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Experiential learning in food and agricultural higher education takes many different forms. This paper highlights an immersive, comparative approach to a graduate food studies course in the dairy sector. It explores how students in this class experience a particular combination of field trips, culinary workshops, hands-on activities, and classroom discussions, and explores how the structure and combination of these course elements contributes to reflection, critical thought, and a more nuanced and complex understanding of food systems (or not). Results suggest that this intensive compare/contrast approach to field trips and applied experiences, accompanied by multiple venues for in-depth verbal and written reflection on these experiences, can help facilitate (1) self-reflection, critical thinking, and broader systems thinking, (2) an understanding of and empathy towards conflicting views on food systems issues, and (3) an acceptance of and ability to work across differences, within the contradictions and complications that characterize food systems work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources has an overall and long-term impact on agricultural development. However, owing to serious wastage of agricultural water resources for a long time, low utilization efficiency of such water resources has become a common problem in developing countries. Past studies have paid scant attention to the impact of soft factors, namely farmers' educational level and market-oriented reforms, especially in a quantified form, on the improvement of agricultural water utilization efficiency. This study adopted the system Generalized Method of Moments estimation method of a dynamic panel model and used provincial panel data from China for 2007–2020 period. The results show that the utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources can indeed be improved by either promoting farmers' education levels or deepening market-oriented reforms. However, with the advancement of market-oriented reforms, the influence of farmers' education level on the utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources gradually weakens, which is due to the "agricultural to non-agricultural" effect. Finally, this paper proposes policy suggestions to improve the utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources from three perspectives: improving the education level of farmers, optimizing the agricultural water pricing system, and improving the agricultural water rights trading system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous development of agricultural technologies and produces trade and updated state reforms strongly shape the dominant organizing styles of local agriculture production. Since the end of the 1970s, rural China has witnessed a drastic agriculture transformation featured by de-collectivization, and recently in Taicang, a developed city in the eastern China, a kind of new cooperative farms have replaced the smallholders by pooling households' contracted farmland, signaling a new shift tendency towards agriculture recollectivization that is distinctive compared to other countries. Given the state governance's leadership in promoting this latest transformation, drawing on the theoretical concept of 'governmentality' that is powerful in understanding how to govern the society to meet certain objectives, this paper examines the accurate processes of agriculture re-collectivization in Taicang City based on the methods of semi-structured interview and participant observation. Our research shows that the China's tax-sharing and relevant reforms in the 1990s framed a new governance structure in line with the new mode of 'governmentality' closely linked to 'advanced liberalism', creating the responsibility shift from central to local governments and a set of evaluation technologies, and guiding various actors to engage in the agriculture re-collectivization practice in Taicang. Importantly, the considerable subsidies and the impressive extension services in terms of farming personnel training and agricultural techniques diffusion underpin the normal running of cooperative farms and contribute to the local implementation of national strategy of agriculture modernization. We argue that the combination of distinctive institutional arrangement of rural land owned by village collectives in China and the burgeoning local economy allows the developed areas to re-collectivizing the agriculture production for ensuring grain self-sufficiency rather than capturing more share in global agriculture products trade, and that the cooperative farms in our case have been deeply integrated into the 'modern procurement system' and become more sensitive to market fluctuation, requiring rural extension service to transform towards farms' capacity building for maintaining the long-term development momentum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was written to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the University of Nottingham's Easter School on 'Issues in Agricultural Bioethics,' organized by Ben Mepham in 1993. At that time, agricultural ethics was being envisioned as an interdisciplinary sub-discipline comparable to that of medical ethics. Agricultural ethicists would co-operate with other agricultural faculty to produce careful articulation, analysis and critique (or defense) of norms and values being implicitly assumed by agricultural researchers, practitioners and policy makers. Roughly two factors have conspired to substantially limit the realization of that vision in the intervening 20 years. First, the institutional environment within agricultural universities was far less conducive to such an activity than medical schools. Second, while the rise of a food-oriented social movement might have provided new opportunities for food ethics, the social movement orientation has actually constrained the kind of philosophical work typically undertaken by bioethicists. The paper ends with a brief note calling for a renewal of the original vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge transfer in agriculture or what is conventionally known as agricultural extension is typically based on two activities: the delivery of education and the provision of advisory services. Formal agricultural education levels have steadily improved over time in Ireland and this growth in the human capital of the agricultural sector is a key aspect of the “smart” agenda set out in National Agricultural Development Strategies. In this paper we focus on the impact of one aspect of agricultural knowledge transfer process by considering the relationship between participation in formal agricultural education, farm level income outcomes and the pathways by which these outcomes are realised via innovation and management practice. In doing so, we contribute to the branch of the wider technology transfer literature concerned with identifying the impact of knowledge transfer activities and also understanding the role of competence building within knowledge transfer processes. Formal agricultural education can impact private returns in terms of improved technical and allocative efficiency. In most Irish agricultural sectors, we find a positive return to agricultural education and in particular a positive relationship in relation to technical efficiency in terms of improved yields. The result is, however, weak in the tillage sector. Evidence of improved allocative efficiency is in general weak, except for the commercial dairy sector. We do, however, find that earlier adopters of innovations or best management practice are more likely to have formal agricultural education. This may be due to reduced risk aversion, higher skills and better decision making. However, as mature technologies and management practices become mainstream across many farmer types, this relationship does not hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the main achievements of the programme on Strengthening