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Janice Monk, an acclaimed Australian-American feminist geographer, has passed away in Tucson, Arizona. She was known for her achievements in social and cultural geography and her contributions to the field of women's studies. Monk's work focused on topics such as daily life in Aboriginal communities, women's creative responses to their environments, and the history of women geographers. She was committed to making the experiences of women visible in the field of geography and worked to advance the position of women in the discipline. Monk received numerous honors and was recognized for her internationalism and practical inclusion. [Extracted from the article]

Making the transition from open-access groundwater rights to sustainable groundwater management is a formidable task for newly formed groundwater sustainability agencies in California. As agencies begin to decide how to make equitable water allocations, how to monitor groundwater use and what mix of supply- and demand-side mechanisms to adopt to satisfy sustainability criteria, the groundwater management strategies in place across other basins in the western United States are worth studying. We surveyed 18 groundwater districts in California and other Western states to identify the management approaches and practices they have instituted. The conclusions we draw suggest a correlative rights framework of water allocation with phase-ins for heavy users; metered pumping; flexible arrangements for trading and carrying over allocations for multiple years; and incentivizing groundwater recharge, including recharge from deep percolation from crops. Rigid formulas for significantly reducing groundwater use in medium- and high-priority basins are likely to have significant negative effects on the regional economy.

We review the current state of agricultural systems science, focusing in particular on the capabilities and limitations of agricultural systems models. We discuss the state of models relative to five different Use Cases spanning field, farm, landscape, regional, and global spatial scales and engaging questions in past, current, and future time periods. Contributions from multiple disciplines have made major advances relevant to a wide range of agricultural system model applications at various spatial and temporal scales. Although current agricultural systems models have features that are needed for the Use Cases, we found that all of them have limitations and need to be improved. We identified common limitations across all Use Cases, namely 1) a scarcity of data for developing, evaluating, and applying agricultural system models and 2) inadequate knowledge systems that effectively communicate model results to society. We argue that these limitations are greater obstacles to progress than gaps in conceptual theory or available methods for using system models. New initiatives on open data show promise for addressing the data problem, but there also needs to be a cultural change among agricultural researchers to ensure that data for addressing the range of Use Cases are available for future model improvements and applications. We conclude that multiple platforms and multiple models are needed for model applications for different purposes. The Use Cases provide a useful framework for considering capabilities and limitations of existing models and data.

Agricultural systems science generates knowledge that allows researchers to consider complex problems or take informed agricultural decisions. The rich history of this science exemplifies the diversity of systems and scales over which they operate and have been studied. Modeling, an essential tool in agricultural systems science, has been accomplished by scientists from a wide range of disciplines, who have contributed concepts and tools over more than six decades. As agricultural scientists now consider the "next generation" models, data, and knowledge products needed to meet the increasingly complex systems problems faced by society, it is important to take stock of this history and its lessons to ensure that we avoid re-invention and strive to consider all dimensions of associated challenges. To this end, we summarize here the history of agricultural systems modeling and identify lessons learned that can help guide the design and development of next generation of agricultural system tools and methods. A number of past events combined with overall technological progress in other fields have strongly contributed to the evolution of agricultural system modeling, including development of process-based bio-physical models of crops and livestock, statistical models based on historical observations, and economic optimization and simulation models at household and regional to global scales. Characteristics of agricultural systems models have varied widely depending on the systems involved, their scales, and the wide range of purposes that motivated their development and use by researchers in different disciplines. Recent trends in broader collaboration across institutions, across disciplines, and between the public and private sectors suggest that the stage is set for the major advances in agricultural systems science that are needed for the next generation of models, databases, knowledge products and decision support systems. The lessons from history should be considered to help avoid roadblocks and pitfalls as the community develops this next generation of agricultural systems models.

This paper presents ideas for a new generation of agricultural system models that could meet the needs of a growing community of end-users exemplified by a set of Use Cases. We envision new data, models and knowledge products that could accelerate the innovation process that is needed to achieve the goal of achieving sustainable local, regional and global food security. We identify desirable features for models, and describe some of the potential advances that we envisage for model components and their integration. We propose an implementation strategy that would link a "pre-competitive" space for model development to a "competitive space" for knowledge product development and through private-public partnerships for new data infrastructure. Specific model improvements would be based on further testing and evaluation of existing models, the development and testing of modular model components and integration, and linkages of model integration platforms to new data management and visualization tools.

