Moving beyond organic – A food system approach to assessing sustainable and resilient farming

Organic farming aims to minimize negative impacts on the local environment, but its contributions to global food sustainability also depend on a resilient food supply. We studied a farm aiming to move beyond organic and become “a sustainable farm of the future”, in the farmer’s own words. This meant going beyond local impacts to consider how the farm could contribute to global food security by transitioning to production of more crops for direct human consumption. Over a five-year period (2015–2019), the farm improved on the food security and resilience indicators included in the assessment (e.g., number of persons fed per hectare, diversity of products, and connections), while producing food at greenhouse gas intensity similar to regional averages. This approach of including global food security aspects along with environmental efficiency and resilience in farm-level sustainability assessments provides a way for farmers to engage as globally responsible biosphere stewards

Risk Factors for High Early Mortality in Patients on Antiretroviral Treatment in a Rural District of Malawi.

OBJECTIVES: Among adults started on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a rural district hospital (a) to determine the cumulative proportion of deaths that occur within 3 and 6 months of starting ART, and (b) to identify risk factors that may be associated with such mortality. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional analytical study set in Thyolo district, Malawi. METHODS: Over a 2-year period (April 2003 to April 2005) mortality within the first 3 and 6 months of starting ART was determined and risk factors were examined. RESULTS: A total of 1507 individuals (517 men and 990 women), whose median age was 35 years were included in the study. There were a total of 190 (12.6%) deaths on ART of which 116 (61%) occurred within the first 3 months (very early mortality) and 150 (79%) during the first 6 months of initiating ART. Significant risk factors associated with such mortality included WHO stage IV disease, a baseline CD4 cell count under 50 cells/mul and increasing grades of malnutrition. A linear trend in mortality was observed with increasing grades of malnutrition (chi for trend = 96.1, P </= 0.001) and decreasing CD4 cell counts (chi for trend = 72.4, P </= 0.001). Individuals who were severely malnourished [body mass index (BMI) < 16.0 kg/m] had a six times higher risk of dying in the first 3 months than those with a normal nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals starting ART, the BMI and clinical staging could be important screening tools for use to identify and target individuals who, despite ART, are still at a high risk of early death

Is wetter better? Exploring agriculturally-relevant rainfall characteristics over four decades in the Sahel

The semi-arid Sahel is a global hotspot for poverty and malnutrition. Rainfed agriculture is the main source of food and income, making the well-being of rural population highly sensitive to rainfall variability. Studies have reported an upward trend in annual precipitation in the Sahel since the drought of the 1970s and early ‘80s, yet farmers have questioned improvements in conditions for agriculture, suggesting that intraseasonal dynamics play a crucial role. Using high-resolution daily precipitation data spanning 1981–2017 and focusing on agriculturally-relevant areas of the Sahel, we re-examined the extent of rainfall increase and investigated whether the increases have been accompanied by changes in two aspects of intraseasonal variability that have relevance for agriculture: rainy season duration and occurrence of prolonged dry spells during vulnerable crop growth stages. We found that annual rainfall increased across 56% of the region, but remained largely the same elsewhere. Rainy season duration increased almost exclusively in areas with upward trends in annual precipitation (23% of them). Association between annual rain and dry spell occurrence was less clear: increasing and decreasing frequencies of false starts (dry spells after first rains) and post-floral dry spells (towards the end of the season) were found to almost equal extent both in areas with positive and those with no significant trend in annual precipitation. Overall, improvements in at least two of the three intraseasonal variables (and no declines in any) were found in 10% of the region, while over a half of the area experienced declines in at least one intraseasonal variable, or no improvement in any. We conclude that rainfall conditions for agriculture have improved overall only in scattered areas across the Sahel since the 1980s, and increased annual rainfall is only weakly, if at all, associated with changes in the agriculturally-relevant intraseasonal rainfall characteristics

High Temperature Photochemistry in the Atmosphere of HD189733b

Recent infrared spectroscopy of hot exoplanets is beginning to reveal their atmospheric composition. Deep with in the planetary atmosphere, the composition is controlled by thermochemical equilibrium. Photochemistry becomes important higher in the atmosphere, at levels above ~1 bar. These two chemistries compete between ~1-10 bars in hot Jupiter-like atmospheres, depending on the strength of the eddy mixing and temperature. HD189733b provides an excellent laboratory in which to study the consequences of chemistry of hot atmospheres. The recent spectra of HD189733b and HD209458b contain signatures of CH4, CO2, CO and H2O. Here we identify the primary chemical pathways that govern the abundances of CH4, CO2, CO and H2O in the cases of thermochemical equilibrium chemistry, photochemistry, and their combination. Our results suggest that the abundance of these species can be photochemically enhanced above or below the thermochemical equilibrium value, so some caution must be taken when assuming that an atmosphere is in strict thermochemical equilibrium

Vegetation improvement and soil biological quality in the Sahel of Burkina Faso

Soil living environment contains macro-fauna that play important role in the soil structure and chemical composition, the degradation process of organic matter and in the resilience of ecosystems. Few studies evaluated the impact of the “re-greening” trend observed in the Sahel on soil biological quality. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of the “re-greening” of the Sahel on soil macro-fauna population and diversity. The method of Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) was used to assess macro-fauna abundance and diversity in different land use types (cropland, shallow land, degraded land and forest). Four sites were selected, in the Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso, with contrasted Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). In each site, four repetitions were taken for each land use type. In total, 64 plots samples were used to assess the abundance of macro-fauna. Results showed that there were more individuals (64.92%) and higher macro-fauna density in re-greening zones compared to the degrading zones. There was dominance of Arthropoda phylum (60.85%), Insecta class (59.03%) and Isoptera order (46.97%) in macro-fauna population. There were more species in the shallow land and cropland in re-greening zones and all trophic groups are represented in all sites. Despite this abundance, composition and diversity, it was observed that the re-greening processes have not significantly improved soil biological quality. It is concluded that vegetation improvement might be at the beginning stage in the Sahel, especially in croplands, and clear change of soil biological quality is not perceptible but may be tangible in the future.Keywords: Macro-fauna, ecosystem, soil quality, re-greening, degradation