Crop Production Inputs Research Articles

Groundwater irrigation and crop economy in the lower Gangetic plain at Matbarer Char, Madaripur, South-Central Bangladesh

Attempts have been made in this paper to overview the present agricultural inputs for crop production and crop economy in the lower Gangetic plain. Results of the field survey show that the average labour requirement of Boro rice production is 35 person-days/acre. The fertilizer application by the farmers is not balanced and is well below the recommended doses. N, P2O5, K2O ratio used by the farmers was 7:3:1 against the appropriate ratio of 5:4:3 for HYV Boro rice. The cost of Boro rice cultivation has been estimated on the basis of input use. The rice cultivation costs were Tk.14,335, Tk 13,875 and Tk. 11,271 per acre for the water buyer, water seller with diesel pump and water seller with electric pump respectively. Labour and irrigation costs together normally account for two- thirds of the total cost of production - increases in the prices of these inputs can greatly depress Boro rice profitability. Moreover, Gross income of the water sellers from major crops is about 32% higher than that of the water buyers. The study also shows that the total cost for a Shallow Tube Well (STW) run by diesel motive power is almost twice that for electric motive power. If groundwater irrigated agriculture system is framed in a comprehensive manner, this could play an important role in poverty alleviation. DOI: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jasbs.v38i1.15318 J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 38(1): 29-39, June 2012

Application of geographical information system for farm mechanization education and training

Precision farming is managing each crop production input such as fertilizer, water, lime, herbicide, insecticide and seed on a site-specific basis to reduce waste, increase profit and maintain the quality of the environment. Without some remarkable enabling assisting technologies, the individual treatment of each plant is impossible and the concept of precision farming would not be feasible. Based on the trip, we can gain more information about the new technology that applies nowadays in agriculture. By using remote sensing that transmitted data from GPS, we can used to determination of generic object type, character and property as well as it’s abstract meaning. Besides, the application of remote sensing has been used in soil electrical conductivity sensor which used for show the variability of soil properties in detail and rapidly using simple equipment with less cost and labor force. Action maps will then be produced for farmers to apply fertilizers at different rates according to the delineated zones.

The Use of Woodland Products to Cope with Climate Variability in Communal Areas in Zimbabwe

Woittiez, L. S., M. C. Rufino, K. E. Giller, and P. Mapfumo. 2013. The use of woodland products to cope with climate variability in communal areas in Zimbabwe. Ecology and Society 18(4): 24. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05705-180424

Pulse Crops Improve Energy Intensity and Productivity of Cereal Production in Montana, USA

Energy consumption, intensity, and productivity are indicators of agricultural sustainability in the face of fossil energy scarcity and price volatility. In this study, budgets of energy embodied in crop production inputs were compiled for 14 paired pulse (annual grain legume)-wheat and wheat-wheat crop sequences using data collected from Montana farmers. We report two energy performance metrics: net energy yield (NEY), the energy content of harvested crop minus energy required to produce it, and energy intensity (EI), the ratio of input energy to mass of crop harvested. Nitrogen fertilizer accounted for 58% of the energy used in wheat production, and its absence largely accounted for the 53% reduction in energy inputs to pulses relative to wheat. EI of pulses was lower than for wheat, and pulse crops also resulted in reduced EI and increased NEY for the subsequent wheat crop compared to wheat grown following wheat. The largest component of the improved energy performance of wheat following pulses was increased yield rather than decreased inputs.

Can economic incentives encourage actual reductions in pesticide use and environmental spillovers?

AbstractChemical pesticides constitute an important input in crop production. But their indiscriminate use can impact negatively agricultural productivity, human health, and the environment. Recently, attention is focused on the use of economic incentives to reduce pesticide use and its related indirect effects. The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness of different economic instruments such as taxes and levies in encouraging farmers to decrease pesticide use and their environmental spillovers. A policy simulation model is employed using data from Dutch cash crop producers including two pesticide categories that differ in terms of toxicity and pesticides’ environmental spillovers. Four different instruments were selected for evaluation: pesticide taxes, price penalties on pesticides’ environmental spillovers, subsidies, and quotas. The results of the study indicate that even high taxes and penalties would result in a small decrease in pesticide use and environmental spillovers. Taxes that differentiate according to toxicity do not lead to substitution of high‐ with low‐toxicity pesticides. Subsidies on low‐toxicity products are not able to affect the use of high‐toxicity products. Pesticide quotas are more effective in reducing pesticide use and environmental spillovers.

