Economic Sustainability Of Farms Research Articles

Editorial: Animal welfare and economic sustainability of farms

Editorial: Animal welfare and economic sustainability of farms

Analyzing Economic Sustainability of Market Gardening and Rice Farms in Southwest Benin under FAFA Project

The issue of agricultural sustainability remaining a topical concern. While agriculture being an important sector for the development of world economies. It has noted that implementing farming sustainably for a better contribution in the next generation economic development needed. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the economic sustainability of the rice farms and market gardening benefiting from the FAFA MC project in the Southwest juxtaposed departments in Benin. Specifically, it is first of all a question of assessing, with regard to the two types of farms, which type of farming is the most sustainable. Next, to see whether rice farms are more sustainable than market gardening farms; and finally, to highlight the relationship between economic sustainability and environmental and social sustainability. The data used where obtained from FAFA MC database (2012). Finally, a data of 48 farms were used in the analysis. The analysis techniques have consisted of three steps these are: descriptive analysis, the principal component analysis applied and an ascending hierarchical classification applied. The analysis of data supported by SPSS 2.0, Excel 2013 and SPAD 5.5 software package. To understand the economic sustainability of the farms, the sustainability indicators methodology of IDEA was employed. Overall, it emerges from the analysis of results that the farms considered have limited economic sustainability (a score of 38.25 / 100); group farms prove to be more economically sustainable than individual farms and vegetable farms are more economically sustainable compared to rice farms. So, it seems important to encourage groupings of individual farmers, to clearly define property rights on agricultural land, to sensitize producers to the application of the principles of sustainable development.

Serbian Agriculture Policy: Economic Analysis Using the PSE Approach

The purpose of the research is to identify the level of Government support to farmers’ income in the Republic of Serbia. This support is based on market measures and budgetary transfers directed towards producers. As budgetary transfers are defined in the agricultural policy, by applying the producer support estimate (PSE) methodology, it is indirectly evaluated whether agricultural policies have a positive or negative impact on farmers’ income and their economic status and the economic sustainability of farms. Producers of more significant agricultural commodities covered by the analysis in the period between 2012 and 2016 did not get any significant support from the state. Namely, most of the analyzed commodities had negative values of single commodity transfer (SCT) indicators, which means that agricultural producers received more taxes than incentives. In addition to the modest budgetary transfers, variations in their forms further negatively affect producers’ income. Low share of budgetary transfers in the support structure to farmers leads to the conclusion that the support to farmers’ income through higher prices on the domestic market is paid by consumers.

P2 - Boosting Farmer Sales Through Point of Purchase Home Food Preservation Education

Objective: The Point of Purchase (POP) Home Food Preservation Education project sought to increase sales and farm profitability by increasing consumer literacy and influencing POP consumer behaviors to preserve (e.g. freeze, can, dry) produce to increase local food access. Target Audience: Consumers at farmers' markets, Pick Your Own farms and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shareholders. Theory, Prior Research, Rationale: An electronic retrospective behavior survey was administered to participating consumers to assess their pre and post behaviors related to volume purchased and food preservation methods used as a result of “nudge” marketing and POP education. Description: Through trained Master Food Preserver volunteers and staff, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension partnered with two Pick Your Own farms, two CSA farms and three farmers' markets to offer “nudge” marketing and food preservation educational displays as an intervention to influence consumers' (n = 1,000) behaviors to: purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables to preserve, use the latest methods of food preservation to reduce foodborne illness risk, and increase farm profitability and sustainability. Evaluation: Analysis of the retrospective behavior survey indicated that 45% of consumers purchased more produce (strawberries, tomatoes, greens, green beans and apples) to preserve than they had in past growing seasons. Consumers identified freezing foods to prevent food waste as the biggest change in their food preservation behavior. Consumers also indicated greater adherence to USDA food preservation recommendations for acidification and proper processing. Conclusions and Implications: Economic sustainability of farms is a daily issue faced by farmers. Profitable farms are sustainable farms. Consumers and their purchasing power hold the key to directly impact the profit base for farmers. Our research documents positive shifts in consumer behaviors as a result of our POP intervention that ultimately impacts farm sustainability and profitability in Maine and Maine's local food system. Funding: Maine Food and Ag Center.

Genome-wide association mapping for type and mammary health traits in French dairy goats identifies a pleiotropic region on chromosome 19 in the Saanen breed

Type traits and mammary health traits are important to dairy ruminant breeding because they influence animal health, milking ability, and longevity, as well as the economic sustainability of farms. The availability of the genomic sequence and a single nucleotide polymorphism chip in goats has opened up new fields of investigation to better understand the genes and mechanisms that underlie such complex traits and to be able to select them. Our objective was to perform a genome-wide association study in dairy goats for 11 type traits and somatic cell count (SCC) as proxies for mastitis resistance. A genome-wide association study was implemented using a daughter design composed of 1,941 Alpine and Saanen goats sired by 20 artificial insemination bucks, genotyped with the Illumina GoatSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA). This association study was based on both linkage analyses and linkage disequilibrium using QTLmap software (http://dga7.jouy.inra.fr/qtlmap/) interval mapping was performed with the likelihood ratio test using linear regressions. Breeds were analyzed together and separately. The study highlighted 37 chromosome-wide significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) with linkage analyses and 222 genome-wide significant QTL for linkage disequilibrium, for type and SCC traits in dairy goats. Genomic control of those traits was mostly polygenic and breed-specific, suggesting that within-breed selection would be favored for those traits. Of note, Capra hircus autosome (CHI) 19 appeared to be highly enriched in single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with type and SCC, with 2 highly significant regions in the Saanen breed. One region (33-42 Mb) was significantly associated with SCC and includes candidate genes associated with response to intramammary infections (RARA, STAT3, STAT5A, and STAT5B). Another region of the CHI 19 (24.5-27 Mb) exhibited an adverse pleiotropic effect on milk production (milk, fat yield, and protein yield) and udder traits (udder floor position and rear udder attachment) that agreed with the negative genetic correlations that exist between those 2 groups of traits. These QTL were not found in the Alpine breed. In Alpine, the 2 most significant regions were associated with chest depth on CHI 6 (45.8-46.0 Mb) and CHI 8 (80.7-81.1 Mb). These results will be helpful for goat selection in the future and could lead to identification of causal mutations.

