Agricultural Performance Research Articles

Phyllosphere Microbiome in Ecosystem Management and Plant Growth Promotion for Agricultural Sustainability

This review paper attempts to interpret the various role of phyllosphere microbiome, survival, resistant mechanisms to confront the adverse environmental conditions, production of pigment, extracellular polysaccharides, biosurfactants to promote surface attachment desiccation protection, volatile organic compounds, phytoalexins, as a defensive role to compete for space and nutrients. The beneficial phyllosphere microbes contributing to promotion of plant growth by facilitating nutrient acquisition, modulating hormonal signaling, biocontrol for plant pathogens in multi-various crops is discussed in detail. Phyllobacteria show encouraging interactions with host plants in improving plant health and biometric traits by regulating nutrient acquisition, phytohormones production, biotic and abiotic stress management. The members of genera Bacillus, Enterobacter, Microbacterium, Methylobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Pseudarthrobacter, and Kocuria were the most dominant plant growth promoting bacteria reported in phyllosphere. The beneficial phyllosphere microorganism enhances crop yield while reducing the environmental footprint associated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The review focuses and thrust on the development as well as commercialization of biostimulants derived from phyllosphere microbiomes. These biostimulants, and their metabolites, can be tapped to enhance plant growth, nutrient uptake, and overall crop performance in organic farming. Furthermore, this review paper focus on certain drawbacks that there have been few researches on phyllosphere yeast and its symbiotic association with bacteria, thereby emphasizing subsequent research in this area.

Unveiling Determinants of Successful Dairy Farm Performance from Dairy Exporting EU Countries

Unveiling Determinants of Successful Dairy Farm Performance from Dairy Exporting EU Countries

On Farm Performance of Finger Millet Varieties in Dera District of South Gondar Zone

Finger millet is an important food security crop and beneficial for human health. This study aimed to evaluate the on farm performance of the finger millet varieties in Dera district. The study took place in Korata Kebele and assessed grain yield and farmer feedback. The performance differences between the Necho variety (the demonstrated variety) and the farmers' variety were evaluated. Recent 10 years' grain yield data from the Dera district agriculture office was used to analyze the growth rates of area coverage, production, and productivity in the district using the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). Furthermore, the performance of the Necho variety was compared to its potential and farmer variety using the technology gap, extension gap, and technology index. From 2014 to 2018, the annual growth rate of area coverage and productivity in Dera district declined by 1.6% and 1.7% per year, respectively. Moreover, from 2019 to 2023, the average annual growth rate of area coverage, production, and productivity decreased by 0.75%, 2.6%, and 3.4% per year, respectively. The technology index for the Necho variety in the production seasons of 2021, 2022, and 2023 was -4%, 16%, and 36%, respectively. The higher value in the 2023 season indicated a decline in the performance of the Necho variety compared to the farmer variety. This decline was attributed to the occurrence of blast disease. To address this issue, it is recommended to practice early planting and use recommended fungicides (Natura 250EW and Tilt 250EC). The district agriculture office must ensure easy accessibility of these fungicides in the market for farmers to utilize.

Kinerja Ekonomi Usaha Tani Tanaman Pangan dan Kontribusinya pada Kesejahteraan Petani di Desa Sekitar Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus Mandalika, Kabupaten Lombok Tengah

The Mandalika Special Economic Zone (SEZ) development in West Nusa Tenggara Province aims to accelerate economic growth, especially for people in Pujut District-Central Lombok Regency. This research aims to describe the economic performance of food crop farming in villages around the Mandalika SEZ and its contribution to the economic welfare of farmer households. This research uses descriptive methods, and the data was collected using survey techniques in 3 villages with potential for food crop farming, namely Sengkol, Rembitan, and Sukadana villages. The respondents were 75 farmers. The results showed that food crops in villages around the Mandalika SEZ consist of rice, soybeans, and corn, with low productivity and an R/C ratio of 1.48–2.02. The total income from food crop farming is IDR 7,903,504.28/year or 34.06% of the total household income of farmers. The contribution of food crop farming income to farmer welfare based on the Sajogyo criteria was 41.69%, and based on the World Bank Criteria, it was 18.95%. Keywords: food crop, farmers welfare, farmer household, special economic zone mandalika, Central Lombok

