Use Of Agricultural Inputs Research Articles

Application of Microbial Biofilms to Reinstate Lost Soil Microbial Diversity under Global Warming: A Case Study

By the end of the 21st century, global surface temperatures expected to rise by ca. 1.8-3.6° C due to accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere at higher rates. Excessive use of chemical inputs in modern agriculture is one of the major contributors, because it leads to degrade soil microbial diversity that causes soil carbon loss, and emit C to the atmosphere as CO2. In this context, microbial ameliorators like Biofilm Biofertilizers are studied to reinstate biodiversity, functioning, and sustainability of agroecosystems. The Biofilm Biofertilizers consist of microbes and their exudates having diverse biochemicals; once applied to soil, they break the dormancy of cysts, spores, akinetes, and conidia which reinstate biodiversity while cut short soil restoration in degraded croplands. In the present study, investigated the effect of a Biofilm Biofertilizers having one fungus and two bacteria on microbial diversity in the soils under conventional tea cultivation by refitting to the temperature increase. The soils separately treated with the BFBF and sterilized distilled water in small pots in a plant house under three different temperatures viz. 30° C, 36° C, and 40° C. After one month, the soil samples were collected separately and analyzed for fungal colony, and bacterial colony counts, fungal: bacterial ratio, fungal species richness, and bacterial species richness. The results showed that the application of Biofilm Biofertilizers significantly increased (p<0.05) culturable bacteria, fungi, and their species richness at 40° C over 30° C and 36° C. Therefore, the results conclude that the Biofilm Biofertilizers as a novel biotechnological method to restore degraded agricultural soils in the context of global warming.
 Keywords: Biofilm biofertilizers, Fungal:bacterial ratio, Soil biodiversity

Impact of agriculture on water quality: a brief review

The rapid growth of Brazilian agricultural production is only possible through the use of agricultural inputs, both mechanical (agricultural machinery and tractors) and chemical (pesticides and fertilizers). Unfortunately, agricultural intensification is accompanied by several potential sources of degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Thus, this work aims to present, in the form of a bibliographic review, the impacts that Brazilian aquatic ecosystems have been suffering in recent years, being extremely important to assist river basin managers in decision-making processes, and producers in the best choice of management, thus preserving the quality of Brazilian waters.

Potential Impact of using Genetically Modified Crops in Ethiopia: A Review

Agriculture in Ethiopia is reliant on the poor farmer’s income. Crop production in the country is hampered by a variety of factors, among them subsistence farming, inefficient use of farm inputs, climate change, poor export performance, policy uncertainty and low interest in agricultural credit are the major ones. Plant pests also pose a threat to food crops, resulting in significant losses for smallholder farmers and jeopardizing food security. Thus, Ethiopian policymakers recently recognized genetically engineered crops as a viable method of increasing food productivity and quality. A thorough empirical review had conducted, focusing on the status, potential benefits and drawbacks of genetically modified crop production in Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics had used, followed by raw data interpretation. Genetically modified crop production is an option for addressing food insecurity, malnutrition and the production of low-cost feedstock. However, as genetically modified crops become more prevalent in Ethiopian agriculture, humans, wildlife and the environment must all be considered. As a result, GM crops can help poor farmers improve their agricultural livelihoods if better national biosafety regulations had implemented.

Effects of crop insurance on farm input use: Evidence from Kansas farm data

AbstractCrop insurance has been linked to changes in farm production decisions. In this study, we examine the effects of crop insurance participation and coverage on farm input use. Using a 1993–2016 panel of Kansas farms, evidence exists that insured farms apply more farm chemicals and seed per acre than uninsured farms. We use a fixed effects instrumental variable estimator to obtain the effects of change in crop insurance coverage on farm input use accounting farm-level heterogeneity. Empirical evidence suggests that changes in the levels of crop insurance coverage do not significantly affect farm chemical use. Thus, moral hazard effects from purchasing crop insurance are not large on a per acre basis but can lead to expenditures of $6,100 per farm.

