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Journal of the Science of Food and... Nov 2020The world needs to produce more food, more sustainably, on a planet with scarce resources and under changing climate. The advancement of technologies, computing power... (Review)
Review
The world needs to produce more food, more sustainably, on a planet with scarce resources and under changing climate. The advancement of technologies, computing power and analytics offers the possibility that 'digitalisation of agriculture' can provide new solutions to these complex challenges. The role of science is to evidence and support the design and use of digital technologies to realise these beneficial outcomes and avoid unintended consequences. This requires consideration of data governance design to enable the benefits of digital agriculture to be shared equitably and how digital agriculture could change agricultural business models; that is, farm structures, the value chain and stakeholder roles, networks and power relations, and governance. We argue that this requires transdisciplinary research (at pace), including explicit consideration of the aforementioned socio-ethical issues, data governance and business models, alongside addressing technical issues, as we now have to simultaneously deal with multiple interacting outcomes in complex technical, social, economic and governance systems. The exciting prospect is that digitalisation of science can enable this new, and more effective, way of working. The question then becomes: how can we effectively accelerate this shift to a new way of working in agricultural science? As well as identifying key research areas, we suggest organisational changes will be required: new research business models, agile project management; new skills and capabilities; and collaborations with new partners to develop 'technology ecosystems'. © 2018 The Authors. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
Topics: Agriculture; Computer Systems; Decision Making; Digital Technology; Food Supply; Humans
PubMed: 30191570
DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.9346 -
Ambio Dec 2016Policy makers and farmers need to know the status of farmland biodiversity in order to meet conservation goals and evaluate management options. Based on a review of 11... (Review)
Review
Policy makers and farmers need to know the status of farmland biodiversity in order to meet conservation goals and evaluate management options. Based on a review of 11 monitoring programs in Europe and North America and on related literature, we identify the design choices or attributes of a program that balance monitoring costs and usefulness for stakeholders. A useful program monitors habitats, vascular plants, and possibly faunal groups (ecosystem service providers, charismatic species) using a stratified random sample of the agricultural landscape, including marginal and intensive regions. The size of landscape samples varies with the grain of the agricultural landscape; for example, samples are smaller in Europe and larger in North America. Raw data are collected in a rolling survey, which distributes sampling over several years. Sufficient practical experience is now available to implement broad monitoring schemes on both continents. Technological developments in remote sensing, metagenomics, and social media may offer new opportunities for affordable farmland biodiversity monitoring and help to lower the overall costs of monitoring programs.
Topics: Agriculture; Animals; Biodiversity; Conservation of Natural Resources; Environmental Monitoring; Farms; Government Regulation; North America; Policy Making
PubMed: 27334103
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-016-0799-0 -
BioMed Research International 2015Energy crisis is receiving attention with regard to the global economy and environmental sustainable development. Developing new energy resources to optimize the energy... (Review)
Review
Energy crisis is receiving attention with regard to the global economy and environmental sustainable development. Developing new energy resources to optimize the energy supply structure has become an important measure to prevent energy shortage as well as achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in China. This study proposed the concept of energy agriculture and constructed an energy agricultural technical support system based on the analysis of energy supply and demand and China's foreign dependence on energy resources, combined with the function of agriculture in the energy field. Manufacturing technology equipment and agricultural and forestry energy, including crop or forestry plants and animal feces, were used in the system. The current status and future potential of China's marginal land resources, energy crop germplasm resources, and agricultural and forestry waste energy-oriented resources were analyzed. Developing the function of traditional agriculture in food production may promote China's social, economic, and environmental sustainable development and achieve energy saving and emission reduction.
Topics: Agriculture; China; Natural Resources; Renewable Energy
PubMed: 25874229
DOI: 10.1155/2015/824965 -
PeerJ 2023Plant biomass is a commonly used metric to assess agricultural health and productivity. Removing plant material is the most accurate method to estimate plant biomass,...
REASON FOR DOING THE WORK
Plant biomass is a commonly used metric to assess agricultural health and productivity. Removing plant material is the most accurate method to estimate plant biomass, but this approach is time consuming, labor intensive, and destructive. Previous attempts to use indirect methods to estimate plant biomass have been limited in breadth and/or have added complexity in data collection and/or modeling. A cost-effective, quick, accurate, and easy to use and understand approach is desirable for use by scientists and growers.
OBJECTIVES
An indirect method for estimating plant biomass using a drop-plate meter was explored for use in broad array of crop systems.
METHODS
Drop-plate data collected by more than 20 individuals from 16 crop types on 312 farms across 15 states were used to generate models to estimate plant biomass among and within crop types.
