Agricultural Systems最新文献

{"title":"Water quality impacts of recycling nutrients using organic fertilizers in circular agricultural scenarios","authors":"W. Lisenbee ,&nbsp;A. Saha ,&nbsp;P. Mohammadpour ,&nbsp;R. Cibin ,&nbsp;J. Kaye ,&nbsp;C. Grady ,&nbsp;I. Chaubey","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104041","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Most of the nutrients in food supply chains are lost as waste and pollution at great environmental and economic cost. A more circular agricultural system can be developed through recycling of organic waste streams such as manure and food waste into organic fertilizers.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>This study assessed the agricultural system's circularity potential in the Susquehanna River Basin (SRB), the largest tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, by recycling organic waste streams such as manure and food waste into fertilizers.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>Using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), we developed and deployed three different scenarios beyond the baseline of current practices. First, we created the Manure Transport scenario to study improved manure transport beyond the sub-watershed where it is produced. Second, we developed the High Nitrogen Recovery Manure scenario to evaluate an increase of available nitrogen (N) in manure assuming developing technologies could reduce N losses from storage and transportation, leaving more N to apply to cropland. The final Compost scenario used food-waste as a source for compost fertilizer applied to areas without manure available. We evaluated the level of circularity from each scenario through the spatial distribution and the proportion of cropland using organic fertilizers sourced from manure and compost generated in the SRB. Additionally, we considered water quality at the outlet of the SRB to determine the impact a circular agricultural system could have on the water quality goals set forth for Chesapeake Bay.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>The Manure Transport scenario showed circularity and water quality results similar to the baseline conditions. The High Nitrogen Recovery Manure scenario demonstrated the highest circularity, with 46% of cropland using organic fertilizers, resulting in the smallest phosphorus (P) loading per watershed area (3.26 kg/ha/yr) at the SRB outlet. However, it also had the highest N loading (9.97 kg/ha/yr) at the outlet. The Compost scenario doubled the area treated with organic fertilizers, with 16% of cropland utilizing compost application, and led to increased N (8.48 kg/ha/yr) and P (4.17 kg/ha/yr) loading at the SRB outlet.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>The study highlighted that cropland area in this region is sufficient to expand the use of manure and food waste compost as fertilizers, thereby enhancing circularity and reducing commercial fertilizer inputs. However, it emphasized the importance of integrating field management strategies to address agricultural runoff concerns and achieve both waste reduction and improved water quality.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating sustainability assessment tools with life cycle analysis for agroecological systems: A UK case study","authors":"Sally Westaway ,&nbsp;Tomasz Żyłowski ,&nbsp;Sam Hardiman ,&nbsp;Laurence G. Smith","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104045","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Life cycle analysis (LCA) is increasingly used to assess the environmental impacts of primary food production. As an alternative, impacts can be assessed at the farm level using holistic sustainability assessment tools.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether an integrated approach combining a “detailed and narrow” LCA with a “broad and shallow” sustainability assessment could help integrate socioeconomic and ecosystem service evaluations in LCA by including a wide range of impact criteria.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>To address this overarching objective, we present results from whole-farm sustainability assessments using the Public Goods Tool (PGT), a tool developed in the United Kingdom (UK) by the Organic Research Centre, and cradle-to-farm-gate LCAs of beef, carrots and tomatoes for (i) a diverse agroecological case study farm (CSF) and (ii) a specialised agroecological production system. The use of the PGT enabled comparison with similar UK farm systems and was extended to develop biodiversity and social indices to complement the LCA.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>Results of the CSF demonstrated a relationship between environmental impacts and increased production efficiency, as the climate change impact per kg of product was strongly associated with higher yields, but this was less clear when impacts expressed per ha. The CSF produced less beef than the specialised system but more tomatoes and carrots, which reflects its higher labour input and less intensive production methods. The CSF generally used fewer external inputs, which decreased its overall impacts. Purchased feed contributed disproportionately to the water consumption of beef from the specialised system. PGT results highlighted the environmental benefits that can be delivered by ‘diverse’ agricultural systems and added detail to LCA results; for example the high labour input at the CSF helped generate social capital whilst partially explaining the reduced emissions from tractor operations modelled in the carrot LCA.