RESEARCH and Innovation in Agriculture: Research on going.
The next few decades will witness a rapidly increasing demand for agricultural products. This growing demand needs to be met largely through intensification (produce more from the same land surface) because there is little scope for an increase in agricultural area. Eco-functional intensification and Innovation will be the solution. Eco-functional intensification is the optimization of all provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services in the agricultural production process.
Innovation in technology in IoT, AI, Robotics and the digitization of information to help drive research and technical and organizational innovations across agricultural and food systems in developing countries in Asia. More science and innovation is required to address some of the most pressing challenges posed by climate.
PIT aims to provide the evidence and methods for Eco-functional intensification and demonstrate in farms in Asia region. Using existing data sets from past and on-going Asia studies we will first identify general relationships between the configuration of semi-natural habitats, on-farm management and biodiversity in a range of Asia landscapes and farming systems. Using a modelling approach we will link biodiversity to ecosystem services, by determining relationships between biodiversity, the delivery of multiple ecosystem services and agronomic yield. We considers above- and below-ground ecosystem services simultaneously and analyses synergies and trade-offs between different ecosystem services. Using a modelling approach we will analyze which on-farm management practices and spatial configuration of semi-natural habitats optimizes yield and which optimizes farm income. We synthesis recommendations and thru education raise awareness and promote uptake of Eco-functional intensification by sharing project results to the widest possible range of stakeholders and among others by means of demonstration farms and projects. This way we hope to liberate the forces of nature to the benefit of agricultural production in Asia.
Humanity is faced with climate change and the question how do we work inside “planetary boundaries” and apply sustainability to our business models? The World Wildlife Fund has adopted the word “planetary boundaries” as a core part of its global research and strategy. The reason is clear: the last decade has seen an explosion in scientific knowledge about our planet. Now, the world is waking up to the realization that our relationship with our planet is changing rapidly. There is a new “responsibility” emerging for humanity to ensure the long-term stability of Earth’s life support system. Our research is the quest for safe and just development on a resilient planet, we design to provide people with the latest techniques and science in clear simple methodologies. We believe this knowledge will help empower more people to view themselves as stewards of the land.
In our courses provide a basic understanding of the components of sustainable systems – the atmosphere, soils, water, rivers and ponds, savanna, forests, and the rich diversity of life on our planet. We focus on the processes of change and how these components interact, often in unexpected ways. We include solutions from the community level to the regional and even global. Our research and courses equip participants with a set of tools for thinking differently about the challenges and opportunities in the field of sustainable economic development, sustainable farm incomes and economic prosperity.
- DROUGHT Proofing farms the five top “must do” techniques
- Coconut and Cow Pasture (improve your rice field and yields with these three simple animal rotation steps)
- Aquaculture and Rice Paddy Integration – increase rice yields and grow protein rich aquaculture in your rice paddy.
- Chinampas research – swale and ditch low areas into chinampa
- Inputs (free organic fertilizers) compost sources and simplification using (effective micro-nutrients) EM (Nutrition, Potassium green fertilizers (Sunn hemp, Pigeon pea, Nitrogen fixing trees) utilization and growth
- Rice residues as ground cover impact (rice residue processing composting, rice husk use.
- Bio- Char creation and use
- Technology – Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and the digitization of information. Integrating these in Permaculture systems. Examples are aerophonics and vertical gardening using organic fertilizers and 90% less water.
Agriculture Innovation and Research in Alternative systems – Organic farming, Aquaponics, Agroforestry, Ecological Intensification, and Natural Farming, Bio dynamic gardens, Agroforestry, Alleycroping, Keyline farming – P.A. Yoemans, Urban agriculture and vertical farming. We discuss each and its benefits and how each fits inside our Permaculture Design mainframe and the integration of each into sustainable systems.
FAO http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/intranet/projects-database/detail/en/c/180800/
Linking farmland Biodiversity to Ecosystem services for effective ecofunctional intensification
Stockholm University “Assessment of Ecosytem Services and benefits in village landscapes”
