To give more attention to the normative character of sustainable development, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality requested for a participatory approach to evaluate Dutch agriculture, which was characterized by stakeholder workshops, dialogue, and learning. This article describes and reflects on this approach, using the Fourth Generation Evaluation framework developed by Guba and Lincoln (Fourth generation evaluation, 1989).

Participatory varietal selection (PVS) is a recent approach increasingly being used in developing countries to make the farmers choose the best suited variety for their locality. Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore implemented this participatory approach in M.R.K. Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd., Sethiathope, Tamil Nadu during 2002 to 2006. Participatory rural appraisal and agro-eco system analysis were done with the participation of farmers to assess the situation and identify the needs of sugarcane growers.

Agroforestry (AF) systems have been the focus of numerous research and development projects in southern Africa, yet their adoption rate generally remains low. Employing on-farm, participatory research techniques in southern Malawi, was compared the suitability of three AF-based systems that relay crop the dominant staple, maize (Zea mays), with the perennial legumes Sesbania sesban, Tephrosia vogelii, and Cajanus cajan (pigeonpea).

Digital Agriculture is an “intelligent” computer management and application system that includes many high technologies of, such as infomationization, digitization, network, automation and more so on. On the basis of analyzing the main content and meaning of “Digital Agriculture”, this paper designs the system construction of “Digital Agriculture” based on Internet, and discusses the function and structure of main core modules of System of Digital Agriculture in detail. Finally, this paper also analyzes the developing trend about system of “Digital Agriculture”

Rural growth is seen as an engine to drive the economy of developing countries and the use of Agriculture Market Information Services (AMIS) is believed to enable this growth. This paper is based on a literature study and investigates the spread and use of AMIS in the least developed countries (n=49) in terms of users, management, funding, infrastructure, and data. This paper investigates success as well as failure aspects, and discuss the role of new technologies.

Since agricultural scientific data are valuable resources in the field of agricultural science and technology, it is important to share scientific data in agricultural science. The paper analyses current situation and existing problems on data sharing in China, based on expounding the connotation of agricultural scientific data. Then some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to promote the level of the agricultural scientific data sharing

In this paper is studied the case of Trentino, an Italian Alpine region where alternative food chains are quickly developing, by comparing the development of alternative markets in this context with other Italian peri-urban areas. The mountain environment makes it very difficult for farms to standardize their products according to the requirement of the large retailers. Through alternative food chains, the typicality of products and the savoir faire of the farmers – representing the two main factors of products’ added value – are endorsed and more easily communicated to the market.

The need for domestic smallholder farming systems to better support food and nutrition security in the Caribbean is a pressing challenge. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) faces complex socio-ecological challenges related to historical legacies of plantation agriculture, small population sizes, geographic isolation, jurisdictional diversity, and proneness to natural disasters, all of which underscore the importance of fostering system-wide innovation potential.

Researches on agri-food supply chain coordination have been gaining public attention due to their critical relevance to food availability, security, and safety. Still, the research focus is considerably in its early stage of development. This study was aimed at reviewing a holistic understanding on agri-food supply chain, particularly on issues related to coordination. This review was conducted by analyzing selected articles from peer-reviewed journals and proceedings.

Rainfed agriculture with nearly 58% of the cultivated area is home to about 40% of human and 60% of livestock population in India and contributes 40% of the country's food production. Even after full realizing the full irrigation potential of the country, half of the cultivated area will continue to be under rainfed farming which highly dependent on monsoon rainfall. It is widely believed that increasing rainfall variability is likely to affect the livelihoods of millions of small and marginal farmers in the years to come.