Effects of traditional storage practices of small-scale organic farmers on potato quality

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 (10) ◽  
pp. 1820-1825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mangani GC Katundu ◽  
Sheryl L Hendriks ◽  
John P Bower ◽  
Muthulisi Siwela
Keyword(s):  
Small Scale ◽  
Potato Quality ◽  
Organic Farmers

Contending the Rural: Food Commodities and Regimes of Value in Contemporary China

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Cody
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Work Experiences ◽  
Rural Labor ◽  
Alternative Food Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Food Commodities ◽  
China Today

This article examines how commodity status is achieved and how value is articulated across three food provisioning practices and ideologies in China: nationally certified food, local government-sponsored organic food near Shanghai, and an alternative food movement comprising small-scale and independent organic farmers in Shanghai and the surrounding countryside. Understanding value across these three cases requires asking how the social relations of production and the rural labor involved in domestic food production are rendered visible, or not, to urban shoppers. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork as well as on work experiences with transnational food corporations in China, this article illustrates that government initiatives alienate rural labor in an effort partially designed to manage social harmony, while independent organic farmers “bring the rural back.” This analysis adds to our understanding of urban/rural relations in China today. It also shows that for alternative notions of value to flourish, gifts may intentionally moonlight as commodities.

scholarly journals Organic milk supply in Poland: market and policy developments

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (12) ◽  
pp. 3396-3412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Zuba-Ciszewska ◽  
Aleksandra Kowalska ◽  
Louise Manning ◽  
Aneta Brodziak
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Future Market ◽  
Milk Supply ◽  
Organic Milk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Market Opportunities

Purpose Global demand for organic milk products gives an opportunity to Polish organic farmers and dairies to supply national, European Union and international milk markets. The purpose of this paper is to review the historic and contemporary changes in organic milk production and processing in Poland, in order to identify the main factors of influence and to propose the direction of future market and policy development in the sector. Design/methodology/approach In this study, secondary data from a range of literature sources and databases are analysed. The Lorenz’s concentration ratio is applied to the data derived to evaluate the degree of concentration of certified organic farms in the different regions of Poland and conclusions are drawn as a result. Findings Organic dairy farm operations in Poland are small scale and territorially dispersed. Although there is some evidence of growing supply concentration, Polish processors of organic milk face multiple barriers to development not least a lack of continuity of supplies. Whilst global markets are of interest, the development of alternative, innovative food networks in Poland that focus on provenance, integrity and promoting the special health benefits of organic milk would be of value to the sector, but further cooperation and integration is essential to take advantage of these market opportunities. Originality/value This research underpins the need for appropriate national policies in Poland for the development and actualisation of a dynamic organic milk supply system that delivers value to local, regional and international markets.

Printed Information Needs of Small-Scale Organic Farmers in KwaZulu-Natal

Libri ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Stefano ◽  
S. L. Hendriks ◽  
C. Stilwell ◽  
C. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Organic Farmers

scholarly journals Factors Affecting the Perceptions of Small-Scale Organic Farmers in South Africa: An OLS Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Gabriel Adewunmi Eyinade ◽  
Celestine Ohi Akharume
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Ordinary Least Square ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Ordinary Least Square Regression ◽  
Major Factors

Much investments have been tailored towards organic farming by several stakeholders in recent years. Reasons for these are poverty mitigation, income generation as well as food security and good dietary diets. Unfortunately, there are no significant improvements in those areas where organic farming has been funded and encouraged. The study aims at identifying factors affecting the perceptions of small-scale organic farmers using ordinary least square regression model (OLS). One hundred and sixty structure questionnaires were administered on 160 small-scale organic farmers in Amathole District Municipality to gather data for the study. The results revealed that gender and educational level are the major factors affecting the perceptions of small-scale organic farmers in South Africa. Nevertheless, to open the prospective of smallscale organic farmers, the study suggested that these farmers should have greater access to extension services and support. This will go a long way in assisting the farmers to diversify and improve their production, thus enhancing livelihoods and creating markets for organic foods.  

scholarly journals Factors Affecting the Perceptions of Small-Scale Organic Farmers in South Africa: An OLS Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2(J)) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Gabriel Adewunmi Eyinade ◽  
Celestine Ohi Akharume
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Ordinary Least Square ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Ordinary Least Square Regression ◽  
Major Factors

Much investments have been tailored towards organic farming by several stakeholders in recent years. Reasons for these are poverty mitigation, income generation as well as food security and good dietary diets. Unfortunately, there are no significant improvements in those areas where organic farming has been funded and encouraged. The study aims at identifying factors affecting the perceptions of small-scale organic farmers using ordinary least square regression model (OLS). One hundred and sixty structure questionnaires were administered on 160 small-scale organic farmers in Amathole District Municipality to gather data for the study. The results revealed that gender and educational level are the major factors affecting the perceptions of small-scale organic farmers in South Africa. Nevertheless, to open the prospective of smallscale organic farmers, the study suggested that these farmers should have greater access to extension services and support. This will go a long way in assisting the farmers to diversify and improve their production, thus enhancing livelihoods and creating markets for organic foods.  

