Agricultural nonpoint source pollution is recognised as a major cause of water pollution. The characteristics of nonpoint source pollution suggest that an efficient approach should focus on a source control and hence land-use management. Recently, the concept of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) has been advanced as an efficient market-based approach to protect in-stream water quality, while simultaneously supporting agriculture. Farmers can be rewarded for the adoption of certain ‘Best Management Practices’ (BMPs) in farming systems. But little is known about the adoption of BMPs in the context of Thai agriculture. This thesis examines the adoption of twelve BMPs on citrus farms in the Ping river basin in northern Thailand. In the context of potential PES development, three studies were undertaken using frameworks from economics and psychology. The first study used a bottom-up engineering approach to estimate economic costs of twelve BMPs at the farm-scale. The total annualised costs, including installation, maintenance, and land opportunity costs of each BMP were compared. The results indicated that land opportunity cost was the largest proportion of total costs. These estimates provided a basis for discussion on how the farmers’ perception of cost may influence their stated adoption intention. The second study used the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), to investigate farmers’ intentions on adoption of twelve BMPs. A survey of 218 citrus farmers was undertaken in the application. Descriptive statistics and frequency of BMP selection were presented. The results showed that soil analysis was the most preferred BMP. A graphical analysis of other preferred measures suggested that these were not always consistent with the known cost information derived (above) and thus farmers’ perceived costs might not be the most important factor influencing adoption decisions. Further analysis based on TPB investigated other factors thought to be significant in farmers’ decision-making. Other potential external and psychological factors influencing adoption were investigated using a multinomial logistic model. The results indicated that the probability of adopting BMPs was associated with other psychological factors and external factors, rather than perceived costs. The significant psychological factors were farmers’ attitudes towards consumers and perception about farm returns, while the significant external factors were, for example, access to information and contribution of family labour to farm workload. The third study was based on the application of Q-Methodology, and aimed to obtain a deeper understanding of farmers’ perception towards BMPs. Seventy two participants were purposively selected from the 218 TPB observations. The results revealed four distinctive farmer groups holding different perceptions towards BMPs. The four groups were conservationist, traditionalist, disinterested, and risk-averse. These provided a specific segmentation to guide policy towards influencing attitudes and behaviours. The results suggested that farmers were not motivated solely by a profit maximisation goal. Overall, key findings from these three studies revealed some fundamental requirements for developing a water-related PES programme. These were: i) factors affecting eligibility to participate; ii) factors affecting desire to participate; and iii) factors affecting ability to participate. This information provided the basis for a set of recommendations addressing the development of the water-related PES programme in the Ping river basin.

Farmyard runoff, i.e. the effluent generated by the rain falling over farmyards, tracks and roofs, is a significant and overlooked source of nutrients and pathogens which degrades aquatic ecosystems through eutrophication, siltation and wildlife poisoning, raises public health concerns, and incurs considerable costs for society. Among other Best Management Practices implemented to address agricultural water pollution and help achieve compliance with the Water Framework Directive, Constructed Farm Wetlands (CFWs), i.e. shallow surface flow wetlands comprising several vegetated cells in series, are being recommended for remediation of farmyard runoff, due to their capacity to remove or store pollutants. Investigation is therefore needed of their long-term water treatment efficiency and ecological value to optimize their design and cost-effectiveness and minimize their negative externalities. The main aims of this study were to: 1) evaluate the treatment performance of CFWs and the link between design, hydrology and efficiency; 2) assess their ecological value and the influence of water quality and design on wetland ecology; 3) identify their costs, benefits and the way they are perceived by farmers; and 4) inform guidelines for the design, construction and aftercare of sustainable CFWs. Research focused on two CFWs in south-east Scotland, one at a dairy farm and one at a mixed beef-arable farm, which receive runoff from yards and roofs, field drainage and septic tank overflow. From February 2006 to June 2008, rainfall, evaporation, water