boundary layer flow without wind turbines, is reduced by approximately 4% in the staggered wind farm and remains nearly the same in the aligned wind farm.

Study on the Measurement and Calculation of Environmental Pollution Bearing Index of China’s Pig Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leng, Bi-Bin; Gong, Jian; Zhang, Wen-bo; Ji, Xue-Qiang

2017-11-01

According to the environmental pollution caused by large-scale pig breeding, the SPSS statistical software and factor analysis method were used to calculate the environmental pollution bearing index of China’s breeding scale from 2006 to 2015. The results showed that with the increase of scale the density of live pig farming and the amount of fertilizer application in agricultural production increased. However, due to the improvement of national environmental awareness, industrial waste water discharge is greatly reduced. China's hog farming environmental pollution load index is rising.

Coupling the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and Large Eddy Simulations with Actuator Disk Model: predictions of wind farm power production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia Cartagena, Edgardo Javier; Santoni, Christian; Ciri, Umberto; Iungo, Giacomo Valerio; Leonardi, Stefano

2015-11-01

A large-scale wind farm operating under realistic atmospheric conditions is studied by coupling a meso-scale and micro-scale models. For this purpose, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is coupled with an in-house LES solver for wind farms. The code is based on a finite difference scheme, with a Runge-Kutta, fractional step and the Actuator Disk Model. The WRF model has been configured using seven one-way nested domains where the child domain has a mesh size one third of its parent domain. A horizontal resolution of 70 m is used in the innermost domain. A section from the smallest and finest nested domain, 7.5 diameters upwind of the wind farm is used as inlet boundary condition for the LES code. The wind farm consists in six-turbines aligned with the mean wind direction and streamwise spacing of 10 rotor diameters, (D), and 2.75D in the spanwise direction. Three simulations were performed by varying the velocity fluctuations at the inlet: random perturbations, precursor simulation, and recycling perturbation method. Results are compared with a simulation on the same wind farm with an ideal uniform wind speed to assess the importance of the time varying incoming wind velocity. Numerical simulations were performed at TACC (Grant CTS070066). This work was supported by NSF, (Grant IIA-1243482 WINDINSPIRE).

The elimination of echinococcosis from Iceland

PubMed Central

Beard, Trevor C.

1973-01-01

A century ago Iceland had the highest prevalence of human hydatid disease ever recorded anywhere. Since 1864 the disease has been gradually controlled, and today there is less than one new case per decade. The sheep population of about one million, over 95% of which is subject to inspection at slaughter, has yielded only 15 infected animals in the last 20 years. In most districts farm slaughtering still persists, though on a very limited scale, and farm dogs are subjected to very little control. The main credit for the remarkable control of E. granulosus is given to education, but many accidental social and environmental factors, peculiar to Iceland, contributed to the result. Of these, the most notable were the small human population and high rate of literacy; the very high dog mortality from distemper in the 19th century, which coincided with a major export trade in live sheep; the custom of feeding dogs on cooked household scraps, the risk of infection being confined to the short sheep slaughtering season and the rare occasions when a cow or pig is slaughtered; the absence of employed labour on Icelandic farms, all slaughtering being done by the owner, an educated man with middle-class values; the change in animal husbandry since 1920 towards the slaughter of 5-month-old lambs, too young to have viable cysts; and the meat subsidy, which since 1947 has led to the use of abattoirs for all but a handful of uneconomic animals kept for slaughter on the farm. PMID:4544777

Nutrient recovery from swine waste and protein biomass production using duckweed ponds (Landoltia punctata): southern Brazil.

PubMed

Mohedano, R A; Velho, V F; Costa, R H R; Hofmann, S M; Belli Filho, P

2012-01-01

Brazil is one of the most important countries in pork production worldwide, ranking third. This activity has an important role in the national economic scenario. However, the fast growth of this activity has caused major environmental impacts, especially in developing countries. The large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds found in pig manure has caused ecological imbalances, with eutrophication of major river basins in the producing regions. Moreover, much of the pig production in developing countries occurs on small farms, and therefore causes diffuse pollution. Therefore, duckweed pond have been successfully used in the swine waste polishing, generating further a biomass with high protein content. The present study evaluated the efficiency of two full scale duckweed ponds for the polishing of a small pig farm effluent, biomass yield and crude protein (CP) content. Duckweed pond series received the effluent from a biodigester-storage pond, with a flow rate of 1 m(3)/day (chemical oxygen demand rate = 186 kg/ha day) produced by 300 animals. After 1 year a great improvement of effluent quality was observed, with removal of 96% of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and 89% of total phosphorus (TP), on average. Nitrogen removal rate is one of the highest ever found (4.4 g TKN/m(2) day). Also, the dissolved oxygen rose from 0.0 to 3.0 mg/L. The two ponds produced together over 13 tons of fresh biomass (90.5% moisture), with 35% of CP content, which represents a productivity of 24 tonsCP/ha year. Due to the high rate of nutrient removal, and also the high protein biomass production, duckweed ponds revealed, under the presented conditions, a great potential for the polishing and valorization of swine waste. Nevertheless, this technology should be better exploited to improve the sustainability of small pig farms in order to minimize the impacts of this activity on the environment.

Validation of the FAMACHA© system in South American camelids.

PubMed

Storey, Bobby E; Williamson, Lisa H; Howell, Sue B; Terrill, Thomas H; Berghaus, Roy; Vidyashankar, Anand N; Kaplan, Ray M

2017-08-30

Haemonchus contortus resistant to multiple anthelmintics threaten the viability of the small ruminant industry in areas where this parasite is prevalent. In response to this situation, the FAMACHA© system was developed and validated for use with small ruminants as a way to detect clinical anemia associated with haemonchosis. Given that H. contortus and multiple anthelmintic resistance is a similar problem in camelids, the FAMACHA© system might also provide the same benefits. To address this need, a validation study of the FAMACHA© system was conducted on 21 alpaca and llama farms over a 2-year period. H. contortus was the predominant nematode parasite on 17 of the 21 farms (10 alpaca and 7 llama farms) enrolled in the study, based on fecal culture results. The FAMACHA© card was used to score the color of the lower palpebral (lower eye lid) conjunctiva on a 1-5 scale. Packed cell volume (PCV) values were measured and compared to FAMACHA© scores using FAMACHA© score cutoffs of ≥3 or ≥4 and with anemia defined as a PCV ≤15%, ≤17%, or≤20%. PCV was significantly associated with FAMACHA© score, fecal egg count (FEC), and body condition score (BCS), regardless of the FAMACHA© cutoff score or the PCV% chosen to define clinical anemia (p<0.01 in all cases). The use of FAMACHA© scores ≥3 and PCV ≥ 15% indicating anemia provided the best sensitivity (96.4% vs 92.9% for FAMACHA© ≥4), whereas FAMACHA scores ≥ 4 and PCV ≤20% provided the best specificity (94.2% vs 69.1% for FAMACHA© ≥3). The data from this study support the FAMACHA© system as a useful tool for detecting clinical anemia in camelids suffering from haemonchosis. Parameters for making treatment decisions based on FAMACHA© score in camelids should mirror those established for small ruminants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Processor farming in two-level analysis of historical bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krejčí, T.; Kruis, J.; Koudelka, T.; Šejnoha, M.

2017-11-01

This contribution presents a processor farming method in connection with a multi-scale analysis. In this method, each macro-scopic integration point or each finite element is connected with a certain meso-scopic problem represented by an appropriate representative volume element (RVE). The solution of a meso-scale problem provides then effective parameters needed on the macro-scale. Such an analysis is suitable for parallel computing because the meso-scale problems can be distributed among many processors. The application of the processor farming method to a real world masonry structure is illustrated by an analysis of Charles bridge in Prague. The three-dimensional numerical model simulates the coupled heat and moisture transfer of one half of arch No. 3. and it is a part of a complex hygro-thermo-mechanical analysis which has been developed to determine the influence of climatic loading on the current state of the bridge.

Livelihood analysis of floating net cages fish farmers at Sendang Village Sub-district of Gajah Mungkur Reservoir of Wonogiri Regency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nissa, Z. N. A.; Suadi; Sukardi

2018-03-01

Floating net cages farming (KJA) is one of the main livelihood resources in Sendang Village, Gajah Mungkur Reservoir. The purposes of this study were to determine the livelihood asset of fish farmers, the problems of livelihood asset management and the utilization strategy to support aquaculture businesses also farmers livelihood. The study showed that the natural capital, provides easiest way to farmer in fish cultivation. The fish farmers also have good technical capabilities in fish cultivation and the product has high demand and value which is essential for farmers livelihood. The main problems faced by small-scale farmers and all large-scale farmers were transition period, and the rise of cost price which sometime cause the failure in the business. The strategies to deal the problems include technological adjustment, managing the pattern of stocking of tilapia seeds and income source diversification. There were differences in dealing the rise of cost. The small-scale farmers borrow from the bank, while medium-scale farmers use their savings. Another difference of livelihood strategy was the management of financial capital. However, various strategies were still required to increase the livelihood of fish farmers and could address the vulnerabilities in the cultivation of KJA as a common pool resources.

The impact of wild birds and farm management on Campylobacter and Salmonella in small ruminants

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study was designed to evaluate the potential pathways and control of foodborne pathogen transmission between wild-birds and farm animals. At two farms, a total of 14 one-acre pastures were fenced to each host 12 sheep and 12 goats. For the control group, pastures were set-up with open water tub...

Respiratory Protection Behavior and Respiratory Indices among Poultry House Workers on Small, Family-Owned Farms in North Carolina: A Pilot Project.

PubMed

Kearney, Gregory D; Gallagher, Barbara; Shaw, Robert

2016-01-01

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate respiratory behavior and respiratory indices of poultry workers on family-owned, poultry farms with 10 or less employees in North Carolina. A field study was conducted to collect data on participants (N = 24) using spirometry, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (Feno), and an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The majority of workers (76%) ranked respiratory protection as being important, yet 48% reported never or rarely wearing respiratory protection when working in dusty conditions. A large percent of workers reported eye (55%) and nasal (50%) irritation and dry cough (50%). On average, pulmonary lung function and Feno tests were normal among nonsmokers. In bivariate analysis, significant associations were identified between working 7 days on the farm (P = .01), with eye irritation, and working 5 or fewer years in poultry farming (P = .01). Poultry workers on family-owned farms spend a considerable amount of work time in poultry houses and report acute respiratory-related health symptoms. Administrative controls among small, family-owned poultry farms are necessary to improve and promote safety and health to its employees.

Fishermen's Energy Atlantic City Wind Farm

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

Wissemann, Chris

Fishermen's Energy Atlantic City Wind Farm final report under US DOE Advanced Technology Demonstration project documents achievements developing a demonstration scale offshore wind project off the coast of New Jersey.

Tracking unaccounted water use in data sparse arid environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafeez, M. M.; Edraki, M.; Ullah, M. K.; Chemin, Y.; Sixsmith, J.; Faux, R.

2009-12-01

Hydrological knowledge of irrigated farms within the inundation plains of the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is very limited in quality and reliability of the observation network that has been declining rapidly over the past decade. This paper focuses on Land Surface Diversions (LSD) that encompass all forms of surface water diversion except the direct extraction of water from rivers, watercourses and lakes by farmers for the purposes of irrigation and stock and domestic supply. Its accurate measurement is very challenging, due to the practical difficulties associated with separating the different components of LSD and estimating them accurately for a large catchment. The inadequacy of current methods of measuring and monitoring LSD poses severe limitations on existing and proposed policies for managing such diversions. It is commonly believed that LSD comprises 20-30% of total diversions from river valleys in the MDB areas. But, scientific estimates of LSD do not exist, because they were considered unimportant prior the onset of recent draught in Australia. There is a need to develop hydrological water balance models through the coupling of hydrological variables derived from on ground hydrological measurements and remote sensing techniques to accurately model LSD. Typically, the hydrological water balance components for farm/catchment scale models includes: irrigation inflow, outflow, rainfall, runoff, evapotranspiration, soil moisture change and deep percolation. The actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is the largest and single most important component of hydrological water balance model. An accurate quantification of all components of hydrological water balance model at farm/catchment scale is of prime importance to estimate the volume of LSD. A hydrological water balance model is developed to calculate LSD at 6 selected pilot farms. The catchment hydrological water balance model is being developed by using selected parameters derived from hydrological water balance model at farm scale. LSD results obtained through the modelling process have been compared with LSD estimates measured with the ground observed data at 6 pilot farms. The differences between the values are between 3 to 5 percent of the water inputs which is within the confidence limit expected from such analysis. Similarly, the LSD values at the catchment scale have been estimated with a great confidence. The hydrological water balance models at farm and catchment scale provide reliable quantification of LSD. Improved LSD estimates can guide water management decisions at farm to catchment scale and could be instrumental for enhancing the integrity of the water allocation process and making them fairer and equitable across stakeholders.

Modular solar food dryers for farm use

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

Wagner, C.J. Jr.; Coleman, R.L.; Berry, R.E.

1981-01-01

Several solar food dryer modules have been constructed. Their design has been based on a low-cost, small-scale solar dryer using a unique parabolic reflector construction to increase radiation on the drying surface. Each module has a drying surface of 1.1 M/sup 2/ and a parabolic reflector area of 3.3 M/sup 2/. Some modules are being used to dry mango slices (a potential new food product) for market testing, while others are used for experiments to improve drying efficiency. A description is given of the operating conditions of the modules drying mango slices and the most effective modifications.

Monitoring, modeling and mitigating impacts of wind farms on local meteorology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baidya Roy, Somnath; Traiteur, Justin; Kelley, Neil

2010-05-01

Wind power is one of the fastest growing sources of energy. Most of the growth is in the industrial sector comprising of large utility-scale wind farms. Recent modeling studies have suggested that such wind farms can significantly affect local and regional weather and climate. In this work, we present observational evidence of the impact of wind farms on near-surface air temperatures. Data from perhaps the only meteorological field campaign in an operational wind farm shows that downwind temperatures are lower during the daytime and higher at night compared to the upwind environment. Corresponding radiosonde profiles at the nearby Edwards Air Force Base WMO meteorological station show that the diurnal environment is unstable while the nocturnal environment is stable during the field campaign. This behavior is consistent with the hypothesis proposed by Baidya Roy et al. (JGR 2004) that states that turbulence generated in the wake of rotors enhance vertical mixing leading to a warming/cooling under positive/negative potential temperature lapse rates. We conducted a set of 306 simulations with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) to test if regional climate models can capture the thermal effects of wind farms. We represented wind turbines with a subgrid parameterization that assumes rotors to be sinks of momentum and sources of turbulence. The simulated wind farms consistently generated a localized warming/cooling under positive/negative lapse rates as hypothesized. We found that these impacts are inversely correlated with background atmospheric boundary layer turbulence. Thus, if the background turbulence is high due to natural processes, the effects of additional turbulence generated by wind turbine rotors are likely to be small. We propose the following strategies to minimize impacts of wind farms: • Engineering solution: design rotors that generate less turbulence in their wakes. Sensitivity simulations show that these turbines also increase the productivity of wind farms and reduce damages to downwind rotors. • Siting solution: develop wind farms in regions where ABL turbulence is naturally high. Since, turbulence data is not widely recorded, we use surface KE dissipation rate as a proxy for ABL turbulence. Indeed, in our simulations, these 2 parameters are strongly positively correlated (P<0.99). Using the JRA25 dataset, comprising of 25-year long 6-hourly global meteorological data, we identify such regions in the world. These regions that include the Midwest and Great Plains as well as large parts of northern Europe and western China are appropriate sites for low-impact wind farms.

Topsoil N-budget model in orchard farming to evaluate groundwater nitrate contamination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijayanti, Yureana; Budihardjo, Kadarwati; Sakamoto, Yasushi; Setyandito, Oki

2017-12-01

A small scale field research was conducted in an orchard farming area in Kofu, Japan, where nitrate contamination was found in groundwater. The purpose of assessing the leaching of nitrate in this study is to understand the transformation and transport process of N-source in topsoil that leads to nitrate contamination of groundwater. In order to calculate N-budget in the soil, the model was utilized to predict the nitrogen leaching. In this res earch, the N-budget model was modified to evaluate influence of precipitation and application pattern of fertilizer and manure compost. The result shows that at the time before the addition of manure compost and fertilizer, about 75% of fertilizer leach from topsoil. Every month, the average remaining nitrate in soil from fertilizer and manure compost are 22% and 50%, respectively. The accumulation of this monthly manure compost nitrate, which stored in soil, should be carefully monitored. It could become the potential source of nitrate leaching to groundwater in the future.

Returns and determinants of technical efficiency in small-scale Malabari goat production units in Kerala, India.

PubMed

Alex, Rani; Kunniyoor Cheemani, Raghavan; Thomas, Naicy

2013-11-01

A stochastic frontier production function was employed to measure technical efficiency and its determinants in smallholder Malabari goat production units in Kerala, India. Data were obtained from 100 goat farmers in northern Kerala, selected using multistage random sampling. The parameters of the stochastic frontier production function were estimated using the maximum likelihood method. Cost and return analysis showed that the major expenditure was feed and fodder, and veterinary expenses were secondary. The chief returns were the sale of live animals, milk and manure. Individual farm technical efficiency ranged from 0.34 to 0.97 with a mean of 0.88. The study found herd size (number of animal units) and centre (locality of farm) significantly affected technical efficiency, but sex of farmer, education, land size and family size did not. Technical efficiency decreased as herd size increased; half the units with five or more adult animals had technical efficiency below 60 %.

Energy demand analysis via small scale hydroponic systems in suburban areas - An integrated energy-food nexus solution.

PubMed

Xydis, George A; Liaros, Stelios; Botsis, Konstantinos

2017-09-01

The study is a qualitative approach and looks into new ways for the effective energy management of a wind farm (WF) operation in a suburban or near-urban environment in order the generated electricity to be utilised for hydroponic farming purposes as well. Since soilless hydroponic indoor systems gain more and more attention one basic goal, among others, is to take advantage of this not typical electricity demand and by managing it, offering to the grid a less fluctuating electricity generation signal. In this paper, a hybrid business model is presented where the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) producer is participating in the electricity markets under competitive processes (spot market, real-time markets etc.) and at the same time acts as a retailer offering - based on the demand - to the hydroponic units for their mass deployment in an area, putting forward an integrated energy-food nexus approach. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bovine leptospirosis in urban and peri-urban dairy farming in low-income countries: a "One Health" issue?

PubMed

Rajala, Elisabeth Lindahl; Sattorov, Nosirjon; Boqvist, Sofia; Magnusson, Ulf

2017-12-12

Global trends in urbanization are increasing the spread of neglected zoonotic infections such as leptospirosis, and reducing the number of human cases of leptospirosis is best accomplished by controlling the infection in the animal reservoir. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo and L. interrogans serovar Hardjo (L. Hardjo) exposure and to assess the associated risk factors for infection in small-scale dairy farming in the urban and peri-urban area of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The true individual seroprevalence among the dairy cows was 13%, and the level of seroprevalence was positively associated with older cows and with communal grazing practices. The study shows that dairy cows are commonly exposed to L. Hardjo in the study region, and this constitutes a public health risk and demonstrates the importance of including urban and peri-urban areas, where large numbers of humans and animals coexist, when investigating zoonotic infections and when planning and implementing control measures for cattle-associated leptospirosis.

Environment, agriculture, and settlement patterns in a marginal Polynesian landscape

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kirch, P.V.; Hartshorn, A.S.; Chadwick, O.A.; Vitousek, P.M.; Sherrod, D.R.; Coil, J.; Holm, L.; Sharp, W.D.

2004-01-01

Beginning ca. A.D. 1400, Polynesian farmers established permanent settlements along the arid southern flank of Haleakala Volcano, Maui, Hawaiian Islands; peak population density (43-57 persons per km2) was achieved by A.D. 1700-1800, and it was followed by the devastating effects of European contact. This settlement, based on dryland agriculture with sweet potato as a main crop, is represented by >3,000 archaeological features investigated to date. Geological and environmental factors are the most important influence on Polynesian farming and settlement practices in an agriculturally marginal landscape. Interactions between lava flows, whose ages range from 3,000 to 226,000 years, and differences in rainfall create an environmental mosaic that constrained precontact Polynesian farming practices to a zone defined by aridity at low elevation and depleted soil nutrients at high elevation. Within this productive zone, however, large-scale agriculture was concentrated on older, tephra-blanketed lava flows; younger flows were reserved for residential sites, small ritual gardens, and agricultural temples.

