Abstracts, Papers &

Resources

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Influence of technology adoption on farmers’ well-being: Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis

Mariani Abdul-Majid, Siti Aisyah Zahari, Norfaizah Othman, Suhaila Nadzri

Publication date: 30/01/2024

This study aimed at determining the effects of technology adoption on farmers’ well-being. Specifically, we analysed and extended the current understanding of the topic by focusing on the concepts of technology adoption and well-being. Most papers indicated that technology adoption improved farmers’ well-being which was basically measured using productivity and income. The measure however lacked farmers’ value judgments, such as happiness. Agricultural technology could have a mixed effect on farmers’ well-being, depending on the type of technology adopted and the compatibility of farmers with technology in their agricultural practices.

Resource type: article: Web Page

Plant & Animal BreedingScience & Technology

Simulation of dual-purpose chicken breeding programs implementing gene editing

Edward Y. S. Chuang, Robin Wellmann, Franck L. B. Meijboom, Jens Tetens & Jörn Bennewitz

Publication date: 17/01/2024

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The paper considered the possibility of using gene editing to accelerate progress towards dual purpose chickens, thus eliminating the need for male culling. Our simulation demonstrated a general increase in genetic gain when genomic selection is used together with GE. The overall benefit of GE erased after some generations because the large-effect alleles became fixed. Hence, GE could be beneficial only when alleles with reasonable effect sizes are segregating and detectable. When the consumer preference and the price difference between the genome-edited chicken and the other chickens were to be considered, the findings from this study might not be sufficient to recommend the use of GE in breeding programs for quantitative traits.”

Resource type: article: Web Page

FarmingScience & TechnologySustainability

Remote Control and Peasant Intelligence – On Automating Decisions, Suppressing Knowledges and Transforming Ways of Knowing

FIAN International, Friends of the Earth Europe and Coventry University's Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience,

Publication date: 14/11/2023

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Digital technologies are often touted as a silver bullet to respond to the interconnected crises of food, climate and biodiversity. Although they are presented by their promoters in governments and corporations as a necessary tool for innovation and for making food systems more efficient and sustainable, the reality is much more complex.

This report examines the implications of digital technologies taking hold in European agriculture. It focuses particularly on frictions between new digital technologies and peasant autonomy, agroecology and food sovereignty.

Technologies are not mute objects. Their development, distribution and use are inextricably linked to economic and political interests, cultural meanings, different types of knowledge as well as social and ecological relationships. In a context where money, technological know-how and power are highly concentrated in the hands of a few large companies and countries, the digitalization of food and agriculture is set to reinforce inequalities and discrimination.

Resource type: article: Web Page

FarmingScience & Technology

Measuring agroecology: Introducing a methodological framework and a community of practice approach

Nina Isabella Moeller, Matthias Geck, Colin Anderson, Carlos Barahona, Caroline Broudic, Remi Cluset, Gisele Henriques, Fabio Leippert, Dave Mills, Ameen Minhaj, Anja Mueting-van Loon, Stephanie Piers de Raveschoot, Emile Frison

Publication date: 03/11/2023

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. In this article, we report on a process of collaboratively developing a methodological framework, using the High Level Panel of Experts of the Committee on World Food Security 13 principles of agroecology as foundation. This framework overcomes some limitations of previous methodologies for evaluating degrees of agroecological integration (including those using Gliessman’s 5 levels of food system change) and facilitates a robust qualitative assessment of projects, programs, and project portfolios with respect to their “agroecologicalness.” The framework conceives of agroecology as paradigm-shifting rather than as incremental improvements to existing food systems. It enables global comparability as well as local contextualization of each principle. While the need for this framework arose from the desire to monitor—and increase—financial support for an urgently needed transformation toward agroecology, the framework can equally contribute to the design of projects and programs, which aim to radically transform food and farming systems. It also has value as an educational tool, in specifying through statements of value and concrete examples, what agroecological work aims at.

