Ageing threatens sustainability of smallholder farming in China.

Rapid demographic ageing substantially affects socioeconomic development1-4 and presents considerable challenges for food security and agricultural sustainability5-8, which have so far not been well understood. Here, by using data from more than 15,000 rural households with crops but no livestock across China, we show that rural population ageing reduced farm size by 4% through transferring cropland ownership and land abandonment (approximately 4 million hectares) in 2019, taking the population age structure in 1990 as a benchmark. These changes led to a reduction of agricultural inputs, including chemical fertilizers, manure and machinery, which decreased agricultural output and labour productivity by 5% and 4%, respectively, further lowering farmers' income by 15%. Meanwhile, fertilizer loss increased by 3%, resulting in higher pollutant emissions to the environment. In new farming models, such as cooperative farming, farms tend to be larger and operated by younger farmers, who have a higher average education level, hence improving agricultural management. By encouraging the transition to new farming models, the negative consequences of ageing can be reversed. Agricultural input, farm size and farmer's income would grow by approximately 14%, 20% and 26%, respectively, and fertilizer loss would reduce by 4% in 2100 compared with that in 2020. This suggests that management of rural ageing will contribute to a comprehensive transformation of smallholder farming to sustainable agriculture in China.

Understanding the Relationships between Landscape Eco-Security and Multifunctionality in Cropland: Implications for Supporting Cropland Management Decisions.

Cropland is an essential strategic resource, for which landscape ecological security and multifunctionality evolution are related to regional stability and sustainable social development. However, few studies have explored the spatial heterogeneity of the coupling between the two from a multiregional and systematic perspective, and the interaction mechanisms have still not been thoroughly analyzed. In this study, a typical karst trough and valley area in the mountainous regions of southwest China was selected as the research object, and by establishing a multi-indicator evaluation system using a landscape pattern index, a multifunctional identification model, a coupled coordination model, and a geodetector model, the spatial variability in the evolutionary characteristics and the coupling and coordination of cropland landscape ecological security (CLES) and cropland multifunctionality (CM) in the mountainous regions of the southwest and their driving mechanisms were explored. The main results were as follows: (1) CLES in the mountainous areas of southwest China has undergone an evolutionary process of first declining and then slowly rising, with the characteristics of "fast declining in the high-value areas and slow rising in the low-value areas", while CM showed a spatial distribution of "high in the northwest and low in the northeast", with positive contributions originating from ecological functions. (2) Over the 20 years, the cropland coupling coordination degree (CCCD) values showed significant spatial heterogeneity, which was regionally expressed as ejective folds (EF) > TF (tight folds) > TLF (trough-like folds) > AF (anticlinorium folds). Low CCCD values were primarily found in the east, whereas high levels were primarily found in the west, with a rapidly diminishing trend. (3) There were differences in the driving mechanisms of CCDD in different landscapes, but GDP was still the determining factor and had a limiting effect. Hence, we call for the adoption of a "function over pattern" approach in areas with more development constraints and a "pattern over function" approach in areas with fewer development constraints. Ultimately, this study will contribute to the formation of a coupled cropland mechanism system described as the "multi-mechanisms drive, multi-elements integrated" system. In conclusion, this study can provide a better understanding of the relationship between cropland patterns and multifunctionality, which can help provide a basis for cropland conservation and landscape planning in similar mountainous areas and promote the achievement of sustainable agricultural development goals in the mountainous areas of southwest China.

Agricultural land systems importance for supporting food security and sustainable development goals: A systematic review.

