On approaches and applications of the wageningen crop models

Review: Multi-objective optimization methods and application in energy saving

https://www.megujuloenergiapark.hu/docs/mekut/11_1-s2.0-S0011916409004299-main.pdf

Aquaponic Systems: Nutrient recycling from fish wastewater by vegetable production

System expansion is a method used to avoid co-product allocation. Up to this point in time it has seldom been used in LCA studies of food products, although food production systems often are characterised by closely interlinked sub-systems. One of the most important allocation problems that occurs in LCAs of agricultural products is the question of how to handle the co-product beef from milk production since almost half of the beef production in the EU is derived from co-products from the dairy sector. The purpose of this paper is to compare different methods of handling co-products when dividing the environmental burden of the milk production system between milk and the co-products meat and surplus calves. This article presents results from an LCA of organic milk production in which different methods of handling the co-products are examined. The comparison of different methods of co-product handling is based on a Swedish LCA case study of milk production where economic allocation between milk and meat was initially used. Allocation of the co-products meat and surplus calves was avoided by expanding the milk system. LCA data were collected from another case study where the alternative way of producing meat was analysed, i.e. using a beef cow that produces one calf per annum to be raised for one and a half year. The LCA of beef production was included in the milk system. A discussion is conducted focussing on the importance of modelling and analysing milk and beef production in an integrated way when foreseeing and planning the environmental consequences of manipulating milk and beef production systems. This study shows that economic allocation between milk and beef favours the product beef. When system expansion is performed, the environmental benefits of milk production due to its co-products of surplus calves and meat become obvious. This is especially connected to the impact categories that describe the potential environmental burden of biogenic emissions such as methane and ammonia and nitrogen losses due to land use and its fertilising. The reason for this is that beef production in combination with milk can be carried out with fewer animals than in sole beef production systems. Milk and beef production systems are closely connected. Changes in milk production systems will cause alterations in beef production systems. It is concluded that in prospective LCA studies, system expansion should be performed to obtain adequate information of the environmental consequences of manipulating production systems that are interlinked to each other.

System expansion and allocation in life cycle assessment of milk and beef production

Agroecological principles for the redesign of integrated crop–livestock systems

http://humidtropics.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/05/Agricultural-Systems-Groot_etal_2012.pdf

Multi-objective optimization and design of farming systems

The effective management of nitrogen dynamics is essential for cropping systems which have the double objective of achieving acceptable yields and minimizing environmental impact. The decisions to be made are both particularly complex and of great urgency to farmers, including all organic farmers, who rely on organic sources of nitrogen. Models can be useful means of providing a better understanding of the nitrogen dynamics and of supporting decision-making at tactical and strategic levels. This paper presents a model that aims at providing support in the decision-making process based on a target-oriented description of nitrogen dynamics in a cropping system. The NDICEA model describes soil water dynamics, nitrogen mineralization and inorganic nitrogen dynamics in relation to weather and crop demand. Crop yields are put in to the model, resulting in a target-oriented modelling approach which is distinctive from most other models. Parameter calibration is an inherent component of the modelling philosophy and is geared to establishing plot-specific factors. Using both quantitative and visual performance indicators, and different ratios of calibration to validation data, we evaluate the performance of NDICEA based on three treatments obtained from the Muncheberg dataset. Based on a maximum of 3 years of data for calibration, the root mean square error (RMSE) was found to vary between 14 kg N ha−1 and 37 kg N ha−1, and in the majority of cases absolute prediction error was less than 20 kg N ha−1. We introduce a user-friendly version of the model that is aimed at farmers and extension workers.

The NDICEA model, a tool to improve nitrogen use efficiency in cropping systems

Mixed farming systems as a way towards a more efficient use of nitrogen in European Union agriculture

The Minderhoudhoeve project: development of an integrated and an ecological mixed farming system.

SUMMARY The problem of nitrogen surpluses in Northwestern Europe is related in part to recent segregation of animal and crop production. A long-term solution can be found by re-integration of the main agricultural production components into mixed farming systems. In a new classification scheme of farming systems, high-input systems are placed in a sequence of modes in agriculture that each address sus-tainability problems in different ways. In this classification scheme, New-Conservation Agriculture (NCA) is considered to be a new mode of farming that aims to replace losses from the system, whilst not overloading it through critical use of non-renewable resources. Mixed farming systems that integrate crops and livestock are a typical example of NCA. The advantageous environmental features of mixed farming systems are illustrated by the favorable nitrogen balance of two experimental prototypes (a conventional and an organic one) where arable, dairy and sheep farming are integrated to a high degree. However...

G.J.M. Oomen

Papers

Multi-objective optimization and design of farming systems

The NDICEA model, a tool to improve nitrogen use efficiency in cropping systems

Mixed farming systems as a way towards a more efficient use of nitrogen in European Union agriculture

The Minderhoudhoeve project: development of an integrated and an ecological mixed farming system.

Nitrogen Efficiency in Mixed Farming Systems