Suchergebnisse

Cane-quality management involving chemical ripening is an important component of profitable sugarcane production by large-scale commercial farmers in South Africa. For smallholder farmers (SHFs), however, sugarcane field size and adjacent alternative land-uses render conventional aerial crop-spraying methods unsuitable. The recent availability of spraying drones has created opportunities for chemical ripening to be introduced to the smallholder farmer sector. A network of demonstration trials based on strong partnerships of researchers, extension specialists and smallholder farmers, and participation by various industry stakeholders was established in 11 smallholder farmer regions. Knowledge exchange in each region involved an initial stakeholder engagement workshop, a series of practical field days during the execution of the trial, and post-trial information sharing events. The initial workshops were aimed at creating project awareness, defining the relative advantage that ripening with drones could deliver, identifying negative perceptions and potential barriers that might hinder adoption, and reaching consensus on trial methodology. Field days were focused on demonstrating the processes of maturity assessment to establish the need for chemical ripening and applying a ripener with a drone to parts of the fields. At the same time, control portions were left untreated, and assessing the efficacy of ripening benefits and harvest readiness. These demonstrations illustrated the judicious use of agrochemicals by only spraying fields suited to ripening. In-field estimates of cane yield and cane quality in the ripened and control treatments shortly before harvest, and in some cases, field production data from the sugar factories, revealed a range of improvements in recoverable crystal (ERC) due to ripening that was influenced by location and sugarcane cultivar. Although the SHFs expressed genuine interest in chemically ripening their crops with spraying drones, industry challenges will need to be addressed prior to wider adoption.

Not Available ; Rainfed agriculture with nearly 58% of the cultivated area is home to about 40% of human and 60% of livestock population in India and contributes 40% of the country's food production. Even after full realizing the full irrigation potential of the country, half of the cultivated area will continue to be under rainfed farming which highly dependent on monsoon rainfall. It is widely believed that increasing rainfall variability is likely to affect the livelihoods of millions of small and marginal farmers in the years to come. The National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) was initiated in 2011 to primarily strengthen research to address climate change and to demonstrate proven resilient practices in most climate vulnerable parts of the country. Farmer participatory technology demonstrations are being carried out since 2011-12 in 100 vulnerable districts prone to recurrent drought, floods, and extreme weather events like cyclone, heat and cold wave. Interventions broadly fall into four modules related to natural resource management (NRM), crop, livestock and fisheries production systems and capacity building. During these three years, rainfall variability such as delayed onset and prolonged breaks in monsoon was experienced in several parts of the country. A total of 1259 NRM interventions to impact resilience through in situ soil moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting and efficient recycling were demonstrated, which resulted in a significant increase in crop yields by about 20-40% even under variable rainfall situations. Short duration, drought and flood tolerant varieties in paddy, pulses and oilseeds crops were demonstrated in about 2700 ha covering 7831 farmers with adaptation gains ranging from 10 to 31% [1, 2]. Some of the climate resilient practices and technologies which have been found promising are being mainstreamed into the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), a flagship government initiative for enhancing productivity and resilience of Indian agriculture in accordance with the stated aim of the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). ; Not Available

On 23 March 1971, approximately one hundred thousand farmers protested in Brussels against the Mansholt plan. The vast majority of them were Belgian farmers who responded en masse to the ubiquitous call from the Belgian farming organisations for "No farmer in the field". This article analyses newspapers, agricultural magazines, archival records, and interviews to unravel the motivations, strategies, roles, and internal dynamics of various agricultural organisations in Belgium involved in preparing, organising, and evaluating the protest. The 1971 demonstration represents a significant turning point. It has become ingrained in collective memory, symbolising the conclusive end of an era in agriculture. Largely mobilised by major agricultural organisations and influenced by smaller, more radical groups, the protest marks the emergence of a cross-border agricultural alliance opposing substantial reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

This article explores how evaluation has been developed and expanded within the Cooperative Extension system, from the beginning of agricultural education in America in 1800 to the present day. Important periods across the history of Extension evaluation have been identified and categorized according to major themes and significant contributions of Extension individuals and organizations. Challenges for the future of evaluation within Extension are discussed.

