Portuguese Agriculture Research Articles

Analysing the Recent Dynamics of Agricultural Sustainability in Portugal Using a Compromise Programming Approach

Society recognises the importance of agriculture to supply goods, which are essential for human survival and well-being. Sustainable agriculture is an important goal since resources need to be preserved for future generations. The recent agricultural policy orientations towards environmental concerns have also had consequences for Portuguese agriculture. The information provided by the 2019 Agricultural Census offers an opportunity to analyse the recent dynamics and establish rankings of municipalities related to agricultural sustainability. Sustainability in agriculture can be studied using different types of indicators, but its quantification and aggregation into an index is still difficult. This paper proposes an approach based on compromise programming to analyse sustainability considering the dynamics between the 2009 and 2019 Agricultural Census. This approach has three main steps: in the first one, the indicators are selected and a HJ-Biplot and Cluster analysis are carried out to identify groups of municipalities and general dynamics; in the second step, the weights of indicators are defined, and a novel compromise programming model is implemented to define the rankings of sustainability for each year; finally, in the third step, the spatial dynamics of the sustainability rankings are analysed and classified into the clusters of municipalities previously created. The analysis was implemented using data from the 308 Portuguese municipalities for 12 individual indicators encompassing the several dimensions of sustainability. The results were promising since the approach allowed for the identification of the main dynamics and tendencies regarding sustainability.

The State and Natural Resources: 250 Years of Rice Production in Portugal, 18th-21st Centuries

This article analyses rice production in Portugal from its establishment in the late eighteenth century to the present. Today, not only are the Portuguese the main consumers of rice in Europe, but this cereal is the second most-produced by Portuguese agriculture. However, the historical analysis of rice production in Portugal is limited to specific eras and/or geographies. This research aims to contribute to filling several research gaps, providing a long-term view of a current problem, as the terms of public support for rice production have recently been discussed. Thus, based mainly on statistical sources, the conclusion is that rice, after a phase of slow growth, established itself from the 1930s onwards as one of the main crops of Portuguese agriculture. In fact, rice was the only cereal in Portugal that managed to keep up with the increase in productivity of the other European countries. To this end, in conjunction with favourable agroecological and market factors, public policies were decisive, such as seed selection and the introduction of more productive varieties, the elimination of public health problems and the construction of major agricultural hydraulic public works.

The Impact of Energy Consumption and Agricultural Production on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Portugal

The consequences of climate change heavily influence the Mediterranean region. However, the Portuguese CO2 emission shows a decreasing tendency, the evolution of livestock and animal production have significantly increased its level in agriculture. The article investigates the role of the agricultural output and energy consumption in the environmental pollution in Portugal. It explores the short and long-run cointegration between carbon dioxide emissions and agricultural activities such as crop production, livestock production, and agricultural land use applying Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), Granger causality, Newey-West Standard Errors regression, as well as ARIMA model for the period of 1960-2015. The causality relation between CO2 emissions and agriculture is also analyzed. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root tests suggest that all variables are stationary. ARDL model demonstrates a long-run relationship between CO2 emissions, agriculture, and energy consumption. Results indicate that agricultural activities and energy use have a positive effect on environmental pollution; therefore, the Portuguese agriculture needs to achieve a higher level of sustainable development, with reducing the impact of animal husbandry and intensive crop production.

Developing Irrigation Management at District Scale Based on Water Monitoring: Study on Lis Valley, Portugal

Irrigation districts play a decisive role in Portuguese agriculture and require the adaptation to the new water management paradigm through a change in technology and practices compatible with farmers’ technical know-how and economic sustainability. Therefore, improvement of water management, focusing on water savings and increasing farmers’ income, is a priority. In this perspective, an applied research study is being carried out on the gravity-fed Lis Valley Irrigation District to assess the performance of collective water supply, effectiveness of water pumping, and safety of crop production due to the practice of reuse of drainage water. The water balance method was applied at irrigation supply sectors, including gravity and Pumping Irrigation Allocation. The average 2018 irrigation water allocated was 7400 m3/ha, being 9.3% by pumping recharge, with a global efficiency of about 67%. The water quality analysis allowed identifying some risk situations regarding salinization and microbiological issues, justifying action to solve or mitigate the problems, especially at the level of the farmers’ fields, according to the crops and the irrigation systems. Results point to priority actions to consolidate improved water management: better maintenance and conservation of infrastructure of hydraulic infrastructures to reduce water losses and better flow control; implementation of optimal operational plans, to adjust the water demand with distribution; improvement of the on-farm systems with better water application control and maintenance procedures; and improvement of the control of water quality on the water reuse from drainage ditches. The technological innovation is an element of the modernization of irrigation districts that justifies the development of multiple efforts and synergies among stakeholders, namely farmers, water users association, and researchers.

