An evolutionary economic perspective on technical change and adjustment in cane harvesting systems in the Australian sugar industry

Australian sugar-producing regions have differed in terms of the extent and rate of incorporation of new technology into harvesting systems. The Mackay sugar industry has lagged behind most other sugar-producing regions in this regard. The reasons for this are addressed by invoking an evolutionary economics perspective. The development of harvesting systems, and the role of technology in shaping them, is mapped and interpreted using the concept of path dependency. Key events in the evolution of harvesting systems are identified, which show how the past has shaped the regional development of harvesting systems. From an evolutionary economics perspective, the outcomes observed are the end result of a specific history.

Integration of management systems: towards a sustained success and development of organizations

Effective environmental management within companies, integrated with other management areas like quality and occupational health and safety, is nowadays assumed to be a strategic way to implement and improve lean and cleaner production. Also, sustainable development (SD) and business sustainability can be achieved through a better coordinated management of processes versus associated resources. This paper presents an in depth discussion regarding the promotion of integrated management systems, their benefits and major contribution towards the sustainable development of cleaner production related features. It addresses issues regarding the contributions resulting from the integration of standardized Management System (MS) from both internal and external perspectives. Complementing the overall review of aspects to the development of integrated management systems a survey was conducted in order to better understand the relevance of the identified success factors. The main findings in this paper are as follows: a contextualization model of sustainable development and integrated management systems considering the Triple Bottom Line: economic, social and environmental; and, a method and associated model to support the development of integrated management systems as well as general guidelines to support integration. It can be concluded that a proactive approach and commitment to cleaner production, supported by an integrated management system, brings relevant savings for organizations as well as providing value to the relevant interested parties.

Development of support and drive systems for defiberization drum

Diplomityön tarkoituksena oli kuidutusrumpulaitteiston käytön- ja kannatuksen kehittä-minen. Työ rajattiin laajuutensa vuoksi koskemaan tuotesarjan viittä pienintä kokoa. Työn alkuosassa käsitellään kuidutuksen teoriaa ja siihen soveltuvia laitteistoja. Käytön suunnittelun kannalta olennaista käynnistystehon tarvetta on tarkasteltu lähtökohdaisesti fysiikan avulla. Perustietoja teorialle on haettu aiemmista tutkimuksista sekä kirjallisuu-desta. Tarkastelun tuloksena teoriaa on kehitty ja se on saatu vastaamaan todellisuutta aiempaa paremmin. Kannatuksen ja käytön toteuttamisvaihtoja etsittäessä on käytetty systemaattisen koneen-suunnittelun keinoja. Saatuja ideoita on arvioitu teknillis-taloudellisin perustein ja näistä on valittu parhaat vaihtoehdot jatkokehitykseen. Jatkokehitysvaiheessa ratkaisuvaihto-ehtoja on tarkasteltu komponenttitasolla ja näistä on tehty yksityiskohtaiset kustannus-laskelmat. Työn tuloksena on esitetty kannatuksen ja käytön toteutusvaihtoehto, jonka avulla voidaan saavuttaa merkittäviä kustannussäästöjä. Korkea, 30 prosentin kustannussäästö-tavoite saavutettiin.

Economic viability of retrofiting emitters in center pivot irrigation systems

Although several studies have been conducted to evaluate the uniformity of water application under center pivot irrigation systems, there are few studies concerning the economic perspective of such coefficient. The aim of this study is to present a methodology to accomplish an economic analysis as support for the decision-making to retrofit emitters in center pivot irrigation systems, and to attribute an economic meaning to the uniformity coefficient of water application taking into account the response function productivity to the amount of water applied and the sale price of the crops. In the hypothetic calculation example considering the variation of revenue of potato crop under center pivot irrigation system, it was verified that the area with uniformity coefficient of water application of 90% brought an income increase of BR$ 1,992.00, considering an area about 1,0 ha. Thus, it can be concluded that the methodology presented has met the objectives proposed in the study and made it possible to attribute an economical meaning to the coefficient of water uniformity application.

