Abstract:The International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) is a world-wide association of agricultural scientists, advisors and farmers. Within this framework, typical farms for the most important production regions are established and their economic situation is analysed. The farms can be projected into the future. Data collection, economic analysis and projections are done with internationally harmonised methods. Among the three IFCN branches (dairy, beef, arable), the dairy branch is most advanced. The members of the dairy consortium meet once a year, and a joint book (Dairy Report) is published annually. The article outlines the organisational concept of the IFCN and presents some selected results from the Dairy Report 2001. Klíèová slova: produkce mléka, mezinárodní srovnání, ekonomická analýza, typická farma
Coarse sediment transported by steep mountain tributaries during channelized flash flood events with intense bed load transport poses a significant threat to life, property, and infrastructure. Intense bedload transport occurring in tributary channels and insufficient transport capacity of the main channel flow can provoke flooding at the confluence. Deposition in the confluence can lead to overbank flooding and sedimentation into adjacent settlement areas. Extensive research has been carried out investigating lowland river confluences, where it has been determined that the confluence angle and discharge ratio have the most significant influence on channel morphology and hydraulics. However, there is a lack of information concerning confluences with low width and discharge ratios, high sediment concentrations, and gradients, typically found in steep mountain channels. This study presents results from large‐scale laboratory experiments coupled with numerical modelling with a standardized river confluence geometry. Bedload transport capacities, the shape, and volume of the deposition zone in the confluence, bedload dispersion characteristics, hydraulic and morphological dynamics, and spatial boundaries were analysed for various discharges and sediment concentrations. The confluence angle was 90°, sediment concentration was 5%, 7.5%, and 10%, and the discharge ratio was 0.1. The model was designed to accommodate scale factors of 20–40. With this configuration, a set of experiments based on steady‐state hydraulic conditions was accomplished. Results show that when the discharge ratio and confluence angle are constant, different morphologies occur, indicating that in addition to the confluence angle and the discharge ratio, the sediment concentration, flow velocity, and unit stream power significantly impact both hydraulic and morphologic zones in the confluences of mountain rivers. Additionally, backwater effects upstream of the confluence, and sedimentation in the tributary channel increases with increasing sediment concentration, which not only influences confluence morphodynamics and hydraulics but also the potential for overbanking of both channels.
In view of climate change and population growth, making food system sustainable is a global concern. A lot of policies regulate this issue, but recent data show that global (and national) food systems are still far from the sustainability. Improvement of existing policies in the field of food system regulation requires a clear understanding of the food system sustainability concept itself: specification of its traits, attributes, measurement indicators, and goals. These issues are reflected in a lot of research papers, but none of these articles summarise the major trends, content, and features of the food system sustainability concept’s evolution. This study for the first time summarises history and contents of research in the field of concept and measurement of food system sustainability through bibliometric analysis of Scopus indexed papers for 1991-2022. The growth of scientific interest in this area, led by researchers from the USA, Italy, and France, was found to be wave-like with peaks following the global food crises appearance patterns. The results of this study show that modern perception of the concept (since 2018) is complicated and intertwined in the notions of systems and system thinking, sustainability, and life cycle assessment, contrasting to the previous views (1991-2018) focused on food production system and food security. In general, a little attention is given to social and economic aspects of food system sustainability, in contrast to environmental, food, and agri-food issues. The elaboration of one-size-fits-all policy and solutions favouring food systems sustainability is suggested to be unlikely due to the complexity of the concept's perception. Governance of food system sustainability should go in line with concrete institutional, economic, social, and natural environments that need to be comprehensively studied in a future. Studies from developing countries are of special interest in this context
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