Search Results
Climate change impacts on European arable crop yields: Sensitivity to assumptions about rotations and residue management
2022, Faye, Babacar, Webber, Heidi, Gaiser, Thomas, Müller, Christoph, Zhang, Yinan, Stella, Tommaso, Latka, Catharina, Reckling, Moritz, Heckelei, Thomas, Helming, Katharina, Ewert, Frank
Most large scale studies assessing climate change impacts on crops are performed with simulations of single crops and with annual re-initialization of the initial soil conditions. This is in contrast to the reality that crops are grown in rotations, often with sizable proportion of the preceding crop residue to be left in the fields and varying soil initial conditions from year to year. In this study, the sensitivity of climate change impacts on crop yield and soil organic carbon to assumptions about annual model re-initialization, specification of crop rotations and the amount of residue retained in fields was assessed for seven main crops across Europe. Simulations were conducted for a scenario period 2040–2065 relative to a baseline from 1980 to 2005 using the SIMPLACE1 framework. Results indicated across Europe positive climate change impacts on yield for C3 crops and negative impacts for maize. The consideration of simulating rotations did not have a benefit on yield variability but on relative yield change in response to climate change which slightly increased for C3 crops and decreased for C4 crops when rotation was considered. Soil organic carbon decreased under climate change in both simulations assuming a continuous monocrop and plausible rotations by between 1% and 2% depending on the residue management strategy.
Quantifying sustainable intensification of agriculture: The contribution of metrics and modelling
2021, Mouratiadou, Ioanna, Latka, Catharina, van der Hilst, Floor, Müller, Christoph, Berges, Regine, Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon, Ewert, Frank, Faye, Babacar, Heckelei, Thomas, Hoffmann, Munir, Lehtonen, Heikki, Lorite, Ignacio Jesus, Nendel, Claas, Palosuo, Taru, Rodríguez, Alfredo, Rötter, Reimund Paul, Ruiz-Ramos, Margarita, Stella, Tommaso, Webber, Heidi, Wicke, Birka
Sustainable intensification (SI) of agriculture is a promising strategy for boosting the capacity of the agricultural sector to meet the growing demands for food and non-food products and services in a sustainable manner. Assessing and quantifying the options for SI remains a challenge due to its multiple dimensions and potential associated trade-offs. We contribute to overcoming this challenge by proposing an approach for the ex-ante evaluation of SI options and trade-offs to facilitate decision making in relation to SI. This approach is based on the utilization of a newly developed SI metrics framework (SIMeF) combined with agricultural systems modelling. We present SIMeF and its operationalization approach with modelling and evaluate the approach’s feasibility by assessing to what extent the SIMeF metrics can be quantified by representative agricultural systems models. SIMeF is based on the integration of academic and policy indicator frameworks, expert opinions, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. Structured along seven SI domains and consisting of 37 themes, 142 sub-themes and 1128 metrics, it offers a holistic, generic, and policy-relevant dashboard for selecting the SI metrics to be quantified for the assessment of SI options in diverse contexts. The use of SIMeF with agricultural systems modelling allows the ex-ante assessment of SI options with respect to their productivity, resource use efficiency, environmental sustainability and, to a large extent, economic sustainability. However, we identify limitations to the use of modelling to represent several SI aspects related to social sustainability, certain ecological functions, the multi-functionality of agriculture, the management of losses and waste, and security and resilience. We suggest advancements in agricultural systems models and greater interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration to improve the ability to quantify SI metrics and to assess trade-offs across the various dimensions of SI.
Diverging importance of drought stress for maize and winter wheat in Europe
2018, Webber, Heidi, Ewert, Frank, Olesen, Jørgen E., Müller, Christoph, Fronzek, Stefan, Ruane, Alex C., Bourgault, Maryse, Martre, Pierre, Ababaei, Behnam, Bindi, Marco, Ferrise, Roberto, Finger, Robert, Fodor, Nándor, Gabaldón-Leal, Clara, Gaiser, Thomas, Jabloun, Mohamed, Kersebaum, Kurt-Christian, Lizaso, Jon I., Lorite, Ignacio J., Manceau, Loic, Moriondo, Marco, Nendel, Claas, Rodríguez, Alfredo, Ruiz-Ramos, Margarita, Semenov, Mikhail A., Siebert, Stefan, Stella, Tommaso, Stratonovitch, Pierre, Trombi, Giacomo, Wallach, Daniel
Understanding the drivers of yield levels under climate change is required to support adaptation planning and respond to changing production risks. This study uses an ensemble of crop models applied on a spatial grid to quantify the contributions of various climatic drivers to past yield variability in grain maize and winter wheat of European cropping systems (1984–2009) and drivers of climate change impacts to 2050. Results reveal that for the current genotypes and mix of irrigated and rainfed production, climate change would lead to yield losses for grain maize and gains for winter wheat. Across Europe, on average heat stress does not increase for either crop in rainfed systems, while drought stress intensifies for maize only. In low-yielding years, drought stress persists as the main driver of losses for both crops, with elevated CO2 offering no yield benefit in these years.
