► DEXi-like models are monotonic. ► Genetic algorithms can be used to find the best scenarios of DEXi-like models. ► The set of worst-best and best-worst scenarios is quite small when applied to the ...MASC model. ► The basic attributes with the highest sensitivity index are the most influential.
DEXi-type models have been used recently to assess specific problems in agricultural systems and to assess cropping-system scenarios. Finding the set of the “worst-best” (lowest scores for basic attributes that lead to the highest score for the root attribute) and “best-worst” (highest scores for basic attributes that lead to the lowest score for the root attribute) options are of interest for improving current cropping systems. As DEXi-type models revealed a monotonicity property, we used a genetic algorithm to find these two sets. These sets are small and show that only a few attributes need to have low scores to reach the best-worst options or high scores to reach the worst-best options. These attributes are those with a high sensitivity index.
In Switzerland, genetically modified (GM) crops have been banned in 2005 and have never been used in agriculture. The relevance and sustainability of genetically modified crops for agrosystems have ...been assessed following a mandate from the Swiss Parliament defined by the Federal Act on Agriculture (187d al.1). For that, an ex ante study based on a multi-criteria decision analysis model that summarises literature and the opinion of experts has been done.The impacts of genetically modified crops on both environmental and socio-economical sustainability in Switzerland have been assessed. Here, we review four model crops for Swiss agriculture: maize, sugar beet, potato and apple. Each crop was compared for both conventional and genetically modified farming systems that contain a specific trait, namely insecticide production (Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)), herbicide tolerance (HT), fungal resistance (FR), or bacterial resistance (BR). Results show that six out of seven scenarios showed a lower socio-economical sustainability for genetically modified compared to the conventional systems, whereas a slight improvement in the environmental component, mostly resources use, was observed in all scenarios. In conclusion, our work indicates that only carefully tailored and designed genetically modified crops would meet the high standard of requirements of Swiss agrosystems. Our model has thus allowed a quick diagnostic on the impact of genetically modified cultivation on sustainability.
Agronomists need methodologies to assess the sustainability of cropping systems. Few models such as MASC have been recently developed for evaluation. The effective use of those models is still a ...challenge, notably for low-input systems. Here a more specific model entitled MASC-OF was developed and applied to study stockless organic cropping systems. The MASC-OF model is original because it is based on agricultural advisers’ needs and expertises. Two groups of advisers supported by agronomic scientists were involved in a nine-step methodology to progress from preliminary meetings to data analysis. The methodology allowed advisers to design a model including their own views on what is a sustainable organic cropping system. Soil fertility and weed and pest control were integrated as a new branch in the original MASC model. We also developed evaluation criteria for each basic attribute, defining aggregation rules and weighting attributes. Tested case studies were based on 44 real cropping systems identified on 19 farms in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France and on 23 cropping system types developed by the advisers from the Centre, Ile-de-France, Pays de Loire, Poitou-Charentes and Rhône-Alpes regions of France. Our results show that a high score of economic sustainability is the most difficult to achieve. This finding is explained by low productivity of cereal crops and high variability of market prices for organic grain. Further, agronomic viability is also difficult to ensure, as a consequence of poor soil-fertility management practices. The ability to achieve social acceptability for the producer, including workload and health risk, is high. By contrast, acceptability for the society has a medium score due to reduced productivity and contribution to local employment. Environmental sustainability is the easiest dimension to achieve, despite nitrogen-loss risks in some situations and high water and energy consumption in irrigated systems. Overall our findings show that the potential for the development of more sustainable organic cropping systems in stockless farms is high.
Events industry plays an important role in nowadays economy and can have a substantial impact for a successful business; in addition, sustainability-oriented tourism is becoming an important ...component of development and planning of a tourist destination. Thus, organizing sustainability-oriented events is crucial and should focus on the zero waste event management and consider as many elements of sustainable development as possible. The same stands for organizing sports events. The aim of this paper was to find out to which level the organizers of existing sports events in Slovenia are taking into account different domains of sustainable development. Answering to a common questionnaire the organizers gave us a feedback considering four main areas: environmental, social, cultural, and economic criteria. The plan was to determine the level of sustainability of three sports events and compare them to each other according to the outstanding areas as well as to draw the attention to the importance of organizing sustainability-oriented sports events and minimizing negative effects of those. Since the field of research is complex, dynamic, and has an interdisciplinary character the results were attained using the DEX software which supports a qualitative approach and allows the modelling of complex decision-making processes with a large number of parameters and alternatives. Such methodology enables the input of a preliminary set of sustainability criteria and can be used as a support when deciding on the evaluation of sustainability of events in general.
Integrated fruit production (IFP) is an economical, high-quality fruit production which prioritizes ecologically acceptable means of production, which minimize side-effects aiming to increase ...environment conservation and human health. Following the market demands and increasing production standards, integrated production imposes itself, which is to enable lucrativeness, market competition and ecological acceptability of agricultural products. Introducing and implementing multi-criteria model of decision-making is based on DEXi method (multi-attribute analysis). This method makes selection of the most adequate fruit sort for initiating fruit production. This model of decision-making is based on opinions of experts from the field of integrated production. The main criterion in evaluating IFP according to DEXi and expert system are: economic, technological, ecological and socio-political. The result of multi-criteria expert system DEXi have shown that the plum fruit sort yields the best results according to integrated production concept and can be recommended as the first planting alternative. The second alternative recommends apple while the third one recommends pear.
