Smart Farming for Sustainable Rice Production:An Insight into Application,Challenge,and Future Prospect

Rice has a huge impact on socio-economic growth,and ensuring its sustainability and optimal utilization is vital.This review provides an insight into the role of smart farming in enhancing rice productivity.The applications of smart farming in rice production including yield estimation,smart irrigation systems,monitoring disease and growth,and predicting rice quality and classifications are highlighted.The challenges of smart farming in sustainable rice production to enhance the understanding of researchers,policymakers,and stakeholders are discussed.Numerous efforts have been exerted to combat the issues in rice production in order to promote rice sector development.The effective implementation of smart farming in rice production has been facilitated by various technical advancements,particularly the integration of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.The future prospects of smart farming in transforming existing rice production practices are also elucidated.Through the utilization of smart farming,the rice industry can attain sustainable and resilient production systems that could mitigate environmental impact and safeguard food security.Thus,the rice industry holds a bright future in transforming current rice production practices into a new outlook in rice smart farming development.

Impact of Land Requisition for Military Training during World War II on Farming and the South Downs Landscape,England

The impact of WorldWar II on the physical landscape of British towns and cities as a result of airborne assault is well known.However,less newsworthy but arguably no less significant is the impact of the war on agriculture and the countryside,especially in South-East England.This paper outlines the building of an historical Geographical Information System(GIS)from different data sources including the National Farm Survey(NFS),Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force(RAF)aerial photographs and basic topographic mapping for the South Downs in East and West Sussex.It explores the impact and legacy ofWorldWar II on the agricultural landscape of this area through both the‘plough-up’campaigns aimed at increasing agricultural production and the occupation of farm land for military training purposes.Farms surrounding an area where extensive tracts of land were taken over for military training and defensive purposes on the Downs close to Brighton and the county town of Lewes in East Sussex are the focus of attention illuminating the beneficial and disruptive impacts of the government’s drive to increase food output by bringing land into more productive use by means of a‘plough-up’campaign and using formerly agricultural land for military training.These changes contributed to the transformation of the region into“an arable monoculture”and the virtual disappearance of traditional sheep rearing in the post-war decades.

Technical Standards for Lotus Root-Redswamp Crayfish Integrated Farming

Lotus root-redswamp crayfish integrated farming is a kind of ecologicalgrow mode on the basis of paddy field, which is an innovated mode for agricultural structure adjustment and special agriculture with high efficiency. In order to regulate producing technology of this mode, the essay puts forward some technical require- ments, stressing on cultivar selection, field works, farming technology and product quality, which aims at providing technical support for agricultural production.

Modeling the relationship of land use change and some geophysical indicators for the interlock area of farming and pasturing in China

This paper discusses land-use changes in the interlock area of farming and pasturing (IAFP) in northern China. It presents detailed analyses of land-use features in the IAFP, which are controlled by the macro geomorphic units and geophysical conditions-constraints or advantages. Additionally, it selects some indicators, according to the availability in acquiring and processing their quantitative data, to analyze the canonical correlations between the typical conversion of grassland and geophysical conditions. The preliminary study indicates that the physical conditions are of great advantages to the development of grassland. There exists significant correlation between land use change and some geophysical conditions.

Sustainability Evaluation of Different Systems for Sea Cucumber(Apostichopus japonicus) Farming Based on Emergy Theory

Emergy analysis is effective for analyzing ecological economic systems. However, the accuracy of the approach is af- fected by the diversity of economic level, meteorological and hydrological parameters in different regions. The present study evalu- ated the economic benefits, environmental impact, and sustainability of indoor, semi-intensive and extensive farming systems of sea cucumber （Apostichopus japonicus） in the same region. The results showed that A. japonicus indoor farming system was high in input and output （yield） whereas pond extensive farming system was low in input and output. The output/input ratio of indoor fann- ing system was lower than that of pond extensive farming system, and the output/input ratio of semi-intensive farming system fell in between them. The environmental loading ratio of A.japonicus extensive fanning system was lower than that of indoor farming sys- tem. In addition, the emergy yield and emergy exchange ratios, and emergy sustainability and emergy indexes for sustainable devel- opment were higher in extensive farming system than those in indoor farming system. These results indicated that the current exten- sive farming system exerted fewer negative influences on the environment, made more efficient use of available resources, and met more sustainable development requirements than the indoor farming system. A. japonicus farming systems showed more emergy benefits than fish fanning systems. The pond fanning systems ofA. japonicus exploited more free local environmental resources for production, caused less potential pressure on the local environment, and achieved higher sustainability than indoor farming system.