levels and flow at the CFWs were monitored, and their treatment efficiency was assessed from water samples collected manually regularly or with automatic samplers during storm events, and analysed using standard methods. In addition, their ecological value was assessed twice a year from vegetation and aquatic macroinvertebrate surveys. Finally, semi-structured interviews with eight farmers and a farm advisor and discussions with three CFW designers in Scotland and Ireland allowed collection of technical and economic data on farm practices, CFW construction and maintenance, and helped assess CFW cost-effectiveness and acceptance by farmers. Both CFWs reduced pollutant concentrations between inlet and outlet, with efficiencies at CFW1 and CFW2 respectively of 87% and < 0% for five-day biochemical oxygen demand, 86% and 83% for suspended solids, 68% and 26% for nitrate/nitrite, 42% and 34% for ammonium, and 12% and 31% for reactive phosphorus. Nevertheless, the concentration of all pollutants at the outlet of CFW1, and concentration of nitrate/nitrite at the outlet of CFW2 frequently exceeded river water quality standards. Water treatment efficiency varied seasonally, being significantly lower in winter, mainly due to lower temperatures, increased volume of inputs and reduced residence time. The ecological value of the two CFWs differed greatly. At CFW1 and CFW2 respectively, 14 and 22 wetland plant species and 24 and 46 aquatic macroinvertebrate species (belonging to 13 and 27 BMWP scoring families respectively) were recorded, illustrating the greater biodiversity conservation value of CFW2, which was one year older, larger, cleaner, comprised several ponds with a combination of open water and densely vegetated areas, and was subsequently more structurally diverse. The socio-economic study revealed that, despite significant costs associated with their construction (£20 000-£50 000 ha-1) and maintenance (£900-£1500 ha-1 yr-1), CFWs may still represent a more cost-effective alternative than conventional methods. However, their adoption, implementation and sustainable use by farmers were conditioned by land availability and suitability, existing farm infrastructure, detailed information on limitations and maintenance requirements, and adequate financial support for both construction and aftercare. To ensure a long-term, consistent and efficient water treatment, and to enhance biodiversity and landscape, well-maintained, large, vegetated, multi-cell CFWs with shallow overflows are recommended. Their size should be adapted to local precipitation patterns and catchment characteristics. Keywords: agriculture, best management practice (BMP), biodiversity, constructed farm wetland (CFW), costs, farmyard runoff, water pollution, water treatment.

The Australian wheat production environments are typically water-limited, and both temperature and vapour pressure deficit increase as the season progresses. As a result, high incidences of small or shriveled wheat kernels (screenings) are commonly generated and can substantially reduce grain value. Previous studies suggest the incorporation of the tiller inhibition (tin) gene can reduce the production of infertile tillers and increase kernel weight (KW). It was hypothesised that the incorporation of the tin gene into wheat germplasm may a) contribute to the maintenance of large KW and reduction in screenings (SCR) in terminal water deficit environments; and b) not be associated with a grain yield (GY) penalty in terminal water deficit environments. Thus, the major objective of this thesis was to evaluate the expression and performance of tin gene in terms of GY and SCR: 1) in different genetic backgrounds and across Australian production environments; 2) in various northern production environments which are particularly prone to terminal water deficit conditions; and 3) to determine the mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of large KW of tin lines in terminal stress conditions. To address the overall objective, populations of lines were genotyped for the presence/absence of the tin gene and were field tested. Line differences in GY, yield components, SCR and general growth and development attributes were determined in 22 field experiments conducted between 2005-2007. The experiments were grouped into those that evaluated: a large number of sister lines from four genetic backgrounds in multi-location experiments; selected lines from Silverstar population in multi-location experiments; and selected sister lines in detailed agronomic experiments examining the effect of plant density and controlled levels of water supply through the use of a rainout shelter facility. The effect of tin on GY and SCR varied with environment and genetic background. In the Brookton, Wyalkatchem and Chara background, there was no reduction in GY associated with tin in southern production environments. However, a 31% and 10%, advantage of free-tillering over reduced tillering Silverstar lines existed in the 2005 western and 2006 northern experiments respectively, and led to an average 12% reduction in GY of Silverstar tin lines. In northern experiments, tin