Human Capital, Innovation and Internationalization of Micro and Small Enterprises in Rural Territory - a Case Study

This paper investigates the relationship between human capital in micro and small enterprises and their respective behaviors in innovation and internationalization. Based on a case study of interpretative nature, from 2010 till 2012 we collected data about the agri‑food complex of Tagus Valley (Portugal) through triangulation of techniques typically used in qualitative research: direct observation (in farms, units of processing, storage and packaging food stuffs and wines, and regulatory and promotional agents); semi‑structured interviews with individuals representing the various categories of agents involved, alongside a survey with 110 business agents; and statistical data gathered in the Portuguese Agriculture Census. Survey data were object of descriptive, correlational and regression analyses. Our research provides evidence of firms making use of stable partnerships with intermediary economic agents and promoting organizations and demonstrating how effective are endogenous assets (especially those of non‑mercantile nature) to the competitiveness of a rural territory, in the framework of Common Agricultural Policy. In terms of public policies for competitiveness and innovation, according to an institutional view, the state and regional/local governments, research institutions (public or private), higher education institutions and business training centers, sharing a common agenda for endogenous assets valuation, might play a strategic role in an economy strongly built on micro and small enterprises, whose sustainability depends on collaborative networking.

The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency

Extended exergy accounting (EEA) is a methodology which estimates the extended exergy cost (EEC) of a product or a service or the extended exergy efficiency (EEE) of a country or economic sector taking into account materials, energy, labour, capital, and environmental impact. The use of EEA results for policy or planning purposes has been hampered by: (1) the lack of data to quantify the EEC of most of the inputs, making it almost impossible to quantify the EEC of a product or service and (2) the lack of a conceptual framework to quantify in a consistent way the exergy of labour and capital. In this paper, we make a review of past studies to identify, synthesize, and discuss the different EEA methods. We identified 3 different EEA methods, that we further compare using the Portuguese Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery (AFF) sector from 2000 to 2012. The equivalent exergies of labour and capital estimated for the AFF sector vary widely among the three EEA methodologies. We propose and test a new EEA methodology to estimate EEE which accounts for these fluxes in a more restricted scope but more consistently and that includes the Environmental Benefit (EB) that represents the capability of the forestry to capture carbon dioxide. Results show that the EEE of the Portuguese AFF sector has increased by 32% from 2000 to 2012.

Insights from over 30 years of common agricultural policy in Portugal

This article reviews scientific evidence on the different interrelationships between the Portuguese agricultural sector and the common agricultural policy (CAP) over the last three decades. The novelty lies in synthesizing relevant scientific literature regarding the CAP in Portugal complemented by empirical evidence. While there have been improvements in the impacts of Portuguese agriculture on the environment (although the CAP could be more ambitious in this regard), spatial asymmetries remain (despite some signs of convergence in the agricultural sector among the Portuguese Mainland NUTs II). Production has also changed with a reduction in arable cropping and an increase in pastures and livestock. The landscape has changed with an increase in construction and forestry and a reduction in soil use for agriculture and agroforestry. Competitiveness has decreased (mainly after the 1992 CAP reform), and in terms of agricultural policies, further adjustments will be needed to make the CAP better linked with local specific conditions.

Erratum to: Portuguese agriculture and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions-can vegetables control livestock emissions?

Erratum to: Portuguese agriculture and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions-can vegetables control livestock emissions?

