scholarly journals The political economy of unsustainable lock-ins in North American commodity agriculture: a path forward – Response to Struckman

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
Silvia Secchi
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Waste Product ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer ◽  
Crop And Livestock Production

In this commentary, I argue that in North America, the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is due to institutional and technological lock-ins, which are the result of historical policies with deep roots in an agricultural system focused on increasing production of commodities with disregard for their full social costs. Further, excessive fertilizer use is integral to production systems that have disconnected crop and livestock production to the extent that manure is a waste product, which further creates environmental problems. In order to address the environmental and social problems associated with industrial agriculture, it will be necessary to bring market prices closer to true social costs, thereby eliminating overproduction of commodity grains and oilseeds, and to promote more diverse agricultural landscapes.

scholarly journals Reconnecting Grazing Livestock to Crop Landscapes: Reversing Specialization Trends to Restore Landscape Multifunctionality

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho ◽  
Pedro Arthur de Albuquerque Nunes ◽  
Arthur Pontes-Prates ◽  
Leonardo Silvestri Szymczak ◽  
William de Souza Filho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Livestock Systems ◽  
Grazing Livestock ◽  
Crop And Livestock Production

Closely integrated crop and livestock production systems used to be the rule in agriculture before the industrial revolution. However, agricultural landscapes have undergone a massive intensification process in recent decades. This trajectory has led to uniform landscapes of specialized cropping systems or consolidated zones of intensive livestock production. Loss of diversity is at the core of increasing side effects on the environment from agriculture. The unintended consequences of specialization demand the reconciliation of food production with environmental quality. We argue that the reconnection of grazing livestock to specialized crop landscapes can restore decoupled biogeochemical cycles and reintroduce the necessary complexity to restore ecosystem functioning. Besides, the reconnection of crops and livestock promotes several ecosystem services underlying multifunctionality. We focus on the capacity of integrated crop-livestock systems to create biophysical and socioeconomic resilience that cope with weather and market oscillations. We present examples of redesigned landscapes that leverage grazing animals to optimize food production per unit of land while mitigating the externalities of specialized agriculture. We also debate mindset barriers to the shift of current specialization trends toward the design of multifunctional landscapes.

Nitrate in aquifers beneath agricultural systems

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.R. Burkart ◽  
J.D. Stoner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Unconfined Aquifers ◽  
The World

Research from several regions of the world provides spatially anecdotal evidence to hypothesize which hydrologic and agricultural factors contribute to groundwater vulnerability to nitrate contamination. Analysis of nationally consistent measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey’s NAWQA program confirms these hypotheses for a substantial range of agricultural systems. Shallow unconfined aquifers are most susceptible to nitrate contamination associated with agricultural systems. Alluvial and other unconsolidated aquifers are the most vulnerable and shallow carbonate aquifers provide a substantial but smaller contamination risk. Where any of these aquifers are overlain by permeable soils the risk of contamination is larger. Irrigated systems can compound this vulnerability by increasing leaching facilitated by additional recharge and additional nutrient applications. The agricultural system of corn, soybeans, and hogs produced significantly larger concentrations of groundwater nitrate than all other agricultural systems, although mean nitrate concentrations in counties with dairy, poultry, cattle and grains, and horticulture systems were similar. If trends in the relation between increased fertilizer use and groundwater nitrate in the United States are repeated in other regions of the world, Asia may experience increasing problems because of recent increases in fertilizer use. Groundwater monitoring in Western and Eastern Europe as well as Russia over the next decade may provide data to determine if the trend in increased nitrate contamination can be reversed. If the concentrated livestock trend in the United States is global, it may be accompanied by increasing nitrogen contamination in groundwater. Concentrated livestock provide both point sources in the confinement area and intense non-point sources as fields close to facilities are used for manure disposal. Regions where irrigated cropland is expanding, such as in Asia, may experience the greatest impact of this practice.