Agriculture provides the largest share of food supplies and ensures a critical number of ecosystem services (e.g., food provisioning). Therefore, agriculture is vital for food security and supports the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 2 (SDG 2 - zero hunger) as others SDG's. Several studies have been published in different world areas with different research directions focused on increasing food and nutritional security from an agricultural land system perspective. The heterogeneity of the agricultural research studies calls for an interdisciplinary and comprehensive systematization of the different research directions and the plethora of approaches, scales of analysis, and reference data used. Thus, this work aims to systematically review the contributions of the different agricultural research studies by systematizing the main research fields and present a synthesis of the diversity and scope of research and knowledge. From an initial search of 1151 articles, 260 meet the criteria to be used in the review. Our analysis revealed that most articles were published between 2015 and 2019 (59%), and most of the case studies were carried out in Asia (36%) and Africa (20%). The number of studies carried out in the other continents was lower. In the last 30 years, most of the research was centred in six main research fields: land-use changes (28%), agricultural efficiency (27%), climate change (16%), farmer's motivation (12%), urban and peri-urban agriculture (11%), and land suitability (7%). Overall, the research fields identified are directly or indirectly linked to 11 of the 17 SDGs. There are essential differences in the number of articles among research fields, and future efforts are needed in the ones that are less represented to support food security and the SDGs.

América Latina y el Caribe. Panorama regional de la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional 2021: Estadisticas y tendencias

La alimentación es parte central del desarrollo de las personas a lo largo de su vida. El hambre y la pobreza impiden el goce de derechos esenciales de las personas. Durante los últimos años, distintos factores han desviado al mundo del camino para lograr la erradicación del hambre, la inseguridad alimentaria y todas las formas de malnutrición para el año 2030, y la pandemia de la COVID-19 ha exacerbado esta tendencia. Nuestra región no es la excepción. En esta edición del Panorama regional de la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición 2021: Estadísticas y tendencias, observamos un escenario sombrío de cara al futuro. En 2020, 59,7 millones de personas en nuestra región padecieron hambre y, entre 2019 y 2020, la prevalencia de hambre en América Latina y el Caribe aumentó 2 puntos porcentuales. El aumento de la inseguridad alimentaria moderada o grave de 2019 a 2020 fue aún más pronunciado que el del hambre: 9 puntos porcentuales. El 41 por ciento de la población regional sufre inseguridad alimentaria moderada o grave: son 267 millones de personas que han visto impactado su derecho humano a la alimentación. En la región, 1 de cada 4 adultos vive con obesidad. El sobrepeso infantil ha ido en aumento en los últimos 20 años y se encuentra por encima del promedio mundial: afectó al 7,5% de los menores de 5 años en 2020. El sobrepeso y la obesidad tiene un gran impacto económico, social y sanitario para los países, debido a la reducción de la productividad y el aumento de la discapacidad, la mortalidad prematura y los costos de la atención y los tratamientos médicos. Si las cosas no cambian con rapidez y profundidad, los países de la región incumplirán su compromiso de alcanzar las metas del Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) 2 “Poner fin al hambre, lograr la seguridad alimentaria y la mejora de la nutrición y promover la agricultura sostenible” y del ODS 3 “Garantizar una vida sana y promover el bienestar de toda la población a todas las edades”. Estas tendencias no se van a revertir si no avanzamos en la transformación de nuestros sistemas agroalimentarios para que sean más eficientes, resilientes, inclusivos y sostenibles, a fin de proporcionar dietas saludables para todos y todas, sin dejar a nadie atrás.

Towards optimization of plant cell detection in suspensions using impedance-based analyses and the unified equivalent circuit model.

An improved approach for comparative study of plant cells for long term and continuous monitoring using electrical impedance spectroscopy is demonstrated for tomato and tobacco plant cells (MSK8 and BY2) in suspensions. This approach is based on the locations and magnitudes of defining features in the impedance spectra of the recently reported unified equivalent circuit model. The ultra-wide range (4 Hz to 20 GHz) impedance spectra of the cell lines were measured using custom probes, and were analyzed using the unified equivalent circuit model, highlighting significant negative phase peaks in the ~ 1 kHz to ~ 10 MHz range. These peaks differ between the tomato and tobacco cells, and since they can be easily defined, they can potentially be used as the signal for differentiating between different cell cultures or monitoring them over time. These findings were further analysed, showing that ratios relating the resistances of the media and the resistance of the cells define the sensitivity of the method, thus affecting its selectivity. It was further shown that cell agglomeration is also an important factor in the impedance modeling in addition to the overall cell concentration. These results can be used for optimizing and calibrating electrical impedance spectroscopy-based sensors for long term monitoring of cell lines in suspension for a given specific cell and media types.