Farm- and flock-level risk factors associated with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks on small holder duck and chicken farms in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam.

PubMed

Henning, Kate A; Henning, Joerg; Morton, John; Long, Ngo Thanh; Ha, Nguyen Truc; Meers, Joanne

2009-10-01

After 11 consecutive months of control, the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam experienced a wave of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks on small holder poultry farms from December 2006 to January 2007. We conducted a retrospective matched case-control study to investigate farm- and flock-level risk factors for outbreak occurrence during this period. Twenty-two case farms were selected from those where clinical signs consistent with HPAI H5N1 had been present and HPAI H5N1 had been confirmed with a positive real-time PCR test from samples obtained from affected birds. For every case farm enrolled, two control farms were selected matched on time of outbreak occurrence, farm location and species. Veterinarians conducted interviews with farmers, to collect information on household demographics, farm characteristics, husbandry practices, trading practices, poultry health, vaccination and biosecurity. Exact stratified logistic regression models were used to assess putative risk factors associated with a flock having or not having a HPAI outbreak. Nested analyses were also performed, restricted to subsets of farms using scavenging, confinement or supplementary feeding practices. Risk of an outbreak of HPAI H5N1 was increased in flocks that had received no vaccination (odds ratio (OR)=20.2; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0, +infinity) or only one vaccination (OR=85.2; 95% CI: 6.5, +infinity) of flocks compared to two vaccinations, and in flocks on farms that had family and friends visiting (OR=8.2; 95% CI: 1.0, +infinity) and geese present (OR=11.5; 95% CI: 1.1, +infinity). The subset analysis using only flocks that scavenged showed that sharing of scavenging areas with flocks from other farms was associated with increased risk of an outbreak (OR=10.9; 95% CI: 1.4, 492.9). We conclude that none or only one vaccination, visitors to farms, the presence of geese on farms and sharing of scavenging areas with ducks from other farms increase the risk of HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry flocks in Viet Nam.

Farm-scale testing of soybean peroxidase and calcium peroxide for surficial swine manure treatment and mitigation of odorous VOCs, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The swine industry, regulatory agencies, and the public are interested in farm-tested methods for controlling gaseous emissions from swine barns. In earlier lab- and pilot-scale studies, a renewable catalyst consisting of soybean peroxidase (SBP) mixed with calcium peroxide was found to be effective...

Assessing biodiversity on the farm scale as basis for ecosystem service payments.

PubMed

von Haaren, Christina; Kempa, Daniela; Vogel, Katrin; Rüter, Stefan

2012-12-30

Ecosystem services payments must be based on a standardised transparent assessment of the goods and services provided. This is especially relevant in the context of EU agri-environmental programs, but also for organic-food companies that foster environmental services on their contractor farms. Addressing the farm scale is important because land users/owners are major recipients of payments and they could be more involved in data generation and conservation management. A standardised system for measuring on-farm biodiversity does not yet exist that concentrates on performance indicators and includes farmers in generating information. A method is required that produces ordinal or metric scaled assessment results as well as management measures. Another requirement is the ease of application, which includes the ease of gathering input data and understandability. In order to respond to this need, we developed a method which is designed for automated application in an open source farm assessment system named MANUELA. The method produces an ordinal scale assessment of biodiversity that includes biotopes, species, biotope connectivity and the influence of land use. In addition, specific measures for biotope types are proposed. The open source geographical information system OpenJump is used for the implementation of MANUELA. The results of the trial applications and robustness tests show that the assessment can be implemented, for the most part, using existing information as well as data available from farmers or advisors. The results are more sensitive for showing on-farm achievements and changes than existing biotope-type classifications. Such a differentiated classification is needed as a basis for ecosystem service payments and for designing effective measures. The robustness of the results with respect to biotope connectivity is comparable to that of complex models, but it should be further improved. Interviews with the test farmers substantiate that the assessment methods can be implemented on farms and they are understood by farmers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm

DOE PAGES

Jha, Pankaj K.; Duque, Earl P. N.; Bashioum, Jessica L.; ...

2015-06-26

A true physical understanding of the mysteries involved in the recovery process of the wake momentum deficit, downstream of utility-scale wind turbines in the atmosphere, has not been obtained to date. Field data are not acquired at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to dissect some of the mysteries of wake turbulence. It is here that the actuator line method has evolved to become the technology standard in the wind energy community. This work presents the actuator line method embedded into an Open source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) large-eddy simulation solver and applies it to two small wind farms, themore » first one consisting of an array of two National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 Megawatt (NREL 5-MW) turbines separated by seven rotor diameters in neutral and unstable atmospheric boundary-layer flow and the second one consisting of five NREL 5-MW wind turbines in unstable atmospheric conditions arranged in two staggered arrays of two and three turbines, respectively. Detailed statistics involving power spectral density (PSD) of turbine power along with standard deviations reveal the effects of atmospheric turbulence and its space and time scales. In conclusion, high-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficit governed by turbulence transport phenomena.« less

Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm

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

Jha, Pankaj K.; Duque, Earl P. N.; Bashioum, Jessica L.

A true physical understanding of the mysteries involved in the recovery process of the wake momentum deficit, downstream of utility-scale wind turbines in the atmosphere, has not been obtained to date. Field data are not acquired at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to dissect some of the mysteries of wake turbulence. It is here that the actuator line method has evolved to become the technology standard in the wind energy community. This work presents the actuator line method embedded into an Open source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) large-eddy simulation solver and applies it to two small wind farms, themore » first one consisting of an array of two National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 Megawatt (NREL 5-MW) turbines separated by seven rotor diameters in neutral and unstable atmospheric boundary-layer flow and the second one consisting of five NREL 5-MW wind turbines in unstable atmospheric conditions arranged in two staggered arrays of two and three turbines, respectively. Detailed statistics involving power spectral density (PSD) of turbine power along with standard deviations reveal the effects of atmospheric turbulence and its space and time scales. In conclusion, high-resolution surface data extracts provide new insight into the complex recovery process of the wake momentum deficit governed by turbulence transport phenomena.« less

Current situation and future prospects for beef production in Lao People's Democratic Republic.

PubMed

Napasirth, Pattaya; Napasirth, Viengsakoun

2018-05-24

Lao-native beef cattle are primarily Bos indicus, and most ruminant production in Laos is still dominated by small-scale or backyard producers that use traditional practices, resulting in low productivity. The cattle herd size in Laos has grown by an average of 5 percent per year from 1.52 million in 2010/11 to 1.81 million in 2014/15. In 2016, the Laos cattle population was 1.88 million head, with smallholder farmers representing 98% of production despite efforts by the Laos government to develop commercial-scale farms. There were 170 commercial cattle farms in 2016, with 56 percent in the Central region of Laos. Although, overall, ruminant meat production has tended to increase with consumption of 7.29 kg/capita/year in 2013, it remains insufficient to meet demand. Crop residues and agro-industrial by-products used in ruminant diets include rice straw, cassava pulp and wet brewers' grains as roughage, energy and protein sources, respectively. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China in 2013 will connect China closely with all countries in Southeast Asia. This initiative will change landlocked Laos to land linked for investors who will benefit from convenient transport at a lower cost, promoting agricultural production in Laos.

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

Na, Ji Sung; Koo, Eunmo; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo

High-resolution large-eddy simulation of the flow over a large wind farm (64 wind turbines) is performed using the HIGRAD/FIRETEC-WindBlade model, which is a high-performance computing wind turbine–atmosphere interaction model that uses the Lagrangian actuator line method to represent rotating turbine blades. These high-resolution large-eddy simulation results are used to parameterize the thrust and power coefficients that contain information about turbine interference effects within the wind farm. Those coefficients are then incorporated into the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model in order to evaluate interference effects in larger-scale models. In the high-resolution WindBlade wind farm simulation, insufficient distance between turbines createsmore » the interference between turbines, including significant vertical variations in momentum and turbulent intensity. The characteristics of the wake are further investigated by analyzing the distribution of the vorticity and turbulent intensity. Quadrant analysis in the turbine and post-turbine areas reveals that the ejection motion induced by the presence of the wind turbines is dominant compared to that in the other quadrants, indicating that the sweep motion is increased at the location where strong wake recovery occurs. Regional-scale WRF simulations reveal that although the turbulent mixing induced by the wind farm is partly diffused to the upper region, there is no significant change in the boundary layer depth. The velocity deficit does not appear to be very sensitive to the local distribution of turbine coefficients. However, differences of about 5% on parameterized turbulent kinetic energy were found depending on the turbine coefficient distribution. Furthermore, turbine coefficients that consider interference in the wind farm should be used in wind farm parameterization for larger-scale models to better describe sub-grid scale turbulent processes.« less

A survey analysis of indigenous goat production in communal farming systems of Botswana.

PubMed

Monau, P I; Visser, C; Nsoso, S J; Van Marle-Köster, E

2017-08-01

A total of 153 communal farmers in four agro-ecological regions of Botswana were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The aims of the survey were to characterise existing communal goat production systems, evaluate the importance of goats to farmers and identify breeding practices and constraints encountered in goat production in Botswana. Data was collected on socio-economic parameters, general and breeding management practices and major constraints limiting goat production in Botswana. All respondents were small-scale communal farmers with 63% respondents practising mixed crop-livestock farming and 37% keeping livestock as their primary activity. The majority (33%) of respondents were older than 60 years. Over 80% of the farmers kept goats for cash required for tuition, school uniforms and household commodities as well as re-stocking of animals. Most farmers (62%) kept indigenous crossed genotypes. Generally, uncontrolled mating was practised with the majority of farmers (41%) using on-farm reared bucks for more than two years of breeding and communal bucks (36%) as an alternative. The major constraints limiting goat productivity in communal areas included uncontrolled breeding, predators, theft and diseases. Issues raised by farmers should be considered in designing and implementing effective breeding programs for goats to improve their overall productivity and contribution to poverty alleviation in these communities.

A Scalable Monitoring for the CMS Filter Farm Based on Elasticsearch

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

Andre, J.M.; et al.

2015-12-23

A flexible monitoring system has been designed for the CMS File-based Filter Farm making use of modern data mining and analytics components. All the metadata and monitoring information concerning data flow and execution of the HLT are generated locally in the form of small documents using the JSON encoding. These documents are indexed into a hierarchy of elasticsearch (es) clusters along with process and system log information. Elasticsearch is a search server based on Apache Lucene. It provides a distributed, multitenant-capable search and aggregation engine. Since es is schema-free, any new information can be added seamlessly and the unstructured informationmore » can be queried in non-predetermined ways. The leaf es clusters consist of the very same nodes that form the Filter Farm thus providing natural horizontal scaling. A separate central” es cluster is used to collect and index aggregated information. The fine-grained information, all the way to individual processes, remains available in the leaf clusters. The central es cluster provides quasi-real-time high-level monitoring information to any kind of client. Historical data can be retrieved to analyse past problems or correlate them with external information. We discuss the design and performance of this system in the context of the CMS DAQ commissioning for LHC Run 2.« less

Opportunities and challenges for smallholder pig production systems in a mountainous region of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China.

PubMed

Riedel, Simon; Schiborra, Anne; Huelsebusch, Christian; Huanming, Mao; Schlecht, Eva

2012-12-01

China's small-scale pig keepers are the largest community of pork producers worldwide. About 56 % of the world's pigs originate from such systems, each producing 2-5 head per year. This study analyzes pig smallholders in Xishuangbanna, a prefecture of Yunnan Province. Categorical principal component analysis and two-step cluster analysis were used to identify three main production systems: livestock-corn-based (LB; 41 %), rubber based (RB; 39 %), and pig based (PB; 20 %) systems. RB farms earn high income from rubber and fatten cross-bred pigs, often using purchased feeds. PB farms own similar-sized rubber plantations and raise pigs, with fodder mainly being cultivated and collected in the forest. LB farms grow corn, rice, and tea while also raising pigs, fed with collected and cultivated fodder as well. About one third of pigs were marketed (LB, 20 %; RB, 42 %; PB, 25 %), and local pig meat is highly appreciated in the nearby town. High mortality, low reproductive performance, and widespread malnourishment are the systems' main constraints. Basic training in hygiene and reproduction management could significantly increase production; most effective measures would be counterbalancing seasonal malnourishment and exploration of locally available protein feeds. Through support by external expertise, farmers could more effectively trade their pigs at lucrative town markets.

Influence of distances between places of residence and wind farms on the quality of life in nearby areas.

PubMed

Mroczek, Bożena; Kurpas, Donata; Karakiewicz, Beata

2012-01-01

The quality of life has three main characteristics: it always refers to the living conditions of an individual; it is measured both with subjective and objective indicators; and it is a multidimensional concept. To assess how the quality of life is affected by the close proximity of wind farms. The study group consisted of 1,277 Polish adults (703 women and 574 men), living in places located near wind farms. The mean age was 45.5 ± 16.10. Some 33.2% of participants lived more than 1,500 m from wind farms; 17% - below 700 m. The research tool consisted of the Norwegian version of the SF-36 General Health Questionnaire, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for health assessment, and original questions. Regardless of the distance between a place of residence and a wind farm, the highest quality of life was noted within the physical functioning subscale (mean 76±27.97), and the lowest within the general health (mean 55.3±24.06). Within all scales, the quality of life was assessed highest by residents of areas located closest to wind farms, and the lowest by those living more than 1,500 m from wind farms. Close proximity of wind farms does not result in the worsening of the quality of life. Similar research should be conducted before any intended investment, and at least 6 months after construction of a wind farm.

Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability in Dairy Cows with Different Temperament and Behavioural Reactivity to Humans

PubMed Central

Tőzsér, János; Szenci, Ottó; Póti, Péter; Pajor, Ferenc

2015-01-01

From the 1990s, extensive research was started on the physiological aspects of individual traits in animals. Previous research has established two extreme (proactive and reactive) coping styles in several animal species, but the means of reactivity with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity has not yet been investigated in cattle. The aim of this study was the characterization of cardiac autonomic activity under different conditions in cows with different individual characteristics. For this purpose, we investigated heart rate and ANS-related heart rate variability (HRV) parameters of dairy cows (N = 282) on smaller- and larger-scale farms grouped by (1) temperament and (2) behavioural reactivity to humans (BRH). Animals with high BRH scores were defined as impulsive, while animals with low BRH scores were defined as reserved. Cardiac parameters were calculated for undisturbed lying (baseline) and for milking bouts, the latter with the presence of an unfamiliar person (stressful situation). Sympathetic tone was higher, while vagal activity was lower in temperamental cows than in calm animals during rest both on smaller- and larger-scale farms. During milking, HRV parameters were indicative of a higher sympathetic and a lower vagal activity of temperamental cows as compared to calm ones in farms of both sizes. Basal heart rate did not differ between BRH groups either on smaller- or larger-scale farms. Differences between basal ANS activity of impulsive and reserved cows reflected a higher resting vagal and lower sympathetic activity of reserved animals compared to impulsive ones both on smaller- and larger-scale farms. There was no difference either in heart rate or in HRV parameters between groups during milking neither in smaller- nor in larger-scale farms. These two groupings allowed to draw possible parallels between personality and cardiac autonomic activity during both rest and milking in dairy cows. Heart rate and HRV seem to be useful for characterisation of physiological differences related to temperament and BRH. PMID:26291979

Defining "Sector 3" Poultry Layer Farms in Relation to H5N1-HPAI-An Example from Java, Indonesia.

PubMed

Durr, Peter A; Wibowo, Michael Haryadi; Tarigan, Simson; Artanto, Sidna; Rosyid, Murni Nurhasanah; Ignjatovic, Jagoda

2016-05-01

To help guide surveillance and control of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 (H5N1-HPAI), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2004 devised a poultry farm classification system based on a combination of production and biosecurity practices. Four "Sectors" were defined, and this scheme has been widely adopted within Indonesia to guide national surveillance and control strategies. Nevertheless, little detailed research into the robustness of this classification system has been conducted, particularly as it relates to independent, small to medium-sized commercial poultry farms (Sector 3). Through an analysis of questionnaire data collected as part of a survey of layer farms in western and central Java, all of which were classified as Sector 3 by local veterinarians, we provide benchmark data on what defines this sector. A multivariate analysis of the dataset, using hierarchical cluster analysis, identified three groupings of the farms, which were defined by a combination of production-and biosecurity-related variables, particularly those related to farm size and (the lack of) washing and disinfection practices. Nevertheless, the relationship between production-related variables and positive biosecurity practices was poor, and larger farms did not have an overall higher total biosecurity score than small or medium-sized ones. Further research is required to define the properties of poultry farms in Indonesia that are most closely related to effective biosecurity and the prevention of H5N1-HPAI.

Modelling potential production of macroalgae farms in UK and Dutch coastal waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Molen, Johan; Ruardij, Piet; Mooney, Karen; Kerrison, Philip; O'Connor, Nessa E.; Gorman, Emma; Timmermans, Klaas; Wright, Serena; Kelly, Maeve; Hughes, Adam D.; Capuzzo, Elisa

2018-02-01

There is increasing interest in macroalgae farming in European waters for a range of applications, including food, chemical extraction for biofuel production. This study uses a 3-D numerical model of hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry to investigate potential production and environmental effects of macroalgae farming in UK and Dutch coastal waters. The model included four experimental farms in different coastal settings in Strangford Lough (Northern Ireland), in Sound of Kerrera and Lynn of Lorne (north-west Scotland) and in the Rhine plume (the Netherlands), as well as a hypothetical large-scale farm off the UK north Norfolk coast. The model could not detect significant changes in biogeochemistry and plankton dynamics at any of the farm sites averaged over the farming season. The results showed a range of macroalgae growth behaviours in response to simulated environmental conditions. These were then compared with in situ observations where available, showing good correspondence for some farms and less good correspondence for others. At the most basic level, macroalgae production depended on prevailing nutrient concentrations and light conditions, with higher levels of both resulting in higher macroalgae production. It is shown that under non-elevated and interannually varying winter nutrient conditions, farming success was modulated by the timings of the onset of increasing nutrient concentrations in autumn and nutrient drawdown in spring. Macroalgae carbohydrate content also depended on nutrient concentrations, with higher nutrient concentrations leading to lower carbohydrate content at harvest. This will reduce the energy density of the crop and thus affect its suitability for conversion into biofuel. For the hypothetical large-scale macroalgae farm off the UK north Norfolk coast, the model suggested high, stable farm yields of macroalgae from year to year with substantial carbohydrate content and limited environmental effects.

Reciprocal genomic evolution in the ant–fungus agricultural symbiosis

PubMed Central

Nygaard, Sanne; Hu, Haofu; Li, Cai; Schiøtt, Morten; Chen, Zhensheng; Yang, Zhikai; Xie, Qiaolin; Ma, Chunyu; Deng, Yuan; Dikow, Rebecca B.; Rabeling, Christian; Nash, David R.; Wcislo, William T.; Brady, Seán G.; Schultz, Ted R.; Zhang, Guojie; Boomsma, Jacobus J.

2016-01-01

The attine ant–fungus agricultural symbiosis evolved over tens of millions of years, producing complex societies with industrial-scale farming analogous to that of humans. Here we document reciprocal shifts in the genomes and transcriptomes of seven fungus-farming ant species and their fungal cultivars. We show that ant subsistence farming probably originated in the early Tertiary (55–60 MYA), followed by further transitions to the farming of fully domesticated cultivars and leaf-cutting, both arising earlier than previously estimated. Evolutionary modifications in the ants include unprecedented rates of genome-wide structural rearrangement, early loss of arginine biosynthesis and positive selection on chitinase pathways. Modifications of fungal cultivars include loss of a key ligninase domain, changes in chitin synthesis and a reduction in carbohydrate-degrading enzymes as the ants gradually transitioned to functional herbivory. In contrast to human farming, increasing dependence on a single cultivar lineage appears to have been essential to the origin of industrial-scale ant agriculture. PMID:27436133

Mutually beneficial pollinator diversity and crop yield outcomes in small and large farms.