Layered farming for Marsupenaeus japonicus Bate

Marsupenaeusjaponicus Bate is one of the most valuable cultured shrimp species in China and outdoor earthen pond farming is the most common method of culturing this organism. The need to increase soil usage efficiency in aquaculture has been recognized and a great deal of research effort has been directed toward development of super-intensive farming systems. However, current research and development in this field is largely devoted to Litopenaeus vannamei Boone, while to M.japonicus Bate it has been neglected. In this study, a layered fanning system was designed and a 66-day study was conducted in M.japonicus Bate culture. The system comprised bracket and sand layers that divided a shrimp tank filled to a depth of 1.2 m into four water layers. Conventional tank culture （unlayered） was used as a control. The results show that survival rate, feed conversion efficiency and production of M.japonicus Bate in the layered farming system were 68%, 18%, and 0.59 kg/m^2, respectively, all of which are significantly higher than in the unlayered fanning system （P〈0.01）. These findings confirmed the possibility of using a layered system to culture M. japonicus Bate.

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Rainfed Farming Systems: A Modeling Framework for Scaling-Out Climate Smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Improving agricultural water productivity, under rainfed or irrigated conditions, holds significant scope for addressing climate change vulnerability. It also offers adaptation capacity needs as well as water and food security in the southern African region. In this study, evidence for climate change impacts and adaptation strategies in rainfed agricultural systems is explored through modeling predictions of crop yield, soil moisture and excess water for potential harvesting. The study specifically presents the results of climate change impacts under rainfed conditions for maize, sorghum and sunflower using soil-water-crop model simulations, integrated based on daily inputs of rainfall and evapotranspiration disaggregated from GCM scenarios. The research targets a vast farming region dominated by heavy clay soils where rainfed agriculture is a dominant practice. The potential for improving soil water productivity and improved water harvesting have been explored as ways of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. This can be utilized to explore and design appropriate conservation agriculture and adaptation practices in similar agro-ecological environments, and create opportunities for outscaling for much wider areas. The results of this study can suggest the need for possible policy refinements towards reducing vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in rainfed farming systems.

Determination of 17<i>α</i>-Methyltestosterone in Freshwater Samples of Tilapia Farming by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

17α-methyltestosterone is used to induce the sex reversal of Tilapia sp. to obtain cultures mono-sex to an economically viable. This practice may lead to environmental contamination and problems in human health. Therefore methods need to be developed to detect residues of 17α-methyltestosterone in aqueous matrices. A simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method using ultraviolet detection (245 nm) and testosterone as internal standard has been developed for the monitoring 17α-methyltestosterone in freshwater samples of tilapia aquaculture. The method described involves limited sample preparation as it includes a filtration followed by a single solid-phase extraction step using C18 cartridge. Validation data indicated that the HPLC-UV method for 17α-methyltestosterone determination in the concentration range of 50 - 2000 μg/L provided good linearity, sensitivity, accuracy and precision. Method performance was efficiently applied to monitoring the freshwater samples of fish ponds and the surrounding aquatic channels.

A comprehensive approach for assessing the economic contribution of forage and livestock improvement options to smallholder farming enterprises

