Agricultural Priorities Research Articles

Sustainability implications of Rwanda’s Vision 2050 long-term development strategy

Improving livelihoods in Rwanda requires overcoming food insecurity and malnutrition. Vision 2050 is Rwanda’s long-term development strategy, yet little is known about its potential trade-offs for the country’s biodiversity, forest cover, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scenario analysis can provide insights into how to achieve such goals more sustainably. Here, we use the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Calculator, a simple integrated assessment tool, to explore potential sustainability implications by 2050 through two scenarios: (1) Current Trends and (2) Vision 2050. The Vision 2050 pathway incorporates components of the government’s long-term development strategy and associated national agricultural policy targets. It includes greater increases in crop productivity and decreases in post-harvest losses, and shifts to more sustainable diets, compared to the Current Trends pathway. Results show that the Vision 2050 pathway would, relative to Current Trends, lead to a greater decrease in agricultural land area and an increase in non-forested natural land-cover area, with consequent decreases in GHG emissions from agriculture, increases in carbon sequestration, and increases in the share of land that can support biodiversity conservation. Shifts to a healthier diet in the Vision 2050 pathway would only be compatible with national agricultural priorities if these diets favor consumption of foods that underpin sustainable livelihoods in Rwanda, such as beans, cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, banana, and corn. We discuss the potential for integrated land-use planning and adoption of agroecological farming practices to help Rwanda achieve food security, livelihood, biodiversity, and climate mitigation goals in tandem.

Architecture design of cucurbit crops for enhanced productivity by a natural allele.

Increasing production efficiency is a top priority in agriculture. Optimal plant architecture is the biological basis of dense planting, high crop yield and labour cost savings, and is thus critical for improving agricultural productivity. In cucurbit crops, most species have elongated internodes, but the path to architecture improvement is still not clear. Here we identified a pumpkin accession with a dominant bushy trait, and found that the associated Bush locus harbours a cucurbit-conserved cis-regulatory element in the 5' untranslated region of a transcription factor gene YABBY1. In cucurbit crops, various B-region deletions enhance the translation of YABBY1, with consequent proportional suppression of stem length in a dose-dependent manner. Depending on different cultivation patterns, the precise deployment of these alleles has significant effects on yield improvement or labour cost saving. Our findings demonstrate that the engineering of the YABBY1 B-region is an efficient strategy to customize plant architecture in cucurbit crops.

Soft adaptation: The role of social capital in building resilient agricultural landscapes

The resilience of agricultural production is perpetually challenged by a wide range of disturbances from the impacts of climate change, to political instability and urbanization. At the same time, agriculture production also depends on relatively stable socio-ecological conditions to ensure quality and yield. Understanding how producers in agricultural landscapes can increase adaptive capacity, and remain resilient in the face of these challenges has become a priority for farmers, for researchers and national political agendas on a global scale. The current state of knowledge on adaptation tends to focus overwhelmingly on “hard” adaptation, such as infrastructure and technological inputs, rather than “softer” strategies, such as agroecological management or social capital, which are less easily measured. This research aims to explore soft strategies for adaptive capacity, in particular, the effect of social capital on the adaptive capacity of agricultural systems, using a case study of the agricultural landscape in the Okanagan Bioregion. The findings suggest that soft adaptation is a vital strategy for cultivating agricultural resilience, and underpins the ability of producers to use other soft and hard adaptation strategies. Participants in this research highlighted the importance of social connection, networks, reciprocity, learning and knowledge transferral, as key tools used to increase their adaptive capacity. They also highlight social capital as a building block for other forms of capital, such as financial, physical and environmental capitals. Despite this importance of soft adaptation, participants also indicated that they would be more likely to focus on implementing “harder” strategies that respond more directly and tangibly to key disturbances, rather than “soft” strategies. These results suggest a contradiction between the importance and value that producers place on social capital and “soft” adaptation, and the strategies they actually plan to implement. Further research is required to understand this contradiction, and to explore how to communicate the value of “soft” adaptation to producers in a way that makes the benefits more concrete and observable, and allows them to capitalize on the currency of connection.

