Agricultural Systems最新文献

{"title":"Policy and regulation in seed sector development for vegetatively propagated crops: Insights from Kenya, Nigeria, and Vietnam","authors":"David J. Spielman ,&nbsp;Marcel Gatto ,&nbsp;Tesfamicheal Wossen ,&nbsp;Margaret McEwan ,&nbsp;Tahirou Abdoulaye ,&nbsp;Mywish K. Maredia ,&nbsp;Guy Hareau","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>In many low- and middle-income countries, smallholder farmers cultivating vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs) have limited access to quality planting material. This constraint can limit both the yield and returns to VPC cultivation. Yet policy and regulations designed to strengthen access to quality VPC planting materials and scale innovative programs that deliver these materials have been relatively unsuccessful to date. Part of the problem lies the unique biological and economic characteristics of vegetative propagation and its distinctness from cereal crops that dominate narratives on seed sector reforms and the resulting policy and regulatory regimes.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>The study analyzes both theory and evidence on existing and alternative models of regulation that may incentivize cost-effective multiplication and distribution in VPC seed systems and markets.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The study draws on case studies of policy and practice related to quality assurance regulations in four crop-country combinations: cassava in Nigeria and Vietnam, and potato in Kenya and Vietnam. The case studies rely on qualitative analysis that was conducted using a combination of key informant interviews, focus group discussions, analysis of regulatory documents, and analysis of publicly available secondary data.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>The study describes five strategies for regulating VPC seed systems in our four crop-country combinations, each with its own generalizable costs and benefits. The application (or marginalization) of these strategies is often shaped by fluid coalitions of actors with competing interests and framing narratives, and driven by organizational innovations, technological opportunities, trade relationships, and crises that are crop- and country-specific.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>These findings suggest that regulations designed around strict, centralized quality control systems tend to limit market size, while more localized production systems are limited by both capacity and reach. They also suggest the need for alternatives that balance a permissive regulatory regime with decentralized production systems, grassroots capacity development, market surveillance, and systems that integrate multiple approaches to quality assurance. A detailed set of policy recommendations follows from these findings that inform ongoing country efforts to revise VPC seed sector policies and regulations—reforms that are being pursued not only in the crop-country case studies highlighted here, but also in other countries in both Africa and Asia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104441"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144556797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of ESG standards in Australian sugarcane farming: A co-design approach to accelerate ESG adoption and innovation","authors":"Ana Carla Leite de Almeida ,&nbsp;Carlos Bueno ,&nbsp;Allan Dale ,&nbsp;Rachel Hay ,&nbsp;Ben Jarihani ,&nbsp;Yvette Everingham ,&nbsp;Stewart Lockie","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104438","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104438","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices have become critical for the agricultural sector, particularly for high-impact and sensitive consumer demand industries like sugarcane. In Australia, the sugarcane industry faces mounting environmental and regulatory pressures, including concerns over nutrient and pesticide runoff affecting the Great Barrier Reef, climate change-driven, water resource challenges, and the need to reduce carbon emissions.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Aiming to enhance environmental performance and facilitate access to environmental markets and new income streams, this research focuses on developing and testing an ESG Rapid Assessment framework tailored to sugarcane farmers in North Queensland, Australia.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>In this research we adopted a co-design approach, integrating stakeholder insights and industry needs to develop the ESG tool, to facilitate the adoption of ESG standards on farm.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>Findings highlight the importance of simplified ESG tools, clear implementation roadmaps, and ongoing support to drive adoption. Addressing knowledge gaps, improving data collection, and aligning policy incentives will be crucial for fostering transparency, sustainability, and long-term economic resilience while minimising regulatory burdens. Results from two case studies involving sugarcane producers and stakeholders showed that over 75 % of participants found the ESG assessment easy to use, and 62.5 % considered it valuable in supporting their ESG management. However, only 25 % indicated a willingness to change practices, likely due to prior engagement in sustainability best practices. These findings validate the tool's usability and highlight key barriers and opportunities for ESG adoption in agriculture.