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Background and Aims: Two main problems the globe currently facing are migration and weather variation. Weather change has a significant impact on the agricultural industry, which affects the majority of poor people. There is a dearth of adequate methodological documentation when examining the relationship between weather variation, agricultural output, and migration. We aimed to identify methodological reporting difficulties by reviewing the quantitative literature on weather‐related migration through agricultural channels. Methods: A systematic evaluation was conducted using papers published between January 2010 and June 2022, indexed in the SCOPUS, PUBMED, and Google Scholar databases. Using inclusion/exclusion criteria, we selected 22 original research articles out of 18,929 distinct articles for review, in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. We extracted data from each study to understand how various concepts, research designs, and investigative techniques influence our understanding of migration patterns related to weather in the agricultural sector. Results: The majority (64%) of the study's data consisted of time series data. In 50% of the studies, secondary data were used. Additionally, 55% of these studies did not state the sample size. In 40% of the studies, model assumptions were fully adhered to, whereas in 36% of the studies, they were not followed at all. The majority of the articles used the Ordinary Least Squares technique, while about 41% applied the Two‐Stage Least Squares technique. Various tests were conducted across these studies, such as robustness checks (59.1%), endogeneity tests (31.8%), omitted variable bias tests (22.7%), sensitivity analyses (22.7%), and weak instrument tests (13.6%), to name a few. In the research we selected, the methodology section had various shortcomings and lacked organization. Furthermore, the justifications for deviations from model assumptions were unclear, potentially affecting the study outcomes. Conclusion: This study has important indications for researchers in studying climatic (weather) migration through agricultural channels besides for policymakers by giving a thorough review of the methods and techniques. Key points: Providing narrative insights on how various issues, research designs, and analytical techniques shape our understanding of the association between weather variation and migration via agricultural production.Providing a broad overview of the pertinent literature, covering 22 articles, as a complement to earlier studies.Our study has important ramifications for researchers studying climatic (weather) migration through agricultural channels as well as for policymakers by giving a thorough review of the methods and techniques currently used in this sector.Future studies on weather variation, agricultural production, and migration should use prudent and comparable models that capture whole climatic (weather) impacts on migration through mediating factors like agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past four decades have witnessed unprecedented economic growth and rapidly rising food demand in China. This paper provides an introduction to readers with useful information summarising the development of China's agricultural sector and the transformation of its rural economy over the 40 years of economic reform. It is, however, impossible to cover all aspects of this recent and rich history in a single journal special issue. Nevertheless, we are of the view that these papers address the most fundamentally important and insightful topics including: land reform and rural development; technology progress and productivity growth; changing food consumption patterns; rural education and human capital accumulation; and poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide an analysis of the agricultural productivity of food grains across the states of India. Despite agriculture's diminishing role as a share of overall gross domestic product (GDP) in India, it plays a crucial role by providing a large proportion of jobs to the workforce. Acknowledging the central role of agriculture in the economy as well as the diversity between the states in terms of availability of resources, this study analyses the impact of various inputs like land area, fertilizers, electricity and labour use on the production efficiency of food grains at the state level from 2006 to 2017 using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). The results highlight the variation in the performance of states with five out of selected 20 states experiencing efficiency under the CCR model of DEA and nine out of 20 states being efficient under the BCC model of DEA. MPI results indicate that 11 out of 20 states have progressed in terms of MPI during the period under consideration. The paper highlights the possibility of increasing agricultural production with optimizing the inputs by focusing on efficient resource deployment and enhanced production management. The paper investigates the relationship between various agricultural inputs and food grain production efficiency using DEA and provides a way to improve on the allocation of these resources across various Indian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current geological epoch is characterized by anthropogenic activity that greatly impacts on natural ecosystems and their integrity. The complex networks of ecosystem services (ESs) are often ignored because the provision of natural resources, such as food and industrial crops, is mistakenly viewed as an independent process separate from ecosystems and ignoring the impacts on ecosystems. Recently, research has intensified on how to evaluate and manage ES to minimize environmental impacts, but it remains unclear how to balance anthropogenic activity and ecosystem integrity. This paper reviews the main ESs at farm level including provisioning, regulating, habitat, and cultural services. For these ESs, synergies are outlined and evaluated along with the respective practices (e.g., cover‐ and intercropping) and ES suppliers (e.g., pollinators and biocontrol agents). Further, several farm‐level ES trade‐offs are discussed along with a proposal for their evaluation. Finally, a framework for stakeholder approaches specific to farm‐level ES is put forward, along with an outlook on how existing precision agriculture technologies can be adapted for improved assessment of ES bundles. This is believed to provide a useful framework for both decision makers and stakeholders to facilitate the development of more sustainable and resilient farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall fluctuations are the major threats caused by climate change. This paper analyses the impact of seasonal rainfall fluctuations on rural poverty using panel data for 992 counties, which are located in humid zone in the south of China from 2000 to 2018. The findings are as follows: (1) Rainfall fluctuations significantly affect rural poverty, specifically, increased rainfall significantly alleviates rural poverty in the dry season, but aggravates rural poverty in the rainy season. (2) The effect of rainfall fluctuations on rural poverty is significantly heterogeneous in different regions. (3) Rainfall fluctuations put low‐income areas at greater risk of returning to poverty. (4) The mechanism through which rainfall fluctuations affect rural poverty is agricultural production, and market