Knowing Robotox: A profile of monitoring and releasing pesticides in Brazil

Pesticides are products intended for the production sector, whose purpose is to preserve ecosystems by altering the composition of flora or fauna in order to preserve them from the harmful action of living beings considered harmful. The insertion of pesticides in Brazil is due to the Green Revolution, the mechanization and the intense use of agricultural inputs. As a result, damage to workers' health and the environment has been observed. Objective: To present the @robotox profile as a monitoring tool in the release of new pesticides. Methodology: From the exploratory research, the path was divided into 1) analyzing the profile systematically and 2) correlating with filtered data from MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply)/ANVISA (National Agency for Health Surveillance), both steps with temporal descriptors. Furthermore, the results: establish that the @robotox profile is an interdisciplinary initiative that dialogues between the social and scientific fields. It explores information condensed in the media in real-time, favoring the debate about agroecology in Brazil and the increase in pesticide releases that were made possible mainly due to political ruptures, increase in conservation capital, annulment of already sanctioned fundamental rights and technical neutrality.

Shifting cultivation geographies in the Central and Eastern US

Climate change is projected to transform agricultural systems around the globe. Though climate strongly influences where and how farmers cultivate, millennia of agricultural innovation have expanded cultivation geographies far beyond what sun, soil, and water alone can support. Evaluating how climate interacts with human activity to shape cultivation possibilities for farmers is vital to understanding the impacts of climate change on agriculture. I assess how climate interacts with agricultural activity to shape the cultivation geographies of six major crops: corn, soy, wheat, cotton, hay and alfalfa. For each crop, I model biophysical suitability, or the probability of a crop’s occurrence given only biophysical conditions, and agricultural suitability, or the probability of a crops occurrence given biophysical conditions as well as agricultural inputs, farm resources, and farm(er) characteristics. Though biophysical conditions strongly shape cultivation geographies, agricultural activity—particularly the use of crop insurance and agricultural inputs—amplifies and expands the cultivation geographies of these major crops, often into regions biophysically unsuited to their cultivation. I project biophysically driven shifts in cultivation geographies to 2100 under low, moderate, and high emissions scenarios and find that these geographies will shift strongly north, with the Corn Belt becoming unsuitable to the cultivation of corn by 2100. These results indicate that significant agricultural adaptation will be necessary and inevitable in the Central and Eastern U.S.

The State of Play of Copper, Mineral Oil, External Nutrient Input, Anthelmintics, Antibiotics and Vitamin Usage and Available Reduction Strategies in Organic Farming across Europe

Although input use in organic agriculture is strictly regulated, and significantly less contentious inputs are applied in organic than in conventional farming systems, copper, mineral oil, external nutrient input, anthelmintics, antibiotics and vitamins are still commonly used among organic farmers in the EU, partly due to the scarce availability of alternative products and the difficulty of implementing preventive strategies. Moreover, besides the direction set by the European Commission’s organic regulation, only a handful of policy instruments exist at national levels to reduce the use of these contentious inputs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of the RELACS EU-funded project about the current use of copper, mineral oils, external nutrient inputs, anthelmintics, antibiotics and vitamins in organic farming in the EU. The paper is based on six internal reports developed in RELACS which relied on international surveys, in-depth interviews, multiple case study methods, database-based calculations, secondary data sources, plus a survey independent from the reports to map existing policy instruments and voluntary initiatives in the EU aiming to reduce the use of the six input categories. As a result, the paper gives a comprehensive overview of the current consumption of the six contentious inputs within the organic sector, highlighting potential alternative strategies in the pipeline, available preventive measures and the willingness of farmers towards adopting these solutions. It also informs about specific policy instruments already in force, as well as about ongoing voluntary initiatives to reduce contentious inputs. Due to the current dependence of organic farming systems on the six categories of contentious inputs, any sudden phase-out or ban on their usage would do more harm than good to the organic sector. Therefore, gradual, data-driven reduction measures are needed, which require significant further investments in targeted research, and in policy support measures, with the active involvement of agricultural stakeholders.

