Challenges for Agriculture through Industry 4.0

Despite the fact that successive sowing of maize was legally limited due to the occurrence of the corn rootworm beetle in 2003 and the integrated crop production was introduced in 2004, maize is still the most common and desired crop on arable and livestock farms in Slovenia. With a focus on the economic motives for the production farmers are gradually beginning to consider also the phytosanitary viewpoint, but the planning of a crop rotation is a demanding task, especially for younger farmers with no previous experience. The results of the analysis of crop rotations on conventional and integrated arable and livestock farms in north-east and western Slovenia in the period from 2000 to 2009 show that the maize monoculture has been supplemented by other grains, mostly wheat and barley, but legumes and supplementary crops are still missing from the rotation. With newly introduced crops to Slovene fields the need for new and modern agro-technical measures is increasing and also the need for improved knowledge of biological characteristics of individual varieties and species with their suitable order and share in the crop rotation. To help the farmers find the best solution for their production we have prepared some recommendations for the crop rotations with the main and supplementary crops, following good and proven examples of crop rotations used in the past. Whether farmers will use them on their farms depends not only on their technical equipment and knowledge, flexibility and receptiveness, but also on the legislative measures and sustainable nature of EU agricultural policy where farmers got used to be paid for every function and production that is environmentally and food friendly.

High‐density populations of large ungulates are now widespread. However, the perception of overabundance only appears when it produces a problem for humans, such as a loss of plant diversity, damage to agricultural crops and forestry, ungulate‐vehicle collisions, a nuisance to humans, disease transmission to livestock or changes in habitat for other species. The admissible level of density depends on the ecological and socio‐economic context in which the population is located, and defining this level is important, in order to determine management strategies and actions. We describe the main contexts in which ungulate overabundance occurs in Europe, record the causes of overabundance and evaluate which set of indicators of ecological change is the most appropriate for monitoring and diagnosing overabundance in each scenario. Our review of 318 published papers revealed six contexts of wild ungulate overabundance in Europe (protected areas, hunting areas, forestry, arable farming, livestock farming and [peri]urban areas). In addition to population abundance, four sets of indicators of environmental change could be used to monitor overabundance within these contexts (impacts on habitats, impact on animal performance, increments in diseases and parasite loads, and increments in nuisance to humans). Nine species of ungulate were found to be overabundant. Red deer Cervus elaphus was the species most likely to be overabundant in the contexts of protected areas (detailed in 27% of papers on that context) and hunting areas (38%); roe deer Capreolus capreolus in forestry (28%); wild boar Sus scrofa in arable farming (60%), livestock farming (29%) and (peri)urban areas (38%). Our evidence shows that the diagnosis and monitoring of ungulate population overabundance via indicators of ecological change, and the management actions required to control these undesirable situations, are strongly context‐dependent.

Co-design and assessment of cropping systems for developing crop-livestock integration at the territory level

The sustainable use of arable land is a necessity to ensure future global food security. Arable land provides most of the food and necessities of life for human beings, and is the key to achieving the "poverty-free" (Sustainable Development Goals 1, hereinafter referred to as SDG1), "zero hunger" (SDG2), "sustainable cities and communities" (hereinafter referred to as SDG2) and "sustainable cities and communities" (hereinafter referred to as SDG2) objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Programme. SDG1 (hereinafter referred to as "SDG1"), "Zero Hunger" (SDG2), "Sustainable Cities and Communities" (SDG11), and "Climate Action" (SDG13) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Programme (SDP), "terrestrial organisms" (SDG15), and other key resource-environmental elements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Cropland expansion and cropland intensification have been important strategies for increasing food production, but with the global depletion of cropland reserves, increasing food production by expanding the area of cropland is no longer viable, and the pressure for food security has shifted to the existing cropland, which accounts for 38 per cent of the global terrestrial area. In the last 20 years, global food production has almost doubled, but the area of arable land has increased by only 9%. Demand for food is accelerating in tandem with rapid global economic and social development, population expansion and improved diets. The global demand for food is expected to increase by about 70 to 100 per cent by 2050, which not only puts enormous pressure on existing arable land but also poses a great challenge to the future food security of the world. The sustainable use of existing arable land is the only way to meet the growing demand for food and avoid a global food crisis.

The purpose of this study is to measure agricultural waste and estimate the environmental Kuznets curve in four East Asian countries using time series data from the 1960s to the 2010s. Positive nutrient balance (NB) suggests there is pressure on arable land, causing water pollution and greenhouse gases. For crop farming, only China's NB per arable land unit (NBAL) has risen recently, while NB per product (NBP) in all four countries has declined. Regarding livestock farming, NBAL in all countries except Japan has risen. Even more recently, China's NBP has risen differently to other countries' movements. The estimation results of the environmental Kuznets curve suggest China's NBAL will rise continuously with gross domestic product per capita increases in crop farming. For livestock farming, the estimated indexes are confirmed to have worsened with the advance of economic growth.