regulation can mitigate the shock of rainfall fluctuations. Our research provides policy implications for developing countries to address the risks of poverty from climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has caused major disruptions to agricultural supply chains around the world. Researchers and policy-makers are interested in identifying means to reduce the disruptive effects caused by the pandemic. We investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the operation of e-commerce stores (in short, e-stores) specialising in agricultural inputs. The difference-in-differences method (DID) is employed to estimate the causal relationship between COVID-19 and online sales of agricultural inputs using data from 54,244 agricultural input e-stores registered in 118 prefecture-level cities across 15 provinces and hosted on two major Chinese e-commerce platforms. The results show that COVID-19 led to a substantial growth in monthly sales of agricultural input e-stores, and this growth of online sales varied across store scales and by types of agricultural inputs. In particular, e-stores selling seeds and seedlings experienced a larger growth in sales than stores selling agricultural machinery and implements, and the mid-and larger-scaled e-stores experienced more growth of sales than micro-and small-scaled e-stores. Further analysis reveals that the growth of online sales of agricultural inputs was driven mainly by an increase in the quantity of customer orders (QCO). The findings of this paper underscore the importance of e-commerce in ensuring the resilience of the agricultural supply chain during the pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of Sub-Saharan Africa is burdened with water scarcity and poverty. Continentally, less than four percent of Africa's renewable water resources are withdrawn for agriculture and other uses. Investments in agricultural water management can contribute in several ways to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability. Increased yield and cropping area and shifts to higher valued crops could help boost the income of rural households, generate more employment, and lower consumer food prices. These investments can also stabilize output, income and employment, and have favourable impacts on education, nutrition and health, and social equity. Investments in agricultural water management can cut poverty by uplifting the entitlements and transforming the opportunity structure for the poor. The overall role of investments in agricultural water management in eradicating hunger and poverty is analyzed. This paper contributes to the present debate and efforts to identify strategies and interventions that can effectively contribute to poverty reduction in Africa. It provides an overview of population growth, malnutrition, income distribution and poverty for countries in three case study river basins — Limpopo, Nile, and Volta. With discussions on the contribution of agriculture to national income and employment generation, the paper explores the linkages among water resources investments, agricultural growth, employment, and poverty alleviation. It examines the potential for expansion in irrigation for vertical and horizontal growth in agricultural productivity, via gains in yield and cropping area to boost the agricultural output. Factors constraining such potential, in terms of scarcity and degradation of land and water resources, and poor governance and weak institutions, are also outlined. The paper argues that increased investments in land and water resources and related rural infrastructure are a key pathway to enhance agricultural productivity and to catalyze agricultural and economic growth for effective poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The Oklahoma Mesonet (the statewide environmental and weather monitoring network) has monitored changes in weather patterns since 1994 to provide accurate and timely mesoscale weather information to farmers and other groups. Studies are still scarce that would quantitatively assess farmers' perceptions about the value of the Oklahoma Mesonet contributions to agricultural operations, profitability of land management, and decision making. This paper aims to analyze those questions by means of an exploratory empirical study in Oklahoma for two groups of Mesonet users and non‐users. RESULTS: Familiarity with and application of Mesonet information determines farmers' profitability assessments and decision making. Farmers' perceptions are also influenced by the degree of previous exposure to weather‐related losses. The median estimate of the economic value of Mesonet information is $1000 per year. Mesonet users perceive higher profitability from the application of Mesonet data at 7.6/10, whereas Mesonet non‐users provided an average assessment of 2.6/10. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent use of Mesonet information results in a higher assessment of the importance of Mesonet. This research provides some initial insights into farmers' perceptions about the value of Oklahoma Mesonet information, which could guide stakeholders in developing measures to better serve farmers with environmental monitoring data for improved farm decisions. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The July 2006 war waged by Israel on Lebanon caused an estimated USD 1 billion of direct (financial) damage to infrastructure. However, it generated also significant indirect (economic/inter-temporal) costs. One sector that suffered considerably in this respect was agriculture, the main source of income for 30–40 per cent of Lebanese. This paper's main objective is to develop a methodology to estimate the total—direct and indirect—cost of the war to agricultural crop production, using an area of south Lebanon as a focal point. The indirect loss assessment viewed inter-temporal reductions in crop production values as the opportunity cost of not working fields due to the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Various crops were evaluated for two scenarios (50 and 100 per cent damage due to UXO) over UXO-clearance periods of five and 10 years. The results indicate that any damage estimates that include only direct losses will under-estimate total losses by 80 and 87 per cent for the five- and 10-year periods, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to credit has been a key component in protecting a country's agriculture sector against uncertainties and climate‐related shocks. Agricultural credits may also increase both agribusiness sectors' and farming‐related commercial activities' exposure to world markets. This study aims to investigate agricultural credits' short‐run and long‐run effects on agricultural production using control variables such as foreign direct investments, inflation rate, and government expenditures. We found that credits to agriculture affect value‐added agriculture positively in the long‐run; specifically, when agricultural credits increase by 1%, value‐added agriculture will increase by 0.19%; that is, an increase in credits to the agricultural sector leads to a significant increase in value‐added agriculture, while FDI and government size both reduce agricultural value‐added across countries. The findings of the pairwise causation test show that bidirectional causal links exist among almost all variables, validating feedback among agricultural value‐added, credit to agriculture, FDI, government expenditures, and inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the situation of women left behind in villages when men out-migrate for work and what it implies for gender relations in rural China. It is based on questionnaire survey data that covers 400 left-behind women and extensive interviews in 10 rural communities. It reveals how the women take on multiple family responsibilities including mainly family care and agricultural production, and how they maintain their marital relationships in the context of a long separation. The discussion argues that even though the women's unpaid work becomes visible due to the absence of men in family life, there is a reaffirmation and reinforcement of gender traditions; women are more solidified in the unpaid and low-paid field of work in this new era of rural social transition in China. Moreover, separated married life has made women more vulnerable. In the end, it points to the fact that rural women are experiencing a new and deeper form of exploitation of their labour. Thus they are among those paying a heavy price for the development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern about water scarcity and adverse climate events over agricultural regions has motivated a number of efforts to develop operational integrated hydroeconomic models to guide adaptation and optimal use of water. Once calibrated, these models are used for water management and analysis assuming they remain valid under future conditions. In this paper, we present and demonstrate a methodology that permits the recursive calibration of economic models of agricultural production from noisy but frequently available data. We use a standard economic calibration approach, namely positive mathematical programming, integrated in a data assimilation algorithm based on the ensemble Kalman filter equations to identify the economic model parameters. A moving average kernel ensures that new and past information on agricultural activity are blended during the calibration process, avoiding loss of information and overcalibration for the conditions of a single year. A regularization constraint akin to the standard Tikhonov regularization is included in the filter to ensure its stability even in the presence of parameters with low sensitivity to observations. The results show that the implementation of the PMP methodology within a data assimilation framework based on the enKF equations is an effective method to calibrate models of agricultural production even with noisy information. The recursive nature of the method incorporates new information as an added value to the known previous observations of agricultural activity without the need to store historical information. The robustness of the method opens the door to the use of new remote sensing algorithms for operational water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An agricultural production function is estimated using a Chinese county-level dataset along with associated geographic information. County-specific output-input elasticities are computed using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) and mapped with the geographical information system (GIS). A comparison of the ordinary least squares and GWR estimates confirms that allowing spatial variation in the parameters improves model fit of the agricultural production function, and provides valuable insights into the relative importance of inputs in different regions. Moran's indices reveal the spatial dependence of output per unit of land, and four inputs across regions. Mappings of GWR estimates help to detect a few clusters of high output-input elasticities: for labour in the Northeast, North, Southwest and Northwest China, for land in the Central and Southwest, for mechanical power in the North, Northwest and coastal area of the East and South and for fertiliser in the East. The county-specific scale elasticities suggest constant return to scale is likely to hold in the Central, East, Southwest and South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall aim of the present paper is to better understand the evolution of tubewell ownership in the North China Plain, especially focusing on the factors that determine ownership and its effect on production. Based on a random sample of 30 villages in three counties in the Hai River Basin, our results show that collectively owned tubewells have been gradually privatised. The analyses demonstrate that increasing water and land scarcity and policy intervention (mainly fiscal and financial subsidies for tubewell investment) leads to the observed shifts in tubewell ownership patterns. The results also show that the privatisation of tubewells has affected cropping patterns in the North China Plain. When villages shift towards private tubewells, farmers move into more water-sensitive and high-value crops. Privatisation, however, has no negative effect on crop productivity in the present sample. Importantly, the evolution of tubewell ownership in the villages studied does not accelerate the fall of the groundwater table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upstream-downstream water conflicts are common phenomenon in most basins. Such conflicts take a different dimension when they occur during dry season with an already low level of river flows. This context aggravates the spatial externalities on downstream communities and water-dependent ecosystems, causing serious socioeconomic and ecological effects. Utilizing an analytical framework to capture the causes and consequences of the spatial nature of these externalities and relying on both primary and secondary data pertaining to the Upper Ewaso Ngiro North basin in Kenya, this paper (1) shows how these externalities are caused more by upstream land and water use changes than by any climatic and hydrological factors, (2) evaluates the nature and magnitude of their impacts on different downstream community groups, (3) assesses the extent and success of past policy responses and local initiatives, and (4) concludes by indicating the needed approach and interventions for finding a durable solution to the problem of upstream-downstream water conflicts and externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated assessment is a discipline that takes a holistic, problem-oriented approach to scientific assessment. It is increasingly being applied to consider a range of environmental issues, including water resource management problems. This paper considers lessons for integrated assessment arising from a project focused on water allocation options in the Namoi River catchment, Australia. It is seen how the problem focus of this work prescribes the requirements placed on the structure, components and conceptualisation of the integrated assessment model. A brief description of the model illustrates the ways in which these requirements are addressed. Lessons for integrated assessment arising from this work are then described. These relate to the importance of identifying the modeling problem and objectives, balancing disciplinary perspectives, selecting appropriate spatial and temporal scales, and development of trust with stakeholder groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm transfer is increasingly seen as fundamental to the development of agriculture. One of the major challenges is to assess farm value in the context of an opaque market for farms. We contribute to the scarce literature on farm valuation by empirically applying three valuation methods to the Farm Accountancy