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Project properties |
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| Title | Model-based analysis of farm and household trajectories |
| Group | Farming Systems Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Jeroen Groot |
| Examiner(s) | Rogier Schulte |
| Contact info | jeroen.groot@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2017/03/01 |
| End date | 2020/08/30 |
| Description | INTRODUCTION
Family farms are very diverse and dynamic. Farm systems can be analyzed in the context of the livelihood strategies of the farm family, which may comprise other activities besides farming. Farms differ in production objectives, socio-economic and biophysical conditions, which affect strategic choices for crops and animals to be kept. Often these choices have long-term implications, since they require investments (e.g. machinery and infrastructure) and improvement of natural resources like soils. Nevertheless, most farmers adjust their farms continuously to fine-tune and improve their system, and to respond to changing conditions in markets and the environment such as climate change and policy adjustments. Some farmers attach a larger importance to environmental and social concerns, for instance for organic production. An overarching priority is to improve the sustainability of the farms. The objective of this study is to assess the pathway of changes on farms and how these affect the production, profitability, socio-institutional interactions and environmental performance of farms. These analyses can be performed in various projects located in The Netherlands and Europe, focusing particularly on organic farms, and in the tropics focusing on smallholder agriculture in Asia, Africa and Latin America. OBJECTIVES The main objective is to analyze and compare the development pathways of farms through a longitudinal analysis of changes in farm configuration and productive, economic, social and environmental performance. Procedures • Collect on-farm data in a selected case study region • Perform surveys and interviews with experts and policy makers • Process data into a database and perform analyses • Modeling (FarmDESIGN, FuzzyDANCES, or LandscapeIMAGES) and/or gaming (RESORTES), and/or: • Statistical analysis (multivariate statistics, analysis of variance, regression analysis, time series analysis) EXPERIENCES GAINED • Preparation of a detailed proposal • Learning how to work with large datasets, models and/or GIS-based tools • Conducting field, farm and/or landscape observations • Interpretation and analysis of (spatial) data • Writing an MSc thesis (and preferably a manuscript for a journal) in English |
| Used skills | - Proposal writing
- Work with datasets, models and/or GIS-based tools - Conduct field, farm and/or landscape observations - Interpretation and analysis of data - Writing thesis (& journal manuscript) in English |
| Requirements | to be discussed |