Agricultural Systems最新文献

{"title":"Silicon Savannah and smallholder farming: How can digitalization contribute to sustainable agricultural transformation in Africa?","authors":"Evelyne Njuguna ,&nbsp;Thomas Daum ,&nbsp;Regina Birner ,&nbsp;John Mburu","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104180","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104180","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>The development of smallholder agriculture in Africa faces numerous challenges. While digitalization is seen as a transformative opportunity for the continent's agricultural sector, there is limited empirical evidence on the effectiveness and impact of digital tools for smallholder farmers. This study examines the landscape of digital agriculture in Kenya, often called Africa's <em>“Silicon Savannah,”</em> to assess the current state and potential of these tools.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>The study seeks to answer two key questions:</div><div>1. To what extent can digital solutions for agriculture in Africa leverage the latest technological developments?</div><div>2. To what extent can these digital solutions effectively address the challenges faced by smallholder farmers?</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We developed a novel classification framework to categorize digital agricultural tools based on their physical attributes and analytical capabilities. A comprehensive stocktaking approach mapped digital tools across Kenya's agricultural value chains. Additionally, a literature review explored potential impact pathways through which digital tools can transform African agriculture, drawing on existing studies related to Kenya.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The findings reveal that the number of digital tools available to smallholder farmers has tripled over the past decade, with a peak in new digital start-ups in 2016, followed by a slowdown. There is a shift from <em>“generic”</em> tools—focused on low-cost information exchange—toward <em>“farm-specific”</em> tools, offering tailored advisory services based on manual data input or sensor-generated data. Generic tools remain limited to information sharing, while farm-specific tools are increasingly using diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive capabilities, supported by satellite imagery and sensors.</div><div>The analysis indicates digital tools can enhance farmers' knowledge and access to inputs, services, and markets, boosting productivity and income. However, there is limited evidence on their effects on food security, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience. Due to the heterogeneity of tools and evaluation methods, there is a lack of quantifiable, attributable evidence on their full impact.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This review highlights the crucial role of digital tools in overcoming agricultural challenges in Africa. By assessing these tools' capabilities, the study identifies significant advancements in sensor technologies and data analytics for smallholder farming. The findings underscore areas of high impact and untapped potential, calling for further research on their long-term effects on agricultural outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104180"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142653369","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":"Capturing the effects of flower strips on natural pest control in agronomic land use models","authors":"Christian Sponagel ,&nbsp;Ana Klinnert ,&nbsp;Rui Catarino ,&nbsp;Caetano Luiz Beber ,&nbsp;Edoardo Baldoni ,&nbsp;Ana-Luisa Barbosa ,&nbsp;Felix Witte ,&nbsp;Enno Bahrs ,&nbsp;Thomas Fellmann","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104176","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104176","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Given policy objectives for pesticide reduction, functional biodiversity is increasingly important for agricultural production. However, economic land use optimisation models rarely account for the interplay between agricultural production and functional biodiversity, like natural pest control (NPC).</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>We present and discuss an approach to consider feedback effects between NPC and agricultural production in a geodata-based farm economic land use model.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The geodata-based land use model PALUD was extended to incorporate interactions between NPC and crop yields. This included linking a generic NPC model, based on semi-natural habitats, with an econometric approach to estimate yield gaps as a function of NPC potential. As a case study, the model was then applied to the German state Brandenburg, using permanent flower strips as example to promote NPC. Here, we analysed the impacts of enhancing NPC potential on food production and gross margins from arable land use.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>Our analysis revealed that a higher level of NPC through flower strips improved gross margins. by up to 6.4 % and crop production by up to 1.2 % within a pesticide-free environment in Brandenburg. Despite inherent limitations and uncertainties of the approach, our study provides a pivotal advancement in integrating NPC into economic land use models. Future refinements incorporating more detailed knowledge on context-specific interactions between crops, pests and predators will improve model robustness. Our approach and case study results provide valuable insights for policy-making on tailored sustainable landscape development and serve as a foundation for future modelling efforts.