AbstractReading two United States Department of Agriculture propaganda films, Helping the Negro Farmer (1921) and The Negro Farmer (1939) along with Maryland narrative reports, this article considers the evolution of state‐sanctioned discourse around domestic science, race and diet. The films rely on themes that construct the Negro home as a foil to a whitewashed progressive domestic front. Tasked with reforming this home, Negro female home demonstration agents participated in these films and worked as interlocutors, selling the narrative of kitchens as workshops of patriotism and civility. Yet, they also negotiated a form of domestic citizenship, crafting tactics of early Black food sovereignty despite being underfunded. This important period of African American foodways urges us to consider how agents were both framed as expert and expendable in the production of a national domestic standard.

Recent years have seen an increasing effort towards the development and adoption of sustainable crop protection strategies, especially in the EU. Several policy frameworks have been put in place including the EU framework Directive (128/EC/2009) on the sustainable use of pesticides. Consequently, all EU Member States developed National Action Plans to ensure the implementation of the general principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by all professional pesticide users starting from January 1, 2014. On the other hand, there are also difficulties related to the adoption of IPM in Europe and worldwide which seek for a better understanding of factors hindering IPM uptake. This paper presents the potential role that each actor of the food chain may have – called here stakeholders – to ensure a higher level IPM adoption in Europe. The information reported here is a summary based on several discussions held within a three-year European Research Area Network project on Coordinated Integrated Pest Management (ERA-Net C-IPM; http://c-ipm.org/).

Not Available ; Indian Farming system comprising multi-faceted dependence of nature, constraints are inevitable, Constraints in the system of agriculture are natural, which requires utmost care, caution and prevention. An understanding of these constraints will pave way in decision making by every farmer for the prospects and policy maker for further development. Hence an attempt is made to analyse the constraints of Integrated farming system (IFS) in select Agro-Climatic Zones of Karnataka State. The constraints expressed by the respondents in the order of severity were ranked using Garrett ranking technique which is used to find out the most significant constraint to be addressed in the order of priority. The present study was conducted during 2018-19 in the representative districts of selected five agro climatic zones of Karnataka State namely Dharwad-Northern Transitition zone, Tumkur - Central dry zone, Mandya- Southern dry zone, Shimoga-Hilly zone and Udupi-Coastal zone. The perusal of results from the present study revealed the major constraints in order of importance, as expressed by the respondents on the basis of mean score value which included: Lack of remunerative prices for farm produce (84.00), long working hours (76.94), High cost of inputs to take up different farm enterprises (76.84), Lack of marketing facilities and exploitation by middlemen at local level (76.69), Management of subsidiary enterprises like dairy, sheep and goat units. (74.71), Lack of proper access to information and extension services (72.77), Scarcity and high cost of labour (71.78), Monsoon fluctuations affecting production levels. (66.26), Natural resource management, in terms of water conservation and soil health (63.36), Less involvement of Youth in farming (59.66), Problems of wildlife menace, pests & diseases (58.83) and Cultural incompatibility in adopting Livestock a component in integrated farming system (58.49). The policy decisions and measures of Government towards extension initiatives for establishing model farms and organizing the awareness and training programmes on integration of different farm enterprises in one or two locations of each Panchayat union may enable the farmers of that locality to gain first-hand knowledge about various aspects of integrated farming system and help them to overcome the constraints of integrated farming system. ; UGC Fellowship

Editorials; Democracy versus autocracy; Home butchering; Livestock; Winter eggs; How pigs are lost before weaning time; Colorado Experiment Station results show that vaccination for hemorrhagic septicemia pays; Records of vaccination; Feeding sweet potato vines; Fruits and Truck; San Jose Scale; Storing turnips, beets, etc.; Farm Crops; Fall and winter plowing under war conditions; Fall plowing; Available publications; Extension circulars; Farm Bureau News Notes; Demonstration agents on the job; Missouri farm bureaus among first to federate; Russian thistle as a feed; San Juan County Farm Bureau work pays well; Objects of farm bureau; Let's swap; Home Demonstration Agent Notes; Home care of wool garments; Pastel de frijol; Galletas de avena; Torta de especia; Boys' and Girls' Club Work; The blind pig; "My little Club pig" ; Serial publication containing information on research and activities conducted at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and resources available to state residents through the College.