Increased demand for meat products has led to increased livestock production in Vietnam, which now risks environmental pollution from inappropriate animal manure management on livestock farms. Biogas technology is generally considered an efficient solution for such farms to produce renewable biofuel for use in the household and to reduce the pollution impact from animal waste. However, with biogas technology, farmers may reduce their use of manure for fertilising crops. This field survey investigated nutrient flows on small- and medium-scale livestock farms with and without biogas in Northern Vietnam, in order to identify existing problems and possibilities for sustainable livestock production. A field survey was conducted on 12 pig farms with biogas and 12 pig farms without biogas in Quoc Oai district, Hanoi city. In general, the non-biogas pig farms used on average 3.8 ton compost and 3.1 ton fresh solid manure ha−1 crop−1 for each of three crops typically grown per year on their arable land. They discharged on average 16 % of the total manure produced into the environment in liquid form through the public sewage system. On biogas pig farms, the use of fresh solid manure for crops and discharge of liquid manure was lower, as manure was used to produce biogas. However, excessive use of washing water on several of these farms resulted in very dilute slurry (solid manure:water ratio 1:11) entering the biogas digester. This lowered the retention time in the digester (below the optimum range of 35–55 days), leading to low biogas production rates and possible accumulation of sediment. The digestate was also highly diluted and hence difficult and costly to transport and apply to crops, so it was largely (60 %) discharged to the environment. The input volume of washing water should therefore be reduced to a ratio of 1:5. For better sustainability, appropriate technologies are needed to absorb nutrients from the digestate before discharge and to recycle these nutrients to crops.

Integrated Farming System is a holistic approach in which different enterprises are utilized in a collaborative way, wherein the resources are managed efficiently so that waste output of one enterprise serves as the input for another. Due to an ever-increasing population, the arable land is becoming increasingly scarcer per person, leaving little room for horizontal agricultural expansion. There are 115 million working farms in India, with about 80% of them being small or marginal farmers. With Integrated Farming System, the living standards of these farmers can be enhanced by efficient utilization of different enterprises. The IFS is actually a mixed farming system wherein different enterprises like dairy, fish, poultry, and other beneficial enterprises give an enhanced returns with lower risks, which can intermediate the losses of crops in case of severe climatic conditions. Under IFS, various enterprises having lower dependency on severe weather circumstances, the farmer is comparatively on safer side as far as the adversities of crop losses are concerned There are many advantages to integrated farming systems (IFS), such as a more efficient use of farm resources and an eco-friendlier strategy to farming. As a system of crop and livestock farming, IFS consists of at least two distinct but logically interdependent parts. Water efficiency, weed and pest control, and soil health can all be improved with IFS. It also helps to maintain water quality. Chemical fertilisers, weed killers, and pesticides should be used sparingly in an integrated farming system in order to protect the environment from their harmful effects. Adopting an Integrated Farming System (IFS) ensures a stable and long-term source of farm income by integrating a number of businesses to make the most of the land's natural resources. IFS itself is important for sustainable development of farmer by improving yield, economic return, employment generation, nutritional security and livelihood.

Digital Twins are very promising to bring smart farming to new levels of farming productivity and sustainability. A Digital Twin is a digital equivalent of a real-life object of which it mirrors its behaviour and states over its lifetime in a virtual space. Using Digital Twins as a central means for farm management enables the decoupling of physical flows from its planning and control. As a consequence, farmers can manage operations remotely based on (near) real-time digital information instead of having to rely on direct observation and manual tasks on-site. This allows them to act immediately in case of (expected) deviations and to simulate effects of interventions based on real-life data. This paper analyses how Digital Twins can advance smart farming. It defines the concept, develops a typology of different types of Digital Twins, and proposes a conceptual framework for designing and implementing Digital Twins. The framework comprises a control model based on a general systems approach and an implementation model for Digital Twin systems based on the Internet of Things—Architecture (IoT-A), a reference architecture for IoT systems. The framework is applied to and validated in five smart farming use cases of the European IoF2020 project, focussing on arable farming, dairy farming, greenhouse horticulture, organic vegetable farming and livestock farming.