Winter Wheat Yield Prediction Using an LSTM Model from MODIS LAI Products

Yield estimation using remote sensing data is a research priority in modern agriculture. The rapid and accurate estimation of winter wheat yields over large areas is an important prerequisite for food security policy formulation and implementation. In most county-level yield estimation processes, multiple input data are used for yield prediction as much as possible, however, in some regions, data are more difficult to obtain, so we used the single-leaf area index (LAI) as input data for the model for yield prediction. In this study, the effects of different time steps as well as the LAI time series on the estimation results were analyzed for the properties of long short-term memory (LSTM), and multiple machine learning methods were compared with yield estimation models constructed by the LSTM networks. The results show that the accuracy of the yield estimation results using LSTM did not show an increasing trend with the increasing step size and data volume, while the yield estimation results of the LSTM were generally better than those of conventional machine learning methods, with the best R2 and RMSE results of 0.87 and 522.3 kg/ha, respectively, in the comparison between predicted and actual yields. Although the use of LAI as a single input factor may cause yield uncertainty in some extreme years, it is a reliable and promising method for improving the yield estimation, which has important implications for crop yield forecasting, agricultural disaster monitoring, food trade policy, and food security early warning.

Spatially optimized cropland distribution promotes sustainable farming and vegetation restoration in mountainous regions

AbstractChina's Grain‐for‐Green Program (GFGP) motivates conversion from steep slope cropland to forest or grassland to reverse serious land degradation. However, impoverished farmers potentially persist with inefficient slope farming for survival, thereby threatening the sustainable GFGP efforts. Consequently, a strategy for balancing farming and vegetation restoration from a spatial optimization perspective is necessary. Here, we selected two catchments with high and low agricultural intensity in the loess hilly and gully regions for a case study. Spatial analysis and binary logistic regression models were used to clarify the effects of topography, accessibility, and location factors on cropland distribution and explore spatially optimized cropland distribution. The results show that steep slope cropland is still widespread, of which cropland with slopes >15° accounts for 46.7% and 34.7% in the two catchments, respectively. Residences and roads significantly impact steep slope cropland distribution, and around 80% of cropland with slopes >15° is distributed within 200 m from residences or 100 m from roads. In cropland redistribution scenarios, cropland with slopes >25° and >15° can be redistributed to gentler slopes while maintaining cropland areas in catchments with high and low agricultural intensity. Correspondingly, 38.8% and 81.2%, respectively, of simulated cropland on gentle slopes needs optimized attributes such as accessibility in order to be priorities of farmers. Our research provides new insights into GFGP strategies for steep slope cropland restoration in catchments with different agricultural intensities, thereby advancing sustainable farming and vegetation restoration in China's mountainous regions.

Agronomic Improvements, Not Climate, Underpin Recent Rice Yield Gains in Changing Environments

Food security depends not only on the extent of climate change but also on the compensatory potentials of agronomic improvements. However, the separate contribution of these agronomic factors to rice yield remains largely unknown. Here we distinguished the impacts and relative contributions on rice yield based on statistical models and machine learning by using an observation database collected from 52 agro-meteorological stations in China from 1981 to 2018. Agronomic improvements are responsible for more than 40% of the observed rice yield change, ranging from 42.9% to 96.5% in different cropping types, and the effect increased with the latitude. Among the management considered, sowing date adjustment contributes most to late and early rice yield. Response of rice yield to nighttime temperature was stronger than that to daytime temperature, and wind speed is the main climatic contributing factor to early rice yield. The effects of wind speed on rice yield should be considered for the adaptation measures. This observation-based evidence may help guide agricultural priorities in mitigating the impact of climate change on rice yield.

