Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Agriculture
Food trade disruption after global catastrophes
Published: 2024-06-29
Subjects: Agriculture, Human Geography, International and Area Studies, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography
The global food trade system is resilient to minor disruptions but vulnerable to major ones. Major shocks can arise from global catastrophic risks, such as abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios (e.g., nuclear war) or global catastrophic infrastructure loss (e.g., due to severe geomagnetic storms or a global pandemic). We use a network model to examine how these two scenarios could impact global [...]
The Looming Crisis: Global Groundwater Depletion and its Unseen Impacts, Climate Change
Published: 2024-06-21
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Environmental Education, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences
Groundwater depletion is a growing threat to global sustainability, impacting ecosystems, agriculture, and human populations. This viewpoint explores the causes and consequences of unsustainable groundwater extraction, highlighting its far-reaching effects on local and global climates. The paper examines specific examples from various regions worldwide, showcasing the widespread nature of this [...]
HarvestGRID: High-resolution harvested crop areas of the United States from 1981 to 2019
Published: 2024-05-29
Subjects: Agriculture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Life Sciences, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
The United States is a major producer and exporter of agricultural goods, fulfilling global demands for food, fiber, and fuel while generating substantial economic benefits. Agriculture in the U.S. not only dominates land use but also ranks as the largest water-consuming sector. High-resolution cropland mapping and insights into cultivation trends are essential to enhance sustainable management [...]
Adoption of on-farm water management strategies and its impact on household welfare: Evidence from the Upper Ewaso Ng’iro North Catchment Area, Kenya
Published: 2024-05-03
Subjects: Agriculture
On-farm water management strategies can be classified into technological and non-technological options. While, numerous studies have assessed the drivers of the adoption of conservation strategies, few have assessed the welfare impacts of adoption. Analysis was conducted on cross-sectional farm household data collected from 652 households randomly selected from eight sub-catchments of the Upper [...]
Collaborative systems thinking analysis for enhancing climate smart agricultural (CSA) technology adoption in Africa
Published: 2024-02-08
Subjects: Agriculture
Agricultural technology adoption is a critical driver of sustainable development, particularly in developing regions where agriculture plays a pivotal role in food security and livelihoods. This study combines network analysis, including causal loop diagrams (CLD), with centrality metrics, to uncover key leverage points within the system where targeted interventions can yield significant impacts [...]
Quantification of Water Distribution in California: A Case Study for Other Regions in the World
Published: 2024-02-02
Subjects: Agriculture
Data for water distribution by the urban sector, environment, and agriculture across the world is not readily available, publicly accessible, or quantitatively evaluated. It is critical for any society to define and transparently account for regional water distribution in a state or country to facilitate accurate information sharing with the public. Water use in California has been criticized for [...]
Bayesian network modelling of phosphorus pollution in agricultural catchments with high-resolution data
Published: 2024-01-11
Subjects: Agriculture, Biochemistry, Environmental Monitoring, Statistical Models
A Bayesian Belief Network was developed to simulate phosphorus (P) loss in an Irish agricultural catchment. Septic tanks and farmyards were included to represent all P sources and assess their effect on model performance. Bayesian priors were defined using daily discharge and turbidity, high-resolution soil P data, expert opinion, and literature. Calibration was done against seven years of daily [...]
Probabilistic assimilation of optical satellite data with physiologically based growth functions improves crop trait time series reconstruction
Published: 2023-11-13
Subjects: Agriculture
A sound understanding of plant growth is critical to maintaining future crop productivity under ongoing climate change. Remotely sensed time series of crop functional traits from optical satellite imagery are an invaluable tool for deriving appropriate management practices that facilitate risk mitigation and increase the resilience of agroecosystems. However, the availability of imagery is [...]
The Nexus between Access to Agricultural Extension Services and Adoption of Sustainable Soil Conservation Practices in Limu Districts, Oromia, Ethiopia
Published: 2023-09-07
Subjects: Agriculture
Provision of agricultural extension service is the primary mechanism that increases smallholder farmer’s adoption of sustainable soil conservation practices. This study was, therefore, attempted to examine the nexus between access to agricultural extension services and the adoption of sustainable soil conservation practices in western oromia in the case Limu districts. Data was collected from [...]
Global trade and the resilience of food supply to extreme weather exposure
Published: 2023-08-31
Subjects: Agriculture, Physical and Environmental Geography, Sustainability
Climate change is increasing the risk of extreme weather events, potentially threatening crop yields and global food security. A key benefit of international free trade is risk sharing, because global aggregate production is more stable than that of individual countries which may be adversely affected by extremes. Here we test the hypothesis that diverse sourcing of crops from multiple trading [...]
Information Sharing: The Missing Ingredient in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of Pakistan-Agriculture Perspective
Published: 2023-08-22
Subjects: Agriculture, Food Science, Geographic Information Sciences, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the important role of information sharing in advancing innovation that is presently missing in National Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy of Pakistan approved in 2012. Information is a key resource for making innovations in science, technology and policies. Like other countries of the world, almost all government departments in Pakistan [...]
Social Vulnerability and Climate Risk Assessment for Agricultural Communities in The United States
Published: 2023-08-18
Subjects: Agriculture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Geographic Information Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Risk Analysis, Spatial Science
Floods and droughts significantly affect agricultural activities and pose a threat to food security by subsequently reducing agricultural production. The impact of flood events is distributed disproportionately among agricultural communities based on their socio-economic fabric. Understanding climate-related hazards is critical for planning mitigation measures to secure vulnerable communities. [...]
Experimental results, integrated model validation, and economic aspects of agrivoltaic systems at northern latitudes
Published: 2023-07-31
Subjects: Agriculture, Other Mechanical Engineering
Agrivoltaic systems, which allow the coexistence of crop and electricity production on the same land, are considered an integrated water-energy-food nexus solution to allow the simultaneous attainment of conflicting Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to analyse experimental results on ley grass yield and quality response to shadings in the first agrivoltaic system in Sweden and [...]
Sustainable irrigation reduces arsenic bioavailability in fluvio-alluvial soils promoting microbial responses, high rice productivity and economic profit
Published: 2023-07-26
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Life Sciences, Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Microbiology
Minimizing arsenic (74.92As33) loading into rice plants, we suggest adopting alternating wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation as a sustainable water management strategy allowing greater silicon (28.08Si14) availability. This two-year field-based project is the first report on AWD's impact on As-Si distribution in fluvio-alluvial soils of the entire Ganga valley (24 study sites divided into six [...]
Regenerative Agriculture the Veganic Way: A Seven-year Research Study in Increasing Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and Crop Yields
Published: 2023-07-15
Subjects: Agriculture
Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biodiversity loss, mostly through deforestation for the cultivation of animal feeds; enteric fermentation from ruminants like cattle, fertilizers and manure; and soil degradation from intensive farming practices. There is currently a push to transform our farming systems to attempt to alleviate the almost-assured [...]