Environmental impact of crop diversification in steep vineyards

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Iserloh ◽  
Felix Dittrich ◽  
Cord-Heinrich Treseler ◽  
Katharina Frey-Treseler ◽  
Roman Hüppi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Cover Crops ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Vegetation Management ◽  
Steep Slope ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Agricultural Efficiency ◽  
Use Of Resources

<p>The intensification of European agriculture leads to soil degradation, reduction of biodiversity and an increased economic risk for the farmers. An approach towards solving this problem is crop diversification and the optimized use of resources. Increasing agricultural efficiency/resilience through diversification and the associated falling environmental costs could contribute to the growth of the European agricultural sector by adapting the entire value chain.</p><p>The EU-funded project DIVERFARMING (Horizon 2020 no 728003) aims to develop and deploy innovative farming and agribusiness models based on crop diversification. Germany is involved with a broad-based study in organic steep slope viticulture in Wawern (Saar Valley).</p><p>A fundamental issue of steep slope viticulture is related to vegetation management below the vines. In order to overcome problems of soil erosion and soil organic matter depletion, an increasing number of winemakers is establishing cover crops such as grasses and legumes in driving lanes. On the contrary, the area underneath the vines is typically kept free of vegetation to avoid fungal diseases and competition on water. As cover crops do not benefit to the value chain and may compete with vines on water or have other adverse effects on vine performance, an alternative strategy for vegetation management underneath vines in steep slope viticulture is required.</p><p>Therefore, intercropping vines with perennial herbs like Thyme and Oregano growing underneath is a promising cropping practice to address the abovementioned issues. Both herbs are economically valuable and originate from dry and warm environments, which are typical for most viticultural areas. Furthermore, their relatively low need for water and flat-growing habitus is assumed to be suitable to cover the soil underneath the vines in order to protect against erosion and suppress weeds without having adverse effects on vine growth and -health. They can be marketed directly or indirectly as a concentrate for cosmetics, perfumes, nutritional supplements and food.</p><p>During the 5-year project, we will investigate impacts on and interactions between crops, soil ecological and physicochemical properties as well as erosion and emission of greenhouse gases to evaluate ecological benefits of crop diversification. Selected results obtained within the first two years of investigation will be presented.</p>

scholarly journals Sustainability of Diversified Organic Cropping Systems—Challenges Identified by Farmer Interviews and Multi-Criteria Assessments

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Rodriguez ◽  
Linda-Maria Dimitrova Mårtensson ◽  
Mozhgan Zachrison ◽  
Georg Carlsson
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crops ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Mineral Fertilizers ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Sustainability Assessments

Diversification of cropping and farming systems is a central agroecological principle, which may improve resource use efficiency, reduce pests and diseases, diversify income sources, and enhance the resilience of the production. The main objective of this study was to identify challenges related to the sustainability of organic cropping systems that were diversified according to one or several of the following practices: diverse crop rotation, integration of cover crops, and intercropping. The sustainability assessments were made using a multi-criteria decision aid method (MCDA) and a framework based on the FAO Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agricultural Systems (SAFA) guidelines. Social, economic and environmental aspects were integrated in the sustainability assessments and combined with semi-structured interviews to identify and discuss farmer's perceptions of barriers to crop diversification and sustainability transition. The results showed that diversified organic cropping systems could achieve high overall sustainability, especially in the environmental dimension thanks to non-inputs of pesticides or mineral fertilizers and efficient use of resources. On the other hand, social and economic dimensions were more variable, with challenges of lower sustainability in profitability and management complexity for several of the diversified cropping systems. Limited access to knowledge, technology and markets for minor crops, and concerns about the consistency of policies were highlighted by farmers as barriers for crop diversification. We discuss how the identified challenges can be overcome and argue that fostering collaboration among stakeholders may increase investment capacity and improve access to new or alternative markets, thereby stimulating transitions toward more diversified and sustainable cropping systems.