Africa's Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID) funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The programme is implemented by the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) through 16 Pilot Institutions (PIs). It focuses on supporting agribusiness development in tertiary agricultural education and research in Africa. Under the programme, ANAFE is working towards refocusing agricultural learning and development objectives, producing contextualized learning materials, managing risk and uncertainties in agriculture, developing and reviewing curricula, retooling lecturers in pedagogy and strategizing on how best to work more closely with the private sector. The paper build on the final SASACID (2012-2014) report jointly developed through the Results-Based Management logical framework with the 16 SASACID Pilot Institutions (PIs) that met in Nairobi November 11-13, 2014. Results show that even though the PIs are at different levels of achievement over 75 % have achieved 80 % of the expected outputs. Management of scholarships for BSc and MSc students working with the private sector on risk management-related issues is among the outputs achieved by all the Pilot Institutions. Formalizing engagement with private sector through signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) was reported by 25 % of the PIs working in Agribusiness through which students were supported to undertake research or internship within selected private sector firms; about 15 % got employed while others initiated their own businesses. A major output from the programme is the development and sharing of Agribusiness and Risk Management curricula frameworks for all degree levels from Diploma, BSc, MSc and PhD. Four Pilot institutions have signed MoUs with ANAFE to test the Agribusiness curricula at various levels. They are Rongo University College, Taita Taveta University College and Strathmore University (all from Kenya) and (Kenya), Mulungushi University (Zambia). The objective of this paper is to highlight ANAFE's key achievements in transforming tertiary agricultural education and research in Africa, with specific reference to the SASACID programme. The programme was implemented from 2011 to 2015. Sixteen (16) ANAFE member institutions from 14 countries, competitively selected, implemented the SASACID programme, which focused on Agribusiness and management of risks and uncertainties in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to a paper calling for the re-engagement of agricultural education with the sciences and science education, this essay is supportive but argues to proceed with caution: one that at first does no harm. I offer a supplementary lens and story of change at Cornell University as a cautionary and motivational tale. I concur with the authors who want to redirect faculty, departments, and societies of agricultural educators to become more tightly aligned with the sciences. The need for and ability to better contribute to the critical discussions on contemporary agriculture issues (e.g., urban farming, GMOs, sustainability, local economies) is timely and important. The trick, however, is to do this without weakening the agricultural education community to the point of extinction. Drawing on Institutional Theory, I offer an enhanced perspective highlighting the importance of resource, conformity, and legitimacy. I explore the nature of competing pressures: the strong and restrictive ties to isolated communities and the pressure to reengage a community with a more socially and intellectually central world. I want to emphasize how these strong ties are typically beneficial to the organizations of interest, despite what it may look like to others outside that sector. It is argued that agricultural education will become increasingly 'vulnerable and isolated' should it not cross the street and at least partially connect with contemporary science, social science, and new policy and ethical concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal network helps disseminate agricultural knowledge in the rural area where formal extension is lacking. However, how the interplay between formal training and informal network promotes technology adoption is still under-studied. This paper aims to examine the effects of training locations upon knowledge and adoption of agricultural techniques via strengthened informal and formal social networks. We administer agricultural training of identical contents in farmers' hometown and in more remote but advanced locations and arrange farmers to travel to the respective locations. Then, we examine locational heterogeneity effects upon conservation and plant-rehabilitation techniques, and social network variables with formal extension services, informal network, and between participants and non-participants. Only farmers trained in the most remote location increase the size and depth of social network with their peers, extension expert, and non-participants upon returning from training. These changes in social networks may encourage them to adopt the technology. While formal training is important for knowledge diffusion, informal network is the key for successful adoption, and these networks are strengthened via training held in the most remote location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The top-ranking world-class universities in agricultural science denote those universities which are globally popular with agriculture-related subjects. The paper synthesizes the results of three different ranking scales (NTU, QS and ARWU) of top 50 universities in agriculture subject in 2013. The overlapped parts have been synchronized to derive the following four classifications: A (agricultural universities amalgamated with others to be an agricultural comprehensive university), R (agricultural universities re-named to be a comprehensive university), M (agricultural universities merged into other units to form or to be a part of a comprehensive university) and C (comprehensive university's agricultural colleges or departments all the time). The following conclusions can be drawn: the majority (up to 94 %) of these universities are comprehensive ones (combination of R, M and C), and only 6 % of them are purely named agricultural universities; merging, renaming and comprehending are the three paths of agricultural universities' development; and to be a world-class university, it is necessary to have more than 9 ESI 1 % advantage subjects among the following: Plant and Animal Science, Environmental Science/Ecology, Biology and Biochemistry, Clinical Medicine, Chemistry, Engineering, Agricultural Sciences, Social Sciences/General, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Pharmacology and Toxicology and Geosciences. It would be possible for specialized universities to be world-class universities in their fields by being a major concentration of teaching and research as well as extending other subjects through merging and renaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the quality of higher education is one of the priority areas worldwide. Transferable competences acquired during studies play a key role in student employment in the labor market. This study aims to compare, through transversal research, the eight transferable competences required by the labor market across occupational sectors, with the degree of satisfaction with their acquisition by university students in agricultural fields of study in Cambodia. This aim makes it possible, in particular, to identify the educational gap in university preparation for the profession. The data were collected from 439 respondents using a self-evaluation questionnaire. