Agricultural Research Projects Research Articles

ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНИЙ МЕХАНІЗМ УПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ІННОВАЦІЙНОГО МАРКЕТИНГУ В СИСТЕМУ УПРАВЛІННЯ АГРАРНОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА ДЛЯ ПІДВИЩЕННЯ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ

In recent years, domestic scientists are actively studying the adaptation of aspects of innovative marketing for the management system of agricultural enterprises and the possibility of its implementation in their activities. However, the development of global economic processes requires constant improvement of the principles and tools of innovative marketing and their adaptation to modern conditions of agricultural enterprises to strengthen their position in domestic and foreign markets and increase their competitiveness. The purpose of this article is to systematize the components and determine the scheme of the organizational and economic mechanism for the introduction of innovative marketing in the management system of agricultural enterprises. The article analyzes the level of innovativeness of domestic agricultural enterprises, which, according to the results of the analysis, turned out to be at a rather low level. The author found that only a small number of enterprises in the agricultural sector carry out research work. The volume of expenditures on research activities in agriculture is also quite low. Most agricultural science research is funded by the business sector and slightly less by the public sector. At the same time, the distribution of costs for all fields of science in Ukraine is radically different, a significant part of the costs falls on the public sector and a very small percentage - on the business sector. Therefore, there is a significant potential for an increase in the costs of research and development works with the understanding from the part of entrepreneurs of the need for them to increase the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises. The article also proposes the organizational and economic mechanism for implementing innovative marketing in the management system of agricultural enterprises. It consists of the following subsystems: target; manager; managed; diagnostics; informational; motivation; planning and forecasting; controlling. Stable interaction between the subsystems of the organizational and economic mechanism of innovation marketing is a prerequisite for its effective functioning in the market and, as a consequence, increases the level of competitiveness of agricultural enterprises.

Ex-ante economic evaluation of agricultural research in New Zealand – a conceptual framework

Returns to agricultural research are of significant interest to funding bodies and research administrators. Ex-ante economic analyses have increasingly formed part of decision-making process of allocating funds to agricultural research proposals. ex-ante analyses are required to present economic rankings to governments and funding agencies for comparing the impact of agricultural research proposals. Although important, there is no consistent guidelines for scientists and practitioners to follow in New Zealand. The study aims to develop a conceptual framework for agricultural research projects in understanding, assessing, planning and managing relevant issues in ex-ante evaluation of impacts.

Opportunities for the development of Russian crop production in the context of global challenges

It is shown that in the context of global challenges, the economy is being reformatted in favor of vital industries, including the agri-food sector. The apparently prosperous state of Russian agriculture and, above all, crop production, which demonstrates long-term growth of production even against the background of slowing down the dynamics of the domestic economy, is by no means unconditional. The development of the industry takes place in conditions of limited reproduction, largely due to the exhaustion of natural, labor, material, technical and financial resources. Such a paradox is fraught with the collapse of crops and problems in ensuring national food security. However, Russian agriculture, which has learned to survive in a crisis situation, with an effective agricultural policy, is capable of more intensive development in the face of global cataclysms. These prospects are connected with the possibility of a sharp increase in the production of natural products in vast territories that have preserved relict shades of agriculture; with the introduction of once abandoned agricultural land into circulation. The conditions that need to be created for the implementation of global competitive advantages of crop production are shown. The semantic analysis of leading publications is carried out, which allows identifying trends in promising world research in agricultural Sciences.

A Game-Based Approach to Exploring Gender Differences in Smallholder Decisions to Change Farming Practices: White Rice Production in Laos

What influences farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural technologies is an important question for international agricultural research projects. There are often interpersonal differences between women and men that influence the adoption of decisions and behaviours, but few studies in the literature focus on these factors. We describe a game-based approach to explore decision-making processes underpinning the adoption of new farming technologies and practices in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Sowing a different rice variety is the tailored technology. The game explored adoption behaviours influencing decisions on transitioning from growing glutinous rice, a traditional variety preferred for consumption, to “white” rice for commercial export to international markets. We conducted separate game-workshops with 36 women and 36 men in 4 villages of southern Laos that were transitioning from subsistence to commercial smallholder production. The gaming exposed various possible behaviours and decisions that women and men considered. Access to resources, both assets and information, was equal for all players, yet women were found to adopt new rice varieties more readily than men and to engage in cooperative behaviours in the game situation. The study highlighted the need for further gender-sensitive research into cooperation among women in the agricultural context—an understanding beneficial for countries and regions undergoing agricultural transition.