Data Network database for France in 2017 and 2018 and for five types of farming. The three methods—the fundamental method, the patrimonial method, and the financial method—are well known for the valuation of companies, but have yet to be implemented widely for farms in the empirical literature. The results show that wine‐growing farms have the highest values on average. Pig and beef farms have high average patrimonial values, reflecting their high capital intensity, but beef farms have the lowest average values calculated with methods based on cash flows, revealing unfavorable market conditions for these farms. The results further reveal that total farm output drives the value upward, but that high farm labor, indebtedness, and age contribute to reducing value. Our findings also highlight that, in practice, the differences in values across methods may be substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration enforcement policies, such as E‐Verify, have a negative effect on the US supply of farm labor. A growing literature finds that agricultural producers in the United States are facing a shrinking labor supply, while only a few studies examine how agricultural producers are adjusting to having less labor. This study examines how a shrinking labor force affects agricultural production decisions, specifically in terms of labor‐intensive and capital‐intensive crops. With less labor it is more challenging for agricultural producers to produce labor‐intensive crops when there is no available technology to substitute for labor. We use E‐Verify enforcement laws as a quasi‐natural negative labor shock and data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey to examine this issue. We find a decline in the production of labor‐intensive crops and an increase in the production of capital‐intensive crops in the states that have enforced "strong" E‐Verify laws. Based on our results, the opposite is true for "weak" E‐Verify states. [EconLit Citations: Q12, Q18, J6, K37]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural producer cooperatives are of great significance to the development of agricultural productivity and can provide improved economic welfare benefits to farmers. However, such organizations have not been well-developed in China. While China's new Cooperatives Law of 2007 has generated interest among scholars, very few empirical analyses have focused on the role of cooperatives in China's agricultural sector. The main objective of this study is to investigate the determinants of farmers' perception and their decision to participate in cooperatives, using a unique dataset from recently collected survey data of farming households in China's Jilin Province. The empirical results from probit and logit regression models suggest that educational attainment, risk comfort level, farm expansion, operational costs, geographic location and crop types are significant factors that influence producers' perception of cooperatives, as well as their participation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does access to off-farm income complement or compete with agricultural production? This article explores the effect of off-farm income on agricultural production activities, using data from the 2003 Mexico National Rural Household Survey. We first discuss the theoretical conditions under which access to off-farm income may influence production in an agricultural household model. Instrumental-variable (IV) estimation methods are then used to test whether agricultural production activities, technologies, and input use differ between households with and without access to off-farm income. We find that off-farm income has a negative effect on agricultural output and the use of family labor on the farm, but a positive impact on the demand for purchased inputs. There is also a slight efficiency gain in households with access to off-farm income. Findings offer insights into how household production evolves as rural households increasingly engage in off-farm income activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agriculture that occurs in Australia's peri-urban regions is not well understood, nor has its economic value ever been examined systematically. Using a spatial frame derived from research into population change, Agricultural Census data are used to calculate the value of this agricultural production. The analysis suggests that peri-urban regions in the five mainland States produce almost 25% of Australia's total gross value of agricultural production. Evidence gathered from other surveys suggests that, in some respects, this may be an underestimate. Although qualified and provisional, these findings have important strategic implications for agricultural development, urban and regional development and, ultimately, sustainable development. However, peri-urban issues are often submerged in public policy deliberations, and peri-urban agriculture is poorly served by the Agricultural Census. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID‐19 conveyed threats to the development of social life and the economy. Social distancing has changed the way of living, with a profound impact on food and agriculture. With this concern, the study was conducted to assess the impact of COVID‐19 on agricultural production and distribution in South Asia. Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan were selected as the study countries since larger agricultural production countries with higher virus invasion numbers posed higher vulnerability than others. It is necessary to unfold the impacts and policy on the agricultural sector so that losses can reduce. The secondary data were taken from different sources. The study proved that limited transportation, shortages of agricultural labor, export, and import restriction hampered agricultural production and distribution in South Asia. Livestock, vegetable, fruit, and fishing sector were more affected than the crop sector. Small poultry farms were closed, milk was discarded, and rotted fruits and vegetables were a source of concern. Different policies were implemented by the governments to recover from production losses. Proper storage management and farm mechanization may reduce the loss of production. Decentralization efforts of government through local (political and co‐operative association) leaders may place the agricultural product to the market at least health hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do individuals marry and divorce for economic reasons? Can we measure the economic attractiveness of a person's marriage market? We answer these questions using a structural model of consumer‐producer households that is applied to rich data from Malawi. Using revealed preference conditions for a stable marriage market, we define the economic attractiveness of a potential match as the difference between the potential value of consumption and leisure with the new partner and the value of consumption and leisure in the current marriage. We estimate this marital instability measure for every possible pair in geographically defined marriage markets in 2010. We find that the marital instability measure is predictive of future divorces, particularly for women. We further show that this estimated effect on divorce is mitigated by the woman's age, and by a lack of men, relative to women, in the marriage market, showing that these factors interact with the economic attractiveness of the remarriage market. These findings provide