Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment最新文献

This review focuses on the critical role of potassium (K) in potato cultivation, addressing its essential functions in plant metabolism and the challenges in managing soil K levels, specifically under sandy soils. The K use efficiency is higher in potatoes, with the maximum potential up to 55%, compared to cereals at 19%. Potatoes require high quantities of K, especially in well-drained sandy soils, to maximise growth and yield. Because K is a highly leaching-prone nutrient in these soils, its deficiencies could affect plant health, metabolism (K is required to activate more than 60 enzymes) and productivity. Optimal potato growth necessitates maintaining 1.8% K in the tubers, corresponding to a need of 0.22 kg K₂O ac⁻¹ for a substantial yield. The review article highlights the significant use of potash fertilisers in the United States, with an average consumption of 4.43 million metric tons between 2010 and 2021, underscoring the importance of K in agricultural practices. The paper also highlights the difference in K requirement and removal among different potato varieties that require the maximum amount in processing types. This manuscript discusses K's management schemes through soil testing, plant tissue analysis and artificial intelligence. The integration of various machine-learning methods could offer promising prospects for predicting K response in potatoes, aiming to improve nutrient management and sustainable crop production. By synthesising current knowledge and advancements in K fertilisation techniques, this paper provides insights into overcoming the challenges of K management in potato cultivation, ultimately contributing to increased productivity and improved crop quality.

Soil is central to the complex interplay among biodiversity, climate, and society. This paper examines the interconnectedness of soil biodiversity, climate change, and societal impacts, emphasizing the urgent need for integrated solutions. Human-induced biodiversity loss and climate change intensify environmental degradation, threatening human well-being. Soils, rich in biodiversity and vital for ecosystem function regulation, are highly vulnerable to these pressures, affecting nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and resilience. Soil also crucially regulates climate, influencing energy, water cycles, and carbon storage. Yet, climate change poses significant challenges to soil health and carbon dynamics, amplifying global warming. Integrated approaches are essential, including sustainable land management, policy interventions, technological innovations, and societal engagement. Practices like agroforestry and organic farming improve soil health and mitigate climate impacts. Effective policies and governance are crucial for promoting sustainable practices and soil conservation. Recent technologies aid in monitoring soil biodiversity and implementing sustainable land management. Societal engagement, through education and collective action, is vital for environmental stewardship. By prioritizing interdisciplinary research and addressing key frontiers, scientists can advance understanding of the soil biodiversity–climate change–society nexus, informing strategies for environmental sustainability and social equity.

Prof Diana H. Wall was a pioneering scientist, a trailblazer, a mentor for many, and the strongest advocate of soil biodiversity. Her research impacted many aspects of soil ecology, and she was best known for her work in Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys, soil invertebrates, ecosystem services and effects of climate change. Her research and advocacy had transformational impacts both on the fundamental understanding on distributions, functions they provide, and the need for assessment and conservation of soil biodiversity (van der Putten et al., 2023). Her tireless efforts and strongest possible advocacy of soil biodiversity was the foundation of changes we saw in recent years in global policies, including recently adopted agreement to include soil biodiversity in national biodiversity reporting at COP-15 of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada 2022 (The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, 2022). Her scientific contributions have been recognised by many prestigious awards and fellowships including being elected as a member of the National Academy of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In recognition of her long-term contribution to Antarctic science, an upland Antarctic Valley—the Wall Valley—was named after her.

Soils are critical for supporting food security and climate change regulation. Up to 95% of our food come from soils (World Economic Forum, 2023). Sadly, one-third of these soils are already under some type of degradation. Further, soils provide habitats for 59% of global biodiversity (Anthony et al., 2023) that plays a fundamental role in regulating the function of terrestrial ecosystems, driving key processes such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and climate regulation (Delgado Baquerizo et al., 2020). However, this awareness was not always there, and soils and their biodiversity were poorly understood and largely underestimated. Diana was a pioneer in investigating and highlighting the fundamental importance of soil biodiversity. Her doctoral thesis on soil nematodes and her novel work describing the soil biodiversity of extreme deserts from Antarctica opened the door to researchers across the globe to investigate and learn more about soil organisms and their role to support ecosystem functions.

Diana was well known for her many leadership activities and has inspired many across the globe. Her research career started with a PhD at the University of Kentucky in 1971, she then moved to the University of California-Riverside. In 1993, she moved to Colorado State University and worked there in various capacities, including a key role in establishing and leading the School of Global Environmental Sustainability. In her strong commitment to support soil biodiversity research and conservation, Diana led and supported many initiatives that have spawned broad engagement and innovation in the field of

The grapevine is one of the most important perennial fruit crops worldwide. The historical stability of winegrowing methods has spanned almost 3000 years since the introduction of viticulture in Europe. However, in the last 70 years, the wine sector in the Europe has experienced substantial transformations. These changes are attributed to the widespread adoption of mechanisation and industralisation in the 1950s and the establishment of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The growing concern for the environment and climate change in the European Union (EU) has significantly influenced the successive reforms of the CAP. These reforms have resulted in the acquisition of new commitments to protect the environment, mitigate climate change and reduce biodiversity loss over the years. In this work, we carried out a critical analysis of the most relevant aspects of the new CAP and address the regulatory framework of organic agriculture in the EU as a tool for improving the sustainability of vineyards. Currently, Spain is the country with the largest vineyard area in the world, reaching 964,000 hectares. This represents 13% of the world's vineyards and 30% in the EU, which demonstrates the importance of this crop in Europe. Due to its relevance, we focused our critical analyses of the new CAP on Spain as a case study. The latest reform of the CAP, applicable for the period 2023-2027, is the most ambitious in environmental terms and includes instruments such as reinforced conditionality, eco-schemes and payments for agri-environment–climate commitments. Finally, we propose that by integrating concepts and management strategies from current organic and regenerative viticulture together with historical strategies derived from treatises and classic authors across a wide range of societies and cultures, the goals of the new CAP can be successfully met. This will contribute to reuniting the past, the present and the future of viticulture for a more nature-based winemaking.

Pastoral farming on hill country landscapes influences nitrogen (N) dynamics and its losses to freshwater. This study reviewed the current literature identifying key effects of pastoral hill country landscape features and land management practices on nitrate losses to receiving waters. The review also highlighted the potential effects of inherent landscape features on nitrate attenuation pathways for better water quality outcomes. Intensive land use activities involving high rates of fertiliser application, higher stocking rates and cattle grazing, relative to sheep grazing, are more likely to increase nitrate loss, especially on lower slopes. However, soils with a high carbon (C) storage capacity such as allophanic soils potentially limit nitrate loss via denitrification in subsoil layers. Hill country seepage wetlands also offer an opportunity to attenuate nitrate loss, though their efficacy is largely impacted by hydrological variations in their inflows and outflows. By enhancing the natural nitrate attenuation capacity of seepage wetlands, mapping and strategic use of high subsoil denitrification potential, effective riparian management, efficient fertiliser and grazing practices and the incorporation of these farm management strategies into Freshwater Farm Plans (FWFPs), wider environmental and farm productivity/profitability goals, including improved water quality, would be achieved on pastoral hill country landscapes.