Life Sciences Commons^™

Underutilized Edible Fruit Species Of The Indo-Gangetic Plains: A Systematic Review For Food Security And Land Degradation Neutrality, Dinesha S, Rakesh S, Deepranjan Sarkar, Prakash Kumar Jha, Raghupathi Balasani, Shikha ., Saswat Kumar Kar, Vishal Seth, Amitava Rakshit, Rahul Datta, Sezai̇ Erci̇şli̇

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Many underutilized edible fruit species (UEFS) are found in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), which support food security (FS) for many other dependent communities as well as the indigenous people. Unfortunately, there is little study and fragmented information available about these naturally edible products. The UEFS of the IGP was the subject of a systematic review utilizing the PRISMA Protocol, which produced implications for FS and land degradation neutrality (LDN). This review aims to survey, summarize, and annotate the published information about the angiosperms native and naturalized UEFS of IGP to identify and make use of this species, particularly for the …

The Impact Of Index Based Livestock Insurance (Ibli) On Child Nutrition In Marsabit County, Kenya, Jackson Kadyampakeni

Master's Theses

The study uses six rounds of Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) panel surveys (2009 – 2015) for Northern Kenya’s Marsabit county to investigate the impact of IBLI on child nutrition and household food security. We employ Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Instrumental Variable (IV) regressions to account for potential endogeneity in IBLI uptake. The results indicate that while IBLI uptake significantly improves the intake of key nutrients such as Vitamin A, protein, iron, and fruits and vegetables, it does not translate into significant improvements in child nutrition status, as measured by Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) z-scores. Significant negative effects of age …

Biological Control Of Three Major Cucumber And Pepper Pests: Whiteflies, Thrips, And Spider Mites, In High Plastic Tunnels Using Two Local Phytoseiid Mites, Yusuf Abou Jawdah, Nour Ezzedine, Aya Fardoun, Samer Kharroubi, Hana Sobh, Hagop S. Atamian, Margaret S. Skinner, Bruce Parker

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

To enhance food security, food safety, and environmental health, a bio-based integrated pest management (BIPM) strategy was evaluated at two coastal locations in Lebanon as an alternative to toxic pesticide sprays in commercial high-arched plastic tunnels common in many countries. The evaluation occurred during two cucumber and pepper cropping seasons: spring and fall. At each site, two commercial tunnels were used; farmers’ conventional practices were applied in one tunnel, while the BIPM approach was followed in the second tunnel. In the farmers’ practices, a total of 14 sprays of insecticide/acaricide mixtures were applied during the spring growing season, and 6 …

Disaster Plant Pathology: Smart Solutions For Threats To Global Plant Health From Natural And Human-Driven Disasters, Berea A. Etherton, Robin A. Choudhury, Ricardo I. Alcalá Briseño, Romaric A. Mouafo-Tchinda, Aaron I. Plex Sulá, Manoj Choudhury, Ashish Adhikari, Si Lin Lei, Nattapol Kraisitudomsook, Jacobo Robledo Buritica

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Disaster plant pathology addresses how natural and human-driven disasters impact plant diseases, and the requirements for smart management solutions. Local to global drivers of plant disease change in response to disasters, often creating environments more conducive to plant disease. Most disasters have indirect effects on plant health through factors such as disrupted supply chains and damaged infrastructure. There is also the potential for direct effects from disasters, such as pathogen or vector dispersal due to floods, hurricanes, and human migration driven by war. Pulse stressors such as hurricanes and war require rapid responses, while press stressors such as climate change …

A Vision For A Food-Secure Future Through Permaculture, Jim Gale

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

In response to the pressing challenges of food security, sustainability, and resilience, Food Forest Abundance, led by visionary CEO Jim Gale, emerges as a beacon for permaculture-based agriculture and community development. This editorial explores the organization's pivotal role in advocating for a future where individuals, families, and communities thrive through sustainable practices and localized food systems. Central to Food Forest Abundance mission is the conviction that permaculture principles can revolutionize our approach to food security, health, and wellness by uniting agricultural and community leaders.