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This research offers a practical and innovative tool for North Queensland sugarcane farmers to strengthen their sustainability credentials. The ESG Rapid Assessment tool serves as a gateway to capital and environmental markets, supporting the transition to new decarbonisation pathways. By empowering farmers with actionable insights, the tool can enhance resilience, drive sustainable practices, and contribute to achieve net-zero goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104438"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144549549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring farmers' perceived resilience: A profiling of the Flemish farming system","authors":"Isabeau Coopmans ,&nbsp;Erwin Wauters ,&nbsp;Alisa Spiegel ,&nbsp;Thomas Slijper ,&nbsp;Erik Mathijs","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>European farms face social, economic, institutional and environmental challenges that often intermingle and impose cumulative pressures. The capacity of farmers and farms to deal with these challenges is determined by three types of resilience capacities: robustness, adaptability and transformability.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>This study empirically investigates perceived resilience capacity levels on Flemish farms. Furthermore, we explore whether differences in these perceived levels of robustness, adaptability, and transformability across farms can be linked to resilience attributes at farm and farmer level.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>Both the perceived resilience capacity levels and the farm and farmer indicators for resilience attributes were operationalized based on resilience theory from the literature. Our conceptual framework distinguished resilience attributes to be relating to either farm characteristics (such as farm size and typology) or farmer characteristics (such as risk behaviour and entrepreneurial profile). The dataset was representative for professional farming in Flanders (the Northern half of Belgium) and created by coupling survey data with data from the Flemish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). Analytical methods encompassed factor analysis, cluster analysis, and inference statistics.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>Some farmers seem to make a trade-off between robustness on the one hand and adaptability and transformability on the other hand, while other farmers rate the presence of all three capacities similarly. This suggests that the relation between the three resilience capacities appears more complex than has been previously reported in the literature. Overall, higher perceived robustness was mainly associated with farm attributes such as better economic performance and increased farm size. At the same time, higher perceived adaptability and transformability were associated with farmer characteristics such as willingness to experiment and connectivity with external actors.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This study enhances the understanding of how perceived farm resilience capacity levels are linked to both farm and farmer resilience attributes. By integrating survey data with FADN data, it offers a novel approach to assessing farm resilience, combining both subjective and objective indicators for resilience attributes at farmer and farm level respectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104429"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144556796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The cocoa bioeconomy in the eastern Amazon: An integrated analysis of production, environmental degradation perceptions and socioeconomic factors among farmers","authors":"Vanessa da Paixão Alves ,&nbsp;Débora Gonzaga Martin ,&nbsp;Tereza Cristina Giannini ,&nbsp;Renato Silva Junior ,&nbsp;José Tasso Felix Guimarães ,&nbsp;Gabriel Costa Maciel Moia ,&nbsp;Rosa de Nazaré Paes da Silva","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104428","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104428","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>The sustainability of cocoa production in the Eastern Amazon is increasingly challenged by trade-offs between productivity and environmental conservation. Agroforestry systems (AFS) are often promoted as alternatives to monocultures, yet empirical evidence concerning their long-term performance remains limited.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>This investigate aims to assess how socioeconomic, productive, and environmental factors influence cocoa productivity across different production systems—AFS, monoculture, and intercropping—and to evaluate the alignment between farmers' environmental perception and objective degradation indicators.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>Data were collected from 514 cocoa producers in Tucumã and Ourilândia perform Norte, Pará, Brazil. A multinomial logistic regression model was applied to identify predictors of productivity levels. Principal Component Factor Analysis in conjunction with polychoric correlation matrix was used to construct environmental perception metrics, validated through triangulation in conjunction with MapBiomas land cover data.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS</h3><div>A temporal trade-off was identified: monocultures showed higher initial productivity nonetheless declined over time due to soil degradation and pest pressure. In contrast, AFS demonstrated greater long-term stability and better environmental outcomes. Older and a greater quantity educated farmers were a greater quantity likely to adopt AFS. Women-managed properties showed higher diversification and lower market vulnerability. Farmers' environmental perceptions correlated significantly in conjunction with objective vegetation and water body coverage data.</div></div><div><h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>AFS offer a viable model for reconciling agricultural productivity in conjunction with environmental conservation in the Amazon. However, structural barriers—including access to education, credit, and technical assistance—hinder wider adoption.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>These findings uphold policy strategies promoting sustainable intensification through incentive mechanisms exemplified by payments for environmental services (PES), gender-inclusive rural extension programs, and territorial development plans. The investigate contributes to the debate concerning tropical agroecosystem management by integrating ecological knowledge, traditional practices, and socioeconomic equity into a multidisciplinary framework.