Ecological Indicators (Mar 2024)
Will changing land use and cropping practices affect resource use efficiency and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems? A hierarchical emergy assessment approach
Abstract
Rapid loss of agricultural land is occurring in fast-growing urbanizing regions in Asia, accompanied by shifts from conventional cultivation practices to cope with changing social and economic demands. To date, comprehensive analyses of the relationship between agricultural land changes and overall regional development remain scarce. In addition, more research is needed to assess the impacts of different cropping practices on the regional agriculture systems from a micro perspective. This study focuses on Changhua County in Taiwan, incorporating its socioeconomic and environmental components into a socio-ecological system model. A hierarchical emergy synthesis framework for the whole county was used to explore the changing role of the agricultural system within the socioeconomic system. We used emergy synthesis to analyze and compare the performance of three cropping practices. The results indicate that the role of these cropping practices in the county's overall socioeconomic system has gradually diminished over time despite improvements in their operational efficiency. Among them, multi-cropping received the highest emergy inflows from the economic system and resulted in the highest energy density, while rice-grain rotation had the lowest. Although higher economic investment in multi-cropping influenced environmental loading and sustainability, its impact was relatively minor in the context of the entire county. We demonstrate the transition of agricultural practices in response to regional land use changes and suggest that regions experiencing severe land use changes should prioritize the adaptation of agricultural practices within the overall regional socioeconomic system. As cropping practices evolve, their functional integration within the system also changes, and their implications for resource efficiency and environmental sustainability should be assessed.
