Cover crops support the climate change mitigation potential of agroecosystems.

Cover crops have the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing negative impacts of agriculture on ecosystems. This study is first to quantify the net climate change mitigation impact of cover crops including land-use effects. A systematic literature and data review was conducted to identify major drivers for climate benefits and costs of cover crops in maize (Zea maize L.) production systems. The results indicate that cover crops lead to a net climate change mitigation impact (NCCMI) of 3.30 Mg CO2e ha-1 a-1. We created four scenarios with different impact weights of the drivers and all of them showing a positive NCCMI. Carbon land benefit, the carbon opportunity costs based on maize yield gains following cover crops, is the major contributor to the NCCMI (34.5% of all benefits). Carbon sequestration is the second largest contributor (33.8%). The climate costs of cover crops are mainly dominated by emissions from their seed production and foregone benefits due to land use for cover crops seeds. However, these two costs account for only 15.8% of the benefits. Extrapolating these results, planting cover crops before all maize acreage in the EU results in a climate change mitigation of 49.80 million Mg CO2e a-1, which is equivalent to 13.0% of the EU's agricultural emissions. This study highlights the importance of incorporating cover crops into sustainable cropping systems to minimize the agricultural impact to climate change.

Insights from tuberose farmers: A survey study in Jashore District, Bangladesh.

To obtain information on the cultivation of tuberoses in Bangladesh's Jashore district, a study has been carried out to evaluate the economic and social standing of cultivators and examine the methods employed in production and farmers' attitudes towards field disease. The majority of surveyed farmers were men, aged between 30 and 40 years. Only 7.41% had a high level of education, and most had less than five years of experience in tuberose cultivation. On an annual basis, the total production cost amounted to Tk. 27,200 (bigha/year), yielding a net profit of Tk. 1,20,000 (bigha/year). 31.48% of farmers expressed the belief that diseases affecting tuberose originated from contaminated planting materials. A significant proportion (64.81%) of farmers used PGR to combat diseases affecting tuberose production. Government Agriculture Officers played a crucial role in assisting farmers with knowledge and guidance. Yet, most participants highlighted that the key to preventing diseases lies in the effective application of pesticides. The findings of this study can guide policymakers in implementing measures to enhance tuberose production and fortify the floriculture industry in Bangladesh.

A review on the enhancement of circular economy aspects focusing on nanocellulose composites.

Researchers are now focusing on using the circular economy model to manufacture nanocellulose composites due to growing environmental issues related to waste management. The circular economy model offers a sustainable solution to the problem by optimizing resource efficiency and waste management by reducing waste, maintaining value over time, minimizing the use of primary resources, and creating closed loops for goods, components, and materials. With the use of the circular economy model, waste, such as industrial, agricultural, and textile waste, is used again to produce new products, which can solve waste management issues and improve resource efficiency. In order to encourage the use of circular economy ideas with a specific focus on nanocellulose composites, this review examines the concept of using circular economy, and explores ways to make nanocellulose composites from different types of waste, such as industrial, agricultural, and textile waste. Furthermore, this review investigates the application of nanocellulose composites across multiple industries. In addition, this review provides researchers useful insights of how circular economics can be applied to the development of nanocellulose composites, which have the goal of creating a flexible and environmentally friendly material that can address waste management issues and optimize resource efficiency.

Spatio-temporal pattern and the evolution of the distributional dynamics of county-level agricultural economic resilience in China.

Because the complexity of the external environment has put great pressure on the agricultural economy, making it vulnerable, it is necessary to promote a system of resilience in the agricultural economy so that Chinese agriculture can continue to persevere in the face of serious external uncertainties. Therefore, this paper investigates the spatio-temporal pattern and evolution of the distributional dynamics of China's county-level agricultural economic resilience based on 2000-2020 data covering 2,545 counties. The results are as follows: first, from 2000 to 2020, the mean value of China's county-level agricultural economic resilience showed an obvious upward trend, which indicates that China's agricultural economy gradually increased its ability to resist risks and continued to develop in a favourable manner. Specifically, the county-level agricultural economic resilience index of the northeast region grew the most significantly, while the index of county units in the western region was relatively low. Second, the centre of gravity of the spatial distribution of China's agricultural economic resilience gradually migrated to the northwest, showing a dominant direction from northeast to southwest and a tendency to develop from southeast to northwest. Third, the spatial differences in China's agricultural economic resilience generally showed an upward trend, while county-level differences were the main source of the overall differences, followed by inter-provincial differences, inter-municipal differences and inter-regional differences. Additionally, the contribution of county-level differences to the overall differences fluctuated within the range of 54%-58%. Fourth, there is a possibility of localized convergence in China's agricultural economic resilience, which is continuous in spatial effects and has obvious positively correlated spatial effects at different times and in different county spaces.

