A Generic Bio-Economic Farm Model for Environmental and Economic Assessment of Agricultural Systems

Bio-economic farm models are tools to evaluate ex-post or to assess ex-ante the impact of policy and technology change on agriculture, economics and environment. Recently, various BEFMs have been developed, often for one purpose or location, but hardly any of these models are re-used later for other purposes or locations. The Farm System Simulator (FSSIM) provides a generic framework enabling the application of BEFMs under various situations and for different purposes (generating supply response functions and detailed regional or farm type assessments). FSSIM is set up as a component-based framework with components representing farmer objectives, risk, calibration, policies, current activities, alternative activities and different types of activities (e.g., annual and perennial cropping and livestock). The generic nature of FSSIM is evaluated using five criteria by examining its applications. FSSIM has been applied for different climate zones and soil types (criterion 1) and to a range of different farm types (criterion 2) with different specializations, intensities and sizes. In most applications FSSIM has been used to assess the effects of policy changes and in two applications to assess the impact of technological innovations (criterion 3). In the various applications, different data sources, level of detail (e.g., criterion 4) and model configurations have been used. FSSIM has been linked to an economic and several biophysical models (criterion 5). The model is available for applications to other conditions and research issues, and it is open to be further tested and to be extended with new components, indicators or linkages to other models.     

Capturing market impacts of farm level policies: a statistical extrapolation approach using biophysical characteristics and farm resources

Technical change at the farm level or changes in input prices often have an impact on the firm's supply function, which in turn affect their economic and environmental performance. These changes can take place in numerous ways. This paper presents a methodology that increases the consistency of supply responses across various sets of agricultural products and most representative farm typologies in Europe, with a market model based on a statistical response function approach. Since most farm simulation models are limited to a subset of regions and farm types, the linkage to an aggregated model requires a procedure for expanding these results to non-sample regions to achieve full regional coverage. This paper addresses theoretical aspects related to the consistency between micro and market level models. The proposed approach is applied using a consistent set of simulation results from farm models in seven European regions. Our results show a fairly stable behaviour of the farm models considered for the analysis and quite good fit of the estimated response surface. As results are still preliminary we critically reflect on the applicability of this method in addressing further needs on up-scaling of other economic as well as environmental indicators.     

Primary and secondary organic aerosol in an urban/industrial site: Sources, health implications and the role of plastic enriched waste burning

PM10 samples were collected from an urban/industrial site nearby Athens, where uncontrolled burning activities occur. PAHs, monocarboxylic, dicarboxylic, hydroxycarboxylic and aromatic acids, tracers from BVOC oxidation, biomass burning tracers and bisphenol A were determined. PAH, monocarboxylic acids, biomass burning tracers and bisphenol A were increased during autumn/winter, while BSOA tracers, dicarboxylic- and hydroxycarboxylic acids during summer. Regarding aromatic acids, different sources and formation mechanisms were indicated as benzoic, phthalic and trimellitic acids were peaked during summer whereas p-toluic, isophthalic and terephthalic were more abundant during autumn/winter. The Benzo[a]pyrene-equivalent carcinogenic power, carcinogenic and mutagenic activities were calculated showing significant (p < 0.05) increases during the colder months. Palmitic, succinic and malic acids were the most abundant monocarboxylic, dicarboxylic and hydrocarboxylic acids during the entire sampling period. Isoprene oxidation was the most significant contributor to BSOA as the isoprene-SOA compounds were two times more abundant than the pinene-SOA (13.4 ± 12.3 and 6.1 ± 2.9 ng/m³, respectively). Ozone has significant impact on the formation of many studied compounds showing significant correlations with: isoprene-SOA (r = 0.77), hydrocarboxylic acids (r = 0.69), pinene-SOA (r = 0.63),dicarboxylic acids (r = 0.58), and the sum of phthalic, benzoic and trimellitic acids (r = 0.44). PCA demonstrated five factors that could explain sources including plastic enriched waste burning (30.8%), oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids (23.0%), vehicle missions and cooking (9.2%), biomass burning (7.7%) and oxidation of VOCs (5.8%). The results highlight the significant contribution of plastic waste uncontrolled burning to the overall air quality degradation.     

Carbonyl compounds in the urban environment of Athens,Greece

The concentration levels of 15 selected carbonyl compounds in 62 samples were determined at two sites in Athens basin from June to December 2000. Formaldehyde was the most abundant species (0.05-39 microg m(-3)), which comprised from 22% to 37% of the total measured compounds, followed by acetaldehyde (4.32-49 microg m(-3)), acetone/acrolein (0.64-198 microg m(-3)) and butanal (0.79-140 microg m(-3)). The mean formaldehyde/acetaldehyde and acetaldehyde/propanal molar ratios were calculated. No significant seasonal differences were observed for all the carbonyls. Photochemical production was found to weigh upon atmospheric levels for 83-93% in summer days, dropping below 33% in the winter. The importance of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde as a source of hydroxyl radicals in Athens was also assessed.     

