<p>The aim with this paper is to study the concept of sustainable agriculture. One angle of approach has also been to investigate the role of NGOs, where the organisation FARM-Africa is mostly studied. A field study in the Babati District is the base of the paper.</p><p>Sustainable agriculture is a concept with various definitions and is expressed in different ways. Ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane are some of the keywords within the concept of sustainable agriculture. Over the years, various technologies within the concept have been developed and have proven to be both environmentally friendly and productive, but few of these have been adopted by farmers. Scientists’ experience of agriculture often differs from that of farmers. To get the best result a collaboration between all parts in the society are needed. Participation has a long history within agriculture development. Recent studies have shown that participation is one way to success. People’s participation has therefore become one of the most common concepts within NGOs and also within government departments. Agriculture is an important issue for Tanzania and this is one reason why I have chosen to write about sustainable agriculture.</p><p>My study will show the general oppinion of sustainable agriculture among the interviewees and the general opinion of NGOs like FARM-Africa.</p>

Significant support for sustainable agriculture practices exists within the land-grant university system nationwide. Despite this fact, many colleges, including the University of Florida, have not evaluated the individual paradigms held by their faculty. An existing Alternative-Conventional Agriculture Paradigm Scale was modified, improved and converted into an electronic instrument that was administered to a random sample of University of Florida Extension Faculty. It is suggested that data collected through this study serves the following purposes: assist the University of Florida’s decision-makers in better understanding the positions held by their Extension agents; allow improvement of educational programming for Extension agents, agricultural professionals, and communities throughout the state; and provide input for improvement of University-wide policy-making and goal-setting. The study consisted of three phases: a) redevelopment and pilot-test of a new ACAP instrument; b) description of University of Florida Extension faculty’s paradigmatic preferences; and c) determination of any existing relationships between personal characteristics and an individual’s paradigm. A pilot study of the new instrument was conducted with participants belonging to known paradigmatic groups who were not part of the final sample. The survey was found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.94 in a pilot test of 26 individuals. The survey was found to discriminate effectively between the two known paradigmatic groups (t=4.091, p= .001), making it a useful tool in quantitatively assessing agricultural preferences. Following the pilot study, survey research was conducted with a random sample of 188 Extension agents. The majority of faculty aligned with agricultural paradigmatic groups labeled Moderates and Sustainables. Very few of this population aligned with a Conventional paradigm. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a preliminary seven-factor solution. Two individual component factors were found to vary based on Extension discipline and gender, which included Size and Scale of Production and Use of Natural Resources, respectively.

In the summer of 2016 I worked at The Moore Street Market Farm run by Oko Farms LLC., New York City’s first and largest outdoor urban aquaponics company. Aquaponics is a method of farming that combines the cultivation of aquatic animals and plants in a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship. While the industry is in its infancy, aquaponics is acknowledged to have great potential to change the future of farming for sustainability, as it uses less water than traditional agriculture and can be implemented almost anywhere. This thesis examines current challenges to the industry and the potential future applications of aquaponics in urban environments, through discussion of current developments in aquaponics in Europe; Growing Power’s use of aquaponics for community benefit in the Milwaukee; as well as in the case-studies of Oko Farms and Agtech aquaponics companies in New York City. While eventually concluding that implementations of aquaponics for profit might not be viable in the long run, this thesis ends with a short discussion on hypothetical successful applications the industry could thrive in.

Changing weather patterns, the declining social fabric of rural communities, and economic uncertainty increasingly pose challenges to Vermont communities. The socially and environmentally embedded production practices within sustainable agriculture present a potential solution to these problems. In order to make the most of the potential benefits of these practices society must maximize their adoption. This requires an understanding of both farmer adoption of these practices and consumer perceptions of the resulting food products. This thesis contributes two original articles on sustainable agriculture through the analysis of factors driving both farmer adoption and consumer perceptions of products and practices often thought of as sustainable. The first article seeks to understand farmer adoption of climate change best management practices (CCBMPs). Farmer perceptions of risk and profitability of best management practices (BMPs) are key determinants of adoption, which traditional incentive programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) attempt to address by providing financial and technical support. To ensure appropriate price points are offered through these programs, regional price structures must be based upon locally established costs. Thus, this article focuses on the economic cost of implementing and maintaining CCBMPs for twelve diverse farms in Vermont. Specifically, three CCBMPs for Vermont are examined: cover cropping, management intensive rotational grazing (MIRG), and riparian buffer strips. Results of a yearlong farmer based data collection process indicate that the average cost for cover cropping is $129.24/acre, for MIRG is $79.82/acre, and for a tree based riparian buffer strip is $807.33/acre. We conclude that existing incentive payments for cover cropping and MIRG are below costs, likely resulting in under-adoption. The second article reports on a study which seeks to understand the factors influencing Vermont consumer perceptions of raw milk safety. While this article makes no assertion regarding the sustainability of raw milk, an association is established between the motivations for raw milk consumption and sustainable agriculture support. Vermonterâ??s appear to be continuing the trend of consuming raw milk at an increasing rate despite continued declarations from local and national public health officials that raw milk is too microbiologically dangerous to justify its consumption. Thus this study was designed to increase understanding of the factors driving consumer perceptions of raw milk safety. A conceptual model was developed to establish potential factors and related questions were incorporated into the 2014 Vermonter Poll. Resulting data were analyzed using a Probit regression analysis. We conclude that observable factors have the greatest influence on perceptions of raw milk safety. Specifically, perceived health benefits, presence of children in the household, and taste all influence perceptions of raw milk safety.