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104428"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farmer decision-making on agri-environmental schemes: An agent-based modelling approach to evaluate different policy designs in Saxony, Germany","authors":"Meike Will ,&nbsp;Felix Jäger ,&nbsp;Birgit Müller","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104439","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104439","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are intended to promote sustainable agricultural management. However, in the context of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, AES in their current implementation have not met expectations regarding their potential to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Model-based analyses are particularly suitable for investigating how policy measures should be designed to achieve greater acceptance.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>The aim of this study is to use an agent-based model to critically evaluate the impact of changes in agricultural policies on AES adoption rates taking the Mulde River Basin in Germany as an example.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>Based on data from semi-structured interviews and an online survey, farmers' decision-making in the agent-based model is divided into two main steps: First, it is determined whether farmers are open to adopt an AES, regardless of economic AES contract characteristics. If so, in a second step, their actual adoption is calculated based on the compensation individual farmers require for specific contract designs.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The model suggests that changes of AES contract design have more influence on adoption rates than changes in openness of the farmers. At present, limited openness is not the decisive reason for overall low adoption rates. Nevertheless, we find that an expansion of advisory support only fosters adoption if advice promotes farmer openness, which is currently not the case for all considered AES. In addition, social influence between farmers further increases adoption, especially if a farmer's network is large and influential.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>By systematically assessing the impact of changes in policy design, we show how the potential of the AES could be exploited to a greater extent. Furthermore, we discuss how such a model can be used in biophysical analyses to quantify the environmental impact of AES adoption.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104439"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144549548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family farming stands out for its environmental performance in Uruguay's agricultural sector","authors":"Hernán Dieguez ,&nbsp;Federico Gallego ,&nbsp;Gonzalo Camba Sans ,&nbsp;Luciana Staiano ,&nbsp;Pablo Baldassini ,&nbsp;Andrea Ruggia ,&nbsp;Verónica Aguerre ,&nbsp;José María Paruelo","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104440","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104440","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>The environmental performance of family farming is strikingly under-documented, despite its recognized strategic importance within agri-food systems. Determining whether family farming has a distinct environmental footprint or not can provide valuable insights into its potential role in agricultural sustainability.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>We evaluated the environmental performance of family and non-family farms across different production systems and geomorphological regions in Uruguay.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Five locally validated synoptic indicators were assessed to describe aspects related to biodiversity, the supply of various Ecosystem Services (ES) and resilience to habitat loss: the proportion of natural habitats (i.e., natural grasslands and forests), the supply of supporting and regulating ES and its temporal trend, soil conservation and the functional diversity of non-natural habitats. We also calculated a synthetic environmental performance index to reflect overall environmental status across multiple indicators.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>Amidst wide variability, family farms outperformed non-family farms across most indicators, regions, and production systems. Family farming likely fosters virtuous multifunctional landscapes, as our findings suggest that it maintains more natural habitats, supports greater functional diversity, and ensures a higher supply of ES. Family farms also demonstrated greater resilience to disturbances, such as the transformation of natural habitats, compared to non-family farms.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This study integrates nationwide, spatially-detailed remote-sensing indicators within a quantitative, multidimensional framework, providing unprecedented insight into the noteworthy environmental performance of family farming in Uruguay. These findings can guide research into the mechanisms driving this pattern and inform policies to bolster family farming at scales from local communities to regional and national jurisdictions in Uruguay and comparable agricultural contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104440"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144522187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scaling seed demand through behavioral insights: Applying the COM-B model and behavioral change wheel to the maize seed sector in Uganda","authors":"Astrid Mastenbroek","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104432","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104432","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Introduction&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Improved crop varieties in sub-Saharan Africa promise higher yields but remain underutilized by smallholder farmers. In Uganda, low varietal turnover, distrust in formal seed markets, and behavioral barriers contribute