Food security depends on the implementation of sustainable development in agri-food. It is essential to determine the sustainability of the main production systems in order to establish specific measures for each territory, by virtue of correcting their negative externalities and improving the commitment of stakeholders. Therefore, this article assessed the economic, social, environmental and global sustainability of the Spanish primary sector based on a synthetic indicator proposed in previous research. The results suggest the existence of a moderate degree of sustainability of the food production system in Spain (0.5019), with the regions of Aragón (0.5482), Castile and Leon (0.5473), Extremadura (0.5438) and Andalucía (0.5399) standing out. An inverse relationship between the economic and the environmental subcomponents of sustainability was obtained. The cluster analysis revealed the need to apply a customized territorial policy in order to meet sustainability goals due to the diversity of agricultural subsectors identified in them.
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Agricultural run-off and subsurface drainage tiles transport a significant amount of nitrogen and phosphorus leached after fertilization. alchemia-nova GmbH in collaboration with University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna developed two multi-layer vertical filter systems to address the agricultural run-off issue, which has been installed on the slope of an agricultural field in Mistelbach, Austria. While another multi-layer addressing subsurface drainage water is implemented in Gleisdorf, Austria. The goal is to develop a drainage filter system to retain water and nutrients. Both multi-layer filter systems contain biochar and other substrates with adsorption properties of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus). The filter system can be of practical use if an excess of nutrients being washed out is of concern in the fields of the practitioner by keeping the surrounding waters clean. This approach may result in economic value by re-using the saturated biochar as fertilizer and improving the soil structure, thus increasing long-term soil fertility. Link: https://wateragri.eu/a-bio-inspired-multilayer-drainage-system/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735. FACTSHEET NANOCELLULOSE MEMBRANES FOR NUTRIENT RECOVERY Key information Functionalized nanocellulose membranes can take up nitrate and phosphate. These membranes can be put in a water treatment unit. As the membranes are biobased, degradable materials, they can after use be added to the soil, thus returning the leached nutrients back for their original purpose providing fertilizers (nutrient recycling).
Because variables such as temperature and humidity have a profound effect on the activity of crop pests, diseases and natural enemies, the ability to monitor environmental conditions within a crop has always been important for crop protection.