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2. Farmers finding benefits to cover crop adoption: soil health partnership
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Spiegel, Bill (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-07-10
- Published:
- USA: Meredith Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11763
- Journal Title:
- Successful Farming
- Notes:
- Online from publisher. 3 pages., In 2019 cover crop report, SHP dives into cover crop adoption practices. Summary of findings from a survey among 80 farmers in 11 states in the Soil Health Partnership network.
3. Farmers’ perception on soil erosion in Ghana: Implication for developing sustainable soil management strategy
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Tesfahunegn, Gebreyesus Brhane (author), Ayuk, Elias T. (author), and Adiku, S. G. K. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-03-02
- Published:
- International: PLOS
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12477
- Journal Title:
- PLoS One
- Journal Title Details:
- 16 (3)
- Notes:
- 26 pages, Farmers’ perception on soil erosion has not adequately reported in the conditions of Ghana though its causes and effects are time and site-specific. The objective of this study was to assess farmers’ perception on soil erosion and implication for developing soil management strategy in the Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana. A total of 130 household head farmers were interviewed and complemented with field observation and group. Data was analyzed using descriptive, chi-square test, T-test and binary logistic regression. The results show that there was significant variation in socioeconomic, farm and institutional attributes among the farmers`in the study regions. In the Eastern and Northern Regions, significantly higher proportions of the farmers (95.7% and 86.7%, respectively) perceived soil erosion as serious problem. Significantly higher proportions of the respondents (80%) perceived severe erosion problem at homestead land in the Eastern Region whereas severe erosion in the Northern Region was more noticed at distance farmlands (85.0%). In the two regions, the major causes of severe erosion as perceived by most farmers were over-cultivation, deforestation and heavy rainfall events. In the Eastern and Northern Regions, 58.6% and 75.0% of the farmers perceived, respectively, that soil erosion severity has been increased since the past 10-years. Perceptions of most frequently noted indicators of soil erosion were declined productivity, shallow soil depth, presence of rills, sheet erosion, soil loss from farmland, and change in soil color. Results of the binary logistic regression indicate that there is heterogeneity in the factors accounting for the perception of soil fertility. In developing promising soil management strategy in the study area, attention must be given to key socioeconomic, biophysical, farm and institutional factors.
4. Means and ways of engaging, communicating and preserving local soil knowledge of smallholder farmers in central Vietnam
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Huynh, Ha T. N. (author), Lobry de Bruyn, Lisa A. (author), Knox, Oliver G. G. (author), and Hoang, Hoa T. T. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-03
- Published:
- USA: Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12624
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 39
- Notes:
- 24 pgs, Increasing interest in farmers’ local soil knowledge (LSK) and soil management practice as a way to promote sustainable agriculture and soil conservation needs a reliable means to connect to it. This study sought to examine if Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) and farmer workshops were suitable means to engage, communicate and preserve farmers’ LSK in two mountainous communes of Central Vietnam. Twenty-four farmers with reasonable or comprehensive LSK from previously studied communes were selected for the efficacy of VSA and farmer workshops for integrating LSK into a well-accepted soil assessment tool (VSA). In field sites chosen by the farmers, VSA was independently executed by both farmers and scientists at the same time. Close congruence of VSA scores between the two groups highlighted that farmers could competently undertake VSA. Farmers’ VSA score was compared with their perception of field’s soil quality. For the majority of farmers’ perception of soil quality was consistent to their VSA score (62.5%), while the remainder perceived their soil quality was lower than their VSA score. For most farmers their assessment of soil quality using VSA valued their LSK, and the two measures were well aligned. Soil colour and presence or vulnerability to erosion were common soil characteristics mentioned by farmers and affected the final VSA score. Farmers’ participation in VSA and workshops strengthen farmers’ confidence in their LSK and provided guidance on the impact of their soil management on soil improvement and conservation.
5. No-till Farmer
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Magazine
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- USA: Roy J. Reiman
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: N-P; Folder: V1.12.N.274 Document Number: D01717
- Journal Title Details:
- 1
- Notes:
- 30p, two copies, Volume One Number One Collection; John Harvey Collection
6. Soil organic matter content and crop yield
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lal, Rattan (author)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-03-01
- Published:
- USA: Soil and Water Conservation Society
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12064
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol 75, Issue 2
- Notes:
- 6 pages, via Online journal, Most agricultural soils are depleted of their soil organic matter (SOM) reserves. A severe loss of SOM content may degrade soil functionality, its capacity for provisioning of essential ecosystem services, and soil health. Therefore, restoration of SOM content in soils of agroecosystems may reverse the degradation trends, enhance ecosystem services (Banwart et al. 2015), and advance Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. (Lal et al. 2018a). Increase in SOM content may also partially replace the use of chemical fertilizers and supplemental irrigation, while restoring the environment.
7. Soil science beyond COVID-19
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Lal, Rattan (author)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-07-06
- Published:
- USA: Soil and Water Conservation Society
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11865
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 75
- Notes:
- 3 pages, via online journal, The fast-moving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic engulfed the world within four months from December to March of 2020, with long-lasting impacts on social, economic, political, educational, and scientific programs. It exacerbated risks of food and nutritional insecurity for a large segment of society, and threats of disruption in the food supply chain may be aggravated by climate change, soil degradation, and the flood/drought syndrome. Ensuring adequate access to nutritious food is a daunting challenge even in developed/scientifically advanced countries, and is a sheer tragedy in poor nations.
8. Understanding Malawian farmers' slow adoption of composting: Stories about composting using a participatory video approach
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Cai, Tian (author), Steinfeld, Charles (author), Chiwasa, Hastings (author), and Ganunga, Tadala (author)
- Format:
- Journal article abstract
- Publication Date:
- 2019-04-09
- Published:
- United States: Wiley Online
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 204 Document Number: D12488
- Journal Title:
- Land Degredation & Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 30 (11)
- Notes:
- 18 pages, Soil and land degradation is a common issue in Sub-Saharan Africa leading to poor yield and threatening food security, yet soil conservation technologies remain underutilized. To build on prior work that primarily emphasizes demographic differences in adoption, this study contributes by identifying underlying social and cultural factors that influence farmers' perceptions about and willingness to adopt soil conservation management practices in a rural region of Malawi. Key informant interviews were first conducted to identify constraints slowing composting adoption, which were then used to structure the creation of participatory videos—videos created with the active participation of local farmers that demonstrated compost manure practices and benefits. Farmers from the same communities subsequently participated in focus group discussions before and after the moderated screening and discussion of these videos in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the constraints and possible ways to overcome them. Among the identified constraints to the use of composting were inefficient government programs such as the Farm Input Subsidy Program that contributed to a belief that only subsidized chemical fertilizers provided positive returns on investment, a lack of support from extension services that diminished compost use, social norms around gender that hindered women farmers from attempting to use composting, and livelihood strategy changes that led to labour shortages. Findings from the focus groups showed that the participatory video method encouraged adoption by helping farmers, and especially women, to reconsider composting, test it, and reflect upon social and cultural constraints impeding adoption. Over half of the farmers in the study tested composting for the first time after discussing the videos and changed their perception of both the value of composting and their own ability to use these types of soil conservation practices.