Biogas industry in China is developing rapidly. This is particularly the case for livestock farm biogas plants, which are built to treat manure and wastewater. Managing the liquid digestate (LD) generated by anaerobic digestion of livestock wastes is becoming a bottleneck, restricting the sustainable development of the biogas industry in China. The separation of livestock breeding and arable farming, caused by rapid intensive animal husbandry development, is the main reason for the LD problem. Researchers, government representatives, and biogas plant operators in China have invested significant research efforts to maximize biogas‐linked agro‐ecosystem balance, which is considered as an important solution to the LD problem. This article reviewed these studies and proposed several solutions from the following four aspects: breeding mode, waste treatment mode, LD transportation mode, and LD utilization mode. One proposal is to reduce the scale of newly built livestock farms and disperse them in farmland, by promoting the “company + agent” livestock breeding mode. In this approach, farm scale would be based on the size of available farmland, and would allow for the use of LD in the near farmland. The second approach involves the intense separation of the livestock slurry and further transportation of the LD produced by the thick slurry. The third one is to expand the possible distances for transferring LD, using a pipe network or vehicle supervised by a professional third party. Finally, the development of high value‐added products and bringing them to market is the ultimate solution for the future.

Part 1: Introduction, Source and Sink Pathways & Mechanisms 1. Introduction 2. Microbial terrestrial pathways to N2O 3. Marine pathways to nitrous oxide (N2O) 4. The Global N2O Budget: A Reassessment Part 2: Anthropogenic sources Mitigation 5. N2O emissions from the N cycle in arable agriculture: estimation and mitigation 6. N2O Emissions from the Nitrogen Cycle in Livestock Agriculture: Estimation and Mitigation 7. N2O Emissions from Land-use and Land-management Change 8. Indirect Emissions of N2O from Nitrogen Deposition and Leaching of Agricultural Nitrogen 9. Abiotic N2O Sources: Chemical Industry and Mobile and Stationary Combustion Systems Part 3: Conclusions and Integration 10. Conclusions and Future Outlook

An increased worldwide population will lead to significantly higher global demands for food, water, and arable land. A projected increase of 70% in food production by 2050 (Tzounis et al. in Internet of Things in agriculture, recent advances and future challenges. Biosyst Eng 164:31–48,2017) will put enormous pressure on the global agri-food sector due to the scarcity of natural resources, population growth, and climate change. Assuring required amount of safe, quality, and affordable food is a key societal challenge and a top priority for food processors and distributors. To accomplish this goal, a continuous work on finding innovative methods for increasing the production and achieving sustainable food supply chain is required. Sustainable agri-food sector encompasses economic growth, environmental protection, and social justice. Hence, there is a demand for novel approaches for agriculture inputs’ management (e.g., optimal use of resources such as water, energy, and agrochemicals), farming practices, food processing, packaging, distribution, and storage as well as social and policy decisions that will assure efficiency, affordability, quality, diversity, traceability, and economic viability.

Chapter 6 - Implications of future growth in demand for agricultural commodities and climate change on land and water use and water productivity

Grasslands in China cover nearly 4 million km2, more than 40% of its total land area. Grasslands play an important role in livestock farming and environmental conservation. In spite of numerous efforts that have been undertaken to arrest land desertification in China, grassland degradation is advancing over wide areas through overgrazing, cropland misuse and unregulated collection of fuel and medical plants. This review presents specific examination of the present situation of grassland desertification in China, and discusses mechanisms of grassland degradation. Assessments of desertification since the 1980s are introduced, and its expanse and extent are discussed. Many scientists admit that both are causes, but two contradicting arguments surround the main cause of desertification, with one citing natural origins such as climate change, and the other pointing to anthropogenic factors such as overgrazing. Trials for clarifying mechanisms of grassland degradation are attempted from the perspective of water and energy dynamics. In addition, causes and measures of moving sand dunes and sandstorms are also discussed. For elucidation of the mechanisms of grassland degradation, the grassland ecosystem functions must be considered. Among the proposals, a mathematical approach and measurement of spectral reflectance are some new methods that are effective for assessing those functions. Measurements of soil respiration under altered grazing intensities are also useful to examine prospects in the event of global climate change. Several technologies for grassland diagnosis have been developed to arrest grassland deterioration. Indicator plant species have been determined according to grassland types. Relations of grazing pressure and species distribution have been quantified. Several measures for restoration of degraded grasslands are proposed as the next step of development in this field, including agro‐ecological measures. A promising tool for grassland monitoring is the use of remote sensing in conjunction with geographic information systems. Accurate and real‐time monitoring and management of grasslands have become increasingly feasible through sensor improvement in satellite and geographic information systems generalization in recent years.

In the first section, possibilities and challenges in project-type organic agriculture in Central Vietnam are examined. Findings and lessons learned from promoting organic agriculture in buffer zone villages of Bach Ma National Park are evaluated. The project team proposes that the multipurpose use of charcoal is an appropriate technology to be applied in this area. The objective is to improve their livelihood through the use of charcoal in both agricultural industry and livestock husbandry. Another project is creating organic vegetable supply chain in Hue City. This project aims to spread biogas digesters using livestock manure and organic vegetable cultivation using biogas residue.

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