Developing agricultural pest management strategies with reduced-risks to surface water: An economic case study of California's Central Coast region.

Pesticides are critical for protecting agricultural crops, but the off-site transport of these materials via spray drift and runoff poses risks to surface waters and aquatic life. California's Central Coast region is a major agricultural hub in the United States characterized by year-round production and intensive use of pesticides and other chemical inputs. As a result, the quality of many waterbodies in the region has been degraded. A recent regulatory program enacted by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board set new pesticide limits for waterways and imposed enhanced enforcement mechanisms to help ensure that water quality targets are met by specific dates. This regulatory program, however, does not mandate specific changes to pest management programs. In this study, we evaluate the economic, environmental, and pest management impacts of adopting two alternative pest management programs with reduced risks to surface water: 1) replacing currently used insecticide active ingredients (AIs) that pose the greatest risk to surface water with lower-risk alternatives and 2) converting conventional arthropod pest management programs to organic ones. We utilize pesticide use and toxicity data from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation to develop our baseline and two alternative scenarios. We focus on three crop groups (cole crops, lettuce and strawberry) due to their economic importance to the Central Coast and use of high-risk AIs. For Scenario 1, we estimate that implementing the alternative program in the years 2017-2019 would have reduced annual net returns on average by $90.26 - $190.54/ha, depending on the crop. Increased material costs accounted for the greatest share of this effect (71.9%-95.6%). In contrast, Scenario 2 would have reduced annual net returns on average by $5,628.12 - $18,708.28/ha during the study period, with yield loss accounting for the greatest share (92.8-97.9%). Both alternative programs would have reduced the associated toxic units by at least 98.1% compared to the baseline scenario. Our analysis provides important guidance for policymakers and agricultural producers looking to achieve environmental protection goals while minimizing economic impacts.

Assessing the Progress toward a Water-Efficient Economy in the United States from 1985 to 2015.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 tackles the long-neglected economic dimension of water utilization by monitoring nations' water use efficiency (WUE). However, it is imperative to emphasize the need for consistent spatial-temporal subnational WUE estimates, rather than relying solely on recent national trends, which can obscure crucial water use concerns and improvement opportunities. Here, a time series analysis of national, state, and sectoral (e.g., industrial, service, and agriculture) WUE from 1980 to 2015 was developed by compiling the most comprehensive and disaggregated water and economic data from 3243 US counties and 50 US states. The US total WUE increased by 181% from 16.2 (1985) to 45.6 USD/m3 (2015), driven by service sector WUE enhancements. The increased industry and service WUEs in most states were more strongly correlated with decreased per capita water withdrawal than with economic growth. Simultaneously, reductions in agriculture WUE were observed in 18 states potentially because of the complicated interaction of diverse factors specific to local communities. Expanding WUE gaps between affluent and less affluent states, and persisting WUE gaps between water-abundant andwater-scarce states highlight the need to advance policies to support under-resourced communities in effective water planning and water pricing for advancing equitable development.

Characteristics and prediction of agricultural ecological efficiency for coordination between economy and environment.