Assessment of Onshore Wind Farm Performance to Geometric Layout Choices by Utilizing Mesoscale Modelling Techniques

Assessment of Onshore Wind Farm Performance to Geometric Layout Choices by Utilizing Mesoscale Modelling Techniques

Low-performance diagnosis of covered anaerobic lagoons as a waste management strategy in the intensive dairy industry

ABSTRACT Covered anaerobic lagoons (CALs) are Latin America's main livestock waste treatment systems. Mexico has 680 CALs that present low biogas yields (0.05 m3 m−3 digester d−1) and low COD removal rates (< 60%). This work focused on diagnosing CAL´s low performance in dairy farms by determining and analyzing operational parameters. Seven CALs located in the main dairy basin of Mexico were analyzed. The sampling areas for each CAL were the supernatant, the active zone, settled sludge, and digester inlet and outlet. The variation of the process parameter values corroborated that CALs appeared stratified and not working as expected. The sludge zone, comprising 50–58% of total solids content and 1–15% of total CALs volume, showed an elemental compounds content suitable for organic fertilizer (340, 48, and 5 kg t−1 of C, N, and S, respectively). However, this zone contained, at least, 85% of the slowly hydrolysable material; the methanogenic potential was less than 87 mL CH4 g VS−1, and the C/N ratio ranged from 4.9 to 17, outside of the optimal range. The biogas produced did not exceed 60% of methane content and more than 3000 ppm of H2S. The sludge zone significantly influences the lagoon's dynamics since it is a nutrient sink. Furthermore, the lack of agitation is the leading cause for the low energy yield and the low removal of organic matter rate. This work provides valuable information to address the operational problems within the CALs improving our understanding that shall allow proposing reactivation alternatives.

Key udder health parameters on dairy farms with an automated milking system

Despite the increasing use of automated milking systems (AMS), udder health performance of farms has only been limitedly quantified on farms with a milking robot. The objective of this study was to quantify udder health parameters (UHP) at test-day and at herd level on robotic farms using routinely collected somatic cell counts (SCC) from test-day data, and to study the correlations between these UHP. Additionally, the associations between UHP and season, year and farm size as well as the association between the daily milk production and the herd milk SCC were investigated. To this end, we collected SCC test-day data from 48 Belgian and Dutch farms participating in the milk recording of a local dairy herd improvement program. The UHP were calculated based on individual animal records at each test day over three years (2017 until 2019). These UHP included herd milk SCC, average heifer SCC, average cow SCC, percentage of high SCC, percentage of new high SCC, percentage of chronic high SCC, percentage of high SCC cows after calving, and percentage of recovery during the lactation. By fitting a linear mixed model effect for each of the different UHP, significant associations between the UHP and season, year and farm size were observed at test-day level. A poorer udder health was observed during summer compared to other seasons and generally, larger farms performed worse than smaller farms. Using a linear regression model, a significant negative correlation between herd average SCC and average daily milk production was found: an increase of 6,085 cells/mL was associated with a decrease of one kg of milk production. Finally, the cow-level UHP were averaged over all test days of the entire study period per farm to investigate the farm-level udder health performance and correlations between them. At the farm level, UHP analysis revealed most farms had poor udder health performance (i.e. the herd milk SCC, average heifer SCC, average cow SCC, percentage of new high and chronic high SCC were all higher than their target values) as proposed by Barkema et al. (2013). Both at the farm and at test day level, strong correlations were found among the UHP. Similar to studies on farms with conventional milking systems, a strong correlation between herd milk SCC and the percentage of new and chronic high SCC cows was found. This study gives new insights into udder health performance on farms with an AMS and provides veterinarians and other dairy industry stakeholders with concrete benchmarks for udder health performance on farms.

