29,224 research outputs found
Modelling the impact of policies to reduce environmental impacts in the New Zealand dairy sector
Agriculture remains a major sector of the New Zealand economy, with the vast majority of farm and food production exported. The accelerating intensification of farming in New Zealand over recent decades raises concern over the current sustainability of New Zealand farming, and whether it can remain so in the future. In this study, we focus on the impacts of policies to reduce environmental impacts of dairy farming, with a particular focus on nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. We use a modified version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database, with improved specification of the agricultural sector and land-use. We augment the model with environmental indicators for New Zealand, including nitrogen balances and GHG emissions.
We simulate a range of scenarios involving reductions in fertiliser use and stocking rates on dairy farms, from an updated 2010 database. In particular, we consider seven scenarios, with the objective of exploring reductions in the dairy stocking rate and the application of nitrogenous fertiliser to dairy farms to target reductions in the dairy sectorâs nitrogen balance of 10%, 20% and 30%. Reducing fertiliser use and stocking rates are two of the approaches that dairy farmers can take in order to reduce their emissions of nitrogen and GHGs. Our results suggest that the nitrogen balance could be reduced by 10% with a 16% cut in nitrogenous fertiliser and a 5% fall in the stocking rate. Reducing fertiliser use and stocking rate by 31% and 11% respectively could result in a 20% cut to the dairy sectorâs nitrogen balance. To achieve a 30% reduction in the nitrogen balance, our results suggest that the cut back in fertiliser use would need to be 45%, with the stocking rate reduced by 19%. Across these scenarios, our results indicate that value added in the dairy farm sector could fall by between 2% and 13%, while export earnings from dairy products may fall by between US1,145 million
Segue 1: An Unevolved Fossil Galaxy from the Early Universe
We present Magellan/MIKE and Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectra of six red
giant stars in the dwarf galaxy Segue 1. Including one additional Segue 1 star
observed by Norris et al. (2010), high-resolution spectra have now been
obtained for every red giant in Segue 1. Remarkably, three of these seven stars
have metallicities below [Fe/H] = -3.5, suggesting that Segue 1 is the least
chemically evolved galaxy known. We confirm previous medium-resolution analyses
demonstrating that Segue 1 stars span a metallicity range of more than 2 dex,
from [Fe/H] = -1.4 to [Fe/H] = -3.8. All of the Segue 1 stars are
alpha-enhanced, with [alpha/Fe] ~ 0.5. High alpha-element abundances are
typical for metal-poor stars, but in every previously studied galaxy [alpha/Fe]
declines for more metal-rich stars, which is typically interpreted as iron
enrichment from supernova Ia. The absence of this signature in Segue 1
indicates that it was enriched exclusively by massive stars. Other light
element abundance ratios in Segue 1, including carbon-enhancement in the three
most metal-poor stars, closely resemble those of metal-poor halo stars.
Finally, we classify the most metal-rich star as a CH star given its large
overabundances of carbon and s-process elements. The other six stars show
remarkably low neutron-capture element abundances of [Sr/H] < -4.9 and [Ba/H] <
-4.2, which are comparable to the lowest levels ever detected in halo stars.
This suggests minimal neutron-capture enrichment, perhaps limited to a single
r-process or weak s-process synthesizing event. Altogether, the chemical
abundances of Segue 1 indicate no substantial chemical evolution, supporting
the idea that it may be a surviving first galaxy that experienced only one
burst of star formation.Comment: ApJ, accepted, 20 pages (emulateapj), 9 figure
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