Resource use efficiency and farm productivity gaps of smallholder dairy farming in North-west Michoacán, Mexico

Cortez-Arriola, José; Groot, J.C.J.; Massiotti, Ricardo D. Améndola; Scholberg, J.M.S.; Aguayo, D. Valentina Mariscal; Tittonell, Pablo; Rossing, W.A.H.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2013.11.001

Cited by 38 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Smallholder farmers in Northern Mexico (Cortez-Arriola et al, 2013) and Chinese farmers (Fan et al, 2012) overapply nitrogen and phosphorous due to inappropriate timing and methods of fertiliser injection. This leads to emissions into the environment, both to waterways and the atmosphere.…”

Section: Behavioural and Informationalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Key drivers for unsustainable resource use – categories, effects and policy pointers

Hirschnitz-Garbers

Tan²,

Gradmann

et al. 2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Behavioural and Informationalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Key drivers for unsustainable resource use – categories, effects and policy pointers

Hirschnitz-Garbers

Tan²,

Gradmann

et al. 2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Small family-based and somewhat larger and more intensive semi-specialized dairy farms represent the majority of farms present in the study region [36,37]. For this study, two medium-intensive dairy farms with cattle density between 0.8 to 1.2 livestock units (LU) per ha representing family-based (FB) and semi-specialized (SS) enterprises were selected as pilot farms.…”

Section: Dairy Farm Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two medium-intensive farms were selected because their productivity levels and efficiencies are similar and their external dependency is relatively low compared to more intensive dairy systems in the region [36]. More detailed diagnosis of a larger number of dairy farms from various types have been presented elsewhere [36][37][38]. The dairy farms in the study region are characterized by using Holstein Frisian cows and crosses of this breed with Zebu and Brown Swiss.…”

Section: Dairy Farm Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing Agroecosystem Vulnerability and Resilience

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vulnerability and resilience are two crucial attributes of social-ecological systems that are used for analyzing the response to disturbances. We assess these properties in relation to agroecosystem buffer capacity and adaptive capacity, which depend on the 'window of opportunities' of possible changes in terms of selected performance indicators, i.e., the solution space. The vulnerability of the system was quantified as the distance of performance indicators between original and disturbed systems. The buffer capacity was derived from the size of the solution space that could be obtained after reconfiguration of farm components (crops, animals, fertilizers, etc.) that were present on the original farm, whereas the assessment of adaptive capacity was derived in a similar way, but after allowing innovation by introducing new components to the farm. To illustrate the approach, we applied these concepts to two dairy farms in Northwest Michoacán, Mexico. After a disturbance resulting in a fodder maize yield decline, both economic profitability and soil organic matter inputs were reduced. The scope for recovery was different between the farms, but the projected improvements in profitability and organic matter inputs would require considerable changes in the farm configurations, and thus flexibility in farm management. High resilience requires a farmer with the managerial ability to make the required changes to move through the proposed solution space. The approach we present here offers a generic quantitative assessment of vulnerability and resilience concepts, based on a combined assessment of the social and ecological dimensions of agroecosystems.

show abstract

“…In the study region, small family-based and somewhat larger and more intensive semi-specialized dairy farms can be found (Cortez-Arriola et al, 2014;Cortez-Arriola et al, 2015). For this study, two medium-intensive dairy farms with cattle density between 0.8 to 1.2 livestock units (LU) per ha representing family-based (FB) and semi-specialized (SS) enterprises were selected as pilot farms.…”

Section: Dairy Farm Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conserved maize forage is one of the main sources of fodder during the dry season in the study region (Cortez et al, 2014;Cortez et al, 2015). Therefore, vulnerability was estimated considering the impact of a reduction in forage maize production, as a shock disturbance on the selected farms.…”

Section: Vulnerability and Resilience Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring opportunities for on-farm innovations in smallholder dairy systems of Michoacán, Mexico

Arriola¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resource use efficiency and farm productivity gaps of smallholder dairy farming in North-west Michoacán, Mexico

Cited by 38 publications

References 19 publications

Key drivers for unsustainable resource use – categories, effects and policy pointers

Key drivers for unsustainable resource use – categories, effects and policy pointers

Capturing Agroecosystem Vulnerability and Resilience

Exploring opportunities for on-farm innovations in smallholder dairy systems of Michoacán, Mexico

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About