Food security implications for low‐ and middle‐income countries under agricultural input reduction: The case of the European Union's farm to fork and biodiversity strategies

AbstractPolicies that restrict the use of agricultural inputs have been shown to reduce output, farmers' incomes, and increase food prices, which could ultimately lead to more food insecurity. In this paper, we consider the EU Farm to Fork Strategy's proposed reductions of agricultural inputs on food security in 77 low‐ and middle‐income countries under two implementation scenarios: EU‐only and Global. Our findings indicate that compared with the status quo, each scenario results in a net increase in food insecurity, which ranges from 30 million (EU‐only) to 171 million (Global) by 2030.

Physico - chemical and micronutrients status of soils of Velhale village Bhusawal tehsil, Jalgaon district Maharashtra, India

Soil fertility is the quality of soil to supply nutrients in the proper amount for plant growth without causing toxicity and deficiency. Soil fertility management is highly complex given the myriad of interacting factors that dictate the extent to which farming state farms invest in the fertility of their soils. To achieve precision in farming and to maximize crop production, there should be proper maintenance of soil health and minimize fertilizer mis application One hundred farmers were randomly selected from the Velhale Village Bhusawal Tehsil, Jalgaon district Maharashtra through the Soil Health Card Scheme under the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Dr Ulhas Patil College of Agriculture, Jalgaon Maharashtra to assess the physico-chemical properties, macro and micronutrients status of soils in the year 2019-20. One hundred geo-referenced soil samples (0-20 cm) from Velhale Village Bhusawal were collected and analyzed in the laboratory for soil pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon content, calcium carbonate content, available macronutrients viz., N, P, K, S and micronutrients like Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and B.The pH and EC of soils collected from the study area varied from 6.5 to 8.1 and 0.54 to 0.90 dS m-1 showing the neutral to alkaline nature of soil and soils are safe in total soluble salt content and organic carbon content was very low to medium 0.18 to 0.59%, respectively. The results obtained in the present study clearly showed large variability in the chemical properties of soil. The available sulphur varied from (6.92 to18.00 mg kg-1) low to medium. Available iron and zinc content was low to medium (0.50-6.26 and 0.42- 0.79 mg kg-1, respectively) while, copper and manganese content was sufficient (0.31-0.82 and 0.50-4.64 mg kg-1, respectively) across the study area. Available boron in soils of all the tehsil ranged from 0.56to 2.58 mg kg-1 (medium to high). Soil testing plays an important role in the use of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs. Soil test summaries and soilfertility maps are of vital necessity as reference materials for the scientific management of soil. This information could aid in decision making for the application of plant nutrients for higher monetary returns to the farmers.

The US farm credit system and agricultural development: Evidence from an early expansion, 1920–1940

AbstractI explore the impact of the Production Credit Associations (PCAs), an arm of the early Farm Credit System, on agricultural yield and input use following the farm crisis of the 1920s. Like many low‐ and middle‐income countries today, farmers in the early 20th century United States found it difficult to access credit. The PCAs were established in 1933 and significantly increased the supply of short‐term credit available to farmers. Using distance from the serving PCA as a proxy for credit access, I find that counties within 30 km of a PCA had 7% to 14% higher crop revenue per acre and 9% higher corn yields than counties more than 60 km from a PCA. These areas also had a small but statistically significant increase in the use of tractors (1% to 2%). These results provide crucial evidence of the impact of government‐sponsored enterprises on the early US agricultural economy and its use as a cost‐effective tool to address market frictions.

