Agriculture increasingly faces the challenge of balancing its multiple functions in a sustainable way. Integrated assessment and modelling (IAM) can provide insight into the potential impacts of policy changes. However, concepts to address the wide range of issues and functions typical for agriculture are still scarce. Environmental and Agricultural Modelling reviews and presents our current understanding of integrated and working tools to assess and compute, ex-ante, alternative agricultural and environmental policy options, allowing: 1. Analysis at the full range of scales (farm to European Union and global) whilst focusing on the most important issues emerging at each scale; 2. Analysis of the environmental, economic and social contributions of agricultural systems towards sustainable rural development and rural viability; 3. Analysis of a broad range of issues and agents of change, such as climate change, environmental policies, rural development options, effects of an enlarging EU, international competition, and effects on developing countries.

In recent years, the role of information and communications technologies in the development of agriculture and environmental issues has received significant attention in different types of international forums. With new technologies constantly developing, there is a need for research dedicated to technological progress. Innovations and Trends in Environmental and Agricultural Informatics provides emerging research on the design, development, and implementation of complex agricultural and environmental information systems, addressing the integration of several scientific domains including agronomy, mathematics, economics, and computer science. While highlighting topics such as image quality assessment, environmental policy, and supervised classification, this publication explores the applications and progress of various technologies within agricultural and environmental professions. This book is an important resource for researchers, professionals, academics, students, and scientists seeking current research on the rapidly evolving field of technology integration in agricultural production and environmental issues.

The OECD Stylised Agri-environmental Policy Impact Model (SAPIM), enables better understanding of the impact of agri-environmental policies. This report applies the model to representative farms in Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.

With descriptions of hundreds of the most important environmental and ecological models, this handbook is a unique and practical reference source. The Handbook of Environmental and Ecological Modeling is ideal for those working in environmental modeling, including regulators and managers who wish to understand the models used to make assessments. Overviews of more than 360 models are easily accessed in this handbook, allowing readers to quickly locate information they need about models available in a given ecosystem. The material in the Handbook of Environmental and Ecological Modeling is logically arranged according to ecosystem. Each of the sixteen chapters of the handbook covers a particular ecosystem, and includes not only the descriptions of the models, but also an overview of the state-of-the-art in modeling for that particular ecosystem. A summary of the spectrum of available models is also provided in each chapter. The extensive table of contents and the easy-to-use index put materials immediately at your fingertips.

"This book presents high quality research on the design and implementation of information systems in the fields of agronomics, mathematics, economics, computer science, and the environment, offering holistic approaches to the design, development, and implementation of complex agricultural and environmental information systems"--Provided by publisher.

This latest Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will again form the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences, including students, researchers and policy makers in environmental science, meteorology, climatology, biology, ecology, atmospheric chemistry and environmental policy.

Geological processes affect the earth itself and human society. Solutions to geological problems, whether natural or man-made, demand close international collaboration. This book presents new approaches to current problems of environmental assessment, demonstrates the interactions between those involved in addressing global problems, and represents a means for the education of others. The book focuses on four major themes: geoenvironmental models, GIS methods and techniques, assessment and resource management, and resource policies and sustainable development. The major topics falling under each theme are introduced, followed by discussions of specific applications. Reports of the discussions of working groups are also presented to round out the individual contributions. The disciplines represented include geology, geophysics, geochemistry, remote sensing, economics, biology, mining engineering, resource analysis, mathematics and statistics.

Nitrogen fertilizers are the inescapable necessity to enhance agricultural production and to sustain food security. However, their inefficient use accrues from inherent limitations of the crop plants as well as the manner in which N fertilizers are formulated, applied and managed. Excessive accumulation of N in the environment leads to soil acidification, pollution of groundwater and eutrophication of surface water, posing a public health problem as well as ecosystem imbalance. Moreover, the ozone layer depletion and greenhouse effects of NOx gases have global implications. Agricultural Nitrogen Use: Environmental Implications provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary description of problems related to the efficient use of nitrogen in agriculture, in the overall context of the nitrogen cycle, its environmental and human health implications, as well as various approaches to improve N use efficiency. The book is presented in six sections: N Use, Flows and Cycling in Agricultural Systems; N Use Efficiency in Crop Ecosystems; Management Options and Strategies for Enhancing N Use Efficiency; Plant Physiological and Molecular Aspects of Enhancing N Use Efficiency; Role of Legumes and Biofertilizers in Agricultural N Economy; and Environmental and Human Health Implications.

This book will serve as a readable introduction to ecological modeling for people involved in resource management and will also review models for specific applications of interest to more experienced modelers. Successful uses of ecological models as well as discussions of important issues in modeling are addressed. The authors of this volume hope to close the gap between the state of the art in ecological modeling and the state of the practice in the use of models in management decision making.

Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption covers trends associated with the impact of food production on the environment using lifecycle analysis and the standard methods used to estimate the food industry's environmental impact. The book discusses city-scale actions to estimate the environmental impact of food systems, including the meat chain, feeding crops to farmed fish, the confectionary industry, agriculture, tea processing, cheese production, the dairy industry, cold chain, and ice cream production. Food waste and consumption in hospitality and global diets round out these interesting discussions. Written for food scientists, technologists, engineers, chemists, governmental regulatory bodies, environmentalists, environmental technologists, environmental engineers, researchers, academics and professionals working in the food industry, this book is an essential resource on sustainability in the food industry. - Addresses all levels of the food chain - Provides solutions for the food industry to estimate and reduce environmental impact - Assists members of the food industry in optimizing their current performance and reducing their environmental footprint