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published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies

The sustainable use of the environment for agriculture has become a global priority, requiring urgent solutions in view of intensifying competition. The South African government and the agricultural sector drafted a strategic plan for South African Agriculture. In this plan it was argued that the potential for the horizontal expansion of agricultural production is limited with one of the limitations being that unused high and medium potential land is scarce. This implies that the challenge for higher agricultural production is immense because primarily it would have to come from increased efficiency. All businesses are confronted by change at some time in their history in which agribusiness in South Africa has been subjected to changes in its past. In this era of hyper competition, agribusinesses are faced with constant change. It is how businesses deal with that change that will determine how successful they will remain in the future. The main problem of this research was to determine if farmers in the Great-Kei Region have the appropriate strategies in place to manage environmental constraints effectively. Therefore, the identification and isolation of prominent environmental constraints, through literature review and survey data gathered and analysed, would assist agribusinesses in the planning and prioritising of investments. The investment would be aimed at facilitating the development and sustainable growth in the Great-Kei Region. In this study, a quantitative, descriptive and non-experimental research design was followed. The target population of the study was farmers with farming businesses operating in the Great-Kei Region. There was data obtained from the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture provincial office in Komga servicing the Great-Kei Region. The data obtained were lists of registered commercial farmers from the Komga iv Agricultural Association and emerging farmers operation in the region. The data obtained did not include all the farmers operating in the Great-Kei Region. The combined sum of farmers from both lists was 38 farmers (N = 38). The population N = 38 was used as a sampling frame representing the population of farmers in the Great-Kei Region. The population of this study consisted of owners or farm managers running the farming businesses and excludes other farm employees employed at the farms. Farmers with agribusinesses in the area who produced either livestock farming or crop farming or both were included for the study. The results of the survey revealed key findings, which enabled the researcher to draw meaningful conclusions and recommendations. The recommendations suggested how farmers can overcome the identified macro, micro and internal environmental constraints affecting them in the Great-Kei Region. Further identification of strategies currently employed by farmers in managing environmental constraints and the competency levels, indicated where gaps resided with strategies currently employed by farmers and where possible change would be required.

In “Letters from the Inside,” Stephanie Anderson presents a vision for sustainable, regenerative agriculture from the perspective of someone born and raised on a conventional cattle ranch. From Florida to New Mexico to the Dakotas, she traces the stories of farmers and ranchers who are already creating such an agriculture. She argues that producers, in tandem with consumers and government, hold the power to change what is currently an environmentally and socially destructive food system. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Global demand for agricultural products is an increasingly important driver of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. This dissertation examines the consequences of agricultural expansion for stream ecosystems in the southern Amazon's agricultural frontier. At regional scales, the removal of watershed forest cover is known to change the energy balance and influence hydro-climatic cycling by altering stream flow, regional rainfall patterns, and land surface temperatures. At the landscape scale, these physical changes may be further exacerbated by land management practices that lead to the degradation of riparian forest buffers; decreases in connectivity; changes in the amount of light, nutrient, and sediment inputs; and decreases in water quality. Together, land use and management influence the quality and distribution of aquatic habitats within stream networks, potentially decreasing stream biotic integrity and resilience to further disturbances. Brazil's Mato Grosso state is one of the most actively expanding agricultural frontiers in the world and represents an ideal case study for examining the linkages among tropical deforestation, agricultural expansion, and the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. Mato Grosso accounted for 40% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during the early 2000s - primarily due to the expansion of soybeans and cattle ranching. Deforestation rates have since dropped throughout the Amazon, but there is a lack of spatially explicit information about the land use transitions accompanying this decline. To address this gap, I combined government data on deforestation and production with the MODIS satellite time series to quantify the spatial-temporal dynamics of land use change in the region. Although agricultural expansion during this period slowed with declining commodity prices, the decline in deforestation is partly explained by a shift from soybean expansion into forests (26% of expansion from 2001-2005) to expansion into already cleared pasture lands (9% of expansion form 2006-2010). Beyond documenting these trends, the resulting dataset is a critical first step in