land occupation
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Author(s):  
S C Klopatek ◽  
E Marvinney ◽  
T Duarte ◽  
A Kendall ◽  
X Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Between increasing public concerns over climate change and heightened interest of niche market beef on social media, the demand for grass-fed beef has increased considerably. However, the demand increase for grass-fed beef has raised many producers' and consumers' concerns regarding product quality, economic viability, and environmental impacts that have thus far gone unanswered. Therefore, using a holistic approach, we investigated the performance, carcass quality, financial outcomes, and environmental impacts of four grass-fed and grain-fed beef systems currently being performed by ranchers in California. The treatments included: 1) steers stocked on pasture and feedyard finished for 128 days (CON); 2) steers grass-fed for 20 months (GF20); 3) steers grass-fed for 20 months with a 45-day grain finish (GR45); and 4) steers grass-fed for 25 months (GF25). The data were analyzed using a mixed model procedure in R with differences between treatments determined by Tukey HSD. Using carcass and performance data from these systems, a weaning-to-harvest life cycle assessment (LCA) was developed in the Scalable, Process-based, Agronomically Responsive Cropping Systems model framework, to determine global warming potential (GWP), consumable water use, energy, smog, and land occupation footprints. Final body weight varied significantly between treatments (P <0.001) with the CON cattle finishing at 632 kg, followed by GF25 at 570 kg, GR45 at 551 kg, and GF20 478 kg. Dressing percentage (DP) differed significantly between all treatments (P < 0.001). The DP was 61.8% for CON followed by GR45 at 57.5%, GF25 at 53.4%, and GF20 had the lowest DP of 50.3%. Marbling scores were significantly greater for CON compared to all other treatments (P < 0.001) with CON marbling score averaging 421 (low-choice ≥ 400). Breakeven costs with harvesting and marketing for the CON, GF20, GR45, and GF25 were $6.01, $8.98, $8.02, and $8.33 per kg hot carcass weight (HCW), respectively. The GWP for the CON, GF20, GR45, and GF25 were 4.79, 6.74, 6.65 and 8.31 CO2e/kg HCW, respectively. Water consumptive use for CON, GF20, GR45, and GF25 were 933, 465, 678 and 1250 L /kg HCW, respectively. Energy use for CON, GF20, GR45, and GF25 were 18.7, 7.65, 13.8 and 8.85 MJ /kg HCW, respectively. Our results indicated that grass-fed beef systems differ in both animal performance and carcass quality resulting in environmental and economic sustainability tradeoffs with no system having absolute superiority.


Nativa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-527
Author(s):  
João Henrique Constantino Sales Silva ◽  
Alex da Silva Barbosa ◽  
Moisés Bittar de Araújo ◽  
Daniel da Silva Gomes ◽  
Alexandre Amadeu Cerqueira de Miranda ◽  
...  

O conceito de sustentabilidade tem levado a pesquisa agropecuária a uma crescente busca de modelos alternativos e sustentáveis para a agricultura, sendo as formas de uso e manejo do solo o ponto de partida determinante para a compreensão da dinâmica do ambiente edáfico e serviços ambientais dos agroecossistemas. Sendo assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade do ambiente edáfico e serviços ecossitêmicos em diferentes sistemas de ocupação da terra, através de indicadores ambientais qualitativos. Foram selecionados indicadores sustentáveis de diagnóstico participativo para avaliar quatro sistemas de ocupação da terra: pastagem, mandala agrícola, sistema agroflorestal (SAF) e mata nativa. O conjunto de dados dos indicadores do solo foi analisado por meio de uma Análise dos Componentes Principais (ACP). O sistema agroflorestal apresenta semelhanças na qualidade do ambiente edáfico e serviços ecossistêmicos quando comparado à área de mata nativa. Recomenda-se que práticas de manejo de conservação do solo sejam adotadas nos sistemas com maior intervenção antrópica, a exemplo da pastagem e mandala agrícola. Palavras-chave: indicadores ambientais; qualidade do solo; manejo; agroecossistemas.   Qualitative indicators of the edaphic environment and ecosystem services in different land occupation systems   ABSTRACT: The concept of sustainability has led agricultural research to a growing search for alternative and sustainable models for agriculture, with the forms of land use and management being the determining starting point for understanding the dynamics of the edaphic environment and environmental services of agroecosystems. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the quality of the edaphic environment and ecosystem services in different land occupation systems, through qualitative environmental indicators. Sustainable indicators of participatory diagnosis were selected to assess four land occupation systems: pasture, agricultural mandala, agroforestry system and native forest. The data set of the soil indicators was analyzed using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The agroforestry system has similarities in the quality of the edaphic environment and ecosystem services when compared to the native forest area. It is recommended that soil conservation management practices be adopted in systems with greater anthropic intervention, such as pasture and agricultural mandala. Keywords: environmental indicators; soil quality; management; agroecosystems.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1378
Author(s):  
Yangbing Miao ◽  
Jiajie Liu ◽  
Raymond Yu Wang

