Evaluating agricultural management systems: Case study of apple orchards in Chinese Luochuan

Abstract

Agricultural management behavior is one of the core features of agricultural soil ecosystems. Poor human management may contribute to the rapid degradation of soils on a world-wide scale.Traditional management, which usually aims to maximize productivity, faces great challenges when pursuing agricultural soil health, high efficiency, and sustainable development. Evaluating the agricultural soil management system based on multiple perspectives is crucial for effectively guiding the management framework. A large number of research on agricultural management evaluation mainly focues on national and regional scales, and the evaluations are dominated by socio-economic indicators. Comprehensive evaluations at the sample scale, that incorporate specific agricultural management techniques need to be further explored.This paper establishes an agricultural management evaluation system at sample-scale based on the DSR logical framework. The capital- and labor-related indicators are used as system Drivers, technical indicators resulted from soil management and soil properties to characterize the management Status, and economic output-related indicators as system Responses. Then, a comprehensive index is calculated to inform the economic characteristics, ecological friendliness, and soil health status. As the case study, three distinct agricultural soil management systems of apple orchards in Chinese Luochuan were assessed. The results show that organic-management system is superior for excellent management skills, the conventional management system is lowest in the index due to inferior drivers and technical indicators. The green- management system is middle one. The method is useful for evaluating the soil management system in the similar agricultural areas in the world.