The role of farmers’ objectives in current farm practices and adaptation preferences: a case study in Flevoland,the Netherlands

The diversity in farmers’ objectives and responses to external drivers is usually not considered in integrated assessment studies that investigate impacts and adaptation to climate and socio-economic change. Here, we present an approach to assess how farmers’ stated objectives relate to their currently implemented practices and to preferred adaptation options, and we discuss what this implies for assessments of future changes. We based our approach on a combination of multi-criteria decision-making methods. We consistently assessed the importance of farmers’ objectives and adaptation preferences from what farmers say (based on interviews), from what farmers actually do (by analysing current farm performance) and from what farmers want (through a selected alternative farm plan). Our study was performed for six arable farms in Flevoland, a province in the Netherlands. Based on interviews with farmers, we reduced the long list of possible objectives to the most important ones. The objectives we assessed included maximization of economic result and soil organic matter, and minimization of gross margin variance, working hours and nitrogen balance. In our sample, farmers’ stated preferences in objectives were often not fully reflected in realized farming practices. Adaptation preferences of farmers largely resembled their current performance, but generally involved a trend towards stated preferences. Our results suggest that in Flevoland, although farmers do have more objectives, in practical decision-making they focus on economic result maximization, while for strategic decision-making they account for objectives influencing long-term performance and indicators associated with sustainability, in this case soil organic matter.     

A screening procedure for selecting the most suitable dredged material placement site at the sea. The case of the South Euboean Gulf, Greece

The selection of the best site for the placement of dredged sedimentary material (～7,000 m³) from the Aliveri coastal area in the adjacent South Euboean Gulf (Greece) was accomplished through a screening procedure. The initial stage comprised the determination of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the dredged sediment before the commencement of any dredging operation. Grain size measurements, geochemical analyses together with the use of pollution/toxicity indices and empirical sediment quality guidelines, and the conduct of an acute toxicity test showed that the dredged material consisted of “unpolluted to slightly polluted” silty sands and sandy silts. However, the local authorities planned to place this sediment in the neighboring open sea area, i.e., the South Euboean Gulf, due to the absence of any beneficial use or alternative dumping option (i.e., dumping on public lands). Therefore, the next stage of the screening procedure, based on criteria such as the national legislation, seabed and seawater column characteristics, influence of the water mass circulation pattern on the post-placement migration of dredged sediment, impact on living resources and human activities (i.e., aquaculture and fishing), effect on significant marine sites (i.e., sites of scientific, ecological, and historical importance, navigation routes, military zones), and seafloor engineering uses, led to the evaluation of the suitability of the South Euboean Gulf as a potential dumping area. Then, the identification of the appropriate dredged material placement sites in the South Euboean Gulf was based on a cluster analysis, which tested the physicochemical resemblance of the dredged material and the surface sediments of 19 potential placement locations in the gulf. After the statistical process, only four sites situated near the north shoreline of the South Euboean Gulf were qualified as the best dredged material placement locations.     

A multi-criteria approach for the dumping of dredged material in the Thermaikos Gulf,Northern Greece

A multi-criteria approach was applied for the disposal into the sea of ～1 100 000 m³ of sediment, dredged from a coastal area in the northeastern part of the Thermaikos Gulf. This sediment (classified as muddy) is distributed vertically into two distinct Layers (A and B) with the thickness of the surficial sedimentary unit ranging from 7 to 54 cm. Its geochemistry reveals increased Cr and Ni concentrations, which may be attributed to natural enrichment through the erosion of the adjacent igneous and metamorphic rocks. In addition, a low to moderate contamination from urban-originated heavy metals, like Cu, Pb and Zn as well as from aliphatic and polycyclic hydrocarbons was identified for the upper Layer A. However, the limited proportion (5.5%) of the polluted Layer A in the total volume of the dredged material could not affect the good quality (assessed by the Sediment Quality Guidelines) of the bulk sediment. The identification of the optimum marine dumping site was based on (a) the physicochemical similarity (detected by the application of a cluster analysis) of the dredged material with the surficial deposits of potential dumping sites in the Outer Thermaikos Gulf, and (b) the consideration, based on previous studies, of various criteria related to the disposal area such as deep-water circulation, influence on living resources, impact on economical (aquaculture, fishing, navigation), recreational (fishing) and military activities.     

Correction to: Trace element contamination status of surface marine sediments of Greece: an assessment based on two decades (2001–2021) of data

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Trace element contamination status of surface marine sediments of Greece: an assessment based on two decades (2001–2021) of data

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study is a first attempt to assess the trace element contamination status in the surface sediments of the Hellenic Seas since the first...