Mixed Farming Area Research Articles

‘You can’t be green if you’re in the red’: Local discourses on the production-biodiversity intersection in a mixed farming area in south-eastern Australia

Limiting biodiversity loss is a global challenge, especially in areas where biodiversity conservation conflicts with intensifying agricultural production. The different views and preferences about how to protect biodiversity, and why it is valuable, make concerted action to improve conservation outcomes difficult. Exploring different discourses that represent shared understandings of an issue or a topic can help to understand this plurality. We focused on a mixed farming area in south-eastern Australia where intensive agricultural production is linked to an ongoing loss of biodiversity. Using the Q-methodology, we conducted 94 interviews with people who may influence biodiversity outcomes in farming landscapes to explore shared understandings of the farming-biodiversity intersection. We also sought to understand how such discourses relate to perceptions of biodiversity in agricultural contexts and if they are associated with particular stakeholder groups. We identify four discourses on the relationship between farming and biodiversity, the farmers’ role and responsibility for biodiversity, and the preferred approaches to improve biodiversity outcomes. Our findings highlight how perceptions of biodiversity by agricultural stakeholders varied substantially between discourses, but that discourses were not significantly associated with stakeholder group. We discuss our findings in the context of policy development and broader governance. We consider how a balanced mix of policy instruments, including market and community-based instruments, can better engage with contrasting understandings of the production-biodiversity intersection. To improve biodiversity outcomes, it is necessary to integrate a plurality of biodiversity values and ensure a broad and balanced set of policy instruments that supports land managers as stewards of the land.

Cereal production practices and technical efficiency among farm households in major “teff” growing mixed farming areas of Ethiopia: A stochastic meta-frontier approach

Cereal production practices and technical efficiency among farm households in major “<i>teff”</i> growing mixed farming areas of Ethiopia: A stochastic meta-frontier approach

The effects of commercialization of cereal crops on multidimensional poverty and vulnerability to multidimensional poverty among farm households in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The study examined the effects of cereal commercialization on multidimensional poverty among farm households in teff-based mixed farming areas of Ethiopia. It applied instrumental Tobit regression and conditional mixed-process models to estimate the overall and dimensional effects of commercialization on household multidimensional poverty (MP) and vulnerability to multidimensional poverty (VMP). The result showed that the mean commercialization scale of the farm households was 38%. The headcount ratio (H) was found to be 58%, implying the poverty situation continues to pose major challenges upon the well-being of farm households. The average estimate of multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and household vulnerability to MP among sampled rural farm households was 0.31 and 0.52, respectively, with a statistically significant mean difference of commercialization status being at 1% level. Ceteris Paribus Assumption, a 10% increase in the degree of cereal commercialization is likely to reduce MPI deprivation, MPI poverty, and VMP by 5.4%, 16.3%, and 2.2%, respectively. Cereal commercialization also significantly reduces MPI dimensions that are measured exclusively through living standard and wealth dimensions. Thus, the commercial transformation of smallholders through a well-integrated market and improved infrastructure are key areas of policy intervention to improve the well-being of farm households in rural areas.

Performance of common pool resources management in the mixed farming system in Goncha district, northwest highlands of Ethiopia

Common pool resources, such as forests, shrubs, and grasslands, have been and continue to deliver a valuable contribution to the livelihood of millions of smallholder farmers in the mixed farming system areas. However, these resources are threatening by the overuse of the local community in the Ethiopian highlands. Studies accommodating sustainable management of ecological, economic, social, and institutional criteria on common pool resources are very limited over those highlands. The study is aimed at evaluating the performance of common pool resources management schemes in Goncha district, in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. It was developed as an alternative management scenario of common pool resources. Participatory key informant interviews were conducted with purposely selected twenty-four farmers, twelve practitioners, and three experts to generate the data. The data were analyzed by using a multi-criteria analysis (weighted score) method. The study indicated that complete enclosure management of forests and shrublands was highly contributed to enhancing biodiversity and curb gullies expansion, while poorly performed in harvesting and fair distribution of fodder and fuelwood. Alternatively, grasslands management in the periodic enclosure without rotation was largely emphasized on the fair distribution of fodder. Natural forests and shrublands in the semi-open-access management and grasslands in the open-access management were performed between very weak and poor performance to almost all criteria/indicators. Therefore, the management schemes of common pool resources should reformulate to the integrated premise of ecological, economic, institutional, and social criteria for sustainable management and productive crop-livestock mixed farming systems.