Compost can suppress soilborne plant pathogens that cause significant damage on globally important food crops. However, reports of plant pathogen suppression are inconsistent likely because there are no established standards for feedstock material, application rate, and maturity age upon application. Excellent results can be achieved in greenhouse trials, but field applications are much less reliable. Disease suppression occurs through the activity of biocontrol organisms (direct antagonism), and general microbial competition. Biocontrol species are hypothesized to colonize the pile during the curing phase, but single species may not be as important as microbial consortia. Substrate composition during maturation may give rise to a suppressive microbial community. More research is needed to understand the relationships between feedstock, maturity, and production process on compost microbial ecology. The thesis had two main objectives: 1) identify biological indicators in compost that could (a) characterize maturity, process, and feedstock, and (b) predict disease suppression against R. solani, and 2) identify bacterial and fungal community composition and/or structure that is associated with suppression of soilborne disease. Rhizoctonia solani is a facultative saprophytic fungus and soilborne plant pathogen that attacks many globally important food crops and turfgrass. Prior research suggests that managing carbon quality and compost maturity will alter relative competition between biological control microbes and the R. solani pathogen. The pathogen is responsible for economic losses to organic vegetable production in Vermont and there are no available methods to manage the disease that meet organic certification. R. solani on radish was chosen as a model system given its global importance, competitiveness affected by carbon quality, and lack of disease management options for organic production. Compost samples were most abundant in the bacterial phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and known biocontrol species were not detected in abundance. Compost samples did not differ significantly in fungal community composition, suggesting a dominance effect from the native soil fungal community. Overall, anaerobic digestate and vermicompost were most suppressive against R. solani. Thermophilic composts were not very suppressive overall, though a specially made hardwood bark compost was comparable to the suppressiveness of vermicompost application. Ecoenzyme analysis was able to integrate information on environmental substrate composition, microbial nutrient acquisition, and microbial community metabolism, offering the best view of current ecological conditions in compost. Ecoenzyme analysis showed that the most suppressive composts, anaerobic digestate and vermicompost, were most nutrient limited. All compost samples were severely nitrogen (N) limited, and anaerobic digestate and vermicompost were severely limited in both N and phosphorus (P). The additional P limitation may support non-pathogenic species to outcompete R. solani. The key to disease suppression may lie in matching up the ecology of the plant pathogen with the ecology of biocontrol, which may be engineered in compost.

L'agriculture doit évoluer vers une activité plus respectueuse de l'environnement tout en étant économiquement viable. Ce type d'agriculture, dite durable, requiert de nouveaux savoirs et savoir-faire. Or, nous montrons que la gestion des connaissances n’est pas suffisante en agriculture durable. Pour y remédier, nous proposons de développer un système informatisé de gestion des connaissances en agriculture. Nous l’appelons KOFIS. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que les méthodes de gestion de connaissances dans le monde industriel sont transposables en agriculture pour construire KOFIS. Notre travail parcourt les étapes qui suivent. Nous faisons un état de l’art sur la gestion des connaissances et sur son lien avec l’innovation. Nous discutons des acteurs potentiels de KOFIS et de leurs rôles respectifs. Puis, nous travaillons sur le patrimoine des connaissances en agriculture durable, sur la sélection des connaissances critiques ainsi que sur leur représentation dans l’outil. Les principales caractéristiques de l’architecture informatique de KOFIS sont décrites. In fine, le contenu de KOFIS est dynamique. Il capitalise de la connaissance et propose une démarche pour innover. KOFIS est un système socio-technique intégrant de nombreux acteurs, reposant sur un corpus de connaissances en partie codifié et sur des échanges informels organisés. Il permet une évolution partagée des connaissances du domaine. / Agriculture must evolve into a more environmentally-friendly approach, while remaining economically viable and socially interesting, which is necessary so that the process can be pursued in the long term, i.e that the process is sustainable. This type of agriculture is said to be sustainable. Sustainable agriculture has a systemic logic and therefore requires new types of knowledge and know-how. We show that knowledge is insufficiently managed in sustainable agriculture. We thus propose implement a knowledge management computing tool, which we called KOFIS. We make the assumption that the methods of management of knowledge in the industrial world are applied in agriculture to construct KOFIS. Our work followed the stages which follow. We make a state of the art on knowledge management and its bond with the innovating designs. After having presented some general information on knowledge, its typology and its cycle of management, we will move on its patrimonial management, then we will finish on the knowledge management for the innovative design. We discuss the potential actors of KOFIS and their possible implications. We deal with its contents, selection and form. At last, the main computing features of KOFIS are shown. The contents of KOFIS are dynamic. It capitalizes knowledge and also proposes a step to innovate. KOFIS is a sociotechnical system integrating numerous actors, based on a partially codified knowledge corpus and organized informal exchanges, generating a shared evolution of the domain knowledge.

