The farm and landscape gap - partial versus emerging global efficiencies in agricultural systems
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ArticlePublication details: Montpellier (France) : ESA ; Agropolis, 2015.Subject(s): Online resources:
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Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium for Farming Systems Design p. 205-206Summary: Resource Use Efficiency (RUE) has historically attracted extensive attention and debate in relation to agricultural production (De Wit, 1992, Lopez-Ridaura et al., 2007). Trenbath (1986) distinguishes the efficiency of resource capture and the efficiency of resource conversion to describe RUE, stating that increased RUE can be attained by either increasing capture efficiency, conversion efficiency or both. RUE in agricultural research has largely referred to the interactions between the resources most often limiting crop yield under field conditions (i.e. water and/or nutrients) or feed conversion rates in animal production. One important feature of these theories is that they describe RUE in general terms and therefore can, in principle, be applied to different resources at different scales. The same laws can be used arguably for resources such as labour, land and capital invested by the farm household and their efficiency in the generation of wealth or food security. Also, at regional scale, these analyses can relate resources such as infrastructure, markets and public/private investment to the value of agricultural production. Efficiency in agricultural systems is not scale-agnostic and it often depends on crossscale interactions, such that apparent inefficiencies at one scale may represent net efficiencies at another one. Likewise, high efficiencies observed at small scales may not necessarily translate into high efficiencies when scaled up to whole farming systems or landscapes.
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference proceedings | CIMMYT Knowledge Center: John Woolston Library | CIMMYT Staff Publications Collection | Available |
Open Access
Abstract only
Resource Use Efficiency (RUE) has historically attracted extensive attention and debate in relation to agricultural production (De Wit, 1992, Lopez-Ridaura et al., 2007). Trenbath (1986) distinguishes the efficiency of resource capture and the efficiency of resource conversion to describe RUE, stating that increased RUE can be attained by either increasing capture efficiency, conversion efficiency or both. RUE in agricultural research has largely referred to the interactions between the resources most often limiting crop yield under field conditions (i.e. water and/or nutrients) or feed conversion rates in animal production. One important feature of these theories is that they describe RUE in general terms and therefore can, in principle, be applied to different resources at different scales. The same laws can be used arguably for resources such as labour, land and capital invested by the farm household and their efficiency in the generation of wealth or food security. Also, at regional scale, these analyses can relate resources such as infrastructure, markets and public/private investment to the value of agricultural production. Efficiency in agricultural systems is not scale-agnostic and it often depends on crossscale interactions, such that apparent inefficiencies at one scale may represent net efficiencies at another one. Likewise, high efficiencies observed at small scales may not necessarily translate into high efficiencies when scaled up to whole farming systems or landscapes.
Conservation Agriculture Program
Text in english
INT3360
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