Janice Edith Jones Monk, a prominent Australian geographer, passed away on July 12, 2024. She was known for her contributions to feminist and social geography and her focus on the Aboriginal experience in Australian geography. Monk's career included positions at the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona, where she conducted research on gender, place, and race. She received numerous honors and awards for her work and was recognized for her leadership in gender and geography. Monk's impact as a mentor, friend, and intellectual left a lasting mark on Australian geography and geographers. Her research challenged the prevailing narrative of the "Aboriginal problem" and emphasized the importance of context and place-based differences. Monk's work continues to influence the discipline of geography, particularly in addressing multiple dimensions of context and difference. [Extracted from the article]

Social Impact Assessment's incorporation into neoliberal management systems did not enhance their capacity to actually respond to social impacts. Efforts to integrate 'social' and 'environmental' assessments largely assumed that Social Impact Assessment rightfully belonged to key practitioners (professionals, academics, and corporate and government decision-makers). This article advocates rethinking ontological foundations for a different sort of Social Impact Assessment. It starts from an understanding that the social domain is always and inescapably connected across scales from the microbial, through the global to the cosmological. Building from experience working with Indigenous peoples, it recognizes that although ontological separation of social, environmental and other categories of impact assessment may well facilitate project approval, it also renders industrial systems deaf and blind to many of the most pressing risks facing coupled human and natural systems at multiple scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1.Putting California's Latest Drought in Context.California's latest drought has focused attention on water management practices and policies. This article describes how the system has adapted to managing water scarcity and recurring droughts. It identifies some of the early lessons learned, including promising ways to adapt to water scarcity and areas of continued vulnerability. 2. Agricultural Irrigation in This Drought: Where Is the Water and Where Is It Going?In the midst of its fourth year of drought, California now faces an estimated reduction in surface-water availability of 8.8 million acre-feet (maf) out of 29 maf in agricultural applied water statewide. However, groundwater, the buffer water supply during drought, is replacing about 6.2 maf of surface water via additional pumping. This increased groundwater pumping is in addition to the 1.5 maf of annual average groundwater overdraft in the Central Valley. The net reduction of 2.6 maf in the total supply in 2015 may result in about 564,000 acres fallowed statewide, or about 120,000 more acres than last year's fallowing estimates. 3. Economic Impact of the 2015 Drought on Farm Revenue and EmploymentWe estimate that a net water shortage of 2.6 million-acre feet could cause 564,000 acres to be fallowed and result in a loss of $850 million in crop production value. The surface water shortage of 8.8 million acre-feet will be replaced by about 6.2 million acre-feet of increased groundwater pumping, at a cost of about $600 million. We estimate the dairy and cattle industries will lose $350 million in revenues. We estimate the direct economic cost of the 2015 drought will be $1.8 billion, with a loss of 8,550 direct farm jobs. Including spillover effects, statewide losses are close to $2.7 billion in output and 18,600 full-time and part-time jobs. 4. California's Severe Drought Has Only Marginal Impacts on Food PricesFlexibility and resourcefulness by California farmers have minimized drought-induced supply reductions for tree, vine and vegetable crops, for which California has large market shares and for which retail prices would be sensitive to California disruptions. Water is being shifted away from field crops that enter the food supply indirectly and for which California is not a dominant producer. These facts mean that even a severe drought is having only slight impacts on supplies to consumers and thus only slight impacts on consumer food prices. Of course, the longer the drought lasts, the larger the impacts.

1. Introduction to the Issue2. The "Shape of Things to Come" for California’s Climate and Agriculture.3. Estimating Impacts of Climate Change on California’s Most Important Crops.4. Can We Adapt to Climate Change? Lessons from Past Agricultural Challenges.5. Water, Climate Change, and California Agriculture.6. An Overview of California’s Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change.