Performance evaluation of agricultural inputs in crop production of Zahak Payame Noor university agricultural faculty farm by linear programming

Farm management is one of the most critical factors in production and marketing of agricultural crops. In a broad description, management is defined as making decision process through which the limited resources are allocated to competent items in such a way that the determined goal can be achieved. Generally, organizing and controlling the resources of an agricultural unit toward the maximum potential benefits and expected revenues is the main task of farm manager. Furthermore, by increasing population and demand for agricultural crops and relative resource shortages, it will be obvious that efficient input utilization is essential. Today, management science using mathematical programming especially linear programming encourages managers for much more efficient decisions in the field of allocating limited resources to competent activities. Hence, linear programming technique serves as a means for choosing the highest performance items; that is, the items having the highest output to input ratio. Since decision making is crucial in management process, if the linear programming parameter (facilities, limitations, performance and costs) are estimated accurately, the results will have a profound effect on the decision making of the production unit. Keywords: Inputs, agriculture, production, linear programming.

Cost-effective conservation programs: The role of economics

A s global demand for food and fuel grows, the potential tradeoff between agricultural production and environmental quality has renewed urgency. While grain and soybean prices have retreated from previous peaks, demand for food and fuel remains strong and prices continue at levels well above their 2004 to 2006 averages. These market signals are encouraging the use of additional land, water, and other inputs in crop production. If pursued without caution, however, increasingly intensive agricultural production can damage land, deplete water resources, and degrade the environment. Environmental protection often requires government intervention. Agricultural producers generally do not receive a financial benefit from using production methods that could protect or improve the environment downstream or downwind. Unless these methods are also the most profitable way to farm, producers have no tangible incentive to adopt them. Because nonpoint source pollution processes such as nutrient runoff cannot be directly observed, farmers and ranchers may not even realize the environmental effect of their actions. Federal agricultural conservation policy seeks to provide incentives for environmental protection where markets have failed to do so. Agricultural conservation policy is implemented largely through voluntary programs that offer economic incentives for the adoption and use of environmentally sound practices. Between…

Energy Inputs in Food Crop Production in Developing and Developed Nations

Detailed energy outputs and inputs were assessed for the following crops, cultured in the U.S. and developing countries: corn, wheat, rice, soy, potato, cassava, tomato, citrus and apple. In addition, the labor input for each crop was analyzed.

Re-inventing model-based decision support with Australian dryland farmers. 4. Yield Prophet® helps farmers monitor and manage crops in a variable climate

In Australia, a land subject to high annual variation in grain yields, farmers find it challenging to adjust crop production inputs to yield prospects. Scientists have responded to this problem by developing Decision Support Systems, yet the scientists’ enthusiasm for developing these tools has not been reciprocated by farm managers or their advisers, who mostly continue to avoid their use. Preceding papers in this series described the FARMSCAPE intervention: a new paradigm for decision support that had significant effects on farmers and their advisers. These effects were achieved in large measure because of the intensive effort which scientists invested in engaging with their clients. However, such intensive effort is time consuming and economically unsustainable and there remained a need for a more cost-effective tool. In this paper, we report on the evolution, structure, and performance of Yield Prophet®: an internet service designed to move on from the FARMSCAPE model to a less intensive, yet high quality, service to reduce farmer uncertainty about yield prospects and the potential effects of alternative management practices on crop production and income. Compared with conventional Decision Support Systems, Yield Prophet offers flexibility in problem definition and allows farmers to more realistically specify the problems in their fields. Yield Prophet also uniquely provides a means for virtual monitoring of the progress of a crop throughout the season. This is particularly important for in-season decision support and for frequent reviewing, in real time, of the consequences of past decisions and past events on likely future outcomes. The Yield Prophet approach to decision support is consistent with two important, but often ignored, lessons from decision science: that managers make their decisions by satisficing rather than optimising and that managers’ fluid approach to decision making requires ongoing monitoring of the consequences of past decisions.

Prediction of the Nutrient Content in Dairy Manure Using Artificial Neural Network Modeling

Nutrients in animal manure are valuable inputs in agronomic crop production. Timely and reliable information on animal manure nutrient content will facilitate the utilization of manure as organic fertilizer and reduce any associated potential environmental problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using multiple linear regression (MLR), polynomial regression, and artificial neural network (ANN) models to determine nutrient content in dairy manure. Fresh manure samples (n=86) from Holstein dairy cattle were collected from 34 dairy farms located in Beijing city, China. All samples were analyzed for nutrient content (ammonium nitrogen, total potassium, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus) by standard laboratory methods. The physicochemical properties (specific gravity, electrical conductivity, and pH) of dairy manure samples were measured. Relationships between nutrient content and physicochemical properties were explored by MLR, polynomial regression, and ANN models. Several parameters (R2, modeling efficiency statistic, mean squared error of prediction, mean bias, linear bias, and maximum bias) were calculated to evaluate model performance. The residual analysis results indicated that all MLR models for the testing data set had significant mean and linear bias. When compared with MLR and polynomial regression models, the ANN model for all nutrient contents had better performance with higher R2 and modeling efficiency statistics and lower mean squared error of prediction, mean bias, linear bias, and maximum bias. These findings demonstrated that the ANN model may be an appropriate tool to predict dairy manure nutrient content.

