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Selecting cost-effective measures to regulate agricultural water pollution to conform to the Water Framework Directive presents multiple challenges. A bio-economic modelling approach is presented that has been used to explore the water quality and economic effects of the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy Reform and to assess the cost-effectiveness of input quotas and emission standards against nitrate leaching, in a representative case study catchment in Scotland. The approach combines a biophysical model (NDICEA) with a mathematical programming model (FSSIM-MP). The results indicate only small changes due to the Reform, with the main changes in farmers’ decision making and the associated economic and water quality indicators depending on crop price changes, and suggest the use of target fertilisation in relation to crop and soil requirements, as opposed to measures targeting farm total or average nitrogen use.; La sélection des mesures coût-efficacité pour régler la pollution de l'eau en agriculture conformément à la Directive Cadre sur l'eau présente de multiples défis. Une approche de modélisation bioéconomique est utilisée pour étudier la qualité de l'eau et les effets économiques de la réforme de la PAC de 2003 et évaluer le rapport coût-efficacité des quotas d'entrée et de normes d'émission contre le lessivage des nitrates, à travers une étude de cas représentative d’un bassin versant en Ecosse. L'approche combine un modèle biophysique (NDICEA) et un modèle de programmation mathématique (FSSIM-MP). Les résultats montrent seulement de petits changements en raison de la réforme de la PAC et suggèrent l'utilisation de la fertilisation ciblée en relation aux cultures et aux besoins du sol, par opposition à des mesures visant le niveau total ou moyen d'utilisation d’azote dans l’exploitation.

International audience; Ecological intensification is a new concept in agriculture that addresses the double challenge of maintaining a level of production sufficient to support needs of human populations and respecting the environment in order to conserve the natural world and human quality of life. This article adapts this concept to fish farming using agroecological principles and the ecosystem services framework. The method was developed from the study of published literature and applications at four study sites chosen for their differences in production intensity: polyculture ponds in France, integrated pig and pond polyculture in Brazil, the culture of striped catfish in Indonesia and a recirculating salmon aquaculture system in France. The study of stakeholders' perceptions of ecosystem services combined with environmental assessment through Life Cycle Assessment and Emergy accounting allowed development of an assessment tool that was used as a basis for co-building evolution scenarios. From this experience, ecological intensifica-tion of aquaculture was defined as the use of ecological processes and functions to increase productivity, strengthen ecosystem services and decrease disservices. It is based on aquaecosystem and biodiversity management and the use of local and traditional knowledge. Expected consequences for farming systems consist of greater autonomy, efficiency and better integration into their surrounding territories. Ecological intensification requires territorial governance and helps improve it from a sustainable development perspective.

Abstract The carbon and land footprint of 26 certified food products – geographical indications and organic products and their conventional references are assessed. This assessment goes beyond existing literature by (1) designing a calculation method fit for the comparison between certified food and conventional production, (2) using the same calculation method and parameters for 52 products – 26 Food Quality Schemes and their reference products – to allow for a meaningful comparison, (3) transparently documenting this calculation method and opening access to the detailed results and the underlying data, and (4) providing the first assessment of the carbon and land footprint of geographical indications. The method used is Life Cycle Assessment, largely relying on the Cool Farm Tool for the impact assessment. The most common indicator of climate impact, the carbon footprint expressed per ton of product, is not significantly different between certified foods and their reference products. The only exception to this pattern are vegetal organic products, whose carbon footprint is 16% lower. This is because the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the absence of mineral fertilizers is never fully offset by the associated lower yield. The climate impact of certified food per hectare is however 26% than their reference and their land footprint is logically 24% higher. Technical specifications directly or indirectly inducing a lower use of mineral fertilizers are a key driver of this pattern. So is yield, which depends both on terroir and farming practices. Overall, this assessment reinforces the quality policy of the European Union: promoting certified food is not inconsistent with mitigating climate change.

French and EU policies have been only partially successful in promoting the restoration of groundwater quality. The currently proposed measures are scientifically valid but ineffective in encouraging farmers to change their practices over the longer term. Participatory approaches have been developed for co-designing scenarios at cropping system or catchment area level, to improve groundwater quality. Farmers are one of several types of stakeholders who make contributions in this respect. In this context, we propose a similar participatory approach, although with two key differences: only farmers take part in the co-design process, and a farm-scale systemic perspective is applied. Our method, inspired by co-development, involves five steps, including groundwater quality pressure assessment. Within this method, we generate farmer-to-farmer suggestions aimed at improving farm management from an economic, social, and environmental perspective, with an emphasis on reducing pollution in catchments. The co-design groundwater-friendly farm management combines re-designed elements (e.g., changing agricultural practices or cropping systems or machinery or labor) that are consistent with the project specified by the farmer and that simultaneously decrease pressure on groundwater quality. We tested our method using two groups of farmers from southeastern France, located in areas concerned by groundwater quality issues related to nitrate and pesticide pollution. Our results show that our method based on farmer-to-farmer exchanges with a systemic approach constitutes an interesting and viable solution. In the months following the co-design process, the farmers in the test groups implemented some of the innovations suggested by their peers, thus creating a new groundwater-friendly farm management. This approach could be used in regions with other environmental challenges since the ultimate goal is to encourage sustainable farming practices. However, in the proposed methodology, the knowledge provided only by farmers might be too homogeneous, thus limiting the scope of changes in farming practices.