Appraising Agroecological Urbanism: A Vision for the Future of Sustainable Cities

By the mid-century, urban areas are expected to house two-thirds of the world’s population of approximately 10 billion people. The key challenge will be to provide food for all with fewer farmers in rural areas and limited options for expanding cultivated fields in urban areas, with sustainable soil management being a fundamental criterion for achieving sustainability goals. Understanding how nature works in a fast changing world and fostering nature-based agriculture (such as low-input farming) are crucial for sustaining food systems in the face of worsening urban heat island (UHI) effects and other climatic variables. The best fit for the context is transformative agroecology, which connects ecological networks, sustainable farming approaches, and social movements through change-oriented research and action. Even though agroecology has been practiced for over a century, its potential to address the socioeconomic impact of the food system remained largely unexplored until recently. Agroecological approaches, which involve effective interactions between researchers, policy makers, farmers, and consumers, can improve social cohesion and socioeconomic synergies while reducing the use of various agricultural inputs. This review presents a timeline of agroecology transformation from the past to the present and discusses the possibilities, prospects, and challenges of agroecological urbanism toward a resilient urban future.

EFFECTS OF NPK FERTILIZER AS FOLIAR SPRAY ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF SPINACH (SPINACIA OLERACEA, L.)

Sustainable agriculture is a vital aspect of long-term development, as it contributes to food security and the conservation of natural ecosystem biodiversity through the efficient use of agricultural inputs. It accomplishes this through enhancing agro-technology such as the foliar application of agrochemicals, which should be implied to ensure agricultural sustainability. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of foliar fertilizer application on plant growth and nutrition over soil application. A pot experiment was conducted to study the growth and yield response of spinach (Spinacia oleracea, L.) to foliar application of Urea-TSP-MoP. There were five treatments comprising of control, recommended NPK fertilizer dose applied in soil, and 0.002% level foliar spray NPK ratios 19:19:19, 10:20:30, and 30:10:10 respectively. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications was used to arrange the treatments. Results indicated that plant height (cm), number of leaves (plant-1), leaf blade length (cm), leaf blade width(cm), leaf petiole length(cm) was higher in foliar treatments. However, fresh weight of leaf(g), the total biomass of plant(t/ha), dry weight of plant(g), fresh root biomass (g), and dry root biomass (g), were obtained significantly greater in recommended NPK fertilizer comparison to control and foliar treatments. Application of recommended NPK fertilizer dose in soil application produced the highest fresh leaf mass and total yield of spinach 26.03 t/ha followed by foliar treatments of 23.20 t/ha, 22.20 t/ha, 23.40 t/ha, compared to control where obtained yield about 16.77 t/ha. There were no significant differences between foliar application for yield parameters of spinach. It is concluded that foliar feeding produces nearly the same yield as conventional feeding and is more sustainable.

COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF HEALTHY RICE PRODUCTION COMPARING WITH OTHER RICE IN UPPER NORTHERN OF THAILAND

This research aims to examine rice production costs and returns as well as to focus on reducing inputs used by farmers who plant healthy rice and other rice. By studying the optimal use of agricultural inputs, excessive inputs are used to create a model of expected cost and return in terms of the budgeting analysis. The samples of farmer were selected by purposive sampling from 900 farmers. The research result showed that, the average net return of rice farmers was lower than that of healthy rice farmers at all levels of efficiency. The highest average return was obtained from rice farmers with high efficiency at 4,296.92 Baht per Rai. When the excess factor is adjusted in accordance with the performance analysis, the net return is higher. The most effective rice growers were farmers at the level of 7,170.76 Baht / Rai. The number of laborers was statistically.

Cotton Crop Yield Prediction using Data Mining Technique

Cotton is a very important crop, as India leads it in terms of production in the world; and also that a vast number of manpower is engaged in farming as well as post-harvest processing and management of different derivatives of it. Weather is crucial for the productivity of the crop. The challenges of climate change; availability of limited land and water for farming; lake of knowledge for good cultivation practices and judicious use of agricultural inputs with farmers are critical hindrances for improving productivity. This requires thorough research on land preparation and use, how to improve fertility of soil, good agronomic practices in lieu of variable climatic conditions, etc. All the talukas of the three districts of North Gujarat where cotton is cultivated have been selected purposively for this study. The effect of soil type, soil pH, soil organic carbon, phosphorous, potassium, precipitation and temperature were selected as independent factors. The yield of cotton crop has positive correlation with the selected parameters. The data sets were applied for analytical process to WEKA. The difference between average of predicted and actual yields of all talukas for high rainfall year 2013 was only 1.55 per cent. The difference between actual and predicted yield for the low temperature year (2015) in different talukas of all talukas was only 0.44 per cent.

