Agricultural Systems最新文献

{"title":"Web-based multicriteria spatial decision support system (MC-SDSS) for land suitability evaluation in olive groves. A case study in Calabria region, southern Italy","authors":"Giuseppe Modica ,&nbsp;Maurizio Pollino ,&nbsp;Gaetano Messina ,&nbsp;Simone Lanucara ,&nbsp;Salvatore Praticò","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104375","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104375","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Effective and sustainable agricultural land management is essential for developing agriculture and food production. Olive trees are among the most significant cultivated plants in the Mediterranean region. Yet, they are especially vulnerable to climatic and socioeconomic changes rapidly transforming agroecosystems at a regional and global scale.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVES</h3><div>This study presents the outcomes of implementing a web-based multi-criteria spatial decision support system (MC-SDSS) designed explicitly for evaluating land suitability for olive cultivation. The aim is to identify areas that are most suitable for sustainable olive growing.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>This system relies on free and open-source geospatial software (FOSS4G). The implemented web platform (WebGIS Suitability Olive) was tested by performing an LSE for olive growing in the Calabria region (Southern Italy). The platform is designed to manage users with different levels of access (i.e., user's privileges): Guest (data visualization), Expert (making evaluations), and Decision-Maker (making final decisions). The decision-maker collects the results produced by each expert, aggregating all the intermediate results through a geometric mean and generating the final Suitability Map, which represents the synthesis of all the evaluations provided by the experts.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The final suitability assessment identifies the most appropriate areas for sustainable olive cultivation. The results indicate that the total area suitable for sustainable olive growing in Calabria is 109,595.10 ha, of which olive groves already occupy 46,912.17 ha.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This tool is designed to support more complex planning processes that require multi-temporal and multi-actor approaches. These approaches are essential for evaluating different alternatives and proposing various sustainable solutions from environmental and landscape perspectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104375"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923060","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":"Challenges and opportunities in using biowaste for sustainable hydroponic netted melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivation","authors":"Yen-Tzu Fan ,&nbsp;Zih-Ee Lin ,&nbsp;Pei-Te Chiueh ,&nbsp;Yu-Pin Lin ,&nbsp;Lien-Chieh Cheng ,&nbsp;Yu-Shen Cheng ,&nbsp;Shu-I Lin ,&nbsp;Chihhao Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Circular agriculture aims to promote resource recycling for a sustainable environment. Substituting chemical inputs with biowaste alternatives is a practical strategy for fostering sustainable agriculture, especially in hydroponic systems that enable efficient production under resource-limited conditions. Netted melons (<em>Cucumis melo</em> L.) are high-economic-valued crops, which represents an opportunity to explore these substitutions. However, using biowaste in hydroponics requires additional pretreatment processes and may lead to lower fruit weights, impacting both environmental and economic outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>This study aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts of partially substituting conventional fertilizers with biowaste fertilizers in hydroponic melon cultivation.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>This study performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the effects of substituting 20 % biowaste (mealworm frass) for conventional fertilizers (synthetic chemicals) in hydroponic netted melon cultivation. The practical trials were first carried out to measure the impacts of biowaste substitution on plant growth and crop yields. Then, scaled-up analyses were conducted to include seasonal variability in this study.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>Biowaste Substitution for conventional fertilizers in hydroponic netted melon cultivation increased the total environmental impacts by 11.3–13.7 %. This increase was primarily attributed to additional energy requirements for biowaste pretreatment and reduced fruit weight, leading to a 2.1 % rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In particular, although biowaste substitution reduced mineral source scarcity by 20.0–30.7 %, the global warming potential increased by 11.6–14.2 %. Also, we initially expected to reduce GHG emissions by 8.2 % when implementing biowaste substitution, but additional energy requirements and reduced fruit weights offset the benefits.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This study highlights both the potential and challenges of biowaste substitution in hydroponic systems. This illustrated the unstable conditions in soilless cultivation when applying biowaste fertilizers. As hydroponic farming continues to advance within circular agricultural systems, careful consideration is required for food productivity and energy requirements to achieve environmental sustainability in agriculture systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104366"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923058","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":"From pond to lowland scale, a systemic approach to better understanding small-scale rice-fish farming dynamics: Case study in Guinea","authors":"Lucas Fertin ,&nbsp;Anne Perinelle ,&nbsp;Teatske Bakker","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Rice-fish farming supports rural livelihoods in Guinea, but practices and outcomes vary widely due to differences in environmental conditions and market access. These disparities affect farmers' ability to adopt advanced aquaculture techniques, highlighting the need for context-specific approaches.