PubMed

Garibaldi, Lucas A; Carvalheiro, Luísa G; Vaissière, Bernard E; Gemmill-Herren, Barbara; Hipólito, Juliana; Freitas, Breno M; Ngo, Hien T; Azzu, Nadine; Sáez, Agustín; Åström, Jens; An, Jiandong; Blochtein, Betina; Buchori, Damayanti; Chamorro García, Fermín J; Oliveira da Silva, Fabiana; Devkota, Kedar; Ribeiro, Márcia de Fátima; Freitas, Leandro; Gaglianone, Maria C; Goss, Maria; Irshad, Mohammad; Kasina, Muo; Pacheco Filho, Alípio J S; Kiill, Lucia H Piedade; Kwapong, Peter; Parra, Guiomar Nates; Pires, Carmen; Pires, Viviane; Rawal, Ranbeer S; Rizali, Akhmad; Saraiva, Antonio M; Veldtman, Ruan; Viana, Blandina F; Witter, Sidia; Zhang, Hong

2016-01-22

Ecological intensification, or the improvement of crop yield through enhancement of biodiversity, may be a sustainable pathway toward greater food supplies. Such sustainable increases may be especially important for the 2 billion people reliant on small farms, many of which are undernourished, yet we know little about the efficacy of this approach. Using a coordinated protocol across regions and crops, we quantify to what degree enhancing pollinator density and richness can improve yields on 344 fields from 33 pollinator-dependent crop systems in small and large farms from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For fields less than 2 hectares, we found that yield gaps could be closed by a median of 24% through higher flower-visitor density. For larger fields, such benefits only occurred at high flower-visitor richness. Worldwide, our study demonstrates that ecological intensification can create synchronous biodiversity and yield outcomes. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The greenhouse gas balance of European grasslands.

PubMed

Chang, Jinfeng; Ciais, Philippe; Viovy, Nicolas; Vuichard, Nicolas; Sultan, Benjamin; Soussana, Jean-François

2015-10-01

The greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of European grasslands (EU-28 plus Norway and Switzerland), including CO2 , CH4 and N2 O, is estimated using the new process-based biogeochemical model ORCHIDEE-GM over the period 1961-2010. The model includes the following: (1) a mechanistic representation of the spatial distribution of management practice; (2) management intensity, going from intensively to extensively managed; (3) gridded simulation of the carbon balance at ecosystem and farm scale; and (4) gridded simulation of N2 O and CH4 emissions by fertilized grassland soils and livestock. The external drivers of the model are changing animal numbers, nitrogen fertilization and deposition, land-use change, and variable CO2 and climate. The carbon balance of European grassland (NBP) is estimated to be a net sink of 15 ± 7 g C m(-2 ) year(-1) during 1961-2010, equivalent to a 50-year continental cumulative soil carbon sequestration of 1.0 ± 0.4 Pg C. At the farm scale, which includes both ecosystem CO2 fluxes and CO2 emissions from the digestion of harvested forage, the net C balance is roughly halved, down to a small sink, or nearly neutral flux of 8 g C m(-2 ) year(-1) . Adding CH4 and N2 O emissions to net ecosystem exchange to define the ecosystem-scale GHG balance, we found that grasslands remain a net GHG sink of 19 ± 10 g C-CO2 equiv. m(-2 ) year(-1) , because the CO2 sink offsets N2 O and grazing animal CH4 emissions. However, when considering the farm scale, the GHG balance (NGB) becomes a net GHG source of -50 g C-CO2 equiv. m(-2 ) year(-1) . ORCHIDEE-GM simulated an increase in European grassland NBP during the last five decades. This enhanced NBP reflects the combination of a positive trend of net primary production due to CO2 , climate and nitrogen fertilization and the diminishing requirement for grass forage due to the Europe-wide reduction in livestock numbers. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Predictive model for sustaining biodiversity in tropical countryside

PubMed Central

Mendenhall, Chase D.; Sekercioglu, Cagan H.; Brenes, Federico Oviedo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Daily, Gretchen C.

2011-01-01

Growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber is driving the intensification and expansion of agricultural land through a corresponding displacement of native woodland, savanna, and shrubland. In the wake of this displacement, it is clear that farmland can support biodiversity through preservation of important ecosystem elements at a fine scale. However, how much biodiversity can be sustained and with what tradeoffs for production are open questions. Using a well-studied tropical ecosystem in Costa Rica, we develop an empirically based model for quantifying the “wildlife-friendliness” of farmland for native birds. Some 80% of the 166 mist-netted species depend on fine-scale countryside forest elements (≤60-m-wide clusters of trees, typically of variable length and width) that weave through farmland along hilltops, valleys, rivers, roads, and property borders. Our model predicts with ∼75% accuracy the bird community composition of any part of the landscape. We find conservation value in small (≤20 m wide) clusters of trees and somewhat larger (≤60 m wide) forest remnants to provide substantial support for biodiversity beyond the borders of tropical forest reserves. Within the study area, forest elements on farms nearly double the effective size of the local forest reserve, providing seminatural habitats for bird species typically associated with the forest. Our findings provide a basis for estimating and sustaining biodiversity in farming systems through managing fine-scale ecosystem elements and, more broadly, informing ecosystem service analyses, biodiversity action plans, and regional land use strategies. PMID:21911396

Predictive model for sustaining biodiversity in tropical countryside.

PubMed

Mendenhall, Chase D; Sekercioglu, Cagan H; Brenes, Federico Oviedo; Ehrlich, Paul R; Daily, Gretchen C

2011-09-27

Growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber is driving the intensification and expansion of agricultural land through a corresponding displacement of native woodland, savanna, and shrubland. In the wake of this displacement, it is clear that farmland can support biodiversity through preservation of important ecosystem elements at a fine scale. However, how much biodiversity can be sustained and with what tradeoffs for production are open questions. Using a well-studied tropical ecosystem in Costa Rica, we develop an empirically based model for quantifying the "wildlife-friendliness" of farmland for native birds. Some 80% of the 166 mist-netted species depend on fine-scale countryside forest elements (≤ 60-m-wide clusters of trees, typically of variable length and width) that weave through farmland along hilltops, valleys, rivers, roads, and property borders. Our model predicts with ∼75% accuracy the bird community composition of any part of the landscape. We find conservation value in small (≤ 20 m wide) clusters of trees and somewhat larger (≤ 60 m wide) forest remnants to provide substantial support for biodiversity beyond the borders of tropical forest reserves. Within the study area, forest elements on farms nearly double the effective size of the local forest reserve, providing seminatural habitats for bird species typically associated with the forest. Our findings provide a basis for estimating and sustaining biodiversity in farming systems through managing fine-scale ecosystem elements and, more broadly, informing ecosystem service analyses, biodiversity action plans, and regional land use strategies.

Top Five Large-Scale Solar Myths | State, Local, and Tribal Governments |

Science.gov Websites

of large-scale photovoltaic (PV) facilities or solar farms tend to include a myriad of misperceptions technologies do use mirrors which can cause glare, most solar farms use PV modules to generate electricity. PV panels in order to convert solar energy into electricity. PV modules are generally less reflective than

Verification and Calibration of a Reduced Order Wind Farm Model by Wind Tunnel Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreiber, J.; Nanos, E. M.; Campagnolo, F.; Bottasso, C. L.

2017-05-01

In this paper an adaptation of the FLORIS approach is considered that models the wind flow and power production within a wind farm. In preparation to the use of this model for wind farm control, this paper considers the problem of its calibration and validation with the use of experimental observations. The model parameters are first identified based on measurements performed on an isolated scaled wind turbine operated in a boundary layer wind tunnel in various wind-misalignment conditions. Next, the wind farm model is verified with results of experimental tests conducted on three interacting scaled wind turbines. Although some differences in the estimated absolute power are observed, the model appears to be capable of identifying with good accuracy the wind turbine misalignment angles that, by deflecting the wake, lead to maximum power for the investigated layouts.

Patterns of ecosystem services supply across farm properties: Implications for ecosystem services-based policy incentives.

PubMed

Nahuelhual, Laura; Benra, Felipe; Laterra, Pedro; Marin, Sandra; Arriagada, Rodrigo; Jullian, Cristobal

2018-09-01

In developing countries, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) rests on the hands of millions of small landowners that coexist with large properties, in a reality of highly unequal land distribution. Guiding the effective allocation of ES-based incentives in such contexts requires researchers and practitioners to tackle a largely overlooked question: for a given targeted area, will single large farms or several small ones provide the most ES supply? The answer to this question has important implications for conservation planning and rural development alike, which transcend efficiency to involve equity issues. We address this question by proposing and testing ES supply-area relations (ESSARs) around three basic hypothesized models, characterized by constant (model 1), increasing (model 2), and decreasing increments (model 3) of ES supply per unit of area or ES "productivity". Data to explore ESSARs came from 3384 private landholdings located in southern Chile ranging from 0.5ha to over 30,000ha and indicators of four ES (forage, timber, recreation opportunities, and water supply). Forage provision best fit model 3, which suggests that targeting several small farms to provide this ES should be a preferred choice, as compared to a single large farm. Timber provision best fit model 2, suggesting that in this case targeting a single large farm would be a more effective choice. Recreation opportunities best fit model 1, which indicates that several small or a single large farm of a comparable size would be equally effective in delivering this ES. Water provision fit model 1 or model 2 depending on the study site. The results corroborate that ES provision is not independent from property area and therefore understanding ESSARs is a necessary condition for setting conservation incentives that are both efficient (deliver the highest conservation outcome at the least cost) and fair for landowners. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Economic performance of small ruminants in mixed-farming systems of Southern Ethiopia.

PubMed

Legesse, Getahun; Siegmund-Schultze, Marianna; Abebe, Girma; Zárate, Anne Valle

2010-10-01

This study evaluates the household income contribution and the profitability of traditional small ruminant enterprises in two mixed-farming systems of southern Ethiopia (viz. Adilo and Kofele). Small ruminant production is an integral part of mixed systems in the Ethiopian highlands. The assessment of the current economic performance of small ruminants indicates production-related opportunities and constraints and provides baseline data against which the success of future interventions can be measured. Detailed information on economic parameters was gathered through a 1-year period of flock and household monitoring (155 households) between September 2005 and August 2006. Structured surveys were conducted with the participating households to elicit information on income-expense details of small ruminant and other agricultural enterprises. Small ruminants contributed considerably to cash income and to a limited extent to human nutrition especially when other sources were in short supply. The annual profit per animal ranged from 20 to 37 Ethiopian Birr. The return to capital was 17% in Kofele and 29% in Adilo, with both values vastly exceeding the national interest rate. The sale of small ruminants contributed to 39% and 23% of total farm cash income among small ruminant keepers in Adilo and Kofele, respectively. Sale prices are highest before holidays. Researches should target at how to use available feed resources in a timely and cost-effective fashion to make use of the seasonal market opportunities.

Optimising reef-scale CO2 removal by seaweed to buffer ocean acidification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mongin, Mathieu; Baird, Mark E.; Hadley, Scott; Lenton, Andrew

2016-03-01

The equilibration of rising atmospheric {{CO}}2 with the ocean is lowering {pH} in tropical waters by about 0.01 every decade. Coral reefs and the ecosystems they support are regarded as one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to ocean acidification, threatening their long-term viability. In response to this threat, different strategies for buffering the impact of ocean acidification have been proposed. As the {pH} experienced by individual corals on a natural reef system depends on many processes over different time scales, the efficacy of these buffering strategies remains largely unknown. Here we assess the feasibility and potential efficacy of a reef-scale (a few kilometers) carbon removal strategy, through the addition of seaweed (fleshy multicellular algae) farms within the Great Barrier Reef at the Heron Island reef. First, using diagnostic time-dependent age tracers in a hydrodynamic model, we determine the optimal location and size of the seaweed farm. Secondly, we analytically calculate the optimal density of the seaweed and harvesting strategy, finding, for the seaweed growth parameters used, a biomass of 42 g N m-2 with a harvesting rate of up 3.2 g N m-2 d-1 maximises the carbon sequestration and removal. Numerical experiments show that an optimally located 1.9 km2 farm and optimally harvested seaweed (removing biomass above 42 g N m-2 every 7 d) increased aragonite saturation by 0.1 over 24 km2 of the Heron Island reef. Thus, the most effective seaweed farm can only delay the impacts of global ocean acidification at the reef scale by 7-21 years, depending on future global carbon emissions. Our results highlight that only a kilometer-scale farm can partially mitigate global ocean acidification for a particular reef.

Prevalence and risk factors for brucellosis in goats in areas of Mexico with and without brucellosis control campaign.

PubMed

Oseguera Montiel, David; Frankena, Klaas; Udo, Henk; Keilbach Baer, Nícola Maria; van der Zijpp, Akke

2013-08-01

Brucellosis is a major constraint for small-scale goat farming systems in Mexico. This study estimated the prevalence of testing positive to brucellosis and identified and quantified risk factors in goats from small-scale farms of Michoacán that had participated in a brucellosis campaign (i.e. vaccination, serological testing, culling and awareness) and of Jalisco that had negligible brucellosis campaign participation. A cross-sectional serological survey was conducted among 1,713 goats of 83 flocks. The prevalence of testing positive to brucellosis was higher (38%) in Jalisco than in Michoacán (11%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that goats from Michoacán had lower odds to test positive for brucellosis (odds ratio (OR) = 0.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.21-0.48) compared to goats from Jalisco. Goats in zero-grazing systems had lower odds than goats in grazing systems (OR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.09-0.57). When goats were kept in pens with low density (0.002 to 0.22 goat/m(2)), odds was lower (OR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.28-0.67) compared to goats kept in pens with higher density (0.23 to 1 goat/m(2)). Odds was higher for testing positive when farmers bought goats from goat traders (OR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.15-2.87) compared to farmers who did not. If scavenger poultry had access to goat pens, the odds was half (OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.33-0.83) of those where poultry had no access. Regular disinfection of the pen reduced the odds (OR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.44-0.99) compared to where disinfection was not regular. The brucellosis control campaign was effective in reducing brucellosis seropositivity.

Exploring economically and environmentally viable northeastern US dairy farm strategies for coping with rising corn grain prices.

PubMed

Ghebremichael, L T; Veith, T L; Cerosaletti, P E; Dewing, D E; Rotz, C A

2009-08-01

In 2008, corn grain prices rose $115/t of DM above the 2005 average. Such an increase creates tight marginal profits for small (<100) and medium-sized (100 to 199) dairy farms in the northeastern United States importing corn grain as animal feed supplement. Particularly in New York State, dairy farmers are attempting to avoid or minimize profit losses by growing more corn silage and reducing corn grain purchases. This study applies the Integrated Farm Systems Model to 1 small and 1 medium-sized New York State dairy farm to predict 1) sediment and P loss impacts from expanding corn fields, 2) benefits of no-till or cover cropping on corn fields, and 3) alternatives to the economic challenge of the current farming system as the price ratio of milk to corn grain continues to decline. Based on the simulation results, expanding corn silage production by 3% of the cultivated farm area increased sediment and sediment-bound P losses by 41 and 18%, respectively. Implementing no-till controlled about 84% of the erosion and about 75% of the sediment-bound P that would have occurred from the conventionally tilled, expanded corn production scenario. Implementing a conventionally tilled cover crop with the conventionally tilled, expanded corn production scenario controlled both erosion and sediment-bound P, but to a lesser extent than no-till corn with no cover crop. However, annual farm net return using cover crops was slightly less than when using no-till. Increasing on-farm grass productivity while feeding cows a high-quality, high-forage diet and precise dietary P levels offered dual benefits: 1) improved farm profitability from reduced purchases of dietary protein and P supplements, and 2) decreased runoff P losses from reduced P-levels in applied manure. Moreover, alternatives such as growing additional small grains on marginal lands and increasing milk production levels demonstrated great potential in increasing farm profitability. Overall, it is crucial that conservation measures such as no-till and cover cropping be implemented on new or existing corn lands as these areas often pose the highest threat for P losses through runoff. Although alternatives that would likely provide the largest net profit were evaluated one at a time to better quantify their individual impacts, combinations of these strategies, such as no-till corn plus a minimum-till cover crop, are recommended whenever feasible.

The Relationship of Dairy Farm Eco-Efficiency with Intensification and Self-Sufficiency. Evidence from the French Dairy Sector Using Life Cycle Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling.

PubMed

Soteriades, Andreas Diomedes; Stott, Alistair William; Moreau, Sindy; Charroin, Thierry; Blanchard, Melanie; Liu, Jiayi; Faverdin, Philippe

2016-01-01

We aimed at quantifying the extent to which agricultural management practices linked to animal production and land use affect environmental outcomes at a larger scale. Two practices closely linked to farm environmental performance at a larger scale are farming intensity, often resulting in greater off-farm environmental impacts (land, non-renewable energy use etc.) associated with the production of imported inputs (e.g. concentrates, fertilizer); and the degree of self-sufficiency, i.e. the farm's capacity to produce goods from its own resources, with higher control over nutrient recycling and thus minimization of losses to the environment, often resulting in greater on-farm impacts (eutrophication, acidification etc.). We explored the relationship of these practices with farm environmental performance for 185 French specialized dairy farms. We used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to build, and relate, latent variables of environmental performance, intensification and self-sufficiency. Proxy indicators reflected the latent variables for intensification (milk yield/cow, use of maize silage etc.) and self-sufficiency (home-grown feed/total feed use, on-farm energy/total energy use etc.). Environmental performance was represented by an aggregate 'eco-efficiency' score per farm derived from a Data Envelopment Analysis model fed with LCA and farm output data. The dataset was split into two spatially heterogeneous (bio-physical conditions, production patterns) regions. For both regions, eco-efficiency was significantly negatively related with milk yield/cow and the use of maize silage and imported concentrates. However, these results might not necessarily hold for intensive yet more self-sufficient farms. This requires further investigation with latent variables for intensification and self-sufficiency that do not largely overlap- a modelling challenge that occurred here. We conclude that the environmental 'sustainability' of intensive dairy farming depends on particular farming systems and circumstances, although we note that more self-sufficient farms may be preferable when they may benefit from relatively low land prices and agri-environment schemes aimed at maintaining grasslands.

Determining Performance Levels of Competencies for Job Entry Required of Beginning Farm Operators. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avery, John H.

A sample of 145 people representing eighty farm operations and a statewide sample of 233 agricultural and agribusiness workers participated in a study to identify competencies, their importance (on a one to five rating scale), and the performance level required of a beginning farm operator in each of the following five cluster areas considered…

Data-Driven Risk Assessment from Small Scale Epidemics: Estimation and Model Choice for Spatio-Temporal Data with Application to a Classical Swine Fever Outbreak

PubMed Central

Gamado, Kokouvi; Marion, Glenn; Porphyre, Thibaud

2017-01-01

Livestock epidemics have the potential to give rise to significant economic, welfare, and social costs. Incursions of emerging and re-emerging pathogens may lead to small and repeated outbreaks. Analysis of the resulting data is statistically challenging but can inform disease preparedness reducing potential future losses. We present a framework for spatial risk assessment of disease incursions based on data from small localized historic outbreaks. We focus on between-farm spread of livestock pathogens and illustrate our methods by application to data on the small outbreak of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) that occurred in 2000 in East Anglia, UK. We apply models based on continuous time semi-Markov processes, using data-augmentation Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques within a Bayesian framework to infer disease dynamics and detection from incompletely observed outbreaks. The spatial transmission kernel describing pathogen spread between farms, and the distribution of times between infection and detection, is estimated alongside unobserved exposure times. Our results demonstrate inference is reliable even for relatively small outbreaks when the data-generating model is known. However, associated risk assessments depend strongly on the form of the fitted transmission kernel. Therefore, for real applications, methods are needed to select the most appropriate model in light of the data. We assess standard Deviance Information Criteria (DIC) model selection tools and recently introduced latent residual methods of model assessment, in selecting the functional form of the spatial transmission kernel. These methods are applied to the CSF data, and tested in simulated scenarios which represent field data, but assume the data generation mechanism is known. Analysis of simulated scenarios shows that latent residual methods enable reliable selection of the transmission kernel even for small outbreaks whereas the DIC is less reliable. Moreover, compared with DIC, model choice based on latent residual assessment correlated better with predicted risk. PMID:28293559

New Perspectives on the Rural Economy. Hearing on New Perspectives on the Rural Economy before the Subcommittee on Rural Economy and Family Farming of the Committee on Small Business. United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Small Business.

