Hailstorm risk assessment for crop areas in Moldova Region (Romania)

Estimating the impact of hail on agricultural land is needed in order to streamline damage reduction methods. In this regard, hail risk maps were prepared for the region of Moldova for the main types of crops (wheat and rye, corn, potato, sugar beet, sunflower, vegetables, orchards and vineyards). The methodology that we used consists in determining the risk map, as the product between the hazard map (average annual number of days with hail), the exposure map (agricultural crop value) and the vulnerability map (the percentage occupied by a certain agricultural crop in the administrative units). Areas with severe hail risk are in the eastern half of Vrancea County, the western part of Galati County and the northeastern part of Iasi County, where there are large areas cultivated with vines, orchards and vegetables. In Vaslui County, the most exposed ATUs are those in the vicinity of Bârlad, Fălciu Hills and the Huși wine area. Most AUs in Bacău and Suceava counties, in the southern part of Neamț County, are included in the medium and high-risk classes due to the suitable conditions for cultivating most plants and the higher frequency of hail. The ATUs from Botosani County are included in the low and medium risk classes. The lowest level of risk is registered in the case of AUs from the mountainous area, the Curvature Subcarpathians and the areas with higher altitudes from the Central Moldavian Plateau and Tutova Hills.

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Evaluating Forest Cover and Fragmentation in Costa Rica with a Corrected Global Tree Cover Map

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12193226 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (19) ◽

pp. 3226

Author(s):

Daniel Cunningham ◽

Paul Cunningham ◽

Matthew E. Fagan

Keyword(s):

Costa Rica ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Forest Area ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Forest Change ◽

Alos Palsar ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

The Impact

Global tree cover products face challenges in accurately predicting tree cover across biophysical gradients, such as precipitation or agricultural cover. To generate a natural forest cover map for Costa Rica, biases in tree cover estimation in the most widely used tree cover product (the Global Forest Change product (GFC) were quantified and corrected, and the impact of map biases on estimates of forest cover and fragmentation was examined. First, a forest reference dataset was developed to examine how the difference between reference and GFC-predicted tree cover estimates varied along gradients of precipitation and elevation, and nonlinear statistical models were fit to predict the bias. Next, an agricultural land cover map was generated by classifying Landsat and ALOS PalSAR imagery (overall accuracy of 97%) to allow removing six common agricultural crops from estimates of tree cover. Finally, the GFC product was corrected through an integrated process using the nonlinear predictions of precipitation and elevation biases and the agricultural crop map as inputs. The accuracy of tree cover prediction increased by ≈29% over the original global forest change product (the R2 rose from 0.416 to 0.538). Using an optimized 89% tree cover threshold to create a forest/nonforest map, we found that fragmentation declined and core forest area and connectivity increased in the corrected forest cover map, especially in dry tropical forests, protected areas, and designated habitat corridors. By contrast, the core forest area decreased locally where agricultural fields were removed from estimates of natural tree cover. This research demonstrates a simple, transferable methodology to correct for observed biases in the Global Forest Change product. The use of uncorrected tree cover products may markedly over- or underestimate forest cover and fragmentation, especially in tropical regions with low precipitation, significant topography, and/or perennial agricultural production.

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Agricultural Crop Change in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, from 2004 to 2017

Data ◽

10.3390/data6020017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Bogdan M. Strimbu ◽

George Mueller-Warrant ◽

Kristin Trippe

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Agricultural Crops ◽

Willamette Valley ◽

Remote Sensing Classification ◽

Landsat 7 ◽

The Impact

The Willamette Valley, bounded to the west by the Coast Range and to the east by the Cascade Mountains, is the largest river valley completely confined to Oregon. The fertile valley soils combined with a temperate, marine climate create ideal agronomic conditions for seed production. Historically, seed cropping systems in the Willamette Valley have focused on the production of grass and forage seeds. In addition to growing over two-thirds of the nation’s cool-season grass seed, cropping systems in the Willamette Valley include a diverse rotation of over 250 commodities for forage, seed, food, and cover cropping applications. Tracking the sequence of crop rotations that are grown in the Willamette Valley is paramount to answering a broad spectrum of agronomic, environmental, and economical questions. Landsat imagery covering approximately 25,303 km2 were used to identify agricultural crops in production from 2004 to 2017. The agricultural crops were distinguished by classifying images primarily acquired by three platforms: Landsat 5 (2003–2013), Landsat 7 (2003–2017), and Landsat 8 (2013–2017). Before conducting maximum likelihood remote sensing classification, the images acquired by the Landsat 7 were pre-processed to reduce the impact of the scan line corrector failure. The corrected images were subsequently used to classify 35 different land-use classes and 137 unique two-year-long sequences of 57 classes of non-urban and non-forested land-use categories from 2004 through 2014. Our final data product uses new and previously published results to classify the western Oregon landscape into 61 different land use classes, including four majority-rule-over-time super-classes and 57 regular classes of annually disturbed agricultural crops (19 classes), perennial crops (20 classes), forests (13 classes), and urban developments (5 classes). These publicly available data can be used to inform and support environmental and agricultural land-use studies.

