Coping with evolution in automated production systems implies cross-disciplinary challenges along the system’s life-cycle for variant-rich systems of high complexity. We provide an interdisciplinary survey on challenges and research directions in the evolution of automated production systems. After an initial discussion about the nature of automated production systems and their specific develop...

This paper probes effects of the evolvement of labor resources on technical efficiency in crop production in rural China. Based on twelve years of data on crop production of 30 provinces in China, a stochastic frontier production function model is used to measure crop production efficiency in three crop-functional areas—the production area, the consumption area, and the balanced area. Then effe...

The capacity of US agriculture to increase the output of specific foods to accommodate increased demand is not well documented. This research uses geospatial modeling to examine the capacity of the US agricultural landbase to increase the per capita availability of an example set of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables. These fruits and vegetables were selected based on nutrient content and an ...

Women play a significant role in smallholder production system in Pakistan. They actively participate in various activities relating to crop and livestock production in addition to conducting their routine domestic duties often working non-stop from dawn to dusk. But the extent of their participation varies from region to region. The aim of this field survey was to investigate the involvement o...

Some imidazolinone herbicides have been shown to be mobile in soil, raising concern about their possible movement to ground water. Three imidazolinone herbicides (imazamethabenz-methyl, 497 g ha(-1); imazethapyr, 14.7 g ha(-1); and imazamox, 14.7 g ha(-1)) commonly used in crop production on the Canadian prairies were applied to a tile-drained field to assess their susceptibility to leach when ...

A model analyzing the economics of sheep farming is formulated. The basic idea is simple. Sheep are capital and they are held by farmers as long as their capital value exceeds their slaughter, or meat, value. The farmers are therefore portfolio managers aiming to find the optimal combination of different categories of animals and the yields are compared with the yields from other assets. The mo...

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Long-term field experiments that test a range of treatments and are intended to assess the sustainability of crop production, and thus food security, must be managed actively to identify any treatment that is failing to maintain or increase yields. Once identified, carefully considered changes can be made to the treatment or management, and if they are successful yields will change. If suitable...