In this paper we present the architecture of an integrated management and decision support system which contains expert components dedicated to carry out specific tasks of the daily management in a pig breeding farm. Although these components form a mosaic of various task performing tools, their tight coupling and interaction enables the system to pre-estimate and evaluate the overall farm perf...

The maintenance of low-intensity farming is important for the conservation of habitats and species and is a particular issue in Europe as areas under extensive farming regimes continue to diminish. Current proposals for agricultural reform in Europe are seeking to retain and encourage extensive farming partly by seeking to redirect farm workers into non-farm activities such as leisure activitie...

In contrast to large, modern confinement dairy systems, management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG) systems can provide a satisfactory income level on a farm that one family can operate with their own labor and management. This is good news for many farm families. What makes the news even better still for these families is that a traditional, Wisconsin dairy farm with average or better manag...

In this paper, we assess the potential for rehabilitation of comparative analysis under its new guise of benchmarking. After a brief description of comparative analysis, we discuss the deficiencies that surrounded its fall in reputation: neglect of economic principles, limited scope for action, failure to establish causal relations between farming practices and performance, lack of a holistic a...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the potential for the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) to prevent the occurrence of pediatric farm injuries. This evaluation focuses upon farm injuries experienced when children were engaged in farm work. DESIGN Novel outcome evaluation involving primary review of three retrospective case series. SETTING Fatal, hospitalized, and rest...

The study assessed beneficiaries’ satisfaction in the management of loag-contract components by cooperatives involved in the farm credit delivery in Edo State. The objective was to identify the components of the farm loan contract, examine the management strategies and rate the beneficiaries’ satisfaction of such management strategies. This was done by purposively selecting 40 cooperatives invo...