The relative importance of agricultural land retirement on water quality and aquatic-community health was investigated in the Minnesota River Basin. Eighty-two sites, with drainage areas ranging from 4.3 to 2200 km, were examined for nutrient concentrations, measures of aquatic-community health (e.g., fish index of biotic integrity [IBI] scores), and environmental factors (e.g., drainage area a...

This paper discusses recent developments in the market for agricultural land in Slovakia related to the new law on land acquisition. The stated objective of this law is to protect agricultural land from non-agricultural use. We analyze landrelated data as reported by sellers in the newly established Registry of offers of agricultural land administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural De...

Water resources play a vital role in human life and agriculture irrigation, especially for agriculture-dominant developing countries and regions. Improving agricultural water use efficiency has consequently become a key strategic choice. This study, based on Zhangye City’s economic characteristics and data, applies a static Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with a constant elasticity o...

Aiming at the problems existing in the current use of agricultural water and land resources in China and in order to realize sustainable use of the two resources, we established an indicator system for comprehensive evaluation of agricultural water and land resources carrying capacity based on the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) concept framework. Then we took Sanjiang...

In Eastern Spain, almond trees have been cultivated in terraced orchards for centuries, forming an integral part of the Mediterranean forest scene. In the last decades, orchards have been abandoned due to changes in society. This study investigates effects of changes in land use from forest to agricultural land and the posterior land abandonment on soil microbial community, and the influence of...

A survey of all county planning departments in Washington State indicated that protecting agricultural land is a major concern at the county level. Maintenance of the agribusiness sector is the main reason for protecting agricultural land, while the preservation of open space and rural lifestyles was of secondary importance. As a result, most Washington counties have implemented a broad range o...

This study investigates the agricultural land abandonment and agricultural land expansion in the case of the Edmonton-Calgary Corridor, Canada. Using remote sensing data from 2000 to 2012, we include environmental and socio-economic factors to explore the drivers of land use conversions between agriculture and natural land. This research also adopts spatial techniques to allow for spatial effec...

This study used an ECM to analyze the determinants of agricultural land expansion in Nigeria. Results show that at first differencing, Augmented Dickey Fuller test indicated stationarity for all the variables (p< 0.05) and there were 7 cointegrating vectors using Johansen test. The dynamic unrestricted short-run parameters of permanent cropland growth rates (68.62), agricultural production inde...

The relation between human population growth and land use change is much debated. Here we present a case study from Papua New Guinea where the population has increased from 2.3 million in 1975 to 5.2 million in 2000. Since 85% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, population growth affects agricultural land use. We assessed land use change in the Morobe province (33,933 km2) usin...

The supposition that agricultural intensification results in land sparing for conservation has become central to policy formulations across the tropics. However, underlying assumptions remain uncertain and have been little explored in the context of conservation incentive schemes such as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable managem...