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to test the significant difference of each transferable competence associated with respondents' sociodemographic characteristics (gender, field of study, and year of study). The results showed that the highest levels of student satisfaction with sense of responsibility and teamwork and least recognized working with digital technologies and communicating in foreign languages as competences. Additionally, the degree of satisfaction with transferable competences increases among students of later years. This is the first study of transferable competences in Cambodia, allowing a clearer view of education in an Asian environment. Implementing transferable competences in curricula will increase graduates' employability and strengthen the country's economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm-to-school (FTS) programs have garnered the attentions and energies of people in a diverse array of social locations in the food system and are serving as a sort of touchstone for many in the alternative agrifood movement. Yet, unlike other alternative agrifood initiatives, FTS programs intersect directly with the long-established institution of the welfare state, including its vestiges of New Deal farm programs and public entitlement. This paper explores how FTS is navigating the liminal terrain of public and private initiative, particularly the ways in which it interfaces with neoliberalism as both a material and discursive project. It examines the political emergence of school food programs and finds that FTS is strikingly similar to traditional school programs in objectives, but differs in approach. Yet, in their efforts to fill in the gaps created by political and economic neoliberalization, FTS advocates are in essence producing neoliberal forms and practices afresh. These include those associated with contingent labor relationships, private funding sources, and the devolution of responsibility to the local, all of which have serious consequences for social equity. The paper also discusses how FTS programs are employing the rhetoric of neoliberal governmentality, including personal responsibility and individual success, consumerism, and choice. While these may be tactical choices used to secure funding in a competitive environment, they may also contribute to the normalization of neoliberalism, further circumscribing the possibilities of what can be imagined and created to solve social problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable agriculture and ways to achieve it are important issues for agricultural policy. However, the concept of sustainability has yet to be made operational in many agricultural situations, and only a few studies so far have addressed the implementation process of sustainable agriculture. This paper provides an assessment of the Territorial Farming Contracts (TFC) – the French model for implementing sustainable agriculture – and aims to give some insights into the ways to facilitate the development of sustainable farming. Using a systems approach, the founding concept of the TFC model, an analysis has been made of the TFCs signed in the Midi-Pyrenees Region in south-western France. The results show that the first aspect of sustainability apparent in farmers’ projects referred to economic objectives. The environmental and social aspects were not foremost in the farming changes undertaken. In addition, the territorial dimension of the TFC was under-addressed. The majority of TFCs reveal a moderate or even low convergence with territorial priorities. These results are explained partly by the dominance of professional farming organizations in the implementation of TFC, and they imply that the organizational social dimensions of sustainability must not be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest resource extraction by local communities has been cited as a major impediment to the efficient management of protected forests. This paper develops a two sector dynamic model for farming and forest resource extraction by communities living in the forest periphery. The model assumes that land under forestry is constant and households allocate their time to farming and forestry. Comparative dynamic results suggest that higher prices for agriculture output, lower input prices, better knowledge of farming techniques and a lower discount rate may result in a higher equilibrium stock of forest resources. Tobit analysis with primary data collected from the Sinharaja forest in Sri Lanka provides supportive empirical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural information is transferred through social interactions; therefore, ties to agricultural informants and network structures within farmers' local neighborhoods determine their information-gathering abilities. This paper uses a spatial autoregressive model that takes account of spatial autocorrelation to examine such network connections, including friendship networks and advice networks, upon farmers' knowledge-gathering abilities during formal agricultural training. We found that peer advice networks are important to support knowledge-gathering activities, while friendship networks are not. Further examination of network structures confirms that farmers who occupy a central position in their local neighborhood networks are found to perform better in learning outcomes to some extent, indicating that local network position is positively related to problem-solving ability in an unknown environment outside their locale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offer information on the joint annual meeting of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society. Theme of the meeting; Schedule; Name of the host; Conference coordinator; Program committee; Abstracts of proposals for the panel discussions.

Labour force participation rate in the Indian agricultural sector is gradually declining. This paper wants to investigate the possible causes behind it. Here both possible push and pool factors behind this decline are considered simultaneously. Initially, on the basis of 70th round NSSO data on agricultural households, it is tested whether or not marginal farmers are enjoying comparative advantage during the time of getting employment in the agricultural sector as agricultural labourer. But as 'decline' is a flow concept, to investigate possible reasons behind this decline, we have considered six rounds state-level NSSO data on Employment Unemployment Survey of India and its 20 major states. Applying fixed effect panel data regression technique after considering state-specific possible factors, it is found that gradual decline of per capita land holdings is the major push factor responsible for gradual decline of labour force participation rate in Indian agriculture. Apart from that, other push factors like hike of real agricultural wage rate, improvement in education level of the agricultural households and pull factor like hike of non-farm real wage, employment opportunities in construction and other non-farm activities are found significant for gradual decline of labour force participation rate in Indian agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change and its possible ecological consequences have become the focused issue (IPCC, 2007; Mann et al., 2008; Ding et al., 2009). The Holocene contains the analogous characteristic of future climatic change and the continuous agriculture activity, providing the ideal “similar pattern” for studying the climate change and human adaption and impact in the future. Based on the recent studies of stalagmite, ice core, ocean, and lake etc., the paper introduces the new progress in the Holocene climate and agriculture research in China as follows: (1) Discuss the variability, amplitude, and unstable characteristic of climate, as well as the abrupt events and mechanisms of climate. (2) Analyze the botanical index records for studying the early agriculture. (3) Review the agricultural origin, expanding, and development. (4) Reveal the style and intensity of early agriculture and understand the agricultural impact and adaption to the environmental changes. (5) Introduce ongoing research projects in China and emphasize the significance of increasing the dating precision and the indicative effectiveness of proxies. (6) Realize how the ecosystem and environmental factors respond to the increasing