out‐of‐sample validation of our model and evidence that the economic value of the marriage market matters for divorce decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing enough food to feed a growing population is a great future challenge, especially for vulnerable areas in Africa. There is limited understanding of food security under future climate conditions, particularly under the warming target stipulated in the Paris Agreement. Maize is the most widely cultivated crop in Africa. Taking maize as an example, we present an integrated assessment of maize supply and demand under 1.5°C and 2.0°C warming scenarios, considering the combined impacts of climate change, technology development and population increase. We find that global warming of 1.5°C or 2.0°C would shorten maize growth duration, aggravate droughts, and consequently reduce yield with a spatially explicit pattern. Maize yield would decrease more under global warming of 2.0°C versus 1.5°C. Benefit of rising CO2 concentration could not fully offset the yield loss due to climate change under global warming of 1.5°C. Technology development can significantly improve the ratio of maize supply to demand, which is however subject to future projections on population and technology development. Under a reasonable logarithmic technology development scenario, maize security would become worse in most of the countries in Africa. Our findings highlight the importance of technology development and adaptation strategies to meet the challenges of food security in the vulnerable regions. Key Points: Maize yield would decrease more under 2.0 than 1.5°C warming scenarioUnder a reasonable logarithmic technology development scenario, maize security would become worse in most of the countries in AfricaTechnology development and adaptation strategies are essential to meet the challenges of food security in the vulnerable regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the Land Use Dynamic Simulator model was applied to investigate the impact of farm credit as an adaptation strategy to cope with effects of climate variability on agricultural land‐use change and crop production in the Vea watershed in Ghana. The authors identified the determinants of crop choices within the landscape (e.g., farm household and biophysical characteristics of farm plot). The crop choice sub‐model was then linked to the crop yield sub‐model to determine the yields of selected crops. In adapting to the impacts of climate variability, the maize credit adoption sub‐model under the maize cultivation credit scenario was integrated into decision‐making. This was simulated for a 20‐year period, and compared with the business‐as‐usual scenario. Under the simulated maize credit scenario, maize adopters increased from about 20 per cent to about 50 per cent and the area allocated for maize cultivation significantly increased by about 266 per cent. Consequently, the average annual aggregated household crop yield increased by 6.3 per cent higher than in the business‐as‐usual scenario. This simulation study shows that access to maize credit can significantly influence agricultural land‐use change and food availability in the study area. However, although access to farm credit may translate into food availability, the sustainability of this strategy is questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food systems have increasingly strong impacts on the environment, and they influence our human well‐being. In Switzerland, food consumption accounts for one‐third of the environmental impact caused by total final consumption. At the same time, non‐communicable diseases have been linked to a number of dietary aspects. In Switzerland, all non‐communicable diseases together are responsible for 80% of total public health care costs annually. Current assessments that link environmental sustainability and human health‐oriented diets for Switzerland lack a transparent representation of the dynamic effects caused by large‐scale conversions of the food system. In this study, therefore, a system dynamics model is employed to investigate intended and unintended changes on the food system structure and on environmental impacts. Several human health‐oriented scenarios are implemented and tested with different production‐ and consumption‐side intervention strategies. Because all scenarios assuming an increase in the consumption of plant‐based products also involve higher consumption of dairy products, consequences for bovine meat need to be considered. The biological link between milk and bovine meat production leads to an unintended increase in bovine meat production as milk production increases. Intervention strategies at the consumption level thus need to be accompanied by intervention strategies at the agricultural production level. Similarly, intervention strategies that aim at improving health outcomes at the production level need to be accompanied by strategies that affect diets and thus consumption preferences. Avoiding instances of policy resistance requires integrated policy design and implementation across agriculture, the environment and human health. This integration is a challenge for farmers, the food industry and consumers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land consolidation (LC) is regarded as a useful tool to improve agricultural production. Measuring the effect of LC on agricultural production (ELCAP) is helpful for the planning of LC activities. In the past, it is difficult to measure ELCAP at regional level due to the lack of field observation, the change of crop planting structure, and high cost of sample collection. Satellite data have large coverage and high spatiotemporal resolution for vegetation observation, which can provide a new idea for estimating ELCAP at regional level. This study aims to build a novel assessment framework to quantitatively investigate ELCAP by developing several satellite‐based metrics. In addition, this study also explored the characteristics of ELCAP using the method of spatial autocorrelation and the geographical detector method in 1,281 LC areas in China. Our results show that agricultural productivity in more than 90% of total LC areas shows an increasing trend during 2001–2016. LC could play the positive but limited effects on agricultural production, and its productivity‐boosting effect (64.87% of total LC areas) is greater than its stability‐improving effect (46.53% of total LC areas). The spatial agglomeration of ELCAP is weak (Moran's I < 0.06), which may be resulted from the differences in field conditions and natural‐social–economic situations across LC areas. The interaction between several factors has a greater effect on the ELCAP than each of these factors. Methodology in this study provides a new and useful framework for evaluating ELCAP, and results can be used to guide the planning of LC activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth of the world's human population has increased pressure on landscapes to deliver high levels of multiple ecosystem services, including food and fibre production, carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, and recreation. However, we currently lack general principles describing how to achieve this landscape multifunctionality.We combine theoretical simulations and empirical data on 14 ecosystem services measured across 150 grasslands in three German regions. In doing so, we investigate the circumstances under which spatial heterogeneity in a driver of