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>We conclude that LCA may not be the most suitable tool to consider these wider aspects of sustainability and can only provide an estimate of environmental impacts. LCA helps understand which parts of the food system have the greatest impacts, and how they could become more sustainable, but it cannot determine sustainable agriculture alone. The addition of rapid farm-level multi-criteria sustainability assessment tools can complement the LCA results, help reveal ‘blind spots’, and encourage adoption by farmers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141487457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Irrigation expansion shows potential for increased maize yield and reduced nitrogen leaching in the Midwest US","authors":"Kelsie M. Ferin,&nbsp;Christopher J. Kucharik","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Yield gaps in Midwest US rainfed maize (<em>Zea mays</em> L.) are likely to continue to increase as the frequency of extreme weather events associated with future climate change increase (i.e., high temperatures, precipitation variability). One solution to closing this gap is the expansion of irrigation in regions that currently do not utilize this practice. While irrigation expansion has the potential to increase maize yields and crop productivity, there is also the potential to see improvement in nitrogen loss. However, it remains unclear at what point irrigation should be triggered (i.e., plant available water content (AWC) thresholds) to obtain a balance between crop productivity and environmental improvements.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>The objective of this study is to assess the effects of irrigation management on maize yield, nitrogen leaching, and water use efficiency under the expansion of irrigation across the entire Midwest US and to determine the optimal plant AWC threshold to trigger irrigation for achieving a substantial increase in maize yield and reduction in nitrogen leaching while using the minimal amount of required irrigation.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>We use an agroecosystem model, Agro-IBIS, to simulate both rainfed and irrigated maize production and nitrogen leaching under likely future climate conditions (i.e., wet-warm, dry-warm). To determine the optimal plant AWC threshold for irrigation, irrigation scenarios were conducted for a range of plant AWC thresholds (0.2 to 0.8) across the entire Midwest US.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>Our results show that Midwest US regions that do not currently utilize irrigation could experience an 11–37% increase in maize yield and a 12–32% decrease in nitrogen leaching when irrigation (39.0 to 96.8 mm yr⁻¹) is triggered at the lower end of the plant AWC threshold (e.g., 0.3). Maize grown under dry-warm and wet-warm climate conditions will likely experience increased yields and reduced nitrogen loss with minimal irrigation. While these findings suggest that the expansion of irrigation could help close yield gaps while improving other ecosystem services, future work should focus on simulating these conditions under a wider range of precipitation extremes and fertilizer management to better understand the potential interactions under a changing climate.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>This study outlines the optimal plant AWC threshold for irrigation to maximize maize yields in the Midwest while minimizing nitrogen loss and can provide valuable insights for making informed decisions about landscape management under future conditions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The amplified effect of market size on innovation: A comparative analysis of pea and wheat seed value chains in France","authors":"Aline Fugeray-Scarbel,&nbsp;Stéphane Lemarié","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104051","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104051","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Despite their interest for agro-ecological transition, grain legumes remain poorly cultivated in France. One reason is the low availability of seed innovations for farmers which, to a large extend, is related to the low incentives to innovate for these crops which represent a small acreage.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>In this article, we analyze the link between market size and the efforts made to create, diffuse and value innovation. We compare two value chains related to two field crops in France that mainly differ in terms of market size, namely, pea and wheat. Our analysis focuses more specifically on the seed-related innovations created in the upstream part of these value chains. In both of these cases, innovation relies on multiple complementary activities carried out by different actors, including the creation of the innovation, the production and diffusion of technical knowledge, the production and distribution of the innovation, and its valorization by downstream users.