Showing papers in "Agricultural Systems in 2016"

TL;DR: It is found that fifteen factors are influential in convincing farmers and advisers to use decision support tools, which include usability, cost-effectiveness, performance, relevance to user, and compatibility with compliance demands.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the field of agricultural trade-off analysis, which has emerged to better understand these interactions, from field to farm, region to continent, taking a "cradle-to-grave" approach, and distill agricultural tradeoff analysis into four steps: 1) characterizing the decision setting and identifying the context-specific indicators needed to assess agricultural sustainability, 2) selecting the methods for generating indicator values across different scales, 3) deciding on the means of evaluating and communicating the tradeoff options with stakeholders and decision-makers, and 4) improving

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of increasing animal productivity using fertilizers, forage legumes, supplements and concentrates, on the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in five scenarios for beef production in Brazil.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understand factors driving adoption of conservation agriculture in smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and found that farmers are driven primarily by strong motivational factors in the key areas of current contention, namely yield, labour, soil quality and weeding time benefits.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the role that communities of practice (CoPs) of farmers play in the innovation process and found that farmers belonging to CoPs were more empowered for innovation that those working individually with expert support.

TL;DR: Using soil sensors in agriculture can fundamentally change this approach by allowing innovative bottom-up approaches that characterize local soil and environmental conditions in space and time, improving the efficiency of production to maximize farm incomes and minimize environmental side effects as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a literature review of soil ecosystem services and functions, the economic methods that have been used to value them, and values derived from various studies under different type of land use.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify entry points for innovation for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems and identify the dimensions and causes of these constraints, and intervention levels, timeframes and types of innovations needed.

TL;DR: The degree to which Bangladesh can be self-sufficient in terms of domestic maize, rice and wheat production by the years 2030 and 2050 is assessed by closing the existing gap (Yg) between yield potential (Yp) and actual farm yield (Ya), accounting for possible changes in cropland area.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the impacts of adopting fertilizer trees such as Gliricidia sepium and Faidherbia albida on household food security in Malawi.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how farmers' decision making is shaped in the context of changing climate using empirical data (face-to-face semi-structured interviews and questionnaires) on four Mediterranean farming systems.

TL;DR: In this article, a modular crop modeling framework is proposed to improve the flexibility and durability of agroforestry models by integrating them into a well-established modular crop modelling framework like APSIM.

TL;DR: In this paper, the doubled-up legume rotation (DLR) system is proposed for maize-based mixed cropping systems in which two legumes with complementary phenology are intercropped and grown in rotation with maize.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the role of organizational resources such as social capital, knowledge networks, and absorptive capacity in the adoption of agricultural innovation. But they focused on the role farm-level characteristics have with respect to the rate of innovation adoption.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantified smallholder yield gaps relative to exploitable yield levels and analyzed smallholders' production constraints to increase the productivity of oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a model to simultaneously analyse social, economic and environmental sustainability (greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ground water abstracted, energy use, costs, profit, gender, employment quality and employment quantity) to compare SRI to conventional flooded-rice production systems (control).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared two approaches for generating future climate scenarios: a "Gradual" approach, where climate projections of changes in monthly average temperature and rainfall were applied without altering the pattern of ECEs, and a "Variable" approach where monthly change projections were combined with more heatwaves, longer droughts and more extreme rainfall events to generate future scenarios with increased variability.

TL;DR: In this paper, a multi-scale crop modeling approach was introduced to assess the impacts of climate change on future rice yields in Southeast Asia, and the results showed that while a doubled application rate of nitrogen fertilizer (100 kg N ǫ − 1 ) will increase rice yields by 3.9% in the 2080s under the RCP 4.5 scenario for the Sen Pidao cultivar, a decrease in rice yield was projected for the Phka Rumduol cultivar under RCP 8.5 compared to a scenario without irrigation.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the efficiency of the PES scheme actually used in the Sicilian rural development program, based on an egalitarian criterion, and propose an alternative scheme in order to guarantee a greater equity and fairness of premium distribution in relation to soil carbon (C) sequestration potential.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a participatory modeling approach for designing integrated crop-livestock systems at the territory level in the Aveyron River basin (southwestern France), where arable farms experience significant sustainability issues due to intensive use of irrigation water and soil erosion.

TL;DR: There are large yield gaps in Sub-Saharan African sites and that substantial benefits for food production and environmental performance are possible through closing these gaps, without the need for new technology.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the response of Australian land use and agricultural production to global changes from 2013 to 2050 and found potentially large transitions in spatial and temporal patterns of land use, agricultural production, output rates, and profitability.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the diversity of goals and values among 26 Brazilian commercial-scale beef farmers previously identified as exhibiting progressive technology adoption behaviours, and considered the implications for the agricultural innovation system (AIS).

TL;DR: In this paper, a 22-year (1990-2012) time series of N recovery measures, for the entire Australian dairy industry and largest dairy producing State, Victoria, using a farm-gate N balance method and long-term farm survey data, were presented.

TL;DR: In this article, an interval linear fractional irrigation water allocation (ILFIWA) model is developed in response to the complexity of errors in estimating crop yields, fluctuating hydrological elements as well as varying economic profits in an irrigation system.

TL;DR: A finite set of indicators to inform policymaking on seed system design and monitoring is provided, and how these indicators can be used to inform current policy debates in the region is explored.

TL;DR: In this article, a new approach is used to estimate the effects of shelterbelts on crop yields while overcoming the difficulties of finding the optimal level of protection for maize fields at the regional scale.

TL;DR: In this paper, an agent-based model of farmer decision making on crop choice, fertilizer and pesticide usage using an existing economic farm optimization model was developed, and the model was gradually modified to include practical agronomic constraints and assumptions reflecting bounded rationality.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors synthesize the experiences of innovation platforms (IPs) that engaged in open-ended experimental action to improve the institutional context for smallholder farm development in West Africa.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a Regional Atmospheric Modelling System and a weather generator to generate 150 stochastic years of the present and near future climate, and implemented calibrated crop and livestock models to estimate the corresponding productive responses in the form of probability distribution functions (PDFs) under the two climatic conditions.