Nutritional supplementation with non-conventional food resources and its effect on the productive parameters in rabbits / Suplementación nutricional con recursos alimenticios no convencionales y su efecto sobre los parámetros productivos en conejos / Suplemento nutricional com recursos alimentares não convencionais e o seu efeito sobre e o seu efeito nos parâmetros produtivos dos coelhos

ABSTRACT The effect of diets with nonconventional forage resources, balu (Erythrina edulis) and giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza) was evaluated, on production parameters of New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) under family farming production, in Silvania (Cundinamarca, Colombia). 36 weaned rabbits of 35 days old were used. They were distributed in 4 treatments (substitution of commercial pellets by giant taro leaves flour 25% (Giant taro), balu 25% (Balu); their mixture, giant taro 12.5% and balu 12.5% (GB), and a control with commercial pellets) with three repetitions each. Variables evaluated: initial weight at 35 days old, daily weight gain, consumption, feed conversion and final weight at 85 days old, carcass yield, haunch, loin and meat. Data was analyzed by Tukey multiple comparison test at 5% significance level, variance homogeneity and error independence verified by means of Shapiro-Wilks, Levene and Durbin-Watson tests, respectively by R program. No significant differences were found in the final weight, on weeks 5 and 6, which registered significant differences (p<0.05), for giant taro (1771.85±88.21 AB), control (1933.06±88.20 B), giant taro (1935.05+91.26 AB), control (2144.42±91.26 B) respectively Daily weight gain showed significant differences (p<0.05) at week 5 for giant taro (33.56±2.82 AB); control (.37±2.825 B). Significant differences were showed by most zootechnical variables (p<0.05). The results showed that diets with nonconventional forage resources (balu and giant taro) are a viable alternative for animal feeding, due to their high nutritional content and as a by-product of commercial interest for rural families in areas of the middle Colombian tropics.

RESUMEN Se evaluó el efecto de dietas con recursos forrajeros no convencionales, chachafruto (Erythrina edulis) y bore (Alocasia macrorrhiza), sobre parámetros productivos de conejos raza nueva Zelanda blanco (Oryctolagus cuniculus) bajo producción de agricultura familiar en Silvania (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Se utilizaron 36 conejos destetos de 35 días, los cuales fueron distribuidos en 4 tratamientos (sustitución de concentrado comercial por harinas de hojas de bore 25% (Bore), chachafruto 25% (Balu), su mezcla bore 12.5% y balu 12.5% (BB) y un control con concentrado comercial) con tres repeticiones cada uno. Se evaluaron variables como: peso inicial a los 35 días, ganancia diaria de peso, consumo, conversión alimenticia y peso final a los 85 dias de edad, rendimiento en canal, anca, lomo, carne. Los datos fueron analizados mediante la prueba de comparación múltiple de Tukey con significancia del 5%. La varianza, homogeneidad y error fueron verificados por la prueba de Shapiro-Wilks, Levene y Durbin-Watson, utilizando el programa R. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en el peso final, en las semanas 5 y 6 que registraron diferencias significativas (p<0,05), para el Bore (1771,85±88,21 AB); Control (1933,06±88,20 B) Bore (1935,05±91,26 AB); Control (2144,42±91,26 B) respectivamente; la ganancia diaria de peso presentó diferencias significativas (p<0,05) en la semana 5 para Bore (33,56±2,82 AB); Control (,37±2,825 B). La mayoría de variables zootécnicas presentaron diferencias significativas (p<0,05). Los resultados obtenidos demostraron que las dietas con recursos forrajeros no convencionales (chachafruto y bore) son una alternativa viable para la alimentación animal por su alto contenido nutricional y como subproducto de interés comercial para familias rurales de zonas del trópico medio colombiano.

