scholarly journals How to Improve Water Usage Efficiency? Characterization of Family Farms in A Semi-Arid Area

Water ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Piedra-Muñoz ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Water Usage ◽  
Family Farms ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Usage Efficiency

Water scarcity in Spain is partly due to poor management of this resource in the agricultural sector. The main aim of this study is to present the major factors related to water usage efficiency in farming. It focuses on the Almería coast, southeast Spain, which is one of the most arid areas of the country, and in particular, on family farms as the main direct managers of water use in this zone. Many of these farms are among the most water efficient in Spanish agriculture but this efficiency is not generalized throughout the sector. This work conducts a comprehensive assessment of water performance in this area, using on-farm water-use, structural, socio-economic, and environmental information. Two statistical techniques are used: descriptive analysis and cluster analysis. Thus, two groups are identified: farms that are less and farms that are more efficient regarding water usage. By analyzing both the common characteristics within each group and the differences between the groups with a one-way ANOVA analysis, several conclusions can be reached. The main differences between the two clusters center on the extent to which innovation and new technologies are used in irrigation. The most water efficient farms are characterized by more educated farmers, a greater degree of innovation, new irrigation technology, and an awareness of water issues and environmental sustainability. The findings of this study can be extended to farms in similar arid and semi-arid areas and contribute to fostering appropriate policies to improve the efficiency of water usage in the agricultural sector.

Nutrient and tillage strategies to increase grain yield and water use efficiency in semi-arid areas

2016 ◽  
Vol 178 ◽  
pp. 137-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhao Lian ◽  
Shahzad Ali ◽  
Xudong Zhang ◽  
Tianlu Wang ◽  
Qi Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Semi Arid

Effect of traditional soybean breeding on water use strategy in arid and semi-arid areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 126128
Author(s):  
Ming-Hao Yang ◽  
Mohamed Z.Z. Jahufer ◽  
Jin He ◽  
Rui Dong ◽  
Rainer Hofmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Soybean Breeding ◽  
Water Use Strategy ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS AND THEIR IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlina Ivanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Agricultural Business ◽  
The Impact

The extremely fast pace with which digital technologies are developing and their entry into the agricultural sector is changing the business environment, working conditions and the composition of the workforce. This in turn creates an opportunity to increase the efficiency of farms, while improving the economic and environmental sustainability of the sector and rural areas. The aim of this report is to examine the impact that the application of digital technologies in agribusiness has on employment in the sector, the emergence of new occupations and changes in working conditions, as well as to identify the challenges to human resource management in the digital environment. agriculture.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Analysis of Evapotranspiration and Effects of Water and Heat on Water Use Efficiency

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3019
Author(s):  
Yuan-Yuan Tang ◽  
Jian-Ping Chen ◽  
Feng Zhang ◽  
Shi-Song Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Semi Arid

Water Use Efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator of the carbon cycle in the hydrological and ecological system. It is of great significance to study the response of different hydrological processes to climate and to understand ecosystem carbon sink. However, little is known about the effects and mechanisms of precipitation and temperature on the WUE of different hydrological processes. Thus, three kinds of WUEs (GPP/E (eWUE), GPP/Et (tWUE), and GPP/P (pWUE)) are defined for three different hydrological indicators in semi-arid areas in this study in order to reveal the variation pattern of WUEs based on hydrological indicators and their response to climate. We found that in the past 15 years, the seasonal fluctuation of evapotranspiration in arid areas was large, and the spatial difference of WUE of different hydrological processes was obvious. In semi-arid areas, temperature had a significant effect on WUE (about 68–81%). However, precipitation had a lag effect on WUEs, and the negative impact of precipitation has a great influence (about 84–100%). Secondly, the threshold values of precipitation to WUEs (200 or 300 mm) and temperature to WUEs (2 or 7 °C) are also different from previous studies. This study advances our understanding of the influence of different hydrological processes on ecosystem carbon and climate.

scholarly journals Differences in instantaneous water use efficiency derived from post-carboxylation fractionation respond to the interaction of CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations and water stress in semi-arid areas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Zhao ◽  
Ping Meng ◽  
Yabing He ◽  
Xinxiao Yu
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. In the context of global warming attributable to the increasing levels of CO2, severe drought can be anticipated in areas with chronic water shortages (semi-arid areas), which necessitates research on the interaction between elevated atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and drought on plant photosynthetic discrimination. As δ13C of water-soluble compounds in leaves was depleted from extracellular CO2 to primary assimilates, no explanation has been offered for 13C fractionation before leaf-exported transportation of photosynthate. Either its variation according to the CO2 concentration and/or water stress gradients, or their interaction have not yet been identified. Therefore, saplings of species typical to a semi-arid area of Northern China that have similar growth status – Platycladus orientalis and Quercus variabilis – were selected and cultivated in growth chambers with orthogonal treatments (four CO2 concentrations [CO2] × five soil volumetric water contents (SWC)). The δ13C of water-soluble compounds extracted from leaves of potted saplings was measured to determine the instantaneous water use efficiency (WUEcp) after cultivation. Instantaneous water use efficiency derived from gas exchange (WUEge) was integrated to estimate differences in δ13C signal variation before leaf-exported translocation of primary assimilates. The WUEge of the two saplings both decreased with increased soil moisture, and increased with elevated [CO2] at 35 %–80 % of Field Capacity (FC) by strengthening photosynthetic capacity and reducing transpiration. Differences in instantaneous water use efficiency (iWUE) according to distinct environmental changes differed between the species. The WUEge of P. orientalis was significantly greater than that of Q. variabilis, while the opposite results were obtained in a comparison of the WUEcp of the two species. The differences between WUEge and WUEcp were clearly species-specific, as demonstrated in the interaction of [CO2] and SWC. Rising [CO2] coupled with moistened soil generated increasing disparities between WUEge and WUEcp in P. orientalis with an amplitude of 0.0328 ‰–0.0472 ‰. Further, the differences between WUEge and WUEcp of Q. variabilis increased as CO2 concentration increased and water stress alleviated (0.0384 ‰–0.0466 ‰). The 13C fractionation in post-photosynthesis was linearly dependent on gs, and was attributed to environmental variation. Thus, cautious descriptions of the magnitude and environmental dependence of apparent post-carboxylation fractionation are worth our attention in photosynthetic fractionation.

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