Mohammad Reza Asgharipour; Fariborz Salehi; Mahmoud Ahmadpour
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, , Pages 9-18
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the energy consumption and to determine the inputs sensitivity for wheat production system in Kermanshah county of Iran. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 120 irrigated wheat farms selected using a random sampling method during 2012. The ...
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The objectives of this study were to evaluate the energy consumption and to determine the inputs sensitivity for wheat production system in Kermanshah county of Iran. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 120 irrigated wheat farms selected using a random sampling method during 2012. The sensitivity of energy inputs was estimated using the marginal physical productivity (MPP) method and partial regression coefficients on wheat yield. The results indicated that the total energy input was 41,921.8 MJ ha-1, and approximately 38% and 13% were from nitrogen fertilizer and diesel fuel, respectively. Approximately 57% of the total energy inputs used in wheat production was direct energy, while the remaining 43% was indirect. Econometric assessment results revealed that the energy inputs of human labor, machinery, diesel fuel, chemical fertilizers had significant influence on the yield. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the MPP value of energy inputs was between -2.8 and 11.31. Also the MPP value of human labor was the highest, followed by machinery, water for irrigation and phosphorous fertilizer energy inputs, respectively. However, the MPP of biocides energy was calculated to be -1.97 implying that the use of biocides energy is in excess for wheat production, causing an environmental risk problem in the region. Direct, indirect, renewable, and non-renewable energy forms had positive impacts on the output level
Mohammad Reza Asgharipour; Fereshte Soleymanazizi; Mahmoud Ramroudi
Volume 12, Issue 2 , July 2014
Abstract
There is an increasing call for a standardized framework to monitor and evaluate sustainability in agriculture. In recent years, a large number of models of system simulation have been developed in order to assess agro-ecosystems sustainability. This paper presents a brief description of an indicator ...
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There is an increasing call for a standardized framework to monitor and evaluate sustainability in agriculture. In recent years, a large number of models of system simulation have been developed in order to assess agro-ecosystems sustainability. This paper presents a brief description of an indicator for the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, based on the energy efficiency and overproduction of entropy. Agro-ecosystem sustainability is then evaluated using energetic input and output parameters of Jovain Agricultural and Industrial Company in Sabzevar in 2005 and 2009. The results indicated that the different kind of crops have different environmental sustainability. Various reasons could be caused these differences, but in many cases the extensive use of inputs was the important reason. The characteristics of the crop itself play a minor role. Although the method allows only rough estimations of entropy in agro-ecosystems. It can be stated that, sustainability was improved due to a reduction of artificial energy input comparing to the results that obtained in 2005 and 2009. Nevertheless, all the examined crop fields are far from reaching a sustainable state from a thermodynamic point of view in both years.
