Resource Utilization of Biogas Waste as Fertilizer in China Needs More Inspections Due to the Risk of Heavy Metals

The utilization of livestock waste has attracted increasing attention in recent years. The presence of high levels of heavy metals is a major obstacle to the utilization of biogas as a fertilizer resource. In this study, the heavy metal contents in biogas residue, slurry, and discharged sewage from three representative farms of gooseries, henneries, and dairy farms in the Yangtze River Basin were investigated and assessed. The results demonstrated that heavy metals, including Cd, Mn, As, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, etc., could be detected in all biogas residues, with significantly different contents between farm types (p < 0.005). Specifically, biogas residues from the goosery and the dairy farms met “China’s Organic Fertilizer Standards” (COF Standards); however, Cd concentrations in biogas residues from hennery farms exceeded the limits by five times. The concentrations of Cd and Pb in biogas slurries from all of the farms exceeded the limits of the “China Farmland Irrigation Water Quality Standard” (CFIWQ Standard). In particular, the Pb concentrations in biogas slurry from the dairy farms exceeded the limits by 29 times, and the discharged sewage from all three farm types complied with the comprehensive sewage discharge standards in China; however, only that from the goosery farms was suitable for irrigation. Thus, it is recommended to increase the feed selection, biogas engineering, and biological-purification-supporting technology, and to carry out regular sampling inspections of the biogas residue, slurry, and discharged sewage for heavy metals, so that environmental and crop pollution risks can be reduced when they are used as sources of nutrients for eco-friendly agriculture.

CAP post 2022 scenarios and income impacts – a case analysis for selected typical farms in Slovenia

Assessment based on representative farms is an established approach in the modern assessment of the effects of changes in agricultural policy. In line with previous CAP reforms, we can expect income redistribution impacts also with the implementation of the legislative and financial framework of the CAP for the next period. This paper discusses a scenario analysis using the farm model. The model is based on linear programming, which enables to address various technological challenges at farm level. We formed the scenarios for the analysis following the example of the scenarios contained in the impact assessment that the European Commission prepared for the CAP after 2020. The analysis involves selected farm types from selected sectors. The results suggest that the expected reduction in the envelope will generally lead to lower farm-level revenues from CAP direct payments. Consequently, economic performance will deteriorate, what is likely to be amplified in some sectors by the abolition of historical payments. The range of consequences at farm level will likely be considerable, especially for sectors and production types with a high share of CAP payments in the structure of total farm income. In certain sectors, however, there is even an improvement regarding the current situation.

Disaggregating the Value of Conservation Agriculture to Inform Smallholder Transition to Sustainable Farming: A Mexican Case Study

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is promoted by research and development (R&D) agencies to sustainably intensify agricultural systems with the goals of improving food security and livelihoods and adapting food systems to global climate change. Despite the many benefits of CA, there are few farmers around the world that have simultaneously implemented all facets of the strategy. In part, this reflects the challenges in applying, adapting, and understanding this complex and multi-dimensional agricultural innovation in the context of diverse farming systems. In this paper, we applied an integrated framework that combines bioeconomic simulation, risk analysis, adoption theory, and impact assessment to investigate how various combinations of CA components (no-tillage, soil cover, crop diversification, plus growing a new crop or variety) performed over a 10-year period in representative farms in a central Mexican case study. We found significant differences in profit, net value, downside risk, and risk-aversion cost between double-component scenarios (and improved CA to a lesser extent) and all other scenarios, which suggested that disaggregating CA into smaller component packages could increase farmer adoption in risky contexts. Our findings provided valuable insights on CA feasibility and could help establish policy and reporting metrics. The study highlighted the need for employing a range of research tools to understand the relative value of agricultural innovations and to identify and reduce trade-offs and uncertainty in farming systems.