Contribution of multispectral (optical and radar) satellite images to the classification of agricultural surfaces

The monitoring of different crops (cultivated plots) and types of surface (bare soils, etc.) is a crucial economic and environmental issue for the management of resources and human activity. In this context, the objective of this study is to evaluate the contribution of multispectral satellite imagery (optical and radar) to land use and land cover classification.Object-oriented supervised classifications, based on a Random Forest algorithm, and majority zoning post-processing are used. This study emerges from the experiment on multi-sensor crop monitoring (MCM'10, Baup et al., 2012) conducted in 2010 on a mixed farming area in the southwest of France, near Toulouse. This experiment enabled the regular and quasi-synchronous collection of multi-sensor satellite data and in situ observations, which are used in this study. 211 plots with contrasting characteristics (different slopes, soil types, aspects, farming practices, shapes and surface areas) were monitored to represent the variability of the study area. They can be grouped into four classes of land cover: 39 grassland areas, 100 plots of wheat, 13 plots of barley, 20 plots of rapeseed, and 2 classes of bare soil: 23 plots of small roughness and 16 plots of medium roughness. Satellite radar images in the X-, C- and L-bands (HH polarization) were acquired between 14 and 18 April 2010. Optical images delivered by Formosat-2 and corresponding field data were acquired on 14 April 2010.The results show that combining images acquired in the L-band (Alos) and the optical range (Formosat-2) improves the classification performance (overall accuracy = 0.85, kappa = 0.81) compared to the use of radar or optical data alone. The results obtained for the various types of land cover show performance levels and confusions related to the phenological stage of the species studied, with the geometry of the cover, the roughness states of the surfaces, etc. Performance is also related to the wavelength and penetration depth of the signal providing the images. Thus, the results show that the quality of the classification often increases with increasing wavelength of the images used.

The topology of between-herd cattle contacts in a mixed farming production system in western Kenya

In many livestock production systems in sub-Saharan Africa, cattle are owned by individual keepers but regularly mix with animals from other herds while grazing communal land, at watering points or through the use of shared bulls for breeding and ploughing. Such contacts may have important implications for disease transmission and control but are not well documented.We describe between-farm contacts in Kimilili sub-county of Bungoma County, a mixed farming area of predominately smallholder farmers. Between-farm contacts occurring during grazing or at shared water points over the past four weeks were captured in seven randomly selected villages using a photo-elicitation tool. The use of shared bulls for breeding and ploughing and cattle introductions from farms within the same village in the past 12 months were also captured. Contact networks were constructed for each contact type in each village.In total 329 farms were included in the study. Networks resembled undirected scale-free graphs with a network density ranging between 9.6 and 14.0. Between 45.6 and 100% of the farms in each study village had been in contact over the past four weeks through grazing and watering contacts. Between 88.9 and 100% were considered to have been in contact over the past 12 months. The topology of the networks was heterogeneous, with some farms exhibiting a high degree of contact. The degree of farm contact and distances between farms were negatively correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient range −0.2 to −0.4).Effective disease control and surveillance must take into consideration the frequency and range of contacts that occur between farms within a single village. Cattle keepers are highly interconnected and pathogens that are transmitted through direct or indirect animal contact would be expected to spread rapidly in the study system. However, the observed heterogeneity in between-farm contact may present opportunities for interventions to be targeted to particular herds to limit infectious disease spread.

Ground cover, erosion risk and production implications of targeted management practices in Australian mixed farming systems: Lessons from the Grain and Graze program

Maintaining the productive capacity of the agricultural soils of Australia's broadacre cropping zone requires careful management, given a highly variable climate and soils that are susceptible to degradation. Mixed crop-livestock farming systems are the predominant land use across these regions and managers must operate farms for long-term sustainability as well as shorter-term profitability. Achieving profitable and sustainable businesses has required ongoing innovation and productivity gains, of which the integration of crop and livestock enterprises has been an important part. Production-soil erosion trade-offs associated with enterprise integration is critical information that has not been investigated to date at a whole-farm level. The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate management options developed in Grain and Graze (an integrated program of research, development and extension targeting mixed farms) to identify farm systems responses to soil erosion risks across seven regions spanning the mixed-farming area of Australia. To evaluate production-soil erosion trade-offs, we linked the APSIM soil water, soil nutrient cycling, annual crop and surface residue simulation models to the GRAZPLAN pasture and ruminant simulation models, using the AusFarm modelling software. Our results demonstrate that the management options tested in Grain and Graze support the principles of conservation agriculture and inform the sustainable intensification of mixed farming systems. Across the regions considered we found that: (1) Increasing pasture legume content and soil fertility can consistently benefit farm production and environmental indicators, (2) management interventions that target direct management of ground cover have the greatest potential to reduce soil erosion rates, (3) management during critical periods of naturally high soil erodibility and wind/water erosivity can substantially increase or decrease erosion risk; the timing of management interventions is therefore critical, and (4) grazing management to balance use of crop residues and pasture biomass is required to avoid developing hot spots of erosion and soil degradation.

