Sustainable Agricultural Policy Research Articles

The structure of mental models of sustainable agriculture

Progress towards sustainability is hampered by differing perceptions of how to advance goals in systems characterized by massive interdependency. Systems thinking has been advocated as a model for improving understanding and management of complex systems, but theory and methods to analyse systems thinking are not well developed. We propose and apply a new way of assessing systems thinking using social network tools to analyse mental models. We examine the cognitive maps of 148 thought leaders in sustainable agriculture in California and measure the extent to which each map captures six fundamental causal patterns. We find that the more complex forms of causal structure that are associated with systems thinking are relatively under-represented in the experts’ maps. Our findings have important implications for individual and collective decision making about sustainable agriculture and other science and policy debates involving complex systems. Cognitive mapping reveals how people think about complex systems and enables hypothesis tests on understanding interdependency. This study finds that education and experience are associated with more nuanced form of complex-systems thinking in sustainable agriculture, such as feedback loops and indirect effects.

Land use management in the Galapagos: A preliminary study on reducing the impacts of invasive plant species through sustainable agriculture and payment for ecosystem services

AbstractTerrestrial invasive species have been identified as one of the largest threats to endemic plants and wildlife in Galapagos, and their spread remains one of the biggest challenges for the region. The management of these species is a common link among all land‐use activities, and impacts all residents as economic activities in Galapagos are linked to its status as a unique landscape. The study aims, through the use of key informant interviews, policy documents and literature, to provide new insights into plant invasive species management by exploring two land‐use interventions—and the associated challenges and opportunities—currently being proposed by policymakers, academics, and other relevant actors. These are (a) local sustainable agricultural production and (b) policies and mechanisms, specifically the ‘Buen vivir’ paradigm with/and payments for ecosystem services. It explores how these can create bridges and be beneficial to both conservation and development. However, although the initiatives offer real opportunities to manage and control invasive species, challenges remain in the form of how these activities will be carried out and by whom. Findings show that probable success is dependent on community inclusion with coordinated and integrated approaches from robust institutions with connectivity among land‐use actors/managers. In addition, support is needed for organisations/stakeholders that are currently tackling the invasive species issue. Studies on land use remain crucial as relatively contained and pristine landscapes such as Galapagos are likely to be increasingly important as a means to detect human‐induced alterations at the frontiers of ecology.

Pertanian Perdesaan Lampung: Peluang dan Tantangan Lampung Rural Agriculture; Opportunities And Challenges F

The numbers of Lampung residents with average monthly expenditure per capita below the poverty line are still quite large (14.86%). Most of the poor are in the district (76.26%) and are rural communities dependent on the agricultural sector for their livelihoods. Rural agricultural communities face complex problems including: the limitations of land access, capital, technology, markets, and institutions. This project, conducted in 2014, was a series of research collaboration of universities (PEKERTI) between State Polytechnic of Lampung (Polinela) as Research Team Proposer (TPP) with University of Lampung (Unila) as Research Partner Team (TPM). Method of depth analysis about Lampung rural agriculture society condition during 10 years and cross tabulation were conducted based on Lampung Input Output Table 2010. The secondary data were obtained from Provincial BPS (Lampung Statistic Office) and some other related technical agencies. The results of the discussion showed that the portrait of Lampung agriculture is dominated by rural farming which faces very complex problems. The complexity of the problems within agricultural society is a resultant of the limitations faced by farmers in accessing capital, land, technology and institutional resources. This condition boils down to structural poverty. The key to the work of sustainable rural agricultural development policy is the occurrence of synergy in overcoming obstacles which include: local agro-climatic conditions, site-specific technologies, availability of biomass, economic incentives, product markets, information access, land tenure, institutional, extension, and political constraints.

Non-Market Ecosystem Services of Agricultural Land and Priorities Towards a More Sustainable Agriculture in Italy

Ecosystems provide a range of services, commonly called Ecosystem Services (ESs), which are of fundamental importance to human well-being, health, livelihoods, and survival. One of the largest and most productiveecosystems is agricultural land. Agro-Ecosystems provide a range of services directly linked to the market (e.g. food and raw materials production) but also many others of high ecological value, which have an indirect economical contribution in the GDP (non-market ESs). These non-market services are not usually taken into account in the development of agricultural management strategies while their contribution is reduced due to non-sustainable agricultural practices. The aim of the study is to assess the potential economic contribution of the non-market services at national, regional, and provincial level in Italy and to propose a simplified index-based method for setting priorities at different scales of administration units for the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs). The results of the study showed that the potential non-market value of agro-ecosystem services (AESs) in Italy can reach ~46.2 billion USD$2007. This estimate shows that non-market AESs can play an important role in the national GDP if SAPs are followed. Finally, a priority ranking scheme for the implementation of SAPs was proposed at regional and provincial level which can be a valuable decision support tool for promoting sustainable agriculture policies.