A Macroeconomic Analysis of Agricultural Sector in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25
Author(s):  
Isah Funtua Abubakar ◽  
Umar Bambale Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Size Analysis ◽  
The Real ◽  
Real Gdp ◽  
The Impact

This paper attempts to study the Nigerian agriculture industry as a panacea to growth as well as an anchor to the diversification agenda of the present government. To do this, the time series data of the four agriculture subsectors of crop production, livestock, forestry and fishery were analysed as stimulus to the Real GDP from 1981-2016 in order to explicate the individual contributions of the subsectors to the RGDP in order to guide the policy thrust on diversification. Using the Johansen approach to cointegration, all the variables were found to be cointegrated. With the exception of the forestry subsector, all the three subsectors were seen to have impacted on the real GDP at varying degrees during the time under review. The crop production subsector has the highest impact, however, taking size-by-size analysis, the livestock subsector could be of much importance due to its ability to retain its value chain and high investment returns particularly in poultry. Therefore, it is recommended that, the government should intensify efforts to retain the value chain in the crop production subsector, in order to harness its potentials optimally through the encouragement of the establishment of agriculture cottage industries. Secondly, the livestock subsector is found to be the most rapidly growing and commercialized subsector. Therefore, it should be the prime subsector to hinge the diversification agenda naturally. Lastly, the tourism industry which is a source through which the impact of the subsector is channeled to the GDP should be developed, in order to improve the impact of such channel to GDP with the sole objective to resuscitate the forestry subsector.

scholarly journals Combining crop diversification practices can benefit cereal production in temperate climates

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Rodriguez ◽  
Linda-Maria Dimitrova Mårtensson ◽  
Erik Steen Jensen ◽  
Georg Carlsson
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crops ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Grain Legume ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Forage Legume ◽  
Cereal Crop ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
N Acquisition ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Crop Sequence

AbstractDiversifying cropping systems by increasing the number of cash and cover crops in crop rotation plays an important role in improving resource use efficiency and in promoting synergy between ecosystem processes. The objective of this study was to understand how the combination of crop diversification practices influences the performance of arable crop sequences in terms of crop grain yield, crop and weed biomass, and nitrogen acquisition in a temperate climate. Two field experiments were carried out. The first was a 3-year crop sequence with cereal or grain legume as the first crops, with and without undersown forage legumes and forage legume-grass crops, followed by a cereal crop. The second experiment was a 2-year crop sequence with cereal or legume as the first crops, a legume cover crop, and a subsequent cereal crop. For the first time, crop diversification practices were combined to identify plant-plant interactions in spatial and temporal scales. The results partly confirm the positive effect of diversifying cereal-based cropping systems by including grain legumes and cover crops in the crop sequence. Legume cover crops had a positive effect on subsequent cereal grain yield in one of the experiments. Using faba beans as the first crop in the crop sequence had both a positive and no effect on crop biomass and N acquisition of the subsequent cereal. In cover crops composed of a forage legume-grass mixture, the grass biomass and N acquisition were consistently increased after the grain legume, compared to the cereal-preceding crop. However, differences in the proportion of legume to grass in mixture did not influence crop yield or N acquisition in the subsequent cereal. In conclusion, these results support that increased crop diversity across spatial and temporal scales can contribute to resource-efficient production and enhance the delivery of services, contributing to more sustainable cropping systems.

scholarly journals RINNO: Towards an Open Renovation Platform for Integrated Design and Delivery of Deep Renovation Projects

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6018
Author(s):  
Theo Lynn ◽  
Pierangelo Rosati ◽  
Antonia Egli ◽  
Stelios Krinidis ◽  
Komninos Angelakoglou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Regulatory Standards ◽  
Automation Systems ◽  
Wide Range

The building stock accounts for a significant portion of worldwide energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. While the majority of the existing building stock has poor energy performance, deep renovation efforts are stymied by a wide range of human, technological, organisational and external environment factors across the value chain. A key challenge is integrating appropriate human resources, materials, fabrication, information and automation systems and knowledge management in a proper manner to achieve the required outcomes and meet the relevant regulatory standards, while satisfying a wide range of stakeholders with differing, often conflicting, motivations. RINNO is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to deliver a set of processes that, when working together, provide a system, repository, marketplace and enabling workflow process for managing deep renovation projects from inception to implementation. This paper presents a roadmap for an open renovation platform for managing and delivering deep renovation projects for residential buildings based on seven design principles. We illustrate a preliminary stepwise framework for applying the platform across the full-lifecycle of a deep renovation project. Based on this work, RINNO will develop a new open renovation software platform that will be implemented and evaluated at four pilot sites with varying construction, regulatory, market and climate contexts.

