Livelihoods and agro-ecological gradients: A meso-level analysis in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India

Rice-wheat systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) have long exemplified South Asia’s agricultural transformation through the Green Revolution. The same systems now also typify the post-Green Revolution stagnation and equity challenges, despite receiving considerable attention from the research and development (R&D) community. The apparent homogeneity of vast irrigated plains masks significant diversity in assets, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes. The paper analyzes the rural livelihoods and underlying agro-ecological gradients in the IGP drawing on village surveys and secondary data as characterization tools. The contribution of the paper is twofold: (i) new knowledge of the socio-economic circumstances in farming communities across the Indian IGP to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of R&D interventions and particularly poverty alleviation; and (ii) an illustration of a novel approach to operationalize livelihood analysis at the meso-level so as to address spatial scale issues and link micro-level contextual realities across a vast geographical area. The agricultural R&D community needs to incorporate this socio-economic diversity more proactively into its R&D agenda if it is to succeed in sustaining productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods equitably, and securing environmental sustainability in this important eco-region.     

A systems approach to comparing indigenous and scientific knowledge: consistency and discriminatory power of indigenous and laboratory assessment of the nutritive value of tree fodder

In recent years, the assumption in agricultural R&D that scientific knowledge can and should displace local knowledge and practice has been challenged by an emerging view of local knowledge as a key component of an agricultural system. This paper describes a study of the discriminatory powers of assessment by farmers and by laboratory techniques, of the nutritive value of tree fodder found in the middle hills of Nepal. The two systems of nutritive value assessment for tree fodder are described and evaluated through detailed investigation of eight types of tree fodder (one leguminous and seven non-leguminous), used to supplement crop residue-based diets for cattle during the dry season. Both systems are shown to provide means of discriminating fodder sources in terms of their nutritive value that are comparable in terms of discriminatory power and consistency. This research suggests that laboratory assessment of the feed quality of tropical tree fodder may be used to build on and enhance rather than replace local classification.     

南部非洲的保护性农业

可持续性和可盈利性 保护性农业以实现可持续的和可盈利的农业为目标,实现该目标要通过以下三方面：最小土壤扰动,永久土壤覆盖和作物轮作。这种方法对于不同规模的农田和农业生态系统都有巨大的使用潜力,但是最迫切需要采取这个方法的还是小农户,尤其是那些劳动力严重短缺的农户。这是一个结合可盈利农业生产、环境保护和可持续生产的方法,     

我国农业工程技术发展战略及措施

农业工程技术是实现农业现代化的重要技术手段,加快农业工程技术创新及新技术的研究、开发、推广是我国农业发展的必然要求。分析了我国农业工程技术发展现状,提出了我国农业工程技术的发展战略和政策措旋。     

Learning selection revisited: How can agricultural researchers make a difference?

Ten years ago we developed, and published in this journal, the learning selection model to describe the development and early adoption of researcher-developed agricultural equipment in Southeast Asia. In this paper, we update the innovation histories of the three main technologies upon which the model was based and carry out some mapping and analysis of the post-harvest research networks in three countries. We find that the evolutionary algorithm based on interactive experiential learning remains valid. However, in the case of the most successful technology - the flat-bed dryer in Vietnam - the R&D team did not withdraw once a critical mass of manufacturers and users were familiar with the technology, as the model says should happen, but rather continued to champion the technology. In the process they developed major improvements to the original design, and a new type of dryer. They achieved far greater impact than any other team. They were successful largely because they were able to work with the same networks of partners, in the same innovation trajectory, for 25 years. We find evidence of institutional support in working in this way. Their role was to make the major modifications while local users, manufacturers and promoters made local adaptations and ‘bug fixes’. This way of working is similar to that of plant breeders working for the public sector and by many researchers in the private sector. However, current trends in international research towards ‘projectization’ on one hand, and the requirement to produce international public goods (IPGs) on the other means that researchers do not stay working for long enough with the same partners because funding keeps changing, nor do they work locally enough because of the expectation that they should generate new IPGs from scratch every one or two project cycles.     

