Agrarian System Research Articles

FPGA based intelligent embedded system for predicting the productivity using fuzzy logic

This work focuses on developing an intelligent embedded fuzzy decision support system (IEFDSS) in agriculture. The Intelligent Decision Support System (DSS) can manage and ensure the required minimum returns for farmers. Unlike other agricultural intelligent systems, the FPGA device is used as the computing architecture design framework for the proposed intelligent agrarian system. In this proposed system, a fuzzy logic used hardware module provides future productivity and recommendations. The status quo separated by such requests is based on international standards and the challenges faced by the field experts. Therefore, this has been developed into an IEFDSS and transformed into the Register Transfer Level (RTL) netlist using Xfuzzy. The proposed approach has been thoroughly tested at ground level, and designed structural test results have made significant improvements compared to the lack of proper technique. The experiment's results show that the accuracy is 96% higher than the present methods.

Crop manuring on the Beauce plateau (France) during the second iron age

The studied area on the Beauce plateau (France) was densely inhabited during the Iron Age and several archaeological excavations have enriched our knowledge of agrarian systems during this period. This study investigates fertilisation management between 400 and 80 BCE focusing on numerous crop storage remains from three neighbouring farms. We sampled 18 cereal groups with 50 grains to conduct stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses commonly used for reconstructing past agricultural practices, in particular δ15N as a proxy for manuring.The δ15N values range between 1.3‰ and 7.6‰, with an increase over time from 3.2‰ to 5.6‰ (mean by occupation phase), reflecting a continuous use of manure, consistent with the dynamism of agricultural activities during the Second Iron Age. All three farms seem to have applied the same manuring strategies. Barley and emmer may have been manured more often than free-threshing wheats, even when free-threshing wheats are the dominant crop. This contrasts with the neighbouring Ile-de-France region and indicates diversity in agropastoral systems between regions. The analysis of several grain groups from the same silo shows diversified δ15N values between crops, reflecting various manuring rates: some fields were fertilised while others were less so. This is consistent with the description of a large-scale farming system, with a large cultivated area and a mosaic landscape.

Towards Inclusive Indonesian Forestry: An Overview of a Spatial Planning and Agrarian Perspective

Forest area is the largest and most important part of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia but still faces many challenges, including deforestation, forest fires, peat swamp degradation and poverty of local communities due to horizontal and vertical forestry conflicts. This paper focuses on the analysis of forestry development based on spatial planning and agrarian perspective by conveying various facts. A single and centralistic authority over forest areas does not provide an effective basis for sustainable resource governance. There is a dualism of spatial and agrarian planning system namely between forest areas and non-forest areas. It should be integrated by mainstreaming inclusive collaborative management. We recommend promoting forest areas' arrangement under the control of an integrated spatial planning system for the people's greatest possible prosperity, including forestry management principles and objectives. Rationalisation of forest allocation (spatial pattern plan), which the optimum forest allocation must be viewed from the perspective of the overall spatial balance (both forest and non-forest areas, and between protected and cultivated areas) to provide land for food production, social welfare and environmental functions. Forestry implementation needs to consider the principles of economies of scale and prioritise benefits for local communities living bordering forests areas, especially for food cultivation areas. The government should commit to allocating at least 15 million ha inclusively by prioritising landless farmers and smallholder farmers. Increasing community participation in forest area utilisation and functions is pursued through increasing forest access for the community (social forestry and other schemes) without neglecting conservation functions.

