IAN KARLO P.

DIZON AGRI 202

BSAG 2101 – Animal Science Major
RESEARCH DESIGN ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
Research Title: Crop Species Production Diversity Enhances Revenue Stability in Low-
Income Farm Regions of Mexico
Author/s: Mathew C. LaFevor
Research Variables:
Dependent: Revenue Stability
Independent: Crops Species Diversity
Research Question:
Q1: How does crop species diversity impact revenue stability?
Q2: How do environmental factors and farm structural and functional characteristics
influence the relationship?
Q3: How does controlling for different cropping portfolios influence the relationship?
Guide Questions for Analysis:
Type of Research Design: Experimental Design
Is there a clear rationale for the chosen research method? Yes/No? Why?
There is a clear rationale for the chosen research method because the revenue
stability is depending on the crop’s species diversity, and it need an experimentation and
analysis to test if their enhancement in the low-income farm regions of Mexico.
Is the research method appropriate for the research questions? Yes/No? Why?
The research method is appropriate to the research question because the research
questions need the identification, experimentation, analysis, computation process to get
the results and discussion and to know the impact of crops species diversity in the
revenue stability.
Method used to collect data: Explanatory Models (a. Ordinary least square (OLS
parametric) and b. Quantile (median, non-parametric)).
Was the data collection tool/method appropriate for the research question?
Yes/No? Why?
The data collection method and tool are appropriate for the research question
because the research questions need of explanatory models and computation to get the
results and discuss whether there a positive and negative impact of species diversity in
revenue stability.
Is there enough information about the experimental plants/animal or participants
(if it involved respondents)? Yes/No? Why?
What were the ethical considerations for the research participants (if it involved
participants)?
Result and Discussion
4.1. Crop Species Diversity Enhances Revenue Stability (H1)
This study found crop species diversity was a strong positive predictor of revenue stability
in southern Mexico, a finding that supports the insurance hypothesis (Hypothesis 1). This
finding is consistent with numerous studies from Europe, Africa, and Asia showing crop
diversification enhances income or revenue stability at farm, community, and landscape
levels [22,30,65,66,67]. The results from Model 1 largely replicated the direction and
relative effect sizes of the same variables used in the previous study. The primary
exception was the relative effect sizes of crop diversification and irrigation intensity on
revenue stability. Using the same index of Shannon Effective Species Diversity, this study
found that while crop diversity was a strong positive predictor of revenue stability,
irrigation intensity was even stronger.
4.2. Climate Instability, Irrigation Intensity, and Other Drivers of Revenue (In)Stability (H2)
This study found precipitation instability and temperature instability negatively predicted
crop revenue stability, findings that support Hypothesis 2. These findings are broadly
consistent with two groups of previous studies. The first group consists of a limited
number of studies that confirm the negative effects of detrended temporal instability of
precipitation and temperature on revenue stability [24,33]. The second group of studies
shows that crop diversification can mitigate the negative effects of temperature and
precipitation (weather) variations [6], enhance productivity in arid environments [48], and
serve as a mitigation or adaptation strategy for coping with climatic uncertainty [69,70,71].
Irrigation intensity was found to be the strongest positive predictor of revenue stability in
Models 1 and 2, which supports Hypothesis 2. The predicted positive association was
based on studies highlighting the benefits of irrigation to crop production, productivity,
and sustainability in Mexico [43,55,68,74], and other studies identifying a close
association between irrigation and crop species diversity in Mexico [48,61]. As such, the
findings of this study contribute to a growing list of irrigation benefits to crop productivity,
sustainable development, and farming risk reduction in Mexico.
4.3. Crop Portfolio Effects on Revenue Stability (H3): Maize and Sugar
This study found that the direction and magnitude of crop portfolio effects on revenue
stability varied widely. Specifically, portfolios comprising mostly maize had negative
effects on revenue stability (rejecting Hypothesis 3), while those comprising mostly sugar
cultivation had strong positive effects. This study is one of the few to simultaneously
examine the impacts of aggregate crop diversity and the effects of cropping portfolios on
revenue stability. The potential benefits of crop diversification on revenue stability are
often traced to the specific biologic and economic attributes of individual crops and their
relative importance within crop systems or portfolios
4.4. Crop Diversity as Natural Insurance for Farms in Southern Mexico?
Other than irrigation intensity and sugar-dominated crop portfolios, crop species
production diversity was the strongest positive predictor of revenue stability in low-income
regions of southern Mexico. Increasing the revenue or income stability of farms is a
central goal of agricultural policies around the world [22], and promoting diversification is
a broadly accepted means of achieving stability. Among smallholder farmers, crop
diversification has long been employed as a risk reduction strategy and as a type of
natural insurance against environmental stressors and/or commodity market shocks.
Research Title: Impact of In- Furrow fertilizer on Winter wheat grain yield and mineral
concentration
Author/s: B. A Finch, V.T Reed, J. E Williams, R. L Sharry and D. B Arnall
Research Variables:
Independent: In furrow fertilizer
Dependent: Wheat grain yield and mineral concentration
Research Questions:
1.) Does the wheat grain nutrient are affected using in furrow fertilizer?
Guide Questions for Analysis:
Type of Research Design: Experimental Research Design
Is there a clear rationale for the chosen research method? Yes/No? Why?
There is a clear rationale for the chosen research method because the treatment
structure guaranteed analysis in percent of nutrient rate of product and nutrients in kg/ha.
Is the research method appropriate for the research questions? Yes/No? Why?
Yes, the research method is appropriate to the research question because in the
results its answer and show the significant effects of in-furrow fertilizer in winter wheat
grain yield.
Method used to collect data: Randomized complete block design with three replications
with each location
Was the data collection tool/method appropriate for the research question?
Yes/No? Why?
Yes, there is enough information in the in-furrow fertilizer, soil nutrient, location,
climate, and winter wheat grain based on the result.
Is there enough information about the experimental plants/animal or participants
(if it Involved respondents)? Yes/No? Why?
Result and Discussion
This research leads to the interest in other available products and their ability to
increase wheat productivity while reducing field passes. It is, however, unclear why some
P-containing products overcome P deficiencies, while others did not, but this
phenomenon could be a factor of spatial variability of STP. This research does provide
information that shows the use of in-furrow fertilizer products can be beneficial in fields
where the soil test nutrients, specifically P, are low. However, the products tested in this
study are a small number of available in-furrow fertilizers, and these results cannot
convey the impacts of these other products. These fields used in this study also represent
a small amount of the variability in soil conditions across small-grain production regions
and do not represent extreme soil pH which could potentially lead to responses to P
source, Fe and Zn. The possibility to increase yields on marginal soils has been reported
by this study and others, but when soils are within optimal pH range and not deficient in
nutrients these products have not been shown to impact yields of winter wheat.
This study has found when pre-plant soil nutrients are adequate neither wheat
grain yield nor nutrient concentrations were influenced by the in-furrow application of
fertilizer products. In contrast, winter wheat yields on nutrient-limited soils were improved
by the in-furrow application of a few products that contained a limiting nutrient as well as
some containing other, non-limited, micro-nutrients. Therefore, nutrient levels should be
monitored through soil testing to prevent and correct the occurrence of deficiencies. In
the event of a deficiency, in-furrow application of some products may be useful to mitigate
these impacts for a single crop season.
References: Finch B, Reed V, Williams J, Sharry R, and Arnall D (2022). Impact of In-
furrow fertilizers on winter wheat grain yield and mineral concentration. Cambridge
University.