Kind Of Farming Research Articles

Free usable space estimation in broiler farms using an image segmentation algorithm

Free usable space in broiler farms has a substantial impact on the welfare and health of the chickens. In this paper we use a computer vision algorithm to estimate free usable space in this kind of farms. This method uses a real-time camera that collects images from the farms and an image processing algorithm based on a U-Net architecture, which estimates the free usable space available. The results of the method are compared with manual labels, and it is shown that the method is accurate and efficient in estimating the free usable space.

Fattening Iberian Pigs Indoors vs. Outdoors: Production Performance and Market Value.

The current Quality Standard regulating the Iberian pig provides for various differentiated farming systems subject to the type of management implemented and the breed of the pigs. This study attempts to analyse the differences between two of these production systems, i.e., the outdoor and the indoor rearing systems by comparing the main technical and economic factors of six farms, three operating under each system, in order to ascertain the most profitable production system. This analysis is based on the information provided by the farm owners. It also evaluates the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak had on profitability. The results show that both systems spend the same resources on animal feed, which represents nearly 60% of the expense, with the price of purchase of piglets representing 30-32% of the total; however, there are differences in the cost of labour, which is higher in the outdoor variant. In economic terms, outdoor farms obtained a higher gross margin than indoor farms did. Although their production costs are higher, these are offset with larger incomes due to the higher market price of the pigs at the time of slaughter. Lastly, all the farms under study reveal large financial losses on account of COVID-19, given that there was a general decrease in the revenues due to the decrease in the selling price of the pigs, which seems to be the most determinant factor for the economic profits made by these kinds of farms.

Analisis Keuntungan dan Strategi Pengembangan Usaha Tani Jamur Merang (Studi Kasua Usaha Bujang Jamur di Desa Rumpet Kecamatan Krueng Barona Jaya Kabupaten Aceh Besar)

Mushrooms are vegetables that are good for humans and have a fairly high nutritional value, namely potassium, protein, antioxidants, crude fiber, B vitamins, vitamin D and Beta glucan. Mushrooms can be processed as food, including mushroom soup, mushroom paste, salad, and can even be processed into a kind of crisp or chip. In 2018-2019, national mushroom production per year is in the range of 33 thousand tons, while domestic demand is estimated at 48 thousand tons. Based on this data, it means that there is still a difference of around 15 thousand tons per year that has not been able to be met from domestic production. This was a great opportunity for mushroom cultivators. This indicates that Indonesia has not been able to meet the domestic demand for mushrooms and there are many opportunities for mushroom entrepreneurs in Indonesia. There are recorded as many as 910,028 farmers throughout Aceh Province, as for Aceh Besar District, there are 61,316 farmers. There are various kinds of farming that are cultivated in Aceh Besar, one of which is mushrooms. One type of mushroom cultivated is straw mushroom (Volvariella volvaceae). Similarly to the facts above, the supply of mushrooms in Aceh is still not able to meet its high demand. One of those who have started a mushroom cultivation business in Aceh Besar is the mushroom business which is managed by Maulana. The name of this business is Bujang Jamur, located in Rumpet Village, Darussalam District, Aceh Besar Region. This study aims to analyze the advantages of the Bujang Jamur business and then determine the right development strategy by utilizing the strengths and opportunities of this business. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively and quantitatively. The data that has been obtained are analyzed using profit analysis and SWOT analysis using the IFE/EFE matrix. Data analysis begins with determining the weights of strategic factors that affect the business, then the results of the weights are analyzed using a SWOT matrix. Based on the results of the profit analysis, it was obtained that the R/C Ratio was 1.93, which means it can be said that the Merang Mushroom Business run by Bujang Mushroom is included in the profitable category. As for the SWOT analysis diagram, the Bujang Mushroom business is in quadrant I or the aggressive quadrant, which means that the strengths and opportunities available in the Bujang Mushroom business can still be utilized as much as possible so that they can take advantage of the high demand in the market.

