Academic literature on the topic 'Adoption; sustainable agricultural practices; integrative approach'

AbstractImproving nitrogen (N) fertilizer management in agricultural systems is critical to meeting environmental goals while maintaining economically viable and productive food systems. This paper applies a farm systems framework to analyze how adoption of N management practices is related to different farming operation characteristics and the extent to which fertilizer, soil and irrigation practices are related to each other. We develop a multivariate probit regression model to analyze the interdependency of these adoption behaviors from 966 farmers across three watersheds and diverse cropping systems in the Central Valley of California. Our analysis demonstrates that farmers adopt varying combinations or portfolios of practices, with the most common portfolio featuring a core set of fertilizer-focused practices. Irrigation infrastructure is an especially important farm operation characteristic for encouraging adoption of innovative practice portfolios that integrate water and fertilizer management. These findings highlight the ability for a farm systems approach to improve our understanding of farmer decision-making across diverse agricultural landscapes.

Sustainable marketing is a holistic approach that puts equal emphasis on environmental, social equity, and economic concerns in the development of marketing strategies. The purpose of the study is to examine and discuss the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced throughout the World and Turkey, and to put forth suggestions to further improve the performance of agricultural marketing initiatives in Turkey. Some of the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced around the world are carried out through civil organizations. Furthermore; some of these initiatives have also launched by farmers, consumers, food processors and retailers. The long-term strategies to increase these initiatives should be determined due to the fact that examples of successful sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives are inadequate and cannot be spread in Turkey. In this context, first of all, the supports provided by the government to improve agricultural marketing systems, such as EU funds for rural development should be compatible with the goals of sustainable marketing. For this purpose, it should be examined whether all proposed projects related to agricultural marketing meet the social, economic, and environmental principles of sustainable marketing. It is important that supporting organizations, especially civil society organisations, should take an active role for faster dissemination and adoption of sustainable agricultural marketing practices in Turkey. These organizations may provide technical assistance in preparing successful project proposals and training to farm groups. In addition, the other organizations, such as local administrations, producers' associations, cooperatives, can contribute to the success of sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives. The use of direct marketing strategies and vertical integration attempts in sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives that will likely be implemented in Turkey is important in terms of the success of the initiatives. It's also essential to bring to the fore the various themes, such as regional delicacies, safe production methods, human and environmental health, regionalism, regional artisanship, and biodiversity to cultivate a successful marketing strategy in promotional activities of sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives.

The adoption of Precision Farming (PF) practices involving ubiquitous computing advancements and conceptual innovations of “smart” agricultural production toward Agriculture 4.0 is a significant factor for the benefit of sustainable growth. In this context, the dynamic integration of PF facility systems into the Internet of Things (IoT) represents an excessive challenge considering the large amount of heterogeneous raw data acquired in agricultural environments by Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANs). This paper focuses on the issue of facilitating the management, process, and exchange of the numerous and diverse data points generated in multiple PF environments by introducing a framework of a cloud-based context-aware middleware solution as part of a responsive, adaptive, and service-oriented IoT integrated system. More particularly, the paper presents in detail a layered hierarchical structure according to which all functional elements of the system cope with context, while the context awareness operation is accomplished into a cloud-based distributed middleware component that is the core of the entire system acting as a Decision Support System (DSS). Furthermore, as proof of concept, the functionality of the proposed system is studied in real conditions where some evaluation results regarding its performance are quoted.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the agricultural practices in a drought-prone region of India in an effort to find out how science, technology and innovation (STI) measures can address the existing problems and help achieve sustainable solutions. This study has been planned with two specific objectives: to study the agricultural practices of small and marginal-holding farmers in a drought-prone region and to examine the opportunities for suitable interventions to mitigate the impacts of droughts. The study is based on primary survey conducted in Banda district of Bundelkhand region, Uttar Pradesh, India. Design/methodology/approach Empirical survey was done in eight different blocks of a drought-prone region of India using structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was pre-tested with a group of 12 farmers during a workshop through a pilot survey conducted during April 2017. Stratified sampling based on land holdings (small farmers having 1–2 ha of land, medium farmers having 2.1–5 ha of land and large farmers having more than 5 ha of land) and irrigation types (canals and tube wells) were utilised in different blocks of the district for selecting farmers in the surveyed villages. Findings Findings suggest that due to various reasons like change in climatic conditions, frequent crop failure, crop diseases and high cost of production, farmers have adopted certain crops which are not suited to their agro-climatic conditions. The paper recommends that farmer’s school or “on-farm training school” have to be initiated to integrate farmers’ traditional knowledge with modern knowledge systems with amalgamation of STI tools. Research limitations/implications Uttar Pradesh is divided into nine agro-climatic zones; however, this study is focused on Bundelkhand and may be region specific, though the findings are important for other drought-prone areas. Practical implications The paper links the existing agricultural practices and further linking them with farmers’ socio-economic, cultural and environmental settings. Only 17.5 per cent of respondents owned any agricultural equipment due to high cost of farm tools, difficulty in taking equipements on rental basis and lack of sharing tools among the farmers. Social implications This paper targets small and marginal farmers in the drought-prone region of India who face the dual shock of climate impacts and poverty. Adoption of modern agricultural practices and use of technology is inadequate which is further hampered by ignorance of such practices, high costs and impracticality in the case of small land holdings. Originality/value This paper has advocated for well-organised, efficient and result-oriented STI system to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought-prone agriculture. Farming community in drough-prone areas needs adequate investment, local-specific technology, better quality inputs, real-time information on weather and most importantly latest know-how for sustaining commercial and cost effective sustainable agriculture.