An exploration of individual, social and material factors influencing water pollution mitigation behaviours within the farming community

Diffuse pollution of watercourses from agriculture represents a complex and persistent environmental problem in the UK. This paper provides insights into why UK policy interventions have had limited success to date, drawing on the disciplines of psychology, sociology and behavioural economics to more thoroughly understand farmer attitudes and behaviours towards pollution mitigation. Our analysis is based on eliciting the opinions of commercial farmers through a series of surveys and discussion groups in three catchments: the grassland dominated River Eden catchment; the arable dominated River Wensum catchment and the mixed farming area of the Hampshire River Avon catchment. Results strongly suggest that a fundamental shift in identities, normative behavioural beliefs and social norms is required within the farming community before mitigation behaviours become embedded. Simply offering financial incentives or imposing regulatory penalties is unlikely to achieve the desired results. Double loop learning has the potential to enable farmers to migrate from a productivist to a multifunctional outlook where pollution mitigation becomes internalised within a farm management system. Expert farm advisors will be required to facilitate this process.

Bioenergy crops and farmland biodiversity: benefits and limitations are scale-dependant for a declining mammal, the brown hare

Biomass energy crops are prompting major land-use changes in agricultural and marginal land in an effort to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Miscanthus × giganteus, a perennial giant grass, is one of the main such crops in Europe but few studies exist of its interaction with farmland wildlife, particularly mammals. Understanding ecological impacts of bioenergy planting schemes is vital for mitigating potential negative effects on already declining farmland biodiversity and for maximising any benefits from these low-management, structurally diverse crops. We assessed in a mixed farming area in the UK the impact of Miscanthus crops on the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), a widespread but declining farmland species of conservation concern. We intensively radio-tracked hares in Miscanthus blocks of contrasting size and analysed hare diet for evidence of the consumption of Miscanthus. Home ranges differed starkly averaging 10.5 versus 49.6 ha in the small and the large Miscanthus blocks, respectively. Despite entirely avoiding the crop as food, hares appeared able to exist and even thrive in areas planted with Miscanthus though their populations may be significantly limited by reduced food availability and increased energy use where dense Miscanthus is planted over a wide area. As a component of a mixed farming landscape, Miscanthus may provide biodiversity benefits by increasing spatial heterogeneity and refuge areas for declining farmland species like brown hares but any effect is likely to be strongly scale-dependant.

Environmental predictors of bovine Eimeria infection in western Kenya

Eimeriosis is caused by a protozoan infection affecting most domestic animal species. Outbreaks in cattle are associated with various environmental factors in temperate climates but limited work has been done in tropical settings. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence and environmental factors associated with bovine Eimeria spp. infection in a mixed farming area of western Kenya. A total of 983 cattle were sampled from 226 cattle-keeping households. Faecal samples were collected directly from the rectum via digital extraction and analysed for the presence of Eimeria spp. infection using the MacMaster technique. Individual and household level predictors of infection were explored using mixed effects logistic regression. The prevalence of individual animal Eimeria infection was 32.8% (95% CI 29.9–35.9). A positive linear relationship was found between risk of Eimeria infection and increasing temperature (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.06–1.86) and distance to areas at risk of flooding (OR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.17–1.91). There was weak evidence of non-linear relationship between Eimeria infection and the proportion of the area around a household that was classified as swamp (OR = 1.12, 95% CI 0.87–1.44; OR (quadratic term) = 0.85, 95% CI 0.73–1.00), and the sand content of the soil (OR = 1.18, 95% CI 0.91–1.53; OR (quadratic term) = 1.1, 95% CI 0.99–1.23). The risk of animal Eimeria spp. infection is influenced by a number of climatic and soil-associated conditions.