Measuring Technical Efficiency of the Smallholder Crop Farms Using Stochastic Production Frontier Approach

Agricultural productivity in Africa is the lowest in the world with many households not being able to feed themselves. In Africa, women play a major role in agriculture sector constituting about 70–80 per cent of the labour force there. Regrettably, their farm productivity is relatively low mainly due to their inefficient use of farm inputs, which has a serious implication for their socio-economic condition as well as health and nutrition status. With this backdrop in mind, the study investigated the technical efficiency (TE) of the female crop farmers in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Stochastic production frontier approach and ANOVA models were applied to analyse the primary data collected on the 216 female farmers randomly selected from 18 communities of the 3 states in the Delta. It has been found that the farm size and the quantity of labour positively influence TE of these farmers. However, farmer’s age shows a negative sign implying a decrease in technical inefficiency in age whereas the years of schooling shows a positive sign implying an increase in inefficiency with schooling thereby a resulting decrease in TE with schooling. Farm efficiency level in Delta and Akwa Ibom States was not significantly different. However, TE level in both Delta and Akwa Ibom States was significantly different from Rivers State. Since, the age of farmers showed positive influence on TE, farmers should form group and organise regular meetings to enable share knowledge and experiences on the efficient use of farm resources in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria.

Examining the carbon footprint of rice production and consumption in Hubei, China: A life cycle assessment and uncertainty analysis approach

This study aimed to quantify greenhouse gas emissions derived from the production-consumption of rice in Hubei—a major rice-producing province in central China. This research employed primary and secondary data collection methods. Primary data sources included interviews and experimental observations from seven counties in Hubei collected from June 2016 to December 2016. Secondary data sources—including national datasets, inter-governmental reports, and peer-reviewed articles—were used to extract relevant data, such as emission factors, and national and provincial rice output. Life Cycle Assessment was employed to build a comprehensive inventory and map of the rice carbon footprint, including the following five stages: production inputs, farm management, growth period, processing and sale, and consumption. Uncertainty analysis was performed to validate the reliability of carbon footprint estimations. Results showed that the carbon footprint for every 1 ton of polished rice in Hubei ranged between 4.19–6.81 t CO2e/t and was 5.39 t CO2e/t on average. Greenhouse gas emissions were primarily produced from rice fields during the growth stage (over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions of the whole life cycle of rice), followed by the consumption stage, and the production and transportation of agricultural inputs. Uncertainty analysis estimations indicated acceptable levels of reliability. This study's results indicate that the production and consumption of rice is a significant contributor to agricultural carbon emissions in Hubei—consistent with national estimates that place China as the largest carbon dioxide emitter globally. This research provides further insight into future policies and targeted initiatives for the efficient use of low-carbon agricultural inputs for rice production and consumption stages in China.

Strategies to terminate summer cover crops for weed management in no-tillage vegetable production in southeast Brazil

