Innovative Education in Agroecology: Experiential Learning for a Sustainable Agriculture

The transdisciplinary field of agroecology provides a platform for experiential learning based on an expanded vision of research on sustainable farming and food systems and the application of results in creating effective learning landscapes for students. With increased recognition of limitations of fossil fuels, fresh water, and available farmland, educators are changing focus from strategies to reach maximum yields to those that feature resource use efficiency and resilience of production systems in a less benign climate. To help students deal with complexity and uncertainty and a wide range of biological and social dimensions of the food challenge, a whole-systems approach that involves life-cycle analysis and consideration of long-term impacts of systems is essential. Seven educational case studies in the Nordic Region and the U.S. Midwest demonstrate how educators can incorporate theory of the ecology of food systems with the action learning component needed to develop student potentials to create responsible change in society. New roles of agroecology instructors and students are described as they pursue a co-learning strategy to develop and apply technology to assure the productivity and security of future food system

Methodology of soil incubation studies -comparison between laboratories

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Near-infra-red spectroscopy (NIR) for characterisation of plant residue quality - A new approach for predicting decomposition and nitrogen release in agricultural soils

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Criteria for describing decomposition of plant materials in a dynamic simulation model

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Identifying viable nutrient management interventions at the farm level : The case of smallholder organic Basmati rice production in Uttarakhand, India

Smallholder farmers may gain notable livelihood benefits by participating in organic value chains. However, whether there are enough resources available to maintain organic production sustainably on smallholder farms in resource-poor regions is of concern. If not balanced by sufficient inputs, continual nutrient export via commodity crops will result in nutrient mining, and livelihood improvements gained by participating in profitable value chains could be negated by soil degradation in the long term. The objectives of this study were to test an integrated approach for understanding the farm-level impacts of subsystem nutrient management actions and to identify locally viable interventions for increased nutrient supply and recycling. We employ a systems analysis methodology to address the nutrient gaps on smallholder farms in Uttarakhand, India producing organic Basmati rice for an international value chain. Farmers here rely on few livestock (three to five head of cattle ha− 1) to supply nutrient inputs and are achieving smaller than potential Basmati yields. We surveyed 42 small farms (− 1) and analyzed available manure stocks for nutrient contents in order to trace the farm-level flow of manure nutrients, identify vectors of avoidable nutrient loss, and systematically identify locally relevant and feasible improvements. The interventions identified as viable were reducing nutrient losses through simple and relatively cheap manure management modifications (i.e. using straw bedding to capture livestock urine, covering farmyard manure stockpiles with plastic sheeting, enclosed biogas slurry storage, and using biogas slurry for improved compost production), in situ green manuring, and purchasing farmyard manure. Cost–benefit analyses predicted that proposed interventions could increase farmers’ net profit by up to 40% while also addressing problematic nutrient gaps. While our results pertain specifically to Uttarakhand, we found that our integrated research approach worked well to address the problem of nutrient gaps on resource-poor smallholder organic farms, and believe that the strategy could be used with equal success to address similar problems in other regions.</p