Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2024View details →

Swiss public's acceptance and sustainability perceptions of food produced with chemical, digital and mechanical weed control measures and the influence of information source on technology perception in agriculture

This data was obtained from an online survey conducted with the Swiss public from the two biggest language regions (German and French) in Switzerland. The survey was conducted in February 2023. Participants were recruited through a professional panel provider and quotas were used for age, gender and language region. The final sample contained 542 respondents. In the first part of the survey, respondents provided basic sociodemographic information. In the second part, their sustainability perceptions regarding four different weed management practices (full-surface spraying, hoeing machine, spot spraying and precise spraying) were investigated. Respondents were then assigned to one of five information source groups, in which information on a hoeing and a milking robot was presented, using 5 different information sources (male/female farmer, male/female scientist, no source). Technology perception was assessed using several questions and aspects. Finally, respondents answered several questions assessing their attitudes towards the perception of farmers, food technology neophobia, chemophobia and the importance of naturalness. The survey can be used and adapted to different contents, aiming to investigate public perception of smart farming technologies and the influence of information sources on technology perception.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2024View details →

Sustainable Agricultural Pathways in Europe (SIPATH) – land use data

The published land use data were part of the project “What is Sustainable Intensification? Operationalizing Sustainable Agricultural Pathways in Europe (SIPATH)”, which was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. CRSII5_183493). The overall objective of this project was to assess short-term trajectories in agriculture land use and landscape structure over a period of 20 years for 16 individual study sites located in 11 countries, ranging from the Mediterranean to the boreal zone. The following datasets illustrate land use data that were generated for the different study sites at two points in time between 2000 and 2020, depending on data availability. The data collection process encompassed land use mapping through visual image interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs using geographic information systems (ESRI ArcGIS Pro). Land use digitalization was conducted by two scientists in Switzerland, who were in contact with the respective project partners in the study countries to exchange expert knowledge. Minimal mapping unit was 25m2 for areal elements. Land cover was classified following the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitat classification (EEA 2019). The broadest habitat classes were systematically mapped in the study sites, with each covering an area of approximately 25 km². While EUNIS focuses on habitat types, the study, however, targeted the intensity of agricultural land-use, several EUNIS classes were complemented with levels of land-use intensities. This was applied for grassland, olive groves and fruit orchards. The spatial resolution of the orthophotos ranged from 25cm to 2m. Accordingly, there were situations in which the spatial resolution was insufficient to accurately determine the land use. In such cases, either orthophotos from about the same year were consulted, possibly showing different phenological stages, or land use statistics and expert judgement based on local expert knowledge of the respective study area were applied.   Reference: EEA, 2019. EUNIS habitat classification 2007 (Revised descriptions 2012) amended 2019. Copenhagen (<a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/ds_resolveuid/27788ca43d9e4f2e9477b15df88d20be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Permalink</a>)

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2022View details →

A Novel Crop Shortlisting Method for Sustainable Agricultural Diversification Across EU (Italy)

In order to shortlist possible options from a pool of 2700 crops, a crop-climate-soil matching ex-ercise was performed across Italian territory and crops with more than 70% suitability where chosen for further analysis. In the second phase, a multicriteria ranking index was employed to assign ranks to chosen crops of 4 main types; (i) cereals and pseudocereals, (ii) legumes, (iii) starchy roots/ tubers and (iv) vegetables. In order to provide a comprehensive analysis, major crops that are grown in the region where also included in the analysis. The results of evaluation of 4 major criteria (a) calorie and nutrition demand b) functions and uses c) availability and acces-sibility to their genomic material d) possession of adaptive traits, and e) physiological traits) re-vealed the potential for teff, faba bean, cowpea, green arrow arum, Jerusalem artichoke, Fig-leaved Gourd and Watercress.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2017View details →