The importance of livestock production activities to improving the livelihoods of smallholder farming households and the efficiency of their underlying farming systems is increasingly recognized.A rapid increase in livestock numbers, especially beef cattle, and special purpose forages is being promoted for smallholder farms which have traditionally undertaken subsistence cropping activities or simple livestock rearing activities using low quality feedstuffs.Because limited plantings of specialized forages combined with a poor knowledge of animal nutrition are a challenge to establishing sustainable livestock enterprises, much public policy and research is now being focused on the use of new forages and improved feeding practices.A number of economic studies have suggested that specialized forage growing and livestock feeding activities can make a positive contribution to smallholder welfare.The studies have typically compared the total level of farm or household income with and without livestock activities.Little attention is given to how much the new forage or livestock activities actually contribute to or draw resources from other farm activities to assess their real economic contribution to the enterprise, and the availability of simple tools to assist in making such assessments are limited.This paper describes a simple modelling approach that was developed for an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research（ACIAR）-supported project to explore the real as opposed to apparent economic impact of integrating improved forages and livestock within smallholder farming systems in the Red Soils region of south-central China.Application of the model is demonstrated using a simple case study of a smallholder enterprise that plans to introduce a new beef cattle rearing activity to its existing farm activity mix.The case study highlights the importance of explicitly valuing transfers of resources between different farm activities to gauge the real contribution of those activities to economic returns.

An Industrial Internet Platform for Massive Pig Farming (IIP4MPF)

Pig farming is becoming a key industry of China’s rural economy in recent years. The current pig farming is still relatively manual, lack of latest Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and scientific management methods. This paper proposes an industrial internet platform for massive pig farming, namely, IIP4MPF, which aims to leverage intelligent pig breeding, production rate and labor productivity with the use of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data intelligence. We conducted requirement analysis for IIP4MPF using software engineering methods, designed the IIP4MPF system for an integrated solution to digital, interconnected, intelligent pig farming. The practice demonstrates that the IIP4MPF platform significantly improves pig farming industry in pig breeding and productivity.

Technical efficiency of cocoa farms at varying elevation levels in Davao City, Philippines: implications to sustainable upland farming systems

Elevation is one of many components that influence agriculture, and this in turn affects the level of both inputs and outputs of farmers. This article focuses on the productivity and technical efficiency of 100 cocoa farms using cross-sectional data from areas ranging from 190 to 1021 m above sea level which were classified as low, medium, and high elevation in Davao City, considered as the chocolate capital of the Philippines. Using stochastic frontier analysis, the results showed that the cost of inputs per ha and the number of cocoa trees per ha significantly increase yield. Farms at high elevations were less technically efficient, as this entails lower temperatures and increased rainfall, and cocoa farming in those areas and conditions can be more challenging, especially with changes in farming practices, terrain, and distance to markets. Other significant variables were age of cocoa farms, married farmers, and age of the farmers. Older farms may be more developed, farmers who are married benefit from their spouses being able to readily contribute as farm labor, and lastly, older farmers' inefficiency may likely stem from nonadaptation of newer farming practices. With an average technical efficiency of 0.61, 0.63, and 0.26 in low, medium, and high elevation areas, respectively, farmers therefore have an incentive to improve farm practices and consider topographical variations found in high elevation areas. Recommendations for the improvement of technical efficiency of cocoa farms are better connectivity to markets, enhancing farm practices, and continuation and improvement of government programs on cocoa with an added emphasis on research. For farmers in high elevation areas, mitigating solutions such as sustainable agriculture practices and ecolabelling are key to improving efficiency and minimizing the potential negative impact on upland farming systems. Moreover, such adaptation measures may also contribute to sustainability of cocoa farming in high elevation areas.

Utilisation of green urban space for food sufficiency and the realisation of the sustainable development goals-UK stakeholders perspective

The exponential growth of food demand due to the increasing global population has the potential to seriously threaten the quality and quantity of food supplies due to climate change.This study explores the utilisation of green urban spaces for achieving food self-sufficiency by investigating the extent to which sustainable urban farms could be used to reduce the consumption of imported produce in the UK.It also examines urban farming stakeholders'perspective on how food self-sufficiency can help realise the SDGs especially SDG 2(Zero hunger)and SDG 13(Climate action).The study adopts a mixed method approach through a survey with 115 respondents and semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 respondents from 4 different urban farming stakeholder groups.The findings of this study presented a strong correlation between stakeholders who had concerns about where their food came from and the carbon footprint of imported produce.The research shows that,urban farms will no doubt play a vital role in the future of food security in our cities/communities and that the SDGs could be realised through sustainable urban farms implemented within the relevant planning regulations/policies.