Status and Potential of Smallholder Livestock Production Systems in Xishuangbanna, southern P.R. China

With Chinas rapid economic development during the last decades, the national demand for livestock products has quadrupled within the last 20 years. Most of that increase in demand has been answered by subsidized industrialized production systems, while million of smallholders, which still provide the larger share of livestock products in the country, have been neglected. Fostering those systems would help China to lower its strong urban migration streams, enhance the livelihood of poorer rural population and provide environmentally save livestock products which have a good chance to satisfy customers demand for ecological food. Despite their importance, China’s smallholder livestock keepers have not yet gained appropriate attention from governmental authorities and researchers. However, profound analysis of those systems is required so that adequate support can lead to a better resource utilization and productivity in the sector. To this aim, this pilot study analyzes smallholder livestock production systems in Xishuangbanna, located in southern China. The area is bordered by Lao and Myanmar and geographically counts as tropical region. Its climate is characterized by dry and temperate winters and hot summers with monsoon rains from May to October. While the regionis plain, at about 500 m asl above sea level in the south, outliers of the Himalaya mountains reach out into the north of Xishuangbanna, where the highest peak reaches 2400 m asl. Except of one larger city, Jinghong, Xishuangbanna mainly is covered by tropical rainforest, areas under agricultural cultivation and villages. The major income is generated through inner-Chinese tourism and agricultural production. Intensive rubber plantations are distinctive for the lowland plains while small-scaled traditional farms are scattered in the mountane regions. In order to determine the current state and possible future chances of smallholder livestock production in that region, this study analyzed the current status of the smallholder livestock sector in the Naban River National Nature Reserve (NRNNR), an area which is largely representative for the whole prefecture. It covers an area of about 50square kilometer and reaches from 470 up to 2400 m asl. About 5500 habitants of different ethnic origin are situated in 24 villages. All data have been collected between October 2007 and May 2010. Three major objectives have been addressed in the study: 1. Classifying existing pig production systems and exploring respective pathways for development 2. Quantifying the performance of pig breeding systemsto identify bottlenecks for production 3. Analyzing past and current buffalo utilization to determine the chances and opportunities of buffalo keeping in the future In order to classify the different pig production s ystems, a baseline survey (n=204, stratified cluster sampling) was carried out to gain data about livestock species, numbers, management practices, cultivated plant species and field sizes as well associo-economic characteristics. Sampling included two clusters at village level (altitude, ethnic affiliation), resulting in 13 clusters of which 13-17 farms were interviewed respectively. Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CatPCA) and a two-step clustering algorithm have been applied to identify determining farm characteristics and assort recorded households into classes of livestock production types. The variables keep_sow_yes/no, TLU_pig, TLU_buffalo, size_of_corn_fields, altitude_class, size_of_tea_plantationand size_of_rubber_fieldhave been found to be major determinants for the characterization of the recorded farms. All farms have extensive or semi-intensive livestock production, pigs and buffaloes are predominant livestock species while chicken and aquaculture are available but play subordinate roles for livelihoods. All pig raisers rely on a single local breed, which is known as Small Ear Pig (SMEP) in the region. Three major production systemshave been identified: Livestock-corn based LB; 41%), rubber based (RB; 39%) and pig based (PB;20%) systems. RB farms earn high income from rubber and fatten 1.9 ±1.80 pigs per household (HH), often using purchased pig feed at markets. PB farms own similar sized rubber plantations and raise 4.7 ±2.77 pigs per HH, with fodder mainly being cultivated and collected in theforest. LB farms grow corn, rice and tea and keep 4.6 ±3.32 pigs per HH, also fed with collected and cultivated fodder. Only 29% of all pigs were marketed (LB: 20%; RB: 42%; PB: 25%), average annual mortality was 4.0 ±4.52 pigs per farm (LB: 4.6 ±3.68; RB: 1.9 ±2.14; PB: 7.1 ±10.82). Pig feed mainly consists of banana pseudo stem, corn and rice hives and is prepared in batches about two to three times per week. Such fodder might be sufficient in energy content but lacks appropriate content of protein. Pigs therefore suffer from malnutrition, which becomes most critical in the time before harvest season around October. Farmers reported high occurrences of gastrointestinal parasites in carcasses and often pig stables were wet and filled with manure. Deficits in nutritional and hygienic management are major limits for development and should be the first issues addressed to improve productivity. SME pork was found to be known and referred by local customers in town and by richer lowland farmers. However, high prices and lacking availability of SME pork at local wet-markets were the reasons which limited purchase. If major management constraints are overcome, pig breeders (PB and LB farms) could increase the share of marketed pigs for town markets and provide fatteners to richer RB farmers. RB farmers are interested in fattening pigs for home consumption but do not show any motivation for commercial pig