The Use of Internet of Things technology to develop a smart farm prototype for pig farming

This research aims to develop a smart farm prototype using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The objectives are 1) to design and construct environment monitor and control systems of the housing and 2) to design and build an IoT feeding control system. The development is under the system development process at the pig farms in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand, using open-source hardware and software. This system utilizes a ESP8266 Wi-Fi microcontroller, which functions to connect different sensors data to server and control the actuators. The MQTT protocol for data transferred over a secure wireless local network. Node-RED for designing the flow of data is stored on the server using a NoSQL database such as InFluxDB. In this research, it was found that the measured temperature was an average of 28 °C ranging from 24.43 °C to 34.34 °C. The humidity was an average of 92%. The feeding control system is following the instructions 100% of the time. Users can access data and control the system via a web application with a smartphone or a computer in real-time. Additionally, the collected information is processed and analyzed as big data for forecasting or studying climate change around the study point in the future. The overall system performance evaluation was at the highest level achieving on average 4.50 out of 5 with a standard deviation of 0.47 from the users. Therefore, the developed IoT system could be used as a prototype and expanded to a larger farm or other kinds of farms.

Mare’s Milk Productivity of Different Breeds

In the Republic of Uzbekistan, camel and horse breeding are mainly practiced in the northern Kyzylkum regions of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. In the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the total number of annuals in all kinds of farms is currently 7070. Improving horse productivity and making full use of their genetic potential, creating productive lines, and developing effective strategies to promote output are all crucial.

COMPARISON OF FARMS FOCUSING ON PLANT PRODUCTION IN THE PRODUCTION AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND LITHUANIA

In the World there are almost 609 million farms and from it 90 % of farms are family farms. It means that family farm is typical form of farms in the World. This kind of farms are occupying about 80 % of agricultural land and represent about 80 % of food production in the World. Small farms account for 84 % of all farms worldwide, but in terms of agricultural land, they operate only on 12 % of land, which represents about 36 % of the all food production. From the total number of farms, the largest ones (this represents 1 % of farms) operate on size of 70 % of the World's agricultural land. The aim of this research is to calculate, what is the minimum size of family farm focused on plant production (with typical commodities for both countries) in the Republic of Lithuania and the Slovak Republic. We predict same production and economical condition in both countries. We calculate with situation, that the family farm will achieve minimum revenue for covering their costs and household expenditures. In this paper are used the data on farmers from the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Lithuania from the data of business calculations by Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic and Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania. The presented paper calculates with average household expenditures. The valuse of household expenditures in the Slovak Republic are in value 12 795 Euro and average household expenditures in the Lithuania are in value 9 889 Euro. Data are used from both countries statistical offices from the year 2019. These expenditures are calculated for one family farm with 2 adults and 2 kids (as average). The results of the paper proved that, according to the algorithm of an average farm focused on crop production, the farm size of 73.25 ha in the Slovak Republic and 73.01 ha in the Republic of Lithuania of agricultural land needs to have one family farm in each country.

Impact of Farm and Non-Farm Micro-Enterprise Diversifications on Household Dietary Diversity in Malawi

Micro-enterprising is crucial for improving rural households’ food and nutrition status in subsistence agrarian economy like Malawi. There are no studies that have concurrently analyzed the roles of farm and non-farm micro-enterprise diversity on household dietary diversity (proxy measure of household food access) in Malawi. With the following objectives, the study jointly (1) analyzed the effects of farm and non-farm micro-enterprises diversifications on rural household food access, and (2) analyzed relevant socio-economic and institutional factors on household dietary diversity in selected districts of Malawi.
 Data were collected from 1827 households; whereby 779 households were engaged in some kind of farm and non-farm micro-enterprises in six districts with high concentration of micro-businesses and population densities. Both parametric and parametric descriptive statistics, Poisson and Negative Binomial regressions were used for estimations. Of all the factors associated with household dietary diversity, farm and non-farm enterprise diversity, as well as expenditure on food items had played major roles in influencing household dietary diversity. Increasing farm and non-farm micro-enterprise diversity by one micro-business group is associated with the possibility of consuming or having access to all 12 groups of food by the households. Holding other things constant, it is surprisingly found that nutrition education (34.2%, ρ=0.000<0.001) influenced household food dietary diversity more than household heads with formal education (average 5 years of schooling); suggesting that nutrition education, if directly delivered to the household heads regardless of their formal education level, is one of the major factors that can positively and significantly affect household dietary diversity in Malawi.
 These results also resonate to the Government of Malawi’s overarching policy goal of furthering income-generating social and economic activities in order to become less reliant on hand-outs and donors at large. Besides increasing only starchy staple food or monotonous cereal-based diet through various agricultural subsidy programmes, such micro-enterprising programs are also needed to enhance by targeting energy and nutritious food supply that are essential if the country is aiming to expand its industry and service sector with healthy population.