BrAgriNews: Um Corpus Temporal-Causal (Português-Brasileiro) para a Agricultura

There has been a recent sharp increase in interest in academia and industry in applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to agricultural problems. Text mining and related natural language processing techniques, have been rarely used to tackle agricultural problems, and at the time of writing there was a single project in the Portuguese language. It is possible that the failure of researchers to use text mining techniques to analyze Portuguese texts to resolve agricultural problems may be due to a lack of freely available corpora. To correct the lack of a Portuguese language agriculture centric corpus we are releasing a Brazilian-Portuguese agricultural language resource, which is described by this paper. The corpus is partially non-contiguous and spans a time period from 1996 to 2016. It consists of news stories that have been scraped from Brazilian News sites that have been annotated with the following information types: causal, sentiment, named entities that include temporal expressions. The corpus has additional resources such as a: treebank, lists of frequent: unigrams, bigrams and trigrams, as well words or phrases that have been identified by journalists as either: ``important'' or domain specific. It is hoped that the release of this corpus will stimulate the adoption of text mining in agriculture in the Lusophonic research community.

Portuguese agriculture and the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions-can vegetables control livestock emissions?

One of the most serious externalities of agricultural activity relates to greenhouse gas emissions. This work tests this relationship for the Portuguese case by examining data compiled since 1961. Employing cointegration techniques and vector error correction models (VECMs), we conclude that the evolution of the most representative vegetables and fruits in Portuguese production are associated with higher controls on the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions. Reversely, the evolution of the output levels of livestock and the most representative animal production have significantly increased the level of CO2 (carbon dioxide) reported in Portugal. We also analyze the cycle length of the long-term relationship between agricultural activity and greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, we highlight the case of synthetic fertilizers, whose values of CO2 have quickly risen due to changes in Portuguese vegetables, fruit, and animal production levels.

A step toward regionalized scale‐consistent agricultural life cycle assessment inventories

Life cycle inventory (LCI) regionalization (i.e., the determination of input and output flows from production processes at a subcountry scale) is a priority in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, particularly in the agri-food sector. Many regionalized LCAs fail to ensure that microlevel inventories are consistent with country-level aggregated data-or "scale consistent." They also fail to construct LCIs using international reference guidelines and trustworthy standardized data sources. This failure generates inaccuracies and biases in inventories and can compromise comparability among international LCA studies. Our study introduces scale consistency as a principle for regionalized agri-food LCIs. We present a generic procedure that defines how scale-dependent LCI flows should be regionalized, depending on data availability. We then present a list of inventory flows that require regionalization and their suggested calculation procedures (methods and models) from 2 methodological guides developed by projects Agribalyse and World Food LCA Database. As proof of concept, we apply the procedure to Portugal and assess whether the methods and models proposed for each type of inventory flow in both guides can potentially be applied consistently with the data available. For 17 inventory flows, we apply calculated scale-consistent inventory flows for Portuguese agriculture, covering 260 products that can be used in future LCA studies. Comparing results with international databases, we show that this procedure can improve country-level estimates significantly. Our study is the first step in introducing scale consistency as a guiding principle for regionalized LCIs for agri-food LCA studies. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:939-951. © 2017 SETAC.

Characterization of bacterial communities from Masseiras, a unique Portuguese greenhouse agricultural system.

"Masseiras" is an ancient Portuguese agriculture system, where soil was developed from sand dunes enriched with seaweeds over more than a century. Due to the importance for the local economy, this system evolved for greenhouse structures. In this study we compared the bacterial community composition and structure of "Masseiras" soil, aiming at assessing the potential impact of different agricultural practices. The bulk soil of two greenhouses (following or not the recommended agriculture good practices, FGP and NFGP, respectively) was compared based on their physicochemical properties and bacterial community. In both FGP and NFGP, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Gemmatimonadetes were in a proportion of 5:1:1:1:1:1. However, the bacterial community of soil FGP was richer and more diverse than that of soil NFGP. Members of the classes Bacilli and Gemm-1, with higher relative abundance in NFGP and FGP, respectively, were those contributing most for distinguishing the bacterial communities of both soils. The differences in the structure of the bacterial communities correlated (Mantel test) with some soil physicochemical properties, such as electrical conductivity and nitrate and Zn contents, which were significantly higher in soil NFGP than in soil FGP.

Deviant behaviour? Inequality in Portugal 1565–1770

This study offers an estimate of Portuguese income inequality over a period of more than 200 years. It is presented in three widely spaced benchmarks: 1565, 1700 and 1770. This entirely new index is based in large measure on a little-researched annual personal income tax (decima) instituted in 1641. It covered all social classes, including nobility and clergy and every form of household earnings, and permits therefore a singularly accurate measure. It allows us to conclude that, in contrast with early modern Europe in general, Portugal experienced a notable decline in economic inequality. Several freshly minted quantitative indicators enable us to conclude that the burden of the explanation for this apparently ‘deviant’ behaviour can be ascribed to changes in the functional distribution of income. Significant transformations in Portuguese agriculture—towards labour-intensive products like maize and wine—permanently shifted the wage–rental ratio in favour of labour. The skill premium fell but its contribution was relatively modest. It was a time of sustained economic growth, but this was not associated with pronounced urbanization or industrialization.

