Busy Farming Season Research Articles

Air pollution and agricultural labor supply: Evidence from China

Research on avoidance behaviors related to air pollution, particularly among low-income groups in developing countries, is relatively limited. This study aims to analyze the connection between air pollution and farmer labor supply in China, while also examining the labor relocation effect. The identification strategy relies on a widely used instrument variable, namely that thermal inversion exerts a plausibly exogenous shock on air quality. Two-stage least squares regression results indicate that at the intensive margin, farmer working hours in agricultural work during their busy farming seasons are reduced by 0.4 h/day for a 10 μg/m3 increment in PM2.5, whereas at the extensive margin, their working days in agricultural work throughout the year are reduced by 2.7 days for a 1 μg/m3 increase in the yearly average PM2.5 concentration. We also consider the labor relocation effect, as farmers are likely to shift their labor supply from agriculture to indoor off-farm work to avoid pollution damage. These findings add to the negative social externality of air pollution and expand the determinants of the agricultural labor supply.

Optimizing dynamic facility location-allocation for agricultural machinery maintenance using Benders decomposition

This paper focuses on optimizing a dynamic facility location-allocation problem with respect to a real-life agricultural machinery maintenance service network that is designed to achieve the prompt and reliable response to malfunctioning agricultural machinery during harvest. We consider a busy farming season divided into several time periods in which the problem is to determine where to locate temporary maintenance stations (TMSs) as well as identifying how many capacitated service-providing facilities to allocate to each TMS to satisfy maintenance demands. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer program (MIP) that seeks to minimize the total service mileage between TMSs and demand points. Additionally, considering that the service flow from a TMS to a demand point in this type of work takes place between potential district locations rather than discrete vertices, we use regional contiguity constraints to enforce agricultural production areas served by a TMS as geographically connected. To solve our MIP problem, an exact algorithm based on Benders decomposition is then developed along with several refinements. Lastly, our model and methodology are illustrated in the handling of a real-world problem in China. Computational results are presented that analyze the optimized facility location-allocation plan, examine the impact of selected parameters, demonstrate the advantage of implementing the contiguity constraints and discuss the performance of solution algorithm.

Combination blade roller for straw returning cultivator

The straw was buried in field in transitory and busy farming season whether it’s paddy or dry land. Mechanized straw application was beneficial to solve the problem of straw burning, and also conducive to the fertility of soil and beneficial to soil improvement. It was an important measure to develop ecological agriculture and agriculture sustainable development. In order to solve the problem of crop residue burning, we designed a straw burying rotary tiller. It can bury crop straw not only in wet land, but also in dry land. It is suitable for tillage in middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River, where the principal crop rotation is wet land rice after dry land crop annually. Based on our previous research achievements, the cultivator for high stubble returning in paddy field and so on, are widely used. So there are two main kinds of cultivating blades in this rotary tiller. They are rotary blades IIT245 and spiral blades. The former blades are used to cut soil, while the latter blades are to bury straw. The results provide the basis for the structure optimization of the cultivator for straw returning and the improvement of its working performance, and also provide a suitable implement to achieve high stubble straw mulching and soil tillage in paddy field and dry land.

Change and Continuity in Amish Wedding Dates in the Holmes County, Ohio, Settlement

In the past century, the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio, have experienced an enormous population increase (from continued high fertility) and a serious decline in farming (from land shortage). We wondered if their traditional pattern of weddings might also have changed. We showed that whereas weddings used to occur almost exclusively in winter months, with a peak in December, they now occur in spring, summer, and early fall, but hardly ever in December. Two developments may be responsible. Refrigeration and other technologies for preserving food are now allowed in many Amish churches, making it possible to safely preserve wedding foods in warm weather. December weddings used to interfere minimally with the busy farming season, but now with farming in serious decline, that is no longer an issue. The traditional practice of having weddings on Thursdays and to a lesser extent on Tuesdays remains almost unchanged for the past several centuries. Much work is involved in wedding preparation and in cleanup after the wedding. For that reason, it is desirable to avoid holding weddings on Saturdays and Mondays, since much Sunday work would be required.

