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Crop/Livestock Integration Effects On Soil Quality, Crop Production, And Soil Nitrogen Dynamics, Ellen B. Mallory
Crop/Livestock Integration Effects On Soil Quality, Crop Production, And Soil Nitrogen Dynamics, Ellen B. Mallory
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Regional integration of potato and dairy farms has developed in Maine through arrangements where manure, feed, and sometimes land, are exchanged between neighboring farms. The effects of integration on soil quality, crop production, nitrogen (N) cycling, and N loss were investigated in field and laboratory studies of contrasting amended (manure, compost, green manure, and supplemental fertilizer) and nonamended (fertilizer only) soil management systems within 2-year potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) rotations in the Maine Potato Cropping Systems Project (MPEP). Additionally, soil quality of 48 integrated and nonintegrated Maine potato and dairy farm fields was assessed. The MPEP’s amended soil system enhanced …
Assessing The Sustainability Of Agricultural Systems, Laura L. Kramar
Assessing The Sustainability Of Agricultural Systems, Laura L. Kramar
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This work constructs and tests a comparative technique that can be used to determine the ability of agricultural systems to meet multiple objectives of sustainability. Assessments are based on an agricultural system's ability to maintain five system stocks that represent environmental capital, social capital, human capital, physical capital, and financial capital. The capital stocks are measured as stock objectives, which are decomposed as indicators to calculate agricultural system scores. An examination of the complexity of agro-ecosystems and the multiple equilibria produced by balancing multiple objectives is used to explain the alternative criteria used in this comparative technique to evaluate agricultural …