Glossary of Precision Crop Management Terms Compiled for Use in Classroom Teaching by Dr
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Rice, Technology, and History: the Case of China
RICE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HISTORY The Case of China By Francesca Bray Wet-rice farming systems have a logic of technical and economic evolution that is distinctively different from the more familiar Western pattern of agricultural development. The well-documented history of rice farming in China provides an opportunity for students to reassess some commonly held ideas about tech- nical efficiency and sustainable growth. rom 1000 to 1800 CE China was the world’s most populous state and its most powerful and productive economy. Rice farming was the mainstay of this empire. Rice could be grown successfully in only about half of the territory, in the south- F ern provinces where rainfall was abundant. There it was the staple food for all social classes, landlords and peasants, officials and artisans alike. The more arid climate in the north was not suited to rice; northern farmers grew dry-land grains like wheat, millet, and sorghum for local consumption. But the yields of these grains were relatively low, whereas southern rice farming produced sufficient surpluses to sustain government and commerce throughout China. Vast quantities of rice were brought north to provision the capital city— home to the political elite, the imperial court, and all the state ministries—and to feed the huge armies stationed along the northern frontier. People said that the north was like a lazy brother living off the generosity of his hard-working and productive southern sibling. Thou- sands of official barges carried rice from Jiangnan to the capital region along the Grand Canal, and more rice still was transported north in private ships along the coast (fig. -
Green Manure Cover Crops
Green Manure Cover Crops By David Blood, Alameda County Master Gardener utumn is in the air so it’s time for Bay Area gardeners to think about a winter Acrop. Here we can plant lettuce, peas, turnips, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley, potatoes, onions, garlic and many more vegetables in the fall. If you’ve a garden like mine, four plots double-dug and based on the bio-intensive system, your soil is tired. After a long summer season, a minimum of 1 inch of good home-made compost is in order. Two inches would be even better. If you’re like me, the Gardener is also tired after a long summer season. But if the garden is not replenished and just left fallow through the winter, there will be problems in the spring. The garden will still need compost and be overrun with weeds. Is there another route? Yes there is. A crop can be planted anytime root penetration and a grass or cereal crop in the fall which will choke out weeds and for bio mass and root penetration. I get a soil add both nitrogen and vegetable matter to builder mix that has two vetches, two peas the soil. The legume family, which includes and oats but there are other combinations beans and peas (plus a few plants we don’t generally available in most garden centers.. eat like vetches and clover) has the ability to fix nitrogen from the air. The crop is easy to plant. After clearing the garden, scatter the seed per the directions When the plants die, that nitrogen becomes and turn over the first few inches of soil. -
Industrial Hemp for Flower Production a Guide to Basic Production Techniques Hemp Is a Non-Psychoactive Variety of Cannabis Sativa L
Industrial Hemp for Flower Production A Guide to Basic Production Techniques Hemp is a non-psychoactive variety of Cannabis sativa L. The crop is one of historical importance in the U.S. and re-emerging worldwide importance as manufacturers seek hemp as a renewable and sustainable resource for a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Hemp can be grown for flower, fiber, and/or grain. For years, U.S. entrepreneurs have been importing hemp from China, Eastern Europe and Canada to manufacture travel gear, apparel and accessories, body care and cosmetics, foods like bread, beer, and salad oils, paper products, building materials and animal bedding, textiles, auto parts, housewares, and sporting equipment. Industrial hemp is poised to be a “new” cash crop and market opportunity for Vermont farms that is versatile and suitable as a rotation crop with other specialty crops, small grains, and grasses. Hemp grown for all types of end-use contains less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Hemp varieties intended to produce a health supplement contain relatively high concentrations of a compound called cannabidiol (CBD), potentially 10-15%. Cannabidiol is just one of over 100 cannabinoids found in hemp. Cannabidiol has purported benefits such as relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, seizures, spasms, and other conditions. In addition to the vast number of cannabinoids, plants are known to produce over 400 other secondary compounds including terpenes, which have other purported health benefits and contribute to plant aromatics. The CBD is most concentrated in the female flower buds of the plant; however, it is also in the leaves and other plant parts as well. -
Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture: Good Practice Examples
