ForumA gronomy J our n al • Volume 10 0 , I s sue 3 • 2 0 0 8 ABSTRACT Research in agriculture has strongly focused on discipline-oriented, natural science-based approaches to increasing production with success measured by short-term, neoclassical economic evaluation. Th is strategy has contributed to impressive increases in food production over the last half century. Growing concerns include environmental impacts, changes in rural communities, and distribution of benefi ts of current agricultural systems. One major theme of this paper is a holistic, ecological, and transdisciplinary strategy for research in the agriculture and food sector, including attention to production and economics along with environmental and social factors. Agroecology provides an integrative alternative to the conventional division of research into specialized disciplines. Th e other primary theme is potential for a broader geographical approach to research, using the Nordic Region model as a case study for designing an educational platform to integrate research with teaching. We believe that students must develop a capacity to deal with future complexity and uncertainty, and thus be prepared to search out and answer diffi cult questions that have not yet been asked. In a university culture of curiosity and commitment, we need learning landscapes that prepare students to deal with change, embrace multiple dimensions of the food challenge, and establish participatory interactions with clients, communities, and organizations. In connecting scientists and consumers with the origins of their food and building awareness of the importance of the natural environment, we encourage wider support by society for research toward long-term sustainable agriculture and food supplies. We provide a working model of how to plan regional, transdisciplinary research to sustain agriculture and food systems.
Reed canary grass (RCG) used for land treatment of waste water can serve as a substrate for biogas production. The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of two, three or four cuts per year to stubble heights of 5, 12·5 or 20 cm on the digestibility and yield of digestible organic matter (DOM) of RCG. Both dry‐matter yield and the yield of DOM decreased with more than two cuts per year. Height of cutting had no effect on the digestibility of the regrowth harvested from the different cutting regimes. Increased height of cutting resulted in increased dry‐matter production and therefore also of increased DOM yield in the regrowth harvested from the four‐cut regime. The total DOM yield from the four‐cut regime was, however, only 0·84 of the DOM yield from the two‐cut regime.
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