Comparing the economic performance of poplar-based alley cropping systems with arable farming in Brandenburg under varying site conditions and policy scenarios

Agroforestry can address multiple environmental challenges across the agricultural sector, for example biodiversity loss and soil degradation. However, agroforestry uptake remains low in Germany. Since economic considerations are important for farmer uptake, this paper compares the economic performance of conventional arable farming with silvoarable alley cropping in Brandenburg. Using a modelling approach, the net present value (NPV) is calculated to assess the competitiveness of alley cropping with poplar compared to arable farming under different scenarios. These scenarios cover a range of crops, rotation schedules, alley widths, woodchip prices, and yield levels. Additionally, policy measures that can compensate for potential economic losses associated with transitioning to agroforestry are considered. Results show that short rotation alley cropping had higher NPVs than medium rotation alley cropping, mainly due to cash-flow characteristics. Short rotation alley cropping can be competitive at high woodchip prices without policy support, while at low or average prices alley cropping needs subsidies to be competitive. Medium rotation systems at all price levels were not competitive unless policy support was provided. Current policy payments were unable to make silvoarable alley cropping competitive except at high woodchip prices. When subsidies increase, alley cropping can be competitive even at low or average woodchip prices and over a range of site conditions. Besides policy support, economic performance was strongly influenced by woodchip prices, relative yield potential of poplar and arable crops, and site conditions.

Collective market action, farm performance, and household welfare among maize farmers: the role of outgrower scheme in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT Although outgrower scheme facilitates farmers’ collective action in agri-food value chain market participation, evidence of its impacts on farm performance and welfare is still limited. We examine the determinants and impact of outgrower scheme collective market participation on farm performance and household welfare in northern Ghana, using a multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) model to account for selectivity bias. The empirical findings show that participants in collective input and output markets as well as the joint markets outperform nonparticipants in terms of farm performance (commercialization and net farm income) and household expenditure, with the highest gains associated with joint market participation. We also observed that factors such as gender, age, extension service, credit, transaction cost, and awareness of outgrower scheme significantly influence farmers’ inclusion in group marketing. The findings suggest that policies that facilitate farmers’ access to agricultural inputs and output markets in collective action should be implemented through public–private partnerships to enhance farm performance and the livelihood of farmers.

Holistic analysis of cropping diversity and intensity implications for productive, environmental, and nutritional performance of smallholder farms in Bihar, India

The agricultural productivity and sustainability in Eastern Gangetic Plain Zones of India are threatened because of the inefficiency of current production practices, shortage of resources, and socioeconomic constraints. We hypothesized the potential impact of intensified cereal systems with mung bean as a third crop within the annual cropping cycle. We assessed economic, social, and environmental indicators for intensified and current cropping system management practiced by different farm types in the region using the FarmDESIGN model. Building on a farm typology constructed for the region in our past research, we used five types of farmers: part-time (PT), well-endowed (WE), small-scale (SS) crop and livestock mix, medium-scale (MS), and resource-poor farmers (RP) in this study. The performance indicators of the 229 original cropping systems cultivated within the 43 farms varied strongly in the eight performance indicators. This variability of cropping systems performance within the farm types resulted in the absence of significant differences between the types. Compared to the original cropping systems, the intensified cropping systems with mung bean not only performed high in dietary energy (DE) production and organic matter (OM) inputs into the soil but also had high application rates of biocides and minimized losses of nitrogen (N). The intervention systems were low in labor requirement and scored at an intermediate level for crop gross margin, water use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The ranges of areas of maize- and rice-based systems that could be replaced by intensified systems were largest for the WE and RP farm types. This was reflected in large ranges of change in the performance indicators, but no significant differences in response were found between the farm types. The intensification of maize- and rice-based systems with the proposed intervention cropping systems involving mung bean would result in increased profitability, higher DE yield, and lower requirements for labor and water as the proportion of the farms being converted increases. However, the use of biocides would increase, while the intervention cropping systems would have no significant effect on OM input, GHG emissions, and soil N losses.