SAFE USE OF WASTEWATER IN AGRICULTURE: GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES Hiroshan Hettiarachchi Reza Ardakanian, Editors SAFE USE OF WASTEWATER IN AGRICULTURE: GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES Hiroshan Hettiarachchi Reza Ardakanian, Editors PREFACE Population growth, rapid urbanisation, more water intense consumption patterns and climate change are intensifying the pressure on freshwater resources. The increasing scarcity of water, combined with other factors such as energy and fertilizers, is driving millions of farmers and other entrepreneurs to make use of wastewater. Wastewater reuse is an excellent example that naturally explains the importance of integrated management of water, soil and waste, which we define as the Nexus While the information in this book are generally believed to be true and accurate at the approach. The process begins in the waste sector, but the selection of date of publication, the editors and the publisher cannot accept any legal responsibility for the correct management model can make it relevant and important to any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, expressed or the water and soil as well. Over 20 million hectares of land are currently implied, with respect to the material contained herein. known to be irrigated with wastewater. This is interesting, but the The opinions expressed in this book are those of the Case Authors. Their inclusion in this alarming fact is that a greater percentage of this practice is not based book does not imply endorsement by the United Nations University. on any scientific criterion that ensures the “safe use” of wastewater. In order to address the technical, institutional, and policy challenges of safe water reuse, developing countries and countries in transition need clear institutional arrangements and more skilled human resources, United Nations University Institute for Integrated with a sound understanding of the opportunities and potential risks of Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources wastewater use. -
The U.S. Oats Industry (AER-573)
C. in îtates U-- '^— ^ nentof >^^ Agriculture The U.S. Economic Research Service Oats Industry Agricultural EcofKmriic Report Linwood A. Hoffman Number 573 Janet Livezey Additional copies of this report... can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Ask for The U.S. Oats Industry (AER-573). Write to the above address for price and ordering instructioas. For faster service, call the GPO order desk at 202-783-3238 and charge your purchase to your Visa, MasterCard, Choice, or GPO Deposit Account. A 25-percent bulk discount is available on orders of 100 or more copies shipped to a single address. Please add 25 percent extra for postage for shipments to foreign addresses. Microfiche copies (Í6.50 for each report plus Í3 for processing) can be purchased from the order desk. National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. Enclose check or money order, payable to NTIS. For faster service, call NTIS at 703-487-4650 and charge your purchase to your Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or NTIS Deposit Account. NTIS will ship rush orders within 24 hours for an extra Í10; charge your rush order by calling 800-336-4700. The Economic Research Service has no copies for free mailing. The U.S. OATS INDUSTRY, by Linwood A. Hoffman and Janet Livezey. Commodity Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Economic Report No. 573. ABSTRACT U.S. farmers produced about 16 percent of the total world oats production during 1980-85, down from more than 29 percent during 1960-64 when the United States was the largest producer. -
23 a CROP ROTATION PLANNING PROCEDURE Note
23 A CROP ROTATION PLANNING PROCEDURE Note: this chapter is modified from Chapter 5 of Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: a Planning Manual by Charles L. Mohler and Sue Ellen Johnson, NRAES Press. It is intended to be used in conjunction with that manual, not as a substitute for it. General instructions This chapter provides a step –by-step procedure for planning crop rotations on an individual farm. The procedure is based on methods used by the panel of expert farmers discussed in Chapter 2 supplemented with other sources. The procedure distills what experienced growers do based on experience, knowledge and intuition into a systematic method. For the sake of simplicity, the instructions are written as if the person doing the planning is the manager of the farm. The crop rotation planning procedure works through a series of steps. You will (i) organize your information, (ii) develop a general rotation plan (optional), (iii) construct a crop rotation planning map, (iv) plan future crop sequences for each section of the farm, and (v) refine your crop sequence plan. The procedure is easiest for a farm that produces only a few crops and has uniform field conditions. Examples include cash grain farms and some wholesale vegetable operations where all of the crops can be grown on all of the fields. The procedure can be used to plan rotations with more crops and multiple soil types, but the process is time consuming. The rewards of systematic crop rotation planning increase, however, with the number of crops and complexity of the fields. On farms that grow only a few crops, reasonable rotations can be maintained using a few rules of thumb. -