An Information Ecology for Sustainable Agriculture

Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 will require transformative changes to our food production systems1, 2. Climate change3-6, water scarcity and urban demand7, herbicide-resistant weeds8, and declining soil9 and water quality10,11 are increasing crop production risks, lowering yields, and negatively impacting the environment. The increased use of sustainable agricultural practices  such as reduced-tillage12, diversified crop rotations13, and integrated weed management especially through incorporation of cover crops14, are necessary to achieve this goal. However, farmers repeatedly cite management complexity and a need for site- and system-specific information to overcome the barriers to adoption15, 16. Sustainable agriculture thus demands precision tools to account for genetic and environmental nuances in complex, adaptive, agricultural systems, while simultaneously responding to the social, technological, and economic contexts of farming. Precision Sustainable Agriculture17 uses a data-driven and human-centered approach to the research and development of on-farm monitoring tools, cloud-based, information management tools for large-scale agricultural research projects, decision support tools for agriculture data stakeholders, and modeling and analysis tools for use in sustainable agriculture. We are laying the foundation of an information ecology18 for sustainable agriculture: a system of tools, data, methods, and actors to maximize farm productivity, profitability, and sustainability. References: <ol> <li>Liu J, Folberth C, Yang H, Röckström J, Abbaspour K, Zehnder AJB. A Global and Spatially Explicit Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Crop Production and Consumptive Water Use. PLOS ONE. 2013 Feb 27;8(2):e57750.</li> <li>Schmidhuber J, Tubiello FN. Global food security under climate change. PNAS. 2007 Dec 11;104(50):19703–8.</li> <li>Allan RP, Soden BJ. Atmospheric Warming and the Amplification of Precipitation Extremes. Science. 2008 Sep 12;321(5895):1481–4.</li> <li>Gornall J, Betts R, Burke E, Clark R, Camp J, Willett K, et al. Implications of climate change for agricultural productivity in the early twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2010 Sep 27;365(1554):2973–89.</li> <li>Rosenzweig C, Elliott J, Deryng D, Ruane AC, Müller C, Arneth A, et al. Assessing agricultural risks of climate change in the 21st century in a global gridded crop model intercomparison. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014 Mar 4;111(9):3268–73.</li> <li>Trenberth KE, Dai A, Schrier G van der, Jones PD, Barichivich J, Briffa KR, et al. Global warming and changes in drought. Nature Climate Change. 2014 Jan;4(1):17–22.</li> <li>Flörke M, Kynast E, Bärlund I, Eisner S, Wimmer F, Alcamo J. Domestic and industrial water uses of the past 60 years as a mirror of socio-economic development: A global simulation study. Global Environmental Change. 2013 Feb 1;23(1):144–56.</li> <li>Heap I. Global perspective of herbicide-resistant weeds. Pest Management Science. 2014 Sep 1;70(9):1306–15</li> <li>Williams A, Hunter MC, Kammerer M, Kane DA, Jordan NR, Mortensen DA, et al. Soil Water Holding Capacity Mitigates Downside Risk and Volatility in US Rainfed Maize: Time to Invest in Soil Organic Matter? PLoS ONE. 2016;11(8):e0160974.</li> <li>Goolsby DA, Battaglin WA, Lawrence GB, Artz RS, Aulenbach BT, Hooper RP, et al. Flux and sources of nutrients in the Mississippi-Atchafalya river Basin topic 3 report. :156.</li> <li>Boyer EW, Goodale CL, Jaworski NA, Howarth RW. Anthropogenic nitrogen sources and relationships to riverine nitrogen export in the northeastern U.S.A. Biogeochemistry. 2002 Apr 1;57(1):137–69.</li> <li>Zibilske LM, Bradford JM. Soil Aggregation, Aggregate Carbon and Nitrogen, and Moisture Retention Induced by Conservation Tillage. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 2007 May 1;71(3):793–802.</li> <li>Cox HW, Kelly RM, Strong WM. Pulse crops in rotation with cereals can be a profitable alternative to nitrogen fertiliser in central Queensland. Crop Pasture Sci. 2010 Sep 30;61(9):752–62.</li> <li>Mortensen DA, Egan JF, Maxwell BD, Ryan MR, Smith RG. Navigating a Critical Juncture for Sustainable Weed Management. BioScience. 2012 Jan 1;62(1):75–84.</li> <li>Dunn M, Ulrich-Schad JD, Prokopy LS, Myers RL, Watts CR, Scanlon K. Perceptions and use of cover crops among early adopters: Findings from a national survey. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 2016 Jan 1;71(1):29–40.</li> <li>Myers R, Watts C. Progress and perspectives with cover crops: Interpreting three years of farmer surveys on cover crops. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 2015 Nov 1;70(6):125A-129A.</li> <li>Mirsky, S, Reberg-Horton, C, Raturi, A. Precision Sustainable Agriculture. Available: <a href="http://precisionsustainableag.org">http://precisionsustainableag.org</a></li> <li>Nardi B, O’ Day V. Information ecologies: Using technology with heart. MIT Press; 1999.</li> </ol>

