Environmental Sustainability Of Agriculture Research Articles

Phosphorus Fraction in Hydrochar from Co-Hydrothermal Carbonization of Swine Manure and Rice Straw: An Optimization Analysis Based on Response Surface Methodology

Livestock manure and crop residues are significant sources of phosphorus. However, the ineffectiveness of current processing technologies often leads to the suboptimal recovery of this phosphorus, causing considerable resource wastage and environmental pollution. Recently, global research has increasingly been focused on the resource recovery of organic waste materials using hydrothermal carbonization technology. This study investigated variations in phosphorus forms in the hydrochar produced from swine manure and rice straw, employing diverse hydrothermal carbonization conditions and applying the Box–Behnken response surface methodology and Hedley’s phosphorus fractionation method. The results indicated that inorganic phosphorus predominates in the hydrochar, with organic phosphorus comprising 5–30% of the total phosphorus. Furthermore, the study found that the available phosphorus content, as measured by NaHCO3 extraction, decreased as the reaction time and temperature of the hydrothermal carbonization process increased. The concentrations of H2O-P and NaHCO3-P fractions decreased with increasing reaction times and temperatures but increased with a higher swine manure-to-straw ratio. Conversely, the concentrations of NaOH-P and HCl-P fractions showed an increasing trend with rising reaction temperature, prolonging reaction time, andusing a high swine manure-to-straw ratio. Consequently, this study offers vital theoretical and practical insights into the resource utilization of livestock manure and crop straw, significantly contributing to the challenges of waste management and environmental sustainability in agriculture.

Impact of technological advancement and greener energy on sustainable agriculture in Asia: Evidence from selected Asian countries

AbstractRegardless of major advancements in food production, Asia continues to confront severe food security challenges. Sustainable agriculture presents entirely new prospects by prioritizing the productive worth of human, social, and natural capital—all of which are abundant in Asian nations or can be replenished at a relatively low financial expense. This paper sets out to explore the role of technological innovation, renewable energy use, financial development, globalization, and institutional quality on the environmental sustainability of agriculture, measured by the greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector for top 10 agricultural economies of Asia from 1990 to 2019. To attain the above objective, we employ a variety of econometric models capable of accounting for cross‐sectional dependence, including the CS‐ARDL model and the Dumitrescu‐Hurlin Panel Granger Causality tests. The result indicates that technological innovation as well as the use of renewable energy can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector and thus contribute towards enhancing environmental performance of this sector in short and long run. Although globalization result is revealed to be positive, it turns out to be insignificant in both short and long run. Financial development exerts positive and significant effects on agricultural emissions while the institutional quality is found to be increasing the agricultural environmental performance. Finally, we provide policy recommendations based on the results of the study.

Does the construction of rural multifunctional community in China improve agricultural green total factor productivity?

China’s Rural Multifunctional Community (RMC) construction is an effective means to achieve economic growth and environmental sustainability in agriculture. Therefore, we measure the agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) in China considering carbon emissions and non-point source pollution and examine the impact of China’s pilot RMC policy on AGTFP using the difference-in-difference (DID) model based on panel data for 30 of China’s provincial-level regions during 2010–2020. Further, we analyze the regional heterogeneity and internal transmission channel. The main findings are as follows. First, the implementation of China’s pilot RMC policy significantly increases AGTFP. Second, the effects have a downward trend from eastern to western China which may be caused by the different levels in the economy, infrastructure, environmental resources, labor size and quality, transportation, innovation capability, etc. Finally, China’s pilot RMC policy can improve AGTFP through the channels of rural industrial convergence, agricultural green technology innovation and urban-rural income gap reduction.

Corrigendum: Optimizing water-energy-food nexus: achieving economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in agriculture

Corrigendum: Optimizing water-energy-food nexus: achieving economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in agriculture

Optimizing water-energy-food nexus: achieving economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in agriculture

The increasing global population, rapid urbanization, and climate change are putting unprecedented pressure on limited water and energy resources for food production. It requires integrated management of the key resources to achieve economic and environmental sustainability. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, in conjunction with circular bioeconomy (CBE) principles, offer a promising approach to achieve sustainable agriculture. It provides the integration between interconnectedness and interdependencies of the resources through closing bio-resource loops. Using bio-based materials, renewable energy resources, and implementing energy-efficient practices and technologies can maximize synergistic among the resources and promote sustainable agriculture while minimizing negative environmental impacts. However, there are challenges and limitations, such as economic conditions, proper infrastructure and technology, policy and governance support, public awareness, and potential trade-offs and conflicts. Moreover, it also faces various social and cultural challenges in implementing this approach. Therefore, to overcome these challenges and limitations, the need for innovative and sustainable technologies, significant investments in research and development, infrastructure and training, environmental campaign, innovative financing mechanisms and policies that incentivize sustainable practices, and support from stakeholders and the public are essential.