ecosystem functioning (an "ecosystem‐driver," e.g., the presence of keystone species, land‐use intensification, or habitat types) increases landscape‐level ecosystem multifunctionality.Simulations based on theoretical data demonstrated that relationships between heterogeneity and landscape multifunctionality are highly variable and can range from nonsignificant to strongly positive. Despite this variability, we could identify criteria under which heterogeneity‐landscape multifunctionality relationships were most strongly positive: this happened when multiple ecosystem services responded contrastingly (both positively and negatively) to an ecosystem‐driver.These findings were confirmed using empirical data, which showed that heterogeneity in land‐use intensity (LUI) promoted landscape multifunctionality in cases where functions with both positive (e.g., plant biomass) and negative (e.g., flower cover) responses to land use intensification were included. For example, the simultaneous provisioning of ecosystem functions related to forage production (generally profiting from land‐use intensification), biodiversity conservation and recreation (generally decreasing with land‐use intensification) was highest in landscapes consisting of sites varying in LUI.Synthesis and applications. Our findings show that there are general principles governing landscape multifunctionality. A knowledge of these principles may support land management decisions. For example, knowledge of relationships between ecosystem services and their drivers, such as land use type, can help estimate the consequences of increasing or decreasing heterogeneity for landscape‐level ecosystem service supply, although interactions between landscape units (e.g., the movement of pollinators) must also be considered. Our findings show that there are general principles governing landscape multifunctionality. A knowledge of these principles may support land management decisions. For example, knowledge of relationships between ecosystem services and their drivers, such as land use type, can help estimate the consequences of increasing or decreasing heterogeneity for landscape‐level ecosystem service supply, although interactions between landscape units (e.g., the movement of pollinators) must also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powder flow abounds in industrial and agricultural production such as in chemical industry, food processing, and agricultural methods, where filling rate is an important operating parameter, especially for screw quantitative feeding of powder. In order to test the filling rate in screw feeding pipe with a special feed divider, a new capacitance sensor consisted of 12 spiral electrodes, 12 radial electrodes, and a shield cover is presented. Then to optimise the geometry of the capacitance sensor, the influence of parameters such as the radius of the sensor shield, radial electrode inserted depth, and electrode field angle on the sensor is analysed through finite‐element analysis. The optimal geometry dimensions are as follows: radius of the shield is 27 mm, electrode field angle is 27° and radial electrode insert depth is 3 mm. On the basis of these parameters, the sensor is developed and its performance is evaluated. The results show that the relative errors of the measured values are no more than 7%. The developed capacitance sensor can be applied in filling rate measurement of screw feeding production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: One of the greatest current challenges to human society is ensuring adequate food production and security for a rapidly growing population under changing climatic conditions. Climate change, and specifically rising temperatures, will alter the suitability of areas for specific crops and cultivation systems. In order to maintain yields, farmers may be forced to change cultivation practices, the timing of cultivation, or even the type of crops grown. Alternatively, farmers can change the location where crops are cultivated (e.g., to higher elevations) to track suitable climates (in which case the plants will have to grow in different soils), as cultivated plants will otherwise have to tolerate warmer temperatures and possibly face novel enemies. We simulated these two last possible scenarios (for temperature increases of 1.3°C and 2.6°C) in the Peruvian Andes through a field experiment in which several traditionally grown varieties of potato and maize were planted at different elevations (and thus temperatures) using either the local soil or soil translocated from higher elevations. Maize production declined by 21%–29% in response to new soil conditions. The production of maize and potatoes declined by >87% when plants were grown under warmer temperatures, mainly as a result of the greater incidence of novel pests. Crop quality and value also declined under simulated migration and warming scenarios. We estimated that local farmers may experience severe economic losses of up to 2,300 US$ ha−1 yr−1. These findings reveal that climate change is a real and imminent threat to agriculture and that there is a pressing need to develop effective management strategies to reduce yield losses and prevent food insecurity. Importantly, such strategies should take into account the influences of non‐climatic and/or biotic factors (e.g., novel pests) on plant development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycotoxins pose a risk to nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa, yet research on mycotoxin control pays limited attention to the social context of fungal toxin exposure. In Zambia, groundnuts are considered a "woman's crop," making women's labor central to groundnut production. However, this status does not ensure women control over the groundnut production process--an important distinction when looking at distribution of labor and resources in the household and its implication for aflatoxin reduction. This article uses semistructured interviews and participatory risk assessment techniques with women farmers to examine the relationship between control over groundnut production, risk perception, and aflatoxin mitigation in Eastern Province, Zambia. Interviews were conducted in July-August 2015 in three districts of Eastern Province and focused on knowledge and perceptions of aflatoxin-producing fungi and food contamination and groundnut production practices. Results from this study indicate that gender disaggregated data on ownership and control over production strategies are important for understanding the mechanisms that create variation in household exposure to aflatoxins. Local perceptions of short- and long-term health influence the relationship between knowledge about aflatoxins and practice. Including the social context of decision making into aflatoxin risk assessment and mitigation helps strengthen intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of multinational oil firms' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on agricultural production using binary logit model equation. The result indicates a significant relationship between CSR and agricultural production in oil host communities in Nigeria. This implies that CSR of a multinational oil firm is a critical factor for increasing participation of rural dwellers in agricultural production. The findings suggest for improved CSR investment of multinational oil firms on subsidized fertilizer, certified seed, crop protection products, farm power and rural transportation