Economic Analysis of Phosphorus Applications under Variable and Single-Rate Applications in the Bothaville District

Variable-rate (VR) application of inputs in South African cash crop production is mainly concerned with fertilizer and lime, and this indicates the importance of these inputs in cash crop production. However, the profitability of VR application of inputs has not yet been investigated under South African conditions. This paper studies the maize yield response to variable-rate application of phosphorus (P) and the profitability thereof in South Africa, on the basis of data collected on a 104-hectare experimental field on a farm in the Bothaville district. The strip-plot design of 180 strips was used for this on-farm research experiment. This design involved treatments that run in the same direction across the field as planting and harvesting. The objective is to determine the maize crop response functions under different P rates and to estimate the profitability of VR relative to the single-rate (SR) application of P. The methodology involves modelling maize yield response functions for P under VR and SR treatments, and for different management zones. A spatial quadratic regression model is developed, according to which yield is estimated as a function of applied P, the treatment and management zones. The results indicate that yield response to P varies between VR and the SR application methods, as well as between management zones. Variable-rate treatment results in higher profits than the SR treatment.

Integrating Agronomic Principles into Production Function Specification: A Dichotomy of Growth Inputs and Facilitating Inputs

This article presents a general conceptual framework for integrating agronomic principles into economic production analysis. We categorize inputs in crop production into growth inputs and facilitating inputs. Based on this dichotomy we specify an asymmetric production function. The robustness of the asymmetric framework is tested using crop‐level panel data on potato production in the Netherlands. The test results do not reject the proposed framework, and the asymmetric specification better represents the underlying production technology.

Pesticide Regulation and Pesticide Prices

Pesticides are an increasingly important input in crop production. In North America there has been a longstanding concern by farmers in close proximity to the Canada–U.S. border that either differences in access to compounds or price differentials adversely affect competitive positions. Past analysis of this issue has tended to assume a simple arbitrage process, if borders are opened, that leads to prices falling to the lower price. By contrast, we examine the possibility for systematic price discrimination by pesticide manufacturers. Under this model an open border may lead to price arbitrage, but not at the lower price. Further, we show that while aggregate social welfare gains from removing price discrimination are possible, they may be small. Further, component welfare changes to manufacturers and farmers in each country are large and conflicting, which suggests there will likely be opposition from some groups to more open borders.

Effects of Agricultural Free Trade on Environmental Quality

The World Trade Organization (WTO) initiated the globalization of world trade, and increasing concerns for the quality of the environment have resulted in discussions about agricultural policy involving many different perspectives. There are several issues linking trade liberalization, agriculture and the environment, one implicitly assuming that the more efficient allocation of resources and high income are associated with the improvement of agro-environmental quality. Another view is that agricultural trade policies influence crop-production patterns, farming practices and input use. The net effect is that each approach cancels out some of the influence of the other. Two examples from Mexico and Bangladesh point out that agro-environmental responses to free trade are non-linear and that it is not easy to draw a simple causal relationship between free trade and the agroenvironment. A basic challenge before the research community is to confront reductionist approaches, as traditional research into trade–agriculture–environment interactions reveals difficulty in dealing with the knowledge gaps. A transdisciplinary, systems approach provides one possibility for dealing with the needs of free trade in agriculture.

The importance of microorganisms in organic agriculture

While conventional agriculture relies on synthetic fertiliser, chemical pesticides or other technological inputs for crop production, organic agriculture aims to make optimal use of the natural capital of the soil and its microbial population through methods such as the selection of indigenous crop varieties, and the production of crops appropriate to soil conditions. A number of different soil microorganisms are involved in these processes. Many show potential biocontrol activities against weeds, crop diseases and pests, while Rhizobacteria and mycorrhizal species can play an important role in sustainable fertility management. Microorganisms are currently being used as a replacement for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers for many different crops.

Consumer Demand for Pesticide Free Food Products in Canada: A Probit Analysis

Pesticide Free Production™ (PFP™) is a new crop production strategy that has emerged in the Canadian prairies. Emphasis is placed on substituting human capital for chemical inputs in field crop production. Consumer response to the introduction of food products containing PFP™ inputs is unknown. A consumer survey was developed and implemented to assess what food products consumers would purchase if available in a PFP™ form and what factors affect demand for PFP™ food products. Results from a probit model suggest strong consumer interest in food products containing grains and oilseeds produced in a PFP™ cropping system. Respondents concerned with pesticides in the environment and/or food products, who would switch grocery stores to purchase a PFP™ food product, who were less than 36 years of age, had higher average household income and who would pay a premium for a PFP™ food product were more likely to choose food products with PFP™ ingredients.