lines in a Silverstar background produced up to 50% fewer SCR than Silverstar free-tillering lines. Averaged across experiments, KW of Silverstar tin lines was 10% greater than free-tillering lines. Based on stem number per plant, Silverstar lines were classified into three groups; the restricted (R) and semi-restricted (SR) tin and free-tillering lines attained 2.9, 3.4 and 4.8 stems per plant respectively. Expression of tin in terms of maximum stem number production was genetic background and genotype dependent, and unlike free-tillering lines, R tin lines in particular, were not as responsive to plant density. Head number per unit area rather than kernel number per head was strongly associated with KW determination. Therefore, to maximize KW under water limiting conditions it is more beneficial if high kernel number can be achieved via the production of low head number with more kernels per head, as can be achieved with the use of tin lines. The KW advantage of Silverstar R tin was associated with greater anthesis total dry matter, stem water soluble carbohydrate and nitrogen available per head relative to free-tillering lines, and thus R tin lines had more assimilate for translocation during the grain filling period. In a terminal water deficit experiment, individual KW data collected for Silverstar tin and free-tillering lines revealed that KW of tin lines (≈ 25 mg per kernel) was maintained for main stem to fourth tiller heads and across floret positions 1-4 within spikelets. In contrast, free-tillering lines (≈ 18 mg per kernel) generated small kernels across the entire plant, with the largest proportion originating from floret positions 3 and 4. Lines containing the tin gene had a greater mean KW and kernel width, and a higher frequency of wider kernels than free-tillering lines. The high frequency of large kernel widths was associated with significantly less SCR in tin lines. A strong positive association between maturity head number per plant and SCR indicated, for every fertile head produced, SCR increased by 11% in the terminal water deficit experiment. Reduction in SCR in the Silverstar tin material in the north, was associated with high KW and a tendency for lower GY, although tin lines with equivalent GY to Silverstar could be identified in each environment. The incorporation of the tin gene has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of SCR in commercial wheat crops. The reduction in GY associated with the tin gene was dependent on genetic background, suggesting the potential for selection of higher-yielding tin progeny in commercial line development. However, a tailored agronomic package to optimize yield potential of tin lines needs to be developed for different target environments. With the incorporation of the tin gene into genetic material adapted to the northern wheat belt and optimisation of head density, there exists scope for simultaneous improvements in GY and KW and subsequent reduction in SCR for terminal water deficit environments.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Economics)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-128).

Thesis (doctoral)--Delft University and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-129).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Economics)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has a regulation stating that there can be no detectable generic Escherichia coli in agricultural water. The objective of this study was to optimize the use of peracetic acid (PAA) as a mitigating strategy in postharvest processing. This project began by investigating the impact of storage temperatures on stability of a commercially available PAA sanitizer. Regression analysis showed a quadratic relationship in the concentration of PAA over 12 weeks when storing the product at 4, 20 and 37°C. Stability of the product was also investigated in the presence of organic load over time at 60ppm PAA. PAA significantly decreased at an organic load level of 750COD. From this, the impact of various ratios of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and PAA were investigated further to see the efficacy against E. coli O157:H7 over three hours with reinoculation of bacteria after 3 hours. A higher level of PAA in the solution had a greater inactivation efficacy against E. coli O157:H7. The impact of concentration, organic load, temperature and pH on the efficacy against E. coli O157:H7 and stability of PAA over four hours was then investigated. All of the conditions tested showed a significant decrease in H2O2 and PAA concentrations over time, except at concentration of 80ppm, with varying rates of depletion under each condition tested. This study will help to create guidance on optimizing the use of PAA. With this knowledge growers can understand how changes in their post-harvest processing water can affect sanitizer performance.

