Dec 16, 2010 by Jawoo Koo - 0 comments

Measured Maize Yield Variability in South Africa (1938-2005)

Long-term maize trial plots at the Hatfield Experimental Farm, U of Pretoria

Long-term yield trials are great resources for agricultural researches in multiple disciplines, but such dataset have not been readily available in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hatfield Experimental Farm in Pretoria, South Africa, is an exceptional case that has been providing maize yield and fertilizer trial dataset with 32 treatments since 1939. In collaboration with University of Pretoria, HarvestChoice facilitated the re-discovery of raw yield dataset from the trial to study the measured long-term yield variability.

Tags: Agroecology, Cereals, Climate, Crop Varieties, Crop Yields, Crops, Farm Inputs, Fertilizers, Maize, Rainfall, Weather, Weather and Climate, Maize, Yield Analysis, Production, Farming, Productivity

Aug 12, 2010 by Jawoo Koo - 0 comments

Yield Gap: Rainfed Maize

As a quick demonstration to estimate crop yield levels at regional-scale with various management assumptions, this post describes how crop systems models can be used to assess yield gap of rainfed maize due to the limited supply of soil nitrogen. This methodology can help researchers to find what is the most critical factor that limits crop yield productivity in a given environment condition and how to address the constraint.

Tags: Africa, Agroecology, Cereals, Crop Models, Crop Yields, Farm Inputs, Fertilizers, Maize, Models, Nitrogen, Rainfed Land, Soil Profiles, Soils, Sub-Saharan Africa, Soil and Water Stresses, Soil Resources, Yield Analysis, Production, Farming, Productivity

Aug 10, 2010 by Jawoo Koo - 0 comments

Maize

Effects of Soil Degradation

By modeling the decomposition of soil organic matter dynamics, crop systems models can simulate the effects of soil nutrient depletion under low-input extractive field management practices, as well as soil carbon sequestration under regenerative management practices.

Tags: Africa, Agroecology, Biodegradation, Crop Production, Crop Yields, Maize Production, Models, Soil Degradation, Soils, Sub-Saharan Africa, Soil and Water Stresses, Soil Resources, Yield Analysis, Production, Farming

Aug 4, 2010 by Jawoo Koo - 0 comments

Simplr: Crop Systems Evaluation Platform

Farming entails a great deal of choices and uncertainties. From season to season, weather varies, price fluctuates, soil degrades, pest damages, and climate changes. Farmers everywhere must cope with these uncertainties. Throughout the history of agriculture, many options have been developed to help manage these risks, increase yields, increase efficiency, and, more recently, promote the sustainability of the overall system.

Tags: Africa, Agroecology, Climate, Crop Models, Crop Production, Cropping Systems, Farming Systems, Models, Pest Management, Productivity Measures, Soils, Sub-Saharan Africa, Risk, Soil and Water Stresses, Yield Analysis, Pests and Diseases, Input Use, Production, Farming, Productivity

Aug 2, 2010 by Jawoo Koo - 0 comments

Rainfall Variability and Crop Yield Potential

Water availability is the most critical factor for sustaining crop productivity in rainfed agriculture. Even if a drought-tolerant trait is introduced, water isn't available to crops when there is no water in the soil. Rainfall variability from season to season greatly affects soil water availability to crops, and thus pose crop production risks.

Tags: Africa, Agroecology, Climate, Crop Models, Models, Rainfall, Sub-Saharan Africa, Weather, Weather and Climate, Yield Analysis, Production, Farming, Productivity
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