raising. To determine the productivity of input factors in pig production, eproductive performance, feed quality and quantity as well as weight development of pigs under current management were recorded. The data collection included a progeny history survey covering 184 sows and 437 farrows, bi-weekly weighing of 114 pigs during a 16-months time-span on 21 farms (10 LB and 11 PB) as well as the daily recording of feed quality and quantity given to a defined number of pigs on the same 21 farms. Feed samples of all recorded ingredients were analyzed for their respective nutrient content. Since no literature values on thedigestibility of banana pseudo stem – which is a major ingredient of traditional pig feed in NRNNR – were found, a cross-sectional digestibility trial with 2x4 pigs has been conducted on a station in the research area. With the aid of PRY Herd Life Model, all data have been utilized to determine thesystems’ current (Status Quo = SQ) output and the productivity of the input factor “feed” in terms of saleable life weight per kg DM feed intake and monetary value of output per kg DM feed intake.Two improvement scenarios were simulated, assuming 1) that farmers adopt a culling managementthat generates the highest output per unit input (Scenario 1; SC I) and 2) that through improved feeding, selected parameters of reproduction are improved by 30% (SC II). Daily weight gain averaged 55 ± 56 g per day between day 200 and 600. The average feed energy content of traditional feed mix was 14.92 MJ ME. Age at first farrowing averaged 14.5 ± 4.34 months, subsequent inter-farrowing interval was 11.4 ± 2.73 months. Littersize was 5.8 piglets and weaning age was 4.3 ± 0.99 months. 18% of piglets died before weaning. Simulating pig production at actualstatus, it has been show that monetary returns on inputs (ROI) is negative (1:0.67), but improved (1:1.2) when culling management was optimized so that highest output is gained per unit feed input. If in addition better feeding, controlled mating and better resale prices at fixed dates were simulated, ROI further increased to 1:2.45, 1:2.69, 1:2.7 and 1:3.15 for four respective grower groups. Those findings show the potential of pork production, if basic measures of improvement are applied. Futureexploration of the environment, including climate, market-season and culture is required before implementing the recommended measures to ensure a sustainable development of a more effective and resource conserving pork production in the future. The two studies have shown that the production of local SME pigs plays an important role in traditional farms in NRNNR but basic constraints are limiting their productivity. However, relatively easy approaches are sufficient for reaching a notable improvement. Also there is a demand for more SME pork on local markets and, if basic constraints have been overcome, pig farmers could turn into more commercial producers and provide pork to local markets. By that, environmentally safe meat can be offered to sensitive consumers while farmers increase their income and lower the risk of external shocks through a more diverse income generating strategy. Buffaloes have been found to be the second important livestock species on NRNNR farms. While they have been a core resource of mixed smallholderfarms in the past, the expansion of rubber tree plantations and agricultural mechanization are reasons for decreased swamp buffalo numbers today. The third study seeks to predict future utilization of buffaloes on different farm types in NRNNR by analyzing the dynamics of its buffalo population and land use changes over time and calculating labor which is required for keeping buffaloes in view of the traction power which can be utilized for field preparation. The use of buffaloes for field work and the recent development of the egional buffalo population were analyzed through interviews with 184 farmers in 2007/2008 and discussions with 62 buffalo keepers in 2009. While pig based farms (PB; n=37) have abandoned buffalo keeping, 11% of the rubber based farms (RB; n=71) and 100% of the livestock-corn based farms (LB; n=76) kept buffaloes in 2008. Herd size was 2.5 ±1.80 (n=84) buffaloes in early 2008 and 2.2 ±1.69 (n=62) in 2009. Field work on own land was the main reason forkeeping buffaloes (87.3%), but lending work buffaloes to neighbors (79.0%) was also important. Other purposes were transport of goods (16.1%), buffalo trade (11.3%) and meat consumption(6.4%). Buffalo care required 6.2 ±3.00 working hours daily, while annual working time of abuffalo was 294 ±216.6 hours. The area ploughed with buffaloes remained constant during the past 10 years despite an expansion of land cropped per farm. Further rapid replacement of buffaloes by tractors is expected in the near future. While the work economy is drastically improved by the use of tractors, buffaloes still can provide cheap work force and serve as buffer for economic shocks on poorer farms. Especially poor farms, which lack alternative assets that could quickly be liquidizedin times of urgent need for cash, should not abandon buffalo keeping. Livestock has been found to be a major part of small mixed farms in NRNNR. The general productivity was low in both analyzed species, buffaloes and pigs. Productivity of pigs can be improved through basic adjustments in feeding, reproductive and hygienic management, and with external support pig production could further be commercialized to provide pork and weaners to local markets and fattening farms. Buffalo production is relatively time intensive, and only will be of importance in the future to very poor farms and such farms that cultivate very small terraces on steep slopes. These should be encouraged to further keep buffaloes. With such measures, livestock production in NRNNR has good chances to stay competitive in the future.