Purpose The technology determinism theory facilitated in assessing the impact of interactive radio and social network sites (SNSs) on development factors such as education, agriculture, health, and governance, by conducting an integrative and comprehensive literature review focusing on African countries. This paper aims to conduct this literature review to provide comprehensive empirical evidence on the impact of interactive radio and SNSs on development in Africa. Design/methodology/approach This study examined articles that were retrieved from online databases including EBSCOhost, Elsevier, Science Direct, SAGE Journals, Springer and Wiley Online Library. The keywords used included interactive radio, radio, development in Africa, SNS, agriculture, education, health, peace and governance. Search phrases were formulated using boolean operators “AND” and “OR.” Findings Study results revealed that interactive radio and SNSs improve knowledge among farmers and allow the dissemination of information on innovative agricultural techniques, which supports the adoption of sustainable practices. Interactive radio promotes political accountability because the strategies provide the voiceless and powerless communities with a platform to express themselves. This paper discovers that the incorporation of SNS with existing multimedia communication facilitates the dissemination of health-related information on illnesses such as Ebola, HIV, hypertension, diabetes and Polio, and interactive radio and SNS promote education among marginalized communities and under-served rural schools. Research limitations/implications The findings on the impact of interactive radio and SNSs do not represent all 54 countries in Africa. Although the studies included in this literature review were conducted in several countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, this limited the generalizability of the findings and recommendations. Also, the other potential limitation is that using the inclusion-exclusion criteria could have resulted in bias when selecting the studies to include in the review. Practical implications The paper might serve as a valuable source of information for students, academics and entrepreneurs where the impact of interactive radio and SNSs on agriculture, education, health and governance, which are core determinants of development in Africa, has been assessed for further case studies in this area. Social implications The use of interactive radio has helped in decreasing health issues caused by a deficiency in vitamin A among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Originality/value The development of sustainable and effective interactive radio programs is dependent on the collaboration of the core stakeholders such as governmental ministries, donor organizations and the mass communication sector. Numerous open sources on technology radio stations are available to employ social media managers to help in the application of knowledge.

AbstractInteraction between farmers and researchers has benefits for both groups. Researchers gain an understanding of farmers' needs and the production system into which new techniques must fit; farmers are helped in adopting new techniques, and get insights into why some techniques are more successful than others. However, communication between farmers and researchers usually has been just from the university to the farmer. The recovery of information from farmers, integration of techniques into whole production systems, and the research priorities of farmers have not been very important to researchers.An exception has been in sustainable agriculture, where some researchers have been asking farmers what they are doing and what they want the university to do, and spending time observing existing practices before they design research trials. Ideally, farmers and researchers interact as equals, sharing information and expertise. We present examples from California and New York that show that this approach is highly effective, and recommend policie s to expand on this approach in researchfunding, training of research and extension personnel, and the dissemination ofinformation. We also discuss practical ways to carry out those policies, drawn from the experiences of both university and private non-profit organizations.

