Are multiscale Water-Energy-Land-Food nexus studies effective in assessing agricultural sustainability?

Several studies have highlighted the need for multiscale Water-Energy-Land-Food (WELF) nexus studies to ensure sustainable food production without endangering water and energy security. However, a systematic attempt to evaluate the efficiency of such multiscale studies has not yet been made. In this study, we used a data-intensive crop water requirement model to study the multiscale WELF nexus in southern India. In particular, we estimated the groundwater and energy consumption for cultivating five major crops between 2017 and 2019 at three distinct spatial scales ranging from 160,000 km2 (state) to 11,000 km2 (district) to 87 km2 (block). A two-at-one-time approach was used to develop six WELF interactions for each crop, which was used to evaluate the performance of each region. A Gross Vulnerability Index (GVI) was developed at multiple scales that integrated the WELF interactions to identify vulnerable hotspots from a nexus perspective. Results from this nexus study identified the regions that accounted for the largest groundwater and energy consumption, which were also adjudged to be vulnerable hotspots. Our results indicate that while a finer analysis may be necessary for drought-resistant crops like groundnut, a coarser scale analysis may be sufficient to evaluate the agricultural efficiency of water-intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane. We identified that vulnerable hotspots at local scales were often dependent on the crop under consideration, i.e., a hotspot for one crop may not necessarily be a hotspot for another. Clearly, policymaking decisions for improving irrigation efficiency through interventions such as crop-shifting would benefit from such insights. It is evident that such approaches will play a critical role in ensuring food-water-energy security in the coming decades.

Comprehensive Socio-Ecologo-Economic Assessment of Agricultural Efficiency in China

Modern agriculture aims to coordinate the contradiction between the development and utilization of agricultural resources and environmental protection by using scientific and technological achievements and management methods, so as to obtain good ecological benefit, social benefit and economic benefit. In this paper, 12 indexes are selected to build an evaluation system of comprehensive agricultural benefit. The agricultural data from 2013 to 2019 are analyzed, and the evaluation results are obtained: China’s comprehensive agricultural benefit kept growing, social benefit and economic benefit continued to grow, and ecological benefit began to grow rapidly in 2018 after experiencing a small decline. According to the evaluation results, the problems existing in China’s agricultural development are found, and the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward.

Digital agriculture for small-scale producers

Smart Farming with technologies such as IoT, computer vision, and AI can improve agricultural efficiency, transparency, profitability, and equity for farmers in low-and middle-income countries.

Potential Biotechnological Applications of Autophagy for Agriculture

Autophagy is a genetically regulated, eukaryotic cellular degradation system that sequestrates cytoplasmic materials in specialised vesicles, termed autophagosomes, for delivery and breakdown in the lysosome or vacuole. In plants, autophagy plays essential roles in development (e.g., senescence) and responses to abiotic (e.g., nutrient starvation, drought and oxidative stress) and biotic stresses (e.g., hypersensitive response). Initially, autophagy was considered a non-selective bulk degradation mechanism that provides energy and building blocks for homeostatic balance during stress. Recent studies, however, reveal that autophagy may be more subtle and selectively target ubiquitylated protein aggregates, protein complexes and even organelles for degradation to regulate vital cellular processes even during favourable conditions. The selective nature of autophagy lends itself to potential manipulation and exploitation as part of designer protein turnover machinery for the development of stress-tolerant and disease-resistant crops, crops with increased yield potential and agricultural efficiency and reduced post-harvest losses. Here, we discuss our current understanding of autophagy and speculate its potential manipulation for improved agricultural performance.