Information-Centric IoT-Based Smart Farming with Dynamic Data Optimization

Smart farming has become a strategic approach of sustainable agriculture management and monitoring with the infrastructure to exploit modern technologies,including big data,the cloud,and the Internet of Things(IoT).Many researchers try to integrate IoT-based smart farming on cloud platforms effectively.They define various frameworks on smart farming and monitoring system and still lacks to define effective data management schemes.Since IoT-cloud systems involve massive structured and unstructured data,data optimization comes into the picture.Hence,this research designs an Information-Centric IoT-based Smart Farming with Dynamic Data Optimization(ICISF-DDO),which enhances the performance of the smart farming infrastructure with minimal energy consumption and improved lifetime.Here,a conceptual framework of the proposed scheme and statistical design model has beenwell defined.The information storage and management with DDO has been expanded individually to show the effective use of membership parameters in data optimization.The simulation outcomes state that the proposed ICISF-DDO can surpass existing smart farming systems with a data optimization ratio of 97.71%,reliability ratio of 98.63%,a coverage ratio of 99.67%,least sensor error rate of 8.96%,and efficient energy consumption ratio of 4.84%.

Enhanced Water Quality Control Based on Predictive Optimization for Smart Fish Farming

The requirement for high-quality seafood is a global challenge in today’s world due to climate change and natural resource limitations.Internet of Things(IoT)based Modern fish farming systems can significantly optimize seafood production by minimizing resource utilization and improving healthy fish production.This objective requires intensive monitoring,prediction,and control by optimizing leading factors that impact fish growth,including temperature,the potential of hydrogen(pH),water level,and feeding rate.This paper proposes the IoT based predictive optimization approach for efficient control and energy utilization in smart fish farming.The proposed fish farm control mechanism has a predictive optimization to deal with water quality control and efficient energy consumption problems.Fish farm indoor and outdoor values are applied to predict the water quality parameters,whereas a novel objective function is proposed to achieve an optimal fish growth environment based on predicted parameters.Fuzzy logic control is utilized to calculate control parameters for IoT actuators based on predictive optimal water quality parameters by minimizing energy consumption.To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed system,the overall approach has been deployed to the fish tank as a case study,and a number of experiments have been carried out.The results show that the predictive optimization module allowed the water quality parameters to be maintained at the optimal level with nearly 30%of energy efficiency at the maximum actuator control rate compared with other control levels.

Quantity Calculation of the Land Unsuitable for Farming: A Case Study of Anze County in Shanxi Province

Adhering to the " red line" of 1800 million mu of arable land is China's arable land protection guideline and policy,and the " red line" places emphasis on both quantity and quality of arable land. Taking Shanxi's Anze County as an example,based on ecological safety and natural suitability criteria,we select 10 evaluation indicators to evaluate the farming suitability of existing land in the county. Results show that Anze County needs to reuse 48. 7% of the existing arable land for ecological purpose in order to ensure ecological safety. It still retains 51. 3%of existing arable land after abandoning tillage,which can ensure 0. 15 ha of arable land per capita,743. 12 kg of grain per capita and 170%of food self-sufficiency rate,thereby fully ensuring food safety. The farming suitability evaluation of land resources should not only consider the natural suitability of land,but also consider ecological safety. Faced with the new situation of arable land protection,it is necessary to explore new farmland protection theories and indicator systems based on actual conditions,to meet the requirements of sustainable development of population,resources and ecology.

Advancement in Indoor Vertical Farming for Microgreen Production

With the growing global urban population and the emergence of megacities, there is a huge demand for arable land to meet the food demand and reduce malnutrition. Conventional agricultural practices lead to deforestation of the land for crop production and agricultural intensification to produce higher yield per unit area. These activities have been established to have negative impact on the environment thereby causing soil and water pollution. It is important to consider the use of vertical farming technology, which utilizes both horizontal and vertical space, and efficiently uses nutrients, water, and time (off season production with artificial lighting) more effectively to produce higher yield per unit volume of space than the conventional outdoor farming. Microgreens are taken into consideration to be grown under innovative vertical farming technology since they are rich in phytonutrients and they can be harvested in a short period of time. This paper reviews the current growing conditions of microgreens in vertical farming such as crop selection, media, light, nutrient solution, and containers while identifying knowledge gaps. Further, study in this area may lead to improved growing conditions to help solve the global issues and challenges surrounding food security, safety, and resource optimization.