The catalyst for this movement was the World Farmers Market Coalition report, revealing the tangible economic, …

Analysis Of The Potential Of Rice And Corn In Supporting Food Availability, Luh Pastiniasih, Ketut Sumantra, Ni Putu Pandawani, Putu Edi Yastika

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

A region’s agricultural sector plays a strategic role in fulfilling its food needs with ideal nutrition. The potential of cereal commodities, specifically rice and corn, was identified based on the production level and competitiveness by district in Buleleng Regency, Indonesia. The regency’s potential to provide and support food security was also determined through a quantitative descriptive analysis of the Location Quotient (LQ), Shift Share Analysis (SSA), Localization Coefficients, and Levels of Food Availability by utilizing secondary data on cereal commodity production and population numbers over the course of 10 yr (2012–2021). Results showed that Sawan, Seririt, and Sukasada districts were …

Agricultural Extension Services And Household Food Security Of Women Rice Farmers In The Ayeyarwady Region Of Myanmar, Yi Mon Thu, Rowena Dt. Baconguis, Myra E. David, Merlyne M. Paunlagui, Pompe C. Sta. Cruz

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

The study aimed to analyze women's households' farming practices towards household food security, particularly in six villages of the Ayeyarwady region. Data were collected from 126 randomized respondents. Findings show that the respondents are respondents who had a mean age of 45 years, married, natives of the study sites, and have attended primary education with an average of four family members. The government is the primary agency that provides training programs, mostly in rice production. They have access to extension worker visitation in which the most common topic discussed is pest management. Less than a fourth of the respondents are …

Examining Gendered Aspects Of Land Tenure Security And Smallholder Food Security During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Uganda, Michelle B. Saunders

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Smallholder agriculture is an integral part of the global food system – indeed, over 80% of the world’s farms operate on less than two hectares of land. In Uganda, these smallholder farmers grow the majority (~85%) of food produced, and thus are critical to domestic food security. However, due to external threats such as economic hardship and climate change, smallholders are also vulnerable to food insecurity themselves. As we work towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger, it is crucial that we pay particular attention to this vital population. This thesis explores two key explanatory factors that …

The Biggest Grower: A Youth Gardening Competition For Growing Specialty Crops And Urban Farmers, Stacy A. Adams, Terri James

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Abstract

Youth today have tendencies for unhealthy lifestyles, being sedentary, consuming high fat diets low in fruits and vegetables, all contributing to child obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and precedence for life-long health concerns. For rural and economically disadvantaged urban households, poor diet is directly attributed to the inaccessibility of fresh produce, affordability and understanding of preparation of various specialty crops. Through a grant from the NE Specialty Crop Block Funding Program, The Biggest Grower Competition (BGC) was developed as a summer extension education program for youth in 8^th through 12^th grade. Project goals included; provide educational materials …

Lessons Learned From The 2019 Nebraska Floods: Implications For Emergency Management, Mass Care, And Food Security, Eric E. Calloway, Nadine B. Nugent, Katie L. Stern, Ashley Mueller, Amy L. Yaroch

Nebraska Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

This qualitative study aimed to understand the actions, challenges, and lessons learned for addressing the food and water needs of flood survivors, with a special focus on vulnerable populations and the implications for food security, to inform future disaster response efforts in the U.S. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted from January to August 2020 with the local, state, and national stakeholders (n = 27) involved in the disaster response to the 2019 Nebraska floods, particularly those involved in providing mass care, such as food, water, and shelter, for the flood survivors. The challenge themes were related to limited risk …

The Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Food Security Of Mississippians, Hannah Noel Irwin

Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi leads the United States in food insecurity, with 15.3% of Mississippians experiencing food insecurity in a given year. To determine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food insecurity of Mississippians, a survey containing the USDA Household Food Security Questionnaire was distributed to adult Mississippi residents. By employing the USDA Household Food Security Scale and the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Methodology, this study finds that the food insecurity rate, food insecurity gap, and squared food insecurity gap have worsened in Mississippi since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this study finds that households which were food insecure prior to March …

Bridging The Gap Between Research And Smallholder Farmers Through Community-Based Development Organizations, Nathan D. Fortner

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Food demand is expected to increase 30% to 62% by 2050 according to recent estimates. Yet, annual increases in agricultural productivity have slowed and plateaued since the green revolution increases of the 1960’s. Two strategies to help address future food demand are reducing post-harvest loss and consumer waste, and closing the yield gap between potential and farmer realized yields. Some of the largest yield gaps are those of smallholder farmers. While solutions may exist to close these gaps, delivering and integrating solutions into smallholder production systems is a complex process involving research, extension, cultural factors, government policy, NGOs, private industry, …