Agricultural ecological efficiency is an important tool with which to measure the coordination of the sustainable development of agricultural economies and ecological environments. In this paper, a super-efficiency slacks-based measures model was used to measure the agricultural ecological efficiency in Hebei Province. The characteristics of spatial and temporal evolution patterns were explored using a spatial Markov transfer matrix. The results showed that (i) based on measurements, the agricultural ecological efficiency in Hebei Province showed regional differences in four regions (eastern, northern, central and southern Hebei) and 141 counties; (ii) from the perspective of evolutionary characteristics of agricultural ecological efficiency, the overall development of in Hebei Province was good, with more concentrated spatial distribution and more obvious direction, while the type of transfer of agricultural ecological efficiency in Hebei Province showed strong stability that was significantly affected by geographical neighborhood conditions and the club convergence phenomenon; (iii) from the perspective of the long-term evolutionary trend of agricultural ecological efficiency, the areas adjacent to counties with low efficiency had limited potential for improvement, and the areas adjacent to counties with high grade had great potential. However, it was difficult to achieve large-scale improvement in agricultural ecological efficiency in Hebei Province, whether the impact of geospatial backgrounds was considered or not.

Analysis of the competitiveness and complementarity of China-Vietnam bilateral agricultural commodity trade.

Vietnam's agricultural exports to China have remained strong, with the country maintaining its position as the top destination for Agri-products. This article primarily utilizes the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index, and Trade Complementarity (TC) index to examine the trade comparative advantage, and the complementary of twenty major agricultural products between China and Vietnam from 2012 to 2021. The study results showed that Vietnam and China frequently exchange agricultural products. Vietnam has more stronger competitiveness than China in terms of agricultural products. China's exports to Vietnam were highly complementary to Vietnam's imports in category 0 whiles Vietnam's exports to China showed strong complementarity with China's imports in category 2. This paper analyzes the complementarity and comparative advantages of agricultural trade between China and Vietnam, and proposes informed suggestions for policy-making to promote agricultural trade between the countries. The proposed suggestions aim to expand agricultural trade between the two countries, reduce the trade imbalance, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Trade-offs in the externalities of pig production are not inevitable.

Farming externalities are believed to co-vary negatively, yet trade-offs have rarely been quantified systematically. Here we present data from UK and Brazilian pig production systems representative of most commercial systems across the world ranging from 'intensive' indoor systems through to extensive free range, Organic and woodland systems to explore co-variation among four major externality costs. We found that no specific farming type was consistently associated with good performance across all domains. Generally, systems with low land use have low greenhouse gas emissions but high antimicrobial use and poor animal welfare, and vice versa. Some individual systems performed well in all domains but were not exclusive to any particular type of farming system. Our findings suggest that trade-offs may be avoidable if mitigation focuses on lowering impacts within system types rather than simply changing types of farming.

Impacts of commodity prices and governance on the expansion of tropical agricultural frontiers.

Deforestation in the tropics remains a significant global challenge linked to carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. Agriculture, forestry, wildfires, and urbanization have been repeatedly identified as main drivers of tropical deforestation. Understanding the underlying mechanisms behind these direct causes is crucial to navigate the multiple tradeoffs between competing forest uses, such as food and biomass production (SDG 2), climate action (SDG 13), and life on land (SDG 15). This paper develops and implements a global-scale empirical approach to quantify two key factors affecting land use decisions at tropical forest frontiers: agricultural commodity prices and national governance. It relies on data covering the period 2004-2015 from multiple public sources, aggregated to countries and agro-ecological zones. Our analysis confirms the persistent influence of commodity prices on agricultural land expansion, especially in forest-abundant regions. Economic and environmental governance quality co-determines processes of expansion and contraction of agricultural land in the tropics, yet at much smaller magnitudes than other drivers. We derive land supply elasticities for direct use in standard economic impact assessment models and demonstrate that our results make a difference in a Computable General Equilibrium framework.

Economic costs of non-native species in Türkiye: A first national synthesis.

