Records |
Author |
Allan, C.; Nguyen, T.P.L.; Seddaiu, G.; Wilson, B.; Roggero, P.P. |
Title |
Integrating local knowledge with experimental research: case studies on managing cropping systems in Italy and Australia |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Italian Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ital. J. Agron. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
15 |
Keywords |
participatory action research; agronomic research; local knowledge; knowledge integration |
Abstract |
The sustainable development of agricultural systems is currently challenged by many complex agro-environmental issues. These are characterized by an incomplete understanding of the situation and the problems that arise, and the conflicting opinions that result, issues over boundaries that are often difficult to define, and controversy over the multiple goals and uncertain outcomes. Added to these characteristics, we also have the slow and often inadequate uptake and implementation of research outcomes in this complex, real world. In order to improve sustainability of agro-ecosystems, agronomic research must move away from the linear research approaches and extension practices adopted so far that have focused purely on biophysical agro-ecosystems. The theoretical operational space of agronomic research must be transformed by considering agronomic issues as part of a broader social-agro-ecosystem. One aspect of this transformation is the inclusion of knowledge collected on a local level with the participation of farmers on the ground. The integration of local experiential knowledge with traditional agronomic research is by necessity based on the participation of many different stakeholders and there can be no single blueprint for how best to develop and use the input received. However, agronomists and policy advisors require general guidelines drawn up from actual experience in order to accelerate positive agronomic change. We address this need through a comparative analysis of two case studies; one involves multi-stakeholder research in a cropping system in the dairy district of Arborea, Sardinia, Italy. The central question was: How can high crop production be maintained while also achieving the EU target water quality and minimizing the production costs? The second case is a multi-stakeholder soil health project from south-eastern Australia. Here the central question was: How can soil decline be prevented and reversed in this district, and soils made more resilient to future challenges? The Social Learning for the Integrated Management and sustainable use of water (SLIM) framework, a useful heuristic tool for exploring the dynamics of transformational change, guided the analysis of the case studies. Within this framework, a key indicator of success is the emergence of new knowledge from the creation of new spaces for learning between researchers and local stakeholders. The Italian case study appears to have been the most successful in this sense, as opportunities for joint exploration of research data allowed new potential farming responses to the central question to emerge. The multi-stakeholder processes in the Australian case focused more on providing public openings for individual learning, and missed the opportunity for new knowledge to emerge through joint exploration. We conclude that participatory approaches may enable transformative practice through knowledge integration, but that this process is not an automatic outcome of increased community participation. |
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2039-6805 1125-4718 |
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CropM |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4482 |
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Author |
Leogrande, R.; Lopedota, O.; Montemurro, F.; Vitti, C.; Ventrella, D. |
Title |
Effects of irrigation regime and salinity on soil characteristics and yield of tomato |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Italian Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ital. J. Agron. |
Volume |
7 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
8 |
Keywords |
saline water; irrigation volume; Lycopersicon esculentum; soil solution |
Abstract |
A field experiment was conducted in Mediterranean conditions to evaluate the effects of different irrigation volumes and water quality on yield performance of tomato crop. The tomato crop was irrigated reestablishing 50 (I1), 75 (I2) and 100% (I3) of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) with two water quality: fresh water with EC 0.9 dS m-1 (FW) and saline water with EC 6 dSm-1 (SW). At harvest, total and marketable yield, weight, number, total soluble solids (TSS) and dry matter of fruit were calculated, The results showed no statistical differences among the three different irrigation volumes on tomato yield and quality. The salinity treatment did not affect yield, probably because the soil salinity in the root zone on average remained below the threshold of tomato salt tolerance. Instead, salinity improved fruit quality parameters as dry matter and TSS by 13 and 8%, respectively. After the first field application of saline water, soil saturated extract cations (SSEC), electrical conductivity of soil paste extract (ECe), sodium absorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) cations increased; the largest increase of cations, in particular of Na, occurred in the top layer. At the end of the experiment, the absolute value of SSEC, ECe and SAR, for all the effects studied, were lower than those recorded in 2007. This behavior was suitable to the reduced volumes of treatments administered in 2009 in respect to the 2007. Furthermore, the higher total rainfall recorded in 2009 increased the leaching and downward movement of salts out of the sampling depth. |
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2039-6805 |
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CropM, ftnotmacsur |
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MA @ admin @ |
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4476 |
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Author |
Bernardoni, E.; Acutis, M.; Ventrella, D. |
Title |
Long-term durum wheat monoculture: modelling and future projection |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Italian Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
Ital. J. Agron. |
Volume |
7 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
13 |
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2039-6805 1125-4718 |
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CropM, ftnotmacsur |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4468 |