RESUMO Foi avaliado o efeito das dietas com recursos forrageiros não convencionais, chachafruit (Erythrina edulis) e bore (Alocasia macrorrhiza), nos parâmetros produtivos dos coelhos brancos da Nova Zelândia (Oryctolagus cuniculuss sob produção agrícola familiar na Silvânia (Cundinamarca, Colômbia). Foram utilizados 36 coelhos desmamados de 35 dias, que foram distribuídos em quatro tratamentos (substituição do concentrado comercial por farinha de folha de furo 25% (Bore), chachafruit 25% (Balu), a sua mistura de furo 12,5% e balu 12,5% (BB) e um controlo com concentrado comercial) com três réplicas cada. Foram avaliadas as seguintes variáveis: peso inicial aos 35 dias, ganho de peso diário, ingestão de alimentos, conversão alimentar e peso final aos 85 dias de idade, rendimento da carcaça, alho, lombo e carne. Os dados foram analisados pelo teste de comparação múltipla de Tukey com um significado de 5%. A variância, homogeneidade e erro foram verificados pelo teste Shapiro-Wilks, Levene e Durbin-Watson, utilizando o programa R. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas no peso final, nas semanas 5 e 6 que registaram diferenças significativas (p<0,05), para Bore (1771,85±88,21 AB); Controlo (1933,06±88,20 B) Bore (1935,05±91,26 AB); Controlo (2144,42±91,26 B) respectivamente; o ganho de peso diário apresentou diferenças significativas (p<0,05) na semana 5 para Bore (33,56±2,82 AB); Controlo (,37±2,825 B). A maioria das variáveis zootécnicas apresentou diferenças significativas (p<0,05). Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as dietas com recursos forrageiros não convencionais (chachafruit e bore) são uma alternativa viável para a alimentação animal devido ao seu elevado conteúdo nutricional e como subproduto de interesse comercial para as famílias rurais nas zonas meio-tropicais colombianas.

Integrating stakeholders' perspectives and spatial modelling to develop scenarios of future land use and land cover change in northern Tanzania.

Rapid rates of land use and land cover change (LULCC) in eastern Africa and limited instances of genuinely equal partnerships involving scientists, communities and decision makers challenge the development of robust pathways toward future environmental and socioeconomic sustainability. We use a participatory modelling tool, Kesho, to assess the biophysical, socioeconomic, cultural and governance factors that influenced past (1959-1999) and present (2000-2018) LULCC in northern Tanzania and to simulate four scenarios of land cover change to the year 2030. Simulations of the scenarios used spatial modelling to integrate stakeholders' perceptions of future environmental change with social and environmental data on recent trends in LULCC. From stakeholders' perspectives, between 1959 and 2018, LULCC was influenced by climate variability, availability of natural resources, agriculture expansion, urbanization, tourism growth and legislation governing land access and natural resource management. Among other socio-environmental-political LULCC drivers, the stakeholders envisioned that from 2018 to 2030 LULCC will largely be influenced by land health, natural and economic capital, and political will in implementing land use plans and policies. The projected scenarios suggest that by 2030 agricultural land will have expanded by 8-20% under different scenarios and herbaceous vegetation and forest land cover will be reduced by 2.5-5% and 10-19% respectively. Stakeholder discussions further identified desirable futures in 2030 as those with improved infrastructure, restored degraded landscapes, effective wildlife conservation, and better farming techniques. The undesirable futures in 2030 were those characterized by land degradation, poverty, and cultural loss. Insights from our work identify the implications of future LULCC scenarios on wildlife and cultural conservation and in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets by 2030. The Kesho approach capitalizes on knowledge exchanges among diverse stakeholders, and in the process promotes social learning, provides a sense of ownership of outputs generated, democratizes scientific understanding, and improves the quality and relevance of the outputs.