Multi-factor Analysis Model for Improving Profit Management Using Excel in Shellfish Farming Projects

By using a farm's data in Yantai City and the theory of Cost-Volume-Profit analysis and the financial management methods,this paper construct a multi-factor analysis model for improving profit management using Excel 2007 in Shellfish farming projects and describes the procedures to construct a multi-factor analysis model.The model can quickly calculate the profit,improve the level of profit management,find out the breakeven point and enhance the decision-making efficiency of businesses etc.It is also a thought of the application to offer suggestions for government decisions and economic decisions for corporations as a simple analysis tool.While effort has been exerted to construct a four-variable model,some equally important variables may not be discussed sufficiently due to limitation of the paper's space and the authors'knowledge.All variables can be listed in EXCEL 2007 and can be associated in a logical way to manage the profit of shellfish farming projects more efficiently and more practically.

Case Study:Productive Performance and Prediction of Operating Income of Small-Scale Contract Farming of Swine in Lampang,Thailand

The objective of this study was to examine productive performance and predict factors affecting operating income of small-scale contract farming of swine(SCFS)in Lampang,Thailand.Ten SCFSs were selected by purposive sampling as primary data sources for two consecutive fattening cycles during the year 2015-2017.Data indicated that the SCFS was feeder pig finishing system which herd size(HS)averaged 502 head/farm.The animals consumed approximate 1.59 kg of feed/head/d.The average daily gain(ADG)was 675.22 g/d and feed conversion ratio(FCR)was 2.42.The mean of fattening time(FT)averaged 158 d/cycle.The culling rate(CR)and mortality rate(MR)were 0.17%and 2.50%,respectively.The predicted operating income(POI)was estimated by multiple linear regressions.The equation was:POI=2,700.912+0.027HS–7.119CR–18.225MR+16.885ABW+806.466FI–4.142ADG–420.281FCR–9.719FT(ABW=average body weight;FI=feed intake)with r=0.899,r2=0.808,p-value=0.009.According to stepwise procedure,the potential equation was:POI=323.664FI–9.769MR–22.635 with r=0.837,r2=0.701,p-value=0.000.This predicted equation would benefit as a monitoring index for SCFS to manage their expected operating income and proper farm management to be further profitable and sustainable.

Development of a Cylindrical Hydroponics System for Vertical Farming

The study aimed to develop a vertical crop cultivation system for leafy plants based on cylindrical hydroponics and light emitting diode （LED） technology. Investigations were conducted on growing lettuce （Lactuca sativa cv. ＂Rex＂, ＂Nanda＂ and ＂Canasta＂） indoors in a rotary system and Chinese cabbage （Brassica chinensis） in a multi-tier cylindrical hydroponics system under red and blue （RB） LED lightings. Light intensity from different light sources have an influence on the yield and growth behaviour of indoor lettuce. Photosynthetically active radiation （PAR） levels at 63 μmol/m2·s produced low fresh weights （FW） and leaf areas of lettuce ＂Rex＂ and ＂Nanda＂ were grown under rotating conditions. The effect was, however, different on the better developed ＂Canasta＂. Stem etiolation was a common occurrence under such influence. Chlorosis was not observed on all plant types grown under the LEDs. Cultivating Chinese cabbage plants （FW： 28 g/plant） in cylindrical units stacked vertically above another, increased planting density by 47% when compared to the rotary system,

Natural Rubber Farming in Guangdong Province in the Context of Supply-Side Reform: A Case Study of Shanwei Reclamation Area

The rubber industry in Shanwei Reclamation Area has grown into a leading industry in the reclamation area,but there are some problems in rubber plantations such as wind damage,neglect of supporting construction for shelter forest in the planting plan,and lack of rubber tappers. For the sustainable development of rubber farming,it is necessary to select the appropriate plot to plant rubber based on the habitat requirements of rubber trees; plan the supporting construction shelter forest network in cultivation of rubber trees; build organic rubber plantations,produce high-quality natural rubber and increase the output value of rubber plantations; use new tapping system to reduce tapping labor,improve tapping benefits and increase income of rubber tappers.