Number of results to display per page
Search Results
42. The computerized management network
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Report
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 145 Document Number: C22654
- Notes:
- The Computerized Management Network was a pilot project of the Extension Division, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
43. The economics of cover crops and no-till
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Research summary
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 169 Document Number: D08994
- Notes:
- Datu Case Studies, Datu Research, Durham, North Carolina. Summary of a case study posted on the website of the National Association of Conservation Districts, Washington, D.C. 2 pages., Study shows adoption of conservation practices boosted net income $83-110 per acre.
44. The extent that certain dairy farmer attitudes and behaviors are associated with farm business profitability
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- O'Leary, N.W. (author), Bennett, R.M. (author), Tranter, R.B. (author), and Jones, P.J. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-12
- Published:
- Great Britain: Science Direct
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D10187
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Dairy Science
- Journal Title Details:
- 101(12): 1-18
- Notes:
- pgs. 11275-11284, Via online journal, The way in which farm managers' attitudes, personality, behavior, values, and sociodemographic characteristics influence farm business performance is, at best, only partially understood. The study reported here expands on this understanding by analyzing the attitudes and personal attributes of 80 dairy farmers in Great Britain in relation to the profitability over 3 yr of their farm businesses. Business goals, temperament, purchasing behavior, and having a growth mindset toward the business were found to be associated with profitability. A linear regression model consisting of 5 variables related to the above was presented that predicts 34% of the observed variation in profitability. Each of these variables were questions related to the participants' personal attitudes or beliefs. Other assessed variables, such as specific husbandry behaviors or practices, or management practices and sociodemographic characteristics, did not warrant inclusion in the final model. These results uniquely contribute to understanding how the attitudes, personality, behaviors, and attributes of dairy farmers are associated with, and thus likely to influence, the profitability of their farm businesses.
45. USDA unveils cutting-edge map that shows planted U.S. commodities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kim, Nancy (author)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-08-03
- Published:
- USA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12926
- Notes:
- 3 pages
46. Understanding precision agriculture adoption through two decades of the Croplife Purdue Survey
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Erickson, Bruce (author) and Lowenberg-DeBoer, James (author)
- Format:
- Survey report
- Publication Date:
- 2018-07-19
- Published:
- USA: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10589
- Notes:
- 20 pages., Via online - Power Point presentation. Summarizes retail dealers' adoption of precision technologies in agriculture, 1997-2017., The CropLife/Purdue University precision dealer survey is the longest-running continuous survey of precision farming adoption. The 2017 survey is the 18th, conducted every year from 1997 to 2009, and then every other year following. Major sections of the survey include precision technologies used by the retailers within their business/on their equipment, the adoption rates of precision products and services offered by retailers to customers, the dealer’s estimation of the acres in their area where farmers are using precision practices, and questions about profitability, technology investment, and constraints to adoption. The 2017 survey shows substantial increases in the adoption of practices that provide data for understanding and managing inter- and intra-field variability. Grid/zone soil sampling, which was being offered by 35 to 57% of dealers in a period stretching from 1999 to 2013, increased to 67% in 2015 and to 78% offering in 2017. Soil EC mapping increased from 19% in 2015 to 31% in 2017, and dealers offering UAV services from 19% to 30%. At the same time variable rate technology (VRT) seeding prescriptions, VRT lime application, and VRT fertilizer application services are up, yet VRT pesticide offerings are down. Seventy eight percent of dealers are using autoguidance for their custom application and 73% are using sprayer section controllers.
47. Using a participatory approach to refining and prioritising recommendations for future extension delivery in the Tasmanian dairy industry
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Hall, Alison (author), Turner, Lydia (author), and Kilpatrick, Sue (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Australia: Australasia-Pacific Extension Network (APEN)
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11210
- Journal Title:
- Rural Extension and Innovation Systems Journal
- Journal Title Details:
- 14(2) : 43-52
- Notes:
- Research effort to refine and prioritize recommendations for future extension and pasture management activities, based on a survey among Tasmanian dairy farmers. Findings led to recommendations involving pasture management training, identifying motivating values of farmers, and requirements for ongoing on-farm support.
