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| Precision Management of Cereal
Fields |
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Agroecological Study of Sustainable
Cultivation Systems for Cereal Precision Management of Small Cereal
Fields (1997-1998)
Site-specific Soil and Crop Management
in Small Cereal Fields (1999)
Principal
Investigators
ETH: P.Edwards, C.Abivardi, W.Richner, P.Stamp,
S.Garibay, E.Frossard, A.Mozafar
UT: A.Akita, T.Nakamoto,
E.Yamaji, J.Yamagishi, H.Oyaizu
Ensuring food availability to
the growing population in the world presents a major challenge to
mankind. It is essential that global food production increase
significantly in the coming decades. However, there is abundant
evidence that even present production levels in many cases are
achieved with considerable environmental damage and are not
sustainable. Soil degradation affects approximately 35% of the
earth’s land surface. Ecologically sound agriculture should be aimed
at preventing soil degradation, maintaining the soil’s productive
potential and reducing environmental pollution.
The use of
minimum tillage systems improves important soil processes, such as
erosion control, carbon sequestration, soil organic matter
enhancement, and water conservation. Such system, combined with an
information-based approach to pesticide and fertilizer application,
could be used to improve the sustainability of wheat production. 60%
of the world’s cultivated land is still farmed in small units by
traditional and subsistence methods. There is thus an urgent need to
focus on the circumstances of small farmers, particularly in the
developing world, and to redress the bias of agricultural research
towards large enterprises.
Goal/Objective
The
objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility and
application limits of sustainable crop growing technologies of
small-scale cereal production, including reduced tilling agriculture
that integrate conventional technologies, and micro-controlled
agriculture that utilizes innovative engineering technologies. The
project had the following specific objectives:
- To develop criteria for assessing sustainability in
contrasting cereal systems
- To develop methodologies which allow comparison of contrasting
cereal crops in terms of environmental quality and
sustainability
- To demonstrate how a combination of practices, including
soil-conserving tillage methods and information-based pesticide
and fertilizer application, could be used to improve the
sustainability of small scale wheat production
- To develop techniques for the accurate diagnosis of nutrient
requirements and for precise application according to the spatial
heterogeneity within a field
The goal within the second
phase was to present the acquired knowledge to policy makers and
researchers who can affect agricultural education and behavior,
focusing on a developing country. Specific objectives included the
following:
- To provide information to agricultural policymakers on
precision farming by preparing a white paper
- To establish a transfer project in Sri Lanka with a research
institute with a mandate to train agricultural students
- To carry out various other activities aimed at raising
awareness of the research community in the potential of precision
methods
Results/Findings
Ecological and
agricultural aspects of new methods of cropping were compared for
rice in Japan and wheat in Switzerland. In both cases, the
experiments examined how cropping system affect the quantity and
consistency of soil quality. Intensive sampling of three small
fields in the two countries demonstrated a significant spatial
variability in the yield of small grain cereal and in nitrogen
availability of the soil. The findings indicated that one of the
major practical problems of using precision agricultural techniques
is to determine the pattern of spatial variability of nitrogen
availability and to develop appropriate crop and site-specific
management strategies. Models have been developed to analyze soil
quality and the effects of different practices on it, using GIS, GPS
and remote sensing technology.
The research project also
conducted a transfer project in Sri Lanka to apply the precision
farming approaches in maize production. An effort to initiate and
support the transfer of knowledge from the model experiments to
small holders by local extension services has also been undertaken.
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