The Collapse of a Collective Society: Teuchitlán in the Tequila Region of Jalisco, Mexico

Cross-cultural research on ancient societies demonstrates that collective social formations tend to experience a more sudden collapse with relatively catastrophic effects compared to formations low in collectivity. The demise of collective formations often involves more pronounced social unrest and a more complete disintegration of the agrarian and sociopolitical systems. This article further probes this general finding using the case of Teuchitlán, in the Tequila region of Jalisco, Mexico, which lasted for ~700 years, from 350 B.C.E. to about 450/500 C.E., when it suddenly disappeared. It was characterized by power-sharing among multiple groups whose leaders employed varied political strategies. Structurally, Teuchitlán aligns with some of the precepts of collective action and good government, as it was inwardly focused and placed great emphasis on the joint production of the polity's resources, especially agriculture, as well as the equitable distribution of benefits, such as community feasting and ritual, and some form of political participation or voice (e.g., power-sharing). Scholars working in the area have invoked various environmental factors, demographic movements, natural disasters, the collapse of central places, and a breakdown in trade connections, among others, as causes of Teuchitlán's disintegration—and the answer may indeed lie in a combination of these phenomena. This article explores the major shifts in the institutions that comprised Teuchitlán, thereby presenting an alternative view of its nature and disappearance. Settlement patterns, architectural differences, ceramic decoration and vessel forms, and lithic technology from the period following Teuchitlán's collapse suggest major changes in ideology, economy, and politics. The placement of large centers along trade routes, coupled with increased control of interregional exchange, indicates a shift toward direct, discretionary control of polity revenues by political leaders with little benefit for the populace. As part of these changes, the human landscape became more ruralized. Teuchitlán is comparable to other well-known cases in the world where more collective forms of political organization met a similar fate, such as Chaco Canyon (Southwest USA), Jenne-jeno (Mali), and the Indus Civilization.

Peasant strategies for the use and conservation of native corn in Juchitepec, Estado de México

Objective: To determine the evolution that native corn has had in the municipality of Juchitepec, as well as to describe and analyze the strategies that peasants families are currently implementing for its use and conservation. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was carried out with 20 peasants in the municipality of Juchitepec, chosen from a random sample obtained from the register of the Producción para el Bienestar program. Additionally, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants, in order to identify the most important issues around corn in the region. Results: An elderly population was found (=61), but with some young people working decisively in its production units. Seventy-five percent own less than 6 ha, mostly communal land property. Eighty-nine percent of the farmers interviewed continue to grow native corn. They achieve this by adapting their practices and knowledge to the soil and climate conditions of their plots, modifying, for example, the sowing date, the variety or species cultivated, and the place of cultivation. Seventeen percent grow hybrid corn. Two native varieties have recently been introduced as a strategy to obtain greater profitability: ancho and cacahuacintle. Some practices are being modified based on the equipment and the economic resources available, such as the “de dos” labor that only 50% of the farmers carry out. Eighty percent do not have agricultural equipment. The use of chemical fertilizers and herbicides is widespread. The sale of corn husks is an economically important activity. Peasants frequently exchange seeds, usually with other members of their own community. The Ozumba market represents a vitally important marketing channel for native corn. The guaranteed prices established in 2019 were low for this type of corn. Peasants are not formally organized for corn cultivation. Sixty-five percent consider themselves peasants. Study limitations/implications: The study of local agrarian systems with a focus on peasant strategies should contemplate acting under different circumstances, preferably in several work cycles, to better understand their adaptability. Findings/conclusions: Native corn survives in the region, preserved in a socio-productive system based on peasant knowledges, strategies and socio-technical practices that enable its reproduction and recreation. Peasant strategies for the cultivation and use of these corns strengthen their conservation.

Supply of labour during early industrialisation: Agricultural systems, textile factory work and gender in Japan and India, ca. 1880–1940

This article explores the reasons behind the marked differences in the gender division of labour in the emerging textile factories in Japan and India in the first half of the twentieth century. In Japan, the overwhelming majority of the workers in spinning mills were young, unmarried women, while in India men—married as well as unmarried—formed the bulk of the factory textile workforce. We argue that variations in agrarian systems and labour regimes constitute an important set of factors explaining some of these differences in gender patterns. The structural differences in the productivity, intensity and the social organisation of labour in agricultural economies in both countries led to notable variances in the gender composition of the supply of (rural) labour for the factories. Differential deployment of rural farm and non-farm labour, in combination with distinct labour recruitment practices in the countryside, caused rural households to adopt radically different income-generating strategies.