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>The two case studies on the pea and wheat sectors were conducted using a qualitative approach based on public documentation, 16 semistructured interviews with various actors in the innovation system of the two value chains and data on commercialized pea and wheat varieties.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSION</h3><p>We show that the level of investment in each of these activities is highly related to market size. This result is first explained by the fact that part (if not all) of the cost of these activities is fixed; that is, these activity costs do not depend on the diffusion of innovation. This result is also explained by the complementarity of these activities, which makes the investment in one activity less beneficial if the investment in complementary activities is low. As a consequence, the effect of market size on innovation is self-reinforcing in those cases where innovation relies on different activities managed by different actors.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>In agricultural sectors, where there is a need for innovations in both large and small markets, this result calls for an evolution of innovation funding mechanisms to attenuate the impact of market size.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X24002014/pdfft?md5=76c0536af98dbefd991d269d050fd3c9&pid=1-s2.0-S0308521X24002014-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141462828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drivers of cocoa yield and growth in young monoculture and agroforestry systems","authors":"Antonio Jesús Ariza-Salamanca ,&nbsp;Rafael Mª. Navarro-Cerrillo ,&nbsp;Jayne Crozier ,&nbsp;Clare Stirling ,&nbsp;Agnese Mancini ,&nbsp;Wilma Blaser-Hart ,&nbsp;Pablo González-Moreno","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104044","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>The expansion of cocoa farming has been linked to deforestation and biodiversity loss in West Africa. Agroforestry systems could potentially increase the sustainability of cocoa production. However, despite the long history of cocoa cultivation in agroforestry systems, the exact mechanism or the combination of factors that drive cocoa growth and yield in these agroecosystems, especially at the cocoa establishment stage, is unclear.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>The present study aims to analyse how resource availability, stand characteristics and cocoa tree morphology interact to determine the performance of cocoa during the establishment phase among different cocoa cultivation systems.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>We studied seven different agroforestry systems and one monoculture system in 53 plots located in a 12-ha cocoa agroforestry trial recently established in Côte d'Ivoire. We characterized each system with 16 variables that described five system components: 1) cocoa yield (number of pods, pods weight, number of productive trees) and cocoa growth (basal diameter), 2) cocoa tree morphology (crown depth, diameter, area, and volume), 3) stand characteristics (number and size of shade trees), 4) light (leaf area index) and 5) water (soil volumetric water content). We used a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to understand and quantify interactions between the five components.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>The models were able to largely explain cocoa early yield and juvenile growth variability (respective determination coefficients: 0.45 and 0.92). We observed improved cocoa establishment in certain designs of agroforestry systems compared with monoculture. However, SEM revealed that stand characteristics (i.e. increase in the number and height of shade trees) had a negative effect on cocoa yield and growth via changes in cocoa tree morphology, having path coefficients of −0.48 and − 0.72, respectively. Conversely, we found a positive relationship between the cocoa tree morphology and cocoa early yield, for which the path coefficient was 0.74, the strongest relation. Cocoa tree morphology was more important than stand characteristics, leaf area index, and soil volumetric water content in controlling cocoa yield and growth. Taken together, our results suggest a competition for space between shade trees and cocoa plants. Finding the optimal design of agroforestry systems can help enhance cocoa establishment in the first years, improving the long-term performance of the system.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>This finding suggests that the competition effect depends on spatial planting pattern and species composition, offering an opportunity to meet the goals of a sustainable intensification of cocoa plantations through the design and management of optimal agroforestry systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computation of soil quality index after fifteen years of long-term tillage and residue management experiment (LT&RE) under rice wheat system","authors":"Ram K. Fagodiya ,&nbsp;Gargi Sharma ,&nbsp;Kamlesh Verma ,&nbsp;Arvind Kumar Rai ,&nbsp;Kailash Prajapat ,&nbsp;Ranbir Singh ,&nbsp;Priyanka Chandra ,&nbsp;Parvender Sheoran ,&nbsp;Rajender Kumar Yadav ,&nbsp;A.K. Biswas","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104039","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Maintaining the optimal soil quality stands a fundamental determinant for sustained yield of rice-wheat system (RWS) in Indo Gangetic plains (IGP) of India. To uphold soil quality, implementing minimum/no tillage along with addition of crop residue are required.