infrastructures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a stochastic dynamic dual model to investigate the structural adjustment of two aggregate output and three aggregate input categories in US agriculture under stochastic climatic change. More than a century of national annual data (1910-2011) is used in the empirical analysis. No constraints on asset fixity are imposed. Results indicate that, with rational expectations, both output categories as well as all input categories exhibit quasi-fixity in response to market change and stochastic climate change. Crops adjust more than twice as fast as livestock--49% versus 20% of the way toward their long-run equilibrium in one year. Fertilizer adjusts most rapidly toward equilibrium levels (88% in one year), and capital adjusts most slowly (5% in one year). Labor oscillates rather than converging smoothly toward equilibrium; its distance from equilibrium is the same as if it adjusted 59% of the way toward its optimal level in one year. Failing to anticipate climate change dramatically slows the estimated rate of adjustment for two netputs and modestly speeds the rate for two others, thus likely increasing overall adjustment costs. Failing to account for uncertainty in anticipated climate change has little impact on adjustment rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women play an important role in the agricultural production process in developing countries, yet their role in making decisions about what to grow and implications for household welfare remains poorly understood. In this article, I study women's empowerment in northern Mozambique as it relates to agriculture, considering in particular the factors associated with women managing the plots that they nominally control. Women control about 30% of the plots in the data, but only manage about 70% of those plots. Using a unique panel data set, I find that women are more likely to manage plots when households have had historic access to off-farm labor, typically completed by men. When women manage plots, they tend to grow crops with less complicated production techniques and are less likely to grow the main area cash crop. However, conditional on historic access to off-farm labor their farm incomes are the same as among men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alleviating gender differences in agricultural productivity is vital for poverty reduction. While numerous studies suggest that gender differences in agricultural productivity are a result of female farmers having limited access to resources, few studies investigate the role of agricultural interventions in alleviating the constraints to input use and subsequently the gender gap in productivity. This study investigates whether there are gendered gains in agricultural productivity from participating in an input subsidy program and if these gains help reduce the gender gap. Using nationally representative data that is disaggregated at the plot level, this study analyzes the large-scale voucher-based Farm Input Subsidy Program in Malawi. Focusing on the total value of output per hectare, relationships are identified using weighted estimators, where the weights are constructed from propensity scores, and spatial fixed effects, to address the unobservable factors that may confound the relationship between program participation and productivity. The findings suggest that participation in the program improves agricultural productivity for both male and female farmers but it does not provide disproportionate help to female famers to overcome gender disparities in agricultural productivity. This suggests that female farmers face additional constraints to productivity apart from nonlabor input use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Convention on Biological Diversity ( CBD) and the European Union have set a target of restoring 15% of degraded ecosystems by 2020 with the aim of conserving biodiversity and enhancing the supply of ecosystem services. This target must be implemented alongside other similar targets aimed at reducing the number of threatened habitat and species as assessed under the Birds and Habitats directives. However, there are several uncertainties associated with achieving these targets including the benefits of restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, the contribution required from member states and the effect of different restoration scenarios on target achievement., In this study, we evaluate options that exist for meeting an EU-wide 15% restoration target while conserving habitats and species and enhancing ecosystem services. We explored the effects of different restoration scenarios on the percentage of threatened habitat and species secured. Lastly, we explored the effects of including financial cost into the prioritization procedure., Focusing restoration efforts on habitats with inadequate conservation status in the reporting of the Habitats Directive provides the largest benefit for species and ecosystem services. If the restoration target is set at 10% for habitat and species with inadequate or most threatened conservation status, and at 2% for all ecosystem services, about 18% of EU ecosystems should be restored to meet these targets., When the target is set at 15% of habitat and species and 3% of all ecosystem services, results showed that France hosts the highest percentage of identified priority areas (13%) followed by Spain and Finland with about 11% and Sweden with 9%. However, these numbers change when financial cost is included alongside other criteria, with France containing 35% of all areas identified., Synthesis and applications. These results suggest that to achieve the greatest benefits, funding for restoration should be directed towards habitats with inadequate conservation status rather than to species. Countries with larger areas of threatened habitat and lower restoration costs may offer better opportunities to meet targets, but including cost at the EU level may result in unequal burden sharing among countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity and ecosystem services continue to be compromised by land-use change, which is often focussed on enhancing agricultural production. Assessment of losses would be aided by analyses of temporal changes in the extent and spatial pattern of services and biodiversity. To date, no studies have mapped long-term changes in ecosystem services using historical maps., We mapped changes between the 1930s - before the considerable intensification of land use in the UK starting in the 1940s - and 2000 in climate change amelioration services (carbon storage), provisioning services (agriculture and forestry) and plant species richness (biodiversity) for Dorset, a rural English county., We combined land-use maps (1-ha resolution) with multiple proxies of service delivery for the 10 different Broad Habitats in the region. Biodiversity was mapped using plant survey data from the two time periods. We used bootstrapping to include uncertainty due to the different proxies and Gini coefficients to quantify statistical changes in spatial pattern., Overall, we found significant increases in agricultural provisioning and large losses in biodiversity over the period, which reflect widespread conversion and intensification of land use. We found no change in Dorset's carbon store, because carbon lost through land-use intensification was balanced by increases in woodland over the 20th century., The carbon