The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains

ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY USE IMPLICATIONS OF SHORT-SEASON COTTON PRODUCTION: TEXAS LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY

Crop Production/Industries,

Innovations in the Agricultural Sector

The aim of this paper is to show the impact and significance of innovation in agriculture. Its economic development takes place when innovation solutions based on knowledge and modern technologies are implemented and intensified. Innovations in agriculture encompass a number of operational fields: resource management, soil protection, cultivation processes, biodiversity protection, ecological cultivation and production of bioenergy. The demand for agricultural innovations in different localities may vary, therefore there is a need to bring together the local requirements through utilisation of a multitude of possibilities in a variety of ways, adjustment adaption capability and conditions of a particular rural environment. There is also a need to emphasise the strong integration of innovations in agriculture with other sectors of the economy, which is translated into the acquisition of new solutions and the introduction of innovations that encourage adjustment and the capability to cooperate as well as the application of modern technologies in the economy. Innovative activities that solve problems become the main stimulant to a dynamic economy in agriculture, allowing the most beneficial implementation of its potential. This article has been divided into three parts, in the first, the author conducts a theoretical deliberation on the agricultural sector. The second part presents the conditions for innovation processes in this sector and the third, ‘Innovative tendencies in the development of agriculture’, includes the areas of innovative change in agriculture.Preparation and printing funded by the National Agency for Research and Development under project “Kreator Innowacyjności – wparcie dla Przedsiębiorczości akademickiej

Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management.

Arthropod pest outbreaks are unpredictable and not uniformly distributed within fields. Early outbreak detection and treatment application are inherent to effective pest management, allowing management decisions to be implemented before pests are well-established and crop losses accrue. Pest monitoring is time-consuming and may be hampered by lack of reliable or cost-effective sampling techniques. Thus, we argue that an important research challenge associated with enhanced sustainability of pest management in modern agriculture is developing and promoting improved crop monitoring procedures. Biotic stress, such as herbivory by arthropod pests, elicits physiological defense responses in plants, leading to changes in leaf reflectance. Advanced imaging technologies can detect such changes, and can, therefore, be used as noninvasive crop monitoring methods. Furthermore, novel methods of treatment precision application are required. Both sensing and actuation technologies can be mounted on equipment moving through fields (e.g., irrigation equipment), on (un)manned driving vehicles, and on small drones. In this review, we focus specifically on use of small unmanned aerial robots, or small drones, in agricultural systems. Acquired and processed canopy reflectance data obtained with sensing drones could potentially be transmitted as a digital map to guide a second type of drone, actuation drones, to deliver solutions to the identified pest hotspots, such as precision releases of natural enemies and/or precision-sprays of pesticides. We emphasize how sustainable pest management in 21st-century agriculture will depend heavily on novel technologies, and how this trend will lead to a growing need for multi-disciplinary research collaborations between agronomists, ecologists, software programmers, and engineers

Environmental and biodiversity impacts of organic farming in the hills and uplands of Wales