There have been plenty of studies investigating farmers’ decision to adopt sustainable agricultural practices but a lot more segregated studies exist, highlighting the importance of individual factors affecting adoption. This review addresses this gap and provides a suggestion to effectively understand adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by farmers from a comprehensive perspective. The study underscores and justifies the use of the integrated framework of Reasoned Action Approach/Theory of Planned Behavior, to present a new perspective on studying sustainable agriculture. The paper presents a review of empirical studies, reports and some review papers from past research from 1995 to 2014. Till now, only a handful of studies have incorporated the usage of this framework, which has significant relevance in studying the adoption behaviour of farmers. As suggested by previous studies about the use of socio-psychological models in agriculture, and the importance of studying adoption from multi-disciplinary a perspective, this study justifies the use and significance of Reasoned Action Approach/Theory of Planned Behaviour by providing evidences from past literature. The study concludes that the framework is comprehensive enough to look at the multidisciplinary aspects, necessary to investigate farmers’ adoption decisions, and thereby provides more than a starting point for contributing to the existing body of literature.

The agricultural sector in the Jordan Valley plays an important role in the economic system and that the region is essentially Jordan's food basket. The adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is widely recognized as essential to ensure agricultural sustainability. This study analyzed factors influencing citrus farmer's adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) in the Northern Ghor of Jordan valley. The study used a quantitative approach. Simple random sampling was adopted to select 115 farmers in the study area. A multiple regression analysis was applied to identify factors influencing the sustainability of citrus farming practices. The study found that the largest proportion 44.4% of the citrus farmers had a fairly high adoption rate of SAPs while 13.0% of ones had high adoption of SAPs. In addition, the study revealed that age of farmer, Farm experience, primary education, and tertiary education were factors that affected farmers SAPs adoption. Policy recommendations are proposed to enhance the implementation of sustainable agriculture practices by the citrus farmers in the Northern Ghor of Jordan valley.

The adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is widely recognized as essential to ensure agricultural sustainability. This study analyzed factors influencing citrus farmers adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) in the Northern Ghor of Jordan valley. The study used a quantitative approach. Simple random sampling was adopted to select 115 farmers in the study area. The study found that the largest proportion 44.4% of the citrus farmers had a fairly high adoption rate of SAPs while 13.0% of ones had high adoption of SAPs. In addition, the study revealed that age was the significant variable that positively influences farmers SAPs adoption, while experience, primary education, and tertiary education have a negative influence on the adoption of SAPs. The study recommends that special attention be given to older farmers to exploit their skills and receptive to implementing SAPs, encourage and guide farmers toward implementing sustainable agriculture techniques and suitable inputs by providing premium and incentive payments to them, and take deterrent penalties against farmers who using inappropriate and harmful applications, or who do not use appropriate applications.

Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) have been promoted as a mechanism for improving sustainable development in agriculture. Their adoption, however, has been low in many countries. Motivated by this phenomenon, a better understanding of the adoption of SAPs is provided in this thesis, using the Malaysian vegetable production sector as a case study. This thesis is guided by an integrative framework encompassing the theory of interpersonal behavior and the theory of diffusion of innovation. Consistent with the literature, this framework addresses adoption as a complex behavior, which develops from both economic and psycho-social considerations. Applying this framework, focus groups were conducted to explore research hypotheses, and to assist questionnaire design and survey operations. The subsequent questionnaire was used to interview 1,168 randomly selected vegetable farmers from all five regions in Malaysia. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that farmers’ perceptual structure was built by four attributes of SAPs: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, and trialability. Guided by their relative importance, extension efforts can be designed accordingly. Among these attributes, relative advantage was rated poorly. This requires corrective measures since excellence in the core attribute is the key to convincing potential adopters. These corrective measures may include education on SAPs’ agronomic and economic potentials, marketing sustainable produce as a premium product, and financial incentives. Structural equation modeling of the overall framework shows that adoption was determined by both economic and psycho-social considerations. As no single aspect offers the best explanation, a wider understanding is necessary prior to policy development. Nevertheless, the economic aspect seemed more influential. Thus, policy and research efforts should pay attention to the economic motivations underpinning adoption in SAPs’ promotion. Focusing on the economic aspect, logistic regression reveals that adoption depended on a range of socio-economic, agro-ecological, institutional, informational, and psychological factors as well as the perceived attributes of SAPs. Policy understanding in this regard should, therefore, be multidimensional. Additionally, the more influential factor was the resource distribution across geographical locations, followed by financial capital, workforce size, information usefulness, ethnicity, and the perceived relative advantage of SAPs. Such relative importance informs a knowledge base for guiding policy emphasis, such as promoting SAPs to prioritized places and segments through tailored information, education, and financial measures. A two-stage regression model highlights that the use of intercropping and organic fertilizers/composts resulted in greater farm profits, as these SAPs are more effective in cost savings and productivity than other SAPs. Such evidence suggests how policymakers can design an economically attractive package of SAPs for potential adopters to increase adoption rates. Overall, the findings of this thesis suggest a strategic extension plan for advocating SAPs. Profitable SAPs form an economically attractive package of products. Underperforming attributes require educational and promotional efforts to aim at improving performance realistically or perceptually. Characteristics of potential adopters identify productive segments and targets. Geographical endowments (e.g., uplands/lowlands, regions) and information sources favoring adoption depict places on which to focus.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 2013