Global and regional drivers of land-use emissions in 1961-2017.

Historically, human uses of land have transformed and fragmented ecosystems1,2, degraded biodiversity3,4, disrupted carbon and nitrogen cycles5,6 and added prodigious quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere7,8. However, in contrast to fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, trends and drivers of GHG emissions from land management and land-use change (together referred to as 'land-use emissions') have not been as comprehensively and systematically assessed. Here we present country-, process-, GHG- and product-specific inventories of global land-use emissions from 1961 to 2017, we decompose key demographic, economic and technical drivers of emissions and we assess the uncertainties and the sensitivity of results to different accounting assumptions. Despite steady increases in population (+144 per cent) and agricultural production per capita (+58 per cent), as well as smaller increases in emissions per land area used (+8 per cent), decreases in land required per unit of agricultural production (-70 per cent) kept global annual land-use emissions relatively constant at about 11 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent until 2001. After 2001, driven by rising emissions per land area, emissions increased by 2.4 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent per decade to 14.6 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent in 2017 (about 25 per cent of total anthropogenic GHG emissions). Although emissions intensity decreased in all regions, large differences across regions persist over time. The three highest-emitting regions (Latin America, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) dominate global emissions growth from 1961 to 2017, driven by rapid and extensive growth of agricultural production and related land-use change. In addition, disproportionate emissions are related to certain products: beef and a few other red meats supply only 1 per cent of calories worldwide, but account for 25 per cent of all land-use emissions. Even where land-use change emissions are negligible or negative, total per capita CO2-equivalent land-use emissions remain near 0.5 tonnes per capita, suggesting the current frontier of mitigation efforts. Our results are consistent with existing knowledge-for example, on the role of population and economic growth and dietary choice-but provide additional insight into regional and sectoral trends.

Family farming in times of Covid-19 / Agricultura familiar em tempos de Covid-19

Abstract Family farming plays a vital role in the global food supply. The mobility restriction measures adopted internationally to contain Covid-19 are necessary to control the pandemic progress. However, they can impair food production and distribution. This paper aims to discuss the effects of the Covid-19 containment measures on the production and distribution of family farming food, and strategies to strengthen this sector. Sanitary and social distancing requirements, the interruption of supply to institutional markets, the closure of local farmers' markets, or people's declining food demand are hampering family farming food production's flow and shrinking family farmers' income. This situation can jeopardize the food sovereignty and nutritional security of the population in the medium and long term. Access to Personal Protective Equipment, the reorganization of local farmers' markets, investment in new technologies for direct commercialization, guarantee of minimum income, and the strengthening/expansion of institutional food purchases are some of the strategies that can contribute to overcome the new challenges imposed on family farming as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We conclude the article by arguing that the support to and enhancement of the family farming sector are strategic to ensure food supply and to strengthen food and nutrition sovereignty and security.

RESUMO A agricultura familiar desempenha um importante papel no abastecimento alimentar mundial. As medidas de restrição de mobilidade adotadas internacionalmente visando a contenção da Covid-19 são necessárias para controlar o avanço da pandemia; no entanto, podem ter um efeito negativo na produção e na distribuição de alimentos. O objetivo deste artigo é discutir as implicações das medidas de contenção da Covid-19 na produção e distribuição de alimentos da agricultura familiar e possíveis estratégias para fortalecer esse setor. As exigências sanitárias e de distanciamento social, a interrupção no fornecimento a mercados institucionais e o fechamento de feiras livres e/ou diminuição na demanda por parte da população estão dificultando o escoamento da produção de alimentos da agricultura familiar e diminuindo a renda dos(as) agricultores(as). Essa situação pode, a médio e longo prazo, ter um efeito negativo na soberania e segurança alimentar e nutricional da população. O acesso a equipamentos de proteção individual, a reorganização de feiras livres, o investimento em novas tecnologias para a comercialização direta, a garantia de renda mínima e o fortalecimento/ampliação da compra institucional de alimentos são algumas das estratégias que podem contribuir para a superação dos desafios impostos à agricultura familiar em consequência da Covid-19. Apoiar e desenvolver esse setor são medidas estratégicas que devem ser adotadas para garantir a oferta de alimentos para a população e fortalecer a soberania e segurança alimentar e nutricional.

