Academic literature on the topic 'Agro-system'

Mestrado em Engenharia do Ambiente - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL<br>The present dissertation aims at understanding how the future climate change scenarios may affect the production of grassland biomass in the montado agro-sylvo-pastoral system, by studying the effects of precipitation, aridity and topography (slope) in both the field, in different sites along a climatic gradient in Alentejo, and in greenhouse trials, using the seedbank collected at those sites. The impact of these three factors was studied independently, in order to understand the importance of each of them for biomass productivity and, consequently, determine the main driving factors. The results showed a stronger effect of precipitation during the growing season on biomass productivity, in both field and greenhouse trials, thus highlighting this factor, among the three studied, as the major driver of biomass response and consequently of future changes in the landscape of montado agro-sylvo-pastoral system in Alentejo. The comparison of field and greenhouse trial was also intended to study the seedbank ability to retain information regarding the past climate history of its site of origin – ‘memory’. Results showed that in greenhouse, regardless of the locations from where the soil samples were taken, the seed bank responded similarly in terms of biomass production, vegetation cover, species richness and flowering onset when subjected to similar favorable conditions in the greenhouse – regular and abundant watering.<br>N/A

The farming industry and the agro-food system as a whole are now required to adapt to a challenging and more competitive environment. How the food industry can fit itself into such environment is the main question that is addressed in this study. The fitness approach, an exploratory framework, is applied in order to study the Cacao Agro-food System (CAPS) in Tabasco. Mexico. The final sample consisted of 356 farmers, 37 curing plants, 6 wholesaling firms, and 7 chocolate firms. An anatomical model using correspondence analysis was adopted to understand the main features of every industry in the CAPS. The Pitness Appraisal Instrument (FAI) was constructed and applied to determine the relationships between factors and aspects of organisational configuration with 5 key performance indicators of the CAPS farming industry. The anatomy of CAPS revealed that it is based on raw and bulk products, has a potential to diversify vertically and horizontally, and has a dual structure private and union related -which is not appropriate to deal with issues such as free market pressures or lethal fungal diseases. Results of the PAI analysis revealed that both the factors and the aspects of organisational configuration are significantly related to performance indicators. Indeed, 14 of the 20 productivity management elements are significantly related to performance indicators. Moreover, the results show that a set of fittest solutions, rather than a unique solution, exists among farmers. Visualisation of the productivity management elements reveals that participation of organic cacao, education levels, and price setting exert the strongest influence on productivity indicators. The key implication of this study is that both efficiency and effectiveness are the two valid strategies that enable the farming industry to cope with the challenging and competitive environment. The Policy makers should be aware of a set of solutions (fitness landscape) instead of just focusing on individual (often narrow) solution.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:31:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 luchesi_d_me_botfca.pdf: 1478619 bytes, checksum: fe1ce4874b37fec4f5c704c741316db9 (MD5)<br>A agroinformática, termo criado para referenciar a informática aplicada à agricultura, vem ganhando espaço e se organizando nesse novo processo de modernização da agricultura na tentativa de contribuir tanto no aumento da produtividade quanto da qualidade. A informática no ambiente agrícola se encontra presente em diversas propriedades rurais, tanto na área administrativa como na área de gestão proporcionando coordenação nas atividades, uma maior agilidade no fluxo de informações e redução de erros nas operações internas. Em função da crescente presença da informática na agricultura e da utilização de dispositivos de aquisição automática de dados no campo, a presente pesquisa apresenta o desenvolvimento de um programa computacional, Ener Sys, desenvolvido com o objetivo de transformar dados meteorológicos no setor de agroenergia. A partir de um dispositivo automático de aquisição de dados (Campbell Scientific modelo CR23X), desenvolveu-se um sistema computacional para melhor classificar e visualizar os dados de uma forma rápida e simples para o profissional envolvido com as alterações meteorológicas da área sob estudo. O sistema proposto utilizou as seguintes tecnologias computacionais: a linguagem de programação Personal Home Page Hypertext Preprocessor e o banco de dados Firebird. Os resultados obtidos ao término da pesquisa apontam que a abordagem deste trabalho facilitou o acesso a informações armazenadas em grandes massas de dados. O 2 programa computacional desenvolvido, reuniu em uma base unificada, os dados coletados através de um sistema eletrônico de aquisição de dados e facilitou o processamento dos dados proporcionando ganhos na visualização das informações como temperatura (oC), umidade (%), velocidade do vento (m.s-2), direção do vento (graus), chuva (mm) e irradiância (horizontal e vertical).