MECHANIZATION and TECHNOLOGY Overview
MECHANIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY Overview Mechanization of agriculture is an essential input in modern agriculture. It enhances productivity, besides reducing human drudgery and cost of cultivation. Mechanization also helps in improving utilization efficiency of other inputs , safety and comfort of the agricultural worker , improvements in the quality and value addition of the produce. Efficient machinery helps in increasing production and productivity, besides enabling the farmers to raise a second crop or multi crop making the Indian agriculture attractive and a way of life by becoming commercial instead of subsistence. Increased production will require more use of agricultural inputs and protection of crops from various stresses. This will call for greater engineering inputs which will require developments and introduction of high capacity, precision, reliable and energy efficient equipment. Looking at the pattern of land holding in India, it may be noted that about 84 % of the holdings are below 1 ha. There is a need for special efforts in farm mechanization for these categories of farmers to enhance production and productivity of agriculture. In the existing scenario of land fragmentation and resulting continued shrinkage of average size of operational holdings, percentage of marginal, small and semi-medium operational holdings is likely to increase. Such small holding makes individual ownership of agricultural machinery uneconomic and operationally unviable. ‘Custom Hiring Centers of Agricultural Machineries’ operated by Co- operative Societies, Self Help Groups and private/rural entrepreneur are the best alternative in enabling easy availability of farm machineries to the farmers and bringing about improvement of farm productivity for the benefits of Small & Marginal farmers. -
PHOTOSYNTHESIS • Life on Earth Ultimately Depends on Energy Derived from the Sun
Garden of Earthly Delights or Paradise Lost? [email protected] Old Byzantine Proverb: ‘He who has bread may have troubles He who lacks it has only one’ Peter Bruegel the Elder: The Harvest (1565) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. USA) PHOTOSYNTHESIS • Life on earth ultimately depends on energy derived from the sun. • Photosynthesis by green plants is the only process of Sucrose biological importance that can capture this energy. Starch Proteins • It provides energy, organic matter and Oils oxygen, and is the only sustainble energy source on our planet. WE DEPEND TOTALLY ON PLANTS TO SUSTAIN ALL OTHER LIFE FORMS 1 Agriculture the most important event in human history Agriculture critical to the future of our planet and humanity Agriculture is part of the knowledge based bio-economy of the 21st century Each Year the World’s Population will Grow by about ca. 75 Million People. The world population has doubled in the last 50 years 2008 Developing countries 1960 10% of the Population Lives 1927 on 0.5% of the World’s Income Developed countries 2 Four innovations brought about change in agriculture in the twentieth century.What are the innovations which will change agriculture in this century? Mechanisation: Tractors freed up perhaps 25 % of extra land to grow human food instead of fodder for draught horses and oxen; • Fertilisers: Fritz Haber’s 1913 invention of a method of synthesising ammonia transformed agricultural productivity, so that today nearly half the nitrogen atoms in your body were ‘fixed’ from the air in an ammonia factory, not in a soil bacterium; • Pesticides: Chemicals derived from hydrocarbons enabled farmers to grow high-density crops year after year without severe loss to pests and weeds; • Genetics: In the 1950s Norman Borlaug crossed a variety of dwarf wheat, originally from Japan, with a different Mexican strain to make dwarf wheats that responded to heavy fertilisation by producing more seeds, not longer stalks. -
Choosing a Soil Amendment Fact Sheet No
Choosing a Soil Amendment Fact Sheet No. 7.235 Gardening Series|Basics by J.G. Davis and D. Whiting* A soil amendment is any material added not be used as a soil amendment. Don’t add Quick Facts to a soil to improve its physical properties, sand to clay soil — this creates a soil structure such as water retention, permeability, water similar to concrete. • On clayey soils, soil infiltration, drainage, aeration and structure. Organic amendments increase soil amendments improve the The goal is to provide a better environment organic matter content and offer many soil aggregation, increase for roots. benefits. Over time, organic matter improves porosity and permeability, and To do its work, an amendment must be soil aeration, water infiltration, and both improve aeration, drainage, thoroughly mixed into the soil. If it is merely water- and nutrient-holding capacity. Many and rooting depth. buried, its effectiveness is reduced, and it will organic amendments contain plant nutrients interfere with water and air movement and and act as organic fertilizers. Organic matter • On sandy soils, soil root growth. also is an important energy source for amendments increase the Amending a soil is not the same thing bacteria, fungi and earthworms that live in water and nutrient holding as mulching, although many mulches also the soil. capacity. are used as amendments. A mulch is left on the soil surface. Its purpose is to reduce Application Rates • A variety of products are available bagged or bulk for evaporation and runoff, inhibit weed growth, Ideally, the landscape and garden soils and create an attractive appearance. -