Value-Ag: An integrated model for rapid ex-ante impact evaluation of agricultural innovations in smallholder systems

AbstractEvaluation of agricultural Research, Development, Extension and Management requires knowledge of farming systems economics and risk as well as broader adoption drivers. But until now, these factors have not been effectively combined when determining the success of agricultural research projects. To fill this gap, we developed Value-Ag, an integrated modelling platform using whole-farm economic analysis and prediction of the scaling potential in the context of production risk and household dynamics to provide an ex-ante estimate of the benefits of adopting an innovation. In this paper, we use a hypothetical case study to illustrate Value-Ag’s potential to evaluate agricultural innovations in a rigorous, systematic and participatory manner across a range of scenarios, thereby stimulating thinking and learning opportunities with the relevant stakeholders, and increasing the scrutiny of projects so that they deliver greater value for money while fostering a more results-focused culture in developing countries.

Using NASA Earth observations and Google Earth Engine to map winter cover crop conservation performance in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Winter cover crops such as barley, rye, and wheat help to improve soil structure by increasing porosity, aggregate stability, and organic matter, while reducing the loss of agricultural nutrients and sediments into waterways. The environmental performance of cover crops is affected by choice of species, planting date, planting method, nutrient inputs, temperature, and precipitation. The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) oversees an agricultural cost-share program that provides farmers with funding to cover costs associated with planting winter cover crops, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) have partnered with the MDA to develop satellite remote sensing techniques for measuring cover crop performance. The MDA has developed the capacity to digitize field boundaries for all fields enrolled in their cover crop programs (>26,000 fields per year) to support a remote sensing performance analysis at a statewide scal,e and has requested assistance with the associated imagery processing from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform, scripts were developed to process Landsat 5/7/8 and Harmonized Sentinel-2 imagery to measure winter cover crop performance. We calibrated cover crop performance models using linear regression between satellite vegetation indices and USGS / USDA-ARS field sampling data collected on Maryland farms between 2006 and 2012 (1298 samples). Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values showed significant correlation with the natural logarithm of cover crop biomass (p ≤0.01, R2 = 0.56) and with observed percent vegetative ground cover (p ≤0.01, R2 = 0.68). The GEE scripts were used to composite seasonal maximum NDVI values for each enrolled cover crop field and calculate performance metrics for the winter and spring seasons of three enrollment years (2014–15, 2015–16, and 2017–18) for four Maryland counties. Results from winter 2017–18 demonstrate that rye and barley fields had higher biomass than wheat fields, and that early planting, along with planting methods that increase seed-soil contact, increased performance. The processing capabilities of GEE will support the MDA in scaling up remote sensing performance analysis statewide, providing information to evaluate the environmental outcomes associated with various agronomic management strategies. The tool can be modified for different seasonal cutoffs, utilize new sensors to capture phenology in winter and spring, and scale to larger regions for use in adaptive management of winter cover crops planted for environmental benefit. Project supportThis project was supported by the USGS Land Change Science Program within the Land Resources Mission Area, the USDA Choptank River Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), the USDA Lower Chesapeake Bay Long Term Agricultural Research (LTAR) Project; the Maryland Department of Agriculture; and the NASA DEVELOP National Program.

How do we enact co-innovation with stakeholders in agricultural research projects? Managing the complex interplay between contextual and facilitation processes

Highlights • Mobilising co-innovation involves a complex interplay between contextual forces and facilitation processes. •This interplay shapes the core co-innovation processes of joint framing, testing of solutions and creating new knowledge. •This interplay between contextual and facilitation processes requires an adaptive approach to research design and management. •An interface space is conceptualised where key CSP roles and processes intersect in co-innovation enactment. •The implications for multi-actor research projects are discussed.

Impulse analysis process of rice growers participating in water conservancy and irrigation management and countermeasures and suggestions for agricultural scientific research units to play a guiding role – take the Qingan County of Heilongjiang Province as an example

Impulse analysis process of rice growers participating in water conservancy and irrigation management and countermeasures and suggestions for agricultural scientific research units to play a guiding role – take the Qingan County of Heilongjiang Province as an example

The colonial roots of agricultural modernization in Mozambique: the role of research from Portugal to ProSavana

ABSTRACT In 2010, political leaders of three countries—Brazil, Japan, and Mozambique—announced an ambitious trilateral collaboration intended to re-make the Mozambican savannah. Political and business leaders hailed ProSavana as an innovative project that would apply Brazil’s success in agricultural modernization to one of the poorest countries in the world. Drawing on interviews with project personnel and agricultural research scientists in Mozambique as well as on archival material from the colonial period, I argue that although ProSavana was promoted as a way to bring Mozambican agriculture into the twenty-first century with the aid of cutting-edge science, it was very much a throwback to the colonial period.