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Author |
Yin, X.; Olesen, J.E.; Wang, M.; Kersebaum, K.-C.; Chen, H.; Baby, S.; Öztürk, I.; Chen, F. |
Title |
Adapting maize production to drought in the Northeast Farming Region of China |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2016 |
Publication |
European Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
European Journal of Agronomy |
Volume |
77 |
Issue |
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Pages |
47-58 |
Keywords |
Drought; Maize production; Adaptation strategies; Household characteristics; Policy support; The Northeast Farming Region of China; climate change; Jilin province; water-stress; sowing date; yield; risk; tolerance; impacts; corn; agriculture |
Abstract |
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most prominent crop in the Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR), and drought has been the largest limitation for maize production in this area during recent decades. The question of how to adapt maize production to drought has received great attention from policy makers, researchers and farmers. In order to evaluate the effects of adaptation strategies against drought and examine the influences of policy supports and farmer households’ characteristics on adopting decisions, a large scale household survey was conducted in five representative maize production counties across NFR. Our survey results indicated that using variety diversification, drought resistant varieties and dibbling irrigation are the three major adaptation strategies against drought in spring, and farmers also adopted changes in sowing time, conservation tillage and mulching to cope with drought in spring. About 20% and 18% of households enhanced irrigation against drought in summer and autumn, respectively. Deep loosening tillage and organic fertilizer are also options for farmers to resist drought in summer. Maize yield was highly dependent on soil qualities, with yields on land of high soil quality approximately 1050 kg/ha and 2400 kg/ha higher than for normal and poor soil conditions, respectively. Using variety diversification and drought resistant varieties can respectively increase maize yield by approximately 150 and 220 kg/ha under drought. Conservation tillage increased maize yield by 438–459 kg/ha in drought years. Irrigation improved maize yield by 419–435 kg/ha and 444–463 kg/ha against drought in summer and autumn, respectively. Offering information service, financial and technical support can greatly increase the use of adaptation strategies for farmers to cope with drought. However, only 46% of households received information service, 43% of households received financial support, and 26% of households received technical support against drought from the local government. The maize acreage and the irrigation access are the major factors that influenced farmers’ decisions to apply adaptation strategies to cope with drought in each season, but only 25% of households have access to irrigation. This indicates the need for enhanced public support for farmers to better cope with drought in maize production, particularly through improving access to irrigation. |
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2016-10-31 |
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1161-0301 |
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CropM, ft_macsur |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4825 |
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Author |
Schaap, B.F.; Reidsma, P.; Verhagen, J.; Wolf, J.; van Ittersum, M.K. |
Title |
Participatory design of farm level adaptation to climate risks in an arable region in The Netherlands |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2013 |
Publication |
European Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
European Journal of Agronomy |
Volume |
48 |
Issue |
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Pages |
30-42 |
Keywords |
adaptation; climate change; impact; crop production; wheat; onion; potato; sugar beet; crop production; change impacts; agriculture; variability; events; europe; model |
Abstract |
In the arable farming region Flevoland in The Netherlands climate change, including extreme events and pests and diseases, will likely pose risks to a variety of crops including high value crops such as seed potato, ware potato and seed onion. A well designed adaptation strategy at the farm level can reduce risks for farmers in Flevoland. Currently, most of the impact assessments rely heavily on (modelling) techniques that cannot take into account extreme events and pests and diseases and cannot address all crops, and are thus not suited as input for a comprehensive adaptation strategy at the farm level. To identify major climate risks and impacts and develop an adaptation measure portfolio for the most relevant risks we complemented crop growth modelling with a semi-quantitative and participatory approach, the Agro Climatic Calendar (ACC), A cost-benefit analysis and stakeholder workshops were used to identify robust adaptation measures and design an adaptation strategy for contrasting scenarios in 2050. For Flevoland, potential yields of main crops were projected to increase, but five main climate risks were identified, and these are likely to offset the positive impacts. Optimized adaptation strategies differ per scenario (frequency of occurrence of climate risks) and per farm (difference in economic loss). When impacts are high (in the +2 degrees C and A1 SRES scenario) drip irrigation was identified as the best adaptation measure against the main climate risk heat wave that causes second-growth in seed and ware potato. When impacts are smaller (the +1 degrees C and B2 SRES scenario), other options including no adaptation are more cost-effective. Our study shows that with relatively simple techniques such as the ACC combined with a stakeholder process, adaptation strategies can be designed for whole farming systems. Important benefits of this approach compared to modelling techniques are that all crops can be included, all climate factors can be addressed, and a large range of adaptation measures can be explored. This enhances that the identified adaptation strategies are recognizable and relevant for stakeholders. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
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2016-10-31 |
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1161-0301 |
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CropM |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4809 |
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