A brief overview of the portuguese agriculture – its evolution, performance and current situation

No ano que vem, 2016, passam 30 anos sobre a adesão de Portugal à União Europeia, na altura a CEE (Comunidade Económica Europeia). Este artigo é uma breve apresentação geral da agricultura Portuguesa e da sua evolução, performance e situação actual, nesse contexto temporal. A agricultura Portuguesa e a sua importância para o país é caracterizada. Os principais factores que caracterizam a evolução da sua performance nesses anos e a situação actual, incluindo o enquadramento geral e histórico, o clima e o ambiente, as características estruturais e socio-económicas, o desenvolvimento das áreas rurais, o comércio internacional e as políticas agrícolas e de desenvolvimento rural, são revistos para fornecer uma perspectiva global da sua evolução.

Xylella fastidiosa: a new menace for Portuguese agriculture and forestry

Xylella fastidiosa is a gram-negative bacterium classified as a quarantine pest by EPPO (A1 list), since 1981. Is a xylem-limited bacteria, with a wide host range (more than 300 species), that affects economically important agricultural crops. It is a challenge of almost 30 years in America for grapevine (Pierce's disease) and citrus (Citrus Variegated Chlorosis) farmers. The first outbreak in Europe was reported in October 2013 in southern Italy, in Puglia region, Salento area. The CoDiRO strain (Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca) was responsible for the named – Complesso del disseccamento rapido dell'olivo (CoDiRO). More than 8000 ha of olive trees have been destroyed and nearly 21 000 ha are in quarantine, which counts for more than 53 million euros in losses. It was confirmed, in January 2015, by the European Food Safety Authority, that, the X. fastidiosa spreading is far from being contained. EFSA experts have alerted European countries that X. fastidiosa is now “very likely” to spread, posing a major risk to European olive trees and have warned that the disease is a “very serious threat” to European agriculture. There is no record of successful eradication of X. fastidiosa once it has been established. A wide-ranging research is necessary because X. fastidiosa has a remarkable power of adaptation. It has been proven that introgression events allowed X. fastidiosa to access new hosts. Its natural competence to acquire new genes turns it into a phytopatogen with all the necessary conditions to adapt almost to any ecological niche.

First Report of Xanthomonas campestris pv. raphani Causing Leaf Spot Disease of Brassica oleracea in Portugal.

Representing over 25% of the vegetable production, Brassicaceae crops are very important for Portuguese agriculture. Xanthomonas campestris pv. raphani (Xcr) was first described as the causative agent of a leaf spot disease affecting radish and turnip (4). Despite its ability to infect Solanaceae hosts upon inoculation, this pathogen affects mostly Brassicaceae plants. Typical symptoms include circular dark spots that become lighter and are occasionally surrounded by a chlorotic halo. In severely affected leaves, spots were not limited by the veins and coalesced into irregular shapes that perforated the leaves, rendering the plants unsuitable for marketing. In the early 2000s, several isolates causing leaf spots on Brassica oleracea varieties (cauliflower, white cabbage, savoy cabbage, and tronchuda cabbage) were collected in Sintra, near Lisbon. The isolates, identified as putative X. campestris (Xc), formed typical yellow mucoid and convex colonies when grown on YDC medium. Biochemical characterization (2) showed their ability to produce levan and hydrolyze starch and esculin. Isolates were also able to use celobiose, trehalose, glucose, mannose, raffinose, and sucrose. Furthermore, the isolates were oxidase negative and were unable to hydrolyze arginine and to use rhamnose, indol, inositol, and sorbitol, confirming them as Xc. The expected 619-bp amplicon was obtained for all isolates, after PCR using primers DLH120/DLH125 (1). Koch's postulates were fulfilled through pathogenicity tests on B. oleracea cv. Wirosa and Raphanus sativus, hosts susceptible to Xcr as well as to X. campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). Inoculations on B. carinata (Assession No. PI199947) and Solanum lycopersicum, hosts susceptible only to Xcr, were performed to confirm pathovar identification (2). Four plants of each host were inoculated with each isolate by spraying bacterial water suspensions (OD600 = 0.1) onto leaf surfaces. Positive and negative controls were performed using Xcc type strain (CFBP 5241) and sterile distilled water, respectively. Plants were kept 15 days with 16-h light and 8-h dark photoperiods at 24 and 18°C, respectively, at RH >80% and checked daily for symptom development. Leaf spots typical of Xcr were observed for all isolates on all hosts 5 days after inoculation. All isolates were recovered after re-isolation from inoculated plants, retaining their initial features. Negative control plants showed no symptoms, while CFBP 5241 caused V-shaped lesions, typical of Xcc, on B. oleracea cv. Wirosa and R. sativus. Further confirmation of the identification was attained by partial sequencing of the gyrB gene, using primers X.gyr.fsp.s1/X.gyr.rsp3 (3). Sequences from four isolates (CPBF 143, Genbank KM094906; CPBF 207, GenBank KM094907; CPBF 209, GenBank GU596416; and CPBF 1171, GenBank GU596419) were compared by nucleotide blast at NCBI and displayed higher levels of DNA similarity (>98%) to NCPPB 1946, the type strain for Xcr, than to NCPPB 528, the type strain for Xcc. The polyphasic approach combining phenotypic and genomic data confirmed the presence of X. campestris pv. raphani in Portugal for the first time.

