This thesis explores claims that organic agriculture may be an empowering development strategy by investigating the impacts of conversion to organic farming systems on the lives of small-scale farmers in Cambodia. The thesis interrogates the diverse uses and abuses of the term =empowerment‘ in development rhetoric and argues for an empowerment model that is derived from farmers‘ self-defined concepts of development. This model was used to conduct a qualitative case study involving semistructured interviews and focus groups with members of organics initiatives in seven diverse Cambodian communities. Results indicate that many farmers in all communities felt that their most important objective was not only to achieve food security, but to be able to grow sufficient rice to feed their family. Farmers joined the organics initiatives primarily to improve their health and reduce the cost of farming inputs. As a result of joining the initiatives, all farmers (including both certified and non-certified organic farmers) felt they had improved their health and food security. Most farmers also increased incomes, created stronger family and community ties and felt they had more control over their livelihoods. These benefits were not, however, distributed equally amongst individuals or communities. Very poor and isolated farmers could not generally access benefits. The three main factors that determined the impact of the organics initiatives on farmer empowerment were identified as: the individual‘s level of resources, the strength of the farmer group, and the policies and values of the supporting organisation. The implications for future initiatives are, firstly, the tremendous potential for farmers and wider rural communities to benefit from organic agriculture as a development strategy. However, this study also shows that if organics is to be viable for low-resource people, it may be necessary to promote both resources and techniques in organics initiatives. Also, a focus on building strong relationships both within the farmers group and linkages with local and wider stakeholders may enhance long-term sustainability of organics initiatives.

This thesis explores claims that organic agriculture may be an empowering development strategy by investigating the impacts of conversion to organic farming systems on the lives of small-scale farmers in Cambodia. The thesis interrogates the diverse uses and abuses of the term =empowerment‘ in development rhetoric and argues for an empowerment model that is derived from farmers‘ self-defined concepts of development. This model was used to conduct a qualitative case study involving semistructured interviews and focus groups with members of organics initiatives in seven diverse Cambodian communities. Results indicate that many farmers in all communities felt that their most important objective was not only to achieve food security, but to be able to grow sufficient rice to feed their family. Farmers joined the organics initiatives primarily to improve their health and reduce the cost of farming inputs. As a result of joining the initiatives, all farmers (including both certified and non-certified organic farmers) felt they had improved their health and food security. Most farmers also increased incomes, created stronger family and community ties and felt they had more control over their livelihoods. These benefits were not, however, distributed equally amongst individuals or communities. Very poor and isolated farmers could not generally access benefits. The three main factors that determined the impact of the organics initiatives on farmer empowerment were identified as: the individual‘s level of resources, the strength of the farmer group, and the policies and values of the supporting organisation. The implications for future initiatives are, firstly, the tremendous potential for farmers and wider rural communities to benefit from organic agriculture as a development strategy. However, this study also shows that if organics is to be viable for low-resource people, it may be necessary to promote both resources and techniques in organics initiatives. Also, a focus on building strong relationships both within the farmers group and linkages with local and wider stakeholders may enhance long-term sustainability of organics initiatives.

Thesis (M.Inst.Agrar.(Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral) - Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-147).

High quality multiplication material is created directly on a field. It's always about relation between seed and environment which is influenced by farmer. Within the Czech Republic the samples of certified cereal seeds were taken from the representative farmers, farm cooperatives and agricultural companies. After that they were subsequently analysed. The whole mentioned seed samples of the year 2013 comply with the legislative requirements. The term "seed quality" is often perceived as a subjective matter. Via questionnaire miniresearch it was found out how growers perceive offer and certified seed quality. At the same time the analyse of the actual certified organic seed need in the Czech Republic was carried out according to the given data of Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture. The results doesn't correspond to the real cereal organic seed offer. The present situation in certified seed quality and organic seed offer represents an appeal for improvement and the future necessary amendment to the low.

The aim of this diploma thesis was an evaluation of the environmental aspects of growing of the chosen feeding varieties of a spring barley in various systems of farming. Further purpose of this diploma thesis was a quantification of an emission load bond with the unit of area, and the unit of yield of spring barley, in the scope of conventional and ecological system of farming. The part of this study was a formation of the literature survey about problems of the conventional and ecological growing of the spring barley, with the focus on the agrotechnical requirements and environmental aspects. The practical part was performed in the area of the Faculty of Agriculture in Czech Budejovice.

The aim of this work was to assess the meat performance of hens and bulls of the Galloway breed and their crossbreeds from organic farming and their subsequent comparison with each other. Further comparing the yields of their JUT with the results of another six breeds of cattle that were behaving in a non-organic conventional manner.