Stakeholder management and organizational form of arable farms: a comparison of paddy farm corporations in Japan

Abstract As agricultural operations are increasingly industrialized, the role of stakeholders (SHs) becomes critical to the sustainability of the farming business. Arable farms are particularly expanding their geographical scales and socioeconomic impacts on the surrounding community, which gives particular importance to stakeholder management in relation to internal and external parties. Although the majority of arable farming comprises family farms, they have been on the decline because of succession problems, while non-family farms have been increasing. Success or failure of SHM is closely related to organizational forms because the form represents primal SHs. However, little research has examined the impact of SHM on performance in arable farming. This paper empirically investigates how SHM in various organizational forms is associated with the corporate performance of Japanese paddy farms. A questionnaire survey of Japanese paddy farm corporations was conducted in 2014, and 217 questionnaires from 63 family, 64 joint-stock, and 90 community farms were used in our estimates. Our estimation examines the following hypotheses: (i) SHM is associated with the corporate performance of paddy farms, and (ii) effective SHM varies depending on the organizational forms. The results suggest that, first, effective SHM is linked to organizational forms. In other words, the choice of form can offset the impact of SHs. Second, excessive emphasis on listening to opinions from the surrounding community may harm their performance, particularly at joint-stock farms, which expand in scale. Third, at family farms, attracting younger employees is crucial for running the business. Last, harmonious relations with the community are most important at community farms compared with other types of farms.

Off-farm work, adoption of resource-conservation technology, and farm performance: evidence from banana farmers in China

ABSTRACT Resource-conservation technology (RCT) can optimize the use of natural resources, reduce waste, and promote sustainability in agricultural development. However, the dissemination of RCT among small-scale farmers still remains at a low level in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of off-farm work on farmers’ adoption of RCT using the endogenous switching probit (ESP) model, detects mediating factors between them, and further explores the farm performance of RCT using the endogenous switching regression model (ESR) based on the primary data of 524 banana farmers in rural China. The results show that off-farm work has a positive impact on farmers’ adoption of RCT. Farmers with off-farm work are more likely to adopt RCT compared with those without off-farm work due to off-farm work could increase farmers’ positive cognition on the new agriculture technology. Specifically, off-farm work expands farmers’ information acquisition channels and improves farmers’ agriculture technology acknowledge and thereby promote farmers’ adoption of RCT. Moreover, the adopters of RCT have a higher agricultural yield than the non-adopters. Our findings emphasize a positive farm performance of RCT in small-scale farms in developing regions.

How do technological choices affect the economic and environmental performance of offshore wind farms?

The ongoing energy transition towards fully sustainable energy systems requires designing wind farms looking beyond the sole levelized cost of energy, in order to concurrently ensure not only the economic profitability but also the environmental friendliness of future plants. Within this new approach to design, it becomes necessary to understand the effects that various possible technological choices have on both the economic and the environmental performance of wind farms. This study presents a framework designed to support these coupled economic-environmental assessments. The capabilities of the code are showcased by analysing the impact of different choices in terms of support structure type, specific power, tower height, powertrain type, and array and export voltage level for an exemplary offshore farm, chosen here as the IEA Wind 740-10-MW Reference Offshore Wind Plant with irregular layout. While the effects of many technological choices on the cost of energy are already well understood by industry, the present analysis shows that — at least in this specific case — climate change impacts are mainly driven by steel production, due to the massive amount of required material, but also, interestingly, by vessel activities. A low specific power, tall towers, and a high export cable voltage appear to offer the greatest potential for the concurrent improvement of the environmental and economic performance of the plant.

