Maintaining or increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural lands is important for soil productivity, restoration and could potentially be a factor in reducing carbon emissions. In order to implement best practices for maintaining productivity and increasing SOC, there is a need for…
Bare ground abundance is an important rangeland health indicator and its detection is a fundamental part of range management. Remote sensing of bare ground might offer solutions for land managers but also presents challenges as modeling in semiarid environments usually involves a high frequency…
Large tracts of European rural land, mostly in the less favored areas (LFA), are devoted to low-inputs and large scale grazing systems (LSGS) with potential environmental and social functions. Although these LSGS may provide harbor for a good part of European nature values, their continuity is…
During the last 50 years, mechanisation of the rural environment, and, more recently, the Common Agricultural Policy have led to profound changes in agrarian landscapes throughout Europe, and in particular in the rich and diverse Mediterranean landscapes (). In the north-east of the Iberian…
We assess the economics of investing in suspended shade-cloth covers (SSCCs) in agricultural water reservoirs (AWRs) to reduce evaporation losses and save water for irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas. In particular, we examine the use of SSCCs in the Segura River Basin (southeastern Spain).…
The objective of this paper was the development of a methodology for the classification of digital aerial images, which, with the aid of object-based classification and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), can quantify agricultural areas, by using algorithms of expert…
Among the autochthonous breeds in Spain, the Ripollesa sheep breed is the most common in Catalonia. It is rustic, with a convex profile, white wood of entrefine type and a characteristic pigmentation. Following the recommendations of the FAO, the morphologic characterization of the Ripollesa ewe…
MESMIS methodology (Ridaura et al., 2002) has been tested to assess sustainability of two different commercial flocks within the breeding scheme of the Latxa sheep in the Basque Country. The evaluation is based on technical, economical, environmental and social indicators derived from a SWOT…
A survey that gathered information about farm structure, grazing system, feeding and reproductive management was conducted in 181 farms. Parda de Montaña is the main breed regarding cows (92.4%), heifers (95,3%) and calves (84,1%). Bulls belong to Parda de Montaña (65%) breed but also Limusine,…
Surveys were conducted to 141 farmers registered in the FERPAM at Asturias (A), Cantabria (C) and Castilla and Leon (CL) regions, with the aim to know animal production system characteristics. Racial diversity was high (57.4% of the cows are "Parda de Montaña" (PM) and the 25.2% are…
At present the Race Burguete is regarded as Breed in danger of extinction. The products marketed can be classified in Lechal (the colt once weaned enters the fattener) and Quinceno (foals that once weaned remain several months at grazing and around 15 months of age are fattening). The aim of…
Data from the 1990-1994 period presented in the "Brazil's Initial National Communication" document indicated that the country is one of the top world greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters. A large majority of Brazil's GHG emissions come from deforestation mainly of the Amazon biome…