Strategies for the promotion of healthy, adequate and sustainable food in Brazil in times of Covid-19 / Estratégias para a promoção da alimentação saudável, adequada e sustentável no Brasil em tempos de Covid-19

Abstract The current scenario generated by the Covid-19 pandemic enhances the condition of food and nutrition insecurity due to the worsening of poverty, hunger and lack of access to food, as well as the excess consumption of foods considered unhealthy. The effects of the pandemic enhances the need for a new way of arranging the production, distribution and consumption of food, giving new meaning to the relationship between food, eating and the environment. Thus, it is suggested that a reflection be made on the strategies for the appropriate healthy, adequate and sustainable diet in Brazil to face this health emergency. Actions must be focused on the articulation of strategies that foster sovereignty, food and nutrition security and healthier and more sustainable food systems such as the strengthening of family farming; income assurance for the population; access to quality food; changes in the food environment; dissemination of information on healthy and sustainable food in official recommendations for the pandemic and food guides covering the entire food system, as well as food and nutrition education practices.

RESUMO O cenário atual gerado pela pandemia da Covid-19 acentua a condição de insegurança alimentar e nutricional pelo agravamento da situação de pobreza, da fome e da falta de acesso aos alimentos, assim como pelo excesso do consumo de alimentos considerados não saudáveis. Os reflexos da pandemia reforçam a necessidade de uma nova forma de constituir a produção, a distribuição e o consumo dos alimentos, ressignificando a relação com o alimento, o comer e o ambiente. Assim, propõe-se refletir sobre as estratégias para a promoção da alimentação saudável, adequada e sustentável no Brasil para o enfrentamento desta emergência sanitária. As ações precisam estar centradas na articulação das estratégias que promovam a soberania, a segurança alimentar e nutricional e sistemas alimentares mais saudáveis e sustentáveis como o fortalecimento da agricultura familiar; garantia de renda para a população; acesso a alimentos de qualidade; mudanças no ambiente alimentar; divulgação de informações sobre alimentação saudável e sustentável em recomendações oficiais para a pandemia e guias alimentares que abranjam todo o sistema alimentar, assim como práticas de educação alimentar e nutricional.

Integrating aeration and rotation processes to accelerate composting of agricultural residues.

The active phase of conventional static composting systems varies dramatically, ranging from several weeks to several months. Therefore, this study was to examine the effect of a combined continuous aeration-rotation process on shortening the active phase of composted material. A mixture of tomato plant residues with 20%-chicken manure (v/v) was composted in two identical pilot-scale bioreactors. One of them was static, and the other was continuously rotated at 3 rpm; each was supplied with continuous aeration. Compost temperatures (Tc) were measured throughout the composting process; the moisture content (MC) and carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N) were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. The quality and stage of compost were evaluated at the end of the experiment using Dewar, Solvita, and visual tests. Continuous aeration-rotation significantly reduced the active phase period to 4.5 days, increased the compost temperature (Tc) to 60°C after 3 days of operation, and remained at 50-65°C for approximately 3 consecutive days (thermophilic stage). In contrast, compost in the static bioreactor remained in the mesophilic stage (Tc < 45°C). During the composting process, the C/N ratio was reduced from 30/1 to 23/1 in the rotating bioreactor, while it remained at 30/1 in the static bioreactor, indicating that the nitrogen content was not a limiting factor affecting the composting process. The MC was within the optimum range for microorganisms (58-61%) for both bioreactors. After the active phase had ended in the rotating bioreactor, the compost was inactive and ready for further maturation, while compost from the static bioreactor was still immature and active. These results show that the proposed method can be done on a commercial scale to significantly reduce the composting period and to enhance the compost stability and productivity.