Industrial biotechnology applications for food security in Africa: opportunities and challenges

Industrial biotechnology promises to help improve food security in Africa by providing alternative farm inputs for crop and livestock production, improving the processing of animal and plant products (and remains) and providing an additional market for farmers. Such innovations could diversify rural economies, create jobs and promote the development of environmentally and economically sustainable agro-industries. However, some of the challenges, such as limited international markets for agricultural products, high tariffs on semi-processed and processed exports, the weak local scientific base, lack of investment and diplomacy skills among others, threaten to limit the impact of biotechnology in Africa. This paper explores a number of these issues from an African perspective and seeks to highlight the options Africa could adopt to realise the benefits.

Evaluation of quick tests for phosphorus determination in dairy manures

Nutrients in animal manure are valuable inputs in agronomic crop production. Rapid and timely information about manure nutrient content are needed to minimize the risks of phosphorus (P) over-application and losses of dissolved P (DP) in runoff from fields treated with manure. We evaluated the suitability of a commercial hand-held reflectometer, a hydrometer, and an electrical conductivity (EC) meter for determining DP and total P (TP) in dairy manures. Bulk samples ( n = 107) collected from farms across CT, MD, NY, PA, and VA were highly variable in total solids (TS) concentration, ranging from 11 to 213 g L −1, in suspensions' pH (6.3–9.2), and EC (6.2–53.3 dS m −1). Manure DP concentrations measured using the RQFlex reflectometer (RQFlex-DP s) were related to molybdate-reactive P (MRP s) concentrations as follows: RQFlex-DP s = 0.471 × MRP s + 1102 ( r 2 = 0.29). Inclusion of pH and squared-pH terms improved the prediction of manure DP from RQFlex results ( r 2 = 0.66). Excluding five outlier samples that had pH ≤ 6.9 the coefficient of determination ( r 2) for the MRP s and RQFlex-DP s relationship was 0.83 for 95% of the samples. Manure TS were related to hydrometer specific gravity readings ( r 2 = 0.53) that were in turn related to TP ( r 2 = 0.34), but not to either RQFlex-DP or MRP. Relationships between suspensions' EC and DP or TP were non-significant. Therefore, the RQFlex method is the only viable option for on-site quick estimates of DP that can be made more robust when complemented with TS and pH measurements. The DP quick test can provide near real-time information on soluble manure nutrient content across a wide range of handling and storage conditions on dairy farms and quick estimates of potential soluble P losses in runoff following land applications of manure.

Evaluating soil management with microbial community-level physiological profiles

Soil management practices such as crop rotations and crop production inputs can affect soil microbial communities. Carbon substrate utilization patterns have been used to distinguish microbial community functional activity in different ecosystems. Microbial community functional activity from a long-term crop rotation experiment (HRE) and from Pennsylvania farms was evaluated by analysis of microbial community-level physiological profiles (CLPP) based on Gram-negative Biolog ® plate reactions. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analyses of substrate reactions were analyzed after 72 h of incubation. In the HRE, treatments with manure and crop rotations formed a different cluster than treatments with no manure and continuous corn. Farms with routine organic amendments formed a different cluster than farms with few or no organic additions. Whole plate metrics—mean plate intensity (MPI), number of C substrate reactions—were particularly effective as indicators of soil management impacts on microbial community activity. Substrate utilization diversity was different in treatments with manure additions and crop rotations treatments of HRE, but not for farms with different management. Although not without limitation, microbial community-level physiological profiling can be used as a tool to explore the impacts of different soil management on the functional activity of soil microbial communities.

Precision Agriculture and Sustainability

Precision Agriculture (PA) can help in managing crop production inputs in an environmentally friendly way. By using site-specific knowledge, PA can target rates of fertilizer, seed and chemicals for soil and other conditions. PA substitutes information and knowledge for physical inputs. A literature review indicates PA can contribute in many ways to long-term sustainability of production agriculture, confirming the intuitive idea that PA should reduce environmental loading by applying fertilizers and pesticides only where they are needed, and when they are needed. Precision agriculture benefits to the environment come from more targeted use of inputs that reduce losses from excess applications and from reduction of losses due to nutrient imbalances, weed escapes, insect damage, etc. Other benefits include a reduction in pesticide resistance development. One limitation of the papers reviewed is that only a few actually measured directly environmental indices, such as leaching with the use of soil sensors. Most of them estimated indirectly the environmental benefits by measuring the reduced chemical loading. Results from an on-farm trial in Argentina provide an example of how site-specific information and variable rate application could be used in maintaining profitability while reducing N applications. Results of the sensitivity analysis show that PA is a modestly more profitable alternative than whole field management, for a wide range of restrictions on N application levels. These restrictions might be government regulations or the landowner's understanding of environmental stewardship. In the example, variable rate of N maintains farm profitability even when nitrogen is restricted to less than half of the recommended uniform rate.