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study explores the practices, constraints, and income contributions of rice-fish farming systems in Guinea, with a focus on the drivers of technical adoption and their effects on household livelihoods.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A census of 1942 rice-fish farmers was combined with in-depth monitoring of 36 production cycles from 16 farms across three agro-ecological zones. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis tests, mass balance, labor productivity calculations and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews. Market accessibility was identified as a significant influencing factor through statistical association with fish prices and practice adoption, and interpreted in light of qualitative information such as proximity to regional markets and the presence of wholesale fish buyers.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>Although farmers generally understand fish farming principles, only 59 % use <em>H. fasciatus</em> and 30 % adopt monosex tilapia. Many recycle small fish as fingerlings, limiting growth potential. Rice-fish farming contributes 18 % of household income, on par with rice (22 %) and plantation crops (21 %). In peri-urban areas, better market access encourages the adoption of advanced practices, leading to higher prices (25,000 GNF/kg vs. 16,000–20,000 elsewhere). In contrast, savannah farmers face challenges such as water scarcity and poor market connectivity, often integrating dry-season horticulture into ponds.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The study highlights farmers' adaptability in developing context-specific practices. It underscores the need for tailored support to enhance the sustainability and resilience of rice-fish farming systems in Guinea.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104383"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923059","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":"Frost shocks negatively impact the supply of high-stem juicing apples in Switzerland","authors":"Guy Low ,&nbsp;Miranda P.M. Meuwissen ,&nbsp;Robert Finger ,&nbsp;Tobias Dalhaus","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Mixed farming and agroforestry systems aim to provide both economic diversification and ecological and environmental benefits. However, downstream actors relying on singular outputs originating from these farms may lack comparable resilience to identical shocks.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>We analyse the impact that frost shocks have on meadow orchard apple supplies to a juicer-processor in Switzerland.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We use a panel dataset of 1746 observations containing supplied quantities of apples to a major Swiss juicer, originating from extensive meadow orchards, to 291 delivery points in Switzerland between the years 2016–2021. We merge the supply data with apple phenology data and temperature data. We use fixed effects regression with piecewise linear splines to identify the effect of a frost shock during the flowering period on supply shocks of apples to the juicer, where shocks are defined as random and exogenous deviations of average extreme weather.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS &amp; CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>Frost has a significant effect on the quantity of apples delivered to the juicer. Under every degree-hour of frost exposure, supplied apple quantities at postcodes decrease by 394.3 kg. The juicer faces an average input shortfall of 8 %, or 11,548.2 kg of apples, per year due to frostier-than-average temperatures. The systemic and volatile nature of frost shocks, and the inaccessibility of international apple supplies, make the risks posed by frost for Swiss apple processors especially keen.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>We are among the first to quantify impacts of extreme weather on the downstream food supply chain. We illustrate that studying risks and sustainability in agriculture and food production too often ignore impacts beyond the farm-level.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104363"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907094","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":"A comparative study of the legal and regulatory dimension of seed sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa using regulatory systems maps: The case of Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda","authors":"Katrin Kuhlmann ,&nbsp;Adron Naggayi Nalinya ,&nbsp;Tara Francis ,&nbsp;David J. Spielman","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104351","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104351","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Harmonization of Africa's rules and regulations for seed sector development began several decades ago through efforts of its regional economic communities. This process of regional alignment has, to a degree, incorporated a more pluralistic approach that considers and acknowledges that multiple seed systems make up the seed sector and that national legal systems may contain different innovations and flexibilities. With deeper continental integration foreseen under the African Continental Free Trade Area, the focus on regional alignment of agricultural rules in Africa has increased. While this presents an opportunity for policy and regulatory change in support of seed sector development, deeper study is warranted of how regional and national policy and regulatory systems align and where differences could advance greater equity in seed systems.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aims to analyze and compare the legal and regulatory dimensions of seed sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa by identifying areas of convergence and divergence across both law and practice in national legal systems.