Techno-economic Appraisal of Concentrating Solar Power Systems (CSP)

The diffusion of Concentrating Solar Power Systems (CSP) systems is currently taking place at a much slower pace than photovoltaic (PV) power systems. This is mainly because of the higher present cost of the solar thermal power plants, but also for the time that is needed in order to build them. Though economic attractiveness of different Concentrating technologies varies, still PV power dominates the market. The price of CSP is expected to drop significantly in the near future and wide spread installation of them will follow. The main aim of this project is the creation of different relevant case studies on solar thermal power generation and a comparison betwwen them. The purpose of this detailed comparison is the techno-economic appraisal of a number of CSP systems and the understanding of their behaviour under various boundary conditions. The CSP technologies which will be examined are the Parabolic Trough, the Molten Salt Power Tower, the Linear Fresnel Mirrors and the Dish Stirling. These systems will be appropriatly sized and simulated. All of the simulations aim in the optimization of the particular system. This includes two main issues. The first is the achievement of the lowest possible levelized cost of electricity and the second is the maximization of the annual energy output (kWh). The project also aims in the specification of these factors which affect more the results and more specifically, in what they contribute to the cost reduction or the power generation. Also, photovoltaic systems will be simulated under same boundary conditions to facolitate a comparison between the PV and the CSP systems. Last but not leats, there will be a determination of the system which performs better in each case study.

Granularity and disaggregation in compositional modelling with applications to ecological systems

In the past decade, compositional modelling (CM) has established itself as the predominant knowledge-based approach to construct mathematical (simulation) models automatically. Although it is mainly applied to physical systems, there is a growing interest in applying CM to other domains, such as ecological and socio-economic systems. Inspired by this observation, this paper presents a method for extending the conventional CM techniques to suit systems that are fundamentally presented by interacting populations of individuals instead of physical components or processes. The work supports building model repositories for such systems, especially in addressing the most critical outstanding issues of granularity and disaggregation in ecological systems modelling.

