Andy Green

Kathy Lewis

John Tzilivakis

Doug Warner

Modern agriculture faces many challenges, most crucially food security and the need for sustainable farming systems. Decisions and actions in the agricultural sector come from government and stakeholder policies and on-farm decision-making. This comprehensive monograph provides a perspective on the current state of agri-environmental management in Europe from both a policy and practical perspective. Some of the issues in agriculture discussed are climate change and air pollution, biodiversity, water use and quality, pesticides, pathogens, flooding and drought, energy resources, land use, soil composition, nutrients, livestock, cropping, habitat management and cultural considerations. These important issues form the framework of the book, with each issue discussed in the context of its history, as well as asking the questions "why is it an issue," "what is the current scientific understanding regarding it," and "how has policy shaped it." The book takes an integrated approach by not just examining these issues separately, but examining the whole system in which these problems are manifested. At the end, technologies and solutions, which are currently being developed and could be used in the future, are discussed and the horizon scanned for future environmental challenges. Agri-environmental Management in Europe is an authoritative source for both undergraduate and post-graduate studies that consider the agri-environmental challenges society faces. [Subject: Agricultural Studies, Farming, Environmental Studies, Natural Sciences]

Sustainable Challenges and Solutions - From Policy Interventions to Practical Farm Management

Agri-environmental Management in Europe

Douglas Warner

The Anthropocene, the time of humans. Never has human influence on the functioning of the planet been greater or in more urgent need of mitigation. Climate change, the accelerated warming of the planet’s surface attributed to human activities, is now at the forefront of global politics. The agriculture sector not only contributes to climate change but also feels the severity of its effects, with the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles all subject to modification as a result. Crop production systems are each subject to different types of threat and levels of threat intensity. There is however significant potential to both adapt to and mitigate climate change within the agricultural sector and reduce these threats. Each solution must be implemented in a sustainable manner and tailored to individual regions and farming systems. This Special Issue evaluates a variety of potential climate change adaptation and mitigation techniques that account for this spatial variation, including modification to cropping systems, Climate-Smart Agriculture and the development and growth of novel crops and crop varieties.

Kathy Lewis

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