Entrepreneurial potential of Portuguese agriculture higher education students: a case from the Alto Tras-os-Montes region, Portugal

Ascertaining students’ entrepreneurial intention and looking into their perception of the obstacles surrounding the entrepreneurial process are the objectives of this research. To achieve these objectives, a cross-sectional, quantitative, observational and analytical study was developed. To carry out this study, a random sample constituted by 269 students from Braganza School of Agriculture was collected. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests, namely, Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov with Lilliefors correction test and Levene test were computed using SPSS 16.0. A likely bankruptcy was identified as a critical factor in starting up a business. Lack of financial support was pointed as the major difficulty concerning business development. However, according to the results, 35.2 % of the respondents would like to create their own business and contribute to the development of the regional economy, specifically, in the agriculture, food, biotechnological and environmental sectors.

The drivers of intellectual sustainability in a regional agriculture, cattle, and forest farmstead

Intellectual capital drivers emerge in the national and regional economies as a key source of integrated sustainability. The company analysed in the case study is the largest Portuguese agriculture, cattle, and forest farmstead, covering several marshlands. As the largest agricultural company, its primary mission is the cost effectiveness and efficient management of their agricultural and environmental heritage, in respect for biodiversity and for environmental values. Located in the region of Lisbon and Tagus valley, the diversity of their activities (forest exploration; hunting; agriculture; wines and olive oil production; and tourism) requires an integrated research towards the identification and disclosure of drivers that best contribute for company reputation and turnover. Through a descriptive and interpretive case study approach, a set of intellectual sustainability drivers (e.g., forest's certification, brands' certifications, commercial brands, commercial agreements, R&D projects, protected areas classification, etc.) were identified and categorised. All of them were aggregated in five categories, such as certification, brands and trademarks, awards, alliances and networks, and biodiversity reputation. As a regional and national source of economic development, that categorisation can also provide the basis for a theoretical framework towards the design of an intellectual sustainability scoreboard, applicable to similar organisations worldwide.

Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development

Paper aims to demonstrate the ability or inability of Portuguese agriculture to respond to changing economic conditions as well as societal expectations and demands. The main question is to know how the CAP’s evolutions through a policy with a double emphasis – on market orientation and competitiveness and on sustainability.

Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development

AsinEurope,agricultureinPortugalissupposedtofulfill a multiplicity of roles. It should contribute to supply Portuguese population with quality and safe food, to be viable in a global, competitive, dynamic and aggressive market, to preserve precious cultural landscapes across country through sustainable land management, to assist rural areastobeattractiveandfeasibleandtosupportemployment and social cohesion. Nevertheless, adjustments are expected to adapt to new environmental conditions, mainly climate change, to minimize weaknesses, to hold new opportunities and face new challenges. Otherwise, increases on human desertification, rural areas abandonment and consequent negative effects on territory are predictable.