RESULTS
A linear model using data from all crop types explained approximately 67% of the variation in plant biomass overall. This model performed differently among crop types and stand heights, which was owed to differences among sample sizes and farming between annual and perennial systems. Comparatively, the model using the combined dataset explained more variance in biomass than models generated with commodity specific data, with the exception of wheat.
CONCLUSIONS
The drop-plate approach described here was inexpensive, quick, simple, and easy to interpret, and the model generated was robust to error and accurate across multiple crop types. The methods met all expectations for a broad-use approach to estimating plant biomass and are recommended for use across all agroecosystems included in this study. While it may be useful in crops beyond those included, validation is suggested before application.
Topics: Humans; Biomass; Agriculture; Farms; Crops, Agricultural; Triticum
PubMed: 37547713
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15740 -
Globalization and Health Jan 2020Unhealthy foods and tobacco remain the leading causes of non-communicable disease (NCDs). These are key agricultural commodities for many countries, and NCD prevention... (Review)
Review
Unhealthy foods and tobacco remain the leading causes of non-communicable disease (NCDs). These are key agricultural commodities for many countries, and NCD prevention policy needs to consider how to influence production towards healthier options. There has been little scholarship to bridge the agriculture with the public health literature that seeks to address the supply of healthy commodities. This scoping review synthesizes the literature on government agricultural policy and production in order to 1) present a typology of policies used to influence agricultural production, 2) to provide a preliminary overview of the ways that impact is assessed in this literature, and 3) to bring this literature into conversation with the literature on food and tobacco supply.This review analyzes the literature on government agricultural policy and production. Articles written in English and published between January 1997 and April 2018 (20-year range) were included. Only quantitative evaluations were included. Studies that collected qualitative data to supplement the quantitative analysis were also included. One hundred and three articles were included for data extraction. The following information was extracted: article details (e.g., author, title, journal), policy details (e.g., policy tools, goals, context), methods used to evaluate the policy (e.g., outcomes evaluated, sample size, limitations), and study findings. Fifty four studies examined the impact of policy on agricultural production. The remaining articles assessed land allocation (n = 25) (e.g., crop diversification, acreage expansion), efficiency (n = 23), rates of employment including on- and off-farm employment (n = 18), and farm income (n = 17) among others. Input supports, output supports and technical support had an impact on production, income and other outcomes. Although there were important exceptions, largely attributed to farm level allocation of labour or resources. Financial supports were most commonly evaluated including cash subsidies, credit, and tax benefits. This type of support resulted in an equal number of studies reporting increased production as those with no effects.This review provides initial extrapolative insights from the general literature on the impact of government policies on agricultural production. This review can inform dialogue between the health and agricultural sector and evaluative research on policy for alternatives to tobacco production and unhealthy food supply.
Topics: Agriculture; Government; Humans; Policy; Research
PubMed: 31959213
DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-0542-2 -
Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical... 2009Water is vital to food production: every calorie of plant food requires at least one litre of water, while one calorie of meat or dairy product can require up to 10... (Review)
Review
Water is vital to food production: every calorie of plant food requires at least one litre of water, while one calorie of meat or dairy product can require up to 10 litres of water. Water is supplied either through rainfall or through irrigation. Irrigated agriculture uses 18 per cent of agricultural land, and produces 40 per cent of agricultural products. But urbanisation, agricultural land degradation, the mandating of biofuels, drought and climate change are reducing the amount of water available to agriculture. The green revolution of last century doubled cereal production with only a very small increase in land. This century we need a blue revolution, a dramatic increase in the amount of food produced from irrigation or blue water. The blue revolution must be based on knowledge, with that knowledge accessible, and useful, to farmers in both the developed and developing world.
Topics: Agriculture; Animals; Australia; Climate Change; Environment; Food Supply; Green Chemistry Technology; Health Status; Humans; Water; Water Supply
PubMed: 19965339
DOI: No ID Found -
BMC Plant Biology Nov 2021Since the World's population is increasing, it's critical to boost agricultural productivity to meet the rising demand for food and reduce poverty. Fertilizers are...
BACKGROUND
Since the World's population is increasing, it's critical to boost agricultural productivity to meet the rising demand for food and reduce poverty. Fertilizers are widely used in traditional agricultural methods to improve crop yield, but they have a number of negative environmental consequences such as nutrient losses, decrease fertility and polluted water and air. Researchers have been focusing on alternative crop fertilizers mechanisms to address these issues in recent years and nanobiofertilizers have frequently been suggested. "Nanophos" is a biofertilizer and contains phosphate-solubilising bacteria that solubilises insoluble phosphate and makes it available to the plants for improved growth and productivity as well as maintain soil health. This study evaluated the impact of nanophos on the growth and development of maize plants and its rhizospheric microbial community such as NPK solubilising microbes, soil enzyme activities and soil protein under field condition after 20, 40 and 60 days in randomized block design.