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The study applies a relatively novel method—Regulatory Systems Mapping—that allows for both comparative and contextual analysis. The methodology focuses on four qualitative comparative criteria (efficiency, legal design, implementation, and flexibility and equity) to highlight stakeholder experiences and good practices in seed sector development. The method is applied to three countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda), all of which are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and have reformed domestic law in line with various regional agreements.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>The study finds both differences and similarities between the three countries in terms of practices, flexibilities, alignment, needs, and gaps in the legal and regulatory dimensions of seed sector development, particularly with respect to areas in which written law differs from stakeholder experience. These findings suggest the need for several national-level interventions and a review of regional rules and procedures to integrate flexibility and stakeholder priorities in legal and regulatory design and implementation.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The study not only contributes to the growing body of literature on African policy and regulation for seed sector development but also details a novel methodological approach to comparing seed regulatory systems, with emphasis on analytically isolating intervention points, legal innovations, and fit-for purpose pluralistic approaches. This analysis provides the kind of evidence that policymakers need to improve regulatory systems to better address dimensions such as flexibility and equity that reflect farmers' needs, reduce costs, and increase participation in seed systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104351"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907095","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":"Economic and climate effects of farm-level biogas adoption: A stochastic partial budget analysis and life cycle assessment for Swedish dairy farming","authors":"Nasir Adam ,&nbsp;Ashkan Tayebi ,&nbsp;Vivian Wei Huang ,&nbsp;Gordana Manevska-Tasevska ,&nbsp;Åke Nordberg ,&nbsp;Per-Anders Hansson ,&nbsp;Helena Hansson","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104358","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>There is a growing interest in investments in technology that can help farms to become fossil-free, without compromising their economic incentives, and while significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Biogas is an interesting technology in this respect, however, the possible farm-level economic impacts from investing in a biogas-based system are not well understood, yet they are decisive to understand farmers' incentives for adoption.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>The objectives are to i) develop a scenario which allows the farms to become fossil-free in their input use, ii) assess the farm-level economic consequences of adoption and iii) quantify change in global warming potential in a 100-year period (GWP₁₀₀) from the biogas-scenario.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We use a stochastic partial budgeting approach to simulate farm-level economic benefits and costs associated with changes and uncertainty related to economic effects. We also use life cycle assessment for the quantification of the climate effects, which enable us to examine the potential climate impact in reduction of fossil-based inputs in baseline scenario by transitioning to the biogas scenario. The study is based on simulation for a hypothetical dairy farm with 300 milking cow and a corresponding 325 ha of arable land that produces 75 % mixed grass and 25 % clover.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>The result shows that transitioning to a biogas-based system will yield an estimated deterministic net annual benefit of 1035 SEK for the hypothetical farm. However, when considering simulated scenario, the net annual benefit could be negative, amounting −5398 SEK. Besides, there could be a gain of 185,000 SEK from yet unpaid carbon credits, which could be shared between the farm and the biogas plant. In addition, the biogas-system also results in a 218.4 t reduction of CO₂ eq. emission. Therefore, if all milk-recorded cows in Sweden were considered to be part of the biogas system, it theoretically will imply a 27 % reduction in GHG emissions from the use of agricultural machinery. Results thus established that adopting the biogas-based system will not only result in cost-neutral to farmers, but also a considerable reduction in methane emissions.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>The paper provides a joint farm-level economic and climate assessment of transition from conventional dairy farm to a biogas system, highlighting potential trade-offs and synergies between the two outcomes. Our result offers valuable understanding about how market internalisation of fossil-free transition in dairy farming can happen through the creation of economic and business incentives that encourage trading between farmers and biogas plants.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 104358"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907096","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":"Resilience of Swiss summer farms: An interdisciplinary analysis of key challenges and adaptations","authors":"Maximilian Meyer ,&nbsp;Sandra Contzen ,&nbsp;Michael Feller ,&nbsp;Caren M. Pauler ,&nbsp;Massimiliano Probo ,&nbsp;Alexander Röösli ,&nbsp;Remo S. Schmidt ,&nbsp;Manuel K. Schneider","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104365","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104365","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>CONTEXT</h3><div>Summer farms in Switzerland provide a broad bundle of ecosystem services to society: they produce ruminant-based food, provide areas of recreation and biodiversity conservation, and are an important part of mountain cultural heritage and tourism. However, the activity of these farms is declining, with mostly negative implications for the services they provide.