Narrating Agricultural Resilience After Hurricane María: How Smallholder Farmers In Puerto Rico Leverage Self-Sufficiency And Collaborative Agency In A Climate-Vulnerable Food System, Abrania Marrero, Andrea Lόpez-Cepero, Ramón Borges-Méndez, Josiemer Mattei

Sustainability and Social Justice

Climate change is a threat to food system stability, with small islands particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. In Puerto Rico, a diminished agricultural sector and resulting food import dependence have been implicated in reduced diet quality, rural impoverishment, and periodic food insecurity during natural disasters. In contrast, smallholder farmers in Puerto Rico serve as cultural emblems of self-sufficient food production, providing fresh foods to local communities in an informal economy and leveraging traditional knowledge systems to manage varying ecological and climatic constraints. The current mixed methods study sought to document this expertise and employed a questionnaire and narrative interviewing …

Advances In Field-Based High-Throughput Photosynthetic Phenotyping, Peng Fu, Christopher M. Montes, Matthew H. Siebers, Nuria Gomez-Casanovas, Justin M. Mcgrath, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Carl J. Bernacchi

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Gas exchange techniques revolutionized plant research and advanced understanding, including associated fluxes and efficiencies, of photosynthesis, photorespiration, and respiration of plants from cellular to ecosystem scales. These techniques remain the gold standard for inferring photosynthetic rates and underlying physiology/biochemistry, although their utility for high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of photosynthesis is limited both by the number of gas exchange systems available and the number of personnel available to operate the equipment. Remote sensing techniques have long been used to assess ecosystem productivity at coarse spatial and temporal resolutions, and advances in sensor technology coupled with advanced statistical techniques are expanding remote sensing …

Drought Imprints On Crops Can Reduce Yield Loss: Nature's Insights For Food Security, Peng Fu, Deepak Jaiswal, Justin M. Mcgrath, Shaowen Wang, Stephen P. Long, Carl J. Bernacchi

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Midwestern “Corn-Belt” in the United States is the most productive agricultural region on the planet despite being predominantly rainfed. In this region, global climate change is driving precipitation patterns toward wetter springs and drier mid- to late-summers, a trend that is likely to intensify in the future. The lack of precipitation can lead to crop water limitations that ultimately impact growth and yields. Young plants exposed to water stress will often invest more resources into their root systems, possibly priming the crop for any subsequent mid- or late-season drought. The trend toward wetter springs, however, suggests that opportunities for …

Effect Of Agricultural Insurance Program On Income Loss Reduction: A Comparative Study Of Upland And Lowland Farmers In Japan And The Philippines, Armand Christopher C. Rola

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

This paper aims to inquire how agricultural insurance can be an effective and efficient coping mechanism to prevent the poorest in remote rural areas of East Asia and the Pacific from falling into the poverty trap when faced with natural disasters. Field research was conducted to examine upland and lowland farmers’ experiences with agricultural insurance and program implementation by insurance providers in Japan and the Philippines. Secondary data such as online articles, journals, books, news and annual reports, and online websites of government insurance providers in the Philippines and Japan were collected. Primary data were analyzed using descriptive and cost …

Policy Sustainability Issues: Case Study Of Cassava Farmers In Ikorodu. Lagos, Nigeria, Medinat Oluwatoyin Adetunji

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The inconsistency and lack of continuity of Nigeria's agricultural policies impact the cassava sector. Despite being the world's biggest producer, the country is yet to benefit from the advantage due to a lack of sustainable growth. The situation manifests in terms of low productivity, low production level, and poor income to the farmers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the cassava farmers on cassava policies and the effect on their income and livelihoods in the Ikorodu local government of Lagos State. This qualitative study adopted a case study research design using participatory …

Community Responses To Food Insecurity During Covid-19: A Case Study In Sheffield, England, Nicole Kennard

Urban Food Systems Symposium

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a group of newly food insecure people and deepened hardship for those already food insecure. The crisis disrupted national food supplies and created challenges to accessing and utilizing the food that was available. As financial struggle deepened for people, and some became unable to shop for food or cook due to isolation requirements and illness, many turned to community organizations to obtain food. In Sheffield, England, small community food organizations soon became the leaders of the city’s emergency food response. One such organization is the Foodhall Project, a community food organization which had previously …

