Socio-economic impacts of alternative GIN control practices. Project deliverable 11 (WP4)

This report is a deliverable (WP4) from the EU-funded PrOPara project. The PrOPara project aspires to i) assess existing knowledge from research, development and benchmarking studies on alternatives to parasite control on organic ruminant farms, ii) collecting novel data on disease prevalence, risk assessment analysis and parasite control measures, through monitoring (farm surveys and stakeholder participation studies), iii) performing cost-benefit analysis on alternative parasite control measures and iv) developing and delivering technical innovation to facilitate implementation of sustainable parasite control strategies. A combined approach of modelling and focus groups for feedback was employed to assess the economic impacts of alternative GIN control strategies in South West France and North East Scotland. This two step method allowed results from the survey and farm modelling to be used during workshops, which also addressed social factors explaining the uptake and acceptance of GIN practices to control parasites. An existing excel based farm model was adapted in order to estimate the economic impacts of a range of alternative GIN practices. The model was adapted using data from a typical farm for organic goat system in France (Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions) and two organic sheep systems (lowland and upland) in Scotland. A structured workshop approach was utilised to address both the social and economic factors related to adoption of alternative GIN practices by farmers. To this purpose, we adapted the Structured Decision Making (SDM) approach commonly used for decisions taking (Gregory and Keeney 1994, Conroy, Barker et al. 2008, Ogden and Innes 2009, Gregory 2012, Johnson, Eaton et al. 2015, Fatorić and Seekamp 2017). Overall, the modelling and farmer feedback showed that control of GIN needs to be farm specific, to suit the individual characteristics of both the farm but also the beliefs of the farmer. The extension of withdrawal periods combined with resistance issues in France have led to the adoption of TST by some farmers, but others are less convinced of its efficiency. The farmers in Scotland seem to have adopted multiple strategies such as use of arable land and mixed grazing to keep GIN levels from severely affecting their profits. However, the diversity of opinions and calls by the French farmers in particular for more trials, shows there is still further work to understand this problem and develop more effective, sustainable solutions

Demand for livestock products in developing countries with a focus on quality and safety attributes: Evidence from case studies

The case studies and the synthesis papers were presented at a mini-symposium at the International Association of Agricultural Economists conference held in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China, on 18–24 August 2009.demand, livestock products, quality, safety, developing countries, Consumer/Household Economics, Livestock Production/Industries,

An application of hybrid life cycle assessment as a decision support framework for green supply chains

In an effort to achieve sustainable operations, green supply chain management has become an important area for firms to concentrate on due to its inherent involvement with all the processes that provide foundations to successful business. Modelling methodologies of product supply chain environmental assessment are usually guided by the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA). However, a review of the extant literature suggests that LCA techniques suffer from a wide range of limitations that prevent a wider application in real-world contexts; hence, they need to be incorporated within decision support frameworks to aid environmental sustainability strategies. Thus, this paper contributes in understanding and overcoming the dichotomy between LCA model development and the emerging practical implementation to inform carbon emissions mitigation strategies within supply chains. Therefore, the paper provides both theoretical insights and a practical application to inform the process of adopting a decision support framework based on a LCA methodology in a real-world scenario. The supply chain of a product from the steel industry is considered to evaluate its environmental impact and carbon ‘hotspots’. The study helps understanding how operational strategies geared towards environmental sustainability can be informed using knowledge and information generated from supply chain environmental assessments, and for highlighting inherent challenges in this process

Intermediate concepts in the generative dance between knowledge and knowing

Nous nous proposons dans cet article de contribuer à éclairer l'interaction entre connaissance et savoir en action comme processus générateur de nouvelles connaissances. Ce processus que Cook et Brown (1999) ont appelé « la danse générative », est un point crucial de l'étude de la création de nouvelles connaissances, la reconnaître et l'assister dans des situations collectives d'action implique d'avoir une meilleure connaissances des processus en jeu. A travers la description de plusieurs cas d'action collective entre acteurs hétérogènes : en particulier la restauration écologique du lac de Grand-Lieu en Loire Atlantique, nous proposons de caractériser les situations de gestion collective de situations complexes comme des situations de conception. Nous proposons la notion de concepts intermédiaires qui permettent aux acteurs de s'articuler dans un processus de conception collective.connaissances;concept intermédiaire;objet intermédiaire;connaissances partagées;situations hétérogènes d'action collective;conception pour l'action collective