Modernization of Customs and Implementation of Single Window Systems for Foreign Trade: Results of an International Seminar-Workshop

An international seminar-workshop entitled "Facilitation of trade and transport in Latin America: situation and outlook" was held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on 29 and 30 November 2005, organized jointly by the ECLAC Division of International Trade and Integration and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The event was attended by about 50 persons involved in customs modernization and/or the implementation of single window systems for foreign trade in 20 Ibero-American countries.The main purpose of the seminar-workshop was to exchange ideas, opinions and proposals concerning the efficient implementation of trade facilitation instruments. The conclusions reached at this event point to the need to seek convergence among the existing trade agreements associated with trade facilitation in Latin America. Customs modernization requires the re-design of processes and procedures in order to achieve interoperability among the systems, and single window systems for foreign trade can only be implemented successfully if clear political leadership is established with broad participation from both public and private organizations.

eHealth handbook for managers of healthcare services and systems

Prefacio de Alicia Bárcena y Luciano Sáez

Economic viability of retrofiting emitters in center pivot irrigation systems

Although several studies have been conducted to evaluate the uniformity of water application under center pivot irrigation systems, there are few studies concerning the economic perspective of such coefficient. The aim of this study is to present a methodology to accomplish an economic analysis as support for the decision-making to retrofit emitters in center pivot irrigation systems, and to attribute an economic meaning to the uniformity coefficient of water application taking into account the response function productivity to the amount of water applied and the sale price of the crops. In the hypothetic calculation example considering the variation of revenue of potato crop under center pivot irrigation system, it was verified that the area with uniformity coefficient of water application of 90% brought an income increase of BR$ 1,992.00, considering an area about 1,0 ha. Thus, it can be concluded that the methodology presented has met the objectives proposed in the study and made it possible to attribute an economical meaning to the coefficient of water uniformity application.

The Emergence of the Post-Socialist Welfare State - The Case of the Baltic States : Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

