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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that to limit warming to 1.5 °C, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is required. Integrated assessment models (IAMS) predict that a land area between the size of Argentina and Australia is required for bioenergy crops, a 3–7 time increase in the current bioenergy planting area globally. The authors pose the question of whether vertical farming (VF) technology can enable BECCS deployment, either via land sparing or supply. VF involves indoor controlled environment cultivation, and can increase productivity per unit land area by 5–10 times. VF is predominantly being used to grow small, high value leafy greens with rapid growth cycles. Capital expenditure, operational expenditure, and sustainability are challenges in current VF industries, and will affect the ability to utilise this technology for other crops. The authors argue that, whilst challenging, VF could help reach wider climate goals. Application of VF for bioenergy crops could be a game changer in delivering BECCS technologies and may reduce the land footprint required as well as the subsequent associated negative environmental impacts. VF bioenergy could allow us to cultivate the future demand for bioenergy for BECCS on the same, or less, land area than is currently used globally.

Background: The global palm oil market experienced a remarkable boom since the year 2000. Since palm oil can be used for biodiesel production, the global expansion of oil palm cultivation has been associated with the global biofuel boom. Biofuel policies—especially those adopted in the European Union (EU)—have been blamed for the socio-environmental impacts of oil palm expansion. We explore how the global biofuel boom interacts with national geographies and social-economic and political processes to produce country-specific trajectories of biofuel crops expansion. We analyse the expansion of oil palm cultivation in Colombia between 2000 and 2010 from a political ecology perspective. Methods: The analysis is based on a framework that positions expansion of commodity frontiers within the ‘space-of-flows’ and the ‘space-of-place’. Through this approach, we identify the markets and geographies that define the country-specific trajectories of expansion of oil palm in Colombia, and their connections with general patterns of land control. The empirical analysis is based on primary data collected during fieldwork, and on an extensive review of secondary data about the palm oil sector and the socio-environmental effects of oil palm expansion in the country. Results: The contemporary oil palm expansion in Colombia was not specifically influenced by the international biofuel market. Expansion was characterized by an increasing production of palm oil for biodiesel, to supply a policy-driven national biofuel market controlled by national palm oil producers. The evidence shows that this oil palm expansion proceeded through a variety of land control practices that constitute forms of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ and ‘assimilation’. These are embedded in contextual factors that include the agrarian history of Colombia, the armed conflict, and government policies. Conclusions: Our study shows that the ways in which expansion of biofuel crops unfold in each producing country depend not only on the global biofuel market. They are also shaped by the country-specific geographies and political economies. Therefore, research and policies on the global expansion of energy crops should account for the complex and interrelated factors that mediate the specific ways in which the global demand for biofuels creates biofuel crop booms at country level.

Model projections show that production of high-value products from microalgae could be profitable nowadays and commodities will become profitable within 10 years.

Agricultural adaptation to climate change is critical for ensuring future food security. Social capital is important for climate change adaptation, but institutions and social networks at multiple scales (e.g., household, community, and institution) have been overlooked in studying agricultural climate change adaptation. We combine data from 13 sites in 11 low-income countries in East Africa, West Africa, and South Asia to explore how multiple scales of social capital relate to household food security outcomes among smallholder farmers. Using social network theory, we define three community organizational social network types (fragmented defined by lack of coordination, brokered defined as having a strong central actor, or shared defined by high coordination) and examine household social capital through group memberships. We find community and household social capital are positively related, with higher household group membership more likely in brokered and shared networks. Household group membership is associated with more than a 10% reduction in average months of food insecurity, an effect moderated by community social network type. In communities with fragmented and shared organizational networks, additional household group memberships is associated with consistent decreases in food insecurity, in some cases up to two months; whereas in brokered networks, reductions in food insecurity are only associated with membership in credit groups. These effects are confirmed by hierarchical random effects models, which control for demographic factors. This suggests that multiple scales of social capital—both within and outside the household—are correlated with household food security. This social capital may both be bridging (across groups) and bonding (within groups) with different implications for how social capital structure affects food security. Efforts to improve food security could recognize the potential for both household and community level social networks and collaboration, which further research can capture by analyzing multiple scales of social capital data.

Microalgae offer a great potential to contribute significantly as renewable fuels and documented as a promising platform for algae-based bio refineries. They provide solutions to mitigate the environmental concerns posed by conventional fuel sources; however, the production of microalgal biofuels in large scale production system encounters few technical challenges. High quantity of nutrients requirements and water cost constrain the scaling up microalgal biomass to large scale commercial production. Crop protection against biomass losses due to grazers or pathogens is another stumbling block in microalgal field cultivation. With our existing technologies, unless coupled with high-value or mid-value products, algal biofuel cannot reach the economic target. Many microalgal industries that started targeting biofuel in the last decade had now adopted parallel business plans focusing on algae by-products application as cosmetic supplements, nutraceuticals, oils, natural color, and animal feed. This review provides the current status and proposes a framework for key supply demand, challenges for cost-effective and sustainable use of water and nutrient. Emphasis is placed on the future industrial market status of value added by products of microalgal biomass. The cost factor for biorefinery process development needs to be addressed before its potential to be exploited for various value-added products with algal biofuel.

