Contamination Assessment and Source Apportionment of Metals and Metalloids Pollution in Agricultural Soil: A Comparison of the APCA-MLR and APCA-GWR Models

Metals and metalloids accumulate in soil, which not only leads to soil degradation and crop yield reduction but also poses hazards to human health. Commonly, source apportionment methods generate an overall relationship between sources and elements and, thus, lack the ability to capture important geographical variations of pollution sources. The present work uses a dataset collected by intensive sampling (1848 topsoil samples containing the metals Cd, Hg, Cr, Pb, and a metalloid of As) in the Shanghai study area and proposes a synthetic approach to source apportionment in the condition of spatial heterogeneity (non-stationarity) through the integration of absolute principal component scores with geographically weighted regression (APCA-GWR). The results showed that three main sources were detected by the APCA, i.e., natural sources, such as alluvial soil materials; agricultural activities, especially the overuse of phosphate fertilizer; and atmospheric deposition pollution from industry coal combustion and transportation activities. APCA-GWR provided more accurate and site-specific pollution source information than the mainstream APCA-MLR, which was verified by higher R2, lower AIC values, and non-spatial autocorrelation of residuals. According to APCA-GWR, natural sources were responsible for As and Cr accumulation in the northern mainland and Pb accumulation in the southern and northern mainland. Atmospheric deposition was the main source of Hg in the entire study area and Pb in the eastern mainland and Chongming Island. Agricultural activities, especially the overuse of phosphate fertilizer, were the main source of Cd across the study area and of As and Cr in the southern regions of the mainland and the middle of Chongming Island. In summary, this study highlights the use of a synthetic APCA-GWR model to efficiently handle source apportionment issues with spatial heterogeneity, which can provide more accurate and specific pollution source information and better references for pollution prevention and human health protection.

Integrating Ambient Intelligence Technologies for Empowering Agriculture

This work blends the domain of Precision Agriculture with the prevalent paradigm of Ambient Intelligence, so as to enhance the interaction between farmers and Intelligent Environments, and support their various daily agricultural activities, aspiring to improve the quality and quantity of cultivated plants. In this paper, two systems are presented, namely the Intelligent Greenhouse and the AmI seedbed, targeting a wide range of agricultural activities, starting from planting the seeds, caring for each individual sprouted plant up to their transplantation in the greenhouse, where the provision for the entire plantation lasts until the harvesting period.

Virtual farm tours—Virtual reality glasses and tablets are suitable tools to provide insights into pig husbandry

Apart from improving husbandry conditions and animal welfare, there is a clear public demand to increase transparency in agricultural activities. Personal farm tours have shown to be appreciated by citizens but are limited in their impact because of hygiene requirements and accessibility. Virtual farm tours are a promising approach to overcome these limitations but evidence on their perceptions is missing. This study analyzes how a virtual farm tour is perceived by showing participants (n = 17) a 360-degree video of a conventional pig fattening pen on a tablet and via virtual reality (VR) glasses. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted to analyze perceptions and level of immersion and to elicit differences between media devices. Participants’ perception of the pig fattening pen was rather poor and depended on the recording perspective as well as on the media device. However, housing conditions were perceived more positively compared to the image participants had in mind prior to the study, and thus the stable was considered as a rather positive example. Participants described virtual farm tours as suitable tool to improve transparency and information transfer and to gain insights into husbandry conditions. They appreciated the comfortable and entertaining character of both media devices and named various possibilities for implementation. However, VR glasses were favored regarding the higher realistic and entertaining value, while the tablet was considered beneficial in terms of usability. The presentation of video sequences without additional explanations about the farm or the housing conditions were claimed insufficient to give an adequate understanding of the seen content.

Effects of Environmentally Relevant Ammonium Nitrate Levels Caused by Agricultural Activities on Four Amphibian Species in The Eastern Black Sea Region

Within the scope of this research, the chronic effects of ammonium nitrate, which is the most widely used fertilizer worldwide, on the tadpoles of Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus), the Iranian Long-Legged Frog (Rana macrocnemis), the Caucasian Parsley Frog (Pelodytes caucasicus) and the Variable Green Toad (Bufotes variabilis) were examined. To assess the chronic effects of the fertilizer, the tadpoles of all the species were exposed to 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 mg/L concentrations in same conditions. The chronic concentrations were applied from the 25th developmental stage to the 42nd developmental stage. It was defined at the end of the experiments that although there were some variability between different populations of the same species or between different species in the observed effects, chronic levels of ammonium nitrate caused decreased growth rate, prolonging in time to complete metamorphosis, increased abnormalities, and mortality in general. Among the 4 amphibian species, the Variable Green Toad was the most damaged one in terms of growth reduction (on average 31-41 %), abnormality rates (on average 50-75 %), prolonged time to complete metamorphose (14-21 days on average) and mortality rates (%54-100). The most adaptive species and the least damaged one was an Iranian long-legged frog for growth reduction (on average 0-15 %), prolonged time to complete metamorphose (7-9 days on average), and mortality rates (%9-15). All the harmful effects of chronic fertilizer levels caused by agricultural activities in the region had very important for examined species in our researches and it can be said that important environmental and biodiversity problems may occur if certain precautions are not taken regarding the use of the fertilizers and if the attitudes of the farmers on this issue cannot be changed.