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The ecological and economic benefits of sustainable agricultural practices

Code and data for Mata et al.'s The ecological and economic benefits of sustainable agricultural practices: Evidence from on-farm trials in broad-acre crops.  Abstract 1. A transition to more sustainable agricultural practices is essential to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of conventional farming and to ensure long-term food security. However, widespread adoption requires robust evidence demonstrating their efficacy and economic viability. 2. We co-designed a two-year field trial with farmers and agronomy advisors in Australia to evaluate the ecological and economic outcomes of sustainable agricultural practices for managing the redlegged earth mite, a major pest of Australian crops and pastures. We compared 'Novel' treatments – representing long-term farmer-implemented sustainable practices based on biological control – with 'Conventional' treatments, and 'Plus' treatments designed as counterfactuals to disentangle the effects of specific pest control and plant nutrient components. 3. Redlegged earth mite densities remained below economic thresholds across all treatments and years, demonstrating effective pest control in both conventional and sustainable systems. Notably, the Novel treatment supported higher densities of beneficial arthropods, suggesting increased biological control potential. 4. Yield and gross profit margins were generally similar across treatments, indicating that sustainable agriculture practices can maintain profitability while fostering biodiversity. Practical implication. Our study provides evidence that biological control and biofertiliser supplementation can be effectively used to manage agricultural pests. It also demonstrates the value of close collaboration with farmers and agronomy advisors in conducting ecological field research with real-world applications.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2024View details →

zenodo44/100

Dataset on consumers' perception of different types of sustainability levies, Swiss agriculture and farmers and willingness to choose suboptimal potatoes in different settings

This dataset includes survey data from 481 Swiss consumers. Data were collected in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland in February and March 2024. The survey includes three independent main parts. In a first part, we collected qualitative and quantitative data on participants’ perception of Swiss agriculture and farmers. Specifically, participants’ trust in crop and livestock production farmers and their perceived knowledge about production methods and their affect towards farmers was assessed. In a second part, we collected quantitative data on participants’ preference for different sustainability levies. For this, six different products were used (i.e., fresh/processed vegetables, dairy, and meat). For each of these six products, participants were shown four levy options from which they had to choose the one that they found most appealing. For vegetables, the options were: (A) reduction of risks related to plant protection products, (B) more support for local farmers, (C) support for environmental sustainability, and (D) sustainability projects in general. For the animal products, option (A) was an increase in animal welfare, whilst options (B), (C) and (D) were the same as for the vegetable products. In a third part, we collected qualitative and quantitative data on participants preferences for suboptimal or optimal potatoes. Here, a 2 × 2 experimental design (setting × information) was used. This means that participants were presented with either a supermarket or farm shop setting and with or without food waste information. Participants then chose between two potatoes: optimal potato A, suboptimal potato B, or neither. Both potatoes were equally expensive.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2024View details →

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Data supplement for "Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity and human nutrition"

This data supplements the publication "Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity and human nutrition" by Thomas Kastner, Abhishek Chaudhary, Simone Gingrich, Alexandra Marques, U. Martin Persson, Giorgio Bidoglio, Gaëtane Le Provost, Florian Schwarzmüller, available here: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.09.006">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.09.006</a> For details, please refer to that publication.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2021View details →

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2023View details →

From fork to farm: Impacts of more sustainable diets in the EU-27 on the agricultural sector

