24 pages, In this work, an exhaustive revision is given of the literature associated with advanced information and communication technologies in agriculture within a window of 25 years using bibliometric tools enabled to detect of the main actors, structure, and dynamics in the scientific papers. The main findings are a trend of growth in the dynamics of publications associated with advanced information and communication technologies in agriculture productivity. Another assertion is that countries, like the USA, China, and Brazil, stand out in many publications due to allocating more resources to research, development, and agricultural productivity. In addition, the collaboration networks between countries are frequently in regions with closer cultural and idiomatic ties; additionally, terms’ occurrence are obtained with Louvain algorithm predominating four clusters: precision agriculture, smart agriculture, remote sensing, and climate smart agriculture. Finally, the thematic-map characterization with Callon’s density and centrality is applied in three periods. The first period of thematic analysis shows a transition in detecting the variability of a nutrient, such as nitrogen, through the help of immature georeferenced techniques, towards greater remote sensing involvement. In the transition from the second to the third stage, the maturation of technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, wireless sensor networks, and the machine learning area, is observed
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.
20 pages, via online journal, Purpose: To examine the factors that support and hinder farmers’ learning and to investigate the impact of an innovative learning program on farmers’ practice change.
Design/methodology/approach: Individual interviews and focus group discussions were held with 24 farmers over 20 months. Observations were made of these farmers as they participated with eight agricultural and social scientists in a range of innovative experiences to learn about chicory and plantain establishment and management. These learning experiences were designed around evidence-informed educational pedagogies. Data sets were analyzed using NVivo to determine common themes of affordances and barriers to learning and actual practice changes.
Findings: The affordances for learning and practice change include belonging to a learning community, enhancing self-efficacy, engaging with scientists, seeing relative advantage, reinforcing and validating learning, supporting system’s integration and developing an identity as learners. Barriers to learning and practice change include issues of: trialability, complexity, compatibility and risk.
Practical implications: The importance of basing new models of extension around evidence-informed pedagogies known through educational research to promote learning and practice change.
Theoretical implications: Sociocultural theory and self-efficacy theories of learning are critical to the success of effective agricultural extension programs.
Originality: To date, little empirical research about the affordances and barriers for pastoral farmers’ learning has been based on contemporary educational research.
16 pages, The round sardinella, Sardinella aurita, is the most important species in the North Sinai fisheries; it represents about 85 % of the total catch in the North Sinai fisheries, yet the fishing activities are still based on traditional methods, like gathering information from fellow fishermen. The fishing grounds constantly change due to environmental factors; therefore, determining the potential fishing zones (PFZs) must depend on effective and advanced techniques to monitor the optimal (PFZs) for Sardinella aurita along the North Sinai coastal zone. This study integrated the daily Sentinel-3 satellite's remotely sensed data, advanced digital imagery processing techniques, and fish yield data obtained from the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) for Sardinella aurita in the North Sinai fisheries during 2021 to build a suitable model for determining, monitoring, and predicting the other optimal (PFZs) for Sardinella aurita along the North Sinai coastal zone. The results confirmed that, regarding the total catch of Sardinella aurita in 2021, the highest catch reached 73, 68, and 47 tons in April, December, and November, respectively, while the lowest catch reached 6 tons in January. The predicted PFZs resulting from the model are estimated to be 7 times more than the fishing grounds where fishermen currently fish. Moreover, the results confirmed the strong linkage between Sardinella aurita abundance and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration with sea surface temperature (SST). This study highlighted the importance of using remotely sensed data to help increase the national income from the fisheries sector by determining and predicting new fishing zones.
6 pages., (Special Issue from the 17th International Nitrogen Workshop), Via online Journal, Substantial improvements of agricultural systems are necessary to meet the future requirements of humanity.
However, current agricultural knowledge and information systems are generally not well suited to meet the
necessary improvements in productivity and sustainability. For more effective application of research output,
research producers and research consumers should not be considered as separate individuals in the knowledge
chain but as collaborating partners creating synergy. The current paper investigates the relationships between
scientists and stakeholders and identifies approaches to increase the effectiveness of their communication.
On-farm research has proven to be an effective means of improving exploitation of research output at farm level
because it connects all relevant partners in the process. Furthermore, pilot farms can act as an effective platform
for communication and dissemination. Regional networks of pilot farms should be established and connected
across regions
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D07829
Notes:
USDA 388-74, Address by Secretary of Agriculture Earl L. Butz before the Mid-Winter convention of the Oklahoma Press Association, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, February 15, 1974, 10:00 a.m., CDT.
15 pages, A significant emphasis on scaling up food security efforts is needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030. Scaling up sustainable intensification efforts for Cambodian smallholder farmers is key since they face greater exposure to the uncertainties of climate change, globalizing markets, and rural-to-urban migration. One way to increase the effectiveness of efforts and the scaling up of sustainable intensification technologies is through improving access to information about production and marketing technologies. This study aimed to identify sources of information about sustainable technologies available to smallholders and barriers that may be preventing adoption. Information was gathered from a household survey to document the sources of agricultural information for smallholders in Northwest Cambodia. This research suggests Cambodian smallholders are receiving agricultural extension services, however, the overall quality and effectiveness of these messages are unknown, since NGOs with competing foci are the primary provider of extension information. Smallholders face significant barriers that prevent the adoption of sustainable technologies and participation in markets, such as low price for goods, poor product quality, lack of time, and concerns for safety. Future endeavors to strengthen the price of goods and alleviate market-related challenges would likely result in increased smallholder income and food availability.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 103 Document Number: C08932
Notes:
B. L. Green shields & M. A. Bellamy (Eds.), Rural development: growth and inequity, contributed papers read at the 18th International Conference of Agricultural Economics. Aldershot, Hants, England: Gower. 167-171.
International: Office of International Program, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 188 Document Number: D01445