This dissertation takes a step towards providing a better understanding of post-socialist welfare state development from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. The overall analytical goal of this thesis has been to critically assess the development of social policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania using them as illustrative examples of post-socialist welfare state development in the light of the theories, approaches and typologies that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The four studies included in this dissertation aspire to a common aim in a number of specific ways. The first study tries to place the ideal-typical welfare state models of the Baltic States within the well-known welfare state typologies. At the same time, it provides a rich overview of the main social security institutions in the three countries by comparing them with each other and with the previous structures of the Soviet period. It examines the social insurance institutions of the Baltic States (old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, short-term benefits, sickness, maternity and parental insurance and family benefits) with respect to conditions of eligibility, replacement rates, financing and contributions. The findings of this study indicate that the Latvian social security system can generally be labelled as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models. The Estonian social security system can generally also be characterised as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models, even if there are some weak elements of the targeted model in it. It appears that the institutional changes developing in the social security system of Lithuania have led to a combination of the basic security and targeted models of the welfare state. Nevertheless, as the example of the three Baltic States shows, there is diversity in how these countries solve problems within the field of social policy. In studying the social security schemes in detail, some common features were found that could be attributed to all three countries. Therefore, the critical analysis of the main social security institutions of the Baltic States in this study gave strong supporting evidence in favour of identifying the post-socialist regime type that is already gaining acceptance within comparative welfare state research. Study Two compares the system of social maintenance and insurance in the Soviet Union, which was in force in the three Baltic countries before their independence, with the currently existing social security systems. The aim of the essay is to highlight the forces that have influenced the transformation of the social policy from its former highly universal, albeit authoritarian, form, to the less universal, social insurance-based systems of present-day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This study demonstrates that the welfare–economy nexus is not the only important factor in the development of social programs. The results of this analysis revealed that people's attitudes towards distributive justice and the developmental level of civil society also play an important part in shaping social policies. The shift to individualism in people’s mentality and the decline of the labour movement, or, to be more precise, the decline in trade union membership and influence, does nothing to promote the development of social rights in the Baltic countries and hinders the expansion of social policies. The legacy of the past has been another important factor in shaping social programs. It can be concluded that social policy should be studied as if embedded not only in the welfare-economy nexus, but also in the societal, historical and cultural nexus of a given society. Study Three discusses the views of the state elites on family policy within a wider theoretical setting covering family policy and social policy in a broader sense and attempts to expand this analytical framework to include other post-socialist countries. The aim of this essay is to explore the various views of the state elites in the Baltics concerning family policy and, in particular, family benefits as one of the possible explanations for the observed policy differences. The qualitative analyses indicate that the Baltic States differ significantly with regard to the motives behind their family policies. Lithuanian decision-makers seek to reduce poverty among families with children and enhance the parents’ responsibility for bringing up their children. Latvian policy-makers act so as to increase the birth rate and create equal opportunities for children from all families. Estonian policy-makers seek to create equal opportunities for all children and the desire to enhance gender equality is more visible in the case of Estonia in comparison with the other two countries. It is strongly arguable that there is a link between the underlying motives and the kinds of family benefits in a given country. This study, thus, indicates how intimately the attitudes of the state bureaucrats, policy-makers, political elite and researchers shape social policy. It confirms that family policy is a product of the prevailing ideology within a country, while the potential influence of globalisation and Europeanisation is detectable too. The final essay takes into account the opinions of welfare users and examines the performances of the institutionalised family benefits by relying on the recipients’ opinions regarding these benefits. The opinions of the populations as a whole regarding government efforts to help families are compared with those of the welfare users. Various family benefits are evaluated according to the recipients' satisfaction with those benefits as well as the contemporaneous levels of subjective satisfaction with the welfare programs related to the absolute level of expenditure on each program. The findings of this paper indicate that, in Latvia, people experience a lower level of success regarding state-run family insurance institutions, as compared to those in Lithuania and Estonia. This is deemed to be because the cash benefits for families and children in Latvia are, on average, seen as marginally influencing the overall financial situation of the families concerned. In Lithuania and Estonia, the overwhelming majority think that the family benefit systems improve the financial situation of families. It appears that recipients evaluated universal family benefits as less positive than targeted benefits. Some universal benefits negatively influenced the level of general satisfaction with the family benefits system provided in the countries being researched. This study puts forward a discussion about whether universalism is always more legitimate than targeting. In transitional economies, in which resources are highly constrained, some forms of universal benefits could turn out to be very expensive in relative terms, without being seen as useful or legitimate forms of help to families. In sum, by closely examining the different aspects of social policy, this dissertation goes beyond the over-generalisation of Eastern European welfare state development and, instead, takes a more detailed look at what is really going on in these countries through the examples of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In addition, another important contribution made by this study is that it revives ‘western’ theoretical knowledge through ‘eastern’ empirical evidence and provides the opportunity to expand the theoretical framework for post-socialist societies.

A Historical-Institutional Study of the Welfare Systems in the United States and Sweden: Net Social Wage Approach

In this study I first look at the historical developments of the welfare systems in Sweden and the United States to understand why these countries have produced two distinct systems over the years. After understanding their historical context I turn to the question of the relationship between the welfare system and economic growth. Policy makers and the mainstream media commonly cite the critique that through government deficit and public debt, welfare systems are a drag on the economy. By calculating the net social wage, the difference in taxes paid and benefits received by workers, I test this hypothesis to see if welfare systems are self-financed by the workers. My findings demonstrate that the net social wage has been negative in the U.S. from 1962 to the early 2000s and in Sweden from 1965 to 2012. This shows that the welfare systems are entirely self-financed by the workers for the full period in Sweden and until the recent financial crisis in the U.S.