An entropy approach to spatial disaggregation of agricultural production

While agricultural production statistics are reported on a geopolitical – often national – basis we often need to know the status of production or productivity within specific sub-regions, watersheds, or agroecological zones. Such re-aggregations are typically made using expert judgments or simple area-weighting rules. We describe a new, entropy-based approach to making spatially disaggregated assessments of the distribution of crop production. Using this approach, tabular crop production statistics are blended judiciously with an array of other secondary data to assess the production of specific crops within individual ‘pixels’ – typically 25–100 square kilometers in size. The information utilized includes crop production statistics, farming system characteristics, satellite-derived land cover data, biophysical crop suitability assessments, and population density. An application is presented in which Brazilian state level production statistics are used to generate pixel level crop production data for eight crops. To validate the spatial allocation we aggregated the pixel estimates to obtain synthetic estimates of municipality level production in Brazil, and compared those estimates with actual municipality statistics. The approach produced extremely promising results. We then examined the robustness of these results compared to short-cut approaches to allocating crop production statistics and showed that, while computationally intensive, the cross-entropy method does provide more reliable estimates of crop production patterns.     

冬枣果实特性及机械化采摘现状研究

冬枣采摘是用工量最大、用工时间最密集的作业,实现冬枣机械化采摘是冬枣种植业的一大难题。通过梳理冬枣果实特性、脱落方式及规律等信息,阐述现有相关采摘机械研究包括工作原理、作业特点、存在缺陷等方面,对比分析干果红枣采收与冬枣采收。可以发现：振动式采摘是大规模生产中应用最广泛的方式,实现高效收获,但存在收集难度大、果实损伤率高等限制;半自动辅助采摘设备每次只对单个果实作业,效率提升有限;采摘机器人的研究尚在起步阶段,存在果实识别环境影响大、执行器执行不到位、效率低等难题。最后,提出冬枣采摘机械研发与冬枣种植管理相结合、冬枣采摘机械智能化、自主研发与国外技术相互借鉴是未来的研发方向。     

晋城市农业经济增长影响因素实证分析——以阳城县为例

自十九大提出实施乡村振兴战略以来,晋城市出台和践行了一系列政策,并在促进农业经济增长方面取得一定成就。但在此过程中,又出现了农业经济未能实现持续稳定增长和增长动力不足等问题。为解决上述问题,促进晋城市农业增产增收,利用《2010—2019年阳城县统计年鉴》中记录的农业增加值、有效灌溉面积、化肥施用量、农用薄膜使用量和农药使用量这五个指标数据,采用多元线性回归分析法对晋城市农业经济增长的影响因素进行实证分析。研究结果表明：有效灌溉面积、农用薄膜使用量和农药使用量均可促进晋城市农业经济的增长,其中,农用薄膜使用量影响最大,农药使用量和有效灌溉面积次之。基于上述的研究结论,认为重视农业科技的推广与应用、大力培养专业的农业科技研发人员、增加财政支农支出和坚持农业绿色发展对于促进晋城市农业经济增长是十分重要的。     

The management of publicly-funded agricultural research and development in the UK: Questions of autonomy and accountability

The increasing costs of publicly-funded research and development in agriculture are giving rise to increasing pressures for accountability and to demands for an explicit science policy. The problem of reconciling these demands with the needs of a productive and vigorous scientific community is addressed through an analysis of the underlying concepts.The fundamental unpredictability of research, the importance of variety and autonomy for scientific progress and the dangers of defining research programmers based on social need rather than problem solubility are first discussed. This is followed by an examination of the ways in which R&D resources may be matched to requests for funding. Specifically, the limitations of cost-benefit analysis and of the current procedures for commissioning research are looked at. It is concluded that instead of trying to link funds to research proposals as at present, it would be better if funds were allocated on the basis of the past research results. Such a system would entail the development of agreed measures of performance, but it promises to be more effective, more objective and less bureaucratic than current procedures. Finally, centralised approaches to research management are shown to negate accountability and it is contended that more meaningful accountability is achieved by combining as much autonomy as possible with a system of monitoring research performance.     