Spatial Dependence and Determinants of Dairy Farmers’ Adoption of Best Management Practices for Water Protection in New Zealand

This paper analyses spatial dependence and determinants of the New Zealand dairy farmers' adoption of best management practices to protect water quality. A Bayesian spatial durbin probit model is used to survey data collected from farmers in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The results show that farmers located near each other exhibit similar choice behaviour, indicating the importance of farmer interactions in adoption decisions. The results also address that information acquisition is the most important determinant of farmers' adoption of best management practices. Financial problems are considered a significant barrier to adopting best management practices. Overall, the existence of distance decay effect and spatial dependence in farmers' adoption decisions highlights the importance of accounting for spatial effects in farmers' decision-making, which emerges as crucial to the formulation of sustainable agriculture policy.

Innovative approaches for rural livelihood security through integrated farming system (IFS)

Indian as well as global agriculture will face several challenges over the coming decades because it must produce more food to feed affluent and growing populations. Improving agricultural productivity while conserving and enhancing natural resources is also another problem in Indian agriculture. The solution of aforesaid problem in changing scenario is sustainability in agriculture production. In India, rural economy suffers from poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, limited diversification of farming and degradation of natural resources such water, land and forest. Livelihood diversification is essential for poverty reduction, food security, rural livelihood security and improved income for rural farming community. Sustainable agriculture policies can better serve the goal of poverty reduction as well as rural livelihood security. The efforts to stimulate and support to the sustainable agricultural growth are essential for the rural livelihood security and rural development in India.

From the research on socially-sustainable agriculture (42)

This publication has been prepared under the Multi-Annual 2015-2019 Programme The Polish and the EU agricultures 2020+. Challenges, chances, threats, proposals, within the subject Dilemmas of the development of sustainable agriculture in Poland, which involves three research tasks, as follows: Global and national conditions of the sustainable development of agriculture, Economic assessment of external effects and public goods in agriculture, Sustainable agriculture and food security. Chapters: Social objectives in sustainable agricultural and rural development policy. Internalisation of selected gases emission into the atmosphere through their market valuation. Food security and biodiversity conservation – key challenges of the 21st century.

Strategie Dilemmas of the Rural and Farming Policy in Poland

The course on sustainable agricultural and rural development (SARD) was politically adopted. In view of this, there appears the issue of the policy of support of such development because market mechanisms are not sufficient in this respect. An effective policy requires relying on developed and politically adopted strategy of development, in which vision and strategic social goals will be defined. Among social goals, being in the field of view of the sustainable agricultural and rural development policy, the most important ones relate to the food security, natural environment, vitality of the rural environment and family farms. The purpose of the study is to identify the most important dilemmas of strategic importance for each of the distinguished goals and their appropriate justification.

Effectiveness of role of local government peace and security committee (PSC) in farmer pastoralist conflict prevention in Ibadan/ Ibarapa agricultural zone of Oyo State, Nigeria

Conflict resolution approach of Local Government Peace and Security Committee (PSC) set up in Ibarapa area of Oyo state is pertinent and exemplary to the realization of the important goal of a food secured country and achievement of sustainable agricultural development policy in the country. The study examined stakeholders’ effectiveness of role of Local Government PSC in preventing farmer-pastoralist conflicts in Ibadan/ Ibarapa Agricultural zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A total of 170 respondents (86 farmers and 84 pastoralists) were selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, chi-square and Correlation. Majority (80.3%) were below 50 years of age. There were more males than females. Destruction of crops, water pollution and competition for land were the main causes of farmer-pastoralist conflicts. Respondents were aware of preventive measures of payment of fines by the violators (81.2%), formation of local community associations (77.1%) likewise education of herders and farmers (76.5%) as measures adopted for conflict resolution. Sex, religion, educational status, marital status and age were significantly related to perceived effectiveness of roles of PSC. Cattle rustling (r=0.208), destruction of crops (r = 0.170), female harassment (r = 0.180) and water pollution (r =0.275) showed positive and significant relationship with perceived effectiveness of PSC. The t-test result shows that the perception of farmers (Mean = 66.93) and pastoralists (Mean = 77.93) were significantly different (t = -59) in terms the effectiveness of roles of the PSC committee. Measures used by the PSC were not effective enough, more pro-active measures to resolve farmer-herder conflicts should be incorporated through a participatory approach.

Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems through the Lenses of a Complex System Thinking Approach—A Bibliometric Review

The multidimensionality and complexity of assuring food security in a sustainable and inclusive way requires us to think in systems. Yet, sector specific models or agricultural productivity models are not able by construction to represent the non-linearity and time-dependent nature of the relations underpinning the agri-food system. Two alternative modelling approaches, i.e., System Dynamics (SD) and Agent Based Models (ABM), gained increasing attention in particular after the food commodities prices spikes in 2007 thanks to the conceptual and structural advantages that they provide to the study of food system complexity. In this paper, we develop a first, rigorous bibliometric analysis based on pattern recognition analysis reviewing the peer review journal publications focused on agri-food systems. Using the ISIWeb of Science dataset provided by Thomson Reuters, we apply citation/co-citation semantic metrics to analyse publications from 1970 to 2016 in the field of agricultural models divided in two categories that we define as: (i) agricultural complex systems modelling (ACSM) that includes SD and ABM modelling exercised; and (ii) agricultural modelling (AM) that includes traditional approaches to agri-food systems modelling rooted on the neoclassical approach (e.g., Computable General Equilibrium Models and Partial Equilibrium Models). The publications are identified by applying a filter of specific keywords to the search. We then compare how both approaches appear in the literature looking at the number of publications and citations by scientific journals, identifying key authors and journals, their frequency, the impact factor and citations, and looking at their trend through time. Results show the prevalence of AM approaches for the analysis of the agri-food sector on one side, and the smaller but growing contribution of the ACSM community and literature on the other. We conclude by remarking the need for more systematic analyses on the contribution of the two approaches to the analysis of the complex dynamics and behaviour of agri-food systems to inform evidence-based policies for sustainable and inclusive agriculture.

Reconciling agriculture and biodiversity in European public policies: a bio-economic perspective

Agriculture has been identified as a major driver of the current significant changes in farmland biodiversity. Taking into account these environmental impacts, agriculture today aims at a more sustainable way of producing that would reconcile its economic and ecological functions. A new approach based on bio-economic modeling has been recently developed to explore different facets of such reconciliation and to understand how to promote sustainable agricultural public policies. In this paper, we review the contributions of such approach. The review shows that it is possible to reconcile agriculture and biodiversity with public policies, since it is possible to increase simultaneously the economic and ecological performances of agricultural landscapes compared to the current trends. However, it is not possible to optimize this reconciliation: The different criteria cannot be maximized simultaneously, and some trade-offs emerge between economic and ecological criteria in optimality. To go further, some bio-economic studies open new perspectives. For example, they suggest studying the society as a whole instead of focusing on the agricultural sector or going beyond the concept of optimality by stressing the idea of viability. In addition to reforming the current agricultural policies, deeper debates on the notion of sustainability have to be held.

Time effects of climate change mitigation strategies for second generation biofuels and co-products with temporary carbon storage

Second generation biofuels offer a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and storing or delaying soil carbon emissions relative to petroleum-based fuels depending upon the strategy used to synthesize the biofuel and co-products. Unless mitigated, the soil organic carbon and nitrogen loss resulting from removing agricultural residues for biofuel production may cause life cycle greenhouse gas emissions to surpass national policy thresholds, and thus risk non-compliance with renewable fuel policy. Strategies to mitigate soil organic carbon loss such as using nutrient and carbon-rich, and stable land amendments will lead to time-variable greenhouse gas credits. Recent studies have argued for using time-dependent rather than time-averaged radiative forcing methods for biofuel greenhouse gas accounting but few life cycle assessment studies have examined the impact of time-varying emissions of soil organic carbon using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tier 3 models. This study applies a time-dependent radiative forcing approach to a 100-year time-series data set of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for lignocellulosic ethanol that includes temporally variable soil greenhouse gas emissions. This study demonstrates that averaging soil emissions and neglecting the time when the sequestration or release occurs within a selected time horizon can lead to a 9% to over 80% overestimation of the magnitude of the effect of the mitigation strategy. This affirms that employing strategies to maintain soil organic carbon stock early within a biofuel program supports climate change mitigation. Such strategies would guide farmers to best manage soil carbon within the biofuel production life cycle. Time-dependent approaches underscore the need for early measures of greenhouse gas curtailment to support sustainable renewable biofuel and agricultural policy.

