Modelling the Adoption of Crop Rotation Practices in Organic Mixed Farms

Taylor et al. (2001) noted that well designed rotations are fundamental to organic farming systems. Rotations help organic systems achieve a balance between crops which deplete fertility, in particular nitrogen, and soil organic matter, and crops which restore fertility. The paper discusses the choice of crop rotation in the context of organic mixed farm systems that include cereals and livestock. The analysis is performed by combining economics and biology with the intention of capturing a broader approach to measuring the resilience of farming systems. Thus, it considers that the farmer’s choice of a specific rotation is based on the expected economic return derived from the rotation, and also the biological benefits provided by the selected rotation. The analysis is based on organic crop rotation trials ran from 1991 to 2006 at a site in the north-east of Scotland (Tulloch, Aberdeen) (Taylor et al., 2006).Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management,

Supporting better decisions across the nexus of water, energy and food through earth observation data:Case of the Zambezi basin

The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has been promoted in recent years as an intersectional concept designed to improve planning and regulatory decision-making across the three sectors. The production and consumption of water, energy and food resources are inextricably linked across multiple spatial scales (from the global to the local), but a common feature is competition for land which through different land management practices mediates provisioning ecosystem services. The nexus perspective seeks to understand the interlinkages and use systems-based thinking to frame management options for the present and the future. It aims to highlight advantage and minimise damaging and unsustainable outcomes through informed decisions regarding trade-offs inclusive of economic, ecological and equity considerations. Operationalizing the WEF approach is difficult because of the lack of complete data, knowledge and observability – and the nature of the challenge also depends on the scale of the investigation. Transboundary river basins are particularly challenging because whilst the basin unit defines the hydrological system this is not necessarily coincident with flows of food and energy. There are multiple national jurisdictions and geopolitical relations to consider. Land use changes have a profound influence on hydrological, agricultural, energy provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Future policy decisions in the water, energy and food sectors could have profound effects, with different demands for land and water resources, intensifying competition for these resources in the future. In this study, we used Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyse the land cover changes in the Zambezi river basin (1.4 million km²) from 1992 to 2015 using the European Space Agency annual global land cover dataset. Early results indicate transformative processes are underway with significant shifts from tree cover to cropland, with a 4.6 % loss in tree cover and a 16 % gain in cropland during the study period. The changes were found to be occurring mainly in the eastern (Malawi and Mozambique) and southern (Zimbabwe and southern Zambia) parts of the basin. The area under urban land uses was found to have more than doubled during the study period gearing urban centres increasingly as the foci for resource consumption. These preliminary findings are the first step in understanding the spatial and temporal interlinkages of water, energy and food by providing reliable and consistent evidence spanning the local, regional, national and whole transboundary basin scale

Nutrient budgets for organic farming

This review identifies the research done on nutrient budgeting and presents the latest input and output data for use in nutrient budgeting on farm to support rotation and soil management decision making. Based on the research and practice of Nutrient Budgeting (NB) the review provides a draft guide for farmers, advisors and others on the theory and use of NB, including a guide to nutrient budgeting on organic farms. The review identifies all the relevant organic and where appropriate, the non organic research undertaken on nutrient budgeting and related subjects. The review identifies sources of nutrient input/output data for nutrient budgeting, based on available information makes recommendations on updating exisiting data for populating a NB tool, noting any missing or unreliable data. The review identifies the currently available Nutrient Budgeting tools that have potential for application to organic farming, asseses their methodology and makes recommendations on what modifications are required in the light of the information identified in this Review

Critical issues for the enhancement of intercropping for sustainable European agriculture

Intercropping is an agroecological practice for crop diversification which involves growing mixtures of arable crop species in both space and time. It has long been recognized as a way to improve the sustainability of crop production. Although intercropping has been a traditional practice for centuries in many parts of the world, intercropping is not widely used in European agriculture. While intercropping may increase the complexity of operations on farm it can bring benefits of reduced requirements for fertilisers and crop protection chemicals and increased yields in low input and organic farming. On the other hand, sowing, harvesting and separation of grains is perceived as a bottleneck by producers and stakeholders. When it comes to utilising the products of intercrops for feed and food there are many factors to consider around quality, use and price. In terms of policy contributions, cereal/grain legume intercrops, for example, can easily contribute to home grow protein production but also to the EU Climate Action and Biodiversity Targets and the Farm to Fork Strategy at the heart of the European Green Deal. Here we bring together the findings of two EU H2020 projects (ReMIX and DIVERSify) to examine the scientific, technical, and socioeconomic and policy issues around the increased use of intercrops in Europe and we identified 12 “hot topics” scanning the horizon for needs and opportunities to boost intercropping for feed and food in Europe

The availability of carbon sequestration data in Europe

With growing interest in the carbon sequestration potential of soils, experimental research and mapping projects have produced a wealth of datasets in this subject area. However, the coverage, quality and scope of available data vary widely across Europe, and the extent to which these data are accessible to experimental researchers and modellers is also highly variable. This report describes the availability of soil carbon data at the global and European levels, and reviews the on-line resources for accessing these data and meta-data. The extent to which researchers in the field share findings, based on institutional links in projects and on-line resources, is investigated. Future priorities for research and data accessibility relating to carbon sequestration are discussed. Many soil data resources are available online. Global and European soil data portals draw together much information from across Europe, and include the outcomes of major soil carbon mapping exercises. However, much project and national research is not accessible through these portals, and information on datasets derived from many research initiatives is difficult or impossible to locate online. Data on carbon sequestration (carbon fluxes in soils) specifically is more limited, although some such datasets are available through the general soil data resources described. Improved clarity in the presentation of research, and work to link more national and sub-national data to European and global online resources is required, with initiatives such as GSIF (Global Soil Information Facility) active in encouraging direct reporting of soil-related data at the global level. Priorities for research on SOC stocks include measuring carbon storage below the topsoil (>30cm), improving records of SOC in peatlands, improving the number and distribution of samples available for Europe-wide soil carbon mapping, and developing recognised methodological standards to allow easier comparisons of datasets. In the field of carbon sequestration research specifically, priorities include linking long-term SOC data to historical land use, developing understanding of the movement of SOC between top-soil and sub-soil and increasing dialogue between modellers and empirical researchers to improve dynamic modelling of SOC