Testimony and prepared statements presented at a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Rural Economy and Family Farming focused on the concerns of rural small business. Witnesses included Senators from Montana, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, and nine representatives of business, state government,…

Biosecurity Conditions in Small Commercial Chicken Farms, Bangladesh 2011–2012

PubMed Central

Rimi, N. A.; Sultana, R.; Muhsina, M.; Uddin, B.; Haider, N.; Nahar, N.; Zeidner, N.; Sturm-Ramirez, K.; Luby, S. P.

2018-01-01

In Bangladesh, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is endemic in poultry. This study aimed to understand the biosecurity conditions and farmers’ perception of avian influenza biosecurity in Bangladeshi small commercial chicken farms. During 2011–2012, we conducted observations, in-depth interviews and group discussions with poultry farmers in 16 farms and in-depth interviews with seven local feed vendors from two districts. None of the farms were completely segregated from people, backyard poultry, other animals, households, other poultry farms or large trees. Wild birds and rodents accessed the farms for poultry feed. Farmers usually did not allow the buyers to bring egg trays inside their sheds. Spraying disinfectant in the shed and removing feces were the only regular cleaning and disinfection activities observed. All farmers sold or used untreated feces as fish feed or fertilizer. Farmers were more concerned about Newcastle disease and infectious bursal disease than about avian influenza. Farmers’ understanding about biosecurity and avian influenza was influenced by local vendors. While we seldom observed flock segregation, some farmers used measures that involved additional cost or effort to protect their flocks. These farmers could be motivated by interventions to protect their investment from diseases they consider harmful. Future interventions could explore the feasibility and effectiveness of low-cost alternative biosecurity measures. PMID:28289988

Biosecurity Conditions in Small Commercial Chicken Farms, Bangladesh 2011-2012.

PubMed

Rimi, N A; Sultana, R; Muhsina, M; Uddin, B; Haider, N; Nahar, N; Zeidner, N; Sturm-Ramirez, K; Luby, S P

2017-06-01

In Bangladesh, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is endemic in poultry. This study aimed to understand the biosecurity conditions and farmers' perception of avian influenza biosecurity in Bangladeshi small commercial chicken farms. During 2011-2012, we conducted observations, in-depth interviews and group discussions with poultry farmers in 16 farms and in-depth interviews with seven local feed vendors from two districts. None of the farms were completely segregated from people, backyard poultry, other animals, households, other poultry farms or large trees. Wild birds and rodents accessed the farms for poultry feed. Farmers usually did not allow the buyers to bring egg trays inside their sheds. Spraying disinfectant in the shed and removing feces were the only regular cleaning and disinfection activities observed. All farmers sold or used untreated feces as fish feed or fertilizer. Farmers were more concerned about Newcastle disease and infectious bursal disease than about avian influenza. Farmers' understanding about biosecurity and avian influenza was influenced by local vendors. While we seldom observed flock segregation, some farmers used measures that involved additional cost or effort to protect their flocks. These farmers could be motivated by interventions to protect their investment from diseases they consider harmful. Future interventions could explore the feasibility and effectiveness of low-cost alternative biosecurity measures.

Genetic Selection to Enhance Animal Welfare Using Meat Inspection Data from Slaughter Plants

PubMed Central

Mathur, Pramod K.; Vogelzang, Roos; Mulder, Herman A.; Knol, Egbert F.

2018-01-01

Simple Summary Analysis of a large volume of meat inspection data suggests availability of genetic variation for most common indicators of poor animal welfare. This genetic variation can be used to select pigs that have the potential to resist common infections and other unfavorable welfare conditions. Genetic selection can be a tool in addition to farm management in reducing the risk of diseases, thereby reducing pain and suffering of animals. In general, the slaughter remarks have small but favorable genetic relationships with finishing and carcass quality traits. Therefore, it is possible to enhance animal welfare along with the genetic selection for economically important production traits. Abstract Animal health and welfare are monitored during meat inspection in many slaughter plants around the world. Carcasses are examined by meat inspectors and remarks are made with respect to different diseases, injuries, and other abnormalities. This is a valuable data resource for disease prevention and enhancing animal welfare, but it is rarely used for this purpose. Records on carcass remarks on 140,375 finisher pigs were analyzed to investigate the possibility of genetic selection to reduce the risk of the most prevalent diseases and indicators of suboptimal animal welfare. As part of this, effects of some non-genetic factors such as differences between farms, sexes, and growth rates were also examined. The most frequent remarks were pneumonia (15.4%), joint disorders (9.8%), pleuritis (4.7%), pericarditis (2.3%), and liver lesions (2.2%). Joint disorders were more frequent in boars than in gilts. There were also significant differences between farms. Pedigree records were available for 142,324 pigs from 14 farms and were used for genetic analysis. Heritability estimates for pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis, liver lesions, and joint disorders were 0.10, 0.09, 0.14, 0.24, and 0.17 on the liability scale, respectively, suggesting the existence of substantial genetic variation. This was further confirmed though genome wide associations using deregressed breeding values as phenotypes. The genetic correlations between these remarks and finishing traits were small but mostly negative, suggesting the possibility of enhancing pig health and welfare simultaneously with genetic improvement in finishing traits. A selection index based on the breeding values for these traits and their economic values was developed. This index is used to enhance animal welfare in pig farms. PMID:29364186

Designing hydrological and financial instruments for small scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: A socio-hydrological analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moshtaghi, M.; Pande, S.; Savenije, H. H. G.; den Besten, N. I.

2016-12-01

Eighty percent of the farmland in Sub-Saharan Africa is managed by smallholders and they are often economically stressed; low income as a result of poor crop yields. Indeed, smallholders' well-being is naturally important, which often suffers due to hydro-climatic variability and fluctuations in prices of inputs (seeds, fertilizer) and outputs (crops). Appropriate designed insurances can guarantee their wellbeing and food security in whole continent, if they focus on specified requirement of smallholders in each region. In this research, we apply recently developed socio-hydrologic modelling, which interprets a small scale farm system as a coupled system of 6 variables: soil moisture, solid fertility, capital, livestock, fodder and labor availability. By using datasets of potential evaporation, rainfall, land cover and etc, we want to make a comparison between application of yield index insurance, weather index insurance and biomass Index Insurance to highlight the importance of considering the interplay between fertilizer and water availability in food security and also determine type of regional insurance which works better in a certain land.

Seaweed raft and farm design in the United States and China

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

McKay, L.B.

1983-01-01

The following topics are discussed in this report: pilot-scale mariculture of seaweeds in Washington; experimental-scale raft culture of marine macroalgae in inland marine waters; macroalgal culture in California and China; land-based cultivation of seaweeds: an assessment of their potential yields for 'energy farming'; a design for energy-independent seaweed raft culture in tidal creeks and rivers; and the New York State marine biomass program.

Water resources of the Wild Rice River watershed, northwestern Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winter, Thomas C.; Bidwell, L.E.; Maclay, Robert W.

1970-01-01

The area of the watershed is about 2,600 square miles and includes most of Mahnomen and Norman Counties and parts of Becker, Clay, Clearwater, and Polk Counties. The population of the area is about 37,000 people of which about 70 percent live on farms. The economy is based principally on farming. The area of lake clay and silt is used mostly for raising sugar beets and wheat; and potatoes are grown largely on the sandy soils. In the western part of the morainal area small grain, dairy, and cattle farming is the most common. The eastern part of the morainal area is important for forest products and recreation. Industries in the area are small and are based on agricultural processing and service.

Demonstration of a Small Modular BioPower System Using Poultry Litter

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

John P. Reardon; Art Lilley; Jim Wimberly

2002-05-22

The purpose of this project was to assess poultry grower residue, or litter (manure plus absorbent biomass), as a fuel source for Community Power Corporation's small modular biopower system (SMB). A second objective was to assess the poultry industry to identify potential ''on-site'' applications of the SMB system using poultry litter residue as a fuel source, and to adapt CPC's existing SMB to generate electricity and heat from the poultry litter biomass fuel. Bench-scale testing and pilot testing were used to gain design information for the SMB retrofit. System design approach for the Phase II application of the SMB wasmore » the goal of Phase I testing. Cost estimates for an onsite poultry litter SMB were prepared. Finally, a market estimate was prepared for implementation of the on-farm SMB using poultry litter.« less

Dynamic Edge Effects in Small Mammal Communities across a Conservation-Agricultural Interface in Swaziland

PubMed Central

Hurst, Zachary M.; McCleery, Robert A.; Collier, Bret A.; Fletcher, Robert J.; Silvy, Nova J.; Taylor, Peter J.; Monadjem, Ara

2013-01-01

Across the planet, high-intensity farming has transformed native vegetation into monocultures, decreasing biodiversity on a landscape scale. Yet landscape-scale changes to biodiversity and community structure often emerge from processes operating at local scales. One common process that can explain changes in biodiversity and community structure is the creation of abrupt habitat edges, which, in turn, generate edge effects. Such effects, while incredibly common, can be highly variable across space and time; however, we currently lack a general analytical framework that can adequately capture such spatio-temporal variability. We extend previous approaches for estimating edge effects to a non-linear mixed modeling framework that captures such spatio-temporal heterogeneity and apply it to understand how agricultural land-uses alter wildlife communities. We trapped small mammals along a conservation-agriculture land-use interface extending 375 m into sugarcane plantations and conservation land-uses at three sites during dry and wet seasons in Swaziland, Africa. Sugarcane plantations had significant reductions in species richness and heterogeneity, and showed an increase in community similarity, suggesting a more homogenized small mammal community. Furthermore, our modeling framework identified strong variation in edge effects on communities across sites and seasons. Using small mammals as an indicator, intensive agricultural practices appear to create high-density communities of generalist species while isolating interior species in less than 225 m. These results illustrate how agricultural land-use can reduce diversity across the landscape and that effects can be masked or magnified, depending on local conditions. Taken together, our results emphasize the need to create or retain natural habitat features in agricultural mosaics. PMID:24040269

Occupational Health and Safety Issues among Vegetable Farmers in Trinidad and the Implications for Extension.

PubMed

Baksh, K S; Ganpat, W; Narine, L K

2015-07-01

Trinidad has an aged farming population. For a host of reasons, young persons are not entering the agricultural sector; therefore, these aged farmers will continue to be the backbone of the industry. Hence, there is much need for improving the health and safety of the workers within this sector. This first-time study assessed the prevalence of occupational health and safety disorders and discomforts among Trinidad's vegetable farmers in an attempt to understand the extent of the problem within the general farm population. The implications for extension are highlighted, and several recommendations are provided. Small-scale commercial-oriented vegetable farmers (n = 100) from ten of the most populated agricultural areas across Trinidad were surveyed. Results indicated that there was an overall moderate prevalence of occupational injuries among vegetable farmers. Most prevalent were musculoskeletal disorders of the lower back and upper body extremities, watery/burning eyes, skin rashes/itching, headaches, fatigue, dehydration, stress, and injuries attributed to slips and falls. Based on the evidence that a problem exists with health and safety, the extension service can now prepare and deliver programs to educate farmers on the actions necessary to improve their personal health and safety and that of their workers. This type of study has not been done before among farmers in Trinidad. It brings a very important and timely issue to the fore because of the aged farming population. Additionally, since the farmer profile and farming systems are similar in the wider Caribbean, policy makers can take note of the findings and recommendations and embrace actions.

Farming for Ecosystem Services: An Ecological Approach to Production Agriculture.

PubMed

Philip Robertson, G; Gross, Katherine L; Hamilton, Stephen K; Landis, Douglas A; Schmidt, Thomas M; Snapp, Sieglinde S; Swinton, Scott M

2014-05-01

A balanced assessment of ecosystem services provided by agriculture requires a systems-level socioecological understanding of related management practices at local to landscape scales. The results from 25 years of observation and experimentation at the Kellogg Biological Station long-term ecological research site reveal services that could be provided by intensive row-crop ecosystems. In addition to high yields, farms could be readily managed to contribute clean water, biocontrol and other biodiversity benefits, climate stabilization, and long-term soil fertility, thereby helping meet society's need for agriculture that is economically and environmentally sustainable. Midwest farmers-especially those with large farms-appear willing to adopt practices that deliver these services in exchange for payments scaled to management complexity and farmstead benefit. Surveyed citizens appear willing to pay farmers for the delivery of specific services, such as cleaner lakes. A new farming for services paradigm in US agriculture seems feasible and could be environmentally significant.

The Relationship of Dairy Farm Eco-Efficiency with Intensification and Self-Sufficiency. Evidence from the French Dairy Sector Using Life Cycle Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling

PubMed Central

Soteriades, Andreas Diomedes; Stott, Alistair William; Moreau, Sindy; Charroin, Thierry; Blanchard, Melanie; Liu, Jiayi; Faverdin, Philippe

2016-01-01

We aimed at quantifying the extent to which agricultural management practices linked to animal production and land use affect environmental outcomes at a larger scale. Two practices closely linked to farm environmental performance at a larger scale are farming intensity, often resulting in greater off-farm environmental impacts (land, non-renewable energy use etc.) associated with the production of imported inputs (e.g. concentrates, fertilizer); and the degree of self-sufficiency, i.e. the farm’s capacity to produce goods from its own resources, with higher control over nutrient recycling and thus minimization of losses to the environment, often resulting in greater on-farm impacts (eutrophication, acidification etc.). We explored the relationship of these practices with farm environmental performance for 185 French specialized dairy farms. We used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to build, and relate, latent variables of environmental performance, intensification and self-sufficiency. Proxy indicators reflected the latent variables for intensification (milk yield/cow, use of maize silage etc.) and self-sufficiency (home-grown feed/total feed use, on-farm energy/total energy use etc.). Environmental performance was represented by an aggregate ‘eco-efficiency’ score per farm derived from a Data Envelopment Analysis model fed with LCA and farm output data. The dataset was split into two spatially heterogeneous (bio-physical conditions, production patterns) regions. For both regions, eco-efficiency was significantly negatively related with milk yield/cow and the use of maize silage and imported concentrates. However, these results might not necessarily hold for intensive yet more self-sufficient farms. This requires further investigation with latent variables for intensification and self-sufficiency that do not largely overlap- a modelling challenge that occurred here. We conclude that the environmental ‘sustainability’ of intensive dairy farming depends on particular farming systems and circumstances, although we note that more self-sufficient farms may be preferable when they may benefit from relatively low land prices and agri-environment schemes aimed at maintaining grasslands. PMID:27832199

Fecal prevalence, serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonellae in dairy cattle in central Ethiopia.

PubMed

Eguale, Tadesse; Engidawork, Ephrem; Gebreyes, Wondwossen A; Asrat, Daniel; Alemayehu, Haile; Medhin, Girmay; Johnson, Roger P; Gunn, John S

2016-02-16

Salmonellae are major worldwide zoonotic pathogens infecting a wide range of vertebrate species including humans. Consumption of contaminated dairy products and contact with dairy cattle represent a common source of non-typhoidal Salmonella infection in humans. Despite a large number of small-scale dairy farms in Addis Ababa and its surrounding districts, little is known about the status of Salmonella in these farms. Salmonella was recovered from the feces of at least one animal in 7.6% (10/132) of the dairy farms. Out of 1203 fecal samples examined, 30 were positive for Salmonella resulting in a weighted animal level prevalence of 2.3%. Detection of diarrhea in an animal and in a farm was significantly associated with animal level (p = 0.012) and herd level (p < 0.001) prevalence of Salmonella. Animal level prevalence of Salmonella was significantly associated with age (p = 0.023) and study location; it was highest among those under 6 months of age and in farms from Adaa district and Addis Ababa (p < 0.001). Nine different serotypes were identified using standard serological agglutination tests. The most frequently recovered serotypes were Salmonella Typhimurium (23.3%), S. Saintpaul (20%), S. Kentucky (16.7%) and S. Virchow (16.7%). All isolates were resistant or intermediately resistant to at least one of the 18 drugs tested. Twenty-six (86.7%), 19 (63.3 %), 18 (60%), 16 (53.3%) of the isolates were resistant to streptomycin, nitrofurantoin, sulfisoxazole and tetracycline , respectively. Resistance to 2 drugs was detected in 27 (90%) of the isolates. Resistance to 3 or more drugs was detected in 21 (70%) of the isolates, while resistance to 7 or more drugs was detected in 11 (36.7%) of the isolates. The rate of occurrence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) in Salmonella strains isolated from dairy farms in Addis Ababa was significantly higher than those isolated from farms outside of Addis Ababa (p = 0.009). MDR was more common in S. Kentucky, S. Virchow and S. Saintpaul. Isolation of Salmonella serotypes commonly known for causing human salmonellosis that are associated with an MDR phenotype in dairy farms in close proximity with human population is a major public health concern. These findings imply the need for a strict pathogen reduction strategy.

Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis.

PubMed

Herrero, Mario; Thornton, Philip K; Power, Brendan; Bogard, Jessica R; Remans, Roseline; Fritz, Steffen; Gerber, James S; Nelson, Gerald; See, Linda; Waha, Katharina; Watson, Reg A; West, Paul C; Samberg, Leah H; van de Steeg, Jeannette; Stephenson, Eloise; van Wijk, Mark; Havlík, Petr

2017-04-01

Information about the global structure of agriculture and nutrient production and its diversity is essential to improve present understanding of national food production patterns, agricultural livelihoods, and food chains, and their linkages to land use and their associated ecosystems services. Here we provide a plausible breakdown of global agricultural and nutrient production by farm size, and also study the associations between farm size, agricultural diversity, and nutrient production. This analysis is crucial to design interventions that might be appropriately targeted to promote healthy diets and ecosystems in the face of population growth, urbanisation, and climate change. We used existing spatially-explicit global datasets to estimate the production levels of 41 major crops, seven livestock, and 14 aquaculture and fish products. From overall production estimates, we estimated the production of vitamin A, vitamin B 12 , folate, iron, zinc, calcium, calories, and protein. We also estimated the relative contribution of farms of different sizes to the production of different agricultural commodities and associated nutrients, as well as how the diversity of food production based on the number of different products grown per geographic pixel and distribution of products within this pixel (Shannon diversity index [ H ]) changes with different farm sizes. Globally, small and medium farms (≤50 ha) produce 51-77% of nearly all commodities and nutrients examined here. However, important regional differences exist. Large farms (>50 ha) dominate production in North America, South America, and Australia and New Zealand. In these regions, large farms contribute between 75% and 100% of all cereal, livestock, and fruit production, and the pattern is similar for other commodity groups. By contrast, small farms (≤20 ha) produce more than 75% of most food commodities in sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, south Asia, and China. In Europe, west Asia and north Africa, and central America, medium-size farms (20-50 ha) also contribute substantially to the production of most food commodities. Very small farms (≤2 ha) are important and have local significance in sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, and south Asia, where they contribute to about 30% of most food commodities. The majority of vegetables (81%), roots and tubers (72%), pulses (67%), fruits (66%), fish and livestock products (60%), and cereals (56%) are produced in diverse landscapes ( H >1·5). Similarly, the majority of global micronutrients (53-81%) and protein (57%) are also produced in more diverse agricultural landscapes ( H >1·5). By contrast, the majority of sugar (73%) and oil crops (57%) are produced in less diverse ones ( H ≤1·5), which also account for the majority of global calorie production (56%). The diversity of agricultural and nutrient production diminishes as farm size increases. However, areas of the world with higher agricultural diversity produce more nutrients, irrespective of farm size. Our results show that farm size and diversity of agricultural production vary substantially across regions and are key structural determinants of food and nutrient production that need to be considered in plans to meet social, economic, and environmental targets. At the global level, both small and large farms have key roles in food and nutrition security. Efforts to maintain production diversity as farm sizes increase seem to be necessary to maintain the production of diverse nutrients and viable, multifunctional, sustainable landscapes. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGIAR Research Programs on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security and on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health funded by the CGIAR Fund Council, Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, European Union, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Australian Research Council, National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change-Belmont Forum.

