Ha Of Cultivated Land Research Articles

Economic diagnostics of the development of the agrarian sphere: military realities and management tasks

The transition of agriculture to recovery is only possible with large-scale and high-quality financial support. Currently, the model of development of the national agrarian sphere is focused mainly on the extensive use of available resources to increase the volume of production of the maximum raw component of agricultural products to maximize profits in the short term and, accordingly, attracting investments aimed mainly at replenishing working capital and simple reproduction of production capacities, exhausts itself in terms of environmental and social consequences and the long run can lead to negative economic results. The traditional sources of financial support for the functioning of the agrarian sphere are state funding, credit resources, and investments, which become more inaccessible under martial law. That is why conducting an economic diagnosis of the development of the agrarian sphere during martial law and the formation of management tasks is quite relevant. The article aims to carry out an economic diagnosis of the development of the agrarian sphere and the formation of management tasks in martial law conditions. An economic diagnosis of the development of the agrarian sphere was carried out, and the task of managing it in martial law conditions was formed. An analysis of investment support for developing the agrarian sphere was carried out across Ukraine according to indicators of the concentration of investments (calculated for one labor and performed per 1 ha of cultivated land) as the primary tool for recovery in martial law conditions. Regional investment leaders have been identified, including in 2021 Vinnytsia (3,139.7 million UAH), Kyiv (4,609.6 million UAH), Poltava (3,175.9 million UAH), Kirovohrad (3,629 million UAH), Chernihiv (3,081.6) million UAH) and Cherkasy (2952.2 million UAH) region. Conclusions. It has been proven that the solution to the problem of the modern restoration of the agrarian sphere requires supplementing the Comprehensive Strategy for the Development of Agriculture with functional and resource strategies that contribute to the implementation of strategic priorities, as well as a more detailed structuring of goals, tasks, resources, and executors across industries and regions. Keywords: economic diagnosis, agrarian sphere, martial law, sources of financing, management tasks.

LCA-Based Environmental Performance of Olive Cultivation in Northwestern Greece: From Rainfed to Irrigated through Conventional and Smart Crop Management Practices

Olive cultivation is expanding rapidly in the northwestern part of Greece, under both rainfed and irrigated practices. Irrigation can result in larger yields and economic returns, but trade-offs in the water–energy–pollution nexus remain a controversial and challenging issue. This study presents an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Greek olive orchard systems in the plain of Arta (Epirus), comparing rainfed (baseline), Decision Support System (DSS)-based (smart) irrigation practices and farmer experience-based (conventional) irrigation practices. The contributions in this paper are, first, to provide a first quantitative indication of the environmental performance of Greek olive growing systems under different management strategies, and second, to detail the advantages that can be achieved using smart irrigation in olive cultivation in the Greek and Mediterranean contexts. Eighteen midpoints (e.g., climate change, water scarcity, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, etc.), two endpoints (damages on human health and ecosystem quality), and a single score (overall environmental impact) were quantified using the IMPACT World+ life cycle impact assessment method. The LCA model was set up using the OpenLCA software v1.10.3. The functional units were 1 ton of product (mass-based) and 1 ha of cultivated area (area-based) on a cradle-to-farm gate perspective. Irrigated systems had the lowest impacts per mass unit due to higher yields, but showed the highest impacts per cultivated area. The DSS-based irrigation management could reduce water and energy use by 42.1% compared to conventional practices. This is translated into a reduction of 5.3% per 1 ton and 10.4% per 1 ha of the total environmental impact. A sensitivity analysis of impact assessment models demonstrated that the benefits could be up to 18% for 1 ton of product or 22.6% for 1 ha of cultivated land. These results outline that DSS-based irrigation is a promising option to support less resource-intensive and sustainable intensification of irrigated agriculture systems in the plain of Arta.