"We are stewards and caretakers of the land, not exploiters of resources": A qualitative study exploring Canadian farmers' perceptions of environmental sustainability in agriculture.

Environmental sustainability in agriculture is a key component of discussions to address the current climate crisis; unfortunately, many people (including researchers) presume that only certain types of agriculture (e.g., organic, local) are environmentally sustainable. Non-farmers also fail to acknowledge that many farm practices, including grazing animals, mitigate climate change. Farmers' perceptions about environmental sustainability are important because their livelihoods, and those of future generations, depend on their commitment to sustainable environmental practices. The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand Canadian farmers' perceptions of environmental sustainability, how they are implementing strategies that contribute to sustainable food production, and the challenges they face. Fifty-two farmers, representing 48 farms and over 1000 years of farming experience, participated in comprehensive in-depth interviews. Four farms were in British Columbia; 13 in the Prairies; 26 in Central Canada; and five in Eastern Canada. A wide variety of farm types (e.g., fruit/vegetables, livestock, grains) and sizes (2 to 6500 acres) were included in the study. Farmers' perceptions of environmental sustainability coalesced into four main themes: (1) definitions of sustainability and environmental sustainability, (2) current practices, (3) farming as an identity, and (4) challenges. Many participants explained that they already use sustainable practices and technology, contrary to prevailing opinion that entire food systems need to be transformed to be sustainable. As new agricultural policies and educational curricula are developed, information provided to students, policy makers, and the public must be accurate, balanced, evidence-based, and respectfully consider all perspectives, especially those of farmers.

Optimal Farm Planning and Assessment of Conventional Agricultural Practices under Alternative Scenarios Integrating Life Cycle Analysis

Agricultural production and farm management are inextricable, since managerial aspects for safe and of high-quality food products have led to the development of successful production plans but multifaceted controversies as well. These controversies arise from the focus of policymakers, especially in the EU, to the environmental aspects of agricultural production, creating conflicting objectives for farmers. Energy from biomass derivatives could play a significant role in the dispute for economic and environmental sustainability in agriculture, along with the formulation of agro-energy districts. In this context, an MCDM model was developed integrating LCA data for the assessment of economic, environmental and energy sustainability regarding thirteen major crops in the Region of Central Macedonia in Greece. The model's objectives consist of maximization of farmers' gross income, minimization of emissions coming from farming practices and maximization of energy potentially coming from biomass. Furthermore, three different scenario-based directions allocate different weights to the respective objectives, creating different managerial strategies. The optimal production plan was the scenario in which the weights were allocated by goal programming. The optimal plan proposes the cultivation expansion of energy crops, tree crops, alfalfa and hard wheat to a higher degree. Moreover, a significant reduction to the cultivated areas of tobacco, rice, barley and soft wheat could lead to a potentially viable production plan.

Environmental sustainability in agriculture: Identification of bottlenecks

Increasing the environmental sustainability of the agriculture sector is an important policy goal for many governments. This study employs Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to identify potential necessary conditions (bottlenecks) and to assess their required levels for achieving strong and weak environmental sustainability outcomes in agriculture. Based on data from selected OECD countries, the results show that there are several necessary conditions, including both structural and policy conditions, for achieving high environmental sustainability. More specifically, the results show that low production intensity and low livestock density and cropland share are necessary conditions for high environmental sustainability. These, in turn, are affected by past and present production-coupled agricultural support policies (especially market price support and output payments) that constrain the achievement of high environmental sustainability. It is therefore important to reduce the levels of these support measures to enable higher environmental sustainability in agriculture.

Agricultural Production Networks and Upgrading from a Global–Local Perspective: A Review

The COVID-19 pandemic, extreme temperatures and the Russia–Ukraine conflict have exposed deficiencies in global agricultural production capacity and governance systems, which left low-income countries and regions to face more severe food insecurity. Thus, there is an urgent need for agricultural upgrading and the establishment of a more sustainable agricultural system. Although there is a large body of literature with rich theoretical and empirical case studies, there is still a lack of systematic analysis of these studies, and the summary of global agricultural production networks and the agricultural upgrading process is not sufficient. This article will first set up an organisational framework of global agricultural production networks and explore the implications of governance and agricultural upgrading within this framework. It will then summarise the local agricultural upgrading processes on global, national and local scales based on a review of the existing literature. The article argues that agricultural upgrading in the context of global linkages is mainly driven by private-sector standards while the state also plays multiple roles. Moreover, in the embedding process of global agricultural production networks into local areas, local actors can promote agricultural upgrading through capacity building and organisational innovation. This review has implications for the economic, social and environmental sustainability of agriculture in developing countries, and provides a reference for future research.