Intelligent decision making for service providers selection in maintenance service network: An adaptive fuzzy-neuro approach

Establishment of a maintenance service network has become increasingly urgent to ensure the safety and reliability of agricultural operation in busy farming seasons. This paper aims to design the maintenance service network in agriculture and focuses on the joint selection of service providers in network nodes. A novel intelligent decision-making approach is developed based on expert knowledge and machine learning techniques. First, a set of evaluation criteria for the group of service providers is defined from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The adaptive fuzzy-neuro approach is proposed for selection of the group of service providers. Fuzzy rules designed by experts are applied for scheme classification and adaptive neural network is developed for the modification of memberships functions. Lastly, the proposed methodology is demonstrated by designing a real maintenance service network in Hunan, China. Experimental results in real application scenarios manifest that the proposed approach provides optimal solutions for decision making and providers’ selection in a maintenance service network.

Ensuring the operational reliability of the tractor fleet

One of the major problems facing the engineering and technical service of agricultural enterprises is to figure out the volume of repair and maintenance impacts to ensure the optimal operation of the tractor fleet in conditions of limited financial resources. The study introduces individual reliability indicators of tractors, based on the analysis of the machine and tractor fleet in the Vologda region. The condition for the formation of rational and effective repair and maintenance impacts is the constant monitoring of reliability indicators of tractors and agricultural machinery, which allows not only identifying their individual characteristics, but also predicting changes in technical state. Studies have shown that different systems of tractors, in particular MTZ tractors, can differ by reliability actually n several times. The interrelation between the invested funds for repairs and the subsequent failure-free operation was found out. The increase of failure-free operation allows reducing the probability and the amount of downtimes in the busy farming season, thereby reducing the possible costs associated with losses due to downtime of machines, such as: violation of agro-technical terms, which is especially important for sowing and harvesting, being one of the factors of yield reduction. These studies laid the foundation for the method for determining the rational volume of repair and maintenance impacts, which consists in minimizing the total costs aimed at improving the failure-free operation of tractors. All this, along with using the up-to-date diagnostics tools, will increase the efficiency of preventive repair and maintenance impacts.

An ANP-multi-criteria-based methodology to construct maintenance networks for agricultural machinery cluster in a balanced scorecard context

Constructing maintenance networks is becoming an urgent requirement for ensuring the continuous reliable operation and fast response of agricultural machinery maintenance in busy farming seasons. According to dynamic characteristics, time variation, and the cooperativity of agricultural machinery cluster working, this paper proposes a service provider selection framework for the layout of dynamic maintenance network nodes. Furthermore, an integrated analytic network process (ANP) and balanced score card (BSC) service provider selection approach is provided to help construct the maintenance network. Concerning four determinants of BSC: service satisfaction, process capability, knowledge assets, and service cost, this method provides qualitative and quantitative indicators, four evaluative dimensions and a three-layer network evaluation system index. Moreover, this method is applied to maintenance services for agricultural machinery clusters working in cross-regional operations in China. The results indicate that process capability is the most important determinant for a service network, and the proposed method contributes to the ability of decision-makers to comprehend the complex relationship among factors during the service provider selection process. Meanwhile, this method improves the reliability of service provider selection during the construction of a maintenance network.

熊本県の家庭料理 おやつの特徴： 小麦粉を中心とした農繁期の小昼

熊本県の家庭料理 おやつの特徴： 小麦粉を中心とした農繁期の小昼

Correlation between minerals in hair as determined by PIXE analysis and nutrient intake conditions

This research looks at the correlation between the quantity of nutrients taken as minerals determined by PIXE analysis and mineral intake calculated in accordance with menu records collected via a total food duplicate method survey conducted on agricultural workers from four inland areas of Iwate Prefecture. Among the major nutrients and minerals taken over a 24 h period, intakes of calorie and carbohydrate of both sexes were found to be slightly high for the off-season, which indicated they had kept on a diet suited for the busy farming season. Intakes of calcium, iron and dietary fiber were also high. While 31 elements were identified from the hair samples collected from subjects, the elements found in all subjects were sulfur, calcium, iron, copper, zinc, and bromine. In many of the elements detected, a great difference between the maximum and minimum values was found. As for potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, of which excess or deficiency could affect health, we examined whether their element content in hair correlates with their amount taken in the body through meals. However, no clear correlation between the two, the elements in hair and meals, was found.