Farming performance and evaluation of the adoption of robusta coffee cultivation based on geographical indication in candiroto district temanggung regency

Abstract The Geographical Indication Protection Society (MPIG) aims to maintain the uniqueness of coffee commodities in Temanggung Regency by implementing predetermined standardization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the farm performance of Robusta coffee based on geographical indication and evaluate the level of farmer adoption. The research was conducted using a case study method on coffee farmers who are members of MPIG in Candiroto district and an R/C ratio analysis to illustrate how high the benefits received by farmers are in terms of acceptance if they apply geographical indication SOP. The results show that the R/C ratio of farmers who apply geographical indication SOP obtained a value of 2.50. The level of farmer adoption of geographical indication SOP in the cultivation and harvesting stages is considered high, while in the post-harvest stage, only the dry processing process has a high adoption rate. Suggestions that can be given from this research are that MPIG, as an organization that introduces geographical indication SOP, should be more persuasive in providing education to farmers about the benefits they receive if they apply geographical indication SOP. SOPs that are not relevant for farmers should be adjusted so that the level of farmer participation and adoption becomes high.

Enhancing Wind Farm Efficiency Through Active Control of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’s Vertical Entrainment of Momentum

In contemporary wind farm design, the primary focus has traditionally been on reducing wake interference to optimize energy capture from horizontal wind flows. However, with the scaling up of wind farms, their interaction with the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) evolves, making vertical entrainment the main mechanism for the exchange of momentum and energy. This study introduces a methodical approach to augment the efficiency of large-scale offshore wind farms by actively controlling this vertical entrainment of momentum within the ABL. The strategy involves the precise engineering of advection fluxes to alter wind flow dynamics, utilizing turbines as effective vortex generators, toward a process of ”regenerative wind farming.” This setup aims to create a vorticity and vertical flux system akin to those observed in highly unstable ABLs. Expanding upon previous studies that focused on single Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs), our research explores the implementation of multi-rotor systems equipped with lift-generating wings. These systems are designed to exert forces perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction, thus creating trailing vortices and directing the flow orthogonally for improved vertical advection. This research is part of a comprehensive investigative framework that combines experiments and multifidelity simulations. The current study extends those findings to wind farm simulations, aiming to assess the impact of ABL control on a full wind farm scale. The first part of the work validates an established analytical wind farm performance model against real wind farm data for thirty-one wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The results confirm the predicted trend of decreased performance with increased wind farm size and density. The model is used to calculate the performance of a wind farm for varying regimes of vertical entrainment due to the creation of large-scale circulatory systems. The results are compared against 3D vortex simulations of the full wind farm in ”regenerative wind farming” mode. Our results demonstrate a notable improvement in wind speeds at the turbine hub height and the potential to double the feasible density of wind farms without compromising efficiency compared to traditional setups. These findings suggest a promising pathway towards a more sustainable and profitable future in wind energy, achieved through the strategic manipulation of ABL momentum, regenerating the energy in the wind farm.

Estimating the performance of wind turbines misaligned with respect to the wind direction using a simplified CFD based approach

Wind direction in atmospheric boundary layer changes constantly. As such, the power extracted from the wind turbines in a wind farm is subjected to change. This change in wind direction impacts the wake pattern which in turn affects the power output of the downstream wind turbines. Empirical wind farm models are useful in such cases to assess the overall performance of the wind farms. However, the results provided by these models can be made more useful if fluid-structure interaction (FSI) effects are also considered. In the present work, we begin by looking at the potential flow model and the issues associated with it and used a modified model with constant vorticity to analyze the wind power available to the downstream wind turbines in a wind farm misaligned with respect to wind direction for irrotational flow. A simplified FSI based approach is used to carry out the simulations without the need of modelling the complicated wind turbine geometry.

Exploring the impact of different inflow conditions on wind turbine wakes using Large-Eddy Simulations

The ever-growing demand for renewable energy, driven by cost-effectiveness and minimal ecological impacts, has resulted in the deployment of larger wind turbines with rotor diameters surpassing 200 m. This underscores the importance of a thorough understanding of flow dynamics to optimize operational efficiency in diverse atmospheric inflow scenarios. Understanding the intricate impact of atmospheric conditions, including wind shear and turbulence, on wind turbine wakes is crucial for optimizing wind farm layouts and performance, influencing wake evolution, turbine loads, and power output. This research focuses on bridging the gap between idealized inflow scenarios and real-world atmospheric inflow conditions by systematically integrating linear shear, turbulence and the logarithmic wind shear profile into the uniform inflow conditions and analyzing the wake behind the IEA-15 MW wind turbine. To specifically examine inflow effects, a constant hub height wind speed was maintained through a velocity controller. The study focuses on analyzing the wake’s flow field and providing insights into its recovery process. It was found that turbulence plays a critical role in a faster wake recovery as well as increasing the power production of the turbine for sheared inflows and the wind speed selected.