Differential use and benefits of Velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) and N fertilizers in maize production in contrasting agro-ecological zones of E. Uganda

Research was conducted in eastern Uganda on a transect from Mt. Elgon (high altitude) to the low-altitude zones. The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of Velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) and inorganic N fertilizer in improving maize production in contrasting agro-ecological zones over two seasons. The high and medium altitude zones are high-potential agricultural areas, with much more reliable rainfall and the opposite is true for the low-altitude zone. Each zone comprised soils of contrasting productivity levels.     

河北省农业科技试验区发展思考与探讨

农业科技试验区以注重科技落地和解决生产难题为核心,发挥引领示范作用,促进农业经济持续增长。本文梳理河北省农业科技实验区发展历程和现状基础上,研究其对农业经济发展推动作用。但近年来发展缓慢和地位下降,分析其原因发现存在以下三种问题：对试验区的认识存在偏差、试验区工作力度减弱、试验区立项难。针对以上问题提出恢复农业科技试验区项目支持、注重农业科技试验区科技人才队伍培养、加强试验区科技工作指导的对策建议。     

基于两维图论聚类法的东北地区土地利用分区研究

土地利用分区是土地利用总体规划的基础和关键内容,对于确定区域未来土地利用方向、制定土地利用结构与空间布局调整策略,实现区域土地差异化管理与可持续利用具有重要意义。本文通过构建表征粮食主产区土地利用"本底-现状-潜力"三维状态的指标体系,运用两维图论聚类法对东北地区184个县级行政单元进行土地利用分区研究,并提出差异化的土地利用调控措施。结果表明:土地利用"本底-现状-潜力"三维评价指标体系可以清晰地反映土地利用的自然本底条件、开发现状和未来发展潜力特征;两维图论聚类法和GIS定性分析法相结合得到的东北地区土地利用分区结果具有较好的空间连续性和区划完整性;将东北地区划分为城市综合发展区(3个)、土地利用区(2个农牧、1个农林和1个农林牧)和林农生态区(5个),针对不同类型区采取不同的土地利用指标调控措施。     

农业元宇宙：关键技术、应用情景、挑战与展望

元宇宙这一新兴概念受到了产、学、研各界的广泛关注。农业与元宇宙的结合将极大地推动农业信息化和智能化发展,为农业智能化转型升级提供新动能。为深入分析元宇宙在农业领域的应用研究可行性,本文首先分析了农业元宇宙的概念,以及区块链、非同质化代币、5G/6G、人工智能、物联网、三维重建、云计算、边缘计算和扩展现实等元宇宙农业应用的关键技术。接着讨论了元宇宙在虚拟农场、农业教学系统和农产品追溯系统三个农业应用领域的主要情景,最后总结了农业元宇宙面临的系统建立、通信基础、硬件设备和运营等方面的主要挑战,并展望了未来的发展方向。本文可为元宇宙在农业的应用研究提供指导。     

新起点农机装备再出发

我国农机装备从零起步,不断发展,特别是"十五"以来快速壮大,产业规模和能力不断提升,研发体系基本形成,产品不断优化升级,科技创新能力不断提升,农机装备正向着"从有到全"的方向不断迈进.通过对"十五"以来20年农机装备发展的回顾,围绕我国制造强国、乡村振兴、农业农村现代化等重大战略,以实现第一个百年奋斗目标为新起点,对农...     

元宇宙环境下玉米免耕播种机作业机组仿真与试验

针对玉米免耕播种机研发周期长和研发成本高等问题,本文将元宇宙技术应用于玉米免耕播种机作业机组的仿真试验。基于元宇宙系统架构构建仿真平台,在元宇宙环境下,采用标线法和转换法对虚拟农场中场景进行高度还原,构建沉浸式玉米免耕播种机驾驶平台并进行交互性能测试,验证沉浸式玉米免耕播种机驾驶平台交互性能。在此基础上,在不同行驶速度下进行播种性能仿真试验,当玉米免耕播种作业机组前进速度不断增大时,播种质量整体呈下降趋势,趋势接近实际田间试验结果,株距合格率大于88.52%、重播率小于6.97%、漏播率小于4.51%。试验结果表明,本文设计实现的元宇宙虚拟播种仿真平台能够用于玉米播种试验,对降低玉米免耕播种机研发成本、缩短玉米免耕播种机研发周期具有重要意义。     

