Energy and land use in worldwide agriculture: an application of life cycle energy and cluster analysis

In this paper the author analyses agricultural land use changes in the urban shadow of the Sydney metropolitan region and clarifies their sustainability on a micro-scale using the example of Castlereagh area, Penrith City. Castlereagh area is situated around the western suburbs of Sydney city centre, and is characterised by competition between agricultural and urban land use. In this area, rural and agricultural land use has generally developed since the colonial period. Although definite changes from agricultural to urban land use are not apparent with the advancement of urbanization, some kinds of agricultural use have changed to others in terms of function and quality since the 1990s. This sustainability of agricultural land use changes based on land, climate, and historical conditions as a suitable region for agriculture, and accessibility to the urban market for agricultural products, and land use policy of city planning and land use zoning.In Castlereagh area dairy farming and sheep grazing have traditionally developed with advantageous land and climate conditions for grass production. In particular, suburban dairy farming was important for town milk production. Although there were a few trends of conversion from dairy farming to sheep grazing, because of a decreasing agricultural labour force, the framework of traditional pastoral farming still remained until the 1980s. Since the 1990s most aspects of pastoral farming have changed into horse raising, horticulture, and hobby farming with the enlargement of urban land use for residential and factory sites. Such farming has been most apparent among all kinds of land use in the 1990s.Under an environment of urban shadow, both horse raising and horticulture have developed due to their suitability for expanding urban land use and farmland subdivisions. Agricultural land use changes are supported by economic factors such as capital intensity and high profitability. On the other hand, hobby farming is less intensive and rather unprofitable, and is developed for the mental satisfaction of aged and the urban residents, rather than the advancement of urbanisation and land subdivision. Therefore, agricultural land use changes into hobby farming are supported by non-economic factors such as productive aging and mental satisfaction. On the whole, a series of agricultural land use changes are identified for their sustainability, and are supported by economic and non-economic factors. In particular, hobby farming plays an important role in holding back urban sprawl and maintaining agricultural land use.

Agriculture significantly impacts the global environment, contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air and water pollution, and biodiversity loss. As the global population grows and demands higher agricultural output, these environmental impacts are expected to intensify. Among global contributors, China, with its vast population and prominent agricultural sector, plays a leading role in GHG emissions. Understanding and mitigating these impacts in China is crucial for addressing broader global environmental challenges. To address these key issues, we conducted a study on the dynamic impact of agricultural key variables (agricultural land, fertilizer consumption, energy use for agriculture, agricultural value-added, forest land, livestock, fisheries, and crop production) on GHG emissions by utilizing the data from 1990 to 2020, and employed linear and non-linear linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL and NARDL) models. In the study, co-integration analysis confirms the long-run relationship between variables, and the long-term findings from the ARDL model reveal important insights, increased agricultural land use, fertilizer consumption, agricultural energy use, crop production, livestock production, and fishery production increases GHG emissions in China and GHG emissions can be reduced by increasing forest land in the long term. Furthermore, with the asymmetric NARDL regression applied to three key variables, the positive shock analysis results confirm that agricultural land use (AGL+), fertilizer consumption (FC+), and agricultural energy use (EUA+) can significantly contribute to long-term GHG emissions. However, adverse shocks to (AGL−), (FC−), and (EUA−) could significantly compress GHG emissions. These findings offer valuable implications for Chinese authorities’ focus on expanding forest land, using more renewable energy, and minimizing the usage of chemicals in agriculture. These measures can help to mitigate emissions while promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

A model to estimate total direct energy use in agriculture was developed for Turkey by using the data obtained from various study reports, survey results, and administrative data. The model was applied to provide the quantification of direct energy use in Turkey agriculture for the period of 2008. Direct energy use in agriculture was estimated by direct energy use in crop production, in bovine, sheep and goats production, and in poultry production. According to the model results, total direct energy use in agriculture in Turkey for 2008 is estimated as 4862 kTEP. Diesel energy use in crop production has the highest share in total direct energy use in agriculture with 84%. This is followed by electricity use for agricultural irrigation (8%), energy use in poultry production (5%), energy use in bovine and sheep and goats production (3%), and energy used for heating in greenhouse production (0.1%). Comparing total direct energy use in agriculture data of European Union (0.15 TEP ha -1 yr -1 ) with the data obtained in this study (0.12 TEP ha -1 yr -1 ), the value of Turkey was lower.

