Global market economy and the growing concern about environment have been moving agricultural production into the area of conflict between economy and ecology. Increased efficiency in agricultural productivity via plant breeding, mechanization, and management techniques have all been important factors in maintaining the balance between food supply and world demand. Necessary improvements in the...

a substantial global increase in the demand for food of animal origin, while also aggravating the competition between crops and livestock (increasing cropping areas and reducing rangelands). The livestock revolution 1 is stretching the capacity of existing production, but it is also exacerbating environmental problems. Therefore, while it is necessary to satisfy consumer demand, improve nutriti...

The aim of this paper was to present results from two long term field experiments comparing potato samples from conventional farming systems with samples from biodynamic farming systems. The principal component analyses (PCA), consistently exhibited differences between potato samples from the two farming systems. According to the PCA, potato samples treated with inorganic fertilizers exhibited ...

Many cultivation practices have been improved in order to decrease environmental burdens of paddy rice production in Japan. Therefore, the importance of life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impacts of whole production systems particularly that of rice production has increased. However, the applications of LCA to rice production are still limited, although rice is the staple f...

Mixed farming systems involving varying degrees of crop–livestock integration are found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing population combined with climatic, economic, social, and institutional changes are transforming systems for producing crops and livestock—from systems based on extensive, shifting cultivation and grazing to ones that are more intensively managed and are based o...

Studies of climate impacts on agriculture and adaptation often provide current or future assessments, ignoring the historical contexts farming systems are situated within. We investigate how historical trends have influenced farming system adaptive capacity in Uganda using data from household surveys, semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions and observations. By comparing two farming...

Over the past 50 years, the scale and intensity of livestock farming have increased significantly. At the same time, Western societies have become more urbanised and fewer people have close relatives involved in farming. As a result, most citizens have little knowledge or direct experience of what farming entails. In addition, more people are expressing concerns over issues such as farm animal ...

The sustainability of agricultural systems has become a major focus for debates about future human survival. Much of the argument appears to rely on simplistic interpretation of ecological models, and fails adequately to define what sustainability objectives are being sought. We explore the implications of two alternative approaches to agricultural sustainability: the Critical Limits view which...

the main purpose of this study was to identify driving factors of application of renewable energies in smallholder farming systems of the tafresh county. a descriptive survey method was used for collecting the data. the statistical population of the study consisted of 2470 small farmers working in the smallholder farming systems of the region, in which 300 people were selected as sample using t...