Utilization of Mustard Seed Meal Extract for Improving Soil Health in a Small-Scale Organic Potato Cropping System

ABSTRACT Maintaining and improving soil health is one of the top priorities in organic agriculture to ensure crop production sustainability. Mustard seed meal extracts are promising organic soil amendments that can reduce pesticide pressure and improve crop yields. In this study, we investigated the potential of mustard seed meal extract developed in our laboratory, to improve soil health in organic potato systems. Field trials were conducted on two certified organic farms in Northern Idaho to 1) assess the changes in soil chemical indicators after mustard seed meal extract application; 2) evaluate the effect of mustard seed meal extract on microbial biomass carbon; and 3) measure plant-available nutrients levels in soil after mustard seed meal extract application. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report studying the effect of mustard seed meal extract on soil quality in organic potato systems. Out of 27 soil chemical and biological indicators measured, 19 indicators were sensitive to the addition of mustard seed meal extract. The data obtained for organic and inorganic soil constituents indicate a positive impact of mustard seed meal extract on soil quality. Addition of mustard seed meal extract to soil increases Haney soil health score up to 1.5 times demonstrating the benefit of application for improving soil quality in organic production.

Geological and Mining Constraints on Historical Mine Production: The Case of Early Medieval Lead-Silver Mining at Melle, France

Early Medieval silver production for the Melle Pb-Ag deposit in western France has been estimated up to 15 tonnes per year over hundreds of years (Téreygeol, 2013) which would place it amongst the top silver mines of all times prior to the New World discoveries. However, this deposit has geological and mining characteristics economically unsuitable for substantial production, because it is thin, sub-horizontal and comprised of discontinuous pods. Furthermore, it is a Mississippi Valley type (MVT) base metal deposit, which are typically not major silver producers. There is no geological evidence for primary or secondary enrichment to generate silver-rich ore. Inaddition, the fact that Melle remained unmined in all later historical periods is enigmatic compared to the almost ubiquitous reworking of significant ore deposits elsewhere.In this paper, I discuss the geological characteristics, mining parameters, documented historical mining rates and workforce considerations, all of which can be used to constrain production estimates for Melle. The largest uncertainty for production estimates is the workforce size, which reflects scarce information about Carolingian Melle and its surroundings. A model employing realistic mining parameters and a workforce appropriate for a small mining village (100 miners/fire-setters, within a workforce of 250-300, from a settlement of at least 400-500) yields 52 tonnes of lead metal and 150 kg of silver per year. Doubling the workforce would double this estimate. Conversely, it could be half or less if mining was a seasonal activity between agricultural priorities such as harvesting and seeding.The previously claimed production rates require improbable mining assumptions together with at least 500 dedicated full-time miners and a population in the thousands. Furthermore, it would yield per capita silver productivity more than four times higher than in well-documented Early Modern operations that were leading silver deposits of their time. This seems unlikely. However, even at the much lower production levels, favoured here, Melle still might have been a major factor in the Carolingian economy, with its lead production perhaps as important as its silver.

Market of milk and dairy products in Almaty region of Kazakhstan

The goal is to reveal the problems of development of livestock industry in Kazakhstan, which is given great attention as the most important area of State agricultural policy and a priority in agriculture. The need to monitor milk and dairy products market is justified by its social significance, employment, income of the population and food security of the country. The authors note that the dairy subcomplex has its own characteristics, specifics of production and distribution, conditions for achieving quality and competitiveness, taking into account the influence of external factors. In this regard, the study is devoted to development of recommendations for further improvement of domestic dairy farming sub-sector. Methods – general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization of the collected information. Results – dairy market was analyzed in terms of indicators: average per capita consumption of milk and dairy products in the Republic of Kazakhstan, imports and exports over the past 5 years. The main reasons hindering the increase in the volume of final products and low productivity of animals: low share of breeding stock in agri-businesses and private farms, lack of high-quality feed, noncompliance with livestock keeping technologies, high level of equipment wear and tear, lack of effective links between commodity producers of raw materials and its processors in the republic, in particular, Almaty region. Conclusions – elimination of shortage of raw materials, financial recovery of enterprises, use of modern marketing technologies in food sales, the provision of rational logistics chains for the transportation, storage and sale of dairy products is needed.