Multi-dimensional assessment and scoring system for dairy farms

The aim of the study is to develop a scoring system for dairy farms in order to give specific information about the product and production process of milk. The scoring system, based on a multi-dimensional approach, was developed on the basis of data collected in 29 Italian dairy farms and included different aspects. For the evaluation of animal welfare, a selection of indicators set up in the European Project® assessment protocol for cattle 2009 was used. Environmental sustainability of milk production was assessed by a cradle-to-farm-gate Life Cycle Assessment. Laboratory analyses were carried out on bulk tank milk to evaluate microbiological, nutritional and nutraceutical quality. Nineteen variables were selected and retained to define six quality aspects: animal welfare, environmental and economic sustainability of farms, microbiological, nutritional and nutraceutical quality of milk. Each farm was visited twice; each visit received, for each variable, a score between 1 and 3 based on the frequency distribution of that variable in the farm sample. The relation among farm characteristics and quality aspects showed the importance to maximise dairy efficiency to improve environmental and economic sustainability of the farms and the inclusion of hay in dairy cows’ ration to enhance the nutraceutical and nutritional quality of milk. The proposed multi-dimensional scoring system is a practical tool: for the farmer, to support decisions for improving the quality of the product and the productive process; for the dairy company, as a value-added opportunity; for the consumer, who receives detailed information about nutritional characteristics and production system of dairy products.

Ranking Farms Using Quantitative Indicators of Sustainability: The 4Agro Method

The paper presents 4Agro, a new model for the assessment of environmental, social and economic sustainability of farms. The framework is based on a set of 42 indicators. The process has involved the following steps: identification of the most relevant variables that characterizes sustainability performances of farms, choice of the appropriate indicators, assignment of their range scores, data collection, calculation of the score for each farm and their visualization by graphic representation. The case study was represented by fifty farms from the South Milan Agricultural Park (Northern Italy). The method allows a comparison among farms or homogeneous groups of them, showing the sensitivity to their characteristics and farmers’ choices. The research shows the framework of 4Agro and discusses some relevant points related to the selection and weighting of indicators.

Economic sustainability of Farms in Poland

Measuring the level of agriculture sustainability is very complex. Different proposals are presented and discussed, and still, there is no generally accepted measures of the sustainability of agriculture. This problem also concerns economic sustainability ofagriculture. Sustainability of agricultural holdings determines the sustainability of agriculture, although these notions are not identical. The Agricultural Censuses that are carried out in all the European Union countries are based on a uniform methodology. The Agricultural Census data can be used to measure the sustainability of agricultural holdings, including economic sustainability – in individual countries and for comparative analysis between them. This, without doubts, is a great advantage of this database. However, a limited scope of collected data is their weakness. The purpose of the article is to present proposals for measuring the economic sustainability of agricultural holdings in Poland on the basis of Agricultural Census data, 2010. This article sets the following indicators of the economic sustainability: land productivity, labour profitability, farms market activity and sources of households’ incomeand maintenance. The analysis concerns individual agricultural holdings with at least 1 ha of agricultural land and it is also carried out in the area groups.Key Words: agriculture, environmentally sustainable farm, income,

Are Tunisian organic olive growing farms sustainable? An adapted IDEA approach analysis

Sustainability and multifunctionality of agriculture have become widely shared goals for both scientific community and decision makers. Nowadays, it is important to assess not only the economic sustainability of farms, but also their environmental and socio-territorial sustainability. Numerous sustainability measurement tools have been developed by researchers and some institutions to assess these three dimensions. With the purpose to improve farms’ sustainability, this paper aims providing oriented strategies to go toward more conscientious farmers’ practices in the Tunisian organic olive sector. To reach this goal, two methodological steps were followed: (i) a sustainability measurement process to quantify farms’ sustainability by a methodological adaptation of the IDEA approach; (ii) on the basis of the obtained scores of the three sustainability scales, farms’ segmentation was carried out by the use of cluster analysis. In that sense, a questionnaire directed to a sample of organic olive growing farmers was carried out in the regions of Sfax and Mahdia, Tunisia. Results show a variability of sustainability levels within and between groups of farms. Cluster analysis results confirmed the existence of two main farms’ groups. The first group is more agro-environmentally and socio-territorially sustainable than the second one. Weaknesses in the sustainability performances have been identified and improvement strategies have been formulated and oriented to each group. Results also indicate that in some cases there is no antagonism between environmental, socio-territorial and economic sustainability, so it is possible to improve simultaneously the three dimensions of sustainability.