Producción agroecológica de Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (variedad criolla) en la Universidad Nacional de Lanús y elaboración de edulcorantes para transferencia a micro escala / Agro-ecological production of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni (creole variety) at the National University of Lanús and sweeteners preparation for micro-scale transfer

FUNDAMENTOS: Se desarrolló y evaluó un edulcorante natural, utilizando tecnologías simples, en base a Stevia rebaudiana, reproducibles a escala familiar. MÉTODOS: Se evaluó el cultivo agroecológico de Stevia rebaudiana, con la cual se elaboraron mezclas para infusiones de consumo habitual, las cuales fueron evaluadas sensorialmente. RESULTADOS: El cultivo, cumple objetivos productivos, que permiten la elaboración de mezclas para infusiones de consumo familiar. La prueba de preferencia no mostró diferencias significativas. CONCLUSIONES: La región es apta para el cultivo y producción de Stevia rebaudiana, teniendo un rendimiento adecuado para la aplicación de procedimientos tecnológicos simples para consumo familiar

BACKGROUND: A natural sweetener was developed and evaluated, using simple technologies, based on Stevia rebaudiana, reproducible on a family scale. METHODS: The agroecological culture of Stevia rebaudiana was evaluated, with which mixtures were elaborated for infusions of habitual consumption, which were evaluated sensorially. RESULTS: The crop fulfills productive objectives (20 plants / 4m2), which allow the elaboration of mixtures for family consumption. The preference test showed no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: The region is suitable for the cultivation and production of Stevia rebaudiana, having an adequate yield for the application of simple technological procedures for family consumption

Aquaponics: a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture in Egypt - a pilot scale investigation.

Conventional agriculture has been widely used to overcome food scarcity in Egypt, but in turn created new environmental, social, and economic problems. Aquaponics has a huge potential as a sustainable solution since it demonstrates promising results for urban food development while providing new entrepreneurship and start-up opportunities. Although it presents a big opportunity especially for developing countries like Egypt, it still requires further studies and researches to fully overcome foreseen challenges. This study discusses the possibility of implementing aquaponics as an alternative to conventional agriculture in Egypt through a comparison between aquaponics and conventional agriculture. The first section of this investigation analyzes the economic feasibility of aquaponics in terms of capital and operational expenditure costs. Then, an experimental comparative study is carried out examining two pilot-scale aquaponics systems (Deep water Culture system and Integrated Aqua-Vegaculture system), where crop quality (vitamins, heavy metals, and pesticides residues) of the two systems has been compared among each other, as well as to that of the commercially available organic food available in supermarkets. Results indicated that both systems produce high-quality safe organic food. The economic feasibility analysis indicated that Integrated Aqua-Vegaculture System is producing more crops with a wider variety of almost 20% less capital expenditure and operational expenditure costs. Fish production for both systems was close, yet slightly higher in Deep Water Culture. Although, on the short term, aquaponics entails relatively high capital and operational expenditure costs compared with conventional agriculture; yet, on the long term, it is more profitable, while saving up to 85% of the water wasted by conventional farming techniques. Finally, the study discusses the main limitations, drawbacks, and future of aquaponics in Egypt where public awareness and a new mindset are needed to highlight the link between agriculture and sustainability.

Organic quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa L.) production in Peru: Environmental hotspots and food security considerations using Life Cycle Assessment.

