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Farm businesses producing fruit for the fresh fruit market require significant amounts of labour, especially for harvesting. In other agricultural industries, like cropping, the reliance on labour has reduced because machines have replaced labour. At the moment, machines do not replace labour for horticultural businesses supplying the fresh fruit market, consequently the labour cost is significant. However, machines, like a mobile platform, may improve the efficiency of labour or reduce the need for particular skills. Mobile platforms are not new and have been a consideration for fruit growers since the 1970s, but rising costs of labour has increased interest in investing in them. Research in the United States, Europe and South Africa into the benefits of mobile platforms has found, in some cases, that using a platform can improve productivity and occupational health and safety, but the findings are inconclusive. The aim of this investigation was to identify the labour needs for Australian growers supplying apples to the fresh fruit market and to investigate and form a view about the role a mobile platform has against other tools that can be used by growers to assist labour. This study has found that the 'best' combination of equipment, machinery and labour to use to assist in the main production tasks of horticultural businesses depends on the many and varied characteristics of the business, the segment of the market the farmer sells into, the operator and the skills and cost of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture in low latitude countries such as Sri Lanka is already operating at the maximum temperature limits for crop growth and faces increased production risk from expected climate change. Sri Lanka is a developing country with limited economic and technological capacity to develop adaptation strategies; hence more vu lnerable to climate change than developed countries. Coconut (Cocos nucifera L) is a rain fed perennial crop important in Sri Lankan culture, food consumption and the economy. It is the second most important food in the Sri Lankan diet after rice. Several studies have examined the impact of climate change on Sri Lankan agriculture, but none were conducted to simulate the impact of future climate change and future adaptation strategies on coconut production, or to calculate the economic welfare effects for different stakeholders in the coconut value chain. In this paper we report the development of an economic model of the coconut value chain that allows prediction of welfare impacts, and a quantitative representation of coconut yield that allows prediction of the impact of changing climatic conditions. The average outcome of 16 climate models was used to generate future climatic conditions, with two future climatic scenarios for 2020, 2030 and 2050 considered for three production regions. The most important yield estimate was a yield decline of more than 10 percent in the wet climatic zone due to the expected increase of maximum temperature. Without extra adaptation measures this is predicted to result in a loss to the industry of 4,795 Rs. Million annually by 2020, which is nearly 4.7 percent of the total value of the industry at equilibrium prices and quantities. The negative impact of climate change has the potential to be reduced with the implementation of additional adaptation practices. However, the cost effectiveness of these practices needs to be considered. Wider adoption of fertilizer application at specific times and moisture conservation practices are estimated to be economically beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in rainfall and rising temperatures due to climate change pose a formidable challenge to the sustainability of broadacre crop yields in Western and South-Eastern Australia. Output from18 Global Climate Models (GCMs) for the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A2 scenario was statistically downscaled to four contrasting locations. For the first time in these regions, bias corrected statistically downscaled climate data were employed to drive the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) crop model that integrates the effects of soil, crop phenotype, and management options for a quantitative comparison of crop yields and phenology under an historical and a plausible projected climate. The dynamic APSIM simulation model explore the implications of climate change across multiple locations and multiple time periods (1961–2010, 2030, 2060 and 2090) for multiple key crops (wheat, barley, lupin, canola, field pea) grown in three different types of soil. On average, the ensemble of downscaled GCM projections show a decrease in rainfall in the future at the four locations considered, with increased variability at two locations. At all locations and for five crops, future changes in both crop biomass and grain yield are strongly associated with changes in rainfall (P = 0.05 to P = 0.001). The overall rainfall amount is critical in determining yields but, equally, higher future temperatures can contribute to reducing crop productivity primarily due to advanced crop phenology. For example, for wheat cropping at Hamilton (a higher rainfall site), there is a significant advancement in median flowering date for 2030, 2060, and 2090 of 10, 18, and 29 days respectively with a significant 0.50% grain yield changes for each percentage change in rainfall compared to significant 0.90% grain yield changes in Cunderdin (a lower rainfall site). At all sites except Hamilton, the change in crop grain yield is significantly correlated (P = 0.001) with the percentage change in the future rainfall and the impact increased progressively from higher rainfall to lower rainfall sites. However, the magnitude of the change in crop phenology and yield were not significantly different between soil types. These results help to define regions of concern and their relative importance in the coming years. In this future climate the negative consequences for crop yields and advancement of phenology relative to baseline are not uniform across crops and locations. Of the crops studied – wheat, barley, lupin, canola and field pea – field pea is the most sensitive to the projected future climate changes, and the ensemble median changes in field pea yield range from a decrease of 12% to a decrease of 45%, depending on location. These results highlight the importance of research and policy to support strategies for adapting to climate change, such as advances in agronomy, soil moisture conservation, seasonal climate forecasting and breeding new crop varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As farming machinery size and weight increases, soil compaction continues to threaten mechanized agriculture. Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) minimizes soil compaction in the crop zone by restricting traffic to permanent tracks. The adoption of CTF in Europe is low. This study enhances the understanding of farmers' needs and perceptions concerning the application of CTF by analyzing survey data from 103 farmers sampled from 8 European countries. The study adopted a descriptive approach to data analysis. Awareness about traffic-induced soil compaction is high among surveyed farmers and there are positive perceptions about the potential of CTF. The major factors limiting adoption of CTF appear to be: lack of compatibility in machinery and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) by different manufacturers; expense (equipment purchase, Real-time Kinematic (RTK) signal, machinery modification); lack of demonstrated benefits under local conditions; incomplete knowledge of research findings and decision support tools; and a perception that CTF is not for small farms. The following interventions are suggested for future development and use of CTF: a shift towards lighter, simpler, adaptable, and energy effective machinery; adapted market models for cost-effective provision of basic services; demonstration of costs and benefits under local conditions in tandem with demand-driven decision support tools as well as standardization of equipment and positioning systems. • Surveyed farmers reported to be concerned by soil compaction as a result of heavy field machinery. • Surveyed farmers reveal positive perception about CTF. • Major factors limiting CTF adoption are affordability, adaptability and access from the surveyed farmers' perspective. • Coordination of efforts among stakeholders is needed for CTF future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]