Analisis Perubahan Penggunaan Lahan Terhadap Karakteristik Hidrologi Di Das Bulok

Land use is one of the factors that have an effect on water system function of a watershed. The characteristic of hidrological condition at Bulok Watershed was degraded. This reaserch was carried out by analyzing data of rainfall, stream discharge, observation land use map, fluctuations of stream discharge and coefficient runoff at 2001, 2006, and 2011. The results of analysis were linked tabulated results with land use in descriptively. The results of this research showed by land use change, which were decreasing forests and mixed dryland farming area, increasing residential area and dryland farming area, which were decreasing forests and mixed dryland farming area, increasing residential area and dryland farming area was caused that the fluctuatoin of stream discharge in 2001 was to 12,45 and increased in 2006 was 51,27 and more increased in 2011 was 129,96. The coefficient runoff of Bulok Watershed has increased in 2001 was to 6% and increased in 2006 was 35% and more increased 2011 amounted to 41%. The increased fluctuation of stream discharge and coefficient runoff 2001-2011 showed that Bulok Watershed was degraded. Keywords : hydrologic characteristic, land use, watershed

Using Remote Sensing to Detect Change in the Ndop Floodplain Wetlands of Cameroon

Using remote sensing and GIS technology to determine change in the Ndop floodplain wetland area from 1973 to 2010, six Landsat MSS, TM and Landsat ETM+ images were classified. Twelve different observed land cover and land use patterns were classified and grouped into four major categories based on the Supervised Maximum Likelihood Classification algorithm. These included the humid floodplain wetland area, agro-pastoral zones, montane forest zone and settlements. Within the wetland area in the floodplain, the reservoir shows evidence of significant fluctuations in surface area since the construction of the Bamendjin reservoir in 1975. Within the reservoir area, acute siltation has been observed since 1988 (1.3%) and this has increased in area by 4.07% in 2002 and by 4.4% in 2010. These increases account for the observed drop in the level of water in the reservoir. A significant drop has been registered in the area occupied by permanent flooded prairies of 11.19% in 1978 and 2.01% in 2010 as well as in that of seasonally flooded prairies of 12.2% in 1978 and 5% in 2010. Areas under irrigated farmland also show decreasing trends from 1988 to 2010. The swamp forest equally exhibits significant corresponding drops in area cover, which directly correlates with the draining of the flood plain for swamp rice cultivation and irrigation. Concerning the agropastoral landscape, the upland grazing areas are generally decreasing in area, while the mixed farming area contrarily increased from 1978 to 2010. This study thus provides base data for monitoring human impacts on the Ndop floodplain wetlands in the Upper Noun drainage basin and natural habitats, especially within and around the wetland area.

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Land Use Change for 11 years (2004-2014) in Sub-Watershed Sumpur Singkarak

The pressure of population growth and the economy has an impact on changes in land use in Sub-watershed Sumpur Singkarak West Sumatra, Indonesia. Changes in land use are analyzed spatially and temporally using satellite imagery Landsat TM 7 and 8 (resolution 30 m) that has been in the interpretation of 2004 to 2014. The analysis is done by comparing the changes in land use in the area of forest, farming and settlement. From the analysis it can be concluded that there has been a decline in forest area of 128 ha (1.6%), an increase in mixed-farming area of 146 ha (16.1%), an increase in settlement area of 143 ha (26%) for 11 years in Sub-watershed. In 2011, a change of 3125 ha of rice-paddy which have been changed become dry land an area of 2645 ha. This is due to the farming community, prefer to plant horticulture and crop plant from the rice plant.In the protected forest area has been used for settlement area of 1.37 ha and for dry land area of 11.41 ha. In the tourist nature reserve forest areas have been used for rice paddy area of 0:33 ha and for dry land area of 42.91 ha.

The case for and against perennial forages in the Australian sheep–wheat zone: modelling livestock production, business risk and environmental interactions

Perennial forages have been proposed as a means of ameliorating both the summer–autumn feed gap and the risks posed by soil salinity and erosion in mixed farming areas of southern Australia. Whole-farm simulation analyses using the APSIM and GRAZPLAN models at nine locations across southern Australia have evaluated the likely trade-offs among expected profitability, financial risk, soil erosion risk, deep drainage and soil carbon change as annual pastures are converted to perennial pastures based on a C3 grass, a C4 grass or lucerne. Differences between perennial and annual feedbases in total pasture growth (median –11%, range –47% to +20%) and metabolisable energy supply from pasture (median +1%, range –48% to +52%) were diverse across locations and perennial species. At some locations, improvements in the pasture feedbase were counter-balanced by lower livestock intakes from crop stubbles. The modelled farming system with the highest profit included some perennial pasture at seven of the nine locations, but no one pasture species or land-use system predominated across all locations or producer risk attitudes. Local characteristics of the soils and farming systems are as important as broad climatic factors in determining how substituting perennial for annual pastures alters the trade-off between profitability and wind erosion risk. Further expanding permanent pastures into land currently used for crops only unequivocally reduced wind erosion risk at the four locations with Mediterranean climates. Lucerne grown in long rotations provided the best trade-off between mean gross margin and financial risk at Merriwagga and Temora. Permanent C3 or C4 perennial grass pastures separated from continuous cropping may simultaneously increase profits and reduce business and erosion risk at low-rainfall locations with Mediterranean climates, as long as they can be managed to persist. Managing pastures for greater nitrogen inputs could be considered as an erosion-abatement strategy.