Impacts of agricultural land use changes on pesticide use in French agriculture

A top-down assessment of energy, water and land use in uranium mining, milling, and refining

A model for fossil energy use in Danish agriculture used to compare organic and conventional farming

Agricultural direct energy use is responsible for about 1–2% of global emissions and is the major emitting sector for methane (2.9 GtCO2eq y−1) and nitrous oxide (2.3 GtCO2eq y−1). In the last century, farm mechanisation has brought higher productivity levels and lower land demands at the expense of an increase in fossil energy and agrochemicals use. The expected increase in certain food and bioenergy crops and the uncertain mitigation options available for non-CO2 emissions make of vital importance the assessment of the use of energy and the related emissions attributable to this sector. The aim of this paper is to present a simulation framework able to forecast energy demand, technological diffusion, required investment and land use change of specific agricultural crops. MUSE-Ag & LU, a novel energy systems-oriented agricultural and land use model, has been used for this purpose. As case study, four main crops (maize, soybean, wheat and rice) have been modelled in mainland China. Besides conventional direct energy use, the model considers inputs such as fertiliser and labour demand. Outputs suggest that the modernisation of agricultural processes in China could have the capacity to reduce by 2050 on-farm emissions intensity from 0.024 to 0.016 GtCO2eq PJcrop−1 (−35.6%), requiring a necessary total investment of approximately 319.4 billion 2017$US.

Nitrogen, energy and land use efficiencies of miscanthus, reed canary grass and triticale as determined by the boundary line approach

Interregional trade can potentially extend the management of scarce resources beyond a region's territory along supply chains. Here we combined the multiregional input-output model with structural decomposition analysis to reveal the distant connections of agricultural land and water use as well as the drivers behind their variations in China. Our results show that trade-embodied agricultural land use increase by 2.3-fold and 2.5-fold for virtual agricultural water use flows from 2002 to 2012. The water-starved northern China with abundant agricultural land is the main exporter of virtual (also called trade-embodied) agricultural land and water. Moreover, the role of the virtual water use importers and exporters were determined by the availability of land, rather than water resources. Based on scenario analysis, we found that if agricultural water use efficiency of north China reached the world's top-level but agricultural land use efficiency remained unchanged, the virtual water flows would be reduced by 32% and only water resources, not agricultural land, would be able to sustain future economic development. Our findings may provide significant information for potential solutions to China's regional water shortage from a land-water nexus perspective.

Purpose. The aim of the article is determining the conditions of rational use of agricultural land conditions and substantiation of measures to optimize the distribution and rational use of agricultural land. Methodology of research. General scientific and special methods are used to achieve this goal: the dialectical method of scientific knowledge – to consider the essence of the rational use of land and its protection; synthesis – to clarify the relationship between the subjects of land relations; analysis – to assess the constituent elements of agricultural land; graphic – for visual display of the obtained results; abstract and logical method – for the formation of conclusions and research proposals. Findings. The state and rational use of land in the region and the state are studied. The structure of agricultural lands in Ivano-Frankivsk region and Ukraine is analysed. The main ecological and economic aspects of land tenure and land use in agriculture are described, including changes in land relations. The main reasons that caused the negative trends of rational use and protection of land in agriculture are identified. Measures have been developed for the rational use of land in the economic activity of land and its protection. Originality. Approaches to the interpretation of the concept of “rational use of land” are systematized and generalized. Measures on rational use of agricultural lands in economic activity are offered, namely: creation and realization of innovative scientific and technical programs in the field of rational use of lands and their protection; improving the regulatory framework in the field of land relations; development of a mechanism for financing programs; introduction of environmentally friendly ways of agricultural production, etc. Practical value. The expediency of studying and forming the conditions of rational use of agricultural lands is proved. The results of the study can be used by agricultural enterprises in conducting business activities. Key words: agricultural lands, rational use of lands, land protection, land tenure, land use, land fund, agricultural enterprises.

The majority of peatlands in Germany were drained for agriculture and other land use and therefore make a significant contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). In Germany, they correspond to around 7.5% of the total emissions and 44% of emissions from agriculture and agriculturally used land (UBA 2022). According to the Climate Protection Act, the LULUCF sector should have a sinking capacity of 40 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2045 (German Federal Council 2021). If the water level is raised accordingly, peatlands have enormous GHG reduction potential. A comprehensive data basis is needed for monitoring and evaluating climate protection measures on peatlands. In this context, the project “Copernicus lights green”, which focusses on satellite applications in grassland monitoring, developed satellite-based indicators with Copernicus data that are suitable for characterizing the hydrological condition of peatland areas under agricultural use. In addition to the intensity of use, reflected by mowing events, overflowing or surface water caused by waterlogging was considered as an indirect proxy for the water level of the organic soils. This contribution presents the method and results of an approach that estimates the duration and extent of waterlogged areas based on monthly composites of satellite data time series from Sentinel-1 and -2. The work builds on a random forest classifier using the Framework for Operational Radiometric Correction for Environmental monitoring (FORCE) (Frantz, 2020) that detects waterlogged areas in agricultural land on organic soils. Due to the heterogeneity of agricultural land use in Germany and its varying open ground frequency as well as the lack of availability of cloud-free images in the winter months, an approach considering a combination of two models according to the vegetation period was developed. It optimizes the selection of training data and input features in order to generate reliable information on a monthly basis. The chosen study area in Lower Saxony in Germany showed good prediction results in 2018 and 2019, whereas the resulting model predictions achieved an F1 score between 85-91% with a variability of 2-5%. This provides a methodological base for comprehensive monitoring.