evaluating the influence of land use and land use history on freshwater ecosystems at multiple scales. In the headwaters region of the Xingu River Basin, the proportion of small watersheds (microbasins) dominated by agriculture (>60% of area) increased from 20 to 40% from 2001 to 2010. At the same time, the stream network became increasingly fragmented by the removal of riparian forest buffers and installation of farm impoundments. I used high resolution satellite data (ASTER) to produce the first landscape-level documentation of farm impoundments in the region, mapping approximately 10,000 impoundments (one per 7.6 km of stream length) in 2007. At the catchment scale, I collected field data in 12 headwater streams to examine the effect of land management on instream water quality. Watershed forest cover (from MODIS), the density of impoundments (from ASTER), and the percent forest in upstream riparian buffers (from Landsat) were all associated with substantial increases in stream temperature. These increases in fragmentation and water temperature may have large cumulative effects on the stream network and reduce the ability of downstream protected areas to conserve freshwater resources. At the scale of the Amazon Basin, my analysis indicates that 30% of indigenous lands and protected areas are highly vulnerable to future reductions in hydrologic connectivity, simply because of their location within their watersheds. These impacts could be substantially mitigated through enforcement of existing legislation to protect riparian buffers and new regulations to limit the number of impoundments in emerging agricultural landscapes.

Hong Kong’s agricultural sector has been declining since the 1980s with the reduction in area of arable lands and number of farmers. The trend of over-reliance on imported produce is likely to continue with population growth in the upcoming decades. The climbing imported to locally grown food ratio might aggravate climate change. Vertical farming, which is promoted in recent years as a more sustainable mode of farming than conventional cultivation, is investigated mainly in terms of life cycle Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of its produce. Assessment was carried out following the guidelines in two relevant sets of Publicly Available Specification (PAS). Lettuce variety “Heading European”, which is among the most popular leafy vegetables in Hong Kong, is chosen because of its significant share imported from Guangdong Province. Three sets of surveys have been conducted to find out if locally grown produce generates less GHG than imported one. The sustainability of vertical farming is also evaluated. It performs in a cradle-to-gate basis in which life cycle of the lettuce is assessed from the stage of farmland preparation to delivery of them to Vegetable Marketing Organization (VMO). The results of life cycle GHG evaluation show that produce of local farm generates fewer amounts of GHGs than the imported one. For lettuces imported from the conventional farm in Songyuancun, Guangdong Province, it generates approximately 1.57E+00kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). It is about 132% higher than the one grown in local conventional farm at Tai Kong Po Tsuen, which is around 6.77E-01kg of CO2-e It seems the idea of replacing local conventional farming with vertical farming is not sustainable at this stage. Evaluation reveals the latter generates more amount of GHG which is 8.72E+00kg CO2-e/cup of Oak Leaf Lettuce. It is about 13 times higher than the locally grown in the conventional farm. The energy-hungry lighting system and the lack of renewable energy are among the major reasons for high GHG emission in vertical farming. Although the GHG emissions are higher than conventional farming in the designated lifecycle, vertical farming does contribute to sustainable development in terms of food stability and job opportunity. Uncertainties of this study could well be improved by developing a specific set of GHG emission factors for components in preparation stage and on-farm stage. More information could be collected for use and end-of-life stages, which is omitted in the study. Further comparison of wider variety of vegetables cultivated in different forms of farming should also be carried out. Carbon labelling scheme for agricultural products would brush up environmental awareness of both producers and consumers. With the trend of green consumption, it would provide an incentive for producers to adopt this scheme. It is especially important for local vertical farms to impose this scheme to increase its market competiveness. Moreover, government should play a significant role in promoting a more sustainable form of agriculture. Supportive policy like increasing investment in R&D for energy efficient technologies or even erecting a modern building for vertical farms would help achieve this goal. The lowered life cycle GHG emission would enhance sustainability of vertical farming. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Consumer concerns in food purchasing contain a number of elements, including food safety, environment, animal welfare, and other socially related issues. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer perceptions of the potential benefits of products that are produced using an environmental management system (EMS) in agriculture, and identify those factors that influence choice. The choice modeling technique uses consumer preferences to estimate Montrealers' willingness to pay (WTP) for production practices that decrease the impacts on the environment, as well as for other potential benefits of EMS production. Results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a price premium for these environmental benefits. This could provide a justification for government to support certification and labeling programs.