Flax fiber for technical textile: A life cycle inventory

Flax fiber appears as a suitable feedstock in the endeavor of deploying a sustainable biobased economy. Its environmental performance as reinforcement in composite materials has been studied in previous Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). However, these studies only present a coarse Life cycle Inventory (LCI) and often fail to detail all processes of the supply chain or to represent the co-products. This paper aims to bridge this gap and provide data for future LCAs on flax fiber production and transformation.The study focuses on the impacts of producing a bio-based reinforcement material (a fabric product for non-aesthetic purposes) with a system expansion perspective. The functional unit is defined as the production of 2400 m2 flax-based technical textile per year, this corresponds to 1 ha of cultivated land. The geographical scope considers that the production occurs in France and that some manufacturing process are outsourced in China. A Sensitivity Analysis was carried out to assess the influence of the electricity mix in the various countries involved in the manufacturing cycle.A detailed life cycle inventory for flax fiber production and transformation was built and the environmental performance of a flax technical textile was assessed as a cradle-to-gate LCA. The fate of co-products was documented and was shown to contribute to the reduction of the generated environmental impacts.Through a cradle-to-gate LCA, a broader understanding of the environmental performance of a flax-based technical textile was presented by including the valorization of co-products and a wider set of analyzed impact categories, going therefore beyond the existing state-of-the-art. Results show agricultural activities and electricity production to be the biggest contributors to the environmental impacts of flax technical textile; contributions due to land use changes were minor in comparison. Very specifically for this case study, a sensibility analysis showed the influence of an all-French production to be more efficient from an environmental point of view.

ENDOGENOUS PERCEPTIONS AND MEASURES FOR AGROPASTORALISTS’ ADAPTATION IN THE SAHELIAN AREA OF BURKINA FASO

The study was conducted to understand the perceptions and local adaptation strategies of rural sahelian communities in Burkina Faso to climate change on ruminant rearing practices. For this purpose, the study was carried out in the rural commune of Bani by collecting primary from semi-structured interviews with 143 producers and secondary data of temperature, rainfall and their spatial and temporal evolution from 2005 to 2016. Analysis of these data reveals that 67.13% of the producers are male and 32.86% female, with an average age of 55 ± 0.3 years. These respondents were agropastoralists with an average of 3.5 ha of cultivated land, using traditional seeds (100% of respondents) and improved seeds (58.7%) and rearing local breeds of ruminants. For climate change, respondents notified an increase in temperature and a decrease in rainfall that corroborates the analysis of the meteorological data collected. The consequences of climate change on livestock farmers' resources are food insecurity, lack of pasture, drought and low animal productivity. The local adaptation strategies applied by livestock farmers are the diversification of agro-sylvo-pastoral production (88.11%) and income-generating activities (70%). In the study area, diversification is the strategy adopted by agro-pastoralists to ensure food security and provide income to meet the daily needs of families.

Changes in cultivated land patterns and driving forces in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China, from 1992 to 2015

Changes of cultivated land patterns caused by major water conservation projects are rarely reported. We selected the Three Gorges Reservoir area in China to study the change in area and landscape pattern of the cultivated land in the head, central, and tail areas of the reservoir that took place between 1992 and 2015; we then studied the spatial distribution of the cultivated land in the three parts of the reservoir; finally, we studied the driving forces behind the changes in the cultivated land. The results derived are as follows. (1) During the construction of the Three Gorges Project (TGP, 1992-2015), the area of cultivated land around the reservoir decreased by 30.23 million ha. This reduction occurred in phases: the most severe change in cultivated land occurred during the later stage of the project (2002-2010); only 0.62 million ha of cultivated land did not change between 1992 and 2015. (2) Spatial pattern analysis showed that the cultivated land in the three parts of the reservoir changed from a northern distribution to a southern distribution; thus, the area of cultivated land in the north decreased over the time period. The area of cultivated land in the head and tail areas decreased by varying degrees, while it increased in the central area over the 23 years, indicating that the change in cultivated land showed regional differences. (3) The TGP, the policy of reverting farmland to forest, and urbanization were the main driving factors for the change of cultivated land, but there were differences in their impacts at different stages. (4) According to the patch dynamics of the land cover change, the degree of change gradually intensified during the early and later stages of the project and then stabilized during the operational period. Our research provides scientific support for the protection of cultivated land resources and food security in the reservoir area and for the coordination of social and economic development, which is of great significance to sustainable development in the reservoir area.