[Nitrogen balance in dairy farm: research progress].

PubMed

Lü, Chao; Qin, Wen-Xiao; Gao, Teng-Yun; Wang, Xiao-Xiao; Han, Zhi-Guo; Li, Jia

2013-01-01

Large dairy farm with intensive management has high stocking density, but generally does not have enough space and normative feces disposal system, resulting in the discharged nitrogen surpassed the environmental carrying capacity of unit area land. Dairy farm is one of the major emission sources of nitrogen discharges in agriculture, where the nitrogen balance has being aroused attention by the experts abroad. The research on the nitrogen flow and nitrogen balance in dairy farm is the basis of the dairy farm nitrogen cycling and management study, as well as the basis for the construction of environmental laws, regulations and policies. The most reliable indicators to evaluate the nitrogen flow and nitrogen balance in dairy farm are nitrogen surplus and nitrogen use efficiency. This paper introduced the concept of nitrogen balance on farm-scale and the nitrogen flow within farm, compared the application scope of nitrogen surplus and nitrogen use efficiency, analyzed the factors affecting the nitrogen balance in dairy farm, and summarized the effective strategies to reduce the nitrogen discharges from dairy farm, aimed to provide references for the nitrogen management of dairy farm in China.

Spatial analysis and characteristics of pig farming in Thailand.

PubMed

Thanapongtharm, Weerapong; Linard, Catherine; Chinson, Pornpiroon; Kasemsuwan, Suwicha; Visser, Marjolein; Gaughan, Andrea E; Epprech, Michael; Robinson, Timothy P; Gilbert, Marius

2016-10-06

In Thailand, pig production intensified significantly during the last decade, with many economic, epidemiological and environmental implications. Strategies toward more sustainable future developments are currently investigated, and these could be informed by a detailed assessment of the main trends in the pig sector, and on how different production systems are geographically distributed. This study had two main objectives. First, we aimed to describe the main trends and geographic patterns of pig production systems in Thailand in terms of pig type (native, breeding, and fattening pigs), farm scales (smallholder and large-scale farming systems) and type of farming systems (farrow-to-finish, nursery, and finishing systems) based on a very detailed 2010 census. Second, we aimed to study the statistical spatial association between these different types of pig farming distribution and a set of spatial variables describing access to feed and markets. Over the last decades, pig population gradually increased, with a continuously increasing number of pigs per holder, suggesting a continuing intensification of the sector. The different pig-production systems showed very contrasted geographical distributions. The spatial distribution of large-scale pig farms corresponds with that of commercial pig breeds, and spatial analysis conducted using Random Forest distribution models indicated that these were concentrated in lowland urban or peri-urban areas, close to means of transportation, facilitating supply to major markets such as provincial capitals and the Bangkok Metropolitan region. Conversely the smallholders were distributed throughout the country, with higher densities located in highland, remote, and rural areas, where they supply local rural markets. A limitation of the study was that pig farming systems were defined from the number of animals per farm, resulting in their possible misclassification, but this should have a limited impact on the main patterns revealed by the analysis. The very contrasted distribution of different pig production systems present opportunities for future regionalization of pig production. More specifically, the detailed geographical analysis of the different production systems will be used to spatially-inform planning decisions for pig farming accounting for the specific health, environment and economical implications of the different pig production systems.

Impacts of wind farms on surface air temperatures

PubMed Central

Baidya Roy, Somnath; Traiteur, Justin J.

2010-01-01

Utility-scale large wind farms are rapidly growing in size and numbers all over the world. Data from a meteorological field campaign show that such wind farms can significantly affect near-surface air temperatures. These effects result from enhanced vertical mixing due to turbulence generated by wind turbine rotors. The impacts of wind farms on local weather can be minimized by changing rotor design or by siting wind farms in regions with high natural turbulence. Using a 25-y-long climate dataset, we identified such regions in the world. Many of these regions, such as the Midwest and Great Plains in the United States, are also rich in wind resources, making them ideal candidates for low-impact wind farms. PMID:20921371

The economic and social benefits of an aquaponic system for the integrated production of fish and water plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizal, A.; Dhahiyat, Y.; Zahidah; Andriani, Y.; Handaka, A. A.; Sahidin, A.

2018-04-01

Aquaponics is an evolving closed-system food production technology that integrates recirculating aquaculture with hydroponics. In this paper we give a brief literature overview of the benefit aspects of aquaponics by discussing its social, environmental, and economic impacts in different potential settings. The technology might be applied to commercial or community based urban food production, industrial scale production in rural areas, small scale farming in developing countries or as systems for education and decoration inside buildings. We concluded that due to the different potential applications and settings for installing the technology, benefit impacts need to be considered separately and that due the complexity, communities, urban and rural infrastructure and policy settings, further research and data acquisition is needed to be able to assess all benefit aspects.

Wind tunnel study of helical and straight-bladed vertical-axis wind turbine wakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagheri, Maryam; Araya, Daniel

2017-11-01

It is hypothesized that blade curvature can serve as a passive means to control fluid entrainment and wake recovery in vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) arrays. We test this experimentally in a wind tunnel using two different VAWT configurations, one with straight blades and another with helical blades, keeping all other experimental parameters fixed. A small-scale, commercially available VAWT (15W max power) is used as the baseline wind tunnel model in each case. The commercial VAWT blades are replaced with either straight or helical blades that are 3D-printed extrusions of the same airfoil cross-section. Results from smoke flow visualization, three-component wake velocity measurements, and turbine power data are presented. These results give insight into the potential use of VAWTs with curved blades in utility-scale wind farms.

Agricultural and Ranching area, Rio Sao Francisco, Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This agricultural and Ranching area, Rio Sao Francisco, Brazil (13.0S, 43.5W) has been under study for several years. See scene STS-31-92-045 for comparison. This area has many small single family subsistence farms, large square and rectangular commercial farms and pastures for livestock grazing. Over the several years of observation, the number and size of farms has increased and center-pivot, swing-arm irrigation systems have been installed.

3. General view of Fort Hill Farm, view looking west ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

3. General view of Fort Hill Farm, view looking west from (B) two-story hall-and-parlor house. Buildings visible, from left to right, are (B) parlor house porch; (E) one-room cabin; (D) center chimney four-room cabin; (J) hay barn; (I) log tobacco barn; (A) mansion, obscured by trees; (M) stable; (K) small barn. - Fort Hill Farm, West of Staunton (Roanoke) River between Turkey & Caesar's Runs, Clover, Halifax County, VA

Technical- and environmental-efficiency analysis of irrigated cotton-cropping systems in Punjab, Pakistan using data envelopment analysis.

PubMed

Ullah, Asmat; Perret, Sylvain R

2014-08-01

Cotton cropping in Pakistan uses substantial quantities of resources and adversely affects the environment with pollutants from the inputs, particularly pesticides. A question remains regarding to what extent the reduction of such environmental impact is possible without compromising the farmers' income. This paper investigates the environmental, technical, and economic performances of selected irrigated cotton-cropping systems in Punjab to quantify the sustainability of cotton farming and reveal options for improvement. Using mostly primary data, our study quantifies the technical, cost, and environmental efficiencies of different farm sizes. A set of indicators has been computed to reflect these three domains of efficiency using the data envelopment analysis technique. The results indicate that farmers are broadly environmentally inefficient; which primarily results from poor technical inefficiency. Based on an improved input mix, the average potential environmental impact reduction for small, medium, and large farms is 9, 13, and 11 %, respectively, without compromising the economic return. Moreover, the differences in technical, cost, and environmental efficiencies between small and medium and small and large farm sizes were statistically significant. The second-stage regression analysis identifies that the entire farm size significantly affects the efficiencies, whereas exposure to extension and training has positive effects, and the sowing methods significantly affect the technical and environmental efficiencies. Paradoxically, the formal education level is determined to affect the efficiencies negatively. This paper discusses policy interventions that can improve the technical efficiency to ultimately increase the environmental efficiency and reduce the farmers' operating costs.

Scaling up food production in the Upper Mississippi river basin: modeling impacts on water quality and nutrient cycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bowen, E. E.; Martin, P. A.; Schuble, T. J.; Yan, E.; Demissie, Y.

2010-12-01

Agricultural production imposes significant environmental stress on the landscape, both in the intensity and extent of agricultural activities. Among the most significant impacts, agriculture dominates the natural reactive nitrogen cycle, with excess reactive nitrogen leading to the degraded quality of inland and coastal waters. In the U.S., policymakers and stakeholders nationwide continue to debate strategies for decreasing environmental degradation from agricultural lands. Such strategies aim to optimize the balance among competing demands for food, fuel and ecosystem services. One such strategy increasingly discussed in the national debate is that of localizing food production around urban areas, developing what some have recently called “foodsheds”. However, the environmental impacts of localizing food production around population centers are not well-understood given the hard-to-generalize variety seen in management practices currently employed among local farms marketing food crops directly to consumers. As a first, landscape level study of potential impacts from scaling up this type of agriculture, we use the USDA Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to quantify environmental impacts from developing foodsheds for all population centers in the Upper Mississippi river basin. Specifically, we focus on nutrient cycling and water quality impacts determining direct greenhouse gas emissions and changes to nutrient runoff from increased food production in this watershed. We investigate a variety of scenarios in which food production is scaled up to the regional level using different types of farm management practices, ranging from conventional production of fruits and vegetables, to production of these products from small-scale, diversified systems integrating conservation easements. In addition to impacts on nutrient cycling and water quality, we also characterize relative levels of productivity in conjunction with overall demand for food associated with population centers to address one aspect of socio-economic concern.

Agrarian change and labour migration in the Sierra of Ecuador.

PubMed

Peek, P

1980-01-01

"Among the effects produced in the Sierra of Ecuador by the programme of land reforms launched in 1964 was a reduction in the incomes from small-scale farming. At the same time, the growth of productive employment in urban areas was insufficient to provide round-the-year work to the fast growing army of jobseekers. Analysis of the agrarian structure and migration patterns before and after 1964 suggests that it was primarily this combination of circumstances that produced a pronounced shift towards short-term rather than permanent migration, thereby providing industry and services with the labour they needed while avoiding the disadvantages of severe urban overpopulation." excerpt

Comparing organic farming and land sparing: optimizing yield and butterfly populations at a landscape scale.

PubMed

Hodgson, Jenny A; Kunin, William E; Thomas, Chris D; Benton, Tim G; Gabriel, Doreen

2010-11-01

Organic farming aims to be wildlife-friendly, but it may not benefit wildlife overall if much greater areas are needed to produce a given quantity of food. We measured the density and species richness of butterflies on organic farms, conventional farms and grassland nature reserves in 16 landscapes. Organic farms supported a higher density of butterflies than conventional farms, but a lower density than reserves. Using our data, we predict the optimal land-use strategy to maintain yield whilst maximizing butterfly abundance under different scenarios. Farming conventionally and sparing land as nature reserves is better for butterflies when the organic yield per hectare falls below 87% of conventional yield. However, if the spared land is simply extra field margins, organic farming is optimal whenever organic yields are over 35% of conventional yields. The optimal balance of land sparing and wildlife-friendly farming to maintain production and biodiversity will differ between landscapes. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Full-Scale Field Test of Wake Steering

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

Fleming, Paul; Annoni, Jennifer; Scholbrock, Andrew

Wind farm control, in which turbine controllers are coordinated to improve farmwide performance, is an active field of research. One form of wind farm control is wake steering, in which a turbine is yawed to the inflow to redirect its wake away from downstream turbines. Wake steering has been studied in depth in simulations as well as in wind tunnels and scaled test facilities. This work performs a field test of wake steering on a full-scale turbine. In the campaign, the yaw controller of the turbine has been set to track different yaw misalignment set points while a nacelle-mounted lidarmore » scans the wake at several ranges downwind. The lidar measurements are combined with turbine data, as well as measurements of the inflow made by a highly instrumented meteorological mast. In conclusion, these measurements are then compared to the predictions of a wind farm control-oriented model of wakes.« less

Full-Scale Field Test of Wake Steering

DOE PAGES

Fleming, Paul; Annoni, Jennifer; Scholbrock, Andrew; ...

2017-06-13

Wind farm control, in which turbine controllers are coordinated to improve farmwide performance, is an active field of research. One form of wind farm control is wake steering, in which a turbine is yawed to the inflow to redirect its wake away from downstream turbines. Wake steering has been studied in depth in simulations as well as in wind tunnels and scaled test facilities. This work performs a field test of wake steering on a full-scale turbine. In the campaign, the yaw controller of the turbine has been set to track different yaw misalignment set points while a nacelle-mounted lidarmore » scans the wake at several ranges downwind. The lidar measurements are combined with turbine data, as well as measurements of the inflow made by a highly instrumented meteorological mast. In conclusion, these measurements are then compared to the predictions of a wind farm control-oriented model of wakes.« less

Demonstration of a Small Modular Biopower System Using Poultry Litter-Final Report

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

John Reardon; Art Lilley

2004-06-15

On-farm conversion of poultry litter into energy is a unique market connected opportunity for commercialization of small modular bioenergy systems. The United States Department of Energy recognized the need in the poultry industry for alternative litter management as an opportunity for bioenergy. The DOE created a relevant topic in the December 2000 release of the small business innovative research (SBIR) grant solicitation. Community Power Corporation responded to this solicitation by proposing the development of a small modular gasification and gas cleanup system to produce separate value streams of clean producer gas and mineral rich solids. This phase II report describesmore » our progress in the development of an on-farm litter to energy system.« less

12 CFR 25.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... assessment area(s) through its lending activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business... mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the bank's assessment area(s); (2) Geographic distribution. The geographic distribution of the bank's home mortgage, small business...

12 CFR 25.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... assessment area(s) through its lending activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business... mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the bank's assessment area(s); (2) Geographic distribution. The geographic distribution of the bank's home mortgage, small business...

12 CFR 25.22 - Lending test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... assessment area(s) through its lending activities by considering a bank's home mortgage, small business... mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer loans, if applicable, in the bank's assessment area(s); (2) Geographic distribution. The geographic distribution of the bank's home mortgage, small business...

Prevalence and risk factors for Maedi-Visna in sheep farms in Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania.

PubMed

Hüttner, Klim; Seelmann, Matthias; Feldhusen, Frerk

2010-01-01

Despite indications of a considerable spread of Maedi-Visna among sheep flocks in Germany, prevalence studies of this important infection are hardly available. Prior to any health schemes and guidelines, knowledge about regional disease distribution is essential. Depending upon herd size, 70 farms were randomly selected, of which 41 cooperated. A total of 2229 blood samples were taken at random and serologically examined. For assessment of selected farm characteristics a questionnaire exercise was conducted at all farms involved. The average herd prevalence is 51.2%, the within-herd prevalence is 28,8%. In the unvariate analysis of risk factors, small (10-100 sheep) and large (> 250 sheep) farms are more MVV-affected than medium sized farms. The average stable and pasture space per sheep is larger at non-infected- compared to infected farms. Owners judgement on general herd health turns out to be better at non-infected compared to infected farms. Taking infected farms only, the risk of within-herd prevalence above 20% is significant higher in crossbred than in purebred flocks.

Do differences in food web structure between organic and conventional farms affect the ecosystem service of pest control?

PubMed

Macfadyen, Sarina; Gibson, Rachel; Polaszek, Andrew; Morris, Rebecca J; Craze, Paul G; Planqué, Robert; Symondson, William O C; Memmott, Jane

2009-03-01

While many studies have demonstrated that organic farms support greater levels of biodiversity, it is not known whether this translates into better provision of ecosystem services. Here we use a food-web approach to analyse the community structure and function at the whole-farm scale. Quantitative food webs from 10 replicate pairs of organic and conventional farms showed that organic farms have significantly more species at three trophic levels (plant, herbivore and parasitoid) and significantly different network structure. Herbivores on organic farms were attacked by more parasitoid species on organic farms than on conventional farms. However, differences in network structure did not translate into differences in robustness to simulated species loss and we found no difference in percentage parasitism (natural pest control) across a variety of host species. Furthermore, a manipulative field experiment demonstrated that the higher species richness of parasitoids on the organic farms did not increase mortality of a novel herbivore used to bioassay ecosystem service. The explanation for these differences is likely to include inherent differences in management strategies and landscape structure between the two farming systems.

The Condition of Farmworkers and Small Farmers in 1975. A Report to the National Board of the National Sharecroppers Fund and Rural Advancement Fund.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, James M.

Due to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition of a farm as an "economic unit which produces at least $1,000 worth of agricultural products a year", more than 570,000 farms were eliminated from the 1975 agricultural census. In addition, over 12,000 farms went out of business, continuing a trend begun in 1940. Although American food prices…

1. General view of Fort Hill Farm, view looking southsoutheast. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. General view of Fort Hill Farm, view looking south-southeast. From left to right, buildings visible are (B) two-story hall-and-parlor house; (k) small barn; (A) mansion' (G( shed; (H) shed; (I) log tobacco barn; (H and D) shed and center chimney four-room cabin; (E and (A) one-room cabin in front of mansion; (J) hay barn. - Fort Hill Farm, West of Staunton (Roanoke) River between Turkey & Caesar's Runs, Clover, Halifax County, VA

The cultivation of wild food and medicinal plants for improving community livelihood: The case of the Buhozi site, DR Congo.

PubMed

Karhagomba, Innocent Balagizi; Mirindi T, Adhama; Mushagalusa, Timothée B; Nabino, Victor B; Koh, Kwangoh; Kim, Hee Seon

2013-12-01

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use.

The cultivation of wild food and medicinal plants for improving community livelihood: The case of the Buhozi site, DR Congo

PubMed Central

Karhagomba, Innocent Balagizi; Mirindi T, Adhama; Mushagalusa, Timothée B.; Nabino, Victor B.; Koh, Kwangoh

2013-01-01

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use. PMID:24353838

Active Power Control of Waked Wind Farms: Preprint

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

Fleming, Paul A; van Wingerden, Jan-Willem; Pao, Lucy

Active power control can be used to balance the total power generated by wind farms with the power consumed on the electricity grid. With the increasing penetration levels of wind energy, there is an increasing need for this ancillary service. In this paper, we show that the tracking of a certain power reference signal provided by the transmission system operator can be significantly improved by using feedback control at the wind farm level. We propose a simple feedback control law that significantly improves the tracking behavior of the total power output of the farm, resulting in higher performance scores. Themore » effectiveness of the proposed feedback controller is demonstrated using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations of a small wind farm.« less

Farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. parr may reduce early survival of wild fish.

PubMed

Sundt-Hansen, L; Huisman, J; Skoglund, H; Hindar, K

2015-06-01

The study examined the density-mediated effects on growth, survival and dispersal of wild and farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar offspring in the period immediately following emergence, using a substitutive design. In small confined stream channels, wild parr coexisting with farmed parr had a significantly poorer survival, than wild parr alone. Density did not affect this relationship. In larger unconfined stream channels, wild parr coexisting with farmed parr entered a downstream trap in higher numbers than wild parr in allopatry. The results suggests that during the earliest life stages, farmed S. salar can outcompete wild S. salar, resulting in a reduced survival of wild S. salar. © 2015 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Minimizing irrigation water demand: An evaluation of shifting planting dates in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Rivera, Ashley; Gunda, Thushara; Hornberger, George M

2018-05-01

Climate change coupled with increasing demands for water necessitates an improved understanding of the water-food nexus at a scale local enough to inform farmer adaptations. Such assessments are particularly important for nations with significant small-scale farming and high spatial variability in climate, such as Sri Lanka. By comparing historical patterns of irrigation water requirements (IWRs) to rice planting records, we estimate that shifting rice planting dates to earlier in the season could yield water savings of up to 6%. Our findings demonstrate the potential of low-cost adaptation strategies to help meet crop production demands in water-scarce environments. This local-scale assessment of IWRs in Sri Lanka highlights the value of using historical data to inform agricultural management of water resources when high-skilled forecasts are not available. Given national policies prioritizing in-country production and farmers' sensitivities to water stress, decision-makers should consider local degrees of climate variability in institutional design of irrigation management structures.

