To identify effective factors on agricultural land use changes in Guilan Province of northern Iran, a study with 320 experts of Agricultural Organization and Main Department of Natural Resources of Guilan's experts was done. This research was an applied research and descriptive. A questionnaire was the main research instrument. For determining the validity of the questionnaire, the face and content validity was used. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the instrument, which was 0.94 and showed the instrument reliability. Results showed that economic factors had the greatest impact on agricultural land use changes in Guilan followed by Social, management and policy making related, personal and technical factors. Of the selected economic factors, locating in the outskirts of cities and no justification about expenditure with revenue had the greatest impact of land use changes. Population growth and expansion of the physical part of the city was the most effective social factor in land use change. Lack of support for manufacturer from managerial and policy making factors and increasing age of farmers were among the individual factors also impacted land use change. Traditional production methods and changes in cropping patterns were technical and technological factors respectively had less impact compared to the identified economic, social, and managerial factors.

Abstract:In the Silurian Dolostone region of eastern Wisconsin, the combination of thin soils and waste application (animal manure, organic waste) has led to significant groundwater contamination, including Brown Water Incidents (BWIs-contamination resulting in a color or odor change in well water) and detections of pathogen indicator bacteria such as E. coli and others. In response, a Karst Task Force (KTF) was convened to identify risks and recommend solutions. This article looks at the impact eight years after the 2007 Karst Task Force report-both the actions taken by local resource managers and the changes to water quality. We present the first regional analysis of the 2007 Karst Task Force report and subsequent regulatory changes to determine if these regulations impacted the prevalence of wells contaminated with animal waste and the frequency of BWIs. While all of the counties in the KTF area promoted increased awareness, landowner/manager and waste applicator education alone did not result in a drop in BWIs or other water quality improvements. The two counties in the study that adopted winter manure spreading OPEN ACCESSResources 2015, 4 656 restrictions on frozen or snow-covered ground showed statistically significant reductions in the instances of BWIs and other well water quality problems.

No abstract

The pathways between climate information producers and agricultural decision-makers are evolving and becoming more complex, with information increasingly flowing through both public and for-profit intermediaries and organizations. This study characterizes the various channels of climate information flow, as well as the needs and preferences of information intermediaries and end users. We use data from a 2016 survey of farmers and agricultural advisors in 12 U.S. Corn Belt states to evaluate perceptions of climate information and its usability. Our findings reinforce the view that much weather and climate information is not reaching farmers explicitly but also suggest that farmers may not be aware of the extent to which the information is packaged with seed, input, or management recommendations. For farmers who are using weather and climate information, private services such as subscription and free tools and applications (apps) are as influential as publicly provided services. On the other hand, we find that agricultural advisors are engaged users and transformers of both public and private sources of weather/climate information and that they choose sources of information based on qualities of salience and credibility. Our results suggest that climate information providers could improve the use of information in agriculture by engaging advisors and farmers as key stakeholders and by strategically employing multiple delivery pathways through the private and public sectors.