Developing Knowledge, Attitude, Motivation, and Behavior of Farmers in Diversification of Farming Business Sustainable in Technical Irrigation in South Sulawesi

Technical irrigation is a very large state investment, to support the economy, especially in agrarian countries, namely to irrigate rice-producing fields as a source of staple food for the community, especially in Indonesia. Irrigated areas need to be maintained so that they provide the greatest benefit to farmers and the community in a sustainable manner. Farmers need knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior to diversify farming, so that agricultural land can be planted with various kinds of farming that are profitable for farmers. Therefore, farmers need to be trained on: farming diversification, ecosystems of irrigated agricultural areas, conservation, the environment, and farming. This study aims to: (1) determine the knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify their farming business in a sustainable manner in technical irrigation areas before and after experiments on ecosystems, environment, conservation, and farming; (2) determine the effect of experimentation on increasing knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify farming in a sustainable manner in technical irrigation areas. This research is classified as an experimental research conducted in the technical irrigation area of South Sulawesi. The sample area is Rompegading Village as the experimental area, and Pattojo Village as the control area, selected by purposive sampling method. The samples of the experimental group and the control group were 25 farmers each, also selected by the purposive sampling method. The variables to be considered are: (1) knowledge, attitude, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify their farming business before and after being given an experiment; (2) the effect of experimentation on increasing knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify their farming business., The experimental design used was the pretest-posttest control group design. The data analysis used is descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical analysis. The inferential analysis model used is independent <i>t</i> test. The results showed that: (1) knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify their farming business, in the experimental group and the control group before the experiment, were in the low category. After the experiment the experimental group increased and was in the high category, while the control group did not experience an increase; (2) experiments have a significant effect on increasing knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of farmers to diversify farming in a sustainable manner in technical irrigation areas.

The relation between technical farm performance and antimicrobial use of broiler farms

The aim of the present study was to explore the relation between both farm performance and antimicrobial use (AMU) of broiler farms. Farm performance was expressed as technical efficiency, obtained by using a bootstrap data envelopment analysis. AMU was expressed as treatment incidence. Cluster analysis is used to obtain groups of farms with similar characteristics regarding technical farm performance and AMU. Results indicate that the farms within the different clusters combine different technical farm performance and different levels of AMU. Between the clusters, significant differences were found in technical farm performance, AMU, the resource intensity of the number of animals at set-up, the number of antimicrobial treatments, the number of antimicrobial treatments related to either gut health or combined problems, and the number of antimicrobial treatments with either yellow or orange active substances. Farmers who combine high levels of AMU with high technical farm performance are likely to overestimate the real economic value of AMU. Proper coordination between the farmer and the veterinarian can be crucial in that case for reducing AMU. Farms with low performance are likely to have poor farm conditions. Improving those farm conditions can help reducing the need for AMU on this kind of farms. The farm-specific conditions have to be considered in future policies aimed at reducing AMU in livestock production.

Case studies on co-branding and farm tourism: Best match between farm image and experience activities

Tourists' need for experience activities on farms has increased over the past decade; thus, this study adopted a co-branding perspective to examine the best match between farm image and experience activities, and examined whether farm marketers can design farm experience activities based on different source. A total of 706 samples were collected. The results indicate: (1) When a farm's promotional image and the perceptions of tourists visiting that farm are the same, a higher optimal match rate between farm imagery and farm experience activities is achieved, which results in more positive tourist responses. (2) When tourists and farm operators both identify a farm's image as the same, it results in the farm's image being identified as a particular kind of farm, whether by farm operators or tourists, resulting in an optimal match rate between farm imagery and experience activities, with both resulting in a positive tourist response. This study contributes further insights into the farm marketing strategy based on these research findings.

CRowNet: Deep Network for Crop Row Detection in UAV Images

Nowadays, the development of robots and smart tractors for the automation of sowing, harvesting, weeding etc. is transforming agriculture. Farmers are moving from an agriculture where everything is applied uniformly to a much more targeted farming. This new kind of farming is commonly referred to as precision agriculture. However for autonomous guidance of these agricultural machines and even sometimes for weed detection an accurate detection of crop rows is required. In this paper we propose a new method called CRowNet which uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) and the Hough transform to detect crop rows in images taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The method consists of a model formed with SegNet (S-SegNet) and a CNN based Hough transform (HoughCNet). The performance of the proposed method was quantitatively compared to traditional approaches and it showed the best and most robust result. A good crop row detection rate of 93.58% was obtained with an IoU score per crop row above 70%. Moreover the model trained on a given crop field is able to detect rows in images of different types of crops.

