A Behavioral Change Perspective of Maroon Soil Fertility Management in Traditional Shifting Cultivation in Suriname

In Suriname, the Maroons have practiced shifting cultivation for generations, but now the increasing influence of modern society is causing a trend of decreasing fallow periods with potentially adverse effects for the vulnerable tropical soils. Adoption of appropriate soil fertility management (SFM) practices is currently slow. Combining methods from cultural ecology and environmental psychology, this study identifies two groups with divergent behavioral intentions which we term semi-permanent cultivators and shifting cultivators. Semi-permanent cultivators intend to practice more permanent agriculture and experiment individually with plot-level SFM. Shifting cultivators rely on traditional knowledge that is not adequate for their reduced fallow periods, but perceive constraints that prevent them practicing more permanent agriculture. Semi-permanent cultivators act as a strong reference group setting a subjective norm, yet feel no need to exchange knowledge with shifting cultivators who are in danger of feeling marginalized. Drawing on a political ecology perspective, we conclude that cultural ecological knowledge declined due to negative perceptions of external actors setting a strong subjective norm. Semi-permanent cultivators who wish to enter the market economy are most likely to adopt SFM. We conclude that any future SFM intervention must be based on an in-depth understanding of each group’s behavior, in order to avoid exacerbating processes of marginalization

Real time operational support in young stock rearing

The aim of the Dutch Smart Dairy Farming project is to develop decision support models for operational support in farm management. This project started in 2012 and involves collaboration between several institutions and companies in the dairy chain. The project has three focus areas: animal health, fertility and feeding. The objective of the 'animal health' focus area is to optimise young stock rearing as a basis for extending the life of cows. Lowering the annual replacement rate, which is currently about 30%, has a significant positive impact on financial results. The main objectives of this young stock rearing project were to develop state-of-the-art tools which would help the farmer to optimise growth and development of young stock. Milk feeders and water drinkers combined with weighing scales were used for data collection at individual calf level. Daily data about milk intake, milk feeder visits, water intake and body weight were used to build detection models that generate alerts when measured values deviate and indicate a possible health problem. Body weight measurements were also used to determine the growth rate of a calf and to produce an alert if this deviated too much from a desired growth rate. All alerts were translated into messages with work instructions for the farmer. Weekly feedback from the farmer indicated that almost 60% of the messages were correct. It is suggested that the large number of wrong messages (false positives) can be reduced by applying more advanced analysis techniques