Showing papers in "Agricultural Systems in 2010"

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate effective reformism: strategies that innovation networks deploy to create changes in their environment in order to establish a more conducive context for the realization and durable embedding of their innovation projects.

TL;DR: In this paper, an econometric approach was combined with spatial analysis to explore the maximum attainable yield, yield gap, and efficiencies of wheat, maize, and rice production.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the cumulative energy use, ecological footprint, greenhouse gas emissions and eutrophying emissions associated with three beef production strategies as currently practiced in the Upper Midwestern United States.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present model-based scenarios of global agricultural land use in 2030, as a basis for investigating the potential for landminimized growth of world food supply through: (i) faster growth in feed-to-food efficiency in animal food production; (ii) decreased food wastage; and (iii) dietary changes in favor of vegetable food and less land-demanding meat.

TL;DR: A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to estimate whole-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production in western Canada as discussed by the authors, where the authors determined the relative contributions of the cow-calf and feedlot components to these emissions, and examined the proportion of whole farm emissions attributable to enteric methane (CH 4 ).

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a categorisation of household diversity based on a functional typology of livelihood strategies, and analyzed the influence of such diversity on current soil fertility status and spatial variability on a sample of 250 randomly selected farms from six districts of Kenya and Uganda.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of climate change on maize and beans in the East African region and concluded that the impacts of such changes can be addressed at two levels: the agricultural system and the household.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a framework based on three concepts drawn from the field of science and technology studies: technological frames, interpretative flexibility and boundary objects, which highlights the importance and value of social learning for participatory DSS development.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce an evolving framework for evaluating the design of agroecosystems based on a critical review of the literature on landscape multifunctionality and agro-ecology.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a bio-economic farm model that is generic and re-usable for different bio-physical and socioeconomic contexts, facilitating the linking of micro and macro analysis or to provide detailed analysis of farming systems in a specific region.

TL;DR: In this article, a factorial computer experiment was conducted with synthetic measurement data to compare four likelihood functions and three methods of combining likelihood values using the CERES-Maize model of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT).

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined changes in simulated potential crop yield and biomass production caused by changes in the temperature and global radiation patterns, using the Crop Growth Monitoring System (CGM) at NUTS2 level.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the water use related to two products that are typical to Italian consumers: pasta and pizza margherita, and found that the water footprint of dry pasta made in Italy amounts to 1924 l of water per kilogram of pasta.

TL;DR: In this paper, a marginal abatement cost curve was developed for crop and soil measures applicable in UK agriculture, with a reference to a cost per tonne threshold of ⩽££100/tCO2e.

TL;DR: In this article, the environmental and economic performance of five Charolais beef production systems (three specialized beef producer test cases in grassland areas and two mixed crop-livestock test cases with a more intensive production system) were assessed by coupling an economic optimization model (Opt’INRA) with a model assessing non-renewable energy (NRE) consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (PLANETE).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on irrigation water requirements and yield for sugarcane grown in Swaziland, by combining the outputs from a general circulation model (HadCM3), a sugar cane crop growth model and a GIS, and showed that current peak capacity of existing irrigation schemes could fail to meet the predicted increases in irrigation demand in nearly 50% of years assuming unconstrained water availability.

TL;DR: The analyses suggest that there is great potential for adapting wheat systems to climate change by introducing cultivars with new traits and how simulation analyses can assist plant breeders in determining which traits could be important for crop production in future climates.

TL;DR: In this article, a long-term study conducted between 2001 and 2009 with smallholder households from six villages in South Sulawesi and Central Lombok, to develop and test an approach for evaluating and increasing the adoption of cattle and forage improvement technologies.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the global environmental impacts associated with milk production on dairy farms in Portugal and identified the processes that have the greatest environmental impact by using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the development of a low cost, repeatable self-assessment process enabling community-based natural resource management groups to set priorities for building their capacity to adopt sustainable farming practices and adapt to global change.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used ISO-compliant life cycle assessment to evaluate the comparative environmental performance of high and low-profitability commodity and deep-bedded niche swine production systems in the Upper Midwestern United States.

TL;DR: In this paper, the feasibility of implementing direct-seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DMC) in a mountainous area was evaluated using simulation of rational households maximizing their income subject to food security constraints.

TL;DR: The authors provide a brief reminder of the merits of the subjectivist approach and extract some priorities for future research should there be a change of heart among at least some of the profession about the concept of subjective probability.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that formal extension services are not the only intermediaries of innovation and that local innovations take place at the initiative of farmers even in state-driven irrigation schemes.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the role of landscape attributes and infrastructure components as driving forces of agricultural expansion in the Taita Hills and found that the main factors driving the spatial distribution of new croplands were the distance to markets, proximity to already established agricultural areas and distance to roads.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the profitability of shrubs using Model of an Integrated Dryland Agricultural System (MIDAS), a bio-economic model of a mixed crop/livestock farming system and found that shrubs had the potential to increase farm profitability by an average of 24% for an optimal 10% of farm area used for shrubs under standard assumptions.

TL;DR: In this paper, the economic performance of potential bioenergy crops with the performance of current agricultural land uses is assessed by comparing the Net Present Value (NPV) of perennial crops, current rotations, and rotation schemes which include additional years of sugar beet.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used whole-farm management, nutrient budgeting/greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and feed formulation computer tools to determine the production, environmental and financial implications of intensifying the beef production of typical New Zealand (NZ) sheep and beef farming systems.

TL;DR: An integrated methodology composed of a role-playing game on land adjudication from which it is shown how geographic information systems, qualitative decision-matrix analyses, a simple rule-based model using multi-criteria evaluations (MCE), and a machine learning-based land-transformation model (LTM) can be used harmoniously to study complex socio-ecological systems.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used ordinal regression to evaluate the performance of various integrated technologies, such as push-pull and Crotalaria rotations, in 12 demonstration trials in four villages in Siaya and Vihiga districts (Kenya) and two villages in Busia (Uganda) in 2003 and 2004.