Crider, Margaux S. (author), Vick, K.C. (author), Young, Jeffery A. (author), Breazeale, Nicole D. (author), Jones, Kenneth R. (author), and Zimmerman, Julie N. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2025-02-15
Published:
USA: Extension Journal, Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 209 Document Number: D13542
20 pages, Extension’s evolving role in urban food production will require intensive reflexivity and ongoing collaboration. Extension educators around the country have already made progress in engaging with both the social and horticultural sides of urban agriculture. Designed appropriately, urban food systems hold the potential for healthy food access, community and environmental resilience, and economic prosperity (Rangarajan & Riordan 2019). Moving forward, we offer recommendations for Extension staff to apply within their institutions and beyond. Specifically, we urge Extension to prioritize the following: 1) mediate the rural/urban dichotomy, 2) tackle structural and institutional power dynamics, and 3) intensify strategies for community resilience.
5 pages, India's agrarian economy contributes 21% to the country's GDP and provides employment to 60% of the population. Rainfed agriculture constitutes 67% of the net sown area, contributing 44% of food grains and supporting 40% of the population. To meet the increasing demand for food grains, it is crucial to enhance the productivity of rainfed areas from the current 1 t/ha to 2 t/ha over the next two decades. However, the quality of natural resources in these regions is deteriorating due to overexploitation, and rainfed areas face biophysical and socio-economic constraints affecting crop and livestock productivity.
This paper critically examines economically viable technologies for rainfed agriculture, including soil and rainwater conservation, efficient crops and cropping systems tailored to the growing season, and suitable implements for timely sowing and labor-saving. Sustainable practices such as integrated nutrient and pest management (INM and IPM) are emphasized. Additionally, the paper highlights interventions in dryland technologies to utilize marginal lands through alternative land-use systems like silvopasture, rainfed horticulture, and tree farming, demonstrated on a watershed basis. The integration of livestock with arable farming systems and the incorporation of indigenous knowledge are also discussed. Finally, the paper advocates for the formation of self-help groups, innovative extension tools such as portable rainfall simulators, and focus group discussions to facilitate the adoption of rainfed technologies by farmers. A farming systems approach in rainfed agriculture not only addresses income and employment challenges but also ensures food security.
16 pages, Background
An estimated 140 million people in Africa face acute malnutrition. By impacting agricultural production, climate change is likely to further decrease food consumption, particularly in sub-Saharan African states. Against this backdrop, various actors have called for more attention to alternative farming and food systems based on traditional agricultural knowledge capable of ensuring access to sufficient, nutritious, and safe food. So far, however, we have limited systematic evidence on which traditional agricultural practices may promote the food resilience of households exposed to extreme climatic conditions. Focusing on the most prevalent traditional diversification practices in Tanzania, this study assesses the extent to which crop diversification, annual crop intercropping, crop-tree intercropping, crop-livestock integration, and the cultivation of traditional crops increase the food availability and dietary diversity of smallholders facing extreme weather events in Tanzania.
Methods
We combine temperature and rain data with information on farming practices and food consumption information provided by the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for more than 25,000 Tanzanian households nationwide. We rely on a matched differences-in-differences approach to account for selection bias and allow for causal inference.
Results
Our matching models consistently show that the planting of traditional crops (in particular sorghum) promotes dietary diversity and reduces the need for food rationing in households experiencing climate shocks. In contrast, households relying on maize cultivation show less dietary diversity and increased food rationing behavior. In addition, we find that—under extreme weather conditions—crop diversification furthers households’ dietary diversity, and crop-livestock integration, as well as crop-tree intercropping, seem to reduce households’ need to ration food.
Conclusion and policy recommendation
This study has important implications for policymakers. In light of climate change and weather variability, it underscores the need to better integrate indigenous knowledge into farming systems. Our results call for greater dissemination of traditional diversification strategies and more reliance on indigenous, drought-tolerant crops. Traditional farming practices can function as a safety net, protecting smallholders in Tanzania against the detrimental consequences of weather shocks.
8 pages, Commercial, Industrial and agricultural wastes are major soil pollutants, which contain inorganic, organic compounds and heavy metals. When these heavy metals accumulate in agricultural lands, they adversely affect on growth and physiology of crops ultimately causing decrease in food productivity. In this experiment maize was used to investigate the effects of heavy metals on plant physiology and growth. Maize is cultivated throughout the world for its importance as cereal. It is the third most important cereal crop, following wheat and rice. Maize is a significant food source for humans providing essential minerals, vitamins, carotene and ascorbic acid. Apart from its importance as a cereal source, it also serves as important raw material for various products such as syrup, starch and oil. Various concentrations of Cr and Mn were applied individually as well as in combination to examine their effects on growth and physiology of maize. Analysis of recorded data showed that the treatment 0.5 mM MnCl2 + 0.25 mM CrCl3 had the most harmful effect and caused significant decrease in height, number of leaves and chlorophyll 'a' and 'b' in the stems and leaves. While less harmful effects were seen when heavy metals were applied individually such as 0.25 mM CrCl3, 0.25 mM MnCl2 and 0.5 mM MnCl2 as these treatments did not significantly impact on height, leaf area and chlorophyll content in stems and leaves. So, from these results it can be concluded that. when chromium was applied separately, it had minimal impact on plant physiology and growth, but in combination with manganese, it severely affected on maize plants. Similarly, a small concentration of manganese alone did not affect plant growth, but combined with chromium, it negatively impacted photosynthetic pigments and growth traits.