Identification of multilevel priority management areas for diffuse pollutants based on streamflow continuity in a water-deficient watershed

Agricultural diffuse pollution is, on the global scale, one of the most important causes of surface water quality deterioration and eutrophication. However, the identification of agricultural priority management areas (APMAs) for diffuse pollutants is still an ongoing challenge in water-deficient watersheds. To enhance the accuracy of identification of APMA, a modified framework for APMA identification is proposed by combining the streamflow continuity index constructed by Reliability-Resilience-Vulnerability (R-R-V) indices and the SWAT model in this paper. This novel framework was tested in Zhang River Watershed and the main results are as follows. First, the SWAT model is calibrated and validated with a good performance of the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R2)greater than 0.75 and 0.80 for both the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Second, the wet year is found to be the critical period for diffuse TN and TP output at an annual scale. Specifically, the critical loss period of TN is identified as from April to October on the monthly scale, especially in July and August. However, the critical period of TP loss is mainly concentrated in the range from July to September in Zhang River Watershed. Third, the reaches with a high streamflow continuity index(SCI) are primarily located in mid-downstream part of the watershed. The reaches are mostly characterized by relatively low SCI values due to the lack of streamflow volume in the upper reaches. Fourth, the APMAs for TN and TP for the watershed final outlet connected to the Yuecheng Reservoir are approximately distributed in two areas by considering the SCI estimation, namely the Qingzhang River sub-watershed and the mid-downstream part of the Zhuozhang River sub-watershed. Compared with the results obtained from the modified APMA framework, the main areas of TN and TP APMAs may be overestimated by 27.17 and 10.02 percentage points, respectively, using the original APMAs framework without the SCI evaluation. This revised APMA framework can be easily extended to other water-deficient watersheds for improving the efficacy of the identification and the control of agricultural diffuse pollution.

Structural policy priorities in agriculture of Russia

The goal is to analyze the current state of Russian agriculture and the main problems of its further development. Designate indicators and parameters of macroeconomics that must be taken into account when assessing structural changes. Propose an algorithm for the formation of structural policy in Russian agriculture, justify the need and main problems of its implementation. Methods – the work on the article was carried out on the basis of the application of general scientific empirical methods in the framework of comparative, logical and statistical analysis, as well as through the analysis of structure and dynamics, tabular and graphical interpretation of information, etc. Relevance – it is noted that by 2020, the recovery growth in agricultural economy, which began at the turn of the century, has been completed, which made it possible to overcome the decline in production in the 1990s, ensure the country's food independence and create conditions for the transition to export-oriented development. At the same time, the indicators of the country's self-sufficiency in a number of products (milk, vegetables and melons, potatoes, fruits and berries), which were established by the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, have not been achieved. The share of spending on food in the family consumer budgets remains high. The development of agriculture is highly dependent on the supply of foreign technologies, machinery and equipment, seeds and breeding material, which creates risks for food security. The growth of agricultural production has little effect on the solution of social problems of the countryside. The intensification of agricultural production leads to the aggravation of environmental problems. Results – in the framework of this article, the directions of structural policy in Russian agriculture are considered, according to which the strategic documents of industry development are being adjusted. The author also considers the main directions of agricultural and rural policy aimed to solve these problems: stimulating investment in the industry; improvement of scientific and technical support for agriculture; measures to reduce price volatility in agri-food market; overcoming the departmental approach to rural development and diversifying the rural economy; measures to improve soil fertility and ecological situation in agriculture. Conclusions – the areas of improvement of agricultural policy which are considered in the framework of the article, the work on which is actively being carried out today by AIC management bodies, will play an important role in the development of agro-industrial complex of Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure compliance between the tasks set for AIC to achieve the country's food security, increasing export potential of domestic agri-food products, sustainable development of rural areas and envisaged measures, as well as financial resources which are allocated for the development.

Identification of Sustainable Development Priorities for Agriculture through Sustainable Livelihood Security Indicators for Karnataka, India