Climate change resulting from the augmented "greenhouse effect" is likely to have significant effects on the terrestrial hydrological system and the social and ecological systems linked to it. Climate change could potentially affect inputs to the agrohydrological system such as rainfall, temperature and potential evaporation; processes within the system such as vegetation dynamics and crop production; and hydrological responses such as runoff, recharge of soil water into the vadose zone and net irrigation demand. This study outlines the use of a daily water budget model, ACRU, and SCENGEN, a climate change scenario generator, to assess potential impacts of global climate change on agricultural production and hydrological responses in southern Africa. This study also considers potential impacts of climate change on plant response which may determine the extent of potential impacts of climate change on agricultural production and hydrological response. Two approaches to climate change impact studies are adopted for use in this study. The first, and more conventional approach considers the impact of a specified climate change scenario, in this case developed with the use of SCENGEN, on the terrestrial hydrological system. The second approach considers the degree of climate change, in this case precipitation change, required to perturb the hydrological system significantly in the various climate regimes found in southern Africa. A comparative analysis of the sensitivity of selected hydrological responses to climate change produced the following results, in ascending order of sensitivity: net irrigation demand < stormflow response < runoff < recharge into the vadose zone. The impacts of a specific climate scenario change on hydrological responses produced unexpected results. A general decrease in mean annual precipitation over southern Africa is predicted for the future with SCENGEN. However, widespread simulated increases in runoff, soil moisture content in the A- and B-horizon and recharge into the vadose zone are obtained. These increases are a product of the CO2 "fertilisation" feedback, which is incorporated as a maximum transpiration suppression routine, in the ACRU model. Net irrigation demand, which is not linked to this routine, is simulated to increase in the future. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-05-31Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T21:08:05Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000759516.pdf: 2615990 bytes, checksum: 0262fedf6e55b58d6e2d0fc16d99075a (MD5) / Os distintos e diversos acontecimentos sociais, econômicos, ambientais políticos e culturais havidos em tempos recentes, tanto em ambiente público quanto privado, referendados inclusive por publicações científicas, reforçam que a sustentabilidade do nosso planeta é um dos maiores desafios deste século. A proteção do ambiente é tema cada vez mais presente no dia a dia das empresas, tanto de grande quanto, mais contemporaneamente, de médio e pequeno porte, com implicações na viabilidade econômica e competitividade empresarial. Um Sistema de Gestão Ambiental (SGA) é uma forma de inserir as preocupações e diretrizes ambientais na gestão empresarial das organizações. Um SGA de uma empresa está implicitamente associado a toda uma estrutura organizacional, a atividades de planejamento, a definição de responsabilidade, a práticas e procedimentos, bem como a processos e recursos para desenvolver, implantar, alcançar, rever e manter a política ambiental estabelecida pela empresa. Considerando, portanto, esta problematização ambiental, entende-se que é possível elaborar e implantar, dentro da perspectiva dos proprietários rurais ou de seus representantes, um Sistema de Gestão Ambiental que venha a atender uma determinada região agropecuária visando mercados com requisitos cada vez mais sustentáveis. Dentro deste contexto, o objetivo principal deste estudo é propor um Sistema de Certificação Ambiental aos produtores de cana-de-açúcar da região de Monte Aprazível visando atender mercados com requisitos de sustentabilidade cada vez mais exigentes. Pretendeu-se utilizar o método Dedutivo, uma vez que, partindo-se de premissas gerais de alguns dos principais requisitos de sustentabilidade do presente estudo de caso, sobretudo em termos da legislação ambiental... / Recently the several and distinct social, economic, environmental, political and cultural events, either in public or private organizations, countersigned by scientific publications have reinforced that the sustainability of our planet is one of the biggest challenges of this century.The environmental protection is a topic that has been increasingly present in the routine of companies whether they are large, or more contemporaneously, medium or small, with implications in economic viability and competitiveness. An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a way to introduce the concerns and environmental guidelines into the management of the business organizations.The EMS of a company is implicitly associated with an entire organizational structure, planning activities, definition of responsibility, practices and procedures, as well as the processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the environmental policy 5 established by the company. Considering, therefore, this environmental issue, it is possible to elaborate and implement, within the rural landowners perspective or their representatives, an Environmental Management System which can suit a particular agricultural region aiming markets with increasingly sustainable requirements for the markets. In this context, the main objective of this study is to propose an Environmental Certification System for sugarcaneproducers from the region of Monte Aprazível, aiming to attend markets with more demanding sustainability requirements. It was used the deductive methodology, since the general premises of some major sustainability requirements of this present case study were the starting point, above all in terms of state environmental applicable legislation, based on a chain of reasoning, in decreasing order of analysis, from the general to the specific, to achieve some points that can confirm or not the hypothes ...

