Traditional smallholder farming systems are characterized by low yields and high risks of crop failure and food insecurity. Through a biophysical model, PARCHED-THIRST and a socio-economic farming systems simulation model, OLYMPE, we evaluated the performance of farming practices based on maize yield, gross margin and total family balance over a 10-year period in semi-arid Olifants River Basin ...

agriculture is a complex system science and the knowledge of it is consisting of much concepts and relationships. examinations in connection with site-specific farming have been carried out by our institute since 1998. precision farming is a way of agricultural production, which takes into account the in-field variability, a technology where the application-seeding, nutrient replacement, sprayi...

We hypothesize that biological diversification across ecological, spatial, and temporal scales maintains and regenerates the ecosystem services that provide critical inputs—such as maintenance of soil quality, nitrogen fixation, pollination, and pest control—to agriculture. Agrobiodiversity is sustained by diversified farming practices and it also supplies multiple ecosystem services to agricul...

INTRODUCTION An excess of nitrates causes environmental pollution in receiving water bodies and health risk for human, if contaminated water is source of drinking water. The directive 91/676/ CEE [1] aims to reduce the nitrogen pressure in Europe from agriculture sources and identifies the livestock population as one of the predominant sources of surplus of nutrients that could be released in w...

ABSTRACT-In conventional agriculture, a large amount of energy is consumed in fuel consumption and depreciation of farm tractors and any other farm equipment mostly in tillage and planting operations. The main purpose of this research was to evaluate a till-planting unit equipped with three jointers. This unit was expected to act as conventional furrow openers such as shovel openers tilling the...

The sustainability of breeding activities in 15 pig farming systems in five European countries was evaluated. One conventional and two differentiated systems per country were studied. The Conventional systems were the standard systems in their countries. The differentiated systems were of three categories: Adapted Conventional with focus on animal welfare, meat quality or environment (five syst...