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The sustainability of the natural resources used in agricultural production is essential to meet the future food needs of the population. It is necessary to understand the characteristics of climate and soil changes through agroclimatic zoning models, even with non-existent or limited climatic and edaphic databases, to avoid a decline in production. The objective of the study was to determine the accuracy of the Global Agroecological Zoning (GAEZ), ECOCROP and Papadakis models for major cereals, vegetables and fruit trees in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico, using the databases of climatic stations and soil profiles collected by INEGI with random sampling in the field. The model with the best projection was ECOCROP, which predicted 37,609 km2 of irrigated area for sorghum and 34,796 km2 for wheat, in addition to identifying by soil characteristics rainfed areas with higher suitability for beans measuring 8470 km2 and orange measuring 6175 km2 with zoning predictions based on field information. In conclusion, the thematic maps obtained with ECOCROP had an accuracy greater than 50% for more than half of the crops analyzed, making it the best method for the study area. Therefore, the food production decisions of the producers must be directed towards cereal crops based on the projected area; however, it is necessary to establish an updating program and generate edaphoclimatic databases, updating thematic soil and climate maps with models that support the projections verified in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research activity is a form of expert service by the Research Group (RG) of "Agricultural Development Based on Local Soil-Land Characteristics" to its partner of the Wonoagung Wonogiri Organic Agriculture Association (Perkumpulan Pertanian Organik Wonoagung Wonogiri, PPOWW). The provision of suitable land for plant growth by partner is a required aspect in the development of certain commodities. Expert services by the RG is involving the implementation of land suitability evaluation based on agroclimatic conditions. The objective of the activity is to provide data and information on land suitability levels for certain commodities based on climatic conditions. The area which became the object of this research activity is where the PPOWW partner is located; namely Sidoharjo Sub-district, Wonogiri Regency. The secondary data was obtained from relevant sources in the form of annual rainfall (mm year-1), annual average air temperature (°C) and annual average humidity (%). The method of agroclimate suitability evaluation was carried out by following the procedure from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by matching climatic conditions with plant growth requirements. Plant commodities that were evaluated for their suitability were durian, salak, mangosteen, apples and avocado. The results showed that durian is a suitable commodity (S1) with climatic conditions in Sidoharjo Sub-district. Salak and avocado are quite suitable commodities (S2). Meanwhile, mangosteen is a commodity which is moderately suitable (S3); whereas apple is a commodity that is not suitable (N). Durian, salak and avocado are commodities which have the potential to be developed by PPOWW in Sidoharjo Sub-district. The next stage of the evaluation implementation requires data and information on the suitability of soil conditions.

Using Hadley Global Environment Model 2 - Earth System and Max Planck Institute Earth System Model simulations, we assess the impact of global warming and stratospheric geoengineering on deciduous fruit production in Himachal Pradesh (the second-largest apple-producing state in India). The impacts have been assessed for the Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 (RCP4.5) global warming scenario, and a corresponding geoengineered scenario (G3) from the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project, in which stratospheric aerosols are increased for 50 years from 2020 through 2069 to balance the global warming radiative forcing, and then aerosol precursor emissions are terminated. We used the period 2055–2069 (with the largest geoengineering forcing) and the period 2075–2089 (beginning 5 years into the termination phase) and evaluated winter chill and growing season heat accumulation. We found that although stratospheric geoengineering would be able to suppress the increase in temperature under an RCP4.5 scenario to some extent during both switch-on and switch-off periods, if the geoengineering was terminated, the rate of temperature increase would be higher than RCP4.5. The agroclimatically suitable area is projected to shift northeastwards (to higher elevations) under RCP4.5 as well as G3 during both periods. However, during the switched on period, geoengineering would restrict the shift, and areas of Shimla and Mandi districts (most suitable under the current climate) would not be lost due to global warming. Even during the switched off period, before the climate returned to RCP4.5 levels, the above areas would, although to a lesser extent, have reduced harmful climate effects from global warming. However, the area of suitable land (the intersection of soil and agroclimatic suitability) would decrease in both periods for RCP4.5 as well as G3, because as more high-elevation regions become agroclimatically suitable, they do not have suitable soils to support cultivation. Geoengineering could benefit deciduous fruit production by reducing the intensity of global warming; however, if geoengineering was terminated abruptly, the rate of change in temperature would be quite high. This could lead to a rapid change in land suitability and might result in total crop failure in a shorter period compared to RCP4.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salsola kali is considered extremely valuable as an energy crop worldwide because it adapts easily to environments with strong abiotic stresses (hydric, saline and alkaline) and produces large amounts of biomass in drylands. This species is categorized as an important weed in Argentina. The aim of this work was to design an agro-ecological zoning model for tumbleweed in Argentina, employing a Geography Information System. Based on the bioclimatic requirements for the species and the climatic data for Argentina (1981–2010 period), an agro-climatic suitability map was drawn. This map was superimposed on the saline and alkaline soil maps delineated by the Food and Agriculture Organization for dry climates, generating the agro-ecological zoning on a scale of 1 : 500 000. This zoning revealed very suitable and suitable cultivation areas on halomorphic soils. The potential growing areas extend from N of the Salta province (approximately 22° S) to the Santa Cruz province (50° S). The use of tumbleweed on halomorphic soils under semi-arid to arid conditions, for the dual purpose of forage use and source of lignocellulosic material for bioenergy, could improve agricultural productivity in these lands. Furthermore, it could also contribute to their environmental sustainability, since the species can be used to reclaim saline soils over the years. Based on international bibliography, the authors outlined an agro-ecological zoning model. This model may be applied to any part of the world, using the agro-ecological limits presented here.

