agriculture modeling News
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EU launches new computer model for policy changes on agriculture
Researchers from 15 European countries have come together to build a computer model that can evaluate the effects of policy changes on agriculture. This new model allows policy makers to investigate the likely effects of policy change on agriculture. Importantly, the model will allow the effects of policy to be examined at all scales, from farming in a single region to the whole European and ...
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CSIRO aiming to lead the world in agricultural modelling
The joint venture has been formed to further develop the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) – a computer simulation model which takes into account many of the factors affecting a farm’s success, including different plant, soil and management approaches, to inform on-farm management decisions. APSIM has a broad range of applications including: farming systems design, assessment of ...
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European Commission activates exceptional measures to further support European farmers in crisis
"This is a package of measures which can have a material and positive impact on European agricultural markets and it should now be given the chance to succeed." The European Commission is announcing today an additional package of exceptional measures using all the tools made available in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support EU farmers while safeguarding the EU internal market. The ...
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Food security may be increased by new agricultural production modeling
Farmers are used to optimizing crop production on their own lands. They do soil tests to choose the right amount of fertilizers to apply, and they sometimes plant row crops on some fields while keeping others in pasture. But is it possible to optimize production across a much bigger area—say, the whole East Coast of the United States? That’s the question a team of USDA-ARS scientists ...
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Calls grow for action on stalled Amazon reserve proposals
WWF and 33 other NGOs delivered a letter on Tuesday to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asking him to take decisive action to create new protected areas in the Amazon and Para regions. The letter followed a meeting earlier this month between top government officials and 12 forest residents – also known as extractivists -- whose lives depend on local natural resources in those ...
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Statistical analysis can estimate crop performance
Scientists at Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, in collaboration with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Syria have developed a method of accounting for spatial trend in single crop field trials. Spatial trend refers to the variations in crop yield and other characteristics observed when repeating this single crop field trial. Usually plant breeders ...
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Early cotton planting requires irrigation
Cotton growers can produce more cotton if they plant early, but not without irrigation. That’s the finding of an article published in the September-October 2010 Agronomy Journal, a publication of the American Society of Agronomy. Bill Pettigrew, a scientist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Stoneville, Mississippi, tested the performance of cotton under irrigated and ...
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Economics Professor Named Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Director
AMES, Iowa — Cathy Kling has been named the new director of Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). Kling, a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a professor of economics, has served as interim director of the center for almost two years. She has served as head of CARD’s Environmental and Resource ...
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Comparing soybean production methods
In the Mid-South, twin-row soybean production is becoming a popular growing technique for soybean producers. An estimated 80% of the total hectares grown in the Mississippi Delta are planted in this configuration. While growers report this method increases seed yields, especially when used with specific cultivars planted in April or early May, there is no research data to support their claims. ...
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CAP post 2013 - last call for sustainability?
On September 23rd an informal Agriculture Council meeting will be held in Annecy, dedicated to the future of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013. BirdLife International, EEB and Pesticide Action Network warned Ministers that the issue of food and energy security - and prices - can only be addressed effectively through a new model of agriculture that emits less greenhouse gases, ...
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Winter Cereals Sustainability in Action Gives Winter Wheat a Boost With a $475,000 Investment in Science
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and Bayer CropScience announced today an additional $475,000 investment in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) winter wheat research program based at the AAFC Lethbridge Research Centre. The funds will be used to purchase equipment required to increase the program's capacity for molecular marker screening. The new equipment should significantly speed up the ...
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Climate change could impact livestock production
Land used for livestock grazing; referred to range land in the western U.S. and pasture land in the eastern half of the country, encompasses over 584 million acres of non-Federal land and represents a very complex ecosystem. While the intensity of the management of these lands differs from parcel to parcel, there is no doubt they all play a vital role in livestock production. However, little ...
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Iron deficiency in soil threatens soybean production
An expansion of soybean production into areas where soybean has seldom, if ever, been grown can be problematic for some farmers. Soils having high pH values and large amounts of calcium and/or magnesium carbonate are notoriously iron deficient. Iron deficient soils in the North Central United States are estimated to reduce soy bean production by 12.5 million bushels every year. John Wiersma, a ...
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Increasing potato production
Despite sophisticated nutrient management of potato crops, quality and yield still see wide variability. Although nutrients are already well understood, the influence of other environmental factors remains understudied. A research team from Michigan State University conducted a study to determine how the chemical and physical properties of soil, along with the light waves the plant absorbs and ...
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Corn silage hybrids and seeding rates
Recent studies report that corn hybrids released in the late 2000s, especially Bt hybrids, require higher seeding rates than commercial hybrids released in the 1990s to reach maximum yields. Expectedly, corn seeding rates in the USA have increased significantly in the past 10 years. However, limited data is available on silage yield and quality responses of recently released hybrids to seeding ...
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Less is more in Soybean row widths
Soybean production has continued to increase in the Northeast United States with more and more first time growers planting the crop and many experienced growers planting alongside corn crops. To save on time and expenses, some farmers plant soybeans with a corn planter in 30-inch rows instead of 7.5-inch rows with the regularly used grain drill. Dr. William Cox, a Cornell University scientist, ...
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Can one-time tillage improve no-till?
A one-time tillage has no adverse effects on yield or soil properties on no-till land, according to field research conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Although tillage is another expense for farmers and generally increases the risk of soil erosion, a one-time tillage may be performed to correct some problem, such as a perennial weed problem. The feasibility study was conducted for ...
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Understanding land use change and US ethanol expansion
Understanding changes in land use—such as deforestation, urbanization and agriculture expansion—is important if society is to properly address the challenges of climate change, utilization of natural resources, and energy production and consumption. However, the intensifying debate over potential indirect land use changes resulting from biofuels expansion is nebulous at best. At worst, it is ...
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Organic farming profitable long-term
Organic farming is known to be environmentally sustainable, but can it be economically sustainable, as well? The answer is yes, according to new research in the Sept.-Oct. issue of the Agronomy Journal. In an analysis of 18 years of crop yield and farm management data from a long-term University of Minnesota trial, an organic crop rotation was consistently more profitable and carried less risk ...
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Fertiliser can offset heat for African farmers
[NAIROBI] African smallholders in dry areas can overcome climate change and even double crop yields if they invest in fertiliser use and harvest rainwater, researchers have found. Farmers in arid and semi-arid areas usually protect themselves from climate-related losses by investing as little as possible in farm inputs such as fertilisers. But in doing so they fail to grab opportunities for ...
By SciDev.Net
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