Organic Futures

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connor J Fitzmaurice ◽  
Brian J. Gareau
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Difficult Terrain

Walking through nearly any grocery store, contemporary American consumers are bound to encounter organic food. At any of the myriad of farmers’ markets that have sprung up in cities and small communities across the United States, shoppers can expect to see claims about the provenance and farming practices employed to grow everything from prized heirloom tomatoes to seemingly mundane heads of garlic. But behind the scenes, critical scholarship has shown that organic farming increasingly resembles the industrial food system organic pioneers set out to challenge. Faced with the pressures of the modern agricultural economy many farmers have conventionalized, intensifying how they farm in the face of tremendous competition and cost. Beyond the organic labels, emblazoned on products at the supermarket and the glistening bushel baskets arrayed in market stalls, are farmers, many of whom are trying to do their best to achieve sustainability in today’s food system. This book offers a glimpse into this world, through an ethnography of a small New England farm and the people who work in its fields. It sheds light on how small-scale farmers navigate the difficult terrain between ideals of sustainability and the economic realities of contemporary farming. Using new theories of economic sociology, this book moves beyond the current debates about the conventionalization of organic agriculture. Instead, it takes a relational approach to organic practices—investigating the complex ways market pressures, moral and emotional attachments, privilege, and personal relationships intersect to shape the everyday experiences of agriculture for today’s organic farmers and their consumers.

scholarly journals Poultry Manure Induced Garden Eggs Yield and Soil Fertility in Tropical and Semi-Arid Sandy-Loam Soils

Nitrogen ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Isaac Kwadwo Mpanga ◽  
Eric Adjei ◽  
Harrison Kwame Dapaah ◽  
Kwadwo Gyasi Santo
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Sandy Loam ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Poultry Manure ◽  
Tropical Soils ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Flood Irrigation ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Semi Arid

Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use comes with unsustainable financial and environmental costs, making it not attractive to small-scale and organic farmers. Poultry manure (PM) when available is a primary fertilizer source for small-scale and organic farmers but there is still limited research on its effects of specific crops and soil fertility under specific practices. The study investigated PM effects on garden egg in three seasons in Ghana and PM effects soil fertility in sandy-loam soils of Arizona after three years under flood irrigation and no-till. The PM application improved garden egg growth (dry matter by 73%) and increased yield by 66% in slightly acidic sandy-loam tropical soils, which could be related to soil mineral improvement. In the semi-arid soil, three years PM application increased cation exchange capacity (41%), P (471%), K (18%), S (244%), Ca (45%), Mg (31%), Zn (5%) and Mn (19%) with reduction in nitrate (−26%), Fe (−38%) and Cu (−11%). The reduction in the nitrate and Fe in the semi-arid Arizona cropland could be associated to flood irrigation and high soil pH, respectively. To gain the full potential from PM applications, best management practice is recommended to reduce nitrate leaching.

scholarly journals Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian R. Vogl ◽  
Susanne Kummer ◽  
Friedrich Leitgeb ◽  
Christoph Schunko ◽  
Magdalena Aigner
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Academic Scientists ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Set Up

<p>The creative process that leads to farmers’ innovations is rarely studied or described precisely in agricultural sciences. For academic scientists, obvious limitations of farmers’ experiments are e.g. precision, reliability, robustness, accuracy, validity or the correct analysis of cause and effect. Nevertheless, we propose that ‘farmers’ experiments’ underpin innovations that keep organic farming locally tuned for sustainability and adaptable to changing economic, social and ecological conditions. We first researched the structure and role of farmers’ experiments by conducting semi-structured interviews of 47 organic farmers in Austria and 72 organic/agroecology farmers in Cuba in 2007 and 2008. Seventysix more structured interviews explored the topics and methods used by Austrian farmers that were ‘trying something’. Farmers engaged in activities that can be labelled as farmers experiments because these activities include considerable planning, manipulating variables, monitoring effects and communicating results. In Austria and Cuba 487 and 370 individual topics, respectively, were mentioned for experimenting by the respondents. These included topics like the introduction of new species or varieties, testing various ways of commercialization or the testing of alternative remedies. Two thirds (Austria) and one third (Cuba) of the farmers who experimented had an explicit mental or written plan before starting. In both countries, the majority of the farmers stated that they set up their experiments first on a small scale and expanded them if the outcome of the experiments was satisfactory. Repetitions were done by running experiments in subsequent years and the majority of the farmers monitored the experiments regularly. In both countries, many experiments were not discrete actions but nested in time and space. For further research on learning and innovation in organic farming we propose an explicit appreciation of farmers’ experiments, encouraging further in-depth research on the details of the farmers’ experimental process and encouraging the inclusion of farmers’ experiments in strategies for innovation in organic and non organic farming. Strategic research and innovation agendas for organic farming would benefit from including organic farmers as co-researchers in all steps of the research process in order to encourage co-learning between academic scientists and organic farmers.</p>