Status of soil degradation in state of Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh with a total area of 24.09 million ha is the India's fifth largest state in terms of land area with a population of about 200 million and population density of 830 people per km2. Agriculture is the leading occupation in the state dependent on 16.8 million ha of cultivated land. Nearly 52.12 percent of the total geographical area in the state is affected by various soil degradation problems induced mainly by human-intervention. The most serious problem is of water erosion, causing loss of top soil and/or terrain deformation and has affected 11.39 m ha representing 38.69 percent area including ravenous lands along the rivers, wind erosion has been observed in 2.12 m ha, representing 0.72 percent of the total geographical area. About 4.65, 0.72 and 7.98% of the area of the state is affected by soil salinization or sodification, wind erosion and flooding, respectively.

Modeling the dynamics of urban and ecological binary space for regional coordination: A case of Fuzhou coastal areas in Southeast China

The linkage of urban planning and the dynamics of regional ecosystem services value (ESV) allows sustainable aims more accessible, which is increasingly interested by researchers. This paper combines urban expansion and eco-compensation to construct the urban-ecological coordinated development model (UECDM) which aims to find a new urban expansion mode basing on the balance of regional ESV. UECDM is composed of three modules: prediction of urban expansion, eco-compensation and spatial simulation. With this model, the urban expansion and eco-compensation of Fuzhou areas was simulated. The result shows: urban land has expanded 12,805 ha, with a total ESV loss of 688 million yuan. In order to obtain the balance of regional ESV, 1,142 ha of cultivated land and 3,316 ha of other land should be converted into forestland; 2,588 ha of cultivated land into tidal flats; 2,027 ha of other land into water areas. This model could produce quantitative results for decision makers during the rapid urbanization for sustainable development.

Life cycle assessment of phosphorus use efficiency in crop production system of three crops in Chaohu Watershed, China

This study presented a life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of the production of three crops (rice, wheat, and maize) in the Chaohu Watershed of China. The crop production system involved phosphate rock mining, P fertilizer manufacturing, crop cultivating, and crop processing. Resource depletion, climate change, and eutrophication were examined. The functional unit chosen was 1 ha of cultivated land. The results showed that phosphate rock mining and P fertilizer manufacturing had been the main contributors to P resource depletion, representing shares of 57.40% and 25.86%, respectively. Large quantities of extracted phosphate raw rock and manufactured fertilizer for heavy fertilizer application were identified as the main causes of these effects. Rice crop had depleted the largest share of P resources, as it required the highest level of fertilizer use. Crop cultivation and processing were found to be particularly influential in terms of climate change effects, representing shares of 45.37% and 41.70%, respectively. This had mainly result from high fertilizer and electricity use for crop cultivation and processing, respectively. When processing maize for flour production, higher levels of electricity-producing greenhouse gases were consumed than those consumed for the other two crops. Moreover, crop cultivation accounted for 71.22% of eutrophication processes due to high degrees of fertilizer application even though all three crops exhibit nearly identical eutrophication potentials. In turn, means of mitigating such impacts to increase the phosphorus use efficiency of this system were presented. The limitations of this study must also be examined and studied in the future.

Environmental benefits from the use of the residual biomass in nurseries

Every year, nurseries waste about 40t of residual biomass for each ha of potted plants cultivation. The European nursery sector deals with about 90,000ha of cultivated land and 120,000ha of nurseries, with a turnover of 19.8 billion Euros in 2011. In recent years, a number of Italian projects highlighted that GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions for the nursery sector range between 37tCO2eq/ha/year and 45tCO2eq/ha/year for potted plants, mainly due to the consumption of electric energy, plastics and peat. Moreover, other studies analyse the impacts associated to nurseries, recommending best practices for energy reductions and waste recycle or reuse. Therefore, the present work focused its attention to the possible environmental benefits associated to the reuse of residues (wood and substrate) of potted plants that are discarded from the nursery production chain. GHG emissions and fossil energy requirement were quantified by considering the CO2eq (CO2 equivalent) and the CER (cumulative energy requirement) respectively, in order to assess the environmental impacts of two different scenarios proposed for the materials recovery. Final results highlighted that the solutions which are able to recover the substrate and the wood allow impact reductions compared to landfill disposal. In particular, the scenario consisting in the immediate separation of the substrate from the root-plant system and the successive chipping of wood for energetic reuse, allows higher savings than those obtainable through shredding and subsequent wind separation. Moreover, for what concerns the CO2eq, an adequate use of the residual biomass make it possible to compensate the GHG emissions of the nurseries up to 15%.