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>To our knowledge the interaction between NPC and crop yields has not yet been integrated into any geospatially based economic land use model before. Incorparating these interactions is vital for guiding policies towards sustainable agricultural systems. In this respect it is important to develop and discuss further methodological approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104176"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142653218","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":"Integrated crop-livestock farms have higher topsoil nitrogen and carbon than crop-only farms in Chilean Mediterranean climate volcanic soils","authors":"Leah L.R. Renwick ,&nbsp;Ayleen Celedón ,&nbsp;Francisco Nájera ,&nbsp;Juan-Pablo Fuentes Espoz ,&nbsp;Daniela Celedón ,&nbsp;Claudia Arellano ,&nbsp;Osvaldo Salazar","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104172","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104172","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Crop-livestock reintegration could reduce the environmental footprint of decoupled crop and livestock production related to biogeochemical cycles. Previous experiments showed that replacing fallow periods in annual crop rotations with grazed cover crops increases total nitrogen (N) and organic carbon (SOC), based on topsoil sampling and stocks compared by equivalent soil depth. Stock comparisons based on topsoil sampling or equivalent soil depth, rather than whole-profile sampling or equivalent soil mass, can erroneously report stock gains that have not occurred. Evidence of crop-livestock integration effects on commercial farms is needed.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study assessed on-farm if winter grass forages and beef cattle grazing in annual crop rotations lead to greater soil total N and SOC to a soil depth of 1 m.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We sampled soil at eight paired commercial fields, four integrated crop-livestock (ICL) fields with grazed or ungrazed winter forage (annual ryegrass, oat) in the crop rotation (cereals, grain legumes, industrial crops), and four neighboring fields with winter fallow in the rotation, in volcanic soils in Ñuble Region, central-southern Chile, in fall 2022 and 2023. In each field, 10 soil cores were sampled from a 1 ha plot and separated into four depth layers (0–15 cm, 15–30 cm, 30–60 cm, and 60–100 cm). We quantified soil total N and SOC concentrations and stocks, on an equivalent soil mass basis, and soil texture throughout the soil profile.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>ICL sites had 10 % higher total N (+0.05 % N) and 8 % higher SOC concentrations (+0.5 % SOC) compared to paired non-ICL sites in the top 15 cm soil layer. The topsoil layer at ICL sites had 11 % higher N (+0.37 Mg N ha⁻¹) and 9 % higher SOC (+3.9 Mg SOC ha⁻¹) stocks, based on an equivalent soil mass. Cumulative stocks below 15 cm to a depth of 1 m were similar between ICL and non-ICL sites. Across the 1 m soil profile, 52 % and 53 % of N and SOC stocks were below 30 cm depth.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>We provided on-farm evidence suggesting that integrating non-leguminous winter forages and grazing into annual crop rotations can retain N and store SOC in topsoil, with relevance to land managers and decision-makers who seek to build soil fertility and health through biodiversity and reduce N fertilizer use, though further research is recommended. Sampling soil to at least 60 cm depth can help capture management effects on N and SOC and quantify deeper N retention and SOC storage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104172"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142653150","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":"Production viability index for annual agricultural crops","authors":"Fernanda Laurinda Valadares Ferreira ,&nbsp;Lineu Neiva Rodrigues","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104173","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104173","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>In the face of intensifying challenges for sustainable food production, well-planned agricultural development is crucial to mitigate climate impacts and manage blue water demands. Tools and methodologies that support public policy for sustainable regional growth are essential, especially in regions lacking hydroclimatic data, which complicates the use of simulation models for efficient water management. An effective tool should identify areas most suitable for rainfed and irrigated agriculture, optimizing planting dates, crop types, and rotations.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>To develop an index to assess the most suitable areas, inside regions, for developing rainfed and irrigated annual crops.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>The proposed Production Viability Index (PVI) combines ISDIA (Irrigated Agriculture Suitability Indicator) and ISDRA (Rainfed Agriculture Suitability Indicator) to represent suitability for irrigated and rainfed agriculture. Each indicator comprises five sub-indicators reflecting plant characteristics, soil, climate, and water availability in crop production. A Python routine was developed to calculate the PVI, which was then used to assess soybean production suitability across 204 million hectares in Brazil's Cerrado (Brazilian savannah), the country's second-largest biome. Three planting dates (September 15, October 15, and November 15) were simulated, evaluating the Cerrado's suitability and identifying the best planting date per area.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The PVI for Annual Crops proves to be a valuable tool for agricultural planning, enabling the identification of areas with varying suitability for sustainable agricultural development. Based on factors such as climate, soil, plant characteristics, and water availability, the PVI is not intended to determine if a crop can be produced in a specific area but rather to identify locations with greater cultivation potential across different periods and crop types. Results highlight suitability variations throughout the months, underscoring the need for dynamic planning that accounts for seasonality and regional characteristics. Consequently, the PVI significantly supports managers and agricultural planners in developing adaptive strategies, maximizing agricultural productivity and resilience across diverse agro-ecological contexts.