The Biggest Grower - A Youth Gardening Competition For Growing Specialty Crops And Urban Farmers, Stacy A. Adams, Terri James

Urban Food Systems Symposium

Youth today have tendencies for unhealthy lifestyles, being sedentary, consuming high fat diets low in fruits and vegetables, all contributing to child obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and precedence for life-long health concerns. School lunch programs provide opportunity for youth to consume balanced diets but does not make a significant change in lifestyle. Research has identified that youth participating in gardening at home were positively impacted with making lasting healthy choices by improved knowledge and garden connection. For rural and economically disadvantaged urban households, poor diet is directly attributed to the inaccessibility of fresh produce, affordability and understanding of preparation …

Main Directions Of Food Security In Uzbekistan (The Case Of Samarkand Province), F.J. Saydullaeva

Irrigation and Melioration

The article assesses food availability as one of the indicators of food security on the example of Samarkand region based on a comparative analysis of the state of agricultural food production over the years and the volume of products per capita and their compliance with established recommended consumption norms. Based on the analysis, the results show that in Samarkand region in 2016-2020, agricultural food products were produced over recommended consumption norms per capita. The periodic evolution of the types of agri-food products produced by dehkan farms and owners of household land increased by 7.1% decreased by 7.3% on private farmers. …

The Pandemic, Climate Change And Farm Subsidies, Allen H. Olson, Edward J. Peterson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Many people believe that once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, life will return to the way it was. This belief is both unrealistic and dangerous. It is unrealistic because the virus will be around for years if not indefinitely. The timeframe for the worst of the pandemic will depend on our ability to administer effective vaccines worldwide and the public’s willingness to accept continued social distancing in the meantime. The damage done to public health, the economy and individuals is already substantial and will get worse. Recovery will be slow and incomplete. The belief that life will return to the …

Balancing Food Security And Environmental Sustainability By Optimizing Seasonal-Spatial Crop Production In Bangladesh, Man Li, Zhe Guo, Wei Zhang

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

The intensification of crop production has been identified as one of the major drivers of environmental degradation. While significant advances could still be made with more widespread adoption of sustainable intensification technologies that address the agronomic efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers, the dynamic use of agricultural land across seasons and associated crop-specific responses to fertilizer applications have so far been largely overlooked. This paper explores the potential for improving the economic-environmental performance of crop production through spatially integrated modeling and optimization, as applied to Bangladesh. Results show that per-billion-Taka nitrogen loss from soil would decline by 83% from the baseline level …

Can Improved Canopy Light Transmission Ameliorate Loss Of Photosynthetic Efficiency In The Shade An Investigation Of Natural Variation In Sorghum Bicolor, Nikhil S. Jaikumar, Samantha S. Stutz, Samuel B. Fernandes, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Carl J. Bernacchi, Patrick J. Brown, Stephen P. Long

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have found that maximum quantum yield of CO2 assimilation (φCO2,max,app) declines in lower canopies of maize and miscanthus, a maladaptive response to self-shading. These observations were limited to single genotypes, leaving it unclear whether the maladaptive shade response is a general property of this C4 grass tribe, the Andropogoneae. We explored the generality of this maladaptation by testing the hypothesis that erect leaf forms (erectophiles), which allow more light into the lower canopy, suffer less of a decline in photosynthetic efficiency than drooping leaf (planophile) forms. On average, φCO2,max,app declined 27% in lower canopy leaves across 35 accessions, …

Economic And Ecosystem Impacts Of Gm Maize In South Africa, Kristiina Ala-Kokko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

White maize in South Africa is the only staple crop produced on a widespread commercial basis for direct human consumption using genetically modified (GM) cultivars. Using a combined economic and environmental approach, we estimate the total welfare benefits attributable to GM white maize in South Africa for 2001-2018 are $694.7 million. Food security benefits attributable to GM white maize in South Africa also manifest through an average of 4.6 million additional white maize rations annually. To achieve these additional annual rations using conventional hybrid maize, the additional land required would range from 1,088 hectares in 2001 to 217,788 hectares in …