Liming in soils with plinthic materials of the Brazilian Savanna: potentials and limitations

The expansion of agriculture has been taking place in marginal soils with low productive potential, such as Plinthosols. The liming can increase the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. However, there are no studies on the dissolution or recommendation of limestone for Plinthosols. The objective was to evaluate the effect of limestone doses on the chemical attributes of three soils with different gravel contents (ironstone concretions). The soils were collected (0-20 cm layer) in native areas of the central region of the Brazilian Savanna. They were classified as Red-Yellow Latosol (RYO) and two Concretionary Pétric Plinthosol (with 29% [CPP-29] and 72.8% [CPP-72] of soil volume with gravel). A factorial scheme (3x6) with the three soils (RYO, CPP-29, and CPP-72), six limestone doses, and four replications. The evolution of pH was verified at 10, 20, 30, and 40 days after the beginning of incubation (DAI), and determined the chemical attributes (Al, H+Al, Ca, Mg, BS, V%, P, and K) at 40 DAI. The doses to reach pH 6 were 1.4 t ha-1 for RYO, 3.9 t ha-1 for CPP-29, and 2.7 t ha-1 for CPP-72. Al3+ neutralization was 100% with doses above 3.5, 2.5 and 0.5 t ha-1 for CPP-29, CPP-72, RYO. There was a significant increase in Ca and Mg contents in all soils. However, the Soil CPP-72 did not reach a critical level for Ca (>2.41 cmolc dm-3) and Mg (>0.91 cmolc dm-3) for Plinthosols with higher plinthite content. Thus, we recommend using agricultural practices that increase the capacity of the soil to retain and recycle nutrients.

Isotopic signals in an agricultural watershed suggest denitrification is locally intensive in riparian areas but extensive in upland soils

Nitrogen loss from cultivated soils threatens the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. Nitrate (NO3−) derived from nitrification of nitrogen fertilizer and ammonified soil organic nitrogen may be lost from soils via denitrification, producing dinitrogen gas (N2) or the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Nitrate that accumulates in soils is also subject to leaching loss, which can degrade water quality and make NO3− available for downstream denitrification. Here we use patterns in the isotopic composition of NO3− observed from 2012 to 2017 to characterize N loss to denitrification within soils, groundwater, and stream riparian corridors of a non-irrigated agroecosystem in the northern Great Plains (Judith River Watershed, Montana, USA). We find evidence for denitrification across these domains, expressed as a positive linear relationship between δ15N and δ18O values of NO3−, as well as increasing δ15N values with decreasing NO3− concentration. In soils, isotopic evidence of denitrification was present during fallow periods (no crop growing), despite net accumulation of NO3− from the nitrification of ammonified soil organic nitrogen. We combine previous results for soil NO3− mass balance with δ15N mass balance to estimate denitrification rates in soil relative to groundwater and streams. Substantial denitrification from soils during fallow periods may be masked by nitrification of ammonified soil organic nitrogen, representing a hidden loss of soil organic nitrogen and an under-quantified flux of N to the atmosphere. Globally, cultivated land spends ca. 50% of time in a fallow condition; denitrification in fallow soils may be an overlooked but globally significant source of agricultural N2O emissions, which must be reduced along-side other emissions to meet Paris Agreement goals for slowing global temperature increase.

Do Sustainability Standards Exclude Small Farms? Modelling the Kenyan Floricultural Sector

This study simultaneously addresses two issues: (a) defining what counts as ‘small farms’ in the rose sector, taking the geographical and socioeconomic context into account and (b) whether the requests for certification form barriers for small farms. We focus on small farms, as they are of fundamental importance for social and economic development and significantly contribute to the environmental sustainability of agriculture and land use. An agent-based model is used for analyzing an agricultural production and supply chain. The model identifies the minimum farm size needed to cover increased costs due to sustainability certifications. The model is applied to the case study of rose production in Kenya. Kenya is one of the world’s leading flower producers. Almost all Kenya’s floricultural production is exported, and the export of stem roses accounts for about 80% by weight of Kenya’s floricultural exports. Environmental and social sustainability certification is increasingly required for farms, especially those in developing countries that want to export their products. Our findings suggest that sustainability standards disadvantage small Kenyan rose farms and constitute a further obstacle to their entry into the international rose market. In this specific context, standards limit market access for farms smaller than 4 hectares. The agent-based model proposed in this study can be adjusted to help determine the definition of ‘small farms’ in need of extra support in other sectors.