Impacts of 1.5 versus 2.0 °c on cereal yields in the West African Sudan Savanna
2018, Faye, Babacar, Webber, Heidi, Naab, Jesse B., MacCarthy, Dilys S., Adam, Myriam, Ewert, Frank, Lamers, John P.A., Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich, Ruane, Alex, Gessner, Ursula, Hoogenboom, Gerrit, Boote, Ken, Shelia, Vakhtang, Saeed, Fahad, Wisser, Dominik, Hadir, Sofia, Laux, Patrick, Gaiser, Thomas
To reduce the risks of climate change, governments agreed in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to less than 2.0 °C above pre-industrial levels, with the ambition to keep warming to 1.5 °C. Charting appropriate mitigation responses requires information on the costs of mitigating versus associated damages for the two levels of warming. In this assessment, a critical consideration is the impact on crop yields and yield variability in regions currently challenged by food insecurity. The current study assessed impacts of 1.5 °C versus 2.0 °C on yields of maize, pearl millet and sorghum in the West African Sudan Savanna using two crop models that were calibrated with common varieties from experiments in the region with management reflecting a range of typical sowing windows. As sustainable intensification is promoted in the region for improving food security, simulations were conducted for both current fertilizer use and for an intensification case (fertility not limiting). With current fertilizer use, results indicated 2% units higher losses for maize and sorghum with 2.0 °C compared to 1.5 °C warming, with no change in millet yields for either scenario. In the intensification case, yield losses due to climate change were larger than with current fertilizer levels. However, despite the larger losses, yields were always two to three times higher with intensification, irrespective of the warming scenario. Though yield variability increased with intensification, there was no interaction with warming scenario. Risk and market analysis are needed to extend these results to understand implications for food security.
FAIRagro: Ein Konsortium in der Nationalen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) für Forschungsdaten in der Agrosystemforschung : Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze für den Aufbau einer FAIRen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur
2023, Specka, Xenia, Martini, Daniel, Weiland, Claus, Arend, Daniel, Asseng, Senthold, Boehm, Franziska, Feike, Til, Fluck, Juliane, Gackstetter, David, Gonzales-Mellado, Aida, Hartmann, Thomas, Haunert, Jan-Henrik, Hoedt, Florian, Hoffmann, Carsten, König, Patrick, Lange, Matthias, Lesch, Stephan, Lindstädt, Birte, Lischeid, Gunnar, Möller, Markus, Rascher, Uwe, Reif, Jochen Christoph, Schmalzl, Markus, Senft, Matthias, Stahl, Ulrike, Svoboda, Nikolai, Usadel, Björn, Webber, Heidi, Ewert, Frank
FAIRagro ist ein Konsortium in der Nationalen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) in Deutschland um Forschungsdaten der Agrosystemforschung FAIR – d. h. auffindbar (F), zugänglich (A), interoperabel (I) und für andere Forschende domänenübergreifend nachnutzbar (R) zu machen. In der deutschen Forschungslandschaft rund um nachhaltige Agrosysteme werden heterogene Forschungsdaten erhoben und nur zum Teil in existierenden Forschungsdatenrepositorien veröffentlicht. Das Spektrum der Datenformate erstreckt sich beispielsweise von Laborergebnissen, über Satellitenbilder bis hin zu qualitativen Interviews mit Landwirt:innen. Um diese Daten zukünftig für Forschende verschiedener Disziplinen besser auffindbar und nachnutzbar zu machen, wird FAIRagro eine Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (FDI) für die Agrosystemforschung einrichten, in der disziplinäre Dateninfrastrukturen miteinander verknüpft werden. Spezifische Herausforderungen im Forschungsdatenmanagement (FDM) fachlicher Disziplinen wie Pflanzenzüchtung, integrierter Pflanzenschutz oder Agrarrobotik werden als Use Cases in FAIRagro adressiert und für diese Lösungen entwickelt. Darüber hinaus wird FAIRagro ein Netzwerk aus direkten Ansprechpersonen für Fragen zum Forschungsdatenmanagement in der Agrosystem-Community bereitstellen. In Übereinstimmung mit den Zielsetzungen der NFDI und der European Open Science Cloud ist FAIRagro aktiv an der konzeptionellen Implementierung eines interoperablen Datenraums beteiligt.