The assessment of impact of climate change on coconut, a plantation crop, is challenging. However, the development of a simulation model (InfoCrop-COCONUT) has enabled the process. We present the first simulation analysis of the potential impacts of climate change on coconut productivity in...

Increased food production can be achieved by incorporating more land into the productive process, by increasing productivity in already opened areas or by a combination of both strategies. By allowing a fraction of current pasture area to accommodate the expansion of food and biofuel crops...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock constitute the largest proportion of Australian agricultural GHG emissions, necessitating development of strategies for mitigating GHG emissions from the livestock sector. Here we simulate a self-replacing prime lamb enterprise to examine the effect...

Global livestock production accounts for about 80% of global land use, is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, and is responsible for about 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These impacts are likely to become more pressing as a consequence of rising demands for meat, eggs and...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used for comparing environmental impacts of contrasting farming systems. However, the interpretation of agricultural LCA studies may be flawed when the alternative land use options are not properly taken into account. This study compared energy and...

There are significant concerns about the longer term impact of climate change and climate variability on water availability in Australia. Modern irrigation technologies are seen as a way to manage climate change impacts and improve water security. However, while modern irrigation technologies...

In agricultural production systems with shade trees, such as coffee, the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from production intensification can be compensated for, or even outweighed, by the increase in carbon sequestration into above-ground and below-ground tree biomass. We use data...

Climate change and energy security concerns have driven the development of policies that encourage bioenergy production. Meeting EU targets for the consumption of transport fuels from bioenergy by 2020 will require a large increase in the production of bioenergy feedstock. Initially an increase...

New Zealand dairy farms are responsible for a large proportion of this nation's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG-e), arising mainly from enteric methane and urinary nitrogen deposition on pasture. De-intensification and the use of specific mitigation strategies can reduce GHG-e from dairy farms,...