Agriculture faces many challenges. In both public discourse and the scientific literature debates about future are increasing framed in terms of ‘alternative’ versus ‘conventional’ agriculture. this paper we critically examine framing, seek to understand how term conventional has been is being used. We argue that category agriculture little analytical purchase, its use part a strategy homogenis...

Currently proliferating alternative action organizations, such as food cooperatives, solidary agriculture, repair cafes, or DIY initiatives, pursue social transformation at a deliberate distance fr...

Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has emerged as a key concept in science and politics with respect to the future of agriculture and rural development in the recent decade. Overall, MFA implies that in addition to their main function in production and support of rural livelihood, the agricultural activities have some other advantages for the environment including the conservation of water and s...

Surface irrigation is the dominant method of on-farm irrigation in Egypt as well as world wide. Furrow watering is considered as one of the main types of surface irrigation. Most of the cultivated crops are grown under such type of watering. The principal advantage of furrow irrigation is the less irrigated area comparing with that under basin irrigation which equaled total cultivated acreage. ...

Wetlands in the arid western United States provide rare and critical migratory bird habitat and constitute a critical nexus within larger social-ecological systems (SES) where multiple changing land-use and water-use patterns meet. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, USA, presents a case study of the ways that wetland managers have created adaptive management strategies that are respo...

Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conservation agriculture. Different data collection methods can be implemented to capture the field level crop residue coverage for a given plot, each wit...

Many global catastrophic risks threaten major disruption to global food supplies, including nuclear wars, volcanic eruptions, asteroid and comet impacts, and plant disease outbreaks. This paper discusses options for increasing the resilience of food supplies to these risks. In contrast with local catastrophes, global food supply catastrophes cannot be addressed via food aid from external locati...

Cotton production in Australia is a high-value industry with about 90% of fibre produced being exported to Asia, primarily to Indonesia. One aspect of modern cotton production is the heavy usage of insecticide sprays to combat Helicoverpa insects. The high cost of sprays and the public view of the industry regarding its perceived impact on the environment have led to the development of integrat...