Líquido da casca da castanha-de-caju (LCC) como repelente do caruncho-do-bambu <i>Bambusa vulgaris</i>

Foi investigada a ação repelente do líquido da casca da castanha-de-caju (LCC) Anacardium occidentale L. sobre o caruncho Dinoderus minutus Fabricius, (1775), na Base de Pesquisa em Ciências Agráriasda Universidade Católica Dom Bosco, município de Campo Grande - MS. Colmos maduros de Bambusa vulgaris Schrad (1808), foram coletados de uma touceira local. Destes, foram obtidos doze toletes colocados para secar em estufa a 50±3ºC por 48h. Em seguida foram impregnados, por imersão, durante 24h em concentrações de 0,03; 0,05 e 0,09 mg/mL de LCC. Após as impregnações, os toletes foram desidratados em uma estufa durante 12h a 50±3ºC e distribuídos aleatoriamente em uma arena de acrílico instalada em uma sala de 27 m3. O experimento foi repetido durante cinco dias consecutivos durante 24h cada. Em cada repetição foram liberados no centro da arena 60 carunchos adultos para avaliar a atratividade ou repelência dos mesmos em relação aos toletes. A avaliação contabilizou os carunchos que não conseguiram penetrar nos toletes de bambu. Todas as concentrações repeliram o caruncho-do-bambu, porém, sem diferenças significativas.

Unpacking the drivers behind the use of the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) approach: The case of rice research and extension professionals in Sierra Leone

Agriculture Innovation System (AIS) thinking and approaches are largely perceived as a sine-qua-non for the design and implementation of effective and sustainable agriculture development programmes. AIS has gained popularity in the agriculture innovation literature and has been embedded in policy documents of agriculture sector institutions in many countries. However, there is much less evidence of AIS thinking influencing the behaviours of research and extension institutions and staff ‘on the ground’. An important research gap is the need to better understand the attitudes and beliefs of extension and research professionals regarding AIS and that drive behaviours. Sierra Leone, like most developing countries, has embraced the use of AIS (at least in theory) as evident in policy documents of government institutions – the leading innovation system actors in the country. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to assess the cognitive foundation of agricultural research scientists and extension professionals' intention to use the AIS approach related to rice innovation (the country's staple food crop). Results show there are significant differences in intention which relate to organisation affiliation, age, and gender. Moreover, those with a high intention to use the AIS approach have significantly stronger beliefs associated with the benefits of AIS including its ease of use and the positive effects it is likely to have on smallholder farmers' food security and ability to innovate. Those with a high intention to use the AIS approach also perceive stronger social pressure from key social referents such as colleagues, employers and supervisors; suggesting that policies and an organisation's vision have a significant bearing. Furthermore, the findings suggest that impediments to the use of AIS relate to lack of finance and knowledge. Unpacking these beliefs allows possible entry points to be identified which can enhance the functioning of existing AISs and newly formed ones. The findings and framework presented are useful for many developing countries where AIS approaches are being tested.

Efficient generation of GHR knockout Bama minipig fibroblast cells using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing.

Dwarfism, also known as growth hormone deficiency (GHD), is a disease caused by genetic mutations that result in either a lack of growth hormone or insufficient secretion of growth hormone, resulting in a person's inability to grow normally. In the past, many studies focusing on GHD have made use of models of other diseases such as metabolic or infectious diseases. A viable GHD specific model system has not been used previously, thus limiting the interpretation of GHD results. The Bama minipig is unique to Guangxi province and has strong adaptability and disease resistance, and an incredibly short stature, which is especially important for the study of GHD. In addition, studies of GHR knockout Bama minipigs and GHR knockout Bama minipig fibroblast cells generated using CRISPR/Cas9 have not been previously reported. Therefore, the Bama minipig was selected as an animal model and as a tool for the study of GHD in this work. In this study, a Cas9 plasmid with sgRNA targeting the first exon of the GHR gene was transfected into Bama minipig kidney fibroblast cells to generate 22 GHR knockout Bama minipig kidney fibroblast cell lines (12 male monoclonal cells and 10 female monoclonal cells). After culture and identification, 11 of the 12 male clone cell lines showed double allele mutations, and the rate of positive alteration of GHR was 91.67%. Diallelic mutation of the target sequence occurred in 10 female clonal cell lines, with an effective positive mutation rate of 100%. Our experimental results not only showed that CRISPR/Cas9 could efficiently be used for gene editing in Bama minipig cells but also identified a highly efficient target site for the generation of a GHR knockout in other porcine models. Thus, the generation of GHR knockout male and female Bama fibroblast cells could lay a foundation for the birth of a future dwarfism model pig. We anticipate that the "mini" Bama minipig will be of improved use for biomedical and agricultural scientific research and for furthering our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of GHD.

