Mechanization needs for intercropping systems in rainfall agriculture

Abstract

The present report is the final stage of my master in Biosystems engineering. The topic selected for this purpose was intended to be useful as for analyzing the technological component of the arable system in the context of highly mechanized sector, such as the European one. The value of this dissertation subscribes in my learning process of how to proceed with the Biosystems design discipline, which has been a challenge in many aspects for me. I would like to thank to my supervisors, to have the patience and give me the necessary guidance to go through a complex task that led me to learn the key components of the engineering process in a biosystem that integrates the biological, technological, and human component. An analysis of the mechanization of strip intercropping was elaborated, in terms of the innovation needed to implement. The approach taken was to follow a structured design process through which the needs reflected by a list of requirements were to be assessed against a conceptualization of an intercropping system. During the process, a functional analysis was done in order to find systematically the current solutions for a generic arable cropping system that not specifies the species. A valid demarcation of intercropping systems in order to analyze the technological aspect of mechanization was done in the present report. Only two features were selected to depict the spatial and temporal organization aspect of intercrops namely, strip width dimension and the time synchronization pattern. In order to conceptualize a biological system that is not yet fully optimized from the agronomic perspective, as the intercropping systems in the context of West Europe, a choice was made to demarcate the analysis in the light of limited time available (Strip intercropping with a width of 3 meter). Furthermore, the choice was meant as a first step to systematically find the issues to be solved going from a state of transition in innovation towards a fully new intercropping system design, that may chase agro ecological intensification goals, including those belonging to the conservation of natural resources.