Effects of Acute Ammonium Nitrate Levels Caused by Agricultural Activities on Four Amphibian Species in The Eastern Black Sea Region

The tadpoles of four amphibian species, namely the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus), the Iranian Long-Legged Frog (Rana macrocnemis), the Caucasian Parsley Frog (Pelodytes caucasicus) and the Variable Green Toad (Bufotes variabilis), were exposed to acute concentrations (0 to 500 mg/L) of ammonium nitrate to assess the lethal effects (larval growth, abnormalities, mortality, and LC50 values). Eggs of each species were obtained from clean and polluted habitats in the same region and the tadpoles for experiments were provided from those eggs in the laboratory conditions. Although there was some variability between different populations of the same species or between different species in the observed effects, acute levels of ammonium nitrate caused decreased growth rate and increased abnormalities and mortality in general. Among the 4 amphibian species, the Variable Green Toad was the most damaged one in terms of growth reduction (on average 77-83%), and abnormality rates, and the most damaged one in terms of mortality rates was the Marsh Frog (on average 61-72%). Additionally, the species with the lowest concentration of ammonium nitrate, which killed half of its population, was the Marsh Frog. LC50 values for two populations of Marsh Frog were 37 and 59 mg/L. As a result of our research, it was determined that the acute fertilizer levels caused by agricultural activities in the region had very important harmful effects for all the species we examined. In this context, it can be said that very important environmental and biodiversity problems may occur if certain precautions are not taken regarding the use of the fertilizers and if the awareness of the farmers using these fertilizers cannot be raised.

Labor market and crisis: an analysis of sectoral segmentation in Brazilian rural

The article aims to analyze which factors contributed to the inequality across income distribution of Brazilian workers in rural areas, occupied in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Quantile regression with sample selection bias correction and counterfactual decomposition of income by quantiles were applied, using the microdata from the National Continuous Household Survey (PNAD-C) for the years 2012 and 2019. The results showed that there is income inequality favorable to workers occupied in non-agricultural activities concerning agricultural activities, which is intensive for those with lower incomes, as well as for those with high incomes. The presence of sectorial segmentation was also confirmed, of which the largest portion in 2012 corresponds to the labor market duality. However in 2019, in lower quantiles the segmentation obtained greater explanatory power for the difference in income between the groups, while in higher quantiles the theory of human capital prevailed.

Climate Variability and Urban Agricultural Activities in Ibadan, Nigeria

Two terms that are enjoying increasing overwhelming global literature advocacy and discussion are urban farming and climate change. While there is increasing advocacy towards the relevance of urban agriculture for urban dwellers and how it translates into a mitigation strategy against climate change variability and adaptation to urban poverty, the effect of some urban farming activities and how it serves as a driver to climate change needs to be investigated. In most of the urban periphery where there is availability of a large expanse of land areas, farming activities are usually practised in form of settlement farm, livestock rearing, or plantation agriculture. The study based on quantitative and qualitative data from urban farmers in Ibadan argues that the location of urban farmlands is dependent on climatic factor such as access to land. The study identified that climate variability as reported by the urban farmers has resulted in the increased use of fertilizer for farming by urban farmers, and the main activity that is pro-climate change and variability is bush burning.

Rural Innovation Using Technology in Progressive Agriculture

Sustainable technology is an individual and group effort through the experts and professionals in rural as well as urban people. Rural innovation involves efficient execution of ideas, information, imagination, and innovative initiative in fulfilling social requirements, and new ideas are converted into something useful for the rural development. It starts with the proper utilization of resources, rural innovation, and modernization of agricultural activities. The study attempts to identify the use of sustainable technology with rural innovation, progressive agriculture, and women empowerment for rural development. The required data collected led to a discussion that the practices of modern farming with the active involvements of rural population and promoting individual performance and fine-tuning of green initiative among rural livelihoods. The results of this study include the difficulties in progressive effort on rural innovation vis-a-vis planning and executing of advanced farming, protecting traditional arts, and crafting through maximum involvement of rural women.

A Comprehensive Review of Agricultural Policies in India

India has been an agrarian economy since ancient times; despite the diminishing value added of agricultural activities to total domestic production or GDP, the agriculture sector has remained the largest employer and thus proved to be the driver of growth and poverty reduction. Moreover, in the recent period of a pandemic where every economic activity came to a halt and showed a negative growth rate, agricultural activities, on the other hand, grew positively, employing job losers in these challenging times. However, agriculture in India faces lots of obstacles due to its limitations in policy formulation and implementation. Therefore, this chapter aims to provide an outline of Indian agriculture growth – reviewing its agricultural policy reforms and observing the fundamental concerns that have shaped the expansion of the agriculture sector.