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Abstract Fodder for feeding pork and poultry requires a large amount of cultivated and processed agricultural crops, which are often related to greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change (LUC). Given the rapid growth in meat production in Brazil for domestic consumption and international export, the link between LUC emissions and consumption of pork and poultry meat is central to evaluating the role of Brazilian meat production and the implications for international climate policies. In this paper, we first estimate LUC emissions from soybean production destined to feed pork and poultry in Brazil during the period 2008–2012. Second, we allocate such emissions to domestic and international consumption of pork and poultry meat. Concerning international consumption, Brazilian export of meat to 189 countries is evaluated. Although the majority of the LUC emissions from soybean production are tied to the domestic consumption, 17% and 39% of the emissions embodied in Brazilian pork and poultry, respectively, are exported to other countries. The most prominent destinations of Brazilian pork and poultry in terms of embodied LUC emissions are Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. In the case of pork, the fluxes of emissions from Brazil to Ukraine (1.28 Mt CO2-eq) and Russia (1.18 Mt CO2-eq) are particularly large. In the case of poultry, the largest transfers of embodied emissions are from Brazil to developing countries and especially the Middle East. These results are relevant to environmental policies and international agreements aimed at achieving the sustainability of Brazil's meat sector.

AbstractClimate change will affect semiarid ecosystems through severe droughts that increase the competition for resources in plant and microbial communities. In these habitats, adaptations to climate change may consist of thinning—that reduces competition for resources through a decrease in tree density and the promotion of plant survival. We deciphered the functional and phylogenetic responses of the microbial community to 60 years of drought induced by rainfall exclusion and how forest management affects its resistance to drought, in a semiarid forest ecosystem dominated byPinus halepensisMill. A multiOMICapproach was applied to reveal novel, community‐based strategies in the face of climate change. The diversity and the composition of the total and active soil microbiome were evaluated by 16SrRNAgene (bacteria) andITS(fungal) sequencing, and by metaproteomics. The microbial biomass was analyzed by phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), and the microbially mediated ecosystem multifunctionality was studied by the integration of soil enzyme activities related to the cycles of C, N, and P. The microbial biomass and ecosystem multifunctionality decreased in drought‐plots, as a consequence of the lower soil moisture and poorer plant development, but this decrease was more notable in unthinned plots. The structure and diversity of the total bacterial community was unaffected by drought at phylum and order level, but did so at genus level, and was influenced by seasonality. However, the total fungal community and the active microbial community were more sensitive to drought and were related to ecosystem multifunctionality. Thinning in plots without drought increased the active diversity while the total diversity was not affected. Thinning promoted the resistance of ecosystem multifunctionality to drought through changes in the active microbial community. The integration of total and active microbiome analyses avoids misinterpretations of the links between the soil microbial community and climate change.

In this study, we compare the relative importance of climate change to technological, management, price and policy changes on European arable farming systems. This required linking four models: the SIMPLACE crop growth modelling framework to calculate future yields under climate change for arable crops; the CAPRI model to estimate impacts on global agricultural markets, specifically product prices; the bio-economic farm model FSSIM to calculate the future changes in cropping patterns and farm net income at the farm and regional level; and the environmental model INTEGRATOR to calculate nitrogen (N) uptake and losses to air and water. First, the four linked models were applied to analyse the effect of climate change only or a most likely baseline (i.e. B1) scenario for 2050 as well as for two alternative scenarios with, respectively, strong (i.e. A1-b1) and weak economic growth (B2) for five regions/countries across Europe (i.e. Denmark, Flevoland, Midi Pyrenées, Zachodniopomorski and Andalucia). These analyses were repeated but assuming in addition to climate change impacts, also the effects of changes in technology and management on crop yields, the effects of changes in prices and policies in 2050, and the effects of all factors together. The outcomes show that the effects of climate change to 2050 result in higher farm net incomes in the Northern and Northern-Central EU regions, in practically unchanged farm net incomes in the Central and Central-Southern EU regions, and in much lower farm net incomes in Southern EU regions compared to those in the base year. Climate change in combination with improved technology and farm management and/or with price changes towards 2050 results in a higher to much higher farm net incomes. Increases in farm net income for the B1 and A1-b1 scenarios are moderately stronger than those for the B2 scenario, due to the smaller increases in product prices and/or yields for the B2 scenario. Farm labour demand slightly to moderately increases towards 2050 as related to changes in cropping patterns. Changes in N2O emissions and N leaching compared to the base year are mainly caused by changes in total N inputs from the applied fertilizers and animal manure, which in turn are influenced by changes in crop yields and cropping patterns, whereas NH3 emissions are mainly determined by assumed improvements in manure application techniques. N emissions and N leaching strongly increase in Denmark and Zachodniopomorski, slightly decrease to moderately increase in Flevoland and Midi-Pyrenées, and strongly decrease in Andalucia, except for NH3 emissions which zero to moderately decrease in Flevoland and Denmark.