Antibiotics are routinely used in modern livestock production systems to treat and prevent disease as well as to enhance livestock production and/or outputs. This widespread use of antibiotics has led to a growing worldwide interest in antibioticfree animal production. The addition of feed supplements such as nucleotides to improve intestinal health as well as the early development of the immune system needs to be investigated as an environmentally-friendly nutritional management activity. In this study four (4) groups of newborn Holstein calves (n=24) were evaluated after being treated as follows: Group 1 (Negative control), Group 2 (Investigational Veterinary Product (IVP) 1 – Oral supplement containing nucleotides, vitamins, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, pre-biotics and trace-minerals), Group 3 (IVP 2 – Oral supplement containing nucleotides only at concentration and dosage equal to IVP1) and Group 4 (IVP 3 - Parenteral glucocorticoids). Results of the study indicated that: Pre-colostral Serum IgG titres – After titration of the serum the anti-BVDV results showed no difference between the study groups. All calves recorded a SP ratio of zero value (0.00 ± 0.2) indicating that they had not been nursed by their mothers prior to the start of the study. This was an entrance requirement for the calves to be enrolled into the study. Apparent Efficiency of Absorption % (AEA%) – Literature shows that an AEA% result of between 20%-30% is good and 35% is excellent. The AEA% recorded for this study fell within this range although there was no statistically significant difference shown between the groups. In spite of a strictly controlled study protocol, 7 of the 24 calves (29%) still suffered from FPT in this study. The result falls within the range of 19% - 37% reported on United States of America (USA) farms by Doepel and Bartier in 2014. Serum cortisol - When compared to the control group, there were no statistical significant difference evident for group 2 and group 3. However, the difference between the Glucocorticoid – Group 4 and the control and other groups was statistically significant (P = 0.0001; table 12) at the various time intervals. It was also evident that the inclusion of parenteral glucocorticoids (group 4) may have assisted in prolonging the natural “gut closure”. Gut closure – a positive 2 point linear regression forecast line indicated an increasing trend in IgG absorption post-24 hours for group number 4 whilst groups 1, 2 and 3 each had a negative 2 point linear regression forecast line (figure 23). Weight / ADG (D42) - Group 2 showed a statistically significant increase in mean D42 weight (P = 0.0042) of 59.167 kg ± 3.545 kg when compared to the other study groups and compared to the control group (P = 0.0227). A comparison of the relative increase in mass of groups indicated that Group 2 efficiently achieved this result with a statistically significant ADG of 0.536 kg (P = 0.014) compared to the other study groups and compared to the control group (P = 0.022). In addition, weight / FCR – FCR was calculated for all groups as follows: G1 – 4.000 kg, G2 - 2.593 kg, G3 – 2.703 kg and G4 - 3.012 kg feed required for the production of 1 kg meat. The results indicated that the group 2 feed input was the most economical followed by groups 3, 4 and control respectively. In conclusion, it is evident that a nutritional supplement containing nucleotides, vitamins, trace- minerals, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids and pre-biotics may contribute significantly to important economic indicators such as weight gain, ADG and FCR on a commercial dairy farm. / Environmental Sciences / Ph. D. (Environmental Science)

The main objective of this diploma thesis was to identify price, quality and the time priority of consumers in relation to food and to define the attitudes of the Czech consumers to organic food, respectively to individual bio commodities through a consumer research, then the basic shopping preferences and motivators/barriers.

The objective of the thesis was to ascertain the development speed of extensive organic orchards in the South-Moravian region, evaluate their production's potential, legislative, economic, and environmental aspects. Research was conducted via public surveys and visits of organic orchard owners in the South-Moravian region. Other data was obtained in co-operation with BIOKONT CZ, s.r.o., a regulatory organization, and using the Ministry of Agriculture and Pro-bio association web sites. The results show there are currently 4402 environmental entities registered at the Ministry of Agriculture, including 3894 organic farmers. As of 31st March. 2014 there have been 689 organic orchard owners in the Czech Republic, of which 17% is registered in the South-Moravian region alone. 14 of the 16 interviewees do harvest their orchards' production. One orchard owner established his orchard focusing on blackcurrant enzyme extraction instead of conventional fruit production. There is a concern that one of the respondents converted their orchard to an organic system only due to potential subsidies, since they do not harvest any produce. The reason allegedly is the age of the trees and a lack of pollinators. Other farmers established their orchards convinced that fruits produced in accordance with organic farming rules is better than its conventional counterpart.