This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 project Nutri2Cycle (Grant agreement No. 773682) These datasets are supplementary information to the manuscript titled "<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1477-9552.12530">From fork to farm: Impacts of more sustainable diets in the EU-27 on the agricultural sector</a>"

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2021View details →

Formalizing Objectives and Criteria for Urban Agriculture Sustainability with a Participatory Approach

The last few years have seen an exponential development of urban agriculture projects within global North countries, especially professional intra-urban farms which are professional forms of agriculture located within densely settled areas of city. Such projects aim to cope with the challenge of sustainable urban development and today the sustainability of the projects is questioned. To date, no set of criteria has been designed to specifically assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of these farms at the farm scale. Our study aims to identify sustainability objectives and criteria applicable to professional intra-urban farms. It relies on a participatory approach involving various stakeholders of the French urban agriculture sector comprising an initial focus group, online surveys and interviews. We obtained a set of six objectives related to environmental impacts, link to the city, economic and ethical meaning, food and environmental education, consumer/producer connection and socio-territorial services. In addition, 21 criteria split between agro-environmental, socio-territorial and economic dimensions were identified to reach these objectives. Overall, agro-environmental and socio-territorial criteria were assessed as more important than economic criteria, whereas food production was not mentioned. Differences were identified between urban farmers and decision makers, highlighting that decision makers were more focused on projects' external sustainability. They also pay attention to the urban farmer agricultural background, suggesting that they rely on urban farmers to ensure the internal sustainability of the farm. Based on our results, indicators could be designed to measure the sustainability criteria identified, and to allow the sustainability assessment of intra-urban farms.

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2022View details →

Tool for the selection of indicators for agriculture sustainability assessment

This is a preliminary version of the Excel-based tool that is being developed within the Working Group of the Crop diversification cluster on Multi-criteria Assessment and Sustainability Indicators (MCA & SI cluster WG). The tool has the aim to assist different end-users in the selection of sustainability indicators tailored to assess the impacts and effects of crop diversification. Currently this preliminary version contains only the indicators developed by the DiverIMPACTS and DiverFARMING projects (2 out 5 projects of Crop diversification cluster). The tool is composed by three sheets: 1) the “Selection” sheet for querying the database and obtaining the results; 2) the “Database” sheet where all indicators of the cluster projects are reported;  3) the “SAFA_HierachicalClassification” sheet with the description of the SAFA framework, and the items identified for the indicators of the cluster projects reported in the database.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2024View details →

Exploring the Synergy of Enhanced Weathering and Bacillus subtilis: A Promising Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture

Data: Exploring the Synergy of Enhanced Weathering and Bacillus subtilis: A Promising Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2023View details →

A systems analysis of sustainability impacts of agricultural policies in India - R script and supporting files

This includes : <ul><li>two R scripts used to implement the model (residue_burning. R) and generate results (residue_burning_calls.R)</li><li>three supporting .csv files used in the R scripts above </li></ul>

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2021View details →

SiEUGreen_Dataset_for_Monitoring_the_contribution_of_urban_agriculture_to_urban_sustainability:_an_indicator-based_framework

The data was collected for scientific publication: Tapia, C., Randall, L., Wang, S.; Borges, L. A. (2021): Monitoring the contribution of urban agriculture to urban sustainability: an indicator-based framework. Sustainable Cities and Society. In press, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103130">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103130</a> This dataset includes the data from the survey in Brabrand Fallaesgartneriet, which is the study case reported in the article.

opencc-by-4.0May 2022View details →

Data from: Comparing the importance of farming resource endowments and agricultural livelihood diversification for agricultural sustainability from the perspective of the food–energy–water nexus

Household Survey Data for journal article 'Comparing the importance of farming resource endowments and agricultural livelihood diversification for agricultural sustainability from the perspective of the food–energy–water nexus', without protected data.