<br>The agro-informatics, term used as reference to the informatics applied to the agriculture, it has been gaining space and getting organized on this new process of agriculture modernization to try to contribute both to the productivity increase and quality. The informatics at the agricultural environment can be found in many rural properties both in the administrative area and management area, providing coordination in the activities, a better agility with the information flow and error cutback in the internal operations. Due to the growing presence of the informatics in the agriculture and the use of automatic data acquisition devices in the field, this study presents a computer program, Ener Sys, developed with the purpose of transform meteorological data in the agro sector. From an automatic device of data acquisition (Campbell Scientific model CR23X) it was developed a computer system to better classify and visualize the data on a fast and simple way to the professional involved with the study of meteorological variations in this area. The suggested system used the following computer technologies: the Personal Home Page Hypertext Preprocessor programming language and the database Firebird. The results obtained at the end of the research show that the approach of this study made easier the access to the information stored in large amounts of data. The computer program developed, put together in one base, the data collected through an electronic system of data acquisition and made easy the data processing providing a gain on the visualization of information such as temperature (oC), humidity (%), wind speed (m.s-2), wind direction (degrees), rain (mm) and irradiance (horizontal and vertical).

Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T14:48:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luci Nychai.pdf: 733855 bytes, checksum: e3ff3acb90175b9f4c43fe2c307338fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-01-25<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior<br>This trial aimed on featuring small agro-industrialization from Guarapuava-PR, when familiar rural farms were inserted and highlighted some survival aspects at the market as a sustainable factor. It was taking into account the agroindustries survey, regarding feeding and non-feeding systems, which are part of secondary economical branch, as well as the small (1 to 50 hectares), rural and familiar farm profile, also integrated to cooperativeness. As a consequence, it was used a sample of 218 farms linked to Cooperative of Micro and Small Producers from Guarapuava and a confidential statistical level of 95% so, there was a 5 % of error. The insertion of agro-industrial units from The Program Farmer Factory was also considered. At the secondary sector, there are 70.83 % of enterprising units that belong to the non-feeding agro-industrial system and 29.17 % are from agro-feeding system, but 26.18 % of them have there production guided to agro-industrialization. The forest raw material is used in 64.59 % of agro-industries while 35.14 % of farming industries use it. Observing the familiar rural farms studied, it was possible to record that 26.60 % of them applied some king of agro-industrialization, formal or rudimental. Regarding, the Program Farmer Factory from 1999 to 2004, it was recorded 38 units, of them 2.63% in implantation and adjustment; 7.89 % in studied of economical viability; 7.89 % inactive; 10.53 % definitely closed and 71.05 % in activity. These results drive through a great challenge, which is the insertion of small familiar rural farm at the sustained agro-industrialization process, mainly because of the economical-financial aspect. The biggest difficulties were the absence technology; technical ability; competitiveness; strategic administration; quality and safety of products, but the most important was trading. Agro-industries enterprises by themselves do not show profitable results. The agricultureindustrialization development of small size, concerning the family rural farm, depends on the pattern set up by of formatted and strategic alliances through partnerships revealing a systemic pattern, as well as the necessity of working with several products due to the absence of scale production.