to these low adoption rates. While adoption studies often consider knowledge and access, they tend to understate the role of behavioral factors in shaping uptake. In contrast, behavioral economists highlight how cognitive biases, motivation, and social norms influence decisions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Objective&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;This research addresses the gap in behavioral studies regarding varietal adoption and seed demand by explicitly connecting smallholders' seed choices to their behavior (seed choice) resulting from their &lt;u&gt;c&lt;/u&gt;apabilities, &lt;u&gt;o&lt;/u&gt;pportunities, and &lt;u&gt;m&lt;/u&gt;otivations (the COM-B model). Additionally, the research employs the behavioral change wheel, linking intervention functions and policies with these behavioral components. The conceptual framework integrates insights from agricultural technology adoption, behavioral economics, and seed sector research.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Methods&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Focus group discussions with men's and women's groups in Uganda were analyzed to elicit behavioral barriers to and drivers of the acceptance of drought-tolerant maize (DTM) varieties. Drivers and barriers were categorized into emerging themes under each component of the COM-B model. Findings were triangulated with peer-reviewed literature regarding maize seed and seed sector functioning in Uganda. Subsequently, the behavior change wheel was applied to identify corresponding interventions and policies and propose actions to scale seed demand.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Results and conclusions&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Focus group discussions revealed that complex interactions between and among capability, opportunity, and motivation constrain farmers' use of DTM varieties. Structural and psychological factors, as well as trust, strengthen reliance on familiar practices such as home-saved seed. While gaps in capability were common among group members, barriers related to opportunity and motivation generally exerted greater influence on their choices. Seed sector challenges include low varietal turnover, subsidy dependence, and “lemon market” dynamics (counterfeit seed and weak certification), which limit opportunities to scale seed demand within the near future. Encouraging seed subsidies and strengthening agricultural extension services are commonly suggested; however, strategic actions that enhance information reliability, improve trust in formal markets, and augment value chain integration have greater potential in the Ugandan seed market.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Significance&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;This research demonstrates the interconnectedness of promoting improved maize varieties and seed sector functioning. The framework encourages policymakers, private-sector actors, and researchers to consider how cognitive and unconscious mental pro","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104432"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144511087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Looks matter? Field performance and farmers' preferences for drought-tolerant maize in Kenya","authors":"Berber Kramer ,&nbsp;Hailey Wellenstein ,&nbsp;Carol Waweru ,&nbsp;Benjamin Kivuva","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104434","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104434","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>To help farmers adapt to climate change, breeding programs have developed drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties, but varietal turnover among smallholder farmers is slow. One possible reason for low adoption is that DT varieties produce higher yields than older hybrid maize varieties but are not visibly more drought tolerant, especially if morphology is a factor in farmers' varietal choice.</div></div><div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Motivated by this conjecture, our first objective is to compare the drought tolerance of a new hybrid DT maize variety and older varieties under farmer-managed conditions in terms of both morphology and yields. Our second objective is to analyze whether increasing farmers' exposure to this variety increases their awareness of its DT traits and subsequent adoption.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We leverage a project that provided seed trial packs of a new DT maize variety to randomly selected farmers in seven counties in Kenya with varying rainfall conditions. Picture-based crop monitoring across two seasons yielded a novel panel dataset of 18,225 smartphone images labeled for drought damage, and, for a subsample of fields, yields. We use this dataset to compare the performance of promoted and commonly grown varieties. We then use exogenous variation in receiving trial packs to analyze how providing trial packs affects varietal preferences and adoption.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusion</h3><div>The promoted variety produces higher yields than other varieties. Under good conditions, it also appears visibly less damaged during the flowering stage, but morphological differences disappear under more severe moisture stress, and once the crop reaches maturity. Consistent with these observations, treatment farmers do not perceive this variety to be more drought tolerant than other varieties and are more likely to plant the promoted variety only when receiving a free trial pack.