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T16:53:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-12-15Bitstream added on 2015-05-14T17:00:20Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000820136.pdf: 4886629 bytes, checksum: a36c8a5f291e15e78ab65dc371dd3bd4 (MD5) / Com a crescente demanda por combustíveis, alimentos e fibras que acompanha o crescimento populacional, o esforço para oferecer água suficiente para a agricultura e prover insumos provoca pressão adicional sobre o meio ambiente. Neste cenário, recursos hídricos subterrâneos têm ganho destaque, sendo uma opção de qualidade de água e pela facilidade de captação próxima às áreas de produção. Interesses conflitantes entre o uso da água e a proteção de mananciais estratégicos reforçam a necessidade de adequação da legislação para que se busque um melhor ordenamento do território e um manejo sustentável dos recursos hídricos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi mapear o uso da terra em área de afloramento do Sistema Aquífero Guarani (SAG) e gerar informações para o melhor planejamento e discussão de políticas públicas de conservação dos recursos hídricos subterrâneos em áreas de alta produção agrícola irrigada. A área de estudo foi a Bacia do Ribeirão do Jacú, no município de Tejupá - SP, localizada integralmente em área de afloramento do SAG, portanto, região considerada vulnerável. Com a classificação supervisionada do uso da terra, através de um Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG), pode-se identificar e quantificar as principais atividades desenvolvidas e os conflitos de uso da terra na bacia entre os períodos de 2002 e 2011. Os resultados demonstram a apropriação de sistemas agrícolas e pecuária em Área de Preservação Permanente (APP) e um avanço da agricultura irrigada nas áreas próximas ao exutório da bacia, apontando uma tendência de ... / With the increasing demand for fuel, food and fiber that follows population growth, the effort to provide sufficient water for agriculture causes additional pressure on the environment. In this scenario, a groundwater resources has been highlighted as a good choice of water quality, due to the possibility of exploration in places near the production areas. The conflicting interests between the use of the water and the protection of strategic sources reinforce the needs for a legislation adaptation looking for a better territorial organization and a sustainable water resources management. This study aimed to map land use in an outcrop area of the Guarani Aquifer System (SAG) and generate information for a better planning and discussion of public policies for groundwater resources conservation in areas with irrigated agricultural production. The study area was the Ribeirão do Jacú watershed, in the municipality of Tejupá - SP, Brazil, located entirely in the outcrop area of SAG, therefore, a high vulnerability region. From supervised satellite image classification of land use and occupation using Geographic Information System (GIS), it was possible to identify and to quantify the major activities developed and the conflicts of the actual land use in the watershed in the period between 2002 and 2011. The results showed the presence of agricultural and livestock systems in Permanent Preservation Areas (PPA) and an improvement of irrigated agriculture in areas closed to the outflow of the basin, indicating a trend of local production intensification. With this information, it was...