The use of digital tools could optimise farm management by facilitating data collection and processing. The literature provides an overall view of what digital tools represent in ruminant livestock farming and highlights the importance of studying digital toolkits. In sheep farming systems, the diversity of production systems could lead farmers to combine digital tools to meet their specific needs. This article examines how farmers use digital tools to understand how sheep farmers build their digital toolkits. The present study contributes to this objective by providing feedback on the tools used by sheep farmers and the integration of these tools into farms. The study was carried out in four French regions where sheep production is well established. A total of 75 surveys on farms were conducted, and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics. A variety of digital tools were recorded, with each farm using, on average, three tools. The 22 tools identified were grouped into five categories. Digital management tools were the most widely used (85% of farmers used at least one tool in this category), while automation tools were the least used category. The diversity of tools observed may be due to the specific characteristics of each farm and the way farmers perceive the digital tools they use. An analysis of farmers’ digital toolkits, defined as all of the tools a farmer owns, highlights the absence of a standard configuration. Each farmer builds a digital toolkit tailored to their operating conditions and objectives. Furthermore, two levels of digital tool use emerged: digital tools integrated into the routine management of farms, which are used more frequently, and digital tools used with greater variability, reflecting targeted or periodic use. Future research into the data used by farmers could provide a better understanding of how they use digital tools to manage their flocks and contribute to the development of tools that align with their practices and needs. This would involve identifying the data used by farmers, their role in the decision-making process, and any changes (or lack thereof) in animal management and farmers’ work.

Maintaining agricultural productivity and soil health in the U.S. Midwest amid changing weather patterns is a critical challenge. Using a system-dynamics model previously calibrated and validated against 2002–2022 Iowa data, we conducted the first century-scale (2023–2122) evaluation of four agricultural production systems: conventional corn–soybean cropping with/without rye cover crops (CwCC, CwoCC), and integrated crop–livestock systems with/without grazed rye cover crops (ICLSwCC, ICLSwoCC), under intermediate and high-temperature trajectories. Under the high-temperature scenario, cropping-only systems and ICLSwoCC reach peak farm wealth in 60–70 years, then stagnate or decline, while environmental quality steadily deteriorates. In contrast, ICLSwCC sustains strong wealth accumulation and the highest environmental scores for the entire 100 years, driven by temperature-stimulated rye biomass that supports larger herds (~8.2 million cow-calf pairs versus ~925,000 currently) and enhanced manure nutrient cycling. System rankings remain consistent under the intermediate scenario, though absolute divergences are smaller. Labor–leisure trade-offs persist in both ICLS variants. These exploratory scenarios indicate that only ICLSwCC simultaneously maintains long-term profitability and soil health under substantial temperature increase, making it the most resilient strategy among those examined for the U.S. Corn Belt.

Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention, and crop diversification, is promoted as a climate-smart approach to improve smallholder farmers’ resilience amid increasing climate change-related shocks and soil degradation in sub-Saharan Africa. However, CA adoption remains low, and literature on CA profit efficiency is scanty. This study assesses the profitability and profit efficiency of conventional tillage-based agriculture (CT) and CA practices in Zambia. Using a three-wave annual panel dataset of 1,938 household-level observations across contrasting farmer typologies, we apply panel stochastic frontier analysis and a panel tobit model to analyze profit efficiency and identify determinants of efficiency levels. Results show that CA practices, especially minimum tillage with crop rotation, had higher gross margins but lower profit efficiency, with inefficiencies of up to 27.78% for minimum tillage with crop rotation compared to 18.70% for CT. Principal component analysis identified three farmer typologies: asset- and income-poor, asset- and income-rich, and asset- and income-moderate. Notably, asset- and income-rich farmers achieved the highest profit efficiency under CT and full CA (minimum tillage with crop rotation and mulching), while asset- and income-poor farmers achieved the highest efficiency under minimum tillage, minimum tillage with crop rotation, and minimum tillage with mulching. Input costs (notably fertilizer and labor), maize prices, and farmer characteristics such as education, household size, and cooperative membership significantly influenced profit efficiency. The findings underscore the need for context-specific CA promotion, tailored to farmer typologies.

