International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:10 Issue: 3, Sep 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of scientific articles in the field of agricultural education. The statistical population of the study consisted of all agricultural education articles published in three scientific journals from the years 2013 to 2017 (N = 198). SPSS and EXCEL software used to analyze the data. The findings showed that the journals upgraded during the studied years, which indicated improvement of the journals. In terms of publication the agricultural education article versus other fields of study, the results indicated that the articles, with the exception of growth in the year 2015, had a decreasing trend. Articles with three authors had the most frequency. According to the

The most used software was SPSS, the most used method was quantitative research, the most tool for collecting data was questionnaire, and the most source for gathering data was student. Also, the most relevant subject was quality of education, teaching and learning. Finally, based on the findings, it is recommended that the needs of labor market, industry and society be considered for conducting applied and developmental researches.

Teaching and learning processes in universities have not achieved expected outcomes. The mismatch between learning and teaching styles is a challenge in the education process. Instructors should strive to incorporate their teaching style with students’ learning styles in order to ensure effective teaching and learning process in higher education. The present descriptive-survey study aimed to explainthecompatibility of students’ learning styles using Witkin’s (1976) Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and teachers’ teaching style using van Tilburg and Hamilich’s (1990) test. The target population consisted of students and faculty members at the agricultural college at Razi University, Iran. Results revealed that the majority of males were field-independent and the majority of females were field-dependent learners. Concerning four teaching styles (expert, provider, facilitator and enabler), the instructors tended to use the enabler teaching style. Instructors should consider the characteristics and needs of both field-dependent and field-independent students and use different teaching methods. Recommendations about matching learning and teaching styles are provided based on the results.

Job performance is considered one of the most important criteria for developing and measuring the performance of organizations such as the Agricultural Jihad Organization (AJO). The main purpose of the present study was to study the effects of leadership styles on job performance through the mediating role of psychological empowerment. The statistical population was composed of the experts of AJO in Kerman province (N=1418). The sample size was estimated to be 306 experts according to Krejcie and Morgan’s sampling table. The stratified random sampling method was used to select the samples. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts in the field of agricultural extension, education, and management. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was employed to examine the reliability of the constructs (0.76≤α≤0.93). The results revealed that the psychological empowerment and the transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles had significant effects on job performance. The transformational and transactional leadership styles also had positive and significant effects on psychological empowerment. On the other hand, the laissez-faire leadership style had a negative and significant effect on psychological empowerment. In the end, it should be noted that the independent variables could account for 63 percent of the variance in job performance.

A reason for the success of the agricultural sector in developed countries is the regulation of farm size as it allows for the scale economy of production. Considering that the size of agricultural production units should be specifically determined based on the crop and the area where it is produced, this study aims to determine the optimum size of rice farms in Fereydunkenar County, Mazandaran Province. So, 198 farmers were randomly interviewed in 2014. The results show that the optimal economic size of the farms in the study area is 1.949 ha, 43% larger than the average cultivation area in the region. The results of the technical efficiency using the Stochastic Nonparametric Envelopment of Data model (StoNED) also show that paddy size has a direct correlation with the efficiency of these units in the studied area and production in larger farms is more economical and efficient. Therefore, it is suggested to consider plans to encourage rice farmers to establish cooperatives and change their farm management style from small farm owning to integrated management.

The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of olive fruit production under different orchard size and upon organic and common agro-systems through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology in northern Iran. The data were collected using a self-made questionnaire and face-to-face interview with 305 olive growers in the study region. Six environmental impact categories (IC) including depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, acidification, terrestrial eutrophication, depletion of phosphate and potash resources have been investigated. One tone of olive fruit was set as the functional unit (FU). Results showed that the large olive orchards (≥5ha) had the highest negative environmental impacts in all studied IC. Overall, acidification, terrestrial eutrophication, and depletion of phosphate resources have been identified as the most important environmental challenges of olive fruit production with final indices of 1.58, 2.68, and 3.12, respectively. The results also revealed that the organic olive orchards are more environmental efficient than those of conventional orchards. Substituting a certain portion of chemical fertilizers used in the large olive orchards with the biological alternatives such as farmyard manure has been suggested to provide the nutritional requirements of olive trees. A regional strategy should be also planned to move to an appropriate integrated farming system to cut down the environmental hazards of olive fruit production in large orchards in the studied region.

Information literacy embraces the ability to access useful information and to have the awareness of organizing knowledge and information which require different search methods and most effective diagnostic information for problem solving and decision-making. Those who lack these abilities are continuously confused in the vast ocean of information. This study investigated designing model of educators’ information literacy at agricultural technical schools in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The date analyses methods used in this study involved a combination of descriptive and quantitative research. The statistical population consisted of 155 educators of agricultural technical schools in Mazandaran Province. The questionnaire validity was approved by the university professors and many of the educational system experts. The theta coefficients for each section were between 80 and 95 percent. The descriptive and inferential statistics and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data using SPSS16 and Smart PLS2 software. The results showed that the educators had good information literacy. It was found that four variables of the field of study, work experience, age and social factor determined 66.3 percent of the variance in educators’ information literacy at agricultural technical schools.

The separability of consumer desires is a necessary condition for multi-stage budgeting and collectivization is consistent of commodity where costs are allocated between edible groups using price indices and intergroup allocations are made independent of other groups. In empirical studies of demand, the concept of separation is used to correctly estimate demand function and limit the number of parameters. For this purpose, data related to price index and cost of selected commodities (citrus fruits, cucurbits, and vegetables) derived from the Central Bank over 2016 in urban households of Iran were used. The results of the separability tests support the hypothesis that consumers first allocate their income to selected commodities in three groups (citrus fruits, cucurbits, and vegetables) and then approves the income allocation action between the types of its subgroups that are grouped. Also, the results of the system estimation showed that all groups had a negative intrinsic price elasticity. In the meantime, the price elasticity of the groups of citrus fruits (orange, tangerines, and lemon), cucurbits fruits (potato, tomato, and onion) and vegetables (the leafy ones) are equal to -0.83, -0.48 and -0.91, respectively. Given the income elasticity calculated for the three commodity groups, the second commodity group (potato, tomato, and onion) is more essential than the other commodity groups, which should be considered in government policies as to agricultural production and pricing.

Among various products available in agriculture, saffron plays a major role in contributing to Iran's gross domestic product and per capita income growth.  Due to shortage of workforce and short duration of harvesting, areas under cultivation of saffron in Iran will be declining in coming years. Thus, proper planning for optimum use of workforce is one of the most important techniques to access efficient harvesting. In this regard, an integer programming model is proposed to solve the problem in this paper. Number of working shift and working hours in each shift are among decision variables in the proposed model, which satisfy the objective function, i.e. minimizing the total cost of workforce, with constrains including number of working hours in each shift, speed of workforce, number of fields that should be harvested in each day and relationship between working hours of each worker and the cost allocated . To evaluate the proposed model, we employ the data collected from fields located in different areas of Qaen, South Khorasan province, Iran. By comparing the output of the proposed model to the real situation, the ability of the model is confirmed. Finally, concluding remarks and suggestions for future research are provided.