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Assessment of the Impact of the Armed Conflict in Ukraine on the Development of the Agricultural Sector and Price Setting

Scientific Horizons ◽

10.48077/scihor.24(7).2021.68-80 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (7) ◽

pp. 68-80

Author(s):

Oleh Semenenko ◽

Anatolii Minochkin ◽

Serhii Vasylenko ◽

Valerii Klepikov ◽

Oleksandr Pravdyvets

Keyword(s):

Armed Conflict ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Crop Yields ◽

Military Spending ◽

The State ◽

Agricultural Products ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Household Expenditures ◽

The Impact

This paper analyses the impact of the armed conflict in Ukraine on the development of the agricultural sector and changes in average prices of agricultural products, and also identifies a possible relationship between changes in prices for agricultural products and financial expenditures for defence needs. The paper also investigates the possible relationship between changes in military spending, gross harvest of cereals and legumes, harvested and threshed area, their yield levels. The study considers how the presence and duration of armed conflict in the country affects: macroeconomic indicators, intensity of hostilities and their localisation in areas of economic activity, gross domestic product (GDP), government expenditures, export-import indicators; household expenditures and domestic investment, consumer and household expenditures. All this, indirectly, has an impact on fluctuations in average prices of products of different sectors of agriculture sold by enterprises. The study takes into account the importance of the agricultural sector of Ukraine, which is a significant part of the country GDP. The dependence of military spending on the size of GDP is the reason for analysing the relationship between the impact of the existing armed conflict on changes in the state of agriculture in Ukraine. One of the results of such actions was also the spending of more money on the purchase of agricultural products to support the defence needs of the state, etc. Therefore, to understand the magnitude of the impact of gross harvest factors, crop yields, and agricultural land volumes on the pricing of agricultural output using the method of statistical equation dependencies, the findings of the relevant analysis can be used as a basis for developing approaches, methods, and techniques to improve crop yields, or – initiate economic development of the country by increasing agricultural crop yields

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EO Satellite Based system for monitoring Bracken Fern in Scotland

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18442 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Pablo Marzialetti ◽

Lorenzo Fusilli ◽

Giovanni Laneve ◽

Enrico Cadau

Keyword(s):

Spatial Data ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Secondary Forest ◽

Mountainous Area ◽

Bracken Fern ◽

Area Of Interest ◽

The World ◽

Sar Imagery ◽

June July ◽

The Impact

Bracken fern (Pteridium) is ranked among the most invasive species of the world (Holland & Aplin 2013). The fern&#8217;s intrusion has caused great reduction in the quantity and quality of land accessible for grazing (Birnie & Miller 1986). In some cases, farmers permanently abandon agricultural land severely invaded by bracken fern (Schneider & Geoghegan 2006).Literature has shown that the fern also obstructs secondary forest reestablishment, and does not deliver adequate quality biomass, which improves soil nutrients regeneration (Schneider & Geoghegan 2006; Oldham et al. 2013). In some cases, bracken fern patches have excluded conifer seedlings despite several post-harvest planting efforts (Ferguson and Adams 1994), and even when seedlings do survive, bracken fern can retard seedling growth (Dimock 1964). Bracken fern spread is also a strong obstacle for re-introducing the autochthone fauna.Empirical evidence from literature has demonstrated that spatial data on bracken fern&#8217;s spread, its life cycle and fern status cannot be accurately mapped using field surveys in the remote and inaccessible mountainous environments in many parts of the world (Mehner et al. 2004; Ngubane 2014; Odindi et al. 2014). Several studies have used available remote sensing platforms for detection and mapping bracken fern spatial distribution at various scales (e.g. Miller et al. 1990; Holland & Aplin 2013; Ngubane 2014; Singh et al. 2014).This work concerns the feasibility of developing an EO satellite-based system capable of mapping the presence of bracken fern vegetation and monitoring its distribution in a predefined area of western highlands in Scotland.The study considers also the impact of clouds, often present in the area of interest, and assesses the suitability of different available satellite sensors and their products (in terms of spatial, spectral and temporal resolution) as a means for achieving the objective.The challenges encountered include problems of similarity in the spectral signatures of bracken and other vegetation species, leading to low classification accuracy. This aspect has been minimized by using an approach which considers the specific phenology of the behaviour of the vegetation of interest. Preliminary results shown summer months (June, July) as the best period during the year to monitor this area of interest, due to the minimum presence of clouds and shadow areas. Regarding the use of SAR imagery, also foreshortening&#160; and layover effects caused in this mountainous area limit the possibility to monitor the evolution of these plants.