Assessing impacts of CAP reform in France and Germany

The 2003 CAP Reform left EU member states much room for national implementation. The farm group model EU-FARMIS is applied to quantify the effects of the reform and the impacts of the options for national implementation. The analysis is done for France and Germany because their implementation schemes adequately reflect the broad range of options. It is found that cereal and fodder maize production is reduced both in France and Germany. In contrast, the acreage of other arable fodder crops, of set-aside and of non-food crops is expanded. While bull fattening is substantially reduced in both countries, suckler cow production is extended in France due to partial decoupling, but reduced in Germany due to full decoupling. Sectoral income effects measured in Farm Net Value Added are similar. The regional implementation of decoupling in Germany induces a significant redistribution of direct payments and therefore causes differences in income effects depending on farm type, location and size.CAP Reform, decoupling, farm group model, FADN, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Bonify 1.0:evaluating virtual reference collections in teaching and research

Accessibility to zooarchaeological reference materials is a key hurdle when determining species classification, particularly in cases where the differences between two species (e.g. sheep and goat) are nuanced. Bonify is a pilot platform allowing the virtual comparison between 3D virtual animal bone models and zooarchaeological specimens. Two technologies were case studied, online web presentation and augmented reality. The two methodologies were tested by a selection of students and domain professionals. While the physical reference collection was viewed as the most usable, it was limited in terms of accessibility; the second best option turned out to be the web based interface while the augmented reality option suffered in terms of its usability. The web interface is available at www.digitalbones.eu

Multi-level processes of integration and disintegration. Proceedings of the Third Green Week Scientific Conference

CONTENTS: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... I; ABOUT THE MACE PROJECT... III; PLENARY PRESENTATION ... 1; Landscape agroecology: Managing interactions between agriculture, nature and socio-economy... 3, Tommy Dalgaard; DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES IN RURAL AREAS ... 13; Patterns of rural development in mountainous areas of the Mediterranean: Between innovation and tradition ... 15, Angela Guarino; Agro ecology: Hypothesis for a sustainable local development?... 22, Silvia Doneddu; The farmers' early retirement scheme as an instrument of structural changes in the rural areas after Poland's accession to the EU ... 29, Michal Dudek; FOOD MARKETS AND AGRICULTURAL MARKETING... 37; G/Local brand challenges in the Austrian agricultural food market ... 39, Bernadette Frech, Ana Azevedo, Hildegard Liebl; Willingness of food industry companies to co-finance collective agricultural marketing actions... 48, Anikó Tóth, Csaba Forgács; MULTIFUNCTIONAL AGRICULTURE ... 57; The role of multifunctional agriculture for rural development in Bulgaria... 59, Violeta Dirimanova; A methodological review of multifunctional agriculture ... 66, Concettina Guarino, Francesco Di Iacovo; A spatially explicit decision-making support tool for integral rural development ... 75, Catherine Pfeifer, Jetse Stoorvogel; AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND NETWORKS IN RURAL AREAS... 89; Feasibility and implementation strategies of dairy extension in Ulaanbaatar/Mongolia... 91, Baast Erdenebolor, Volker Hoffmann; The relevance of social networks for the implementation of the LEADER programme in Romania ... 99, Doris Marquardt, Gertrud Buchenrieder, Judith Möllers; Quality assessment problems of agricultural advisory centres' services... 113, Gunta Grinberga; INTEGRATION PROCESSES INTO INTERNATIONAL MARKETS... 125; Competition or market power in the Ukrainian meat supply chain? ... 127, Andriy Matyukha, Oleksandr Perekhozhuk; Integration of the Hungarian cereal market into EU 15 markets ... 138, Attila Jambor; Regional specialisation of agriculture and competitive advantages of East-European countries... 146, Oleksandr Zhemoyda, Stephan J. Goetz; GOVERNANCE AND USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES ... 155; An analysis of biodiversity governance in the Kiskunság National Park according to the GoverNat Framework... 157, Cordula Mertens, Eszter Kelemen, György Pataki; Hierarchical network modelling and multicriteria analysis for agri-environmental measures in Poland ... 168, Jadwiga Ziolkowska; Assessing rural livelihood development strategies combining socioeconomic and spatial methodologies ... 179, K.C. Krishna Bahadur; SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL LAND USE... 189; Linking economic and energy modelling with environmental assessment when modelling the on-farm implementation of Anaerobic Digestion ... 191, Andreas Muskolus, Andrew M. Salter, Philip J. Jones; Phytoremediation of a heavy metal-contaminated agricultural area combined with energy production. Multifunctional use of energy maize, rapeseed and short rotation crops in the Campine (BE)... 200, Nele Witters, Stijn Van Slycken, Erik Meers, Kristin Adriaensen, Linda Meiresonne, Filip Tack, Theo Thewys, Jaco Vangronsveld --