scholarly journals Producing to market specifications - the challenge for the future

1999 ◽  
pp. 91-93
Author(s):  
Jon Manhire
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Stock Management ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
Quality Of Products

High-value consumer markets are demanding a continuously higher quality of products and enhanced food safety. In association with this, the increasingly competitive global market place and developments in information technology have catalysed the establishment of closer relationships and co-operation between participants in high-value supply chains. These closer relationships enhance the flow of information between participants and their ability to introduce strategies to improve efficiencies in supply as well as to decrease risks to consumers and others in the supply chain. These trends have significant implications to New Zealand farmers who will need to adopt systems to more effectively monitor and record their use of inputs and subsequent farm and stock management and make this information available to those further down the value chain. An inability to respond to these trends may result in farmers as well as processors, limited to servicing only relatively lower value markets. Keywords: agricultural sector, information technology, New Zealand, supply chain integration, supply chain management

scholarly journals A Historical Overview of Protected Agriculture in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico: Implications for Improving Rural Prosperity

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Luis Flores ◽  
M. Craig Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
The State ◽  
Tomato Production ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Societal Problems

Economic development is an important phenomenon that can positively impact societal problems such as poverty, lack of education, and insufficient infrastructure, among other ills. In this regard, technological advances are essential to making better use of resources. The agricultural sector is no exception. With the passage of time, advances in agriculture have allowed processes to be optimized, improving production practices and minimizing risks, by using innovative technologies (Schenkel, Finley, & Chumney, 2012). For this reason, the adoption and use of approaches to protected agricultural production grew steadily in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico during the last century and until today. Such technology assisted significantly in the economic development of the region. This inquiry sought to understand factors and forces that augmented expansion of protected agriculture, especially regarding tomato production, and its advantages compared to traditional systems, as experienced by producers in Sinaloa. Understanding such a phenomenon may provide important implications for improving the economies of similar contexts in need of economic development where agriculture is a viable sector. Keywords: economic development; protected agriculture; Sinaloa tomato industry; technological innovation

Agricultural sector value chain and government policy in Nigeria: issues, challenges and prospects

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 525-538
Author(s):  
Michael Oluwaseun Olomu ◽  
Moses Clinton Ekperiware ◽  
Taiwo Akinlo
Keyword(s):  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Value Addition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chain System ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper systematically reviewed the contributions of the recent Nigerian government agricultural policies and the impacts on the agricultural value chain system in line with the structural transformation of the sector and the Nigeria's vision 20:2020. The study also suggest strategies to upgrading various segments of the agricultural value chain and argue that Nigeria's agricultural sector requires huge investments and innovative ideas to increase production and create value addition across the most profitable areas of the value chain.Design/methodology/approachThe authors systematically present evidences and data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (the apex monetary authority of Nigeria) and Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (oversees and publishes statistics for Nigeria) to estimate the impact of Government agricultural policies on the value chains system.FindingsThe study discovers that the various recent government policy interventions to tackle the austere challenges in the agricultural sector are yet to yield much significant solution. Given to the dwindling performance of the sector, the Nigerian agricultural value chain is somewhat affected with systemic and services gaps which underpin the market failures (missing markets and weak markets), although the agricultural value chain has the potential of triggering economic growth in a higher scale with a trickle-down effect to other sectors of the Nigerian economy.Practical implicationsOverall, the findings indicate strategies to upgrading the production and processing segments of the agricultural value chain and argues that Nigeria's agricultural sector requires huge investments and innovative ideas to increase production and create value addition across the most profitable areas of the value chain.Social implicationsThe study proves that enhancing value addition in the agricultural sector is imperative to achieving triple-benefits of increasing productivity by building resilient systems that leverage on finance opportunities, deepening economic inclusive growth and achieving great milestones.Originality/valueThis study is the first attempt to focus on agricultural value chain system in line with the structural transformation and the Nigeria's vision 20:2020.