International Relations Masters Research Thesis, 2015 University of Witwatersrand / The G8 New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition (NAFN) is a new, under-researched and rapidly spreading partnership initiative. As the latest attempt to target hunger in Africa by developed countries, it deserves a certain level of scrutiny to decipher the intended development trajectory for African food systems and the possible implications for smallholder farmers, since these smallholders produce more than ninety percent of the continent’s food supply. Food sovereignty provides the ideal lens through which to analyse the New Alliance, being a political economy critique of agro-industrial food systems, as well as a constitutive approach to rights and the building of a grassroots movement and alternative. This research seeks to ascertain how the New Alliance may globalise African agriculture and undermine food sovereignty. An exploratory research design was used, first historicising African globalised agriculture, then decoding the main objectives of the New Alliance, and finally using the African Food Sovereignty Alliance as a case study to critique its translation into African countries’ commitments. The first few predictions of the hypothesis were strongly validated with findings that the New Alliance will result in large-scale investment of land, the commercialisation of the seed industry and an increased use of agro-chemicals and GMOs, increased foreign investment, and monopolisation of agribusiness by MNCs. To a lesser degree, the prediction that it would decrease barriers to trade and increase imports and exports was confirmed; however, there was little evidence that it intends to cut domestic support measures like some previous development programmes. The New Alliance is beyond reform, built on flawed neoliberal assumptions about development. This and further research could contribute to a movement to abolish the New Alliance before it induces negative long term effects, and to warn off other African countries contemplating this initiative.

Gold tailings contained in Tailing Storage Facilities (TSFs) contain pyrite which on exposure to air and water becomes a source of acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD has high salinity, elevated levels of heavy metals and low pH, which presents serious threats to surface and groundwater systems. These characteristics in tailings present a hostile environment for plant establishment and growth (Witkowski and Weiersbye 1998a). Therefore, it was hypothesized that organic mulch sourced from sewage sludge and water hyacinth could improve tailings fertility on TSFs in the Highveld gold mines of South Africa. The aim of this study was to develop a greenhouse study to understand how four indigenous plants (Asparagus laricinus Burch. (Asparagaceae), Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees. (Poaceae), Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf (Poaceae) and Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br. (Fabaceae) naturally colonizing the Highveld gold TSFs would survive, grow and accumulate metals from tailings amended using different percentages of water hyacinth and/or sewage sludge, and the susceptibility of the amended tailings to metal leaching. Tailings amended with WH: SS-1.0% proved to be the overall best amendment from the 19 treatments based on the variable tested (e.g. plant growth, plant metal uptake and metal leaching). Amending gold tailings with water hyacinth and/or sewage sludge improved seedling survival, plant survival and growth as compared to non-amended tailings. Tailings amended with dry water hyacinth (WH) created the most favourable plant growing conditions especially at 0.5% of amendment, while those amended only with sewage sludge (SS) presented the most challenging plant growth conditions for all four study species. Amending tailings with water hyacinth and/or sewage sludge showed no significant difference in tailings fertility. However, C (%) and total N decrease significantly after plant growth in all treatments. Hyparrhenia plants grown in tailings amended with WH: SS-1.0% accumulated significantly higher concentrations of Al, Cr, Ni and Zn, while those growing in tailings amended with WH-0.5% accumulated significantly lower concentration of Al, Co, Cr, Fe and Zn as compared to other treatments. Tailings amended with WH-1.0% leached significantly higher concentrations of Mn, while those amended with WH: SS-0.5% and WL-2.0% leached significantly higher concentrations of S as compared to other treatments. All four species accumulated significantly higher concentrations of Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe and Ni in the roots than the shoots, except for A. laricinus which accumulated significantly higher concentrations of S, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni and Zn in the shoots than the roots. Sutherlandia frutescens retained all the elements tested in its root biomass. Future field studies in the use of water hyacinth and sewage sludge as organic tailings amendments will be required to get a better understanding of these two potential tailings amendment treatment.