27 pages, Precision farming is becoming crucial in the ongoing agricultural revolution due to its enhanced economic and ecological sustainability in food production compared to conventional farming. However, only a limited number of studies have focused on consumer acceptance of food produced through precision farming. To address this gap, an online experiment (n = 276) was conducted to investigate how production method information influences consumer beliefs of food quality (i.e., health, sustainability, and safety values), ultimately affecting consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward precision-grown food. The findings suggest consumers exhibit higher quality beliefs, leading to more favorable attitudes and purchase intentions, toward precision-grown food compared to conventional food. This trend was observed when participants were presented with detailed information about the production methods employed in each farming system. In addition, according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, our study reveals consumer innovativeness has the potential to amplify positive responses in terms of quality beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions toward precision-grown food compared to conventional food. Furthermore, our findings suggest that when detailed production methods are presented, precision-grown food may receive favorable quality beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions comparable to those for organic food, regardless of consumer innovativeness.
18 pages, The donation of unharvested or unsold crops to rescue organizations has been promoted as a strategy to improve healthy food access for food insecure households while reducing production-level food loss and waste (FLW). In this study, we aimed to assess the motivations, barriers, and facilitators for crop donation as a FLW reduction strategy among Maryland farmers. We interviewed 18 Maryland-based food producers (nine frequent crop donors and nine infrequent, by self-report) in 2016 – 2017, soliciting their perspectives on crop donation motivators, process feasibility, and interventions aimed at increasing crop donation. The interviews were thematically coded. All respondents were aware of crop donation as an option, and most expressed interest in reducing FLW by diverting crop surpluses for human consumption. While financial barriers represented one aspect influencing donation decisions, respondents also cited convenience, process knowledge, and liability as key considerations. In contrast to frequent donors, many of whom considered donation a moral imperative, some infrequent donors questioned the expectation that they would donate crops without compensation. Both frequent and infrequent donors were aware of pro-donation tax incentives, and infrequent donors reported being unlikely to use them. This research demonstrates that crop donation motivations, barriers, and facilitators can be diverse. Given the existence of crop surpluses and their potential benefits as emergency food, our results suggest that multiple interventions and policies may contribute to incentivizing and facilitating crop donation (or enabling the purchase of surplus crops) rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. Our findings also highlight a need to prioritize crop recovery methods that enhance growers’ financial stability.
16 pages, Food insecurity is widely recognised as a global issue that requires immediate attention using multifaceted approaches. There is a generalised consensus about the positive role of home gardens in improving household income and food security. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support the above nexus worth exploring to enhance evidence of based programming. Therefore, this study used cross-sectional survey data from Ingquza Hill local municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (n = 200) to estimate the correlation between participation in home gardening, household food security, and household income. Results revealed that income from home garden sales was the least source of income for most households in the study area, contributing an average of 10.4% to total household income. An insignificant negative correlation was confirmed between home gardens and household food insecurity access score, suggesting that home gardens fall short of addressing household food security. A positive linear significant correlation was also confirmed between home garden participation and household income. The study concludes that home gardens designed for cash crop production may have a better food security premise than those intended for home food consumption and the sale of surplus.
8 pages, Food security is one of the priorities of every country in the World. However, different factors are making it difficult to meet global targets on food security. Some unprecedented shocks are encumbering food security at the global level. Various interventions have been applied toward food security and artificial intelligence is one of the modern methods that is being used in various stages of the food system. In this paper, the application of artificial intelligence in the whole food production ecosystem ranging from crop production, livestock production, harvesting/slaughtering, postharvest management, food processing, food distribution, food consumption and food waste management is assessed. The objective of this research is to assess the application of artificial intelligence systems in all the stages of food systems. A systematic review was conducted by analyzing 110 articles after the screening of 450 articles based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that various artificial intelligence algorithms are being applied to all the stages of the food system from crop/livestock production up to food or agro-waste management.
7 pages, This study aims to identify whether there is dependence between agricultural commodities traded on the Brazilian market. We used the bivariate copula method over a ten-year period to assess the extreme effects on the returns of the following commodities: soybean, wheat, Arabica coffee, and Robusta coffee. The relationship directly affects the dependence between Arabica and Robusta coffees commodities. While the relationship between wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffees, and soybean is positively dependent. Economic growth, market dynamics, and the prices of an agricultural commodity tend to increase the price of other commodities.