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This work's primary contribution is the development of an index to classify areas within regions based on rainfed and irrigated agriculture potential, relying on basic, accessible data sets for soil, climate, water, and plant information. These findings aid planners in identifying the most suitable areas for sustainable agricultural expansion, enhancing annual crop production while mitigating water use conflicts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104173"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142653217","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":"Agronomic and economic effects of wetlands on crop yields using precision agriculture data","authors":"Liam Boldt ,&nbsp;Patrick Lloyd-Smith ,&nbsp;Ken Belcher ,&nbsp;John Pattison-Williams ,&nbsp;Gary Bergen ,&nbsp;Katelyn Blechinger ,&nbsp;Ian Paulson","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104169","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104169","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Wetland drainage has become an increasingly important conservation issue in the Prairie Pothole region of North America. Financial incentives for annual crop production have driven wetland drainage for decades, and the removal of wetlands has detrimentally impacted key wetland ecosystem services such as wildlife habitat and carbon sequestration. Past studies which model the farmer's decision to drain wetlands often operate on the assumption that drained wetlands will produce similar yields to upland regions of the field.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>Our objective is to estimate the effects of wetlands and their buffer zones on crop yields, farm financial performance, and incentives for wetland drainage in the Prairie Pothole Region.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We combine precision yield data and detailed wetland mapping data from 36 fields in the Black and Dark Brown soil zones of Saskatchewan, Canada to estimate the agronomic impacts of wetlands and their buffer areas on crop yields. Then, we incorporate these yield effects into a farm accounting model with three wetland drainage scenarios to estimate the annual per cultivated acre net benefits of wetland drainage in the study area, and compare these results to those estimated without wetland yield effects.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS</h3><div>We find that yields in wetland basins are relatively lower than the field's average yield, with substantial variability with respect to crop type, soil zone, and annual precipitation. Wetland drainage can mitigate these yield effects, but yields in drained wetland basins still fail to meet the field average yield. These yield effects can extend more than 50 m beyond the wetland boundary. We find that these effects substantially impact the net benefits of wetland drainage. The returns from wetland drainage increase when yield effects are considered. On average, full wetland drainage within the study area increases net benefits by $17 to $33 per cultivated acre relative to full wetland restoration.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>The results demonstrate the importance of considering wetland and buffer zone yield effects in wetland drainage decisions, improve our understanding of wetland costs, and potentially inform policy development and the design of incentives for wetland conservation in agricultural landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104169"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142593538","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":"Improved manure management moves trade-off and synergy relationships among environmental indicators in desirable directions","authors":"Qingbo Qu ,&nbsp;Jeroen C.J. Groot ,&nbsp;Keqiang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104170","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104170","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Dairy production systems with a high stocking density are strongly dependent on external feed resources and concentrate nutrients in manure on a small surface area, thus causing environmental challenges. Both improved manure management and integration of crop-dairy production have been proposed as ways to reduce nutrient losses and improve sustainability of intensive dairy production. However, the potential interactive relationships between these two options are rarely investigated.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>This study aimed to investigate how different manure management technologies influence nutrient losses at manure management and farm levels and how manure management impacts farm multi-objective optimization results for more integrated crop-dairy production.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>A whole farm model (FarmDESIGN) extended with a manure management module (FarmM3) was used to simulate an intensive mixed crop-dairy farm with a herd of 66 cows and 9.6 ha of crop area. The optimization aimed to improve farm environmental performance, increase feed self-sufficiency and food production.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The results showed that individual manure management technologies were insufficient to reduce nitrogen (N) losses from manure management chains due to compensatory losses, whereas combinations of slurry solid-liquid separation, covered storage of solid and liquid fractions, and improved manure application could remarkably reduce N losses by 46 to 58 % and increase manure N use efficiencies by more than 30 %. Improved manure management did not influence total N losses at farm level without decreasing livestock density. Multi-objective optimization showed that improved manure management did not eliminate trade-offs or synergies among objectives but did affect the positions and the slopes of the solution frontiers between objectives. Differences between solution frontiers of alternative farm configurations in terms of N volatilization, soil N losses and soil organic matter (OM) balance indicated that manure management chains (MMCs) could be designed effectively to optimize these objectives.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This study confirmed the value of improved manure management and integrated crop-dairy production in reducing N losses and improving farm nutrient use efficiency. For intensive dairy farms with limited land availability, future studies should focus on recoupling crop and dairy production at regional scales to create more sustainable and resilient food production systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104170"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142593537","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":"Integrating agricultural land suitability and farmers' perception on crop selection in a water-stressed region of eastern India","authors":"Md Hasanur Jaman ,&nbsp;Subha Roy ,&nbsp;Jaya Chatterjee ,&nbsp;Souvik Das ,&nbsp;Prakash Mistri ,&nbsp;Somasis Sengupta","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>The choice of crops for cultivation should be ideally based on the appropriateness of a specific parcel of land for a particular crop. This is a multi-criteria problem associated with a host of natural conditioning variables including topography, climate and pedology. However, in a country like India, where agriculture is often traditional and subsistence-based, the farmers' choice of crop selection is usually influenced by numerous factors and therefore, may not be explained solely by the spatial variation in the agricultural land suitability.