The Impact of Modernizing Transformations on the Development of the Education System of the Steppe Region and Turkestan in the 1880s–1910s

The Central Asian region of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries is of interest from the point of view of modernizing transformations, which had specifics in connection with the geographical location, the composition of the population, the position within the Empire. Traditionally, modernization is considered as a set of indicators, primarily as a transition from an agrarian system to an industrial one. However, researchers highlight the socio-cultural context of modernization, including the education system. It is sometimes attributed to the spiritual aspect of modernization. Education, as a modernization indicator, is secondary, but it is associated with many socio-economic factors. The purpose of the study is to analyze the development of the education system of the Central Asian region of the Russian Empire in the context of modernizing transformations. As a result of the study, it was found out that the Russian authorities sought to systematically modernize the outlying territories. This can be seen in the example of the reorganization of the network of educational institutions. In particular, the formation of the education system for the indigenous population of the Steppe Region and Turkestan was thoughtful, with a focus on trends in changes in traditional society, in the context of socio-economic transformations, including the agricultural and industrial sectors of the economy. The article may be of interest to specialists studying the Central Asian region of the Russian Empire, as well as the development of the Russian education system.

Intangible Heritage and Territorial Identity in the Multifunctional Agrarian Systems of Vineyards in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain)

Vine cultivation has a strong territorial character derived from the environmental, social, cultural and economic interactions with the space in which the vines are grown. In Spain, this activity is clearly representative of Mediterranean agrarian landscapes, where vineyards have a dynamic and multifunctional character, as a consequence of the social and economic processes that they have always incorporated. This character is also complex as it has natural and anthropic components. The links between vineyards and territories drive the configuration of identity-based feelings in local communities, which identify with the work, rituals and symbols that are present in the production and manufacturing processes. Therefore, territorial identity is a strategic key for the necessary revalorisation of endogenous resources, and it is a factor of territorial development, as well as an element that is needed to reaffirm the multifunctional character of the winemaking system. The aim of this paper is to study these kinds of identity-based elements in the vineyards of Castilla-La Mancha, the main wine production region in Spain, emphasising the elements that are related to intangible heritage, and specifically, their roles in festivals and folklore, which reinforce the territorial and multifunctional character of agrarian land use. In other words, not only do these factors promote the education and awareness of local cultures about the values of their territory from a heritage perspective, but they also have potential as tourist attractions, which can promote economic diversification of agricultural activities in the recent debates between productivism and post-productivism.

The Current Needs of the Agrarian System in the South-East Region

The Current Needs of the Agrarian System in the South-East Region

Formation of state-legal bases the Soviet agrarian system (1917 - the second half of the 1930s): a review of research

The article examines the formation of the state-legal bases of the Soviet agrarian system. The foundations of the agrarian system of the USSR were enshrined in constitutions and other acts of constitutional significance. Many problems of the modern village are rooted in the Soviet era and are associated with collectivization and the organization of collective farms as components of the administrative and command system, which had a negative impact on law, economy and society. Therefore, the study of these patterns creates conditions for the development of mechanisms for effective state-legal regulation of agricultural and related public relations.