48. What farmer types are most likely to adopt joint venture farm business structures?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kragt, Marit E. (author), Lynch, Brendan (author), Llewellyn, Rick S. (author), and Umberger, Wendy J. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08-14
- Published:
- Australia: Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D12522
- Journal Title:
- The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 63, Iss. 4
- Notes:
- 16pgs, Joint venture (JV) farm structures have the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of traditional family farms. However, such structures are not widely adopted within the farm business community. Furthermore, knowledge on the relative attractiveness of different JV models to farmers is limited. We use a choice experiment to explore what JV structures are preferred by Australian farmers, and how farmers’ socio-demographic and attitudinal characteristics influence the type of JV structure preferred. A latent class analysis revealed significant unobserved preference heterogeneity amongst the population. We identify four latent classes that differ in their preferences regarding the number of JV partners, access to new machinery, and/or the opportunity for additional annual leave. All classes of farmers displayed positive preferences for operational decision-making with other JV partners, although they varied in their preferences towards final operational responsibility. The diversity in preferences shows that there is no ‘one size fits all’ JV design, leaving opportunities for a range of JV decision models. Such flexibility in JV design is likely to have advantages when seeking JV partners, with a significant proportion of the sampled population open to collaborative decision-making models.
49. When farmers are pulled in too many directions: comparing institutional drivers of food safety and environmental sustainability in California agriculture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bauer, Patrick (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- United States: Springer Publishing
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 185 Document Number: D11896
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Journal Title Details:
- 37
- Notes:
- 20 Pages, Springer Online, Aspirations to farm ‘better’ may fall short in practice due to constraints outside of farmers’ control. Yet farmers face proliferating pressures to adopt practices that align with various societal visions of better agriculture. What happens when the accumulation of external pressures overwhelms farm management capacity? Or, worse, when different visions of better agriculture pull farmers toward conflicting management paradigms? This article addresses these questions by comparing the institutional manifestations of two distinct societal obligations placed on California fruit and vegetable farmers: to practice sustainable agriculture and to ensure food safety. Drawing on the concept of constrained choice, I define and utilize a framework for comparison comprising five types of institutions that shape farm management decisions: rules and standards, market and supply chain forces, legal liability, social networks and norms, and scientific knowledge and available technologies. Several insights emerge. One, farmers are expected to meet multiple societal obligations concurrently; when facing a “right-versus-right” choice, farmers are likely to favor the more feasible course within structural constraints. Second, many institutions are designed to pursue narrow or siloed objectives; policy interventions that aim to shift farming practice should thus anticipate and address potential conflicts among institutions with diverging aspirations. Third, farms operating at different scales may face distinct institutional drivers in some cases, but not others, due to differential preferences for universal versus place-specific policies. These insights suggest that policy interventions should engage not just farmers, but also the intersecting institutions that drive or constrain their farm management choices. As my framework demonstrates, complementing the concept of constrained choice with insights from institutional theory can more precisely reveal the dimensions and mechanisms that bound farmer agency and shape farm management paradigms. Improved understanding of these structures, I suggest, may lead to novel opportunities to transform agriculture through institutional designs that empower, rather than constrain, farmer choice.
50. Why do agricultural co-operatives fail to attract youth and create rural employment? Evidence from a case study of Zanokhanyo in Butterworth, Eastern Cape
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Zantsi, S. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-05-25
- Published:
- South Africa: Academy of Science of South Africa
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 203 Document Number: D12308
- Journal Title:
- South African Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- Vol. 49 No. 1 (2021)
- Notes:
- 15 pages., In the National Development Plan, cooperatives and agriculture development are identified as possible solutions for addressing rural poverty and unemployment, especially among the youth. However, according to most research/literature, agricultural cooperatives fail for many reasons, including but not limited to lack of capital, incompetent management and organizational deficiencies. This study applied a qualitative analysis to the qualitative data using a case study of Zanokhanyo Food Security Cooperative (ZFSC) in Ndabakazi, Butterworth. Interviews with the project members, ex-members, extension officers and youth were conducted through a semi-structured questionnaire administered in IsiXhosa. According to the results, lack of intensive production resulting in very low incomes is one of the reasons why projects such as ZFSC fail to attract young people and provide employment for rural people. Agricultural extension advisory services play a very limited role because of their generalist approach; they lack depth of knowledge about diverse agricultural subject areas. This study recommends that agricultural extension and the farmers’ support system be improved by employing or outsourcing specialists to cater to the needs of agricultural cooperatives in order to improve the productivity and income of agricultural cooperatives.