scholarly journals Old Wine in New Bottles: Exploiting Data from the EU’s Farm Accountancy Data Network for Pan-EU Sustainability Assessments of Agricultural Production Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10080
Author(s):  
Keith B. Matthews ◽  
Ansel Renner ◽  
Kirsty L. Blackstock ◽  
Kerry A. Waylen ◽  
Dave G. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Data Network ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Farm Accountancy Data Network ◽  
Specific Implementation ◽  
Sustainability Assessments ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

The paper presents insights from carrying out a pan-EU sustainability assessment using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data (the old wine) with societal metabolism accounting (SMA) processes (the new bottles). The SMA was deployed as part of a transdisciplinary study with EU policy stakeholders of how EU policy may need to change to deliver sustainability commitments, particularly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The paper outlines the concepts underlying SMA and its specific implementation using the FADN data. A key focus was on the interactions between crop and livestock systems and how this determines imported feedstuffs requirements, with environmental and other footprints beyond the EU. Examples of agricultural production systems performance are presented in terms of financial/efficiency, resource use (particularly the water footprint) and quantifies potential pressures on the environment. Benefits and limitations of the FADN dataset and the SMA outputs are discussed, highlighting the challenges of linking quantified pressures with environmental impacts. The paper concludes that the complexity of agriculture’s interactions with economy and society means there is great need for conceptual frameworks, such as SMA, that can take multiple, non-equivalent, perspectives and that can be deployed with policy stakeholders despite generating uncomfortable knowledge.

scholarly journals Methodologies for the Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Production Systems, with a Focus on Rice: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 11123
Author(s):  
Olfa Gharsallah ◽  
Claudio Gandolfi ◽  
Arianna Facchi
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Rice Cultivation ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Individual Farm ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

The intensification of agricultural production is connected to the increased use of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water, and energy. Among all cropping systems, rice cultivation is considered to be one of the most significant sources of environmental harm due to the flooding conditions in which rice normally grows; at the same time, rice has important economic and social implications, especially in areas where it is a staple food. In the last 20 years, sustainable development of agricultural production has become a priority for scientific research and policy programs. Several studies proposed methodological frameworks to assess the impacts of different management practices adopted in agro-ecosystems and to identify strategies to mitigate the negative effects of agricultural intensification. Such methodologies are based on the use of particular indicators, which are increasingly seen as crucial tools in impact assessment studies and for decision making. This paper aims to review and analyze the most significant methodological frameworks developed to assess the sustainability of agricultural production systems, with a particular focus on rice cultivation. The analysis includes highlighting which dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental, social, and governance) are covered by each method and identifying which indicators are used to describe the different dimensions. The spatial scale of the application of the indicators, their typology, the data needed for their implementation, and the criteria for formulating the overall sustainability judgment were then examined. The analysis highlighted the scarce availability of clear operational data for the calculation of the indicators and the often-limited involvement of stakeholders in the development and implementation of the methodologies. The exceptions to these limitations are represented by a few methodologies developed under the umbrella of important international organizations to promote sustainability and research efficiency in specific agricultural production systems, such as the SRP (sustainable rice platform) for rice. Finally, the analysis shows that there is a need to develop methodologies that are applicable not only to an individual farm or group of farms, but also at larger spatial scales (district, watershed, region), which are often those of greatest interest to decision makers.

Prospects for the development of agrarian production systems in in the Right Bank Polesie of Ukraine

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (95) ◽  
pp. 69-72
Author(s):  
Yu.A. Tarariko ◽  
L.V. Datsko ◽  
M.O. Datsko
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Resource Potential ◽  
Grain Processing ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

The aim of the work is to assess the existing and prospective models for the development of agricultural production in Central Polesie on the basis of economic feasibility and ecological balance. The evaluation of promising agricultural production systems was carried out with the help of simulation modeling of various infrastructure options at the levels of crop and multisectoral specialization of agroecosystems. The agro-resource potential of Central Polesie is better implemented in the rotation with lupine, corn and flax dolguntsem with well-developed infrastructure, including crop, livestock units, grain processing and storage systems, feed, finished products and waste processing in the bioenergetic station. The expected income for the formation of such an infrastructure is almost 8 thousand dollars. / with a payback period of capital investments of 2-3 years.

Designing sustainable agricultural production systems for a changing world: Methods and applications

2014 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 1-2 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Dogliotti ◽  
D. Rodríguez ◽  
S. López-Ridaura ◽  
P. Tittonell ◽  
W.A.H. Rossing
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems ◽  
Changing World

scholarly journals Rethinking rehabilitation of salt-affected land: new perspectives from Australian experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Leake ◽  
Victor Squires ◽  
S Shabala
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Plant Soil ◽  
Mechanistic Basis ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
Evolution Of Ideas ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

Soil salinity is emerging as a major threat to the sustainability of modern agricultural production systems and, historically, land and water degradation due to salinity has defeated civilisations whenever the cost of remediation exceeded the benefits. This work discusses the complexity inherent in working with salinity, and the opportunities where salt damaged land and water is viewed as a resource. It takes a wider look at land and waterscapes, seeing them as systems that link damage and repair across time and space to bridge the divide between the main beneficiaries of ecosystem services and the main actors, farmers, and land managers. We first discuss the mechanistic basis of crop reduction by salinity and evolution of ideas about how to shape the plant-soil-water nexus. We then discuss the needs of farmers and other land users required for adequate planning and land management within the constraints of existing policy. Lastly, an approach that provides a new technical and economic tool for the remediation of land in several land use categories is presented. We conclude that a more concerted effort is required to turn payments for ecosystem services into a true market, accepted as such by the land managers, whose agency is essential so the ‘knowledge of what can be done can be transformed into benefits’. Achieving this will require a transformation in the paradigm of how natural resources are managed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document