Quinoa is a plant that is cultivated in the Andean highlands across Peru and Bolivia. It is increasingly popular due to its high nutritive value and protein content. In particular, the cultivation of organic quinoa has grown substantially in recent years since it is the most demanded type of quinoa in the foreign market. Nevertheless, despite the interest that quinoa has generated in terms of its nutritional properties, little is known regarding the environmental profile of its production and processing. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyze the environmental impacts that are linked to the production and distribution of organic quinoa to the main export destinations through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. An attributional LCA perspective was conducted including data from approximately 55 ha of land used for quinoa production in the regions of Huancavelica and Ayacucho, in southern-central Peru. IPCC, 2013 and ReCiPe 2008 were the two assessment methods selected to estimate the environmental impact results using the SimaPro 8.3 software. Results, which were calculated for one 500 g package of organic quinoa, showed that GHG emissions are in the upper range of other organic agricultural products. However, when compared to other high protein content food products, especially those from animal origin, considerably low environmental impacts are obtained. For instance, if 20% of the average annual beef consumption in Peru is substituted by organic quinoa, each Peruvian would mitigate 31 kg CO2eq/year in their diet. Moreover, when the edible protein energy return on investment (i.e., ep-EROI) is computed, a ratio of 0.38 is obtained, in the higher range of protein rich food products. However, future research should delve into the environmental and food policy implications of agricultural land expansion to produce an increasing amount of quinoa for a growing global demand.

Winners and losers of national and global efforts to reconcile agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation.

Closing yield gaps within existing croplands, and thereby avoiding further habitat conversions, is a prominently and controversially discussed strategy to meet the rising demand for agricultural products, while minimizing biodiversity impacts. The agricultural intensification associated with such a strategy poses additional threats to biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. The uneven spatial distribution of both yield gaps and biodiversity provides opportunities for reconciling agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation through spatially optimized intensification. Here, we integrate distribution and habitat information for almost 20,000 vertebrate species with land-cover and land-use datasets. We estimate that projected agricultural intensification between 2000 and 2040 would reduce the global biodiversity value of agricultural lands by 11%, relative to 2000. Contrasting these projections with spatial land-use optimization scenarios reveals that 88% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through globally coordinated land-use planning, implying huge efficiency gains through international cooperation. However, global-scale optimization also implies a highly uneven distribution of costs and benefits, resulting in distinct "winners and losers" in terms of national economic development, food security, food sovereignty or conservation. Given conflicting national interests and lacking effective governance mechanisms to guarantee equitable compensation of losers, multinational land-use optimization seems politically unlikely. In turn, 61% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through nationally focused optimization, and 33% through optimization within just 10 countries. Targeted efforts to improve the capacity for integrated land-use planning for sustainable intensification especially in these countries, including the strengthening of institutions that can arbitrate subnational land-use conflicts, may offer an effective, yet politically feasible, avenue to better reconcile future trade-offs between agriculture and conservation. The efficiency gains of optimization remained robust when assuming that yields could only be increased to 80% of their potential. Our results highlight the need to better integrate real-world governance, political and economic challenges into sustainable development and global change mitigation research.

Reconciling irrigated food production with environmental flows for Sustainable Development Goals implementation.

Safeguarding river ecosystems is a precondition for attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to water and the environment, while rigid implementation of such policies may hamper achievement of food security. River ecosystems provide life-supporting functions that depend on maintaining environmental flow requirements (EFRs). Here we establish gridded process-based estimates of EFRs and their violation through human water withdrawals. Results indicate that 41% of current global irrigation water use (997 km3 per year) occurs at the expense of EFRs. If these volumes were to be reallocated to the ecosystems, half of globally irrigated cropland would face production losses of ≥10%, with losses of ∼20-30% of total country production especially in Central and South Asia. However, we explicitly show that improvement of irrigation practices can widely compensate for such losses on a sustainable basis. Integration with rainwater management can even achieve a 10% global net gain. Such management interventions are highlighted to act as a pivotal target in supporting the implementation of the ambitious and seemingly conflicting SDG agenda.