Apple crop require adequate chilling for breaking its winter dormancy for a usual spring growth. In this study, suitability of apple production was assessed by using GIS based UTAH chill unit model for tactical and strategic adaptation options under changed climatic scenarios. This analysis consists of spatial chilling zonation from year 1978-2013,delineation of suitability classes for apple production based on effective chill units(ECU), and shift in apple belt in Himachal Pradesh under changing climate. The result showed spatial extent of chilling zone having ECU>1500 has declined. The traditional apple crop areas are shifting upward in Himachal Pradesh as a result less suitable areas transforming in unsuitable and severely cold areas which were earlier not suitable are becoming suitable for apple cultivation.

Apple crop require adequate chilling for breaking its winter dormancy for a usual spring growth. In this study, suitability of apple production was assessed by using GIS based UTAH chill unit model for tactical and strategic adaptation options under changed climatic scenarios. This analysis consists of spatial chilling zonation from year 1978-2013,delineation of suitability classes for apple production based on effective chill units(ECU), and shift in apple belt in Himachal Pradesh under changing climate. The result showed spatial extent of chilling zone having ECU>1500 has declined. The traditional apple crop areas are shifting upward in Himachal Pradesh as a result less suitable areas transforming in unsuitable and severely cold areas which were earlier not suitable are becoming suitable for apple cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses empirical models to examine the potential impact of climate change, based on a range of 100-yr phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) projections, on crop water need in Jamaica. As expected, crop water need increases with rising temperature and decreasing precipitation, especially in May-July. Comparing the temperature and precipitation impacts on crop water need indicates that the 25th percentile of CMIP5 temperature change (moderate warming) yields a larger crop water deficit than the 75th percentile of CMIP5 precipitation change (wet winter and dry summer), but the 25th percentile of CMIP5 precipitation change (substantial drying) dominates the 75th percentile of CMIP5 temperature change (extreme warming). Over the annual cycle, the warming contributes to larger crop water deficits from November to April, while the drying has a greater influence from May to October. All experiments decrease crop suitability, with the largest impact from March to August. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Salicornia bigelovii is an oilseed halophyte species that can be grown using saltwater in saline and coastal areas where conventional crops cannot be grown. Due to its high oil content, comparable with commercial crops, is a promising feedstock for biodiesel production. To determine the agroclimatic zoning of S. bigelovii in Argentina, thermal and rainfall indexes from its center of origin were taken into account and plotted for the period 1981–2010. The overlapping of the temperature and rainfall maps defined the agroclimatic zoning which determined optimal, very suitable, suitable, marginal and non-suitable areas for cultivation of S. bigelovii in Argentina. Subsequently, the Dryland Salinity classification of FAO was used to identify putative sites of implantation of S. bigelovii in moderately and strongly saline phases where soil electrical conductivity ranges from 12.4 to 22.1 mmhos/cm. Finally, the overlapping of both the agroclimatic suitability and Dryland Salinity maps afforded the agro-ecological suitability map, which showed the same five fitness classes defined in the agroclimatic zoning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]