Deulbap and Drinks of the Busy Farming Season Portrayed in the Genre Paintings of Late Joseon

Deulbap and Drinks of the Busy Farming Season Portrayed in the Genre Paintings of Late Joseon

Variability in results from predicted resting energy expenditure (PREE) as compared to measured resting energy expenditure (MREE) in Korean farmers

The purpose of this study was to compare measured resting energy expenditure to results from energy predictive equations to identify the most accurate equation to use for Korean farmers. Subjects were 155 healthy farmers (49 males, 106 females) aged 26–67y. REE (MREE) was measured by indirect calorimetry during the busy farming season. Predicted REE (PREE) was calculated using the 12 equations (Harris‐Benedict, Schofield‐W, Schofield‐WH, WHO‐W, WHO‐WH, Owen, Mifflin, Cunningham, Liu, IMNA, Henry‐W, and Henry‐WH equation). MREE of male farmers was significantly different with of female (1679.2¡¾187.0 vs. 1321.0¡ ¾143.7 kcal/day). The validity of the equations was evaluated on basis of prediction accuracy, difference, RMSPE, % difference, and Bland‐Altman analyses. Measured and predicted energy expenditure were significantly correlated (P< .001 for all), but significantly different for all equations, except Schofield(W&WH), WHO(W&WH), and Henry(WH). The most accurate equation for Korean farmers was the Schofield(W) equation (prediction accuracy 75%, difference −7.4¡¾186.5 kcal/day, RMSPE 137.4 kcal/day, % difference 0.3%). Although PREE were significantly correlated with MREE, the discrepancies from existed equations could produce energy imbalance in Korean farmers, which may influence their productivity.This research was supported by Korean Rural Development Administration (RDA)

Assessment of Physical Activity Level of Korean Farmers to Establish Estimated Energy Requirements during Busy Farming Season

The purpose of this study was to assess the physical activity level of Korean farmers to establish their estimated energy requirements during busy farming season. 113 farmers (mean age 51.9 ± 7.2 years, male 42, female 71) who own farmland area above 300 pyung participated in measurement of body weight and height and interviewing of oneday activity diaries. There was no significant difference in age, BMI between male and female. Obesity prevalence according to BMI among male and female farmers was 40.5% and 50.7% respectively. The farmers spent about 7 hours in sleeping and spent about 4 hours 35 minutes working on the farm and spent about 15 hours 30 minutes (64.6% of 24 hours) in “very light activities” and spent about 3 hours 31 minutes (14.7%) in “light activities”. Physical activity level (PAL, activity coefficient) of male farmers was 2.63 which was significantly higher than that (2.19) of female farmers (p < 0.05). Estimated energy requirements (EER) for farmers who were different in age and gender were suggested. For example, the estimated energy requirements for male and female farmers were 3058 kcal/ day and 2279 kcal/day, respectively. The results of this study suggest that estimated energy requirements (EER) of farmers should be differentiated according to seasonal workload and energy balance of farmers should be evaluated to prevent obesity. (Korean J Community Nutr 16(6) : 751~761, 2011)

Agriculture of Iwate as Seen from a Hygienic Viewpoint

I started to study health problems in dairy farming in the Kitakami mountain district during the latter half of the1970's. Fields were located mostly in steep slopes and pastures were limited in area. In this district a survey of dairy farmers, time budget was carried out by the direct time-study method. And the energy consumption of farmers for their dairy farming activities was measured using the Douglas bag method. Working hours were prolonged because grass grew thick from early May to late October (the busy farming season). In this season, many farmers worked 13-14 hours per day. Grass harvesting that was done on the steep slope consumed a lot of energy. There was a close correlation between gradient and energy consumption for mowing. Various other kinds of agriculture were researched in Iwate Prefecture. And we pointed out some problems in each study. In recent years, the most serious problem in farm work is a high rate of accident occurence. About 400 farmers died in accidents every year for the past 40 years, and there is not a sign to decrease at all. This is the big problem that the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine should wrestle with.

