Individual Farm Level Research Articles

A GIS‐Based Procedure for Downscaling Climate Data for West Africa

AbstractLocal studies aimed at assessing the impact of climate variability on crop yield at the individual farm level require the use of weather and climate data. These are often collected at points known as meteorological stations. In West Africa, meteorological stations are sparsely distributed and as a result, are often unable to satisfy the data requirements for such studies. One major problem arising from this is how to estimate values for locations where primary data is not available. General Circulation Models (GCMs) have recently been deployed for weather forecasting and climate change projections but the resolution of their outputs is low requiring downscaling. This article describes a GIS‐based procedure for downscaling GCMs’ outputs for use in studies assessing the impacts of climate variability on crop yield at the farm level. The procedure is implemented with the Hadley Centre's GCM (HadCM2) data, although any other GCM can be used. Results in this study show that the model works best when representing drier months as compared to wet months in all three domains tested. For example, it estimated the rainfall for January (the driest month) better than that of July which is the peak of the rainy season in West Africa. There is also a north‐south pattern influencing the accuracy of estimated rainfall distribution, with stations in the south better represented than those in the north. For the greater part of West Africa where similar climatic conditions persist as in Nigeria, this procedure can be considered suitable for interpolation and downscaling.

The multiple personalities of water conservation

“Water conservation” means different things to different people and the principles of depletion and diversion are often confounded and misconstrued, particularly when the different perceptions of the value of water and units of analysis are involved. Many public policies and public and private investments have been implemented in the name of conserving water, particularly in irrigated agriculture. Unfortunately, many of these policies and investments cannot make additional water available to new users owing to the nature of closed basin hydrology. The assumption that farmers are low-efficiency irrigators is used to justify transfer of income and wealth to agricultural water users and others through direct investments and cost sharing programs. Instead, these programs serve to sustain and increase consumptive use of water in agriculture and disrupt the existing hydrologic balance. In arid climates, where deficit irrigation is practiced, conventional water conservation measures such as drip irrigation often result in increased depletion at the individual farm level and less water available for other users. This paper discusses water conservation misconceptions, particularly those related to irrigated agriculture in the arid southwestern United States. Deficit irrigation is a common practice throughout the southwest, the region is experiencing rapid population growth and naturally limited water supplies have been exacerbated by current drought conditions. In this paper, the water conservation impacts of drip irrigation, irrigation scheduling and canal lining are discussed in the context of the hydrological assumptions that are used to promote these technologies. The potential of drip irrigation, irrigation scheduling and canal lining to sustain and increase crop evapotranspiration in deficit irrigation environments is illustrated. Given hydrologic conditions, the authors conclude that accurate basin-wide accounting of water use, including equitable distribution based on existing legal entitlements would significantly contribute to water conservation efforts.

Accuracy of models for the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic

Since 2001 models of the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, supported by the data from the UK epidemic, have been expounded as some of the best examples of problem-driven epidemic models. These claims are generally based on a comparison between model results and epidemic data at fairly coarse spatio-temporal resolution. Here, we focus on a comparison between model and data at the individual farm level, assessing the potential of the model to predict the infectious status of farms in both the short and long terms. Although the accuracy with which the model predicts farms reporting infection is between 5 and 15%, these low levels are attributable to the expected level of variation between epidemics, and are comparable to the agreement between two independent model simulations. By contrast, while the accuracy of predicting culls is higher (20–30%), this is lower than expected from the comparison between model epidemics. These results generally support the contention that the type of the model used in 2001 was a reliable representation of the epidemic process, but highlight the difficulties of predicting the complex human response, in terms of control strategies to the perceived epidemic risk.

