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In
terms of priority, the emphasis of the workgroup will be on small
scale agriculture, without at this moment in time defining the upper
limit clearly. Furthermore, the scale issue should not be confused
with the issue of market orientation or commercialisation. Being commercial
or not is not an a priori criterion for admitting information into
the database; small-scale and family-farm orientations are the present
priorities.
Both
agroecology and the farming systems concepts are quite holistic approaches
to the functioning of farms. Agroecology may have the connotation
of a well developed, completed innovation process attaining high standards
of "agriculture in partnership with nature" etc. However,
at this stage, the idea is not to fill the database with cases of
such a completed innovation process only, though these may be very
interesting. For now, we use the concepts of agroecology and farming
systems to describe the orientation of the technologies and innovations
that should be described. Any change that is oriented towards the
general aims of agroecology and where the context and the system are
sufficiently described, could be entered in the database.
In the
InterDev project there is a second group that deals with agricultural
subjects, "urban and periurban agriculture". A crucial characteristic
of periurban agriculture is the nearness of the city, which is reflected
in the socio-economic situation of the farmers, especially regarding
marketing, infrastructure, etc. For periurban agriculture freshness
(e.g. of vegetables, fruits, meat and milk) often plays an important
role. After a test period, a more precise demarcation should be decided.
The
holistic nature of the topic Agroecological Farming Systems makes
it difficult to subdivide it beforehand, or to prioritise in an early
stage of the project. To get some insight in the information presently
available with the partner organisations, an inventory was made.
A first inventory of the topics related to Agroecological
Farming Systems
| 1.
General Principles
2. Agro-Ecosystem
Management
3. Soil
and Water
¤
geology
¤ fertility & plant nutrition
¤ structure & tillage
¤ soil protection
¤ water management
4. Crop
Production
¤
crop types
¤ pest & weed control
¤ crop management practices
¤ residue management
¤ nitrogen fixation/cropping practices
¤ crop breeding
5. Animal
Husbandry
¤
animal types
¤ animal nutrition
¤ manure production
¤ housing
¤ breeding
¤ health
¤ herd composition
¤ pasture management
¤ animal traction
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6. Organic
Cycle Optimization
¤
nutrient cycling
¤ crop rotation/spatial diversity
¤ energy
¤ interaction between farm
& surroundings
7. Farm
and Family Economics
¤
farm as an enterprise
¤ non-profit objectives
¤ gender
¤ savings, credit, cash-flow
¤ marketing
¤ labour & mecanization
¤ specialization or diversification
¤ farmer cooperation
¤ Influencing policies by farmer
organizations
8.
Disseminating Know-How
¤
curriculum development
9. Social
& Economic Context
¤
economic cooperation
¤ infrastructure
¤ regional self-sufficiency
¤ food quality & environment policies
¤ agricultural & price policies
¤ relations to the international market
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