Integration under 'One Country, Two Systems' - The Case of Mainland China and Hong Kong-

Ever since the handover of the territory in 1997, Hong Kong has had its own unique law and its own economic system and international legal personality, and has not been integrated with Mainland China. The Basic Law guarantees the uniqueness of the Hong Kong SAR until 2047. But close economic ties between Hong Kong and the Mainland will promote closer economic integration. The Basic Law limits only a customs union and the introduction of a single currency, but not the formation of a Free Trade Agreement (hereafter FTA) and monetary union. FTA has already been realized in the form of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (hereafter CEPA). The Hong Kong SAR government, including the bureaucrat as well as the Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, was opposed to, and hesitant towards, the formation of a regional trade agreement with the Mainland, but the business community made them to adopt a positive attitude towards the CEPA. It is unclear how much integration can been deepened, but it can be argued that the current policy of the Hong Kong SAR is too supportive of business, and an excessive degree of economic integration may threaten the uniqueness of Hong Kong. But if Hong Kong achieves democracy and enjoys complete autonomy, it will be easy for economic integration to co-exist with the 'One Country, Two Systems' approach, in the interests of the business community and of the citizens of the SAR.

Evaluating sustainability and food security of peasant farming systems in Mesoamerican highlands

En las últimas décadas, la agricultura sostenible ha sido objeto de gran interés y debate académico, no sólo en términos conceptuales, sino también en términos metodológicos. La persistencia de la inseguridad alimentaria y el deterioro de los recursos naturales en muchas regiones del mundo, ha provocado el surgimiento de numerosas iniciativas centradas en revitalizar la agricultura campesina así como renovadas discusiones sobre el rol que juega la agricultura como motor de desarrollo y principal actividad para alivio de la pobreza. Por ello, cuando hablamos de evaluar sistemas campesinos de montaña, debemos considerar tanto la dimensión alimentaria como las especificidades propias de los sistemas montañosos como base fundamental de la sostenibilidad. Al evaluar la contribución que han hecho alternativas tecnológicas y de manejo en la mejora de la sostenibilidad y la seguridad alimentaria de los sistemas campesinos de montaña en Mesoamérica, surgen tres preguntas de investigación: • ¿Se está evaluando la sostenibilidad de los sistemas campesinos teniendo en cuenta la variabilidad climática, la participación de los agricultores y las dinámicas temporales? • ¿Podemos rescatar tendencias comunes en estos sistemas y extrapolar los resultados a otras zonas? • ¿Son inequívocamente positivas las alternativas propuestas que se han llevado a cabo? En este trabajo se presentan tres evaluaciones de sostenibilidad que tratan de poner de manifiesto cuáles son los retos y oportunidades que enfrentan actualmente los sistemas campesinos de montaña. En primer lugar, se evalúan tres sistemas de manejo agrícola bajo dos años meteorológicamente contrastantes. Se determinó que durante el año que experimentó lluvias abundantes y temperaturas moderadas, los sistemas de bajos insumos, basados en el uso de abonos orgánicos y rotación de cultivos, obtuvieron los mejores resultados en indicadores ecológicos y similares resultados en los económicos y sociales que el sistema de altos insumos químicos. En el segundo año, con heladas tempranas y sequía invernal, la productividad se redujo para todos los sistemas pero los sistemas más diversificados (en variedades de maíz y/o siembra de otros cultivos) pudieron resistir mejor los contratiempos climáticos. En segundo lugar, se evalúa el grado de conocimiento (percepción) campesino para determinar los factores claves que determinan la sostenibilidad de sus sistemas y su seguridad alimentaria. Se determinó que los principales puntos críticos identificados por los campesinos (tamaño de parcela y pendiente del terreno) afectan de forma significativa a cuestiones de índole económica, pero no son capaces de explicar los desequilibrios alimenticios existentes. Realizando un análisis comparativo entre comunidades que presentaban buenos y malos resultados en cuanto a aporte energético y proteico, se determinó que la seguridad alimentaria estaba relacionada con la sostenibilidad de los sistemas y que concretamente estaba ligada a los atributos de equidad y autonomía. Otro resultado destacable fue que las comunidades más marginales y con mayor dificultad de acceso mostraron mayores niveles de inseguridad alimentaria, pero la variabilidad intergrupal fue muy alta. Eso demuestra que la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional forma parte de un complejo sistema