Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157).

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

No description available.

Precision farming integrates satellite coordination and information communication technologies into farming practices to deliver self-driving and auto-regulating machinery and equipment to farmers, who can afford to invest, right across the globe. It is often sold on the basis that it can help clean up or ‘ecologically modernise’ conventional, industrial agriculture. It should also increase production rates in industrial agriculture to help to ‘feed the world’ as well as being cost effective in ways that could make farmers more money – miracle-grow formula and win-win technology. There are critical concerns that precision farming facilitates a continuing trend of transnational firms appropriating control over agricultural industries. Many neo-Marxist or neo-Weberian critics contend that any ‘green’ benefits fall secondary to the more dominant social and economic trend of ongoing capital accumulation, increasing rationalisation and industrial progress that has been deemed detrimental to natural environments and human populations. These social and economic pressures are actually the real drivers in change. Rather than greening industrial agriculture, precision farming is another way of masking over and profiting from the risks caused by ongoing capitalist accumulation and industrial agriculture. The other set of concerns are to do with human culture and labour. Farming is the grass roots of modern civilisation and dependent upon human labour, knowledge and cultural methods. With the introduction of data over knowledge, and auto-steering tractors over human labour and skills, what kinds of impacts will this have on farm families, rural cultures within countryside landscapes in Britain or other countries where precision farming is being adopted? As a farmer’s son, I was concerned about the impact the computerisation of agriculture will have on family farms, nature and rural communities. I spent four years interviewing and working with a cooperative group of Duchy of Cornwall farmers in the West Country of England. I wanted to know why they were using these new technologies and the kinds of benefits, impacts or outcomes that they experienced following adoption. The results tend to confirm critics’ concerns, unfortunately. Precision farming has much more to do with the organising of agricultural production. The restructuring of farming by way of precision farming greater empowers transnational agribusinesses and Agri-Food supply chains, rather than protecting the environment, feeding hungry people or making family farming more sustainable. I conclude my research by suggesting that it is not technology, or agricultural technologies such as precision farming that will deliver these end goals in and of them selves. There could be room to improve precision farming systems if they are coupled with well-managed policy designs and agri-environmental schemes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-318). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9948031.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-318). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9948031.

Thesis (M.A. in agricultural economics)--Washington State University, August 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T18:57:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4796.pdf: 6256079 bytes, checksum: 21c1be3bfed9f34c276ad426f83f9e9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-16 / The present work was aimed at making the diagnosis of 25 Agroecosystems located in the Pirapora river micro basin, in the Piedade municipality, State of São Paulo, focusing particularly on the adopted management practices. The socioeconomic, productive and environmental implications of these practices were analyzed and contextualized in the scenario of São Paulo State agriculture. The focus in the watershed, besides their legal aspects, reflects its importance as a geographical until priority actions for integrated management, conservation and natural resource management. In this study we sought to define the indicators that reflect the complexity of management were studied based on the method proposed by MESMIS, as well as by systematic methodological experience Agronomic Institute of Paraná IAPAR, systemic approach. The main results arising from systematized this work were: a significant presence of family farmers in the region, the incompatibility of management techniques adopted in Agroecosystems in relation to environmental and soil characteristics of the region, the weakness in the organization among the farmers, the narrow market for the sale restricted to the middleman, the heavy dependence on external inputs to the system resulting from a conventional farming, the use of pesticides banned, the impairment of water resources and public health of residents for limited use in the preservation of water sources and lack of sanitation. These factors indicate that the diagnosed type of agriculture currently practiced in the region is undermining the sustainability of Agroecosystems due to the degradation of natural resources and, consequently, of their own agricultural activities in the watershed. / O presente trabalho teve como objetivo realizar o diagnostico de 25 agroecossistemas localizados na microbacia do rio Pirapora, no município de Piedade, estado de São Paulo, focalizando particularmente as práticas de manejo adotadas. As implicações socioeconômicas, produtivas e ambientais dessas práticas foram analisadas e contextualizadas no cenário da agricultura do estado de São Paulo. O foco na microbacia1, afora os seus aspectos legais, traduz a sua importância como unidade geográfica prioritária para ações integradas de planejamento, gestão, conservação e manejo dos recursos naturais. Na realização deste estudo buscou-se definir os indicadores que reflitam a complexidade do manejo dos agroecossistemas, estes influenciados pelo método MESMIS; e para a condução do trabalho como um todo a experiência metodológica do Instituto Agronômico do Paraná IAPAR, em enfoque sistêmico de sistema de produção. Os principais resultados sistematizados decorrentes deste trabalho foram: a) a significativa presença de agricultores familiares na região; b) a incompatibilidade das técnicas de manejo dos agroecossistemas, em vista das características ambientais e pedológicas da região; c) a fragilidade na organização entre os agricultores; d) o estreito mercado de venda da produção, este restrito ao atravessador; e) a grande dependência de insumos externos ao sistema decorrente do padrão tecnológico da agricultura convencional; f) o emprego de agrotóxicos proibidos; g) o comprometimento da qualidade dos recursos hídricos; h) a inexistência de saneamento básico e i) o comprometimento da saúde pública j) baixa adoção de medidas de conservação e manejo de solo. Tais fatores diagnosticados sinalizam que o modelo de agricultura atualmente praticado pelos agricultores na região está comprometendo a sustentabilidade dos agroecossistemas em decorrência da degradação dos recursos naturais e, conseqüentemente, colocando em risco a própria atividade agrícola na microbacia.