Compatibility between livestock databases used for quantitative biosecurity response in New Zealand.

PubMed

Jewell, C P; van Andel, M; Vink, W D; McFadden, A M J

2016-05-01

To characterise New Zealand's livestock biosecurity databases, and investigate their compatibility and capacity to provide a single integrated data source for quantitative outbreak analysis. Contemporary snapshots of the data in three national livestock biosecurity databases, AgriBase, FarmsOnLine (FOL) and the National Animal Identification and Tracing Scheme (NAIT), were obtained on 16 September, 1 September and 30 April 2014, respectively, and loaded into a relational database. A frequency table of animal numbers per farm was calculated for the AgriBase and FOL datasets. A two dimensional kernel density estimate was calculated for farms reporting the presence of cattle, pigs, deer, and small ruminants in each database and the ratio of farm densities for AgriBase versus FOL calculated. The extent to which records in the three databases could be matched and linked was quantified, and the level of agreement amongst them for the presence of different species on properties assessed using Cohen's kappa statistic. AgriBase contained fewer records than FOL, but recorded animal numbers present on each farm, whereas FOL contained more records, but captured only presence/absence of animals. The ratio of farm densities in AgriBase relative to FOL for pigs and deer was reasonably homogeneous across New Zealand, with AgriBase having a farm density approximately 80% of FOL. For cattle and small ruminants, there was considerable heterogeneity, with AgriBase showing a density of cattle farms in the Central Otago region that was 20% of FOL, and a density of small ruminant farms in the central West Coast area that was twice that of FOL. Only 37% of records in FOL could be linked to AgriBase, but the level of agreement for the presence of different species between these databases was substantial (kappa>0.6). Both NAIT and FOL shared common farm identifiers which could be used to georeference animal movements, and there was a fair to substantial agreement (kappa 0.32-0.69) between these databases for the presence of cattle and deer on properties. The three databases broadly agreed with each other, but important differences existed in both species composition and spatial coverage which raises concern over their accuracy. Importantly, they cannot be reliably linked together to provide a single picture of New Zealand's livestock industry, limiting the ability to use advanced quantitative techniques to provide effective decision support during disease outbreaks. We recommend that a single integrated database be developed, with alignment of resources and legislation for its upkeep.

Field application of farm-food safety risk assessment (FRAMp) tool for small and medium fresh produce farms.

PubMed

Soon, J M; Davies, W P; Chadd, S A; Baines, R N

2013-02-15

The objective of this study was to develop a farm food safety-risk assessment tool (FRAMp) which serves as a self-assessment and educational tool for fresh produce farms. FRAMp was developed in Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet software using standard mathematical and logical functions and utilised a qualitative risk assessment approach for farmers to evaluate their food safety practices. The FRAMp tool has since been tested on 12 fresh produce farms throughout UK. All the farms determined that FRAMp was interesting but 17% found it too long while 25% of the farms felt the tool was too complicated. The instructions on FRAMp usage were revised and farmers were given the options to skip and select specific steps in the farm risk assessment. The end users (farmers/farm managers) determined that developing their own action plans and using it as proof of assessment for future third-party audits were most useful to them. FRAMp tool can be described as an illustrative risk ranking tool to facilitate farms to identify potential risk factors during their crop production. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Workload and awkward posture problems among small-scale strawberry farmers in Japan.

PubMed

Kumudini, Ganga; Hasegawa, Tetsuya

2009-12-01

Farmers handle heavy workloads, often in awkward postures and experiencing some work related problems. Farmers perceive them as no more than inevitable consequences of farming activities. Although many problems can be prevented or reduced by simple and inexpensive modifications to work, these problems are increasing among farmers. The main focus of the paper was to investigate workload and awkward postures among strawberry farmers and suggest possible solutions to overcome the identified problems. Questionnaires, direct observations and intertwining methods were used to collect the data. Low-level strawberry beds and long working hours were recognized as critical factors that led to farmers' health problems including suffering from low back pain, heavy fatigue, unsteady feeling after work, etc. There was a substantial increase in fatigue in busy seasons compared with slack seasons. When compared with the other workers such as office, technical, sales and blue-collar workers, female farmers' general fatigue level was considerably high. Findings indicated that strawberry farming was a stressful occupation and farmers were strained under heavy workload, monotonous and repetitive work and poor working conditions with frequent fatigue symptoms and severe influence on health.

Knowledge and anticipated attitudes of the community about bird flu outbreak in Turkey, 2007-2008: a survey-based descriptive study.

PubMed

Edirne, Tamer; Avci, Dilek Kusaslan; Dagkara, Burçak; Aslan, Muslum

2011-04-01

To determine factors associated with knowledge and anticipated attitudes to a foreseen avian influenza outbreak in a high-risk population from a Turkish remote region. A random, cross-sectional face-to-face survey of 1,046 Turkish adults. The proportion of participants concerned about contracting the virus was significantly lower amongst the less educated and rural located respondents. Significantly more rural than urban located participants declared not complying with quarantine policies and not handing out their poultry in case of an influenza outbreak. Factors associated with protective behaviours were higher level of education, urban location, not performing backyard farming of poultry, and preferring ready-to-eat products. Preparedness against bird flu endemic in remote regions could be hindered by factors, such as low levels of education and economic dependence on small-scale backyard farming. The baseline data collected in this survey will be useful in monitoring changes over time in the population's perceptions of threat, and its attitude towards compliance with specific public health recommendations.

Small Farm Insurance Act of 2013

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Rep. Welch, Peter [D-VT-At Large

2013-04-16

House - 05/03/2013 Referred to the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management. (All Actions) Notes: For further action, see H.R.2642, which became Public Law 113-79 on 2/7/2014. Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Green and profitable farming systems for the southeastern USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Although most of the farms of the southeastern USA are relatively small, they often have profit centers of livestock or high value crops. Thus, agribusiness (livestock, timber, and high value crops) is critical to the region’s economy. The region has temperatures that allow plant growth for the enti...

Model Wind Turbines Tested at Full-Scale Similarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. A.; Kiefer, J.; Westergaard, C.; Hultmark, M.

2016-09-01

The enormous length scales associated with modern wind turbines complicate any efforts to predict their mechanical loads and performance. Both experiments and numerical simulations are constrained by the large Reynolds numbers governing the full- scale aerodynamics. The limited fundamental understanding of Reynolds number effects in combination with the lack of empirical data affects our ability to predict, model, and design improved turbines and wind farms. A new experimental approach is presented, which utilizes a highly pressurized wind tunnel (up to 220 bar). It allows exact matching of the Reynolds numbers (no matter how it is defined), tip speed ratios, and Mach numbers on a geometrically similar, small-scale model. The design of a measurement and instrumentation stack to control the turbine and measure the loads in the pressurized environment is discussed. Results are then presented in the form of power coefficients as a function of Reynolds number and Tip Speed Ratio. Due to gearbox power loss, a preliminary study has also been completed to find the gearbox efficiency and the resulting correction has been applied to the data set.

An estimate of the U.S. government's undercount of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in agriculture.

PubMed

Leigh, J Paul; Du, Juan; McCurdy, Stephen A

2014-04-01

Debate surrounds the accuracy of U.S. government's estimates of job-related injuries and illnesses in agriculture. Whereas studies have attempted to estimate the undercount for all industries combined, none have specifically addressed agriculture. Data were drawn from the U.S. government's premier sources for workplace injuries and illnesses and employment: the Bureau of Labor Statistics databanks for the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, and the Current Population Survey. Estimates were constructed using transparent assumptions; for example, that the rate (cases-per-employee) of injuries and illnesses on small farms was the same as on large farms (an assumption we altered in sensitivity analysis). We estimated 74,932 injuries and illnesses for crop farms and 68,504 for animal farms, totaling 143,436 cases in 2011. We estimated that SOII missed 73.7% of crop farm cases and 81.9% of animal farm cases for an average of 77.6% for all agriculture. Sensitivity analyses suggested that the percent missed ranged from 61.5% to 88.3% for all agriculture. We estimate considerable undercounting of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in agriculture and believe the undercounting is larger than any other industry. Reasons include: SOII's explicit exclusion of employees on small farms and of farmers and family members and Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages's undercounts of employment. Undercounting limits our ability to identify and address occupational health problems in agriculture, affecting both workers and society. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The use of a geographic information system to identify a dairy goat farm as the most likely source of an urban Q-fever outbreak.

PubMed

Schimmer, Barbara; Ter Schegget, Ronald; Wegdam, Marjolijn; Züchner, Lothar; de Bruin, Arnout; Schneeberger, Peter M; Veenstra, Thijs; Vellema, Piet; van der Hoek, Wim

2010-03-16

A Q-fever outbreak occurred in an urban area in the south of the Netherlands in May 2008. The distribution and timing of cases suggested a common source. We studied the spatial relationship between the residence locations of human cases and nearby small ruminant farms, of which one dairy goat farm had experienced abortions due to Q-fever since mid April 2008. A generic geographic information system (GIS) was used to develop a method for source detection in the still evolving major epidemic of Q-fever in the Netherlands. All notified Q-fever cases in the area were interviewed. Postal codes of cases and of small ruminant farms (size >40 animals) located within 5 kilometres of the cluster area were geo-referenced as point locations in a GIS-model. For each farm, attack rates and relative risks were calculated for 5 concentric zones adding 1 kilometre at a time, using the 5-10 kilometres zone as reference. These data were linked to the results of veterinary investigations. Persons living within 2 kilometres of an affected dairy goat farm (>400 animals) had a much higher risk for Q-fever than those living more than 5 kilometres away (Relative risk 31.1 [95% CI 16.4-59.1]). The study supported the hypothesis that a single dairy goat farm was the source of the human outbreak. GIS-based attack rate analysis is a promising tool for source detection in outbreaks of human Q-fever.

Land Use Change on Coffee Farms in Southern Guatemala and its Environmental Consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haggar, Jeremy; Medina, Byron; Aguilar, Rosa Maria; Munoz, Claudia

2013-04-01

Changes in commodity prices, such as the fall in coffee prices from 2000 to 2004, affect land use decisions on farms, and the environmental services they provide. A survey of 50 farms showed a 35 % loss in the area under coffee between 2000 and 2004 below 700 m with the majority of this area (64 %) being coffee agroforest systems that included native forest species. Loss of coffee only occurred on large and medium-scale farms; there was no change in area on cooperatives. Coffee productivity declined below 1,100 m altitude for sun and Inga shade coffee, but only below 700 m altitude for agroforest coffee. Coffee productivity was 37-53 % lower under agroforests than other systems. Increases in rubber and pasture were related to low altitude large-scale farms, and bananas and timber plantations to mid-altitude farms. Average aboveground carbon stocks for coffee agroforests of 39 t C ha-1 was similar to rubber plantations, but one-third to one half that of natural forest and timber plantations, respectively. Coffee agroforests had the highest native tree diversity of the productive systems (7-12 species ha-1) but lower than natural forest (31 species ha-1). Conversion of coffee agroforest to other land uses always led to a reduction in the quality of habitat for native biodiversity, especially avian, but was concentrated among certain farm types. Sustaining coffee agroforests for biodiversity conservation would require targeted interventions such as direct payments or market incentives specifically for biodiversity.

Land use change on coffee farms in southern Guatemala and its environmental consequences.

PubMed

Haggar, Jeremy; Medina, Byron; Aguilar, Rosa Maria; Munoz, Claudia

2013-04-01

Changes in commodity prices, such as the fall in coffee prices from 2000 to 2004, affect land use decisions on farms, and the environmental services they provide. A survey of 50 farms showed a 35% loss in the area under coffee between 2000 and 2004 below 700 m with the majority of this area (64 %) being coffee agroforest systems that included native forest species. Loss of coffee only occurred on large and medium-scale farms; there was no change in area on cooperatives. Coffee productivity declined below 1,100 m altitude for sun and Inga shade coffee, but only below 700 m altitude for agroforest coffee. Coffee productivity was 37-53% lower under agroforests than other systems. Increases in rubber and pasture were related to low altitude large-scale farms, and bananas and timber plantations to mid-altitude farms. Average aboveground carbon stocks for coffee agroforests of 39 t C ha(-1) was similar to rubber plantations, but one-third to one half that of natural forest and timber plantations, respectively. Coffee agroforests had the highest native tree diversity of the productive systems (7-12 species ha(-1)) but lower than natural forest (31 species ha(-1)). Conversion of coffee agroforest to other land uses always led to a reduction in the quality of habitat for native biodiversity, especially avian, but was concentrated among certain farm types. Sustaining coffee agroforests for biodiversity conservation would require targeted interventions such as direct payments or market incentives specifically for biodiversity.

Impact of a trace element supplementation programme on health and performance of cross-breed (Bos indicus x Bos taurus) dairy cattle under tropical farming conditions: a double-blinded randomized field trial.

PubMed

Dermauw, V; Dierenfeld, E; Du Laing, G; Buyse, J; Brochier, B; Van Gucht, S; Duchateau, L; Janssens, G P J

2015-06-01

Small-scale urban dairy farms (n = 16) in and around Jimma, Ethiopia with cross-bred (Bos indicus × Bos taurus) cows were enrolled in a double-blinded intervention study to investigate the effect of a trace element supplementation programme on trace element status and milk concentrations as well as performance [body condition score (BCS), milk yield, leptin], milk composition, antioxidant status (ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS)], blood biochemistry, serum proteins and immune response (antibody titre upon rabies vaccination). The farms were allocated to a (1) placebo or (2) Cu, Zn, Se, Co and I supplementation treatment for 150 d. On days 0 and 120, four lactating cows per farm were sampled for milk and plasma, and on day 150 for serum, following primo-vaccination. Cu deficiency was present in 17% and marginal Se deficiency in 30% of initially sampled cows, while no Zn shortage was detected. Over 120 days, trace element supplementation caused a bigger increase in plasma Se and Cu concentrations, but also a larger decrease of plasma Fe concentrations. A larger increase in milk Se concentrations was observed in the supplemented group, whereas none of the other elements were affected. BCS decreased more over time in the supplemented group. None of the other parameters of performance and antioxidant status nor milk composition or blood biochemistry was affected by treatment. Antibody response to rabies vaccination did not differ between groups, whereas α1-globulins tended to be lower and β-globulins tended to be higher in the supplemented group. In conclusion, despite improved Cu and Se status and Se concentrations in milk, cows on tropical urban dairy farms did not seem to benefit from trace element supplementation, with respect to the parameters investigated. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Pathways to sustainable intensification through crop water management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacDonald, Graham K.; D'Odorico, Paolo; Seekell, David A.

2016-09-01

How much could farm water management interventions increase global crop production? This is the central question posed in a global modelling study by Jägermeyr et al (2016 Environ. Res. Lett. 11 025002). They define the biophysical realm of possibility for future gains in crop production related to agricultural water practices—enhancing water availability to crops and expanding irrigation by reducing non-productive water consumption. The findings of Jägermeyr et al offer crucial insight on the potential for crop water management to sustainably intensify agriculture, but they also provide a benchmark to consider the broader role of sustainable intensification targets in the global food system. Here, we reflect on how the global crop water management simulations of Jägermeyr et al could interact with: (1) farm size at more local scales, (2) downstream water users at the river basin scale, as well as (3) food trade and (4) demand-side food system strategies at the global scale. Incorporating such cross-scale linkages in future research could highlight the diverse pathways needed to harness the potential of farm-level crop water management for a more productive and sustainable global food system.

Evaluating use of cattle winter feeding areas by elk and white-tailed deer: implications for managing bovine tuberculosis transmission risk from the ground up.

PubMed

Brook, Ryan K; Wal, Eric Vander; van Beest, Floris M; McLachlan, Stéphane M

2013-02-01

Transmission of bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) among wildlife and livestock has created important risks for conservation and agriculture. Management strategies aimed at controlling TB have typically been top-down, regionally focused, and government-led programs that were at best only partially successful. The purpose of this study was to quantify co-mingling of elk and white-tailed deer (WTD) with cattle at multiple spatial scales (i.e., the regional farm scale and winter cattle feeding area patch) in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, to assess the potential for bovine tuberculosis transmission and identify alternative management strategies. For each spatial scale we quantified use of cattle farms by elk and white-tailed deer. We mailed questionnaires to rural households and then conducted personal interviews with 86 cattle farmers to map the spatial distribution of their cattle winter feeding areas at a fine scale. We deployed Global Positioning System (GPS) collars on 48 wild elk and 16 wild white-tailed deer from 2003 to 2011. Elk were observed on farms by 66% of cattle producers, including 5% and 20% who observed direct and indirect contact, respectively, between elk and cattle. Cattle producers consistently (≈100%) observed white-tailed deer on their farms, including 11% and 47% whom observed direct and indirect contact, respectively, between white-tailed deer and cattle. A higher probability of white-tailed deer-cattle contact at the regional scale occurs on farms that (1) left crop residues specifically for wildlife, (2) had larger cattle herds, (3) used round bale feeders, and (4) were farther away from protected areas. None of the GPS-collared elk locations overlapped with cattle winter feeding areas. In contrast, 21% of GPS-collared white-tailed deer locations overlapped with winter cattle winter feeding areas (22% of these were from male WTD and 78% were from female WTD). White-tailed deer selected cattle winter feeding areas with higher (1) forage crop, (2) grassland/rangeland, and (3) forest cover around the cattle feeding area. Farmers overall expressed strongly negative attitudes toward eradicating the elk population or fencing the park to eradicate TB, but were generally supportive of less invasive and farm-based approaches. Our results suggested that management efforts to prevent TB transmission at the wildlife-agriculture interface can be effectively implemented using a 'bottom-up' approach that focuses on practical, farm-based mitigation strategies. This approach can be implemented by individual farm operators, is relatively low cost, and is generally well supported by farmers relative to other more extreme and controversial measures like wildlife eradication. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Agricultural and Ranching area, Rio Sao Francisco, Brazil

NASA Image and Video Library

1990-12-10

STS035-73-082 (2-10 Dec 1990) --- This agricultural and ranching area, Rio Sao Francisco, Brazil (13.0S, 43.5W) has been under study for several years. See scene STS-31-92-045 for comparison. This area has many small single family subsistence farms, large square and rectangular commercial farms and pastures for livestock grazing. Over the several years of observation, the number and size of farms has increased and center-pivot, swing-arm irrigation systems have been installed.

Conditions for Adopting an Irregular Defense Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

in Indochina or in Algeria, when insurgents burned a farm , other farms and village requested protection.66 Since occupying 64 Von der Heydte, Modern...troop withdrawal from Lebanese lands in 2000. It also made a fresh demand for Israeli-occupied farms on the Golan Heights. That did not really help a...days to water a hundred sheep and goats in small groups, and the wells had to be dug by day and by night to yield water.”100 Additionally, to this

Relationship of trade patterns of the Danish swine industry animal movements network to potential disease spread.