Farmer experience with perennial pastures in the mixed farming areas of southern New South Wales: on-farm participatory research investigating pasture establishment with cover-cropping

In 2009, 95 farmers in the mixed farming zone of southern New South Wales (NSW), average annual rainfall 450–700 mm, were surveyed about their use of perennial pasture species. Survey responses indicated that, on average, 52% of land was under crop, 29% contained perennial pasture and 19% annual pastures. The proportion of land sown to perennial pastures and the species used differed with rainfall. Farmers identified concerns about the cost of establishment and poor survival of perennial pasture species as constraints to wider adoption. The survey also revealed that cover-cropping (sowing pasture species under the final grain crop in a cropping phase) was the dominant method of pasture establishment. Large-scale, on-farm participatory experiments were sown with the farm machinery, three at Ariah Park and one at Brocklesby in southern NSW in 2009 (annual rainfall 100 mm less than long-term average), and a further two experiments (one at each location) commenced in 2010 (annual rainfall &gt;200 mm above average). These experiments compared the effect of cereal cover-crop sowing rate (standard rates used by the collaborating farmer and half of the standard rate) on the establishment of the perennials lucerne (Medicago sativa), phalaris (Phalaris aquatica), cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), and chicory (Cichorium intybus) sown in different mixes and rates with various annual legume species. The persistence and productivity of individual species were monitored for 2 years after sowing. Results indicated little or no effect of the presence of a cover-crop on the initial establishment of any of the perennials, but pasture species survival were severely affected by cover-crop sowing rates as low as half of the farmer practice (10 kg barley or 12 kg wheat ha–1) in 2009. Despite higher than average annual rainfall in 2010 and 2011, the residual effect of establishing pastures under a cover-crop in 2009 was poorer persistence and lower productivity by lucerne at the standard cover-cropping rate, and by phalaris, cocksfoot and chicory at all cover-crop rates, and an increased incidence of weeds. Similar responses to cover-cropping occurred between 2010 and 2012, even with the wetter establishment conditions in 2010, for phalaris, chicory and weeds, despite demonstration at Ariah Park that higher populations of individual perennial species could be achieved by doubling the sowing rate of pasture seed in 2010. Lucerne compensated for lower plant numbers by increasing herbage growth in response to rainfall, but phalaris could not and total pasture productivity over the first 2 years after establishment was greatly reduced by the use of cover-crops in both 2009 and 2010. Cover-cropping also reduced annual legume seedset, which could have implications for future pasture performance. Lucerne was the most consistently productive perennial pasture species evaluated regardless of establishment technique or climatic conditions.

The prevalence of oilseed rape hypersensitivity in a mixed cereal farming population

Oilseed rape production is widespread in cereal growing areas. Many patients attending our clinics for seasonal allergy claim that they are allergic to it. To determine the prevalence of oilseed rape allergy in our population. General population within a mixed cereal farming area attending a rhinology and allergy clinic in a district general hospital, UK. Retrospective chart analysis. The results of 1475 consecutive patients who underwent skin prick allergy testing over a 2-year period (January 2003-December 2005) and of 640 consecutive patients over a 1-year period (September 2008-September 2009) were analysed and compared. Allergy to house dust mite was found to be most common (n = 526, 25%) followed by grass pollen (n = 519, 24%) and cereals (n = 429, 20%). Oilseed rape hypersensitivity was relatively uncommon, comprising only 2% of the population tested (n = 28). Oilseed rape does not cause significant allergy, even in areas of high production. It is likely that those patients exhibiting oilseed rape allergy may in fact be symptomatic due to the effect of other allergens, acting either synergistically with the oilseed rape allergen, or more likely, in spite of it.