Resource type: article: Web Page

Legislation & Regulation

A perspective from the EU: unintended genetic changes in plants caused by NGT—their relevance for a comprehensive molecular characterisation and risk assessment

Franziska Koller, Michael Cieslak

Publication date: 27/10/2023

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The review concludes that unintended genetic changes caused by NGT processes are relevant to risk assessment. Due to the technical characteristics of NGTs, the sites of the unintended changes, their genomic context and their frequency (in regard to specific sites) mean that the resulting gene combinations (intended or unintended) may be unlikely to occur with conventional methods. This, in turn, implies that the biological effects (phenotypes) can also be different and may cause risks to health and the environment. Therefore, we conclude that the assessment of intended as well as unintended genetic changes should be part of a mandatory comprehensive molecular characterisation and risk assessment of NGT plants that are meant for environmental releases or for market authorisation.

Resource type: article: Web Page

FarmingPlant & Animal BreedingScience & TechnologySustainability

Genetic modification can improve crop yields — but stop overselling it

Merritt Khaipho-Burch, Mark Cooper, Jose Crossa, Natalia de Leon, James Holland, Ramsey Lewis, Susan McCouch, Seth C. Murray, Ismail Rabbi, Pamela Ronald, Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, Detlef Weigel & Edward S. Buckler

Publication date: 20/09/2023

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Over the past two decades, many journals have published papers describing how modifying one or a few genes can result in substantial increases in crop yields. The reported increases range from 10% to 68%, and the crops analysed include rice, maize (corn), tobacco and soya bean.

These studies have contributed important insights in molecular biology and gene discovery. But many are the results of tests conducted in greenhouses or in small-scale field trials — the latter typically involving plants grown in small plots. Few, if any, have used the experimental designs needed to evaluate crop performance in real-world environments. And hardly any findings have translated into yield increases on actual farms.

Especially in the context of climate change and a growing human population, the growth of misleading claims around yields has become a cause of concern to us.

Resource type: article: Web Page

FarmingScience & TechnologySustainability

Genetic modification can improve crop yields — but stop overselling it

Merritt Khaipho-Burch, et al.

Publication date: 20/09/2023

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With a changing climate and a growing population, the world increasingly needs more-productive and resilient crops. But improving them requires a knowledge of what actually works in the field.

Resource type: article: Web Page

FarmingLegislation & RegulationSustainability

The EU legislative framework for a sustainable food system: How can it effectively deliver for the environment and people?

Client Earth

Publication date: 08/09/2023

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In its Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission announced that it will present a legislative framework for a sustainable food system, an initiative expected for the third quarter of 2023.

The vision reflected in the law proposal will have a critical impact on the EU’s capacity to build its resilience against the worsening climate and biodiversity crises while guaranteeing long-term accessibility to healthy food.

The briefing presents solutions in the form of actionable tools that can best ensure the swift implementation of a sustainable EU food system on the ground. The European Commission must go ahead with its proposal and publish it in September 2023; there is no better time.

Resource type: article: Web Page

Food systemsScience & TechnologySustainability

‘Feeding the world, byte by byte’: emergent imaginaries of data productivism

Maywa Montenegro de Wit, Matthew Canfield

Publication date: 13/08/2023

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Recent scholarship has shed light on how data-driven food systems may entrench productivist and neo-productivist visions of ‘feeding the world.’ In this paper, we examine the narratives and institution-building practices of global development actors, asking: What stories do they tell about how data will transform food systems? Whose ‘data’ are legitimized and whose are overlooked? Our findings point to an emerging imaginary of data productivism—which constructs the making and accumulation of data as a socially intrinsic good. We examine the implications of data productivism for reconfiguring global capitalism, reproducing the modern-colonial order, and inciting social movements to anticipate its hold.

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Sustainability

Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Unai Pascual, et al.

Publication date: 09/08/2023

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On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions^7,11. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures.

Resource type: article: Web Page