PubMed

Bigras-Poulin, Michel; Barfod, Kristen; Mortensen, Sten; Greiner, Matthias

2007-07-16

The movements of animals were analysed under the conceptual framework of graph theory in mathematics. The swine production related premises of Denmark were considered to constitute the nodes of a network and the links were the animal movements. In this framework, each farm will have a network of other premises to which it will be linked. A premise was a farm (breeding, rearing or slaughter pig), an abattoir or a trade market. The overall network was divided in premise specific subnets that linked the other premises from and to which animals were moved. This approach allowed us to visualise and analyse the three levels of organization related to animal movements that existed in the Danish swine production registers: the movement of animals between two premises, the premise specific networks, and the industry network. The analyses of animal movements were done using these three levels of organisation. The movements of swine were studied for the period September 30, 2002 to May 22, 2003. For daily movements of swine between two slaughter pig premises, the median number of pigs moved was 130 pigs with a maximum of 3306. For movements between a slaughter pig premise and an abattoir, the median number of pigs was 24. The largest percentage of movements was from farm to abattoir (82.5%); the median number of pigs per movement was 24 and the maximum number was 2018. For the whole period the median and maximum Euclidean distances observed in farm-to-farm movements were 22 km and 289 km respectively, while in the farm-to-abattoir movements, they were 36.2 km and 285 km. The network related to one specific premise showed that the median number of premises was mainly away from slaughter pig farms (3) or breeder farms (26) and mainly to an abattoir (1535). The assumption that animal movements can be randomly generated on the basis of farm density of the surrounding area of any farm is not correct since the patterns of animal movements have the topology of a scale-free network with a large degree of heterogeneity. This supported the opinion that the disease spread software assuming homogeneity in farm-to-farm relationship should only be used for large-scale interpretation and for epidemic preparedness. The network approach, based on graph theory, can be used efficiently to express more precisely, on a local scale (premise), the heterogeneity of animal movements. This approach, by providing network knowledge to the local veterinarian in charge of controlling disease spread, should also be evaluated as a potential tool to manage epidemics during the crisis. Geographic information systems could also be linked in the approach to produce knowledge about local transmission of disease.

Organic farming enhances soil microbial abundance and activity—A meta-analysis and meta-regression

PubMed Central

Symnaczik, Sarah; Mäder, Paul; De Deyn, Gerlinde; Gattinger, Andreas

2017-01-01

Population growth and climate change challenge our food and farming systems and provide arguments for an increased intensification of agriculture. A promising option is eco-functional intensification through organic farming, an approach based on using and enhancing internal natural resources and processes to secure and improve agricultural productivity, while minimizing negative environmental impacts. In this concept an active soil microbiota plays an important role for various soil based ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, erosion control and pest and disease regulation. Several studies have reported a positive effect of organic farming on soil health and quality including microbial community traits. However, so far no systematic quantification of whether organic farming systems comprise larger and more active soil microbial communities compared to conventional farming systems was performed on a global scale. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis on current literature to quantify possible differences in key indicators for soil microbial abundance and activity in organic and conventional cropping systems. All together we integrated data from 56 mainly peer-reviewed papers into our analysis, including 149 pairwise comparisons originating from different climatic zones and experimental duration ranging from 3 to more than 100 years. Overall, we found that organic systems had 32% to 84% greater microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, total phospholipid fatty-acids, and dehydrogenase, urease and protease activities than conventional systems. Exclusively the metabolic quotient as an indicator for stresses on microbial communities remained unaffected by the farming systems. Categorical subgroup analysis revealed that crop rotation, the inclusion of legumes in the crop rotation and organic inputs are important farming practices affecting soil microbial community size and activity. Furthermore, we show that differences in microbial size and activity between organic and conventional farming systems vary as a function of land use (arable, orchards, and grassland), plant life cycle (annual and perennial) and climatic zone. In summary, this study shows that overall organic farming enhances total microbial abundance and activity in agricultural soils on a global scale. PMID:28700609

Large Eddy Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hezaveh, Seyed Hossein

Due to several design advantages and operational characteristics, particularly in offshore farms, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are being reconsidered as a complementary technology to horizontal axial turbines (HAWTs). However, considerable gaps remain in our understanding of VAWT performance since they have been significantly less studied than HAWTs. This thesis examines the performance of isolated VAWTs based on different design parameters and evaluates their characteristics in large wind farms. An actuator line model (ALM) is implemented in an atmospheric boundary layer large eddy simulation (LES) code, with offline coupling to a high-resolution blade-scale unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) model. The LES captures the turbine-to-farm scale dynamics, while the URANS captures the blade-to-turbine scale flow. The simulation results are found to be in good agreement with existing experimental datasets. Subsequently, a parametric study of the flow over an isolated VAWT is carried out by varying solidities, height-to-diameter aspect ratios, and tip speed ratios. The analyses of the wake area and power deficits yield an improved understanding of the evolution of VAWT wakes, which in turn enables a more informed selection of turbine designs for wind farms. One of the most important advantages of VAWTs compared to HAWTs is their potential synergistic interactions that increase their performance when placed in close proximity. Field experiments have confirmed that unlike HAWTs, VAWTs can enhance and increase the total power production when placed near each other. Based on these experiments and using ALM-LES, we also present and test new approaches for VAWT farm configuration. We first design clusters with three turbines then configure farms consisting of clusters of VAWTs rather than individual turbines. The results confirm that by using a cluster design, the average power density of wind farms can be increased by as much as 60% relative to regular arrays. Finally, the thesis conducts an investigation of the influence of farm length (parallel to the wind) to assess the fetch needed for equilibrium to be reached, as well as the origin of the kinetic energy extracted by the turbines.

Facilitating smallholder tree farming in fragmented tropical landscapes: Challenges and potentials for sustainable land management.

PubMed

Rahman, Syed Ajijur; Sunderland, Terry; Roshetko, James M; Healey, John Robert

2017-08-01

Under changing land use in tropical Asia, there is evidence of forest product diversification through implementation of tree-based farming by smallholders. This paper assesses in two locations, West Java, Indonesia and eastern Bangladesh, current land use conditions from the perspective of smallholder farmers, the factors that facilitate their adoption of tree farming, and the potential of landscape-scale approaches to foster sustainable land management. Data were collected through rapid rural appraisals, focus group discussions, field observations, semi-structured interviews of farm households and key informant interviews of state agricultural officers. Land at both study sites is typically fragmented due to conversion of forest to agriculture and community settlement. Local land use challenges are associated with pressures of population increase, poverty, deforestation, shortage of forest products, lack of community-scale management, weak tenure, underdeveloped markets, government decision-making with insufficient involvement of local people, and poor extension services. Despite these challenges, smallholder tree farming is found to be successful from farmers' perspectives. However, constraints of local food crop cultivation traditions, insecure land tenure, lack of capital, lack of knowledge, lack of technical assistance, and perceived risk of investing in land due to local conflict (in Bangladesh) limit farmers' willingness to adopt this land use alternative. Overcoming these barriers to adoption will require management at a landscape scale, including elements of both segregation and integration of land uses, supported by competent government policies and local communities having sufficiently high social capital. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

87Sr/88Sr a useful tool for the identification of geographic origin of Styrian pumpkin seed oils?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meisel, T.; Bandoniene, D.; Zettl, D.; Maneiko, M.; Horschinegg, M.

2012-04-01

The authenticity and the geographic origin of Styrian pumpkin seed oil (PGI) a regional specialty needs to be protected, but the current specification of this high priced product does not include the proof of origin through analytical tools. As it turns out, this and many other products within the Protected Geographical Status (PGS) framework of the European Union, cannot be protected from fraud without forensic tools. In previous studies we were able to demonstrate, that distribution and content of trace elements in particular the rare earth elements, are useful parameters to discriminate Austrian from non-Austrian pumpkin seed oils and seeds. Unlike stable isotopes ratios (C and H), the trace element patterns are not influenced by changes in weather conditions and temperature during growing and harvesting cycle. Though the study of the distribution of element traces can be used not only for the identification of the geographic origin with very useful PLS and PCA models but also can identify fraud through mixing with other oils, this method need to be validated by other means. Radiogenic isotopes, in particular the 87Sr/86Sr isotope amount ratio has been successfully applied to food and other products for forensic studies. In this study we determined the 87Sr/86Sr isotope amount ratio in pumpkin seed oils extracted from seeds of known geographic origin from Austria, Russia and China, as these are the largest producers, to see if significant differences occur and if they can be used as a forensic tool. Although the total area of the Russian and the Chinese crop fields are magnitudes larger than the ones from Austria, it turns out that the variance of the Austrian 87Sr/86Sr data is much larger than that from other sources. Reasons are the large diversity of the Austrian geology (pre-varsican, alpine to sub-recent ages of the underlying bedrock of the soils can be found), the small farm sizes and the small scale production. In Russia large farms are situated on homogeneous bedrock and are also influenced by sea spray. On the other hand, in China cooperatives collect and probably homogenize seeds from many small farms in a geologically relatively homogeneous area in China (Inner Mongolia). Through these differences expressed in geology, farm size and production type, the radiogenic strontium isotopic composition is thus a useful and complementary addition to the existing classification method based on element trace contents and patterns but it cannot substitute the existing method.

On-farm soil health evaluations: Challenges and opportunities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Interest in soil health (or soil quality) by producers, conservationists, environmentalists, agricultural scientists, policy makers and many other groups has increased exponentially during the past five years. Yet the question remains: Can soil health be measured at the field or farm scale and can t...

Certified safe farm: identifying and removing hazards on the farm.

PubMed

Rautiainen, R H; Grafft, L J; Kline, A K; Madsen, M D; Lange, J L; Donham, K J

2010-04-01

This article describes the development of the Certified Safe Farm (CSF) on-farm safety review tools, characterizes the safety improvements among participating farms during the study period, and evaluates differences in background variables between low and high scoring farms. Average farm review scores on 185 study farms improved from 82 to 96 during the five-year study (0-100 scale, 85 required for CSF certification). A total of 1292 safety improvements were reported at an estimated cost of $650 per farm. A wide range of improvements were made, including adding 9 rollover protective structures (ROPS), 59 power take-off (PTO) master shields, and 207 slow-moving vehicle (SMV) emblems; improving lighting on 72 machines: placing 171 warning decals on machinery; shielding 77 moving parts; locking up 17 chemical storage areas, adding 83 lockout/tagout improvements; and making general housekeeping upgrades in 62 farm buildings. The local, trained farm reviewers and the CSF review process overall were well received by participating farmers. In addition to our earlier findings where higher farm review scores were associated with lower self-reported health outcome costs, we found that those with higher farm work hours, younger age, pork production in confinement, beef production, poultry production, and reported exposure to agrichemicals had higher farm review scores than those who did not have these characteristics. Overall, the farm review process functioned as expected. encouraging physical improvements in the farm environment, and contributing to the multi-faceted CSF intervention program.

Regional climate model simulations indicate limited climatic impacts by operational and planned European wind farms.

PubMed

Vautard, Robert; Thais, Françoise; Tobin, Isabelle; Bréon, François-Marie; Devezeaux de Lavergne, Jean-Guy; Colette, Augustin; Yiou, Pascal; Ruti, Paolo Michele

2014-01-01

The rapid development of wind energy has raised concerns about environmental impacts. Temperature changes are found in the vicinity of wind farms and previous simulations have suggested that large-scale wind farms could alter regional climate. However, assessments of the effects of realistic wind power development scenarios at the scale of a continent are missing. Here we simulate the impacts of current and near-future wind energy production according to European Union energy and climate policies. We use a regional climate model describing the interactions between turbines and the atmosphere, and find limited impacts. A statistically significant signal is only found in winter, with changes within ±0.3 °C and within 0-5% for precipitation. It results from the combination of local wind farm effects and changes due to a weak, but robust, anticyclonic-induced circulation over Europe. However, the impacts remain much weaker than the natural climate interannual variability and changes expected from greenhouse gas emissions.

Including spatial data in nutrient balance modelling on dairy farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Leeuwen, Maricke; van Middelaar, Corina; Stoof, Cathelijne; Oenema, Jouke; Stoorvogel, Jetse; de Boer, Imke

2017-04-01

The Annual Nutrient Cycle Assessment (ANCA) calculates the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balance at a dairy farm, while taking into account the subsequent nutrient cycles of the herd, manure, soil and crop components. Since January 2016, Dutch dairy farmers are required to use ANCA in order to increase understanding of nutrient flows and to minimize nutrient losses to the environment. A nutrient balance calculates the difference between nutrient inputs and outputs. Nutrients enter the farm via purchased feed, fertilizers, deposition and fixation by legumes (nitrogen), and leave the farm via milk, livestock, manure, and roughages. A positive balance indicates to which extent N and/or P are lost to the environment via gaseous emissions (N), leaching, run-off and accumulation in soil. A negative balance indicates that N and/or P are depleted from soil. ANCA was designed to calculate average nutrient flows on farm level (for the herd, manure, soil and crop components). ANCA was not designed to perform calculations of nutrient flows at the field level, as it uses averaged nutrient inputs and outputs across all fields, and it does not include field specific soil characteristics. Land management decisions, however, such as the level of N and P application, are typically taken at the field level given the specific crop and soil characteristics. Therefore the information that ANCA provides is likely not sufficient to support farmers' decisions on land management to minimize nutrient losses to the environment. This is particularly a problem when land management and soils vary between fields. For an accurate estimate of nutrient flows in a given farming system that can be used to optimize land management, the spatial scale of nutrient inputs and outputs (and thus the effect of land management and soil variation) could be essential. Our aim was to determine the effect of the spatial scale of nutrient inputs and outputs on modelled nutrient flows and nutrient use efficiencies at Dutch dairy farms. We selected two dairy farms located on cover sands in the Netherlands. One farm was located on relatively homogeneous soil type, and one on many different soil types within the sandy soils. A full year of data of N and P inputs and outputs on farm and field level were provided by the farmers, including field level yields, yield composition, manure composition, degree of grazing and degree of mowing. Soil heterogeneity was defined as the number of soil units within the farm corrected for surface area, and quantified from the Dutch 1:50.000 soil map. N and P balances at farm and field level were determined, as well as differences in nutrient use efficiency, leaching, and N emission. We will present the effect of the spatial scale on nutrient balance analysis and discuss to which degree any differences are caused by within-farm land management and soil variation. This study highlights to which extent within-farm land management and soil variation should be taken into account when modelling nutrient flows and nutrient use efficiencies at farm level, to contribute to field-based decision making for improved land management.

Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar-farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant.

PubMed

Shik, Jonathan Z; Gomez, Ernesto B; Kooij, Pepijn W; Santos, Juan C; Wcislo, William T; Boomsma, Jacobus J

2016-09-06

Attine ants evolved farming 55-60 My before humans. Although evolutionarily derived leafcutter ants achieved industrial-scale farming, extant species from basal attine genera continue to farm loosely domesticated fungal cultivars capable of pursuing independent reproductive interests. We used feeding experiments with the basal attine Mycocepurus smithii to test whether reproductive allocation conflicts between farmers and cultivars constrain crop yield, possibly explaining why their mutualism has remained limited in scale and productivity. Stoichiometric and geometric framework approaches showed that carbohydrate-rich substrates maximize growth of both edible hyphae and inedible mushrooms, but that modest protein provisioning can suppress mushroom formation. Worker foraging was consistent with maximizing long-term cultivar performance: ant farmers could neither increase carbohydrate provisioning without cultivars allocating the excess toward mushroom production, nor increase protein provisioning without compromising somatic cultivar growth. Our results confirm that phylogenetically basal attine farming has been very successful over evolutionary time, but that unresolved host-symbiont conflict may have precluded these wild-type symbioses from rising to ecological dominance. That status was achieved by the evolutionarily derived leafcutter ants following full domestication of a coevolving cultivar 30-35 Mya after the first attine ants committed to farming.

Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar–farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant

PubMed Central

Shik, Jonathan Z.; Gomez, Ernesto B.; Kooij, Pepijn W.; Santos, Juan C.; Wcislo, William T.; Boomsma, Jacobus J.

2016-01-01

Attine ants evolved farming 55–60 My before humans. Although evolutionarily derived leafcutter ants achieved industrial-scale farming, extant species from basal attine genera continue to farm loosely domesticated fungal cultivars capable of pursuing independent reproductive interests. We used feeding experiments with the basal attine Mycocepurus smithii to test whether reproductive allocation conflicts between farmers and cultivars constrain crop yield, possibly explaining why their mutualism has remained limited in scale and productivity. Stoichiometric and geometric framework approaches showed that carbohydrate-rich substrates maximize growth of both edible hyphae and inedible mushrooms, but that modest protein provisioning can suppress mushroom formation. Worker foraging was consistent with maximizing long-term cultivar performance: ant farmers could neither increase carbohydrate provisioning without cultivars allocating the excess toward mushroom production, nor increase protein provisioning without compromising somatic cultivar growth. Our results confirm that phylogenetically basal attine farming has been very successful over evolutionary time, but that unresolved host–symbiont conflict may have precluded these wild-type symbioses from rising to ecological dominance. That status was achieved by the evolutionarily derived leafcutter ants following full domestication of a coevolving cultivar 30–35 Mya after the first attine ants committed to farming. PMID:27551065

Genetic Selection to Enhance Animal Welfare Using Meat Inspection Data from Slaughter Plants.

PubMed

Mathur, Pramod K; Vogelzang, Roos; Mulder, Herman A; Knol, Egbert F

2018-01-24

Animal health and welfare are monitored during meat inspection in many slaughter plants around the world. Carcasses are examined by meat inspectors and remarks are made with respect to different diseases, injuries, and other abnormalities. This is a valuable data resource for disease prevention and enhancing animal welfare, but it is rarely used for this purpose. Records on carcass remarks on 140,375 finisher pigs were analyzed to investigate the possibility of genetic selection to reduce the risk of the most prevalent diseases and indicators of suboptimal animal welfare. As part of this, effects of some non-genetic factors such as differences between farms, sexes, and growth rates were also examined. The most frequent remarks were pneumonia (15.4%), joint disorders (9.8%), pleuritis (4.7%), pericarditis (2.3%), and liver lesions (2.2%). Joint disorders were more frequent in boars than in gilts. There were also significant differences between farms. Pedigree records were available for 142,324 pigs from 14 farms and were used for genetic analysis. Heritability estimates for pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis, liver lesions, and joint disorders were 0.10, 0.09, 0.14, 0.24, and 0.17 on the liability scale, respectively, suggesting the existence of substantial genetic variation. This was further confirmed though genome wide associations using deregressed breeding values as phenotypes. The genetic correlations between these remarks and finishing traits were small but mostly negative, suggesting the possibility of enhancing pig health and welfare simultaneously with genetic improvement in finishing traits. A selection index based on the breeding values for these traits and their economic values was developed. This index is used to enhance animal welfare in pig farms.

Prevalence of Bovine Mastitis Pathogens in Bulk Tank Milk in China

PubMed Central

Wang, Ya Jing; Qin, Yun; Guix Vallverdú, Roger; Maldonado García, Jaime; Sun, Wei; Li, Shengli; Cao, Zhijun

2016-01-01

The objectives of this study were to estimate the herd prevalence of major mastitis pathogens in bulk tank milk (BTM) in China dairy herds, to determine the relationship between the presence of mastitis pathogens and bulk tank milk somatic cell counts (BTSCC), and to investigate the impact of different dairy cattle farming modes and region on bacterial species. BTM samples collected from 894 dairy herds in China were examined for the presence of mastitis pathogens. The Flinders Technology Associates (FTA) cards were used for BTM sample collection, storage, and transportation and bacterial DNA amplification by real-time PCR. Among contagious pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae were detected in 50.1, 92.2, and 72.3% of the 894 BTM samples, respectively. Among environmental pathogens, E. coli, Streptococcus uberis, Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Serratia marcescens, Corynebacterium bovis, and Arcanobacterium pyogenes were detected in 28.6, 8.9, 35.7, 20.0, 1.3, 17.0, and 67.2% of the BTM samples, respectively. Staphylococcal β-lactamase gene was detected in 61.7% of the BTM samples. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus and Arcanobacterium pyogenes were significantly associated with high BTSCC, respectively. Significant differences were found in presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae in BTM sampled from the small household farms, dairy-farming communities, and large-scaled dairy farms. There were significant differences in the presence of Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Arcanobacterium pyogenes, staphylococcal β-lactamase gene, Staphylococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterococcus spp., and Streptococcus uberis in BTM among Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, and Hebei province. In conclusion, contagious mammary pathogens are predominated among pathogens in BTM samples in China. PMID:27187065

A New Event Builder for CMS Run II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albertsson, K.; Andre, J.-M.; Andronidis, A.; Behrens, U.; Branson, J.; Chaze, O.; Cittolin, S.; Darlea, G.-L.; Deldicque, C.; Dobson, M.; Dupont, A.; Erhan, S.; Gigi, D.; Glege, F.; Gomez-Ceballos, G.; Hegeman, J.; Holzner, A.; Jimenez-Estupiñán, R.; Masetti, L.; Meijers, F.; Meschi, E.; Mommsen, R. K.; Morovic, S.; Nunez-Barranco-Fernandez, C.; O'Dell, V.; Orsini, L.; Paus, C.; Petrucci, A.; Pieri, M.; Racz, A.; Roberts, P.; Sakulin, H.; Schwick, C.; Stieger, B.; Sumorok, K.; Veverka, J.; Zaza, S.; Zejdl, P.