storage and the delivery of provisioning services both became more unequally distributed, indicating a change from relatively homogeneous delivery of services to concentration into hotspots. The maps from the year 2000 showed spatial dissociation of hotspots for carbon, provisioning and biodiversity, which suggests that, compared to the 1930s, modern, intensive land use creates conflicts in delivery of multiple services and biodiversity., Synthesis and applications. Detailed maps of historical changes in location-specific service delivery and biodiversity provide valuable information for land-use planning, highlight trade-offs and help to identify drivers. Furthermore, historical maps provide an important baseline to indicate the suitability and potential success of suggested actions, such as habitat restoration, and their relevance to traditional land use. Various frameworks could be informed by our approach, including the ecosystem service aims of the EU biodiversity strategy and the newly created UK Nature Improvement Areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is in the business of using ecosystem services to produce food. Examining how agro-ecosystems function provides useful insights into the economics of agriculture. Of special interest are the presence and nature of scale effects, complementarity effects and convexity effects in ecosystem functioning. Implications for agricultural productivity and the economics of agriculture are evaluated. At the farm level, this helps to better understand the current trend toward greater specialisation. Current challenges for agricultural contracts, markets and policy are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the performance of a rural credit market in Peru. We develop a model that shows that collateral requirements imposed by lenders in response to asymmetric information can lead not just to quantity rationing but also to transaction cost rationing and risk rationing. Just like quantity rationing, these two additional forms of nonprice rationing adversely affect farm resource allocation and productivity. We test the insights of the model using a panel data set from Northern Peru. We estimate the returns to productive endowments for constrained and unconstrained households using a switching regression model. We find that, consistent with the theory, productivity is independent of endowments for unconstrained households but is tightly linked to endowments for constrained households. We estimate that credit constraints lower the value of agricultural output in the study region by 26%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the north-western European countries Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, variability in the forms, amounts and timing of phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural land is related to national differences in climate, soil, hydrological conditions and agricultural production. The dissolved form of P constitutes 9–93% of the total phosphorus (TP) in water, subsurface drainage can contribute 12–60% and surface erosion 40–88% of TP transfer. TP export in small agricultural streams is generally in the range 0.3–6 kg ha−1 year−1, with the highest losses in Norway and UK. All four countries are complying with the EU Water Framework Directive and developing a range of measures based on P source with transport controls over P losses. A decreasing trend in TP losses has been detected in agricultural streams following the introduction of measures to reduce erosion in Norway. Average P concentrations in Swedish streams have shown a reduction of nearly 2% per year since 1993 as a result of measures introduced in southern Sweden. However, in two large rivers in agricultural regions of Sweden, the concentrations of suspended solids (SS) and TP were shown to increase by 0.4% and 0.7% per year, respectively, over the period 1975–2004, possibly as a result of climate change. It is too early to detect trends in agricultural contributions to P in surface waters as a result of catchment-sensitive farming (CSF) in the UK and Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand for water for environmental uses, such as to provide critical habitat for endangered species, has increased competition for agricultural water supplies. In the western United States, a significant portion of these water demands is to increase in-stream flows. Given that Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements supersede prior appropriation rights, ESA water demands have the potential to reduce agricultural diversions, particularly in times of drought. This situation occurred in 2001 in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon and northern California: an ESA-related judicial ruling on the needs of several endangered fish species resulted in a major reduction in water diversions to the Klamath Reclamation Project. Using the Klamath Basin as an empirical backdrop, this study examines the potential benefits and challenges of water banks to mitigate damages to appropriative water rights holders and to provide water for environmental purposes. Results from this case study indicate that water banks are a potentially cost effective way to meet environmental needs. This study, however, illustrated several of the challenges of implementing a water bank given that modifications to the proposed bank are needed to achieve cost efficiency. Specifically, expanded trading is needed, both intraproject and interproject, to achieve the objectives of providing environmental water at minimum cost to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The intensification of agriculture is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. We model the interdependent relationship between agriculture and wild biodiversity providing regulating services to agriculture on farmed land. We suppose that while agriculture has a negative impact on wild biodiversity, the latter can increase agricultural production. Farmers act as myopic agents, who maximize their instantaneous profit without considering the negative effects of their practice on the evolution of biodiversity. Two unexpected results arise (a) a tax on inputs can have a positive effect on yield since it can be considered as a social signal helping farmers to avoid myopic behavior concerning the positive effect of biodiversity on yield; (b) increasing biodiversity productivity, a proposal of ecological intensification, affects negatively the level of biodiversity, a counter‐intuitive result; due to the fact that when biodiversity is more productive, farmers can maintain lower biodiversity to get the same yield. Recommendations for Resource Managers: In this study, we present a model to describe the interdependent relationship between farming activity and biodiversity on farmed land. Besides considering the negative impact of agriculture on biodiversity, models should take into account the fact that biodiversity can increase production.In contrast to what is generally expected, the tax can have a positive effect on yield because the tax can be considered as a social signal helping farmers to avoid myopic behavior in regard to the positive effect of biodiversity on yield, discounting its future positive effect.Moreover, increasing the productivity of wild biodiversity, which provides ecosystem services favorable to agriculture, a proposal of ecological intensification, can be detrimental to such biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]