Assessing agro-environmental sustainability of intensive agricultural systems

Potential for nutrients reuse, carbon sequestration, and CO2 emissions reduction in the practice of domestic and industrial wastewater recycling into agricultural soils: A review

This review assesses the feasibility of reusing treated wastewater for irrigation in agricultural soils as a strategy for nutrients recycling and mitigation of CO2 emissions. Through a literature review, it was examined wastewater sources enriched with carbon and nutrients, including municipal wastewater and associated sludge, vinasse, swine wastewater, as well as wastewater from the food industry and paper and pulp production. The review also explores the dynamics of organic matter within the soil, discussing the aspects related to its potential conversion to CO2 or long-term storage. It was found that industrial wastewaters, owing to their higher organic matter and recalcitrance, exhibit greater potential for carbon storage. However, the presence of pollutants in wastewater necessitates careful consideration, particularly concerning their impact on soil quality. Toxic metals, microplastics, and organic compounds emerged as significant contaminants that could accumulate in the soil, posing risks to ecosystem health. To mitigate the environmental impacts, it was evaluated various wastewater treatment technologies and their associated carbon emissions. While advanced treatments may effectively reduce the contaminant load and mitigate soil impacts, their adoption is often associated with an increase in CO2 emissions. Membrane bioreactors, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors were identified as promising technologies with lower carbon footprints. Looking ahead, future research should aim to enhance the understanding of carbon dynamics in soil and validate the environmental impacts of treated wastewater disposal. Despite remaining uncertainties, the literature indicates a positive outlook for wastewater recycling in soil, offering a viable strategy for carbon storage and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Spatio-temporal evolution and its policy influencing factors of agricultural land-use efficiency under carbon emission constraint in mainland China

In the context of the vision to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, Mainland China's agricultural development will face strict carbon constraints. This paper analyzes the agricultural land-use efficiency of Mainland China's agriculture under carbon emission constraint from 1996 to 2020, based on the unexpected super SBM (Slack-based measure)-Undesirable DEA, Malmquist index model, and quartile division-GIS method. The results show that: from 1996 to 2020, the agricultural output value per land and grain output per land show an upward trend, and the agricultural carbon emissions per land of most provinces show an increasing trend and larger emissions. The agricultural land-use efficiency in Mainland China rises first and then decreases, and technological progress is the decisive path to improving the agricultural land-use efficiency in Mainland China. The average MI in the prominent grain-selling area during 1996-2020 was as high as 1.071, which was significantly higher than that in the prominent grain-producing area (1.039) and the balance area (1.030). The improvement of agricultural land-use efficiency is mostly due to technological progress, but the instability of technical input and management in land use. To improve agricultural land-use efficiency in Mainland China, we should pay attention to the precise policy formulation of low-carbon and high-quality development and strengthen government investment in the difference between space resource endowment and development status.

Wine Supply Chain Network Configuration under a Water Footprint Cap

As agriculture and industry exploit more than 90% of the global freshwater resources, water overuse and degradation have emerged as critical socio-environmental challenges for both nations and corporations. In this context, the water footprint concept was introduced in order to quantify the freshwater consumption and pollution of a territory or across a product’s life cycle. As research on water management in supply chains is growing, this work aims to integrate the perspective of freshwater resources into supply network configuration. Focusing on the agrifood sector, we have developed a mixed-integer linear programming model that can be used to minimize the operational costs under a water footprint cap in a wine supply chain network by selecting the optimal suppliers (vine growers), manufacturing sites (winemakers), and transportation modes (fuel-powered trucks). The optimization outcomes unveil that the wine network’s configurations (structure and fuel type) vary significantly depending on the values of the water footprint cap so as to balance the trade-off between economic and water-related environmental efficiency. Beyond the viticulture sector, the proposed model is anticipated to act as a paradigm for setting joint sustainable targets or caps to limit water use across supply chains.