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>This study is an attempt to understand the intricacies involved in the farmers' selection of crops by integrating the dual aspects of agricultural land suitability and the farmers' understanding of the land. The Kumari River Basin in eastern India has been selected for this study. This area is characterized by acute scarcity of water.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>The basic methodology involved extracting systematic information on conditional factors such as topography, climate and soil. After normalizing different parameters by the Fuzzy Membership Function, a reiterative Principal Component Analysis modified Analytical Hierarchy Process was applied to these conditional rasters to derive an index of agricultural land suitability of the studied basin. Furthermore, the crop-specific suitability of paddy and maize was also considered by employing the Boolean Logic.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>It is observed that the lower domain of the Kumari Basin is characterized by greater land suitability as compared to the upper and middle domains and the most important factors behind this distribution include slope, potential evapotranspiration and soil fertility. Crop-specific land suitability suggests that, by and large, the suitability of maize is greater than that of paddy in the basin, except for the lower domain where paddy is more suitable to cultivate. However, a study of the perception of the local farmers reveals that although they are aware of this fact, they prefer paddy over maize and are more inclined towards cultivating paddy. The chief reasons cited by them include the high demand for paddy in the area and the absence of a Minimum Support Price for maize.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This study is possibly an instance where the agricultural land suitability analysis has been substantiated by a field-based perception survey of the farmers which is expected to help in understanding the complexities of crop selection in this part of India.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104171"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573264","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":"Translating Ethiopian potato seed networks: Identifying strategic intervention points for managing bacterial wilt and other diseases","authors":"Berea A. Etherton ,&nbsp;Aaron I. Plex Sulá ,&nbsp;Romaric A. Mouafo-Tchinda ,&nbsp;Rogers Kakuhenzire ,&nbsp;Haileab A. Kassaye ,&nbsp;Frezer Asfaw ,&nbsp;Vasilios S. Kosmakos ,&nbsp;Richard W. McCoy ,&nbsp;Yanru Xing ,&nbsp;Jiahe Yao ,&nbsp;Kalpana Sharma ,&nbsp;Karen A. Garrett","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104167","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104167","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Informal seed trade can exacerbate crop disease epidemics. Potato production across Ethiopia is threatened by the spread of seedborne pests and pathogens, particularly by bacterial wilt, caused by the <em>Ralstonia solanacearum</em> species complex (RSSC). The RSSC is commonly dispersed through informal trade of seed potato, with the potential to move long distances across Ethiopia and among trading countries. Efficient disease testing programs and formal seed systems can reduce the risk of disease expansion in national potato cropping systems.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVES</h3><div>We characterized networks of potato value chain actors. We also identified candidate locations for disease surveillance and management interventions for improved seed systems, and locations at high risk for bacterial wilt establishment. We propose strategies to reduce the spread of bacterial wilt via infected seed.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We analyzed seed potato stakeholders' perceptions, characterizing interaction networks of potato value chain actors, focusing on stakeholders engaged in seed potato quality assurance. We collected data regarding Ethiopia's potato seed systems using expert knowledge elicitation and analyzed the risk of national spread of the RSSC and other pathogens. Network metrics were used to characterize the informal seed system in Ethiopia, along with simulations of pathogen spread across an epidemic network in social-ecological scenario analyses. We characterized potato exports and imports, evaluating the risk of pathogen movement through Ethiopia's trading partners and neighboring countries where bacterial wilt has not yet been reported.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS</h3><div>Ware potato farmers and traders were reported to have weak communication with other stakeholders in the potato value chain. In network analyses and simulated epidemics, locations in Agew Awi, Gamo, Gofa, Kembata and Tembaro zones were identified as candidate priorities for national surveillance of pathogen invasion and important for management interventions and formal seed system development. Ethiopia has potato commodity trade with countries where bacterial wilt has not been reported, and Ethiopia may be at risk of reintroduction of the RSSC from countries where it is present.