To cope with worsening climate change and widening intergenerational equity issues, more impetus should be given to sustainable development. India, predominantly an agrarian economy, faces most pressing issues of sustainable development with a complex territorial hegemony of the population and their dynamic food demands. Regional production systems play a vital role in strengthening national sustainable development priorities in India. Hence, to realize the dimensions of sustainable development in a more meaningful way, sustainability needs to be prioritized in an agrarian economy. Sustainability is a complex phenomenon encompassing economic, ecological and equity dimensions. A modest attempt in this regard has been made to estimate normative sustainable indicators for Karnataka state considering 20 crucial indicators or variables governing different dimensions. Using principal component analysis and linear scoring techniques, a minimum dataset including forest cover, livestock and human population density, and cropping intensity governing ecological issues, groundwater availability and milk availability governing social equity issues, and net cropped area, land productivity, labor productivity, food grain productivity and fertilizer use governing economic efficiency was identified, constituting crucial indicators for the development of the sustainable livelihood security index. The computed index was used to classify districts in Karnataka into various sustainable categories. Among 27 districts, 13 districts were grouped as less sustainable, 4 as highly sustainable and 10 as moderately sustainable categories. This classification and knowledge provide clues for policy makers to transform less sustainable districts into moderately/highly sustainable ones by formulating suitable policies related to crucial factors. Formulated policies on crucial factors have a domino effect/causation effect and bring about desirable changes in all other indicator variables, leading to the sustainable development of the target districts in Karnataka. This approach can be used at different scales in other states in India and in other developing countries.

FACTORS AND CONSTRAINTS OF RICE PRODUCTION IN THE DISTRICT OF ADJAHA (COMMUNE OF GRAND-POPO) IN SOUTHERN BENIN

A national agricultural priority, rice cultivation is attracting more and more attention of the Beninese government and private economic operators. It is with this observation and considerable potential, but little exploited in the Municipality of Grand-Popo for rice production, which this study was conducted. The overall objective of this study is to examine the factors and constraints to rice production in the district of Adjaha (Municipality of Grand-Popo). To achieve this, data on rainfall and statistics of rice production last eight years were collected. The soil map and a representative sample of 65 rice farmers were used to title. Using the model SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) helped to highlight the potentialities available to the district of Adjaha and bottlenecks that retard its growth. The results reveal that the study environment is conducive to the cultivation of rice. And only 6% of rice potential is exploited or 81 hectares. The water control, access to agricultural equipment, credit and appropriate agricultural financing are major challenges that this sector is developed.

IN VITRO LIQUID CULTURE OF Stevia rebaudiana Bert. FOR MASS PROPAGATION

Stevia leaves are important as a new source of natural sugar substitute which makes it one of the most valuable new crops for Europe. The development of in vitro vegetative propagation strategies, to secure availability of well characterised and healthy clonal accession of plant material capable of providing an economically accepted level of leaf and stevioside harvest, becomes an agricultural priority. Growth and development of new plantles were strongly influenced by the type of in vitro plant support and by the presence of exogenous plant growth regulators added to the medium, the best combination was that of auxin (IBA 0.5 mg/l) and cytokinin (Kin 0.2 mg/l). The sponge-like structure of the fruits of Luffa cylindrica were used as plant support for liquid media. Results confirm that an in vitro multiplication of plant material is a reliable system for mass production of seedling to be cultivated in the field condition. The liquid system allows a superior root system formation. The use of Luffa cylindrica for ex vitro transfer proved to be a technological like approach, the ligno-skeleton cube replacing the usual giffy-pot system.

The Effect of Music on Livestock: Cattle, Poultry and Pigs.

Simple SummaryIn times of intensified livestock production, the search for methods that reduce stress, which has an adverse impact on the health and welfare of their animals, has become a challenge for breeders and producers. Therefore, the possibility of using various musical genres to alleviate stress in chickens, cattle or pigs was considered. It has turned out that choosing a musical item is extremely important, as it can positively affect the health and production performance of animals by increasing the feeling of relaxation. The time of exposure to sounds and their intensity are important as well, and some authors propose to also pay attention to the frequency of sound waves. Music therapy, which was previously more widely deployed among humans, is increasingly used for farm animals as an element of enriching their living environment. Current research shows the importance of sound waves’ influence in animal production. Proper selection of the music genre, music intensity and tempo can reduce the adverse effects of noise and, thus, reduce the level of stress. It should be remembered, however, that silence is equally important and necessary for the welfare of animals. The paper presents literature findings regarding the influence of music on cattle, poultry and pigs.The welfare of animals, especially those kept in intensive production systems, is a priority for modern agriculture. This stems from the desire to keep animals healthy, to obtain a good-quality final product, and to meet the demands of today’s consumers, who have been increasingly persuaded to buy organic products. As a result, new sound-based methods have been pursued to reduce external stress in livestock. Music therapy has been known for thousands of years, and sounds were believed to improve both body and spirit. Today, they are mostly used to distract patients from their pain, as well as to treat depression and cardiovascular disorders. However, recent studies have suggested that appropriately selected music can confer some health benefits, e.g., by increasing the level and activity of natural killer cells. For use in livestock, the choice of genre, the loudness of the music and the tempo are all important factors. Some music tracks promote relaxation (thus improving yields), while others have the opposite effect. However, there is no doubt that enriching the animals’ environment with music improves their welfare and may also convince consumers to buy products from intensively farmed animals. The present paper explores the effects of music on livestock (cattle, poultry and pigs) on the basis of the available literature.