Eco-efficiency in Brazilian Amazonian agriculture: opportunity costs of degradation and protection of the environment.

Aiming to assist the environmental sustainability of the Brazilian Amazonian agriculture, this article developed an eco-efficiency index, indicating the possible limits to maximize economic and environmental objectives, taking into account the best practices in the municipalities of the region. Shadow prices of degraded areas and forest preservation were also estimated using data envelopment analysis with directional distance functions. The results indicate that, on average, the analyzed municipalities are able to expand the production and the forest areas by 38% and reduce degraded areas and their inputs in the same proportion. The shadow prices allowed the estimation of the annual opportunity cost of the degraded areas and the preservation of the forest on the farms. The first, US$ 3,131,571, represented 0.04% of the annual output value, indicating that the internalization of that cost should be a low burden for the eco-efficient producer. The second, the total cost of preserving 80% of the area of property, represented US$ 120,890,662 or 1.7% of the annual income of the biome producers studied. Therefore, the main conclusion of this work is that the internalization of negative and positive externalities of agricultural production in the Amazonian biome does not make agricultural production economically unfeasible in the region. In addition, the reimbursement of damages avoided by carbon sequestration, through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established by the Kyoto Conference, should further increase the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture in the area.

An Examination of Best Practices for Survey Research with Agricultural Producers

To improve the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, information is needed on how to target research, teaching, and outreach programs. However, conducting survey research in general, and with agricultural producers specifically, is increasingly challenging given issues such as declining response rates and limited resources. While studies examining the best practices for promoting higher response rates exist, few focus explicitly on agricultural producers. In three separate surveys conducted with agricultural producers in South Dakota in 2018 and 2019, we included experiments testing how token pre-incentives, a research partnership, and response mode options impacted response rates. We also examined how sample source and email augmentations influence survey responses. The study findings indicate that providing pre-incentives and multiple simultaneous response options can increase response rates with agricultural producers. On the other hand, email augmentation to mail surveys, sample source, and identification of select institutional research partnerships appear to have minimal effects.

Strategies for applying gray water effluent on ornamental sunflower crops.

In a context of scarcity of good quality water, reuse is a mandatory practice to increase water availability, thus allowing the exploitation of more cropland. Although several studies have evaluated the hydric potential of domestic gray water to promote the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, the focus of this study was to evaluate the application of this effluent on an ornamental plant, the sunflower. The experiment was conducted in a protected environment using a completely randomized block design with split plots and four replicates. Irrigation solutions containing different mixtures of treated gray water effluent (TGW) and drinking water (DW) (100% DW, 25% TGW + 75% DW, 50% TGW + 50% DW, 75% TGW + 25% DW, and 100% TGW) were arranged in the plots, while the ornamental sunflower cultivars (Bonito de Outono Sortido and Sol Vermelho) were arranged in the split plots. Irrigation with treated gray water did not affect the growth of the plants and the quality of the flowers until the dilution of 55% in drinking water. The cultivar Sol Vermelho showed better plant growth and flower quality when fertigated with dilutions of treated gray water. The principle of mixing fresh with gray water, applied to the production of ornamental sunflowers, allows obtaining flowers of good quality while saving drinking water and decreasing the deposition of effluents in the environment.

Assessment of Fertilizer Usage by Food Crops at the National Level

Korea is one of countries that have high application rates of inorganic fertilizers. Recently, environmental pollution has been announced due to overuse of fertilizer. To reduce the fertilizer usage, agricultural policies in terms of environmental sustainability has been introduced since the 1990s. This study aims to investigate total fertilization rates by nutrients and food crops in 9 provinces of Korea. In results, the average of total fertilizer inputs (N-P2O5-K2O) was 18.3-11.2-12.7 kg 10a-1. Total fertilizer usage of potato was 35.5 kg 10a-1 as N that was higher than other crops. The order of contribution to total fertilizer use was inorganic fertilizer > compost > organic fertilizer. As a result, main concern of excess and use of fertilizers were focused on inorganic fertilizer. However, because of the high nutrient content of compost, the application rate of compost should be monitored and controlled. Therefore, long-term monitoring and proper training is required to understand nutrient characteristics of fertilizer and to reserve environmental sustainability in agriculture. Distribution of nutrient in food crops with different fertilization.

