A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam

Ditzler, Lenora; Komarek, Adam M.; Chiang, Tsai Wei; Alvarez, Stéphanie; Chatterjee, Shantonu Abe; Timler, Carl J.; Raneri, Jessica E.; Carmona, Natalia Estrada; Kennedy, Gina; Groot, J.C.J.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2019.02.008

Cited by 37 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…In order to calculate the performance of each farm type and reveal windows of opportunities for farm optimization, we used the FarmDESIGN model (Groot et al, 2012;Ditzler et al, 2019). Three farms from every cluster, identified by the farm typology, were selected for a second round of interviews.…”

Section: Datasetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, windows of opportunities for the improvement of the systems, given the initial farm components, are explored. As smallholder farms are characterized by a large array of farm components, all interrelated, the FarmDESIGN model (Groot et al, 2012;Ditzler et al, 2019), was used to facilitate the redesign process. The different agroecological and socio-economic conditions farmers are faced with, also result in a large diversity between farms even within the same geographic region.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Gambart

Swennen

Blomme

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Gambart et al. Agroecological Intensification of Banana-Based Systems can improve farm performance, and a more intensive use would be beneficial. In addition, the FarmDESIGN model provides a useful tool for redesigning these farms, proposing different redesigns depending on farmers' objectives (profitability, productivity or sustainability), and for evaluating ex ante the impact of new agricultural measures on farm performance.

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Section: Datasetmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Gambart

Swennen

Blomme

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…Our study finds that achieving more sustainable crop configurations in the NCP will require greater crop diversity-including field crops and horticultural crops-the outcomes of which should be quantified in terms of groundwater use, yield, economic profitability, energy, and nutritional value 55 . These multiple metrics can be blended in a Pareto-optimality analysis (or other multi-objective balancing approach) to uncover globally optimal crop choices while also ensuring that national grain production is not compromised 56 . Other future work is required to understand the consequences of groundwater neutral cropping systems on regional food production and the reasonable allocation of national water resources.…”

Section: Prospects For Crop Reconfiguration External Water Input Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production

Yang

Steenhuis

Davis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Earth’s water resources are critical for supporting livelihoods and food security but are being increasingly overexploited to support global agriculture. Diversifying cropping systems could potentially resolve unsustainable water use but trade-offs with other aspects of sustainability and food security have not yet been assessed. We perform a detailed meta-analysis to systematically compare 31 different crop rotations in China– in terms of actual evapotranspiration (ETa), effect on groundwater depth, grain yield, economic output, and water use efficiency (WUE) – and identify configurations that can achieve co-benefits across multiple dimensions. We find that a combination of lowering the cropping index (i.e., harvest frequency), incorporating fallow periods, and introducing higher value crops into the currently dominant winter wheat-summer maize double cropping system can reduce growing season ETa by as much as 31%, mitigate groundwater decline by 19% or more, and increased economic output and economic WUE by more than 11% and 3%, respectively. We also find that multiple diversified wheat-maize–based rotations– all with rotation lengths greater than two years– achieve co-benefits across all evaluated dimensions. This study provides new empirical evidence of the opportunities for diversified crop rotations to balance the multiple objectives of food production, sustainable groundwater use and farmer profitability. Extending this solution to other water-stressed agricultural regions could be an effective strategy in achieving more sustainable food production globally.

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“…Key goals typically involve the production of goods and services that allow the farm to continue as an economically viable unit. These goals are rarely formal quantitative targets, and often involve a degree of optimization and trade-off between different goals at the farm household level [12] . For example, there may be a balance between contemporary production and the potential for future production of food and other ecosystem services [13] , especially in the soil [14] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards the sustainable intensification of agriculture—a systems approach to policy formulation

Firbank

2020

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

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The sustainable intensification of agriculture involves providing sufficient food and other ecosystem services without going beyond the limits of the earth's system. Here a project management approach is suggested to help guide agricultural policy to deliver these objectives. The first step is to agree measurable outcomes, integrating formal policy goals with the often much less formal and much more diverse goals of individual farmers. The second step is to assess current performance. Ideally, this will involve the use of farm-scale metrics that can feed into process models that address social and environmental domains as well as production issues that can be benchmarked and upscaled to landscape and country. Some policy goals can be delivered by supporting ad hoc interventions, while others require the redesign of the farming system. A pipeline of research, knowledge and capacity building is needed to ensure the continuous increase in farm performance. System models can help prioritise policy interventions. Formal optimization of land use is only appropriate if the policy goals are clear, and the constraints understood. In practice, the best approach may depend on the scale of action that is required, and on the amount of resource and infrastructure available to generate, implement and manage policy.

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A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam

Cited by 37 publications

References 50 publications

Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production

Towards the sustainable intensification of agriculture—a systems approach to policy formulation

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A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam

Cited by 37 publications

References 50 publications

Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Impact and Opportunities of Agroecological Intensification Strategies on Farm Performance: A Case Study of Banana-Based Systems in Central and South-Western Uganda

Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production

Towards the sustainable intensification of agriculture&#8212;a systems approach to policy formulation

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Product

Resources

About

Towards the sustainable intensification of agriculture—a systems approach to policy formulation