Structural characterization of piglet producing farms and their sow removal patterns in Finland

BackgroundThe main objectives of this observational, cross-sectional study were to characterize piglet producing farms in Finland and to investigate how farm profiles are associated with sow culling and mortality.The study was conducted on 43 farms during 2014. A questionnaire survey was administered in-person and supplemented with observations in the housing facilities. Annual removal figures and average monthly sow inventories were retrieved from a centralized animal data recording system (National Swine Registry) administered by the Finnish Food Authority. Multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering were used to explore the complex underlying data-driven patterns.ResultsSow removal varied markedly between farms with an overall average culling percentage of 38.0% (95% CI 34.1–42.0) and a relatively high average mortality percentage 9.7% (95% CI 7.9–11.5). We identified three farm clusters, which differed both in their typologies and removal patterns. Cluster 1 included farms with features indicative of a semi-intensive or intensive kind of farming, such as larger herd and room sizes, higher stocking density and more sows per caretaker. Most of the cluster 1 farms exceeded the investigated cut-off levels for culling and mortality. Cluster 2 farms were estimated to have the best animal welfare among the sample farms based on a combination of environmental indicators (e.g. amount of bedding, rooting and nesting materials, space allowance, pen cleanliness) and the lowest level of sow mortality as an animal-based indicator. Cluster 3 farms followed a strategy of a rather non-intensified system based on the predominance of smaller herd size, lower stocking density and less sows per caretaker, combined breeding and gestation rooms and rare use of farrowing induction. This cluster showed the lowest culling levels within the sample.ConclusionsThis study captures the diversity among Finnish sow farms and provides a baseline assessment of their practices and facilities. Our results support the notion that farm typologies are associated with sow culling and mortality. In summary, the control of suboptimal sow removal cannot be based on single improvements only, because of other limitations within the individual farm resources.

ANALISIS RISIKO PRODUKSI USAHATANI PADI ORGANIK DI DESA ROWOSARI KECAMATAN SUMBERJAMBE KABUPATEN JEMBER

Government began to apply the concept of organic farming in order to maintain the sustainability of agriculture. Organic farming is applied to the organic rice farming of Jember Regency. This kind of farming have some risks. The prominent risk in organic rice farming is production. Research conducted at rowosari village aims to know: (1) The amount of production risk overall; (2) The amount of production risk that seen from the length of application organic farming and land area. The location of research in Rowosari, Sumbejambe which was determined intentionally (Purposive Method). The sampling method was total sampling method. The data that used in study were primary and secondary data. The analyze method used was standard deviation (V) and coefficient of variation (CV). The results of the study showed that: (1) Overall risk of production of organic rice farming in Rowosari Village amounted to 468.25 kg or 10.1% of the average production: (2) The risk of production of organic rice farming in Rowosari Village are based on the land area small (0.5 Ha), medium (0,5-2 Ha) and large (&gt; 2 Ha) respectively 17,6%, 6,3% and 1.3% of the average production. The risk of production of organic rice farming in Rowosari Village is based on the period of implementation from 2015 and 2012, respectively 12.1% and 7.8% of the average production. It showed that the period of organic farming implementation will influence the amount of risk production.

Species availability, culture technique, reproduction of prawn and shrimp in Bangladesh: A review

Bangladesh is considered one of the most suitable countries in the world for freshwater prawn farming because of its favorable agro climatic condition. The expansion of shrimp farming is triggered by the increased international market demand, seed production and intensive shrimp culture. Shrimp farming is having a positive impact on the livelihoods of many people in Bangladesh, especially the poorer farmers. Prawn and shrimp farming offer a reliable source of revenue that is often more profitable than other kinds of farming, or other non-farming employment. The objective of this paper was to review species availability, culture technique and artificial breeding of prawn and shrimp in Bangladesh.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.4(2): 107-116, August 2017

Ринкові можливості та загрози молокопереробних підприємств України

У сучасних умовах молокопереробні підприємства зіткнулися із великою кількістю загроз для подальшої своєї діяльності. Вони пов’язані насамперед зі скороченням величини попиту на їхню продукцію на зовнішньому ринку через призупинення експортних поставок продукції у Росію, зменшенням доходів населення України і відповідно величини внутрішнього попиту, низькою якістю вітчизняної сировини, зменшенням її обсягів та зростанням цін на неї, збільшенням обсягів закупівлі молокопродуктів у приватних та фермерських господарствах населення. Проте останнім часом з’явилися і нові ринкові можливості для молокопереробних підприємств, які обумовлені зростанням в Україні обсягів поставок молока екстра ґатунку як сировини для подальшого виробництва, збільшенням попиту на молочні продукти з боку країн Близького Сходу та Північної Африки, Китаю, що вимагає дослідження споживчих уподобань на відповідних ринках. Для утримання існуючої та збільшення частки ринку України молокопереробні підприємства повинні приділяти увагу заходам паблісіті та стимулювання збуту для пропагування споживання саме продуктів промислового виробництва.