Aerospace medicine and biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 186

This bibliography lists 159 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in October 1978

Livestock based livelihoods and pathways out of poverty: the case of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh

This paper evaluates livelihoods of smallholder livestock farmers who were beneficiaries of a poverty alleviation programme involving longer term intervention towards building the strength of stakeholders such as government department, NGOs, village organisations and women beneficiaries. Data are drawn from a survey of 400 women farmers in 2006 and 2008. These farmers have been the members of BRAC, a well known NGO in Bangladesh. Poverty profiles, transition matrices and regression analysis drawn from asset-base framework are used to analyze data. A number of key questions related to poverty transition through livestock based activities, heterogeneity in livelihood choice and its impact on household welfare, extent of poverty reduction using different strategies etc. are addressed.Poverty, Women and livestock, Livelihood Strategies, Asset-base Framework, Bangladesh, Food Security and Poverty, O1, O3, Q13, Q55,

Aplicaciones de la gestión del conocimiento de los productores en la tipología de sistemas productivos ovinos y caprinos

Sheep and goat farm typology varies according to producers’ tacit and explicit knowledge state. The research objectives were to analyze new Knowledge-Based Systems trends and applications for management support in animal production and characterize sheep and goat production systems based on the knowledge management process. Typologies are used to elucidate the variability of farm and farmer characteristics. The methodological approach integrated: a) the development of a conceptual model that has tacit and explicit knowledge as a central connection, b) a literature analysis of the knowledge-based system for management support in animal production and the farmers’ knowledge domain, and c) the categories of knowledge obtained by farmers according to the production objective and their technological level in the study area. The Development and Implementation of a Technological Management System in the Sheep and Goat Chain (SIGETEC, for its acronym in Spanish) methodology have made it possible to define technological levels and development interventions using the appropriate models for each technological scale-up. Knowledge-Based Typology Systems can be sorted into roughly five dimensions: technical assistance, rotational grazing systems, type of mating, recording and control system implemented, and decision-making. Hence, the proposed typological model has captured the major trends within the scale of the technological changes affected by the expression level of sheep and goat producers’ knowledge. We concluded that the new typology is analytically helpful in enhancing the understanding of farmers’ knowledge systems and could be an operational/development tool for farmers, professionals, and researchers.La tipología de los sistemas ovinos y caprinos varía de acuerdo con el estado del conocimiento tácito y explícito de los productores. Los objetivos de la investigación fueron analizar las nuevas tendencias y aplicaciones de los Sistemas Basados en el Conocimiento para el apoyo a la gestión en la producción animal y caracterizar los sistemas de producción de ovinos y caprinos con base en el proceso de gestión del conocimiento. Las tipologías se utilizan como herramientas para dilucidar la variabilidad de las características de las granjas y de los productores.  El enfoque metodológico integró: a) la elaboración de un modelo conceptual que tiene como conexión central el conocimiento tácito y el explícito, b) el análisis bibliográfico del sistema de apoyo a la gestión en la producción animal basado en el conocimiento y del dominio del conocimiento de los ganaderos, y c) las categorías de conocimiento obtenidas por los ganaderos según el objetivo de producción y su nivel tecnológico en la zona de estudio. La metodología SIGETEC ha permitido definir los niveles tecnológicos y las intervenciones de desarrollo al utilizar los modelos adecuados para cada escala tecnológica. La tipología de sistemas basada en el conocimiento puede estructurarse en torno a cinco dimensiones: asistencia técnica, sistemas de pastoreo rotacional, tipo de apareamiento, sistema de registro y control implementado y toma de decisiones. Por lo tanto, el modelo tipológico propuesto ha captado las principales tendencias dentro de la escala de los cambios tecnológicos afectados por el nivel de expresión del conocimiento de los productores ovinos y caprinos. Se concluye que la nueva tipología es útil desde el punto de vista analítico para mejorar los sistemas de conocimiento de los productores y podría ser una herramienta operativa y de desarrollo para los productores, profesionales e investigadores