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12. 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.
13. Stakeholders' mental models of soil food value chain in the Everglades
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Friedrichsen, Claire N. (author), Daroub, Samira H. (author), Monroe, Martha C. (author), Stepp, John R. (author), and Gerber, Stefan (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- unknown
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10497
- Journal Title:
- Geoderma
- Journal Title Details:
- 343: 166-175
- Notes:
- 10 pages., via online journal., Peri-urban environments, where agriculture and urbanization interact, pose unique challenges for soil management. In Miami-Dade County, Florida USA, this interaction is especially important; a population of 2.7 million lives in an urban county with only 6% of the area zoned agriculture. Miami-Dade County is a major producer of tropical fruit and winter vegetables for the U.S., and is located within the Everglades ecosystem. Relatively little information is known about research and extension within peri-urban environments concerning soil health and management. Ethnopedological work has contributed to ethno-scientific knowledge by bridging the communication gap between scientists and locals concerning soil taxonomies, soil health, and soil fertility management. This study explores mental models of farmers and experts, examining the communication gap concerning soil health and food security. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from farmers (n = 19) and experts (n = 13). All stakeholders perceived pressures from urbanization as the main barrier to farmers' ability to continue to produce food, maintain their soil health, and contribute to national food security. The mental models of farmers reveal their ability to continue farming depends on their ability to construct and sustain a system—the soil food value chain. In this system, the farmer generates farm capital from a combination of high quality products, lower quality produce, and culls. This farm capital includes value-added products or soil amendments. However, experts did not perceive their responsibility to include maintaining a system, rather, only improving production. Experts' research and extension focused on improving product quality, increasing yield, decreasing cost of production, and minimizing the environmental impact of production. The mental models of farmers suggest research and extension related to building and maintaining the entire soil food value chain would increase the likelihood the farmers would better care for their soil and be profitable. This research contributes to the literature by recognizing the importance of examining the barriers to soil communication between stakeholders, as well as the importance to include examining soil within the larger food system.
14. The interconnectedness between landowner knowledge, value, belief, attitude, and willingness to act: Policy implications for carbon sequestration on private rangelands
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Cook, Seth L. (author) and Ma, Zhao (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-02-15
- Published:
- USA: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D07996
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Environmental Management
- Journal Title Details:
- 134 : 90-99
- Notes:
- full text
15. The status of perception, information exposure and knowledge of soil fertility among small-scale farmers in Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zambia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Spurk, Christoph (author), Asule, Pamellah (author), Ofori-Baah, Rebecca (author), Chikopela, Louis (author), Diarra, Boubacar (author), Koch, Carmen (author), and Wageningen University
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08-21
- Published:
- Netherlands: Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 108 Document Number: D10944
- Journal Title:
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Notes:
- 22 pages, via online journal article, Purpose: Soil fertility is decreasing in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. To mitigate this trend, various agricultural technologies are available, but their uptake by farmers has been low. Perception of the problem, information exposure, and knowledge play a major role in adoption of technologies. This study assessed empirically the levels of perception, knowledge and information exposure among African farmers as an indicator for potential adoption of soil fertility technologies. Design/Methodology/approach: The study used survey data of more than 2,400 small-scale farmers selected through random sampling from Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zambia. The survey investigated socio-economic factors, exposure to media, perception and knowledge of soil fertility and other information. Findings: Many farmers did not perceive soil fertility as a major challenge, except in Mali; farmers were hardly receiving information on soil fertility from professional agricultural sources, and they often lacked accurate knowledge about soil fertility technologies. Radio was by far the most used information source for farmers. Practical implications: The study has exposed the need for interventions to increase awareness, information exposure, and knowledge about soil fertility among farmers to strengthen the adoption of soil fertility technologies. It also calls for innovative ways of strengthening extension services through links with radio. Theoretical implications: The role of communication in the uptake of agricultural innovations is still under-researched, and hence this study exposes the need to investigate in-depth knowledge, perception levels, and quality and frequency of information exposure on various channels of soil fertility management. Originality: This is one of the few studies empirically measuring perception, information frequency on various channels, and knowledge of soil fertility among small-scale farmers in African countries.