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Different types of semi-natural habitat are required to sustain diverse wild bee communities across agricultural landscapes

1. Semi-natural habitats provide important resources for wild bees in agricultural landscapes. Landscapes under management are dynamic and floral resources fluctuate in space and time. Thus, promoting different semi-natural habitat types within landscapes could be key to support diverse bee meta-communities throughout the season. 2. Here, we integrate analyses of a-diversity (species richness) and b-diversity and species-habitat networks to examine the relative contribution of all major semi-natural habitats to wild bee meta-communities in agricultural landscapes. We sampled extensively and conventionally managed meadows, flower strips, hedgerows and forest edges in spring, early and late summer in 25 landscapes in Switzerland. 3. Habitat types varied in their importance for wild bees throughout the season: While extensively managed meadows supported more rare species, habitat specialists and bee species overall than the other habitat types, flower strips were most important later in the season. Each of the five investigated habitat types harboured relatively unique sets of species with different habitats generally acting as distinct modules in the overall bee-habitat network. 4. Not only flower richness in a habitat per se, but also flower-habitat network properties (habitat strength and functional complementarity) were good predictors of wild bee richness. In addition to local floral richness, landscape composition and configuration interactively influenced b-diversity patterns across habitats. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our study highlights the value of pollinator-habitat network analysis to inform pollinator conservation management at the landscape scale, especially when combined with information on floral resources and flower-habitat networks. Maintaining different types of semi-natural habitats offers diverse and complementary resources throughout the season, which are crucial to sustain diverse wild bee meta-communities in agricultural landscapes. Particularly meadow extensification schemes can play a key role in safeguarding rare and specialist species in these landscapes. While locally a high flower richness promoted bee abundance and richness in general, our results indicate that increasing connectivity between habitat patches in landscapes dominated by arable crops appears to improve species exchange between local bee communities of different habitats, thereby possibly increasing their resilience to disturbances.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2022View details →

Urine-enriched biochar: coupling sustainability in sanitation and agriculture

Nitrogen adsorption and plant uptake data and growth data from an urine-enriched biochar experiment.

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Potential benefits of incorporating arable wildflowers into living mulches for sustainable agriculture

Background: As agriculture has intensified, many once-common wildflowers have declined in arable landscapes, which has widespread implications for associated ecosystem services. The incorporation of sustainable practices, for example, growing living mulches (in-field, non-crop plant ground cover, maintained during the target crop growing season), can boost arable biodiversity, but few wildflower species have been utilised in this context. Aims: Our aim was to determine the suitability of arable wildflower species, once considered weeds, for use as living mulches. Methods: We first screened a number of arable wildflower species for germination when growing with a common cereal, barley (Hordeum vulgare). We then grew two (Centaurea cyanus and Scandix pecten-veneris) in pots in a glasshouse with and without barley, and grew barley alone to test the impact of the wildflowers on barley growth and biomass. Results: Neither of the wildflowers significantly negatively impacted barley biomass. Barley initially facilitated germination in S. pecten-veneris, but ultimately suppressed the above-ground biomass of both wildflowers. However, both wildflower species were able to coexist alongside barley. Conclusions: Our experiment provides evidence that wildflowers that were considered weeds in traditional agriculture have the potential to be grown alongside barley and could be incorporated as part of a living mulch.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2021View details →

CS16: Policy for sustainable development ( development of "Croatian Case Study - Legumes: their potential role in Croatian agricultural production")

(i)The main aim is to develop a document that will gave an overview of current situation regarding legumes consumption and production in Croatia and also to develope a reccomendations for policy makers.   (ii) Purpose of this Case Study and the whole project implementation is to raise awareness about consumption and production of legumes both for human consumption and animal feed. (iii) April 2019.- September 2019.  (iv) Species - N.A.  (v) PIRED facilities (vi) Following different methodological tools was applied like: desk research, analysis of available quantitative historical data, interviews with key regional retailers and company managers, focus groups, benchmarking, expert analysis and expert drafting (vii)  detection of number of producers, utilized areas,  processing infrastructure and development of recommendations for policy makers and local decision makers.  (viii) in progress (ix) This document will have significant impact on policy, mainly on local level ( for local decision makers) because developed recommendations will gave an directions, guideline and examples of good practice.