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Agriculture and Energy 2019

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Dear Colleagues,

Energy from fossil fuel and renewable sources is a vital resource for development. Energy use in agriculture has become a prominent concern because of the rapid depletion of non-renewable sources of energy, rapid population growth, and environmental degradation, especially in developing economies. The concern is particularly high for countries reliant on modern agricultural technologies to promote growth, which in turn is largely dependent on energy use; countries with a high rate of population growth are increasingly using non-renewable and renewable energy to meet the growing demand for food and fibre.

This Special Issue is aimed at soliciting original contributions from academics, researchers, practitioners, NGOs, and other stakeholders providing theoretical insights and/or empirical analysis focusing on the interrelationship between energy and agriculture, which can provide valuable lessons for the future. The editor encourages submissions applying cross-disciplinary approaches and the use of a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. The scope of submission includes original research and review articles that address the issues raised above.

Prof. Sanzidur Rahman
Guest Editor

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Keywords

energy—agriculture interactions
energy productivity and efficiency in agriculture
total factor energy productivity and efficiency
demand for energy in agriculture
supply of energy from agriculture
energy and agricultural sustainability

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Research

15 pages, 3359 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Investigation of a Root Zone Heating System and Its Effects on the Morphology of Winter-Grown Green Peppers

by Muhammad Ameen, Zhuo Zhang, Xiaochan Wang, Muhammad Yaseen, Muhammad Umair, Rana Shahzad Noor, Wei Lu, Khurram Yousaf, Fahim Ullah and Muhammad Sohail Memon

Energies 2019, 12(5), 933; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050933 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4452

Abstract

The winter season in Nanjing is from December to February, with extremely low temperature and high humidity due to seasonal snowfall. During these extreme cold climatic conditions, plants have to survive severe heat stress conditions, even if they are being kept in greenhouses. The objective of this study was to investigate a heating system that can provide heat directly to the root zone instead of heating the entire greenhouse, which is a viable option to reduce energy consumption. Root zone heating could be an effective alternative for the sustainable development of plants during the winter. A novel type of root zone heating system was applied to evaluate the energy consumption during different greenhouse ambient temperature conditions, the effects of root zone heating systems on pepper plant morphology, and heat transfer rates to plant canopy in the greenhouse. The temperature treatments in root zone heating system were T-15, T-20, T-25, T-30, and a control treatment (TC) at 15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C, respectively, while TC received no heat. A simulation study was carried out to validate the root zone temperature. The results of the current investigation revealed that energy consumption has an inverse relationship to the ambient temperature of the greenhouse, while temperature gradients to the plant canopy observed from the lower to the upper part of the plant and the upper canopy experienced less temperature fluctuation as compared to the lower part of the plant. The results also showed that treatment T-20 had the maximum in terms of the leaf dry weight, stem diameter, and the number of leaves, while T-25 showed the maximum root dry weight and stem dry weight; T-30 and T-15 had minimum dry weights of plant segments among all treatments. Control treatment (TC) showed a minimum dry mass of plant. The root zone heating with optimal root zone temperature was found to be a viable and adaptable option as this leads to improved energy consumption patterns for the sustainable growth and development of plants in greenhouses during extremely low temperatures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agriculture and Energy 2019)

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17 pages, 465 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Total Factor Energy Productivity and Efficiency Changes of the Gher (Prawn-Carp-Rice) Farming System in Bangladesh: A Stochastic Input Distance Function Approach

by Sanzidur Rahman and Basanta Kumar Barmon

Energies 2018, 11(12), 3482; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11123482 - 13 Dec 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2384

Abstract

This paper measures energy performance, Total Factor Energy Productivity (TFEP), technical change (TC) and energy efficiency change (EEC) of the gher (prawn-carp-rice) farming system using a unique panel data of 90 farmers covering a 14 year period (2002–2015) from southwest Bangladesh by employing a stochastic input distance function approach. Results reveal that all inputs contribute significantly to energy productivity of the gher farming system with male labor energy input being the major contributor followed by energy from machineries, seeds and chemicals. Energy performance of the High Yielding Variety (HYV) rice enterprise is highly efficient whereas the prawn enterprise is highly energy inefficient. Furthermore, energy performance of the HYV rice enterprise improved significantly over time. Significant competition exists between HYV rice and prawn enterprises as well as prawn and carp enterprises. Experience and education significantly improve energy efficiency whereas gher area and household size significantly reduces it. TFEP grew at the rate of 2.56% per annum (p.a.) solely powered by technical progress at the rate of 2.57% p.a. Gher system can be sustained in the long-run driven by technical progress and improvements in energy productivity of the HYV rice enterprise. Policy implications include investments in R&D and education targeted at the gher farmers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agriculture and Energy 2019)

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