1. Organic farming is based on principles of co-existence with natural systems, the minimisation of pollution and damage to the environment, and the promotion of the health of soil, plant and animal to produce healthy food with high standards of animal welfare and respect for the wider social and ecological impacts of the agricultural system. 2. Organic Farming has become an important aspect of EU agri-environment policy. Since the implementation of EC Reg. 2078/92 the EU promotes organic farming explicitly on its positive effects on the environment. 3. The environmental and biodiversity benefits of organic systems in the lowlands for mixed farming is generally accepted (Shepherd, 2003) but similar benefits for upland systems have not been identified. This report has been produced by OCW with funding from CCW to address this gap. Where relevant, means to ensure the beneficial impacts through changes to agri-environment schemes, organic standards, and education and dissemination are identified. 4. Hill and uplands are characterised as areas over 200m above sea level where the physical landscape results in production constraints. 5. Biodiversity losses linked to changes in hill and upland agriculture include the erosion of genetic diversity in farmed livestock and crops as well as in wildlife and flora, a reduction in habitat, soil and wildlife diversity and the loss of local knowledge and farming culture. 6. The organic approach to sustainable agriculture in hill or upland systems is through the use of multi species swards and mixed stocking. 7. The report identifies potential points of difference between organic and conventional management practices with regard to hill and upland farming and highlights research requirements to confirm or explore those potentials. 8. Conventional farms can adopt any or all of the practices of the organic farming system, but the engagement with the entire system and annual inspections are specific to the organic farmer. 9. The impacts are not just determined by the system of organic regulations and but also by the management ability and technical skills of the farmer and workers. 10. The practices on organic livestock farms identified that may differ from conventional and have direct biodiversity or environmental impacts are: lower stocking rates (overall manure loading maximum of 170kg/N/ha/yr); an adjustment of the stocking balance (increasing ratio of cattle to sheep); keeping indigenous breeds and strains adapted to the environmental conditions on the farm; limitation on products to control external parasites; reduction and restriction on the use of prophylactic veterinary medicines; the use of foragebased diets; storage and use of slurries, manures and composts, and constraints on the import and export of nutrients. 11. Organic practices in management of grassland and crops identified that may differ from conventional and have direct biodiversity or environmental impacts are: cessation of N fertiliser use; restriction on P & K use; use of lime to maintain pH; use of clovers and herbs in grass leys; cessation of use of chemical pesticides and all herbicides; mechanical and manual weed control and sensitive and timely cultivations; the use of mixed farm systems and rotations on in-bye land; the use of cover crops and undersowing; the use of green manures. 12. Organic regulations do not require habitat creation, but standards state, “that concern for the environment should manifest”…“in high standards of conservation management throughout the organic holding”. Discussion 13. Apart from practices that impact directly on biodiversity or the environment, each management decision on the farm will have knock-on effects that have their own consequences, for example welfare standards for livestock require bedding materials and greater housing space. 14. Organic farms operating solely in the hills and uplands can only be part of a system. Use of in-bye land or having a relationship with lowland holdings to provide winter-feed and forage is necessary to comply with regulations. This will increase the amount of lowland managed organically, bringing widely recognised environmental benefits. 15. Organic agriculture is, by legal definition, a system of production and is based on principles and uses practices adopted to optimise the health of the system. Any farmer may adopt individual practices, and the Tir Gofal scheme provides an opportunity for farmers to provide positive conservation measures, whether conventional or organic. Farming under the EU Regulation defining Organic farming provides assurance to the end consumer that the system used to produce or process the food product was according to that system. This provides a reliable means for consumers to support a system of agriculture that fits more closely with their expectations than intensive systems. 16. Any advantages of lower stocking rates and mixed stocking will only be maintained while organic farms are viable. Organic labelling provides an opportunity for consumers to make a positive choice for high welfare, environmentally benign systems; however the difficulties of marketing, the lack of consumer awareness of food production issues and unwillingness to pay are barriers to access to premium markets for many producers. Conclusions: 17. The potential benefits of individual practices outlined in the document are often clear, but there are currently few data to confirm the extent of some of the practices that may have most beneficial impact. The need for data on actual practices of the organic farmers in the hills and uplands is therefore highlighted. 18. Few Standards changes are recommended, however the monitoring of derogations to standards and use of restricted veterinary inputs is recommended. 19. Research and development needs, technical, education and dissemination, and agri-environment policy issues which may establish, ensure, or enhance the environmental and biodiversity impacts of organic farming in the hills and uplands are outlined. 20. Infrastructure work to integrate hill and upland and lowland systems is necessary to facilitate organic farming in the uplands; this may assist the viability of lowland organic holdings: the environmental benefits of which are established

Using Dialogue to Engage Agricultural Audiences in Cooperative Learning About Climate Change: A Strategy with Broad Implications

Dialogue with stakeholders has been recognized as an effective educational strategy for addressing complex topics such as climate change. We report here on the Carbon, Energy, and Climate fishbowl discussion series developed by Michigan State University Extension to assist the state\u27s agricultural community in understanding and adapting to the changing climate. Facilitated dialogue reduced barriers to communication and promoted cooperative learning for target audiences and the project team, generating useful information on the current status of climate change adaptation within Michigan\u27s agriculture sector and revealing needs to be addressed by future Extension programming. Using a dialogue-based approach such as the one we describe can highlight challenges and opportunities Extension faces in addressing various complex issues with diverse audiences

Transgenic Crops

Transgenic Crops describes the basics of genetic modification for agricultural purposes and a brief history of the technology and the governing policies surrounding it. This publication offers a brief overview of the main agricultural crops that have been genetically modified, the characteristics they express, and the market roles they play. Unintended consequences, economic considerations, and safety concerns surrounding the cultivation and dissemination of transgenic crops are also discussed. Biopharmaceutical aspects of transgenic crops are also briefly addressed. Economic, legal, and management concerns associated with these types of crops are addressed, as well as political and regulatory aspects. Implications of transgenic technologies for sustainable agriculture are briefly addressed along with concluding remarks. References and resources follow the narrative