中国农民合作社的功能与多样性变迁环境中发展现状探讨

Rural China ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cees Leeuwis ◽  
Rico Lie
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Farmer Cooperatives ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Government

Abstract The agricultural sector and the rural sector in China have experienced fundamental changes from the 1980s onward, and farmer cooperatives have emerged in response to these changes. Beginning in 1990, a series of different policies have been implemented by the Chinese government to promote farmer cooperatives (FCs). This article aims to explore the functioning of FCs on the basis of the type and scope of the services they provide and their connections with the rural communities. The findings show that activities carried out by FCs help to extend farmers’ engagement in value-chain participation and management. FCs, as organizational innovations, also provide opportunities to bring knowledge providers and farmers together. Some FCs are starting to coordinate activities for farmers, rural communities and local government to make better use of collective resources. Four types of FCs are identified in the research: commodity-based FCs, community-based FCs, specialized technology providers and credit service providers. The emergence of these four types of FCs is embedded in broader institutional developments. The government mainly promotes commodity-based FCs and specialized technology-providing FCs. Companies focus on commodity-based FCs, and research institutes and development organizations are involved in community-based FCs. These findings imply that an integrated and broader view of policies is needed to promote the development of FCs in the long run. (This article is in English.) 摘要 20世纪80年代以来中国的农村和农业经历了深刻的变革。从20世纪90年代开始，政府出台了一系列的政策推动农民合作社的发展，合作社数量逐步增加。本文意在展示合作社提供服务的类型和范围，以及他们与农村社区之间的联系，并以此为基础探讨合作社的功能发挥。本文研究显示合作社开展的活动有利于农户参与到农产品价值链不同环节以及价值链管理中。合作社作为一项组织创新，也为建立农户与技术提供者之间的联系搭建了桥梁。一些合作社协调农户、农村社区和政府部门之间的关系，实现了集体资源的充分利用。本研究将合作社分为四类：产品型合作社、 社区型合作社、专业技术服务合作社和资金互助合作社。这四类合作社的产生根植于外部制度环境。政府主要倡导产品型合作社和专业技术服务合作社的发展。公司致力于产品型合作社的发展，而研究机构和发展组织更多参与到社区型合作社的发展中。这些研究发现意味着政府需要制定更具包容性的政策，加强政策间的一致性，以从长远角度促进合作社的发展。

scholarly journals DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR – OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

2018 ◽  
Vol XX (2) ◽  
pp. 98-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kosior
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Productivity And Competitiveness

The aim of the paper is to discuss the major opportunities and challenges that emerge in the agri-food sector as a result of digitization processes. Digital technologies with Big Data and the Internet of Things are widely considered promising new tools for both increasing productivity and competitiveness in the agri-food sector and ensuring a more sustainable use of resources. Knowledge and insights derived from ever-increasing volumes and a variety of digital data may help to optimize farm production processes, improve risk management, predict market trends and enhance strategic decision-making capabilities. Yet, advanced data analytics has also the disruptive power to reshape the whole string of markets within the agriculture value chain. Digitization may fundamentally change the relations between technology and input suppliers, farms, traders, processing units, retailers and consumers. The first evidence shows that farm data markets suffer from specific drawbacks and limitations which may constrain the transformative potential of Big Data in the food and agriculture sector. The major concerns raised relate to farm data ownership and privacy issues, market power of major agriculture technology providers and uneven distribution of benefits accruing from digitization.

scholarly journals Use of Modified Entropy Index and Logit Transformation Model to Access Non-Crop Enterprise Diversification in the Flood Affected Areas of Assam, India

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 3456-3462
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Transformation Model ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Entropy Index ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Logit Transformation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Flood Prone Areas ◽  
Modified Entropy

Changing climatic condition like increasing density of rainfall, more siltation in the river beds etc., stimulates devastating flood in Assam. Year after year the changing nature of flood in Assam extemporize more risk in agriculture. In such circumstances, risk mitigation and livelihood security in the flood prone agricultural sector of Assam becomes one of the key agendas for development of the small and marginal farmers. Different studies have brought this issue of climate change and risk in agriculture and opined that crop diversification is one of the prolific strategies to mitigate risk and ensure livelihood in agriculture. However, very few studies have mentioned about non-crop enterprise diversification and risk mitigation in the agricultural sector of Assam. Therefore, an attempt has been made to examine the impact of non-crop enterprise diversification in risk mitigation in the flood prone areas of Assam by using Modified Entropy Index and Logit Transformation Model. The findings of the study show that the farmers in the flood prone areas under study diversified more non-crop enterprises than in the flood free areas. Therefore, small and marginal farmers of the flood prone areas of the study can takenon-crop sector to be an effective measure to combat flood like situations.

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