Report From The Conference, ‘Identifying Obstacles To Applying Big Data In Agriculture’, Emma L. White, J. Alex Thomasson, Brent Auvermann, Newell R. Kitchen, Leland Sandy Pierson, Dana Porter, Craig Baillie, Hendrik Hamann, Gerrit Hoogenboom, Todd Janzen, Rajiv Khosla, James Lowenberg-Deboer, Matt Mcintosh, Seth Murray, Dave Osborn, Ashoo Shetty, Craig Stevenson, Joe Tevis, Fletcher Werner

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Data-centric technology has not undergone widespread adoption in production agriculture but could address global needs for food security and farm profitability. Participants in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funded conference, “Identifying Obstacles to Applying Big Data in Agriculture,” held in Houston, TX, in August 2018, defined detailed scenarios in which on-farm decisions could benefit from the application of Big Data. The participants came from multiple academic fields, agricultural industries and government organizations and, in addition to defining the scenarios, they identified obstacles to implementing Big Data in these scenarios as well as …

Faith, Farming And Food Justice, Catherine Curran

Charles Rice Post-Graduate Research Fellowship

Through a liberationist lens, religion and social justice are more similar than different. Food illuminates opportunities for building collective agency and community resilience in which religion and social justice might serve one another (White 2018). Specifically, faith communities can contribute to local food systems by using church-owned lands to provide access to farmland for beginning and BIPOC farmers, improve access to fresh, healthy produce, and enhance food security (FaithLands 2021). Faith communities are shifting mindsets from charity to justice and scarcity to abundance while addressing rural child hunger (Lietz-Bilecky 2020). Overall, this paper explores unique ways the Christian food movement …

Agricultural And Food Security Impacts From The 2010 Russia Flash Drought, Eric D. Hunt, Francesco Femia, Caitlin Werrell, Jordan Christian, Jason A. Otkin, Jeff Basara, Martha Anderson, Tyler R. White, Christopher Hain, Robb Randall, Katie Mcgaughey

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The flash drought and its associated heat wave that affected western Russia in the summer of 2010 had significant cascading agricultural and socioeconomic impacts. Drought indicators sensitive to soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) showed that the flash drought began in June 2010, then intensified rapidly and expanded to cover much of western Russia. By early July, almost all of the major wheat producing regions of Russia were experiencing extreme water stress to the winter and spring wheat crops. The timing of the onset of the flash drought was particularly devastating as the period of most rapid intensification overlapped with the …

The Potential Of Refugee Seed Systems To Promote Contemporary Adaptation In Traditional Crops: A Case Study Of African Maize In New England, Andi Kur

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

There are many mechanisms by which landraces evolve in a contemporary agricultural setting; however, the influence of forced human migration on landrace redistribution and evolution has received little attention in comparison to the stochastic effects of drift, mutation, and gene flow in the centers of origin. Although the seed systems of forcedly-displaced people remain poorly understood, evidence suggests that refugees often continue to grow traditional crops after resettlement. From a genetics perspective, the crops that are transported to highly disparate environments provide an interesting opportunity to study adaptation.

This research addresses how forced human migration has impacted contemporary landrace evolution …

Ecosystem Of Bagged Grain Stored Under Naturally Ventilated Warehouse: Analysis And Modelling, Michael Ayodele Omodara

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Grain in Africa and indeed most developing parts of the world are stored in polypropylene or jute bags arranged in stacks of varied dimensions in naturally ventilated warehouses. This practice is, however, associated with high postharvest losses due to poor temperature and moisture management during storage. This constitutes a major economic and food security challenge in these countries. Therefore, this study characterizes changes in moisture content and temperature occurring in a stack of bagged corn by determining the permeability of bag materials that influence moisture transfer and developing a mathematical model of heat and mass transfer which incorporates the unique …

Solar Dimming Decreased Maize Yield Potential On The North China Plain, Qingfeng Meng, Baohua Liu, Haishun Yang, Xinping Chen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Solar dimming has been increasing in rapidly developing regions (China and India) and threatening food security. Although previous studies have summarized the ef- fects of climate change-associated increases in temperature on agriculture, few have examined the effects due to solar dimming. Here, we analyzed the effects of solar dimming on maize on the North China Plain (NCP). It is reported that solar dimming intensified and maize yield potential decreased since the 1960s. The total decrease in solar radiation for the whole maize growing season of this period was 17%, and solar dimming explained 87% of the decrease in yield potential. …