2015-12-01

The data acquisition system (DAQ) of the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) assembles events at a rate of 100 kHz, transporting event data at an aggregate throughput of 100GB/s to the high-level trigger (HLT) farm. The DAQ system has been redesigned during the LHC shutdown in 2013/14. The new DAQ architecture is based on state-of-the-art network technologies for the event building. For the data concentration, 10/40 Gbps Ethernet technologies are used together with a reduced TCP/IP protocol implemented in FPGA for a reliable transport between custom electronics and commercial computing hardware. A 56 Gbps Infiniband FDR CLOS network has been chosen for the event builder. This paper discusses the software design, protocols, and optimizations for exploiting the hardware capabilities. We present performance measurements from small-scale prototypes and from the full-scale production system.

A new event builder for CMS Run II

DOE PAGES

Albertsson, K.; Andre, J-M; Andronidis, A.; ...

2015-12-23

The data acquisition system (DAQ) of the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) assembles events at a rate of 100 kHz, transporting event data at an aggregate throughput of 100 GB/s to the high-level trigger (HLT) farm. The DAQ system has been redesigned during the LHC shutdown in 2013/14. The new DAQ architecture is based on state-of-the-art network technologies for the event building. For the data concentration, 10/40 Gbps Ethernet technologies are used together with a reduced TCP/IP protocol implemented in FPGA for a reliable transport between custom electronics and commercial computing hardware. A 56 Gbps Innibandmore » FDR CLOS network has been chosen for the event builder. This paper discusses the software design, protocols, and optimizations for exploiting the hardware capabilities. In conclusion, ee present performance measurements from small-scale prototypes and from the full-scale production system.« less

Evaluating the placement and performance of nature based measures for managing flood runoff in intensively farmed landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkinson, Mark; Quinn, Paul; Hewett, Caspar; Stutter, Marc

2017-04-01

Over the past decade economic losses from fluvial floods have greatly increased and it is becoming less viable to use traditional measures for managing flooding solely. This has given rise to increasing interest in alternative, nature based solutions (NBS) for reducing flood risk that aim to manage runoff at the catchment source and deliver multiple benefits. In many cases these measures need to work with current agricultural practices. Intensive agriculture often results in increases in local runoff rates, water quality issues, soil erosion/loss and local flooding problems. However, there is potential for agriculture to play a part in reducing flood risk. This requires knowledge on the effectiveness of NBS at varying scales and tools to communicate the risk of runoff associated with farming. This paper assesses the placement, management and effectiveness of a selection of nature-based measures in the rural landscape. Measures which disconnect overland flow pathways and improve soil infiltration are discussed. Case study examples are presented from the UK where a large number of nature-based measures have been constructed as part of flood protection schemes in catchment scales varying from 50 ha to 25 km2. Practical tools to help locate measures in agricultural landscapes are highlighted including the Floods and Agriculture Risk Matrix (FARM), an interactive communication/visualization tool and FARMPLOT, a GIS mapping tool. These have been used to promote such measures, by showing how and where temporary ponded areas can be located to reduce flood and erosion risk whilst minimising disruption to farming practices. In most cases land managers prefer small ( 100-1000m3) temporary ponding areas which fill during moderate to large storm events since they incur minimal loss of land. They also provide greater resillience to multi-day storm events, as they are designed to drain over 1-2 days and therefore allow for storage capacity for proceeding events. However, the performance of isolated temporary storage areas can be limited during extreme events. At larger scales taking a treatment train approach using a network of measures has been shown to achieve greater benefits, e.g. by reducing local flood peaks and capturing sediments. Current local scale evidence presented here has been used to inform environmental policy on the correct placement and design of flood reduction measures. Further long term data collection is required to assess the larger scale impact of these measures. These data can be used to inform scenario-based modelling approaches. By holding and attenuating runoff in rural landscapes, benefits for local flood peak reduction, water quality improvement and sediment management can be achieved. However, there is still a need to examine the sustainability of such measures through long term environmental payment schemes, considering how they could be funded across generational timescales rather than political cycles, and to monitor these measures over longer timescales and in multiple settings.

Beehive fences as a multidimensional conflict-mitigation tool for farmers coexisting with elephants.

PubMed

King, Lucy E; Lala, Fredrick; Nzumu, Hesron; Mwambingu, Emmanuel; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain

2017-08-01

Increasing habitat fragmentation and human population growth in Africa has resulted in an escalation in human-elephant conflict between small-scale farmers and free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta Africana). In 2012 Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) implemented the national 10-year Conservation and Management Strategy for the Elephant in Kenya, which includes an action aimed at testing whether beehive fences can be used to mitigate human-elephant conflict. From 2012 to 2015, we field-tested the efficacy of beehive fences to protect 10 0.4-ha farms next to Tsavo East National Park from elephants. We hung a series of beehives every 10 m around the boundary of each farm plot. The hives were linked with strong wire. After an initial pilot test with 2 farms, the remaining 8 of 10 beehive fences also contained 2-dimensional dummy hives between real beehives to help reduce the cost of the fence. Each trial plot had a neighboring control plot of the same size within the same farm. Of the 131 beehives deployed 88% were occupied at least once during the 3.5-year trial. Two hundred and fifty-three elephants, predominantly 20-45 years old entered the community farming area, typically during the crop- ripening season. Eighty percent of the elephants that approached the trial farms were kept out of the areas protected by the beehive fences, and elephants that broke a fence were in smaller than average groups. Beehive fences not only kept large groups of elephants from invading the farmland plots but the farmers also benefited socially and financially from the sale of 228 kg of elephant-friendly honey. As news of the success of the trial spread, a further 12 farmers requested to join the project, bringing the number of beehive fence protected farms to 22 and beehives to 297. This demonstrates positive adoption of beehive fences as a community mitigation tool. Understanding the response of elephants to the beehive fences, the seasonality of crop raiding and fence breaking, and the willingness of the community to engage with the mitigation method will help contribute to future management strategies for this high human-elephant conflict hotspot and other similar areas in Kenya. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Impacts of drought on grape yields in Western Cape, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araujo, Julio A.; Abiodun, Babatunde J.; Crespo, Olivier

2016-01-01

Droughts remain a threat to grape yields in South Africa. Previous studies on the impacts of climate on grape yield in the country have focussed on the impact of rainfall and temperature separately; meanwhile, grape yields are affected by drought, which is a combination of rainfall and temperature influences. The present study investigates the impacts of drought on grape yields in the Western Cape (South Africa) at district and farm scales. The study used a new drought index that is based on simple water balance (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index; hereafter, SPEI) to identify drought events and used a correlation analysis to identify the relationship between drought and grape yields. A crop simulation model (Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator, APSIM) was applied at the farm scale to investigate the role of irrigation in mitigating the impacts of drought on grape yield. The model gives a realistic simulation of grape yields. The Western Cape has experienced a series of severe droughts in the past few decades. The severe droughts occurred when a decrease in rainfall occurred simultaneously with an increase in temperature. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) appears to be an important driver of drought severity in the Western Cape, because most of the severe droughts occurred in El Niño years. At the district scale, the correlation between drought index and grape yield is weak ( r≈-0.5), but at the farm scale, it is strong ( r≈-0.9). This suggests that many farmers are able to mitigate the impacts of drought on grape yields through irrigation management. At the farm scale, where the impact of drought on grape yields is high, poor yield years coincide with moderate or severe drought periods. The APSIM simulation, which gives a realistic simulation of grape yields at the farm scale, suggests that grape yields become more sensitive to spring and summer droughts in the absence of irrigation. Results of this study may guide decision-making on how to reduce the impacts of drought on food security in South Africa.

Aesthetics at the Impasse: The Unresolved Property of Dale Farm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Lynne

2015-01-01

"Soil Depositions" was an art activist project that responded to the 2011 Irish Traveller eviction at Dale Farm in Essex when three resident women donated small amounts of soil from the site of their former home. The soil was subsequently deposited, framed and documented in various national and international locations. This article…

Not Your Family Farm: Apiculture in South-Central Montana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Miles

2012-01-01

For having such a short history within North America, the honeybee has had an unprecedented impact on American agriculture and on localized ecosystems and economies. As a form of sustainable agriculture, apiculture extends into the realms of rural economies, farm culture, and society in the Great Plains. Because it enhances crops and small-town…

NAICS Impact on Small Business Set-Asides

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

APPENDIX C. AIRFIELD DEMOLITION SOLICITATION ...............................83 APPENDIX D. HAZARDOUS AND TOXIC WASTE REMOVAL SOLICITATION...Suitability for Transfer GPE government-wide point of entry GSA General Services Administration HTW hazardous and toxic waste HUBZone...Oilseed (except Soybean) Farming $0.75 111130 Dry Pea and Bean Farming $0.75 Subsector 112 – Animal Production 112111 Beef Cattle

Longitudinal environmental sampling of small organic farms for foodborne pathogens and indicator bacteria as part of the HARVEST Initiative

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The HARVEST Initiative (Healthy Affordable Renewable Variety: Enabling Sustainable Trade) seeks to analyze farming techniques and address food security in Northeast Georgia and beyond. The popularity of farmers’ markets has increased in recent years because of an increased interest in local foods an...

Community Change and the Farm Sector: Impacts of Rural Development on Agriculture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaulieu, Lionel J.; Molnar, Joseph J.

Findings from current literature form the basis for this examination of five critical elements of change and development within the local community setting which impact on agriculture: population, employment, land, water, and environment. Renewed rural population growth during the 1970's has reversed small farm trends but placed strains on local…

76 FR 33969 - Marketing Order Regulating the Handling of Spearmint Oil Produced in the Far West; Revision of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-10

... small entities. The Far West spearmint oil industry is characterized by producers whose farming operations generally involve more than one commodity, and whose income from farming operations is not... cultural practice in the production of spearmint oil for weed, insect, and disease control. To remain...

Social capital on poultry farms in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sri Lestari, V.; Natsir; Patrick, I. W.; Ali, H. M.; Asya, M.; Sirajuddin, S. N.

2018-05-01

Social capital plays an important role in the development of poultry farms in South Sulawesi. Poultry farms consisted of laying hen and broiler farms. Most of laying hen farms were located in Sidrap Regency, while broiler farms were located in Maros regency. The aim of this research was to know social capital on beef cattle farms in South Sulawesi. Population of this research was 120 farmers which consisted of 6o were laying hen farmers and 60 were broiler farmers. Variable of social capital was mutual trust, reciprocity, shared norms and linkage. The data were collected from observation and depth interview by using questionnaire. There were 10 questions. The answer was scored by using Likert scale ranging from 1 refer to strongly agree; 2 refer to agree; 3 refer to not sure; 4 refer to disagree and 5 refer to strongly disagree. The data were analyzed descriptively using frequency distribution. The research revealed that mutual trust and shared norms members of the group in broiler farms have higher level than that on laying hen farms, on the other hand, linkage or net working members of the group among laying hen farmers has higher level than that on broiler farms.

Agricultural interventions for water saving and crop yield improvement, in a Mediterranean area - an experimental design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morianou, Giasemi; Kourgialas, Nektarios; Psarras, George; Koubouris, George; Arampatzis, George; Karatzas, George; Pavlidou, Elisavet

2017-04-01

This work is a part of LIFE+ AGROCLIMAWATER project and the aim is to improve the water efficiency, increase the adaptive capacity of tree corps and save water, in a Mediterranean area, under different climatic conditions and agricultural practices. The experimental design as well as preliminary results at farm and river basin scales are presented in this work. Specifically, ten (10) pilot farms, both organic and conventional ones have been selected in the sub-basin of Platanias in western Crete - Greece. These ten pilot farms were selected representing the most typical crops in Platanias area (olive trees and citrus trees), as well as the typical soil, landscape and agricultural practices differentiation for each crop (field slope, water availability, soil type, management regime). From the ten pilot farms, eight were olive farms and the rest two citrus. This proportion correspond adequacy to the presentence of olive and citrus crops in the extended area of Platanias prefecture. Each of the ten pilot farm has been divided in two parts, the first one will be used as a control part, while the other one as the demonstration part where the interventions will be applied. The action plans for each selected farm are based on the following groups of possible interventions: a) reduction of water evaporation losses from soil surface, b) reduction of transpiration water losses through winter pruning and summer pruning, c) reduction of deep percolation water and nutrient losses, d) reduction of surface runoff, e) measures in order to maximize the efficiency of irrigation and f) rationalization of fertilizers and agrochemicals utilized. Preliminary results indicate that water saving and crop yield can be significantly improved based on the above innervations both at farm and river basin scale.

Individual wealth rank, community wealth inequality, and self-reported adult poor health: a test of hypotheses with panel data (2002-2006) from native Amazonians, Bolivia.

PubMed

Undurraga, Eduardo A; Nyberg, Colleen; Eisenberg, Dan T A; Magvanjav, Oyunbileg; Reyes-García, Victoria; Huanca, Tomás; Leonard, William R; McDade, Thomas W; Tanner, Susan; Vadez, Vincent; Godoy, Ricardo

2010-12-01

Growing evidence suggests that economic inequality in a community harms the health of a person. Using panel data from a small-scale, preindustrial rural society, we test whether individual wealth rank and village wealth inequality affects self-reported poor health in a foraging-farming native Amazonian society. A person's wealth rank was negatively but weakly associated with self-reported morbidity. Each step up/year in the village wealth hierarchy reduced total self-reported days ill by 0.4 percent. The Gini coefficient of village wealth inequality bore a positive association with self-reported poor health that was large in size, but not statistically significant. We found small village wealth inequality, and evidence that individual economic rank did not change. The modest effects may have to do with having used subjective rather than objective measures of health, having small village wealth inequality, and with the possibly true modest effect of a person's wealth rank on health in a small-scale, kin-based society. Finally, we also found that an increase in mean individual wealth by village was related to worse self-reported health. As the Tsimane' integrate into the market economy, their possibilities of wealth accumulation rise, which may affect their well-being. Our work contributes to recent efforts in biocultural anthropology to link the study of social inequalities, human biology, and human-environment interactions.

Prevalence and risk factors for foot and mouth disease infection in small ruminants in Israel.

PubMed

Elnekave, Ehud; van Maanen, Kees; Shilo, Hila; Gelman, Boris; Storm, Nick; Berdenstain, Svetlane; Berke, Olaf; Klement, Eyal

2016-03-01

During the last decade, 27% of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Israel affected small ruminant (SR) farms. FMD outbreaks reoccur in Israel despite vaccination of all livestock and application of control measures. We performed a cross-sectional serological study, aimed at estimating the prevalence of FMD infection in SR in Israel and the possible risk factors for infection. Overall, 2305 samples of adult sheep (n=1948) and goats (n=357) were collected during 2011-14 in two separate surveys. One survey was based on random sampling of intensive management system farms and the other was originally aimed at the detection of Brucella melitensis at extensive and semi-intensive management system farms. Sera were tested by NS blocking ELISA (PrioCHECK(®)). The serological prevalence of antibodies against non structural proteins (NSP) of FMD virus was estimated at 3.7% (95% confidence interval (CI95%)=3.0% -4.5%). Additionally, a significantly lower infection prevalence (p value=0.049) of 1.0% (CI95%=0.1%-3.6%) was found in a small sample (197 sera) of young SR, collected during 2012. The positive samples from adult SR were scattered all over Israel, though two significant infection clusters were found by the spatial scan statistic. Occurrence of an outbreak on a non-SR farm within 5km distance was associated with a fifteen times increase in the risk of FMD infection of SR in the univariable analysis. Yet, this variable was not included in the multivariable analysis due to collinearities with the other independent variables. Multivariable logistic regression modeling found significantly negative associations (P value<0.05) of grazing and being in a herd larger than 500 animals with risk of infection. Grazing herds and herds larger than 500 animals, both represent farms that are intensively or semi-intensively managed. Higher maintenance of bio-safety, fewer introductions of new animals and higher vaccination compliance in these farms may explain their lower risk of infection by FMD virus. We conclude that despite the wide distribution of infection among SR farms, low farm level prevalence indicates that in Israel SR pose only limited role in the transmission and dissemination of FMD. This conclusion may be applicable for other endemic countries in which, similar to Israel, all livestock are vaccinated against FMD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Order No. 0020 for the establishment of methods of reforestation, 19 March 1987.

PubMed

1988-01-01

In light of the "Green Movement" policy and the development of the Colombia Major National Reforestation Plan, this Order establishes the following methods of promoting reforestation: 1) advice and guidance to those concerned with tree planting; 2) forestry planning for farms; and 3) grants of trees whenever possible in the proportions indicated in the Order. The Order classifies beneficiaries into small-size tree farmers (up to 20 hectares, and 80% of whose income derives from that activity); and medium- and large-scale tree farmers (more than 20 hectares). Other provisions of the Order deal with applications, dates of completion of requirements, and the actual methods of promoting reforestation. full text

Local infestation or long-distance migration? The seasonal recolonization of dairy farms by Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae) in south central Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Beresford, D V; Sutcliffe, J F

2009-04-01

Stable fly (Diptera: Muscidae) populations in south central Ontario, Canada, first occur on dairy farms in late spring, grow exponentially throughout the summer, and are frozen back each autumn. We examined the extent of overwinter persistence on 22 dairy farms in a 55- by 60-km region north of Lake Ontario that spans four climatic zones. Our overwintering sampling of larval habitat identified three farms located in the southern section of the study region as potential overwintering refugia. Using sticky trap catches to identify the timing of first spring appearance at each farm, we then tested two models of how local farm populations are reestablished annually: 1) stable flies disperse from local climatic refuges and colonize neighboring farms (the local source model); and 2) stable flies are carried into the study region by frontal weather systems (the distant source model). The timing of when stable flies first occurred at these farms supported a local source of dispersing colonists from a small proportion of local refuge farms. We discuss our results in terms of how yearly fluctuation in climate would affect refuge farm density in the region and how this, in turn, would shift the recolonization dynamic. Implications for controlling stable flies also are discussed.

Adaptation of rainfed agriculture to climatic variability in the Mixteca Alta Region of Oaxaca, Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogé, P.; Friedman, A. R.; Astier, M.; Altieri, M.

2015-12-01

The traditional management systems of the Mixteca Alta Region of Oaxaca, Mexico offer historical lessons about resilience to climatic variability. We interviewed small farmers to inquire about the dynamics of abandonment and persistence of a traditional management systems. We interpret farmers' narratives from a perspective of general agroecological resilience. In addition, we facilitated workshops in small farmers described their adaptation to past climate challenges and identified 14 indicators that they subsequently used to evaluate the condition of their agroecosystems. The most recent years presented increasingly extreme climatic and socioeconomic hardships: increased temperatures, delayed rainy seasons, reduced capacity of soils to retain soil moisture, changing cultural norms, and reduced rural labor. Farmers reported that their cropping systems were changing for multiple reasons: more drought, later rainfall onset, decreased rural labor, and introduced labor-saving technologies. Examination of climate data found that farmers' climate narratives were largely consistent with the observational record. There have been increases in temperature and rainfall intensity, and an increase in rainfall seasonality that may be perceived as later rainfall onset. Farmers ranked landscape-scale indicators as more marginal than farmer management or soil quality indicators. From this analysis, farmers proposed strategies to improve the ability of their agroecosystems to cope with climatic variability. Notably, they recognized that social organizing and education are required for landscape-level indicators to be improved. Transformative change is required to develop novel cropping systems and complementary activities to agriculture that will allow for farming to be sustained in the face of these challenges. Climate change adaptation by small farmers involves much more than just a set of farming practices, but also community action to tackle collective problems.