<br>Caracterizou-se o modelo de agroindustrialização de pequeno porte do município de Guarapuava-PR, ao ser evidenciada a inserção da propriedade rural familiar e ressaltados os aspectos de sobrevivência no mercado como fator de sustentabilidade. Considerou-se o levantamento das agroindústrias dos sistemas alimentar e não alimentar que compõem o setor econômico secundário, bem como o perfil da pequena propriedade rural familiar, de 1 a 50 hectares, integrada ao cooperativismo. Para tanto, utilizou-se uma amostra de 218 estabelecimentos vinculados à Cooperativa de Micros e Pequenos Produtores de Guarapuava, com nível de confiabilidade estatística de 95 % e erro de 5 %. Também, considerou-se a inserção das unidades agroindustriais do Programa Fábrica do Agricultor. No cenário do setor secundário, 70,83 % das unidades empresariais pertencem ao sistema agroindustrial não alimentar e 29,17 % ao sistema agroalimentar, sendo que 26,18 % das unidades têm sua atividade produtiva voltada para agroindustrialização. A matéria-prima oriunda da floresta é utilizada em 64,59 % das agroindústrias e da agropecuária em 35,14%.Das propriedades rurais familiares investigadas, 26,60 % apresentaram algum tipo agroindustrialização formal ou artesanal. Quanto à inserção ao Programa Fábrica do Agricultor, no período de 1999 a 2004, levantou-se um total de 38 unidades, sendo 2,63 % em processo de implantação e adaptação, 7,89 % em estudo de viabilidade econômica, 7,89 % inativas, 10,53 % fechadas e 71,05 % em operação. Os resultados remetem ao grande desafio que é a inserção do pequeno estabelecimento rural familiar no processo de agroindustrialização sustentado, essencialmente quanto ao aspecto econômico-financeiro. As principais dificuldades referem-se à tecnologia, capacitação, competitividade, gestão estratégica, qualidade e segurança dos produtos e, principalmente à comercialização. As empresas agroalimentares, isoladamente, não exemplificam resultados lucrativos. O desenvolvimento da agroindustrialização de pequeno porte, voltado à propriedade rural familiar, está condicionado ao modelo de alianças estratégias formatadas por meio de parcerias as quais configuram o modelo sistêmico, além da necessidade de se trabalhar com produtos diferenciados em contraponto à ausência da escala de produção.

Orientador: Saulo Philipe Sebastião Guerra<br>Banca: Odivaldo José Seraphim<br>Banca: Carlos Roberto Pereira Padovani<br>Resumo: A agroinformática, termo criado para referenciar a informática aplicada à agricultura, vem ganhando espaço e se organizando nesse novo processo de modernização da agricultura na tentativa de contribuir tanto no aumento da produtividade quanto da qualidade. A informática no ambiente agrícola se encontra presente em diversas propriedades rurais, tanto na área administrativa como na área de gestão proporcionando coordenação nas atividades, uma maior agilidade no fluxo de informações e redução de erros nas operações internas. Em função da crescente presença da informática na agricultura e da utilização de dispositivos de aquisição automática de dados no campo, a presente pesquisa apresenta o desenvolvimento de um programa computacional, Ener Sys, desenvolvido com o objetivo de transformar dados meteorológicos no setor de agroenergia. A partir de um dispositivo automático de aquisição de dados (Campbell Scientific modelo CR23X), desenvolveu-se um sistema computacional para melhor classificar e visualizar os dados de uma forma rápida e simples para o profissional envolvido com as alterações meteorológicas da área sob estudo. O sistema proposto utilizou as seguintes tecnologias computacionais: a linguagem de programação Personal Home Page Hypertext Preprocessor e o banco de dados Firebird. Os resultados obtidos ao término da pesquisa apontam que a abordagem deste trabalho facilitou o acesso a informações armazenadas em grandes massas de dados. O 2 programa computacional desenvolvido, reuniu em uma base unificada, os dados coletados através de um sistema eletrônico de aquisição de dados e facilitou o processamento dos dados proporcionando ganhos na visualização das informações como temperatura (oC), umidade (%), velocidade do vento (m.s-2), direção do vento (graus), chuva (mm) e irradiância (horizontal e vertical).<br>Abstract: The agro-informatics, term used as reference to the informatics applied to the agriculture, it has been gaining space and getting organized on this new process of agriculture modernization to try to contribute both to the productivity increase and quality. The informatics at the agricultural environment can be found in many rural properties both in the administrative area and management area, providing coordination in the activities, a better agility with the information flow and error cutback in the internal operations. Due to the growing presence of the informatics in the agriculture and the use of automatic data acquisition devices in the field, this study presents a computer program, Ener Sys, developed with the purpose of transform meteorological data in the agro sector. From an automatic device of data acquisition (Campbell Scientific model CR23X) it was developed a computer system to better classify and visualize the data on a fast and simple way to the professional involved with the study of meteorological variations in this area. The suggested system used the following computer technologies: the Personal Home Page Hypertext Preprocessor programming language and the database Firebird. The results obtained at the end of the research show that the approach of this study made easier the access to the information stored in large amounts of data. The computer program developed, put together in one base, the data collected through an electronic system of data acquisition and made easy the data processing providing a gain on the visualization of information such as temperature (oC), humidity (%), wind speed (m.s-2), wind direction (degrees), rain (mm) and irradiance (horizontal and vertical).<br>Mestre

