Purpose: This article evaluates the dissemination and use of rice training videos by radio stations, farmers, farmer associations and extension services in Benin. It pays attention to positive deviants and process innovation within a "hands-off experiment". Design/methodology/approach: Using questionnaires and checklists we interviewed…

Purpose: Many farmers remain hesitant to implement structured management plans and strategies tailored to address soil health, irrespective of mounting scientific evidence for the credibility of certain soil health indicators, an increase in the reporting of program benefits and progress in communicating these benefits. Hence, the purpose of this…

Partnering with private industry can empower Extension educators to enhance their educational outreach efforts. Since 2011, UF/IFAS has cooperated with the Florida Turfgrass Association in conducting a 1-day statewide Polycom® event for providing continuing education to licensed pesticide applicators employed primarily in the ornamental and…

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are typically Spanish-speaking, Latino immigrants with limited formal education and low literacy skills and, as such, are a vulnerable population. We describe the development of the "Pesticides and Farmworker Health Toolkit", a pesticide safety and health curriculum designed to communicate to farmworkers…

Arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) play a large role in the current understanding of the soil ecosystem. They increase nutrient and water uptake, improve soil structure, and form complex hyphal networks that transfer nutrients between plants within an ecosystem. Factors such as species present, the physiological balance between the plants in the…

Nutrient loss and accumulation as well as associated environmental degradation have been a concern for animal agriculture for many decades. Federal and New York (NY) regulations apply to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and a comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP) is required for regulated farms. The whole farm nutrient mass balance…

Global demand is increasing for food, feed, and fiber; for additional agricultural outputs, such as biofuels; and for ecosystem services, such as clean water and outdoor recreation. In response, new agricultural enterprises are needed that produce more outputs from existing lands while meeting the "triple bottom line" of high performance…

Farmers have traditionally been perceived as having a deep attachment to land and place that contrasts with the mobility of modern society. In this paper, we use this work as a starting point for analysing new forms of attachments among a cohort of Australian farmers who are highly mobile in their business activities. In response, we devise a new…

This paper explores the role of various social ties in building trust and providing opportunities for information acquisition and knowledge exchange (IAKE). Social capital is used as a vehicle to explore the relationships between farmers and their advisors using bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a major disease facing the English cattle industry, as a…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide evidence on the consequences of the privatization process in Brandenburg with a focus on the agricultural advisors' situation. Before the background of future European Union (EU) expectations on Farm Advisory Systems (FAS), their capacities and competences to respond to such challenges are discussed.…

The study measures farm credit risk by using farm records collected by Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) during the period 1995-2004. The study addresses the following questions: (1) whether farm's financial position is fully described by the structure model, (2) what are the determinants of farm capital structure under the structure model, (3)…

Across the United States, today's farm operators face continuing challenges from global competition, increasing production costs, changing technology, increased regulations, scarce resources, and lower profit margins. To face these challenges, farm operators need to gather and utilize information allowing them to make informed decisions. Several…

Purpose: New innovative ways of communicating agrometeorological information are needed to help farmers, especially subsistence/small-scale farmers, to cope with the high climate variability experienced in most parts of southern Africa. Design/methodology/approach: The article introduces an early warning system for farmers. It utilizes short…

The circumstances that characterize poor, rural communities in Malawi suggest that children's health-wealth gradient can vary from other settings. This dissertation begins with a description of the methods used to create a household wealth variable using assets data in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health project. By using a…

Replacing the method of counting inventory from paper count sheets to that of wireless reliably reduced the elapsed time to complete a daily inventory of the storage cooler in a dairy manufacturing plant. The handheld computers delivered immediate prompts as well as auditory and visual feedback. Reducing the time to complete the daily inventory…