Information Needs of Farm Women for Efficient Farming in Uttarakhand

Farm women in Uttarakhand State play an important role in managing different kinds of farming and home affairs. It is proposed that information for women involved in an enterprise is important to understand the production process and the economics of production. A sample of 100 farm women was selected using Simple Random Sampling technique. The survey research design was used for data collection. Data was also collected through interview schedule. Data were analyzed using quantitative approaches. Results show that the information needs of farm women in study area are mostly occupation driven. Farm women were found to have a need for information about dairy farming but also for home management. Most of the farm women depend on the friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources like local leaders and educated people for their information needs. Their primary and most important sources of information include friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources.

INFORMATION NEEDS OF FARM WOMEN OF UTTARAKHAND

Farm women in Uttarakhand play an important role in managing different kinds of farming and home affairs. Information for women involved in an enterprise is important to understand the production process and the economics of production. A sample of 100 farm women was selected using Simple Random Sampling technique. The survey research design was used for data collection. Data were also collected through interview schedule. Data were analyzed using quantitative approaches. Results show that the information needs of farm women are mostly occupation driven. Farm women were found to have a need for information about dairy farming as also for home management. Most of the farm women depend on the friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources like local leaders and educated people for their information needs. Thus, their primary and most important sources of information are friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources.

Revival of the Rice Crops in the South of Romania: Pros and Cons

In Europe, the rice is presently cultivated on small areas. The south of Romania is one of the regions with tradition in rice agriculture, as the paddies are located at the northern rim of its European belt. The aim of the study is to bring arguments for the benefits of reviving the rice paddies in the Danube and its major tributaries floodplains, which are suitable for such kind of farming. The research methodology was based on direct field survey, map interpretation, diachronic analysis (1950-2014) and survey (semi-structured interview). Results have shown that a decay period in rice farming had occurred during 1990 to 2006 because of the misapplication of the agrarian policies in the rice-based agricultural societies. After 2006, a slight revival of the rice paddies has occurred in the south of Romania, with the help brought by foreign investors on the Romanian of the rice market. At the same time, a conflicting perception of the target groups on both the advantages and disadvantages of this process has been found: 75% pros and 25% cons. Economic and environmental advantages - new jobs, increasing income by collecting additional taxes, protecting biodiversity, and connection with Natura 2000 network - were argued by the local authorities, engineers and partially by farmers. On the other hand, the remaining farmers are against the revival of rice crops, alleging the reduction of grazing land. Among the environmental disadvantages, the high water demand for irrigations, use of herbicides, and methane release in the atmosphere are the most destructive.

Agroecology and biodiversity: the kind of farming we need to secure our food supply is also wildlife friendly

Our world is dominated by a clearly definable oligarchy: of big governments, like Britain’s; big industry and big finance, which mainly means the transnational corporates and the global banks; and ...

Land reform in post-apartheid South Africa: Should South Africa follow Zimbabwe's footsteps?

There are two interconnected fundamental policy questions that should shape any land reform programme in any African context: what kind of land reform and land tenure is ideal as well as what kind of farming is appropriate? The article argues that South Africa has never addressed these important questions and other associated questions, hence there appears to be policy confusion regarding South Africa's land reform processes. It is taken for granted that the process of land reform in South Africa is necessary in redressing apartheid colonialism – this should be the hallmark of land reform in not just South Africa but Southern Africa as a whole, as Moyo (2013), Murisa (2013), Hendricks et al. (2013), Hebinck et al. (2013) and many others have argued recently. Since 1994, the government relied on the 1996 Constitution and the 1997 White Paper on Land Reform as well as a plethora of legislative pieces to redistribute land, correct land tenure and address land restitution. However, land reform as a whole in South Africa has been a dismal failure. It is no surprise that Hendricks et al. (2013, 1) say ‘there remains a land crisis in South Africa’. Zimbabwe, by contrast, has been peddled as a possible model to follow. The study of the Zimbabwean land reform processes amplifies the fundamental point that this article argues – that policy clarity is critical.