scholarly journals Potential and limitations of organic and fair trade cotton for improving livelihoods of smallholders: evidence from Central Asia

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicitas Bachmann
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
Farm Work ◽  
Organic Cotton ◽  
Organic Farmers

AbstractCotton is a leading agricultural non-food commodity associated with soil degradation, water pollution and pesticide poisoning due to high levels of agrochemical inputs. Organic farming is often promoted as a means of addressing the economic, environmental and health risks of conventional cotton production, and it is slowly gaining ground in the global cotton market. Organic and fair trade cotton are widely seen as opportunities for smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods thanks to higher returns, lower input costs and fewer risks. Despite an increasing number of studies comparing the profitability of organic and non-organic farming systems in developing and industrialized countries, little has been published on organic farming in Central Asia. The aim of this article is to describe the economic performance and perceived social and environmental impacts of organic cotton in southern Kyrgyzstan, drawing on a comparative field study conducted by the author in 2009. In addition to economic and environmental aspects, the study investigated farmers’ motivations toward and assessment of conversion to organic farming. Cotton yields on organic farms were found to be 10% lower, while input costs per unit were 42% lower; as a result, organic farmers’ cotton revenues were 20% higher. Due to lower input costs as well as organic and fair trade price premiums, the average gross margin from organic cotton was 27% higher. In addition to direct economic benefits, organic farmers enjoy other benefits, such as easy access to credit on favorable terms, provision of uncontaminated cottonseed cooking oil and cottonseed cake as animal feed, and marketing support as well as extension and training services provided by newly established organic service providers. The majority of organic farmers perceive improved soil quality, improved health conditions, and positively assess their initial decision to convert to organic farming. The major disadvantage of organic farming is the high manual labor input required. In the study area, where manual farm work is mainly women's work and male labor migration is widespread, women are most affected by this negative aspect of organic farming. Altogether, the results suggest that, despite the inconvenience of a higher workload, the advantages of organic farming outweigh its disadvantages and that conversion to organic farming improves the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.

scholarly journals Organic Leafy Greens Variety Trials in Kentucky: Identifying Superior Varieties for Small-scale Organic Farmers

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Coolong ◽  
Derek M. Law ◽  
John C. Snyder ◽  
Brent Rowell ◽  
Mark A. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Organic Production ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Leafy Greens ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Swiss Chard ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Certified Organic ◽  
Range Test ◽  
Better Than

Thirty-eight leafy greens, eight kale (Brassica oleracea acephala group), nine mustard (Brassica juncea), six arugula (Eruca sativa), five swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla), five collards (B. oleracea acephala group), and five turnip (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) varieties were evaluated during Spring and Fall 2007–08 to determine suitability for organic production with respect to yield and stability. Trials were conducted on certified organic land using organic production practices. For mustard, kale, collards, and arugula, there were significant variety by season by year interactions. Despite these interactions, some varieties consistently performed well throughout the trial. ‘Florida Broadleaf’ was the highest yielding mustard in three of the four seasons evaluated. ‘Siberian’, ‘White Russian’, and ‘Red Russian’ were in the highest yielding group of kale varieties for overall yield. For collards, ‘Georgia/Southern’ and ‘Flash’ were part of the highest yielding group as determined by Duncan’s multiple range test in three of the four seasons examined. Turnip and swiss chard had significant year by variety interactions. Overall yields of ‘Alamo’ and ‘Alltop’, both F1 hybrids, were better than other turnip varieties assessed. Despite the interaction, ‘Fordhook Giant’ had superior yields in both years of the study. Arugula performance was significantly and negatively affected in Spring 2008. Overall, ‘Astro’, ‘Apollo’, and ‘Arugula’ had the greatest yields. This trial was designed to provide recommendations specifically for organic growers marketing directly to consumers.

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