농장검정돈의 번식형질에 미치는 환경효과 및 유전모수의 추정

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters and trend of Landrace and Yorkshire pigs, which were raised on private farms from 1999 to 2005 and tested for their reproductive performance by the Korea Animal Improvement Association.Prior to analysis, records without pedigree or having value with larger than ± 3 × standard deviation for the Total number of born were excluded. The effects of breed and environmental factors were estimated with least square method (Harvey, 1979), and estimation of breeding values and genetic parameters were performed on the data of 1’st litter only with GIBBSF90 (Misztal, 2001) which was programmed according to Gibbs Sampling method based on Bayesian Inference by Gianola and Fernando (1986), Jensen (1994) and others. Gibbs sampling was performed 50,000 times for each parameter, and the first 5000 samples were regarded as those in burn-in period and thus, excluded for post hoc analysis. Total number of born and total number of accident were statistically significant (p<0.01) for the breed, farrowing year, farrowing season and parity effects, and the number born alive at birth was statistically significant p<(0.01) for the breed, farrowing year, farrowing season and parity effects.No particular trend was observed in the genetic and phenotypic improvement of the total number of born and number born alive at birth before 2001, when the piglet registration system started, but the tendencies of increasing for the total number of born and number born alive and decreasing for the total number of accident were observed since 2001.Somewhat higher heritability estimates of our study seems to be attributed to the situations that first parity records with poor farrowing performances were used in the analyses and it was impossible to obtain accurate reproductive performance due to the absence of criteria for record keeping at the level of individual farms. (

Efficiency of Fluted Pumpkin Production Under Tropical Conditions

The efficient allocation of resources at the individual farm level has implications for investment and employment at the national level. It is also the indicator by which success of production units are evaluated. When measured correctly, it makes it easier to separate its effect from the effects of the production environment thereby enabling the enactment of sound policies by which farm level performance could be improved. The study examined the technical and allocative efficiency of Fluted Pumpkin (Telfaira occidentalis Hook F.) producers, along with socioeconomic variables affecting their performance. A random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents from six of 18 Local Governments in Edo State, Nigeria. A modified cost route approach was used to collect primary data from producers. Descriptive statistics, as well as a stochastic frontier production function, were used to analyze the data, and estimate the efficiency of producers. None of the producers were technically efficient, and the technical efficiency estimates varied from 0.65 to 0.82, with a mean of 0.75. There is potential to increase yield by about 25% if producers were more efficient. Producers were efficient in allocation of resources for weeding, but underutilized labor especially in harvesting. Age, educational status, and farming experience influenced level of inefficiency among producers.

Technical Efficiency Of Small-Holder Cocoyam Farmers In Anambra State, Nigeria: A Translog Stochastic Frontier Production Function Approach

This study employed a translog stochastic frontier production function to measure the level of technical efficiency and it's determinants in small-holder cocoyam production in Anambra state, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 120 cocoyam farmers in the state in 2005 from whom input-output data were obtained using the cost-route approach. The parameters of the stochastic frontier production function were estimated using the maximum likelihood method. The result of the analysis shows that individual farm level technical efficiency was about 93%. The study found farm size, use of fertilizer and membership of farmers' association/cooperative societies to be positively and significantly related to technical efficiency at 5% while no significant relationship was found between technical efficiency and age, education, farming experience, extension contact, household sizes and credit. Keywords: Translog Stochastic Frontier, Production Function and Technical Efficiency. > International Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development Vol. 9 2007: pp. 1-6

When Anthelminitics Don't Work

Over the years, helminthologists world wide have made commendable advance in the control of helminthes of economic importance in livestock industry. This has included novel control options which have encompassed grazing management systems in integrated control strategies. Admittedly, anthelmintics have remained the single most important component in all these approaches. However, in the last decade or two a lot of concern has been expressed with the regard to the loss of efficacy of these chemotherapeutics in containing the helminth menace in livestock production systems. This unfortunate situation has taken place at different levels ranging from individual farm level to specific global regions. The reasons for this loss of efficacy are varied and may be different at each of theses levels. This paper attempts to highlight possible causes leading to this ineffectiveness of anthelmintics. The Kenya Veterinarian Vol. 21 2001: pp. 29-31

Methods for conducting an economic opportunity survey in smallholder dairy farms

A form was developed for on-farm use to collect data on dairy cow inventory, animals born, died, and sold, milk consumed and sold, and feedstuffs. Using these data, ten herd management indices are calculated in a spreadsheet. These data are gathered from multiple farms in an area and are summarized to develop herd target or benchmark values. Economic opportunities for achieving target performance at the individual farm level are calculated for five of the indices. This Economic Opportunity Survey has been used to develop regional performance benchmarks and to help individual farmers identify areas for improvement and opportunities for future intervention.