temperature process, understand how the human adapt to the rapid climate change, and provide the scientific basis for assessing the effects of climate change and the human adaption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use a critically reflective research approach to analyze our efforts at transformative learning in food systems education in a land grant university. As a team of learners across the educational hierarchy, we apply scholarly tools to the teaching process and learning outcomes of student-centered inquiries in a food systems course. The course, an interdisciplinary, lower division undergraduate course at the University of California, Davis is part of a new undergraduate major in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. We provide an overview of the course's core elements-labs, exams, assignments, and lectures-as they relate to social constructivist learning theory and student-centered inquiries. Then, through qualitative analysis of students' reflective essays about their learning experiences in the course, we demonstrate important transformative outcomes of student-centered inquiries: (1) most students confronted the commodity fetish and tried to reconcile tensions between what the food system is and ought to be, and (2) students repositioned themselves, their thinking, and social deliberation in relation to the food system. Students' reflections point to the power of learning that emerges through their inquiry process, including in the field, and from critical self-reflection. We also highlight the importance of reflective essays in both reinforcing experiential learning and in helping instructors to better understand students' learning vis-à-vis our teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper estimates a more efficient version of an endogenous switching regression model to examine the effects of farmer education—schooling and extension contact—on cowpea production under traditional and improved technology in northern Nigeria. The results revealed significant productivity-enhancing effects of schooling and extension contact only under improved technology. Factors that promote technology adoption will thus indirectly raise the marginal contributions of farmer education; these include schooling, participatory technology evaluation, improved seed supply, and market access. The results demonstrate that schooling not only enhances agricultural productivity following technology adoption but also promotes adoption itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to show how culture – shared norms and values – is challenged and used to facilitate cooperative behavior within the context of farmer field schools (FFS) in central Luzon, Philippines. The success of the FFS is primarily associated with cultural norms that encourage experiential and collective learning and eventually lead to the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) methods among the farmers. The study was conducted in central Luzon, the rice granary region of the Philippines, from 1992 to 1995 and again in 1999. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. Results indicate that a keen understanding of Filipino culture and values is essential if FFS is to be successful and if farmers are to successfully learn and practice IPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many agricultural, biological, and environmental studies involve detecting temporal changes of a response variable, based on data observed at sampling sites in a spatial region and repeatedly over several time points. That is, data are repeated measures over time and are potentially correlated across space. The traditional repeated-measures analysis allows for time dependence but assumes that the observations at different sampling sites are mutually independent, which may not be suitable for field data that are correlated across space. In this paper, a nonparametric large-sample inference procedure is developed to assess the time effects while accounting for the spatial dependence using a block bootstrap. For illustration, the methodology is applied to describe the population changes of root-lesion nematodes over time in a production field in Wisconsin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of education on farm productivity in the case of growers of modern and traditional varieties of paddy in Odisha, Eastern India. Using an endogenous switching regression model, the study has found that a minimum threshold level of education is significantly influencing the adoption of modern varieties of paddy and thereby the farm productivity of adopters only. So, the study finds the evidence in support of Schultz hypothesis that says education enhances farm productivity in the case of adopters of modern technology. The study suggests that farmers’ field school program must be implemented along with a strong extension network in the study region for a wider dissemination modern technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including an environmental education project involving high school students engaging in watershed studies, the primacy of the Aristotelian concept of phronesis, and agricultural science education.

The article presents abstracts related to distance education program in Satellite-Based Programming, agriculture and instructional television (ITV) delivery system.

We propose to consider semi-natural habitats—hotspots for biodiversity—being caught in a socio-ecological extinction vortex, similar to the phenomenon described for species threatened with extinction. These habitats are essentially socioecological systems, in which socioeconomic drivers are interlinked with ecological processes. We identify four highly interlinked and mutually reinforcing socio-economic processes, pertaining to the importance of semi-natural habitats for (i) agricultural production, (ii) policy, research and development; (iii) vocational education in the fields of agricultural sciences and (iv) public's experiences with semi-natural habitats. Evidence from six countries in the boreal region demonstrates that recent slowing down or even reversal of two processes are insufficient to stop the extinction vortex phenomenon. We suggest research directions to ascertain the phenomenon, monitor its development and develop proactive actions to weaken the vortex. It is highly plausible that interventions directed at most, if not all, of the key vortex processes are needed to reverse the overall deteriorating trends of a socio-ecological system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. agriculture is both a major source of global food and a key contributor to multiple interconnected crises. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and severe impacts on soil and water quality are among the challenges caused by U.S. industrial agriculture. Regenerative methods of farming are necessary to confront all these challenges simultaneously, in addition to addressing the increasing challenges to farm labor conditions. Transforming U.S. agriculture to a regenerative system will require a focus on creating traction for the values, beliefs, worldviews, and paradigms that effectively support such transformation while decreasing the friction that works against them. With a focus on creating traction for transformation, we review the factors and processes that tend to promote and maintain ecological improvements on farms. Starting from a case study that points to some of the sources of friction and traction in the current U.S. agricultural system, we use the framework of three spheres of transformation to focus discussion on how processes that form beliefs and values shape and can reshape farming. We develop a series of points of entry for engaging the systemic changes that will offer farmers traction for transformation. We review literature on agricultural networks, polycentric governance, social learning, agricultural education, and farmer characteristics that lend themselves to ecologically mindful change, thereby identifying