Govedarstvo je vrlo značajna grana poljoprivredne proizvodnje u Bosni i Hercegovini, a proizvodnja mlijeka zauzima značajno mjesto u govedarskoj proizvodnji. Ekonomski gledano proizvodnja mlijeka je ...zanimljiva jer je to svakodnevna proizvodnja što praktično stvara pretpostavke bržeg plasmana na tržište, ubrzava obrt kapitala na poljoprivrednom gospodarstvu i pospješuje njegovu likvidnost. U istraživanju je korištena analiza postojećeg stanja u proizvodnji mlijeka. Prikupljeni su podaci o proizvodnji i izrađena je obračunska kalkulacija troškova proizvodnje koja omogućava analizu ekonomskih pokazatelja četiri proizvodna modela mliječnih farmi u Bosni i Hercegovini. Prema obilježjima i ekonomskim vrijednostima modela mliječnih farmi u Bosni i Hercegovini obavljena je ekspertna ocjena ulaznih podataka za DEXi metodu. Cilj rada je ustanoviti osnovne pokazatelje uspješnosti poslovanja četiri proizvodna modela mliječnih farmi u Bosni i Hercegovini. Analizirana su proizvodno-ekološka, ekonomska i socijalno-politička obilježja navedenih modela. Na osnovu odabranih kriterija obavljena je ocjena proizvodnih modela primjenom DEXi metode. Rezultati istraživanja u ovom radu primjenom DEXi metode pokazuju da je najbolji model za mliječne farme model četiri koji uključuje 45 mliječnih krava.
Multikriterijski pristup ocjenjivanja mliječnih proizvoda u smislu upotrebe DEX bio je nadograđen ekonometrijskom analizom za ocjenjivanje proizvodnih i potrošačkih trendova prije negoli su ...analizirani proizvodi uvršteni u prodaju. Studija istražuje četiri različita mliječna proizvoda odnosno proizvodne alternative: “Pomursko mlejko”, “Lejko mleko”, “Fyto mleko” i “Posneto mleko v prahu”. Rezultati DEXi analize ukazuju na to da se svi analizirani mliječni proizvodi svrstavaju u kategoriju “iznadprosječni”. Istraživana je mogućnost poboljšanja situacije s mlijekom u prahu preko povećanja njegove distribucijske moći na tržištu, te je pri tome upotrijebljena “what-if‘” (“što-ako”) analiza. U zadnjoj fazi izgrađen je ekonometrijski model za ocjenjivanje promjena u strukturi potraživanja mlijeka s malim postotkom masnoće. Empirijski rezultati pokazali su veliku reakciju kupaca na promjene u cijenama te vrste mlijeka, s relativno visokim vrijednostima elastičnosti potraživanja (1,15 jedinice).
DEXi-type models have been used recently to assess specific problems in agricultural systems and to assess cropping-system scenarios. Finding the set of the ‘‘worst-best’’ (lowest scores for basic ...attributes that lead to the highest score for the root attribute) and ‘‘best-worst’’ (highest scores for basic attributes that lead to the lowest score for the root attribute) options are of interest for improving current cropping systems. As DEXi-type models revealed a monotonicity property, we used a genetic algorithm to find these two sets. These sets are small and show that only a few attributes need to have low scores to reach the best-worst options or high scores to reach the worst-best options. These attributes are those with ahigh sensitivity index.
Agronomists need methodologies to assess the sustainability of cropping systems. Few models such as MASC have been recently developed for evaluation. The effective use of those models is still a ...challenge, notably for low-input systems. Here a more specific model entitled MASC-OF was developed and applied to study stockless organic cropping systems. The MASC-OF model is original because it is based on agricultural advisers’ needs and expertises. Two groups of advisers supported by agronomic scientists were involved in a nine-step methodology to progress from preliminary meetings to data analysis. The methodology allowed advisers to design a model including their own views on what is a sustainable organic cropping system. Soil fertility and weed and pest control were integrated as a new branch in the original MASC model. We also developed evaluation criteria for each basic attribute, defining aggregation rules and weighting attributes. Tested case studies were based on 44 real cropping systems identified on 19 farms in the Midi- Pyrenees region of France and on 23 cropping system types developed by the advisers from the Centre, Ile-de-France, Pays de Loire, Poitou-Charentes and Rhône-Alpes regions of France. Our results show that a high score of economic sustainability is the most difficult to achieve. This finding is explained by low productivity of cereal crops and high variability of market prices for organic grain. Further, agronomic viability is also difficult to ensure, as a consequence of poor soil-fertility management practices. The ability to achieve social acceptability for the producer, including workload and health risk, is high. By contrast, acceptability for the society has a medium score due to reduced productivity and contribution to local employment. Environmental sustainability is the easiest dimension to achieve, despite nitrogen-loss risks in some situations and high water and energy consumption in irrigated systems. Overall our findings show that the potential for the development of more sustainable organic cropping systems in stockless farms is high.
DEXi-type models have been used recently to assess specific problems in agricultural systems and to assess cropping-system scenarios. Finding the set of the ‘‘worst-best’’ (lowest scores for basic ...attributes that lead to the highest score for the root attribute) and ‘‘best-worst’’ (highest scores for basic attributes that lead to the lowest score for the root attribute) options are of interest for improving current cropping systems. As DEXi-type models revealed a monotonicity property, we used a genetic algorithm to find these two sets. These sets are small and show that only a few attributes need to have low scores to reach the best-worst options or high scores to reach the worst-best options. These attributes are those with ahigh sensitivity index.
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