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The use of antibiotics is not permitted in Switzerland; moreover, no other medication exists to combat European foul brood. Hives with symptoms must therefore be destroyed in order to limit the outbreak, and the contaminated material must be sanitised. Since prevention is the best cure, early detection is desirable. Numerous studies have been undertaken and documents have been created at the Swiss Bee Research Centre and elsewhere to draw the attention of beekeepers to these problems and inform them about the causes and the control measures to be implemented.

Merkblatt zur erkennung von Bienenbrutkrankheiten (German (PDF, 357 kB, 18.10.2017) and French (PDF, 226 kB, 02.02.2017))
M. Tschumi (2011)

Sociotechnological sustainability in pasture management: Labor input and optimization potential of smart tools to measure herbage mass and quality.

Institutional Repository Agroscope

Hart L., Quendler E., Umstaetter C.

Sociotechnological sustainability in pasture management: Labor input and optimization potential of smart tools to measure herbage mass and quality.

Sustainability, 14, (12), 2022, 1-23.

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Abstract:

Investing labor time in herbage measurements is important for precision pasture management. In this study, the labor input of three smart herbage measurement tools—multispectral imagery linked to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a semi-automated rising plate meter (RPM), and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) of cut herbage samples—and of direct observation was modeled based on the REFA work element method. Three to five users were observed during work execution to identify best-practice workflows. Time measurements were conducted using video footage. The resulting standard times of work elements were used to model labor input for herbage measurements in different farm sizes (i.e., milking platforms of 6–100 ha) and subdivisions of a farm’s milking platform (i.e., 4–45 paddocks). Labor time requirement differed between the smart farming tools (0.7–5.9 h) depending on the farm size and milking platform scenario. The labor time requirement increased for all tools with an increase in farm size and was lowest for the RPM. For the UAV tool, it did not increase noticeably when the division of the milking platform changed. Nevertheless, the potential to save time was identified for the UAV and the NIRS. Therefore, the automation of certain steps in the workflows would contribute to sociotechnological sustainable pasture management.

ISSN Print: 2071-1050
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127490
Publication-ID (Web Code): 49633 Sending by e-mail

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Sociotechnological sustainability in pasture management: Labor input and optimization potential of smart tools to measure herbage mass and quality.