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Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition

The ongoing agrarian transition from small-holder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture is reshaping systems of production and human well-being in many regions. A fundamental part of this global transition is manifested in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) by agribusinesses. Its energy i...

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Autores principales: Rosa, Lorenzo, Rulli, Maria Cristina, Ali, Saleem, Chiarelli, Davide Danilo, Dell’Angelo, Jampel, Mueller, Nathaniel D., Scheidel, Arnim, Siciliano, Giuseppina, D’Odorico, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8055646/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33875657
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22581-7
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author Rosa, Lorenzo
Rulli, Maria Cristina
Ali, Saleem
Chiarelli, Davide Danilo
Dell’Angelo, Jampel
Mueller, Nathaniel D.
Scheidel, Arnim
Siciliano, Giuseppina
D’Odorico, Paolo
author_facet Rosa, Lorenzo
Rulli, Maria Cristina
Ali, Saleem
Chiarelli, Davide Danilo
Dell’Angelo, Jampel
Mueller, Nathaniel D.
Scheidel, Arnim
Siciliano, Giuseppina
D’Odorico, Paolo
author_sort Rosa, Lorenzo
collection PubMed
description The ongoing agrarian transition from small-holder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture is reshaping systems of production and human well-being in many regions. A fundamental part of this global transition is manifested in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) by agribusinesses. Its energy implications, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we assess the multi-dimensional changes in fossil-fuel-based energy demand resulting from this agrarian transition. We focus on LSLAs by comparing two scenarios of low-input and high-input agricultural practices, exemplifying systems of production in place before and after the agrarian transition. A shift to high-input crop production requires industrial fertilizer application, mechanization of farming practices and irrigation, which increases by ~5 times fossil-fuel-based energy consumption compared to low-input agriculture. Given the high energy and carbon footprints of LSLAs and concerns over local energy access, our analysis highlights the need for an approach that prioritizes local resource access and incorporates energy-intensity analyses in land use governance.
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spelling pubmed-80556462021-05-11 Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition Rosa, Lorenzo Rulli, Maria Cristina Ali, Saleem Chiarelli, Davide Danilo Dell’Angelo, Jampel Mueller, Nathaniel D. Scheidel, Arnim Siciliano, Giuseppina D’Odorico, Paolo Nat Commun Article The ongoing agrarian transition from small-holder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture is reshaping systems of production and human well-being in many regions. A fundamental part of this global transition is manifested in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) by agribusinesses. Its energy implications, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we assess the multi-dimensional changes in fossil-fuel-based energy demand resulting from this agrarian transition. We focus on LSLAs by comparing two scenarios of low-input and high-input agricultural practices, exemplifying systems of production in place before and after the agrarian transition. A shift to high-input crop production requires industrial fertilizer application, mechanization of farming practices and irrigation, which increases by ~5 times fossil-fuel-based energy consumption compared to low-input agriculture. Given the high energy and carbon footprints of LSLAs and concerns over local energy access, our analysis highlights the need for an approach that prioritizes local resource access and incorporates energy-intensity analyses in land use governance. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8055646/ /pubmed/33875657 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22581-7 Text en © The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Rosa, Lorenzo
Rulli, Maria Cristina
Ali, Saleem
Chiarelli, Davide Danilo
Dell’Angelo, Jampel
Mueller, Nathaniel D.
Scheidel, Arnim
Siciliano, Giuseppina
D’Odorico, Paolo
Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title_full Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title_fullStr Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title_full_unstemmed Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title_short Energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
title_sort energy implications of the 21(st) century agrarian transition
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8055646/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33875657
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22581-7
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