Sustainable management of waste in green nursery: the Tuscan experience

The green nursery sector in Europe involves 90,000 ha of cultivated land and 120,000 ha for the nurseries (MiPAAF, 2012), reaching 19.8 billions of Euros in 2011. Every year, nurseries produce waste about 4 kg of the residual biomass for each m2 of the potted plants cultivation. Nurseries waste make up a substantial quantity of organic materials e.g. wood biomass-substrate, which could be retrieved and valorized. With the expansion of potted plants cultivation and the resulting increase in discarded products a number of companies have begun to setting up solutions for the recovery of materials accumulated. Analysis led to the development of a separating system based on trunk vibration technology. To this end, two shaker yard were identified, developed and tested for the recovery of residual biomasses. With these solutions, green waste can be easily grasped by a clamp device able to convey strong vibrations to the trunk (or to the aerial part of the plant) to the point that the soil materials are detached from the vegetable portions.

Potassium Fertilization in Rice–Wheat System across Northern India: Crop Performance and Soil Nutrients

Rice (Oryza sativa L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping in South Asia is under stress due to widespread removal of plant nutrients in excess of their application. We evaluated K, S, and Zn application to rice and wheat in 60 farmer’s fields in five districts across northern India. We compared the existing farmer’s fertilizer practice (FFP), which in most cases did not include application of K, S, or Zn, with application of K only, S + Zn, or K + S + Zn. Application of K increased rice yields by 0.6 to 1.2 Mg ha−1 and wheat yields by 0.2 to 0.7 Mg ha−1 across the locations varying in soil texture, soil K, climate, and irrigation. Application of S and Zn with K further increased yields. Added net return from fertilization with only K, as compared to FFP, ranged from U.S.$ 114 to 233 ha−1 for rice and U.S.$ 29 to 214 ha−1 for wheat. Added net return further increased when S and Zn were combined with K. Total plant K per unit of grain yield was comparable for mature rice and wheat (22 kg Mg grain−1). Soil exchangeable and non‐exchangeable K decreased without K application during one rice–wheat cropping cycle. Rice and wheat yields increased with application of K across the range in exchangeable soil K from 60 to 162 mg kg−1. Approaches are needed to reliably predict fertilizer K requirements when crops respond relatively uniformly to K across a wide range in exchangeable K.

Cotton-Grain Sorghum Rotation under Extreme Deficit Irrigation Conditions

There are over 1.0 million ha of cultivated land in the Southern High Plains of Texas, with about 40% in dryland production. Strategies that couple dryland production methods with very low levels of supplemental irrigation in contrast to current irrigated practices could stabilize crop output for an extended period at the expense of reduced agricultural productivity. An eight-year field experiment was conducted from 2001 to 2008 to develop cropping data for economic analysis. The principle goal was to compare a cotton (Gossypium hirsute L.) - sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] (2:1) rotation system to a continuous cotton system, both efficiently irrigated at levels well below the evapotranspiration rate of these crops. Seasonal irrigation capacities were approximately 0%, 20%, and 40% of peak evapotranspiration rates. The rotation strategy from 2003 to 2005 allowed the movement of limited irrigation between crops based on relative water needs at critical growth periods, and from 2006 to 2008, based on water needs of the crop with the higher economic value. The results showed that in years of below average rain, cotton following sorghum resulted in 18% to 44% higher lint yields compared to continuous cotton. In years of average rain, cotton lint yields following grain sorghum were generally higher than those of continuous cotton, averaging 21%, with a portion of the increase due to higher irrigation. And, in years of above average rain, significant yield differences due to rotation were minimal, particularly at the highest irrigation capacity. Directing available irrigation to the crop of higher value (cotton) at the expense of the lower value crop (sorghum) appeared to be a major factor in elevating seasonal irrigation water use efficiency (0.448 to 0.513 kg lint m-3) compared to irrigating the most water stressed crop (0.200 to 0.35 kg lint m-3). Although cotton lint yield tended to be higher in the rotation than the continuous cotton treatments, the rotation resulted in significantly lower gross irrigation value than the continuous cotton cropping system in most years.