Fornendo energia e nutrienti, la produzione di cibo è essenziale per la vita. Tuttavia, essa rappresenta anche una criticità ambientale. La popolazione mondiale in rapida crescita, infatti, ha bisogno di un quantitativo di cibo sempre maggiore, una delle principali cause di degrado ambientale a livello globale. Il sistema agricolo è fondato su una rete di relazioni complesse che collegano la produzione agricola, funzioni e condizioni ambientali. Una produzione agricola meno impattante è, quindi, fondamentale per non compromettere la possibilità per la future generazioni di avere accesso a un quantitativo adeguato di risorse. La metodologia LCA (life cycle assessment) ha un ruolo centrale nella valutazione di sostenibilità. Analizzando l’intero ciclo di vita di un prodotto o servizio, infatti, permette di tenere in considerazione eventuali trasferimenti di impatti tra comparti ambientali o fai della filiera. Il principale obiettivo della presente tesi è contribuire al dibattito in corso riguardo all’armonizzazione degli approcci nell’applicazione della metodologia LCA a prodotti agro-alimentari per favorirne l’affidabilità e l’efficacia.<br>Providing energy and nutrients, food production is essential for life. However it represents also an important environmental concern. Indeed, the rapidly growing world population is requiring an increased food production which is one of the greatest causes of environmental degradation throughout the world. The agricultural system is based on complex relations that link agricultural productivity, environmental functions and environmental conditions. Therefore, moving towards less polluting production systems is of the utmost importance to satisfy the current demand for food without compromising the possibility for future generations to have access to a proper amount of food of adequate quality. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is at the core of sustainability assessment. Indeed, considering the entire life cycle of a product or service, it allows to account for potential shifts of environmental impacts between environmental compartments or stages of the food supply chain. The overall aim of the present thesis is to contribute to the ongoing debate on the harmonisation of the approaches to carry out a LCA referred to agro-food products in order to foster its reliability and effectiveness.

Le changement climatique et la variabilité ont des répercussions graves dans le secteur agricole des régions tropicales. Le secteur du café est sensible au changement climatique car il nécessite une température relativement froide et une plus grande durée des pluies. L'adaptation au changement climatique dans l'agroforesterie du café est donc importante pour traiter les impacts, mais il existe des obstacles et des limites. Le but de cette thèse était d'analyser les stratégies d'adaptation au changement climatique au centre du Kenya. Nous avons étudié différentes étapes de l'adaptation qui incluent (1) les connaissances sur le changement climatique et l'adaptation, la motivation à l'adaptation, (2) le choix actuel des stratégies d'adaptation et leurs déterminants, (3) les rôles du système d'innovation et du contexte institutionnel. Cette étude repose sur quatre sources d'information: - (1) groupes de discussion sur des questionnaires pré-définis, (2) enquêtes auprès des ménages, (3) entrevues auprès des intervenants et (4) données climatiques historiques sur le contexte de quatre types de systèmes de productions dans l’agriculture : les cultures vivrières, le café spécialisé, les systèmes diversifiés café-laiterie et les systèmes laitiers spécialisés, dans les zones caféières et vivrières. L'analyse des tendances de Mann-Kendal et l'estimateur de la pente de Sen ont été utilisées pour comparer les connaissances des agriculteurs sur les changements climatiques et l’historique des données climatiques, tandis que le modèle de Heckman a été utilisé pour analyser les stratégies d'adaptation et leurs déterminants. Les résultats soulignent des cohérences entre les connaissances des agriculteurs et l'analyse historique des données pour la température mais des incohérences avec le changement des précipitations. L'analyse de la perception par les agriculteurs révèle que les précipitations diminuent radicalement au fil du temps, alors qu'aucun élément de preuve concernant les précipitations ne permet d'appuyer la perception des agriculteurs. L'incohérence est donc corroborée par l'analyse des modèles. Les agriculteurs du secteur du café et