Building a Composite Indicator to Measure Environmental Sustainability Using Alternative Weighting Methods

Environmental sustainability in agriculture can be measured through the construction of composite indicators. However, this is a challenging task because these indexes are heavily dependent on how the individual base indicators are weighted. The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature regarding the robustness of subjective (based on experts’ opinions) weighting methods when constructing a composite indicator for measuring environmental sustainability at the farm level. In particular, the study analyzes two multi-criteria techniques, the analytic hierarchy process and the recently developed best-worst method, as well as the more straightforward point allocation method. These alternative methods have been implemented to empirically assess the environmental performance of irrigated olive farms in Spain. Data for this case study were collected from a panel of 22 experts and a survey of 99 farms. The results obtained suggest that there are no statistically significant differences in the weights of the individual base indicators derived from the three weighting methods considered. Moreover, the ranking of the sampled farms, in terms of their level of environmental sustainability measured through the composite indicators proposed, is not dependent on the use of the different weighting methods. Thus, the results support the robustness of the three weighting methods considered.

Food Supply without Risk: Multicriteria Analysis of Institutional Conditions of Exporters.

International trade in food knows no borders, hence the need for prevention systems to avoid the consumption of products that are harmful to health. This paper proposes the use of multicriteria risk prevention tools that consider the socioeconomic and institutional conditions of food exporters. We propose the use of three decision-making methods—Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Elimination et Choix Traduisant la Realité (ELECTRE), and Cross-Efficiency (CE)—to establish a ranking of countries that export cereals to the European Union, based on structural criteria related to the detection of potential associated risks (notifications, food quality, corruption, environmental sustainability in agriculture, and logistics). In addition, the analysis examines whether the wealth and institutional capacity of supplier countries influence their position in the ranking. The research was carried out biannually over the period from 2012–2016, allowing an assessment to be made of the possible stability of the markets. The results reveal that suppliers’ rankings based exclusively on aspects related to food risk differ from importers’ actual choices determined by micro/macroeconomic features (price, production volume, and economic growth). The rankings obtained by the three proposed methods are not the same, but present certain similarities, with the ability to discern countries according to their level of food risk. The proposed methodology can be applied to support sourcing strategies. In the future, food safety considerations could have increased influence in importing decisions, which would involve further difficulties for low-income countries.

Approaching environmental sustainability of agriculture: environmental burden, eco-efficiency or eco-effectiveness

The main goal of the article is to compare three approaches to measuring environmental sustainability in agriculture: i) the environmental burden index; ii) the sustainable value of eco-efficient production; and iii) the sustainable value of the eco-effective farm, applied to the sample of 130 EUFADN (European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network) regions in 2015. The study indicates a fundamental problem: the notion of environmental sustainability in agriculture differs depending on the criterion we apply. We recognized a principle trade-off in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which consists of compensating for the strain on the natural environment with production or with public goods provision. Studies on these two effects seem to be crucial to draw a consistent development path for the CAP. Our major finding is that public goods-oriented farming is more likely to expand after improving eco-efficiency. This is still a challenge because in European regions, eco-efficient has not meant environmentally sustainable yet.

Cotton certification in Sub-Saharan Africa: Promotion of environmental sustainability or greenwashing?

Environmental sustainability is a major challenge for cotton production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The creation of voluntary certification programs is an effort aimed at finding new ways to influence corporate conduct along supply chains. This article contributes novelty and insight on cotton certification in SSA by exploring the most relevant programs in detail with regard to the demands of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We selected the five most central NGOs dedicated to environmental sustainability in agriculture: Friends of the Earth (FoE), Greenpeace, Oxfam, Pesticide Action Network (PAN), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). After identifying these NGOs’ demands regarding pesticides, fertilizers and genetically modified (GM) cotton, we analyzed the requirements of the four most dominant programs certifying SSA cotton cultivation: the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Cotton made in Africa (CmiA), the EU Organic Regulation and Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO). The results of our document analysis are bolstered by semi-structured interviews with stakeholders on NGOs’ stances and roles in standard setting and implementation. We find that the EU Organic Regulation scores best in terms of environmental sustainability. Those programs in which NGOs actively participate are less ambitious compared to the public standard. Therefore, we conclude that, if NGOs maintain their commitment to multi-stakeholder initiatives, they risk contributing to ‘greenwashing’ corporate conduct by mobilizing consumer support for labelling programs that actually fall behind existing public regulation on organic certification.