History Matters: Relating Land-Use Change to Butterfly Species Occurrence

Western European landscapes have drastically changed since the 1950s, with agricultural intensifications and the spread of urban settlements considered the most important drivers of this land-use/land-cover change. Losses of habitat for fauna and flora have been a direct consequence of this development. In the present study, we relate butterfly occurrence to land-use/land-cover changes over five decades between 1951 and 2000. The study area covers the entire Swiss territory. The 10 explanatory variables originate from agricultural statistics and censuses. Both state as well as rate was used as explanatory variables. Species distribution data were obtained from natural history collections. We selected eight butterfly species: four species occur on wetlands and four occur on dry grasslands. We used cluster analysis to track land-use/land-cover changes and to group communes based on similar trajectories of change. Generalized linear models were applied to identify factors that were significantly correlated with the persistence or disappearance of butterfly species. Results showed that decreasing agricultural areas and densities of farms with more than 10 ha of cultivated land are significantly related with wetland species decline, and increasing densities of livestock seem to have favored disappearance of dry grassland species. Moreover, we show that species declines are not only dependent on land-use/land-cover states but also on the rates of change; that is, the higher the transformation rate from small to large farms, the higher the loss of dry grassland species. We suggest that more attention should be paid to the rates of landscape change as feasible drivers of species change and derive some management suggestions.

Diabrotica virgifera: procedure for official control

<i>Diabrotica virgifera</i>: procedure for official control

Sustainable land use planning based on ecological health

This paper, taking Beiwenquan Town of Beibei, Chongqing as an example, assessed the impacts of land use on ecological health by comprehensive index method, and discussed methodological system of sustainable land use planning based on ecological health. Results indicated that: 1) From 1992 to 2002, land use changes focused on 12 patterns with the total conversion area of 92.11%, which were related to cultivated land, residential and industrial-mining area, and orchard land. Urbanization and economic reconstruction with the leading driving forces. 2) There was obvious difference of the areas of ecotypes driven by land use change in wide valley and mild slope between 1992 and 2002, while there were little or no difference in steep slope and very steep slope. 3) Both of the conditions of ecological health in 1992 and 2002 were sound, and the ecotypes focused on the types of health and sub-health. But, health ecosystem in 1992, with an area of 764.64ha, accounting for 38.51% of the total evaluation area, was better than that in 2002, with an area of 636.10ha, accounting for 34.19% of the total evaluation area. 4) The ecotypes involved into different ranges have already degenerated, due to humankind’s disturbance, while the conditions of ecological health in the same range in 1992, regardless of stability and reconstruction, were better than that in 2002. 5) The planning scenario based on ecological health was accorded with the practice condition of Beiwenquan Town: 388.29ha of cultivated land could meet the Beiwenquan demand of food and byproduct; 1045.26ha of forest land area, the Beiwenquan demand of ecological health; and 1004.73ha of the residential and industrial-mining area, the Beiwenquan building demand. 6) Sustainable land use planning based on ecological health had higher useful value, because it not only stood to ecological theory, but also satisfied the development demand of society and economy.

