At the Iowa State University Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm in southwestern Iowa, a Swedish feeder pig production system was studied and demonstrated for 2-1/2 years. The system is based mainly on straw bedding, simple buildings, and intensive management. The system was designed to minimize pig stress and use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in the feed. Gestating and breeding sows were group-housed in a hooped structure with individual feeding stalls. Large round bales of cornstalks were used for bedding. Farrowing, lactation, and nursery phases were housed in a remodeled hog house. Cubicles with rollers and oat straw bedding were used for farrowing. Two groups of Yorkshire × Landrace sows bred to Hampshire boars produced feeder pigs in the system. Conception rates averaged 95%, and litter size averaged 11.3 live pigs/litter. Sows were allowed to select their own bedded farrowing cubicle. Prewean pig mortality, mostly from crushing, was high (29%), occurring primarily in the first 3 days. At 2 weeks of age the cubicles were removed and group lactation occurred. After group lactation the average pig weaning weight was 10.4 kg at 33.9 days of age. At weaning the sows were removed, and the pigs remained in the bedded farrowing/lactation room for 24 additional days. The pigs weighed 24.8 kg at 60 days of age, and overall nursery phase average daily weight gain was 549 g/day. Overall pig health was excellent with no major clinical diseases confirmed. The demonstration exceeded reproductive performance measures of typical small- and mid-sized Iowa farms.

The potential to improve N fixation by cowpea in Ghanaian soils was examined through: (1) assessment of the natural nodulation of 45 cowpea cultivars in 20 soils sampled from 5 ecological zones; (2) determination of the numbers of cowpea bradyrhizobial isolates in the soils; and (3) determination of the response of cowpea to N fertilization. The ability of 45 cowpea cultivars to nodulate naturally in the various soils showed wide cultural adaptability. Counts of indigenous bradyrhizobia showed that most soils in Ghana contained large populations capable of nodulating cowpea. These ranged from 0.6 × 10 bradyrhizobia cells g soil−1 to 3.1 × 104 cells g soil−1, with 60% of the soils containing more than 103 cells g soil−1. Response of cowpea to N fertilization differed according to soil type. In general all cowpea cultivars showed significant response to increasing N fertilizer applications, indicating that N fixation was not providing the plants with sufficient N for maximum growth and yield. This study suggests that inoculation of cowpea with effective indigenous strains of bradyrhizobial species has considerable potential to improve this situation.

Cereal rye is an effective winter cover crop because it accumulates residual soil N and reduces nitrate leaching. Wheat, barley, and triticale are alternative winter small grain species that may be managed as winter cover crops and yet produce marketable commodities. The objectives of this research were to evaluate N recovery capacity and grain yields of wheat, barley, triticale, and cereal rye grown as winter cover crops. Field plots established in 1996 and 1997 at two different locations on Maryland's mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain were amended with annual spring applications of four rates of broiler litter in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Each manure rate plot was divided into four subplots by planting four winter small grain cover crops: wheat, barley, triticale, and cereal rye. Rye cover crop treatments were killed with herbicide when the plants were 30 to 50 cm tall, while the wheat, barley, and triticale treatments continued to grow until grain maturity. Barley, rye, triticale, and wheat cover crops exhibited similar capacities to accumulate soil N, and therefore, reduce the potential for NO3—N leaching to groundwater. At the time of rye kill-down, aerial biomass N accumulation ranged from 11 to 112 kg N ha−1 and soil NO3—N levels were low (<1.5 mg NO3—N kg−1) and relatively uniform across treatments. Average barley, triticale, and wheat grain yields increased with previous broiler litter application rate and initial soil NO3—N concentration. Potential income derived from the grain and straw produced could partially or completely offset cover crop production costs.

Emergent research shows how some farmer groups in the United States are gaining visibility as a critical knowledge community, making important contributions to the ecological health and overall sustainability of the natural resource base. This study focuses on funded farmer research projects in the north central region, to analyze the process and outcome of local inquiry embodied in the discursive contents of reports to a funding agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. The analyses suggest that farmers' locality-specific agricultural practices may constitute a reflective and learning community, generating local knowledge keenly attuned to an underlying value system that supports actions towards sustainability.

Environmental and social concerns about the use of capital-intensive agricultural technologies have fueled questions about the process, impact, and future direction of the system that is largely responsible for developing these technologies; that is, publicly funded agricultural research at U.S. land-grant universities. Although social scientists have analyzed the public agricultural research system and farmers' attitudes towards various capital-intensive agricultural technologies, there has been less research on farmers' attitudes toward publicly funded research that focuses specifically on lowerinput agricultural technologies that contribute to sustainability goals. This research examines farmers' attitudes toward publicly funded research on one such low-input technology, deep-bedded hoop structures for swine production. With lower capital costs and purported environmental and management advantages, hoop structures have been promoted to and adopted by growing numbers of Midwest swine producers. The study hypotheses draw on published theories of the treadmill of technology, and of innovation adoption and diffusion. Using a 1997 mail survey of Iowa swine producers (n = 298), we examined factors associated with producers' attitudes toward publicly funded research on hoop structures and found that 40% were supportive of the research, 40% were opposed, and 20% were undecided. Of the variables examined, the producer's assessment of hoop structures' contribution to sustainability, number of external knowledge sources about hoop structures, and formal education were each significantly related to support for publicly funded hoop-structure research. Two farm structure variables, marketings and percentage of income from farming, were not significantly related in this study. Future research on farmers' attitudes toward public sector agricultural research should take account of farmers' views of potential impacts of the specific technologies being researched and developed, and the nature of farmers' ties to the land-grant university system. This study clarifies the importance of farmers' perceptions and concerns about specific agricultural technologies in directing public agricultural research planning and policy toward broader sustainability goals.

Educators in ecological agriculture are developing learning environments that differ in three fundamental ways from conventional teaching in agricultural universities and colleges. First, increased emphasis on food and production systems will expand and complement the current focus on specific disciplines and technologies. Second, introduction of research methods and learning objectives from social sciences will broaden the potentials for students to understand the complexities of food systems and the people who make them work. Third, action research and education will move learning activities into the agroecosystems environment and the human landscape, where students will learn from a broad array of people and experiences. This design of a new learning environment will enhance the education of students to serve agricultural and food systems well into a future that is changing at an accelerating rate.