虚拟样机技术在水泵设计中的应用

将虚拟样机技术应用于水泵产品的开发,支持产品开发与生产过程的数字化、并行化和集成化。实践表明,显著地提高了水泵的开发效率和设计质量。     

How does research address the design of innovative agricultural production systems at the farm level? A review

In trying to respond to societal demands for sustainable development, farming systems worldwide face a range of environmental, technical and economic challenges. These challenges call for renewed methodologies that can be used to support farmers in designing innovative agricultural production systems at the farm level. This paper aims to analyze the various methods described in scientific literature. The review is based on the analysis of 80 reference papers published in international scientific journals between 1999 and 2010. We focused in particular on the purpose of the research, which fell into two broad categories: “design” and “design support”. We also examined the use of models to represent production systems and to evaluate ex-ante the impact of innovations on these systems’ functioning and performance. In so doing, we developed a classification system to organize the studies into five sub-categories according to the type of methodology followed, namely: prototyping and design modelling for design orientated studies; participation, support modelling and advisory for design-support orientated studies. We found that very few studies attempt to address the three main components of an innovation process in agricultural production systems (biotechnical processes, farm management, and advisory services) within a single research framework. We therefore developed such a framework by connecting the design and design support orientations together with biotechnical research and conducting integrated research both at farm and advisory service levels.     

Energy usage in British agriculture—A review of future prospects

The sudden increase in the price of oil in 1973/1974 drew attention to the fact that energy resources are not inexhaustible. Since then fossil fuel consumption has risen and is currently close to the 1973 peak level. While agriculture has become technologically more efficient, it has become less efficient in its use of energy during the last few decades.Agricultural production up to the farm gate utilises less than 4% of national power energy consumption while it provides over 55% of the nation's unprocessed food. However, when the total food processing part of this cycle is taken into account nearly 16% of total national energy consumption is used in the overall production and preparation of food. When the biological and industrial energetics are considered, it is apparent that intensive agricultural production has both a low biological efficiency and a comparatively high usage of energy, apart from ruminant meat production under natural grazing conditions. What is needed is a planned use of resources coupled with a reduction in energy inputs without significantly depressing the high current levels of agricultural productivity.The possibility of achieving this objective is discussed. Reference is made to an earlier review by the same authors in which three potentially different sources of energy—straw, livestock wastes for use as fertilisers and livestock wastes for the production of methane—were examined. This paper discusses in detail glasshouse heating, power station waste heat utilisation and the possible exploitation of wind power.The paper concludes that the future for energy usage in agriculture is full of interesting possibilities requiring continuing R&D inputs. Nevertheless, investment in new energy forms must come from government sources, because of the high capital costs and attendant risks.     

基于3D艺术打印技术的播种机零部件设计与研究

随着农机市场的不断壮大,农机的性能和外形的美观性逐渐受到客户的青睐,农机在外形的艺术设计上即可以满足客户的审美需求,又可以在一定程度上缓解农机使用者的疲劳感,对于农机的总体性能的发挥占据了越来越重要的地位。为此,将3D艺术打印技术引入到播种机的零部件外形设计中,并以前盖板的艺术造型设计为例,采用CATIA软件设计了前盖板的三维模型,并将模型文件格式转换成了支持3D打印的格式,最后利用3 D打印机打印了前盖板的艺术造型。由打印效果可以看出:使用3 D艺术打印不仅可以满足播种机前盖板流线型曲面等动感的艺术设计,还可以调制出各种模型颜色,丰富了播种机外形艺术设计的视觉冲击效果,对于播种机外形设计方法的革新具有重要的实践意义。     

齿轮泵CAD的发展趋势

综述了齿轮泵CAD的研究现状;通过现今流行的三维设计平台和齿轮泵三维研究的介绍,认为面向工程师的齿轮泵三维CAD的开发模式,是齿轮泵企业切实可行的自主开发道路,是齿轮泵CAD发展的必由之路和发展方向。