</div></div><div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>To preserve the remaining summer farms, it is crucial to understand the factors that make them resilient. In this study, we therefore analysed the resilience of Swiss summer farming systems by identifying key challenges, describing supply of private and public goods as well as functions, and highlighting factors that enhance or decrease resilience.</div></div><div><h3>METHODS</h3><div>We used an interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from agronomy, ecology, economics, sociology, livestock, and food science. We described the particularities of this farming system, characterised the challenges that farms face, and analysed the provision of selected private and public goods as well as functions. For this, we used remote sensing and farm census data, interviews, and survey questionnaires.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>Key challenges to resilience include labour constraints, climate change-induced water scarcity, and human-wolf conflicts. Despite these challenges, the production of cheese, the main product of most farms, has been resilient. Further, overall livestock stocking remained stable due to system reserves from direct payments, and summer farms continued to be important for tourism in rural areas. As an adaptation strategy to mounting labour shortages, summer farms increasingly kept suckler cows, which demanded less labour. Labour shortage was both a result of and further reinforced by employees spending fewer seasons on summer farms due to the job's seasonality. Both labour shortage and reduced grazing pressure contributed to a loss of 10 % of summer farming area to shrub and woody plant encroachment and forest succession, which indicated a substantial lack of landscape maintenance as a public good. We emphasize the need for a more flexible direct payment system, as well as digital and silvo-pastoral innovations, to enhance system adaptability and improve resilience.</div></div><div><h3>SIGNIFICANCE</h3><div>This study is the first to analyse Swiss summer farm resilience and highlights a lack of landscape maintenance, due to shrub encroachment. The findings underscore the need for flexible direct payment systems and innovations such as digital tools and silvo-pastoral practices to enhance system adaptability and resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 104365"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899206","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 opportunities to improve crop-livestock integration and production in mixed farms with a serious game: The case of semi-arid Burkina Faso","authors":"Gildas G.C. Assogba ,&nbsp;Erika N. Speelman ,&nbsp;David Berre ,&nbsp;Myriam Adam ,&nbsp;Katrien Descheemaeker","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104364","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104364","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Serious games are increasingly recognised as powerful tools to deepen knowledge and stimulate (social) learning among game participants.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>We developed a serious game, called QUEEN, to better understand farmer decision-making and to explore potential options to improve crop-livestock integration and production as seen from the farmer perspective using a case study of a semi-arid farming system in Burkina Faso.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The development of the serious game was an iterative process with several rounds in which local farmers and local researchers played a pivotal role. The game included options for soil fertility management, crop and livestock production, market opportunities and interactions among participants. Three game sessions were organized to collect data on farmers' decision-making and management strategies. Beyond gameplay, the game was used as an experimental platform—its solution space was explored through simulations to assess the outcomes of possible strategies, and the impacts of assumptions and game's mechanics on the game's outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>We showed that while the participants remained generally close to their real-life farm management, in the game they all applied mulch, cereal-legume strip intercropping and rotations, which is less common in reality. This demonstrates the capacity of the game to encourage farmers to explore alternative practices. The solution space exploration helped identify trade-offs between objectives (e.g., livestock production vs. income generation), and pathways to improve crop-livestock integration.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>QUEEN is a valuable learning and research tool for Burkina Faso and other semi-arid systems, engaging stakeholders in critical reflection on system constraints and innovations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 104364"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143895940","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":"A crop-specific and time-variant spatial framework for characterizing rainfed wheat production environments in Ethiopia","authors":"Habtamu S. Gelagay ,&nbsp;Louise Leroux ,&nbsp;Lulseged Tamene ,&nbsp;Meklit Chernet ,&nbsp;Gerald Blasch ,&nbsp;Degefie Tibebe ,&nbsp;Wuletawu Abera ,&nbsp;Tesfaye Sida ,&nbsp;Kindie Tesfaye ,&nbsp;Marc Corbeels ,&nbsp;João Vasco Silva","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104360","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104360","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Characterizing crop production environments is essential for targeted interventions, resource allocation, scaling localized findings, and agricultural decision-making. However, existing methods lack the spatial and temporal rigor required to capture spatial and temporal variability in crop production environments.