Modelling farm-level economic potential for conversion to organic farming

This paper discusses linear programming simulations at individual farm-level of potential income changes that may result from conversion to organic farming. The model is based on both conventional farm accountancy data and additional conventional and organic farm data from sector expertise and literature. The model is applied for Belgian agriculture. Simulations show that economic potential for conversion is higher than generally perceived, provided that farmers are willing to change farm management practices. However, the economic conversion potential (ECP) is not positive for all farms, not even when an optimal conversion process is assumed and it depends on farm type and farm characteristics. Additionally, due to higher risk and liquidity problems during the transition period, the positive results need to be put into perspective. Nevertheless, the differentiated ECP calculations can give new insights supporting farm-level policy choices with respect to conversion to organic farming.

La multifonctionnalité à l’épreuve du local : les exploitations agricoles face aux enjeux des filières et des territoires1

The authors assess the perception and implementation of multifunctionality in three divergent zones in the Rhône-Alpes region and analyze the changes generated by this expansion of the legitimacy of agriculture. After an introduction to the organizations promoting the debate on multifunctionality and the issues involved, the article characterizes multifunctionality at the level of individual farms, by comparing an objective approach to the farm's contributions to different functions with the farmers' perceptions and representations of their occupation. The authors conclude by discussing the scale of the social recomposition to which the recognition of multifunctionality leads, as a function of the area's history, the importance of various participants, and the issues under debate.

Organic salmon farming: risk perceptions, decision heuristics and the absence of environmental accounting

This paper reports on interviews with salmon farmers exploring their decision as to whether to adopt organic production methods. Organic salmon farming has the potential to considerably reduce the social, environmental and economic risks associated with salmon farming. Salmon farming is an industry subjected to intense scrutiny and is highly controversial. The combination of these two factors was expected to reveal the use of environmental accounting in evaluating this potentially difficult, expensive strategic decision, responding to the barrage of public criticism, driven by changing environmental regulations and a potential value shift by key actors. However, interviews revealed that going organic was regarded as a normal agricultural decision, largely based on price forecasts. The shift to organic was relatively easy, unproblematic and not too expensive. The environmental pressure groups campaigns had very little impact on this decision and it was not subjected to systematic accounting evaluation. The interviews described a sector exhibiting many of the characteristics of Beck's Risk Society thesis (1992, 1995, 1996). Decision makers’ risk perception is identified as important for considering what factors are thought to be legitimate/illegitimate and powerful/weak in the decision making process. Unless risks are considered ‘real’ by the decision makers then the associated costs/benefits of doing or not doing something are not going to figure in the decision heuristics, regardless of the nature of their calculation. Environmental accounting could play a part, not necessarily at the individual farm level, but as part of a reflexive process in reconstructing the underlying knowledge of the social, environmental and economic risks of salmon farming as a whole.

Origination and consequences of bovine viral diarrhea virus diversity.

The potential consequences of BVDV genetic and antigenic diversity are far ranging. The complexity of clinical presentations associated with BVDV likely arises from factors encoded by the virus genome. More importantly,prevention and control of BVDV may be complicated by diagnostic and immunization failure resulting from virus diversity. Evolutionary pressures will continue to drive further diversity, making control of BVDV challenging. Current and the potential for future BVDV strain diversity should be considered when designing BVDV control programs both at the individual farm and national herd level.