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>It could be that limited visibility of DT traits hinders sustained adoption. Increasing adoption of DT varieties to enhance climate change adaptation in drought-prone regions may require facilitating prolonged learning and experimentation opportunities, increasing awareness of how DT traits manifest themselves in terms of yields and morphology under varying rainfall conditions, and, costs permitting, selecting for visible DT traits in plant breeding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104434"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144479991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recent spatiotemporal dynamics of agroforestry systems in Europe","authors":"Judit Rubio-Delgado,&nbsp;J. Francisco Lavado-Contador,&nbsp;Susanne Schnabel","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104437","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Context&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Agroforestry is a land management system that integrates woody vegetation with crop and/or livestock production to benefit from ecological and economic interactions. Such systems also include agricultural land uses combined with small woody features (SWF) such as hedgerows, avenue trees, woodlots and riparian buffer strips, which often form field boundaries.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Objective&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;The paper aims to analyse the spatial and temporal dynamics of agroforestry systems in the EU by determining their current extent, assessing the changes and transitions among land uses and its intensity, and evaluating the likely drivers of these changes.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Methods&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;To achieve this, the LUCAS dataset was consulted, and the agroforestry systems categorised into common agroforestry systems (AF&lt;sub&gt;C&lt;/sub&gt;) and SWF agroforestry systems (AF&lt;sub&gt;SWF&lt;/sub&gt;). AF&lt;sub&gt;C&lt;/sub&gt; included six types of systems: silvopastoral, silvoarable, agrosilvopastoral, grazed permanent crops, intercropped permanent crops and kitchen gardens. AF&lt;sub&gt;SWF&lt;/sub&gt; included four types: SWF-arable crops, SWF-permanent crops, SWF-grazed grassland and SWF-ungrazed grassland. The intensity analysis of land use changes involving agroforestry systems was conducted at three levels: interval, categorical and transitional, across two time periods: 2012–2015 and 2015–2022.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Results and conclusions&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Agroforestry systems in the EU covered 408,073 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; (25 % of UAA) in 2022, with AF&lt;sub&gt;SWF&lt;/sub&gt; systems (64 %) being more widespread than AF&lt;sub&gt;C&lt;/sub&gt; systems (36 %), and silvopastoral systems as the dominant type (29 % of the total agroforestry area). Over recent years, agroforestry area declined by 36 %, mainly due to SWF reduction from agricultural intensification and grazing abandonment, with SWF-permanent crops experiencing the highest loss (−56 %). Kitchen gardens were the only agroforestry type that expanded (24 %). France, Italy, Ireland, and Spain showed the largest declines (accounting for 62 % of the surface losses), while gains were only observed in Sweden, Hungary, Estonia, Finland, Czechia, and Slovakia. Most transitions (77 %) involved conversion to other land uses, though the loss rate slowed after 2015. Additionally, 18 % of changes were due to conversions from other land uses to agroforestry, while 5 % involved transitions among different agroforestry types.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Significance&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;This study provides the most up-to-date assessment of agroforestry system distribution and dynamics in the EU using the LUCAS dataset. The findings highlight the ongoing decline of agroforestry systems, emphasizing the need for policies that promote their conservation and integration into sustainable agricultural practices, particularly within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). By integrating an intensity analysis, the study enhances the understanding of land use transitions and ","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104437"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144490302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The environmental trade-off of fertiliser, residue and catch crop management in Danish cropping systems","authors":"Meshach Ojo Aderele ,&nbsp;Edwin Haas ,&nbsp;Andrew Smerald ,&nbsp;Gitte Blicher-Mathiesen ,&nbsp;Klaus Butterbach-Bahl ,&nbsp;Jaber Rahimi","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient in agriculture, affecting both crop yields and soil health. In Denmark, one of the most densely farmed regions in the world, excess reactive nitrogen (Nr) compounds are lost to the environment along gaseous and hydrological pathways in forms such as nitrate, ammonia, nitrogen oxides and dinitrogen.</div></div><div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Here, we aim to assess the effect of different field management practices (fertilisation, crop residue management or cultivation of catch crops) on environmental Nr losses and the field scale soil net GHG balance (i.e., sum of soil C stock changes and direct and indirect N₂O emissions).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>For this purpose, highly detailed data from the Danish Agricultural Watershed Monitoring Program (LOOP-program; 2013–2019) were used in combination with the process-based model LandscapeDNDC.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>The results indicate that a mixture of organic and synthetic fertilisers turns soils to a stronger net sink of GHGs (∼70 – ∼514 kgCO₂₋eq ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) compared to exclusive use of only one type of fertiliser. In addition, incorporating crop residue and cultivation of catch crops increases the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by 3–11 % on average and decreases environmental Nr losses.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>These findings emphasize the potential of targeted fertiliser, residue and catch crop management to increase the sustainability of crop production systems in Denmark.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"229 ","pages":"Article 104433"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}