Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: Premises and Policies

Garnett, Tara; Appleby, M. C.; Balmford, Andrew; Bateman, Ian J.; Benton, Tim G.; Bloomer, P.; Burlingame, Barbara; Dawkins, M S; Dolan, Liam; Fraser, David; Herrero, Mario; Hoffmann, Irene; Smith, Pete; Thornton, Philip K.; Toulmin, Camilla; Vermeulen, Sonja J.; Godfray, H. Charles J.

doi:10.1126/science.1234485

Cited by 1,420 publications

(1,003 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Although intensification has the potential to spare land and diminish negative environmental pressures it is not a universal panacea for addressing all impacts associated with land conversion. Importantly, the challenge is context-and location-specific, especially where it relates to promoting sustainable development and improving rural livelihoods (Garnett et al, 2013). A combination of policies that discourage the clearing and utilization of land to establish land tenure, and policies that promote environmentally and economically sustainable production will need to be in place.…”

Section: Sustainable Intensification Of Pasturelands In Brazil -Greatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensification of cattle ranching production systems: socioeconomic and environmental synergies and risks in Brazil

Latawiec

Strassburg

Valentim

et al. 2014

Animal

117

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Intensification of Brazilian cattle ranching systems has attracted both national and international attention due to its direct relation with Amazon deforestation on the one hand and increasing demand of the global population for meat on the other. Since Brazilian cattle ranching is predominantly pasture-based, we particularly focus on pasture management. We summarize the most recurrent opportunities and risks associated with pasture intensification that are brought up within scientific and political dialogues, and discuss them within the Brazilian context. We argue that sustainable intensification of pasturelands in Brazil is a viable way to increase agricultural output while simultaneously sparing land for nature. Since environmental degradation is often associated with low-yield extensive systems in Brazil, it is possible to obtain higher yields, while reversing degradation, by adopting practices like rotational grazing, incorporation of legumes and integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems. Technical assistance is however essential, particularly for small-and medium-scale farmers. Sound complementary policies and good governance must accompany these measures so that a 'rebound effect' does not lead to increased deforestation and other adverse social and environmental impacts. It is also important that animal welfare is not compromised. Although the discussion is presented with respect to Brazil, some aspects are relevant to other developing countries.

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Section: Sustainable Intensification Of Pasturelands In Brazil -Greatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensification of cattle ranching production systems: socioeconomic and environmental synergies and risks in Brazil

Latawiec

Strassburg

Valentim

et al. 2014

Animal

117

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“…Projected increases in demand for agricultural commodities suggest a need to ''spare'' non-farmed high-nature value areas from agricultural expansion via ''sustainable intensification'' (Garnett et al 2013). Although current intensive crop and livestock systems may produce food with a lower GHG intensity than extensive systems when global land use change (LUC) is considered (Burney et al 2010;Havlík et al 2014), such systems diminish the delivery of other ecosystem services (Haas et al 2000;Firbank et al 2013), especially via large releases of reactive nitrogen to air and water (Dalgaard et al 2012;Pinder et al 2012) that can be particularly problematic in the vicinity of large, enclosed water bodies.…”

Section: Bioenergy and Food Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate regulation, energy provisioning and water purification: Quantifying ecosystem service delivery of bioenergy willow grown on riparian buffer zones using life cycle assessment

Styles

Börjesson

D’Hertefeldt

et al. 2016

Ambio

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Whilst life cycle assessment (LCA) boundaries are expanded to account for negative indirect consequences of bioenergy such as indirect land use change (ILUC), ecosystem services such as water purification sometimes delivered by perennial bioenergy crops are typically neglected in LCA studies. Consequential LCA was applied to evaluate the significance of nutrient interception and retention on the environmental balance of unfertilised energy willow planted on 50-m riparian buffer strips and drainage filtration zones in the Skåne region of Sweden. Excluding possible ILUC effects and considering oil heat substitution, strategically planted filter willow can achieve net global warming potential (GWP) and eutrophication potential (EP) savings of up to 11.9 Mg CO 2 e and 47 kg PO 4 e ha -1 year -1 , respectively, compared with a GWP saving of 14.8 Mg CO 2 e ha -1 year -1 and an EP increase of 7 kg PO 4 e ha -1 year -1 for fertilised willow. Planting willow on appropriate buffer and filter zones throughout Skåne could avoid 626 Mg year -1 PO 4 e nutrient loading to waters.

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“…Opportunities for sustainable intensification especially lie in qualitative management changes (Garnett et al, 2013), which improve the inherent production capacity of the soil and thereby improve resource use efficiency and minimize adverse impacts on ecosystem services.…”

Section: Agricultural Soil Management and Its Driving Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, biomass production needs to follow resource use efficiency considerations to avoid jeopardizing resource saving purposes inherent in the bioeconomy strategies (Scarlat, Dallemand, Monforti-Ferrario, & Nita, 2015). The term "sustainable intensification" (Garnett et al, 2013) was introduced to signify the challenge for agricultural management to increase production without increasing environmental pressures.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing soil functions for a sustainable bioeconomy—Assessment framework and state of the art

et al. 2018

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Bioeconomy strategies have been adopted in many countries around the world. Their sustainable implementation requires a management of soils that maintains soil functions and avoids land degradation. Only then, ecosystem services can be maintained and resources used efficiently. We present an analytical framework for impact assessment that links policy and technology driving forces for soil management decisions to soil processes, soil functional changes, and their impacts on ecosystem services and resource use efficiency, both being targets that have been set by society and are anchored in bioeconomy policy strategies and sustainable development goals. Although the resource use efficiency concept has a long-term tradition, most studies of agricultural management do not address the role of soils in their efficiency assessment. The concept of ecosystem services has received increasing attention over the last years; however, its link to soil functions and soil management practices is still not well established. This study is the first to conceptually link the socioeconomic processes of external drivers for soil management with the natural processes of soil functions and connect them back to impacts on the social system. Application of the framework helps strengthen the science-policy interface and to systemically assess and compare the opportunities and threats of soil management practices from the perspective of goals set by society at different spatial and temporal scales. Insights gained in this way can be applied in stakeholder decisionmaking processes and used to inform the design of governance instruments aimed at sustainable soil management within a bioeconomy. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: Premises and Policies

Abstract: Clearer understanding is needed of the premises underlying SI and how it relates to food-system priorities.

Cited by 1,420 publications

References 8 publications

Intensification of cattle ranching production systems: socioeconomic and environmental synergies and risks in Brazil

Intensification of cattle ranching production systems: socioeconomic and environmental synergies and risks in Brazil

Climate regulation, energy provisioning and water purification: Quantifying ecosystem service delivery of bioenergy willow grown on riparian buffer zones using life cycle assessment

Managing soil functions for a sustainable bioeconomy—Assessment framework and state of the art

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