关于农业科研单位科技人才建设的思考

关于农业科研单位科技人才建设的思考

Prediction of Developing Modern Agriculture Demands for the Agricultural Scientific Research Institutions Services Based on BP Artificial Neural Network

BP artificial neural network model is used to predict developing modern agriculture demands for the agricultural scientific research institutions services. Starting from the brief introduction of the usages of BP neural network, we analyzed the demand factors of the agricultural scientific research institutions services and the affective elements of the demands, use the BP neural network model to predict, and then run the BP neural network model on the MATLAB platform, and finally carry out the case studies of Heilongjiang Province.

Principles of effective collaboration in agricultural development and research for impact.

Abstract This paper shares the experiences gained in the course of designing and implementing global partnerships, that have been key to building effective collaboration for impact in smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. It describes 'principles of effective collaboration' and lists guidelines to capturing agricultural research project impacts.

Open-Source Wireless Cloud-Connected Agricultural Sensor Network

Agricultural research involves study of the complex soil–plant–atmosphere–water system, and data relating to this system must be collected under often-harsh outdoor conditions in agricultural environments. Rapid advancements in electronic technologies in the last few decades, as well as more recent widespread proliferation and adoption of electronic sensing and communications, have created many options to address the needs of professional, as well as amateur, researchers. In this study, an agricultural research project was undertaken to collect data and examine the effects of different agronomic practices on yield, with the objectives being to develop a monitoring system to measure soil moisture and temperature conditions in field plots and to upload the data to an internet website. The developed system included sensor nodes consisting of sensors and electronic circuitry to read and transmit sensor data via radio and a cellular gateway to receive node data and forward the data to an internet website via cellular infrastructure. Microcontroller programs were written to control the nodes and gateway, and an internet website was configured to receive and display sensor data. The battery-powered sensor nodes cost $170 each, including electronic circuitry and sensors, and they were operated throughout the cropping season with little maintenance on a single set of batteries. The solar-powered gateway cost $163 to fabricate, plus an additional cost of $2 per month for cellular network access. Wireless and cellular data transmissions were reliable, successfully transferring 95% of sensor data to the internet website. Application of open-source hardware, wireless data transfer, and internet-based data access therefore offers many options and advantages for agricultural sensing and monitoring efforts.

A framework for priority-setting in climate smart agriculture research

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely promoted as an approach for reorienting agricultural development under the realities of climate change. Prioritising research-for-development activities is crucial, given the need to utilise scarce resources as effectively as possible. However, no framework exists for assessing and comparing different CSA research investments. Several aspects make it challenging to prioritise CSA research, including its multi-dimensional nature (productivity, adaptation and mitigation), the uncertainty surrounding many climate impacts, and the scale and temporal dependencies that may affect the benefits and costs of CSA adoption. Here we propose a framework for prioritising agricultural research investments across scales and review different approaches to setting priorities among agricultural research projects. Many priority-setting case studies address the short- to medium-term and at relatively local scales. We suggest that a mix of actions that span spatial and temporal time scales is needed to be adaptive to a changing climate, address immediate problems and create enabling conditions for enduring change.

Introducing new open pollinated tomato cultivars in the Solomon Islands and Fiji for improved livelihoods and nutrition

The development of high value crops for domestic consumption and export is considered a priority for economic development and improved livelihoods for many Pacific Island countries. However, attempts to intensify production without adequate attention to research and development in areas such as identification of well-adapted cultivars may lead to gains being limited and short-lived. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research project “Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high value crop production” aims to build and sustain capacity to develop integrated crop management strategies for the sustainable intensification of high value crop production for export and domestic markets. Activities include the introduction and evaluation of performance of improved solanaceous cultivars in each target country, and the testing of integrated technologies for their efficacy to increase and extend vegetable production seasons. Tomato is a high-value crop in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. It is commonly grown by farmers for household consumption and the domestic market. Eleven improved open pollinated tomato cultivars sourced from the World Vegetable Center in Taiwan were evaluated over three cropping seasons. Three cultivars (‘CLN3150A-5’, ‘CLN2585D’ and ‘CLN2071D’) were selected and officially released in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The released cultivars now locally known as ‘Melrose’ and ‘Rio Gold’ in Fiji, and ‘Rose’s Choice’ in the Solomon Islands, performed well under local growing conditions and are high yielding, producing well-shaped fruit with a taste preferred by local consumers. For farmers, these new open pollinated cultivars provide an opportunity to produce for the local market and also to save their own seeds for small-scale planting. This was a milestone achievement for project partners – local agriculture ministries, the Pacific Community, the University of Queensland, and the World Vegetable Center.

农业科研人员分类评价指标体系的构建研究

农业科研人员分类评价指标体系的构建研究

保山市农科所啤饲大麦科研团队建设的启示

保山市农科所啤饲大麦科研团队建设的启示