COMPARATIVE WATER AND FERTILIZER USE EFFICIENCIES OF TWO PRODUCTION SYSTEMS FOR CUCUMBERS

2007 ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Jovicich ◽  
D. J. Cantliffe ◽  
E. H. Simonne ◽  
P. J. Stoffella
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Fertilizer Use

scholarly journals Measuring Multifunctional Agricultural Landscapes

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Bingjie Song ◽  
Guy Robinson ◽  
Douglas Bardsley
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Multifunctional Agriculture ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Future Research Agenda

Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has attracted increased attention from academics and policymakers in recent years. Academic researchers have utilised various approaches to assess and measure the multifunctionality of agriculture and rural landscapes. This paper outlines the nature of MFA and key supporting policies, before reviewing the applied research approaches, drawing primarily from the European Union and China where specific policies on MFA have been implemented to support rural development and promote sustainable rural communities. Four distinct types of valuation of modern MFA are recognised: economic, biophysical, socio-cultural, and holistic. Following a search of both the recent and older MFA literature, evaluations of the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods applications are provided using examples from a range of recent studies. The review illustrates the diversity of approaches to measure MFA. While noting that many studies operate at a landscape scale, the challenge remains that the lack of commonality in the research approaches applied means it is difficult to provide effective comparisons between studies or to compare findings. A future research agenda will need to emphasise the need for more consideration of the roles of MFA research to support decision-makers, especially policy makers, but also farmers who largely make decisions for individual farms but, if considered collectively, can transform production systems at a landscape scale.

scholarly journals Socio-ecological factors determine crop performance in agricultural systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Libère Nkurunziza ◽  
Christine A. Watson ◽  
Ingrid Öborn ◽  
Henrik G. Smith ◽  
Göran Bergkvist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Spring Barley ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Crop Performance ◽  
Latent Structures

AbstractAgricultural production systems are affected by complex interactions between social and ecological factors, which are often hard to integrate in a common analytical framework. We evaluated differences in crop production among farms by integrating components of several related research disciplines in a single socio-ecological analysis. Specifically, we evaluated spring barley (Hordeum vulgare, L.) performance on 34 farms (organic and conventional) in two agro-ecological zones to unravel the importance of ecological, crop and management factors in the performance of a standard crop. We used Projections to Latent Structures (PLS), a simple but robust analytical tool widely utilized in research disciplines dealing with complex systems (e.g. social sciences and chemometrics), but infrequently in agricultural sciences. We show that barley performance on organic farms was affected by previous management, landscape structure, and soil quality, in contrast to conventional farms where external inputs were the main factors affecting biomass and grain yield. This indicates that more complex management strategies are required in organic than in conventional farming systems. We conclude that the PLS method combining socio-ecological and biophysical factors provides improved understanding of the various interacting factors determining crop performance and can help identify where improvements in the agricultural system are most likely to be effective.

Alternative production systems to reduce nitrates in ground water

1987 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert I. Papendick ◽  
Lloyd F. Elliott ◽  
James F. Power
Keyword(s):  
Ground Water ◽  
Nitrogen Fertilizer ◽  
Cover Crops ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Conservation Tillage ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Water Protection ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Nitrate Concentrations

AbstractEvidence indicates a strong positive relationship between increases in nitrogen fertilizer use on cropland and nitrate concentrations in shallow ground water. This raises concern about the fate and efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer with current farming practices. Approximately 50 percent of the nitrogen fertilizer applied may be recovered by agronomic crops and 35 percent or less removed in the harvested grain of a crop such as corn. The residual nitrogen is subject to loss by several processes, one being leaching from the crop root zone. Alternative production systems that provide ground water protection must give attention to improved management of nitrogen fertilizer and to practices that minimize the need for nitrogen fertilizer and reduce soil nitrate concentrations. Most important in nitrogen fertilizer management is to more closely match nitrogen availability in the soil with crop needs and to avoid over-fertilization. Nitrogen fertilizer use can be reduced by alternate cropping of low and high nitrogen-demanding crops, use of legumes in the crop rotation to fix nitrogen, and proper use of manures, crop residues, and other organic wastes. Residual nitrates in soil can be reduced by use of cover crops, nitrogen-scavenging crops in the rotation, and alternating shallow and deep-rooted crops. Conservation tillage alone as used with many conventional cropping systems will probably not change the current status of nitrate leaching. Practices used by organic farmers should be carefully studied as possible approaches for ground water protection and adaptation into conservation tillage systems for conserving soil and water resources.

scholarly journals Performance of Permanent Vegetable Production Systems Designed with the PermVeg Model for the Red River Delta, Vietnam

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2719
Author(s):  
Pham T.T. Huong ◽  
Arij P. Everaarts ◽  
Jacques J. Neeteson ◽  
Paul C. Struik
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Red River ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Pesticide Use ◽  
Wholesale Market ◽  
Red River Delta ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
Labor Requirement