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>Improving seed systems to manage the RSSC and other seedborne pathogens is important for supporting food security and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. This analysis provides a baseline for prioritization for implementing surveillance systems and management programs targeting the locations identified, which can be built on as more data and model components become available. Improving communication between ware potato traders and other stakeholders can also help to strengthen informal trade of seed potato and mitigate pathogen spread in infected seed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104167"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573265","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":"Advancing quantification of Australia's beef cattle and sheep emissions accounts - Carbon sinks and emissions hot spots battle it out en route to net zero","authors":"Dominique Bowen Butchart ,&nbsp;Karen Michelle Christie-Whitehead ,&nbsp;Geoff Roberts ,&nbsp;Rowan Eisner ,&nbsp;Hayden Reinke ,&nbsp;Sineka Munidasa ,&nbsp;Ainslie Macdonald ,&nbsp;Vaughan Higgins ,&nbsp;Natalie Doran-Browne ,&nbsp;Matthew Tom Harrison","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104168","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104168","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Rapid decarbonisation is required to mitigate climate change. An overdependence on land-based carbon capture threatens food production, indigenous and local rights, biodiversity, and climate overshoot. Accurate emissions estimates are important for tracking progress towards net zero goals and efficiently determining land requirements to balance un-avoided emissions.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>Here we examine spatiotemporal greenhouse gas profiles of Australia's national beef cattle and sheep production including the primary categories allocated by the Australian red meat industry. We assess performance at finer regional disaggregation and incorporate spatially referenced forest carbon cycling. The capacity of National Greenhouse Inventory estimates to represent mitigation progress is explored, and limitations of land-based offset pathways are discussed.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We combine emission accounting methods with biophysical models to quantify spatially explicit trends in emissions accounts. Annual estimates are produced from 2011 to 2020 across 46 regions representing &gt;99.5 % of Australia's beef cattle and sheep production.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>We reveal net emissions have reduced from 158 Mt. CO₂-e in 2011 to 50 Mt. CO₂-e in 2020. Reductions are associated with declining forest loss whereas other direct sources such as enteric methane are relatively stable and reflect animal numbers rather than practice change. Our results highlight the power of regionally disaggregated emissions assessments by novelly revealing 12 grazing regions have surpassed net zero accounts in 2020. The scale of forest emission flux suggests strategic forest source-sink shifts have the potential to offset interim beef cattle and sheep emissions. However, access to forest offsets are likely to become competitive and the extent to which net zero objectives can draw on afforestation pathways will be limited by social, environmental and economic constraints. Medium to long-term achievement and maintenance of net zero emission profiles will require progress to be made in reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions. Our spatially explicit methods and investigation of National Greenhouse Inventory inputs indicate greater accuracy in industry estimates may be achieved. We recommend direct emission avoidance pathways including halted deforestation and enteric methane avoidance are prioritised rather than relying on offsets to balance accounts.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>Our assessment informs the beef cattle and sheep industries and relevant government organisations of method advancement opportunities to improve the accuracy of national emission estimates, track progress towards net zero commitments and promote efficiency in land-based carbon capture and storage requirements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104168"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573262","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":"Combining constraint programming and a participatory approach to design agroecological cropping systems","authors":"Margot Challand ,&nbsp;Philippe Vismara ,&nbsp;Stephane de Tourdonnet","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Agroecology implementation around the world have shown that increasing the complexity of the agroecosystem leads to increased resilience, lower dependence on synthetic inputs, the provision of ecosystem services and improved performance. However, designing diversified agroecosystems is particularly complex because of the diverse factors to take into account for each specific local context and the range of possible spatiotemporal crop combinations.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Here we propose an iterative agroecological design approach combining artificial intelligence with constraint programming and co-design workshops with farmers to explore and optimize spatiotemporal cropping arrangements in diversified cropping systems.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Our iterative approach comprises a three-step loop for designing new cropping systems: 1) identifying problem data and spatiotemporal constraints; 2) applying a flexible constraint programming model, and refining/removing constraints iteratively with farmers' input until a solution is found; and 3) evaluating solutions through model assessment and workshops with farmers, leading to the design of a new scenario if necessary (repeating step 2). We applied our approach to a case study involving diversified mixed fruit tree–vegetable cropping systems in southern France, whereby farmers were involved in co-design workshops with an agronomist.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>The constraint programming model simulated most important farmers' constraints while adapting to the input of new information during the design process. The workshops facilitated knowledge elicitation, with progressive questioning of farming practices, while fostering a learning process through farmer-agronomist discussions. Meanwhile, the scope of the problem was iteratively outlined during the process, driven by the need to seek trade-offs between all of the constraints, and informed by model feedback. This approach allowed farmers to explore and assess disruptive scenarios, in turn facilitating informed decisions that jointly addressed agroecological and operational objectives on their farms.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The framework presented and illustrated in this study provides a basis for exploring and optimizing spatiotemporal cropping arrangements in diversified cropping systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 104154"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573263","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}