Land-Use and Land-Cover Dynamics in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Understanding the complexity of land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes and their driving forces and impacts on human and environmental security is important for the planning of natural resource management and associated decision making. This study combines and compares participatory field point sampling (pfps) and remote sensing to explore local LULC dynamics. The study was conducted in two peasant associations located in the central Ethiopian Rift Valley, which is a dry-land mixed farming area exposed to rapid deforestation. From 1973-2006, the area of cropland doubled at the expense of woodland and wooded-grassland in both of the study sites. Major deforestation and forest degradation took place from 1973-1986; woodland cover declined from 40% to 9% in one of the study sites, while the other lost all of its original 54% woodland cover. Our study concludes that assessing LULC dynamics using a combination of remote sensing and pfps is a valuable approach. The two methods revealed similar LULC trends, while the pfps provided additional details on how farmers view the changes. This study documents dramatic trends in LULC over time, associated with rapid population growth, recurrent drought, rainfall variability and declining crop productivity. The alarming nature of these trends is reflected in a decrease in the livelihood security of local communities and in environmental degradation. Given these dry-land conditions, there are few opportunities to improve livelihoods and environmental security without external support. If negative changes are to be halted, action must be taken, including building asset bases, instituting family planning services, and creating opportunities outside these marginal environments.

Suitability of patches and in‐field strips for Sky Larks Alauda arvensis in a small‐parcelled mixed farming area

Capsule Sky Larks make use of agri‐environment measures in winter wheat for nesting and foraging during nestling provision. Aims To determine the suitability of in‐field measures (patches and strips) for breeding Sky Larks in small‐parcelled Swiss lowland farmland. Methods Focal territories established over winter wheat fields with in‐field measures (four patches or one strip per hectare sown with arable weed mix) and over conventionally managed wheat, were surveyed during one breeding season. Territories were digitized in a geographical information system based on the mapping of singing males. Breeding pairs were observed to determine the position of nest‐sites and foraging spots during nestling provisioning. Breeding success and chick body condition were also determined. Results Winter wheat fields containing in‐field measures were more likely to be part of a Sky Lark territory from June onwards than conventional winter wheat fields. Conventional winter wheat fields were used significantly less in July than in May and June. When a nest was built in winter wheat it was significantly more often in or near an in‐field measure than expected. During the nestling period, the in‐field measures were the preferred locations for foraging followed by field borders and spring sown crops. Conclusion The tested in‐field measures help to prolong the use of winter wheat for Sky Larks during the breeding season. In a mixed and small‐parcelled farming system, their application is not as urgent as in larger‐scale monocultures. Nevertheless, Sky Larks (as well as other wildlife species) use them actively. IP‐SUISSE (the initiative to encourage integrated farming in Switzerland) encourages farmers to implement patches and in‐field strips on a voluntary basis.

In Search of Improved Rural Livelihoods in Semi-Arid Regions through Local Management of Natural Resources: Lessons from Case Studies in Zimbabwe

Summary We use case studies from Zimbabwe to illustrate the complexities that can undermine development efforts in semi-arid mixed farming areas. Livelihood improvement and micro-catchment management were considered in the context of portfolios of household activities. While technical and institutional interventions may strengthen safety nets, they did not appear to reduce poverty significantly. Managing common-pool resources and implementing the necessary institutional changes involved substantial and unsustainable transaction costs. Effective alleviation of poverty requires integrated, multi-tiered, and long-term interventions that expand economic opportunities and empower people to drive their own development.

Carbon Credits Required to Make Manure Biogas Plants Economic

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of manure in mixed farming areas can produce biogas from which electrical power or pipeline grade natural gas can be produced. In this study, the cost of power and gas and the carbon emission reduction from AD plants receiving manure from multiple sources is calculated for plants of varying scale. The study area is Red Deer County, Alberta, a typical mixed farming area. Costs are based on a detailed analysis of manure and digestate transport and processing costs at an AD plant; carbon emission reductions from power generation are calculated for displacement of coal and natural gas sourced power. The required value of carbon credit in dollars per tonne of CO2 to cover the cost of AD power or gas is calculated for two cases: gas and power sale, and gas and power sale plus a subsidy plus, for the power generation cases, the sale of waste heat. The cost of power and gas shows a significant economy of scale, with the lowest cost coming from a single AD plant processing manure from the entire county. The required carbon credit to cover the cost of AD processing of manure is greater than $125 per tonne of CO2. These results show that AD treatment of manure from mixed farming areas is not economic given current values of carbon credits. Other factors that might motivate AD processing of manure from mixed farming areas are issues of water quality, odor control, and excess phosphate levels in soils.