The North China Plain is one of the most important grain production regions in China, but is facing serious water shortages. To achieve a balance between water use and the need for food self-sufficiency, new water efficient irrigation strategies need to be developed that balance water use with farmer net return. The Crop Environment Resource Synthesis Wheat (CERES-Wheat model) was calibrated an...

Sameer is a farmer who subsists on three acres in rural India. While much of the land is fertile, nearly 50% of his income goes towards just the interest payments from money-lender loans, loans which are necessary to finance the crops he plants. Moreover, some of his land is unused because he cannot profitably finance irrigation at the money-lender’s rates (5 to 10% per month). As a result, his...

Hunger and malnutrition can be significantly reduced in developing nations by improving the farmer-to-consumer system. One important step in particular that can be improved is cold storage at the local level. If small, rural farmers could have access to affordable and reliable chilled storage, more produce would reach the consumer, and the farmer would see his income increase. A team of several...

the study was conducted among the two farmer groups in bhaktapur and kavre districts of nepal. the main objective of the study is to evaluate the differences in belief, attitude and practices felt by the farmers after participation in the ipm ffs. the study has been based on data collected through personal interview with the farmers, focus group discussion, personal observation in the farmers f...

Milk and feed price volatility are the major source of dairy farm risk. Since August 2008 a new federally reinsured insurance program has been available to many US dairy farmers to help minimize the negative effects of adverse price movements. This insurance program is referred to as Livestock Gross Margin Insurance for Dairy Cattle. Given the flexibility in contract design, the dairy farmer ha...

The rise of supermarkets in Indonesia since the end of the 1990s have been transforming the food retail sector and providing further market opportunities for small-scale farmers, in which most of Indonesia’s farmer falls into this category. The aim of this paper is to examine the supermarket participation and its effect on the well-being of small-scale farmers. We compare the differences betwee...