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>To evaluate the long-term (15 years) impact of tillage and residue management experiment (LT&amp;RE) initiated in 2006 on soil quality index (SQI) and to establish the quantitative relationship between the SQI and crops yield under various crop establishment practices.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>Experiment consisted of six treatment combinations including LT&amp;RE namely, (i) conventional tillage without residue (CT − R), (ii) conventional tillage with residue incorporation (CT + R), (iii) reduced tillage without residue (RT − R), (iv) reduced tillage with residue incorporation (RT + R), (v) zero tillage without residue (ZT − R), and (vi) zero tillage with residue retention (ZT + R). The SQI was used as an instrument based soil physical [bulk density (BD), soil penetration resistance (SPR) and infiltration rate (IR)], chemical [soil pH (pH_1:2), electrical conductivity (EC_1:2), soil organic carbon (OC) available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)], and biological [microbial biomass carbon (MBC), alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), and dehydrogenase activity (DHA)], properties as these are very useful indicators of soil's functions, fertility and agronomic productivity. Soil samples were collected from 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depth from each treatment after harvesting of wheat in 2021 and 2022.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>The ZT + R treatment exhibited the lowest bulk density (1.45 Mg m⁻³) and soil penetration resistance (1306.02 KPa) at surface soil, resulting in higher infiltration rates (7.80 mm h⁻¹). Adoption of LT&amp;RE led to a notable increase (15.8–25.7%) in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock across all the treatment combinations compared to CT-R. The enhanced SOC and better physical soil conditions increased microbial activities. The ZT + R treatment had the highest levels of MBC (271.63 mg kg⁻¹ soil), alkaline phosphatase (187.08 μmol p-nitrophenol g⁻¹ h⁻¹), and dehydrogenase activity (122.00 μg TPF g⁻¹ 24 h⁻¹). Despite a significant increase (3.8 and 6.9%) in wheat yield, a notable decrease in rice yield (10.5 and 16.7%) was recorded, leading to 2.9 and 6.2% yield reduction in RWS under RT and ZT treatments, respectively.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>Addressing the decline in rice yield, improved management of direct seeded rice (DSR) in RT/ZT system, or the crop diversification of long-term DSR with suitable alternative crops in rainy season under LT&amp;RE are recommended strategies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141487458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Factors influencing farmers' preference for farmland consolidation in Nepal: Evidence from randomized conjoint experiment","authors":"Roshan Pun ,&nbsp;Niraj Prakash Joshi ,&nbsp;Sirish Pun","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104038","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Increasing fragmentation of farmland remains a critical agriculture development challenge around the world, specifically in developing countries. Farmland consolidation is one of the most efficient policy instruments, extensively implemented across the world, to deal with the critical issues in agriculture sector associated with farmland fragmentation. Despite this prospect there is a vast gap in literature exploring factors influencing farmers' preference for farmland consolidation in developing countries like Nepal.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>This research aims to identify the factors influencing farmers' preference for farmland consolidation through a randomized conjoint experiment.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>For a randomized conjoint experiment, five attributes related to farmland consolidation, i.e., methods of consolidation, development of roads and irrigation, the expected increase in agricultural income, minimum area of farmland for consolidation, and provision of service, with 3–4 levels were identified through literature review, expert consultation, and pretesting. The average marginal component effects of each randomly assigned attribute's levels are estimated. Respondents' willingness to accept farmland consolidation is also assessed based on the choice led by the expected increase in agricultural income.