AbstractCover crop residue left on the soil surface as organic mulch in no-tillage crop production provides several environmental benefits, including weed suppression. Thus, many farmers who use cover crops attempt to reduce the use of agricultural inputs, especially herbicides. Therefore, our objectives were to study the potential of different cover crop species to suppress weeds and produce an in situ organic mulch and to evaluate the effect of the organic mulch with and without spraying glyphosate on weed suppression for vegetable (tomato [Solanum lycopersicumL.] and broccoli [Brassica oleraceaL. var.botrytis]) growth and yield. Five cover crop treatments (sunn hemp [Crotalaria junceaL.], jack bean [Canavalia ensiformis(L.) DC.], pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum(L.) R. Br.], forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench ssp.bicolor], and no cover crop [control]) were used in the main plots; and glyphosate was or was not sprayed on the flattened cover crop in the subplots of this split-plot experimental design. Organic mulch from pearl millet, sorghum, and sunn hemp resulted in lower weed biomass during the early seasons of both tomato and broccoli than mulch from jack bean and no cover crop (control). Spraying glyphosate after roller-crimping reduced weed biomass by 103 g m−2and 20 g m−2by 45 and 60 d after transplanting (DATr) of tomato, respectively, and resulted in a better tomato yield compared with not spraying. Glyphosate reduced weed biomass by 110 g m−2in the early season of broccoli (30 DATr) but did not affect yield. Terminating high-biomass cover crops with a roller-crimper is a promising technique for weed management in vegetable crops that has the potential to reduce or even eliminate the need for herbicide.

Heterogeneous impacts of information technology adoption on pesticide and fertiliser expenditures: Evidence from wheat farmers in China*

This study examines the impacts of mobile information technology adoption on agrochemical expenditures, using data collected from 551 wheat farmers in China. Unlike previous studies that analyse a homogeneous relationship between the adoption of information technologies and farm input use, in this study, an instrumental variable quantile regression approach is utilised to capture the heterogeneous impacts of smartphone use on pesticide and fertiliser expenditures. Findings reveal that smartphone use affects pesticide and fertiliser expenditures heterogeneously, and its impacts on pesticide expenditure are larger than those on fertiliser expenditure. Specifically, at the lowest 20th quantile, smartphone use significantly increases pesticide expenditure by 33 per cent and fertiliser expenditure by 18 per cent. However, at the higher 60th and 80th quantiles, smartphone use significantly decreases pesticide expenditure by 36–39 per cent and fertiliser expenditure by 14–19 per cent. Our findings suggest that guiding farmers’ agrochemical usage behaviours through smartphone‐based information intervention can be a practical strategy to help reduce the excessive usage of chemical pesticides and fertilisers and preserve the environment and human health.

Discriminatory effects of gender disparities in improved seed and fertilizer use at the plot-level in Malawi and Tanzania

This article adopts non-linear decomposition methods to evaluate gender disparities in improved seed and fertilizer use in the smallholder farming systems of Malawi and Tanzania. Using rich and representative plot-level data, results point to inequalities in access and use of improved seed and fertilizer between male and female plot managers. The gender gap in modern input use in Malawi is more pronounced than in Tanzania. The decomposition result for Malawi attributes differences in endowment factors as the key contributor to disparities in modern input use except for improved maize. These results suggest improving access to complementary farming resources and agricultural asset wealth among women farmers are important in reducing the agricultural input use gap. Although both endowment and structural factors significantly explained the disparities in modern input use in Tanzania, access to government extension contributed considerably to the non-discriminatory gap. These results suggest the need to enhance current efforts in empowering women farmers with vital resources, education, and gender-sensitive agriculture advisory services. The heterogeneous analysis revealed disparities in modern input use among women groups suggesting that policy intervention should also target vulnerable women groups, particularly single women in Malawi and poorer women in Tanzania. The structural component also underlined social norms and policies that do not address women's farmer needs in crop varieties, such as consumption and processing traits.

Market impacts of Farm to Fork: Reducing agricultural input usage

AbstractLegislation has been proposed that would change the European Union (EU) agricultural supply chain, including targeted reductions in the use of agricultural inputs. Our results indicate that reducing those inputs (fertilizer, pesticides, land, and antimicrobials) could lead to a reduction in the EU agricultural production by 12%, less competitiveness in export markets, and negative impacts to consumer budgets and societal welfare. If the EU were to implement technological improvements, the impacts would be lessened; however, the necessary improvement in technology will require additional investment in research and development. Based on historical trends, these improvements are projected to take up to 27 years.