A quantitative evaluation system of soil productivity for intensive agriculture in China

A system for the quantitative evaluation of soil productivity was developed and deployed in Gaoyou County, China. The study area, comprising 81,600 ha of cultivated land, was divided into 7367 evaluation units, and 19 soil properties were selected as factors for evaluation. Fuzzy analysis and expert score ranking combined with the Delphi method were used to quantify the membership functions of the evaluation factors selected. The weight contributions of individual factors to soil productivity were determined using the Delphi method and an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A geographic information system (GIS) was used to manipulate the spatial database of the study area. This evaluation system, which differentiates between the concepts of land productivity and soil productivity, has several advantages compared with the China Agriculture Ministry Land Evaluation System (CAMLES), and can deliver detailed soil information to help decision makers and farmers identify the optimal agricultural management practices for achieving higher soil productivity and sustainable soil use. The proposed system has been accepted as the standard method for evaluating soil productivity in China.

Ecology, ecological poverty and sustainable development in Central Himalayan region of India

SUMMARY The people inhabiting the mountains of the Central Himalayan region of India are heavily dependent on their immediate natural resources for their survival. However, this resource-poor mountain ecosystem is gradually becoming unable to provide a minimum standard of living to its continually growing population. In this ecosystem, human population is doubling every 27–30 years, against the declining resource base, particularly forests. Forest are disappearing both quantitatively and qualitatively. Against the requirement of 18 ha of forest land to maintain production in 1 ha of cultivated land, the ratio of forests to cultivated land is only 1.33: 1. The present production from grasslands supports 8 units of livestock, against the ideal 2 units, and the gap between the demand and deficit of fodder is more than 5-fold. Loss of vegetative cover is resulting in drying up of water resources, compelling the women to walk longer distances to collect water. This ecological deterioration, apart from human growth and interference, is compounded by mountain specificities such as inaccessibility, fragility, marginality, diversity, niche and adaptability. The specificities manifest in isolation, distance, poor communication, limited mobility, etc., resulting in limited external linkages and replication of external experiences, and slow pace of development. They, therefore, restrict options for economic growth, effecting poverty and affecting the quality of life of the people of the region. Poverty, in this mountain ecosystem cannot be understood and assessed independent of ecological wealth and would better be termed as ecological poverty. The development efforts to be effective in alleviating poverty here, should take into account mountain specificities and incorporate options which have larger human dimensions, such as mechanisms for population control, socio-economic and cultural conditioning, indigenous knowledge systems of the local people and simple technologies that are already in practice or have potential and are based on least external inputs.

Groundwater Exploitation and Its Impact on the Environment in the North China Plain

The North China Plain (NCP) is one of China's most important social, economic, and agricultural regions. Currently, the Plain has 17,950 thousand ha of cultivated land, 71.1 percent of which is irrigated, consuming more than 70 percent of the total water supply. Increasing water demands associated with rapid urban and industrial development and expansion of irrigated land have led to overexploitation of both surface and the ratio of groundwater resources, particularly north of the Yellow River. In 1993, the ratio of groundwater exploitation to recharge in many parts of the NCP exceeded 1.0; in some areas, the ratio exceeded 1.5. Consequently, about 1.06 million ha of water-short irrigated areas in the NCP also have poor water quality. Persistent groundwater overexploitation in the northern parts of the NCP has resulted in water-level declines in both shallow and deep aquifers. According to data from 600 shallow groundwater observation wells in the Hebei Plain, the average depth to water increased from 7.23 m in 1983 to 11.52 m in 1993, indicating an average water-table decline of 0.425 m/year. Water table declines are not uniformly distributed throughout the area. Depletion rates are generally greatest beneath cities and intensively groundwater-irrigated areas. Water-table declines have also varied over time. With the continued decline of groundwater levels, large depression cones have formed both in unconfined and confined aquifers beneath the Hebei Plain. Groundwater depletion in the NCP has severely impacted the environment. Large tracts of land that overlie cones of depression have subsided, seawater has intruded into previously freshwater aquifers in coastal plains, and ground-water quality has deteriorated due to salinization, seawater intrusion, and untreated urban and industrial wastewater discharge. In order to balance groundwater exploitation with recharge, the major remedial measures suggested are to strengthen groundwater management, to raise water use efficiency, to adjust the water-consumed structure, and to increase water supply

