Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, October 9, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, October 16, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, October 24, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, October 31, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

The optimal sample allocation problem for mapped outputs

Abstract not available

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN VULNERABLE CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN MGETA, TANZANIA

Increased occurrence of drought and dry spells during the growing season have resulted in increased interest in protection of tropical water catchment areas. In Mgeta, a water catchment area in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, water used for vegetable and fruit production is provided through canals from the Uluguru South Forest Reserve. The clearing of forest land for cultivation in the steep slopes in the area is causing severe land degradation, which is threatening the water catchment area, livelihoods, and food security of the local communities, as well as the major population centers in the lowlands. In this paper, the economic performance of a traditional cropping-livestock system with East African (EA)-goats and pigs and extensive vegetable production is compared with a more sustainable and environmentally friendly crop-dairy goat production system. A linear programming (LP) crop-livestock model, maximizing farm income considering the environmental constraints in the area was applied for studying the economic performance of dairy goats in the production system. The model was worked out for the rainy and dry seasons and the analysis was conducted for a basic scenario representing the current situation, based on the variability in the 30 years period from 1982-2012, and in a scenario of both lower crop yields and increased crop variability due to climate change. Data obtained from a sample of 60 farmers that were interviewed using a questionnaire was used to develop and parameterize the model. The study found that in the steep slopes of the area, a crop-dairy goat system with extensive use of grass and multipurpose trees (MPTs) would do better than the traditional vegetable gardening with the EA goat production system. The crop-dairy goat system was superior both in the basic and in a climate change scenario since the yield variation of the grass and MPTs system was less affected compared to vegetable crops due to more tree cover and the use of perennial grasses. However, the goat milk production in the area was constrained by inadequate feeding and lack of an appropriate breeding program. Hence, farmers should enhance goat milk production by supplementing with more concentrate feed and by implementing goat-breeding principles. Moreover, policy measures to promote such a development are briefly discussed.

Dairy cattle-slurry treatment technologies: towards an integrating approach of crop production, animal feeding and environmental impacts

Dairy cattle farms have a well-known environmental impact that affects all ecological compartments: air, soil, water and biosphere [1]. Dairy cattle farming are a significant source of anthropogenic gases from enteric fermentation, manure storage and land application, mainly ammonia (NH3), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The emission of such gases represents not only an environmental problem but also leads to energy and nitrogen (N) losses in ruminant production systems [2-5]. Several efforts are required on the development of new technologies and strategies that mitigate gaseous emissions, N losses and improve the efficiency of the energy and N cycles [6, 7]. In the Northwest of Portugal, dairy cattle production has a major impact on the economy, with strong repercussions at national scale. Therefore, our Ph.D. thesis project aims to: a) Study natural supplements as additives in the dairy cattle diet towards a decrease in GHG emissions from feeding operations; b) Compare commercial dairy cattle diets with and without additives on gaseous emissions from manure deposited in a simulated concrete floor; c) Assess the concentrations and emissions of NH3 and greenhouse gases from commercial dairy cattle facilities; d) Evaluate the effects of different additives on lowering gaseous emissions from dairy cattle excreta, using a laboratory system simulating a dairy house concrete floor.

Land use change from rainforests to oil palm plantations and food gardens in Papua New Guinea: Effects on soil properties and S fractions

Changes in soil sulfur (S) fractions were assessed in oil palm and food garden land use systems developed on forest vegetation in humid tropical areas of Popondetta in northern Province. The study tested a hypothesis that S in food gardens are limiting nutrient factor and are significantly lower than in plantations and forests. Subsistence food gardens are under long-term slash and burn practice of cropping and such practice is expected to accelerate loss of biomass S from the ecosystem. From each land use, surface soil (0–15 cm) samples were characterised and further pseudocomplete fractionated for S. Conversion of forest to oil palm production decreased (p<0.001) soil pH and electrical conductivity values. The reserve S fraction in soil increased significantly (p<0.05) due to oil palm production ( 28 %) and food gardening activity (∼ 54 %). However, plant available SO42--S was below 15 mg kg^(−1) in the food garden soils and foliar samples of sweet potato crop indicating deficiency of plant available S. Soil organic carbon content (OC) was positively and significantly correlated to total S content (r=0.533; p<0.001) among the land use systems. Thus, crop management practices that affect OC status of the soils would potentially affect the S availability in soils. The possible changes in the chemical nature of mineralisable organic S compounds leading to enhanced mineralisation and leaching losses could be the reasons for the deficiency of S in the food garden soils. The results of this study conclude that long-term subsistence food gardening activity enriched top soils with reserve S or total S content at the expense of soluble S fraction. The subsistence cropping practices such as biomass burning in food gardens and reduced fallow periods are apparently threatening food security of oil palm households. Improved soil OC management strategies such as avoiding burning of fallow vegetation, improved fallows, mulching with fallow biomass, use of manures and S containing fertilisers must be promoted to sustain food security in smallholder oil palm system.

Climate change adaptation solutions for the green sectors of selected zones in the MENA region

In this paper, we propose climate adaptation solutions for the green sectors in three different zones of MENA: Egypt’s Delta (irrigated), Karak, in the highlands of Jordan (rainfed), and Lebanon’s Orontes basin (mixed: rainfed-irrigated). We analysed land use and crop intensification, and calculated the economic productivity of water – a critical scarce resource in MENA. By integrating the results with evidence from literature on the potential impacts of climate change and socio-economic factors, we could identify vulnerability levels of the three regions and propose adaptation measures relying of the concept of the “food-water-energy nexus.” While the vulnerability levels are found to be high in the Delta (Egypt) and Karak (Jordan), mainly due to water scarcity and poor adaptive capacity, the vulnerability level is moderate in the Orontes zone (Lebanon) due to a diversified agricultural sector and good market development, coupled with moderate water scarcity. Proposed adaptation solutions range from measures to improve technical efficiency, to measures that encourage economically efficient allocation by use of market forces. For both cases, the development of market opportunities is emphasized to make the proposed measures attractive to farmers.

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, November 7, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, November 14, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, November 21, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, November 28, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

2016 Iowa Crop Progress Review, December 13, 2016

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. Formally titled: Iowa Crop & Progress Report

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy annual progress report. Reporting period: June 1, 2015 through May 30, 2016. Appendix C. 2015 Iowa cover crop user survey.

Appendix to 2015/16 annual report.