agriculture land Articles

In the United States, there has been a surge of interest in eating fresh local foods, corresponding with mounting concerns about the climate effects of consuming food from distant places and about the obesity and other health problems associated with junk food diets. This is reflected in the rise in urban gardening, school gardening, and farmers’ markets. With the fast-growing local foods ...

Dec. 2, 2009

By Earth Policy Institute

The expansion of agricultural land use has been associated with the loss of environmental amenities, such as biological diversity, ecosystem services, and aesthetic values. Here, the determinants of agricultural land use are examined, drawing on panel data from 121 countries over the period 1965–1987. The analysis finds that an inverted U curve (or "environmental Kuznets curve") describes the ...

May 10, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers

In Germany and other countries of Central Europe, biodiversity in the rural countryside is best conserved by applying traditional land-use methods, such as low input sheep and cattle grazing. These are very uneconomical according to conventional accounting and can only be carried out at present by benefitting heavily from the subsidy schemes of the CAP. Trade liberalisation demands the abolition ...

Apr. 27, 2005

By Inderscience Publishers

Agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed an initial period of growth in the few years after independence (1960s) and went into decline after the 1980s. This spurred many governments to embark on structural adjustment programmes that are only just showing the first signs of improvement. This raises some searching questions concerning the process of formulating and implementing ...

Sep. 14, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers

Tropical agroecosystems are subject to degradation processes such as losses in soil carbon, nutrient depletion, and reduced water holding capacity that occur rapidly resulting in a reduction in soil fertility that can be difficult to reverse. In this research, a polyphasic methodology has been used to investigate changes in microbial community structure and function in a series of tropical soils ...

Dec. 31, 2004

By Springer

Water is an increasingly scarce and valuable resource. It is generally accepted that there is a finite supply of water. As economies grow there is an increasing demand for water. The application of water to agricultural lands for irrigation is one of the essential uses of this natural resource in many areas. There is competition among agriculture, industry, and human consumption for the ...

Feb. 13, 2017

By IWA Publishing

Most catchments discharging into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon have elevated loads of suspended sediment, nutrients, and pesticides, including photosystem II inhibiting herbicides, associated with upstream agricultural land use. To investigate potential impacts of declining water quality on fish physiology, RNASeq was used to characterize and compare the hepatic transcriptomes of ...

May 23, 2016

By John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Changes in land cover in Europe reflect modifications in the uses of land, which often compete for the same resource: development of artificial surfaces for housing, transport and economic activities; intensification or extensification of agriculture practices; conversion of natural land to agriculture or farmland abandonment; afforestation or deforestation. Accounting for land cover change in a ...

Nov. 30, 2006

By European Environment Agency (EEA)

As in many parts of the People’s Republic of China, Shanxi Province is experiencing reduced water security for the agriculture sector. Changing climate conditions, including reduced rainfall, are increasing reliance on groundwater resources in the province. Unsustainable groundwater use for food production intensifies the impacts of climate change, and cost-effective adaptation responses ...

Nov. 24, 2016

By International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH)

Durable food security and agricultural growth depend on development strategies with resilience built in from the start, says Gordon Conway. Economic growth with resilience to environmental threats will be central to the agenda of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June this year, which aims to map out a pathway of sustainable development for the planet. ...

Mar. 20, 2012

By SciDev.Net

The article presents findings of local experimentation for managing land degradation problems in swidden farming, and the institutional setting for such experimental activities within a resilience theory framework. By using action research (AR) methodology, which included in-depth interviews and joint field experiments, the research process facilitated collective learning related to land ...

Apr. 11, 2010

By Inderscience Publishers

The Riverina region in south-western New South Wales, Australia, is a discrete geographical area having unique patterns of soils and vegetation. During 170 years, it has been used productively for sheep and cattle grazing, but with significant detrimental impact on the natural systems. This article reviews the historical impact and suggests means of rehabilitating the landscape for the purposes ...

Jan. 5, 2011

By Inderscience Publishers

The 1997/1998 forest fires in Indonesia resulted in the destruction of at least 10 million ha of forests and non-forestlands and the release of more than 2.6 G tons of carbon. These fires made Indonesia one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gases in the world. It is now recognized that about 80 – 90% of the fires came from agricultural and industrial plantation estates using fire for land ...

Jan. 31, 2005

By Springer

Introduction: biodiversity, agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Europe"s agricultural sector has received sustained public support under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) over the last 50 years. This support has evolved alongside growing recognition and awareness of the strong links between agricultural production and biological diversity ...

Jun. 29, 2010

By European Environment Agency (EEA)

Across the world the phenomenon of urban agriculture (UA) is defining itself after emerging from a mainly grass-roots response, evidenced in the Sydney Metropolitan Region by the Hawkesbury Harvest phenomenon and the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, to powerful global forces which are negatively and paradoxically impacting on the quality of life of urban and farming communities. In the developed ...

Dec. 31, 2009

By Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group Ltd

Abstract Both public acceptance and interest from farmers for spreading biosolids from waste water treatment plants (wwpt) on arable land, are dependent on some fundamental criteria. These criteria are, however, quite straightforward. The biosolids should be safe, easy to handle, a well documented source of plant nutrition, without disagreeable odours and easily available. A big part of the ...

Dec. 14, 2009

By Cambi Group AS

Weighing scales are essential and necessary equipment required for a wide range of applications. Whether intended for personal, industrial or commercial use, they serve one important function – providing accurate weight measurements for varied loads. In the agricultural sector, scales are indispensable tools and without them, it would be almost impossible to manage farms or carry out trade! ...

Feb. 8, 2015

By Quality Scales Unlimited

Introduction: The 'rules of road' by which agricultural researchers measure the impact of their work are being restudied. The first conclusion is that it is impossible to choose between food needs of today and food needs of 100 years from now. Somehow the food ...

May 17, 2007

By Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI)

A number of policy tools are used to reduce soil erosion from agricultural lands in the USA, including education and technical assistance, financial assistance, land retirement, and conservation compliance requirements. Education and technical assistance by public and private sources can be effective in promoting the adoption of conservation tillage by farmers for whom that practice will be ...

Jan. 25, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers

Different resources are necessary in the new, product–oriented agricultural environment. This article explores the question of what information is best suited for strategic analysis and strategy formulation for firms involved in product–oriented agriculture. This article will draw upon theoretical literature from general management and interviews with agricultural producers to develop a new ...

May 26, 2014

By Inderscience Publishers