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First paragraph: Our spring-summer 2024 issue is devoted largely to a set of commentaries prepared by more than two dozen participants in the U.S. Agroecology Summit 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Their indivi­dual and collective voices challenge the hegemony of the dominant global industrial food system. However, they acknowledge that there are significant philosophical and pragmatic divisions between progressives in the agroecology “movement” that need to be openly addressed before significant progress can be made in build­ing a cohesive movement. . . .

Livestock dung, discarded crop straws, and residual plastic film are the primary agricultural non-point sources of pollution. For livestock dung and discarded crop straw, the general treatment focuses on compost, animal fodder, industrial raw material, and new energy. The development of degradable mulch film is the main way to solve pollution from residual plastic film. However, an effective way to solve the above three types of pollution simultaneously and use them for ecological circular agriculture has been less studied. In this study, using cow dung and flax straw wastes as raw materials, we prepared natural, fibre-based paper mulch using the rapid-Kothen method and analysed the film-forming mechanism. Based on the Van Soest method, the cow dung and flax straw waste contain abundant cellulose fibres: 36.75% and 54.69%, respectively. The tensile strength and tear strength of fibre paper mulch are 1.87 kN/m and 19.91 N/mm, respectively. To enhance the adaptability of the fibre paper mulch in humid environments, the surface of the mulch was treated with alkyl ketene dimer (AKD). The AKD-coated fibre paper mulch displays hydrophobic properties, indicated by a contact angle of 128° ± 2°. It has a wet tensile strength of 0.64 kN/m and a wet tear strength of 8.23 N/mm. Additionally, it exhibits a dry tensile strength and a tear strength of 2.13 kN/m and 16.43 N/mm, respectively. Notably, the dry tensile strength is increased by 16.31%. In this way, the livestock dung and discarded crop straw can be reused, reducing dung pollution and straw burning in livestock farms, and the final products can alleviate the residual film pollution simultaneously.

Agricultural transformation in Punjab, spurred by the Green Revolution of the mid-1960s, has led to significant shifts in land use patterns, crop diversification, and cropping dynamics. This transformation has profound implications for sustainability and economic resilience. This study delves into the complex relationship among agricultural growth, instability, and environmental sustainability in Punjab. It examines the growth and instability in the state's key crops' area, production, and yield/productivity over 56 years, from 1966-1967 to 2021-2022. Using secondary data, this study employs an assortment of methodologies, including compound annual growth rate, simple linear regression, diversity indices such as the Herfindahl index and Simpson diversity index, instability analysis, and decomposition analysis. The results indicate an increase in cropping intensity, indicating agricultural intensification, with a shift towards wheat and rice monoculture from once diverse cropping patterns. The instability analysis reveals that wheat and rice emerge as the most stable crops in their area, production, and yield, while others exhibit instability, raising concerns about diminishing crop diversity and its implications for Punjab's natural resources. The study emphasizes the urgent necessity for sustainable agricultural practices and policies to counteract monoculture's adverse effects and ensure long-term agricultural resilience., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The surge in economic growth and increased agricultural output can augment societal well-being whilst proliferating environmental stressors. So, the study tests the validity of the "agriculture-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis" (AEKC) by assessing the varied environmental proxies that have yet to be accounted for earlier in the case of BRICS economies. Furthermore, most studies have utilised "first-generation econometric approaches" as the "cross-sectional dependency" has not been deemed in estimation. On account of this, the research employed "second-generation CIPS and CADF unit root test", "Westerlund cointegration test", "fully modified ordinary least square" (FMOLS) and "dynamic ordinary least square" (DOLS) to test the validity of AEKC in "BRICS countries" for 30 years. A positive association between agriculture and "ecological footprint" has been found which evidences the presence of an "inverted U-shaped AEKC" in BRICS nations. Another finding shows that the favourable impact of agriculture towards climate change can be moderated by illustrating the interaction effect of "human capital" and "renewable energy" with "agriculture". Lastly, the investigation brings forth the policy repercussions and acumens for the BRICS governments and policymakers in halting climate change by using renewable energy in agriculture and building human capital., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The principled utilization of treated wastewater can reduce the pollution load on the environment. Because on the one hand, treated wastewater can be a suitable fertilizer substitute, and on the other hand, using treated wastewater in irrigation prevents the discharge of polluted surface water into water sources. In the south of Tehran province, polluted surface water is used for irrigation in the agricultural sector, and this has led to environmental problems. To solve this problem, it has been decided to implement a plan to build surface water treatment plants and an irrigation and drainage network to transfer treated wastewater to farms. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the economic and environmental effects of this project in the region. A hydro-economic model has been used to achieve this goal. According to the results, in the case of the application of environmental constraints in the optimization model, the cultivation area and the farmers' profit will be reduced by about 5% and 36%, respectively, compared with the noncompliance of environmental constraints. However, this decline in profit can be compensated by adopting solutions such as improving the irrigation system, the application of treated wastewater, or using the fertilizer potential of water sources in the agricultural sector. PRACTITIONER POINTS: In the optimal economic-environmental situation, farmers' profit is reduced compared with the optimal economic situation. In the case of implementing the treated wastewater application, the farmers' profit will increase despite environmental constraints. In the optimal economic-environmental situation, fewer lands are cultivated with diverse crops than in optimal economic conditions., (© 2024 Water Environment Federation.)

European paper mills are currently facing the question of whether recovered paper, their main raw material, will be available in sufficient quantities and an acceptable quality in the future. An alternative to recovered paper or wood fiber is the use of agricultural residues such as wheat straw. Sodium carbonate-based straw pulping processes have the advantage of not requiring recausticizing for chemical recovery, which reduces investment and operating costs. With the addition of oxygen, delignification can be significantly improved to provide pulps suitable for bleaching. This study compares the pulping of wheat straw using sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate + oxygen, and sodium carbonate + sodium hydroxide + oxygen. Pulping parameters such as temperature, retention time, and chemical charge were varied, and their influence on pulp properties was studied. The use of sodium carbonate alone produced pulps with high yields of up to 72% and comparably high burst and compressive strength. The addition of oxygen and small amounts of sodium hydroxide produced pulps with a high initial brightness of 42 %ISO and a low kappa number (18), still at high pulp yields of 62%. These pulps were two-stage bleached to achieve brightness levels of up to 73 %ISO.