Halophytes – A resource for the future

One of the more urgent global problems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, is finding enough water and land to support the world’s growing food needs. By some estimates, an additional 500 million acres of new croplands are required over the next thirty years to feed burgeoning populations of the tropics and subtropics. Yet only 230 million acres are available in these areas for farming to expand. And, much of this land is forested and should realistically be preserved to maintain the integrity of remaining natural stands and ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, saline soils are a major problem of cultivated lands in semi-arid and arid areas. About 23% of the world’s 1.5 × 10 9 ha of cultivated land is saline and 37% is sodic. Approximately one third of the world’s irrigated land is salt-affected due chiefly to unsustainable irrigation practices. Freshwater resources are also being rapidly depleted and current agricultural irrigation practices are steadily increasing salinity levels in many regions. Rapid increases in population pressure are leading to greater utilization of remaining meager freshwater supplies for drinking, leaving even less for agriculture. In this complex scenario, it has become imperative to consider development of non-conventional agricultural technologies which might more effectively utilize degraded, marginal and saline lands for agriculture by using, the ‘so-called’, poor quality water (brackish water, seawater, and wastewater). An attractive option is the use of seawater or brackish water agriculture, and this has worked well in both inland and coastal sandy soils of some desert environments. Saline water aquifers exist in many arid lands of the world but these have been greatly under-utilized. This brackish water could be a major resource in saline agriculture to produce food, feed, and fiber and oil seeds on currently non-productive, saline arid lands. In further support of saline agriculture, there would be no shortage of water since seawater in the oceans makes up 97% of water on earth. Desert land is also plentiful, with around 43% of the earth’s total land surface being arid or semi-arid. A small portion of this (about 15%) is close to the sea and this would be convenient for growing crops using saline agriculture. This amounts to 130 million hectares of ‘new’ land that could arguably be brought into human or animal food production – without cutting down more forests or diverting scarce fresh water resources from current agricultural and community needs. Salt tolerant plants (halophytes, including salt marsh and mangrove plants) are highly evolved and specialised organisms with well-adapted morphological and physiological characteristics allowing them to proliferate in the soils possessing high salt concentrations. It is tempting to think we might exploit these plants for the better utilization of saline water, and for the rehabilitation of highly saline soils. Saline agriculture, however, must fulfill two conditions to be cost-effective. First, it must produce useful crops at yields high enough to justify the expense of pumping salty water. Second, researchers must develop successful agronomic techniques for growing saline, water-irrigated crops in a sustainable manner. These methods must also not contribute to further damage of natural environments. If applied successfully, this approach would lead to the domestication of wild, salttolerant plants for use as food, forage, and oilseed crops.

Area of cultivated acid sulfate soils in Finland

Abstract. A database of 1065 fields in all parts of Finland, two soil profiles (augerhole borings) per field, was screened for acid sulfate (a.s.) soils. Each field represented 2100 14;ha of cultivated land. Soil pH and redox potential were determined in the field, at intervals of 10 14;cm, to a depth of 200 14;cm. Of the maximum of 124 profiles considered as a.s. soils according to the Soil Taxonomy and ILRI (International Institute of Land Reclamation and Improvement) systems, 46 profiles exhibited pH &lt;3.5. These represented 48 14;000 14;ha of land. More than half of these severely acidic soils were associated with reduced subsoils and probably contained actively oxidizing sulfidic materials within 150 14;cm of the soil surface, while the remaining profiles were oxidized at least down to 150 14;cm. Using Soil Taxonomy criteria, the total area of cultivated a.s. soils was 67 14;000–130 14;000 14;ha. The minimum estimates exclude soils that may be leached or too low in sulfide to meet the criteria of a.s. soils. Application of the ILRI system produced an estimate of 61 14;000–130 14;000 14;ha. In the maximum estimate, 27% of the profiles were raw, 61% ripe and 12% potential a.s. soils. According to the FAO/UNESCO system, the area of cultivated a.s. soils (pH &lt;3.5 or assumed sulfidic materials) is considerably less: 43 14;000–78 14;000 14;ha. All these estimates are only a fraction of the area considered to be covered by a.s. soils by established Finnish criteria. The choice of estimate has important economic implications for liming subsidies and planning regulations for the drainage of a.s. soils.