Giving stakeholders a voice in governance: Biodiversity priorities for New Zealand's agriculture

Abstract Mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society is recognised by international policy as critical to achieving positive conservation outcomes. With ‘participatory governance’ increasingly being applied to achieve collective action in conservation, there are growing calls to critically review such processes to capture their complexity and manage for emergent outcomes. This paper critically reviews a case study, aiming to give a broad range of stakeholders a voice in setting biodiversity priorities for New Zealand's agricultural landscape, in relation to four principles for knowledge co‐production in sustainability: context‐based, pluralistic, goal‐orientated and interactive. Aiming to facilitate an inclusive but rapid participation process, while not overburdening those willing to participate, three pathways for engagement were offered. Stakeholder participants were recruited from public, private and civic sectors involved in managing New Zealand's farmland biodiversity. An initial scoping exercise helped elevate biodiversity groups and management actions distinct to New Zealand's social and environmental context. Online surveys then gave stakeholders, from a diverse range of roles and sectors, a nationwide voice to express their own biodiversity interests and needs; these were reviewed by an advisor panel to reach consensus on final priorities that reflected the biodiversity outcomes that matter most to stakeholders involved in managing New Zealand's agricultural landscape and the management practices they considered most relevant to achieving those outcomes. This knowledge co‐production process delivered multiple gains that would not have been achieved had a more traditional science‐based process been applied, such as wide stakeholder engagement, identification of a tangible starting point, mitigation of bias or conflict risks, enhanced researcher and practitioner capabilities and a shared understanding of the opportunities and challenges for future development. Institutes addressing conservation challenges within local contexts need to: be ‘boundary‐spanning’ to manage cross‐scale influences and enable desired conservation behaviours; plan explicitly for the substantial effort required to overcome existing power hierarchies and facilitate transparent and structured decision processes that deliver social justice; better capture the relational values of nature to more successfully leverage peoples’ connection to nature in conservation policies and practices; and incorporate wider environmental (e.g. biosecurity), social, economic and political considerations. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

The Application of Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy to Identification of Potato Late Blight and Fusariosis.

Fusarium and late blight (fungal diseases of cereals and potatoes) are among the main causes of crop loss worldwide. A key element of success in the fight against phytopathogens is the timely identification of infected plants and seeds. That is why the development of new methods for identifying phytopathogens is a priority for agriculture. The terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is a promising method for assessing the quality of materials. For the first time, we used THz-TDS for assessing the infection of seeds of cereals (oats, wheat and barley) with fusarium and potato tubers of different varieties (Nadezhda and Meteor) with late blight. We evaluated the refractive index, absorption coefficient and complex dielectric permittivity in healthy and infected plants. The presence of phytopathogens on seeds was confirmed by microscopy and PCR. It is shown, that Late blight significantly affected all the studied spectral characteristics. The nature of the changes depended on the variety of the analyzed plants and the localization of the analyzed tissue relative to the focus of infection. Fusarium also significantly affected all the studied spectral characteristics. It was found that THz-TDS method allows you to clearly establish the presence or absence of a phytopathogens, in the case of late blight, to assess the degree and depth of damage to plant tissues.