Sea level rise, large-scale flooding, and new conveyance arrangements for water exports may increase future water salinity for local agricultural production in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Increasing salinity in crop root zones often decreases crop yields and crop revenues. Salinity effects are nonlinear, and vary with crop choice and other factors including drainage and residence time of irrigation water. Here, we explore changes in agricultural production in the Delta under various combinations of water management, large-scale flooding, and future sea level rise. Water management alternatives include through-Delta water exports (current conditions), dual conveyance (through-Delta and a 6,700 Mm3 yr‑1 [or 7500 cfs] capacity peripheral canal or tunnel) and the flooding of five western islands with and without peripheral exports. We employ results from previous hydrodynamic simulations of likely changes in salinity for irrigation water at points in the Delta. We connect these irrigation water salinity values into a detailed agro-economic model of Delta agriculture to estimate local crop yield and farm revenue losses. Previous hydrodynamic modeling work shows that sea level rise is likely to increase salinity from 4% to 130% in this century, depending on the increase in sea level and location. Changes in water management under dual conveyance increase salinity mostly in the western Delta, and to a lesser extent in the north, where current salinity levels are now quite low. Because locations likely to experience the largest salinity increases already have a lower-value crop mix, the worst-case losses are less than 1% of total Delta crop revenues. This result also holds for salinity increases from permanent flooding of western islands that serve as a salinity barrier. Our results suggest that salinity increases could have much smaller economic effects on Delta farming than other likely changes in the Delta such as retirement of agricultural lands after large-scale flooding and habitat development. Integrating hydrodynamic, water salinity, and economic models can provide insights into controversial management issues.

Drought, Jobs, and Controversy: Revisiting 2009.Biomass Ethanol Production Faces Challenges.Health, Diet, Nutritional Information, and Consumer Choice.

Improving Air Quality by Reformulating Gasoline: How California Got It RightCosts of Methyl Iodide Non-Registration: Economic AnalysisHow Do Forward Contracts Affect Strawberry Prices?

The California wine industry has been in the midst of a prolonged boom for more than 30 years. In 1975, California was home to approximately 330 wineries; by 2006 there were nearly 2,500. There has been a dramatic shift in demand toward higher priced and higher quality table wines, as reflected in the total revenues and crush shares of the state’s four major growing regions. We examine the major trends in the California wine-grape industry over the last 30 years, specifically differences that are arising between the coastal and inland growing regions and migration of the various wine-grape varieties grown throughout the state.

This paper explores water management adaptation in California to warm-dry and warm-only climate warming scenarios from the updated scenarios for the California Climate Change Scenarios Assessment 2008. CALVIN, an optimization model of California’s intertied water supply system, is employed to explore adaptation strategies for year 2050. EBHOM, an optimization model of high-elevation hydropower systems in California, is used to estimate adaptation in energy generation. A historical (1921–1993) hydrology is used as a reference. The warm-dry scenario is developed using permutation ratios for a 30-year downscaled simulation (from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s CM2.1 model using the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A2 scenario) centered at 2085. The warm-only scenario was developed based on the warm-dry hydrology, preserving the early snowmelt from the warm-dry scenario while maintaining the mean annual flows of the historical hydrology. This will aid separation of precipitation and temperature effects for adaptation to climate change. Agricultural and urban water uses for the year 2050 are obtained from two ancillary models. Results predict significant adaptation to warm-dry and warm-only climates. Water scarcity occurs from the drier climate in the warm-dry scenario, with increasing competition among water uses. Early snowmelt and peak storage characterize warmer climate scenarios in California. Warm-only scenario scarcity costs are significantly less than for the warm-dry scenario.

Infectious animal diseases are an ever-present threat to intensive livestock production. We analyzed control technology for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a livestock-intensive region of the Central Valley, using a previously developed, numerical, optimal disease-control model. We found that the alternative FMD controls we studied (early detection, herd depopulation and vaccination) can be partially substituted for one another (substitutability) without substantially changing outbreak costs. This information can be used to develop effective and efficient policies to prepare for an FMD outbreak in California.