강원 홍천군 거주 노인의 농번기 급식용 메뉴개발과 적용

Dept. of Agro-food Resources, RDA, Gyeonggido 441-853, KoreaAbstractMeal service menu for the elderly on busy farming season in Hongchun, Gangwon was developed and applied using seasonal foods from local crops. Acceptance of each menu right after the meal service was investigated while unit cost and leftover of each menu were also monitored. Acceptance of the staple food in Menu 4 showed the highest value with a score of 8.97 and side dishes of Menu 4 were greatly preferred with a score of 8.69 (p<0.05). General preference on menu was the highest at Menu 4 scoring 8.78 (p<0.05). The amount of leftover for a special meal of Menu 3 was 75.80 g, which was the highest (p<0.05). Males left the least of Menu 4 (30.82 g) whereas females did of Menu 2 (10.63 g, p<0.05). The field application of the meal plan using seasonal foods and local crops to the rural elderly's house showed very high level of preference and satisfaction, and the small amount of leftover of the supplied meals.Key words: busy farming season, developing a meal, local crops, preference, leftover

경북 안동시 농번기 농촌노인 식단개발 연구

Dietary life style of the elderly living in rural areas of Gyeongbuk Andong during the busy farming season was surveyed and a monthly meal plan for the elderly was developed using eco-friendly native crops and considering the characteristics of a busy farming season and their preferences. A week meal plan was selected and applied to those fields. The meal plan was developed for an elder's house in Gyeongbuk Andong during the busy farming season. Especially, to increase the intake of calcium and dietary fiber, bamboo sprouts, pepper leaves, dried slices of whitebait, and fried anchovies were used. Considering the busy farming season, the ginseng chicken soup and the soybean noodle soup were served to provide high quality of protein and to improve health condition. A cold soup of cucumber and brown seaweed was used to supplement liquid, vitamins, and minerals. The results are as follows: the highest score of the preference on a staple was 8.77 for the boiled barley of menu 5; the favorite soup was the ginseng chicken soup (8.73) in menu 4; for side dishes, those in menu 5 were most popular (8.69); the favorite meal was the ginseng chicken soup of menu 4 (8.69). Regarding the amount of leftover foods, the lightest was 30.14 g in Gyeongbuk Andong menu 3 which significantly indicates high preference (p<0.05). The current study was a planned meal service menu using local crops and seasonal foods, which was actually applied to the field resulting in high preference and satisfaction levels.

조선시대 화성성역의 공정관리 사례분석

The objective of this paper is to analyze the construction management capacity of Choseon Dynasty and suggest a new interpretation on the construction capacity of the time management by reviewing the time management case during a representative construction project, HwaSungk construction project implemented in the latter period of Choseon Dynasty around 200 years ago. which was described in HwaSungSungYoukEuGye. The analysis results of the time management capacity during the latter period of Choseon Dynasty depicted in the HwaSungSungYoukEuGye is summarized as follows: (1) It took 2 years and 6 months to complete the Hwasung construction project. However, all of the single buildings were constructed within 6 months, a relatively short period of time. Judging from the fact, it can be assumed that the construction techniques using wood of the time were very sophisticated. (2) When the HwaSung was constructed, it took a relatively short period of time to complete works from placing the foundation to erecting columns and to placing a crossbeam on the columns. Based on the fact, it can be also inferred that assembly processing techniques of the time were also sophisticated and the level of member processing and assembling techniques of the time was considerably good as well. (3) The HwaSung construction was continued throughout the year without any influence by weather conditions, which tells us that division of labor by work was performed, and it was possible to mobilize labor force for the construction project even during the busy farming seasons.