The aim of the research described was to design permanent vegetable production systems for the Red River Delta in Vietnam. Permanent vegetable production systems better meet the increasing consumer demand for vegetables and may increase farmers’ income. Optimum crop sequences for permanent vegetable production in the Red River Delta were designed with the recently developed model PermVeg. The crop sequences designed were tested in a field experiment from May 2007 to May 2009. The production systems tested were five systems designed according to the scenarios of (i) high profitability, (ii) low labor requirement, (iii) low costs of pesticide use, (iv) high level of crop biodiversity, and (v) low perishable products, respectively. The five systems were compared with the traditional vegetable production system. At local prices, only the high profitability and low labor requirement systems yielded significantly higher profits than the traditional system. At city wholesale market prices, profits of all permanent vegetable production systems were significantly higher than that of the traditional system, except for the low perishability system. Permanent vegetable production systems required more labor than the traditional system. Labor-day incomes of permanent vegetable production systems generally were not higher than those of the traditional system. The labor-day income increased only with the low labor requirement system at city wholesale market prices. The model outcomes correlated reasonably well with the labor requirement and the length in days of production systems in the field. The model poorly predicted profits and costs of pesticide use. We concluded that permanent vegetable production systems can yield higher profits than the traditional system, and can contribute to enhancing employment opportunities and increasing household income.

An economic case study of entire male grain-fed beef from a north-western Queensland production system

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 570 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Wainewright ◽  
A. J. Parker ◽  
W. E. Holmes ◽  
H. Zerby ◽  
L. A. Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Production System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
System A ◽  
Study Evaluation ◽  
Gross Margins ◽  
North Western

Assessing the differences in gross margins for a north-western Queensland beef-production system was undertaken using herd-budgeting software. The analysis reviewed the viability of producing beef for the domestic market from either a steer or bull production system. A hypothetical herd of 1200 breeders was created for the case study evaluation. An integrated beef production system from breeding to feedlot finishing was found to be less profitable for bull beef production than for steers at the current market prices. Although bull production was more profitable than steer production during the feedlot phase, the production of bulls in this phase failed to compensate for the earlier economic losses in the weaning phase of –AU$24.04 per adult equivalent for bulls. During the feedlot phase, bull production systems had lower break-even sale prices than did steer production systems. In reviewing two pricing scenarios for bulls, it was found that marketing bulls at the same price as steers was the most profitable production system. We conclude that the production of bull beef from a north-western Queensland production system can be profitable only if bulls can be sold without discount relative to steers.

Principles of integrated agricultural systems: Introduction to processes and definition

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hendrickson ◽  
J.D. Hanson ◽  
Donald L. Tanaka ◽  
Gretchen Sassenrath
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
World Population ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Hierarchical Systems ◽  
Management Philosophy ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Systems Framework ◽  
Integrated Agricultural Systems

AbstractAgriculture has been very successful in addressing the food and fiber needs of today's world population. However, there are increasing concerns about the economic, environmental and social costs of this success. Integrated agricultural systems may provide a means to address these concerns while increasing sustainability. This paper reviews the potential for and challenges to integrated agricultural systems, evaluates different agricultural systems in a hierarchical systems framework, and provides definitions and examples for each of the systems. This paper also describes the concept of dynamic-integrated agricultural systems and calls for the development of principles to use in developing and researching integrated agricultural systems. The concepts in this paper have arisen from the first in a series of planned workshops to organize common principles, criteria and indicators across physiographic regions in integrated agricultural systems. Integrated agricultural systems have multiple enterprises that interact in space and time, resulting in a synergistic resource transfer among enterprises. Dynamic-integrated agricultural systems have multiple enterprises managed in a dynamic manner. The key difference between dynamic-integrated agricultural systems and integrated agricultural systems is in management philosophy. In an integrated agricultural system, management decisions, such as type and amount of commodities to produce, are predetermined. In a dynamic-integrated system, decisions are made at the most opportune time using the best available knowledge. We developed a hierarchical scheme for agricultural systems ranging from basic agricultural production systems, which are the simplest system with no resource flow between enterprises, to dynamic-integrated agricultural systems. As agricultural systems move up in the hierarchy, their complexity, amount of management needed, and sustainability also increases. A key aspect of sustainability is the ability to adapt to future challenges. We argue that sustainable systems need built-in flexibility to achieve this goal.

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