Biological invasions are increasingly recognised as a major global change that erodes ecosystems, societal well-being, and economies. However, comprehensive analyses of their economic ramifications are missing for most national economies, despite rapidly escalating costs globally. Türkiye is highly vulnerable to biological invasions owing to its extensive transport network and trade connections as well as its unique transcontinental position at the interface of Europe and Asia. This study presents the first analysis of the reported economic costs caused by biological invasions in Türkiye. The InvaCost database which compiles invasive non-native species' monetary costs was used, complemented with cost searches specific to Türkiye, to describe the spatial and taxonomic attributes of costly invasive non-native species, the types of costs, and their temporal trends. The total economic cost attributed to invasive non-native species in Türkiye (from 202 cost reporting documents) amounted to US$ 4.1 billion from 1960 to 2022. However, cost data were only available for 87 out of 872 (10%) non-native species known for Türkiye. Costs were biased towards a few hyper-costly non-native taxa, such as jellyfish, stink bugs, and locusts. Among impacted sectors, agriculture bore the highest total cost, reaching US$ 2.85 billion, followed by the fishery sector with a total cost of US$ 1.20 billion. Management (i.e., control and eradication) costs were, against expectations, substantially higher than reported damage costs (US$ 2.89 billion vs. US$ 28.4 million). Yearly costs incurred by non-native species rose exponentially over time, reaching US$ 504 million per year in 2020-2022 and are predicted to increase further in the next 10 years. A large deficit of cost records compared to other countries was also shown, suggesting a larger monetary underestimate than is typically observed. These findings underscore the need for improved cost recording as well as preventative management strategies to reduce future post-invasion management costs and help inform decisions to manage the economic burdens posed by invasive non-native species. These insights further emphasise the crucial role of standardised data in accurately estimating the costs associated with invasive non-native species for prioritisation and communication purposes.

The effects of COVID-19 on agriculture supply chain, food security, and environment: a review.

COVID-19 has a deep impact on the economic, environmental, and social life of the global population. Particularly, it disturbed the entire agriculture supply chain due to a shortage of labor, travel restrictions, and changes in demand during lockdowns. Consequently, the world population faced food insecurity due to a reduction in food production and booming food prices. Low-income households face food security challenges because of limited income generation during the pandemic. Thus, there is a need to understand comprehensive strategies to meet the complex challenges faced by the food industry and marginalized people in developing countries. This research is intended to review the agricultural supply chain, global food security, and environmental dynamics of COVID-19 by exploring the most significant literature in this domain. Due to lockdowns and reduced industrial production, positive environmental effects are achieved through improved air and water quality and reduced noise pollution globally. However, negative environmental effects emerged due to increasing medical waste, packaging waste, and plastic pollution due to disruptions in recycling operations. There is extensive literature on the effects of COVID-19 on the environment and food security. This study is an effort to review the existing literature to understand the net effects of the pandemic on the environment and food security. The literature suggested adopting innovative policies and strategies to protect the global food supply chain and achieve economic recovery with environmental sustainability. For instance, food productivity should be increased by using modern agriculture technologies to ensure food security. The government should provide food to vulnerable populations during the pandemic. Trade restrictions should be removed for food trade to improve international collaboration for food security. On the environmental side, the government should increase recycling plants during the pandemic to control waste and plastic pollution.

Smoothing consumption in times of illness: Household recourse mechanisms.

We study the welfare impacts of illness shocks on rural agricultural households in the semi-arid tropical and humid eastern regions of India. These regions are characterized by rainfed agriculture, missing markets for credit and insurance, and limited access to publicly funded healthcare infrastructure. We find that illness shocks increase households' medical expenditures and reduce wage income. However, aggregate non-medical, food, and non-food consumption expenditures are insensitive to illness shocks. Disaggregating illness by the age and the gender of the household members, we observe that illness in male children leads to the largest increase in medical expenditure, and illness in prime-aged adults leads to the largest decline in per-capita wage earnings. We also find illness shocks leading to changes in household dietary diversity, higher travel expenditures, and a compensating reduction in spending on education and entertainment. Analysis of risk-coping strategies reveals that households rely on transfers from kinship networks and loans from informal sources like local moneylenders to smooth consumption. While large landowners rely on gifts from kinship networks, landless and smallholders increase borrowings from informal sources.

Balancing agricultural production and environmental sustainability: Based on Economic Analysis From North China Plain.