de estrategias de autoabastecimiento ligada a la idiosincrasia misma de cada uno de los hogares. En tercer lugar, se evaluó el desempeño de las escuelas de campo de agricultores (ECAs) en la mejora de la sostenibilidad y la seguridad alimentaria de un sistema campesino de montaña. Para ver el efecto del impacto de estas metodologías a largo plazo, se estudiaron tres comunidades donde se habían implementado ECAs hace 8, 5 y 3 años. Encontramos que el impacto fue progresivo ya que fue la comunidad más antigua la que mejores valores obtuvo. El impacto de las ECAs fue rápido y persistente en los indicadores relacionados con la participación, el acceso a servicios básicos y la conservación de los recursos naturales. El estudio demostró un claro potencial de las ECAs en la mejora general de la sostenibilidad y la seguridad alimentaria de estos sistemas, sin embargo se observó una relación directa entre el aumento de producción agrícola y el uso de insumos externos, lo que puede suponer un punto crítico para los ideales sostenibles. ABSTRACT During the last decades, sustainable agriculture has been the subject of considerable academic interest and debate, not only in conceptual terms, but also in methodological ones. The persistence of high levels of environmental degradation and food insecurity in many regions has led to new initiatives focused on revitalizing peasant agriculture and renewed discussions of the role of sustainable agriculture as an engine for development, environmental conservation and poverty alleviation. Therefore, to assess mountain farming systems, we must consider food dimension and taking into account the specificities of the mountain systems as the foundation of sustainability. When evaluating contribution of technological and management alternative proposals in achieving sustainability and food security for peasant farming systems in Mesoamerican highlands, three research questions arise: • Is sustainability of peasant-farming systems being evaluated taking into account climate variability, participation of farmers and temporal dynamics? • Can we rescue common trends in these systems and extrapolate the results to other areas? • What alternative proposals that have been conducted are unequivocally positives? In this document, we present three evaluations of sustainability that try to highlight the challenges and opportunities that currently face mountain farming systems in Mesoamerica. First, we evaluate the sustainability of three agricultural management systems in two contrasting weather years. We determined that during the first year that exposed heavy rains and moderate temperatures, low-input systems, which are based on the use of organic fertilizers and crop rotation, provided better results in terms of ecological indicators and equal results in terms of economic and social indicators than those achieved using a high chemical input system. In the second year, which featured early frosts and a winter drought, productivity declined in all systems; however, the most diversified systems (in terms of the maize varieties grown and the sowing of other crops) more successfully resisted these climatic adversities. Second, we evaluate the farmers’ perception to determine the key drivers for achieving their sustainability and food and nutritional security. We determined that the key factors identified by farmers (landholding size and slope of cropland) exerted significant impacts on economic disparities but did not explain the malnutrition levels. We compared two contrasting hamlets according to their energy and protein supply, one namely Limón Timoté (LT), which did not present food problems and Limón Peña Blanca (LP), which did exhibit food insecurity. The results showed that FNS is linked to sustainability, and it is primarily related to the sustainability attributes of self-reliance and equity. Although the more marginated and inaccessible community exhibited more food insecurity, food and nutritional security depend upon a complex array of self-sufficiency strategies that remain linked to individual household idiosyncrasies. Third, we evaluated the impact of farmer field schools for improving the sustainability and food security of peasant mountain systems. In order to appreciate the long-term impact, we studied three communities where FFSs were implemented eight, five and three years ago, respectively. We found that FFSs have a gradual impact, as the community that first implemented FFSs scores highest. The impact of FFSs was broad and long-lasting for indicators related to participation, access to basic services and conservation of natural resources. This study demonstrates the potential of FFSs, but more attention will have to be paid to critical indicators in order to scale up their potential in the future. We observed a direct relationship between the increase in agricultural production and the use of external inputs, which is a critical point for sustainable ideals.