ЛИЧНОЕ ПРИУСАДЕБНОЕ ХОЗЯЙСТВО РАБОЧИХ И СЛУЖАЩИХ СИБИРИ В 1930-е гг.: ДИНАМИКА И ТЕНДЕНЦИИ РАЗВИТИЯ

Formation of a new model of agrarian system was the result of mass collectivization in the USSR. Collective farms were its organizational and production basis. The second largest sector of agriculture in terms of production potential consisted of personal household plots. They were main producers of potatoes, vegetables and milk, and a significant part of meat products. Soviet and Russian historiography has paid main attention to the study of the personal plots of collective farmers, overlooking the dynamics of personal plots of workers and employees. The author of the article reconstructs factors and trends of development of personal household plots of workers and employees in Siberia in the 1930s. It was found that in the early 1930s the size of personal plots of this category of population was minimal. State farm workers were prohibited from personal farming, and personal household plots of other categories of workers and employees were taxed at the rates of individual farmers. After the 1932–1933 mass famine, several restrictions on the development of personal household plots were canceled. Level of its taxation was decreased. Liberalization of state policy and an increasing part of workers and employees in population of the region led to a rapid growth in production potential of their personal plots. Development rate of workers and employees’ personal plots was higher than that of collective farmers. In the late 1930s a campaign took place to limit the size of personal household plots. Taxation was increased. This led to decline in the personal sector of agricultural economy.

Теоретико-методологічні засади розвитку сільськогосподарської кооперації в розбудові аграрного устрою України

The purpose of the article is to generalize, systematize and deepen the theoretical and methodological principles of the elaboration of agricultural cooperation in the development of the agrarian system of Ukraine. The role and place of cooperation in the system of social organization of labor is researched. It is displayed that cooperation is an objective prerequisite for integration, and the division of labor itself causes its necessity. In institutional theory, the choice between free market transactions and full vertical coordination for economic agents is caused by market conditions, allocative efficiency of resource allocation and their minimum cost. The dynamics and state of development of agricultural cooperation in Ukraine are analyzed. An approximate three-level scheme of the national agricultural cooperative system is developed. At the first level of the hierarchy, agricultural cooperatives and cooperative associations should be located, at the second – regional unions (associations) of agricultural cooperatives, at the third – the All-Ukrainian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives. Under such a cooperative system, the principles of centralized and decentralized management are optimally combined, the self-government of cooperatives and compliance with the principles of cooperation are ensured. Based on the three-level scheme of the national agricultural cooperative system, the conceptual principles for the development of cooperative relations in agriculture at the regional level are substantiated. At this, management functions are retained by the cooperative association, which includes agricultural enterprises, farms and households belonging to the country’s residents, consulting services and support are provided by the regional advisory service, and the distribution of funds is carried out by a credit union founded by members of this cooperative association. A model of elaborating the cooperative relations in the agricultural sector of the economy with the participation of households and small commodity producers is proposed, which provides for the creation of a consumer agricultural cooperative. In case of deepening the integration of a consumer cooperative with another production, processing or sales enterprise of the agricultural sector of the economy, the cooperative model is transformed into a cooperative-integrated one, while maintaining the advantages of cooperation and receiving additional organizational and economic benefits from integration.

ECONOMIA AGRÍCOLA: UM ESTUDO SOBRE A AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR NAS COMUNIDADES RURAIS DA CIDADE DE CEDRO, NO CEARÁ

This work aims to verify the effects on the production and commercialization of agricultural products from the creation of family farming fairs in rural communities in the city of Cedro-CE in the year 2021. Methodologically, the results were obtained through data primary data with the application of a semi-structured questionnaire to the exhibitors of the family agriculture fairs, and secondary data. Data analysis was based on the methodological contributions present in the Diagnosis of Agrarian Systems (DAS) and Participatory Rural Diagnosis (DRP). According to the results, the socioeconomic profile shows that most exhibitors are over 50 years old. The conclusion of the research indicates the need for new projects that contribute and strengthen the economic and social aspects of the exhibitors of fairs in rural communities in the city of Cedro-CE.

Triggering resistance: Contesting the injustices of solar park development in India

The development of large-scale solar parks has reignited contestations over land and resources in rural India. Land acquisition for the Gujarat Solar Park and the Kurnool Solar Park has altered relations of production in adjacent agrarian systems and (re)produced social power asymmetries. Drawing on mixed methods fieldwork, this study is motivated by the following research question: How do dispossessed peasants resist solar park development? Resistance ‘from below’ takes diverse forms, such as protests, blockades, sabotage, lawsuits, acquiescence and suicide. Solar park developers engage in various corporate social responsibility schemes designed to pacify discontentment and institutionalize the support of peasants who were dispossessed of land and livelihoods. In effect, these social schemes ‘render technical’ the legitimate political claims of residents. This research complicates essentialized notions of unified peasant resistance in the face of agrarian transformation for climate change mitigation.