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>Sixty-five percent of respondent farmers preferred the alternative policy to consolidate farmland over the status quo. The expected increase in income and the development of roads and irrigation through a joint effort of the government and farmers influence farmers' preference for farmland consolidation positively. In contrast, farmers' preference for farmland consolidation is negatively affected by a bigger area of farmland consolidation. The method of farmland consolidation and provision of service does not have a significant impact on farmers' preference for farmland consolidation. Respondent farmers are willing to accept a yearly increase of USD 362 per hectare to consolidate their farmland.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>This paper suggests any policy targeted for farmland consolidation to focus on ensuring the increased income for the participant farmers mainly through shared effort to develop a connection road and irrigation infrastructure contributing to efficient production practices in the consolidated farmland. The farmers would consolidate their land if their yearly farm income increased by USD 362. Since majority of Nepali farmers are smallholding farmers, they would not prefer the larger size for farmland consolidation as it involves many farmers or require high capital to procure land through buying/selling of land. These policy implications could be extended to other developing countries which are experiencing increasing farmland fragmentation and having the similar socioeconomic context.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic evaluation of agricultural research for development supports innovation and responsible scaling through high-level inclusion","authors":"John Gargani ,&nbsp;Petronella Chaminuka ,&nbsp;Robert McLean","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104032","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Innovators want to scale the impact of innovations responsibly, but the meaning of “responsible” is elusive. It entails the high-level inclusion of stakeholders, but there is no agreed-upon standard that defines a “good-enough” level.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>Our objectives are to (1) provoke a conversation about what it means to scale the impact of agricultural innovations responsibly and (2) suggest dynamic evaluation as one way to promote responsible scaling because it facilitates the leadership of the people affected.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>Over 200 projects funded by IDRC to scale the impact of research for development in the Global South were reviewed. Research products were iteratively developed with Southern innovators and Northern funders who offered structured feedback.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>The dynamic scaling systems model is one research product. It can guide the people affected as they lead a process of “conjecturing” about scaling effects in complex settings. The resulting conjectures inform the dynamic evaluation of scaling, as well as planning and management. We illustrate the application of the model with a hypothetical and real example.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>Scaling is an integral part of agricultural innovation, and dynamism is an emerging concept that informs the evaluation, planning, and management of scaling. The dynamic scaling systems model supports the high-level inclusion of the people affected in ways that respect local knowledge and the risks associated with complex settings. It helps innovators scale more responsibly, even though the precise meaning of “responsible” remains elusive.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X24001823/pdfft?md5=60a4ef1eb4eda9b1c8aa054b76834780&pid=1-s2.0-S0308521X24001823-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Water-energy-food-greenhouse gas nexus: An approach to solutions for water scarcity in agriculture of a semi-arid region","authors":"Farnaz Ershadfath ,&nbsp;Ali Shahnazari ,&nbsp;Mahmoud Raeini Sarjaz ,&nbsp;Omid Ali Moghadasi ,&nbsp;Farshad Soheilifard ,&nbsp;Soghra Andaryani ,&nbsp;Rezvan Khosravi ,&nbsp;Raheleh Ebrahimi ,&nbsp;Fatemeh Hashemi ,&nbsp;Dennis Trolle ,&nbsp;Jørgen Eivind Olesen","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104040","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Agricultural systems involve intricate interdependencies among water, energy, and food. Increasing understanding of these linkages, along with implications for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and developing new assessment approaches are critical for achieving key sustainability goals.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVES</h3><p>1) Evaluation of the impacts of tillage, irrigation and residue management practices on water and energy consumption, and GHG emission in the cultivation of irrigated wheat and rapeseed, 2) Developing a novel Water-Energy-Food-Greenhouse gas (WEFG) nexus index to provide a holistic assessment of the linkages among water, energy, food, and GHG emissions in agriculture, and 3) Assessing the sustainability of irrigated wheat and rapeseed cultivation under different methods of tillage, irrigation and residue management applying the WEFG nexus index.