interventions that tend to provide traction for change. These approaches, and the supports that allow rural communities and the people that work in them to survive and thrive, are necessary to create the traction needed for farms to undergo a shift to regenerative agricultural practices. We link these changes to the promise of the twentieth century New Deal agricultural programs and the potential of the Green New Deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between individual, institutional and demographic characteristics on one hand and the research productivity of agriculture faculty members on the other. The statistical population of the research comprises 280 academic staff in agricultural faculties all over Tehran Province. The data regarding research productivity and demographic characteristics were extracted from the faculty members' profiles. Questionnaires were utilized to collect information concerning individual and institutional variables. The reliably of the questionnaire was calculated to be between 0.74 and 0.97 using the Cronbach's Alpha. The regression analysis revealed that from among demographic characteristics two variables, namely, academic rank and age ( $$ {\text{R}}_{\text{AD}}^{ 2} $$ = 0.265), among individual characteristics, three variables, namely, working habits, creativity as well as autonomy and commitment ( $$ {\text{R}}_{\text{AD}}^{ 2} $$ = 0.097), and among institutional characteristics four variables namely, network of communication with colleagues, resources of facilities, corporate management and clear research objectives ( $$ {\text{R}}_{\text{AD}}^{ 2} $$ = 0.151) were significant predictors for agricultural faculty members' research productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to capture farmers' perceptions and adaptations to climate change in agriculture sector. Along with this, it also identified farmers' adaptations to perceived climate change. Binary logit models were applied on data of 386 farmers, collected from three different agro-ecological zones of Punjab, Pakistan, to present a comprehensive analysis of different adaptation strategies missing in the existing literature. The coefficients of a binary logit model only explain the direction of change; therefore, to see the magnitude of change, marginal effects were also estimated. Findings revealed that farmers perceived climate change and opted different adaptation strategies. Results of binary logit models described age, education, farming experience, landholding, access to climate information, access to credit facilities, and access to extension services as important determinants of adaptation. This research also found lack of access to climate information, lack of irrigation resources, and knowledge about appropriate adaptations as key constraints in adaptation process. This situation can be improved by enhancing institutional support and capacity. It is suggested that improved agricultural education with better access to climate information and extension services affects the farmers' well-being directly and hence is good for the economy of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to the joint 2004 annual meetings of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society which is to be held in Poughkeepsie, New York, during June 10 to June 13, 2004. The meeting will bring together two multidisciplinary professional and scholarly societies for the purpose of discussing contemporary issues related to food, eating, dietary, and nutritional behaviors; food and agricultural practices and public policies toward food and agriculture.

School gardens and garden-based learning continue to gain great popularity in the United States, and their pedagogical potential, and ability to impact students' fruit and vegetable consumption and activity levels have been well-documented. Less examined is their potential to be agents of food system reskilling and transformation. Though producer and consumer are inextricably linked in the food system, and deskilling of one directly influences the other, theorists often focus on production-centered and consumption-centered deskilling separately. However, in a school garden, the production/consumption disconnect is erased, by virtue of the design of the site itself and how it is utilized by the actors within it. School gardens provide the critical component of education in alternative food networks, and contribute to the producer/consumer reskilling that is a necessary part of food system transformation. We conducted a case study of an established school garden program during its transition from autonomous non-profit to official, district-funded program of a rural school district in the Midwest. By participating in the full "seed to plate" life cycle of a garden crop, students in the garden were actively involved in the reconnection of producer and consumer, while educators were fostering in students an appreciation for fresh, healthy foods and actively challenging the "McDonaldization" of both students' diets and education. Based upon these findings, we argue that school gardens in rural areas could leverage the dominant role of rural America in developing and shifting food system paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze agricultural transition periods in order to provide a new framework for agricultural development in Iran. Considering the foreseeable future, an innovative or knowledge-based economy will substitute the obsolete economy. In that respect, agriculture sector must adapt to these alternations in order to cope with the posed challenges. Multifunctional agriculture seems to be an enhanced alternative in which entrepreneurship is at the center of it. The results indicate that the focus of the Nation's policies is on agricultural productivism, as well as the assertion of developmental programs that are toward the more involvement of post-productivism in decision-making. Though, the need for entertaining and establishing a more comprehensive conception on Iranian rural and agricultural thought and practice is sensible. It seems that Iran can also benefit from multifunctional agriculture toward sustainability and the production of healthy food. To move toward multifunctional agriculture, which is the same as entrepreneurial agriculture, at first, the economic theory, which is upheld, ought to be altered and taken toward an innovative economy. As a consequence, the agricultural system should also be changed and multifunctional agriculture should be considered while environmental considerations need to be enabled to achieve more entrepreneurial agriculture. To achieve this feat, agricultural education as an enabler of developing non-traditional attitude, entrepreneurial intentions, competencies, identities, and entrepreneurial experiences among young future farmers should not be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become a global concern with important impacts in all regions of the world, especially in agriculture sector. In response, farmers take different adaptation strategies to minimise the negative impacts of climate change. This study provides answers to how farmers perceive climate change and what drives their adaptation decisions. To do this, data were collected from a random sample of 200 maize farmers in the municipality of Zè, Benin. Results indicated that almost all the maize farmers perceived change in climate variables. The adaptation strategies used by maize farmers in the municipality of Zè included adjustment in sowing time, use of improved crop varieties, crop and livestock integration and tree planting. Estimates of the multivariate probit model revealed that farmers' capacity to choose a specific adaptation strategy is affected by age, gender, marital status, education, experience in maize production, credit, distance to market, ownership of TV and agricultural training. These results suggest the need for institutional and technology support measures in adapting to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union