Evaluating the sustainable intensification of cultivated land use based on emergy analysis

Abstract

Sustainable intensification provides a new research paradigm for coordinating the trade-offs between food demand and resource and environmental constraints. The sustainable intensification of cultivated land use can be seen as the material and energy processes required to sustain the land output functions and land use activities. In the present study, we used emergy analysis to describe the input-output flow of Ruijin's cultivated land use processes to assess its level of sustainable intensification. In terms of input and output, the net loss of topsoil through cultivated land use is 1.75 times the resilience of the cultivated land system, which places tremendous pressure on cultivated land protection. In 2017, compared to 2010, the output emergy of agricultural products decreased by 16.52%, and the emergy of waste emissions increased by 4.24%. The continuous increase in agricultural waste discharge requires agricultural managers to improve the input of production factors through soil testing and formula fertilization and to optimize their planting structure to adjust the intensity of cultivated land use. The government's ecological protection requirements can alleviate environmental pressure and waste discharge, and land managers can sustainably intensify cultivated land use by carefully planning the spatial layout of agricultural production.