Construction land expansion often occurs on cultivated land in developing countries during rapid urbanization and industrialization. Understanding its characteristics and driving mechanisms is of great significance for land-use policy and sustainable development. This paper depicted the spatio-temporal patterns of China’s urban–rural expansion and its occupation of cultivated land based on national land survey data from 1996 to 2006. It further explored the influencing mechanism of cultivated land occupation for urban–rural construction land. The results showed that the establishment and expansion of various economic development zones contribute to more than half of the occupation of cultivated land while the expansion of cities and towns is relatively slower, and their sources of construction land are more diverse. The empirical results showed that (1) economic growth and investment play key roles in shaping the spatio-temporal patterns of the occupation of cultivated land for urban–rural construction land, and (2) the mechanisms of cultivated land occupation in different stages of regional development are different. In particular, the establishment of national economic development zones is conducive to the intensive use of construction land and the protection of cultivated land in inland regions, whereas provincial economic development zones have led to a waste of land resources in coastal regions. Based on the results, this study suggested that the policies to the intensive use of land resources and cultivated land protection required regional disparities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 892 (1) ◽  
pp. 012055
Author(s):  
TB Purwantini ◽  
SH Susilowati ◽  
E Suryani ◽  
RD Yofa ◽  
RR Rahmawati ◽  
...  

Abstract Agricultural development has impacted changes in rural economic structure, as reflected by rural economic indicators.. The research question is how the direction of the changes is and the implications for rural household agricultural income. This paper aims to analyses household characteristics changes in the rice-based ecosystems and their implication on household agricultural income. The study used micro-panel data of the National Farmers Panel (in 2010 and 2016) from the Indonesian Centre for Agro Socio-Economic and Policy Studies. The survey was conducted in 14 villages of five rice production centers provinces in Java and Outside Java. The number of respondents is 559 households. Data was analyzed statistically descriptive by calculating the average, minimum-maximum numbers, and participation rate. Generalized Linear Models method was employed to determine the factors affecting household agricultural income. The results showed that agricultural land occupation tends to decrease. The number of older workers tends to increase. The increase of workforce older than 65 years is more significant in Java than Outside Java. The workforce level of education remains predominantly in elementary school. Although nominal total income increased significantly, real income increase sluggishly. Household agricultural income is still dominant but declining. The farmland managed, age and level of education of the household member, number of the household member, and cropping intensity affect household agricultural income significantly. To increase the household agricultural income by increasing the production capacity of farmers’ households through increasing land occupation, improving human resources skills, and facilitating innovative technology that can increase farming efficiency and productivity.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3000
Author(s):  
Yucong Duan ◽  
Jie Tang ◽  
Zhaoyang Li ◽  
Bo Yang ◽  
Yu Yan ◽  
...  

Vegetated buffer zones (VBZ) are accepted worldwide as a low impact method to avoid non-point source pollution and restore the balance of river ecosystems. Strongly influenced by industrialization and urbanization, urban river ecology is seriously damaged, and restoration is tricky. This study established a complete buffer zone construction framework suitable for the small urban watershed, and its feasibility is verified in a small watershed in Northern China. First, common plants in the study area were selected to test their ability to purify pollutants, and plant combinations were optimized. Secondly, according to the field investigation, the reference buffer zone was determined, and its sewage interception capacity was tested through a runoff simulation experiment. Then, based on GIS and Phillips time and hydraulic models, the normal buffer width of the study area was obtained; 60 m for mainstream and 40 m for tributaries. By optimizing the vegetation scheme and delimiting an efficient buffer zone, the land occupation can be reduced by 17%. Finally, combined with the characteristics of different river sections, an elaborate VBZ restoration scheme is designed from the aspects of vegetation, planning, and zoning. Generally, this research will provide government and land managers scientific and practical ideas and technologies to formulate a land management policy for urban river buffer zones in order to find a balance between aquatic ecological protection and urban land use planning and optimize the allocation of construction funds.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1082
Author(s):  
Hui Wei ◽  
Changhe Lu ◽  
Yaqun Liu

