Achieving sustainable agricultural practices: From incentives to adoption and outcomes

Achieving sustainable agricultural practices: From incentives to adoption and outcomes

Author: Piñeiro, Valeria

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2021-02-06

Total Pages: 4

ISBN-13:

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Sustainable agricultural practices enable more efficient use of natural resources, mitigate the impact of agriculture on the environment, and strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change and climate variability. Because these practices usually require substantial effort or resource allocation from farmers, incentives are necessary to support farmer adoption. Despite growing interest, there has been little systematic evaluation of the incentives–adoption–outcome chain—that is, which incentives best promote adoption and which lead to desired sustainability outcomes. This brief presents the results of a literature review that examined (1) uptake agricultural practices under three kinds of incentives, market and nonmarket, regulations, and cross-compliance, and (2) the impact on productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. Based on this review, it offers a set of seven tested principles to follow in designing and implementing incentives for sustainable agriculture.


How to Build Better Agricultural Conservation Programs to Protect Water Quality

How to Build Better Agricultural Conservation Programs to Protect Water Quality

Author: Deanna Lynn Osmond

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 9780976943297

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"From 2004 to 2006, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (formerly the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service jointly funded 13 watershed projects across the nation. These NIFA projects were established to evaluate the effects of agricultural conservation practices on water quality at the watershed scale. The overall goal of these watershed studies was to determine the measurable effects of agricultural conservation practices on spatial patterns and trends in water quality at the watershed scale. Conducted under the name Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), the projects were intended to increase understanding of the following: How the timing, location, and suite of implemented agricultural conservation practices affect water quality at the watershed scale ; How conservation practices implemented in a watershed interact with respect to their effects on water quality ; What social and economic factors facilitate or impede implementation of conservation practices ; The optimal set of conservation practices and their optimal placement within the watershed needed to achieve water quality goals. As these 13 NIFA-CEAP watershed studies were nearing completion, the USDA NIFA funded another project to synthesize the information gained from the projects in order to build an aggregate knowledge base that both evaluated impacts of conservation practices and programs on water resources in order to improve the management of agricultural landscapes and achieve environmental goals that could inform future policy decisions. This book describes the outcome of the synthesis effort."--Preface.


Conservation Tillage in U.S. Agriculture

Conservation Tillage in U.S. Agriculture

Author: Noel Uri

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2021-05-30

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13: 1000445186

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Discover farming techniques that will decrease soil erosion and costs!Soil erosion from U.S. croplands has long been recognized as a national problem. Conservation Tillage in U.S. Agriculture: Environmental, Economic, and Policy Issues is the first ever complete study of the costs and benefits of using conservation tillage to prevent soil erosion. Designed for professionals working in the areas of soil science, agronomy, economics, environmental studies, and agriculture, this complete study covers everything from machinery and trends in conservation tillage to its adoption to use in regions of the United States.With this in-depth manual, you will examine different types of tillage and the many benefits this practice can ensure, such as improving water quality, increasing organic matter in your soil, sequestering carbon, and providing habitat and food for wildlife. Covering the economic, environmental, and policy issues of this practice, Conservation Tillage in U.S. Agriculture features: the history of conservation tillage case studies on costs and benefits of differing conservation tillage practices with various crops tables and graphs of trends, and case studies concerning the use of different farming methods U.S. Department of Agriculture soil conservation policies how to prevent soil erosion without harming the environment factors affecting conservation tillage, adoption, and use for crops such as peanuts, potatoes, beets, tobacco, and vegetables. With the help of this book, you will measure the benefits and costs of conservation tillage based on profitability and environmental impact and explore the positive and negative environmental consequences that may involve air, land, water, and/or the health and ecological status of wildlife. Conservation Tillage in U.S. Agriculture is a timely and informative look at conservation tillage practices that will help you improve residue management and create better conditions for wildlife and the environment.


Drawdown

Drawdown

Author: Paul Hawken

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-04-18

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1524704652

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• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.