A decision tool for sustainable agricultural policies: the case of water saving scenarios for Apulia Region (Southern Italy)

The economy of Apulia Region largely depends on agriculture but the scarce water resources are the main factor threatening the sustainable production of this sector. This paper describes a geographical information system (GIS) based water balance tool that integrates maps of crops, climate and soil parameters with various scenarios of cropping pattern and farming practice changes. The aim is to assess the implication of these scenarios on the spatial and volumetric water needs of the region's irrigated agriculture. The total net volumetric irrigation needs, under current land use and full irrigation practices, were estimated on an average year to be 973 million m3. The deficit irrigation practices currently used in Capitanata water districts can save a volume of 302 million m3 if they are extrapolated over the entire region. Based on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a replacement of 30% of the actual tomato areas in Foggia Province with sunflowers (energy crop) or durum wheat (rainfed crop) has potential water saving of 9 million m3 and 67 million m3, respectively. An additional 103 million m3 of water saving may be obtained through modernisation of the vineyards' growing practices. Findings of this paper could be used to address the agricultural policies towards a sustainable use of the scarce fresh water.

Forecasting the effects of land use scenarios on farmland birds reveal a potential mitigation of climate change impacts.

Climate and land use changes are key drivers of current biodiversity trends, but interactions between these drivers are poorly modeled, even though they could amplify or mitigate negative impacts of climate change. Here, we attempt to predict the impacts of different agricultural change scenarios on common breeding birds within farmland included in the potential future climatic suitable areas for these species. We used the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) to integrate likely changes in species climatic suitability, based on species distribution models, and changes in area of farmland, based on the IMAGE model, inside future climatic suitable areas. We also developed six farmland cover scenarios, based on expert opinion, which cover a wide spectrum of potential changes in livestock farming and cropping patterns by 2050. We ran generalized linear mixed models to calibrate the effects of farmland cover and climate change on bird specific abundance within 386 small agricultural regions. We used model outputs to predict potential changes in bird populations on the basis of predicted changes in regional farmland cover, in area of farmland and in species climatic suitability. We then examined the species sensitivity according to their habitat requirements. A scenario based on extensification of agricultural systems (i.e., low-intensity agriculture) showed the greatest potential to reduce reverse current declines in breeding birds. To meet ecological requirements of a larger number of species, agricultural policies accounting for regional disparities and landscape structure appear more efficient than global policies uniformly implemented at national scale. Interestingly, we also found evidence that farmland cover changes can mitigate the negative effect of climate change. Here, we confirm that there is a potential for countering negative effects of climate change by adaptive management of landscape. We argue that such studies will help inform sustainable agricultural policies for the future.

Socio-Environmental Survey of an Ecologically Important Hamlet of Darjeeling District West Bengal, India

Forest cover in hills is essential to maintain environmental, economic and ecological balances. North Bengal accounts for 3,086 sq km (26 %) of the 11,876 sq km area of classified forests in the state, and for nearly 5,000 sq km (40 %) of all land under tree cover. Upper Chatakpur is one of the emerging ecotourism spots of north Bengal, located at an altitude of 7887 feet in Darjeeling district. It is a 180 years old ethnic village with 19 houses and a population of about 89, and at an altitude of 7887 ft. It is about 8 km. from Sonada (26° 57' N, 88° 16' E), 22 km. from Darjeeling (26° 2' N, 88° 15' E) and 72 km. from Siliguri (26° 42' N, 88° 25' E). Upper Chatakpur Village situated within Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, Darjeeling. The sanctuary with an area of 38.88 sq. km has an elevation of 1500-2600 m. The survey work was done in December, 2014 by visiting upper Chatakpur village and the primary data were gathered through field survey and direct contact with common people and authorized centers of the region. Surveys on the topography, demography, agriculture, livestock, water management, education, culture, health, waste management, transport, biodiversity, human animal conflict were done in this area. Medicinal plant diversity was studied in the village area and information was gathered from the local forest department centre. Information regarding the transport system was collected from the local transport office and syndicate. Census report was collected from the Sonada Panchayat Office. Health and education information was collected from the local primary school and the local sub health centre. Information on sustainable agricultural practices and waste management policies is collected through surveys in the village houses and agricultural fields. Biodiversity of Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary was documented by visiting the forest areas. Pictorial documentation was done in every phase of study. In spite of getting so much attention in the recent time, the village is not adequately developed. There is an urgent need for implementing sustainable management systems in the areas for the betterment of the socio-environmental structures. Some of the possible management strategies have been suggested for maintaining the social, environmental, economic and ecological balance of the region.