Recommended Actions in Global Nutrition Initiatives That Link Food Environment and Food Choice

Abstract Objectives To understand how actions that link food environment and food choice, recommended by global nutrition initiatives, seek to promote sustainable healthy diets. Methods We reviewed recommended actions addressing food environments and food choice by global nutrition initiatives published between 2015 and 2020. Internal debriefing, expert solicitation, and targeted web searches were used to identify 20 documents, with 12 selected for review. Specific action descriptions were used to generate overarching actions present across the documents, were extracted into a matrix, and then were tabulated across overarching actions retaining document affiliation. The content assigned to each overarching action was disaggregated by environmental and individual focus guided by concepts from existing frameworks pertinent to food environments and food choice. Results We identified 13 overarching actions from the documents reviewed, ranging from reorienting agricultural priorities for improved nutrition to creating consumer demand for nutritious foods. The documents differed in the extent of detail describing specific actions. Between 3 and 11 documents were represented in each action. Environmental actions focused on building better bridges across the food value chain, regulation, and investment. Regulation ranged from municipal zoning restrictions of food outlets near schools to national and international strengthening of legally binding agreements for nutrient profiling, labeling, and marketing restrictions. Actions addressing individual behavior were fewer and focused on building capacity with special attention to smallholder farmers and women, recognizing their duality as suppliers and consumers, protecting traditional practices, and applied communication strategies to promote healthy diets. Conclusions Actions portrayed prioritization of environmental change to achieve healthy diets with some attention to sustainability, but much less detail was presented about what, how, or why individuals may consider changes to their dietary choices. Better linking individuals’ perspective into environmental change may propel the success of active global efforts. Funding Sources UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Municipal Capacity: A Greenbelt Focus

This session will reflect on the importance of rural and agri-food communities and provide key insights on the capacity of municipal governments to support the agriculture and agri-food sector and respond to rural issues. In Ontario, where the most agriculturally-viable land in Canada is located, municipalities are the most local level of government and are responsible for implementing provincial and federal policies and directives. However, little is known about the structure, knowledge base, and capacity of municipal governments to respond to agricultural and agri-food priorities and issues. A review of existing literature and municipal websites reveals that municipal planning departments are extremely varied and inconsistently staffed. This appears to be the surface of a much larger inconsistency related to financial resources, staff expertise, and council’s knowledge about agriculture and agri-food. Our team has completed the research related to this project and the findings of this study are informed by data collected via survey and semi-structured interviews from 66 municipalities in the Greenbelt. Findings indicate that there is an increasing knowledge gap related to agricultural planning and agri-food issues, and that fewer elected officials/planners have agricultural backgrounds, expertise, or training. This presents a threat to rural and agri-food communities as their livelihoods depend on the ability of council (and staff) to understand critical issues, protect farmland, and make agriculturally-supportive decisions. Agri-food communities are important and it is critical that our governance systems not only recognise that but also have the capacity to support, protect, and respond to the agri-food sector.

Urban agriculture — A necessary pathway towards urban resilience and global sustainability?

The Covid-19 pandemic newly brings food resilience in cities to our attention and the need to question the desired degree of food self-sufficiency through urban agriculture. While these questions are by no means new and periodically entering the global research focus and policy discussions during periods of crises — the last time during the global financial crisis and resulting food price increases in 2008 — urban and peri-urban agriculture continue to be replaced by land-uses rendering higher market values (e.g. housing, transport, leisure). The loss of priority for urban agriculture in urban land-use planning is a global trend with only a few exceptions. We argue in this essay that this development has widely taken place due to three blind spots in urban planning. First, the limited consideration of social and ecological vulnerabilities and risk-related inequalities of urban inhabitants, food shortage among them, in the face of different scenarios of global change, including climate change or pandemic events such as Covid-19. Second, the disregard of the intensified negative environmental (and related social) externalities caused by distant agricultural production, as well as lacking consideration of nutrient re-cycling potentials in cities (e.g. from wastewater) to replace emission intensive mineral fertilizer use. Third, the lack of accounting for the multifunctionality of urban agriculture and the multiple benefits it provides beyond the provision of food, including social benefits and insurance values, for instance the maintenance of cultural heritage and agro-biodiversity. Along these lines, we argue that existing and new knowledge about urban risks and vulnerabilities, the spatially explicit urban metabolism (e.g. energy, water, nutrients), as well as ecosystem services need to be stronger and jointly considered in land-use decision-making.