AbstractLong-term agricultural experiments are used to test the effects of different farm management practices on agricultural systems over time. The time-series data from these experiments is well suited to understanding factors affecting soil health and sustainable crop production and can play an important role for addressing the food security and environmental challenges facing society from climate change. The data from these experiments is unique and irreplaceable. We know from the Rothamsted experience that the datasets available are valued assets that can be used to address multiple scientific questions, and the reuse and impact of the data can be increased by making the data accessible to the wider community. However, to do this requires active data stewardship. Long-term experiments are also available as research infrastructures, meaning external researchers can generate new datasets, additional to the routine data collected for an experiment. The publication of the FAIR data principles has provided an opportunity for us to re-evaluate what active data stewardship means for realising the potential of the data from our long-term experiments. In this paper we discuss our approach to FAIR data adoption, and the challenges for refactoring and describing existing legacy data and defining meaningful linkages between datasets.

AbstractAction Track 1 of the Food Systems Summit offers an opportunity to bring together the crucial elements of food safety, nutrition, poverty and inequalities in the framework of food systems within the context of climate and environmental change to ensure that all people have access to a safe and nutritious diet. Achieving Action Track 1’s goal is essential to achieving the goals of the other Action Tracks. With less than a decade left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most countries are not on a course to hit either the World Health Organisation’s nutrition targets or the SDG 2 targets. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated malnutrition and highlighted the need for food safety. The pandemic has also exposed the deep inequalities in both food systems and societies as a whole. Nonetheless, future food systems can address many of these failings and ensure safe and nutritious food for all. However, structural change is necessary to address the socio-economic drivers behind malnutrition, inequalities and the climate and environmental impacts of food. Adopting a whole-system approach in policy, research and monitoring and evaluation is crucial for managing trade-off and externalities from farm-level to national scales and across multiple sectors and agencies. Supply chain failures will need to be overcome and technology solutions adopted and adapted to specific contexts. A transformation of food systems requires coordinating changes in supply and demand in differentiated ways across world regions: bridging yield gaps and improving livestock feed conversion, largely through agro-ecological practices, deploying soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas mitigation at scale, and reducing food loss and waste, as well as addressing over-nourishment and shifting the diets of wealthy populations. The sustainability of global food systems also requires halting the expansion of agriculture into fragile ecosystems, while restoring degraded forests, fisheries, rangelands, peatlands and wetlands. Shifting to more sustainable consumption and production patterns within planetary boundaries will require efforts to influence food demand and diets, diversify food systems, and develop careful land-use planning and management. Integrative policies need to ensure that food prices reflect real costs (including major externalities caused by climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss, and the public health impacts of malnutrition), reduce food waste and, at the same time, ensure the affordability of safe and healthy food and decent incomes and wages for farmers and food system workers. The harnessing of science and technology solutions and the sharing of actionable knowledge with all players in the food system offer many opportunities. Greater coordination of food system stakeholders is crucial for greater inclusion, greater transparency and more accountability. Sharing lessons and experiences will foster adaptive learning and responsive actions. Careful consideration of the trade-offs, externalities and costs of not acting is needed to ensure that the changes we make benefit all, and especially the most vulnerable in society.