일부 농업인에서의 근골격계 질환 관리 프로그램의 효과

일개 농촌 마을에서 농한기를 활용하여 시행된 근골격계 질환 예방사업을 소개하고 주요 사업결과를 분석하여 농업인의 건강증진을 위한 기초자료로 활용하고자 본 연구를 수행하였다. 2006년 12월 5일부터 2007년 1월 26일까지 사곳리 마을회관을 12회 방문하여 4번의 기초교육과 5번의 심화교육 등 9번의 근력 및 유연성 강화교육을 실시하였다. 교육 전(사전평가), 기초교육과 심화교육 사이(중간평가), 교육 후(최종평가) 등 3회에 걸쳐 의사 2인에 의한 근골격계 질환 평가, 시각통증척도에 의한 근골격계 통증 평가, 생활체육 전문가 3인에 의한 좌우의 악력, 배근력, 하지근력, 몸통, 어깨, 하지, 무릎유연성 측정을 통한 근골격계 근력 및 유연성 평가, 설문지를 사용한 어깨, 허리, 무릎의 기능 평가를 실시하였다. 총 12회의 일정 중 1회 이상 참석한 농업인은 총 57명이었으며 남자가 20명(35.1%), 여자가 37명(64.9%)이었으며 평균 연령은 60.7(±8.1)세였다. 근골격계 질환 검진에서 한 번 이상의 검진을 받았던 43명중 32명(74%)이 한 가지 이상의 근골격계 질환을 가지고 있었으며, 퇴행성관절염이 26명(60.5%), 근막통 증후군이 19명(44.2%), 허리디스크가 10명(23.3%)이었다.목어깨, 허리, 무릎다리의 통증정도는 1차, 2차 평가 간, 2차, 3차 평가 간, 1차, 3차 평가 간의 비교에서 모두 감소하는 경향을 보였으며 3차 평가에서 1차 평가에 비해 목어깨, 허리, 무릎다리 모두 유의한 통증의 감소를 보였다(p<0.05). 근골격계의 기능을 1차, 2차 평가 간, 2차, 3차 평가 간, 1차, 3차 평가 간 비교한 결과 모두 기능점수가 우수하게 변화했으나 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다. 근력 및 유연성 정도는 좌우의 악력, 배근력, 하지근력, 몸통, 어깨, 하지, 무릎유연성을 측정하였으며 1차 평가에 비해 3차 평가에서 모든 항목에서 근력 및 유연성 정도가 통계적으로 유의하게 증가하였다(p<0.05).연구대상자의 수가 적었고, 농한기에 의한 근골격계 질환의 개선 효과를 배제할 수는 없었지만 이번연구를 통하여 일부 농업인에서 근골격계 질환 관리 프로그램 실시 후 근골격계 질환의 단기적인 개선효과를 볼 수 있었다. 근골격계 질환의 중장기적인 개선효과를 기대할 수 있는 추가적인 연구와 농번기를 통한 관리 프로그램에 대한 추가적인 연구가 필요하다.

Mechanisms of Sustaining Agriculture and the Aging of Rural Communities in Takamiya-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture

With the shortage of agricultural work force in Japan, rural villages today have to cope with the problems of aging work force. This paper aims to clarify the mechanism of agricultural continuance by means of a detailed case study in Takamiya-cho, a village in Hiroshima Prefecture. Two main work force complementing systems have been discussed in the previous studies in addition to part-time farmer. One of them is the “weekend farmer” who lives outside his home village and returns to the village to help with his family's farm in the busy farming seasons or on weekends. The other is the trust system of agricultural lands and works. This surly investigates how these two systems function in a village with an aged population. Three types of farmer can be classified according to the work force complementing situation. The first type is the successor who lives with his aged parents and works in the non-agricultural sector. Where this type of farm household is prevalent, cultivation can be continued because the agricultural work force will be reproduced even with part-time farming. In such a situation only rice will be cultivated, by a small work force using agricultural machinery. In the second type, the agricultural work force is complemented by “weekend farmers.” In this type cultivation is maintained by the work force complementing system in each farm household itself. The work force complementing of “weekend farmers” is available for mechanized agriculture, but serious problems will occur in the near future, because there is little probability of reproducing the agricultural work force. In the third type, the work force is complemented by an agricultural trust. This type is a work force complementing system that works in groups of farm households. This type of work force complementing is available not merely in villages with an aged population but also in villages where part-time farming is predominant.