Weeds Associated with Banana Crops in Magdalena Department, Colombia

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to determine the richness and composition of weed communities associated with banana plantations in Magdalena department, Colombia. Between September 2016 and May 2017, a total of 164 hectares were assessed over four agroecological zones (Alta, Media, Baja and Norte); in each zone, three representative farms were selected where, through zigzag paths, botanical collections were made in cultivated lots. Information on life cycle, growth habit and origin of each species was included. The floristic composition was represented by 204 species distributed among 143 genera and 54 families. Poaceae, with 31 species, was the family with the highest species richness, followed by Fabaceae (12) and Asteraceae (11). From the total species recorded, 113 are perennial (55%) and 91 are annual (45%); 141 species are herbaceous (68%), 38 are climbers (20%), and 25 are arboreal or shrubby (12%). Native species predominate over introduced species. The species richness does not differ significantly between the sampling zones, but the weed community composition does. The presence of common species reported as important weeds worldwide was recorded in the four zones. However, some species were recorded in only one of the zones, generating a differential composition pattern. Comparison with local inventories showed changes in the composition of the weed complex over time. The presence of various species not previously considered weeds in the banana crops of this region is highlighted.

The impact of agricultural policy on income diversity among farmers in the European Union in 2005–2017

The aim of paper is to answer to the question whether the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy reduces the differences in the average agricultural income between the EU-15 countries and those that joined the EU in 2004. The hypothesis was assumed that the CAP subsidies reduce the differences in agricultural income between these two groups of countries. Spreads between average income of farmers from the old and new members were calculated. The analysis is carried out in two variants. In the first one, the agricultural income does not include the CAP support, in the second one the agricultural income covers all CAP subsidies. The spatial scope of research involves two groups of countries: EU-15 (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Austria and Sweden) and EU-8 (the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia). The subjective scope of the survey covers representative farms from the EU countries (representing 4,045,300–5,295,930 farms in the EU countries, depending on the investigated year). The time frame of the analyses concerns the years 2005–2017. The data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) are used. The study positively verifies the hypothesis that: subsidies from the CAP cause a decrease in the differences in average agricultural income between the EU-15 and the EU-8 countries. This contributes to an increase in economic sustainability and in the territorial cohesion of agriculture for the EU countries.

The impact of possible changes to nitrogen loss regulations on the financial viability of dairy farms in the Upper Manawatu River catchment

The Manawatū-Wanganui Regional Council regional plan (the One Plan) regulates the use of natural resources in the Region and includes a table of nitrogen leaching maxima reflecting the natural capital of soils in the Region and based on Overseer® results from 2007. Dairy farms applying for controlled consents for intensive land-use activities in the Region need to comply with these maxima. However, the maxima in the Table have not been adjusted as new versions of Overseer® have been introduced since the table was produced.This study compares the impact on representative dairy farms of complying with the original figures in the table with results from a revised table that takes into account more recent versions of Overseer®. Cluster analysis was used to select five representative farms in the Tararua District and their farm systems were modified to comply with both the original and the revised table. The current version of Overseer® was used to model the farm outputs based on the original table of leaching maxima. Compared with the baseline farm results, nitrogen losses were reduced by over 50% and milk production by 40%. When the same comparison was undertaken with the table of revised maxima, the nitrogen losses were expected to reduce by almost 40% and milk production by 5%. Applying the original nitrogen leaching maxima to the five representative farms resulted in about two thirds of farms within the catchment being unable to pay the interest on their debts. The revised nitrogen leaching maxima reduced this to <10%.The nitrogen leaching maxima in the One Plan should be revised to: better reflect the changes in the science underpinning current versions of Overseer®; achieve the nitrogen reduction targets in the region; and minimise the impact of the One Plan policies and rules on the financial viability of existing dairy farms.