Quantifying Land Fragmentation Metrics for Cattle Enterprises in Northern Ireland

Farm fragmentation is the occurrence of numerous and often discontinuous land parcels associated with a single farm. Farm fragmentation is considered to be a defining feature of Northern Ireland’s (NI) agricultural landscape, influencing agricultural efficiency, productivity, and the spread of livestock diseases. Despite this, the full extent of farm fragmentation in cattle farms is not well understood, and little is known of how farm fragmentation either influences, or is influenced by, different animal production types. This study describes and quantifies farm fragmentation metrics for cattle enterprises in NI, presented separately for dairy and non-dairy production types. We find that 35% of farms consist of five or more fragments, with larger farms associated with greater levels of farm fragmentation, fragment dispersal and contact with contiguous farms. Moreover, this was particularly evident in dairy farms, which were over twice the size of farms associated with non-dairy production types, with twice as many individual land parcels and twice as many fragments. We hypothesise that the difference in farm fragmentation and farm size between dairy and non-dairy production types is associated with the recent expansion of dairy farms after the abolition of the milk quota system in 2015, which may have driven the expansion of dairy farms via the acquisition of land. The high levels of land fragmentation, fragment dispersal and contiguous contact observed in NI cattle farms may also have important implications for agricultural productivity and epidemiology alike. Whilst highly connected pastures could facilitate the dissemination of disease, highly fragmented and parcellised land could also hamper productivity via diseconomies of scale, such as preventing the increase of herd sizes or additionally, adding to farm costs by increasing the complexity of herd management.

AGRICULTURAL EFFICIENCY AND ITS COMPONENTS IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES BETWEEN 2009-2019. ANALYSIS USING AGGREGATE FÄRE-PRIMONT PRODUCTIVITY INDICES

The aim of the research was to measure the efficiency of agricultural activities in European Union countries with the use of various measures of efficiency. The analysis covered the years 2009-2019. The calculated efficiency was relative and the starting material for its estimation were aggregated Färe-Primont productivity indices. Based on the maximum possible level of productivity in a given period, the level of relative efficiency of TFPE was estimated. The analysed countries were grouped, on the basis of this efficiency, into four groups differentiated in terms of level. Then, the TFPE index was decomposed into several separate measures of efficiency, which were further analysed. The analysis showed that there are differences in the level of efficiency between individual countries. It has been shown that agriculture in European Union countries can be considered technically efficient. The efficiency of scale is also high. The greatest variation between countries is in the case of residual efficiency.

Discussion on High-Yield Cultivation and Assembly Technology of Selenium-Rich Rice and Rapeseed Rotation in Taoyuan County

Taoyuan County is a large grain and rapeseed production county. Taking advantage of the resource advantage of soil rich in selenium in Taoyuan County [1], it promotes high-yield cultivation and assembly technology of selenium-rich rice and rapeseed rotation in one-season rice area, optimizing the aggregate structure of the soil, improving the soil ecology and reducing the content of heavy metals in the soil [2], laying the foundation for the continuous increase in agricultural efficiency and farmers' income. Through rice and rapeseed rotation, the overwintering base of rice field borers are reduced, and the incidence of pests and diseases in the coming year is effectively reduced [3]. The implementation of supporting technologies for rice-rapeseed rotation cropping and the widespread promotion of high-quality varieties and planting techniques have improved the level of farmers’ planting. After one season of rice harvesting, most of the farmland is left unused. Using winter fallow fields to develop selenium-enriched rapeseed industry can actually increase the income of farmers.

Multi-criteria Land Suitability Analysis for Agriculture in Semi-Arid Region of Kadapa District, Southern India: Geospatial Approaches

This research proposes an integrated methodology for incorporating RS, GIS and AHP techniques for the assessment of agricultural land suitability. In Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, India, study is being done on how to best promote agriculture as a source of income to boost the economy of the region. A combined RS, GIS and AHP techniques has been utilized that incorporates organizing AHP hierarchy, criteria specification, pairwise comparison, and criterion map preparation. Land suitability comparison showed that an area of 4.42 km2 (2.62%) is appropriate for irrigation, while an area of 54.39 km2 (32.33%) is appropriate moderately suitable for rainfed agriculture and 95.76 km2 (56.93%) is marginally suitable for agricultural productions. About 13.64 km2 (8.11%) land is currently not suitable for agricultural production. Additionally, the analysis clearly shows the necessity of a decrease in irrigated agricultural land and an increase in dry farm agricultural land. This application of RS, GIS and AHP based agricultural land suitability analysis is helpful in referring agricultural activities to the areas with good physical and environmental conditions, allowing maximum agricultural efficiency in the countryside, increasing non-agricultural uses in areas with low efficiency, and avoiding the construction and environmental pressures on suitable farmland.