Work Budget: Latest Edition
A work budget is used to quantify time-related workload and to plan and organise work processes. For this, Agroscope makes detailed calculation bases available in a series of publications for practitioners and researchers.
Agriculture is undergoing a period of increasingly rapid transformation. Mechanisation, digitalisation and changes in production processes influence work cycles and the time required to perform them. Key figures on working-time requirement bring transparency to the organisation of work on the farm and can provide answers, for example, on how mechanisation measures may affect the required working time.
Updated calculation bases
A survey on the status quo of mechanisation and digitalisation in agricultural production in Switzerland from 2018 was used to update the model calculation bases for calculating the working-time requirement for the different agricultural activities.
The results will be made available in a publication series entitled Data Catalogue for the Working-Time Requirement of Agricultural Activities. The first issue, on the subject of grain maize, has been published. The key labour science data are also available online on the ‘LabourScope’ platform (www.labourscope.ch). In addition to the key figures, the new edition of the Work Budget contains numerous explanations of the model assumptions and calculation bases.
Wide range of users
The Data Catalogue is geared to the education and extension sectors as well as agricultural practitioners. The explanations regarding the calculations are also aimed at improving transparency with respect to existing labour science models and data catalogues.
Thanks to the detailed description of the calculation bases the publication is also directed at scientists and can be linked to other model applications. To this end, the data of the publication series will also be provided as an open-access data source on the Open Data platform Zenodo in several languages, ensuring international availability of the data. The data catalogues can, for example, be used as core data for labour science issues within the context of studies on ecological, economic and social sustainability, as well as in studies on the transformation of the agriculture and food systems.
Other publications in preparation
Data catalogues on other field crops, forage production (hay and silage) and dairy farming are currently being prepared.
Further information
Index
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LabourScope
LabourScope is a specialised app for calculating the working-time requirement of work and production processes on the farm. This tool contains a work budget and key labour-economics figures for field work and work in animal housing, as well as for activities in the farm household.
WhatsApp channel for practitioners
Aimed at agricultural practitioners, the information is shared on our WhatsApp channels 'Agroscope_fr' (French) and 'Agroscope_de' (German).