In “Letters from the Inside,” Stephanie Anderson presents a vision for sustainable, regenerative agriculture from the perspective of someone born and raised on a conventional cattle ranch. From Florida to New Mexico to the Dakotas, she traces the stories of farmers and ranchers who are already creating such an agriculture. She argues that producers, in tandem with consumers and government, hold the power to change what is currently an environmentally and socially destructive food system. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A erosão hídrica é a principal causa de degradação do solo em ambientes tropicais e subtropicais úmidos e a perda da camada superficial do solo é o maior desafio para sustentabilidade da agricultura no mundo. Ela afeta a qualidade e o volume dos corpos d\'água e diminuí a qualidade dos solos. Apesar disso, o mercado não é capaz de corrigir estes problemas em razão da sua característica de bens públicos (não-exclusividade e não-rivalidade). Assim, o controle da erosão agrícola gera um serviço benéfico para toda a sociedade, mas os seus custos são exclusivamente dos agricultores. Pagamentos por Serviços Ambientais - PSA são mecanismos de compensações em que os beneficiados pelos serviços pagam os seus provedores. PSA são mecanismos promissores para o financiamento da proteção ambiental e podem complementar as atuais regulações. Entretanto, a literatura atual ainda é limitada em termos de quantificação dos serviços gerados, da sua demanda e sua viabilidade econômica. Este estudo analisa a viabilidade econômica de esquemas de PSA para o controle da poluição hídrica advinda da agricultura no Brasil. O objetivo específico do estudo é estimar ofertas de Serviços Ambientais - SA de conservação do solo. As ofertas de SA foram estimadas para áreas de cana-de-açúcar (na Bacia do Rio Corumbataí) e horticultura (na Sub-Bacia Cabeceiras do Tietê) utilizando uma metodologia de dados mínimos. As ofertas foram estimadas para diferentes práticas agrícolas, permitindo a comparação da eficiência das diferentes práticas na produção do SA. No caso da cana, a implantação e manutenção de florestas nas APPs mostrou-se a prática mais eficiente. Gastos de R$150,00/ha/ano com esta prática conservam cerca de 140.000 Mg de solo, enquanto o mesmo gasto aplicado na prática de não utilização das APPs conserva 70.000 Mg. Os resultados indicam que existe potencial para aplicação do modelo como forma de integrar as políticas públicas agrícolas com as ambientais. O estudo mostra que a adoção de práticas com maior produção de SA depende de incentivos. Nas condições atuais elas não são atrativas na medida em que geram menores retornos aos agricultores. Os incentivos podem ser através de subsídios das práticas adequadas, estímulo à demanda de produtos ambientalmente amigáveis ou pagamentos diretos pelos SA produzidos. / Water erosion is the main cause of soil degradation in tropical and sub-tropical environments and top soil loss is the biggest challenge for sustainable agriculture in the world. It affects water quality and quantity, and decreases soil quality. Despite this, the market is not able to solve these problems because of their public good characteristics (non-rivalness and non-excludability). Agricultural pollution control by farmers is a service society free rides because only farmers pay its costs. Payments for Environmental Services - PES schemes are flexible mechanisms in which providers of these services get paid by their users. PES schemes are considered to be promising mechanisms for financing environmental protection and restoration as well as for complementing and enforcing regulations. However, most of the on-going schemes don\'t use studies to quantify the services produced, to analyze the demand for them, or to check the schemes\' economic viability. This study analyses the economic viability of PES schemes in order to control the agricultural pollution of water resources in Brazil. The specific objective is to estimate the Environmental Services - ES of conservation soil supplies. These supplies were estimated for sugar cane (Corumbataí Watershed) and horticulture areas (Tietê Cabeceiras Subwatershed), using a minimum-data model. The supplies were calculated for different practices, so it is possible to compare the different practices\' efficiency to produce ES. For the sugar cane area it is more efficient to plant trees in the riparian buffer zones. Paying 150 reais per ha per year produces 140.000 Mg of conserved soil through tree planting, while with the same amount, the exclusion of the riparian zones from cultivation produces approximately 70.000 Mg. The results show this model can be applied as a way of integrating agricultural and environmental public policies. It was concluded that incentives are necessary to make the farmers adopt the practices that produce ES, because they are not economically feasible under current market conditions. The incentives could be either subsidies for these practices, fostering the demand for environmental friendly products, or direct payments for the ES produced.