OPTIMIZATION OF SUGARCANE HARVEST USING REMOTE SENSING

In Iranian sugarcane agro-industries, the harvest time is estimated by sucrose content. Measuring the sucrose content in the juice (pol) during sugarcane harvest season will help users and farmers to achieve the best time for sugarcane harvest, which is important in accurate agricultural management. In harvest season, the pol percent is measured weekly by the destructive method through sampling of different areas of representative farms. In the this method, all fields are not sampled due to the plurality of fields and the need for expenditure and workforce, and the measured samples do not represent the entire area of a field. The aim of this paper is to find an optimal model for determine best harvest time for four sugarcane varieties using satellite vegetation indices, and also to obtain a zoning map which represents the areas ready for harvest during a harvest season in order to achieve maximum sucrose content. The results showed that, compared with NDVI and GVI, GNDVI represented higher correlation with pol (R2=0.885). The optimum values of GNDVI were found to be between 0.5 and 0.55, which indicated the areas with highest sucrose concentration. In addition, the zoning map was presented that makes it possible to separate spatially the areas ready for harvest in each field and they were also showed that central areas of farms ripened (reach maximum sugar content) sooner than sideways.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE VALUE IN AGRICULTURE REVISITED: HOW INVESTMENT SUBSIDIES FOSTER ECO-EFFICIENCY

Many researchers and policy makers argue that CAP should support small farms mainly through environmental subsidies contributing by this mean to sustainable agriculture. This study offers a methodological contribution to the value-based sustainability approach, consisting of a computing indicator of environmental sustainable value (ESV). In this study, the authors have attempted to combine the value-oriented approach with DEA frontier benchmarking. In the next step, the authors test how investment subsidies contribute to ESV using a long-term panel of FADN region-representative farms in 2004-2015 with regards to other policy measures and factor endowments. The seminal within-between specification was employed to the control time variant and time in-variant space heterogeneity of European regions. The articles main finding is that higher investment support is beneficial for ESV. Other payments exert a negative effect on ESV besides the cross-sectional impact of environmental subsidies. When it comes to factor endowment influence, there is a positive impact of the capital-labor ratio and negative impact of the capital-land ratio.

PRODUCTIVITY OF THE POLISH AGRICULTURAL SECTOR COMPARED TO EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES IN 2004-2017 BASED ON FADN FARMS

The aim of the study was to assess the productivity of the Polish agricultural sector compared to other EU countries in the long-term, encompassing the years 2004-2017. The time range of analyzes covered the years 2004-2017, spatial range of analyzes concerned individual EU countries, and the subjective scope of research included representative farms from these countries. Data was from EUFADN. Therefore, a comparative analysis of synthetic indicators of agricultural productivity in 2004-2006, 2007-2010, 2011-2014 and 2015-2017 was performed. It has been proven that agriculture in Poland, compared to other EU countries, was characterized in the years 2004-2017, almost by the lowest level of resource productivity. The sources of competitiveness of agriculture in Poland in relation to other EU countries result from price differences and not from differences in the productivity of land, capital and labor. The Polish agricultural sector, in the last decade, showed almost the lowest productivity of resources in relation to other EU countries. This was proven by excluding the impact of prices on the differences in resource productivity between EU countries. The increase in the productivity of Polish agriculture is therefore a necessary condition to prevent a progressive decrease in the competitiveness of this sector.

Nutrient sufficiency levels for haskap (Lonicera caeruleaL.) using the boundary-line approach

Adequate supply of plant nutrients is crucial for haskap plant growth and increased productivity. A study was carried out to determine the variability in haskap (Lonicera caerulea L. cv. Indigo Gem) plant characteristics in relation to soil and leaf tissue nutrient status. A total of 19 composite soil samples and corresponding plant leaf tissue samples were collected in 2016 from 12 locations in Nova Scotia. Plant parameters measured include growth rate, leaf size, leaf chlorophyll content, and visual observations. A boundary-line approach was used to determine nutrient sufficiency ranges in leaf tissues of 2.23%–2.96% for N, 0.22%–0.28% for P, 0.84%–1.32% for K, 1.63%–2.10% for Ca, and 0.14%–0.50% for Mg. Principal component and correlation analysis suggested a possible antagonistic interaction between leaf K and Mg. Negative associations were observed most frequently between Ca and Mg and other nutrients, especially K. Plant parameters such as bush volume, leaf size, and growth rate were closely related to soil and leaf K. Deficiencies in leaf tissue K and P were identified as potentially important factors limiting growth. Therefore, there is a need to adjust or balance the application of these nutrients. In conclusion, the sufficiency ranges derived can be used as a guiding principle in diagnosing the nutritional status of haskap cv. Indigo Gem on representative farms in Nova Scotia.