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The impact of land reform on the development of united territorial communities

Socio-Economic Problems of the Modern Period of Ukraine ◽

10.36818/2071-4653-2020-1-4 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 29-33

Author(s):

Tamara Smovzhenko ◽

Oryslava Korkuna ◽

Ivan Korkuna ◽

Ulyana Khromyak

Keyword(s):

Land Reform ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Public Lands ◽

Living Standards ◽

The Public ◽

Legal Documents ◽

Practical Research ◽

The Impact ◽

Land Code

Nowadays, according to decentralization and current legislation (Land Code of Ukraine, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine «On Self-Governance»), the public lands have been transferred to the CTCs since 1 February 2018. In 2018/2019, 788 CTCs received communal ownership of 1.68 ha of public lands. According to the Draft Law «On Amendments to Several Legal Documents of Ukraine on Agricultural Lands Turnover», the consolidated territorial communities become the legal entities and can acquire property rights to agricultural land plots. Therefore, transferring the lands to be used by the newly created CTCs is currently an urgent issue that requires extended scientific and practical research. The paper aims to research the role of land reform in Ukraine and its impact on increase of CTCs’ budget revenues. The stages of land reform and the development of the land reform in Ukraine as well as its implementation strategy are outlined. The disparities of the integrated satellite map and the data of the Land Cadaster of Ukraine in terms of unregistered lands are defined. The amount of a CTC budget’s increased revenues due to the reform is estimated. Statistical data on small, medium, and large farmers and their interest in the land reform are analyzed. The terms of selling the land to foreign investors and conditions of participation in land auctions are examined. The mechanisms of land purchase, selling, and lease in line with the land reform are suggested. Generalizing the presented aspects of the land reform in Ukraine and their impact on economic activity of the newly created CTCs, it can be argued that the process is quite positive and necessary for both communities and businesses in order to get additional budget revenues for CTCs. The land reform improves the living standards of Ukrainian people through the disclosure of the country’s agricultural capacity.

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The Impact of Biochar on the Soil

Revista de Chimie ◽

10.37358/rc.18.8.6498 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 69 (8) ◽

pp. 2197-2208

Author(s):

Carmen Otilia Rusanescu ◽

Erol Murad ◽

Cosmin Jinescu ◽

Marin Rusanescu

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Land ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Biomass Gasification ◽

High Humidity ◽

Agricultural Ecosystems ◽

Productive Potential ◽

Co2 Balance ◽

Environmentally Sound ◽

The Impact ◽

Organic Resources

In the present paper are presented the experimental results of biomass gasification, the biochair was produced from vineyards by controlled pyrolysis at 750 �C, in order to increase the fertility of soils, it was found the increase of the fertility produced by the development of the vegetables in the soil to which was added biochar. Soil was added to soil 4 g/dm3 biochar, 8 g/dm3 biochar, the soil had no high humidity, was taken at a time when it had not rained for at least one week, the soil pH was 8, in the soil with 8 g/dm3 biochar the plants increased compared to the soil with 4 g/dm3 and the soil without biochar. The biochar resulting from pyrolysis and gasification processes is a valuable amendment to agricultural soils and an efficient and economical way to seize carbon. Using biochar it is possible to increase the diversity of agricultural land in an environmentally sound way in areas with depleted soils, limited organic resources and insufficient water for development. Helps to soil carbon sequestration with negative CO2 balance, increases the productive potential of agricultural ecosystems.