includes three greening measures, which are partly intended to benefit farmland biodiversity. However, the relative biodiversity effects of the greening measures, including joint effects of landscape context, are not well understood.Objectives: We studied the effects of increasing crop diversity, proportions of production grasslands and fallows, corresponding to CAP greening measures, on open farmland bird diversity, whilst controlling for the effects of distance to forests, field edge density and proportion of built-up areas.Methods: We surveyed open farmland birds using territory mapping in Southern Finland. We modelled effects of greening measures and landscape structure on farmland birds (7642 territories) using generalised linear mixed models.Results: Increasing proportions of grasslands increased farmland bird species richness and diversity in open farmland, whereas increasing proportions of fallows increased bird diversity. Increasing crop diversity benefited individual species, but not species richness or diversity. Increasing field edge densities consistently increased the species richness of all farmland species, in-field nesters and non-crop nesters, as well as total farmland bird diversity. The relative effect of edge density was much stronger compared to the three greening measures.Conclusions: Our results show that promoting fallows and grasslands, in particular grazed grasslands and various types of semi-natural grasslands, has the highest potential to benefit farmland bird diversity. Maintaining or increasing field edge densities, currently not supported, seems to be of even more benefit. In open farmland, with little or no field edges, fallows and grasslands are particularly beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: It remains unclear how agricultural landscapes can best serve multiple purposes such as simultaneously maintaining agricultural productivity and conserving biodiversity.Objectives: Our objective was to assess how important components of biodiversity changed with different land covers, and to uncover whether particular landscapes could simultaneously deliver high agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation.Methods: In agriculture-forest mosaics of Southern Ethiopia, we assessed tree and bird biodiversity using detrended correspondence analyses and binomial generalized linear mixed effects models in four zones differing in cropland, grassland, and tree cover as well as agricultural production (crop, livestock feed and fuel).Results: Tree and bird communities differed along gradients of cropland, grassland, and tree cover, implying that different species benefit from different types of land management. Bird species with smaller ranges were most abundant in the agricultural zone with highest tree cover, exceeding that of even the forest zone, and demonstrating the value of complex mosaics for conservation. The agricultural zone with the highest tree cover also had the highest total productivity in terms of crop, feed, and fuel, perhaps supported in part by ecosystem services provided by invertebrate-eating birds and trees.Conclusions: Our results challenge current paradigms of agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation in human dominated landscapes and point to the possibility of achieving both in multifunctional landscapes. Our work also highlights the importance of considering measures of agricultural productivity beyond mere crop yields when assessing the performance of multifunctional landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pedagogical principle learning by research guides the current curriculum in agricultural high schools in Brazil. A problematization of the principle shows how (1) it feeds into current neoliberal and corporate agendas in the education sector, and (2) it associates mathematical formalism and abstraction as necessary conditions for the production and use of biotechnology. Data consists of official national and institutional policy documents, as well as interviews conducted with nine former students, along with their school notebooks and tests. The theoretical and methodological framework draws on the work of Michel Foucault. It is argued that neoliberal market values are embedded in the mathematics education, through the articulation of abstract and formal reasoning with techno-scientific knowledge, for the purpose of competitive production. The learning by research principle shapes students’ subjectivities to desire becoming techno-scientificized individuals. The ethical question of the subordination of the value of mathematics education to a neoliberal, predominantly marketized logic is raised as a challenge to the role of mathematics in contemporary cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing entrepreneurial graduates is essential to the future of higher education and supply of quality human resources in developing countries. To address this issue in the agriculture sector, which is dominant in economic terms in most developing countries, an exploratory combined qualitative and quantitative research was conducted to understand entrepreneurial learning of agricultural graduate entrepreneurs. For the phenomenological study, 14 agricultural graduate entrepreneurs were purposely selected, and for the quantitative study, 92 entrepreneurs were selected through simple random sampling method. The phenomenological study revealed 12 themes on how graduates experienced entrepreneurial learning. Our study finds support for “experiential learning,” “learning by doing,” and “social learning” theories. Nine themes including previous business experience, risk-taking propensity, entrepreneurial persistence, use of various information sources, tendency to be self-employed, concerns about job or career, interest in practical courses and activities, passion for agriculture, and thinking outside the box are internal to the entrepreneur and could be seen as learner identity. The theme of “support from family and friends” could be seen as a significant external influence. The survey showed that entrepreneurial learning themes were generalizable to the studied population. Although different students can take different learning paths to become the best they can be, our findings suggest that the overall student learning experience can be designed to ensure that graduates are more likely to become entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future practitioners of sustainable agriculture and agroecology must have the capacity to address the wicked problems in the food system to make progress toward sustainability. Undergraduate sustainable agriculture students from a variety of backgrounds may struggle with the question, is the challenging and complex work of addressing wicked problems of agroecology for me? Our case study investigated sociocultural tensions associated with identity encountered when wicked problems teaching units were integrated into the Advanced Practices of Sustainable Agriculture course at a large, Midwestern Land Grant University. The research and course employed a four-part framework that focused on (1) attending to individual needs and identities, (2) facilitating practice-based and community-based learning, (3) engaging in problems situated in regional contexts, and (4) supporting awareness of local and global political and ecological issues. Researchers used a community of practice theoretical lens, and focused on the sociocultural tensions that may have impacted individual and community identity formation. Two wicked problems teaching units are described by drawing upon documentation and audio recordings from planning meetings, course sessions, student and instructor interviews, and course artifacts. Vignettes were constructed to situate four interrelated types of sociocultural tensions encountered by instructors and students. These tensions reflected forces at the individual, community, local, and global levels which interact to influence learners' capacity to become full participants in sustainable