Summary The notion of a (socio-) metabolic transition has been used todescribe fundamental changes in socioeconomic energy andmaterial use during industrialization. During the last century,Japandevelopedfromalargelyagrarianeconomytooneoftheworld’s leading industrial nations. It is one of the few industrialcountries that has experienced prolonged dematerializationand recently has adopted a rigorous resource policy. This arti-cle investigates changes in Japan’s metabolism during industri-alization on the basis of a material flow account for the periodfrom 1878 to 2005. It presents annual data for material ex-traction, trade, and domestic consumption by major materialgroup and explores the relations among population growth,economic development, and material (and energy) use. Dur-ing the observed period, the size of Japan’s metabolism grewby a factor of 40, and the share of mineral and fossil materialsin domestic material consumption (DMC) grew to more than90%. Much of the growth in the Japanese metabolism wasbased on imported materials and occurred in only 20 yearsafter World War II (WWII), when Japan rapidly built up largestocks of built infrastructure, developed heavy industry, andadopted patterns of mass production and consumption. Thesurge in material use came to an abrupt halt with the firstoil crisis, however. Material use stabilized, and the economyeventually began to dematerialize. Although gross domesticproduct (GDP) grew much faster than material use, improve-mentsinmaterialintensityarearelativelyrecentphenomenon.Japanemergesasarolemodelforthemetabolictransitionbutis also exceptional in many ways.www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jie

This review combines results from a large number of studies investigating energy use in EU open-field agriculture, providing an overview of energy use and its concentrations. Such a review and its findings are important as it informs stakeholders and policymakers with evidence for supporting a green energy transition in open-field agriculture. Our review indicates that annual energy use in EU open-field agriculture is at least 1431 PJ, equivalent to around 3.7% of total EU annual energy consumption, with the majority of energy sourced from non-renewable energy sources. Our meta-analysis finds that the production of fertilizer is the largest energy consuming activity in EU agriculture, accounting for around 50% of all energy inputs. On-farm diesel use accounts for 31% of total energy inputs, while the production pesticides and seeds accounts for 5% of total energy inputs. Other energy uses, mainly irrigation, storage and drying, account for 8% of total energy inputs. This suggests that energy use in EU agriculture is significantly underreported and that around 55% of total energy inputs, associated with the production of fertilizers and pesticides, come from indirect sources which can be assigned to the agricultural sector but is used prior to reaching farms. The importance and potential of various fossil-energy-free technologies and strategies are discussed. In addition, this review highlights that in the medium and long term there is need for the development and application of detailed and standardized methodologies for energy use analysis of agricultural systems, as well as for meta-analyses investigating energy use in agriculture.

This paper analyses the relationship between Nitrous Oxide emissions, agricultural land use, and economic growth in Pakistan. Agriculture largely contributes to Nitrous Oxide emissions. Hence, models of agriculture induced Nitrous Oxide emissions are estimated in addition to models of total Nitrous Oxide emissions. Estimated models accommodate more flexible forms of relationship between economic growth and emissions than those of the widely adopted models in testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve. The Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to co-integration and the vector error correction model approach is applied to test the Environmental Kuznets’s Curve hypothesis for Pakistan and to detect the directions of causality among variables using the time series data for the period 1971 to 2012. Results indicate that an N-shaped rather than an inverted U-shaped relationship exists in the case of Pakistan. The tipping values for total Nitrous Oxide emissions and agriculturally induced Nitrous Oxide emissions indicate that Pakistan passes through a phase of increasing environmental degradation. Increases in agricultural land use and per capita energy use will increase the level of Nitrous Oxide emissions. However, controlling Nitrous Oxide emissions from agricultural land use and per capita, energy use without adversely affecting economic development will be a serious policy challenge for Pakistan.

Environmental assessment of enzyme use in industrial production – a literature review