Plus c’est la même chose? Questioning crop diversification as a response to agricultural deregulation in Saskatchewan, Canada

In the context of declining government subsidization of agriculture, many analysts have predicted reversals in certain characteristic trends of post-1945 Western agriculture with positive implications for agroecosystem well-being. One example, investigated herein, is the suggestion that, in the absence of government safety nets, farmers will seek to diversify their operations in order to buffer against production failures or market downturns in any one output. Such a shift is not only consistent with agricultural risk-management theory, but also, at first glance, early ‘mirror image’ conceptualizations of post-productivist agriculture; if (output) specialization has been an observed trend of productivism, then (output) diversification should be the trend of post-productivism. In fairness, however, where diversification has been identified as a manifestation of post-productivism, it has usually implied the development of largely non-agricultural activities that supplement household income. Clearly, a clarification of meaning is needed, and this paper offer some suggestions for doing so. Additionally, crop data from Saskatchewan, Canada are analysed for the years 1994–2000 to determine the degree to which arable producers there have sought to diversify their operations following the loss of an historically and financially significant export subsidy. Given limited evidence of diversification at the level of individual farms, the maximum scale at which crop diversity has any significance in ecological terms, a discussion follows of the various limitations to adopting an output diversification strategy to manage market and other risks, and the likelihood of farmers further pursuing output specialization in an era of reduced government support and increasingly chaotic commodity markets.

The Cost-effectiveness of Biodiversity Management: A Comparison of Farm Types in Extensively Farmed Areas of Scotland

The cost-effectiveness of biodiversity management of heather, herb-rich grassland and wetland habitats is compared between different farm types in the context of the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme in Scotland. Biodiversity is measured at two spatial levels. Costs to the public exchequer of habitat management are compared with private costs to the farmer. Biodiversity and cost are combined in cost-effectiveness ratios. Biodiversity, cost and cost-effectiveness differentials are found between farm types for all three habitats. Farms incur negligible opportunity costs in the management of all three habitats, implying farmer retention of compensating ESA management payments. It is concluded that greater account of biodiversity and cost characteristics of entrants to agri-environmental schemes would increase the costeffectiveness and transparency of schemes, and assist towards scheme assessment at the individual farm level.

The Dutch Mineral Accounting System and the European Nitrate Directive: implications for N and P management and farm performance

Agricultural nutrients can be a significant source of groundwater pollution. This paper studies the possible effects on farm management of a newly introduced policy instrument to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of groundwater bodies in The Netherlands. Ecological, technical, political, as well as financial issues, associated with the agricultural nutrient pollution problem, are considered. In response to the concern of the European Community (EC) for pollution of groundwater, The Netherlands implemented the Mineral Accounting System (MINAS), which focusses on nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus flows) on individual farms, and taxes farms whose nutrient surplus exceeds a defined limit. To investigate the implications of MINAS for individual farm performance, financial and nutrient bookkeeping data of 194 farms, distributed over five farm types, were collected from 1997 through 1999. This paper shows that nutrient management performance of farmers varied largely between and within farm types, not only in absolute figures but also in terms of nutrient efficiency. The study also indicated that levies or taxes for excess nutrient surpluses could be high, ranging from ▪179 ha −1 for arable farmers to ▪404 ha −1 for mixed dairy and intensive livestock producers. These levies would reduce gross margin (GM) by 8% on average and can threaten continuity on an individual farm level. Therefore, current performance has to change considerably for farmers to be able to make the final surplus standards in 2003. Furthermore, as a consequence of objections of the EC to the Dutch policy, application standards for manure were introduced. This study showed that this does not prove to guarantee safe nutrient management as well as MINAS does, but will impact financial performance more, due to higher manure disposal costs.

Simulating land-use decisions in the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve buffer zone in Costa Rica and Panama