agriculture. The study fills a gap related to affective dimensions of learning like identity in agroecology education. Dilemmas and implications related to identity, pedagogy, and epistemology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture plays a key role in national economies and individual livelihoods in many developing countries, and yet agriculture as a field of study and an occupation remain under-emphasized in many educational systems. In addition, working in agriculture is often perceived as being less desirable than other fields, and not a viable or compelling option for students who have received a post-secondary education. This article explores the historical and contemporary perceptions of agriculture as a field of study and an occupation globally, and applies themes from the literature to analyze primary data from focus groups with international students studying for university degrees in the United States. The article analyzes students' perceptions and experiences in four countries-Bangladesh, Nepal, Honduras and Haiti-in order to make recommendations about how best to address challenges and develop capacity in agricultural education and employment in low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It can be argued that agricultural science is one of the original forms of science education. However, over the past century, agricultural science education has habitually been perceived as an educational venue meant solely for production agriculturalists. When examining modern agricultural education we find it to be a minority within the broader field of science education, contradicting its historically stout scientific standing within the sciences. This educational shift leaves one to ponder the historic development of contemporary agricultural education. To gain deeper insight into these questions we reviewed the historical evolution of agricultural education within the United States. We then examined the professional habitus, or cultural nuances, associated with contemporary agricultural education. Next, we considered potential outcomes associated with the profession embracing post-modern perspectives within mainstream science and community-based education. Finally, we call for critical venues within agriculture education to question the status quo and challenge the acceptance of commonly held views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of colleges and universities with campus agriculture projects in the US has grown from an estimated 23 in 1992 to nearly 300 today with possible increased numbers predicted. The profile emerging from campus agriculture projects looks a lot different from the traditional land grant colleges of agriculture. In spite of this emergent trend and staunch advocacy for campus agriculture projects, limited empirical research on agriculture-based learning in higher education exists outside agriculture degrees and theoretical work of scholars such as Liberty Hyde Bailey and David Orr. This study explored the diversity of characteristics and pedagogical objectives of emerging campus agriculture projects through a nationwide compilation, surveying campus agriculture project directors and educators, and multiple case studies. Data collected gives empirical evidence supporting claims agriculture is taking on a different identity in higher education. Issues of sustainability, food, and agriculture are not only influencing the physical workings of colleges and universities, but pedagogy on a departmental and institutional scale. Findings illustrate a re-visioning of how higher education is interfacing with agriculture and agriculture-based education beyond traditional agriculture degrees at land grant colleges of agriculture to focus teaching sustainability, critical thinking and inquiry skills, and fostering a sense of belonging to community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, higher education systems seek to use network-based and Internet-based information technologies in education, teaching and learning. E-learning in Iran higher education system has been started since 2003, however, its development has been very slow. The present study is a survey research. The participants of the study are faculty members, graduates and PhD students in Agriculture in Bu Ali Sina University. Total number of participants were analyzed ( n = 500). The accuracy of indicators and items in the questionnaire (face validity) has been confirmed by specialists. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Reliability was calculated by using Cronbach Alpha. In this study, Factor analysis is used to achieve the key factors. The results show that deficiency of executives, lack of learners' motivation, infrastructural barriers, restriction of credit, and software and hardware limitations are the main problems in the development of web-based training. At the end of the article, some recommendations are presented aiming to accelerate electronic training in Iran's higher education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large inputs of phosphorus (P) in chemical fertilizers and feed supplements since 1978 have improved soil P status in arable land in China, but have also created challenges by increasing P concentrations in manure and exacerbating water quality degradation. Arable land in China can be divided into five management zones based on soil P chemistry, with 15-92 % of arable land having lower P status than the agronomic optimum and 0.3-7.2 % having severe risks of P leaching losses. A scenario analysis of soil P budget and agronomic P demand during 2011-2030 highlighted the great pressure China faces in sustainable P management and the need for drastic changes in current practices. This includes new policies to reduce P supplementation of feed and improved P use efficiency by livestock and programs to expand the adoption of appropriate fertilization, soil conservation, and drainage management practices to minimize P losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study that examines the complexity of swidden cultivation system in Vietnam through the application of scientific methodology system thinking approach. Topics discussed include the description of Swidden cultivators, the adaptation of the Vietnamese government policy 'fixed cultivation, fixed residence' which aims to stop swidden cultivation, and the results of studies concerning swidden cultivation.

In its simplest case, ANOVA can be seen as a generalization of the t-test for comparing the means of a continuous variable in more than two groups defined by the levels of a discrete covariate, a so-called factor. Testing is then typically done by using the standard F-test. Here, we consider the special but frequent case of factor levels that are ordered. We propose an alternative test using mixed models methodology. The new test often outperforms the standard F-test when factor levels are ordered. We illustrate the proposed testing procedure in simulation studies and three typical applications: nonparametric dose response analysis in agriculture, associations between rating scales and a continuous outcome, and testing differentially expressed genes with ordinal phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been a number of consumers' studies looking at factors that influence individuals' attitudes and behavior toward GM foods, few studies have considered agricultural professionals' intentions in this regard. This study illuminates agricultural professionals' insights toward GM foods in Southwest Iran. A random sample of 262 respondents was studied. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents had little knowledge about GM foods. They perceived few benefits or risks of GM foods. Their perceived benefits and trust in individuals and institutions had positive impacts on the behavioral intentions of the agricultural professionals. The results also revealed that the low knowledge level of the respondents had a negative impact on the behavioral intentions toward GM foods. This state of affairs is problematic, either GM foods have serious problems or the knowledge conveyed to the Iranian agricultural experts is inappropriate. We recommend a well defined communication strategy to provide information in such a way that allows individuals to feel adequately informed about GM foods. Furthermore, the development of trust and knowledge regarding GM foods can be greater when risk analysis frameworks are transparent, risk assessment methodologies are objective, all stakeholders are engaged in the risk management process, and risk communication focuses on consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The projected impact of climate change on agro-ecological systems is considered widespread and significant, particularly across the global tropics. As in many other countries, adaptation to climate change is likely to be an important challenge for Colombian agricultural systems. In a recent study, a national-level assessment of the likely future impacts of climate change on agriculture was performed (Ramirez-Villegas et al. Clim Chang 115:611-628, , RV2012). The study diagnosed key challenges directly affecting major crops and regions within the Colombian agricultural system and suggested a number of actions thought to facilitate adaptation, while refraining from proposing specific strategies at local scales. Further insights on the study were published by Feola () (F2013), who stressed the need for transformative adaptation processes to reduce vulnerability particularly of resource-limited farmers, and the benefits of a predominantly stakeholder-led approach to adaptation. We clarify that the recommendations outlined in RV2012 were not intended as a recipe for multi-scale adaptation, but rather a set of actions that are required to diagnose and develop adaptation actions particularly at governmental levels in coordination with national and international adaptation initiatives. Such adaptation actions ought to be, ideally, a product of inclusive sub-sectorial assessments, which can take different forms. We argue that Colombian agriculture as a whole would benefit from a better outlining of adaptation needs across temporal scales in sub-sectorial assessments that take into account both RV2012 and F2013 orientations to adaptation. We conclude with two case studies of research on climate change impacts and adaptation developed in Colombia that serve as examples of realistic, productive sectorial and sub-national assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two diseases of adzuki bean, brown stem rot (BSR, caused by Cadophora gregata f. sp. adzukicola) and adzuki bean Fusarium wilt (AFW, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. adzukicola), are serious problems in Hokkaido and have been controlled using cultivars with multiple resistance. However, because a new race of BSR, designated race 3, was identified, sources of parental adzuki bean for resistance to race 3 were needed. Therefore, we examined 67 cultivars and lines of cultivated and wild adzuki bean maintained at the Tokachi Agricultural Experiment Station using a root-dip inoculation method. Consequently, nine adzuki bean cultivars, one wild adzuki bean accession and 30 lines (including two lines resistant to all the three races of BSR and AFW) were confirmed to be resistant or tolerant to race 3 of BSR, and we found a cultivar Akamame as well as a wild adzuki bean Acc2515 to be a new source for a resistance gene to the race 3. This cultivar also holds promise as a source of resistance against other races of BSR and AFW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major strategy in the creation of sustainable economies is the establishment of alternative market institutions, such as fair trade and local market systems. However, the dynamics of these alternative markets are poorly understood. What are the rules of behavior by which these markets function? How do these markets maintain their separate identity as “alternative”: apart from the conventional (“free”) market system? Building on Lyson’s notion of civic agriculture, we argue that alternative markets maintain themselves through civic engagement. However, we argue that the civically-engaged practices of alternative markets are poorly understood. We seek, therefore, to begin a conversation about the everyday forms of civic engagement in alternative practice and to do this we introduce a few useful conceptual tools. Building upon ideas in science studies about the collaboration of scientists (Hess, Alternative pathways in science and industry, 2007) we argue that civic markets have their own “market fields” and “modes of governance” (Bulkeley et al., Environment and Planning A 39:2733–2753, 2007), their own fields of social interaction in which rules of behavior become stabilized and determine how the market works. The creation of a social field also requires the demarcation of boundaries, referred to in the science studies literature as “boundary work” (Gieryn, Cultural boundaries of science: Credibility on the line, 1999). We apply the idea of boundary work to understand how alternative market actors maintain boundaries between alternative and conventional markets. Finally, studies of collaboration in science have often centered on the object created through these interactions, an object that is partially material and partially a product of knowledge, what (Rheinberger, Toward a history of epistemic things: Synthesizing proteins in the test tube, 1997) calls an “epistemic object.” We use this idea to understand that the creation of alternative objects of exchange, such as organic food, are epistemic objects in that they combine both particular materialities and particular ways of knowing. Using these concepts, we will carry out a close analysis of the mode of governance in the national organic market, looking specifically a recent governance crisis in organic agriculture known as the Harvey lawsuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation agriculture in its version of permanent raised bed planting with crop residue retention increases yields and improves soil characteristics, e.g. aggregate distribution, organic matter content, so it remained to be seen how greenhouse gas emissions and dynamics of C and N might be altered. The objective of this study was to investigate how conservation agriculture with permanent raised beds, tied ridges, i.e. dykes within the furrows to prevent water run-off, and residue retention affected greenhouse gas emissions. A field experiment was started in 1999 comparing permanent and conventionally tilled raised beds with different residue management under rain fed conditions. Soil was characterized and emissions of CH4, N2O and CO2 and dynamics of NH4 +, NO2 − and NO3 − were monitored in a laboratory experiment. The crop and tied ridges had no effect on soil characteristics and dynamics of C and N. Tilled beds reduced the water holding capacity (WHC) 1.1 times and increased conductivity 1.3 times compared to soil under nontilled beds with retention of all crop residues. The WHC, organic C, soil microbial biomass and total N were ≥1.1 larger in soil from nontilled beds where the crop residue was retained compared to where it was removed after only 6 years. The emission of CO2 was 1.2 times and production of NO3 − 1.8 times larger in nontilled beds where the crop residue was retained compared to where it was removed. The CO2 emission was 1.2 times and the emission of N2O after 1 day 2.3 times larger in soil under tilled beds compared to nontilled beds with full residue retention, while the increase in concentration of NO3 − was 0.05 mg N kg−1 soil in the former and 2.38 in the latter. We found that permanent raised bed planting with crop residue retention decreased emissions of N2O and CO2 compared to soil under conventionally tilled raised beds. Production of NO3 − is larger in soil with permanent raised bed planting with crop residue retention compared to conventionally tilled raised beds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]