Cereal rye (CR; Secale cereale L.) is widely used as a winter cover crop in soybean (Glycine max L.) production systems to reduce soil erosion and capture residual soil nitrogen (N). However, soybean responses to CR residue depend on biomass quantity and residue quality, both of which are strongly influenced by CR seeding rate. To evaluate the effects of CR seeding rate on biomass production, residue carbon (C) and N dynamics, and subsequent soybean performance, a two-year field experiment was conducted during the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 growing seasons in southern Illinois. This study was arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications and included a no-cover crop control and four CR seeding rates (14, 28, 42, and 56 kg ha−1). CR biomass increased linearly with increasing seeding rate across years, whereas C accumulation showed a significant year × seeding rate interaction, increasing linearly with seeding rate in 2024 but not in 2023, while tissue N concentration declined with increasing seeding rate across years and residue C:N ratio increased in both years, with a stronger response in 2024. Soybean biological yield was not affected by CR seeding rate; however, soybean grain yield remained stable at low to moderate seeding rates (14–42 kg ha−1) and declined at the highest rate (56 kg ha−1). Yield reductions at high seeding rates were driven primarily by decreases in seed number and harvest index. Principal component analysis showed that seeding rate was the dominant driver of CR biomass and residue quality, whereas environmental conditions explained most year-to-year variation. Economic analysis indicated that net returns were maximized at moderate seeding rates, particularly at the minimum financial incentive-eligible rate of 34 kg ha−1. These results suggest that moderate CR seeding rates can optimize residue benefits while maintaining soybean yield and profitability.

Pasture-raised poultry integrated into cover crop systems offers a promising avenue for small-scale organic producers. However, how cover crop management affects broiler performance and product quality in chicken-based integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) remains poorly characterized. A two-year experiment was conducted on certified organic land at the Purdue University Meigs Horticulture Research Farm (Lafayette, Indiana, USA) to evaluate how cover crop management affects growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass characteristics, and meat color of slow-growing broilers in an organic ICLS. Treatments were chicken integration with access to high forage (ICLS-HF) or low forage (ICLS-LF), arranged in a randomized complete block design with four blocks. Cover crops were an oat/pea/turnip mixture in 2024 and a cereal rye/pea mixture in 2025. Freedom Ranger broilers were used in 2024 and Red Sasso broilers in 2025, with approximately 46–50 birds per treatment integrated for 42–46 days per season. Data were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models, with treatment, year, and their interactions as fixed effects and block within year as a random effect. Cover crop mowing reduced forage availability (P < 0.01) and, in 2025, resulted in lower crude protein (9.04 vs. 11.6% DM, P = 0.004) and higher acid detergent fiber (29.1 vs. 28.4% DM, P = 0.049) compared to non-mowed plots. Despite these differences, cover crop management did not significantly affect any measured performance, carcass, or meat quality variable in either year (P > 0.05). Production year was the dominant source of variation: Freedom Rangers in 2024 achieved higher live weights (2.78 vs. 2.04 kg, P < 0.001), lower feed conversion ratios (2.85–2.90 vs. 3.13–3.51), and greater breast yields (~26 vs. 17% of carcass weight, P < 0.001) than Red Sasso broilers in 2025. However, year is a composite term confounding broiler genetics with climatic conditions, cover crop species and maturity, and sampling time, so these effects cannot be attributed to any single factor. Leg yield (thigh and drumstick included) remained stable across years and treatments (31.5–34.0%, P > 0.05), suggesting that outdoor rearing supports leg muscle development independent of forage management. These findings indicate that cover crops can serve as a viable pasture component in organic chicken-based ICLS without compromising animal performance.