Human demand for agricultural products leads to land degradation, deforestation, habitat destruction, and loss of biodiversity. Effective management of land for both agricultural and conservation purposes remains central to sustainable development efforts. We describe development of a preliminary model that integrates ecological, economic, and social factors affecting land-use decisions in the buffer zone of the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve in Costa Rica and Panama. The model simulates potential shifts in the distribution of land among six alternative uses and the resulting impacts on the finances of rural families living within the buffer zone over the next decade. The output of interest is changes in land use as measured by the number of hectares in each of the six land-use classes. In baseline simulations, farmers tended to convert land, particularly forested hectares, into agricultural land uses. Sensitivity analysis showed that model results appeared more sensitive to economic and social factors than they did to ecological factors. Given the relatively short 10-year simulations, changes in topsoil-loss rates had no effect on final land-use distributions. Of four management strategies simulated, decreasing production costs by 25% yielded the largest final amount of cash on hand after 10 years. Generally, increasing tourism profit by 50% yielded the next-highest financial benefits, followed by increasing conservation subsidy by 50% and decreasing annual interest rate by 50%. We consider the primary contribution of the present model to be examination, at the individual farm level, of the relative influence of ecological, economic, and social factors on land-use decisions and distribution. Ideally, such studies will have the potential to influence management interventions that enable buffer zone farmers to achieve financial security and, as a by-product, balance land-use distribution in buffer-zone agroecosystems, which may help to maintain biodiversity.

Climate Change and the Adaptability of Agriculture: A Review

ABSTRACT The assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture has emerged as a recognizable field of research over the past 15 years or so. In a relatively short period, this area of work has undergone a number of important conceptual and methodological developments. Among many questions that have been debated are the adaptability of agriculture to climate change and the importance of land management adjustments in reducing the adverse effects of climate change. In turn, this latter focus has spawned a discussion regarding the nature of adaptation and the ability of agriculture to respond to sudden and rapid climatic changes. In this paper we present an overview of this debate. It is argued that the first generation of climate change impact studies generally ignored the possibility that agriculturalists may adjust their farming practices in order to cope with climate change or to take advantage of new production opportunities. This conceptual oversight has been largely eliminated over the past five years or so. However, questions remain surrounding the likelihood that various adaptive strategies will actually be deployed in particular places. In this paper, we stress the importance of studying adaptation in the context of decision-making at the individual farm level and beyond.

The Manure Model: manure, minerals (N, P and K), ammonia emission, heavy metals and the use of fertiliser in Dutch agriculture

The Manure Model for Dutch Agriculture (MESTAMM) has been developed by the Agricultural Economics Research Institute to provide insight into present and future levels of manure and mineral surpluses, and ammonia emissions, in the Netherlands. The Manure Model combines data from the Agricultural Census with data from agricultural and environmental research. Included are manure and mineral excretion per animal, emission coefficients, and costs of — and legislation for — the application of manure. Results of model calculations made at the individual farm level are aggregated to local and national scales. Results include: manure and mineral production; manure and mineral surpluses; ammonia emission from stables, manure storage, grazing cattle and the application of manure and fertilisers; application rates of soil with minerals from manure and fertilisers, and costs of legislative measures. Various Dutch institutions like the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, and the Institute of Public Health and the Environment, as well as agricultural organisations and provinces, have made use of the Manure Model in their approach to several research issues.

PRODUCTION RISK AND ADVANTAGES OF MIXED FARMING IN THE PAKISTAN PUNJAB

This paper proposes an empirical model of profit variability at the individual farm level and applies it to Pakistan's agriculture. Results show that the addition of idiosyncratic yield shocks and adjustment for input costs lead to a much larger variability of net profits than implied by the variability of average gross revenues–Pakistan's irrigated agriculture is associated with higher profit variability compared with semiarid India. It is also demonstrated that the correlation between green fodder profit and milk profit at the farm level is substantially negative. This negative correlation implies that it is advantageous, in terms of risk diversification, to combine fodder and milk production in one enterprise, which is commonly observed in the mixed farming systems in Pakistan's Punjab.

Environmental farm accounting: The case of the dutch nutrients accounting system

In the Netherlands bookkeeping of inputs and outputs at the level of individual farms has been selected as a new solution to control nutrient use and to tax nutrient surpluses in agriculture. At the same time, nutrient accounting presents important management information. This paper presents a theoretical and historical background of the system, a description of the system as such and some first practical experiences. The relationship of the nutrient accounting system with the obligatory financial accounting is discussed and evaluated as crucial. The establishment of conformity of financial and nutrient accounts is an important audit instrument of the nutrient system as a policy instrument. Introduction in practice as a policy instrument will be phased.