Multilevel environmental assessment of regional farming activities with Life Cycle Assessment: Tackling data scarcity and farm diversity with Life Cycle Inventories based on Agrarian System Diagnosis

CONTEXTPolicymakers still lack methods to assess the environmental impacts of agriculture at regional scales. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is renowned in assessing the environmental footprint of economic activities; however, it has to be adapted to be of use for this purpose. OBJECTIVEOur objective is to develop a methodology to carry out relevant LCA of agricultural productions at the regional scale, and to address, in particular, two major challenges which are sources of uncertainties in LCA, i.e., data scarcity and farming system diversity. METHODSWe introduce an innovative method for building Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) of agricultural regions, capable of capturing farming system diversity in the context of data scarcity. It combines LCA with Agrarian System Diagnosis (ASD), which has been adapted to meet the heavy data requirements of the LCI step. This method, which we named “ASD-based LCI”, was applied to the semi-arid irrigated plain of Kairouan in Tunisia.After ASD is carried out, a typology of farming systems is built using different data sources: literature review and ASD-based data (e.g., historical and landscape analysis, interviews). This paves the way for a stratified sampling of farms, after which each selected farm is studied in-depth, through field visits and extensive interviews, to collect activity data, i.e., data related to energy and material input and output flows (e.g., manure, seeds, electricity) at the crop / livestock level. The data set quality is improved by filling remaining data gaps using various approaches, e.g., analogy, crop modelling, or expert knowledge. The effect of stratified sampling and data gap filling on uncertainty reduction is evaluated using the pedigree matrix approach and the “uncertainty factor” (UF) which determines the uncertainty interval around the mean of any LCI data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSNine farming systems - including three “corporate agriculture”, five “family agriculture” and one “landless farmer” archetypes - and seventy cropping and livestock systems were characterized. The pedigree matrix approach showed that - with regards to statistics-based data- the uncertainty interval could be reduced twofold, and by a multiple of four with ASD-based LCI, without or with extrapolation, respectively. SIGNIFICANCENot only has the ASD-based LCI method proven powerful when building LCI in agriculture at the regional scale with reduced uncertainty, but it is also suited to the quantification of material flow exchanges within the farm and across farms, which is of valuable service when assessing agroecological productions, which promotes circularity.

PHENOMENON OF AGRARIAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR: SPECIFICITY OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE

The purpose of the article is to analyze conceptual approaches in understanding the process of implementing agrarian policy in the USSR in the period 19221991. The research strategies that have developed in modern Russian historiography in recent decades and reveal the content of radical transformation of the agrarian system in the USSR are examined in this article. An assessment of comparability (the possibility of conducting a comparative analysis) of various methodological approaches and criteria for constructing concepts is described. The theses about the preservation or break of the historical continuity in the choice of the civilizational perspective, as well as on the methods and means of achieving the goal were recognized as key. It is concluded that it is necessary to move to the level of interdisciplinary and methodological synthesis as a necessary condition for explaining the civilizational mission of the Soviet project and national specifics in the context of world history. The high cognitive value of the concept of institutional cycles of civilizational development in relation to the agrarian history of Russia and the USSR is noted.