<p>Dono&scaron;enje odluka u poljoprivredi i vodoprivredi podrazumeva uvažavanje ekonomskih, dru&scaron;tvenih i&nbsp;kriterijuma za&scaron;tite životne sredine. Proces je složen jer se odluke zbog nemogućnosti kvantifikacije&nbsp;često donose na osnovu kvalitativnih podataka, ili jo&scaron; če&scaron;će, u kombinaciji sa postojećim kvantitativnim&nbsp;podacima. Analitički hijerarhijski proces (AHP) je teorijsko-metodolo&scaron;ki koncept vi&scaron;ekriterijumske<br />analize i optimizacije za podr&scaron;ku složenih procesa individualnog i grupnog odlučivanja, koji se pokazao&nbsp;kao jedan od najpogodnijih da podrži takve procese i zato je u svetu &scaron;iroko rasprostranjen. Kod&nbsp;odlučivanja u poljoprivredi i vodoprivredi, zbog složenosti procesa, podrazumeva se interdisciplinarni&nbsp;pristup sa uče&scaron;ćem vi&scaron;e interesnih strana (donosilaca odluka). Kod grupnih primena AHP, odluka se<br />najče&scaron;će dobija objedinjavanjem individualnih ocena ili objedinjavanjem individualnih prioriteta. U&nbsp;novije vreme AHP se sve vi&scaron;e kombinuje sa modelima za postizanje konsenzusa.<br />U disertaciji je predložen mogući novi način objedinjavanja individualnih odluka u grupnu zasnovan na&nbsp;minimizaciji odstupanja grupne od individualnih odluka. Ideja je da se na osnovu individualnih&nbsp;vrednovanja elemenata odlučivanja po metodologiji AHP generi&scaron;e grupni vektor pomoću algoritma&nbsp;simuliranog kaljenja (SA - simulated annealing) iz klase inteligentnih stohastičkih optimizacionih&nbsp;algoritama, posebno pogodnog kada re&scaron;enje treba tražiti u beskonačnim diskretnim prostorima. Po&scaron;to se<br />u AHP mogu koristiti različiti metodi za određivanje vektora prioriteta, koji se uobičajeno nazivaju&nbsp;&quot;prioritizacioni metodi&quot;, da bi se postupak objedinjavanja učinio nezavisnim od metoda prioritizacije, u&nbsp;disertaciji je definisan univerzalni pokazatelj grupne konzistentnosti nazvan grupno euklidsko rastojanje&nbsp;(GED - group Euclidean distance). Inteligentnim približavanjem grupnog vektora prioriteta&nbsp;individualnim odlukama, odnosno minimizacijom GED, identifikuje se grupni vektor koji dovoljno<br />dobro predstavlja individualne odluke. Predloženi postupak nazvan je metod SAAP (SA aggregation&nbsp;procedure). Za testiranje ispravnosti metoda SAAP kori&scaron;ćena su tri primera i rezultati predloženog&nbsp;metoda su poređeni sa rezultatima najče&scaron;će kori&scaron;ćenih kombinacija metoda grupnog objedinjavanja,<br />konsenzus modela i metoda prioritizacije koje su nazvane &scaron;eme objedinjavanja. Dobijeni rezultati su&nbsp;pokazali da je SAAP konkurentan sa ostalim &scaron;emama objedinjavanja.<br />U disertaciji je predložena i transparentna metodologija za grupno vi&scaron;ekriterijumsko ocenjivanje&nbsp;pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje na datoj teritoriji. U FAO dokumentima je sugerisano da treba&nbsp;vr&scaron;iti ocenu pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje a ne isključivo zemlji&scaron;ta i da treba uzeti u obzir sve<br />faktore (kriterijume) koji utiču na uspe&scaron;nost uvođenja navodnjavanja. Vi&scaron;ekriterijumsko određivanje&nbsp;pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje je zasnovano na kombinaciji AHP i geografskog informacionog&nbsp;sistema (GIS) u grupnom kontekstu. Metodologija se sastoji iz četiri faze. U prvoj fazi se identifikuju&nbsp;podkriterijumi za određivanje pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje od interesa za dato područje.<br />Podkriterijumi se zatim grupi&scaron;u u kriterijume (kao &scaron;to su osobine zemlji&scaron;ta, klima, socio-ekonomski&nbsp;kriterijum, tehničko-pravni kriterijum i za&scaron;tita životne sredine) i na taj način se formira hijerarhija&nbsp;problema odlučivanja. Identifikovani donosioci odluka vrednuju elemente hijerarhije, takođe po metodu&nbsp;AHP, a zatim se vrednovanja koriste za izračunavanje individualnih težina podkriterijuma.<br />Sastavni deo druge faze metodologije je predloženi vi&scaron;ekriterijumski metod za određivanje težina&nbsp;donosilaca odluka. Koristeći individualne težine podkriterijuma izračunate u prvoj i težine donosilaca&nbsp;odluka izračunate u ovoj fazi, &quot;otežanim&quot; aritmetičkim osrednjavanjem određuju se grupne (konačne&nbsp;težine) podkriterijuma (GIS slojeva). Da bi rastersko preklapanje slojeva bilo moguće, u trećoj fazi se<br />standardizuju GIS slojevi. Množenjem vrednosti piksela u svakom sloju sa pripadajućim grupnim&nbsp;težinama slojeva i njihovim sabiranjem dobija se konačna mapa pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje i&nbsp;ona predstavlja osnovu za definisanje prostornih prioriteta izgradnje novih sistema za navodnjavanje na&nbsp;datom području. U četvrtoj fazi (analiza osetljivosti) se prvo isključuju slojevi koji predstavljaju<br />antropogene podkriterijume, a zatim i slojevi zasnovani na prirodnim &nbsp;karakteristikama. Na ovaj način se&nbsp;dobijaju dve nove mape pogodnosti lokaliteta za navodnjavanje koje pružaju dodatne informacije za&nbsp;definisanje prostornih prioriteta izgradnje novih sistema za navodnjavanje.</p> / <p>Agricultural and water management decision problems are usually complex because many criteria (such<br />as economical, social and environmental) need to be considered. For this kind of problems, decision<br />making process is often based only on qualitative data or sometimes on combination of quantitative and<br />qualitative data. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a multi criteria decision-making method that<br />has been used in many applications related with decision-making based on qualitative data, and is<br />applicable to both individual and group decision making situations. Because of the increasing<br />complexity of decision making problems in agriculture and water management and the necessity to<br />include all interested participants in problem solving, nowadays many AHP decision making processes<br />take place in group settings. There are various aggregation procedures for obtaining a group priority<br />vector within AHP-supported decision making, the most common of which are the aggregation of<br />individual judgments (AIJ), aggregation of individual priorities (AIP) and aggregations based on<br />consensus models.<br />A heuristic stochastic approach to group decision making is proposed in this dissertation as an<br />aggregation procedure which searches for the best group priority vector for a given node in an AHP&ndash;<br />generated hierarchy. The group Euclidean distance (GED) is used as a group consistency measure for<br />deriving the group priority vector for a given node in the AHP hierarchy where all participating<br />individuals already set their judgments. The simulated annealing (SA) algorithm tries to minimize the<br />GED, of the process of which can be considered an objective search for maximum consensus between<br />individuals within the group. The group priority vector obtained in this way is invariant to any<br />prioritization method; that is, there is no need to have individual priority vectors as is required by some<br />other aggregation procedures. This approach is named simulated annealing aggregation procedure<br />(SAAP). In order to check validity of this approach, three examples are used to compare it&#39;s results with<br />results obtained by various combinations of aggregations (AIJ and AIP), consensus models and<br />prioritization methods. In this dissertation, SAAP and other known combinations of aggregation<br />procedures and prioritization methods are labeled as aggregation schemes. Results shows that the SAAP<br />performs better or at least equally to several other well known combinations of prioritization and<br />aggregation in AHP group decision making frameworks.<br />The second objective of this dissertation was to establish a transferable and transparent procedure for<br />multi criteria group evaluations of land suitability for irrigation. The multi criteria approach is<br />recommended because according to FAO documents all aspects of the problem (environment, social<br />aspect, economy) need to be considered in the evaluation, not just soil. To make a decision on where to<br />build new, sustainable irrigation systems, here we propose multi criteria group decision making<br />approach which combines AHP and Geographic Information System (GIS). This approach is presented<br />as four-phase decision making framework. In the first phase, subcriteria relevant in validating land<br />suitability were grouped into five major criteria: soil, climate, economy, infrastructure and environment.<br />Considered as spatially determined decision making elements, criteria and subcriteria were evaluated<br />within the AHP framework by identified experts in the subject area.<br />In the second phase new multi criteria method is developed for deriving decision makers&#39; weights. Using<br />this weights and individual priority weights of subcriteria from first phase final group weights of<br />subcriteria (GIS layers) are computed. In third phase each subcriterion (GIS layer) is standardized. Then,<br />the cell values in each of the subcriterion layers are multiplied by the corresponding final weights of the<br />subcriteria and aggregated into the final land suitability maps for irrigation in GIS environment. Finally,<br />in the fourth phase, a sensitivity analysis is applied to check the influence of different criteria on the<br />result. By changing the weights of criteria, two more maps were generated showing land suitability for<br />irrigation regarding natural conditions and economy-water infrastructure.</p>

In der Broschüre wird ein neues Verfahren vorgestellt, welches zur Bewertung und Minderung von Stoffausträgen aus Ackerflächen in Oberflächengewässer entwickelt wurde. Dazu werden in einem ersten Schritt Gewässer und angrenzende Ackerschläge hinsichtlich Nutzung, Schutzstreifen und Gefahrenpunkte erfasst. In einem zweiten Schritt werden ein N- und ein P-Index berechnet, die das Stoffaustragsrisiko angeben. Die beiden Indices basieren auf einfach zu erhebenden Daten und auf einfachen Berechnungen. In einem dritten Schritt werden Maßnahmen zur Risikominderung empfohlen und deren Wirksamkeit prognostiziert. Anhand dieser Prognose können passende Schutzmaßnahmen ausgewählt werden. Das Verfahren wurde an zwei Oberflächenwasserkörpern in Sachsen erprobt. Es kann ebenso die Identifikation von Flächen mit hohem Stoffaustragsrisiko unterstützen.