The Huangshui River Basin (HRB) is the main grain production and key implementation region of the “Grain for Green Program” (GGP) of Qinghai Province, and has experienced a quick urbanization during the last 20 years. Therefore, identifying the farmland change and its ecological effects is significant for farmland and ecological protection in the HRB. To this end, this study analyzed the farmland change between 2000 and 2018, based on 1 m spatial resolution farmland data visually interpreted from Google Earth high-resolution images, and then estimated its ecological impact based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data of MODIS, using an ecological impact index of farmland change. The study found that: (1) The farmland area in the HRB decreased from 320.15 k ha in 2000 to 245.01 k ha in 2018, reduced by 23.47% or 1.48% per year, as mainly caused by ecological restoration and built-up land occupation; (2) from 2000 to 2018, the natural environment showed a greening trend in the HRB, with the mean NDVI increasing by 0.74% per year; (3) the farmland changes had a positive ecological effect, contributing 6.67% to the regional increase in the NDVI, but had a negative impact on grain production; (4) it is suggested to strengthen farmland protection by strictly controlling the urban land occupation and over-conversion of farmland in the HRB.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 11108
Author(s):  
Elio Romano ◽  
Pasquale De Palo ◽  
Flavio Tidona ◽  
Aristide Maggiolino ◽  
Andrea Bragaglio

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed in dairy buffalo farms representative of Southern Italian farming systems, similar due to several characteristics, with the exception of wheat production. This work evaluated the impacts derived from this management choice, comparing farms with wheat crop (WWC) or not (NWC). In agreement with the literature, economic allocation was chosen as a useful strategy to attribute equivalents to by-products, i.e., culled animals; the same criterion was also adopted to assign pollutants to wheat grain, limited to WWC farms. Environmental impacts in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP, kg CO2 eq), Acidification Potential (AC, g SO2 eq), Eutrophication Potential (EU, g PO43-eq), Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO, m2y) and Water Depletion (WD, m3) were estimated. The production of wheat crop significantly affected (p < 0.05) the Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO) category as WWC farms need adequate land. WWC farms could allow a significant reduction in eutrophication (EU) compared to NWC farms (p < 0.05).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shangwei He ◽  
Na Song ◽  
Zongbao Yao ◽  
Helong Jiang

Abstract Surface waters are suffering continuous discharging of pollutions, and low DO and black-odorous were easily formed, especially in those slow-flowing urban lakes and enclosed small ponds. In-situ treatment by artificial aeration or water cycling with a combination of polyurethane sponge as biofilm carriers can disentangle this situation without any land occupation. Long-term continuous experiments (187 days) showed that indigenous microorganisms in urban surface waters could form biofilms in the novel style of sponge-based aerobic biofilm reactors (SABRs). In urban lake waters treatment, the purification performances of SABRs were stable and resilient as the NH4+-N and NO2−-N removals were steady, even facing the abrupt increase of NH4+-N and NO2−-N concentrations in influent. Enhancing the polyurethane sponge filling ratios in SABRs can reduce DO but did not affect NH4+-N removal. SABRs were also able to treat enclosed surface waters or black-odorous waterbodies. Combined SABRs with water cycling, NH4+-N removal time was shorter than the time needed by water cycling when biodegradable organic matter was not present. The massive biodegradable organic matter could inhibit nitrification and prolong the purification time. Further results showed that organic matter could be used as carbon sources to eliminate the produced NO3−-N in SABRs. Therefore, the developed new bioreactor could act as one effective way for treating N-polluted urban surface waters.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Robert Staniuk

ABSTRACT The Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin is often viewed as a long period of transition from a dispersed form of land occupation to one of increasing aggregation, ultimately resulting in the formation of tell settlements and large cemeteries. This developmental trajectory remains a legacy of early 20th century archaeology, where the similarity of material culture recovered from cemeteries and settlements was used to develop a multi-linear scheme of progression of regional chronologies tied to specific archaeological cultures. While typologically conclusive, the recent increase in the availability of radiocarbon determinations suggests that these sequences represent a priori interpretation of social development rather than empirically verified observations. In order to do so, it is necessary to re-evaluate the existing dataset in order to determine whether the formation of tells was a chronologically contemporary development and whether the regional chronological sequences are supported by independent dating.


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