Reducing Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Pre-plant Soil Fumigation: Lessons from the 2008 Ventura County Emission Allowance SystemUpdate on rbST Use in the California Dairy IndustryThe Emerging Global Biofuel Industry: The Biofuel Situation and Policies in Developing CountriesFaculty Profile: W. Michael Hanemann—Climate, Water, and Ties to the Value of a Good Dessert

Carbon sequestration in agricultural land has been studied over the past few years to determine its potential for ameliorating climate change. Agricultural soils can be efficiently exploited as carbon sinks with a variety of techniques, such as reduced tillage, cover cropping and organic systems with better manure management. However, to fully understand the potential of carbon sequestration in agriculture, the economic costs of switching from conventional to conservation management must be estimated. Since carbon sequestration depends heavily on management, crop and soil type, we conducted a field-level survey of its economic aspects in Yolo County for the 2005 growing season. The survey showed that organic and conservation management can be more profitable for field crops than conventional management in Yolo County. Finally, we demonstrated how to combine the survey data with an agronomic process model to predict the rate of adoption for conservation techniques in response to carbon payments.

Agricultural management has a significant impact on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by cropped fields. Alternative practices such as winter cover cropping and avoiding overfertilization can decrease the total amount of greenhouse gases that are produced. Policymakers are considering a structure in which parties (such as factories) who exceed their greenhouse-gas emissions cap can pay incentives to encourage farmers to adopt practices that curb greenhouse gases. Based on data from field studies and an ecosystem computer model, we assessed impacts on yields and the total potential for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions of certain alternative practices in California.

Economic Impacts of Reductions in Delta Exports on Central Valley AgricultureCalifornia Water Quality: Is It Lower for Minorities and Immigrants?What’s Extra Virgin? An Economic Assessment of California’s Olive Oil Labeling Law

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide updated estimates of domestic own-price, cross-price and income elasticities of demand and estimated price elasticities of supply for various California commodities. Flexible functional forms including the Box-Cox specification and the nonlinear almost ideal demand system are estimated and bootstrap standard errors obtained. Partial adjustment models are used to model the supply side. These models provide good approximations in which to obtain elasticity estimates. The six commodities selected represent some of the highest valued crops in California. The commodities are: almonds, walnuts, alfalfa, cotton, rice, and tomatoes (fresh and processed). All of the estimated own-price demand elasticities are inelastic and, in general, the income elasticities are all less than one. On the supply side, all the short-run price elasticities are inelastic. The long-run price elasticities are all greater than their short-run counterparts. The long-run price supply elasticities for cotton, almonds and alfalfa are elastic, i.e., greater than one. Policy makers can use these estimates to measure the changes in welfare of consumers and producers with respect to changes in policies and economic variables.

Special Issue: Issues in the California Wine and Wine Grape IndustryCurrent Economic Trends in the California Wine IndustryRecent Trends in the California Wine Grape IndustryCalifornia Wine Grape Growers’ Use of Powdery Mildew ForecastsAppellation, Variety and the Price of California Wines

This paper employs an economic-engineering optimization model to explore water supply options for environmental restoration of the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Potential water sources include reductions in local agricultural and urban Water use through water markets, wastewater reuse, and additional Colorado River flows from the United States. For these alternatives, the optimization model estimates operating and water scarcity costs, water scarcity volumes, and marginal economic costs of environmental flows and values of additional Colorado River flows from the United States over a range of required delta environmental flows. Economic values for agricultural and urban water uses were estimated by two ancillary models. The results provide insights into economically promising water supplies for restoration activities. Quantifying the trade-off between agricultural and urban economic valuation and environmental flows provides a framework for decision makers to quantify their valuation of environmental flows. The model also provides a framework for integrating additional knowledge of the system as information becomes available.

Delta Dilemmas: Reconciling Water-Supply Reliability and Environmental GoalsThe 2007 Freeze: Tallying the Toll Two Months LaterEstimating the Costs of Sudden Oak Death:Results of a Survey of California Nurseries

Olive Oil: A 'Rediscovered' California Crop.Forming Coalitions for Cleaner Air?George Judge Turns 80.What Would Happen if Federal Farm Subsidies Were Eliminated? Evidence for Colusa and Tulare Counties.