article i nfo Farmers have been increasingly called upon to respond to an ongoing redefinition in consumers' demands, having as a converging theme the search for sustainable production practices. In order to satisfy this objective, instruments for the environmental management of agricultural activities have been sought out. Environmental impact assessment methods are appropriate tools to address the choice of technologies and management practices to minimize negative effects of agricultural development, while maximizing productive efficiency, sound usage of natural resources, conservation of ecological assets and equitable access to wealth generation means. The 'system for weighted environmental impact assessment of rural activities' (APOIA-NovoRural) presented in this paper is organized to provide integrated farm sustainability assessment according to quantitative environmental standards and defined socio-economic benchmarks. The system integrates sixty-two objective indicators in five sustainability dimensions — (i) Landscape ecology, (ii) Environmental quality (atmosphere, water and soil), (iii) Sociocultural values, (iv) Economic values, and (v) Management and administration. Impact indices are expressed in three integration levels: (i) specific indicators, that offer a diagnostic and managerial tool for farmers and rural administrators, by pointing out particular attributes of the rural activities that may be failing to comply with defined environmental performance objectives; (ii) integrated sustainability dimensions, that show decision-makers the major contributions of the rural activities toward local sustainable development, facilitating the definition of control actions and promotion measures; and (iii) aggregated sustainability index, that can be considered a yardstick for eco-certification purposes. Nine fully documented case studies carried out with the APOIA- NovoRural system, focusing on different scales, diverse rural activities/farming systems, and contrasting spatial/territorial contexts, attest to the malleability of the method and its applicability as an integrated farm environmental management tool.

Increased efforts are required to prevent further losses to terrestrial biodiversity and the ecosystem services that it provides1,2. Ambitious targets have been proposed, such as reversing the declining trends in biodiversity3; however, just feeding the growing human population will make this a challenge4. Here we use an ensemble of land-use and biodiversity models to assess whether—and how—humanity can reverse the declines in terrestrial biodiversity caused by habitat conversion, which is a major threat to biodiversity5. We show that immediate efforts, consistent with the broader sustainability agenda but of unprecedented ambition and coordination, could enable the provision of food for the growing human population while reversing the global terrestrial biodiversity trends caused by habitat conversion. If we decide to increase the extent of land under conservation management, restore degraded land and generalize landscape-level conservation planning, biodiversity trends from habitat conversion could become positive by the mid-twenty-first century on average across models (confidence interval, 2042–2061), but this was not the case for all models. Food prices could increase and, on average across models, almost half (confidence interval, 34–50%) of the future biodiversity losses could not be avoided. However, additionally tackling the drivers of land-use change could avoid conflict with affordable food provision and reduces the environmental effects of the food-provision system. Through further sustainable intensification and trade, reduced food waste and more plant-based human diets, more than two thirds of future biodiversity losses are avoided and the biodiversity trends from habitat conversion are reversed by 2050 for almost all of the models. Although limiting further loss will remain challenging in several biodiversity-rich regions, and other threats—such as climate change—must be addressed to truly reverse the declines in biodiversity, our results show that ambitious conservation efforts and food system transformation are central to an effective post-2020 biodiversity strategy. To promote the recovery of the currently declining global trends in terrestrial biodiversity, increases in both the extent of land under conservation management and the sustainability of the global food system from farm to fork are required.

Le développement de la méthanisation dépend de plusieurs facteurs. Il s’agit, entre autres, des ressources disponibles, de leur proximité, des caractéristiques de l’économie locale et de leur impact sur le processus de décision. Ces éléments doivent nécessairement être pris en compte pour une mise en place pertinente de centres de production de biogaz. L’analyse menée en Pays de Fougères envisage tous ces points et permet de dégager différents scenarii. / Anaerobic digestion is a biological process offering many advantages: (i) energy production from local resources (ii) emission reduction of greenhouse gases (iii) substitution of fossil energy. In the context of potential development of collective biogas plants in France, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in order to geolocate the bio-resources appears very interesting and useful tools. Such investigations have been carried out on both national and regional scales but need to be adapted for local diagnosis. For this purpose, a research project was devoted to the development of such methodologies, then applied in the “Pays de Fougères”, a 1000 km² wide rural area located in the north-eastern Brittany in France. Mapping the potential energy of the territory was established from the inventory of available resources (livestock manure, crop residues, sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, garden waste from drop-off centers, wastes from Agro-food industries and food wastes from school canteens and hospitals). For this purpose, GIS methods have been developed. This study initiates the construction of a GIS model to determine optimal sites for collective biogas plants.

AbstractWithin the transition to a bio-based economy from a fossil reserve-based world, we face the vital dare of closing nutrient cycles and moving to a more practical and balanced resource management, taking into account not only the economical but also the environmental perspective. The manufacture and transportation of mineral fertilizers are activities that require large amounts of fossil energy. Therefore, the dependence that agriculture has on fertilizers based on mineral reserves (mainly P, N, and K) should be considered as a very serious threat to human food security and climate change. On the other hand, the existing forecast on phosphorus reserves is pessimistic. According to the latest published figures on population growth and estimated demand for nutrients in the future, depletion of this material is expected to occur within a maximum of 300 years. At the same time, the agricultural demand that exists for mineral fertilizers is constantly growing. The main reason is the increase in the world population, together with the increase in meat consumption and the popularity of energy crops. Despite these negative perspectives, the processing or elimination of waste streams causes uncontrolled dispersion in the environment of a large amount of minerals. Thus, a new global effort is needed to draw a new scenario where improved nutrient use efficiency and, at the same time, reduced nutrient losses provide the bases for a more circular economy, to produce more necessary inputs, as food or energy, as the same time as decreasing environmental impact. This paper will show the process options which can “upcycle” and recover residual nutrients to high-quality end-products, defined by efficient nutrient use and will reveal the key issues to face with novel biofertilizer products and changing policies.