Land Tenure System in Jammu and Kashmir: Empirical Investigations from a Village in Kulgam District, Jammu and Kashmir, India

The agrarian system of the state has gone all the way through transformations from time to time under various leaderships and State interventions. Land tenure system of the state has witnessed a series of evolutions form tenancy and sharecropping practices to “land to the tiller” by state intervention from 1940s to 1970s. Before land reform measures the ownership of the land was confined by Kings in form of Jagirs and Muffis with state intervention tenants have got rights over the land which they were cultivating for Jagirdars and Muffis. After 1970s land reform measures agrarian system had witnessed tremendous changes in ownership and land use practices. The paper shall provide a detailed account of changing patterns of land tenure in the state

Global Markets, Local Issues: The Hegemonic Process of Agri-Food Construction to Present Challenges

The social construction of the agri-food market has undergone revolutionary changes throughout history since the Anthropocene. This conceptual paper discusses the embeddedness of institutions in this market construction. To do so, this work analyses the geographical indication (GI) of agri-food market formation through the lens of critical theory. Through dialectics, it analyzes the historical process of agrarian systems’ shape according to their complexity, and the origins and effects of hegemonic interests in the construction of agri-food markets. Furthermore, this work shows how the market has evolved from different trade types as the capitalist system also evolved, changing the mechanics of trade and functions of food production. The results indicate that as agrarian systems evolved, food became more homogeneous and standardized in order to meet the demands of urban masses in capitalist economies. Regions where less complex systems predominate tend to hinder the creation, maintenance, and perpetuation of products such as GI, which may compromise their existence in the long run. Moreover, nations reproduce ideologically oriented interests according to the formation of dominant groups in each place, as also expressed in the agri-food market. This paper aims to provide new conceptual and theoretical insights into the institutional mechanisms and historical processes of agri-food market construction in terms of power interests.

Diffusion of Organic Agriculture in Russia: Features and Implications for Rural Development

—In recent decades, organic agriculture has played an increasingly prominent role in the global and Russian agricultural sector. This trend emerged in opposition to industrial agrarian production, in response to growing demands for environmental protection and social justice. The article analyzes the place of organic agriculture among the agrarian systems of the mid-20th–early 21st centuries, the specifics of its development in Russia, and the geographical patterns of this process. In contrast to European countries, large investors initially gave impetus to development of the sector in Russia; the main motives of pioneers were associated with healthy eating and to a lesser extent with environmental or social issues. From the standpoint of the theory of diffusion of innovation, the development of organic agriculture is in its early stages; however, the number of farms and land areas under organic production are steadily growing, service industries and sales channels are being formed, and an institutional environment has been arisen in the form of industry associations and national legislation. The location of farms with different specializations can be traced to the dependence on natural conditions and the agrarian history of the territory. Refineries gravitate towards Moscow as the largest sales market. The last part of the article discusses the implications of organic agriculture for the development of rural areas in Russia: mitigating socioeconomic contrasts between suburban and peripheral rural areas, preserving the traditional cultural landscape and supporting rural tourism, and promoting environmental ideology in the agricultural sector and in society.

Вибір моделі аграрного устрою України як основи всебічного сталого сільського розвитку

The purpose of the article is to analyze the models of the agrarian system formed in Ukraine since independence. Identify a model of the agrarian system that will provide the most effective way to ensure the comprehensive sustainable development of rural areas and the preservation of the rural settlement network. Research methods. The following scientific methods were used for the research: dialectical knowledge of processes and phenomena; empirical (observation, comparison, description); comparative analysis; abstract-logical (theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions). Research results. In the process of analyzing the models of the agrarian system, which were formed in Ukraine since independence, it was found that the most effective way to ensure comprehensive sustainable development of rural areas, preservation of rural settlement network will provide a model of the agrarian system, based on individual, farming medium agricultural enterprises (farming). Scientific novelty. The influence of the choice of the model of agrarian system on the possibility of ensuring comprehensive sustainable development of rural areas and preservation of the rural settlement network is determined. Practical significance. The model of the agrarian system, which will give the chance to provide the most effective comprehensive development of rural territories and preservation of a rural settlement network, is defined. It is proposed to amend the legislation of Ukraine, which will promote the development of the model of the agrarian system of Ukraine, which is based on individual farming, family farms, small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (farming). Refs.: 33.