Precision farming is a management process, that involves the development and adaptation of knowledge – based technical management systems with the main goal of optimizing profit. Precision farming can be best understood as a cyclic optimization process, with control elements that measure both quantity and quality. This paper focuses on the GPS, the European Galileo and especially the methods us...

The growth of organic farming practices in the last few decades is continuing to stimulate the international debate about this alternative food market. As a p art of a PhD project r esearch about embeddedness in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), this paper focuses on the promotional aspects of organic farms websites from the Madrid region. As a theoretical tool, some knowledge categories drawn ...

Although sheep milk production is a significant sector for the European Mediterranean countries, it shows serious competitiveness gaps. Minimizing the ecological impacts of dairy sheep farming systems could represent a key factor for farmers to bridging the gaps in competitiveness of such systems and also obtaining public incentives. However, scarce is the knowledge about the environmental perf...

In the last decades, there have been profound changes in the understanding of farming systems, in particular regarding their need for on-going adaptation to an ever-changing environment. Indeed, the rapid pace of change and its often unforeseeable direction requires farmers to keep their farms flexible and adaptive. We thus need to understand the attitudes, structures and activities that build ...

A framework for the integration of poultry and fish production in the tropics and sub-tropics is proposed. Poultry may be integrated with fish culture in several ways and benefits extend to both. Both poultry production and processing wastes have value as nutrient inputs to fish and the water used for fish culture can be used for evaporative cooling of poultry and fertilization of crops. The co...

12 Complex relationships exist between different components of the organic farm and 13 the quantity and quality of the end products depend on the functioning of the whole 14 system. As such, it is very difficult to isolate soil fertility from production and 15 environmental aspects of the system. Crop rotation is the central tool that integrates 16 the maintenance and development of soil fertil...

Both organic and conventional farming processes require energy input in the form of diesel fuel for farming equipment, animal feed, and fertilizer compounds. The most significant difference between the two methods is the use in conventional farming of mineral fertilizers and pesticides that are minimally employed in organic management. It is argued that organic farming is more environmentally f...

This paper discusses the effect of commercial alternative and conventional farming systems on soil quality and farm profitability in several countries. Soil quality and farm profitability are two of several indices that measure agricultural sustainability. These studies indicated that the organic and biodynamic farming systems have soils of higher biological, physical, and in many cases chemica...

The agricultural organic farming is different from conventional farming in a way that is aimed at providing a balanced and constructive action in agricultural systems. With the increase in intensive agriculture, undesirable changes were being observed in ecosystems with irreparable damage being caused to the natural equilibrium. This is the reason for the increasing interest in organic farming ...

Farming imposes unenthusiastic externalities upon society. It effects by differ‐ ent sources such as loss of biodiversity, land erosion, nutrient overflow, more water usage and pesticides. Optimistic externalities include respect of nature, independence, free enterprise, and the quality of air. Natural methods decrease some of these costs. It has been proposed that organic farming can reduce th...