Evidence review of the potential wider impacts of climate change mitigation options: agriculture, forestry, land use and waste sectors

A report prepared for Scottish Government. Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation is a central policy objective in Scotland. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets an interim 42% reduction target for 2020 and an 80% target for 2050 across all sectors of society (1990 baseline). As a priority policy area, it has become vital to better understand the co-benefits and adverse impacts arising from mitigation actions on our environment, economy and society. Integrated assessment is key in prioritising environmental actions, reducing adverse impacts and enhancing positive co-effects. This report aims to summarise evidence on the wider impacts (WI) of GHG mitigation options (MO) in the Agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry sectors (ALULUCF) and those related waste management. The key findings of the review, are a summary of the wider impacts and an overview of the challenges in quantifying and monetising these impacts

Marginal abatement cost curve for Scottish agriculture

Scotland is committed to meeting a net-zero target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2045 (Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019)). Agriculture and the land use sector can help in two ways: by changing practices to reduce GHG emissions and by storing carbon in the soil and plants. In 2018 agriculture and related land use was responsible for 23% of total Scottish emissions. The Climate Change Plan (CCP) is a key policy tool which is now being revised to help Scotland meet the new net-zero target. Policy development is informed by the Scottish ‘TIMES model’. This model pulls together emission, mitigation and mitigation cost data from all sectors to help understand the strategic choices required to decarbonise an economy. To ensure the model uses the most recent data for agriculture, our research updated estimates of the mitigation potential and the cost-effectiveness of a selection of agricultural mitigation options. It took into account the significant recent improvements in UK agricultural GHG inventory reporting (Smart Inventory). The aim was to estimate the average mitigation potential of different measures, along with costs per unit (e.g. hectare or animal), and total maximum applicability on-farm

Capturing cropland and grassland management impacts on soil carbon in the UK LULUCF inventory

This project aimed to identify the extent to which emissions due to changes in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stocks arising from Cropland and Grassland/Grazing Land management can be incorporated into the UK’s Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) inventory. Key management activities were identified which might affect SOC stocks. A literature review carried out as part of the project concluded that tillage reduction cannot be considered a reliable management option to increase the SOC content of UK soils. However increasing crop residue returns and increasing inputs of manure and fertiliser could increase SOC stock although the SOC stock increases resulting from manure and fertiliser inputs could be outweighed by increases nitrous oxide emissions and the risk of nitrate run-off. The review found that increasing crop yields through increased fertilisation and improved crop rotation could increase the annual input of crop residues and root exudate to soils and hence increase SOC on low fertility soils. Manure additions resulted in greater C sequestration than the addition of equivalent amounts of N as mineral fertiliser and the effect lasted longer. However, increasing inputs of nitrogen from fertiliser or manure risk increasing N2O emissions which could negate any increases in SOC stock. IPCC default stock change factors were judged to be inappropriate to the UK, based on expert opinion and the literature review findings. Therefore the project used the Daily DayCent and Landscape DNDC models to attempt to estimate stock change factors for Cropland management activities under UK conditions. Although based on a very limited dataset this suggested that the effect of Cropland management activities under UK conditions might be less than implied by the IPCC stock change factors. Tillage reduction was found to have little effect on SOC stocks. Increasing manure and crop residue inputs increased SOC stocks, with manure inputs being particularly effective. A framework for reporting SOC stock changes resulting from Cropland management was developed, and used to assess mitigation options. Overall the impact of Cropland Management on SOC is likely to be very small compared to other activities in the LULUCF inventory such as land use change. The most effective mitigation option was using Cropland from annual tillage crops to perennial crops, fallow and set aside. However given the need for food production there is limited scope for such change. Increasing manure, fertiliser and crop residue inputs gave smaller increases in SOC stocks, but practical considerations limit the scope of these actions. Lack of field data on the effect of Grassland improvement on SOC stocks was identified as a knowledge gap. The literature review suggested that intensification could increase SOC stocks under pasture on mineral soils. However, expert opinion suggested that this might not be the case for rough grazing on organo-mineral soils, where intensification might lead to SOC loss. This lack of data meant that it was not possible to calibrate or validate models to estimate UK specific stock change factors for Grassland. As the IPCC stock change factors were judged to be inappropriate to UK conditions assessment of the mitigation potential of Grassland management using these factors was not carried out to avoid presenting potentially misleading results. Suggested strategies for filling these knowledge gaps are outlined in the report. Attempts to assess grass/crop rotation patterns across the UK using data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) used to handle Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments were hampered by difficulties in obtaining access to the data. However land use change matrices were generated for England and Wales, and used to map areas of change. Subject to data availability, this approach could be used in future inventories to give a better representation the effect of rotation patterns on SOC stocks