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>This study formulated a new WEFG nexus index applying eight indicators of water and energy consumption, CO₂-eq (CO₂ equivalent) emission, water and energy mass productivity, water, energy and CO₂-eq economic productivity to evaluate the sustainability of wheat and rapeseed cultivation under two field management practices: 1) furrow irrigation with conventional tillage (FICT), and 2) center pivot irrigation with no-tillage (CPNT), within a semi-arid region in northeastern Iran. Irrigation in both systems was done by applying a deficit irrigation approach.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>CPNT resulted on average in 46% and 53% energy consumption reductions from water and diesel usage, respectively, compared to FICT. The mean CO₂-eq emission under CPNT was 26% lower than that recorded under FICT. Furthermore, the WEFG nexus index score for wheat and rapeseed under CPNT was 0.91 and 0.73, respectively, out of 1, compared to 0.18 and 0.12 for FICT. These scores suggest that the CPNT approach is a more appropriate strategy than FICT, as it effectively reduced water and energy consumption while aligning better with long-term environmental and economic aims.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>The study applies more accurate GHG emission-based indicators to introduce a new WEFG nexus index, and it uses these for evaluation of different field management at the farm level to reduce the uncertainties in the large-scale studies. The proposed methodology for assessing multiple aspects of the WEFG nexus can change previous perceptions about agricultural management in other regions confronting multiple resources and environmental crises.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X24001902/pdfft?md5=03fd1635fe39ff969fa233319927f84e&pid=1-s2.0-S0308521X24001902-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141481279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Creating territorialized sustainability indices to evaluate pollination","authors":"Mariana Paola Mazzei ,&nbsp;José Luis Vesprini ,&nbsp;Tom David Breeze ,&nbsp;María Del Rosario Iglesias ,&nbsp;Leonardo Galetto","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104043","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><p>Identifying sustainable practices and landscape features that enhance the abundance of organisms providing ecosystem services can be challenging due to a limited understanding of the link between these practices and ecosystem functioning. One approach to assessing system complexity is to incorporate reliable indices that are markers of an essential ecosystem regulation service such as insect pollination.</p></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><p>Consolidate indicators of sustainable farming practices and landscape features into two indices that consider different spatial scales (regional and local) to categorize peri-urban farms within two gradients of territorialized environmental sustainability. These indices enable the assessment of agroecosystem sustainability for a particular ecosystem service (insect pollination), which is critical for many crops.</p></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><p>The regional-scale index utilized four indicators of composition and configuration that reflected the landscape's heterogeneity and its influence on key resources and bee movement. For these features, we used three land classes: semi-natural, farm, and extensive crops within a 3000-m radius circle from the centre of the farm. The local-scale index included eight indicators relating to the sustainability of farming practices derived from semi-structured interviews with the farmers. Additionally, we included an indicator based on the extent of semi-natural areas within a 100-m radius circle.</p></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><p>Both indices generated a synthesis to obtain two gradients (regional and local) of territorialized environmental sustainability for the farms. We validated these metrics through records of bee abundance on <em>Cucurbita maxima</em> flowers in each farm, as an indicator of the bee-pollination service. The variations of regional and local indices among and within the same farm (e.g., a high local-scale index and a low regional-scale index) emphasize the importance of considering both spatial contexts when evaluating ecosystem services. Both indices correlated with bee abundance, with the local-scale index exhibiting a positive stronger correlation than the regional (0.68 vs. 0.61 respectively). For farmers, making changes to farming practices at the local scale is more achievable than altering features at the regional scale, where government territorial planning and coordinated efforts among residents in the area are required. Consequently, enhancing a local-scale practice might be a more feasible way to increase farm sustainability.</p></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><p>The indices will enable a more straightforward comparison of sustainability among farms or within the same farm over time than analyzing each socio-environmental metric separately. Following the methodology proposed here, other indices for other essential ecosystem services in agroecosystems could be developed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141444540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}