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Impact of LULC Changes on LST in Rajshahi District of Bangladesh: A Remote Sensing Approach

Journal of Geographical Studies ◽

10.21523/gcj5.19030102 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 11-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Abdulla Al Kafy ◽

Abdullah Al-Faisal ◽

Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan ◽

Md. Soumik Sikdar ◽

Mohammad Hasib Hasan Khan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Surface Temperature ◽

Land Surface ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Global Climate ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Lulc Changes ◽

The Impact

Urbanization has been contributing more in global climate warming, with more than 50% of the population living in cities. Rapid population growth and change in land use / land cover (LULC) are closely linked. The transformation of LULC due to rapid urban expansion significantly affects the functions of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as local and regional climates. Improper planning and uncontrolled management of LULC changes profoundly contribute to the rise of urban land surface temperature (LST). This study evaluates the impact of LULC changes on LST for 1997, 2007 and 2017 in the Rajshahi district (Bangladesh) using multi-temporal and multi-spectral Landsat 8 OLI and Landsat 5 TM satellite data sets. The analysis of LULC changes exposed a remarkable increase in the built-up areas and a significant decrease in the vegetation and agricultural land. The built-up area was increased almost double in last 20 years in the study area. The distribution of changes in LST shows that built-up areas recorded the highest temperature followed by bare land, vegetation and agricultural land and water bodies. The LULC-LST profiles also revealed the highest temperature in built-up areas and the lowest temperature in water bodies. In the last 20 years, LST was increased about 13ºC. The study demonstrates decrease in vegetation cover and increase in non-evaporating surfaces with significantly increases the surface temperature in the study area. Remote-sensing techniques were found one of the suitable techniques for rapid analysis of urban expansions and to identify the impact of urbanization on LST.

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The Role of Selected Ecosystem Services in Different Farming Systems in Poland Regarding the Differentiation of Agricultural Land Structure

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126673 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6673

Author(s):

Lidia Luty ◽

Kamila Musiał ◽

Monika Zioło

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Soil Formation ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Agricultural System ◽

Organic System ◽

Supporting Soil ◽

Management Method ◽

The Impact

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

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Optimal Solutions for the Use of Sewage Sludge on Agricultural Lands

Water ◽

10.3390/w13050585 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 585

Author(s):

Catalina Iticescu ◽

Puiu-Lucian Georgescu ◽

Maxim Arseni ◽

Adrian Rosu ◽

Mihaela Timofti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Sewage Sludge ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Chemical Characteristics ◽

Optimal Solutions ◽

Physico Chemical ◽

Agricultural Areas ◽

The Impact ◽

Made In

The use of sewage sludge in agriculture decreases the pressure on landfills. In Romania, massive investments have been made in wastewater treatment stations, which have resulted in the accumulation of important quantities of sewage sludge. The presence of these sewage sludges coincides with large areas of degraded agricultural land. The aim of the present article is to identify the best technological combinations meant to solve these problems simultaneously. Adapting the quality and parameters of the sludge to the specificity of the land solves the possible compatibility problems, thus reducing the impact on the environment. The physico-chemical characteristics of the fermented sludge were monitored and optimal solutions for their treatment were suggested so as to allow that the sludge could be used in agriculture according to the characteristics of the soils. The content of heavy metals in the sewage sludge was closely monitored because the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer does not allow for any increases in the concentrations of these in soils. The article identifies those agricultural areas which are suitable for the use of sludge, as well as ways of correcting some parameters (e.g., pH), which allow the improvement of soil quality and obtained higher agricultural production.

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Restoration of floral diversity through plantations on abandoned agricultural land

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x06-021 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 36 (5) ◽

pp. 1218-1235 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Steven G Newmaster ◽

F Wayne Bell ◽

Christopher R Roosenboom ◽

Heather A Cole ◽

William D Towill

Keyword(s):

Plant Diversity ◽

Tree Species ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Structural Diversity ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Natural Forests ◽

Community Interactions ◽

Long Term Study ◽

Floral Diversity ◽

The Impact

Plantations have been claimed to be "monocultures", or "biological deserts". We investigated these claims in the context of a long-term study on plant diversity within plantations with different indigenous tree species, spacings, and soil types that were compared with 410 native stands. Soil type had no influence on plantation species diversity or abundance, and wider spacing resulted in higher richness, lower woody plant abundance, slightly higher cover of herbaceous plants, and large increases in cryptogam cover. We also found a canopy species × spacing interaction effect, where the impact of increased spacing on understory vegetation was more pronounced in spruce than in pine plantations. The dynamic community interactions among species of feathermoss appear to be in response to the physical impediment from varying amounts of needle rain from the different tree species. High light interception and needle fall were negatively correlated with understory plant diversity, as was lack of structural diversity. This study indicates that through afforestation efforts agricultural lands can be restored to productive forests that can harbour nearly one-half of the plant species found in equivalent natural forests within the same geographic region in as little as 50 years. We recommend applying afforestation using indigenous conifer species as a first step towards rehabilitating conifer forests that have been converted to agriculture and subsequently abandoned.

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