RESULTS
Maize seeds treated with nanophos showed improvement in germination of seeds, plant height, number of leaves, photosynthetic pigments, total sugar and protein level over control. A higher activity of phenol, flavonoid, antioxidant activities and yield were noticed in nanophos treated plants over control. Positive shift in total bacterial count, nitrogen fixing bacteria, phosphate and potassium solubilizers were observed in the presence of nanophos as compared to control. Soil enzyme activities were significantly (P < 0.05) improved in treated soil and showed moderately correlation between treatments estimated using Spearman rank correlation test. Real time PCR and total soil protein content analysis showed enhanced microbial population in nanophos treated soil. Obtained results showed that nanophos improved the soil microbial population and thus improved the plant growth and productivity.
CONCLUSION
The study concluded a stimulating effect of nanophos on Zea mays health and productivity and indicates good response towards total bacterial, NPK solubilising bacteria, soil enzymes, soil protein which equally showed positive response towards soil nutrient status. It can be a potential way to boost soil nutrient use efficiency and can be a better alternative to fertilizers used in the agriculture.
Topics: Agriculture; Crop Production; Microbiota; Soil; Soil Microbiology
PubMed: 34749648
DOI: 10.1186/s12870-021-03298-7 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... May 2013
Review
Topics: Agriculture; Conservation of Natural Resources; Ecosystem; Humans
PubMed: 23671123
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208054110 -
International Journal of Molecular... Feb 2024The worldwide agricultural system confronts a significant challenge represented by the increasing demand for food in the face of a growing global population. This... (Review)
Review
The worldwide agricultural system confronts a significant challenge represented by the increasing demand for food in the face of a growing global population. This challenge is exacerbated by a reduction in cultivable land and the adverse effects of climate change on crop yield quantity and quality. Breeders actively embrace cutting-edge omics technologies to pursue resilient genotypes in response to these pressing issues. In this global context, new breeding techniques (NBTs) are emerging as the future of agriculture, offering a solution to introduce resilient crops that can ensure food security, particularly against challenging climate events. Indeed, the search for domestication genes as well as the genetic modification of these loci in wild species using genome editing tools are crucial steps in carrying out de novo domestication of wild plants without compromising their genetic background. Current knowledge allows us to take different paths from those taken by early Neolithic farmers, where crop domestication has opposed natural selection. In this process traits and alleles negatively correlated with high resource environment performance are probably eradicated through artificial selection, while others may have been lost randomly due to domestication and genetic bottlenecks. Thus, domestication led to highly productive plants with little genetic diversity, owing to the loss of valuable alleles that had evolved to tolerate biotic and abiotic stresses. Recent technological advances have increased the feasibility of de novo domestication of wild plants as a promising approach for crafting optimal crops while ensuring food security and using a more sustainable, low-input agriculture. Here, we explore what crucial domestication genes are, coupled with the advancement of technologies enabling the precise manipulation of target sequences, pointing out de novo domestication as a promising application for future crop development.
Topics: Domestication; Plant Breeding; Crops, Agricultural; Agriculture; Gene Editing
PubMed: 38397047
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25042374 -
Scientific Reports May 2023Pluriactivity is a livelihood strategy in line with rural resilience. It is a phenomenon of farming in conjunction with other gainful activities. In pluriactivity, the...
Pluriactivity is a livelihood strategy in line with rural resilience. It is a phenomenon of farming in conjunction with other gainful activities. In pluriactivity, the desire and motivation of setting up an extra business and taking necessary actions are crucial. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to identify the underlying components of pluriactive paddy farmers' motivation and also the factors affecting them. The study was implemented based on the quantitative data obtained from 182 pluriactive paddy farmers. The results of the exploratory factor analysis accentuated that there are three components in each of the pull and push typologies. The components related to pull motivation included personal aspirations and pursuit (C1), proper conditions and facilities (C2) and growth and service markets (C3). Likewise, the components related to push motivation included financial status and job creation improvement (C4), uncertainty and risk mitigation (C5) and paddy farming economic enhancement (C6). Also, it was revealed that two motivational components of personal aspirations and pursuits (C1) and financial status and job creation improvement (C4) are attributed to paddy farmer's age of the pluriactivity initiation and also the farm size variables. It is imperative to consider both pull and push strategies in directing paddy farmers towards extension and development of pluriactivity in rural areas to enable farmers achieve sustainable livelihood in line with rural resilience.
Topics: Humans; Farmers; Motivation; Agriculture; Farms; Cognition
PubMed: 37210570
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35368-1