Analytical Wake Modeling in Atmospheric Boundary Layers: Accounting for Wind Veer and Thermal Stratification

Reliable characterization of wind turbine wakes in the presence of Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) flows is crucial to accurately predict wind farm performance. Wind veering in the ABL shears the wake in the lateral direction, and wind veer strength depends on the thermal stability of the ABL. Analytical wake modeling approaches must capture these ABL effects to ensure correct prediction of the wake structure under varied atmospheric conditions. To this end, a new physics-based analytical wake model is developed in this study that is capable of predicting the shape of wakes influenced by wind veer and thermal stratification effects. This model combines a novel ABL wind field model with the Gaussian wake model. The new ABL wind model is capable of predicting both the streamwise and spanwise velocity components in conventionally neutral (CNBL) and stable (SBL) ABL flows. The analytical expressions for both of these horizontal velocity components adhere to Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST) in the surface layer, while capturing wind veering in the outer layer of the ABL. Incorporating this ABL model with the Gaussian wake model predicts laterally deflected wake shapes in a fully predictive and self-consistent fashion for a wide range of atmospheric conditions. The results also demonstrate that the enhanced wake model gives improved predictions relative to Large Eddy Simulations of power losses due to wake interactions under strongly stably stratified atmospheric conditions, where wind veer effects are dominant.

Evaluation of wind farm performance over heterogeneously rough terrain using large eddy simulation

We evaluate the effect of an abrupt change in the surface aerodynamic roughness height on a wind farm sited on it using the large eddy simulation (LES). Compared to a wind farm sited on a uniformly rough surface, the alteration in aerodynamic surface roughness from a rough to smooth value leads to substantial changes in the first-order and second-order turbulent statistics. Specifically, the rough-to-smooth surface roughness transition leads to an acceleration of the flow downstream of it, which affects the wake recovery and wind farm power production. Different velocity deficits are formulated considering different definitions of “upstream” velocity. The usual deficit, i.e., the difference between the overall wind farm upstream velocities and downstream of a turbine, attains negative values near the ground, rendering it difficult to model within the usual Gaussian radial-shape framework. An alternative definition, i.e., the difference in velocity at the same location with and without turbines on a heterogeneous surface, consistently yields positive values and is amenable to Gaussian shape-based modelling. The power generation decreases as the step change in surface roughness progressively moves into the wind farm. Maximum power is produced when all turbines are placed downstream of the surface roughness jump and minimum power is generated for a homogeneously rough surface when the entire wind farm is placed on the rough surface.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the potential of wake mixing by dynamic yaw for wind farm power optimization

This study investigates open-loop dynamic yaw control as a strategy for enhancing wind farm performance through wake mixing. The focus is on understanding the potential for enhanced wake mixing under different turbulence intensities, and the mechanisms triggering mixing. Experimental tests are conducted using scaled wind tunnel experiments with two model wind turbines. The wake flow is analysed by large eddy simulations (LES). Dynamic yawing is prescribed by sinusoidally varying the yaw angle at different excitation frequencies. The study reveals that dynamic yaw control, particularly at low inflow turbulence, leads to increased wake mixing. The resulting enhanced wind farm power capture has a rather flat maximum around an optimal Strouhal number. This is in contrast to high inflow turbulence, where the effectiveness of the control strategy is significantly reduced. The meandering motion of the wake induced by dynamic yaw excitation is identified as the key mechanism for improved wake recovery.