Green Manures
GREEN MANURES A review conducted by HDRA as part of HDC Project FV 299: An investigation into the adoption of green manures in both organic and conventional rotations to aid nitrogen management and maintain soil structure This review describes the evidence for the various beneficial effects of green manures, lists the relative merits of the main species that are suitable for use in the UK and considers some of the practical aspects of their use. This review forms part of an HDC funded project led by Vegetable Consultancy Services Ltd with HDRA as a subcontractor. The practical work involves field trials at four sites in East Anglia (two conventional, one organic and one in conversion) to be conducted between 2006 and 2008. The field trials will investigate the performance of different fertility building crops and their effects on subsequent cash crop yield, nitrogen dynamics and pest, disease and weed problems. Project Leader: Peter Knight Vegetable Consultancy Services Ltd The Finches, Cake Street Old Buckenham Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 1RU Review conducted by: Dr Francis Rayns and Dr Anton Rosenfeld HDRA Ryton Organic Gardens Coventry CV8 3LG The information contained in this report, including any expression of opinion and any projection or forecast, has been obtained or is based upon sources believed by the authors to be reliable but is not guaranteed as to accuracy or completeness. The information is supplied without obligation and on the understanding that any person who acts upon it or otherwise changes his/her position in reliance thereon does so entirely at their own risk. The use of green manures 1 CONTENTS Page 1. -
Farm Machinery Selection
Farm Machinery Ag Decision Maker Selection File A3-28 utting together an ideal machinery system long run; machinery that is too small may result in is not easy. Equipment that works best one lower crop yields or reduced quality. year may not work well the next because of P Ownership Costs changes in weather conditions or crop production practices. Improvements in design may make older Machinery ownership costs include charges for de- equipment obsolete. And the number of acres be- preciation, interest on investment, property taxes, ing farmed or the amount of labor available may insurance and machinery housing. These costs change. increase in direct proportion to machinery invest- ment and size. Because many of these variables are unpredictable, the goal of the good machinery manager should be Operating Costs to have a system that is flexible enough to adapt Operating costs include fuel, lubricants and repairs. to a broad range of weather and crop conditions Operating costs per acre change very little as ma- while minimizing long-run costs and production chinery size is increased or decreased. Using larger risks. To meet these goals several fundamental machinery consumes more fuel and lubricants per questions must be answered. hour, but this is essentially offset by the fact that more acres are covered per hour. Much the same is Machine Performance true of repair costs. Thus, operating costs are of mi- First, each piece of machinery must perform reli- nor importance when deciding what size machinery ably under a variety of field conditions or it is a is best suited to a certain farming operation. -
Timber Users, Timber Savers: Homestake Mining Company and the First Regulated Timber Harvest
Copyright © 1992 by the South Dakota State Historical Society. All Rights Reserved. Timber Users, Timber Savers: Homestake Mining Company and the First Regulated Timber Harvest RICHMOND L CLOW The Progressive Fra (1900-1916) has emerged as a period crucial to the success of the late nineteenth century conservation crusade. During this optimistic era of social reform, with its faith in tech- nology and efficiency, demands for a halt to the destruction and waste of the nation's natural resources became established federal policy. Many studies have examined the varied themes of the con- servation movement, from the aesthetic importance of the environ- ment to the fear that the depletion of resources, such as timber, threatened the very existence of American society.' These studies have most often defined the users of resources as the despoilers of the environment. Such an approach, however, ignores the role of industry in conservation. 1. Samuel P. Hays, Conser\'ation and the Cospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Con- servation Movement, 1890-1920 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), pp. 1-3. Donald ]. Pisani, in "Forests and Conservation, 1865-1890,"/ouma/oMmencan History 75 (Sept. 1985): 340-59, asserts that a conservation "ethic" existed for several decades before Progressive reformers popularized the cause. While scientists led the later movement, its leaders in the post-Civil War years were as often "moralists and philosophers" who anticipated modern conservationists in their understanding of the interrelatedness of natural resources. For more on the late nineteenth cen- tury fears of timber famine that helped lo spur the conservation movement, see David A.