The escalating trend of greenhouse gas emissions presents a dual threat to both food security and the exacerbation of global warming. Addressing this pressing issue demands concerted efforts on local and global scales to champion sustainable food production and foster environmental benefits. In 2015, a pivotal field experiment was conducted in the North China Plain, aiming to delineate the intricate balance between agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship. This study comprised eight meticulously designed treatments, incorporating two key components: the evaluation of economic and environmental parameters encompassing carbon footprint, energy consumption, and the carbon sustainability index. Notably, while the carbon sustainability index exhibited improvement, it also revealed a 9.4% increase in emissions compared to the baseline, underscoring the nuanced trade-offs involved. The findings underscored the efficacy of no-tillage (NT) practices coupled with soybean-based crop rotation, mitigating yield reduction compared to conventional tillage (RT). However, the optimal yield was observed in the RT-MW treatment, amalgamating conventional tillage with minimum tillage practices. Moreover, despite the higher cost associated with soybeans relative to milled wheat, their cultivation yielded a notable increase in net income. These compelling results advocate for the adoption of conservation agriculture as a means to optimize the delicate equilibrium between environmental preservation and economic prosperity. Furthermore, the study underscores the imperative for further research endeavors aimed at devising highly productive agricultural systems that seamlessly integrate environmental sustainability with economic viability, echoing the crucial insights gleaned from analogous contexts.

Leveraging investment in agricultural science, technology, and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Climate change poses severe impacts on and risks to agriculture, food, and nutrition, particularly for smallholders. Agricultural researchers are tasked with deciphering interconnected variables-from soil characteristics and nutrient cycles to water and biodiversity-to create a robust framework for technological advancements. Increasing sustainability, resilience, and productivity is an urgent need that requires approaches to research and innovation tailored to both regional and country-specific challenges. One compelling model of regional collaboration is FONTAGRO, the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology, which for 25 years has combined public and private institutions in supporting science, technology, and innovation within the agrifood sector in Latin American and the Caribbean. The science-based evidence that emerges is strategic not only for its local application but also for its potential in other regions of the world and capacity to accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems.

Economic potential of essential oil production from New Zealand-grown Eucalyptus bosistoana.

Farm foresters and other growers are establishing a ground-durable hardwood resource, including the emerging plantation species Eucalyptus bosistoana in New Zealand. The foliage of this species contains essential oils in quantity and quality suitable for commercial extraction. Essential oil production could improve the economic viability of E. bosistoana plantations, diversifying the grower's income and providing an early revenue stream. This study assessed the economic potential for essential oil production from New Zealand grown E. bosistoana plantations. A sensitivity analysis indicated that uncertainty of leaf biomass availability, genetic as well as seasonal changes in oil content, and fluctuations in essential oil price are equally important on the viability of an essential oil operation. Small-scale essential oil production could be sustainably supplied with foliage from thinning and pruning operations sourced from the envisaged regional planting programmes and commence in 3-5 years. A large-scale operation could be supplied when trees will be harvested. Lastly, based on the operational costs of a domestic small-scale essential oil producer, oil value from E. bosistoana would exceed the cost of production.

Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe.

Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000-6000 BC (refs. 1-3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 BC (refs. 4,5). The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon and horse domestication6-9. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 BC and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 BC on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 BC.

Narrowing yield gaps does not guarantee a living income from smallholder farming-an empirical study from western Kenya.

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa need to increase to keep pace with food demands from the burgeoning population. Smallholder farmers play an important role in national food self-sufficiency, yet many live in poverty. Investing in inputs to increase yields is therefore often not viable for them. To investigate how to unlock this paradox, whole-farm experiments can reveal which incentives could increase farm production while also increasing household income. In this study we investigated the impact of providing farmers with a US$ 100 input voucher each season, for five seasons in a row, on maize yields and overall farm-level production in two contrasting locations in terms of population density, Vihiga and Busia, in western Kenya. We compared the value of farmers' produce with the poverty line and the living income threshold. Crop yields were mainly limited by cash constraints and not by technological constraints as maize yield immediately increased from 16% to 40-50% of the water-limited yield with the provision of the voucher. In Vihiga, at best, one-third of the participating households reached the poverty line. In Busia half of the households reached the poverty line and one-third obtained a living income. This difference between locations was caused by larger farm areas in Busia. Although one third of the households increased the area farmed, mostly by renting land, this was not enough for them to obtain a living income. Our results provide empirical evidence of how a current smallholder farming system could improve its productivity and value of produce upon the introduction of an input voucher. We conclude that increasing yields of the currently most common crops cannot provide a living income for all households and additional institutional changes, such as alternative employment, are required to provide smallholder farmers a way out of poverty.