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aimed to introduce a data-driven and dynamic spatial framework that integrates crop area mapping with the delineation of agro-ecological spatial units (ASUs) to characterize Ethiopia's rainfed wheat crop production environments.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Annual rainfed wheat areas for the 2021 and 2022 <em>Meher</em> growing seasons were mapped using an ensemble machine-learning approach, leveraging time-series satellite images and environmental data. Dynamic ASUs were delineated using pixel- and object-based clustering methods, considering short-term changes (annual ASUs for 2021 and 2022) and longer-term trends (ASUs developed using data aggregated over the period 2016–2022). Clustering was based on key biophysical variables, including climatic, soil, topographic, and vegetation indices derived from satellite images that capture crop growth and development over space and time.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>The framework captured the spatial and temporal variability of wheat production environments, demonstrating its scalability across space and time. Rainfed wheat area mapping across two growing seasons revealed an expansion in rainfed wheat areas, highlighting the evolving nature of rainfed wheat cultivation in Ethiopia. The integration of rainfed wheat area mapping with dynamic ASU delineation identified five main production environments for wheat in Ethiopia, allowing to better target future research and development activities toward increasing wheat productivity in the country.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The developed framework can facilitate agronomic assessments and inform the targeting of agricultural interventions, with potential applications that extend beyond this case study of rainfed wheat in Ethiopia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 104360"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899204","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":"Determinants of farm household resilience and its impact on climate-smart agriculture performance: Insights from coastal and non-coastal ecosystems in Odisha, India","authors":"Usha Das ,&nbsp;M.A. Ansari ,&nbsp;Souvik Ghosh ,&nbsp;Neela Madhav Patnaik ,&nbsp;Saikat Maji","doi":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104370","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Context&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Climate change presents severe challenges to agricultural production systems, particularly for smallholder farmers in developing nations like India. Strengthening the resilience of farm households is crucial for sustaining agricultural productivity in the face of climatic uncertainties. To enhance the effectiveness and upscaling of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) interventions, agricultural systems must be restructured and reformed considering resilience of farm households. Understanding the influencing factors of farm household resilience as well as effect of resilience pillars in improving the CSA performance is essential.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Objective&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Present study aims to identify the key determinants of farm household resilience across coastal and non-coastal ecosystems in Odisha, India, a highly climate-vulnerable state. It seeks to analyse the interrelationships between resilience determinants and explore the link between farm household resilience and CSA performance in terms of effectiveness and implementation feasibility as perceived by the farmers.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Methods&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;The study investigates the resilience of farm households across coastal and non-coastal ecosystems, focusing on three dominant livelihood groups: crop farming, livestock farming, and combined crop-livestock farming. It employs the Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) framework to assess resilience through four key pillars: Access to basic services (ABS), Assets (AST), Social safety nets (SSN), and Adaptive capacity (AC). A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model is used to examine resilience determinants, while Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is applied to assess the relationship between household resilience and CSA performance. Additionally, multiple regression and path analysis are conducted to identify resilience drivers in terms of livelihood indicators across coastal and non-coastal ecosystems.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Results and conclusions&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Findings indicate that crop-livestock farming households exhibit the highest resilience in both coastal and non-coastal regions, while crop farmers demonstrate higher resilience than livestock farmers. The study uncovers distinct resilience drivers between coastal and non-coastal areas. SEM analysis highlights a differential relationship between resilience and CSA performance, revealing how resilience influences CSA outcomes. It suggests a moderately fit model highlighting AC and SSN pillars contributing to resilience. Multiple regression and path analysis have revealed key livelihood indicators (such as infrastructure, connectivity, community network, landholding, irrigation access, and income) determining the resilience of the farmers. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of micro-level resilience among farm households and its relationship with CSA performance.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Significance&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;By identifying key resilience d","PeriodicalId":7730,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Systems","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 104370"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899205","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}