中国黄土高原における農作業体系 ４．平均的農家の年間労働時間配分の推定

The survey of customary farm practices for improving the cropping system in Guyuan Prefecture of Ningxia Autonomous Region, which is located at the western part of the Loess Plateau in China, was carried out, This work has been conducted as a part of the research project on the “Fundamental study of the establishment of grasses and crops on the Loess Plateau in China” sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. In this paper, we discussed the characteristics of the distribution of yearly work hours which were estimated from the work hours for a 10 day period in the cultivation of each crop where crop rotation occured1) Using statistics of the village investigated, it was estimated that the mean cultivated acrege and the mean number of labor of each farm were 2.6ha and 3 persons, respectively. The mean yearly hour of farm labor and of draft animal use for a farm were 1918.5 and 666.1 hours, respectively. We found that there were three busy farming seasons in a year. The first season was in middle- and late-May owing to weeding. The second season was from late-July to early-August, when spring wheat and flax were harvested, followed to field plowing after harvest of wheat and pea. The third season, which was the busiest farming season, was in late-September, when plowing and carring and application of organic fertilizer in the field were achieved.2) Through all our papers (Parts from 1 to 4), the following things were pointed out.(1) In order to prevent soil erosion on the Loess Plateau, it is important to stop crop cultivation on steep slopes and to establish grassland there. However, this results in reduction of the cultivated acreage, and necessity of increase in crop yields on the flat land. Based on our observations and field trials, we consider an increase in the soil water and fertilization application might be the key facters for increasing crop yields.(2) In customary farm practices, farmers have made a great effort to break the crust formed on the soil surface with repeated sharrow plowing, and to harvest rainfall water into the soil during the summer season. On the other hand, this farm practice caused the formation of very hard plow sole in the fields. To solve this problem, it is suggested that subsoiling will be able to increase crop yields due to the increase in water retention and expansion of the root zone for crop growth.(3) Organic fertilizer, which contains a high percentage of soil, is the main fertilizer. It needs long working hours to carry and spread in the field. For reducing work hours, we recommend that determining a reasonable percentage of soil in the fertilizer is important. At present the amount of chemical fertilizer applied is small. So, we suggest that in order to increase crop yield, it is necessary to increase the application amount of phosphoric and nitrogenous fertilizers.(4) Because of inefficient threshing practice using a stone made roller, waste and quality loss of grains during temporal storage seemed to be large. We suggest that a foot pedal thresher, which is usually used in other parts of China, should be introduced to rectify the loss.(5) Farmers need the aid of children and old forks for hand hoe weeding. We recommend to introduce a highly efficient hand weeder for the release from such grueling work.

Implement the "Four Unifications" and Bring into Full Play the Role of Farm Machinery

Yantai District in Shandong Province is one of the areas in our country in which a comparatively good job has been done in the mechanization of agriculture. Compared with 1965, by 1977 the whole area had increased its power-driven machinery for agricultural use by 15 times, tractors by 58 times and irrigation machinery by 9 times. Now the entire district has more than 29,200 tractors and over 105,900 pieces of irrigation and drainage machinery and has a total of 1,989,700 horsepower of power-driven machinery, averaging 178.5 horsepower per production brigade. By 1977, as much as 59 percent of the cultivated area of the district was plowed by machinery, 61.6 percent of the total sown acreage was seeded by machinery, and 72.6 percent of the total irrigated land was irrigated by machinery. The advance in the level of mechanization of agriculture has expedited the development of agricultural production. In the meantime, however, many new problems have cropped up whose solution provides a challenge. For example, 90 percent of the tractors in the district are owned by the brigades. Because farm machinery and implements are not evenly distributed and the crops do not mature at the same time, some of the production brigades and teams urgently need farm machinery and implements while others have their machinery and implements lie idle during the busy farming seasons in summer and fall. Lacking a complete set of accessories, some tractors cannot run at their full capacity. All this serves to illustrate that the form of "I buy it, I use it, and I manage it" in using and managing agricultural machinery has become an impediment to giving full play to the role of agricultural machinery. This is not in keeping with the greatly expanded productive forces resulting from the mechanization of agriculture. In order to solve this contradiction, Yantai District summed up and popularized in the fall of 1974 the experience of the "four unifications" of Xiyou Commune of Yexian xian in using agricultural machinery. Starting from the summer of 1974, this commune, based on the principle of free volition and mutual benefit, put all the agricultural machinery of the various brigades under the charge of the commune during the busy farming seasons in summer and fall in order to implement the system of unified command, unified operation, unified maintenance and unified accounting. In this way, they were able to expand the role of agricultural machinery during the busy farming seasons. Out of the 303 people's communes in Yantai District, 143 had already adopted the management and operation method of the "four unifications" as of last year. The rest of the communes will implement the same method this year. Quite a few xian and communes have implemented the method, not only in the busy farming seasons but also in the struggle against natural disasters and in capital construction on farmland.