Socio-Environmental Survey of an Ecologically Important Hamlet of Darjeeling District West Bengal, India

Forest cover in hills is essential to maintain environmental, economic and ecological balances. North Bengal accounts for 3,086 sq km (26 %) of the 11,876 sq km area of classified forests in the state, and for nearly 5,000 sq km (40 %) of all land under tree cover. Upper Chatakpur is one of the emerging ecotourism spots of north Bengal, located at an altitude of 7887 feet in Darjeeling district. It is a 180 years old ethnic village with 19 houses and a population of about 89, and at an altitude of 7887 ft. It is about 8 km. from Sonada (26° 57' N, 88° 16' E), 22 km. from Darjeeling (26° 2' N, 88° 15' E) and 72 km. from Siliguri (26° 42' N, 88° 25' E). Upper Chatakpur Village situated within Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, Darjeeling. The sanctuary with an area of 38.88 sq. km has an elevation of 1500-2600 m. The survey work was done in December, 2014 by visiting upper Chatakpur village and the primary data were gathered through field survey and direct contact with common people and authorized centers of the region. Surveys on the topography, demography, agriculture, livestock, water management, education, culture, health, waste management, transport, biodiversity, human animal conflict were done in this area. Medicinal plant diversity was studied in the village area and information was gathered from the local forest department centre. Information regarding the transport system was collected from the local transport office and syndicate. Census report was collected from the Sonada Panchayat Office. Health and education information was collected from the local primary school and the local sub health centre. Information on sustainable agricultural practices and waste management policies is collected through surveys in the village houses and agricultural fields. Biodiversity of Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary was documented by visiting the forest areas. Pictorial documentation was done in every phase of study. In spite of getting so much attention in the recent time, the village is not adequately developed. There is an urgent need for implementing sustainable management systems in the areas for the betterment of the socio-environmental structures. Some of the possible management strategies have been suggested for maintaining the social, environmental, economic and ecological balance of the region.

Optimal land and water resources allocation policies for sustainable irrigated agriculture

Conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater is being practiced in many regions of the world to bring more areas under irrigation, increase agricultural production and productivity, and also maintain overall system balance. Successful agricultural water management policies put the physical, hydro-geological, and socio-economic constraints on these integrated water supplies. To sustain these constraints, a linear programming (LP) model has been developed for optimal land and water resources allocation in various sectors of the Hirakud Canal Command, a multi-purpose irrigation project on the river Mahanadi in eastern India. To enhance the decision-taking ability of the Hirakud command area development authority, a menu-driven and user-friendly software has been developed by Visual-Basic that incorporates model-base, data-base, knowledge-base subsystems along with the user-interface. The model-base subsystem includes LP, groundwater balance, and evapotranspiration models. The data-base subsystem includes the meteorological, crop, and water resources data. The knowledge-base subsystem was developed from the knowledge derived from the results of the aforementioned models. Sensitivity analysis of the LP model parameters was performed by varying the parameters that affect the optimal cropping pattern and groundwater allocation. The result indicates that conjunctive use of 87% surface water and 13% groundwater is the sustainable water allocation policy of the command area. The model results also indicate that a 20% deviation in existing cropping pattern is the best alternative as it considered socio-economic need and also meets the entire food demand of the study area.

Health and Sustainability in the Canadian Food System: Advocacy and Opportunity for Civil Society

Health and Sustainability in the Canadian Food System: Advocacy and Opportunity for Civil Society

‘Milk is Milk’: Organic Dairy Adoption Decisions and Bounded Rationality

Bounded rationality is an especially appropriate framework for organic dairy adoption decisions as it recognizes internal and external constraints which are critical in understanding complex farm decision making. Farmers use of, and access to, information is examined using interview data gathered from organic, conventional, managed graziers, and Amish dairy farmers in Southwestern Wisconsin at a time when organic milk prices offered a 50% premium over conventional prices. Focusing on certain aspects and impressions of organic dairy, such as the sentiment that “milk is milk”, may lead to information satisficing where farmers do not take full advantage of the information available to them. Organic farmer interviews reveal the challenges they faced with bounded rationality constraints and how they countered these challenges with the help of social networks, as well as how situational factors such as economic and health crises may have motivated them to adopt organic dairy. The interview data from organic and conventional farmers alike also reveals how many conventional dairy farmers utilized information strategies which did not fully consider the pros and cons of the organic system. A bounded rationality framework could enlighten policy makers and educators as they tailor sustainable agricultural policy design and information dissemination strategies to serve the diversity of farmers on the landscape.

Mapping Food Price, Agricultural Productivity and Poverty Changes by Development Domains in Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Development and Poverty Reduction Policies

Mapping Food Price, Agricultural Productivity and Poverty Changes by Development Domains in Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Development and Poverty Reduction Policies