Grazing by large ungulates often increases plant species richness in grasslands of moderate to high productivity. In a mesic North American grassland with and without the presence of bison ( Bos bison), a native ungulate grazer, three non-exclusive hypotheses for increased plant species richness in grazed grasslands were evaluated: (1) bison grazing enhances levels of resource (light and N) availability, enabling species that depend on higher resource availability to co-occur; (2) spatial heterogeneity in resource availability is enhanced by bison, enabling coexistence of a greater number of plant species; (3) increased species turnover (i.e. increased species colonization and establishment) in grazed grassland is associated with enhanced plant species richness. We measured availability and spatial heterogeneity in light, water and N, and calculated species turnover from long-term data in grazed and ungrazed sites in a North American tallgrass prairie. Both regression and path analyses were performed to evaluate the potential of the three hypothesized mechanisms to explain observed patterns of plant species richness under field conditions. Experimental grazing by bison increased plant species richness by 25% over an 8-year period. Neither heterogeneity nor absolute levels of soil water or available N were related to patterns of species richness in grazed and ungrazed sites. However, high spatial heterogeneity in light and higher rates of species turnover were both strongly related to increases in plant species richness in grazed areas. This suggests that creation of a mosaic of patches with high and low biomass (the primary determinant of light availability in mesic grasslands) and promotion of a dynamic species pool are the most important mechanisms by which grazers affect species richness in high productivity grasslands.

Agroforestry is considered a sustainable form of land management that optimizes the use of natural resources (nutrients, radiation, water). Agroforestry is defined as the deliberate integration of woody vegetation with agricultural activities in the lower story. It provides a higher biomass production per unit of land, while providing more ecosystem services than woody-less agricultural lands, such as the reduction of soil erosion and nitrogen leaching, and increase carbon sequestration and landscape biodiversity. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the past and current European Union Common Agricultural policies aiming at promoting the afforestation or reforestation of lands, as the introduction of trees can be seen as a first step to carry out agroforestry practices in former agricultural or forest lands. Agroforestry was a traditional land use system in Europe before modern times. However, before the sixties land intensification and consolidation destroyed millions of trees all over Europe. On the contrary, some good examples of agroforestry promotion are found in Eastern European countries in order to reduce the effect of extreme events such as winds, flooding at the beginning and mid of the last century. In Western European countries, the introduction of trees in the land has been promoted by agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation at the end of the last century. Afforestation of agricultural lands have been the most successful CAP measure (over 1 million hectares) while agroforestry measures were not extensively adopted which may be explained by the funds associated to afforestation measure which compensated the losses of income 15 or 20 years in afforested lands. Agroforestry was poorly adopted in the CAP 2007-2013, having a better success in the CAP 2014-2020 due to the recognition of woody vegetation and the compensation of 5 years given for maintenance once agroforestry is established. However, policy rules ensuring Pillar I payment when agroforestry measure is adopted such as a management plans ensuring that maximum tree density (100 trees per hectare) is not reached, should be pursued.

Abstract Climate change and rapid adaption of invasive pathogens pose a constant pressure on the fruit industry to develop improved varieties. Aiming to accelerate the development of better-adapted cultivars, new breeding techniques have emerged as a promising alternative to meet the demand of a growing global population. Accelerated breeding, cisgenesis, and CRISPR/Cas genome editing hold significant potential for crop trait improvement and have proven to be useful in several plant species. This review focuses on the successful application of these technologies in fruit trees to confer pathogen resistance and tolerance to abiotic stress and improve quality traits. In addition, we review the optimization and diversification of CRISPR/Cas genome editing tools applied to fruit trees, such as multiplexing, CRISPR/Cas-mediated base editing and site-specific recombination systems. Advances in protoplast regeneration and delivery techniques, including the use of nanoparticles and viral-derived replicons, are described for the obtention of exogenous DNA-free fruit tree species. The regulatory landscape and broader social acceptability for cisgenesis and CRISPR/Cas genome editing are also discussed. Altogether, this review provides an overview of the versatility of applications for fruit crop improvement, as well as current challenges that deserve attention for further optimization and potential implementation of new breeding techniques.

Abstract Economic development in agriculture is often accompanied by strong environmental pressures that present risks, which could lead to irreversible damage of the associated agro-ecosystem. A form of agricultural management that utilizes natural resources rationally yet maintains ecological stability is necessary. Ecologically sound, yet productive, use of resources requires indicators that assess not only productive and economic factors, but also environmental impact and ecological effects. Thus, to study an agricultural activity and its interaction with the environment, a holistic approach, capable of considering ecological, biophysical and socio-economic aspects is appropriate. Here we use emergy analysis and its indicators as given in Odum (Science 242 (1988) 1132–1139), to evaluate how sustainability of a soybean crop in south Tuscany (Italy) is increased using the specific bacteria inoculation to satisfy, through fixation, the nitrogen need of the crop. Cultivation was studied with two options: (1) utilization of chemical fertilizers to supply nitrogen needs as often done in the past, and as a viable present alternative and (2) the symbiotic activity of Bradyrhizobium bacteria, given as inoculum, to cover all nitrogen needs. This article shows that proper agricultural management should help maintain, and increase, system capacity, i.e. the quality of the system environment (soil, water,…), to sustain biomass, and prevent environmental degradation. For an Italian agro-ecosystem, the results demonstrate that agricultural production is more than doubled and the use of non-renewable and toxic inputs, such as chemical fertilizers, is reduced by use of the inoculum. The good results for soybean suggests development of analogous cultivation methods for other agricultural species, such as gramineous, for which different N-fixing bacteria such as Azospirillum, have been already identified.