In the transition from linear production systems, unsustainable from the point of view of resources, to a model that finds strength in environmental, social and economic sustainability, the circular economy paradigm is the foundation that facilitates the planetary agro-ecological transition. The European Union has taken a number of steps (including the Circular Economy Package of Directives) shaping circularity as a wide-ranging driver measure involving many sectors. The paper intends to provide a regulatory framework on the current general situation regarding circularity in European Union, in order to extrapolate and give evidence to the aspects that intersect the agri-food sector. This is not only because they are poorly addressed in the literature, but also because there is a lack of regulatory instruments on the circular economy specifically addressing this area of interest. For this purpose, the analysis focuses on waste and residue/scrap management issues, recognized by law as by-products and end-of-waste status, as they are covered by circular economy legislation and as they can be applied to the agri-food sector. The latter allow the implementation of circularity strategies in the agri-food sector and, given the numerousness of production chains and the peculiarities of each of them, various regeneration and/or reuse processes of specific resources may be depicted. The intent is to provide useful knowledge on how to implement sustainable waste management, also proposing a concrete case on a by-product of olive oil processing, through which it is possible to highlight how the correct application of regulations favors the adoption of circular economic and management models in the firms involved, as well as informing the relevant economic operators on the possible profiles of legal liability that may arise from insufficient knowledge. Furthermore, this paper delves into the European Green Deal’s Strategy as it enriches the circular economy paradigm with new facets. NextGenerationEU and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan financially support this strategy in the aftermath of the socioeconomic crisis from COVID-19 in the EU Member States. This is in order to achieve the objective of achieving the agro-ecological transition.

Este estudio evaluó los determinantes de la elección de estrategias indígenas relacionadas con el clima por parte de pequeños agricultores en el norte de Ghana utilizando datos primarios obtenidos a través de discusiones de grupos focales comunitarios y encuestas de hogares, y sujetos al modelo de regresión Multinomial Logit. Los resultados empíricos revelan que la presencia de un mercado, el crédito informal de amigos y familiares, la ubicación del agricultor, la extensión de agricultor a agricultor, notar una disminución de las precipitaciones y notar un aumento de la temperatura influyen en la elección de las estrategias indígenas relacionadas con el clima. Por lo tanto, existe la necesidad de mejorar el acceso de los pequeños agricultores al mercado, los servicios de extensión agrícola y su conocimiento de los cambios en las precipitaciones y la temperatura. Cette étude a évalué les déterminants du choix des stratégies autochtones liées au climat par les petits exploitants agricoles du nord du Ghana à l'aide de données primaires obtenues lors de groupes de discussion communautaires et d'enquêtes auprès des ménages, et soumises au modèle de régression Multinomial Logit. Les résultats empiriques révèlent que la présence d'un marché, le crédit informel d'amis et de parents, l'emplacement de l'agriculteur, l'extension de l'agriculteur à l'agriculteur, la constatation d'une diminution des précipitations et d'une augmentation de la température influencent le choix des stratégies autochtones liées au climat. Il est donc nécessaire d'améliorer l'accès des petits agriculteurs au marché, aux services de vulgarisation agricole et leur sensibilisation aux changements de précipitations et de température. This study assessed the determinants of Choice of Indigenous Climate Related Strategies by Smallholder Farmers in Northern Ghana using primary data obtained through community focus group discussions and household survey, and subjected to the Multinomial Logit regression model. The empirical results reveal that presence of a market, informal credit from friends and relatives, location of farmer, farmer-to-farmer extension, noticing of a decrease in rainfall and noticing an increase in temperature influence the choice of indigenous climate related strategies. There is therefore the need to improve smallholder farmers' access to market, agricultural extension services and their awareness of changes in rainfall and temperature. قيمت هذه الدراسة محددات اختيار الاستراتيجيات المتعلقة بالمناخ للسكان الأصليين من قبل المزارعين أصحاب الحيازات الصغيرة في شمال غانا باستخدام البيانات الأولية التي تم الحصول عليها من خلال مناقشات مجموعات التركيز المجتمعية والمسح الأسري، وتخضع لنموذج انحدار اللوغاريتم متعدد الحدود. تكشف النتائج التجريبية أن وجود سوق، والائتمان غير الرسمي من الأصدقاء والأقارب، وموقع المزارع، والإرشاد من مزارع إلى مزارع، وملاحظة انخفاض في هطول الأمطار وملاحظة زيادة في درجة الحرارة يؤثر على اختيار الاستراتيجيات المتعلقة بالمناخ المحلي. لذلك هناك حاجة إلى تحسين وصول صغار المزارعين إلى الأسواق وخدمات الإرشاد الزراعي ووعيهم بالتغيرات في هطول الأمطار ودرجة الحرارة.