des cultures vivrières se sont adaptés différemment aux changements climatiques. Les agriculteurs qui sont conscients des changements sont plus disposés à explorer les stratégies d'adaptation. Une partie des agriculteurs qui ne perçoivent pas le changement climatique adoptent des stratégies d’adaptation à des facteurs autres. L'adaptation au changement climatique est également déterminée par la performance institutionnelle et les différences de systèmes sectoriels d'innovation. La comparaison entre les secteurs du café et des produits laitiers révèle ainsi que les stratégies des acteurs du café sont limitées. En ce qui concerne l’élaboration des politiques, cette thèse contribue aux politiques d’accompagnement de l’adaptation au niveau des ménages, aux politiques de recherche agronomique et de négociation des accords internationaux. Les recommandations politiques au niveau des ménages se différentient selon trois scénarios. En premier lieu de l’intensification dans le café par l’innovation technologique. Les deux autres options politiques sont dans la diversification sectorielle dans la production laitière qui dépend de leur niveau de rentabilité. Les résultats de cette étude sont issus d’enquêtes sur l’analyse des systèmes d’innovation. D’autres options politiques sont proposées dans le développement de nouvelles infrastructures, des subventions pour accroitre les potentiels d’adaptation. Nous recommandons enfin de nouveaux sujets de recherche pour le futur<br>Climate change and variability is the most widespread anthropogenic challenge affecting agricultural production and productivity particularly in the tropics. Coffee sector is sensitive to climate change as it requires relatively cold temperature and higher rainfall duration. Adaptation to climate change in the coffee agroforestry is, therefore, important to address the impacts, but there are barriers, and limits. The aim of this Thesis was to analyze the adaptation strategies to climate change in Central Kenya. We studied the steps in adaptation, which includes (1) the knowledge on climate change and adaptation, the motivation towards adaptation, (2) current choices of households’ adaptation strategies, and their determinants, (3) the roles of innovation system and institutional context to support adaptation. This study was based on four sources of information: - (1) Focus Group Discussions to predefine the questionnaires, (2) household surveys, (3) stakeholders interview, and, (4) historical climate data. The data collection considered four farming typologies; - food crops, specialized coffee, diversified coffee-dairy and specialized dairy farming systems in the coffee and food crops zones. Mann-Kendal trend analysis and Sen’s slope estimator were used to compare the farmers’ knowledge of climate change with the historical climate data, while Heckman model was used to analyze adaptation strategies and their determinants. The findings explore consistent results between farmers’ knowledge and historical data analysis for temperature, while inconsistency is observed in rainfall change. Analysis of farmers’ perception revealed rainfall is radically declining over time, while no evidence in rainfall record is found to support the farmers’ perception. The inconsistency is therefore, substantiated with analysis of patterns. Coffee and food crop farmers are found to adapt to climate change differently. Farmers who are aware of the changes are found more willing to explore adaptation strategies although some of the farmers who do not perceive the climate is changing are also adopting strategies for factors other than perception. The comparison between coffee and dairy sectors found that actors in the coffee are limited, the system is highly centralized with limited options for farmers to process and market their products, while the dairy sector is informally controlled by demand based business and comparatively, numerous actors. We conclude in this study that the patterns in rainfall affects the farming activities of the study area higher than the annual changes. Consequently, farmers adopt a series of adaptation strategies in response to their perception of changes in climate and economic pressure in the farm. This adaptation to climate change also depends on the nature of actors’ interaction and institutional context. In relation to policy development, this Thesis contributes to household level adaptation policies, research policies and international agreements and negotiations. The household level policy recommendations consists of three scenarios. Farmers’ intensification in coffee applying the right technological innovations. The second and third policy options are the diversification to dairy and complete sectoral transformation to dairy depending on the profitability and adaptation level of the sectors. The results in this study are derived from surveys and analysis of innovation systems. Other strategies such as new infrastructural development and institutional subsidies could be potential for adaptation. We therefore, recommend, these could be potential future research topics